Here is this week’s segment on how to streamline your morning routine with your children.
Sound Off: What are your tips for creating a smooth morning with your kids?
Archive for the ‘Organizing’ Category
WSBT-TV: Streamlining Your Mornings
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007Product Review: Family Life Organizer & Planner
Monday, August 13th, 2007
I have a lot of scraps of paper laying around our house with things that I really need to remember, but I rarely can find them. Our fridge is overflowing with appointment cards and important phone numbers, but sometimes those can get misplaced. Luckily, Pam Socolow, an organizer on HGTV’s “Mission: Organization” came up with a family organizer that can contain all my messy piles and transform them into a very organized format. She offers a Family Life Organizer & Planner that can contain even my giant messes.
Honestly, I was surprised at the quality of it and the thoughtfulness that went into this product. There is a section for everything from health care to carpool schedules. It contains a three year calendar with large boxes that offer ample room for writing down everything you need to accomplish for the day. There are over one hundred sheets that you can fill in with information like the house and car details, kids’ information, household repairs, and insurance information. There are also fun sections where you can write down books you would like to read or wines you want to try. It also contains a pocket folder for each general section and pouches for tucking receipt. In the back is a business card organizer to store all of those important cards that seem to get lost in the shuffle.
I got this calendar a couple of weeks ago and since we had so many car troubles these past few weeks, I was so proud to be able to whip out the receipts and information that we would need at a moments notice. The pockets have also been great storage for keeping track of my rebate receipts and checkbook.
This Life book is huge so it is not intended for you to carry it around, but just something that you can keep in your house to contain the mess and track the activities going in your house. It would be a great addition to the kitchen and a useful resource for babysitters
The only thing that is missing from the Life organizer is a menu planner, but I noticed on their website that you can purchase additional sections for an additional cost.
You can also print out your own free binder through Organized Home, which is something that I have done in the past. In fact, I might print out some of those printables to add to this
This book is available through Barnes and Noble or through Pam Socolow’s website for $19.95. We thank Pam for sharing her organizer with us and giving us the opportunity to share it with our readers!
Ask Frugal Momma: How Do You Organize Your Pantry & Cupboards?
Wednesday, July 25th, 2007I know you guys were most impressed with the way we organized our closet, but what you *REALLY* wanted to know is how do we organize our pantry.
Remember when I revamped my laundry system and my yard sale system? That day I hit up the same college student for a great bookcase that she was getting rid of for only $20! I knew right away what I wanted to do with it and couldn’t wait to bring it home and put it in our basement.
First, let me give you some background information on our house and previous storage solutions. My kitchen does not have very many cupboards or pantry space so I have had to be more creative with my storage. Our big dream is to expand my tiny utility closet into a walk-in pantry, but until that happens I have been storing the majority of my pantry items in our basement.
Previously, we had a dark wood bookcase that was extremely deep that we were using to store the pantry items. We had ripped this “bookcase” out of our closet that we had turned into an entertainment unit. Yes, you could say that we are pretty creative with our smaller home. We have tried to maximize the space in places that were not being used properly instead of moving into a bigger home.
Due to the depth and darkness of the unit, what had ended up happening was that I found myself doing the repeat-buying. I would look in the unit and say to myself, “No tomato paste?” And then I would rush to the store and buy tomato paste. When I would pull items out though, I would see twenty cans of tomato paste that I had already bought. This was not frugal and the bookcase was working against me.
The location of the unit was also not the smartest place for me. With a quad level home, I was already making the trek down all of our stairs to retrieve items and then walking into the farthest corner of the basement to get what we needed. It was inconvenient and not a functional storage solution.
Welcome to the new home for my canned goods! This bookcase rests just at the bottom of the stairs in a we
ll-lit area of our basement. The light wood color makes it easier to see what is in my pantry and the labels (created with my label maker) make it easy for even my husband to find what we need out of the pantry.
Our upstairs cupboards needed revamping as well. We have the same problem with our cupboards as we did with our former basement storage solution. One cupboard was extremely deep and items would get shoved back there until we said, “Hmmm… do you think that this is still good if it expired in 2003?” Obviously, we were wasting food and valuable cupboard space.
Repeat the same scenario above with the Lazy Susan unit that we had, but just make the items revolve in mass chaos. Clearly, we had a serious problem!
I got these handy storage baskets for less than two dollars each and divided our pantry items into categories. The storage baskets made it much easier for me to pull down exactly what I needed, rather than climbing up on a chair to try and dig through the back of the pantry. It also makes throwing items out quicker, when I need to clean out the pantry, and makes tasks easier bec
ause I had grouped like items (or cooking projects) together.
Here is how I grouped the items:
Spices- All of the spice containers were gathered together and imagine my surprise that we had plenty of repeat performers in this category. I wiped down the spices and consolidated them into one container. The spice container is residing in the cupboard closest to the stove. I can pull the small basket down and take out whatever we need and slip it back into the cupboard when I am done cooking. This is much easier than rifling through fifty teeny bottles and makes shopping day easier too!
