Mamma Mondays- My Entryway Message Center

Happy new week everyone!

Whew..can’t you just SMELL the new FRESH week!

Yipeeeee! And it’s almost a new FRESH month. This is a big month in our house. Jaxon and I both have birthdays…and this little/BIG boy is turning 2! Oh F U N!!!

Today I wanted to share with you a small change that I implemented a few months ago that has really made BIG changes for me. I love when little things can HELP so much.

I have a little desky thing that I found on Craigslist and re-painted last summer. I have shuffled it all around my home…yet never found the right “home area” for it. That is…until I started seeing ideas about creating a message center in your home.

Hmm…message center?? What is that all about??

Here is mine:

And here is what I use it for:

The whole concept is an area for sorting items…organizing items that you need as you come and go from home…and for organizing important things like keys…mail…shoes…bags…etc.

Most of my “uses” are really common sense for most people. I have this thing….about taking the “LONG” way around to figure things out…and this was really major for me. Uh…hello Tiffany!

I LOVE how functional this area is now. And all I did was rearrange a few things. I DID NOT purchase one new thing to create this area. Free. Fabulous. And USEFUL. Awesome!

♦Junk mail does not make it to my desk…or any other area of my house for that matter. I chunk it on that desk…and it doesn’t move until I can filter it…trash it…and GET RID OF IT!

♦Important things like library books are placed there…so my MAMMA BRAIN doesn’t forget to grab it on the way out the door.

♦I can place important reminders on my chicken-wire memo board so that they are visible daily…and keep me REMINDED! lol!

♦A mirror is awesome there too…because sometimes I need to know that I look FRUMPA-LUMPAGUS…and should FRESHEN up before being seen in public!!LOL!!

♦I really utilize this area before Jaxon leaves for visitation weekends with his Dad. On the morning of the day that he leaves…I start piling all of the things he will need on this desk such as: his nebulizer…medications…clothes that we might have from his Dad’s house…important paperwork to be shared…or just anything…headed out the door for the weekend.

Seriously…this helps the transition go very smoothly. And I am less likely to forget important things which really cannot happen…because he will be traveling 2 hours away.

Here are some extra ideas I found for other message center ideas:

Love the shoe organizing…you could so spray paint a cookie sheet white and make one! Then add a table you are not using coupled with a few storage boxes…and a few memo board squares. CUTE!

Totally love the magnetic strip for important objects such as keys, scissors and flashlight. GENIUS!

This is a cool idea for trapping unwanted dusties and mud clumps from shoes. BUT…this would not work in our house. Not now anyways. Can you just see all of these rocks scattered all over my house? I CAN!!! Ha ha ha. But it’s very posh for non-toddler homes!

{All idea images are via marthastewart.com}

Teee-Totally love these shutters. Hello cute easy organizing for a message center! Hmmm…I need to find some small shutters like these! LOVE IT!

Well darlings…hopefully you have a few ideas and inspiration for a message center of your own! They really are wonderful…and make life…that much organized…and simplified! PINKY PROMISE!!!

Happy MONDAY!☺

XoXo

Mamma Mondays: Dry Erase Organization Board

This weekend I finished a groovy little project to help me organize my day, week, month and so on. Since I’m the head Mamma and honcho around here there’s a lot of things I need to keep up with…even if I don’t want to. Such as changing air filters and all that other manly stuff that must be done somehow.

The problem is…between everything in single Mamma land…toddler tantrums…bills to pay…laundry to wash…I forget things.

Don’t we all??? Soooo to combat that issue I created my own little handy-dandy dry-erase-remember-everything board!

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeet! Flylady would be SO PROUD! LOL!

The concept was not anything I magically came up with…I’ve seen a lot of SMART LADIES do similar projects. I just made mine…with a few of my own ideas.

I first created…and then printed out these little doodahs…

Then I used an 11x14 frame from the Dollar Tree….added a little scrap of fabric for a background…and taped my forms down like this….

Ta-daaaaah! Fabulosity!!!! I love it and it’s perfect to help this Mamma keep track of the most important things!

