First off, I'm going to start with Dylan's bathroom. There's bath toys and special "baby" towels and washclothes. There's lotions, potions, grooming supplies and meds. All the stuff that you need for you little one seems to take over. Plus, there's a worry about your child getting into those things you don't want them to. Here's what I did. Click on the pictures to get full sized images.
The theme is black, red, and
Calvin and Hobbes. I always loved
Calvin and Hobbes when I was growing up. Dylan now reminds me of Calvin. (Sighs) It's perfect.
From the picture above, you can't really see a lot, but remember to keep it simple. I had used a TON of stuff that I already had - everything that was red. Saves money, and in a way it's Earth friendly because I'm not out buying all new stuff.
I hate, hate, hate (!) having too many bath toys. What we do have fits nicely into these Blink "catch-all" mesh baggies. Blink was a product line that was aimed towards "soccer moms" to help easily clean up their vehicles. Needless to say, the line wasn't hugely successful. (I can't even find a website for them!) The dollar stores ended up buying out tons of these totes. Yep, the dollar store to the rescue. These mesh bad boys come in a pack of 5 for $1.00. YAY! Well, what to do with the rest of the totes if you only need one for the bathroom toys?
I bought up about 4 packs of these things and I use them for -
*produce bags (don't you all hate the plastic baggies at the store? i can't ever get them opened and feel like an idiot. plus, using your own is every environmentally friendly),
*outside toy catcher (perfect for sandy/dirty toys. you can throw them in the tote and hose them off and hang to dry).
*I also like to use them for dividing up activities. You can make a little paper tag to tie on the top with the days of the week and child's name. Say, on Mondays we need 'busy' activites. I'll throw in coloring books, crayons, stickers, little books... anything to keep Dylan busy for any time span. If you spend a little time getting the goods together at the beginning of the week, it's amazing how much time you'll free up in the long run.
*I like to have a system where I put everything I need for each stop on my errand route, in different bags. When I get to that stop, I have everything I need without having to riffle through all my belongings.
Back to the bathroom -
I've had this set of picture frames for quite some time. They were a walnut stained wood, which doesn't work with the rest of my home decor. What did I do? Paint them black. Saves money, and reuses what you already have.
For the artwork inside the frames, I took the 6
Calvin and Hobbes collection books I had. Found the images I wanted, and scanned them onto my computer. From there, I opened
Photoshop and cleaned up the images. Print and frame. {I'm pretty sure I didn't infringe on copyrights because I bought the books? If that's not ok, someone let me know.} There's also another image above the toilet (first picture). In the first picture, to the left of the toilet, I have a black leather magazine holder. I put all the Calvin and Hobbes books in that. You know how boys are with their reading materials while they use the bathroom. Ha.
Sink area - I love saving all my glass jars from candles and pickles. On the right side of the sink, I took two small candle holders, cleaned them up and use them for cotton balls and cotton swabs. On the left side, behind the soap I used a
Colonial Candle jar for a toothbrush holder. I love the shapes of these jars for toothbrush holders. The medicine cabinet holds all Dylan's hair brushes, nail clippers, thermometers, meds.. the usual. Once he gets old enough to reach that stuff, it will be put away elsewhere. Until then, it's easy to have all these items close at hand. The cabinet holds his towels and washclothes on the right side. There's a baby saftey latch on the left side where his lotions and bubble bath stuff is.
Also, let's not forget trash cans. For now, I just have a tiny plain, white, plastic trash can. If you have diapers in the house, you know how often you need to clean out the trash can. I make sure I have a stash of plastic grocery bags in our linen closet, so I can go in the bathroom and swoop up those diapers every other day. The smell? I combat that with
Renuzit Adjustables. These are those cones that don't plug into anything and you can hide and at my store, they're only $0.94. I love the Citrus Sunburst scent, very fresh and clean. I hide it behind the toilet. Dylan doesn't even know its there! Click
here for offers from Renuzit!
So, there ya go! Hope this gives you some ideas on how to save money and still decorate fabulously. Remember to think outside of the box and use items you have or can easily re-do!
UPDATE:
Ok, so I thought I threw away all the packaging from my Blink totes. Luckily, I had one still in the Jeep. I lied. They come in a pack of four, not five. Still a bargain at $1.00, though! Here's what they look like.
