31 Tips to a Less Messy Cottage- Tip 9 and FOR ALL THOSE WHO GET DISCOURAGED WITH HOUSE WORK!

This post is dedicated to all those who have felt like failures as homemakers because they couldn't keep up!  I have been feeling that way lately! 

It is really important to me to have a home that is charming, comfortable, and my families personality.  I also believe in having a clean home but sometimes it is really hard to stay caught up when I feel like I'm the only one striving for this goal. 
So this post is for trying AGAIN and having hope for a comfortable, organized, reasonably clean home.
BECAUSE let's face it....I'm not the only one who has ever felt this way!

LABELS

Some of you might think this is really really weird.....but I am a huge fan of labels. 
Not just on cookie jars, but like on everything.  So that me and my family can remember where things go.

For a while I have really struggled with organization in our new home.  Well 2 1/2 years ago it was new to us.  Before this we lived in a townhome that had a different set-up and was a little bit bigger.  I realized how much that really worked for us....after we moved out.  Don't get me wrong....I like my house but it can be really really challenging to have a place to put things here.

So I was thinking the other day about how much more organized things were when we lived there.  One of the main things was that I labeled EVERYTHING.  If you have labels then you AND your family have no excuse to put things back because IT'S PRETTY MUCH SET IN STONE. 
A very nice woman by the name of Christy Yowd came to our church one night to teach us how to be organized.  By profession she is a professional organizer and helps people with their mayhem.
She had many GREAT tips.....and one of them was to use labels.  I tell you after I started labeling things my house became so much less cluttered because if there isn't a place to put it....then it doesn't get labeled but thrown out. 
It is a great concept!  When I first heard this I thought it might be a little too OCD clean for me, but then I tried it (and it takes a long time.) and it worked! 

First of all...my house was absolute mayhem this week!  Not only that but my Mother and Father-in-law came and saw how bad it was.  Decided to throw some stuff out...again.  HELLO MR. GARBAGE, DI, AND CURB....nice to see you AGAIN!

I will not lie to you and make you think that just because I blog doesn't mean my house doesn't get awful sometimes!  It is such a process...and so much work to focus on all the time.  I have a husband, four little BOYS, and a side business that keeps me sane for the most part.  That is a lot to focus on.
But here we go again...and with the labels everything should find it's place.
....enough with the rambling and onto what I did today.

MY BATHROOM







Under the sink only held the toilet bowl brush so I thought I would make it more storage friendly.
Now no-one can complain about not knowing where their toothbrush is:)

Closeup of the labels that I made with my label maker.  Or if you have a Silhouette Machine like I wish I did....you can make the labels even cuter.  When I took this I probably shouldn't have made the toothbrushes front and center.  I only have four kids but they constantly lose their toothbrushes in random places so this is just in case.

These are the storage nooks in my not-so-charming-but-could-be-charming-bathroom.
One day I will remodel this room, but for now I can be happy it's now organized.

A basket just for my bubble bath and nail polish that hopefully is enough out of reach from the kiddos.

I pretty much removed all the extra junk and made a basket for me, my hubby, and our extra toiletries.  Then I made sure that there was a place to put extra towels and a trash can.  If you don't have a trash can in your bathroom you should because it will keep things tidy.  I had to make a label for our trash can because it always disappears.  If there is a label there will be no excuse and evidence if it is missing in action.

I hope I didn't bore you to death with my bathroom posts!  There will be something new everyday!