{Make It} Pretty Coupon Organizer

As promised in my last post, today I'm going to show you how I turned my oh-so-helpful little coupon organizer from plain to pretty.

What you'll need: 

Small 6 Pocket Organizer

Card stock

Washi Tape

Pretty Wrapping Paper

Label Maker

Glue Stick

Double Sided Tape

Unfortunately I dropped the ball on pictures for this one. It's really simple though so just bear with me!

1. Pretty up your card stock: The dividers in my organizer were really flimsy so I wanted to do something to reinforce them and also add a little extra color. Grab a sheet of your card stock, some pretty wrapping paper and a glue stick. Give one side of the card stock a good coat of glue and then apply your wrapping paper and smooth it out until there are no bumps. Flip the card stock over and use the edge as a guide to cut off the excess wrapping paper. 

You can kind of see here how flimsy the dividers were before. 

2. Reinforce your dividers: Either measure the width and height of the dividers within the organizer or just make a guess at it.  I measured mine then grabbed my ruler and penciled some lines on the back of my card stock to get as close to an even rectangle as possible. Cut the rectangles out and use a couple of strips of double sided tape to attach the card stock to the pre-existing dividers. 

Here's a little view of what your dividers should look like after. 

3. Add some color to your tabs: Although I don't have a picture of the before, the original tabs in this organizer were oval shaped. I didn't like that, especially since I wanted to attach a rectangular label. So I brainstormed for a second and came up with this idea. Grab some washi tape and cut a decent size piece off. I cut mine at about 2 inches. (the exact size needed will depend on the length of your tabs.) Then, starting at the end of one of your tabs, press the washi tape along the length to the the other end of the tab. Then fold the washi tape back, making sure it lines up with the washi tape on the front of the tab, and push along the back side of the tab. Keep wrapping the washi tape like this until you no longer have excess. Repeat on each tab!

4. Label it: I used my label maker to make labels for the tabs, however you can write them in as well if you don't have one. The labels may vary based on the needs of your family so really think about what categories you need most. Mine were Beauty, Tuck, Food, Home, Gifts/Returns and Personal/Misc. As I said in my last post, I think I'll be adding an entertainment tab to this as well. 

And that's pretty much it!

This little organizer has really helped me out so much! I actually remember to use coupons now, have a place to keep my return receipts and never lose my gift cards to the abyss also known as my wallet. Win-Win-Win for me!

Do you have another way of organizing important items in your purse?
What extra steps did you take to make it pretty? 

I'd love to know! Until next time...

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{Organize It} (Un)Extreme Couponing

I'll never be one of those extreme coupon-er people. That's just something I finally had to accept about myself. There was a time though when I thought I could pull it off. Yep. 

For about 5 (naive) minutes. 

Alas, I realized a few things. I really don't have the amount of free time that's needed to keep up with it. Also, I don't have the extra room in my house to store a bunch of items that I don't even need. 

Most importantly, I just don't think have the level of "shamelessness" it takes to haul 20 tubes of toothpaste up to the register, present the poor, unsuspecting cashier with 45 coupons, and listen to the people behind me huff and puff as I haggle my way into only paying .20. 

Chaa-chingg!

No? That's not how it works? Shows how much I know!

Just because I'm not able to pull off the extreme coupon-ing doesn't mean I don't love a good deal just as much as the next person! I love using coupons when I'm able to find one for something that I will actually use. 

My main problem? I just can't remember to use them! Or if I do remember, I end up realizing I've left the coupon at home. This happened to me most recently at Bed, Bath and Beyond. I was browsing for nothing in particular, found a rug that I loved for $100, and when I got to the register I realized I had left my coveted 20% off coupon at home. 

Talk about sucky. 

Luckily the Bed, Bath and Beyond people are awesome and let you bring your coupon and receipt back at a later time for a price adjustment. (If you didn't know that, well, you're welcome!)

Since I've been on a mission to get my life and everything in it organized in a way that works for ME, I decided to take this head on. 

