Organizing the Kitchen/Dining With Containers

Cardboard drink holder

Last Friday, I wrote about Organizing the Bathroom With Food Containers.  This Friday, I want to show I have organized a few things with food jars and other containers.  In the picture above, I have a cardboard drink holder from a restaurant takeout trip.  I used two large cups, one to hold straws and another one to hold forks and spoons.  It has a handle for ease of moving to and from the dining table.

Below, I have a nifty napkin holder.  Of course, we could use it for holding paper napkins, but why?  I have two salt shakers, one for each side of the dining table, as well as two toothpick holders.  It's easier to hold all of these four items in the napkin holder. 

Napkin holder

Below, you can see two containers of Nesquik Chocolate-flavored powder.  One has been emptied of the powder and its label removed.  I love these containers.  I've used one for birthday candles.  This time, I have used one for pre-packaged spices for different meals.

Containers of Nesquik chocolate powder

Nesquik container reused

Below is a tall plastic container that we were given years ago.  It used to hold some granola bars.  I knew right away when I saw this container that it would be worth more than the snacks it held.  Well, it now holds cup cake paper cups, food dye, and other small baking products.

Front of snack plastic container

Back of snack plastic container

Finally, here is a plastic Folgers container.  I love these because they are very sturdy and versatile.  The label can be removed and with a permanent marker one can help relabel it.  Below, I am using it for uncookable pinto beans.  I'm saving the beans for a future craft project.

Plastic Folgers container

Folgers container holding pinto beans

As you can see, containers of all sorts can be reused.  Nesquik and Folgers container, and even drink holders, can be used in different ways.  Food, baking, and eating utensils can find new containers.  Unconventional containers can hold new things.  I would think that the small Folgers container can hold sugar for a trip, and the napkin holder can still hold a small amount of paper napkins.

Well, thanks for reading this entry.   

If you like it, please press the "like" button below.  

I would appreciate that very much.

How about it, my readers?  Have you organized anything in your kitchen and/or dining room lately?  Would you consider using plastic food jars or other unconventional containers?  Right now is the perfect opportunity to do your fall cleaning.  I hope you would find time to change things up for the fall season. 

May God bless you all with His wisdom and peace.

This entry is part of the Family Fun Fridays series.

Organizing the Bathroom With Food Containers

See-through plastic bag for hair accessories

Two weeks ago, I came across an online article offering organizing tips.  In it, I read that glass jars can be reused.  That immediately sparked my imagination.  I had been using the above see-through plastic bag to house my hair accessories.  It was fine, but I wanted something less bulky but with some solid body to it.  

Washing to repurpose coffee containers

I remembered that we had some empty coffee plastic jars.  We had washed a few out to use within our home.  My hubby likes them for his endless supply of screws and nails.

Plastic jar for coffee repurposed for hair accessories

I decided to take my idea a little further.  I had some empty cleaned-out peanut butter plastic jars.  

Varying degrees of plastic jars

 I threw in some small balls of yarn.  I thought it looked decorative.  I've been watching a few episodes of the Nate Berkus show.  With his decorating expertise, he recommends using personal touches.  Since I crochet, I don't mind letting people know about love of yarn.

Disposable shavers in plastic tray

Having the disposable shavers in this white tray was not working for me.  I decided to use one of the former peanut butter jars for them.  It worked!

Disposable shavers in plastic jar

That freed up the white tray so I could use it (below) for toothpaste and other tooth-related toiletries.

Reused tray for tooth cleaning supplies

Often, we feel overwhelmed with all the things we own.  If we must keep a lot of items, we can organize them.  I have shown here that plastic jars can be reused to house our toiletries.  To organize the bathroom, we can keep the food containers and wash them up.  If the labels prove hard to remove, we can always employ a little bit of peanut butter and scrubbing.

Well, thanks for reading this entry.  If you like it, please press the "like" button below.  I would appreciate that very much.

How about it, my readers?  Have you organized anything in your bathroom lately?  Would you consider using plastic food jars?  Right now is the perfect opportunity to do your fall cleaning.  I hope you would find time to change things up for the fall season. 

May God bless you all with His wisdom and peace.

This entry is part of the Family Fun Fridays series.