Cake/Cookie Decorating Supplies- These are items that are used less frequently, but still needed a home. I put these higher up in a basket with handles. Piping bags, piping tips, cookie cutters, food coloring, sprinkles and the birthday candles (that no one could ever find) all went into this container.
Baking Supplies: This is a pretty general category, but it was all of the items that I needed, but could never find. In this larger basket went our baking powder, baking soda, confectioners sugar, shortening, and cocoa powder.
Rice/Pasta: These ingredients went into a larger basket and all of the boxes were consolidated and smaller pastas and the rice were placed into clear Mason jars. The mason jars were labeled and have the cooking instructions labeled on them (unless I knew the directions by heart). In the Mason jars were white rice, brown rice, jasmine rice, orzo pasta, macaroni, and couscous. Larger pasta included linguine, angel hair, and thin spaghetti. Everything fit more neatly and anything extra went into the downstairs bookcase unit.
Flour/Sugar: This organizing unit went into our Lazy Susan. This included wheat flour, white flour, self-rising flour, cake flour, brown sugar, and white sugar.
Syrups/Oi
ls/Vinegars: This organizing unit also went into our Lazy Susan and included corn oil, vegetable oil, canola oil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, molasses, honey, and maple syrup. Using this unit eliminated the “sticky” factor, which usually occurred, making a huge mess in the bottom of our pantry. Any extra condiments also get put in there, as they are often used in recipes.
Finally, the items that I like to keep on hand upstairs all go into our pantry door. We bought one of these wire units that mounts on the door and keep items that I might need on hand. A smaller unit, that clips onto the larger unit, houses all of those little packets that we might need to assemble a meal. I try to keep what we need for the week in the upstairs pantry door and then the excess (or whatever doesn’t fit) ends up going downstairs.
If you want, I am happy to share where we keep appliances and stuff like that, just leave me a comment!
I hope that this will help give you s
ome creative storage solutions for your pantry!
Note: You can click on the pictures to expand the size.
Related Readings:
Free Up Pantry Space & Make a Snack
Making Your Spice Rack Usable
Getting the Car Organized
Gettin’ Quick in the Kitchen
Living Out of Your Pantry
Sound Off: What storage solutions have you found work in your pantry?
How I Finally Cleaned Out My Closet
Monday, July 23rd, 2007
I got the opportunity to check out, “It’s All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff” by Peter Walsh. I was excited to read this book because I love to read up on organizing the items in my home. Unfortunately, the book focused more on the psychological aspect of people who cannot part with their clutter, rather than a book that is geared towards an enthusiastic clutter-buster.
I would highly recommend this book to someone though who is not living a life that they desire and feel consumed with the clutter in their home. He shares a lot on achieving the life that you have always wanted by taking action and parting with the “stuff” in your life that isn’t benefiting you, but is hindering you from enjoying your home and your life.
The fact is, I am the type of person that feels attached to very little in my home. It isn’t that I don’t appreciate what I have, but the desire to keep items for sentimental reasons has never been big on my priority list. I have memories of good times…not items that represent those good times.
I don’t like to collect items because I don’t like to maintain and dust collections of things. I don’t like to hang on to things that I think I might need in the future because I would rather free up the space in our home.
Don’t get me wrong, my house has true areas of chaos. Our garage is a disaster and our basement is in disarray. These are projects that I need to devote some time and thought to and seem to be the dumping stations when clutter starts to consume our house. We have definite areas that we need to work on in order to make our home more spacious and to create more organization in my life.
The one area that I have always really struggled with is my closet and the clothing in it. I hate to turn away clothing when friends and family give me things (even if I don’t look good in them) and I have hung onto my work wardrobe for no other reason than the fact that I spent a mint on it and thought I could use it when I returned to work.
The simple fact is that I have no idea when I will be returning to work and the pieces in my wardrobe are already beginning to look dated. By the time I return to work, I will still need to invest in a new wardrobe, and I will also need to get rid of the items that are taking up closet space. Why should I wait until then and just free it up now?
Since our closets are small, and the space there is so premium, I decided to use one of the tips that Peter Walsh had recommended when promoting his book on Oprah. He suggested hanging your hangers the opposite way and flipping them when you wore (not just trying on) an item. Whatever hanger did not get flipped at the end of the specified time, got the boot.
This season I was able to get rid of thirty items in my closet. I loaded them up in bags and took the stuff over to our local thrift store. Not surprisingly, this was very freeing for me and I felt really good about the small accomplishment I made.
My clothes are now sighing with relief because they can breathe a bit. Now that I have room to move my hangers and see my wardrobe, I am able to enjoy the items I have and am noticing all of the the potential outfits in my closet that I had never seen before.
Sound Off: Do you get emotionally attached to your belongings? What is your problem area in your home?
