Headband Storage

First off, thank you guys SO MUCH for all your sweet comments, prayers, and crossed fingers for Matt and I’s big news Friday and tomorrow.  Friday’s match took off lots of the anxiety, and now I’m just battling excitement to find out where we are going to be next year.  Eeek!  This might be the first week ever where I’m actually looking forward to Monday morning!

Even with the good news though, this weekend was pretty exhausting for me.  Full day at work on Friday, out late Friday celebrating the big match, and an all day work training on Saturday.  Boo for working Saturdays (especially after being out late the night before.  Big boo on that one.)  So today was spent in a coma-like state, which meant not getting out of my bed or my robe until sometime in the early afternoon.  (Ok, I lie, I actually did get out of bed a few times for important things like coffee, the TV remote, and Captain Crunch, but other than that, I remained lounging my bed.)  Oh how I love lazy days!

I did manage to muster up enough productivity to do a mini-0rganization project.  Now, before you read any further, I must share a disclaimer.  This blog is not about how to lead an organized life.  It is not about how to simplify or how to turn your home into a lovely little gem.  I am certainly not the poster child for organization, and there are several other blogs out there who have that department covered (and beautifully I might add.)  But if you are a fashion loving girl who is tight on money, space, and organizational skills, read on.  Because this, my friends and blog readers, is for you.

Most of you know this about me, but I love headbands.  And by love, I mean LOVE headbands.  Seriously, I have a bazillion, wear them at least two or three times a week, and am constantly searching for new ones to add to my collection.  (I blogged about my relationship with headbands in my first month of blogging.  See that post here.)  Since that post, however, my love has turned into a bit of an obsession and my collection has gotten too big for my once simple white basket storage system.  Last week, I realized I had to do something when I opened my bathroom cabinet and found this…

Yikes.  Can you say embarrassing?  (Please understand the trust and comfort I have with you readers to reveal this dirty little secret.)  I realized a needed to inject a little order into this chaos, and I started to think about a simple organization idea for these my beloved headbands.  I’m sure The Container Store sells fancy headband holders, but let’s get real, I don’t have $30 to spend on a headband holder.  But then…I remembered my mom’s take on headband storage from when I was a little girl.  I went to a private school for part of elementary school and since we all wore the same plaid jumpers, headbands were a must to add some flair to our lives.  To keep my headband collection neat and organized my mom used an inexpensive and easy to find item.  So easy to find many of you probably have it in your pantry now…

Yep, I’m talking about a good, old fashioned, Quaker Oats container.  If you’re doubting, have faith, stay with me, I promise, I’m going somewhere with this.  So I took out all my headbands from the mess that was my bathroom cabinet and sorted through them, getting rid of a few that I didn’t wear anymore, and then layered them closely, almost one on top of the other.  The end result?

TOTAL HEADBAND ORGANIZATIONAL BLISS.  In under five minutes and five dollars!  You can’t beat that.  Now, I’m sure there are some crafters out there who would take this project to the next level by covering the oatmeal canisters with pretty fabric or graphic paper and to you I say “you go girl!”  I myself thought about covering it in black velvet, but I was lazy and wanted five minute gratification, so I skipped that step.  In the end though, you can’t really see the oat resemblance through all the headbands, so I will leave mine uncovered.

So, there you have it.  Easy and budget friendly headband storage for the busy, non crafty, or overworked headband lover.  What do you think?  How you do you store your headbands?  If you decide to try this project, let me know how it turns out.  I’d love to see how a Quaker Oats canister changes your fashion habits ;)

And ps: I was left with a TON of oatmeal after this project, so I searched and found some yummy oatmeal recipes to help deplete my oatmeal stash.  I’ll share those later this week for anyone who decides to take on this little mini project.  To keep you intrigued, I’ll tell you it involves chocolate, peanut butter, butter, and of course, oatmeal.  Mmm mmm…

Happy for Headbands

The weather here has been horrible lately.  Rainy, humid, pouring, storming, or foggy.  Not so awesome for a girl with naturally curly hair who spends an hour every day tugging it straight.  So rather than straighten my hair on these rainy, humid, disgusting days, I concede and just wear it up.  The problem is that after three days in a row wearing it up, I feel like a sloppy slacker.  (I'm not saying that people who wear their hair up three days in a row are not sloppy slackers, I'm just saying that when I do it, I feel lazy and gross.)  So what's a naturally curly haired yet Chi devoted girl supposed to do?  Turn to headbands! 

I've had a pretty extensive headband collection since college.  Even though I never liked the way headbands looked on me, I kept buying them, hoping they would look as cute on me as they did on my friends and sorority sisters.  No luck.  My collection continued to grow, and I continued to lust after looking good in headbands.  But recently, with the sickly weather, I have given headbands another shot, in an attempt to spice up my ponytails, low buns, and chignons.  To my surprise, they work for me!  I've been sticking to thinner headbands (a centimeter or two at most) with pretty baubles, bows, and bling.  They are the perfect addition to make my yucky, rainy day hair much much cuter.  So bring it on bad weather, I'm prepared!