Homeschool Organization 5: CDs, Videos, & Wii

This is a before picture of container for Wii.

Since I have a tiny living room, I constantly have to move things around.  I had been feeling that this dark rolling cart was too big and overpowering for the room.  I decided to go for something white and transparent.  That's why, when I received a $25 Target gift card that I won, I bought the following rolling cart.  As you can see it fits snugly beside this large television.

This is an after picture of container for Wii.

This is a closeup picture of Wii Container.

The top drawer holds remotes for Wii.

Remotes for both the Wii and Gamecube gaming systems are held in this drawer.

The next drawer holds Wii games.

This drawer is also holding Gamecube games that work in the Wii.

Last drawer holds misc. items for Wii.

The brown rolling cart did not have as many drawers.  The plastic rolling cart has been working well for us.

Wii can be rolled around.

We move the Wii between the living room, where my kids use it, and my bedroom, where hubby and I see movies on Netflix.  At this time, we cannot afford a BluRay disc player (which would allow us to see movies on Netflix) for our room.  We opted to move the Wii back and forth.  That's why I needed something with wheels to hold the Wii gaming system.  Either way, I think the plastic rolling cart was a wise investment because I can always use it for something else, if we decide to leave the Wii in the living room permanently.

Educational computer software also needs organizing.

We use two CD holders for computer software.

The above picture features how I solved the CD problem.  The holders condense the space taken up by the CDs.  The CDs often ended up in the wrong jewel case.  Many of you will sympathize with that.  Now, I wish the kids would put the CDs in the sleeves; then, I would be happy.

CD games are inside the brown holder.

My teen owns a fair amount of computer games.  Those are separate from the educational software that is pictured below.  

Educational software is in the black holder.

My youngest can take this holder to her computer.  The software for her age is at the beginning of the "pages."

File cabinet drawer holds CD cases.

Currently, the cumbersome jewel cases for the CDs are held in a drawer of a filing cabinet.  I have kept the jewel cases with instruction manuals.  I might sell the software in the future.  The software sells better if it is complete with the jewel case and manuals.  I can always use the money to buy new software.

Blue holder has Educational audio CDs.

This smaller CD holder is for us to take educational DVDs and audio CDs with us in the car.  Again, the holder reduces the space taken up.  You know that when going on a trip, you are often pressed for space.  This way, you can tuck the collection in a bag, without worrying that the CDs and DVDs will end up all over the place, possibly breaking.

Blue CD holder has some of our educational DVDs.

Well, I have shown here some ideas on how to organize different collections of educational video games, DVDs, and computer software within the homeschool environment.  Yes, the collections are in different sizes, colors, and shapes of containers.  Since I am on a limited budget, I have had to shop in my own home for the best containers. 

Thanks for reading this blog entry.

How about you, my readers?  How do you organize your video games?  How about your computer software?  Do you own music CDs?  I encourage you to evaluate if you have the right containers to hold your music and video collections.  The collections might need to be moved into different containers.

I pray that God bless you all, my dear readers, with His wisdom and peace.

This has been an entry for Thorough Thursdays. 

Homeschool Organization 4: Blocks to Construct

Megabloks in use

Over the years, we have bought and sold a few collections.  The collections that I have organized and kept are those that are visited by everyone, including me.  I enjoy building things with my kids.  Sometimes, I go so far as to hog up all of one color of Legos.  Does that make me a bad mother?

Megabloks stacked to fit in a box.

I wanted to keep all of the Megabloks in one container.  We had to stack them together.  It was impossible to keep them in that Office Depot box any longer.  I had to make a decision.  I wanted the kids to have freedom to use the toys.

We acquired more Megabloks.

Our neighbors gave my youngest some more Megabloks.  I was very grateful.  I knew she would be so happy.  She started playing with them right away.  It didn't matter if she played on my bed.

We moved the Megabloks into this bigger, plastic container.

The Megabloks fit much better in this plastic container.  I shopped in my home again.  I had been using that plastic box to house my out of season curtains and sheets.  Since I moved the linens into another location, this box had been freed up.

Closeup reveals a few Megabloks in the container.

