Organization tips:purse parking
How often do you look for your purse in your own home? If you had to run out of your apartment, would you be able to grab your purse without thinking?
Every woman needs a parking spot for her purse. You wouldn’t want to look for your car in ten block radius, so why look for your purse in an entire home? Designating one spot where your daytime purse is one of those life tricks that is so simple and so effective.
The ideal parking spot for your purse would have these characteristics:
1. Convenient to your walking path between your entry door and your usual next stop – kitchen, desk, bath. Not having to go out of your way to put your purse down helps it get parked as a habit.
2. Near a small basket for items you have collected during the day. Throughout the day, we accumulate business cards and brochures and the office item we had run out of and the extra band-aids for the kitchen. Once we park out purse, we need a little basket or organizer next to the parking spot where we can immediately unload those items in motion. That way, our purse stays neat and we get the items in our home where they belong, rather than carry them around for a week when our too-full purse drives us to distraction and action!
3. Near a charger for your cell phone. Since our fancier phones need charging more often, having a phone charger next to your purse parking spot makes it easy to plug in the phone immediately. That way, when you leave the house, you have a fully charged phone when you need it most.
4. (If there is space), a place for your other day bags. Women come in two flavors: those who use one purse for everything, and those who like to change it up. If you have three or four day bags, keeping them near your parking space makes it easier to switch between them.
Here are some ideas for ways to “furnish” your purse parking spot:
A DIY Wine Cork Board
Today’s DIY project is something that’s not only fun to create while you’re gluing the pieces together, but you will be sure to have some fun for months before saving up all of these wine corks! Not only is this upcycled wine cork board really fun and interesting, but it’s functional as well.
Cork boards are one of the necessities for keeping your home organized. It is a great thing to have in your kitchen to keep a favorite recipe, doctor appointment card, important receipts etc. It keeps your countertops uncluttered and your important items in front of your face so they don’t slip your mind. It also works in a home office, or you could use it in a living area and put up some of your favorite photos on it. Cork boards are usually not very pretty. They come in standard 1” wood or painted frames and they are very boring. This one will take some time and effort, but it’s really a focal piece that will enhance your home rather than make it feel like a boring office space with the standard staples cork board.
Start saving your wine corks; tell your friends and family to also! After you have collected enough for your board (depending on the size) decide what you want to create your board out of. The board in the photo uses an old window frame which creates two cork sections, but you could use a piece of plywood or an old mirror or art frame. Depending on the look you are going for you can go from an ornate frame filled with cork to a plain frameless cork board on a piece of inexpensive plywood. Once you have decided what to use, buy one of the tools pictured below…we don’t know what it’s called but you are sure to find one at home depot, lowes or your local hardware store. When you’re there be sure to pick up your wood glue and plywood if you need it. Finally, cut the corks in half and start gluing. We love the look of the board when the wine corks are different. So do some tasting and save up different ones- it will give it a more interesting and artistic look. And don’t forget to eat some cheese along the way!
Do Clocks Add Stress or Help With It?
Do Clocks Add Stress or Help With It?
We're sure that the first big fight back in the era of cave dwellers was because the hunter gatherer was late for dinner, according to the sundial! Clocks are a fun decorative item, and they are often well priced, but do they add to the serenity of a home or disturb it? Especially now that cell phones are the new wrist watch....
We still like to have clocks at the transition points in our homes. It's nice to look up and see how much time you have left to drink your morning coffee and read the paper before you head out the door. (And looking at a clock is more fun than looking at your microwave!) So here are the places we consider our transition points - yours might be different:
1. Close to where you wake up;
2. Close to where you enter and exit your home;
3. Close to where you eat most of your meals;
4. Close to where you keep your household papers (bills, mail, manuals),
so you can squeeze in a few minutes of checking the mail without stressing about when you have to leave; and
5. In the bathroom where you get ready in the mornings.
With those five spots in mind, here are some of our favorite clocks of the moment, and one hour glass to celebrate the past. To shake things up, play with the scale of the clock. Choose an oversized clock like the Fresh Ink clock from CB2 which at 39" will catch anyone's eye.
http://www.clockstyle.com/wall-clocks/contemporary/franklloydwrightcollectionexhibitioniiclockbybulova.cfm
http://www.dwr.com/product/tools-for-living/clocks/nelson-sunburst-clock.do?sortby=ourPicks
http://www.cb2.com/table-top-decor/accessories/hour-15-minute-glasses/f4108?fromLocation=search
http://www.cb2.com/clocks/accessories/fresh-ink-clock/f6355?fromLocation=search