Frugal Storage Solutions
Sunday, February 18th, 2007The time for cleaning and organizing is upon us as we approach that lovely time of renewal in our homes. You will notice that the stores recognize this season too, as the time for sales on expensive organizers occurs. They know that naturally as consumers, we realize that this is the season and we will run out and buy tons of storage containers, which will later gather dust in our basement and our garages. There is a cheaper alternative to organizing than just buying new items. Challenge your creativity and realize that you can organize your home in a frugal way, rather than emptying your wallet. Here are a few inexpensive alternatives:
- Look at the items that are already being stored. Open the containers and rediscover what you have been storing. Is there a need to store it anymore? Will you actually use the items in the containers? If you won’t, donate the items to charity and free up some space in the organizers you already have. Condensing items into containers and donating the items that you no longer need will give you new room to use for storage.
- Do you have photo boxes gathering dust in your home? Weed through the duplicates and unload the photos that will never make it into photo albums. Share photos with friends and relatives and repurpose these boxes. Photo storage containers are one of my favorite storage items because they are inexpensive (at craft store sales they can run as little as $1.50 each) and they disguise the mess in your home. These containers make the perfect storage for spices in your kitchen, a great location for storing your medicine, a place to house your DVD or CD collections, and are a great way to store sewing kits or craft supplies.
- Mason jars are an inexpensive way to organize many things in your home and you may already have some of these lying around in your house. They are a great way to store items that are gathering dust in your pantry. I love to use these for pastas, rice, cornmeal, and baking soda. If you make your own mixes (pancake mix, biscuit mix, bread machine mixes, or pizza mixes) these can be a great place to store these mixes and make them accessible to you when the dinner hour rolls around and you have nothing ready to go. Something about those clear jars stirs your memory quicker than items thrown to the back of the pantry in boxes. They can be found for mere quarters at the thrift store and lids are can be picked up at your local discount store.
- Think outside the box. When you run out of an item in your fridge, throw your empty containers into the dishwasher to be used for storing children’s items. I love the plastic coffee canisters, butter containers, and yogurt containers for storage. They can be a great way to store puzzle pieces, Matchbox cars, and tiny Barbie accessories. I also love to give these containers to our kids for pretend play. The grocery food sets in stores are often not durable. I instead save these items for our children to use to do their “grocery shopping”. Boxes from food items and butter tubs are great items for them to play with. There is no crying if the box gets smashed because I can always come up with another one.
- If you have a growing collection of baskets, find a new use for them. They can be used for storing all sorts of clutter lying around your house in an attractive way. I use baskets for storing out of season items and small items that can get lost in the day-to-day shuffle in our basement.
- Shoe boxes are great for storing items and can be creatively disguised using wallpaper remnants, gift wrap, or scrap fabric. Use these to store belts, panty hose, ties, or other small items that can be easily lost in your closet. Decorating these boxes can be a great craft project to do with your children and your children can also use these to store items that are lurking in their closets or toy bins.
- Dishwashing tubs are my favorite storage solution because they can be purchased for a dollar at any store and the possibilities are endless. While not as attractive as other storage containers, they are extremely functional and can be used for so many different things. We use dishwashing tubs for organizing items in our bathroom closet. Labels are made for the front and make instant organization for health & beauty items. We also use these for first aid kits, organizing underneath sinks, library books, or school books- the possibilities are endless! If you discover you no longer need one of these containers, they make wonderful gifts for a high school graduate. Fill these up with plastic cutlery, plastic plates, plastic cups, a sponge, and dishwashing soap and stick a bow on the front. This makes a functional and fun gift for the soon-to-be college student.
- Thrift stores are a goldmine for storage containers. They always have lots of baskets that have been donated and they can also house creative items that you would not think of for storage. Try to go in open-minded and you will find a world of ideas.
- If all else fails and you have to run out to get containers, don’t overlook your local dollar store. You’ll love finding cute storage solutions for much less than in other stores. Always visit the dollar store first before any other because you will be surprised to find how many items you can get there without spending the big bucks.
Spring Cleaning Tips
Sunday, February 27th, 2005With spring comes all of the beauty of the changing season. We finally began to see our grass; we enjoy seeing the new buds on our trees, and the sweet smell of a good April shower. What also comes along is the dreaded ritual of spring cleaning. Maybe you went through this awful experience as a child. Your mother would be pulling all the linens, washing the drapes, deep cleaning every nook and cranny of your home and then collapse after a full day of cleaning. I don’t remember this as being a fun ritual for our family and have decided to try a different method of cleaning in our own home.
Spring cleaning ironically is not as necessary as it once was. Back in the olden days, spring cleaning was a much different concept then it is today. This cleaning was a necessary routine because of how they had to heat their homes and keep them lit. Using kerosene, wood, gas, oil, and candles caused the house to develop dark sooty grime around it. This grime created the need for a deep cleaning of the home. Their deep cleaning restored the beauty of the home and also gave them the opportunity to get out the lighter linens, rugs, and furniture that they used during the warmer seasons. Not only did they divulge in spring cleaning, they also did fall cleaning as well to prepare them for the cold season of winter.
Today we do not have the need to do spring cleaning although in many families it is a ritual that brings about peace and renewal in our homes after an entire day or week of intense cleaning. In this day and age, however, it is hard to be able to set aside that much time to get all of these tasks done. Our schedules and days are so full that it hard to devote more than the few hours necessary just to keep our home running smoothly.
