Make Do With What You Have

For those who don't know, my husband and 2 kids and I are living in my parents house.  We have a nice big bedroom for us, walk-in closet, bathroom and a room for the kids.  All very spacious. That being said, we have shoved our whole LIFE into those 4 rooms and so it takes some configuring and re-configuring to make it all work.  Here are some of the tricks I've tried and like to make it work for us. Hopefully it will help those of you in small apartments, minimal space, or at home with your parents too! :)

 Let's Get Organized.
We have lots of CDs and records and the way we keep them organized is with these cheap little office-supply type file-folder organizers.  They also work with our  DVDs (for the ones you keep out), my makeup palettes, Ava's art from school (and other school papers) and the mail that never stops invading our space!

 At our old place we had a 2 drawer file folder which was the perfect size for us and fit all the important paperwork/junk that we wanted it to.  But...we didn't bring it across Canada with us so...we use clear plastic report covers, dividers and a binder.  We have it separated into groups like "Pay Stubs" and "Banking" and also sections like "To Do" which can have anything within in it's plastic sheets from letters to mail to lists of movies I want to watch.

 The area I have to get ready is pretty much centred around a two-drawer dresser, on the top I put all the things I want at hand.  To keep it all together and to (try to) keep the kids hands off it, I've put it all in this faux-snakeskin shallow box.  Hair products, perfume, samples, vitamins...all the things I need at hand.

 In my last post I showed you all how I organize my necklaces in my closet, my earrings I keep in this craft-keeper plastic box with little separators.  It works fine for now and helps me weed though the jumble. The bigger segment on the top right I put all the jewelry I have that needs to be fixed/untangled.

 Anything can be a toy box!  And the crazy thing is, the more boxes I put things in, the better the mess gets because I'm teaching the kids to bring one box out and play and then put it away before bringing out the next box.  And everything old is new again when they haven't opened a box in a while.  Eventually a whole box makes its way into the "Donate" pile and is never seen or heard from again...this one's on its way out...

 Never look a gift horse in the mouth!  I got this glass case from the hallway where it had been left by my stepmom and sister to die.  It's a bitch to dust, there is always sticky fingerprints all over it, it rattles every time you walk by it but I wanted a place to put the things that I wan the kids to stay away from (books, nail polish, good jewelry, leather purses) and it works just fine.

Anything can be used as anything!  The top drawer of that dresser I mentioned earlier houses all the makeup I use on a regular basis.  And when I see the kids coming I can quickly shut it!

Hope you enjoyed and got some cool ideas.  Any ideas of your own?
xoxo
Roxanne