Organizing Car:

One sixer after the other!

I had a very productive week as I spent most of time amidst organizing tools, pretty wrapping sheets, beads, glues, and of course clutter as well. Excitement of de-cluttering a space is so rewarding that it sets the momentum; you don’t want to stop and starts another project on your to-do list. Energy, of seeing a space respiring, gets you going.

So, your highness, I folded my sleeves and decided to give my brother a favor by asking him if I could clean/organize his car. He, happily, said yes! He was grinning when I said, “your car is so unorganized that it will get me perfect before and after pictures”. But I stopped chuckling when I opened the door and found out there was lot that needed my attention. First thing first, let me help you have a look at my brother’s car.      

 

Grey, vitz, is what I intend to take a crack at. So, mission started with making a space in the garage and taking the black bird out.

Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. It doesn’t seem to be affected by my brother’s careless care-free nature from outside. I know you must be very excited to peek inside as I once was, sighing! Get ready, don’t laugh what you are about to see but you are free to relate if your (or your loved ones) car seems something like this. Here is another one!

  When I opened the front drawer, voila! A flood of papers and technical gadgets came out (some ketchup too).

I started off with cleaning the rugs, what a bad idea that was. I cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned and continued cleaning for good half an hour but those rugs seemed to have secretly holding on to all the sand of Sahara Desert.

Please say, it seems little better. O thanks a lot! Now I’m done with all the sand on the ground, and it’s time to deal with the paper clutter that rested hmmmm everywhere. For I to contend with papers, I first needed to understand their kind. I categorized them in four piles.

1)         Important documents: Like car registration papers, driving license, car related warranties etc. Storage type: Permanent

2)         Entry tickets: These tickets needed to be stored temporary for like a month or so.

3)         Paper Money: It needed secret, but easily accessible storage.

4)         Trash: to be thrown out that instant.

Sorting out made it much easier: divide and conquer. I must notify here that vitz comes with lots…n lots of compartments so it’s definitely an organized car by its very nature. So, for many things, I used built-in storage.

Let’s start with important documents. Such kind of documents needed to be kept secured. Poly envelope? What an idea! I nicely folded important documents and put them in a poly envelope, labeled it and TADA!

Things started coming together at last. I chose front drawer for important papers along with techy gadgets and a body spray. Front drawer is easily accessible, large enough to hold these many things and keep things out of reach for kids.

Entry tickets couldn’t be stored in a drawer like that as they needed to be easily reached within seconds. Also, I know my brother, he wouldn’t have used a system that required hard work and would have allowed entry tickets to wander instead of opening and closing a poly envelope twice a day. Thinking! Thinking! Thinking! Whoa! Solution was as simple as a paper clip. I just needed a paper clip to encage all the papers.

 Money, I stored in a small compartment near the steering wheel and trash was thrown out. Next biggest challenge was wires. I had two options. Either use one of already built-in compartments or hang them on an adhesive hook, stuck to the side door, like this:

I liked adhesive hook idea more; but, unfortunately, it wasn’t my car and my brother didn’t want a girly hook with a flower on it. Yeah, sad it is! Now I was forced to put wires in the little compartment beneath the steering wheel. But, I am happy as long as wires are contained and organized.

Much better, right?  But, I’m not done yet. I reckoned this car needed what could keep it organized. Yes, a dustbin! I had something that was perfect but lacked color, fun and glam.

I use a piece of fabric and stuck it to the container using all-purpose glue. How cute is this?

For label, I re-purposed a gift card (white base) and a wedding card (golden netted circle): Match made in heaven. This basket is sturdy, looks elegant, gives combo of beautiful colors and above all seems picture-perfect.

 Here’s the final look!

I wish I could have it imprinted on the windshield, " You have every right to keep it clean." Hope, you are still with me.

 

Do give me your feedback. Till then,

9 Things you Need for an organized Entryway:

Don’t kill me for I was supposed to share what I did with Pringles cans to repurpose them into beautiful penholders as I promised in this post. I haven’t forgotten about that nor have I changed my mind. It’s just that those cans still need final touches and lovely beads on them. Once ready, I promise to share it with you guys before anyone else. For now, let’s talk about entryways.

We got shifted to our new home this June and, honestly, we are still in the midst of decorating it, making it top notch or in other words making it feel like home. Few days back, I was noticing our dining table was getting cluttered with mails, magazines, unpaid bills, invitation cards, keys, and stuff that males of the home like to dump at the end of the day. Situation was getting worse and out of control as before serving dinner, table needed to be cleared and misplaced items remained astray until before getting settled on dining table again. Huh Ha!

I knew our home needed an organized entryway to let the clutter at bay. Here is the list of nine items that you need to have an organized entryway.

