12.05.2011
Things to do in December...Starting on day 4!
DAY 5: Read Candy Cane Story
DAY 6: Write letters of appreciation for grandma & grandpa’s
DAY 7: Make Gingerbread houses
DAY 8: Drink Hot coco & make paper snowflakes
DAY 9: Watch a Christmas movie
DAY 10: Read a Christmas story
DAY 11: Sing everyone’s favorite Christmas song
DAY 12: Make goodie bags for class and teacher gifts
DAY 13: Give the kids money to put in the Salvation Army pots & Help the kids do shopping for each other and mom & Dad
DAY 14: Put together homeless kits
DAY 15: Deliver homeless kits
DAY 16: Go through fast food and pay for people behind you
DAY 17: Watch a Christmas movie
DAY 18: Read a Christmas Story
DAY 19: Deliver Christmas cookies to friends
DAY 20: Go Christmas Caroling
DAY 21: Call grandparents and sing Jingle Bells
DAY 22: Do a Christmas craft
DAY 23: Christmas movie
DAY 24: Read Christmas story
10.29.2011
Home Organization Mission in 10 Days
& Pumpkin Patch pics
I meant to post my organization schedule at the beginning of this:
I have stuck to my plan pretty well…..my kitchen isn't finished b/c Friday I had to get stuff for hunter’s birthday on Monday….he will be 8! I can’t believe it! He has no idea but he is getting a leopard gecko (lizard) I bought it Friday while my friend watched all the kids. It is a HUGE SURPRISE. He has no idea! Anyways, tomorrow after church I plan on finishing up my kitchen. I just have to do 2 more cabinets and organize the kid cabinet. A pretty low maintenance Sunday project for me. I might need to help the kids clean their rooms on Sunday too….a little hard to start an organization project with a disaster present already.
So today we went to the pumpkin patch with our friends the Jensen’s and then came back to the house to carve pumpkins. It was hectic but worth it! You will have good childhood memories dang it! (even if Hunter cried that it was too hard the whole time and Max thought the carving knife was the best “toy” he’d ever layed eyes on.
So there you have it! The reason why I can’t blog bc it takes me too long to pic from the hundreds of pics I take at one even. I can barely stand not to edit them. I'm annul and it just takes too long!
PS. happy birthday to my wonderful fabulous Daddy! You’re the best!
10.28.2011
Day 4 & Beginning Day 5
Day 4 (yesterday) & day 5 (today) is my kitchen. yesterday I organized the pans, and my spice recipe cabinet, & 2 that I definitely just wasn’t making good use of. If you need space and you have things that you just don’t use PUT THEM IN THE GARAGE. I rarly use my pressure cooker and electric pan, & my huge glass punch bowl. So out it goes! I forgot to do before pics but here are after:
I tried to group like items. This is baking on the bottom and whatever you want to call it on the top.
I’m gonna make a “kid shelf” havent done it quite yet. The bottom is baking pans….not quite done with that either.
notice that I bought an awesome pan organizer ( 5$ at walmart)! love it!! I got another shaped one but it doesn’t fit much so I’m gonna exchange it for the pan one to put my 9X13’s and smaller.
spice cabinet. I already had these little step looking things from bed bath and beyond that I use to stager the spice so you can see them better
The cabinet actually goes all the way back so I have extra’s of stuff that I put back there. I use to have all the baking stuff food coloring cupcake wrappers back there but I moved all that over to the “baking” shelf.
Wish me luck today. My kids were excellent yesterday but I think they went to bed too late last night so its been an interesting morning.
10.27.2011
End of Day 3
So yesterday I spent most of the day organizing the mess in my room and then went through my filing cabinet & desk. I got rid of all the old file folders & made labels to stick on.
The above are boxes that hold the left overs from my closet. I need to find cuter same size boxes & label them so they can stay in my closet
I moved all the important files that I use for my bills from my big filing cabinet to the drawer that holds hanging files in my desk.
I also made a warranties & important receipts binder of which I found somewhere online and loved the idea!
That’s it. Today is the kitchen….I am super excited to do it. But the kids are home & they are already bored so we’ll see how that goes!
10.26.2011
End day 2: Closet Organization Complete
So I haven’t labeled my bins or drawers of crafts but it is organized. I bought a shoe rack and tie hanger thing to help keep things off the floor. I took a bin to put all jons hunting stuff in. But now my room is a little messy! Slightly frustrating !
So the above is what's left to clean up that isn’t going back in the closet but needs a home.
