Its in the Bag

Or should I say the Boat & Tote!  Here I have a few pictures of ways we currently use our Boat & Totes, plus a list of ways we have used them in the past.

-Picnic bag
-Children's books
-Family gift
-Car tote
-Library books
-Mobile bill paying station
-Helmets (when we were younger)
-Bedside tote with books, flashlight etc.
-Mail bag. If it comes in, it goes in the bag
-Child paraphernalia, you know what I mean!

Now for the pictures...

We use three medium totes as school bags for the girls

And like everything in our house, they are color coded.

They are just the right size for their books and pencil boxes

We use extra large totes as laundry hampers. 

Color coded too! Each kid has one and then brings to the laundry room.

This large tote is a mainstay in the car.

It coordinates with the cooler perfectly.

 

The is what we call our "Travel Tote". 

A friend of Mom put the names of the places we have traveled to on it.

And this is my pink collection.

I use my medium for magazines. Southern Lady, Southern Living, Real Simple, Tea Time, Paula Deen, and believe it or not,  The Hockey News.

The small always holds my cross-stitch projects.

we use Boat & Totes for just about everything, even our bathroom tissue!

The medium holds 9 Charmin Family Rolls, in case you were wondering.

One last reason to love these bags...

Fabulous Friday Find+Giveaway!

Today I'm sharing and giving away an item that our home could not be organized without, L.L. Bean Boat & Totes!

These are absolutely indestructible, a must in a busy household.

We use them for everything, storing school supplies, carry-all for the car, corraling crafts and believe it or not, laundry hampers. I'll explain all of these next week with pics, but for now take my word for it, and enter because... I'm giving away 3 Medium Boat & Totes!

3 winners will receive a monogramed tote in the color of their choice!

How to enter:
Each person can have up to 5 entries. Please leave a comment for each entry.

1) Leave a comment and tell you favorite color tote and how you would use it
2) Follow "Southern Homemaking"
3) Like Southern Homemaking on Facebook
4) Share this giveaway on Facebook
5) Share on your blog

The winner will be selected using Random.org on Saturday March 3rd.
International entries welcome!

Fabulous Friday Find

Today I wanted to share a great book on organization with y'all.
My sweet Nana gave this to me, and I love it (and her!).  The format is great. 

There are sections for every different area that needs organizing.

Each section is then broken down into goals to accomplish that week. 
The tasks are always very manageable.

The tips are helpful, and there is a place to write notes.

I really like the "Stay Organized" sections.  It is so easy to get something organized, only to watch it become filled with clutter in a matter of months. 

After going through this book I was inspired to go on a organizing rampage.  You know, the kind when you throw open the closet doors in a way that strikes fear into the hearts of clutter.

You are welcome to join me on my organization/clutter extermination project.

 Pick up a copy of your own at Barnes & Noble and grab a garbage bag!

I will end this post with a word of warning to any clutter lurking in our house.

You can run, but you can't hide. 
I have a garbage bag, and I'm not afraid to use it! 

New use for Mason Jars: Crayons

Well we have been eating our Peach and Strawberry Jam at a very fast rate. And now we have more than a dozen empty jars. So I started thinking, what could we do with all of those jars? So I have been enjoying coming up with

"New Uses for Mason Jars".

First up: Crayons

We have three young artists in the house and LOTS of art supplies. So we decided to combine all of the half full crayon boxes into one place.

This little system, made up of 2 8oz. jars and a 4oz. jar works great! They all fit nicely in this basket (available here) and make art time much easier. Each of the girls has their own jar and they can see all of the colors instead of emptying the boxes on the table. 

An 8oz. jar fits regular crayons

While a 4oz. holds thicker crayons for little ones