Do It On A Dime - Organised Cheap Life TAG

Hi Everyone!

One of my favourite YouTubers is Katherine from Do It On A Dime. She is a real down-to-earth home owner who comes up with cheap, classy and creative ways to organise your home 'on a dime'.
The downside is that she is American so all the awesome stores she buys from (Target's dollar store, Dollar Tree, Container Store etc.) we don't have here in Australia. Can you believe they have $1 stores where items are... wait for it... $1!!!??? Last week I went to a $1 store and picked up an item that was $23.95! I gently put it down and walked away. BUT I digress :-)
Katherine created a YouTube TAG called 'The Organised Cheap Life' where she asked 3 simple questions and shared her answers. The link to her video is HERE.
I loved the video and found it really useful, so I decided to do it too! HERE is the link to my video.

1. Name 2 new organisers you are loving at the moment:

i) My Filofaxes - My personal Ochre Malden is beautiful and so helpful! I use it as my wallet/organiser. I LOVE it. Perfect setup for me and perfect size.
My A5 Aqua Malden is my Home Management 'bible' where I keep everything. I would be lost without it. It holds everything from appointments and chores to quotes, journalling and vlog/blog ideas.

ii) My 'What's On' Wall Planner - The perfect simple organiser for the family. I just write all important information and appointments for the family over the following 2 weeks on there and at a quick glance we can all see what is going on. Even hubby knows how to use it  ;-)

iii) I was naughty and added one more item - My Orla Kiely organiser. I ordered this beauty from eBay (as Australia doesn't have a groovy Target like the States do). I have only had it a few days but I think I'm in LOVE! My video on this organiser will be up shortly to show how I am currently using it.

2. Name 2 cheap sale items that you love:

i) My Smash Nude Food containers. I purchased this on a sale from Coles supermarket for $2 and it is so handy and versatile! I use it for everything from my toddlers sultanas, fruit and other snacks to my hair ties and bobby pins (PS - it holds 4-5 rolls of washi tape perfectly!!)

ii) My daughter's green chair. I love this mini couch chair. It's perfect for lounging, sitting like a 'big girl' watching telly and is the only place (other than the high chair) where I can get her to sit down to eat - she like to constantly be on the move!! She's my little whirlwind :-) The best bit, it was only $10! We brought it secondhand off Gumtree (like Craigs List in the States?) I love Gumtree as you can get some real local bargains. Selling things on there is fantastic too because unlike eBay, they don't take a cut of the profit - it's totally FREE to post and sell!

3. Name 2 life improvement items that are working for you:

i) My DIYfish inserts - These have seriously changed my life for the better. I love the style, the layout, the price (and the fact that my friend prints, cuts and folds them for me!) If you are interested in these inserts please feel free to check out my video review HERE.

ii) My toy storage/rotation system - My lounge room no longer looks like a toy minefield and my daughter gets to play with and enjoy all her toys at different times. To learn more about my setup visit my video HERE.

So there it is, my Do It On A Dime TAG for an Organised Cheap Life :-)
I hope you enjoyed and if you would like to take part in this tag please comment below or on my corresponding YouTube video as I'd love to check out your favourite organisation items!

Have a great day!

Jen

Find Me:
YouTube:
www.youtube.com/user/organisedlifestyle
Blog:
www.organisedlifestyle.blogspot.com.au
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Organi...
Instagram:
www.instagram.com/organisedlifestyle
Twitter: www.twitter.com/organiselifeJen

My Office Study Nook Setup

Hi guys. Well as we are now a family of 4 and we have a 3 bedroom house, I have lost my study/office room! As I'm still on maternity leave and not due back part time until the start of next year I am handling it but I NEED MY SPACE. So I have created a Office/study nook in the hallway of my house. It is a really nice desk so I don't mind showing it off but as it is in full view of everyone who enters my home it needs to be neat as well as functional. This is a challenge for me as I tend to create 'organised chaos' in my space!
So after some juggling around this is what I came up with.

I took this picture from the walkway from the lounge room which leads into the kitchen. (If you want a better idea of where the space is in relation to the house check out the corresponding video here).

To the left I have a set of 10 coloured drawers which I used previously as my teaching supplies at work. It's not the prettiest thing in the world to be shown in the hall, but for now it works.

Each drawer is labelled with a specific category: catch all (items which don't have a home currently or need to be filed away go here and get cleaned out at the end of each week), post it notes, stationary, misc (stationary items I like but don't use often - items I give away as RAKs or to friends), storage (a place to hold my travel planner bags and pens), laminating pouches, coloured texts and pencils, coloured paper, plastic pockets and immunisation records for the girls.

Sitting on top is my planner tote which houses all my favourite and on-the-go items for my planners I can plan and decorate in any room of the house. I tend to move the tote to under the desk when I have guests over in order to minimise the clutter. If you would like to see a video of the planner tote setup click here. 

