Cleaning - The Latina Next Door

I am excited to kick off the new year tackling the mess in my new home. The hubby and I just got all of our final things out of storage so now we have more boxes to go through. We, did however, take several boxes of stuff we just didn’t need anymore to out local Goodwill.

That is not to say we have gotten rid of everything. NOPE! Not even close.

Shocker I’m sure.

But at least we got rid of toys the kids and grown out of, old rugs, decor pieces I never used or were no longer my style and other miscellaneous things. PLUS, we were able to throw away some serious junk…

Feels good so far. But now it’s off to tackle my craft room. One of the best things in this new home of ours is that I get my very own dedicated craft room. I thoroughly enjoyed creating a ton of projects this past December but it wasn’t easy as I didn’t have a central location where I housed everything.

I want to bring even more projects to you all, so I need an organized space that I can work in and be more efficient. Plus, I am dying to get back to sewing and I am looking forward to having a space where I can get away and relieve some stress with fabric and thread.

Yes, it’s totally soothing to me, I swear!

However, I got nothing started. NOPE. NADA.

Which is why I am super excited to be joining this Craft Room Challenge hosted by my friends at The Inspiration Vault. I need to get my stuff in order.

Here is what my space looks like now… the space is actually like a sitting or dressing room off our master bath (weird I know, but it’s all mine!).

It doesn’t have a door either… just a step down.

I am almost embarrassed to share.

There are boxes that don’t belong (from the move… and yes, unopened).

Bags on the floor.

Nothing is in order.

And not to mention, there is a dreary color on the walls and none of my furniture matches.

I don’t even have all of my supplies in there yet…

And there’s an ironing board that never gets put away! Gah!

Ya’ll have seen spaces in my home before.

THIS.IS.NOT.ME.

I just haven’t had the time to get all this set up.

I have no systems in place for storing away anything yet and well… it’s just a hot mess.

I cannot create in here. It’s just not inspiring.

So here is what I plan on doing during this Craft Room Challenge:

Paint the walls and trim – the paint is dark and not my style. It had been a while since the previous owners painted and areas need to be touched up here and there.
New window treatment – the blinds have been burned to a crisp by the sun. It’s time to add something new.
Organized shelving – I actually have 2 of those half-sized bookshelves and will be adding both to this space since the other one isn’t really being used at this time.
Organization boxes, bins, and systems – My craft area wasn’t working in my last house and clearly isn’t working here so I need to set up new systems and ways to organize that will allow me to easily access things and put them away.
Decorate – Obviously I want a space that will inspire creativity so I hope to add a few touches here and there to make it look nicer than just a place to do crafts. I may even change out the light fixture since it’s not really my style and doesn’t give off a ton of light, but if I cannot find a cheap one, I will wait.

How am I going to do it?

Well, first and foremost…. as cheaply as possible!

I am really trying NOT to spend a lot this year at all! My hubby and I have a financial goal and we want to be able to meet it this year. So I plan on using a few things that I already have on hand to cut costs and then buy things as inexpensively as possible.

I will also be getting rid of a few things too. There are just some things for projects I have had FOREVER and I haven’t even used them so I will be chucking them to make space for things that I do use regularly.

So because I am starting from scratch, my steps this week will be a little different from the rest of the bloggers who have their rooms already set up. Here are the steps I will be taking this week to get started on the right foot.

Craft Room Challenge Week 1 Action Items:

Remove everything from the room and paint walls & trim
Add new window treatment to replace the burnt blinds
Bring furniture back and place in desired locations.
Set up my work surface area
Purchase a few items and systems that will make the craft organizing more efficient.

If you would like to follow along with the daily mini challenges to get your craft room squared away as well, check out the daily challenges…

Wish me luck! And don’t forget to check out our cute little trailer featuring some of the other spaces for the challenge below!

Welcome to the 2018 Craft Room Challenge! From January 3rd through January 31st, 14 crafty bloggers will be sorting, organizing, cleaning, and decorating their craft spaces. Each of us has a very different craft space to tackle, so chances are you will find one similar to yours. We’d love for you to join in on the fun challenge and clean right alongside us. Follow along and join in on social media by using #craftroomchallenge and #confessyourmess. You can also find us and the challenge via our social media accounts you’ll see listed on each of our sites. We’ll also have 15-minute mini daily challenges for you in case you have limited time to dedicate to the challenge. We hope you share your messy spaces and progress with us so we don’t feel alone this month!

Before you see the rest of the crafty spaces, please meet our lovely hosts:

Marie & Aleisha from The Inspiration Vault • Pam from P.S. I Love You Crafts

Yami from The Latina Next Door • Jolene from Create Pray Love

Habiba from Craftify My Love • Lyne from The Paper Addict

Megan from C’Mon Get Crafty • Erlene from My Pinterventures

Shirley from Intelligent Domestications • Valerie from Val Event Gal

Michelle from Our Crafty Mom • Rebecca from The Moments at Home

Stephanie from Crafty Ladybug Creations

Now, let’s take a look at their craft rooms and spaces!