Instead of doing one deep cleaning I have vowed to “spring clean” all year long rather than trying to set aside a specific time to do this. With a very busy toddler and just the daily maintenance of my home, there are days when I feel really proud of myself if I can get out of my pajamas. If you are anything like me, try and incorporate these tips into your daily routine so that you can relax while everyone else is tired and haggard from their day of spring cleaning. Here are a few ideas for getting these tasks done:
- Begin by making a checklist of everything that you would normally do during your spring cleaning. Things like washing all the linens and drapes, wiping down baseboards, washing windows inside and out, cleaning out your pantry, washing your shower curtains, organizing your linen cabinets, wiping down walls, and cleaning doorknobs and light fixtures.
- Take inventory of your cleaners and the tools that you will need in order to accomplish all of the necessary cleaning. Nothing is worse then getting ready to do your task and then finding out that you are missing that one component needed to complete your task. Put the items that you will need on your shopping list and get these items on the day that you perform all of your errands.
- Continue doing your normal daily routine, but add an extra hour each week towards accomplishing just one of these tasks on your list. Check off the items that you accomplish and press on to the next one. By just devoting one hour a week towards your spring cleaning goals you will have a more manageable deep cleaning routine.
- Clear out as much clutter as you can. Make a box for trash and a box for charitable donations and fill these with all of the unnecessary clutter in your home. By donating these items to those less fortunate you will gain so much. Not only will someone who needs these items more benefit from your donation, but you can receive a tax break and reclaim space in your own home. I have decided to look at every item in my home in a new light. There was a time when I used to want to fill my home with loads of stuff. Now I look at everything as one more thing to dust and care for. If you don’t like to dust it, don’t love the item, and want an organized home- donate it!!
- Keep a caddy of cleaning supplies on each floor. I find it much easier to clean my house when I know that the tools that I need to accomplish my task are just a few steps away. Keep your checklist either in one of your caddies or somewhere that is accessible so that you can always stay on track with your deep cleaning.
- Do your cleaning when it is convenient for you. Some people work better during morning hours while others of us would rather be snoozing and do better in the evening. Take advantage of the times that you work best. If you would rather break the hour into smaller increments that is totally up to you. The idea behind all of this is to make it as easy as possible so fit it in wherever and whenever you can.
- Put your spring cleaning task on your calendar each week. It sounds silly, but don’t you remember your appointments and engagements better when it is written on your calendar? It is hard to ignore scheduled tasks in glaring print. Write your tasks in red, capitalized, or exclamation points- anything you can to draw your eye to the one task for the week.
- Enlist your helpers to help you on these tasks. Your children and your husband can be active participants in getting your home organized just like they help to contribute to the clutter. Schedule dad for clearing out the garage, taking inventory of the tools you will need to do your gardening, cleaning out the basement, or other tasks inside and outside of the home. Children can aid in cleaning their own rooms by helping to remove some of the clutter in the house. Involving your family can be beneficial in showing them all that you do to keep your house running smoothly.
It is hard to accomplish tasks around the house if you have a poor attitude about what you are doing. Unfortunately, every house requires a little maintenance and your attitude towards your work can be the difference in your spring cleaning being bearable or just plain awful. I certainly don’t jump up and down when I clean and it isn’t my favorite thing to do, but I take great pride in keeping my household running smoothly. Turn on some fun music, watch television while polishing tables, do whatever you can to make getting your home clean easier and fun.
Organizing the Nursery
Thursday, August 26th, 2004With the arrival of your new baby, the nursery quickly becomes the most important room in the house. You will want to make sure that the nursery is organized and fully functional, helping to make the transition of a new little one in your home as easy as possible.
The planning and preparations for a new baby offers no better “dreamlike” time to showcase your creativity, let your imagination run wild and create the perfect space for your new baby, after all the nursery will be her first dwellings! Make it a special and functional room, one that will always be cherished.
Begin with a theme and allow a few months for ample planning, shopping and decorating. Choosing a character or just picking a color is a great place to start! Make sure you have the essentials (whether borrowed or purchased new), if borrowing; remember to make sure all safety standards are met. The necessities are a crib, changing table and/or dresser, rocker/glider with or without ottoman and quality lighting. When purchasing your crib sheets it is a good idea to have one or two extra sets to use when laundering the other or when baby spits-up! A “Sheet Saver” is clever quilted terrycloth “mat” that lies across and on top of your sheet under baby to catch spit-ups and drool so that you only have to wash the “Sheet Saver” and not the actual sheet. These can be purchased at major baby stores nationwide.
A good way to save some money is to convert your baby’s dresser top into a changing table by adding a changing table pad on top. The drawers of the dresser can house your diaper change necessities as well as clothing. Whether placing these items in the drawers or using baskets on a changing table you should include: diapers, wipes, diaper rash ointment, Vaseline, cotton balls, burp clothes and baby lotion or powder. A small toy helps to entertain baby while being changed!
