Small Things

I am once again joining Rachel Ann from Home Sanctuary in an attempt to bring some peace, order, and beauty to my home and life.

In reference to being organized she says,

"If you struggle to stay organized at home, part of the problem isn't so much with YOU.

It's with your tools.

You've GOT to have the right tools, or it will always feel too hard to do anything...

Today's Small Thing is to take stock of your cleaning supplies.  

Make a list of the things you need, and have them ready to go...by next Wednesday."

She recommends keeping the cleaning supplies near the area where you will be using them.  For example, get a plastic container or some kind of organizer in each room, particularly under each sink in your home.  She suggested this years ago when she was blogging about "small things" to do, and I did it.  I love having my cleaning supplies under the counter in each bathroom and the kitchen, right at my fingertips. After taking stock, I realize I need Comet and cleaning wipes.  It's a great tip and makes cleaning easier.

You can read her entire blog post here.

Happy organizing!

Subscribe in a reader

I'm a Company Girl!

In case you haven't seen the logo in my sidebar, I'm a "Company Girl." What that means is that I participate in Rachel Anne's Home Sanctuary "Small Things" challenges, along with about 600 other women out there in blogland. Each day, she gives us a small thing to do that will help create order, peace, and beauty in our homes and lives. Some examples include cleaning a ceiling fan, looking at our home the way a guest would look at it, eyebrow management, or cleaning out the crumbs from our toaster, or printing a Bible verse and posting it where we can see it each day - easy, small things.

I've been participating since January, but during July (since I don't teach during the summer), I made it a goal to participate every single day. It helps me feel like I have a purpose each day. I kept track of my daily tasks and points on my livejournal page (which I only use for this purpose), and it paid off. I won for most points! I get a really cool prize (see below - a gift set from wrapables), but I also get the satisfaction of a job well done and the daily satisfaction of completing at least one worthwhile task. I may not win again, but I will continue doing my Company Girl challenges. Won't you join me? It's never too late!

Organizing Fever with the Junkie and a Company Girl

I try to participate in the monthly organizing roundups sponsored by Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie. This month, we're re-organizing our bathrooms including under the sinks. I bought these great shoe boxes at Bed, Bath, and Beyond that are going to double as both shoe boxes and under-the-sink containers. There were 10 boxes and lids included for $19.99 less 20%. A bargain, to me! Take a look at my great buy!

I also try to do Rachel Anne's "small thing" suggestion on a daily basis at her Home Sanctuary site. Today the suggestion was to clean out our kitchen cabinet that holds our Tupperware and plastic containers. I recently did this for OrgJunkie's kitchen challenge, but since it's been a few months, there were still a few things to do.

Here's before:

Here's in the middle of organizing:

Here's the end result.

It feels good to have this done! I wonder how long it will stay neat?