Laundry Room Updates!

This post has been a long time coming!!!  We have finally finished the last of our laundry room updates, so I'm ready to share all the pics!!!

When we first moved into this house seven years ago, I knew that the laundry room was not ideal.  Of course I would love a large room where I could separate all the colors of clothing, have a lovely countertop to fold it all, and a long, sturdy bar to hang-dry all my.....well, pretty much everything of mine gets air dried!!! But without a big renovation, I'm stuck with this "area!" This little room gets lots of traffic, as it's the only way to get to the garage from inside the house.  This also means it's the first room we come to when we enter the house from the garage.

If you look beyond the heaping piles of clothes and clutter, you can see that it had nice cabinets above the washer and dryer.  There was also a small utility sink with storage underneath.  I added the bar for air-drying our clothes, as well as the two sets of hooks on the opposite wall.  But the room was not working for us.  WHAT A MESS!!!!!!!!

What I hated most about this laundry room:

1.  There was no place to store laundry baskets

2. That utility sink was useless (we have a large one in the basement)

3. There was no storage for backpacks, winter stuff, etc.

I reeeeeeally wanted to just install beautiful built-in lockers and move the laundry upstairs somewhere.  But that costs money.  Actually, it would probably cost a A LOT of money!  Not to mention, we'd have to give up a big section of our guest bedroom or renovate the master bathroom to get it done.

So after many months of brainstorming and planning, I came up with a fairly inexpensive solution.  And after one year of living with the new and improved set-up, I can say that I am very, very glad we did it!  It has worked great!!!!!!

First we removed that awful utility sink and cabinet. 

We removed the cabinets and relocated them to the garage. 

Then we stacked the washer and dryer by using a simple kit from Amazon.

The final step was to find a something that would hold the "stuff." We needed a place for all the laundry supplies, of course, but also: light bulbs, extension cords, backpacks, hats & gloves, the kids' socks...... I looked for weeks and weeks for the perfect piece that had a bench and hooks and cubbies. But in the end, we found this cabinet from IKEA!!!  Over one year later, I have NO complaints about it!!!!  

Here it is before we had the walls patched and painted.  We also had to get a new washer and dryer a few months ago, so you may notice that in the photos at the end.

The shelves store light bulbs, extension cords, laundry and cleaning supplies, and laundry baskets.  The kids each have a drawer for their socks and the other two drawers hold hats, gloves, scarves, etc.  The bottom cubbies are perfect for backpacks, cheer bags, basketball bags, etc.!

I found the collapsible rod on Amazon, so now I have a great place to air dry all my jeans and sweaters.  

At some point, I'd love to update the flooring, but for now, I'm just happy that the room is functional! 

Brain Unload Free Printable

[BRAIN UNLOAD - PUMPKIN LATTE]

[BRAIN UNLOAD - HOT COCOA]

Hi everyone!  I know things can get a little overwhelming this time of year with Thanksgiving, Christmas, decorating, traveling, guests, parties, etc...!!  So I have create a brain unload page to share!  Sometimes it helps to just empty that mental to-do list onto paper and tackle one thing at a time!  Remember you're only human and don't be afraid to delegate!!!!

:) Jamie

In order to keep these printables FREE, I do not offer customization.  Please visit my Etsy shop for custom order inquiries and price quotes!

Background by:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheDigiRainbow and

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Prettygrafikdesign

For your personal use only.  Professional printing okay.

Jamie My Fashionable Designs

Etsy | Blog | Facebook | Instagram 

Free Printable: Most Important List

Hello, everyone!  I know I've posted a lot of planning and list printables lately!  I hope you'll find this one useful during this upcoming season of chaos!!  I personally tend to be scattered and overwhelmed when I don't have a written to-do list of my most important things for the day.  It helps me focus on the tasks that are high priority. So....here is a Most Important printable I'm happy to share!