Investing in a quality glider or rocking chair helps to ensure comfort and ample opportunities for snuggling in the wee hours of the night. If nursing, an ottoman offers a place to put your feet up and get comfortable alleviating extra strain on your back.
Extras for the nursery might include a side table, perfect next to the glider for late night-feedings. This can house a clock and lamp and glass of water (if nursing) or bottle and other feeding items. Many parents swear by an armoire which is quite functional and almost always a lovely addition to a nursery. Great for little shoes and clothing and also offers additional storage for toys blankets and books. Shelving helps to display special keepsakes, organizes books and picture frames. A music box, CD or tape player helps to soothe baby to sleep. The newest versions attach right to the side of the crib and are operated by remote control so as to not wake baby.
The single greatest nursery organizer might be the basket! Varying in all shapes, sizes and colors they offer endless storage solutions for books, blankets, toys, stuffed animals, clothing, shoes, etc. In white wicker they look especially sweet in the nursery.
Special touches such as monogrammed linens or wall hangings, murals, sterling silver keepsakes; photos and framed artwork add character and panache to a nursery.
While getting the nursery prepared do not forget to pack the diaper bag…this is a great thing to have ready to take with you to the hospital or prepared for your first trip out with your bundle of joy. Diaper bag essentials are diapers, wipes, a change (or two) of clothes, burp clothes, plastic baggies, snacks and water for you, a pacifier, small toy, cell phone and lip gloss of course! Pack the bag and hang it by the door you come and go from. Other great ways to get “organized” ahead of time is to launder the baby’s clothes, hang them or put them into drawers. Organize the bathroom essentials such as the medicine cabinet and “bath caddy”. Be sure your medicine cabinet includes rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, gas drops, a First Aid Kit, Ipecac Syrup and an infant pain reliever/fever reducer. The bath caddy should include all you need to bring “bath” to baby…baby soap and shampoo, washcloths, a small toy, warm soft towel and baby lotion!
Follow these tips and you will have a beautiful, organized nursery in plenty of time for your baby’s arrival…Wishing you lots of love and joy with your new baby in his or her beautiful new (organized) nursery!
Organizing the Home Office
Thursday, June 24th, 2004This is the hardest place in our house to keep up with because despite the fact that we spend hours and hours in this room, it just never makes the top of the priority list. When our office is in disarray I feel as though my life is in disarray because this is where I do my work.
Now let’s say, for example, that you went to go purchase an insurance policy in an office and you walked into a tornado of paperwork laying all over the floor in piles. Would you want to purchase a policy from this office? My guess would be that you would run out and take your business elsewhere. If you have trouble finding what is underneath all the papers on your desk, it is time to make this a place that you can be proud of and one that (if you had clients) they would want to retain their business with you.
Here are a few facts that you might not be aware of. By seeing these facts, I am sickened by how much of my life has been wasted due to my disinterest in keeping our home office organized.
Facts:
- The average disorganized person has 3,000 documents at home.
- Clutter in the average home creates 40% more housework.
- Americans waste one year of life looking for lost objects.
- It can take from three hours to three days to organize a home office.
When I began researching this topic most of the web sites I looked to all had the same idea which was to file your papers. There are many ways you can go about doing this, but whatever your method, you want to make sure that it is simple to follow and easy to remember. Here are a few ideas for filing those piles of papers on your floor.
Assess the Damage:
Just how big are these piles you are working with? You want to make sure that you have enough space in your filing cabinet to keep all of these papers. Before you think about purchasing this, you need to make a list of the things you will need in order to make your home office a more livable space. A few things that you will want to have on your list would be filing folders, a few boxes for storing things that do not need to be kept in your office, a few expandable files, and a paper shredder for shredding papers that have confidential information on them.
Reading, Trashing, and Organizing:
It is time to whittle through these enormous piles. Bring in your recycle bin and have a box ready to put papers in that need to be shredded. Read all of the papers carefully and make sure that you are not tossing anything that is of importance to you. There is no need to hang onto every single phone bill you have gotten in the past year unless you use these for tax reporting purposes. Once your next statement has arrived from the phone company and you see that they have credited your account you can toss the previous months bill.
One way of tracking your bills is to keep three separate expandable folders. I label these: Receipts, ATM withdrawals/deposits, and Paid Bills. There is no need for me to hang on to these forever, but I do keep them for a year just for my own comfort. I often need to return things and knowing that my receipts are in one particular place makes hunting for these a lot easier for me. Many professional home organizers would say that there is no need for me to hang on to these things, but if it brings me comfort and doesn’t take up too much space, then I think that this is the system that works for me.
If you have receipts that you are hanging onto because there is a warranty on the product or appliance, be sure to attach the receipt to your user manual so that you have both the manual and the receipt together if you ever need to cash in onto the warranty.
Recycle the magazines that you are hanging onto and pull out just the articles that are of importance to you. You can have a separate expandable file for these articles using the alphabetized expandable file. You can use “C” for cooking, “G” for gardening, “B” for baby and so on. By just pulling out the articles of importance you will save a lot of space in your home.
