I Heart Organizing

Happy New Year Friends!!! :)

Is it just me or is January is the adult September? In my younger years I was always so excited to go back to school, it never lasted long but the idea that this year was going to be my year inspired me. I would go out and buy super cute notebooks, tabs, highlighters etc, and for that first week of school I took impeccable notes.

Luckily, for me, with age has come a little more dedication and my motivation lasts much longer then just a week.

January is all about resetting, cleaning up, getting the things done you have been putting off. And although these tasks seem daunting, when you break them down and actually get them off you to-do list, it is such a good feeling!

For example, since I moved last year the way my kitchen was unpacked has driven me nuts! But I ignored time and time again because taking everything out of the cupboards and trying to find a new configuration seemed impossible. But this year I finally did it! And man does it feel awesome!

Since blogging is all about the sharing of ideas, I thought I would share some of mine that make my life so much easier and more organized -

Make Lists
I am constantly making lists, I usually have 2 or 3 on the go at any given time. One containing things I want to accomplish by weeks or months end and the other for daily activities. I keep other lists on my phone of thing's I'm running low on, so next time I'm out I can check to see what I need. I even keep one for things I want to ask my doctor next time I see him. I write down everything I have to do to get out of my head on paper.

Chunk it Out
Break out your to-do list into small pieces. If you want organize your dresser for example. Make a commitment to sort out a drawer a night, by week's end you'll be done and it only took you about 10 minutes at the end of your day.

Maintain
Once you get some organized, make sure you maintain it. For example - every 6 months or year, make a note in your calendar to go through your files and shred any paperwork you don't need. Or clean out your closet of any unwanted items to donate or consign. Maintaining is always so much easier then dealing with it after it builds up for a long time.

Get Inspired
Before I reorganize anything I was check out what other people have done on Pinterest. I pull ideas from all over to come up with the perfect solution for myself.

Make the task fun 
Put music on, get your friends or spouse involved. Make it fun. And make sure you reward yourself after a job well done!

Happy Organizing! This year's going to be great! :)

Why You Should Make Your Bed Everyday

It seems like an insignificant thing, whether you make your bed each morning or not life will go on. However, it’s the symbolism behind the bed making that is important.

If you never make your bed because your philosophy is that you will just crawl back in that same night so what’s the point? Then why do anything? Why eat if you’re just going to get hungry again, or why bother showering because you’ll just get dirty again. Now tell me, who wants to live in a world full of unmotivated, smelly, starving people?

When you make your bed each morning you are telling yourself that you take pride in what you do, and that you are going to have a productive day. It also marks the start of day, just like brushing your teeth or having your morning cup of joe.

Now this may be my OCD talking but I firmly believe a little mess breeds more mess. If you start to let one thing slide, it can become a slippery slope. I believe that if you haven’t made your bed for the day you will be more likely to throw dirty clothes on the floor, let the dust collect and so on.

Have you ever seen people in third world countries sweeping their dirt floors of their mud huts? Yes, sweeping dirt off the dirt floor. Suddenly making your bed despite the fact you will be using it again 15 hours later doesn’t seem so silly now does it? No matter what type of place you live in you should take pride in it. And you should always be grateful that you do in fact have a roof over your head and an actual bed to make. Plus after a long day I assure you getting into a nicely made bed feels a thousand times better than getting into one that has sat there all day with the blanket in a giant ball.

Erin Condren Designs

 

If you’re anything like me a blog post about a day-timer will be the highlight of your day. As it was for me when my sister first shared the link to the Erin Condren website. To be fair this is NOT actually a blog post about a daytimer, it’s a blog post about a LIFE PLANNER.

I’ve always used a month at a glance planner to keep my appointments, birthdays, and to keep track of work outs etc. And until now I always felt trapped in the stone age. I felt like people were judging me, asking in their themselves “why isn’t that girl using her iphone calendar?” But when I visited the Erin Condren website, I felt at home. These people get me. They understand that the only way I would feel organized is to see it on a brightly colored month at a glance spread in a trendy paper planner that I can tote everywhere with me.

The icing on the cake is that you get to pick your own cover, customize it, and customize and any additional add on’s such as stickers with your friends and families faces on them.

The website is packed with tons of other adorable accessories to help you get your life in order, from entire family systems to individual checklists. They even have wedding planners to help you plan your big day! So take a peek, I guarantee it will inspire you to ditch the digital calendar and kick it old school!

Household Binders

I’m still working away getting re-organized since we moved. Moving is a great fresh-start isn’t it? It forces you to go through absolutely everything you own. Personally, it has motivated me to do a bunch of small projects I have been meaning to do for a while. This being one of them!

The previous owners were great and left us all of user manuals for all of the appliances. We also bought some new stuff so I literally had a box full of papers. So I decided that the best way to organize them would be a giant 3 ring binder, sorted by category, in plastic sheet protectors! Exciting isn’t it!? ;)

I also used the same inserts that I used for my recipe binder so they match, and matching is very important when it comes to organizing.

The sheet protector’s worked perfectly as most appliances had more than one book or sheet so it kept everything together.

I divided them into the following categories – Electronics, Large Appliances, Small Appliances, Home Appliances (things attached to the house like the furnace and fireplace), Furniture, and Fitness Equipment.

Even though we will rarely access them, it’s nice to have them all in one place and easy to find when the time comes.

I also created a “Household Binder”. This idea came to me at 3am when one of smoke detector’s started to chirp every minute or so informing us the battery was dead. Andrew wasn’t available so I climbed on a chair and removed the battery. There! All fixed! WRONG! That did nothing and unfortunately I didn’t keep 9Vs on hand as I’ve never had to? So I googled it and everyone advises to just switch off the breaker for that area. Again, no problem, I knew where that was. I went through every possible breaker and still no luck. So as a last resort I drove to 7-11 to buy a stupid battery. The moral of this story is to get familiar with your dwelling. Know what expendables are needed where, and keep them on hand. After all, these types of things always happen at the worst possible time.

This binder consists of our Household Budget, Emergency Contacts, Information on our Alarm System, Expendables, and a Reference List. The reference list is what I think will be used the most. I included our garage code, mailbox number, wireless name and password, contact info for the power company along with our account number. And the list goes on… basically anything that concerns the house is referenced there. That way if something crazy happens in the middle of the night we don’t have to dig through our filing cabinet or click through websites to find contact numbers. It’s all right there, at your fingertips!

DIY Vehicle Trash Bin

Wow, what an awful title for a post! But I just had to share this idea with you!

I saw it on a Pinterest a while back and wanted to do it ever since! Line a plastic cereal container with a bag and use it a little trash bin for your car. It has a lid and is nice and compact so it works perfectly!

Linen Closet Update

I believe the root of all my re-organizing lately stems from the fact that I want to move. We are starting to outgrow our little condo, and storage space is a hot commodity. Trying to keep everything looking neat and tidy when shelves are at capacity is not an easy task. So until the day comes where we can finally move, I am trying to do little things to keep me sane that can "move with us".

Since I am a naturally organized person, my linen closet was never a total mess but the original boxes I used were starting to fall apart and I wasn't feeling the color anymore so I decided this would be my next project.

I searched the web for some inspiration and decided on a mix of baskets and fabric boxes in various sizes (all from IKEA) I also purchased some sub-dividers for each box so that I could keep them tidy inside. Most of the boxes I chose have a space on the front for labeling which comes in super handy if you are using multiple boxes of the same shape/design.

Some words of wisdom - Try to pre-plan of you want your space to look like before heading to the store. Even though I did this and even drew a little diagram, it was very over-whelming in the storage section at IKEA.

I will admit, this project wasn't cheap. I had big time buyers remorse after checking out. The little things can add up fast! BUT I find myself opening this closet throughout the day just to admire it. So in my eyes the money was well worth the happiness it brings me.

Recipe Binder Make Over

When I was younger my mom had tons of recipe books. She would look through a handful of them every time she wanted to meal plan or bake something. Fast Forward 18 years and I have a total of 5 cook books, none of which have ever been opened. If I’m ever feeling inclined to make something I just search for a recipe online. This habit (along with my addiction to Pinterest) has led to a giant 3 ring binder full of random recipes. I originally had it organized by course using tabs, but I decided it would be in my best interest to divide them up into 3 smaller binders. That way my collection could grow and eventually I could use an entire binder per category (IE Appetizers, Beverages, Main Courses, Baking Etc) and then sub-divide it by sub-category (IE Muffins, Cookies, Cakes etc) using tabs within each binder. Which in theory should make it much easier to locate the recipe I am looking for.

I bought presentation binders so I could insert a spine, cover page and back page.  I ended up downloading templates from Bizuza Printables on Etsy. (My other unhealthy addiction) It's an adorable chevron design, and the color is completely customizable. I chose "Eden" as my color for my binders.

My reorganize also gave me an opportunity to sort through my recipes and ask myself “Am I REALLY going to make this?” The ones I said no to, got tossed. I had to make some tough decisions but similar to my closet clean ups I knew deep down what the answer was.