Here is a shot of the top of my desk (a desk handed down from my grandfather-in-law who had it passed down to him). It is such a beautiful desk and just needs a new piece of leather as this piece is getting a bit tattered.
From left to right I have my current planners in use, my washi tape wheel from Costco, my inbox which holds mail to deliver and bills to pay and my iMac in the centre. A jar rack sits to the right of the computer which holds my pen box holder I brought for $1 from The Salvos. I love this rack as it creates another level, doubling my space. Under the jar rack lives my hole punch, sticky tape and stapler. I also have a lamp, a hand sanitiser and some candles (you can see the lighter sticking out of the pen box holder I use to light them). The two planners open are my personal aqua Malden (my wallet/appointment planner) and my A5 aqua Malden (my home maintenance planner). The A5 lives on my desk most of the time open just like this.

A close up of the jar rack and pen box holder

A close up of one of the drawers in the desk.
They are not very deep but are perfect for spare pens, Dymo labeller tape etc.

This is a shot of under the desk. My aim is to have this cleared soon as we are planning to make an above the desk storage unit in the next few months to reduce clutter. The basket on the left holds envelopes, paper and 2 Martha Stewart A4 folders. Next is my A3 laminator. The next box contains extra filofax inserts and dividers as well as my storage space for my planners which house past months inserts to reduce bulk in my current planners. I like to look back on past information from time to time. There is also a tunnel from Ikea for my daughter and a basket which is used as a paper bin.

I hope this has helped you realise that if you are in my situation where you are unable to use a dedicated room as an office then you still have options to create your own nook in your house to call your own :-)

Have a great day!

Jen

YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/organisedlifestyle
Instagram: www.instagram.com/organisedlifestyle
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Organisedlifestyle/561178193999153?ref=bookmarks

My new planner tote

Firstly, sorry I have been absent lately, I was off having my second baby girl :-) She is now almost 3 months old (oh my gosh!) and things are just now starting to settle back down to some sort of normality. We couldn't be happier with our little family! However, now we have 2 kids we no longer have a spare bedroom I can consume as my study (GASP!) We have a communal desk for hubby and I but all my craft and planner 'stuff' seems to occupy the majority of the space. Also, as the desk is in full view of everyone walking past the lounge room I found it difficult keeping it neat and tidy all the time. 

Enter the idea of a planner tote! I thought that by getting a tote to carry all my supplies I would not be limited to one space and everything will be at my fingertips without it being strewn across the tiny desk for the whole world to see. I started googling and searching on Ebay right away. I was disheartened as everything was not quite what I wanted or over $100 which I was not prepared to spend. So what did I do... I took my complaints to the planner Facebook community (because lets face it, who else would understand!) Here one of my BRILLIANT Facebook friends explained to me that she was recently in a similar situation and found her answer at the local hardware store! She found a builders tool bag worked perfectly as a planner tote! It has heaps of pockets, open top for easy access, very solid sides and a very strong handle in order to hold the weight of all the tools.

So I went off (well ok I sent hubby on a detour on his way home from work) to our local Bunnings and Masters with strict instructions of what I wanted with a $20 limit. This is what he came home with:

BEST.BUY.EVER! I was over the moon. It was just what I wanted and the price was right :-)

So I went to work pimping it out and this is the final product:

Here you can see 4 pockets across the the front. The left flap contains my double sided tape. The next pocket holds 2 Kikki-K sticky note pads. Then is some super cute turtle note paper that looks as though it was made to fit! On the right pocket are some paper clips.

The 2 slit pockets behind, hold my Mark It dots and Kikki-K To-Do note pad on the left and my Kikki-K sticker book and a card from a beautiful friends of mine on the right.

The above picture shows one side of the bag. There is a metal bar attached to the side which is made to hold a tape measure (so my husband tells me) where I clip on my 4 sharpie markers.  The pocket on the right is a perfect fit for my Rapesco planner hole punch! You can also see my washi tape which is threaded through a velcro strap back onto itself. I have absolutely no idea the real purpose of this strap but it is PERFECT for holding my washi as the velcro is super strong, easy access and out of the way!

The other side has 2 pockets, one in front of the other. The one in the back holds a pouch full of post it notes and page markers and flags as well as some note paper. The front pocket holds my Martha Stewart dew drop stickers, K-Mart sticker dots and K-Mart repositionable (so they say) and write-on stickers. You can also see another 'washi velcro strap' where I have attached my thin wash tape.

This side has one large zippered pocket along with 4 little pouches. As I use the zippered pouch often I do not keep anything in the mesh pockets as they would be constantly falling out.

Here is the zippered pouch opened containing my frixions 0.7mm pens, highlighter and rub-a-dub sharpie pen for writing on washi tape.

