Order & Organization (What I Want & How I'm Doing It - Part 1)

Order & Organization

(What I Want & How I'm Doing It - Part 1)

At age 50 with busy days and a big family, I’m pondering a life management approach of priorities, goals, motivation, strategies, plans, and practicalities. Perhaps the keenest lesson I learned in my college management classes is this: 

“The difference between efficiency and effectiveness is that efficiency is doing things the right way, and effectiveness is doing the right thing.” 

I’m still learning that thirty years later.  Yes, effectiveness is more important, but it’s not an either/or proposition. I need both. Here’s some of what I’m working on and how I’m doing it. I can’t cover it all in one post, but let’s start with Order & Organization, my most urgent practical need with seven of my kids still living at home. I am trying to initiate more order and develop systems for success. It may not matter much to them right now, but it matters to me.

Systems & Strategies

When I see a problem area that is stressing me out or hindering our progress, I stop and think about what solution is needed.  Sometimes it is a whole system, like setting up an equitable chore chart or deciding how to categorize a large book collection. 

Sometimes it is more simple. For example, my youngest daughter was always carrying the craft supply bins to the dining room table, but they didn’t always make it back to the shelf. I cleared off a nearby desk, and put all of the supplies on it so she can work there without moving the bins around. I also kept finding dirty hand towels and kids’ clothes on the bathroom floor, so I put a hamper (actually a small round trash can) in there, and it seems to be working. 

Decluttering

First: I am setting goals to organize the house area by area.  I already tackled the hall bath, the kitchen, the front hallway, though they still need daily maintenance. I am about halfway through my bedroom, our video collection, and the dining room / library. The other hot spots right now are the living room area, my closet, and eventually our storage/laundry room, which I’ve already been chipping away at bit by bit. I'll work with the kids on their bedrooms after we finish the public areas. When I declutter a room, I keep a large bin for items that don't belong. Then I completely clear everything from a small area (a cabinet, a closet, etc.), clean off the surfaces, and put back everything that really belongs there in an orderly way. 

Second: I am purging. I culled through a lot of the kids’ clothes and dropped them off at Salvation Army. Last night, I went on a rampage with the book cases. As a longtime home school mama and word nut, I probably have about a thousand books, if not more. We will never read them all, and they’re overflowing into much needed space. So I picked more than a hundred of them to try to sell at my favorite used bookstore or donate to the library bookstore.  That project is still a work-in-progress. I still have books to put away and shelves to rearrange to fill the empty spaces, and I still have those giveaway/sell boxes to organize and figure out what to take where, but those are projects for another day. I can’t do everything at once. I just wish I’d done this in time to sell them at the big local home school used curriculum sale a few weeks ago, since most of them are educational.  Oh well. 

Third: I am containerizing, mainly with baskets and plastic bins.  More laundry hampers, more trash cans, more drawer organizers… I even bought a medium-sized dark red trash can that matches our living room couches – but not for garbage. The teen assigned to keeping that room tidy shouldn’t have to go put away other people’s junk, but it still needs to be off the floor, end tables, and couches.  If one kid makes a big mess, they have to go in and clean it up themselves. However, I told my son that he should throw any other random stray stuff (except trash or dishes) into that container rather than trying to go hunt down the guilty sibling. If someone wants something, they can go look for it there, and when it gets full, we’ll clean it out and make people claim their stuff or forfeit it.

Technology  

I function best with constant reminders of what needs to be done when. In my earlier years of motherhood, I made a lot of lists, and then lost or neglected those lists. My iPod Touch is by far the most practical gift I have ever received.  My brain has a buddy now. Seriously. I’m quite attached. It’s almost always either in my pocket or my hand. 