If you keep a stack of take-out menus for places you frequently eat at- designate a place for these. You can attach these with a binder clip in the front of your phone book so that they are easily accessible or if you keep a lot of these you could use a folder to keep all of them in and put them near the phone book. That should eliminate another pile.
For everything else, create folders for each grouping. If you have file folders already in your box/cabinet, take the time to go through these and weed out all of those old papers. There is no need to overload your folders with out of date information so make sure you recycle/shred all of this old information. Here are some folders that we have in our filing cabinet: Bank Statements, Taxes (be sure to put the year on the label), Medical/Dental, Utilities, Pet Information, Furniture Receipts, Appliances, Auto, Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Auto Insurance, Student Loans, Credit Cards, and User Manuals/Guides. By looking through your own piles you will know what folders you personally need to create to organize these into appropriate folders. Make sure that you do NOT have a miscellaneous folder because that is way too broad and is yet another thing you will need to weed through when trying to find a particular document. Anything worth keeping should have a home.
Once you have everything categorized and papers shredded you will be able to see just how many organizers you are going to need. By waiting until the end of your weeding you have a much clearer idea of what you need and end up spending less money. Look for attractive wicker baskets for storing current magazines, a filing cabinet/box for your papers, expandable organizers for your magazine articles/bill folders, and look for shelving to store office supplies. Use your walls to hang more shelving for books- this is wasted space for where things can be organized.
Maintaining:
Once you have everything organized and in its respective home you need to make sure you maintain this by keeping up with the papers instead of allowing them to pile up again. When you get your mail, sort it over a recycle bin and immediately toss out the trash and junk mail so that you don’t end up spending three hours sorting through it later. Then head straight to your filing cabinet and make sure that you file the rest of the items right away. By taking these three minutes a day to do this, you will save yourself a lot of time in the end. Make a promise to yourself that you will keep up with this and reap the rewards for not wasting hours of your day looking for important documents, and then pat yourself on the back for a job well done. Cheers!
More ideas for organizing:
Places to look for kitchen organizers:
www.organizes-it.com
www.kitchensource.com
www.organize-everything.com
Recommended Reading:
Home Comforts : The Art and Science of Keeping House
by Cherly Mendelson, Harry Bates
To me, this truly is the Bible for all the folk’s out there who aspire to be more organized.
Organizing from the Inside Out
by Julie Morgenstern
This woman has been featured on Oprah as a goddess for home organization. Reading her book will help you discover what type of organizer you are and how to tackle your trouble spots. Be amazed at the fantastic advice she offers.
Organizing for Dummies
by Eileen Roth and Elizabeth Miles
The title says it all. It is for those of us who are just starting on the road to organization.
Organizing the Kitchen
Thursday, June 24th, 2004Look around your kitchen and make a list of your top complaints about the room. Is the room too small? Do you not have enough counter space? Do you have trouble finding or getting to the things you need to use when you are cooking? Once you have your list in front of you it is time to begin making your dream for a better kitchen into a reality.
Here are some helpful tips to accomplish your goals:
- Take a look at your counter space. If you see items on it that you do not use often, relocate them to a different area in your kitchen or basement. This will free up some very valuable countertop space.
- When you have removed the items that you do not use frequently, readjust the items that you have into groupings. For example, putting the toaster and coffeemaker next to each other would save you time in the mornings since both appliances that you use are together. You want to look for ways to organize things that will save you time and effort.
- If you have all of your cooking utensils shoved in a drawer, chances are that you have trouble locating them when you are cooking something. Instead either use an old jar, pitcher, or purchase a utensil holder to store them in. Make sure you have the utensils facing the same direction and displayed in a way that they are easily identified. I had too many utensils to put all of them into one holder, so instead I broke them up into two. I put one underneath my sink area with the utensils I used infrequently, and displayed the ones that I used often next to the oven so that I could easily reach them. You may find a better system for yourself, or if you have some that you never use, consider giving them away to someone who could use them, put them in a box for a future garage sale, or store them in the basement if you feel there may be a time that you will use them.
- If you have a spice rack, alphabetize your rack so that you can find your spices quickly. Another way to organize these would be to group them into groupings that are used frequently together. For example, I always use rosemary and thyme together so I could have them next to each other. If your spice rack is taking up too much space on your counter, here are a couple of alternatives to free up your counters:
Find a shelf that you can install somewhere near your oven or where you prepare you food so that you can find your spices quickly. If you install the spices higher then eye-level, label the spices on the front instead of the tops so that you can easily find them.
Another alternative is to purchase a container to store all of your spices in if you do not use them frequently. Place labels on the tops of the spices, alphabetize them, and store them in an easily accessible place. This will free up your counters and they will be quick to get to when you are cooking.
- You know that junk drawer you have that you insist on keeping everything that doesn’t have a home in it? Well it is time to clean it out. Designate homes for these belongings and if by chance they are things you don’t use (this is a junk drawer, right?) then it is time to throw the stuff away. With this drawer freed up you can now put your dishtowels in there or your phone books or anything else that might be of use. Do not make it back into a drawer of junk though.
