DIY Life

Our friends at ShelterPop are back at it again with excellent DIY-able advice. This week? Learn to make these kid-friendly, colorful bookshelves that you can arrange and re-arrange to your heart's content.

What you'll need:
- A jigsaw or similar saw
- Sandpaper/electric sander
- Wood screws
- Powerdrill and/or screwdriver
- Lumber
- Wood glue
- Paint
- Measuring tape
- Pencil and paper


The Plan:
1. Use your saw to cut your lumber pieces to the length that you need.
2. Use a vice or clamps to hold the pieces together and use wood glue to join the corners of the lumber together. When they are dry, drill wood screws into each corner for reinforcement.
3. Sand down all of your edges.
4. Paint your boxes. Laura used high quality spray paint, but any thick, interior household paint or craft paint for wood will work just find.
5. Stack boxes into alcove and enjoy!

Isn't the look adorable, colorful and unique? I can't wait to try it myself!

With school officially in session all over the country, organization and paper filing are in full swing. There are permission slips, school reports, classroom artwork... so much to file! How do you keep track of it all? Here's what I'd do:

Upon the start of school, each child gets an expanding organizer, complete with tabs to organize the paperwork they'll be bringing home. It will give (a) your child a sense of responsibility and ownership, and (b) you some time away from filing endless paperwork! Why not make it into a fun craft night by following Katherine's fun fabric file folder tutorial (whew! Say that three times fast!).

Need more filing tips? Check out 8 Systems to Organize Your Mail and beat the clutter this fall. Paperwork is no longer a headache with the right filing system, and DIY makes filing fun and affordable!

Am I preaching to the choir here, or am I the only one who loses her keys on a regular basis? I'm assuming I'm not alone here, but if so, perhaps you should be writing this post and not yours truly. I have, as a matter of fact, misplaced my keys four times this week. And yes, today is Wednesday.

Naturally, I'm in serious need of some memory tips. I did a bit of research and rounded up the best ways to stop losing your keys -- and start getting organized!:

1. Designate a space for your keys the moment you walk in the door. Try a key rack, bowl or tray. Never lay your keys anywhere but this designated spot. (My father used to tell me to do this with my swimming goggles, and if I'd leave them out in a place they shouldn't be, he'd "steal" them. I learned my lesson after one goggle-free lap!)

2. Try this memory tip: Repeat to yourself where you've laid your keys at the office or a party. For instance, "keys/shoes, keys/shoes, keys/shoes." Repeat the item and location seven times and you'll be more than likely to remember you'd left your keys in the soles of your tennies when it's time to leave the party. (Either that, or you'll find out soon enough when you step into oddly-shaped metal).

3. Cheat. Buy a key-finder gadget such as this one from Amazon. But please, don't use this unless you have to (for your co-workers' sake).

4. Keep a spare set in a safe place, just in case. It won't save you from losing your keychain with other important keys, but it will give you a day or two to look for the missing set in the mean time.

5. Try carabiner clips. Clip them to your purse, pockets, coat zippers; whatever you have to do to keep your keys on or near you. The empty clip will trigger your memory to link your keys in that space, and the visual reminder will work for locating them, as well.

I don't know about you, but I'll be setting these tips into practice immediately. (In fact, I'll be hitting Etsy for #1 tonight)! Good luck!

Not everyone has a dedicated mudroom for storing their coats, shoes, backpacks and other paraphernalia. However, even the smallest coat closet can be made into an effective and organized space. Many people like to keep the coat closet relatively empty for guests. Unless you're entertaining daily, reclaim your coat closet and instead get a coat tree for your front hall for hanging guests coats.

Reclaim your coat closet in these three easy steps:

My husband is a self-proclaimed computer geek. We don't just have a home computer; we have a downstairs server through which all of our incoming and outgoing email is processed. We have an upstairs computer which is the hub we can connect to remotely.

Add two laptops, a wireless router, a docking station, and infinitely many things that I cannot begin to tell you what they are used for, and you have our state-of-the-art wired household.

Did I say wired? You betcha. With technology comes wires, cables, and a mis-mash of mess -- everywhere! -- and that's where Creatrope's Card Cable Organizer comes in.

If you're a coupon-clipper, you'll know the challenges:

• how to keep those bits of paper, plastic, and cardboard from taking over your purse or the drawer in the kitchen,
  
• and how to develop a system that ensures they get used before they expire.

The super-helpful people at Tipnut have put together a list of suggestions that pretty much guarantee you'll find the system that will work for you, whatever your organizational style -- or lack thereof! You like the casual efficiency of envelopes? You can do that! You prefer an accordion file or a wallet, a card file or a binder? It's all there!

When I was young and admittedly foolish, I supported myself by waitressing. Though I was constantly broke, I once dug through all of my coat pockets/waitressing aprons/jeans and came up with $150. I couldn't pay my bills, but I was floating in cash. I was a victim of a disorganized lifestyle. (Fortunately, a lot has changed since then!)

There are a lot of reasons to get organized -- a cleaner living space, less clutter, simpler routines, less stress. But did you know that being well organized could also save you money?

By knowing what you have and being able to actually find it, you're less likely to take a trip to the store (where you're sure to buy more than that one necessary item). Getting your financial life in order will help you avoid late fees when you miss a payment. And donating the things you don't need any more can help you at tax time, when you receive a deduction for charitable donations. Lifehack has eight valuable opportunities for getting organized and padding your pocketbook in the process.