I recently started using an app called LifeTopix, which is amazingly comprehensive, though a bit intimidating initially. Those who aren’t prepared to figure things out to get the full power of the system might prefer ToodleDo, which is much simpler but doesn’t do nearly as much. I’ll write more about those some other time. For right now, I just want to say having an interactive To Do list integrated with calendar, contacts, multi-task projects, shopping list, notes, medicine logs, finances, maps, photos, and everything else is right up my alley. As soon as I think of something I need to do, I try to enter it before forget. I set alarms for tasks that need to be completed at certain times, such as taking my morning medicines, locking all the doors at night, or picking up a child from an activity or work. All for just $4.99, and my productivity level is definitely up! 

Home Assignments

We have a chore chart on the refrigerator. In addition to their own rooms and laundry, the five younger kids each have an assigned dish day and one daily chore for their family contribution (trash, living room, computer room, preparing dining room for dinner, cleaning up dining room after dinner). I do the kitchen, bathrooms, extra dishes, household laundry, supervising, organizing, shopping, and cooking.  I entered all of the chore assignments (mine and theirs) into my iPod app so I can remember to hold them accountable.

What I need to do next is give the kids more in-depth training on how to do their jobs.  There seems to be some confusion about what constitutes successful completion. In addition to the hands-on training needed, I’ve been working on a document to go over with them about basic family policies for not only doing the work, but preventing the need for it in the first place by just being sensible.

A Few Tools  

The way I see it, the tasks I do each day, whether paid or not, are my job. I want to be professional. Part of that is acquiring the tools I need for success. I already mentioned the iPod and the apps, as well as the containers, but here are a few others.

My desk and bookcases: I keep tweaking and it gets better every time. I try to keep everything I need to work within arm’s reach.  My drawers are now fully stocked with all sorts of supplies, and my bookcases have teacher resource books that I will use this next year as I home school my youngest daughter and teach group classes.   You can read more about my desk organizing project here: Organizing a Little at a Time ~ My Desk and Bedside Table. 

Labels: I use these so people in the house can not only find things but remember where to put them back. Not that they always do this, but here’s for trying anyway? I like labels that are attractive, removable, and just the right size for the job. I’ve put some on my youngest daughter’s dresser drawers, my desk drawers, clothes hampers, school supply bins, and containers in the kids’ bathroom.

New vacuum cleaner:  Our old one, purchased at a thrift store, is heavy, unwieldy, won’t click into upright position, has a floppy hose, and uses bags at an alarming rate. I can never find it anyway, because the kids move it around the house. Last week I indulged myself. I spent $35 at Walmart on a lightweight bagless Bissell Powerforce compact vacuum cleaner just for my room. It is narrower, so it fits into the tight places. It is easier to maneuver, which is good for my arthritic hands. And it stays where I put it, so I don’t have to go looking for it. It may be inexpensive, but that thing sucks the dust! Wow! Laugh all you want at me splurging on my very own vacuum cleaner, but my bedroom is my haven from stress, even if it is Grand Central Station at times.  It is so worth it to me.

Do you have any organizing tips or tricks?  Share them with the rest of us!

Grace and peace,

Virginia

P.S. Related Posts on My Blogs

• Organizing a Little at a Time ~ My Desk and Bedside Table
• One Day: A Little Beauty and Order in My Home
• Busy & Creative at Home (with links to organization blogs)
• Decorating and Organizing Bathroom Areas on a Budget
• Kitchen Organization Ideas from a Mom of 10
• Impulsive Decorator's Room Redo: Front Hallway
• Turning Angst into a Clean Closet
• Organizing and Laundering Your Linens
• A Place for Everything
• Household Organization: Clutter, Clothes Storage and Chores
• Mt. Washmore (Laundry for a Large Family)
• "The Blue Bowl" and Thoughts on Making a Home

Organizing a Little at a Time ~ My Desk and Bedside Table

Dear friends,

Since I worked part-time as a teacher this past year, I put off a lot of organizing projects until school let out two weeks ago. I have been listing them all on an iPod app as I think of them, and I try to knock them off one by one, little by little. Each day I think, "What am I up to doing today?"  It depends on my available time, which area of the house is bugging me most, and other factors.

