Spring Cleaning Round-Up: Organizing Your Garage

Today I am so excited to be participating in a Spring Cleaning Round-Up - a series of posts centered around spring cleaning and organization from a handful of other mommy/lifestyle bloggers like myself.  Be sure to check out the rest of the posts in this series (links below), as these girls continue to amaze me and I'm sure they have some fabulous ideas!

...

If our neighborhood gave an award for the most organized garage, I'm certain my husband would be a finalist.  I mean, garage organization is his jam.  And I'm happy that it is because organization has a special place in my heart, as well.  Anyway, when Sara asked for bloggers interested in collaborating on a spring cleaning post, I knew right away what to write about--garage organization--with the help of my handy hubs, of course!

My (his?) number one tip to an organized garage is this: shelves and hooks galore!  Get things off the floor!!  Hang things.  Utilize the wall space.  Make use of the overhead space.  Get a pegboard.  The more you hang, the less that clutters the garage floor, which is key to an organized garage.  We are lucky in that we have a spacious three-car garage, but these tips apply even more to smaller garages!

I've compiled some of our (his?) favorite garage organizing solutions and some photos of how we use them!

SafeRacks 4x4 Overhead Garage Storage Rack
HyLoft 45x15-Inch Slat Wall Shelf
ClosetMaid Shelf Track 4-Drawer Kit
Hang-It Yourself Home Organization 30-Piece
Steel Garage Shelving Unit (similar)
Suncast Resin Wicker 22-Gallon Storage Seat*
Suncast Resin Wicker 99-Gallon Storage Deck Box*
25-Pound Stainless Steel Hook
SafeRacks 4x8 Overhead Garage Storage Rack

*Technically we don't use those wicker storage boxes in our garage.  We have one on our deck and one on our patio and they are amazing solutions to storing even more outdoor toys.

And remember to check out the other posts in this series.  I can guarantee you will be blown away by their tips and they might just give you the motivation you need to start your spring cleaning!

Sara @ Running from the Law – Spring Cleaning with Toddlers

Sarah @ Seeing All Sides - Garage Organization

Meghan @ The Adventure Starts Here - Tips for Keeping an Organized and Semi-Clean House

Jess @ Scott Family of Maine - Spring Cleaning Printables

Liz @ Ellie & Addie - Spring Garden Prep

Chrissy @ Simple Joys – Diaper Changing & Dresser Organization

Leah @ Leah With Love – Spring Cleaning Schedule

Stephanie @ Wife Mommy Me – De-clutter Your Home Printable Checklist

Whitney @ Work It Mommy - Re-purposed Storage Solutions

Emily @ Dear Owen - Organizing Kids Closets

Jess @ Being Mrs. Beer - Essential Oils for Spring

Vanessa @ Sunflower State of Mind - Spring Cleaning Hacks

Laureen @ Chateau Deveau – Playroom & Toy Storage

Jessica @ Secrets of a Stay At Home Mom - Organizing a Kids Craft Area

Ashley @ Being Brickner - 10 Cleaning Tips for Working Moms

Karli @ September Farm - Spring Cleaning Checklist Printable

Laura @ Happily Ever Parker - 25 Things to Purge

Erinn @ Strawberry Swing & Other Things - Pantry Organization 

One final thing--we're giving away four Mrs. Meyers variety gift buckets valued at $37 each.  We use a few of these products in our house and they smell heavenly.  Enter to win via the Rafflecopter below and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Nesting Continues!

Since this baby doesn't seem interested in coming early, I am forced to find things to keep myself occupied.  Thank goodness for Pinterest.  Otherwise, what on earth would I do with myself?

Today's project - a DIY weekly meal planner.

Despite being a super organized person, I formally plan meals and go weekly grocery shopping only about five times per year.  Usually our dinners are last-minute decisions and I'm constantly running to Target for ingredients.  Seriously, I bet the cashiers recognize me, as often as I'm there.

Anyway, I figured that wasn't going to fly with a baby.

So, a fun, weekly meal planner is my solution.  The meal planner will help me to plan meals, in advance, and go grocery shopping for all the ingredients for the entire week at once.  And do so on a consistent basis, rather than five times per year.  That is my hope anyway.

Here was my inspiration.

Source

 Only mine turned out way cooler.

I can't take credit for anything here.  I copied this chic's instructions to a tee.  I have not laminated my meal cards yet, but plan to.

I'm also going to laminate a few blank cards because, frankly, I will get bored with the same 35 meals over and over.  I'm always searching for and trying new recipes.  Hence, once laminated, I can use a dry-erase marker to write in other {new} recipes.

By the way, the pre-printed meal cards have ingredients on the back to make grocery shopping even easier!  So great for the hubs! :)

Speaking of grocery shopping, I also created this today.

