Joyful Job Jar

You know those little decluttering and straightening jobs that always seem to take a back burner? Well, if you're anything like me you can think of about 20 things you'd rather do than declutter the junk drawer or the hall closet. I actually enjoy organizing things, but sometimes getting started is really hard for me. To give myself renewed motivation I decided to make a "job jar" for myself. I wanted it to have a catchy, alliterative name and since I couldn't find a synonym for "dreaded" that started with "j" I decided to be positive and call it the "Joyful Job Jar." Now I just need to generate some joy about using it. Haha

I used an empty peanut butter jar and printed two labels for it.






It's funny..........I don't mind doing laundry at all and I'm almost always caught up on my laundry tasks. Hey! Laundry is a joyful job for Laura!! Yay!!




I cut up a bunch of slips of paper and wrote a decluttering type job on each of them. When I have an extra 15-30 minutes I am committing myself to reaching into the jar, pulling out a task and tackling it.




See all those innocent little pieces of folded paper? I am about to reach into this very jar and pull out a job. I am on my second snow day in a row and didn't accomplish much yesterday. I am determined to make today more productive. Here goes.................and the joyful job of the day will be..........."declutter cabinets in basement kitchen." Our home has 2 kitchens. Not because I am a prolific cook but because that's what it had when we moved in. We use the cabinets in the downstairs kitchen to store a VARIETY of things which I guess I will now go and sort out. Can you sense my joyfulness? Me neither. Oh well..........off to the basement. I would love to hear how you discipline yourselves to complete your most dreaded and annoying of tasks.

Randomness

One thing I wanted to post about is Muffin Tin lunches. I think I wrote about these last summer on my other (the original) blog. However, they are really great so I thought I'd write again. This is one of the best ways I've found to get my 4 year old to eat a balanced lunch. I simply place a different healthy food in each compartment. He loves it and I feel good about what he's eaten. Below is what I put in his tin today: (top L-R: ranch dressing, cheese crackers, pudding; bottom L-R: carrots, cheese cubes, blueberries). I have found that he eats a lot more and a wider variety when I serve his food this way.

Next on the random list................check out this fabulous lamp I found at a yard sale today for.................$1!! It is so unique and gorgeous. When I brought it home DH said, "What are you going to do with all these lamps you're bringing home?" Ummmmm, hello! I'm going to create ambiance in our home.

One other thing I don't think I posted about.........I recently purchased a Cubicals organizer for our home. I have one at school in my office and LOVE it! Each canvas bin holds SO MUCH STUFF!

Just to keep things real.......the next photo shows the corner of our office BEFORE I got the organizer in place. Now the toys have their own little drawers and my boys are (for the most part) keeping things better organized and putting them away better. It also helps them more easily find what they want to play with.

The next two photos show the contents of two of the drawers. One holds all our toy animals and another all our toy vehicles. These bins seriously hold SO MUCH stuff. They're awesome. I bought the whole set-up at Target..........I waited for it to go on sale first. It usually does go on sale a few times per year.

The next photo shows the way I'm using the same organizer in my office at school. I have a bin for each month Sept-May which holds all my seasonal decorations and materials.

To fancy up the drawers of this one I made tags labeled with the name of each month and tied on decorative ribbons.

Here's a close-up of my "September" drawer handle.

Continuing the Bedroom Makeover

Even though Flylady has moved on to the next "zone" this week (the living room), I have continued to be busy working in my bedroom to make it a haven. I am really happy with another little corner that I've decluttered and redecorated using things I found when I shopped my own house. Below you can see a wooden bookshelf that was originally in this space. As I mentioned in a previous post, I got rid of a bunch of books, moved some to my son's room, and consolidated the rest onto another bookshelf that was in our bedroom.

Below you can see the "new" bookshelf in its new spot. Previously the top of this shelf was stacked with books and covered with dust. I decided to intentionally decorate it to prevent me from cluttering it up again. I found the lamp, the candle cozy, candle, velvet runner, Jesus picture AND frame all in my own closets during decluttering. Who knew?

I love this picture of Jesus laughing. My mother in law gave it to my husband and I many years ago. I had forgotten about it and was pleased to find it in a tub in one of our closets. The frame it was in was bent, but I found the wooden frame in the same tub. My husband was really excited to see this picture in our room. He thought it was lost for good.

I found the velvet runner shown below in my youngest son's closet stashed way up on a top shelf. I have childhood memories of this runner. My mom always kept it on top of a marble-topped table in our living room with a certain lamp on top of it. She gave it to me a while back and I just threw it up on a shelf and forgot about it. Turns out it is perfect with the colors in our bedroom and fits just right on top of this bookshelf. I love the nostalgia of this piece (and the fringe is fun too!).