The past few days, I've kept coming back to my bedroom to work. I may not be able to totally control what happens in the other rooms of the house, but I can at least take full responsibility for my own!  

Yesterday, I spent the most time at my desk. Until recently, I had a metal and laminate computer desk, but it was getting more wobbly by the day. In fact, when we moved it out of the bedroom, it split into two pieces! Yikes! Last month, I found my current sturdy wood desk (pictured above) at an estate sale for $5. I replaced the hinged handles (which were on three drawers) with much nicer knobs that I salvaged from an old dresser. I filled the desk drawers with some of my office supplies and papers when I got it, but I continually add more and rearrange as I go along.  

It is simply amazing to have a bunch of desk drawers. I'm not sure how I ever got by without them. I labeled two of them "Supplies" and "Paper" and told my family that those are the only two drawers they may open if they really need something.  (We have the some kind of supplies and paper in the dining room, too.)  The rest of the drawers are just for me -- for my hanging files and such -- because my desk is my own private area to work.   In a busy household with several kids still at home, I need a quiet place where I can close the door to work, as well as a safe place for my lap top.

At the same estate sale, I bought this wicker drawer unit to hold charging cords, receipts, snacks, and other small items. I store extra books on top, so I had to move my bulletin board up and over to make room.

Two days ago, I decided to tackle the piles of miscellaneous store receipts that had been plaguing me. I'm trying to get a system for dealing with them. I folded several pieces of card stock in half to make small file folders to store receipts for purchases from different bank accounts, tax deductible expenses, items which might need to be returned, and warranty information.  My plan is to empty receipts from my wallet into the folders every day or two. When it is time to itemize them for our records, I will take a folder, tally up the budget categories, and then throw away any receipt I don't need for product returns or tax purposes. Think it will work?  I hope so!

I've had the white cabinet on my desk for quite some time, and it's gotten quite messy on the inside. (Yay for doors.) Yesterday I took everything out and started fresh. What did I want in there? Where should each thing go? The top shelf in holds all medical supplies, the next shelf down is for extra office supplies and eye glasses cleaning supplies, and the open bottom shelf has a butterfly flower pot with my most commonly used supplies and a basket for miscellaneous small stuff.

I taped my Mary Engelbreit greeting card collection on the outside of the cabinet. This one says, "Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% what you do with what happens to you."  I decided to use some of the blank space to write in some of my priorities: Jesus, family time, home making, creativity, planning, friendship, inspiration, learning, writing, teaching, rest, service, exercise, focus, nutrition, and peacemaking. Just a reminder when I'm tempted to fritter away time with mindless web surfing!

I keep an old piano bench next to my desk to hold a big basket for my two clipboards and other things.  One clipboard is for papers (like budgets) that my husband wants to leave for me, so they won't get lost in my piles. The other clipboard is for papers I need handy for specific purposes, such as for upcoming events.

As I work in my room, I often find stuff my kids have left in here. I grabbed a big empty bin from our storage room and just started tossing it in. I'll take the bin out when I'm done with the room, and get them to put their belongings away. I have similar bins in some of the other rooms.

The other area I worked on in the past two days is my bed area. I washed all the linens, including my ultra-soft comforter.  This vintage wooden tea cart that I use as my bedside table had gotten cluttered up and dusty.  I took everything off, wiped it down, and started putting back only the bare basics: a lamp, my iPod dock/clock, two small baskets, my medicine bottle, and a water mug. I keep my glasses on the padded blue box on the headboard shelf at night, along with my phone.  I always know where to find them if I have to get up in a hurry.

I use a CPAP machine for sleep apnea, and I decided to put it in my biggest Longaberger basket on top of my headboard. The basket helps camouflage it and it also corrals the long air tube and face mask during the day time. I just have to make sure I leave adequate room behind the machine for its air intake. The jug of water on the bottom shelf of the cart is for refilling the CPAP humidifier chamber. I like to keep things handy so I'm more likely to use them.