ITEM # 1: STORAGE SPACE

Storage is the key to have an organized entryway as the things that need to be brought in or taken out of the home find their happy place. For example if you don’t want to pull you hair out every morning finding keys then you better have a designated space for them. I adore having a place to put away shoes. I have my room shoe cupboard upstairs; so, when I come home and feel too tired to rush to my room I need abode for my sandals – of course, I don’t want them to play hide and seek with me.

 

ITEM 2: HOOKS

I have to confess; below picture of an entryway with hooks is lot better than what one envisions. An entryway is the first to reflect your home style, compel your guest to say wow and hug you when you return home.

ITEM 3: DRAWER TO DUMP THINGS

A drawer that gives you liberty to dump things quickly without having to look them like a mess is such a great blessing. Smaller containers fit like heaven in drawers to hold keys, wallets, change, coins, watch, sun glasses and/or other necessary items that you have to carry each day. Instead of bringing them in, it’s a safe choice to leave them in the drawer.

ITEM 4: MEMO BOARD

I can’t stress enough as to why a memo board is a life saver, an absolute must have. Every paper that comes to your home or needs to leave it one day - regardless if its time constrained or not – should go through the memo board. Separate inbox and outbox channelizes the circulation of papers.

ITEM 5: BASKETS

I love baskets so much. In matter of time, they can give a very neat look to the whole scene. And, it’s not merely about looks. The way they add functionality to a place is so amazing.

ITEM 6: SEATING ARRANGEMENT

Enough said!

 ITEM 7: GOOD QUALITY RUG

A good quality rug can introduce a burst of colors to the entryway with its elegant presence. It reminds me I’m back to my cozy, comfortable home and for guest it’s a gentle reminder to leave their shoes at the door. 

ITEM 8: A MIRROR

No matter how much time I spend in front of the mirror, I don’t feel confident leaving home without having to look at myself again. It acts as the final verdict to assure me I’m looking my best and I’m ready better than ever to meet the outside world.

ITEM 9: YOUR PERSONAL STYLE

Any part of the home doesn’t start looking real unless you pour your personal style into it. It should speak on your behalf and represent your personal style even if takes trying something new and experimenting with bold colors.

Anything you feel is important to keep an entryway organized? I would love to know. Till then,

Photo Credits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Let's Organize Living Room:

Living room is the happiest place in any home where individual members start sounding more like family. At my place, living room serves many functions – it’s an entertainment area, dining hall, reading corner, games’ zone, and a family space. With so much traffic, and of course, so many functions to serve, I knew my living room needed more than daily cleaning to stay organized. Here are some tips that help me big time in keeping it neat, orderly and fun. It’s our home’s happy space; and, I wanted its every corner to be cozy enough to make the family time relaxing, joyous and treasured. 

 

FUNCTIONAL ZONES:

Okay, in order to make your living room practical and clutter free, you first need to understand the purposes this room gets used for. This helped me equipping it with right furniture and dividing it in distinctive zones. Clear demarcation of distinctive zones doesn’t require erecting up a cemented wall; rather, sometimes free standing storage shelves do the double duty. They nicely add to the room storage and, without looking visually odd, smoothly separate one zone from the other.

Why it’s important? It keeps all the items belonging to one type of function at one place. For example, you might be using your living room as your home office. You would definitely not like to search for necessary business receipts under the sofa, on the side table, and/ or worse mixed with magazines.

Functional zones provide peace of mind and in a smaller area give the feeling of larger spaces. You force yourself to leave one particular type of work at one place to start doing another type of work. At least it compels me to be disciplined to leave my laptop at office desk and have food on the dining table.

ENTERTAINMENT CENTER:

Entertainment center can either be the root cause of the mess or a focal point of the room. Try to buy such furniture that lets you keep wires out of sight. If you are able to make this heart of the room clean, the entire room will look sparkling.

TURN WALLS INTO STORAGE:

In smaller homes, storage is always an issue; and, I always recommend using walls optimally to increase storage. Well, living room’s walls are the best to hold all my books and living room related particulars. Stuffing entertainment room with furniture just to increase few notches of storage, certainly, is not the real solution.

MINI BASKET FOR REMOTE CONTROLS:

AHHH! Lost remote control frustrates me so much. Putting every remote control in a small basket is a big life saver for me. I am now developing a habit of putting remotes back in baskets when I am done watching TV. So, yeah I’m now 100% sure where to find this magical wand again.

NEW RULES TO FOLLOW:

ü  If your living room isn’t spacious enough for full size furniture, skip the conventions. Half sized furniture does just fine.

ü  For magazines, stick to the rule of throwing one magazine out before bringing new one in.

ü  After every gathering, spare five minutes to reset the living room.

FLOOR IS YOURS:

How to do you keep your living room clutter free and yet relaxing and fun. I would love to hear your tips.

Pictures Credit: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6