On an Organizing Roll!

Here are some other projects I have been at lately.
I am a huge fan of photos. I will go beyond saying I am a visual learner. I love to snoop into other peoples lives.....in order to glean all of the best and to implement those things in my own life.

So here are a couple more things:

The hanging files are not a real attractive color but it is what we had on hand.

Instead of paper collecting on our dining room table, I figured this would be a nice alternative.

My coupon holder! Inside is baseball card protector sheets.
Much better than wadded up in the bottom of me purse.

Ah. I can breathe a little easier already!

Cleaning System

Really. I think this should be called: "Now I have three mobile children and I just can't wing it anymore. I need a system that thinks for me."
When this inspiration first hit me I was so excited. But then I reminded myself that I still had to be disciplined and do the work. This is just a system to help guide me better.

It is a variation taken from Sidetracked Home Executives. I have read blogs about others making up this 3 x 5 index card system and it just seemed to make sense to me.

So here is what I have put together. It is kinda a bit of a brain teaser but I know over time will be a smooth as any other habit.

I followed this set of directions to get it all in order.

This is the box that will make my house clean! With little help from me of course.
The cards have numbers 1-31 for each day of the month. You can assign monthly tasks to a certain day (number) for each month.

This set of yellow cards will be in each day. So when I complete the task I move it the
the next day.

The months of the year are for seasonal tasks like cleaning

out the garage, gardening, cleaning the gutters, etc. I haven't

touched this yet. I need to get the inside of the house in order
first.

Here are each of the categories I would see each day.

This is a shot of the actual tasks.

Ah. Thank you Lord for our homes. And thank you for
Sundays.


As each day passes I move the cards to the next appropriate line up. If it is a daily card, I move it to the next day (except for Sunday).
If it is a weekly card I move the card 7 days back.
If it is a bi-weekly card I move it 14 days back.
If it is monthly card I can leave it there cause monthly cards are assigned to a certain number of the month. Make sense? So washing the door mat will happen on the 15th of each month so it stays in the 15 slot.

As time goes on, I will work out the bugs and likely thing of more tasks to add to the box. As the kids get older I will also add the responsible person's name to the chore.
I even thought I could add a bible verse to read each day. Over time it will be memorized.

Okay. I just made a little change. I made duplicates of all the cards except for the daily ones. I wanted all the cards to stay where they are to make it easier. Now I only have to move the daily cards to tomorrows slot.

Laundry ~ How do I keep the ball rolling?

I have another laundry trick I should share with you.

I didn’t even think of it until a comment was left on my last post. I do something a little different.

When we were just married (only 5 short years ago) I was (and still am) too cheap to buy a laundry basket. And I knew that a little white flimzy plastic  laundry basket was just not going to cut it.

So I used what I had. A Rouchneck Rubbermaid Storage Bin.

 

Hubby teases me cause I feel like I can’t ever have enough of these things.

Well, our whole family only uses one of these for a laundry basket.  He is the routine.

~ by evening, laundry for the day has been washed and put away.

~ when someone soils their clothes, it goes in this bin which is kept in mom and dad’s bedroom. If the bin is still in the laundry room the soiled clothes sit in our bathroom sink (we have two sinks in the bathroom but only one gets used for washing hands and brushing teeth).

~ once the laundry is cleaned and put away I go to the sink and put whatever is in there into the bin and put it back in our bedroom.

The sink doesn’t get very full during the day but by evening when the kids are getting ready for bath it starts to fill up, This is key: IF THE BIN IS NOT IN IT’S PLACE  (AKA: laundry is not done for the day) Things start to get pilled up and looking out of control.

It is kind of like a game. I have to be done my job before the sink fills up.

Therefore, I have to laundry EVERY DAY!

Sometimes I will take Friday off and do a bigger load on Saturday when hubby is home. When he is home I have more leeway to leave the kids and give more attention to cleaning.

Hope this helps.

What I am Learning about Laundry

Okay, I have MADE myself do laundry every day. It has been two weeks now. Hear is what I have learned.

