Clean up the Key Chain

Do you have a key chain that has a big blob of club cards on it?  Are you always losing your keys?  That was me. 

I tried to get the keys in the key bowl.  Sometimes it happened.  Sometimes it didn't.

Then I decided sometimes it's ok to work with my weakness instead of trying to fix it.

A beautiful, amazing lady I work with told me one day just to put a lanyard on the keys.  Not to wear around my neck, but kind of like a flag that says "Here I am!"

You could use any lanyard, but I spotted this zebra lanyard at The Home Depot when I was making 5 copies of my house key.  Here it is in the key bowl.

This is what my keys look like on the bottom of my purse.  Are you with me now?  How hard is it to spot my keys?  Not.

And here's what my keys look like under the mail pile.  You can spot that from across the kitchen.

Don't get me wrong, I still try to put them in the correct place because nothing beats that.  But this lanyard has saved me a lot of trouble.

Next up:  key chain clutter.  Clutter shows up everywhere, doesn't it?

I found an app for my phone (I just got an HTC Evo from Sprint.  LOVE IT!!) that stores club cards on my phone.  It uses the camera to scan the bar code on the club card.  Clerks can scan the screen just like they would scan the card.

And you know how a coupon you earned shows up in the mail every once in a while?

Well with some retailers, the coupon shows up right on my app.  I was always losing those dumb things, or they cluttered up my purse.  Now it's all there in one place, nice and tidy.

On a side note, I just discovered the wonders of apps and I am addicted! The apps I love the most are the ones that help me out in life, like the key chain app.  I will be posting all my faves in the near future.



Organizing is a Habit

Organizing is a habit.  One I don't quite have yet, but I do observe this wonderful habit in friends who are organized.  Like Mrs. Brookes at Simply Brookes, who is doing posts on organizing to help people like me.  Yay!

Yesterday I saw her post on organizing under the sink, and I thought of this mess.  It's embarrassing.  That icky stuff on the left is water damage.  Lovely.  I also see a lot of cleaners that ended up here because I was too lazy to walk 10 more steps to the laundry room and put them away where they belong.

[Can I digress here for a minute?  There is such a thing as cleaning product clutter.  Some of us buy every cleaning product known to mankind.  Stop!  It's making your house messy.  All we really need are a few basics.  Resist the rest people.]

10 minutes later ... Voila!



1.  Cut a piece of thrift store wallpaper for the bottom (hot glued dots on the corners)

2.  Put away the cleaners I don't need in this room.

3.  Used my Target Dollar Spot bins (I use them everywhere): 1 for cleaners and 1 for sponges and brushes.

4.  Put the recycle bin back under the sink.  We are apparently a very trashy family because took the recycling out 3 times a day with this little can so instead I'm using it for grocery store bags to return to the store.  Those things are popping out of every nook and cranny of my kitchen.

After you clean something, do you walk back and look at it several times that day because it makes you so happy?  Oh, yeah, that was me.  Open the cupboard doors, stop and gaze, close doors, go back to what I was doing.  I know my husband thinks I'm crazy.