- Some of the best and cheapest organizers in the world are dishpan tubs. Purchase a couple of these to help keep underneath your sink storage more organized. Group all of your cleaners together in one of these and use another one to keep all of your kitchen linens in. You can also keep your cleaners in a handled basket that you can grab to cart them around the house when doing your cleaning. Sometimes when things are more accessible, you will find yourself using them more often. This might be a great source of encouragement for accomplishing the cleaning you have been meaning to do.
- Make sure that you have a message center somewhere in your kitchen. If you need ideas for how to put your message center together look on FlyLady for some great ideas on message centers, organizing, and cleaning your home. Make sure that you have this on or around your phone. It is a great way to keep track all of keys, bills, messages to your spouse, and to keep track of all of those mounting activities on your calendar. I don’t know what I would do without mine.
- One of my least favorite chores in the kitchen is cleaning and organizing the refrigerator. I would rather go to the dentist then deal with this household chore, but unfortunately it is one of those things that need to be kept up with, otherwise, you could end up growing some really disgusting science experiments. Here are a few pointers on this nasty chore:
Designate certain shelves in your refrigerator to operate as shelves for specific items. For example, use your bottom shelf for leftovers, top shelf for beverages, put produce in its drawer, meat in its respective drawer, and door of fridge for condiments. This will make it easier when you are cooking, but it is also a great way to keep track of those leftovers. No one wants to find a forgotten leftover that has been sitting in the fridge for a month. Designate one day of the week to clean out that shelf and make sure that you rotate the leftovers with the oldest in the front and the newest in the back. Take masking tape and write the date on the top so you know when these should be tossed. It will make tracking them much easier.
Make sure that you clean the fridge periodically and I don’t mean cleaning around stuff. With either a water/vinegar solution (see my homemade cleaners section for more details) or any other all purpose cleaner really scrub the refrigerator down.
Make sure you have an opened box of baking soda in the fridge to absorb all those nasty smells that have a tendency of popping up in this appliance.
- Now take a look at your freezer. Make sure that you have items that you have packaged yourself clearly dated. Sort the meat by date so that you use the oldest the first. If you can fit in the freezer some plastic organizers, put these in here and separate the like items together. This will help make grabbing things out of here a lot easier when you are preparing dinner.
- Nothing says an organized home like an organized pantry. If you do not currently have a pantry try to see if you can make somewhere in your home into a pantry. People with small apartments can purchase a utility cart and sort their canned good on there in their kitchen. If you have a closet that is just empty, take advantage of that and hang an organizer on the back of the door for cans and install shelving for your bake ware that you use frequently, but is currently taking up space in your cabinets. For those of you who are a novice to the stocking of a pantry here is a quick list of items that every good cook has on hand for meals:
Baking Ingredients:
baking soda, baking powder, brown sugar, white sugar, flour, powdered sugar, salt, quick cooking oats, cornmeal, cooking oil (olive, canola, and vegetable), vanilla extract, spices, chocolate (semisweet chips, unsweetened and semisweet baking chocolate, cocoa powder), cream of tartar, and cooking sprayCanned Goods & Condiments:
diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, pasta sauce, whole peeled tomates, mustard, ketchup, Worchestire sauce, soy sauce, pickles, relish, and mayonnaise.Freezer Goods:
ground beef, chicken. vegetables, noodles, bread and hamburger/hotdog buns, cheese (which can be frozen for future use), and extra flour (which can be used later as well).
For further tips on organizing your kitchen please click on the links below for more creative ideas on making your kitchen your favorite room.
More ideas for organizing:
Places to look for kitchen organizers:
www.organizes-it.com
www.kitchensource.com
www.organize-everything.com
Recommended Reading:
Home Comforts : The Art and Science of Keeping House
by Cherly Mendelson, Harry Bates
To me, this truly is the Bible for all the folk’s out there who aspire to be more organized.
Organizing from the Inside Out
by Julie Morgenstern
This woman has been featured on Oprah as a goddess for home organization. Reading her book will help you discover what type of organizer you are and how to tackle your trouble spots. Be amazed at the fantastic advice she offers.
Organizing for Dummies
by Eileen Roth and Elizabeth Miles
The title says it all. It is for those of us who are just starting on the road to organization.
Organizing the Living Room
Thursday, June 24th, 2004The living room is probably one of the places that you spend the most amount of your time. Our living room is a place for us to watch television, a place that we eat on occasion, and a playroom. I am sure that many of you make this room into a multifunctional one. With all of these uses for the room you will find how easy it is to accumulate clutter. I hope that this section will help to minimize this.
If you are in a pinch though with company on the way, have a laundry basket handy. Take all of the clutter and drop it in there, hiding this discreetly, until the guest’s leave. Don’t let this sit in a closet too long though. Once your guest’s have gone make sure that you put the belongings where they need to go. Hopefully, after reading this section, you will have nothing to even put in that laundry basket. Of course, that is wishful thinking, right?