I bought the Grandma mug a couple of weeks ago when my youngest grandson was born, but just put it on my bedside table yesterday. My plan is to fill it up every night before I go to bed so I can take my thyroid medicine early in the morning without getting up. If I use a regular plastic cup, someone always takes it. This one will be dedicated wholly to its job, and the cover will keep dust and bugs out at night.

Two last pictures! I bought this "Dare To" butterfly poster at Michael's craft store before Christmas and hung it with inexpensive poster hanging rods that slip onto the top and bottom edges. This was much cheaper and faster than framing. I like to be inspired and motivated, and you probably already know I am a word person from morning until night!

R is for Reinvent Yourself.  I've had to do that a lot in recent years with so many life transitions. Overcome Adversity, too!  There is always a bit of Fail, and Dare to Suceed.  Most of all, Love All You Can. 

I'm glad my bedroom is becoming a place for rest, reflection, and renewed responsibility along the journey.

What have you done to make your bedroom special?

You can find two other posts related to my bedroom here:

• A Desk for Mom
• A Space of My Own
• Sacramental (Big Words)
• One Day: A Little Beauty and Order in My Home
• Decorating and Organizing Bathroom Areas on a Budget

Thanks for reading!

Virginia Knowles

www.ComeWearyMoms.blogspot.com

One Day: A Little Beauty and Order in My Home

Dear friends,

It's been over a month since I posted on either this Come, Weary Moms blog or Virginia's Life, Such As It Is.  The only blog I've kept up with at all is Watch the Shepherd because of my weekly hymn series and an unexpected post on troubling issues in the home schooling movement, which has had nearly 3,800 pages visits in the last 16 days. Yikes!

Frankly, I'm sometimes a very Weary Mom and there's not as much time to write. It's a busy life raising several kids, homemaking, and teaching three days a week in a private Christian school...  Well, enough said there.  All in all, I think I'm doing pretty well. For the most part, I love what I do, and I do what I love.  So it's a good kind of tired.

Monday is my "breathing easier day" since my grading and lesson planning are done over the weekend, and I'm off school for the day.  Not that I'm sitting around twiddling my thumbs!  Usually, Monday is a mix of housework, errands, appointments, and a bit of writing if I'm lucky.  This particular Monday was one for pursuing "a little beauty and order."  I'm trying to make my home a haven and keep it that way.  I do a little here and a lot there, and sometimes a major breakthrough push, but never quite catch up. Yes, my kids do help out with the housework, but does it really have to be this difficult to enforce little things like not eating in the living room or computer room?  And will I ever get the laundry and paperwork and books completely under control?  Yeah, I've been purging, purging, purging the clutter.  I took out a huge pile of books yesterday to donate to the library book store.   However, even with all of the puttering around, I think I've decided that with six of my kids still living here, I'll just have to hold my breath and wait a decade until they're all grown and gone before I can keep my house consistently clean. :-)  

Anyway, Monday....

After I drove my youngest two to school, I transplanted about two dozen golden poppy seedlings into a patch next to our front walkway.  (This is Florida, folks!)  When I was a little girl in northern California, I grew poppies and pansies and all manner of other floral lovelies with my sweet mother.  One of my ways of honoring and remembering her is gardening.  I hope they thrive and that the kids don't step on them.  They're so small, they are hard to see! I'll be writing a post on gardening soon, too.

This past weekend, I found two very attractive books on homemaking in the discount bin at the grocery store.  I know I could probably have found the same information on-line, and I actually do most of my reading on the web, but sometimes it's nice to have a real book in my hands, all there in one spot.  Can I get an amen?  I am also inspired by visiting my daughter's apartment and seeing how simple and attractive she's keeping it.  (It helps that she just moved in and doesn't have much stuff yet, but she's been shopping IKEA and it all looks lovely so far!  She said it seems like she's buying kitchen stuff as if she had 10 kids.)