~ You can’t let it go more than a day in a half…. otherwise it will be BIG & UGLY… too much work for what I want to do (even if it is every other day or so.. that just ends up taking me 2 days to tackle it all, only to do it all again)

~If you do it DAILY, the loads are smaller and much more ‘doable.”

~if you do it DAILY, you end up with clothes in the washer or dryer, or in the closet…non in a heap on the couch or in the laundry basket.

~ If you do it DAILY, you end up seeing what you really use. There are so many articles of clothing that just does not get used! Time to decultter!

~If you do it DAILY, I don’t get that nagging, overwhelmed feeling.

This is orderly looking but if you do it daily you should never have this much (unless you are the Duggers). We are a family of 5 and currently potty training and have a compulsive droller. We don’t have this much.

So I encourage you. DO IT DAILY! 

Getting it Together

 

Bear with the fonts. I am experimenting. I love cute fonts but I am not exactly an expert (yet). I can’t figure out why the title of the post isn’t the same font as the body of the post.

Anyway, feel free to let me know which font is more pleasing to the eye and easy to read.

Well,  on to the ideas that are stirring in my brain….

I have been on a cleaning and organizing crazy woman lately! I love it! I is finally addicting! I signed up to be a member at Fly Lady. net( Fly Lady). If you sign up (it is free) they send you a daily email with the cleaning mission for the day. Over the course of a year you will have cleaned every nook and cranny by doing little bits each weekday.  If you go to the website and you don’t want to get sidetracked only click on

~Control Journal : this is a daily cleaning plan that you can make for example Monday – wash floors, Tuesday – clean bathroom, Wednesday- Vacuum all floors, Thursday- empty all trash cans, Etc.

and

~ Fly Zone: this is deeper cleaning each day but it is so small it doesn’t feel like spring cleaning blood sweat and tears.

I have been so motivated by it! I am on a roll!

You as you read further, you will see that Fly Lady is big on decluttering. How can one truly clean unless the stuff is out of the way to do so? You must declutter!

I recently had a garage sale and cleaned out! It feels so liberating! Now each day I feel great cause the cleaning part comes so much easier.

I really believe that to be a great wife and mom, and steward of what God has given me, I need a clean and orderly home.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." Little by little, step by step, mile by mile, progress is made.”

Remembering Today ~ Real Life

My dishes went unwashed today,
I didn't make the bed,
I took his hand and followed
Where his eager footsteps led.
Oh yes, we went adventuring,
My little son and I,
Exploring all the great outdoors
Beneath the summer sky.
We waded in a crystal stream,
We wandered through a wood.
My kitchen wasn't swept today,
But life was sweet and good.
We found a cool sun-dappled glade
And now my small son knows
How Mother Bunny hides her nest
Where fern and larkspur grow.
We watched a robin feed her young,
We climbed a sunlit hill,
Saw cloud-sheep scamper through the sky;
We plucked a daffodil.
That my house was neglected,
That I didn't sweep the stair,
In twenty years no one on earth
Will know or even care.
But that I've helped a little boy
To noble manhood grow,
In twenty years the whole wide world
May look and see and know.
-Anonymous

Do your kids closets suffer from closet chaos?

Here is a tip that has helped my sanity and has also helped bring order to my children's closets.

Find two gift bags that you have stashed away in your gift wraping box (we save them and recycle them when we give gifts).

Bag number one will be used for the clothes that no longer fit your child. At a later time you can store those 'too small' clothes in the appropriate long term storage bin in the basement.

Bag number two will be for the clothes that you know you do not want to keep. We get lots of hand-me-downs from my sister and sometimes you don't know if it is a keeper until you try it on. I put items in this bag that just don't seem to sit right, items that seem uncomfortable or items that may be stained or just is not your style. At a later time, you can take that bag to the basement and toss it in your Good Will box or Garage Sale box.

How to hang it.... use one hanger on each handle of the bag and hang in the closet so the bag stays open all the time for quick and easy deposits!

This little trick has worked wonders for my peace of mind. Now we have no loose items lingering and it minimizes the clutter in the closet.