Background by: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LagartixaShop
Designed by Jamie/fashionablemoms.blogspot.com for your personal use

SaveSave

Free Printable: Brain Unload for November & December

Hi everybody!!  Here are some Brain Unload printables for the very busy months of November and December!  Don't forget to take some time for yourself in all the hustle and bustle of the holidays!! :)

Backgrounds by:
https://creativemarket.com/caitlin.sheffer
https://www.etsy.com/shop/Prettygrafikdesign
Designed for your personal use by Jamie/fashionablemoms.blogspot.com

"Get It Yourself!" Use a Lazy Susan for Kids' Cups & Bowls

I think most Moms out there, like me, can appreciate it when our kids can do things by themselves!  As much as I miss those days of wiping my kids' bottoms, spoon-feeding those jars of spinach & kale baby food, and changing their dirty onesies seven times a day (hahaha!!!), I have really tried to teach and encourage my kids to  do things for themselves.  One thing I have seen other kids do in many of my friends' homes is ask Mom for a drink of water.  The Mom goes into the cabinet and gets a cup and fills it up for the child.  Three minutes later, kid #2 is asking the same thing....then the two neighbor girls....you get where I'm going with this?  So I wanted to share something that we've done for years: use our Lazy Susan for all the kids cups, straws, bowls and plates.

You don't necessarily need a Lazy Susan for this system.  Any cabinet, pantry, drawer, etc. that is low enough and accessible to the kids would work great!!!

It's nothing fancy.  Most of the cups are the freebies from Dickey's BBQ!  

When the kids want a bowl of pretzels, they can just go in and get a bowl themselves.  

At our house, all the girl scouts, all the neighborhood kids, all the cousins...everyone....knows where to go when they need a drink.  Get a cup yourself and go to the fridge for the water.  :)

Next up.....teaching the 5 year-old to do his own laundry!  Just kidding, I'm not that mean;)

Inside My Home: Disastrous Messy Room - Before & After

It's always a goal of mine to keep up on all the clutter and messes in our home and have a lovely, clean, spotless house all the time....but COME ON....that's not even possible!!!  (Please share your secret if your home does stay clutter-free, clean, and tidy all the time--maybe I'm missing something!)

What better way to feel good about your mess and/or clutter than for me to show you mine from the holidays?!!!

I've told you before that I have to really work at tidiness.  I tend to be a little messy and scattered with piles of stuff for Girl Scouts, my Mary Kay business, Sunday School, the kids and their schoolwork and art projects, etc.  Then there's the whole digital aspect of organization with emails, my Etsy business, and my blog. You know what I mean and I know you can relate!

So here is our home office during Christmas.  We used this room to pile up all the Amazon orders, other gifts, wrapping paper, the crafts I was working on....the "stuff." It was so messy that the kids would go in there to use the computer and not even notice some of their presents were in there unwrapped!!  I'm not joking!!

So I spent a few hours on two different days tackling that room.  One day was just sorting through the empty boxes and deciding what was trash & recycle so I could get it to the curb for trash day.  I organized all the wrapping supplies and ribbon and gift bags and boxes.  The rest of it (mostly my daughter's desk) took me a couple hours yesterday.  We had piles of papers and trinkets and coloring books.....mostly stuff that didn't belong in that room!!!  

Whew! I'm glad that's done.....we can enjoy a nice clean office for probably three days or so until it's a disaster again!!!!

And just for fun, here is our living room after the kids opened their gifts;)  Gotta love Christmas!!!!

Many people made resolutions to de-clutter and be more organized in 2016......for me, it's baby steps.  

Office - check.  Now all that's left is the basement, family room, laundry room, dining room, kitchen, kids' rooms---yeah, you get the picture!! 

Happy New Year!!

:)Jamie

Home Office: Before & After

Woooohooo! The floors are done!  All the installing, sanding, and staining is done and our furniture is back in!! We still have some pictures to hang and other "stuff" to put back, but we're taking our time on that.  I'm not going to go into all the details of our whole floor process in this post because I think it needs a separate post of its own!!! I have several before and after pictures to share, as well as tips and advice for anyone thinking about replacing carpet with wood floors.