I also found another favorite volume, Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion, that I bought at my fav used bookstore a while back.  I didn't get too far into any of them before I had to get up and try out few of the ideas.  You know, put it into practice!

I read about foyers.  Fascinating, right?  Two of the books had wonderful pictures of entry ways, and some featured wooden benches.  I've been wanting to switch things up in my front hallway lately, and I happened to have a beautiful bench buried in the storage room under laundry baskets.  Here we go!  Socks and shoes underneath, and backpacks off to the side.  Sure, I wish I could convince my kids to take them all the way to their bedrooms, but hey, I'm willing to compromise a little if the backpacks actually make it into their designated corner by the door.

In order to put the bench there, I had to move a tall narrow table from that spot.  I knew what I'd do with it, though.  I'm always running out of flat space when I'm writing lesson plans and doing my grading.  I like to lay out my books and papers, and not perch them on my lap or squeeze them onto my desk with my computer.  So, as you can see in the photo below, I placed it perpendicular to my desk as an extra wing. (It's a bit longer than what shows in the photo.)  I like!  While I was at it, I took the time to reorganize my desk, get rid of a lot of extraneous papers, put my medicines back in the cabinet, and pin up a few new fancies on my bulletin board.

I also took the time to read through a basket of sympathy and birthday cards that thoughtful family and friends sent in the past few months.  So sweet!  I came across a few that my mother had sent to me before she passed away.  Sigh.  I'll treasure them all.  I mounted two of the Mary Engelbreit cards on the front of my supply cabinet.

This is the little raised shelf area in the right hand corner of my desk, with containers for hair brushes, pens, pencils and scissors.  The little butterfly dish holds sugar-free hard candies.  The doily hangs down and camouflages all of the electrical cords (for charging my computer, iPod, and phone) tucked under the shelf.

I left the house after lunch to go visit my counselor, who is helping me sort through my life, including strategizing how to more effectively thrive in my duties in and out of the home. (For the record, she says, "Don't ever stop writing!  Make time for it!")  On the way home, before I picked up kids from school, I stopped into an interior design store, Kim Coe Designs.  I didn't buy anything, just enjoyed the beauty as an inspiration to my homemaking efforts.  They're all decked out for Christmas, of course!  These light-up snowmen in a basket were tempting, but I'll just wait until I get all of my holiday decorations out in two weeks to see what I already have.  I do like a little something new each year, but it's not like I need anything right now.  Anyway, I'm trying to simplify! (I did buy a pair of Christmas salt and pepper shakers on clearance at Walgreens later!)

For dinner, I had a big package of boneless skinless chicken breasts in the fridge.  I cut them into smaller pieces, and baked half of them with barbecue sauce and the other half with rotisserie seasoning and red potatoes, adding some crunchy onion topping near the end.  Yummy scrumptious!  My family appreciates the two flavor options.  

The rest of the evening?  Shopping, putting away laundry, cleaning up some more, and chatting with my very lively and affectionate kids.  

I didn't get everything on my list done yesterday, but as I often say, "Well enough!" Today's another day!  (And it was!  Today I did a lot of paperwork after I got up, then drove kids to school / bus stop, made lunches for one son and me, taught three classes at school, took two kids to appointments and then went to the science night at their school.  The three of us ate fast food (gasp!) and the rest had leftover chicken for dinner.  Now I have some grading to do for tomorrow.  Another full day, different than yesterday, but just as good!)

Other related organizing and decorating posts you might enjoy...

• "The Blue Bowl" and Thoughts on Making a Home
• Refresh and Renew: Quilt and Pansies
• Busy & Creative at Home (with links to organization blogs)
• The Impulsive Decorator's Room Redo #1: The Front Hallway
• A Desk for Mom (Featuring Habitat for Humanity)
• A Space of My Own (My Desk Again)
• Easy Christmas Decorating on a Dime

What does your daily or weekly life rhythm look like?  Leave a comment for me!

