Organizing Mamas: Kid's Play and Homework Space (AFTER)

I may or may not be in a very early nesting phase. When I first started decluttering at the beginning of the Summer I had no idea we had this much crap. Cleaning off the desk in the kitchen was very enlightening. Let's just say that I found a pencil sharpener on the desk after clearing it off.

Mimi and I are revealing our spaces for the Organizing Mamas: Kid's Play and Homework Space Challenge.

This was our desk area before... This was definitely my "Devil Wears Prada" moment of everyday. I'd just slap stuff down on this desk and keep it moving.

The after... This clean desk was achieved by utilizing the empty file cabinet that has always been located directly next to the desk. Don't judge me. Everything that didn't deserve to get filed got thrown in the trash or shredded. I took all of the books upstairs to their new home along with the photo album. Who has a photo album in their kitchen? We did. The pencil sharpener was found behind the photo album. 

I can see our calendar again. There is also a place for my computer now. This makes me so excited!

I had been looking for a bookshelf for weeks. Every thrift store within a decent radius from my house met me and my kids. I didn't think I was going to have any luck finding a shelf. I was tempted to just hop on Amazon and order one but because we might be moving soon I didn't want to buy anything new.

I try not to buy any big ticket items before a move because things always get broken, scratched or "lost". My plan was to find a wooden bookshelf that I could give a face lift. Something that would serve it's purpose in this house before we find new roots somewhere else.

All of the books were located in Savannah's room. I thought it would be a better idea to bring the books out into this spot between the kid's rooms. My hope was that I could free up enough space to make room for a crib in Savannah's room. Savannah has decided that she no longer wants to share a room with her new sibling. I will cross that bridge again when I have to....

Here is the new bookshelf. I found it on Sunday afternoon. It was originally $29 and I got it for $19. If you could have seen me in that Goodwill celebrating... 

I thought I was going to paint this shelf but my husband had a hard time getting it upstairs. I don't think I'll make him take it back down and back up again. That might be overcooking his grits. So I gave the shelf a nice cleaning and filled it up with books.

It fits perfectly in the hall. While putting the books on the shelf it dawned on me that if I made the kids swap rooms that it would be more than enough space for Little Mike and the #grandfinalebaby to share a room, and I wouldn't have to lose my guest room. We'll see. That's another bridge for another day as well.

Our next Organizing Mamas Challenge will focus on a kitchen storage area. I'll be figuring out how to make our kitchen pantry function a bit better. Here is a before of the pantry...

I'll be taking some cues from Mimi on this one because her pantry makeover was amazing. Visit her blog to see how she transformed her kid's play and homework space. Then come back in two weeks to see how we pulled our kitchen storage areas together.

Join our challenge on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Share your before and after pics using the #OrganizingMamasChallenge hashtag. 

 What home projects are you working on right now?

Clorox Disinfecting Wipes for Back to School

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. 
#BackToClean #CollectiveBias


Summer is quickly coming to an end and that can only mean one thing, it's time for all things Back to School. If you've been reading my blog lately you know that I have been on a cleaning rampage around here. I have been reorganizing, decluttering and coming up with new ways to make keeping our house clean and germ free as easy as possible.

I had promised Savannah a trip to Target. She earned a shopping trip for being such a good girl this past week. While we were there I picked up my favorite go-to cleaning product, Clorox Disinfecting Wipes. 

I absolutely love how Clorox Disinfecting Wipes make cleaning so easy for me. When you have a almost five year old, two year old and you're 19 weeks pregnant you need cleaning to be fast and easy. I'm all about effortless housekeeping so I make sure we never run out of these.

I get several packs of these wipes at a time because I keep them all over the house. Each bathroom gets a container and of course I keep them in the kitchen. I also have them in the kid's play area, the laundry closet and in the arts and crafts closet. Having wipes all over the house keeps me from making a mad dash to the kitchen whenever I need one.

Clorox Disinfecting Wipes clean and disinfect at the same time. When I use these wipes I know that 99.9% of germs including viruses that can cause colds or the flu are wiped out. (see what I did there) Another great thing about Clorox Disinfecting Wipes is the clear-drying formula. I absolutely hate filmy wet surfaces so the clear-drying formula is probably my favorite thing about the wipes.

