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Making Household Items Useful in More Ways Than One

More people are looking to simplify or downsize their living spaces. The following are some organizing ideas I have found reusing household items.

Storing Your Crafts Away in Small Spaces

An 11’ X 30’ office space is not a lot of room for two business desks and a craft room. So we have to make the most of our space for those times when I want to get out the crafts. I needed ways to store a lot of the craft items that I only use a few times a year, but have them accessible at a moment’s notice.
Ribbon StorageOne thing I seem to always have tucked into different places are rolls of ribbon. Here’s how I organize the ribbon. My first choice is taking a wall mount paper towel holder and removing the wooden rung that would go inside the roll. Now you can slide on all your ribbon casings and hang them in plain view ready to use. The second way is to use a shoe box and some doweling. Cut your doweling to the length of the shoe box. Slide one end into a hole you have cut on either end to hold the dowel in place. Next, add your ribbons and then push the dowel through the second hole. To keep things really stashed away you can use the lid and cut small slits in the top for the ribbon to run through. I prefer to keep the box open so I have a better idea of when I am getting close to the end of the roll. If this storage box is going to stay out in plain sight you can make it look less like a shoe box by covering the outside with a nice bright wrapping paper.
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Holiday Storage Hacks

It’s that time of year again when we are faced with the task of taking down the Christmas decorations. If you dealt with a tangle of lights and tinsel garland when you put up the Christmas tree read on and save yourself from this holiday headache next year.
Retail stores offer all kinds of Christmas storage devices that work wonderfully, but these also come with a hefty price. At the Storage Group we have dedicated some of our blogs to repurposing other items to get the same effect without the expense. Here are some of my decoration storage hacks.Wide Drawer Sterlite storage
An ornament storage chest is great for keeping your holiday gear organized. These specialized chests start at $105. For $18 you get the same level of organization from a wide drawer plastic organizer like those made by Sterlite. I have used this plastic drawer system for Christmas decorations for years. It’s light weight and its three drawers allow me to organize what goes on the tree first to last by drawer.

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20 Ways to Organize Your Craft Space

20 Ways to Organize Your Craft Space

Got a messy craft area at home that you can never seem to keep organized and tidy?
Check out this video and get some innovative, crafty storage solutions!

5 Ways to Jump-Start Whole-House De-cluttering

Take a look at our Junk Drawer Challenge blog to help you organize and declutter your junk drawer!

Halloween Crafting on a Budget

I have a daughter in her early teaching years and I seem to find myself always looking for things she can make with her students on a budget. Here’s my adventure.
My plan this Halloween season was to find different ways to make ghosts. Pinterest is still new and scary for me, but after a little research, there are a few ghosts I think would go over well. They all look so easy when you see the finished project online but I already had my doubts as I began.

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10 Things to Ask Yourself Before Storing Your Stuff

Whether your storage area is in a basement, an attic, a backyard shed or a rented storage unit it might be filled with things you do not really want or need. While we’re not going to tackle cleaning out your storage here (a topic for another day), the first step is to stop yourself from hoarding. So the next time you want to store something ask yourself these 10 questions.
1. Do you need it? This sounds like a simple enough question, but how each of us answers is highly individual. If you are making an effort to cut back on clutter, try to get real about what “need” means. Whether you decide to take a strictly minimalist approach or keep a more fluid list of items needed for living defining what is important to you is the first step to preventing clutter.

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Backyard Challenge

This year, with the kids nearly moved out of the house we decided to make the place our own, but still entice them back to gather in the evenings.
What to do with a big plain fenced back yard with a standard contractor built deck??deck
The deck is a basic 12’ x 12’ layout which sits as high as our fence line, and has minimal amount of slats for the fencing leaving it looking very open. Our first idea was to make it a little more private and make an inviting sitting area. We put a lighter colored panel over the slatted part of the deck siding. The biggest thing we noticed right away was how much less wind we felt sitting out there. The lighter color in the panel has kept the deck from looking too dark, or getting too hot.

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Pinterest: Thank You For Helping Us Grow!

Are you wondering what to do for Dad for Father’s Day? Take a look at our staff’s Top 5 list of gifts for Dad to get some ideas!

  1. Take him fishing. What’s better than a bucket full of worms and the open water? Don’t forget the sunscreen and bug spray! Visit Alberta’s Best Fishing Hot Spots for some of the best fishing spots!

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