Pegboard can be a lifesaver in a workshop, sewing room, or the garage. Sometimes, though, it can be difficult to retrieve a favorite tool because the hanger wants to come out of the pegboard along with the tool. While using pegboard can keep a workspace neat and tidy, sometimes reinforcement is needed to keep your tools from elongating the holes.

Popular Mechanics has a great article teaching us how to make our own custom pegboard tool hangers, using aluminum and steel from the hardware store, a hacksaw, a drill and a pair of pliers. Cut, bend, and shape the aluminum or steel, screw it to the wall, and hang up your tools.

With these custom pegboard tool hangers, we really have no more excuses to let our precious tools clutter up our workspace. Not only are the tool hangers perfect for a man's workshop, I think they are also perfect for a sewing/crafting room pegboard too.

via: Curbly

In about a month, college students across the country will throw their caps in the air to mark the end of their campus careers. It's an exciting time of life that's marked by new jobs, new friends, and often new apartments.

Living on your own isn't quite the same as living with roomies or in a dorm, and even with a shiny new paycheck, things can be tight until you get on your feet.

Erin Doland of Unclutterer (a website which is now, officially, my best friend) recently wrote a guest post at Gen Pink on how to organize your first apartment. The idea here is not to run out to the nearest Container Store and buy every colorful plastic box in sight. Instead, Doland recommends that you:

• Spend some time thinking about how your kitchen will be used and unpack your boxes accordingly. Glasses near the sink, for instance, and pots and pans near the stove.
• Ask for household gifts as graduation presents. Since people don't get necessarily get married any more before setting up house, it's too bad we don't throw "first house/apartment" showers instead.
• Reuse items from your college apartment in a new way. Those milk crates, for instance, can become recycling bins.
• Prioritize what you need and focus on acquiring that. You'll be amazed by how little it takes to get by.
• Don't store your trash can under your sink where it can overflow and draw pests.

Let's hear it, DIY Life readers: what kind of advice would you share with first time apartment or home owners to get their living space in shape?

Every sewing room I have ever laid eyes on has been a big mess. To the person who owns the room, it looks exactly as it should, because they know where every pair of scissors, every piece of felt, and every bit of yarn and string is located.

Secretly, I think they are too freaked to even start cleaning up their mess. Most sewing rooms I have seen are small, with barely enough room to work, let alone a place to store all their crafting necessities. Everyone wishes they had a way to end the mess and become more organized.

Craftster user StephaniePrice had an issue with accessibility in her sewing room too, so she decided to go to her local Lowe's and buy a pegboard. Her husband drew the tomato pincushion on the pegboard, and she got happy with a jigsaw. Several coats of primer, and red, black, and green paint for the tomato, completed her new board.

I think the pegboard is a fantastic way to end the clutter in any room. If you decide to do this project, be sure to read through all the reader comments; Stephanie tells how she hung the pegboard and the vinyl "pins" on the wall, as well as how she removed any excess paint from the holes.

If "get organized" topped your list of New Year's resolutions, you're not alone; if you still haven't crossed it off, you're also not alone. Spring is the time for new beginnings, and with some helpful advice, you'll be able to take that tired resolution off your list and get organized once and for all.

Check out these 5 organizing tips from the pros. In each tip, they encourage us to get creative. Don't be bound by what you believe you can do with your space. Come to it with fresh eyes: see where you can make it more usable, and how you can fit in the things you need without being overrun by them.

One tip that I found particularly useful is to get rid of all those circular storage baskets kicking around the house. They might look great, but they are not designed for efficient storage. Replace them with square or rectangular baskets. These will hold more things, fit better into corners, and leave less unused space around them.

The end of the article leaves us with this important thought: "The less "stuff" you have out in your home, the bigger and calmer it will look." I'd add: the less stuff you have, and the bigger and calmer it looks, the more relaxed you will feel.

Someties I think I'll never get organized. I'm always on the hunt for ways to contain the clutter consuming my tiny abode, but the clutter just seems to be taking over.

I rely heavily on storage boxes to contain my mountain of clutter but they can be expensive. Even the boring ugly plastic containers can cost too much, especially if you're just starting to tackle the mess. If you happen to have some fabric and stabilizer lying around the house, you can sew up some pretty storage baskets, effectively putting an end to the cluttered mess.

Tipnut reader Lorraine has an idea: Yoga mats and kindergarten nap mats are made from closed cell foam, so if you happen to know anyone who might be ready to discard their mat, you'll have the perfect thickness for the bottom of your storage basket.

Imagine the possibilities of a clutter-free home, via the storage baskets you can decorate with the fabric of your choice. I think these storage baskets go well with Debra's magazine storage boxes, don't you?

Sewing supplies, scrapbook supplies, quilting supplies; you name it, if you don't store your small supplies properly, they can end up in a jumbled mess. If you haven't broken down yet and bought yourself a nice permanent storage system, wait awhile longer and make a cardboard box storage system.

wikiHow has step by step instructions, showing exactly how to put the storage system together. You should be able to find boxes at your local grocery store, order them online, or check out dumpsters for discarded boxes that are still in great condition.

While I think that a cardboard box is a nice temporary fix for storing small items, I would in no way promote using cardboard boxes as a permanent storage container, unless of course, you come up with a DIY way to make them permanent, and a better way to make them stay upright and fastened to the wall.