Organizing Round-Up: Surfaces & Shelves

Here is my entry for this month's Organizing Round-Up. This month's project was shelves and surfaces. I had orginally planned to organize all my bookshelves, but I just couldn't quite get around to it. So I did a few mini-projects instead. Actually mine involved in little more de-cluttering & tidying up than organizing, but I guess it all counts. Sorry I didn't get the before pictures of everything, but I'm sure you'll get the idea.

I did a big clean up of our small bathroom last weekend. This is the over-the-toilet organizer we have. Originally the wash rags were stacked inside the cabinet, and the top shelf was lined with a bunch of stuff like contact solution, dental floss, make-up, and hubby's shaving stuff. It was a mess! I removed all the items and placed them in the cabinet or in the basket on the bottom shelf. Now it looks a lot neater, and we don't have to worry about stuff falling into the toilet.

I like placing small items in a container of some sort. It makes things look a lot neater. I bought a set of 3 little red baskets at the Dollar Tree and was able to put them to good use on my surfaces. The first basket is in our big bathroom near the sink. I have a set of drawers that I was placing my jewelry on, but it was too easy to knock it off in the floor, and after a while I tend to get a few items there, so it looks messy. So my solution was to place this basket here. It will save the jewelry from falling in the floor; plus it helps it too look as though it belongs there. And after a while, I can just pick up the whole basket and put everything away.

The second basket was placed on my dresser. Our house doesn't have a lot of storage space, so I decided to place my perfume bottles on the dresser. (It's also a good to have them there, because I'll see them there and actually remember to put on the perfume.) But I hate having a bunch bottles laying around. Somehow containing them in the little red basket, helps my brain to tolerate them and it makes the space look a little neater.

The third red basket is being used at my kitchen sink. And as you can see, I'm using it to hold my sponge, scrubber, and drain-stopper. This small thing is a huge improvement not only because it contains the stuff and makes it look less cluttered, but because it helps to keep the actual counter top and sink clean, because any excess water and soap is on the bottom of the basket rather than making spots and rings on the sink and counter.

I also organized these lotions and body sprays that were on my dresser into a basket. Here's a before picture:

And here's an after pic:

And finally the thing that actually took a bit of time: The Clothes Dryer. I've been using the dryer to lay out my beads and jewelry tools and projects. I lay them out here because it's the only place where I can guarantee my cats won't get to them.

And I try to clean up after I get done working, but sometimes I quit abruptly or right in the middle of a project, and stuff tends to get left out, as you can see here:

I worked for quite a while to get all my stuff re-organized. My beads are in little plastic organizers that I've placed in a drawer, and all my finished products are stored there as well. And all my charms/findings/tools/etc. have been re-organized in this little caboodle from yester-year.

Now that's definitely a lot neater! My goal is to keep it this way!

Stop by Org Junkie to see all the other organizing projects at the round-up.

-Jerri