Things you could keep track of :

♥birthdays

♥doctor appointments

♥car maintenance

♥church events

♥household duties such as changing air filters or checking smoke & carbon monoxide detectors.

♥pet care information

For now I have my handy-dandy board on my incoming mail/errands desk by my front door. I haven’t found the perfect wall space for it…and right here I can still see it daily to remind me of my tasks to do!

Here’s a few close-ups:

And a small confession…I have a {slight} obsession with dry-erase boards in my home.

I used an old window a few months ago for a board in my kitchen. Each week I write my weekly meal plan on it…as

a reminder/schedule for the week.

Basically if it has glass such as a picture frame…or an old window….you can use it for a dry erase board! And they come in VERY handy if you want to stay ORGANIZED!

I made my {daily*weekly*monthly* quarterly*annually} printouts available if you would like to make your own ORGANIZATION board!

Click the following lists to view the printables individually!

♥Daily

♥Weekly

♥Monthly/Quarterly/Annually

Send me a PIC if you use them and make your own! I’d love to see your FABULOUS LOVELIES!♥

Have a SUPER Monday!

Mamma Mondays: Fab Frugal Drawer Organizing Tips

Raise your hand if you have at least ONE JUNK DRAWER in your home? BE HONEST!

Yep…I am CERTAIN almost all of us have a junky funky drawer full of Lord-knows-whats-its and who-knows-its!

I sure did! I hated even opening the gross thing. Uuuggh…all of the lost, weird and random items seem to SCREAM at me when I opened it…"HELP SAVE ME!” or “LOOK HOW GROSS I AM!”

LOL. Maybe not that bad…but it still was a little burden that I refused to deal with. This month is CLEANING MONTH…so I’m tackling everything I HATE to deal with…or that I put off….that simply MUST BE CLEANED! And this junk drawer was at the TOP of my LIST!

See?? There are some WEIRD – RANDOM things going on in this drawer!

The first thing I did was grab everything that needed to be TRASHED. And I did not hold back…I chunked a LOT!

Then I used very FAB and FRUGAL containers to sort what I was going to keep. Wait. Stop. They weren’t fabulous….BUT they were FRUGAL. Take a GANDER at my GORGEOUS drawer now!

Do you have any idea what I used??? I’ll give you a sec to think about it…………

Here it is fabulous peeps…….

Can you believe???? I saved PLASTIC CONTAINERS from food products to organize my drawer! FREE ORGANIZATION! Shuuuuuut up!

I now look at the packaging before I buy things. I LOOK for groovy packages. Not only are you being FAB FRUGAL but you are also RECYCLING. How AWESOME! I also used a glass bowl and a few plastic containers I already had too.

I now have…..

P.S. I also painted the drawer to make it PRETTY. It took an extra five minutes of effort. It was the CHERRY on TOP that makes this little PROJECT perfect!

This week try to tackle your JUNK DRAWER! It’s SO GRATIFYING! I think if we can tackle a FUNKY JUNKY drawer…we can DO ANYTHING!

I’m moving on to the other drawers and cabinets in my casa! Just look at these BREATHTAKING pics for INSPIRATION…

image: Martha Stewart

image: Martha Stewart

image: Martha Stewart

I’m really in love with this handy dandy kitchen island. I want my kitchen towels to look this pretty! And I LOVE the little cubby for baking sheets…and not to mention the swell little extra outlet for kitchen accessories!

image: Martha Stewart

Wow…pet food organization…holy cow…. {I really like the little bins!}

image: Martha Stewart

Haaaaappppyyyyy ORGANIZING!

Have a LOVELY Monday!

P.S. I'm linking this post up to:




and to theCSI Challenge: Organization

Have you started?

Did the “itch” to start “ditching” clutter hit you yet? I think it’s definitely in the air. Instead of SPRING cleaning…it’s NEW YEAR cleaning. My BFF and I were laughing about how we could just take a trash bag and start CHUNKING things in our home!!

Do you get that way too?? There is no better feeling than EXFOLIATING your home of JUNK. And contrary to what the media would have you believe…you can ORGANIZE your home without SPENDING money. USE WHAT YOU HAVE!

