Tag: house

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Fun Ways to Organize

Makeup Bag {Re} Uses

Hey everyone! Happy Wednesday! I hope you are all having a great week and soaking up these final weeks of August. 

One of my goals for 2022 was to do better with recycling and using sustainable products. Besides using reusable bags at the grocery store, I have been trying to repurpose things at home, instead of buying new, Iā€™ve been looking on ways to use things in other areas of my life.

Iā€™m sure Iā€™m not the only one who has gotten small makeup bags or totes for free after spending so much on beauty or makeup products. Rather than just having these free little makeup bags sit on a shelf, I decided to find different uses for them. If you have some bags or totes that you donā€™t know what to do with anymore, hereā€™s a few suggestions of how I use mine.

Makeup bags holding more than cosmetics.
  • In my purse to hold toiletries or cosmetics. I sometimes use a small makeup bag to catch a few essentials I always carry in my purse. This also makes it easier to move things from purse to purse, in a pinch. Hereā€™s a few things I put in this bag: hand sanitizer, mask, perfume, and chapstick. Just a few essentials that all fit nice in one place and I donā€™t have to dig through my purse for things.
An inside look of things I keep in my purse.
  • In my desk to hold essentials so they donā€™t get lost. A lot of the things I keep in my purse, I also keep in my desk such as hand sanitizer, hand lotion, and chapstick etc. But, at work, I also have ear buds, memory cards, a jump drive etc. Rather than have them float around in desk drawers, I like have a place to put all my small things that can get lost elsewhere.
A look at what I keep in my desk drawer and how I keep it contained.

  • In my room to hold wires and chargers. If you are like me, my guess is that you probably have lots of chargers, wires or cords floating around your room, car, or house. Instead of always losing them, I keep them all contained in a small makeup bag.This makes it easier to grab my headphones, cell phone charger, watch charger or speaker cord. Iā€™m not searching high or low for them and this tiny purse makes it easy to travel too.Ā 
My technology grab bag.

Those are just three ways to use or reuse bags, especially those tiny ones, you may already have around your home. Rather than buy new or lose things, itā€™s great to see what you have and how you can use it in a different way.

What are your favorite ways to reuse items you no longer use? Let me know in the comments below! Have a great day and happy recycling or reusing!

Categories
Fun Ways to Organize

Spring Cleaning

Hello all! Happy Wednesday!

The days are getting longer, the sun is setting later, and we are having more days that are warmer rather than freezingā€¦thereā€™s nothing quite like spring.Ā I can hardly wait for next month!

Ever since the start of the new year I have been in cleaning and organizing mode. From closets, to cabinets, under beds and all around the house. I tossed and donated A LOT! I first blamed it on being coped up in the winter and wanting to get things tidied up after the holidays. Then I said I was getting my spring cleaning out of the way. Once I started, I couldnā€™t stop. The one thing I didnā€™t do was take any before or after picturesā€¦blogger fail. So I apologize for the lack or pictures in this post.

If you are on the fence about doing some spring cleaning or need that extra push to get it done, I hope this post serves as that motivation.

Hereā€™s some tips and tricks for spring cleaning:

  • Start small
    • It can get overwhelming to start cleaning and organizing. Donā€™t get too stressed out about the mess or clutter, instead break it up. Start with a closet one afternoon or cabinets one night.Ā Ā For example, I did my closet on Sunday after work, then the following week, I worked on organizing shoes and donating ones that didnā€™t fit. The following week, I went through my drawers. I broke it up when I had the time and I worked on small areas. I had a sense of accomplishment at the end of each task but wasnā€™t burnt out after a mass undertaking of non-stop cleaning.
  • Make a List
    • If you canā€™t get to everything in one day or even one month, keep a running list of things of things you want to tackle. Sometimes I would be going about my day and would see a cabinet that needs organized or tidied up, if I didnā€™t have the time to tackle that in that moment, I jotted it down to clean it out when I had the time. I had a list to refer to when I had time to clean or organize and then it was always good to see how far you have come with organizing.
  • Use It or Lose it Rule
    • This is a question I ask myself if Iā€™m on the fence about getting rid of something. There are some things I know can be an easy decision to donate or toss. But then thereā€™s the other things that may be harder to decide to donate or keep. The first question I ask myself is ā€œHave I used or worn this in the past year?ā€, yes, the pandemic makes it tricky, but if I have used or worn it then I keep, if I havenā€™t then I reconsider. The second question I ask myself is “If I keep it, will I use it within the next few months?”, if the answer is yes, then I keep it and I do my best to use or wear it. This is another way to make sure you are using or wearing what you have.
  • Donā€™t buy organizational tools while you are in the thick of it.
    • This is easier said than done. It can be easy to be cleaning something and then think, ā€œI need to buy a new bin or desk organizer”. Hold off on buying a new tool or item, instead see what you must use. For example, for the longest time, I thought I needed a new jewelry box. I hunted for one for a while, but kept coming up empty handed. I went through my jewelry and ended up getting rid of things that were broken or I hadnā€™t worn and was able to reorganize my jewelry and turns out I didnā€™t need a new jewelry box. Thatā€™s another benefit of cleaning or reorganizing, you find new purposes for old things.

Those are just a few ideas or tips when it comes to spring cleaning. I have spent a lot of time over the past few months cleaning, tidying and reorganizing and it has been so nice to see more clean and empty spaces around my house and room. For those who enjoy spring cleaning and organizing, what are your top tips for cleaning? Drop them below!