Here is a birds eye view of the top of my planner tote. It holds sooooo much. The handle in the middle is super comfortable to grab as it has some squishy foam and its also non-slip. The handle can move from side to side if you need to get in the middle of the bag.

The planners I have in there from the top down include: A5 Aqua Malden (my home management system), my new A5 Calipso in bright blue, my new personal size domino in violet and my personal size aqua Malden (my wallet/diary)

On one of the long inside walls of the bag are 3 pockets. Starting from the left I have: 3 lined post it notes (2 large, 1 medium size) and a Kikki-K note pad. The middle pocket contains a spiral note pad also from Kikki-K. The small pocket on the right holds my purple scissors.

The items next to the planners in the centre are my paper cutter, Dymo labeller and my fox zipper pencil case from Typo containing my 'go-to' stickers and page flags. I also have a note pad, and 2 pouches of stickers tucked in behind my A5 Malden.

I LOVE this setup! It works perfectly for my needs, keeps everything super organised, easy to access and a fantastic price... what more could a girl ask for!

If you want to see the video of my planner tote click here

Thanks for reading and if you have any questions please feel free to leave me a message!

Jen

P.S. I have just created a new Facebook page for my blog and YouTube channel if you would like to check it out :-)

You can also find me:

YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/organisedlifestyle

Facebook: organisedlifestyle

Instagram: http://instagram.com/organisedlifestyle

Organising my pantry

Hi everyone :-)
I have had a few requests for a 'How I organise my pantry' blog and video so I thought I'd get it done now before the baby comes and I don't shop for 3 months! ;-)
Here is a breakdown of how I sort my pantry. This is how it looks all the time. I thought it would be best to show an honest view rather than after my 3-monthly clean and spruce up (so be nice!)

When we brought the house we noticed very quickly that the narrow pantry we had was very limited. It looked big enough but when it was full of food it would spill out and we had to reach really far in to get anything. We also had the problem that because of it being narrow and deep it was almost impossible to find anything and we would forever be re-buying stuff we didn't realise we had and finding out of date items way in the back. Quite frankly, it was costing us a fortune!!
So what I ended up doing was a 1-2 day shop. I would buy what I needed for a couple of days and go again a few days later. Not only was this costing us more money doing it this way but I don't enjoy cooking at the best of times and it was such a hassle that sometimes when Dave and I got home from work we would just have 2 minute noodles, toast or take away!
We needed inspiration so off we went off to Ikea where we found the perfect solution to our problems.  Here we saw pull out drawers for deep narrow spaces like ours. You can pull out the whole drawer/shelf and can get easy access to everything and can see all the way to the back. It was perfect! The only problem was they were not cheap. However, having a carpenter as a husband can be very 'handy' at times I tell you! So when we got home I sent him to work building pull out drawers for our pantry.

The 5 drawers (from the bottom) are all pull out drawers and we left the top two as they were. That space is for items we don't use often as I can't even reach them standing on a chair! The bottom drawer is made out of a thicker timber (and I still need to paint it!) FYI - if you do not have a magnetic knife strip thingie then do yourself a favour and get one! They are fantastic, quick and easy to find which knife you want and gives you extra space on your kitchen table top (and we all need more of that!)

THINGS THAT HELP ME STAY ORGANISED IN THE PANTRY
1. If you have a space like mine, get a pull out drawer. They will change your life and ultimately save you money as you know what you have and have easy access.

2. Group items into categories and place them into baskets. This way everything is right where you want it at all times and everyone knows where they belong. The above picture shows all sauces and oils on the left and in the red basket on the right are all condiments. Below is another example where all the packet mix products are upright in their own basket where they are secure and easy to flick through to find what you are looking for.

3. If you have a young child I find it easy to have a 'kid drawer'. Here I know all her snacks are here so I can grab them quick as I head out the door.

4. I try to unbox as much as I can and place into a basket or container so I know how many I have left. It is a pet hate of mine when you go to grab something out of a box to find it empty! Grrrr...

5. Get yourself a tiered stand. Best invention ever!! These little babies give you twice as much room in your pantry and you can see everything so much better. Perfect for cans as you can see in the picture below. You can buy them quite cheap from $2.00 shops (they are not quite $2 but what is nowadays!) FYI - they are also fantastic to use on you home or office desk!

6. If you haven't already, get yourself a labeller. I think my husband thinks it's surgically attached to my arm at times. It not only helps you to keep organised but also the other members of your family. You may know where things belong, but when you label it EVERYONE knows! Less work for you and no excuses from them :-)

So there is a look into my kitchen pantry and how I organise things. Nothing 'world-first' about it all by any means, but it's what is working for us at the moment. If you have any tips on how you organise your pantry please leave them in the comments below as I am always on the lookout for better ways to organise myself!

I hope you are all having a great day!

Jen