A grocery list template with many of our typical purchases.  Again, I saw the idea on Pinterest and stole it from another blogger. 

I printed multiple copies of the grocery list template, clipped them to a clipboard, glued magnets to the clipboard, and stuck the clipboard to our fridge.  Even better, it's within arm's reach of the menu planner!

So anytime we run out of something, or plan our weekly meals, making a grocery list should be a breeze.  Simply check the items we need or add them to the 'other' category!

I'm so excited to start using these things!  Oh, nesting...

Nesting

This baby must be coming soon because I have a major case of nesting!

Yesterday, I prepared seven meals for our freezer.  Some are new recipes, others are favorite of ours.  And I stocked up on side dishes to go with each and every one of them!  I'm so excited for Baby to arrive so we can eat these tasty treats!

Today, the baking continued!  I made these yummy blueberry muffins...

...and two more loaves of zucchini bread for our freezer.

But, the nesting didn't end in the kitchen.  I've been trying to get Baby's room organized ever since receiving those twelve bags of clothes from a friend last week.  It's hard when there are so many different pieces of baby clothing--in multiple sizes--in addition to bibs, burp cloths, etc.  The un-organization of the drawers was driving me crazy!  So I found some drawer dividers at Bed Bath & Beyond and am finally happy with how things are arranged.  Hey, this mama loves to be organized!  (Let's not forget the closet dividers and totes I made earlier this spring.)

And since there was no way all those hand-me-downs were fitting in Baby's room, I bought some totes for the rest.

Whew!  Two full days of nesting!  I wonder what I will come up with tomorrow!

(I may have found a project already--the rest of the above closet needs some organizing!)

Madness

I know some people really get into March Madness, my husband included.  I am not one of them.  Perhaps if Iowa basketball had been better while I was in college, it'd feel differently.  But that was not the case.  And so I really just don't care.

The only reason I'm even remotely interested (well, other than hoping Kansas goes far so I have a happy hubby) is because each year we participate in a draft with friends.  Eight participants each "draft" eight teams at $20 buy in.  Each win by one of your teams earns you a point.  Half the pot ($80) goes to the person with the most points at the end of the tournament; the other half goes to the person with the winning (national championship) team.  Last year, I came really close to winning $80...but believe I fell short.  Pretty good for someone who has no knowledge (or interest) in college basketball!  This year, after doing amazingly well during the first two rounds, my teams are out.  Bummer.  I was hoping for eighty extra dollars to go spend on maternity clothes.  Looks like I'll just have to spend $80 from our checking account instead. :)

Anyway, while the hubby's eyes have been glued to the t.v. screen, I have been busy with a few DIY projects for Baby's room.

First, these cute little totes made from--what else--diaper boxes!  Lord knows we'll need lots of diapers, so I figured what's the harm in buying a few 500 diapers to get started?!  (The hubs nearly had a heart attack when learning the cost...little does he know these will last us, what, 2 months, max?)  Anyway, take away the price of the diapers (rather, diaper boxes), and the only remaining cost comes from a $5 drop cloth canvas from Home Depot (enough for two totes), fabric liner, and hot glue.  Makes for a pretty cheap tote.  Beats spending $10 each on totes from the store.  And these are cuter, in my opinion, and homemade!

Of course, the inspiration came from Pinterest, but idea came from this Positively Splendid blog.  I don't sew, however, so I found a no-sew tutorial (hot glue instead) on this Shanty Chic blog.  For the liner, I used instructions from the first, but modified with hot glue instead of a sewing machine.  Not gonna lie, the liner on the first tote sucked!!  I was ready to give up and call the mother-in-law.  But, I persevered and made it work.  The second and third totes were way easier.  By the sixth and seventh, I was done mentally and ready for a new project!  They don't look perfect, but I love how they match our bedding and were relatively cheap to make!  I love organization and can't wait to start filling the totes with baby supplies!

Note: Different size diapers come in different size boxes.  Size 2 boxes fit nicely in our closet, while size 3 diapers fit perfectly on the bottom shelf of our changing table.  If you plan to make some of these, I suggest buying a few sizes and seeing which box works the best!

Before

After

The second DIY project I recently completed was restoration of my old piggy bank.  Remember when my parents cleaned their basement last fall and my mom sent me back to Kansas with boxes of old stuff?  The piggy bank was one of my favorite finds!  It was my first piggy bank, given to me shortly after I was born, by my Grandma and Grandpa Rominger.  I immediately thought that someday I'd redo it for my baby's room...now the time is here!
 