& I do have more clothes than what's hanging and folded….but they are all sitting in baskets needing to be folded. the drawers are all my craft stuff that I will be printing out labels for today
& after cleaning out the closet this is what my desk and chair look like!
****Side note about the clothes. I actually cleaned out my dresser while I did the closet. I am not showing you my underwear drawer but I did get an organizer for the top drawer to divide slips, & socks and all those little things that make the drawer look so messy. I took out all my every day t-shirts & put them away folded in the closet. And then in that drawer I put the baggy t-shirts I wear at night & workout clothes. The 3rd drawer is underwear and other unmentionables. So putting all your everyday wear in your closet definitely helps clean out those drawers to put other stuff.
So, on the schedule for today is organizing the desk & the file cabinet. But I need to do labels and clean up the mess I have in my room also. I sluffed working at the school today so I can work hard today. The kids don’t have school Thursday or Friday and I forgot about that so I hope I can get stuff done with them around.
10.24.2011
End Day 1/12 Project Organization
So now that we are all cleared out, clean, and we have grouped like items, sorted clothes into keep & pitch, we are ready for fun. The first part of that fun was cleaning my room after the mess I made in dragging everything out!. Unfortunately it still looks like this bc I still have to organize all that stuff before I can put it back in.
I have used my closet as a craft storage area…..I refuse to put my mess back in until it is completely organized.
One bin is of all the fabric I found! The second one is old year books, manuals, binders etc… and to the right is another thing of scrapbook stuff. The bags to the left are the kids’ fall clothes that I am about to bust out! Yippee for fall! This was all in my closet and now needs to make its way back possibly.
So the big stripe bag is clothes & a few pair of shoes I am finally letting go of. The red bag is purses and bags to donate. And I also had a computer and a box fan that definitely belong in the garage and not in my closet!
One thing I learned is you probably want to clean out your dresser also. This way you can go through clothes and decide what you want in your closet and what to keep in the drawers. I have decided that all my casual shirts can be folded up and put on the rack that is in my closet. They are what I wear most often & so I put them at eye level and made them the most accessible….of course this is something I read. I really am not that smart!
So tomorrow I am going to the store to find a tackle box for all my husbands lovely fishing items & some other containers to make my space look fresh & organized! Good luck to me!
DAY 1: ClOsEt Organization
So its already 11:51 & I haven’t started on my closet yet! But my awesome visiting teachers just left so I have a fairly decent excuse. But yesterday when I made my schedule I decided to make it a 2 day project.
Yes, Jeanine this project was inspired by www.pinterest.com I got so many awesome tips from here! My favorite was from this website: http://organizingmadefun.blogspot.com/p/31-days-to-cheaply-organize-your-home.html This lady did 31 days but since I have family coming in 2 1/2 I am doing it in 12. But she has some AWESOME tips.
And then she had some of these good tips for cleaning for 15 minutes a day:
http://organizingmadefun.blogspot.com/2010/11/15-minutes-of-cleaning-how-to-have-fake.html this lady rocks it!
Here is the BEFORE pics of OUR closet.
Mine is of course the cleaner side! lol and all the hunting gear is his side. Yes our closet needs some serious work!
And the following is some other JUST closet tips I found:
http://personalorganizing.about.com
Distinguish clothing and shoes that you wear and items that you need to get rid of. You can do this by the
GOLDEN RULE OF CLOSET ORGANIZING: If you haven’t worn it in a year, toss it. Also, if it doesn’t fit you well, it is time to get rid of it. Instead of hanging on to your “skinny jeans” until you lose a few pounds, donate them. Then, when you get down to your goal weight, treat yourself to a new, stylish pair of jeans.
Measure Up
Once you have whittled down your wardrobe, you need to assess the layout of your closet. Measure the space you have, making sure to utilize backs of doors, floor space, and all interior walls. When you go to shop for boxes, bins, and other necessary space-savers, make sure you have your closet measurements in hand.
Use every square inch of your closet. Hang shoe racks on the back of your closet door. Classic belt hangers with multiple hooks are also a good solution for hanging camisoles, bras, or scarves.
Get Hung Up
Invest in the right kind of hanger for the type of clothing you are hanging. Use padded hangers for items made from delicate fabrics, plastic hangers for button-down shirts, and sturdy wood hangers for suit jackets as they help retain the shape of the items. Remove all wire hangers (they don’t properly support your clothes) and plastic dry-cleaner bags (they don’t allow fabrics to breathe, keeping the chemicals used in dry cleaning in your clothes).
Save time in the morning by coordinating your wardrobe. Sort by color, and hang like-types of clothing together (i.e. skirts, pants, blouses, etc.).
