You all know what I am talking about. Those socks that go in to the wash as a pair and somehow come out alone. I hate folding socks. I hate matching them, I hate how they get stretched out at the top after so many times being rolled to keep them together.

I have learned many things from my mother, but this little trick is one of them. Use a safety pin and pin them together. (Don’t use the gold ones, they eventually leave a rusty mark) So simple, yet such a profound difference it makes! My mom keeps them in a jar, but i take it one step further and use a magnetic pin cushion. We keep one in each room. We take the pin out and put it on the cushion in the morning and take our socks off and pin them back together for the laundry at night.

Pin cushion on the changing table

Socks in the bin in the drawer, just grab one and you have a pair.
Yay! No more losing or folding socks.

And now you know the use of the contents of the “Simple Sock” starter kit, so go enter the drawing!! Quick!! 🙂

I am so excited that this week is our official launch and what better way to start than with Organization week. Each day (M-F) I will post a new organization tip. But that is not the best part!! There is a giveaway to start us off. You have the chance to win this “Simple Socks” starter kit. Watch this week to see how to use the items in the kit or use them however you want. I am jealous because this container is much cuter than mine. I will have to spruce mine up later.

Now how to enter. There are 5 ways to enter as follows:

1. Leave a comment telling us what your favorite tip on the site.
2. Become a follower of Tipsy by signing up on the right side of the page. (those who were already followers can leave a comment for an entry. I do not punish loyalty. 🙂 )
3. Become a fan on Facebook by clicking here.
4. Post about us on your blog.
5. Add our button (also found on the right side) to your blog.

Be sure to leave a separate comment on this post for each one you do because you will get an additional entry for each one! The deadline is Midnight Sunday, March 8th. Good Luck and enjoy Organization week!

I have been battling with my stack of recipes for some time now and I finally got them somewhat corralled (do you like the western theme I am running with here?) into a handy dandy binder. I get most of my recipes from magazines (Namely Kraft food and Family, love them. Fast, cheap, easy. Hmmm. That description sounds a bit questionable. You can see the online version here.) and the internet (Mostly Good Things Utah since I can watch them prepare it and then see if it is something that I can manage.) So, I had a stack of print outs and magazine clips waiting to have a real home.

Enter your friendly neighborhood binder. I used tabs to separate by type (salad, soup, entree, etc) and put a sheet protector behind each tab to house any recipes that have not been tried yet. They don’t get a permanent home until they have been properly taste tested. I punched holes in the family favorites and put them in, but am debating on putting them all in sheet protectors so they don’t get ruined while I am cooking. Although, the occasional smudge adds character.

Someone mentioned that if you put them in sheet protectors you can write on them with erasable markers if you need to half the batch and then just wipe it off when you are done. Smart!

Well here she is, the fabulous binder, pretty cover and all.

Unfortunately, well maybe fortunately, I forgot to take before pics. Imagine a big stack of paper and clippings. Done!

How many random things can you find in your spice cabinet? I found some Crisco cubes that expired in 2006! I decided to finally tackle this monster and organize my spice cabinet since every time I opened it it seemed like an unavoidable avalanche. I found this wood spice rack at DI for $1.50 and that was the beginning.
I sorted everything by how often I used it, threw out anything that was old and washed the shelves. Then, I put it back in with things I use most often in the front. I put all the little packets in a Tupperware to “contain” them with anything that was open on the left to be used first. It may not look like much of a difference, but believe me, IT IS! Can you believe that I have a rotating spice rack under this cabinet too? Good grief.

Before After