The New Year is a perfect time to get organized. Well, let’s be honest, any time is a good time to get organized. My whole house could use some help! But taking on the WHOLE house is kind of overwhelming. Am I right? So let’s walk through 10 Simple Organization Tips To Get You Started. We will start in the bedroom, move to the bathroom, hit up the kitchen, check out important documents, and end with electronics! Sound like a plan?

Let’s get organized!

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Do you ever find yourself constantly stepping on toys left out or picking up your little one’s room? I know my mom (bless her heart) spent a lot of time picking up after me and teaching me how to keep things clean when I was a kid. Well, I hope that after reading today’s post you will no longer have sore feet from legos hiding viciously in the carpet! Organize Your Kids Toys TODAY With These 12 Cool Ideas. I am willing to bet that your kids will be more eager to help clean up with these ideas!

What one is your favorite?

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With a few simple supplies you will be able to have a spring clean bathroom in 2 minutes! A few pro tips and some key supplies picked up at Walmart can have your bathroom company ready in a flash. Don’t think you can do it? You really can if you have a plan and work smart. A big thank you to Clorox for sponsoring this post!Dear Readers, I would like to reintroduce you to my imaginary friend Candy Dish. For those who have been following us since, well, forever, you may remember her from one of my most popular posts Easy Shower Mold Solution which I wrote back in 2013. Clorox was Candy’s friend then, and Clorox is Candy’s friend now. Candy Dish has been my friend since I was quite little and she has always been an important part of handling embarrassing situations for me. Like, say, when the entire box of cereal spilled out all over the floor. That was Candy. She can be clumsy like that. I should have thought to use her when I wrecked my parent’s car. But I don’t think she would have taken that one on. The bounds of friendship only go so far.

Candy Dish is willing today to extend her friendship by sharing a recent embarrassing social situation. She is not the best of housekeepers, as you can see from the black mess in her shower in the aforementioned post. Of all household chores, cleaning the bathroom is her least favorite. It follows then, that spring cleaning the bathroom is not high on her list of priorities. Reducing that task to 2 minutes was of great interest to her.

Some girls can tolerate a little mess, but don’t really want others to know it. Say, a spot of toothpaste on the sink gets left behind, and dries into a hardened dot that she begins to think is part of the design of the countertop. Or shall we say tastefully, a bit of mess in the toilet that doesn’t quite whoosh away as easily as one would like when flushing. And it remains there for way too long. These things do not cause Candy a great amount of alarm. She does not particularly like her bathroom to be left permanently in that condition, but it does not bother her enough to do something about it immediately.

But when she received the call she panicked. Normally, Candy enjoys calls from her husband, but this one made her heart race in a way she did not like. He was calling to let her know he was on his way home. This part of the equation made her happy. But the fact that he had run into an old friend and invited him and his family over spur of the moment is what had her running around the house practicing the art of tidying in a very hurried way.

This is how I know that it can be done it 2 minutes. If she had skipped her shower, were wearing her grubby clothes and had set aside the day for cleaning, it would take much longer. But as we all know, one is amazed at how much cleaning they can get done when pressed against the threat of someone seeing how we really live. And it is not the way we would like to present ourselves, however accurate it may be. Candy Dish, like myself, does not always want to be perfectly honest about her level of comfort with a bit mess.

She told me how grateful she was that I had helped her put together this little kit of last minute solutions to common messy bathroom problems. It was with these tools she was able to spring clean her way to a company worthy bathroom all in a matter of two minutes.

