Organize Those Legos = Organize Your House

At times, I feel like my house is over run by Lego pieces - small ones, big ones, and all different colors. 

Not anymore!  I just picked up this great rolling organizer from Michaels and our house, thus my life, has changed!  Not to mention, I gave the kids the job of sorting all the millions of pieces by color.  They actually thought it was fun.  And don't forget to leave a drawer for all those instruction manuals.

Do you want to organize your Legos?  Head over to Michaels now as this organizer is 50% off...just $40!

Happy organizing!

Hair Bow Bulletin Board = Mommy Organizational Bliss

Despite everyone having the flu this past week, I'm proud to say that I did get one project accomplished. The girls have so many bows and flowers for their hair that we've been keeping in baskets. It has honestly been a disorganized mess for months. I've been collecting these bulletin boards from garage sales and love that with the hair accessories now on the wall, I can see everything we have. I also know when I've over bought in one color like white! I'm really addicted to big bows, the bigger the better. I grew up wearing them and I love them on little girls. I hope my little ones don't grow out of letting me dress them up too soon!

Posted by Liz

My Rod of Ribbon - a Quick and Easy DIY Project

I was tired of all of my ribbon spools coming undone and being in a box where I couldn't see them.

So I went to Home Depot and spent a whopping 73 cents on a thin wooden dowel. To make it easy on myself, I decided to use the pre-drilled holes on our closet shelving. I then measured the opening, cut the dowel to size and...

Voila! My new ribbon rod! Now I can finally see all my ribbon options without having to dig through a drawer or box!

Please disregard all the junk in the background...organizing that is on my long list of to-do's!

Happy Monday! 

The Wonder Hanger - Not As Wonderful as I Hoped

If you have ever watched cable TV (E! is my staple), you have probably seen a ton of infomercials, including one for the Wonder Hanger. The Wonder Hanger is supposed to give you three times the space in your closet.

I decided to try this product because my kids started to accumulate way too many sweaters and jackets in our coat closet, and I was getting frustrated at how much space they were taking up width-wise, but not length-wise.

As you can see from the picture above, the jackets/sweaters fit much easier in my coat closet and do take up less room width-wise and utilize more room length-wise.

But what about when you want to pull the Wonder Hanger up so that you can easily grab an item? This is what I found to be a bit more challenging. I feel like my coat closet is stuffed enough at this point, and as you can see from the picture above, it is a little bit cumbersome lifting the Wonder Hanger back up so that your items are stretched out again length-wise.

And I don't know if I have a larger than usual closet hanging rod, but the metal hanging hook scrapes the hanging rod every time I put it up or take it down. I really don't like scratching the hanging rod. It almost has the same feeling as nails scratching on a chalkboard. Yuck! As a result, I typically just keep the Wonder Hanger in the down position, which can make hanging items back up a challenge.

I haven't tried it for purses yet. I think that could be a beneficial way of using it, too.

Overall grade: B

If you have thoughts about the Wonder Hanger, please fell free to share. If I am doing something wrong, or you have found another great use for it, please let us all know!

Simple Solution for that Necklace Mess

Some of you may be highly organized with all of your jewelry. Well, I am not. I have a jewelry box, and all of my "finer" jewelry are kept in their original cases/boxes. But my not-so-expensive jewelry is all over the place. And most of the time, earrings and necklaces are in little plastic bags or boxes so that when we go somewhere they can be transported easily. (Oh yes, I have a travel jewelry box, but of course I don't use it!)

One of the most frustrating things about my lack of organization is how necklaces get tangled up with each other. Most of the time, I won't even both putting on a necklace because I don't want to bother with the Rubik's cube like moves I have to make to get them apart.

So, I came up with a solution. I went to Bed Bath and Beyond, bought a tie rack and hung it up right next to my husband's tie rack in our closet. (And I did hang it high enough so that my little ones' grabbing hands can't reach anything!)

I will admit, I got this idea from a girlfriend who did this in her closet as well as another friends' closet to help prevent the very same mess I was going through. It just took me two years to actually put the idea into practice!

The verdict: I love it! My necklaces are now right by my clothes and are hanging so nicely. And when I am rushing to get ready because I am late (as usual), I at least won't have to run around figuring out where my necklaces are. (I will save that rushing around for my earrings!)

Thursday's Tip: Reopening an Envelope

If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

Keep Things Cool This Summer with the IcyBag Surprise Giveaway

It's official, I am melting in this sweltering heat! But I haven't lost all hope. I found something that can at least keep important items from melting...the IcyBag.

