Andy and I have followed a ketogenic diet since the beginning of this year, and it’s working really well for us. We have each lost 20lbs!

The numbers on the scale have continued to trend downward as we are enjoying delicious foods like this one!

Keto requires a calorie deficit for weight loss just like any other effective plan. The unique thing about Keto is how satiated you feel after a high fat, low carb, and moderate protein meal. High fat meals also taste really delicious which is a bonus!

I’m not here to sing the praises of the keto diet (although I love to do that!). I’m here to share this DELICIOUS veggie recipe with you!

Andy and I both love traditional cheesy potatoes like THESE but the potatoes and condensed soup in that version are not conducive to a low carb diet. This Easter I was determined to make a low carb version using turnips, and I’m happy to report I NAILED IT!!

I’ve used turnips in place of potatoes one other time and they were decent. This time they were so much better! The difference was boiling them; it softens them up and mellows out the “bite” of the turnip flavor. I can’t wait to boil more turnips to prepare in different ways!

I used a little of this and a little of that when I made these on Easter. The recipe I’m sharing is what I estimate I used, but feel free to add a little more or a little less of things like the sour cream or cheddar to get it to your liking!

Print

Keto Cheesy Faux-Tatoes

Ingredients

Ingredients

• 4 cups peeled and diced turnips
• 2 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese shredded
• 2 tbsp salted butter
• 1/4 white or yellow onion finely diced
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/3 8 oz brick cream cheese
• 1 tsp chicken bouillon I prefer Better Than Bouillon brand bouillon paste
• 1/4 cup water or more if mixture is too thick

Instructions

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350*
• Peel and dice turnips into 1/2 -3/4 inch cubes (Larger cubes may require longer boiling).
• Set a large saucepan of water to boil over high heat. Once boiling, add diced turnips and let boil for 25 min.
• Meanwhile, In a medium saucepan saute onion in butter till soft.  Add cream cheese and whisk until melted.  Add water and chicken bouillon then whisk till fully incorporated.  Remove from heat.
• Fully drain turnips being sure to remove as much water from the pan as possible. Add the cream cheese mixture and stir to combine. Add the sour cream and stir to combine.
• Add all but 1/2 cup of the shredded cheddar and stir to fully incorporate.
• Spoon into a 2 quart baking dish (I used a rectangular glass baking dish that looks like a ‘mini- 13×9’) and spread into an even layer. Top with remaining 1/2 cup cheese (or more if you prefer) and bake at 350 for 30 min. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Notes

Notes Makes 8 servings. Approx 212 calories, 18g fat, 7g protein and 5 net carbs per serving.

The post Keto Cheesy Faux-tatoes appeared first on Daily Rebecca.

If I need to make a dinner I KNOW everyone will eat and ENJOY, it’s that dinner! I tend to have the ingredients on hand and using ground chicken makes that meal really quick and convenient.

Since going Keto at the beginning of the year (and losing 16lbs so far!) I have been working to modify my recipes to be keto-friendly. I knew this family favorite would be easy to convert and it totally was!

This Keto Cheesy Chicken & “Rice” has totally satisfied my comfort food cravings. It’s really easy to make in tandem with the original recipe so my kids can enjoy the original meal while I enjoy my low-carb version. Win/win!

The post Keto Cheesy Chicken & “Rice” appeared first on Daily Rebecca.

And for the first time, I’m totally at peace with that.

Blogging doesn’t have to be an all or nothing situation.  It can be a sometimes situation.

So, here I am!

I’ve been quiet here but also on Instagram which is my social media platform of choice.  Once a daily “story-er” I now find myself setting my phone on the counter and leaving it there.  It’s been freeing and I highly recommend trying it for yourself ;)

I asked my Instagram community if they had any questions for me and it turns out they had quite a few!  One included a request for my favorite things and I wanted to hop over here to post links to them in case you want to see if they’re your favorite things too :)

Frownies

Jade Roller

Derma Roller

Revlon One-Step Hair Dryer & Volumizer

Cheetah Fitbit Band

Book Lamp

Bengal Spice Tea

Collagen Peptides

Beef Liver Supplement

Greens Supplement

Fiber Supplement

Pink and Gold Modern Art

Brass Desk Lamp

SIMILAR White Ceramic Vase

Decorative Gold Orb

Wooly Seat Cushion

Beats Pill Bluetooth Speaker

Tortoise Earrings

Pearl Sleeve Sweatshirt

The post Things I’m Loving Lately appeared first on Daily Rebecca.

