tidying up

I'm realizing that life is much easier if you have a plan. I know, so profound but it's true and it doesn't matter what it is.
Lately, I'm noticing that we just have too much stuff. Staying somewhere else on vacation really helped us see that. Also, I'm more aware of things that do not have a place so it's just out and it's annoying me. This could also be heightened by the fact that it's been raining now for practically weeks. I have puddles in my yard. Yuck. We had one break and a gorgeous day on Saturday which was our 11th anniversary so that was nice.
Bottom line: I'm grumpy in this house because of the weather and our stuff is annoying me. What to do?

Reorganize or get rid of it!!

Here are 3 very basic examples.
First, Rachel's hair accessories: hair clips, hair ties, scrunchies, headbands. Always everywhere, always hard to find and took up way too much space. I'm not a creative type person so I looked online for ideas. Voila! Instant storage-a large vase that I already had on hand and it's big enough for me to get my hand in there too.

Remotes now have a place from reusing an old gift basket.

This was a minor cost but totally worth it. "Santa" generously gave us all wonderful Nalgene water bottles this past Christmas. I love these things but they are a bit big and hard to keep in the cupboards. For a while we had them on the kitchen window sill which was not so pretty. I decided I wanted to get hooks and hang them up instead. We got these cute little handmade metal hooks from an amish country store for a few dollars.

We put them up in this 'dead space' corner of the kitchen and now incidentally the toaster fits perfectly underneath them when not in use.


Now they all have a place. I love it when a plan comes together.