The trick is in the organization and tools. For organization, move from top to bottom, left to right. Begin at the to the left of the toilet so the toilet will be the last thing you clean. Remove cobwebs and dust above the doorframe. Remove fingerprints and wipe handles with Clorox Wipes. Tough spots can be handled with Clorox scrub singles. Move to the next wall. Wipe light switches, clean sink, clean mirror, dust frames, wipe faucet,  clean the cabinet doors, clean the outside of the toilet and then the inside. A quick sweep or vacuum of the floor and then empty the trash. 2 minutes, done! Using disposable products is a real timesaver. Tool number one is the Clorox Toilet Wand which I found in the mop and broom aisle at Walmart. The wand is stored in the caddy. Inside the caddy are disposable pads preloaded with Clorox toilet bowl cleaner that attach to the end of the wand. When your done, release the pad into the trash with a push of the blue button. Ms. Dish loved not having to touch a single thing and especially liked not having a grody brush hanging about. She was also thrilled to find this had the strength to get that unmentionable spot out.The wand even acted as a great duster by wrapping some paper towels around the end and getting into any dusty corners. Candy couldn’t grasp my meaning, so I had to show her how.Clorox wipes are a favorite of Ms. D’s. Admittedly, she overuses them when wiping toilet seats as she wont to be sure her hand does not touch anything remotely icky.  In part, Candy Dish hates cleaning the bathroom because she hates touching what she considers gross. She had always wondered how her bathroom was to be thoroughly clean when using an old sponge to clean with. Certainly, she reasoned, the sponge needed cleaning as much as the bathroom did. So she made quick use of Clorox scrub singles.
A quick spritz of 1/2 water and 1/2 vinegar did the trick for cleaning mirrors and pictures. But that was not the only trick she had up her sleeve for amazing results.Candy Dish loves Viva paper towels! She used to save them for the guest bathroom only because they felt like luxury paper. She much prefers using paper towels to a hand towel in the powder room for guests, because as we know, she does not like contact with icky things, and towels used by multiple people most definitely live in the realm of icky. She found since making this substitution that the flu and cold viruses were greatly reduced in her household.

But upon using them for cleaning, she found they were much superior to their counterparts in that area as well. Less streaks, less lint and much more absorbent. But these are mostly rationalizations, for the real truth is she just plain prefers the feel of Viva paper towels and that alone makes unpleasant chores more bearable.
Walmart is wonderful for quick touches to spruce up for spring. Ms. Dish appreciated that little extra touch from the floral department. Adding some silk flowers to vases that sat empty, waiting for use, added that bit of spring that does not need refreshing, which suits Candy well, since when it comes to the bathroom she prefers spend as little time cleaning as possible.

She and I hope you will enjoy your spring clean bathroom!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Clorox. The opinions and text are all mine.

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* We’re sharing our favorite links from last week’s party at the beginning of today’s party.  Check them out and then keep scrolling down for the link party.  Happy Weekend!

Thanks for participating in the Best Recipes and DIY Projects Party last week!  We’re thrilled to share some of our favorite links from last week’s link party with you.

January is that time of year when many of us vow to make our lives more organized.  During the link party, we spotted some great resources for adding systems to your day that will keep you on top of habits that make organizing easier.  Check ’em out!

Printable Daily Planning Sheet from Pink Heels Pink Truck

Favorite Planner Accessories from A Virtuous Woman

10 Free Clutter Busting Rescources from Domestic Mommyhood

Printable Menu and Grocery List from Woman of Many Roles

How to Make a Home Management Binder from The Gracious Wife

Now, let’s get this party started!

 Happy Weekend, everyone! We’re delighted that you came to our party. The link-up is live and ready for you to share your recipes, DIY projects and crafts, just make sure you follow these guidelines:

1. When you link up, you are giving us permission to feature your project and pictures on our blogs and social media with a link back to you.
2. We’ll feature our favorite projects from this weekend’s party at the beginning of next week’s link party.
3. Weekly favorites will also be pinned to our Link Party Favorites Board on Pinterest!
4. Add a text link back to the host blog.
5. You can link up any post you’ve created during this past week.
6. We’re excited about your handmade items, but this link party is limited to blog posts only. Please don’t linkup your Etsy shop.
7. Share the love and comment on two or more of the other projects that are linked up. We all love comments!

This party starts every Friday at 5 P.M. MST, and keeps going until the following Tuesday evening. Feel free to invite others to join in the fun!

