Organization
February 15, 2009
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The Topic of the Week this week is organization. For some of us it comes naturally, for others it’s like a foreign language! What are your best organizational tips? What tricks help you feel like it’s all under control? Do you have a funny story that resulted from not being organized? Or are you totally type A and can’t sit down until everything is in its place? Let us know, leave a tip or send us a comment. The best tip will win this week’s Lazy Loot, donated by www.stelladot.com/Brittney. 
We can’t wait to hear from you!
Open mail F.A.S.T. Alway open mail right by the garbage. The “F” is your to be FILED pile, the “A” is ASSIGN/ACTION (things that require you to do something, make a call, rsvp, etc. The “S” is your SHRED pile…shred daily if you can and it won’t build up. The “T” is TRASH, since you are right at the garbage can you have one pile taken care of immediately. Do not save envelopes, and never put a cill back in them…envelopes waste space!
To keep things organized under cabinets I have put plastic bins in each cabinet. The hold all your little bottles perfectly and keep them from getting knocked over and everything else ending up in a big mess. I’ve even put them under the kitchen sink to keep all my cleaning supplies in one convienent place to pull out when I’m ready to clean.
To keep things organized and feeling in control everyday has a chore. For example, Monday- clean bathrooms day, Tuesday-dust and vacuum day, Wednesday-Clean kitchen (mop- even though I wipe under the table everyday, this day is a thorough cleaning), Thursday-Laundry day- sheets, clothes etc. (get everything ready for the weekend) By Friday the entire house has been cleaned and you are ready for a relaxing weekend. Keep in mind as moms we know that we straighten toys etc. everyday but I always leave toy pick up until the end of the day before bath time and then it is a family chore we do together. We make it a game and play music or make it a race. Doing a little bit of cleaning each day doesn’t take long maybe an hour or two a day and then you have the rest of the day to do something with your kids. Then on the weekends- don’t clean just spend family time. This can work for working moms too that don’t have a maid service. I am a second grade teacher and it is sometimes rough but I manage and then on the weekends I am extremely thankful that I got it done. Put some of the responsibility on older children and husbands. My husband is in charge of one bathroom (of course the biggest one! LOL)
To organize soup can or vegetables. Instead of buying expensive organizer, I used the 12 pack soda carton.For smaller cabinet you may have to cut the carton. Then you have the kids
help decorate.(craft time with the children) Decorate it so that it is easy to recognize to the children. Then when the kids put away the green beans, they know which one to put it in.
I’m not sure if this qualifies as organization, but it certainly is a time saver. The battles we used to have over clothing sometimes lasted so long we hardly had time for breakfast. To avoid the early morning clothes hassles–as my son takes awhile to wake up–I now dress him in his clothes before he goes to bed. He’s a sweatshirt/sweatpants boy anyway, so he sleeps comfortably and wakes up ready to head downstairs for breakfast.
My best tip is to figure out what type of person you are and where your mess ends up. Find a way to contain the things where they end up or where you need them. I make piles and then forget things when I don’t see it so all my things must be kept vertically and in front of me. Next to the phone in the kitchen I placed a container that is made to hold silverware and napkins, but I use it for my things to do, school phone lists, pens, pencils, etc. Next to my computer in the family room, I hung wrought iron bins on the wall with folders for each child and myself. Everything I need for the kids school or keepsakes are in there along with my projects for work. With a family of 5 plus a dog with lots of toys, I have found that I have to go with what works for each person in the house and not try to change them. For example, my family doesn’t wear shoes in the house so I placed a large bin in the garage where everyone kicks there shoes off before they come in. It doesn’t look great, but all the shoes are contained and everyone knows where there shoes are. I have hooks just inside the back door for jackets and backpacks. A container for mail and coupons sits on the dryer. My laundry room is small but everything has a place. My dog even has a basket for her toys that sits behind a chair in the family room. My family knows that if something doesn’t have a home I will throw it away so they do a pretty good job of picking up. Now if I could only get the dog to put her toys back.
I keep my coupons in a photo ‘brag book’, the handy 4×6 inch size (sells for $1 at Walmart) that easily fits into my purse, and has lots of sleeves to slide the coupons into. The coupons are easily seen by flipping through the pages. I have one just for grocery coupons, and another one for restaurant and store/service (cleaners, bookstore, department store, etc) coupons. No more loose coupons all throughout my purse! I also keep receipts in it, also, if I need to hang onto a receipt.
I use lazy susans under my cabinets so that I can get to everything I need under the cabinet……with just a twirl!!!
I don’t know what we would do without our huge calendar posted in the kitchen. It has everyone’s schedules and activies. Even now my husband has a clue. I am the queen of lists. i have a list for the school morning. I got tired of asking the same questions every morning: is your backpack ready? shoes by the door? lunch money? dog fed? I made a list of the things that need to be done before we leave for school and laminated it. I put it on the breakfast table. This prompts them to remember without the constant nagging. We leave for school on time and without the fights or rush. Teaching your children to be organized is a gift they could use forever.
I am not a naturally organized person, but I like being organized. This leads to alot of frustration, but these two little things save me during the week. First, on Sunday night we go through the school lunch menu and note who is buying or bringing each day of the week. It takes all of a minute. This keeps me from yelling up the stairs each morning to find out if they want me to make their lunch or not. And, it’s a bonus if I know the night before that both kids are buying the next day.
I also keep 2 file folders with each kids’ name on it in an organizer on the kitchen cabinet. Then when I get papers from school that I don’t need to take immediate action on, but I don’t need to find a permanent home for (order forms seem to be a popular item), they get “filed” here. Then, a few days later when I really do need it, I’m not searching through a stack of papers trying to hunt it down. It’s kind of like a purgatory for the endless amount of papers that my kids bring home!
The best thing I have done for organization is to put a shoe organizer on the back of the bathroom door. It holds hair ties, bows, ect. Also brushes, combs, detangler bottles, ect. In a small bathroom without alot of storage space, this works great. It is also nice for kids rooms, for those small toys and dolls.
I have also seen a clear shoe organizer on the back of the laundry door for water bottles–fits perfectly. Great idea if you have more than one child in sports.
I recently bought some of those sticky back plastic white hooks that adhere to walls and are easy to remove. (Easy to find in the frames dept. of wal-mart, target, etc.) I hung them in my closet to hang long or chunky necklaces that are otherwise hard to store in my jewelry box. Believe it or not it reminds me to accessorize as the old saying goes outta sight outta mind!
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