Here is a close-up of the electric candle cozy I found in our hallway linen closet. I bought this years ago to have in my classroom and had forgotten about it. I was actually about to toss it in the donation pile when I realized it would be great in our bedroom. I used to light candles a lot before kids but haven't much lately. This is great because it melts the wax in a jar candle and distributes the scent without having to light the candle. I've been turning it on in the evening after the boys are in bed and it feels like such a treat to curl up in bed with a book and to smell a fragrant candle.

The lamp on the bookshelf is also one I found in a closet. I was just about to put it in the donation pile too when I realized that it would be great on top of this shelf. My bedroom looks so cozy and inviting at nighttime now with my new bedside lamps and this additional one. One of the decorating blogs I've been reading really emphasizes collecting a lot of lamps to scatter throughout your home to boost the coziness factor. I think I'm starting to see what they're talking about! Some bloggy decorating divas even have cute little lamps in their bathrooms and laundry rooms. That could be on the horizon for me too! I love the look of diffused light that a lamp provides. So much better than an overhead light!!

Now I'd like to show you what became of the shelf I removed from the bedroom. It is a little too country looking with the heart cut-out and I'm thinking of painting and sanding it to "shabby" it up a bit. However, we needed a place in the kitchen to store our produce. Originally we had our produce in a hanging basket that broke several months ago. Since then we've been piling them all into a large plastic bowl on the counter. This is taking up a lot of counter space that I wanted back. I had a lightbulb moment and realized that my bookshelf would be perfect for this purpose. The photo below shows the shelf with some baskets I already had on hand which I'm using to hold the veggies and fruits. I took the photo in front of the door, but the shelf is actually positioned against a wall.

This divided basket was originally on a hutch in our kitchen. The hutch was on my list to declutter this weekend and I realized I could find another use for the basket. Now it is just right for holding our produce.

Thanks for joining me on my little bedroom (and kitchen) tour. Maybe I'll post a decorating challenge complete with Mr. Linky one of these days. It would be so fun to see how others are beautifying their living spaces.

Update on the Bedroom Makeover

Last Sunday I wrote about my plan to makeover my bedroom during this past week. My main goal was to clean and declutter; however, I also wanted to at least start "shopping" my house for things to use to make the bedroom a more inviting space. I have made pretty good progress even though I had a super busy week, DH was out of town for a few days, and our beloved dog passed away. I am not finished with what I want to accomplish in this space, but I thought I would post what I've done so far.

Below is a photo of one of the two lamps that I originally had in this room, one on each nightstand. I found new ones today at our local dollar store for $10 each and am planning to place the old ones on Craigslist. I originally thought I would spray paint the bases of the gold lamps, but decided that I wanted a different style. When I found the ones at the dollar store, my decision was clinched.

Below is the photo of my new lamp(s). I actually wanted red shades but thought I'd have to purchase or make them. I was really excited to find these with the red shades already included. When I picked these out at the dollar store, I thought I would spray paint the bases white, but once I put them in place, I think I like them as is. I'll live with them a while to be sure, but for now I'm planning on keeping them just the way they are.

The next photo shows a bookshelf that was originally right next to my bedroom closet. I had already purged some books from this shelf before taking the photo.

I consolidated books from the shelf shown above with some books from another bookcase I had in the bedroom and moved the other bookcase into this spot. I forgot to take a photo of it, but did take a photo of the wreath I hung above the bookcase. You can see that below. I've had this wreath for years, but it's been in a closet not being used. It adds the perfect color and texture to my room. I have some plans for the top of the bookcase right below the wreath and will post about that later.



The quilt rack shown below and the metal decorations above it are now in the space where the bookcase was before. Removing one bookcase and repositioning the other has really opened up the space in the bedroom. I had forgotten to take a before picture of this part of the bedroom. The metal squares are ones I've had for years that I rediscovered this week when decluttering my writing desk. It's amazing what you can find when you declutter and shop your own home!

The next picture shows how the top of my dresser has looked for the past several months. Totally cluttered! It has about killed me to walk past it in this state each day since starting Flylady. But I was determined to wait to tackle my bedroom until it came up as a "zone" which wasn't until this week.

The next photo shows a close-up of the mirrored tray that I've had on my dresser for years. As you can see it was a resting place for odds and ends (and lots of dust!).

Yay! Now my dresser is decluttered and beautiful. I will be so motivated to keep it this way. You can really see the surface of this antique piece and the amazing detail of the birds-eye maple. My dad used this dresser as a child. I am so grateful to have it.