One part of me thinks it’s a bit of a Hallmark holiday, and the other part of me perhaps doesn’t feel worthy of a big fuss.  I also don’t want him or the children to feel pressured to make something special happen each year.

Mother’s Day can be complicated…we don’t all have ideal relationships with our mothers.  Maybe we’ve even lost our mother to death or estrangement.  Not all women decide to -or- have the ability to become mothers.  Perhaps we are mothers but it’s hard for us.  Or maybe we’ve lost a child.

I think I wanted to avoid any potential dysfunction with my own family by just skipping it all together.

Well, I hate to admit it, but that left me feeling sad.

At first it was fine.  I justified my “let’s skip Mother’s Day” approach by dismissing it as being overly commercial or by subtly shaming myself for wanting any fanfare.

Then one day I woke up and realized I’d pretty much stripped every bit of fanfare from my entire calendar year.

“Don’t make a fuss about Mother’s Day.”

“Let’s not exchange gifts for Christmas.”

“I don’t need anything for my birthday.”

Year after year would go by without much personal celebration at all.

I would never take away from celebrating Andy or the children, and I kept up with gifts and acknowledgements for my parents and siblings.

I just skipped myself.

I actually don’t think it was all bad.

It helped me focus on things that are far more meaningful than presents…

At Christmas I relished the music, cookies, family time, and gift giving.  For my birthday last year I raised $1,120 which provided clean water for 37 people who desperately needed it.

However, the “forget the fuss” resolve also failed to celebrate my journey of motherhood, the survival and growth of our marriage year after year, and the fact I am alive each year to see another July 12.

In the end, it wasn’t such a good resolve after all.

What’s wrong with celebration and fanfare?

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

My friend Marie takes birthdays and holiday seriously.  She reminds me that day-to-day life is hard and we should celebrate the special occasions!  We should fuss over others AND ourselves!

As I continue to read and journal and dig into my emotional health I’m understanding things I need to accept and things I need to let go.

I need to let go of my fierce devotion to “not needing anything” and I need to accept the fact I’m worthy of fuss and frivolity.

Even typing that out still makes me cringe.

#workinprogress

I’ve been keeping Andy up-to-date on my personal revelations, so he knew I was open to (and probably needing) some special attention this Mother’s Day.

Boy did he deliver!

I made dinner and we all enjoyed fat slices of pie while sharing our roses (highlights) and thorns (challenges) of the day.

Sunday morning I woke up to homemade buttermilk pancakes which were divine.  Andy cooked everything and cleaned it all up.  Woo hoo!

We cozied up in the living room and the kids all presented me with thoughtful and hilarious homemade cards :)

DAY SCENE

NIGHT SCENE LOL

Now before you have visions of a guy in the doghouse for buying his wife a vacuum, let me explain.

We’ve had our blender since we got married about 15 years ago.  It’s been a decent and reliable blender.  It can totally handle things like milkshakes and salad dressings, but it’s not powerful or sophisticated enough for things like ice cubes and spinach.  I’ve drooled over Vitamix and Blentec blenders for years but simply cannot justify their hefty price tags.  A food blogger I love shared how much she likes her Ninja blender and, at about a quarter the price of the others, I decided to add it to my Amazon wishlist.

For the past year or so, I’ve been enjoying protein shakes as a part of my health and fitness journey.  I’ve really wanted to make them thicker by adding ice, but my blender just can’t handle it.  So you can imagine how excited I was to receive this practical yet very thoughtful gift!!

I also love that it’s a gift the whole family can enjoy!  We christened it last night by making delicious mango-banana-coconut-orange juice smoothies that everyone devoured!

After watching our Michigan church’s sermon web stream, we all got dressed and headed out to a local sushi restaurant for lunch.

The kids were nervous about having lunch at a place so far outside their comfort zones and I was nervous when we walked in and they all started complaining and holding their noses at the hostess stand! Fish smells are pretty unavoidable at sushi restaurants LOL

We sat down and browsed the menu for items the kids might enjoy and decided on crab rangoon, tempura chicken, and a side of noodles.

Andy ordered steamed pork dumplings for the two of us since we loved them so much the first time we dined at this restaurant.