Keeping my home clean and organized is a huge goal of mine…and the better I get at it…the better my life flows. And I just started with what I have. I didn’t spend a dime to start ORGANIZING and CLEANING!

A clean home affects everything…my grocery bill is lower because I know what is in my clean fridge…my bills are organized so I can stay on top of what is due…I have more time to play with Jaxon…because I spend less time conquering the clutter monster.

Now don’t get me wrong…there are still dinosaurs and trains on the floor daily…but overall my home is getting more and more organized by the day. Little things like my cooking spices are organized…my medications are too! Little by little…we are getting ORGANIZED.

And routines…oh routines…how they make LIFE BETTER! This is the key to surviving as a single Mom!

Organization..and routines!!

Soooo…here are a few secret weapons I use to learn more…to stay focused…and conquer the clutter!

My favorite CLEANING guru is FLYLADY.
Do you FLY?

I have been for a long time. I love her! If you do not know her…mosey over to her website by clicking HERE to get started. You will never be the same. If you suffer from CHAOS (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome) in your home…you can learn how to clean in ZONES…in baby steps…and regain control over your home and life! It’s amazing!!

She also recently started a Cozi cleaning application…for your PHONE. Ohhh…love me some FlyLady!

Start your cleaning/organizing agenda by watching this video by FlyLady first! Click HERE to watch!

Oh…my….the best thing she talks about for finding success this year….

you CANNOT organize junk. Let that one settle in your bones for a second….

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I also love me some CLEAN MAMMA.

I love her lists…I so cannot function without a LIST!

She has declared….January as CLEANING month. Yes! She must get the “itch” too!

She has made an AWESOME list for January…daily duties…so that by the end of the month…you have cleaned your ENTIRE HOME. I can do baby chunks of clean….it’s not so over-whelming!

I love this! And it’s PERFECT for the January cleaning itch!

She also made this DIVINE subway print for inspiration! Too cute! Print it out and put it in your kitchen to keep you motivated!

Visit her blog by clicking HERE or click each individual image to learn more and download!

Let me know if you join the CLEANING and getting RID OF JUNK bandwagon this month!

Happy CLEANING & ORGANIZING!♥

Jaxon’s room

Over time I’ve mentioned how I have re-painted Jaxon’s bed…and how I have transitioned the room from baby to toddler.

However, I have never really featured the entire room as it is now. So to start the new year off with a BANG…I thought I would feature my finished project!

This was Summer 2009 when I painted the bed and first started changing things up a bit! Jaxy was so WITTLE…he still had his BINKY! That’s seems like SO long ago!

Lot’s of things have changed since the summer…including now being a single Mom. But that hasn’t stopped me from making sure that he has a CUTE room. It’s not all brand new Pottery Barn…but it’s plenty spiffy to me!

Here is his BIG BOY room as it is now as of January 2011.

There are usually MUCH more cars and trucks on this shelf {I scored from an estate sale} but the rest are scattered THROUGHOUT my house of course! I really love this little shelf. Perfect for HOT WHEELS and a little BOYS room!

Chicken-wire memo board I made for his room. Simple…paint a frame…staple-gun chicken-wire on the back and VIOLA…memo board!

Jaxon’s art table I painted for him. The table is actually a coffee table. The chairs I had painted for him to go with a smaller table. I loved them with this table and did a little switcheroo.

Jaxon’s toy shelf which was headed for the trash before it was SAVED and re-painted. It is PERFECT for toys.

I love Jaxon’s star quilt. A BIG score from EBAY. I want to get a BIGGER one someday! I also scored his airplane sheets & throw pillow from KMART online. Love them too.

Jax has really started to hang out a lot in his BIG BOY room. It’s really sweet!

I tried to be FRUGALLY-FABULOUSLY-CREATIVE when using items for his toy storage and just for GENERAL storage. No…I didn’t PURPOSLY do anything fabulous…but I did find some FRUGAL things to use that turned out CUTE!