I may be crafty, but I'm not artsy by any means, so I consulted in my art teacher friends for advice on what to do with the pig.  One suggested I decoupage it--use mod podge to adhere small squares of paper to it.  Paper that, obviously, matches the baby's room.  With a little help from my friends, that's exactly what I did.  It took forever (the piggy bank is rather large)!  The curves and crevices of the pig were not at all fun!  But, it's done, and I love it!  Yesterday I sprayed it with a clear protective coat and now it sits in Baby's room.  I even put felt on the bottom so Mr. Pig wouldn't scratch the baby's dresser.  I hope he likes it and gets as much use out of it as I did as a little girl!

The last project that has been keeping me busy are these closet dividers like I made for my friend Sarah last fall.  Of course, they needed to match the baby room, as well, so I choose green paper with black stickers.  (Well, that was what I choose for round two.  I used black and white pattered paper the first time, but the green size stickers were too hard to see...so I started over.)  I can only imagine they will be very useful and I can't wait to start separating baby clothes with these things!  (Yes, my closet is one that is organized by season, but also by the colors of the rainbow.  Of course Baby's closet will be organized, as well!)

Next up, bookshelves!  I found some cute ones on Pinterest and construction is currently underway (with the help of the hubs).  I hope to finish them sometime this week and get them hung on the wall by next weekend!  Photos to come...

Sarah's Super Scrapping Area

My friend Katie and I planned to spend our 3rd snow day of the week by scrapbooking. We both submitted pictures to Walmart.com this morning, but for some reason their photo machine was down and our 1-hour order turned into a 5-hour order. No big deal. We'll just head to a couple of stores to check out the scrapbook supplies.

Archiver's - short and sweet. Katie got some paper, I got some football stickers for the KU tailgate page I have in mind.

On to Michael's. As we were browsing through the scrapbook aisles, we came across some organizational cubes. THE cubes I posted pictures of last night! Though there wasn't a huge selection (as in the pictures), we were brainstorming about which ones we'd want, which ones would work the best, and how we'd set them up. Then I see this sign: "See aisle A24 for more scrapbook organization shelves." Aisle A24 was at the opposite corner of the store, and as we turn the corner...AHHHHHHHHHH (in an angel singing voice). Organizing heaven! They had all the pieces pictured on their website, AND MORE!! If only I had a million dollars...

Not only that, but it was all 40% off! I swear this day was meant to be! It was still a little pricey, but you can't put a price on being organized, right?!

So, we started with just four cubes and the ribbon spool shelf.  Craig was less than thrilled when I came home with a car full of shelves (especially after we spent an hour last night putting together the Lowe's cubes), but decided it was worth any dollar amount if he didn't have to help put these together. (That's why Katie was here...remember, our pictures still aren't printed at this point.)

It may have taken us longer than it would have taken Craig, but lo and behold, we managed to put all four cubes together! Katie's a pro at following picture instructions and I'm a pro at using a ratchet screwdriver.  Who knew???


Then, we decided two more cubes would make for the best set-up. Back to Michael's we go to buy two more!  (Two of the worst to put together, I might add!)

By 6:00 this evening, all six cubes were put together and stacked. And finally, by then, our pictures at Walmart were done. Too bad we were out of time to actually scrapbook.

My awesome hubby hung BOTH my pegboard and ribbon spool shelf tonight. He's the best!

Here's some pictures of my scrapping area!

There he is hanging my stuff!

Finished product!  I'm finally happy with it!

Michael's cubes

Ribbon shelf.  I'm going to see if they'll let me exchange the rods since they're super bowed.

Pegboard!  Need to get a few hooks then there will be stickers galore!

Needless to say, the shelves from last night are taken apart, packed, and ready to go back to Lowe's.  I'm so excited to start scrapbooking again!

Headed for Organization

I'm on my way to having a somewhat-organized scrapping area!  Not only did my hubs take me to Lowe's this evening, but we also made trips to Walmart, Hobby Lobby, and Home Depot!  (And stopped for dinner at Smashburger...that was his idea!)  THEN he helped me put together a shelf I bought!  (I think deep down he understands my longing for organization.  He's the same way.  My scrapping area is like his garage.)

Here's what I worked on tonight.  I'm not overly happy with the outcome.  I don't like how the cubicals are too small for my binders.  Nor do I like that the drawers I bought for paper don't fit perfectly on the shelf.

Paper - organized and sorted according to ROY G. BIV!

The shelf.  It's probably going back to the store.  Just need to find another option first.

My very own pegboard.  I can't wait until Craig hangs it!!!!!!

I still don't have a total vision of what I want.  I keep finding all these pictures online, but can't find anything similar to purchase in the stores.  (See below.)  I love all of this stuff from Michael's website, but they don't tell you prices or give you the option to buy!  WTH?  Stay tuned for updates....