Virginia Knowles
www.ComeWearyMoms.blogspot.com

Our Road Trip and a Little Care Giving

Dear friends,

If you read this Come, Weary Moms blog but not my others, you might wonder where I've been.  The answer?

Traveling north!

I've been on an extended road trip with my six younger kids, ages 7 to 18.  We left Florida in June 24, took three days to travel seeing sights along the way, and have been staying at my parents' home in Maryland ever since.  My 18 year old daughter is flying home today, but the rest of us are leaving in our mini-van Friday morning, stopping at the Manassas National Battlefield (Civil War) on our way out of the D.C. area.  By the time we get home this Sunday, we'll have been gone for three whole weeks.  


I'm really glad that my cousin Jean lent us her GPS when we stopped to see her in Chapel Hill on the way up.  It's been a huge help getting around town on our frequent forays.  We'll give it back to her on the way back down!  I always look forward to seeing her and her sister Marge.  They have been so kind to us.  This trip, they loaded us up with road trip snacks!



Anyway, even though I haven't written here on this blog, I have posted a photographic series on Traveling North.  Here are the links so far:

• Ft. Pulaski
• Tybee Island
• Historic Savannah
• Chapel Hill
• Luray Caverns
• National Zoo
• Visiting Great Grandmother
• Swimming in the Patapsco River
• Water Balloon Fight and Lacrosse Game
• The Fourth of July and Smithsonian in D.C.
• Celebrations of Birthdays and Recovering 

My mom and her mom,
who  hadn't seen each other in over a month.

I had been wanting to drive to Maryland this year already, but then my mom called and said that since she was having two surgeries this year and couldn't make it to Florida, she and Dad would pitch in for gas and hotels so we could come up.  What we didn't know then is that three weeks after her back surgery, she wouldn't even be home yet.  She's been bouncing back and forth from hospital to rehab because of severe complications, including a MERSA infection on the steel rod in her spine. So part of our time has been spent visiting her!  I'm glad we could be here to help cheer her up and relieve my sister from non-stop care giving.  We have also visited my 98 year old grandmother in her nursing home and taken her to see my mom in rehab.  As of yesterday, Mom is back in the hospital again.  I took the flower picture at the top of this post near the hospital chapel yesterday.  More flower pictures from when I flew up to Maryland by myself last month: A Bouquet for My Mommy.

One of the practical things I did is clean out the refrigerator and reorganize the kitchen.  I know Mom is going to be limited in bending over, lifting, twisting, etc.  So I tried to put things where she could easily reach them, or where my sister or a hired home helper could easily find them.  I even labeled cupboards and drawers.  I tossed out old food and put other opened food (like nuts and crackers and cereal) in Tupperware and Rubbermaid.  I put all the mugs in the same cupboard as the coffee and tea.  I moved less used appliances -- like the meat slicer that my late grandfather used until he died a few years ago -- from prime spaces to less accessible places.  I bought some fresh dish towels.  That sort of thing.  It took me several hours, but I had a blast!  Occasionally, I would look out the kitchen window and see a deer grazing in the yard.  Beautiful.

We did have a few mishaps on our trip -- a parking ticket, smoke coming out of the van, stitches in the emergency room, a lost child in a big place, a really bad rash that required a doctor visit, a few broken dishes, and what else?   I'm trying to be the Chill Mom and take things in stride.  Handing out quarters (for good behavior) and chocolate (just because!) in the van sure helps keep kids happy, as does a lap top, a pile of DVDs, and a collection of iPods.  

I also taped a decorative coaster to my dash board that says "Blessed are the gentle."  When I start stressing out while driving, I just reach up an pat it as a reminder.  I bought the same one for my mom for her hospital room as a "gentle" reminder for the nurses.  Most of them have been perfectly lovely.

