cleaning
5 Practical Uses for Soda Crates
I’m a big fan of using what you have on hand to decorate and organize your home. I happen to own some vintage soda crates, so today I’m sharing 5 practical uses for soda crates. None of these practical uses involve soda. Or pop. Or soda pop. Or Coke. Or whatever that bubbly goodness is called where you live. Such a shame. Practical Uses for Soda Crates #1: Sunscreen Caddy With a pool in our backyard, we need a sunscreen caddy to control the various bottles of sunscreen and bug spray that summer requires. I keep the sunscreen right by the pool towels, so everything we need for an afternoon…
Wood Crate Drawer Organizer
There are a million and one products you can buy to organize your dresser drawers. I own some of them! Unfortunately, these organization systems are only as good as the person using them. Have you ever met a 9-year-old boy? Organizing is not at the top of the to-do list for my 9-year-old. I’m sure there are 9-year-olds out there who could make Marie Kondo herself weep with joy at the sight of their neatly folded shirts and pants. But again, that’s not my child right now. Maybe someday he will turn over a new leaf and his spouse will thank me for raising him up right, but let’s not…
5 Kitchen Organization Strategies I Use Wherever We Move
Let’s just all admit that we are curious about how other people live. Even if it is highly curated or grossly exaggerated, that’s why reality TV, HGTV, social media and magazines stay in business. I once had a job that required me to really consider how other people might live in order to help design homes that would function well for them. I even became certified as a focus group moderator so that I could conduct some of this primary research myself. People opened up and shared all sorts of interesting things during these focus groups and a hot topic was always kitchen design. Just because a kitchen looks pretty…
Update: Making the Switch to Linen Bath Towels
A couple of year ago I posed the question: Should I switch to linen bath towels? You can count on me to ask the hard-hitting questions. At the time I was living in Ireland and drying clothes outside on the line was the norm. Since Ireland has a well-deserved reputation for raining A LOT, I hung clothes indoors to dry on a rack next to our radiators too. Cotton bath towels were tricky to wash in a teeny tiny washing machine (many European washing machines are smaller than their U.S. counterparts) and even trickier to dry, so that’s what led me down the rabbit hole of linen bath towels. In…
Why Didn’t I Do This Earlier? Reusing Silica Gel Packets
We recently bought a mattress in a box from Amazon, but before I tell you THAT story, I have to tell you THIS story. This story is about the other thing that was in the box besides a squished up mattress. Giant silica gel packets. I’m not kidding you. These things were as big as my palm. And for the first time in my life, I thought, “Hey, Smarty Pants! Maybe you should reuse those silica gel packets.” The lightbulb burns bright around here every once in awhile. Do you reuse silica gel packets? If so, why didn’t you tell me? I thought we were friends! Friends tell friends smart…
Wardrobe Malfunctions Happen
Something fun happened, so I thought I’d overshare with all of you. A couple of weeks ago, Buzzfeed included one of my sewing hacks in their article on “avoiding a wardrobe malfunction.” Cool, right? Buzzfeed is one of the 100 most visited websites in the U.S. (when I checked), so this is especially great for my itty-bitty site. Since their article was about avoiding wardrobe malfunctions, let’s talk about the times I have NOT avoided a wardrobe malfunction. I’ve nursed a very enthusiastic baby in public. If you’re a mom, you’ll know some babies consider nursing an Olympic sport with arms, legs and nursing covers flying everywhere. More than once…
One Touch Cleaning Rule
Do you know how many titles I went through for this post trying to keep it clean (no pun intended) and not suggestive? Ha! Still not sure I succeeded. I recently read an article on Apartment Therapy about a simple strategy for keeping your home tidy. You had me at simple, Apartment Therapy. I was hoping thinking perhaps the simple strategy was to hire a housekeeper. And then the universe laughed. In other words, nope. Not the strategy they were advocating. But it was almost, if I use a very loose definition of that word, as good. It was to use ONE and only one touch to move an item from…
Repurposing Denim Belt Loops to Hang Towels
I recently read a New York Times article entitled 5 Cheap(ish) Things That Could Disproportionately Improve Your Life. I’m ALL about improving my life on the cheap(ish). The author, Tim Herrera, wrote this: “I never would’ve thought a thin, black, six-foot iPhone charging cable would change my life. Yet here we are, and that magic cable is the Amazon Basics lightning-to-USB iPhone charging cable (also available in micro-USB). This little wonder of PVC and copper wiring solves an irritatingly modern non-problem problem: the three-foot leash that is the stock charging cable usually bundled with most smartphones. Cue the tiny violin. But once you’re able to roam just a little farther,…
Two Easy Ways to Corral Hair Bands
I can open a drawer a million times and the mess doesn’t bother me. At least not enough for me to do anything about it. And then… I can’t explain it. Something snaps. I find myself saying to no one in particular, “what kind of animals live in this house? Why is this drawer such a gross disaster?” I have a silverware tray in a bathroom drawer to organize my daughter’s hair stuff. As you can see, it’s working super well. *sigh* Handy Husband’s idea for organizing this drawer was short hair. That idea was met by an epic level of eye rolling by our 10-year-old daughter. *sigh* Thank goodness…
Linen Bath Towels: Should I Make the Switch?
I keep tripping over linen bath towels. Online, not literally. In my own house I’m tripping over regular cotton towels. Note to self: put towel hooks at height where kids can reach them. It has me wondering, should I make the switch from cotton (terry cloth) towels to linen towels? I know, I know. It’s a big question for a Monday. Real life changing stuff here. Photo by Anthropologie – More bathroom photos According to what I’ve read, linen bath towels are more absorbent than cotton towels. They are faster drying, so no musty smells. They take up less space. They last longer – up to 30 years! Craziness. Apparently, linen towels get…
