Linen Closet Remix

Our linen closet had been on my to-do list for quite sometime. When I first moved into the house, I bought a few cloth bins in very blah colors, whipped up some quick (and not so cute) labels on my label maker and I was on my way.  

This being the only linen closet in the house, the storage and organization just wasn't working for us and needed a face lift.  

A quick trip to the dollar store and some much needed purging.......here is the linen  closet remix.

The before isn't "that" bad but like I said it was kind of blah and wasn't working.

I bought some aqua bins from the dollar store and these Martha Stewart Chalkboard Labels 

I grouped all "like" items and products together....soap...teeth...hair.......you get the picture.

I put our bath towels, wash cloths and hygiene products at eye level because those are the items we reach for the most.

I remembered I had these two glass jars with lids just lying around the house so I decided to put cotton balls and q-tips in them.

I was most excited to put all of my nail products and polishes in one place.  I do have another small basket of "in use" polishes in my bedroom but now I can swap them in and out as my polish and mood changes.

So that's it....the finished product of the linen closet remix.

Did anyone else take on the iheart organizing linen and loo challenge?

Organizing for Mom

I'm sure my gift of cleaning came from my mother but I have no clue where I got my gift of organizing.  It.did.not.come.from.her.

 A few weeks back, she asked if I could clean and organize some of her closets while on my Spring Break. After several long days at her house, I finally finished up two closets and her kitchen cabinets. 

This first closet is a utility closet in her kitchen....somewhat of a catch-all for everything that didn't have a designated place.

We made a trip to the dollar store and purchased every red container they had.

(red is her fave color and the color of her kitchen)

After A LOT of purging, I grouped all like-items together in the plastic bins (tools, nails, plastic bags, cleaning supplies etc). This will make it easy to keep things organized and to find things when needed.

This next closet is her linen closet.....you can see how badly my services were needed.

My mom is blessed to have a ton of storage space in her home that often times her linen closet (and other closets) becomes just that...storage for random things and not utilized for its intended purpose.

Again, I purged a lot and got rid of all non-matching linens such as towels, wash cloths, sheets and comforters.

My mother was motivated to start fresh so she went out and bought all new towel sets.

As with the utility closet, I used storage containers/bins from the dollar store.

Total project cost: $113 and some change!!

(includes new linens & items purchased for the kitchen cabinets...to be continued.........)

2013...a new year...a new us!!

I know we are now over a month into 2013 but it has taken me the entire month of January to finalize our goals.  I can never do things in a simple one-step process, one-step or thought always leads me to another.

I started by thinking about all the things we've talked about wanting to accomplish this year.  Then came the who, what, when, where, how and how much??!!!

I finally had a list of goals that I was happy with.  Our family goals can be summed up into two categories: 

{personal/family and finances}

I decided to start with the financial goals first (let's face it, you need finances to accomplish everything else).  


First task...getting organized and re-vamping our finance binder (more on that later)

I also signed up (or should I say re-signed up) for mint.com (check it out here www.mint.com)  in an effort to go as paperless as possible this year.  In the past, too much paper as gotten me into too much trouble.

I am hoping that as we begin with our finances, everything else will follow. 



Now without further ado....the Butler family's 2013 goals:

• Money, money, money....decrease debt, increase savings and giving
• Love and marriage....make date nights a priority
• Meal planning...this will also help with the finances
• Home....cleaning schedule, organizing, more organizing and re-decorating 
• Vacay.....this is a must for this year

I have to say, I am pretty excited about our goals and can't wait to see where 2013 takes the Butlers.