This is a close-up of the mirrored tray that was previously so cluttered. I am now thinking about painting the whole thing antique white. I think that would look much better with the other accents in the space.

Since I've been FLYing with Flylady and decluttering, I am getting really motivated to not only declutter and deep clean my living space, but also to fill it with beautiful things. I don't like a lot of "things" to clutter up a space, but I'm talking about some intentional decorating to make things more pleasant and finished. I've found a few great blogs that are totally devoted to frugal decorating and I have a bunch of pieces that I can't wait to repurpose and restyle with some spray paint. I've already bought the paint, but was totally bummed out that it's been damp and rainy today (and will be tomorrow) so I can't paint this weekend. Oh well............ Here are the links to a few great decorating blogs I've found. Be prepared to spend a lot of time looking at the great ideas.

The Shabby Nest

Enchantresses Three

Nesting Place

Southern Hospitality

Thrifty Decor Chick

The gals who write these blogs are SO creative. I am so inspired to get busy and create some great things for my home. I already have plans to spray paint a shelf from our kitchen antique white and hang it over our bed. I have a bunch of old photos from my family and DH's family that are in mismatched frames. I am going to spray paint all the frames antique white and place them on the shelf above the bed. I also have some more great items that are waiting for sunny weather to get their spray paint makeover. (BTW........I've never spray painted anything in my life that I can recall. Should be interesting..........)

Bedroom Makeover

OK.........I really hope DH won't be horrified by this post because truly in these photos our bedroom looks worse than I thought it did. As you know if you've been reading for a while, I have been trying to follow Flylady for about the last month. I've been diligently going through my house room by room, closet by closet, cluttered surface by cluttered surface, drawer by drawer and de-cluttering. It feels really good to purge and even better to thoroughly clean the newly decluttered areas. I knew our bedroom needed work, but I was patiently waiting until the Master Bedroom came up as a Zone on Flylady's schedule of zones and I was meanwhile working my decluttering magic in other areas of the house. Flylady really emphasizes staying focused and not getting distracted. It's been hard because as you see in the photos in this post I have been walking right past a lot of clutter in my bedroom every day. So I'm writing this to come clean once and for all. During the next several days I am going to be focused on decluttering my bedroom and making it a haven within my home. Flylady says you should treat your bedroom like a hotel room and I hope to get ours closer to that by the end of the week. So here are the "before" photos. Hopefully my "after" photos will show a good contrast to what you see here.
This is the view of our bedroom from the doorway. I purposely didn't move anything before I took the photo. So there's clothing on the bed (along with a cat) and a bunch of stuff on the floor.



Here is this awesome writing desk I bought many years ago in an antique store. I recently spent some time going through it on the inside and reorganizing it. The paper clutter on the floor is actually headed to the burning barrel after being purged from the desk.



And here is one of the two dressers in the room. It is from my dad's childhood home and is a beautiful piece. Sadly, it's covered with clutter as is the floor next to it. But not for long!



This pile of hangers is from a closet decluttering experience in my oldest son's room and I just need to add these to my stash of adult-sized hangers. Not sure why my little one's tool box is sitting there, but it has been for a long time. It will take me about 6 steps to put it in the right spot........HIS bedroom! And about 10 steps to put the 2 pairs of shoes into their right spot........MY CLOSET!



This is one of two bookshelves in our room. I have recently purged a bunch of books and am actually planning on finding other homes (either in our house or someone else's) for the books shown here. I plan to remove this shelf from our bedroom completely. Not sure why there's lotion on the floor.........hmmm........should be easy to fix that one.



UGH! I hate this next one. This is the clutter that has accumulated between the wall and my side of the bed. It will probably take me less than 3 minutes to fix this.

Here's the top of the dresser I showed a few photos ago. Being a horizontal surface, it tends to collect a lot of "stuff." By the end of my makeover, I hope much more of the surface will be visible and that it will look neat and pretty. The wreath in the picture is one I found during a recent decluttering episode. I am thinking of hanging it above our bed along with three white metal pieces I found when cleaning the writing desk.

I found the mirrored tray shown below at a thrift store many years ago. Over the years it has become a repository for my necklaces since I haven't had a better way to store them. I recently bought a belt hanger that will be used to store my necklaces from now on. So be prepared to see a shiny, polished tray here in the near future. I have a perfect little candle that I am planning to put on this tray. You can see it kind of in the photo above on the far left.

