Contributor Q&A and Their Favorite Tips & Tricks

I am a huge fan of collaboration & great teamwork, and my girls here at Pretty Organized are definitely worthy of some appreciation & recognition! You’ve probably seen them pop in with little gems of goodness from time to time, and in case you’d like to know a little bit more about the girls behind this blog, here’s a fun little “getting to know you” post all about my lovely contributors!

 

Erin from Managing the Manor

Annie from Annie Hearts

Beth from Incomplete Guide to Living

What are your favorite movies/TV shows?

Annie: The Notebook (I know, corny, but it reminds me of my love and I finding each other again after over a decade of being apart), Million Dollar Decorators (I’m obsessed), True Blood, Game of Thrones.

Beth: TV- Modern Family, Arrested Development, Sherlock;  Movies- Anchorman, The Holiday, Elf.

Erin: Dirty Dancing is my old school fave, but newer ones include ones w/Adam Sandler and ones done by Judd Apatow (Casey, holla!).  TV shows mostly include network sitcoms (Big Bang Theory, Rules of Engagement, How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family, etc.).  I also still enjoy catching Friends and Sex and the City whenever I can!

Weird Talents/Interesting Facts:

Erin:  I have 6 toes on each foot and…only kidding.  I actually do have flexible toes.  As in, I can bend most of my them back to my foot.  Gross, huh?  On a more serious note, I recently changed careers from being an accountant (for 6 years) to being in marketing (account management).  I did it within my same company, so it was an easier transition, but it’s been crazy/scary/exciting learning all about the world of marketing!

Beth: Although it was for varying lengths of time,  I have lived in the same number of states as I have countries. (Georgia , Alabama, Colorado; U.S.A., Germany, United Kingdom).

Annie: I’m allergic to gluten and so I can’t have wheat. I’m a baking fiend and I have really delicious cookie, muffin, pancake, pizza crust and pie crust recipes I plan to share on annie hearts. I’m a sunset junkie, which is why I bought the house on the river.
Last but certainly not least, I can see my toilet from my bed because my second floor has NO WALLS. Yet.

What’s on your bucket list?

Annie: TRAVELING. Australia and New Zealand. Aruba. Spain. The California coast. And returning to visit the city I was born—Lahr, Germany. I haven’t been there since I left to come to Canada when I was two. So yeah, TRAVELING.

Beth: Run a ½ marathon (or maybe a full marathon….let’s not get too ambitious here).

Erin: Sky diving.  Now that I know so many people that have done it, it makes it seem less bucket list-ish, but it still would be awesome.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be & why?

Annie: To become instantly zen, no matter how crazy things around me get. I would be Yogannie. Or Zennie. I think the second one because I like the thought of my supercape having a “Z” on it.

Erin: Being able to clone myself.  Work full time, go on a date with the hubs, play with my son, AND come home to a clean house?  Sign me up!!

Beth: Time travel.  So that I could have time for naps when needed.  Plus, how great would it be to re-live important milestones in life?

 

What’s your favorite DIY/Organizing project?

Beth: Our laundry room, and my new coffee bar!

Erin: Our son’s “big boy” room.  We created a room that our son just loves, and because of so many DIY projects, we saved boatloads of cash!

Annie: the powder room because it’s pretty much done! Except that I want to change the light fixture…and I’ll probably want to paint it again after that…ahh the life of a DIYer!

What are your favorite organizing tools/cleaning products?

Annie: Mrs. Meyer lemon cleaner, my hairdryer/flat iron/curling iron holder, and my scarf organizer.

Beth: I love using clear storage jars for organizing. I like the “Flash” cleaning products you get in the U.K., because they smell so good!  There is also a product called Oven Pride you can use for cleaning your oven. It is completely unnatural and probably a carcinogen….but I’ll tell you what, my oven SPARKLES after I use that stuff.

Erin: Vinegar and baking soda for cleaning (all-natural baby!).  Baskets and caddies for organizing.

What’s your favorite “life hack” tip?

Annie: Using a timer to force myself to do something I don’t like doing, like cleaning or tidying up paperwork. Does that qualify as a life hack??

Erin:  Using baking soda to cure the sting and severity of sunburns.  I discovered this one earlier this summer (via Pinterest), and it works like a charm!  I had been out in the sun way more than I should have been one day, and could see my skin getting really pink within a few hours.  I mixed the baking soda with water to make a paste, and dabbed it all over my shoulder, arms, and back for about 10 minutes.  I hopped in the shower to rinse it off, and the next morning, my skin wasn’t pink anymore and I had zero pain!  I didn’t even peel!  I know, I still have damage to my skin—but it was nice to not have that burning reminder the next day.

Beth: Don’t iron…….ever.

Thanks so much for sharing, ladies!! (And thanks for the shout-outs, too!) If you want to read more about them, you can see their profiles on my About page, and make sure you visit their blogs to see more of their creative projects! Erin is at Managing the Manor, Annie is at Annie Hearts, and Beth is at Incomplete Guide to Living.