My 5 Habits that Pay Off Well:

Hello Loves,

Today, we are going to bring to mind once again the significance of habits. According to Aristotle, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.”  This blog is to highlight five of my organizing related habits that pay me off really well. 

 1: I WRITE THINGS DOWN 

Tell me a fact, a name, an address, some details, an item on your shopping list or even your favorite color; chances are I’ll forget it even before your turn back. I tend to forget things very quickly to an extent that I, while talking, forget name of things I want to refer to. If you live in Pakistan and watch drama serial “bulbulay” then chances are you know Momo is writing this.

Instead of tormenting myself with things I can’t do anything about, I prefer to write things in a format which is organized and easier to use every day (like a practical to-do list, functional address book, etc. Result? I don’t panic and my information is never lost, I don’t use my energy to recall things, nor have to re-think ideas. Guess what? That’s exact why I love labeling.

     2: BREAK DOWN PROJECTS

My sisters say, “Organizing a place is overwhelming.” It might be if the entirety of the project is in itself so scary. But for me, organizing a place and comparing before and after mean so much fun that I have hardly found it consuming. If this passion for organizing is kept aside, my habit of biting only enough at one time that I can chew well helps in not getting bogged down.

For example, refer to last week’s mini project. My younger sister loves collecting makeup. But she never had courage to organize it all as according to her, “I could have never put that back on my own.” She asked me if I could help her and I agreed, of course :o). 

 Instead of tackling everything within one day, I set realistic goal of cleaning cabinet, purging makeup, sorting like items together on one day and organizing them the next day. I let her do the sorting which she did happily. 

 

Here’s what it looks like now. She liked it a lot. Rest of the items are stored in the drawer below (I forgot to take a picture of it :o( ). 

  

3: I START EARLY:

I believe, eleventh hour will be busier than this moment. So, why not start early. It gives me room to plan things in advance that often results in savings, better management of an event, creative ideas, and ample time to deal with Murphy’s Law. As this weekend is the last one before the wedding function, I tried to finish as much as possible. Wrapping wedding gifts is top of the list. Starting early gave me chance to design customized labels for gift wrapping. 

    4: I USE MORNING TRICK:

 

Mornings for me are the proof that you can have another chance to make things right. If I get up with untidy surroundings, I feel depress as if I am the least successful human being on earth ( This is the innocent most statement I say to myself, rest should be and have been censored ). So, in order to have a rocking start and feel energetic throughout the day I do something that sets the momentum. Many people feel making bed is enough but I prefer to set timer for 15-20 minutes and pick up as many things as I possibly can. It includes but not limited to making bed, putting dirty clothes in laundry basket, wiping countertops, putting makeup items back where they belong.  

After these 20 minutes, I feel productive and positive energy doesn’t let me procrastinate on items written on my check list. 

5: I DO THINGS THE NIGHT BEFORE:

 

My mornings are busy just like any other working girl. I can’t afford to panic over wrinkled clothes, lost accessories, dusty shoes, and unorganized handbag. I am more of a night girl and love to have everything ready for the next morning the night before. As far as clothes are concerned, I iron and hang them all in closet over the weekend. It helps so much.

SOMETHING OFF THE RECORD: 

I love, love, love, love, love black dinner set. I saw one at Metro Store and I absolutely adored it. But we were told that it gets scratches after 2-3 uses. I was broken hearted. 

 We opted for white instead. Does it look good? 

Hope you liked this post. What are your 5 habits that serve you well? I would love to hear from you. Till then,

Fabric Baskets:

Dear friends,

You must be thinking, after notoriously long break, that I may have decided to discontinue writing. Aha! Well, absolutely not! Look at the right most area of the page. Yes, you found it right. I am responsible for budgeting and reporting during day time; and, as our company’s budget is going to be presented to board of directors in the first week of December – I am near to losing my sanity. From number crunching to figures munching in excel, I literally found no time to relax let alone finding time for writing a decent blog post.

But, I am overwhelmed by the sheer loveliness of what I have to tell you today. Every Sunday, I show my closet little love to make it ready for the entire week ahead. Trust me, the closet hugs me back and makes me smile for next six days. Today, when I looked at my closet closely I found the bottom of the closet needed solid compartmentalization for my scarfs. Sadly, I couldn’t take before picture or else you would have noticed scarfs were loosely put in shopping bags. Potential for the bottom to get messier quickly was huge. I have to up-do the entire set up multiple times to keep things in order. Today, I said to myself. No more!

Not having proper time, I needed nippy solution. Inspiration came from this post and I was ready with all my tools to transform an ordinary box into a heavenly place for all my scarfs. Disclaimer: I don’t how to sew and can only use needle enough to put things together so all this hard work was the result of using stationery (yes, I used paper clips) and needle.