Not all of the Megabloks are in the container.  Some are currently in my son's room out in the open.  I think he constructed a mobile home and used up a lot of Megabloks.  This trusty plastic container is waiting patiently to house the pieces once he's done using them.  I like that my youngest ones dug right in and started playing with the Megabloks when I showed them the containerful (yes, that's a word) of Megabloks.

Legos are in blue container and some shoe boxes, too.

Legos are a family favorite, especially mine.  I can actually lose track of time if I start playing with Legos.  In the entertainment center, I have a large blue box that holds red, white, and blue pieces for building houses.  We also have a few of those see-through plastic shoe boxes that contain brown and green pieces.  In another shoebox are other pieces, probably purple and pink pieces.  (Can't check right now; it's the middle of the night and don't want to wake my teenage son.)

Here are some more Legos, by color.

As you can see, I also have some Legos joined together by type and color.  Yellow and orange go together and the black ones are for making cars.  We occasionally have some of our creations on display.  You can see the red, blue and white house.  There is also a pumpkin face on top of it.

We even have wooden blocks in a separate container.

In the entertainment center (pictured above), I have the Lincoln logs way at the top.  I also have some medium size blocks that are plastic.  I'm not sure if they are made by Megabloks.  They are in a see-through box, just like the size of the one for the wooden blocks.  My kids play with all of these different collections.

Well, I have shown here some ideas on how to organize different types of blocks within a homeschool.  Yes, the collections are in different sizes, colors, and shapes of containers.  Since I am on a limited budget, I have had to shop in my own home for the best containers. 

I haven't forgotten the other items that I want to show.  Stay tuned to see how I organize such things as DVDs, audio cassettes, and the Wii games.  When toys are organized, children will want to play with their toys, constructing and using their imagination.

Thanks for reading this blog entry.

How about you, my readers?  How do you organize your blocks?  Do you own Lincoln logs?  Do you own K'NEX toys?  I encourage you to evaluate if you have the right containers to hold your block and/or construction collections.  The collections might need to be moved into new, bigger, and/or sturdier containers.

I pray that God bless you all, my dear readers, with His wisdom and peace.

This has been an entry for Thorough Thursdays. 

Homeschool Organization 3: Music, Poster, & Art Supplies

Old, broken container that served its purpose in our homeschool.

I have many more areas of organization to present you in this third installment of homeschool organization.  I am presenting it to you piecemeal so that I can allow you to digest the ideas slowly.  I have, as a homeschooling mom, seen that some containers are no longer doing their job properly.  That's why I often change out the contents into other containers.  Yes, I like to re-purpose containers.

First up are the musical toys.

Musical instruments fit in this Rubbermaid container.

I went through many containers trying to find the right one that would hold all of the instruments.  I was given this green container by a friend.  It fits lots of toys, including the maracas and two xylophones.

Musical instruments that my children use to worship God.

 

Here is a sampling of some of the toys that fit inside the green box.  I have collected these toys over the years. Some I have found in yard sales.  Some were given to us.  Some we bought.

Next, we have the posters.

A large box that held a disassembled computer chair hold some posters.

Over time, I have also accumulated quite a few posters and charts.  The best containers for posters have been flat boxes like the one above.  You can slide the posters in and out.  The posters remain flat.  I dislike when posters are rolled up and stay curled when you try to hang them up on the wall.

Posters are gathered together in two rings.

Hole-punched the posters and put them in rings.

I used two rings to distribute the weight of carrying the posters.

White rack held my posters by the rings.

Another option is to group them together.  I hole-punched the ends of the posters and put them in rings.  That way, I could hang them on a makeshift wardrobe rolling rack.  My hope is to find a more sturdier rack than the one you see above.  That white one was cheap and cheaply made, as you can see from the legs.

Finally, we deal with the arts and crafts supplies.

This is really two containers-the pink one and the white one.

The containers above held the arts and crafts.  I had joined the two sets of containers with double-sided glued tabs.  The supplies stayed in this setup for a few years.  The bad thing is that the pink drawers were broken.  Also, we had to yank the drawers open just to access the supplies.

The white tower is really two sets of containers.