My favorite item is the painted diaper boxes. Yeppers…these little jewels…

that hold ALL of these TOYS….

are simply…diaper boxes that I spray painted…you know it…and then I just hot-glued ribbon to the top for a little pizazz.  {prime your boxes first…I’m just sayin…it will cut down on the amount of spray paint you will use!}

If you have a baby or toddler…you have TONS of these boxes! And the best part of this project…you can COLOR COORDINATE them FOR ANY room and/or color THEME.  Suuuuweeeeeet!

I also used über cheap…BASKETS for lot’s of storage. I only paid retail for one of these baskets…a very long time ago. The rest are thrifty treasures. {this picture really cracks me up…yes my son took a BITE out of his football.}

I also LOVE Jaxon’s art table because it creates EVEN MORE storage room. These lovely didees go from this….

To this….

in just a simple slide!

One last cheap crafty that I created for Jaxon’s room are his star-peg coat hanger..thingies…ha ha ha.

I actually made these before he was born…which is just crazy. They were a part of his baby room. Awwwww…back when he just laid there and looked sweet…instead of grafitti-ing my couch and stuffing Doritos in the bathroom towels. LOL!

I bought the little star-pegs from Hobby Lobby for a whopping $0.99…don’t believe me…ssssheck it out….

I then painted them various colors…like this one….

They are on Jax’s door now to catch all his coats…jackets…hats…and whatever else!

I also made this little name thingy…from Hobby Lobby goodies. I was not taking that down…but the letters are über cheap there too! I cut out letters from magazines and MODGED them on. Super easie peasie!

My favorite sentimental object in his room is this little letter…his BEST FRIEND Devan wrote him on the day he was born. He brought it to Jax when he came to meet him at the hospital for the first time. And now they are bestest buds. It’s just so cute. The first line says…. “Welcome to the world Baby Jaxon….”  *tear*

Well goodness gravy…this is my LONGEST post ever in my WHOLE BLOG LIFE. LOL. Hopefully you enjoyed it…and maybe even got a few ideas for your OWN kiddos rooms! 

And just FYI…his room NEVER stays that clean. I had cleaned up and ran to get the camera QUICK..before TAZ hit and it was a destruction zone once again!

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I mentioned around Christmas time that I was going to talk about a new direction for Easie Peasie after the first of the new year.

It’s not at all anything really that different I don’t guess. But, I intend to use the next year to show how I survive…make things cute…and have a HAPPY CUTE COZY home…despite a divorce…and despite being a single Mom. {I have finally embraced it…and I’m not embarrassed anymore to say that…I am a SINGLE MOM…and I ROCK! LOL!}

I also hope to show my journey towards not just a BEAUTIFUL life but a SIMPLE MEANINGFUL and ABUNDANT life. From my home…to my blog…to my entire life. I want things to be simpler…and beautiful…and with abundance only found from paring down and getting back to SIMPLICITY.

I want my life to reflect more faith…more love….more beauty…and LESS chaos…less clutter…less junk. And I truly believe anyone can live a BEAUTIFUL yet SIMPLE life…married or not.

I am on a journey to find that life. God has a beautiful life for Jaxon and I…and every day…we discover more beauty and blessings.

So many blogs that I read feature the “cookie cutter” family. The perfect husband…cute wife and beautiful kids etc. Easie Peasie started out that type of blog…and over time has morphed into something completely opposite. And I’m totally okay with that!♥

It does feature my life as I know it…in my crazy-beautiful single Mamma life.

Most days my last concern is cute pillows or the latest home design trends. I am usually trying to make sure Jax and I have food on the table and a roof over our heads.

But this little bloggie is my journal of the creative expressions I do have…when I do have a little bit of time to spare for something artistic!

I love GOD… I love my son….I love to make things pretty…I love doing projects with Jaxon…and I have this huge DESIRE to keep things in our life simple..frugal…and beautiful.

I hope that Easie Peasie will reflect that in 2011.  I am so looking forward to the new year…and new projects of the future! I hope you will continue join me on this crazy little adventure! Thanks SO MUCH for reading!!!

Have a SUPER day!

 

P.S. Because this is my FIRST big project of 2010 - I am linking up to: