My quest for organization....

Fall to me is like spring or New Year's....it's time for new beginnings. New schedules and some organization! The chaos of summer is behind us and I like to try and start the fall off right.....it's a nice thought, right?!

I've been in organization mode for about a week and half now and I don't feel any farther ahead then when I started. Last year, with the twins being newborns I didn't get anything done and what's worse is that I spent the majority of my days looking for stuff! After speaking with a girlfriend this morning I realized that we all probably have things in our house that are organized and seem so "simple" but something that someone else may never think of. I was thinking maybe we could share things that we do in our own houses that really work.....and can pertain to anything. Let's face it, any amount of organization can make a HUGE improvement in our days.

Here are the ones that I find work the best:

1) I have one of those over the door shoe hangers on the back of my laundry room door. It's used mainly for the kids and odds and end stuff that I want out of the way. My oldest DS is 3 1/2 and the bottom pockets are low enough that he is able to get and put away his shoes. I also keep things like sunblock, dog leash, dog grooming tools and sunhats in there.

2) In addition to organization I'm on a quest for easy recipes with very few ingredients that I can make for my family w/o spending the whole day in the kitchen. For this I purchased a 3-ring binder that lays flat (very important) and those clear sleeves to slip the recipes in. That way the book lays flat and if I drip anything on the recipe it can easily be wiped clean.

3) In my living room (as part of my decor) I have a huge basket that includes diapers and wipes. I rarely change the babies upstairs so having everything at my fingertips in the living room is a HUGE advantage!

That's about all I have....the rest of my house is a giant mess!!! Sorry for the long post, but anxious to hear some other ideas!

 

Those are great tips! :good: I especially like the door-hanger. I'm going to have to steal that idea!

I'm trying to get organized as well. I saw my first episode of Hoarders and it gave me the urge to purge! I find having too much stuff really hampers my organizing, so I'm going to take advantage of the cooler rainier days of fall to go through some old stuff (clothes, toys, kitchen items), itemize them, and donate them for the tax write-off.

The one thing that really helps me is to push myself to fold all the laundry as it comes out of the dryer and put it away immediately. That way I almost never have to iron (who am I kidding; I haven't ironed in years! :lol: ), and getting ready in the morning is streamlined because I don't have to hunt for matched socks.

 

I agree with you as fall feels like New Year's to me. I just started using a planner to plan my day better - what I'm making for supper, what I need to do during nap time. It seems simple, but I would get sidetracked and nothing much would get done. It's working. I also have a recipe binder like you do.

 

I use a binder system like you do for your recipies, but for my coupons. I have it categorized (baby stuff, normal grocery, meats, freezer section, non food items...etc), and use a baseball card sleeve at a time per month. So, the front sleeve behind each category is for the current month (september coupons), the second for october, third for november...etc. When september is over, that sleeve gets emptied and I move it to the back of the category. It helps keeping my coupons semi-organized so if I know I need diapers, I flip straight to the baby section and look for the diaper coupon closest to expiring.

We use the under bed storage containers to keep all the sheets for all the beds in. Twins are under Rylee's bed, big kids is under the bottom bunkbed, and ours under our bed. That way I free up cupboard space and don't have to search for which sheets fit cribs/twin/queen beds.

 

Oh, I love the coupon idea!! And I too get easily distracted! I'm trying to come with set days for different chores.....and days that I get dressed and run errands!

 

Friday is my set in stone grocery day. Unless someone is sick or an emergency comes up, I go friday. Hubby gets paid, so groceries need to be bought before the weekend so we know if we have the money to do fun stuff like go to the zoo or not.

I keep a small dry erase board on my fridge and through the week, as we run out of things or I think of things, I write them down on it. Then thursday night or friday morning I write my grocery list out on paper, go through my coupons, and I'm ready to go. It helps me not forget things and have to make last minute grocery trips during the week.

 

what great ideas!

i keep all of our wrapping paper, gift bags, a roll of scotch tape, a pen & blank cards in a large, flat rubber maid container under our bed so its easy to wrap gifts when we need to.

we have a large erasable 2 month calendar on our wall that has mine & DH's work hours (and who's babysitting each day because it changes), as well as all of our other appointments, activities, etc. it makes it easy for both of us to see at a glance what an upcoming day has in store. on the 1st of each month i change out the info.

we keep a pad of paper next to the fridge for writing down grocery items as they're used up, or as i think of them. DH's so bad at this, so i've gotten quite militant - i no longer check with him before i go shopping to see if there's anything he needs. :laughing: if he needs it and it ain't on the list, i'm not buying it. ardon:

we have a three section laundry hamper in our room so laundry gets sorted as it gets put in the hamper (lights, dark, delicates) then as a section gets full, i know it's time to do a load of laundry.

i used to have a lot more, but so much has gone down the tubes since the girls were born. DH & my goal is to declutter (he's a packrat) the house before next year (we're hoping to have baby #3). i'm thinking we may need to send the girls to his parents' place for a weekend so we can just do it & get it done without LOs under foot.

 

I make up a menu a month in advance - yes, it seems like a lot, but its so nice to only have to 'plan' once a month. I then grocery shop according to my menu and not according to what I think the pantry needs. I also dont' start to cook something and go 'oh crap - I don't have pineapple' for example when making sweet/sour meatballs (pineapple is a MUST in this house! LOL) I can also plan for slow cooker meals on the days we have hockey right after school - so that when we get home supper is ready!

I sort laundry as I fold it and put it into baskets and the kids put it away when they get home from school. That is one of their 'chores'. The babies get the socks as I fold and it keeps them away from my baskets.

I have a poster in the bathroom to remind the kids what needs to happen after baths (which happen at night here)- ie: hang up towel, put away clothes that were removed, put away toothbrush, rinse sink

I have hooks for the kids to hang up their own stuff and they know to empty their lunchkits when they get home from school. Their agendas go onto the island and I go thru them one by one.