By request: Our Bathroom

We have a small house, under 950 square feet, built in the 1940’s, with 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. It’s cozy, but it fits for us. After posting the crazy “before” dining room pictures, I got a request to see our bathroom and kitchen. They stay reasonably neat, especially in comparison to the dining room, but neither would win any House Beautiful contests.

Today you can take a look at our bathroom. I need to scrub the corner of the shower and the scuff marks on the wall near the toilet, but it’s overall fairly tidy.

My shampoo and conditioner are in the corner of the tub. I use Giovanni Smooth as Silk and love, love it. I bought a small container for full price early last year, loved the results, and did a little happy dance in the aisle when I found these bigger containers at Marshalls for 1/3 of the regular price per ounce. I bought two shampoos and one conditioner, and I’m still on the first shampoo, so it should last awhile. I don’t see myself paying full price for it when it runs out, though, so I’m stretching it.

I see that there is a red bath toy behind the toilet in this picture; it’s back in the toy basket, which lives in the tub between baths. My mother-in-law is disabled, so we have the bar for her. We definitely need to repaint in here, including putting putty over the old TP roll holder in the wall. The door doesn’t quite reach the bottom of the floor for reasons I don’t quite understand, so when I’m in the bathtub, I’ll sometimes hear kids outside and see little hands poking in from underneath!

I wash the sink and toilet most nights while the kids take their baths, because I have a new-to-the-potty boy whose aim needs work, and two very exuberant hand washers!

The medicine cabinet. Top row: my make-up brushes and make-up, and the unexpected multi-tasker: Monistat anti-chafing gel, which I use as make-up primer. It sounds crazy, but the ladies over at Make-Up Alley rave about it and it is SO much cheaper than the stuff I used before (Smashbox, before frugal). If you have an FSA, you can even buy it with pre-tax money.

Middle row: Q-tips with my tweezers on top, Chagrin Valley Dead Sea Spa facial soap (no coupons – I pay full price because I love that stuff!), floss, band-aids, and eyelash curler.

Bottom shelf: sunscreen, eye make-up remover, Mr. Penny’s deodorant, my deodorant, various face creams that I never actually use (I got the top one as a sample, some Olay wrinkle thing, and the bottom one with a coupon-sale combo; I don’t use them so I should probably toss them), Cetaphil moisturizer from Costco that I’ve been using a full 5 years. Does that stuff expire? It’s probably time to replace it, even though there is 1/3 of the jar left. And I see in the picture that I need to clean the line on the bottom!

I’ll post pictures of my kitchen next week. In the meantime, this is the project I’m working on:

The crazy messy entry cabinet. I cleared it out yesterday and am sorting through the piles of junk. It’s empty and almost nothing belongs there, so I’m working to find homes for a lot of this stuff, and sorting papers. I’ll  post the “after” picture with the kitchen next week.

Read Full Post »

Desktop gets tidy

I had this wooden IKEA organizer in the living room, but had moved its stuff to another container so it sat empty. Now it’s being put to good use, holding pens and erasers, staples and tape refills, index cards, scissors and rulers, and kids craft supplies like crayons and markers, child-friendly scissors, glue sticks, and paint and paint brushes.  The phone message log (we have a home based business and lost messages = lost money), stapler, and tape are right on top. It’s just $10 new, and holds a LOT of stuff! I’ve seen some really cute decorated versions on Flickr, so I may do something creative with the drawer fronts down the line. For now, I’m happy to have a home for all the clutter!

Next to that, my Financial Notebook is in an easy-to-access location, ready to pull out and update! I have the worksheets from The Budget Kit filed by month, plus a sheet protector where I slide my receipts, a section for a home-made mystery shops worksheet (what’s coming up, what the pay/reimbursement is, when the pay should arrive, and a box to check when it has arrived.) The blue plastic envelope holds my coupons and rebate forms.

Also, I filed the random loose papers that were all over my desk. I had the file divider cards, made by Homefile Organizer. Each category has recommendations on what to save, how long to keep it, and whether to file it in that category or somewhere else. For example,on the bank accounts divider, you’ll find suggestions of making a separate folder for each bank, what to file for each one (like cancelled checks, statements, and 1099 forms from banks.) The “Do Not File Here” lists CDs and IRAs to go to investments or retirement savings, Credit cards go to credit, and Mortgage information goes to Residence or Real Estate.  Labeled “When To Remove”, the divider suggests how long you would want to keep the documents stored here. My papers are now remarkably organized!

These are just a few organizing accessories that are working for me. To see what’s working for other moms, check out Works for Me Wednesday.

Read Full Post »