The kids all tried the rangoon and liked it, but they were HUGE fans of the pork dumplings! Who knew?!

I cannot tell you how proud I was of them for trying new foods.  I love food from all around the world and I’ve always hoped we could enjoy lots of interesting food as a family.  This was a huge step in the right direction :)

They were all so cute using their chopsticks and opting to eat their noodles out of the tiny bowls intended for soy sauce LOL

On the ride home my belly and heart were so full.  I told Andy how much I appreciated the effort he put into making my day so special.  I also realized how much the celebration was about all of us, not just me.

Without Andy and the children, I wouldn’t be a mother.  This whole fantastic celebration was about all of us.  My most precious gifts in this whole world.

I’m incredibly thankful and humbled that I’ve been so privileged to have this amazing family despite all my flaws and failures.

That’s something worth celebrating.

The post Lifting the Mother’s Day Ban appeared first on Daily Rebecca.

Boy, that was the heyday of blogging!

Everyone was posting regular content, Instagram was barely a twinkle in her mother’s eye, video hadn’t taken over, I was going to annual blogging conferences like this one and this one and this one.  Blogging was all the rage and we shared all kinds of random things like Steppin’ Out Saturday, High On Thrifting Thursday, house tour link-ups, working mom vs. stay at home mom drama, etc.

It was so fun.

Many blogs I loved following back in those days have closed up shop and share most updates through Instagram and Facebook now. *Sigh*

Daily Rebecca is still plodding along and I thought it would be fun to share all the “ings” around here lately!  I did this a couple years ago and it was so fun to look back and see how my life has changed.  Wow those baby years are HARD!

Reading

I’m pretty late to the game, but I decided to finally read the Harry Potter series and I’m currently on Book 3.  It’s not my normal genre, but I know these books are a cult classic and Andy has read them all through about 8 times.  I figured it would be nice for me to get to know Mr. Potter for myself.  We’re watching the movies as I go along which is fun for both of us.  Can’t say I’m tearing through them yet, but I’ve heard things really take off in book 4 so I’m excited!

Smelling

Andy has been bringing flowers home lately.  My romantic heart loves this small gesture and I smile every time I pass by the fresh bouquets.  These star gazer lilies are a real show stopper!  They are big and beautiful and FRAGRANT.  They blanket the whole first floor with their perfumed aroma.  One of my Instagram friends suggested trimming the orange anthers from them to prolong their life and soften their scent.  I did that this morning, so we’ll see how it affects them.  They really are pretty…

Watching

My friend Ramona suggested I watch Jane the Virgin on Netflix and, although the title makes me crinkle my nose, I gave it a try.  The premise is a young virgin (Jane) gets accidentally artificially inseminated and all kinds of drama ensues after that.  It took me a few episodes to get hooked because it can come off as kind of cheesy at first, but then there are all kinds of dramatic cliffhangers!  Murder, mystery, crime, love, family dynamics, strong female characters, humor, tragedy.  This show has it all and now I’m a super fan!  The stunning cast of Hispanic actors and actresses are fantastic.  Lot’s of Spanish is peppered throughout each episode and it makes me want to revive the 3 semesters of college Spanish I have buried deep in my mind!

Listening

We rented The Greatest Showman a couple weeks ago for Friday Movie Night and we all loved it! It’s such a beautiful and inspirational movie with an incredible soundtrack!  We’ve been listening to the songs on repeat and having fun dancing and belting out the lyrics!  Plus, I was ready for a break from Moana and Sing music LOL

Here are 2 of our favorite tunes from the movie:

Warm weather has descended upon southern Maryland and we’re loving it!! The sunshine and warm temps have made Andy and I crave burgers and bbq food.  Twice in the last week we’ve had burgers with summery sides like corn on the cob, baked beans, roasted potatoes, and green beans. We are both working toward some fitness goals so it’s important to keep our carbs in check.  Skipping the burger buns is a great way to do that and the kids are all on board too!  They usually discard their bun at a restaurant anyway, so it’s working out great.  I posted a bunless burger “recipe” on the blog a while back that may be fun to check out.

Wearing

Finding the perfect jeans is like finding a magical unicorn, am I right?!