And I was able to come up with a system that has helped me successfully coupon for the first time ever! Find out how I did it below. 

So here's a little back story. About a week ago I was going through my wallet and found all these gift cards that I thought had (obviously) been used and just never thrown away. So I decided to make a few quick calls and just confirm there were no balances. I ended up finding out I had over 30 bucks in gift card money to many places that I shop at regularly.

Don't ask me how you can forget about free money. I don't know, there's just no excuse.

That lead me to realize my issue. It was my wallet. I tend to just shove everything in there and it ends up lost for months until I finally clean it out (usually because I can't shove one more thing in there).

Another issue is that when I look at my wallet it triggers only one thing in my mind which is monies. That's it.

So I realized after some thought that I needed to find some type of coupon/gift card organization, it needed to fit in my purse and it needed to be something that would trigger my mind every time I saw it that I had coupons and gift cards just waiting to be used.

I found this little beauty in the bargain bin at Target. With a price tag of a whopping $1, how could I say no? I actually bought this quite a few months back and never found a use for it until now.

There isn't much to it. It has 6 pockets and I used my label maker to print out labels for each tab. 

The tabs I personally needed most were Beauty, Food, Tuck, Home, Gifts/Returns and Personal/Misc. 

Most of them are pretty self explanatory, but the Gifts/Returns tab is for all my gift cards and receipts of any returns or exchanges I need to do. It's really helped me a lot so far having these items separated from the rest of my purse. 

Now that I've been using this for a while I may change the Personal/Misc tab to an Entertainment tab so that I can separate grocery food coupons from eating out coupons. I'll also be able to use it for movie, ice cream, and all other coupons for fun things we like to go out and do.

And of course I had to pretty it up some to help me stay motivated to keep using it! So here's the finished product. 

This isn't a new concept by any means, but since it has helped me so much to keep everything organized and actually start using my coupons I thought I would share in hopes that it may help some of you as well. 

If you're interested in a quick tutorial on how to take your organizer from plain to pretty like mine, stay tuned for my next post. 

Do you think something like this would work for you? Let me know!

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{How To} Clean and Organize your Child's Room in 30 Minutes

Although this post is titled "How To: Clean and Organize your Child's Room in 30 Minutes" these steps can be used for pretty much any room in the house!

I am probably the worst at cleaning... in the world. I'm one of those people who has procrastination kick in hard when I'm faced with a huge mess. I get it done, but it takes me (usually) the wholeeee day because I don't come up with a plan, I kind of mosey around, and take frequent breaks.

I'm not proud to admit it, but I just hate dealing with big messes! Maintenance cleaning I can do all day, but big messes I cannot.

When you have a toddler running around there is really no way to get around it. You're gonna have some kind of huge mess somewhere in the house 99% of the time. This drives me batty to no end, but there's just no reasoning with a 1 year old.


For about a month, Tucker's bedroom was a disaster area. He doesn't like being in there. Noooo...he would much rather run around the rest of the house like a wild child. However what he DOES like to do is go in his room, literally tear out every toy, book and article of clothing he can get his hands on, throw it all on the floor and run out the room laughing like a mad man.

Last time he did that I threw in the towel. What the heck it's just toys right? It's not like it's filth. So I left it. I didn't take a picture of the before because I didn't think this was going to end up as a post. But I'll borrow a picture from The Berenstain Bears to demonstrate a little. :)

Well a month later, it was still like that. And it really started to annoy me. Although I didn't have much time I decided to fully devote 30 minutes to his room, make a plan and get as much done as I possibly could. And I was surprised that I was able to accomplish it all in just that 30 minutes!

So now, I'm gonna share with you how I did it. Hopefully it will help you as much as it helped me.

Before you start, decide what you want to accomplish in the amount of time you are giving yourself. Having a plan cuts down on cleaning time drastically!

