Here they are: the six products I couldn’t stop using, couldn’t stop loving all throughout the month of May.

1. White Chalk Pen Wet Wipe Marker

Me and chalk, and thus chalk and my clients, have been having a real moment this past month. It’s because chalk labels are so damn charming is what!

I long ago came to the conclusion that school chalk, though, is not the Live Simply labeling-appropriate option. I can’t get on board with all that illegibility and dust, nor can I happily subject my clients to it. These chalk markers, however, are the Live Simplyest. They have a nice, fine tip, they’re blessedly opaque, and yet they still erase ever so obediently. I’ve been incorporating them into all the client projects lately, and all those clients now own this exact marker. (Other versions that I’ve tried are not up to snuff.)

2. Chalkboard Hanging Sign Tags 

(similar here: Sur La Table Chalkboard Hang Tags)

Once you, like my clients, are the proud (or: somewhat indifferent initially, but quickly accepting and eventually all, “yeehaw!”) owner of the aforeblogged chalk markers, you’ll need a chalk tag to label.

These particular hang tags might be intended for gifting purposes, but I’ll be if I didn’t finagle them up into the crannies of baskets all over this town (I think I just felt like saying “finagle” because it’s as easy as loop, tie). Let me tell you: they look so cute all standing at attention, bearing their respective titles on a collective group of baskets or bins. Charming. Dee-lightful.

3. Artisan Crunch Cans

These are the handiest. They work as well for storing things like stuffed animals as they do for holding laundry. The fact that they crunch down flat means that they’re ultra lightweight, and, uh, can be compressed when not in use. Especially smaller sizes of the crunch cans are fantastic for transporting. You can load them up with things to take with you out of the house, then crunch them down post-erranding, or, you can keep them in your car flat and then use them for goods obtained while out and about. (They do have more officially designated versions like this grocery tote or the recycle crunches, but really the only difference are the decals.)

4. Antica Farmacista Home Ambiance Diffuser

This is somewhat of a lie in the sense that this has been a favorite of mine since the end of March when, after countless times sniffing up my clients’ versions, I finally decided to treat myself to one. That Lemon, Verbena & Cedar diffuser has been sitting out on my kitchen counter and I kid you not, every time I get a whiff I fall more in love and feel happy. I feel happy when I smell it. That’s the best you can expect from any product in my book.

Antica is a local company, and my clients are always telling me they’re friends with the owners, which means it was nothing short of shameful I waited as long as I did to board their ridiculously great-smelling train. Truly, they make some of the loveliest home fragrance products I’ve ever encountered. If you have the chance to sample any of their line, or if you have a scent you know you love that’s represented in it, please do treat yourself. Lovely, lovely.

Yes, I am, by the way, aware that this isn’t exactly an organizing product, but it’s certainly a Live Simply one, so there.

5. Hermetic Jars with Chalk Labels

These are my latest favorite kitchen canister (they also happened to have featured in my post earlier in the month on kitchen canisters). In fact, they just might top my long-time unrivaled, mentioned-innumerable-times-here-favorite:
the OXO Good Grips Pop Containers.

Here’s why: they’re definitely air tight. They’re compact, but hold a lot. And! They’re the first and only great quality glass jars I’ve seen that come with chalk labels already on them. (It’s possible to add chalk sticker labels to any jars, FYI.) Do they work with the fine tip chalk markers above? Do they!

We did a whole dry pantry in these jars, arranged them by staggering height and they looked like just about the most beautiful, accessible food particles ever to grace a pull out shelf.

6. Lacquered boxes

Most children tend to have hoarding tendencies–more on that later. What appears trash, or trash, or pebbles from the park are to them the stuff of magic. Left to their own devices, most children might fill entire rooms full of gum wrappers and dentist prizes.

These lacquered boxes are a super stylish way to say, “Here’s a special spot for your weird and mysterious treasures, but they have to fit within this one box, and the box has a lid, so I don’t have to really look at what’s inside. Also I love you dearly.”

We gave my client’s daughter 2, in fact: one large box for special notes, cards and pictures, and one smaller box for the bead/pebble/plastic bracelet game. They look crazy sleek and stylish on the outside, regardless of how much crazy is happening inside.

Also, they’re apparently meant to be non-traditional gift boxes or something, or just containers for anything, so like, you could use them for that, too.

What have been your favorites (organizing or not) this past month??