Here are  all the many ways I use Clorox Disinfecting Wipes to keep my family happy, healthy and germ free during the Back to School Fall season. 

In the kitchen:

• Disinfects sink & countertops
• Daily cleaning of fridge door, oven door and dishwasher door (i call this "little hands zone")
• Stovetop & range
• Clean & disinfect inside of fridge
• Cleans microwave inside and out
• Cleans & disinfects finished hardwood kitchen table
• Highchair 
• Cabinets
• Pantry doors
• Garbage can in & out

Arts & Crafts area:

• This easel... (wait until you see the after photo)
• Floor in paint area
• Walls in paint area
• Arts and Crafts apron

In the bathroom: (Super easy daily cleaning while kids are in tub)

• Nightly cleaning of shower and tub between big cleans
• Sink - goodbye leftover toothpaste
• Potty Training seat for toilet
• Actual Toilet seat

General germ-free uses:

• Doorknobs
• Light switches
• Back to School gift for teachers
• Grocery store carts (put some in a little zip bag for your diaper bag)
• Cars - because spills happen there too. (always get a lid for your kid's milkshake)
• Outdoor water tables and toys

So that's how I use Clorox Disinfecting Wipes to keep my house germ free! Gearing up for back to school has been so much fun. I can not believe my first child will be off to school in a couple weeks. I'll be sure to send her to school with some wipes to keep the spread of germs at bay in the classroom too!

Are you staying germ-free as you send your little ones back to school?

Preschool at Home: Paintbrush Tip

The unusually cold weather we've had these past couple days has given Savannah a great opportunity to play with a lot of things around the house. She's recently gotten back into painting a lot. The other day she wanted to paint a picture of her brother. Since he wouldn't cooperate and sit still (imagine that for a second, haha) I happily filled in as her model.


Here's my tip for the day. Normally after she paints I soak her brushes in a cup and then I wash them later when I'm cleaning the kitchen. Today when she was done painting I couldn't find my 'soak' cup. Pretty sure I probably threw it away. So I grabbed a set of popsicle molds. I put a brush in each mold with it's own water and cleaning solution. This was just so much cuter to look at during the day, haha...


The popsicle molds are so inexpensive I can always buy another set. The molds work well for paint sponges too. I noticed during the day that the water didn't get all gross the way it normally does in a cup too. What do you think of this idea? Does your child's paintbrushes get nasty like Savannah's?

Cleaning House

Sorry the posts have been so spaced out. We have been so busy and when I do have free time I have been choosing to rest. Since I've been trying to focus on preparing us for the new baby I thought it would be good to finally cave and look for an actual cleaning schedule. *deep sigh* I am a self proclaimed clean freak. Things have to be clean or at least in place. I can not function when the house is messy. I literally shut things down until things get clean again. 

Normally I like to do what we call "Power Hours" of cleaning. Lately due to my lack of energy those power hours have turned into power days. I'll just pick a day during the week and go hard all day. Cleaning every thing from top to bottom. That's exhausting so I figured looking for a real schedule to use as a guide would be helpful. With a new baby coming there's no time like the present to get into a new way of keeping things tidy around here. From time to time I'll read something on social media or hear a woman say, "You know you're doing a good job as a Mom when your floors are dirty." Maybe that's not the exact quote but you know what phrase I'm talking about. I just can't get with that. 

This is the quote...

I'll be the Mom that's secretly going crazy and not totally present with my kids because things are out of order. Call me crazy. (It's ok you wouldn't be the first.) But I have always been this way. It's how I was raised. I would much rather give up something else to be labeled as a good Mom. A clean house does not make me a good Mom but it does make me a lot nicer to be around. I'm not saying things have to be perfectly spotless but I am saying that at least one of the two levels of clean have to be achieved. So here is the pin that I found that will be helping me. It's my new strategy to keep myself sane around here. 

Pinterest

Seems pretty reasonable. How do you all keep things tidy on a schedule? Share your tips in the comments!