For me, I made this list:

1. Purge old toys and clothes that don't fit anymore
2. Organize remaining clothes and toys and put them away
3. Put bedding in the wash
4. Wipe everything down
5. Vacuum

The next thing you should do before you get down to cleaning is gather all the cleaning supplies you'll need. This probably sounds like common sense, but I never do this and end up having to stop every few minutes to go get something I need from another area of the house. Not only does this help to distract me it also makes my cleaning escapade take way longer than it should.

What you'll need:

Trash bag

Box or another trash bag for what you are giving away, donating, etc

Microfiber rag

Cleaning spray

Vacuum

1. Purge old toys   {5 minutes}
I started by quickly pushing the massive amounts of toys laying around into a pile near his toy box. Make sure that you get them all so you don't have to keep moving around the room. Once they are in a pile, grab your trash and donation bags and quickly start sorting through everything. Throw broken and beaten toys in the trash and nicer ones in your donation bag. The trick to this is don't think about it too much! Kids end up with so many toys they don't play with. Tucker is no exception to this so I would much rather donate to another child who doesn't have as much than keep a whole bunch of toys I know Tucker isn't going to play with. Unless it's a favorite, just get rid of it. I promise they won't notice.

If your child has a lottttt of toys, just get what you can done in the 5 minutes and then move on. You can always go back once you have more time and finish getting rid of toys you don't want.


2. Put away remaining toys  {2 minutes}
Once I got rid of all the crap-o-la Tucker didn't need anymore, I quickly grabbed what was remaining and started placing it somewhat organized back in his toy chest. The best part was, everything fit after getting rid of all that stuff!


3. Donate clothes that don't fit anymore  {5 minutes}
I'm bad about keeping up with this, so I knew it was time. I started by removing one bin at a time (he has the cloth bins rather than an actual dresser) and quickly checking the size of all the clothing within it. Anything that wasn't his size went in the donate pile and the rest I folded quickly and placed in a pile. I'm in no way a person who spends ridiculous amounts of time perfectly folding everything so this worked for me, if you are it's not problem! You just may need more time for this step. :) I made sure as I went that I sorted everything into piles of t-shirts, onesies, pajamas, pant, shorts, etc.


4. Put away remaining clothes  {2 minutes}
Once everything was sorted into separate piles I started placing them back in the bins, giving each type of clothing it's own bin to make it easy when searching for outfits.

These are the kind of bins I'm talking about, and I really love versatile they are.

5. Strip bedding and place in washer  {5 minutes}
At this point, I went and started the washer and added my detergent. While it was filling up I returned to Tucker's room and stripped everything out of his crib including his stuffed animals and bumpers. You can guess what happens next, put it in the washer!


6. Wipe everything down  {3 minutes}
I grabbed my microfiber rag and vinegar/water combo and sprayed down all the surfaces in T's room, including the crib. Then I quickly wiped it all down. Using the rag instead of paper towels really helps to cut down on time because you can use it start to finish. With paper towels you have to keep getting knew ones as the old ones get too soggy.


7. Move all the big stuff  {2 minutes}
There are some items that are left out in Tucker's room; such as big toys that won't fit in his chest and his pop up tent. Before I vacuumed I moved all of these big items into his empty crib so that I could vacuum uninterrupted.


8. Vacuum!  {4 minutes}
Pretty self explanatory


9. Put the big stuff back {2 minutes}
I removed all the big items and placed them back in their homes.


That's it! The only thing I had to spend a few extra minutes on later that night was putting the bed stuff back on because I had to wait for it to wash and dry.

Speaking of the little Tasmanian Devil, there he is now.

Ready to tear apart everything I just cleaned. Sighhh.

So, if you would like to get a lot of cleaning done in a short period of time give this a try! Of course you won't follow the same exact steps I did, but the foundation is the same for any room.

Make a list of what you want to accomplish, give your self a set amount of time to do each task, gather all your cleaning supplies and then....

GO! :)

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{Wishlist Wednesday} Gold Glamour

This weeks Wishlist Wednesday post isn't so much about items as it is about ideas.

I've never been much of a "yellow" gold girl. In fact, I used to pretty much hate it.