You can see I have some great pieces of furniture in this space. Hopefully they can become more of a focal point once I'm finished with my "missions" from Flylady this week. A main reason I'm posting this is that I really believe in the Flylady system after trying it for the past several weeks. This is a really crazy week for me. DH is out of town for a few days and my oldest son has soccer games 3 out of the next 5 nights. I will be spending more time than ever running/driving from here to there and keeping on top of everything. However, I truly believe that I'll be able to tackle this project even in the midst of it by taking Babysteps. I'll try to post daily to keep you updated. If I can do this during the next 5 days, then any of you reading this can tackle those tasks you've been putting off.

Aaaahhh............much betta!

After MUCH effort, the craft room has been reorganized! Yay! I actually reorganized it last summer and wrote about it on my other blog (which was my ONLY blog at that time since I wasn't crazy yet!) and you can read about that here if you are so inclined. This time around I dug into things a lot more and got rid of a bunch of craft supplies that I didn't think I would use. Believe me, I still have enough to outfit a Brownie troop for several years. Below you can see one view of my newly organized space.....this photo is taken from the doorway. I decided to allocate one long wall to my scrapbooking materials and the opposite wall to sewing since I have so much more room now. This photo shows the scrapbooking side.



And this photo shows the sewing side (on the left) and a shelf that I moved downstairs to hold all the boys' scrapbooks. I used to have them in the white cabinet that you will see in a moment, but decided to put a bunch of them on a shelf that kind of displays them and makes them more accessible. My oldest son immediately pulled out two of his books to look at when he got home from school today and realized he could actually walk into the room now without stepping on stuff. So I'm really glad I put their books on the shelf.




Here's a better photo of the sewing space. The table on the left is for cutting fabric and the one on the right will hold my sewing machine which is now in the case beside the chair until I pull it out for my next project. I am getting pretty motivated to work on something in this new space!



The next photo shows a close-up of the scrapbooking table with easily accessible paper and tools and a little lamp for extra lighting.

To the left of the scrapbooking table is a cart with drawers that hold my rubber stamps and stamp pads and the white cabinet which holds a BUNCH of stuff including more scrapbooks that didn't fit on the shelf.

Here is the inside of the cabinet with sewing and scrapbooking things neatly organized. I love this cabinet. We bought it several years ago at Menard's and it holds so much and was pretty cheap.

This photo shows the two shelves above the scrapbooking table. The drawer organizers you see on the bottom shelf used to hold my 8 1/2 X 11 scrapbooking paper and paper scraps. I have reorganized the paper and now these drawers hold various scrapbooking and crafting supplies along with my sticker collection. I also love the little clear boxes on the top shelf. I bought them at Wal-Mart and they have many sizes. The lids are attached and snap shut. These are really inexpensive and are great for organizing. I use them all over my house.

This is the left side of the shelves with my crafting books on top and my 12X12 paper organizers on the bottom. I recently gave up my cart which had lots of my larger scrapbooking paper. It has been repurposed for use by my oldest son. You can read about that here if you want. So.....I bought the 3 drawer organizer at Hobby Lobby and divided my papers by color. I had originally bought the case you see with the pink suitcases on it, but it didn't even come close to holding all my 12X12 paper once I pulled everything out and started sorting it.

The next photo shows how I've organized my scrapbooking paper that isn't 12X12. I had two large file organizers from my days as a Creative Memories consultant. I used one to hold the 10X12 inch paper that CM sells and one to hold my 8 1/2 X 11 inch paper that used to be in the drawer organizers. The paper is organized by color and sits on the left side of my scrapbooking table.

As I mentioned before, I had saved scraps of cardstock and paper from scrapbooking for many years and had it organized by color into individual drawers. While I do use my scraps whenever I can, as I reorganized I realized that the scraps were taking up so much room that could be better utilized. So I decided to recycle most of my scraps and try a new system. The clear box you see in the next photo will sit below my scrapbooking table to hold miscellaneous scraps. Once it becomes too full, I'll have to purge again.

Aaah.........it feels SO good to have my basement tidy again. It has been a big effort, but tonight even DH commented that it is so nice and relaxing to have the clutter cleared up. The back of my van is full of more items headed for donation. This will be my third big vanload since I started Flylady. I am making good headway though and may only have a few more trips to make before I can declare my house "de-cluttered!" I'm really excited to get to that point because then I can start really focusing on deep-cleaning the Zones as they come up. It is so hard not to get over-zealous. I still have some de-cluttering to do in our master bedroom and it's hard to walk past it every day and not dig into it. But I've tried really hard to follow Flylady's advice and not get distracted. Now that the craft room and basement are organized, I have a list of other places that need to be decluttered and I will diligently work on them a little at a time until they are all crossed off my list. Now I am going to sign off and go read in bed! Yay for me!