- Sort through all of your magazines, books, and newspapers that you have lying around in this room. Make sure that you dispose of the newspapers that aren’t current and if you have read the magazines, recycle those as well. One great place to take them is to the library or trade them with a friend who has a different subscription.
If there are particular articles in them that you want to keep then tear them out. Take all of these articles and put them in an alphabetized expandable file. You can use “G” for gardening, “C” for cooking, and “B” for baby and so on. This will help reduce a lot of the clutter in your room. It will also make finding those special articles easier because you will know right where to look.
If you have books that you no longer read you can also trade these with a friend, put them in a box marked “garage sale”, or ask your library if they have any programs where you can donate them for the organization. If all else fails, you can always take them to a Goodwill or Salvation Army. The idea is to rid yourself of clutter, not to accumulate more, so make sure you don’t stop and look while you are dropping them off.Take a look at your counter space. If you see items on it that you do not use often, relocate them to a different area in your kitchen or basement. This will free up some very valuable countertop space.
- Buy baskets to sit underneath taller tables that you can put the magazines you do keep in them. This way they look a lot nicer then cluttering your coffee table with them and they are still easily accessible.
- Take a look at your coffee table. Has this become the catch-all for all of your bills and papers? It is time to clear this table off so it can be used for what it is purposed. Make sure that you put all your bills into a basket designated for bills. Organize these by the ones that need to be paid the soonest on top and work your way back through the pile. Now take these upstairs and pay them- even if the due date is a long way off. In the corner where the stamp would be located, write the date for when the bill needs to be sent off and then set them all in your calendar station where you should have a slot for your bills to go. That takes care of a task that is completely unrelated to your living room, but might save you a bundle in late fees. Get rid of old advertisements and papers that are unnecessary clutter. If there are papers that you do need to save make sure you file them in your filing box/cabinet in the appropriate folder. Now that this table is clear, dust it off and make sure it stays clear.
- Organize your movies and music. If you have a large music or movie collection this can be a little tedious. I have an enormous music collection and I kept them in compact disc organizers and got rid of the jewel cases for these discs. This eliminated a lot of clutter for us because the case is really what takes up the most space. If you have the time and patience you can alphabetize them and if you don’t simply group your music or movies into different genres. For movies, for example, you could have drama, horror, comedy, western, or children’s. With music you could have rock/alternative, classical, rap/hip hop, Broadway, and Movie Music. Whatever makes it easier for you to locate your movie/music should be the alternative you choose. If you find blank videos, tapes, or compact discs that don’t have a label on them, play them to figure out what they are. Once you have discovered this, clearly label them and that will solve another mystery in your house.
- If you have a game or puzzle collection make sure that all the pieces are in the boxes. There is no point in keeping a puzzle or game if they have important pieces missing. This will reduce some of the clutter.
- If your children have toys that are in your living room, get a storage box to put them in. I prefer the kind that are NOT clear because I can throw everything in there and not have to look at when it is put away. If your child is anything like mine they have lots of toys that have separate little pieces in them. Get small organizers that are clear with easily removable lids on them to put each item with all its pieces in it. You can give your child these one at a time and put each of them away when they are done with them eliminating the search for the missing pieces and all of the clutter at the bottom of the toy box.
- There is no need to have every single item and doodad out on display on your tables. Pick a few well chosen items and put the rest of the stuff into storage. You can alternate them and eliminate a cluttered situation. It will also bring attention to the things that you do have on display.
- If you have a lot of picture frames that are cluttering up your tables there are a couple of ways you can reduce this:
They have lots of neat flip books that you can purchase that you could set all of the pictures in reducing the need for sixteen frames. You can also buy the small metal picture displayers that have clips to hold them where you could fan out several pictures for viewing.
Purchase a photo box and put all of your pictures in there. If you have a particular photo you would like to share, you can just get out your photo box and share them that way rather then taking up your valuable space.
Relocate them. Spread the pictures out into several rooms- use ledges, the bathroom, bedrooms, and kitchen for other areas to put them in. Many families display their picture collection in their hallway. By hanging them on the walls you reduce a lot of clutter.
Every living room is different for each person as well as what the room might function as. Try to look at your room with a friend or family member and ask them what they see in the room that needs organizing. Plan your attack based on their observations and look to books and friends for advice. The idea is to make this room livable and not a room that you dread spending time in.
More ideas for organizing:
Places to look for kitchen organizers:
www.organizes-it.com
www.kitchensource.com
www.organize-everything.com
Recommended Reading:
Home Comforts : The Art and Science of Keeping House
by Cherly Mendelson, Harry Bates
To me, this truly is the Bible for all the folk’s out there who aspire to be more organized.
Organizing from the Inside Out
by Julie Morgenstern
This woman has been featured on Oprah as a goddess for home organization. Reading her book will help you discover what type of organizer you are and how to tackle your trouble spots. Be amazed at the fantastic advice she offers.
Organizing for Dummies
by Eileen Roth and Elizabeth Miles
The title says it all. It is for those of us who are just starting on the road to organization.