No Sweat
Sort sweaters, T-shirts, and other folded clothing by color as well. Always remove sweaters from hangers and fold them. Hangers will ruin the shape of sweaters over time.
Store sweaters on shelves in manageable-sized stacks using sweater dividers to keep them from turning into leaning towers of Pisa. Even better, store them in sweater boxes with well marked labels
Eyes Have It
Keep items you use frequently at eye level or below and items you rarely use higher up. Labeled boxes are good for storing things like bathing suits or turtlenecks because you can rotate them higher or lower in your closet depending on the season.
Seasonal Change
It's possible that no matter how much you try to edit and organize, you just have too much stuff to fit in your closet. If that's the case, then you need to resort to a seasonal system by rotating your fall/winter clothes with your spring/summer clothes. Covered clothing racks can be filled with out-of-season clothes and kept in your attic or basement or under your bed. Flat storage boxes can serve a similar purpose.
How to Organize a Closet in 5 Steps
http://personalorganizing.about.com
STEP 1
The first step to efficiently organize your closet is ensure you have the right tools and supplies on hand. Have the following ready-to-go before you begin:
· Shopping Bags: Sturdy bags to transport clothes to the donation center, tailor and dry cleaner. If you don't have bags, boxes and bins will do in a pinch.
· Tape Measure: To measure shelving and hanging space. Don't forget a notebook and the writing utensil of your choice to jot down your closet's measurements.
· Full-Length Mirror: In order to decide between "toss" and "keep," make sure your mirror can accommodate your entire image.
· Catch All Basket: Loose change, papers, rubber bands, hair clips, wads of cash (score!) and assorted receipts you'll find in pants pockets. You don't want to have to stop in the middle to file these small items so just put them aside for now into your catch all basket.
· Then, take everything out and clean and vacuum closet
STEP TWO: Sort Clothes
Closets are finite spaces so choose wisely when giving up valuable real estate and be prepared to separate your clothes into distinct piles:
· Toss
· Keep
It's important to focus on what you want to "keep" at first rather than what you want to "toss." Be a brutal critic here--if something is just so-so, you will probably not wear it, therefore it's not worth the closet real estate.
Ask yourself these 3 questions:
1. Do you love it?
2. Do you wear it?
3. Does it project the image you want to project? (I love this question via organizing guru Julie Morgenstern)
STEP THREE: PLAN & PURCHASE CLOSET STORAGE SOLUTIONS
This is where you put everything back together in a way that makes sense to you, utilizes all of your available space and is attractive enough to motivate closet maintenance. This is also the step where you get to buy storage products your closet may need. If you're a storage newbie, read How to Maximize Storage Space.
1. Group Like with Like: Belts, sweaters, long sleeve shirts, work pants, dresses, button-down shirts, jeans, shorts--you get the idea--and decide the best place to store each item as a group (i.e. hang pants in closet, fold and stack sweaters in a bureau).
2. Utilize Prime Real Estate: Reserve the front and middle of your closet for clothes you wear most often. Example: If you have to get dressed for work each morning at 6am, make sure your work clothes are easily accessible at the front of your closet. Lesser worn items like formal wear and out-of-season should be stored towards the back and on the upper shelves.
STEP FOUR: Spend Wisely: You may be tempted to throw your hands up, pull out your credit card and buy an expensive closet organizer. Don't do this. Measure the space, asses what you already have and then plan your closet accordingly. Buy only what you need to store your clothes, and re-purpose what you already own if possible. Think: small bookcases, cubbies and baskets are great for storing handbags, shoes, accessories, gym clothes.
Working in groups of items will help you figure out how much space you need and the best way to store each type of item. Don't forget to measure a space 3 times before buying a new storage item. Nothing is worse than carting something home and finding it's just a smidge too wide.
STEP 5: MAINTAIN CLOSET ORGANIZATION
Rule of Thumb: The more often you work on closet maintenance, the less time it will take. Go through your closet and complete a quick makeover (or make-under) once a month, and tackle the full re-organization process twice a year.
You can also follow one of these schedules:
· By Season: 4 times in the Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer or 2 times in the Fall and Spring.
· By Date: Choose an important date like your birthday or New Years and make a habit of re-organizing at that time each year.
· By Event: The next time you can't find an important piece of clothing, that's a good sign you need to re-org your closet.
I like to be fear driven: If the phone rings in the middle of the night and I need to immediately pack for a trip/get ready for a job interview/dress for a cocktail party with 20 minutes notice, (this happens on TV dramas all the time, so it's bound to happen to me at some point, right?) do I know where the pieces I would need are?