I've decided to start off sharing the room in our house that has had one of the biggest transformations since we moved into this home in May 2013.  It's my craft room/home office/homework room/art gallery!!!!!  I don't spend a lot of chunks of time in here, but I do come in here very frequently for craft supplies, printing, using my Cricut or laminator, etc.

BEFORE: The builtins were still the natural wood color, and there was berber carpet.

The middle pic is after we had the trim and builtins painted white and the last pic is obviously the final "AFTER" pic:

I have shared that I tend to be messy and unorganized much of the time!!!  I always feel that my life is in fast-forward mode, so I'm always moving from one project to the next, leaving messes behind!  Well, this system of using the shoeboxes to store my most frequently used supplies has been fabulous!!!!!!  It's one of the few organizing systems that has actually worked for me and the shelf always stays tidy! Yay!!!!

The art gallery wall is a work in progress. I just LOVE seeing the kids' projects and paintings and drawings and masterpieces;)  I've got a whole bin of artwork to sort through and hang up there.  (I have difficulty throwing that kinda stuff away, so it's been a challenging process deciding what to toss, store, or hang!)

There is another wall/section of this room that I didn't photograph.  It's Mya's desk and a small closet I use for my Mary Kay inventory.  It's pretty boring, but I may show some pics at some point in the near future!

:)Jamie

Free Food Label Printables!!!

I'm happy to introduce a guest to my blog today!!!  Dana from foodpackaginglabels.net is sharing a fabulous set of FREE Food Label Printables and some great tips on how to clear the clutter and reduce frustration in the kitchen...the most used room in the house!!!


***How to Organize Your Kitchen With Free Food Label Printables***

It’s very easy to make a mess in the kitchen while trying to prepare food at home. For example, you most likely have to open a bunch of cupboards and peek into a dozen food jars scattered around the kitchen in order to find your flour or rice. Baking and meal preparation in general can become a real headache regardless of the kitchen’s storage capacities if you don’t organize it properly. Therefore, kitchen organization is very important, especially if you are preparing most of your meals at home. But how do you arrange everything in order to make your kitchen a more pleasant and inviting workplace? These free printable food packaging labels can make your life much easier. 

The first step is to organize the heart of the kitchen -- the pantry. This space is often cluttered as it is a magnet for accumulating all sorts of items. Removing all the unwanted content and transferring all ingredients into jars and canisters will help you clear the clutter and maximize the space. However, in order to utilize the jars and canisters properly it is best to label them. The collection includes pantry labels that will help you organize the basic pantry items like flour, sugar, pasta, rice, oatmeal and cereal. The labels will help you keep the pantry in order at all times, since every family member will know what goes where without making a mess while rummaging through the cupboards. In addition to this, there will be less frustration and lit will save everyone time. 

If you or anyone of your family members have food allergies or special food dieting needs, your pantry is most likely stocked with allergy safe foods. These healthy tags will help you to label food that is gluten-free, lactose-free or sodium-free. You can even label the dinner leftovers in your fridge in order to make sure that no one would make a mistake even with the prepared meals.

Good kitchen organization and healthy diet often requires careful menu planning. You can hang up this weekly meal planner on your cupboard doors or on your fridge so everyone will know what’s on the daily menu. This will also help you to better plan your grocery shopping, which can save you lots of money and time in the long run.

And last but not least, these lunchbox stickers will put smiles on the faces of the youngest members of the family. Sometimes it’s really hard to get your child eat healthy food. But, by spicing up their school lunches with some fun and inspiring notes can make the challenge less daunting.

These ideas will hopefully help you transform your kitchen into a neat and organized space, where everyone will enjoy working and hanging out. Just download the printables, print them out and give your kitchen a fresh new look!