I started working with this carton that seemed ready-made solution to my scarf-y needs. Things that I used for this mini-project are:

·         Carton

·         Self-printed fabric

·         Paper clips & a needle

·         Lace

·         Greeting Cards of your choice

I wrapped the fabric around the carton. I had little difficulty wrapping it near the corners as I didn’t cut fabric into piece (it was just one big cloth cut for the size of the carton).

As I told you before, I can’t sew and I didn’t have hot glue I had to find something else to keep the fabric intact to the carton. I used paper clips as you can see. Also, I used the front cover of a greeting card to embellish it further. I realized that paper clips are looking offbeat and the basket needed something else to look cuter.

I took a piece of lace and covered the front side with it.

 So, now when everything seemed to be working together, it was the time to dance. Are you ready for the prestige, the final show and the big reveal? Ta da!

It could have been lot better had I not been time constrained. I could have shopped a better, thicker and colorful fabric instead of reusing a white colorless stuff. Also, hot glue would have made it dependable. But at least, it’s helping me use the bottom part of my closet more effectively. So, here are before and after.   

Do share your thoughts and if you have done such a super quick and super cheap project at home that has highlighted the creative side of you. Till then,

 



7 Easy to Tips to Organize your bathroom on budget:

 

A bathroom is the most used space and yet terribly ignored part of the house. Many a times, it’s not given much attention as spending money on a bathroom is the least priority of many. Well, the good news is you don’t need to spend extravagantly to make your bathroom look organized, neat and up graded. With tweaking, creative use of unused items, and little effort you can transform your bathroom in a relaxing area. 

TIP 1: DECLUTTER

You can’t get an organized bathroom if you are not ready to let go of the clutter that has been sitting in the drawers since God knows when. With the mentality that we might need it someday, we keep on hoarding and that makes it difficult to put in place a system to keep things organized. It’s the time to say good bye to expired beauty products, opened bandages and broken tools. Go through each drawer and for every product decide if it’s to be kept and if it really belongs to the bathroom.

TIP 2: CONTAIN IT

Glass containers are a great way to organize small bathroom items. Every household has a nice collection of empty glass jars that can be sterilized to designate places for items like cotton balls, bandages, brushes, rubber bands, bandages, and other smaller products. Mason Jars can be hanged to the wall to keep the counter space free.

TIP 3: USE BASKETS

Organizing beauty products according to needs in baskets is one of my favorite organizing hacks. It gives freedom to return to only those products which I need to get ready in the morning or when it’s time to call it a night. In the morning, when I have more of makeup steps to follow, my makeup basket keeps everything in reach. And, at night, when it’s time to pamper my skin, I keep night baskets handy that holds all the skin care products. Trust me, it saves time, energy and keeps me from going through all the products just to find the desired moisturizer. You can also have mini baskets for manicure, pedicure and other relaxation purposes.

TIP 4: NEW USE OF OLD ITEMS

This is by far the most satisfying trick to organize just about anything. Anyone can go to market to buy organizing products but only few can think of new uses for old items lying around the house. For example, if you have a magazine rack that is lying idle in your garage, put it in use to keep your towels organized. And what could be cuter than bringing little painted flower pots to the bathroom counter to organize cotton balls and other smaller items. And, if feeling excited, turn your towel into a pockets organizer.

TIP 5: MAKE EVERY INCH COUNT

In small bathrooms, space is precious. Instead of whining about lack of space, think of creatively using every possible inch to store bathroom items. I have seen washrooms that may be smaller in space but looked extremely lavish just because of inventive way of looking at the whole picture. Have a corner where free standing toiletry stand doesn’t fit? Let’s use baskets there. Need to place your jars nice and intact? Turn to counters’ doors. Don’t know where to put your favorite decorative item? Use flush tank. Bathroom’s countertop is too small for all the items? Come up with tiered storage.

TIP 6: ORGANIZE UNDER THE SINK AREA

You can double the space by effectively utilizing under the sink area. Instead of making it a place to dump your odds and ends, turn it into a place where everything finds a blissful home. Properly labeled baskets/containers will upgrade your bathroom and will bring a smile to your face.

TIP 7: SHOW IT SOME LOVE EVERY NIGHT

Every night, give your 5-7 minutes to wipe the countertops, pick up thrown items on floor and put back everything that’s out of place. Reward? Next morning, you’ll be saying hello to a clean bathroom and getting ready will much easier.

FLOOR IS YOURS!

What’s your favorite tip to keep bathroom organized? Do you give it the attention it deserves or does it look untidy? Any creative tip that you used to add style to this area of house?

