ORGANIZE Archives - not a trophy wife

Pinterest Audit

September 26, 2018 by laura 3 Comments

I went into a Pinterest vortex over the weekend. It started with a cup of coffee in the early morning hours. It’s my favorite time of the day and it’s also when I search holidays ideas that popped into my head during the week. What’s the funniest topic you searched on Pinterest? One of mine was, “How to eliminate an air duct.”

And, in various fall front porch pins, I decided it was time take a Pinterest audit of my boards and pins.

It was like cleaning out my closets without leaving my laptop.

Pinterest Audit

I started with my Pinterest home page and it looked pretty good.

It wasn’t an Instagram or HGTV worthy page, but it was step up from a few years ago.

Scroll to the bottom to see one of my first pins.

I randomly clicked on a few of my older pins. A few of my favorites included some of my prettier images like this:

But, when I followed the pinned image I got this message.

And, it wasn’t just on one or two pins. It was a Pinterest epidemic of lost pages and redirects.

I had abandoned my boards for too long. The last time I took a quick audit was when this happened last year.

Source: ** AP Photo/20th Century Fox **

It was a harsh reality when my “Travel” board had a whopping 4 pins.

Yep, I decided I had to say goodbye to a few boards and even more pins.

Can I tell you how amazing it was to clean up my Pinterest boards? Less really is more.

Here is one of my first pins from my original blog. I have not used Blogspot for years, but this was still out there.

How many times do you pin something and check the URL link for future reference?

My Pinterest audit was also a nice reminder to update, replace or retake a few of my more popular pins.

Taking an hour (or two) to audit my boards and pins was the only way to see which links were dead. And, the reality of which pins and photos needed to go to the trash. And, after my Pinterest audit, some things don’t change.

This is still at the top of my Pinterest page.

My Favorite Gift Wrap Organizer

September 12, 2018 by laura Leave a Comment

You know the funniest thing about my obsession with gift wrap? I don’t need rolls of gift wrap to wrap a 1.5″x2″ gift card. A girl (mom) can hope for a comeback for the thick, glossy paper with fun prints. Have you checked out the rolls of gift wrap at HomeGoods and TJ Maxx? They have those thick sheets of paper that don’t tear when you pull the wrap over the gift box. With so much paper to store, I finally got to use my gift wrap organizer.

With so many cute rolls of paper, I plan to use the fun prints for craft and decor idea. I found a roll of Denver Bronco paper for my son’s college care packages.

I could not resist pairing the blue ribbon next to the orange gift wrap ribbon in honor the Denver Broncos season-opening game.

But until inspiration or gift giving season hits, I am technically a gift wrap hoarder.

I love the lemon and limes and I never noticed my thing for polka dots.

It’s a great time to organize the Christmas gift wrap.

And, the organizer holds a dozen rolls of gift wrap.

The baskets adjust to accommodate the larger rolls and ribbon.

It’s my all time, hands down favorite purchase from the Container Store.

Ahh… this makes me so happy to have one obsession contained behind a closet door.

What do you find at Home Goods that gets you every time?

Clean Closets Gave the Accessories a Repurposed Life

July 9, 2018 by laura 4 Comments

Hi Everyone! I finally tackled a task I dreaded; cleaning out the closets (and the basement storage). I don’t know why I dreaded it because the sense of accomplishment was as great as this accomplishment over the 4th of July holiday. But, still, the thought of cleaning out closets, the pantry and the basement were overwhelming at best. But, like so many professional organizers suggest; break the task into manageable tasks and manage where the stuff goes (charity or trash) or to a repurposed life.

The biggest closet challenge was larger than a close; it was the unfinished space in the basement. Over the year it became the place to store seasonal decor, oversized items and the 52 pickup game we play before we entertain. Anyone else play that game? This was what my basement stash looked like at the beginning of summer.

It had become a safety hazard. My treadmill sits on the opposite end of the basement. That was my view during commercials of the early morning news.

But a late night and a Hallmark movie gave me a chance to finally tackle the ribbons, boxes, future projects and greenery. And, amongst the cluttered chaos, I gave accessories a repurposed life.