Much as I have enjoyed our travels, I'm looking forward to getting home and spending some time with my husband, four oldest daughters, and two adorable grandsons.  My fourth daughter is leaving for a semester in Australia and New Zealand later this month, and my second daughter and her husband just arrived home from a mission trip to Bolivia this past week.  We've got a lot of appointments coming up, too, including an interview for a part-time teaching job in a home/private hybrid school.

While I've been gone, I have also added two new posts to my Strength in Hymn series at Watch the Shepherd.

• Before the Throne of God Above 
• Love Divine, All Loves Excelling 

Older posts in that series:

• In the Garden (When the Caregiver Needs Care)
• Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us (moms needing tender care to lead children)
• As a Tree Beside the Water 
• Fairest Lord Jesus
• Let the Beauty of Jesus Be Seen in Me 
• I Dare Not Trust the Sweetest Frame? 

Until next time,

Virginia Knowles
www.ComeWearyMoms.blogspot.com

Linking here next Wednesday:

Adorned from Above

Raising Homemakers

Whole-Hearted Home

Wise Woman Link Up

Walking Redeemed

Decorating and Organizing Bathroom Areas on a Budget

Dear friends,

Creating a post about bathrooms seems trivial compared to a lot of more important things I could be writing.  I have a whole list of posts I want to do!  But this morning, the bathroom. Why?  Because it's such a practical place, and finding new ways to make it work can bring more shalom and beauty to your day.  Besides, as you'll see, there is a little bit of a social justice theme in this post anyway.

I'm on a pretty tight budget, so a fancy bathroom redo is not in my near future.  But there are always little things we can do to perk it up and organize it more effectively.

Here's a little tour of my master bath area and then two pictures from our hall bath.

I use a full size garden flag for my bathroom curtain.  It lets the light through beautifully, while providing enough privacy.  It's also moisture resistant.  There are mini-blinds behind it, as well as a Renuzit air freshener bought for a dollar at Walmart.

My bathroom walls are painted peach, and I've certainly got a springtime theme going on in there.  My mother made these two small stained glass pieces, choosing the camellia and magnolia because they grow in our back yard.

I just installed this wall hook to hold my clothes while I'm the shower.   (I don't like setting them on the small sink counter or trying to hang them over the towel bar.) This hook is extra sturdy, and cost about $3 at Walmart.

The back of the sink can get really cluttered and cruddy if too much stuff is stored there.  I left out just the basics. I put a bunch of the stuff up in the medicine cabinet, like our deodorants and my husband's shaving cream can that kept leaving a rust ring on the counter anyway.   You can read about how I organize the medicine cabinets in our house here: Organizing First Aid Supplies, Medicines and Supplements.

I just gave up using a traditional toothbrush / toothpaste holder because I could never fit the folded end of the toothpaste tube in the hole they provide.  I bought this cheery flowerpot at Deals for $1.  I like the combination of colors on the three items I left out.  And I love the lever style sink handle.  I can turn the sink on with the back of my wrist if my hands have germs on them.

Under the sink, I store sanitary supplies and cleaning items in bins, along with a container of peroxide.  We keep a bucket underneath the sink pipes to catch any possible leaks.

We salvaged the cabinet above from a neighbor who was moving. I replaced the existing handles with decorative knobs from Walmart.

The metal toilet paper roll rack is another new addition. It holds four rolls, and it's easier to get to than the cabinet if you're sitting on the toilet and realize there is none left on the current roll. :-) I bought it for around $7. We buy our toilet paper in bulk at Sam's Club. Each roll is individually wrapped.  I think that is so much more sanitary!

Our house is about forty years old, and we've lived here about half that time. We finally had to replace the shower door several years ago. My smart husband decided to hang a shower curtain on the inside of the shower door to keep the water off it. It keeps it so much cleaner, and will certainly extend the life of the door. He can easily take the curtain down for cleaning, or replace it cheaply.

