MomHomeGuide.com has been up and running for a few months now, so I thought I'd share with you some of readers' favorite posts! As a mom, I've been obsessed with how to turn my home's unfinished basement into a useable space for my kids to play in, and it seems that a lot of moms and parents have the same concern, because the posts I've written about how to fix up a basement on the cheap are the website's most popular stories! Mudrooms are also a favorite topic with moms -- we need an organized space to stash our family's shoes and coats without cramping our home's style! I'm still working Continue reading...
Organizing the Garage
Yesterday, with Hurricane Sandy approaching New Jersey, my husband and I managed to clean out the garage enough so we were actually able to park both of our cars in our two-car garage. Getting the cars in our garage is a major accomplishment, since this is the first time we’ve parked both cars in the garage since we moved in more than nine years ago. In the garage is so much stuff – boxes of stuff for storage, bikes, ladders, a lawn mower and plenty of recreational items like beach umbrellas, folding chairs and athletic equipment. We were able to make space in the garage by stuffing lots Continue reading...
Organization Spree: The Kitchen
I've been on an organizing kick lately. This year, I've blogged frequently about how I'd like to create a fun, but clean basement playroom for my kids. (Check out my posts on my plans for fixing up our unfinished basement on the cheap). My kids currently have a play space in our unfinished basement, but the toys are stored in open storage, which makes the basement playroom space look messy. Plus, since the basement is unfinished, the only color in the space (besides the toys) is the drab gray of the basement floors and walls. I like what the folks at mom blog, My Blessed Home, did for Continue reading...
Updated Entry Hall
I should be working on a freelance story I have this week, but the mess in my home’s itsy-bitsy entry hall has just been irking me! My home is almost entirely filled with carpeting. (I would LOVE wood floors, but I know I will never have those, unless I won a home makeover contest or something.) Wood floors are just so beautiful and are much easier to clean! I hate vacuuming and tend to destroy my vacuum cleaners! So in my house, we take our shoes off before coming into the house to keep the carpets clean. I wasn’t used to it at first, but now I like taking my shoes off when entering a Continue reading...
Gettting the Most Out of Your Space
I read on Yahoo today that Internet stories on small spaces are becoming more prevalent and more popular. As people struggle to make a living in today's rough economy, I am sure smaller, but more affordable, spaces are more in demand. I watched a video today about Felice Cohen, a woman who makes her living as a professional organizer and lives in a miniscule 90-square-foot apartment. The pluses to her small New York City space are that it is centrally located, is only a block from Central Park, and rents for only $700 a month -- which is a steal for Manhattan. I watched videos today about Continue reading...
Toy Organization
A big problem most moms face is how to organize kids’ toys. It seems that these days, kids have way more toys than kids did when I was young. Or, maybe, my parents did a better job of organizing my and my sister’s toys when we were kids than I do organizing my kids’ toys. My daughters’ room doesn’t get cleaned as often as it should because it takes me over an hour just to clear all their toys off the floor and their beds before I can change their sheets, make their beds, vacuum, etc. Sometimes, I simply just don’t know where to put it all! Getting Organized So, what to do? I’ve found Continue reading...
Organizing With Shoe Bags
This post contains Amazon affiliate links. I’ve been pinning a fair amount on Pinterest lately, and I’ve been finding a lot of creative uses for hanging shoe bags – and I mean doing much more than organizing shoes! I’ve seen shoe bags used as office and craft supply organizers and by adding some potting soil, even as hanging planters. I’ve been thinking of maybe trying the hanging planter idea – I’d like to find something to add interest to my yard’s chain link fence. Organizing This and That A hanging shoe organizer can also be a great central organizing area Continue reading...
Creating Living Space in the Basement
Basements have to be the WORST place to declutter. At least mine is. I've been wanting to create a playspace for my kids in our home's basement for years now, but haven't gotten around to it. That's because our basement, which once once fairly neat with only a few boxes piled in it, is now a mess. When my twins were tots, I didn't have the time needed to keep the space clean, so whenever we had stuff that we needed to store, we just threw it down in the basement. To top if off, we accumulated belongings from family and friends that is now stored in the space. I have set up a play area Continue reading...
TGIF, But Not for the Extra Clutter
It's Friday, which means that the end of the school and work week is nearly here. It's also the day that my children, their eyes bright and searching for praise, empty their school bags out in my living room the minute they get home. Before I know it, the floor will be covered with artwork, drawings, homework and countless other items. I love looking through their work, but dread adding them to the pile of other treasures that sit in my home office waiting to be filed -- either in the "circular" file that only I know about, or to be placed among the many piles of my children's artwork, Continue reading...
Kitchen Organizing Tips for Busy Moms
It’s often said that the kitchen is the heart of the home, but unfortunately for many moms, the kitchen is often the central point for something unwanted – piles of clutter. So, I am always searching for new kitchen organizing tips! My kitchen tends to accumulate a lot of clutter, too. My kids like to do their homework on the kitchen table (even though there’s a desk for them upstairs), so we often have to take the time before dinner to clear off homework, pencils, books, etc. The kitchen table is also where I tend to leave the mail for my spouse to see when he comes home, so junk mail Continue reading...