Meal Planning

Now this isn’t something that works for everyone but it has changed my life. I plan out the whole weeks meals (including lunches and any baking I will be doing) for the entire week. This way we only have to go grocery shopping once. Which is fantastic because I hate grocery shopping, mostly because of the oblivious people that leave their carts in the middle of the aisle while they grab something.

I use a little whiteboard planner to write down all of our dinners for the week, so when I get home from work I already know what to make and have all the ingredients on hand.

I also bake on the weekends for the entire week. I’ll whip a batch of muffins or scones or whatever, individual wrap them, and throw them in the freezer so we can just grab them for lunches or snacks.

I made my own meal planner by printing it off, laminating it and throwing some magnets on the back. But if you’re not feeling crafty I have seen premade ones for sale all over, and all different types, chalk board, whiteboard, cork boards, even binders.

Happy Planning! :)

Extra Spicy

Okay, so if anyone didn't believe that I actually have a Type A, OCD personality, here's your proof.
I re-did my spice labels on my mason jars because I wasn't entirely happy with them.

I had to peel off the old labels and use goof-off  to get rid of the old label gunk and make way for my new, prettier labels!

 I ended up ordering labels online from here. These labels are smaller, waterproof, dishwasher safe and stain resistant. Which is great because while baking and cooking sometimes I can make a mess and accidentally leave cookie dough on the cinnamon jar.

If anyone has the name of a good therapist please leave it in the comments section below. ;)

Garage Re-Organize

It’s hard to keep a garage organized. It’s an out of sight, overspill storage place for most people. For us, it’s our primary storage place. (Can’t wait until we get a house with a basement!)

We were lucky enough to have my Step Dad build us a shelving unit a while ago. If you, or if you know someone who is handy this is definitely the way to go. The supplies are inexpensive, it’s custom and it’s sturdy. The people that lived here before us, god bless them, made shelves over head on the walls. These are great for luggage, or seasonal items.

We used to have a bunch of smaller transparent bins which contained the mess but didn’t hide it. So I upgraded us to larger blue bins. Since you can’t see what’s inside the new bins, I used whiteboard labels to mark them. These are nice because if you end up using the bins for something else down the road, you can easily change the label without leaving a sticky goo behind from the previous label.

We used all sorts of hooks and hangers on the walls for bikes, brooms, mops, extension cords etc. I also incorporated shoe racks, and a huge bin for dog food. It's nice to have everything organized, up off the floor and into it's place.

Organizing Tidbit

One of the best organizational tips I can offer is to group like things together. If you put items together in bins or boxes, it makes them easier to find and gives an over all tidier appearance.
I've done this in my linen closet for things like light bulbs and gift wrap but where I really notice a difference is in the kitchen. I added a few bins to the pantry and to the freezer.

Little projects like this don't need to cost a lot either. The bins I used are from the dollar store. And I added some chalkboard labels that picked up from Walmart. I used a silver sharpie to write on them rather thank actual chalk for a cleaner appearance. Happy Organizing! :)

The Spice of Life

I should have done this a long time ago, but what matters is that I’m doing it now!

My spices are a mess, some are on a rack I got from Crate and Barrel while others are in bags, or all different shaped containers. I think there should be a law that enforces all companies to use the same spice container so everything matches! But since the world isn’t perfect and life is messy I will just have to create a law for my kitchen.

I looked high and low for cute spice containers, the trouble is most are quite small. Nothing is worse than having to keep a whole bunch of half empty refill bags lying around. (I buy the bags or spices in bulk because it’s just so much cheaper) So my cute and cost effective solution was mason jars! And of course adorable labels.

This is just one step in my kitchen clean up plan, but it feels gooood!

Hidden Gems

Truth be told my jewelry box somehow always turns into a miscellaneous button, receipt and spare change collection bin and everything on my jewelry tree always gets tangled. Untangling chain necklaces must be the most frustrating thing in the entire world!
So it was definitely time for change. Thanks to a bright idea from my sister and a 20% coupon from Bed Bath & Beyond I was well on way to a more organized life….or at least jewelry box.
This plan did involve taking over another one of Andrew’s dresser drawers but he was a good sport about it (that’s 6 for me, and 2 for him if anyone’s counting) This is a great way to keep all of your jewelry, out of the way and organized. Since the trays stack it’s also a great way to see everything. I generally tend to wear the same necklace/bracelet combo out of habit. But by taking on this little organizational project I found a little gems that I forgot I even had.