But as you get older I guess it is true that your tastes evolve, because over the past few months I have started noticing gold items that I really like. Especially where home decor is concerned. I've learned if you use it the right way, it can be very glamorous and pretty!

As I was scrolling my news feed today, I saw a picture of this room.

Disclaimer: I don't know the original source of this picture to be able to give credit. So, if you happen across this and it's yours just let me know and I'll give credit where credit is due. :)

I love the little gold accents! Especially that side table. This has officially inspired me to start incorporating some gold in my own home. In fact, I would love to make a little nook like this where I could relax and read. So I guess we'll see how my adventures in gold go. I'll be sure to keep you posted.

The next idea has nothing to do with gold, but makes me happy to no end because I finally found what I want to do for my back splash!

I came across this over on The Modest Homestead and I fell in love.

This bead board/baseboard combo is gorgeous and looks pretty simple to boot!

Now if I could just finally get my kitchen cabinets finished. I mean it's only been over a month that I've been working on them.

Please don't judge, there's like a million of them!

If I ever get them done, I can move on to the rest of the kitchen projects. Like this beautiful back splash.

Sighhhhh.

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{Make It!} Rustic Chalkboard Frame

Last week I posted my very first Wish List Wednesday items. I hope you loved them as much as I did!

In that post, I promised that I would try to come up with some cheaper (i.e. knockoff) versions of these items to share and I'm happy to report that I have completed my very first one!

It's a simple one, but I figured we would ease ourselves into this. :)

You may remember these pretty, weathered and distressed looking picture frames.

I loved them. But I just couldn't see paying 20 bucks for one picture frame. That could buy me... let me count... 1, 2, 3... Almost 7 Dunkin Donuts Iced Hazelnut Lattes!

Yeahhh....no.

So I came up with this...

What you'll need:

Cheap Ornate Frame

{I purchased mine from Ross for 4.99. I highly recommend checking there!}

3 bottles of acrylic paint in complimenting colors

{Michael's, Joann's, probably even WalMart. I used 3 different colors and they were about $1.29 a piece}

Chalkboard Paint

{I also purchased this where I got my acrylic paints, so it was $1.29 as well}

Chalk or chalk markers

{I recommend chalk markers, a little more expensive but you're able to write so much cleaner and prettier with them}

Step 1: Paint your chalkboard. I just used the glass that came with the frame. If you want to save the glass, you can use a piece of cardboard or even a thin piece of wood cut down to size. You'll want to apply a generous coat vertically and then let it dry.

Step 2: Apply 2 coats of base paint. This really depends on how dark your frame is. Mine was dark and my base coat was white, so it ended up taking me about 3 coats. I used the non glossy acrylic paint to achieve a really weathered look. Glossy is going to make it look too new, but it's all about your preference! If your frame has as much detail as mine you're gonna spend most of your time on this step because it takes a while to get in all those cracks.

Step 3: Apply color #2. I used the darkest of my colors for this layer, it was called Sea Breeze. I did this in kind of a dab and sweep motion. Try to not get down in the cracks and only sweep color onto the face of the frame. You want some of that base color showing through underneath.

Step 4: Apply color #3. For me this was Sea Glass. You'll want to lightly dab this around the frame, using less than you did of your 2nd color. This is just to provide depth and that layered peeling paint look. 

Step 5: Apply second coat of chalkboard paint. It's going to take at least 2 layers of chalkboard paint to get it dark enough. This layer you should be applied horizontally. 

Step 6: Continue layering paints. Here you can continue to layer the colors on your frame to achieve the look you want.

Step 7: Dry. Give everything a good 2 hours to completely dry and cure. Then reassemble your frame and write a cute saying on your new chalkboard frame!

It doesn't have much of a distressed look like my wish list picture frames, however I love the weathered, layered look and the bright colors.

The bottom line: It only cost me about 10 bucks and I got 4 tubes of paint I can use for future projects. I would say it's a win!

So what do you think? Love it? Hate it? What would you do differently? I would love to hear about it in comments below!

