Is there a mom alive who doesn’t simultaneously love and despise reusable water bottles? Water bottles have saved me from the horror that is watching my children try to drink from public drinking fountains without contracting the plague more times than I can count. I love them so much that each person in my family has at least two to their name: one for using plus one in the wash. Even I have a couple of them: one for home and one for barre and Pilates classes at the studio. But OH MY WORD, the clutter.
They have fallen on my head after rolling off of the top of the refrigerator (bad place to try to keep them, FYI). More than one has clanked and slammed down the stairs to its untimely squished death after a storage basket upended because kids were wrestling near it. I shoved them all over my kitchen counter waiting for the insides to become bone dry after a trip through the dishwasher because I have a serious fixation with not putting a lid on a wet bottle. No more wire hangers? No. I’m fine with wire hangers. No more wet water bottles with lids in place so they can fester and grow bacteria ever! And I’m not going to even TRY to count how many water bottles have been retired because their extra proprietary, funky shaped lid went missing in our black hole of a kitchen catch-all drawer.
I tried everything I could think of to organize them: wine racks, shoe holders, laundry baskets, and even -out of sheer desperation- plastic grocery bags hanging on hooks inside the basement stairs. Every one of them failed because of one major flaw: nothing had a place where we could store the odd lids and still actually see them. Every one, that is, until I found this Michael Graves Design Over-the-Door Basket Organizer from JCPenney. There are two main differences between this bad boy and an over-the-door shoe organizer.
- The nifty mesh pocket at the top lets you drop in the un-matched lids or tops or straws for the water bottles and still keep a visual on them. No black hole happening there.
- The baskets (or shelves) hold everything from small 1-cup water bottles to the largest canteens (in the top basket) and everything in between. They even hold our 1-liter Sodastream bottles neatly.
To say that I’m a fan of this basket organizer is to put it mildly. I recommend it to all my mommy-friends who have been overrun with water bottles.
MAJOR BONUS: The kids can find their own water bottles and lids for all their summer excursions into the great wild that is our backyard or the playground or picnics or bike-riding with friends, or…or…or… You get the idea. Summer just got a little easier.
Giveaway
The good folks at JCPenney have kindly offered a $100 JCPenney gift card to one lucky Foodie with Family reader. You can use it to grab a water bottle organizer, er, Over-the-Door Basket Organizer and still have enough left over to grab some supplies to make your summer fun! How do you enter? It’s simple! Tell us your favourite #lifehack in the comments below: what tricks do you have that make your life a little easier?
Sweepstakes Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
- Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
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This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 72 hours to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 5/19-6/13/2014.
Be sure to visit the JCPenney brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!
Reader's Thoughts...
Buddy Garrett says
We prepare the night before for everything we can to be ahead in the morning.
CharityS says
My smartphone doubles as a computer when I go on vacation.
Sand says
I double recipes and freeze the extra portions for times where I don’t feel like cooking.
Susan Robbins says
My favorite #Lifehack is to keep a large ice chest filled with a variety of drinks by the front door. It has water, juice, soda, energy drinks, aloe vera drinks, coconut water in it and the refrigerator door stays shut and easy for people to help themselves.
Ed says
I let the cat walk the dog.
Seyma Shabbir says
My life hack is prepping food the day before (veggies, rice, etc) and just mixing it and cooking it when it is time to eat!.
Ellie Wofford says
My favorite #lifehack is to keep fruit & veggie snacks already prepared in the fridge for when my kids start asking for a snack! All the work on one day & we have healthy snacks all week!
Christian Alejandro says
https://twitter.com/lexbaylor27/status/477538074256494592
Christian Alejandro says
My #lifehack is brushing my teeth while showering.
Thomas Murphy says
https://twitter.com/thomasmurphy40/status/477532298896621568
Thomas Murphy says
My favorite summer #LifeHack is using using washcloths for napkins.
susan smoaks says
i like to get caught up on my tv shows while i work, it’s my favorite #lifehack
RICHARD HICKS says
https://twitter.com/ardy22/status/477481329580208128
RICHARD HICKS says
My favorite summer #LifeHack is making a cookout a sort of a potluck. So much food for everyone to choose from and everyone is happy.
Tim Moss says
I like to know how I’m going to do my activities because I’m not a big fan of surprises.
tracey byram says
List makingkeeps me focused and effective in completing chores.
Katie Marks says
I Tweeted here –> https://twitter.com/Marks_Set_Go/status/477442566158172160
Barb Stenby says
https://twitter.com/wikichoco/status/477433493836689408
Barb Stenby says
My favorite #lifehack is making things ahead of time like lunches, dinners etc!
Sherry Conrad says
https://twitter.com/dddiva/status/477418270690009089