An InLinkz Link-up

Okay, so you know very well that I am a stay at home mom who has to keep expenses at bay since we are only living off one income. You also know that I like to do things myself for the purpose of saving money. And as you may have guessed, this would also include dry cleaning. Even before I stayed at home, my husband and I barely used the dry cleaners.

Frankly, it was pricey and we were never 100% content with the condition of our clothes when we got them back. I also didn’t appreciate that weird dry-cleaning smell they would come home with either. So, it has been a while since we have taken ANYTHING to get dry cleaned. A few problems come with this: 1) it gives me more work (and who needs that????) and 2) clothes wear a lot faster due to constant washing.

I have always been good at maintaining my clothes in REALLY good condition, but with a husband and 3 little kids who don’t care about wear…..

….well, need I say more?

So, in the past couple of years I have implemented some things to keep our clothes from getting worn out too quickly. Here are those 5 things you could do as well…

Zip and button all of your pants and jeans – before they go in the wash. Sometimes, you don’t think about this (or even want to, I mean you already have to check all of the pockets for coins, paper, gum, money). But trust me this goes a long way. If you do this, it will ensure that the zipper does’t snag and tear any other items in the wash and closing the button ensures it doesn’t get caught and tangled with the rest of your clothes.
Laundry mesh bags – Like these. I have 3 and I put all delicates like underwear, bras, anything silk and even baby bibs with velcro in them. Putting your delicates in these bags will also prevent them from getting tangled or caught underneath the rubber gasket, especially in those front loading washers. And seriously if you have babies, this is a life saver. I put all bibs with velcro in these to avoid the velcro getting stuck and messing up the rest of the kids’ clothes – who wants a shirt with an ugly fuzzy patch on it? And, I always attach the velcro ends together in order to make extra sure it doesn’t attach itself to any other bibs inside the bag.
Turn it INSIDE OUT – If you have anything with special decals, glitter, or text ALWAYS put it in the wash inside out. This will allow that decorative element to stay intact on the fabric longer. In addition, I always hang dry these items (right side out) in order to keep them looking better longer. This also applies to sweatpants. Always put them in the wash inside out in order to prevent them from pilling, but you don’t have to hang these, just make sure to also dry them inside out. And of course if they do pill, you gotta have a clothes shaver like this one at home. I use it on both clothes and furniture!
Hang dry – I have 3 of these hangers in my laundry room. I hang all of my delicates (ahem, you know what they are!) to dry. It extends the life of the elastics and keeps colors brighter longer. I also use these for my kids nicer clothes. It seems like baby clothes are MADE to SHRINK, ugh!!!! Hanging onesies, tees and other delicate items helps my kids stay in them longer. Speaking of hang drying… I also hang all of my husband’s slacks and dress shirts for work. Blouses and dresses also get hung. I hang dry…. A LOT. Now, when I do dry clothes I never put them in the hottest setting. I dry the kids’ clothes on low heat and our clothes on medium. The only items I dry on high are towels, bedsheets and bath mats cause they can take the heat better. And lets talk about jeans for a minute…. one of my biggest pet peeves are wrinkled jeans. There is just no reason to wear them that way, but who wants to iron them (I mean, there just ain’t no time for that!). So what I like to do is as soon as they come out of the dryer, I hang them like this….It’s not rocket science peeps, but if you make it a point to hang them while they are fresh out of the dryer and still hot, it prevents them from wrinkling and gives them a pressed look without any work, and you know us moms love that!
Hang your sweaters the RIGHT way – Don’t you hate when you hang a sweater, then put it on, only to find the ends of the hangers stretched it out and now you have 2 ugly bumps on your shoulders? Well, if you aren’t hanging your sweaters this way, you need to start. I start nicer sweaters out in the dryer and I usually let them dry for about 1/3 of the cycle. This gets them a little dry, but still allows them to hang without over-stretching them which happens when they are too wet and heavy. Then hang them as follows:First, fold your sweater in half, vertically. Take a hanger and slide it underneath like you see above then bring the ends over. If you start hanging your sweaters this way from now on, you will NEVER have those ugly little bumps! Oh yeah!

And just because I like you, I have an extra money saving tip for you. As you may have noticed, I hang a lot of my clothes, so naturally, the loads that go in my dryer are lighter than the ones that go in my washer, so in order to be a little more money savvy I cut my dryer sheets in half. This helps each box of dryer sheets last longer and I don’t buy them as often. You don’t see a difference either – a half a sheet works just fine, especially when the load is not so large! Another win for this SAHM!

Well, I hope you find these tips helpful. Again, they aren’t complicated, but they definitely extend the life of my clothes,
Those are wins in my book!

If you want to save some money but don’t know how you can make it happen, check out this post here for some great tips!

So here is what I plan on doing during this Craft Room Challenge:

Craft Room Challenge Week 1 Action Items:

Wish me luck! And don’t forget to check out our cute little trailer featuring some of the other spaces for the challenge below!

Now, let’s take a look at their craft rooms and spaces!

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