My husband just bought this shower rack for me.  We used to keep the shampoo bottles in a bin on the shower floor, but I prefer this!  I used a little white duct tape to keep it snugger against the wall.

We also store big bottles on the towel bar at the other end of the shower.  A narrow little basket (which rests on the bar) and a suction cup caddy hold smaller items like razors or tiny bottles that would otherwise fall down.

We had a ceramic soap dish that hung from a bracket that was bolted to the wall.  Unfortunately, it fell down and cut my ankle up.  I replaced it with this suction cup soap dish, $1 at Deals.

We have periodic plumbing problems, and the toilet has been known to overflow into the adjacent dressing area.  We had to rip the carpet out and replace the whole floor in that area with ceramic tile, which I love.  That's a good thing, since we just had another bad backup a week or so ago.  So easy to clean!

Speaking of plumbing problems, we also had a leak in our shower behind the wall a while back.  My husband had to cut the drywall in our dressing area to get to it.  That left two damaged areas of drywall.  Until recently, the top one was covered with a tapestry, and the bottom one was just there for all to see.  During my little bathroom redo, I decided to do something about it.  I moved the Success poster from over my desk. (You'll see in a minute why I needed to do that.)  Then, to cover the smaller hole, I bought a sturdy basket (wire frame reinforced) to hold my hair dryer.  I found it for $5 at Walmart.  The ceramic bells to the right were a gift from my husband when we were dating; they are from his trip to Venezuela.  You might see the edge of a set of white ceramic birds at the left.  One of my daughters bought them on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic. 

Two other sets of South American bells -- these from Bolivia -- were gifts brought back from mission trips by another two daughters.  They hang from the top of the mirror.  

The rack below (also seen above) is a very recent gift from a daughter who ordered it from Ten Thousand Villages, a partner of the Mennonite Central Committee.  It was created by Cooperative le Semilla de Dios (the seed of God) in El Salvador.  The stories of these two fair trade charitable organizations are fascinating, so be sure to click those links and check out their beautiful gift items that benefit the local economies in Third World communities!  Did you notice the theme of social justice in Latin America for my dressing area?  Yeah, that just all came together nicely.  You can't read the poem on that Success poster two pictures up but the last lines are, "To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition, To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success." You can read the rest at A Desk for Mom.

Also in this dressing area, on the floor underneath the counter, are a large basket to hold clean towels and a small bucket to hold used wash cloths and hand towels before laundering.  Clean wash cloths and hand towels are stored in the drawer attached to the counter.  You can see those here: Organizing and Laundering Your Linens.

We also keep toiletries and personal care in other areas of the bedroom.  Some of mine are in this white cabinet that sits on my desk.  That's where the Success poster used to hang.  My neighbors gave this cabinet to me several weeks ago, and it's just right for making the most use of my space.  Small kindnesses like this are such a blessing.  What can you do to bless someone else?

My husband's dresser has a tray for his personal supplies and favorite medicines.

In the full bathroom down the hall, I just want to show you two things...

This shelf sits above the toilet, with the vertical pieces going down to the floor on the sides.  The kids tend to be a little sloppy with their stuff, but that's just real life.  I rarely go in their bathroom! The shower curtain is an under-the-sea theme.

And finally, a bit of humor...  I found this at Salvation Army for 79 cents, and just hung it up!  I guess charity and justice start in the home, in little ways.

Well, those are my bathrooms -- or at least the parts I'm willing to show!

I hope you've come away encouraged that you can make even "the least" parts of your home look pretty without breaking the bank.  Use what you have, buy inexpensive stuff at the dollar store or Walmart, and then you'll have more money for the important things in life -- like being kind to others around the world.

For shalom and beauty, 

Virginia Knowles

www.ComeWearyMoms.blogspot.com

P.S. This post will be linked at several blog parties.  You can find the list of my favorites here: Link  Ups.