I found a discarded candle holder and just before I tossed it into the Goodwill pile I grabbed a roll of toilet paper. And, this almost tossed accessory found a repurposed life in a powder bath with no under sink storage.

I took a popular bread container that never quite fit into my kitchen and it became a storage container above a tub.

Sidenote: I don’t love baskets in bathrooms. I like to clean surfaces in bathrooms with cleaning products and a paper towel.

In full disclosure, the metal bread container ended up back in the kitchen, but it could easily be repurposed again. A few years ago I went overboard with lanterns on clearance. So it was no surprise this lantern also became a repurposed accessory.

Like the collection of baskets in my basement. I grabbed this one and tossed a few too many pillows next to the sofa! I love the look! The pillows get off the floor (anyone else has this overnight mystery)?

I shared this project using vases stashed on that storage rack. Here’s an almost tossed glass vase that now sits on the dining room table.

And, I think that’s the purpose of a storage room, closet or pantry. Sometimes these accessories need to be stored until we can give our accessories a repurposed life.

Link to:

Sweet Parrish Place

How to Organize the Phone

June 13, 2018 by laura 3 Comments

HI Everyone! Here is a really quick tip on how to organize the phone in your life. Over the last year, I shared how to organize the phone with friends and complete strangers. Months later, I thought, “Why don’t I put this on the blog?” Like, seriously Laura? So here is the one suggestion on how to organize the phone (so you don’t lose your mind when you can’t find that signed field trip permission slip).

I have a 1/2 dozen email addresses for work-related and personal accounts. Yeah, laura@notatrophywife.com is not the email to send a school inquiry. It might end up in the school’s spam folder. So over the last year, I began to organize the emails that loaded my personal Gmail account. If your inbox is like mine you get a 1/2 dozen emails from the same retailer. My inbox is flooded with coupons, sale announcements, and more coupons.

All of my emails are on both my tablet and phone. They sync automatically so if it’s handled on one device it is covered on the other. But, my master email (the mother ship) originates on my tablet so to create new folders I need to create from my tablet.

The biggest time drain for me are those offers, coupons and sale emails. And, every time I buy something at any store they ask for my email address.

Off Topic: Come to think of it, Target and Home Depot are like the two stores that don’t ask for my email. Can you think of other retailers that don’t ask for your email?

Okay back to how I organize my phone to organize my cluttered mind. So with coupons and sales taking up the bulk of my email counts, and not wanting to delete that Williams-Sonoma sale date, I created six folders for my phone.

These six folders changed my life. I create a folder for each of my children, one for me and the two favorite folders; one folder for coupons and the second folder for receipts (emailed receipts). I don’t have to find them on an app or dig through my bag with a line stretching to the shopping carts. In fact, while standing in line I will do a quick search for “JCrew Factory” to see if any pull up or if I trashed an earlier email and can pull it up from my trash folder (okay, that’s the seventh folder).

When you organize the phone …

Who knew the power of alphabetically organized folders; easily accessed by the phone? I know, I know, but it’s the little details that calm me. So create your own way to organize the phone before the school year. Spend some time figuring out what folders you want to organize your kids, coupons, receipt, work or school forms (filed under each child).

And, if you are looking for my favorite phone app read this article.

Now, I can access school release forms, copies of immunizations or coupons from my phone… anywhere.

How to Keep the Sink Pretty

May 29, 2018 by laura 3 Comments

Happy Friday! Do you have a fun Memorial Weekend? We had a family bbq and much needed time at home to regroup and work in the yard! Sound familiar! This is my busy season and the Denver market is crazy! At our house, the first room to show distress is the kitchen. And, with my college-age son home for the summer with his new found love of cooking, my kitchen sink looks like the dump. Here is how to keep the sink pretty. My initial inspiration was from this picture from BH&G.

Is this the prettiest sink ever? We have a similar faucet and I don’t see any pasta sauce splatter or water spots on this one. I love the porcelain sink. And, that tray!

Source BH&G

Here’s my version of how to keep the sink pretty! I pulled a few key elements and continue to play with it. We have a corner sink so it chews up the valuable counter real estate. I started with a mini cake plate (from Target dollar section). I had this next to the sink for about 12 minutes and decided the cake plate could be better used.