Men have it so easy.  They pick their length and width then go about their day.  Women have to consider rise, inseam, stretch, length, pocket placement, wash, hip to thigh ratio, style, brand, and about a hundred other unspoken nuances when finding a pair of jeans that feels comfortable and looks great.

When I was turned on to Wit & Wisdom’s Absolution jeans last year, I was immediately sold!!  These jeans have a hidden wide elastic waistband inside which keep them from falling down or pinching my love handles.  They are stretchy throughout the leg without being too tight.  They wear beautifully and have been such a game changer for me!!  They’re a little pricey, but Nordstrom has free shipping and free mailing returns so you can order a few sizes to find your perfect fit and send the rest back hassle free.  That’s totally worth it to me!  Plus, dividing the cost of these jeans over the number of times I wear (and love) them makes them a great value.

Wanting

I’m itching to start planting colorful annuals outside!  We are finally living somewhere long enough to make gardening worthwhile, and I’m ready to get started.  I just love colorful flowers in front garden beds and I’ve been trying to figure out my strategy for this home.  We have a long garden bed along our front porch.  It needs a thick layer of fresh mulch and I’m hoping a fluffy row of impatiens will bloom nicely along the edge too.  I’m a sucker for hanging ferns, so I’m planning on a couple of those as well as a brighter wreath.  This is what we have now:

This is what I’m hoping to do in the next few weeks!  (I had way too much fun digitally landscaping! LOL)

Feeling

Honestly I’m feeling nervous about starting the foster care approval process.  You see, about 6 years ago I had a moment.  My heart broke and I decided on the spot I had to do something about the orphan and foster child crisis.  You can read all about it in this post. That day, for the first time, I felt open to adoption.  But since then, the fire in me to help and serve children in need has grown and expanded.  The foster care system in America today is riddled with problems, but is also in desperate need of loving families to care for displaced children.  Andy and I are in agreement that we should be a part of the solution.  Now that we’re staying put for the next 3 years and Drew is a little older, we plan to start the foster approval process.  I’m scared, but nothing great ever happened without a little fear.

Those are my “ings” but I’d love to hear a few of yours in the comments!

The post All The “ings” appeared first on Daily Rebecca.

I do.

Or at least I used to.

I used to flip the channel when the starving children commercials came on TV because it was just too sad and made me feel too helpless so it was easier to look away than to consider what I could do.

I’d hear about hurricanes and refugees and orphans and the homeless and I’d mentally change channels because it made me uncomfortable.

Then I learned what a privilege it is that I can just choose not to think about it and I DON’T HAVE TO THINK ABOUT IT.

Do you get that?

I’m so privileged that I can choose to ignore those problems and go about my shiny life without a second thought.

But what about the people who are living in those circumstances?

They can’t just decide not to “think about it anymore” because it’s their reality.  It’s their life.  It’s the barrel of the gun they are staring down every.single.day.

But guess what?

I can do something about it.

I don’t have to, but I GET TO.

I get to help change the world!!!

Isn’t that wonderful??

I can play a small part in making a difference in someone’s life.

And I can do it over and over and over and over again until I’ve made lots of small changes in lots of someone’s lives.

And YOU can do it too!

Imagine that each of our small contributions are drops of water…like from a leaky faucet.

Come on, you know that annoying sound.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

You grab a bucket to catch them, thinking it’s not much water but you’ll collect it just to see.

Tomorrow you come back and the bucket is half full!

Don’t ask me how I know this, but it has something to do with the basement shower in our old house.  I’ll leave it at that! ;)

Ok, so back to our little tiny contributions.  They are like drops of water they will fill buckets if we keep adding them.

Imagine how much faster we’d fill buckets if we told a friend and they started adding their drops of water too.

We’d have buckets and buckets of water for a thirsty and dying world!

That’s what I’m proposing with this blog post…

We can do something about the hurting people in our world and we should be doing something.  Especially if we are Christians.

The word Christian literally means “little Jesus”.  We are supposed to be little Jesus’s walking around this earth doing what he did.

Loving.  Serving.  Giving.  Feeding.  Healing.

He isn’t documented as going to church every Sunday and living in the right neighborhood and voting a certain way and living a moral life.

No, he’s documented as sharing meals with the underdog and the criminal and the prostitute.  He’s documented as calling the crooked tax collector out of the tree and having dinner at his house that night.  He’s documented as speaking healing and hope into the life of the loose woman drawing water from the local well.  He’s documented as multiplying a little boy’s lunch to feed thousands of hungry men, women, and children.