Again, I used double-sided glue tabs to keep these two sets of white containers together.  It used to hold the girls' doll collection.  Since they decided to get rid of the dolls and their accessories, it freed up the tower.  I decided to re-purpose the tower for the arts and crafts supplies.

Closeup of top of tower.

The top portion holds paints, glues, smocks, and old CDs.

Closeup of bottom of tower

The bottom of the tower holds wood craft, construction paper, and colors.

Well, I hope that I have provided some solid ideas on how to organize arts supplies, posters, and musical instruments within a homeschool.  There are more pictures and themes I want to cover.  Stay tuned to see how I organize such things as DVDs, audiocassettes, and the Wii games.  In order to use the items in your home, we must make the time to organize our teaching aids.

Thanks for reading this blog entry.

How about you, my readers?  Are your posters all in one box?  Are your instruments ready for your kids to use?  Are your arts supplies organized enough for your children to want to use them?  I encourage you to see if you have the right containers to hold these collections.

I pray that God bless you all, my dear readers, with His wisdom and peace.

This has been an entry for Thorough Thursdays. 

D is for Using a Digital Camera as a Tool to Teach

 

I'm currently participating in an ABC's for homeschooling challenge.  

Since it falls on Tuesdays, I am adding a technological slant to the challenge.  

I hope you stay tuned and enjoy my entries.

I started out my blog for various reasons.  The most important reason is that I wanted to record life lessons for my children.  I have found, through blogging, that pictures can carry the messages a long way.  Visual cues provide visual learners a way to relate to the information with a much more keen interest in the content.  I, myself, am a visual person so I understand this concept.

Digital cameras can be wonderful teaching tools.

In my blog reading, I have sought out blogs that provide rich images of how mothers organize their own homes.  I am loving this springtime cleaning season.  Many mom bloggers are taking before and after pictures of their decluttering and reorganization of specific rooms.  I love seeing their ideas come to fruition.  The explanations provided entice me to try out some of their ideas, often with my own tweaking.

You might think that I am only referring to myself and my enjoyment of taking photographs.  I have been fortunate enough to have taken some lessons in photography in my junior high and high school years.  They have shaped the way I take photographs.  I don't claim to be an expert.  I just know what I want to convey through my pictures.

Picture-taking is essential for me for several reasons.  Yes, I capture memories.  Yes, I love to record vacations and milestones.  Who doesn't?  I, more importantly, want to teach with my photographs.

Picture of organization of a bedroom, essential to homemaking

For example, to teach homemaking to my children, I am taking before and after pictures of my decluttering efforts in my own home.  I want to show my children about the importance of organization for a home to run efficiently.  It is important that they learn the skill of organization for when they have their own homes.  I am taking the time to jot down notes and adding before and after pictures to my blog entries about organization; I want to provide my children with examples of cleanliness in a home.  It might give them inspiration to reorganize their own bedrooms after seeing what I can do.

Picture of a cooked meal is a wonderful teaching tool.

Another way I use photography to teach my children is in the area of cooking.  I am enjoying blogging and taking pictures of meals (and their ingredients) that my children can make for themselves.  I have blogged about making soups, salads, and tacos.  I have made a point about making meals that are colorful for the eyes, too.  A melody of colors in a meal can lure people into eating your delicious, healthy meals.

Pictures of gardening help teach about science.

Of course, I must mention gardening.  My children should know about plants for science.  Is there a better way to learn about plants than to plant seeds and watch them grow?  I love the fact that out of seeds something big, juicy, and delicious grows out of the earth to eat.  My children have gardened for several years, but with pictures, those memories have been recorded for later viewing.

Well, thanks for reading this entry.  I hope I have provided some advice on how to use a digital camera to teach in your homeschool.  Even if you don't homeschool, all adults and children can use digital cameras to capture memories to teach others on any given subject, including family history, for example.  I hope you will give it a try, if you haven't already.  Photography can provide a different dimension to learning for your children.

 

How about you, my readers?  Do you own a digital camera?  Do you let your children use it?  I encourage you to use a digital camera to create opportunities to provide visual aids in your teaching.  Photography, in itself, can be quite fun, too!

I pray that God gives you all, my beloveds, His wisdom and peace.

This has been an entry for the Technology Tuesdays series.