Thanks for participating! Your Hosts,

Ruthie from Cooking With Ruthie, Jeni from Bakerette, Mandy from Mandy’s Recipe Box, Dan and Chris from Live Dan 330, and Deb, Tracy, and Sherri from Made From Pinterest

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One of the things that I am most excited about being able to stay home is to get my home organized again.  It is so hard after working all day, to come home and be motivated to clean, pick up and organize, right?

Just recently I did find a great cleaning chart for working women by my friend Jeni who blogs over at Bakerette.com.  In addition to posting on her blog, she also works full time and can relate to all of the many responsibilities that come along with being a working mom.   Click here to get a copy of her free cleaning chart!  Even if you don’t work outside the home, it’s a great help to have.

Before I started working full-time  I was using a cleaning schedule that I found on a website called FlyLady.net   This gal is UH-mazing!  She gives you daily emails and tells you what areas to clean and  helps you with your hot spots around the house so that you will never be in “CHAOS”.  Which stands for “Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome” because your house is a mess and isn’t ready for guests!

I specifically remember that one day, the goal was to clean out your bathroom drawers.  You know the one.  The drawer where you put your hairbrush in that leaves hair all over the rest of the items in your drawer.  Don’t deny it!  Well, I cleaned it out and I felt so invigorated!  I wanted to take my hairbrush and use it as a microphone and sing through the house!  Wow it felt great!

So now that I won’t be working full time I have signed back up for my FlyLady emails and am looking forward to getting my house more in order.  In an effort to get going and keep my excitement up, I decided to start with something small and organize my batteries.  There is a great pin from The OCD Life that got me motivated and here is my result:

I picked up the plastic organizer at JoAnn’s Crafts for $10.00.  It was great because they had removable plastic partitions and you could make the different compartments any size  that you want.

How did this make me feel?  Like Yoplait Good.  Like Chocolate Good.  Like Martha Stewart Good.

So put a bounce in your step and get your batteries organized today.  It will make Martha proud.  And heck, it will make me proud too!

Now let’s go out and do the right things today!

This Pin Rocks!

It’s a party with these sites today!

Chef in Training – Memories by the Mile – Hun What for Dinner? – The Recipe Critic  – Pint Sized Baker – A to Zebra Celebrations –  Sugar Bee Crafts – Mandy’s Recipe Box – Ladybug Blessings – Naptime Creations

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Just get a dish washing wand and fill the dispenser half with vinegar and half with liquid dish soap.  Keep it in the shower. That way everything is ready to go.  When you get in, wet the sponge, and scrub away.  Next, well, take a shower.  That’s it.  I do a little section of the shower each day and work my way around the whole area about twice a week.

If the mixture gets thick, just add a little water. Also, Marge cautions that it is important to rinse well, and keep out of eyes.

This Pin Rocks!

Today we are happily linking with: Gingerly Made, Glued to My Crafts, Live Laugh Rowe, the 36th AVENUE, Fireflies and Jellybeans, House of Hepworths, Katie’s Nesting Spot

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Here is my embarrassingly cluttered cabinet before adding the tension rod and hanging up the bottles. Please don’t judge!

I hope it goes this well with each cabinet I plan on attacking throughout the year. Yeah,

This Pin Rocks!

We are linking with these awesome blogs today: Serenity Now, Someday Crafts, Lil’ Luna,  Ginger Snap Crafts, Lady Behind the Curtain, DIY Crafty Projects, Someday Crafts, Printabelle,

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Laurie’s picture is full of pink, ruffles and pearls. Thank you Laurie from Tip Junkie for this great pin. My picture is all boy, grey, blue, red and bold stripes. This was a trip we took to Utah for our daughter’s graduation from college and my nephew’s wedding.

It did take longer to get all of Landon’s clothing packed and put into the ziploc bags. I wondered at the time if it would really be worth it.  Of course I had to “burp” each bag to get out the extra air. This helped to save some extra space in his suitcase. Some of his clothes were a tight fit for the bags. Next time I’m at the grocery store I’m going to purchase some of the larger bags for future travel.

 

Both Landon and I agree,

This Pin ROCKS!

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