Let’s be like him.

Not the him the modern day church has created, but the him who actually lived and who actually changed the whole world forever.

Let’s love the people everyone looks away from and becomes uncomfortable around.

Let’s do it so extravagantly that people ask us why on earth we are spending so much of our time, energy, and resources on people who can’t give us anything in return.

Then, let’s tell them it’s because that’s what Jesus did.

Let’s tell them he did that and he loves us so much that it has turned us inside out and the least we can do is pay it forward to others who need that kind of love.

Let’s tell them that loving the way Jesus did points people to him and that’s the only direction worth going.

Let’s change the world.

Here are 5 EASY ways to get started changing the world.  There are a million other things you can add to this and there are a million other ways to give face to face and to give until it feels like a sacrifice.

But sometimes we need baby steps.

Little, easy things we can do to start adding drops to the bucket.

So, I challenge you to read this list and pick just ONE.

ONE easy way you can start changing the world TODAY.

I’ll warn you….giving like this is addicting.  You’ll experience so much joy, you’ll want to keep going ;)

 1. Donate to International Justice Mission (IJM)

IJM does unprecedented work to rescue people from human trafficking and slavery.  Any dollar donated to IJM is a dollar spent wisely!! Your dollar will help rescue someone who is living in a nightmare every single day.  Consider donating $24 per month to become an IJM Freedom Partner.  That’s the cost of about 6 small lattes!  Click HERE to learn more!

2. Sponsor a child through Food For The Hungry

Food For The Hungry provides life-changing resources like food, water, medicine, and education to people in poverty around the world.  One thing I love about FH is how they educate families on agriculture and the importance of a nutrient-rich diet.  Children who once were malnourished from a diet of only one crop are now healthy and thriving because their families have been taught HOW and WHY to grow a variety of fruits and vegetables.  For $35 each month you can sponsor a child and change their life forever.  Click HERE to learn more.

3. Sponsor a child through Compassion International

For over 65 years Compassion International has been committed to helping millions of children around the world.  They are a charity with utmost integrity and proven results.  They are committed to the focus on children, partner with local churches to make a big impact around the world.

3. A Wider Circle

A Wider Circle is an incredible charity local to the DC Metro area.  Their mission is to eliminate poverty and they go about doing it by furnishing thousands of homes each year with items in dignity condition (no rips, stains, or defects) for FREE.  They also provide comprehensive career coaching and professional clothing to their clients.  How can you rise out of poverty when you don’t have a bed to sleep in or the skills needed to apply for a well-paying job?  You can’t.  But when you partner with AWC you can!  Click HERE to donate to their mission.

4. Preemptive Love

Preemptive Love’s primary mission is to help refugees.  They meet families on the frontlines of conflict, providing them lifesaving food, water, and medical care.  They create jobs for those victimized by ISIS and provide small business grants, tools, and coaching so refugees and their families can recover from the devastating effect of war and violence and once again flourish.  Click HERE to donate to Preemptive Love.

5. Give to your local church food pantry 

Many churches have a food pantry ministry that serves their congregation and the local community.  Consider buying an extra bag of groceries to contribute to their work!

The post 5 Easy Ways To Change The World appeared first on Daily Rebecca.

It’s the first year I can remember us spending it at home without extended family, and while we do miss everyone so much, this year’s quiet celebration was perfect.

A couple weeks before the big day I brought out the Easter decor bin and added some springy cheer to the house.

Grandma sent a bunch of fun Easter treats for the kids. They love getting mail, and mail from Grandma is always full of goodies!

Over the years through trial and error, Grandma has gotten great at sending goodies that follow the rules:

• no glitter
• no silly putty
• no tiny stickers

Can I get an amen about how awful those items are??? LOL

On Saturday evening we enjoyed our first annual Seder.  This is something I’ve wanted to do with our children for many years and now that everyone is a little older and we have finally stopped moving, it was the perfect year to start the tradition.

For those unfamiliar with the Seder, it’s pronounced “Say-der” and it’s a Jewish ritual that includes reading, drinking wine, telling stories, eating special foods, singing, and other Passover traditions.

As a Christian, the Seder is particularly meaningful because it adds so much depth and meaning to what the modern church does for communion.

