It’s the Little Things

 I'm linking this up with Amanda's Decorating Dilemmas Party.  Now, I don't want anyone to think that I'm handing out solutions and not asking for help with any dilemmas because I have no dilemmas!  Far from it!  My dilemmas are so great that I wouldn't know where to start asking for help!

When we toured the builder’s model of our house, I knew that it was full of upgrades that we would not get, like hardwood floors, stainless appliances, fancy lighting packages, and so on.

However, there were some things that turned out to be upgrades that never would have occurred to me, and were therefore a surprise when we discovered the lack of it in our house.

This bathtub, for instance.  This is a photo of the main hall bath in the model home, with what appears to be a pretty standard fiberglass tub.



This, however, is what we ended up with in our bathroom.  It was already installed when we saw it, and even if it had not been, we did not have extra money to throw at any more changes.  (They did clean it out before we moved in.)



You know those corners that most bathtubs have, including the model tub?  The ones where you set the shampoo and stuff?  This tub has none.  The closest thing to it is the ledge the bottle is sitting on, but they were just not wide enough and the bottles fell off if you even looked at them funny.



I tried the thing that hangs over the shower head, but it’s too high for my kids to reach.  So the bottles ended up on the outside ledge of the tub, behind the shower curtain, inconvenient and messy (think water dripping out of the shower onto the floor).
 
Suction cup things wouldn’t work because a) they never really work anyway, and b) the tub and surround are textured, so there would be no suction.  I couldn’t even use one of these tension poles, because, oh yes, there are no corners for the bottom of the pole to rest on!



It drove me crazy!!  Like I said, it’s the little things.


On a recent trip to Walmart I discovered this caddy , for about $8, no suction or tension required.  Yay!



However, it still ended up being behind the shower curtain, so not ideal.



A brainstorm sent me down to the basement workbench for these cable ties.  They come in different sizes and colors and we use them all the time for all kinds of things.



This time, I used them to fasten the bath caddy to the grab bar inside the tub.  All my problems solved!  Again, little things.



So this was a really long whiny post just to introduce you to cable ties.  Because my point isn’t really so much about my bathtub woes as it is about these handy little strips of plastic.  You seriously need to get some.  They are cheap (I’ve even seen them in fashion colors at Dollar Tree), have endless uses, and are virtually indestructible until you take a pair of scissors to them.

I have used them to hang garland on the mantel and Fourth of July bunting on the front porch rail.  To hang a wreath.  To wrap up and corral electrical cord out of sight.  To loop up a chandelier chain to position the chandy higher.  To fasten a basket to the front of a little girl’s bike.  Even to repair a shoe buckle!
This is one little thing that you should keep on hand.  You’ll thank me later!