Pictures Credits: 1 /2 / 3 / 4 /5 (a) / 5(b) / 5(c) / 6(a) / 6(b) / 7 / 8 / 9(a) /9(b) / 10 / 11 / 12

 

From Mess to Order | Practical Closet Organizing Tips:

 For countless days, I dreaded opening my closet every morning to find one complete outfit out of the messy cupboard that could be everything but a solution to my clothing needs. Most of the times, either clothes themselves fell out to give me an unexpected hug or I had to pull them out. I did with it as long as I could but then one day I realized it’s time - time to make my closet work for me instead of it to be other way round.

Today, I’m going to share some practical closet organizing tips, to turn your closet into your very own boutique.

TIP 1: START FRESH

“I'm like every other woman: a closet full of clothes, but nothing to wear: So I wear jeans”. - Cameron Diaz

I never knew what I had been sacredly holding on to in my closet until I put everything out. I have talked about strategy of ready, steady and dump before as a first step to organize purse. Literally, unless you go through this painful process of unloading your entire closet, you can’t determine what you need to keep and what is just a piece of junk, claiming your closet’s space. 

After this little scary exercise, your clothes should get divided into three piles: to keep, to donate and to just toss. After starting fresh, you should be left with only those clothes that dignify your personality. You’ll be fairly familiar by now as to what kind of adjustment your closet requires. Adding adjustable shelves dividers, installing more hanging rods and buying some sturdy hangers are some of the things that you need to consider.  

 

TIP 2: HANG AS MANY AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN

“You can have anything you want in life if you dress for it”.

The more clothes you hang, the more you are able to see. Out of sight, Out of mind is one thing that always stands true for me. Unless clothes are hanging as an outfit, I’m hard to call back when there is a need. I definitely find it easier to deal with hanged clothes than the folded ones. No matter, how nicely I treat them, folded clothes get chaotic.

Just a couple of quick tips:

o   In order to make your closet work for you, try to stick to only one type of hangers as it brings symmetry to the closet and visually everything looks pleasing and part of a big piece of puzzle.

o   If one rod is not enough to hang all of your clothes, try doubling your hanging space by installing another rod if your closet is deep enough. Had my closet allowed me, I would have definitely done that to hang jeans and other stuff.

TIP 3: MAKE USE OF EVERY INCH

“I don’t have too much clothes – I just don’t have enough closets”.

I never knew how big my closet was unless I thought creatively to utilize every inch of the closet. And here, I am talking about wall space, doors space, sides and bottom of the closet.

Trust me; just by utilizing all sides of closest you can double the storage space. Personally, I like to repurpose items that are otherwise designed for something else. Not only, it saves me money but also I feel more creative.

Just a couple of quick tips:

o   Install towel bars to hang all your scarves in a tangled-free way.

o   Use over the door pocket organizers to nicely hold folded socks, ties, belts, and or any other smaller item that otherwise feels lost in your closet.

o   No matter how tempted you might be, try storing your shoes out of your main closets. And if you still don’t want those pairs out, store them in clear plastic containers. You can find many practical shoe organizing ideas here.

o   In drawers, stack folded items vertically. This way, you’ll not only be able to see everything at once but also it will increase your drawer’s space.

TIP 4: SEASON SWAPS

At the start of every season, I show my closet little more love and for the rest of the season it loves me back. I am totally against stuffing the closet full with clothes as closet seems smaller and also becomes hard to maintain. At the end of every season, nicely fold those season’s clothes in plastic tackle boxes to give more breathing space to new season’s clothes. These tackle boxes can either be stored at the top shelve of closet (Out of reach) or at the bottom of the closet. I personally like to keep them stored under my bed – that way I can make room for my purses.

Just a little quick tip:

o   Make sure to fold clean clothes. Also, it’s the perfect time to purge all items that are beyond repair or you don’t feel like wearing any more.

 TIP 5: 5 MINUTES EVERY NIGHT

Mornings are busy! But sparing merely 5 minutes for your closet before going to bed is enough to keep your boutique in order.

These are some of the tips that I found practical to keep my closet organized. How do you keep your closet organized? I would love to hear any tip or trick that you would like to share.

Pictures Credit: 1, 2,3, 4(a), 4(b), 4(c), 5(a), 5(b), 5(c)

Organizing Purse: 4 Steps to Organize a messy Purse

Would you be embarrassed if I take a look into your purse right now? If untidy look, wrappers of candies, unorganized receipts, zillions of business cards and stray coins are all that are likely to make you feel embarrassed, it’s time to organize your purse. A chaotic purse gives us a hard time especially when we have to dig for a small item sitting at the bottom of the purse. This post is taking up the challenge to not only clean but organize our messy purses for peace of mind. Following Tips will keep your purse from becoming a dumping ground; and, will make it more functional.

Organize your handbag using this step-by-step guide and keep it organized by giving it 30 minutes of your attention every weekend.

 

WHAT WILL YOU NEED?

 

      o   Zippered Pouches

o   A Poly Envelope

o   Determination