Quick Fixes

So I’m still gonna post about my master closet project, but it’s taking a while and it’s easy to get discouraged when things aren’t progressing as fast as I’d like them to. I need to realize that with a little one in the house I can’t be as gung-ho on projects as I was before if I don’t wanna live around the project mess for a while!! So I get involved in little side projects just to feel a sense of progress and accomplishment!! Here are a few recent ones…

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About a week ago I knew my mom-in-law was coming for a visit, so the days of using the guest bedroom as a laundry repository and folding location would need to come to an end!! :-D I dealt with all the laundry and put away the few bigger baby toys that had wandered in there, but I hated that the closet was a big mess. I knew the underlying layer was organized, but it just looked very cluttered. So one afternoon as Bug played underfoot and then later napped, I tackled both the closet and the under-bed situation. Though I still need to get some of the things in the containers dealt with, I think it looks rather neat and tidy…what do you think?

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Another project was the pantry. It was rather sad and neglected and really needed a cleaning and organizing as well. After throwing away a couple of sad shriveled potatoes I found hiding in a corner and giving away some older canned stuff I knew we’d never eat (why did I buy it?)…I got it all spiffy and organized and it is ready to restock with good deals!!

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Today I did a couple quick projects. The first was pulling out our heavy coats from our hall closet, leaving only our lighter jackets and freeing up space for visitors to hang their jackets. I decided I didn’t want that closet to be such a catch-all place, so I need to find new spots for the ironing board, the TV trays, and the vacuum cleaner and deal with the other random items in there. It is cleared out now though and at the moment the only things in there are five hanging jackets and some of Bug’s bigger toys. It makes me smile cause I love uncluttered spots!!

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Next, I was tired of waiting to implement an idea I had for our entertainment center. We had switched it out a couple months back from a closed unit to a shelved unit that fit more snuggly up to the wall. (Excuse the absolute disaster that is the open shelving unit—we had JUST switched it out and all the junk was just transferred over…ugh!).

I was tired of seeing cords hanging all over the back of it though and wanted to remedy the situation. A couple weeks ago I snagged the little fabric and cardboard cubes I had been using in my closet and was using them to contain things in a few of the cubicles, but I really wanted to deal with those unsightly cords.

So I grabbed a big serrated edge knife and started hacking away!!

I used my hacked cube to fit the electrical stuff in…as well as all cords, headsets, remotes, and controllers. The other cube on the top row of cubicles has my cookbooks in it (very handy, since I usually take a naptime to spread them all out on the carpet and plan upcoming meals). Since the one cube is not going anywhere because of the cords, and the other one is WAY too heavy for Bug to pull out, it really works out well.

One of the other cubicles on the top row then has the XBox360 and the controller charger, and the other has a nice basket of books for Bug and a cute teddy bear.

The bottom row is split evenly between my stuff and Bug’s stuff. His little toys all fit into one cube and his ball pit balls fit into the other.

I took the other two cubicles and neatly organized my binders, storybooks to be read to baby boy, coupon box, recipe box, and two boxes with DH’s Xbox games into them. I think the overall effect looks quite nice. What do you think?

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So there ya go…that’s how I occupy my little snippets of time lately, when the big projects get to be too much but I am still motivated to use the time while baby boy naps to good use!!