The grape juice and crackers served at churches across America only tell a small part of the beautiful story of how Jesus fulfilled countless ancient prophesies by dying on the cross to rescue us from our sins.

(Opening the door for Elijah)

If you have the opportunity to participate in a Seder, DO IT.  You’ll be changed!

Instead of filling plastic eggs with candy or toys for our egg hunt, I tried something new and it was a big hit!

I made a custom puzzle through Shutterfly and put the pieces inside jumbo plastic eggs.  Andy and I hid the eggs all around the house the night before Easter, and in the morning the kids hunted for the eggs and used the pieces to build a puzzle that told them where their Easter baskets were hidden!  It was so much fun.

Bags in hand, ready for the egg hunt!

This picture of Grace leaping just cracks me up!!!

Drew’s face! LOL

Heading back upstairs to keep looking!

Starting the puzzle!

Avery is a PUZZLE MASTER.

Her faces!! Hahaha!

The last piece!

A knight costume so he can dress up with the girls without having to be a princess.

A Belle nightgown for my princess lover!

An assortment of “squishies” which are apparently all the rage!

He wasn’t sure about his costume at first LOL

Andy and I cracked up about this next series of pictures…

Hahahah!

After the egg hunt, the kids played with their new toys all afternoon.  Andy and I rested and enjoyed the quiet of not having to go anywhere.  We read the kids a few stories about the crucifixion and resurrection and then we all had dinner.

I made my first ham!  Well, let’s be honest…all I did was heat it up per the instructions on the wrapping! We also had cheesy potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts and crescent rolls from a can ;)

For dessert we all went crazy over my friend Bonnie’s Deluxe Lemon Bars.  They are seriously incredible! Lemon bars just seemed like the perfect springy Easter dessert, and they absolutely were.

It was a simple day but it brought me so much joy.  I’m so very grateful for this amazing family I have.  God is so good, I literally cannot fathom it.

The post Easter 2018 appeared first on Daily Rebecca.

It’s SUPER easy, only dirties one pan, tastes great, doesn’t involve touching any raw meat, and packs protein, carbs, and veggies into one dish!

Plus, did I mention it’s a ONE PAN MEAL??

I love one pan meals :)

Ok…without further ado here’s the recipe.  Enjoy!

The post Easy One-Pan Chicken & Rice appeared first on Daily Rebecca.

We appreciated sunny Florida, but admittedly missed the snow too. Well, ok I missed it a *little* and the children regularly talked about how they wished they could play outside in the snow.  Their sweet little wishes were granted yesterday with a gorgeous snowstorm and a “snow day” for everyone! (Even dad!)

Here’s a short clip of their sledding adventures…

I will, however, treasure living in a real-life snow globe yesterday <3

The post Winter Wonderland appeared first on Daily Rebecca.

If you’re anything like me, organizing can feel really overwhelming.  I’ve spent years living with lots of clutter and very little organization, and once I made my resolution I wasn’t even sure where to start.

There’s old saying, “You won’t change anything until the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of changing.”

Boy is that true!

I spent years haphazardly throwing my stuff into closets, drawers, cupboards and shelves with nary a thought to how they were arranged.

Crap avalanches were a regular part of my life.  You know, when a pile would get too high and I’d need something from the bottom – or – I’d reach to the back of a cupboard or closet and cause a crap avalanche when I pulled my item out past everything standing up in front of it.

Crap avalanches are no fun.

You know what is fun??

Getting organized and feeling joy when you open things up to reveal properly stored items that each have their own place!

You know what else is fun?

Avoiding crap avalanches! LOL

Ok, let’s get down to brass tacks.

How do we make this happen?

I started my home organization journey by getting helpful tips from Instagram and Pinterest.  My two favorite Instagram accounts for organization inspiration (say that 5 times fast!) are:

@thehomeedit

@organizewithtracy

I scrolled through each of those feeds looking for solutions that would realistically work for ME.  Not every color-coded, perfectly-labeled organizational fix is right for everyone.

I needed easy organization solutions that would work in MY home.

I also browsed Pinterest for helpful tips.  You can follow my Organize Me board on Pinterest to see some of my inspiration.

Once I had a few ideas in mind, I started purchasing inexpensive items to help me accomplish my mission.

