Showing posts with label Get Organized. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Get Organized. Show all posts

Sunday, April 30, 2017

DIY Earring Frame

My Sister in law that I talked about here made the cutest earring holder and I wanted to duplicate it. I love earrings and wear a lot of them. I though this would help with one of my new years goals to be more organized. 


First I purchased this white frame from Ikea. It is normally $25 but I got it on sale one week for $20. 
Then I spray painted it silver. Part of the reason it took me so long to make this was I hadn't decided what color did I really want it? Black? Red? Silver? I ended up going with silver and I love it. 


Then I purchased radiator covers from Lowes. Now they had a cuter one for more money but I am super cheap so I chose this one for $10. It wasn't quite wide enough to fit so we had to cut it and wire it to make it work. Which you can kind of see in the picture below. Once all the earrings and stuff is added though you can't really tell at all.








See in the end I hung the feather over where we cut it and made it work. In the end I love it, and now I have lots of room for all my dangley earrings. 



Friday, March 29, 2013

My Time Saving Tips



I've decided to share some of my tips and tricks on life. Sometimes they are going to be tips to save on time, money or just to save us some sanity. Ultimately I have some I have picked up along the way from friends, family, articles, or personal experiences.
Queen of Chaos's Time Savings Tips
 
1. One way to save time cooking is to double up. It's just as easy to cook two lbs of ground beef as it is one. Then freeze the other half cooked. Now it's ready to add to any sauce or recipe without the mess and time of cooking. Plus if you freeze it spread out on a cookie sheet, then put it in a freezer bag it won't be stuck in a big glob. This works with lots of things actually. Like:
 
               Lasagna- Make 2 freeze 1
               Soup/Chili- One for your crock pot, 1 for a freezer bag
               Shredded pork/chicken/roast (for tacos, enchilada's,bbq sandwich's etc.)
               Baked Ziti- Make 1 in a pyrex dish the other in a foil one from the $1 store
               Stuffed Shells
               Chicken Dishes
               Waffles/Pancakes (I put wax paper in between each one)
               Vegtebles- when they go on sale I dice extra and freeze some (i.e bellpeppers)
 
I think you get the idea. Basically if you are taking the time to make 1, make 2 which are perfect for one of those days. (You know the kind of day I'm talking about ;)
 
2. Park by the cart return. I know this is a simple silly one but it helps me a lot. My husband use to drive up and down to find the closest parking spot possible. In the end I would still walk farther to return the cart. Now that I have kids I hate leaving kids in the car while I return the cart. So I purposefully park by the cart return.
 
3.Rubber band socks together. Anyone that read this post knows I don't like folding laundry. My Grandpa has been trying to get me rubber band my socks together for years! I finally did it and it does save time matching socks. Even if a few don't get rubber banded together it's that mush easier to find it's match on those few.
 
4. Pre- pour my breakfast protein shake. I know I can't be the only one that has had such a busy morning that lunch time rolls around before you realize you haven't eaten anything yet! So if I know I have lots to do in the morning I pour my milk, banana, and protein powder into my magic bullet cup the night before. Then when I wake up all I need to do is add 2 ice cubs and blend it super fast. Then I can drink it while I feed the kids.
 
5. Use ice cube trays for more than just ice. I use mine to freeze extra cream of wheat, baby food or even grated ginger.  Need to use a half a lemon and don't want the other one to go bad? Squeeze the juice in an ice cube tray and freeze it. I even did sauerkraut once, who uses the whole jar before it goes bad? Now I  just defrost a cube or 2 when Grandpa comes over for hot dogs.
 
 
Bonus- I know this is on every time saving list, but keep a planner. I keep a day planner and write out my meals for the week in it. Granted sometimes I move the meals around thru the week, but I make sure in advance I have everything I need. That way on busy days I know to use one of those freezer meals from above.
 
 
What time savings things do you do that are helpful?
 
 
 
            
 
 


Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Daring Do-overs

When we lived in American Fork I made lots of new friends from my church. In our church we are given opportunities to visit other women in our neighborhood regularly. I got to know this one particular special lady because of this unique opportunity. She was very talented at decorating on a dime. I tried to glean from her what I could in the 4 years of monthly visits. I feel like I finally have the courage to attempt some of what I learned. Here are a few things I have done lately to add to our home on a budget.
In Yesenia's room she needed something for her books. She would pile them all on her bed at night, so I needed something close to her bed. She also takes books in an out so much it needed to have easy access. So I bought 2 spice racks from Ikea. They cost about $4 each. After assembling them they needed a paint job. The last time Ace Hardware had a free paint day I got a light pink for her room and my mom came along and got a darker pink to accent things. The only thing I didn't like was that it was a flat paint. When it's free though I really can't complain to much. After painting the spice racks I spray painted them with a clear glossy coat. That also only cost about $4. Then I hung them right by her bead and she loves them!


I have slowly been doing what is now Adrianna's room. Once my baby is out of the cradle in my room I will most likely move Adrianna in with Yesenia. I have a few months to worry about that and finish her room. I started with this little hook thing.

 It was left behind by the prior owner in the master closet so I took it down and painted it. It has an Ikea sticker on it, so if they still sell them I am assuming it is a good deal. I taped the nobs with painters tape and bought a cheap glossy purple spray paint at Home Depot. Really easy and now Adrianna's room has a pretty hook thing for her to hanng her coats and things on.
I also painted these picture hooks the same color. I bought them at the goodwill for $1.50 each. I really like it, and if my girls ever want different colors it would be really easy to re-paint.
Before

During

End Result
 
 
I'm ready to start some bigger projects I have set aside. I'll post those once I finish or attempt them. 

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Keep It In The Closet

My daughter is very much like I was growing up, very messy! She has the messiest room in the whole house, because she can play with the tiniest and most random things. No matter what I hide, donate or throw away she will find some way to make a mess of everything. So I decided if we redid her closet it would be easier for her to clean it up. Before the closet just had one high shelf and a clothes bar under it.  We needed to lower the bar to her height so she could hang up all her dresses while she changed multiple times throughout the day. Then we added 2 shelves.  We used the kind where you could raise and lower the shelves to whatever height you needed.

When I looked at the plethora of girly closet ideas on Pinterest I decided mine wouldn't look like any of them. Most of them had cute matchy, matchy cubbies or boxes. Most talked about how inexpensive they were too. Well I have ugly not matchy, matchy tupperware at home, therefore making them free. Also many of them had stuff on them for the sole purpose of decoration. My daughter can't have decorations cause she would just play with them and it's just more stuff I have to clean.

If you want to talk about how much it has cost me to make her a princess room let me add it up. The pink paint I got on Ace's free quart paint day, which did mean waking up early on a Saturday. The princess wall decals I used my Disney movie rewards points in order to get. Her princess mirror and Tinkerbell light were a gift from her cousin who is out growing out of princess to quickly, and her toddler princess bed was $20 on craigslist. The shelving was given to me from my Grandpa before he moved so all I needed was the screws. Which I spent $7.99 at Ikea for a huge box of all different sizes. So it may not be the cutest, cleanest or magazine worthy, but Yesenia LOVES it and it fit my pocketbook. I don't think it gets any better than that. Now I just need to be brave enough to refinish her dresser, wish me luck.