The IcyBag is a perfect bag to can keep makeup, medicine, sunscreen or snacks (just to name a few things) cool. The IcyBag is fully insulated and comes with a freezer gel pack so that its contents won't melt. And it's small enough to fit inside your baby or beach bag. It is perfect for beach days, golfing and family day trips. It comes in three different color options, including all black (shown below), which would be a great gift even for the macho-est man in your life.

And have no fear, the freezer gel pack is only 3 ounces so it is approved to carry on to an airplane. (How do I know this? I contacted the maker of the IcyBag and they responded within minutes to let me know it was safe to carry on. Now that is customer service!)

And lucky, lucky you! Thanks to the maker of the IcyBag, (2) lucky Houses, Couches and Babies readers will win an IcyBag.

Here's how to enter:

• Check out the IcyBag website and post a comment right here telling us what feature you like best about the IcyBag.
• In your comment, please be sure to include your name (or blogger name) as well as your city/state/country (anonymous comments will not be accepted; obviously because we won't know who you are!)
• Post your comment by midnight PST on Monday, June 23rd.

The winner will be announced sometime shortly after June 23rd, so please keep checking back to see if you are a winner!

Good Luck!

Butter: Should it Stay or Should it Go?

Butter never goes bad as long as you keep it in the fridge, right? Actually, it is a common misconception that butter doesn't expire for more than a year. It actually lasts one to three months in your refrigerator. Butter does start to turn after a month or two in the fridge. It might look and smell OK, but its composition is deteriorating and it's turning rancid. If you are on the fence and it's been there more than two months, toss it. However, butter will last six to nine months in your freezer.

Stay tuned for more Should it Stay or Should it Go ideas very soon!

Mabel's Labels Surprise Giveaway Winner

Thank you to everyone who entered the Mabel's Labels surprise giveaway. The lucky winner of the Student/Camp pack is...Julie D!!!

Julie D, please contact us information@housescouchesandbabies.com with your shipping address so that we can send out your personalized Student/Camp pack!

Stay tuned for many more fun giveaways!

Not Just Any Label...Mabel's Labels Surprise Giveaway

Need some organization in your life? With 3 children...I mean with 2 kids and a husband, I feel like my once-organized existence is just chaos.

Mabel's Labels to the rescue! You name the label...they make it. If your child goes to daycare or pre-school, forget about writing your child's name on the clothing tag. You can use an Iron-On label or even easier Tag-Mates™ to hold claim on your child's clothing.

Do you want to show your child's teacher how much you appreciate him/her? Mabel's Labels Classroom Pack is a thoughtful gift that will make life easier for that oh-so important role model in your child's life.
And yet another cool label idea you can find at Mabel's Labels is the Allergy Alert label. Instead of pinning a note to your child, why not attach a label to their sippy cup or backpack listing their allergies. What a sigh of relief you can breathe knowing that other's know about your child's allergies!

And thanks to Mabel's Labels, (1) lucky Houses, Couches and Babies reader will win the Camp/student pack of labels they can customize for your family (pictured at top; a $34 value).

Each Camp/Student Pack consists of 15 Sticky Labels, 40 Iron-Ons or 50 Tag-Mates™ (your choice), eight Shoe Labels and two Bag Tags. This pack is perfect for summer camp or school. It comes in a variety of colors including Standard Pack of red, green and blue labels, the Princess Pack™ in pink, lilac and raspberry, or the Ocean Colours of teal, purple and ocean blue! Iron-Ons are always printed blue on white.

Here's how to enter:

• Check out Mabel's Labels website and post a comment right here telling us what label product you like the most (creativity counts).
• In your comment, please be sure to include your name (or blogger name) as well as your city/state/country (anonymous comments will not be accepted).
• Post your comment by midnight PST on Tuesday, May 20th.

The winner will be announced some time after May 20th, so please keep checking back to see if you are a winner!

THE WINNER WILL NOT BE CONTACTED...SO KEEP CHECKING BACK!!!

Good Luck!

Toy Storage Tip

If you are like me, you are fed up with toys and games all over the house. Have no fear, The Container Store is here! You can find a variety of ways to store toys, including the Deep Game Savers Box (Blue) (shown above, $14.95). Now you can toss away the card board game box that has tape on the corners keeping it together. These board game boxes are more durable than you will ever need!

Stop the madness and get organized now!