Someday I’d love to visit The Container Store but for now I needed to shop stores I regularly frequent.  The products I used for these 5 Easy Organizing Solutions all came from the following stores:

• Target
• Walmart
• Marshall’s
• Ikea

(Don’t worry…I’ll include some Amazon links for those of you who prefer your stuff to come to you!)

Let’s check out a few areas in my home that needed serious organizing help…

1. THE JUNK DRAWER

We’ve all got one and they’re usually a disaster.  But not anymore!

Using a two compartment drawer organizer from IKEA (1), a couple of small plastics square baskets from Marshall’s (2) and two narrow acrylic bins from Target (3) I was able to create “zones” in my junk drawer.

It’s amazing how much it helps to simply corral various items together.  Things don’t get all tangled up, and it’s so much easier to see what you’re looking for.

I started by getting rid of anything that was truly “junk” and then sorting what was left.  I played around a little with various small bins I’d purchased along the way until I found a layout that worked for me.

2. THE PANTRY

Pantry shelves have always been prime real estate for crap avalanches! You go to grab one granola bar and end up knocking over 4 half-eaten bags of chips.  No, just me?

But really…boxes, bags, bars, snacks, etc can get really out of hand if they’re just tossed willy nilly onto the crappy wire rental home shelves.

Enter clear pantry bins!

Start by taking every individually wrapped item out of it’s original packaging and figure out how much space it takes up. Next, purchase a few long, narrow bins and neatly sort individual items inside.

For reals….corralling like items will change your life!

When you come home from the store, immediately throw away the cardboard boxes and toss your individual items into their respective bins.  It only takes a minute and it’s worth it!

(From left to right in my photo: 4″ bin, 5″ bin, and 8″ bin  – I usually use the 4″ bin to store veggie pouches for Drew but we’re out right now so the Goldfish bags infiltrated the zone!)

3. BATTERIES

Until I purchased this life-changing organizer my battery situation was a TOTAL DISASTER.  Tons of torn packaging, loose, half-used batteries everywhere and serious crap avalanche potential.

This organizer allows me to separate everything and keep all of my batteries in one place.

This is also a great place to keep those tiny screwdrivers you need for pesky screwed-shut battery compartments!

4. SPICE CUPBOARD

While I do love that tiered spice rack on the bottom shelf, lots of people already use those, so let’s turn our attention to the top two shelves and take a look at the lazy susans!

Talk about avoiding a crap avalanche!! These are the BEST!

Place items you’d normally just throw onto a shelf onto one of these bad boys instead and spin your way to joy and happiness!!

Use a larger size to corral bottles under the kitchen sink!

It may look too simple to make much difference, but let me tell you IT IS NOT.

These things are game changers!  I picked mine up at Target, but you can find both the small size in a 2-pack and the larger size individually on Amazon.

5. GIRLS HAIR ACCESSORIES/MAKEUP/TOILETRIES

Having two young girls means having about 2,000 hair accessories to keep track of.  For as long as I can remember, we’ve been throwing all of their hair bows, head bands, and hair clips/elastics into a bin.

When it was time to fix their hair before school or church it was, “Godspeed!” to anyone who drew the short straw and had to find the right hair accessory in that bin of doom.

We’ve said “Sayonarah” to that problem now that we store everything in one of these 3-Drawer Storage Bins under their bathroom sink! We’ve divided things up by size/type and it’s a breeze to locate the perfect hair accessory for any occasion!

I grabbed mine at Target but Walmart also carries them. *The ones I have are about 14″ deep – you’ll also see some that are 10″ so the right one for you will depend on your needs and your space.

Our current master bathroom has significantly less storage (no drawers! no cabinets!) than our last one, so I had to get creative with how to store my makeup and toiletries.

The 3-Drawer Storage Bin saved the day once again!

I love how everything has a spot and I can easily pull out an entire drawer (my makeup usually) and put it on the counter to have easy access to everything.  You’ll notice I have some smaller bins inside the drawers…those help everything stay neat and easy to see & put away.

*White narrow baskets on the bottom are part of this set I linked to in the junk drawer section.

*Small bamboo box in the middle drawer is from an IKEA set and can be found here.

PHEW!! We made it!

Here’s a simple infographic to see the items I talked about in this post and find links (numbered below the collage) to purchase anything that might be helpful in your home.

1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8

If you think this post was handy, I’d love if you’d pin one of these images on Pinterest to spread the organizing love :)

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