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Spring Mantel Reveal

Spring is in full bloom y'all!

So much so that it's almost summer. However, if you live in Florida you know that Spring feels more like Summer and Summer feels more like H-E-double hockey sticks.

It's hot!

But beautiful. I love this time of year.

I've always wanted a fireplace with a big, pretty mantel that I could dress up for holidays, seasons, etc. But in Florida it's rarely cold enough to really need a fireplace. So they are few and far between.

One day I happened to Google "faux fireplaces". And the first one that caught my eye was Mandi's over at Vintage Revivals. I loved it! And realized pretty quickly I was capable of making one myself. Mine ended up a lot different than the Vintage Revivals version, but that's definitely where I got the idea from so I have to give credit where credit is due!

So around Christmas time last year, me and the hubs set to making this faux fireplace. It wasn't easy, I'll tell ya that. It was our first major DIY project, and the hubs cursed that thing up and down and said "I quit!" about 20 times before we finally got it mostly completed.

It took a lot of begging and puppy dog eyes to keep him motivated, but the end result was the pretty mantel I always wanted! I don't have a tutorial on how we made the fireplace and I still haven't fully finished it the way it was intended to be, but maybe one day, I'll put together a tutorial if I finally finish it.:)

So here it is, my spring decorated mantel! One thing I don't really like about it is that the mantel is too wide, that makes decorating it kind of hard because it never feels like it is full enough. But I'll keep experimenting.

Or if I can talk the hubby into it (doubt it) I'll remove the mantel and make it smaller.

Hope everyone is enjoying their spring!

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{Wishlist Wednesday} Country Rustic Pretty

My wish list is forever growing.

Seriously, it's sad.

I should just stop going to stores altogether. Especially Michael's and Target. They just have way too much cute stuff!

I can tell I've gotten older though, because where as my wish list used to be filled with clothes, shoes and makeup now its full of home decor, tools, and kid stuff!

Any who, I have a problem. This problem consists of adding stuff to my mental wish list and thinking that I'll figure out a cheaper way of making it later.

Then I either forget about it altogether to the point where it nags me so much I spend a week trying to remember what it was or... I just forget what it looks like.

So the other day I was browsing my local Michael's (bad idea), and it must have been the day of torturing Britny with things she can't have because every time I turned around I was finding something I felt I just couldn't live without! This was followed by picking each item up, throwing it in my basket, walking around in a circle a few times, feeling guilty, then hesitantly removing said item from the buggy and putting it back on the shelf, usually not where I found it (sorry, Michael's employees!). Yeah, I'm that girl.

I know...bummer. But it's part of being a responsible adult I suppose.

It gave me an idea though! If I take a picture and share with you guys then I'll never forget again! So therefore, it's Wish List Wednesday.

I absolutely LOVE this. The color, the hardware, it's beautiful! But I don't love it enough to pay 60 bucks for it. Next!

This caught my eye because I saw something similar at Cracker Barrel that I thought was really cute. It was an ampersand that was painted in a chevron pattern and it said "They Lived Happily Ever After".  I didn't even bother to look at the price tag on the one at Cracker Barrel because, come on, what isn't ridiculously expensive at Cracker Barrel?

This plain black version was $20, which I still think is a bit steep so I'll be on the look out for a cheaper alternative.

I really like the worn, rustic look of these frames. But with a 3-4 dollar frame (you can find some nice, detailed ones at Ross) and some acrylic paint you could easily make this for half the cost.

Sigh. This is so pretty. But I can't see paying $60 for it no matter how gorgeous it is. I'm thinking maybe I can find an old wooden window pane at Restore so I'm going to keep an eye out.

And last but not least this super pretty jewelry display. I'm always looking for jewelry displays...

mainly because I'll never fork over the money for them. :)

So there they are. I am hoping to find cheaper, DIY alternatives for these items that I heart. And as I do I'll be sure to give you guys some (hopefully) awesome tutorials.

Till next week...

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