A Simplified Nest

Organized Games & Puzzles

Lissa — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 15:20:13 +0000

Tips on Organizing Games & Puzzles

This is how I organize my children’s games and puzzles in our laundry room closet. There are a number of ways to store these but this works best for our family.

I store them high so that they have to ask to play with one at a time. If I did not do this game pieces would get lost and/or mixed up.
I store them on their side with an elastic band to save space and allow us to see all the games.
I store game pieces in a ziploc bag inside their box but clear pencil cases would even work better!
I added a different colour marker dot behind each puzzle set so that I never have to guess where a stray puzzle piece belongs.
I am realistic with how many games and puzzles we have and if I feel the kids are no longer interested in one, I donate it.
I store them in clear boot boxes I purchased at Home Depot for 2.99.
I use Martha Stewart chalkboard labels to identify contents and create a streamlined organized looking closet.

Happy Organizing!

Lissa

Organized Junk Drawer

Lissa — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:32:46 +0000

Junk drawer before & after

I recently challenged myself to organize a friend’s office desk drawer in 5 minutes without spending any money! This challenge was meant for all those that think they don’t have the time or money to get organized! All it took was a quick purge and a grocery store vegetable platter I found in the recycling box!

Now it’s your turn! Which junk drawer in your home or office is begging to be organized?

6 Steps To Organizing Under the Kitchen Sink

Lissa — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 16:12:22 +0000

1. Clear everything out from underneath your sink

2. Wipe everything down (add pretty paper if the cupboard flooring is in rough shape).

3. Be realistic with how many cleaners you really need. I use 4 products: An all purpose spray which contains a degreaser, a window cleaner, a cream cleanser for the sink and dish soap. I make some of my own cleaners but use Martha Stewart’s bottles as they are nice and slim. I labelled them with Martha Stewart with Avery metal-rim tags.

4. If possible, make room for a recycling bin, so many people keep their recycling on their counters with hopes that they will bring it to the garage. I used a blue waste basket that fit the space perfectly and used my silhouette to cut out a recycling label.

Turn a Waste Basket into a Recycling Bin.

5. If you don’t want to add shelving, stackable bins work well to organize smaller items (these are rubbermaid stackables). My bottom one contains my essentials oils I use to make my cleaners, my middle one contains my rubber gloves and my top one contains things I might not need everyday such as S.O.S pads, hand soap refill & eye glass cleaner.

Using Rubbermaid Stackables to organize the smaller items under the sink.

6. Maximize your cupboards storage by making use of the doors! I use two wrap organizers; one to hold my dish washer tabs right next to my dish washer and one to hold kitchen and garbage bags I store in wipes containers near my garbage can.

Store items closest to where you use them, dishwasher tabs near dishwasher, garbage bags near garbage can.

Kitchen Organization

Lissa — Sat, 05 May 2012 15:00:27 +0000

Welcome to my first blog post, bare with me as I self learn how to use WordPress… I am anxious to share with you how organizing can help you lead a simplified life. I recently had the privilege of organizing for some cute newlyweds that were overwhelmed by their tiny kitchen they were in the process of renovating. They had acquired some new kitchen dishes and gadgets from their wedding and now was the perfect time to declutter, organize and simplify! Here are a few before and after photos I snapped.

My clients really disliked the fact that their bowls rested on top of their plates and so that was easily solved by adding a shelf to make room for an extra row of dishes. Coffee and travel mugs were purged to a reasonable amount.

Before

After

Another cupboard housing their glasses, medications and spices needed space for their daily vitamins. I added an under the shelf rack for their vitamins for easy daily access, this helped maximize the storage space and prevent any wasted space. The spices and medications were put in labelled bins since both were being used infrequently.

Before

After

Takeout menus and coupons were also relocated from the drawer and fridge to the inside of the cupboard with a Martha Stewart Wall Pocket I purchased at Staples.

All the plasticware really needed was decluttering. We purged those missing lids, passed their prime, those to return to relatives and any containers with the inappropriate recycling code. We kept the glass ones on the lower shelf and the plastic above.

Before

After

We tackled the drawers by transferring the oven gloves to hang with command hooks inside the lower cupboard by the stove. The rest was relocated and purged, its amazing what a few carefully measured bins courtesy of the dollar store can do to restore order in a drawer.

Before

After

Stay tuned for more posts on organization!

Lissa