6 Weeks of Organization: Final Update

For those of you that are new, here are past postings on this series. Lori and I were laughing the other day saying how we had to wrap up this series because it was turning both our households upside down. We both realized that we are incapable of "just organizing." :) It seems that once we get the rooms straightened out, then we have to paint or rearrange or redecorate, etc. With me, it's almost like once everything gets so organized and neat, I realize how "blah" my rooms really look!

In my last update, I mentioned how I combined my kids' closets into one. That night, I rocked my little girl to sleep and looked around and thought, "Wow! This is a really big room for her!" And that's when it happened. The entire "house flip." Kaydi's room became Nathan's room and vice versa and then I decided that the kitchen table should go into the playroom, the playroom should go into the living room and the living room couch needed to go. And the kitchen? Well, that's another whole series in itself. (It is actually....) I'm so lucky my hubby is so supportive of my crazy ideas!

But I can't drag out a 6 week series any longer. :) So I'm branching off into a different one this spring, after the holidays are wrapped up. I'll tell you more about it later.

Thanks for following along as I try to get my house into a more organized state. It has been a fun journey watching the clutter turn into "clean." Aside from my kitchen, which I haven't organized yet, I can pretty much spend 15-30 minutes a night picking up things and making the house look ready, should any visitors pop over the next day. Eventually we'll get to the point of *everything* has a place and everything in its place. For now, I'm just glad to be rid of most of the clutter! It really does make a difference in my time each day and my stress, too. Tune in for the next project!

6 Weeks of Organization: End of Week 3

This is just a series that Moms By Heart and I decided to do together to get our houses in order to have more time with our families and less stress over mess!

So the beginning of last week started off good. I got the kids' playroom organized and about 3/4 of the way through our pantry. Then Kaydi decided it was time to cut teeth. End of organizing. :) But I managed to finish up early this week and finally got to the pictures. So here's what my week looked like:

Sunday I ventured off to Target to grab their 9 Cube Organizer that they had on sale. I probably could have found the baskets a little cheaper but time is money so I took their sale price. It ended up costing $80 but I was able to get a bookcase, toy storage, school storage and place for our hermit crabitat. (Yes, a crazy moment led me to believe they'd be fun pets, forgetting they are nocturnal! But Nathan loves watching them when they are out so it's still cool!)

Anyway, this is the end result:



We love it and it kind of acts like a room divider between the living room seating area and the playroom. (Formerly our dining/plant room!)

Next came time to tackle the pantry/laundry room. I knew my parents were visiting so I had been grabbing more CVS items for my Mom and stocking up on donations. I gave up on trying to keep them organized so the main floor area was so cluttered. It's normally a lot cleaner! In the end, I decided to have one container in our family room closet for donations. When it gets full, they'll be donated before I buy more. Limits are so important when organizing!

I wanted a clothes rack so I wouldn't have to lay them over our freezer until I could finish up the laundry. My hubby suggested a shelf, too, so I could get my detergents and sprays off my window ledge. We ventured over to Lowe's and found everything there. Funny thing was, we had both kids with us and when we bought the shelf pack, we didn't noticed they were two different sizes! Oops! So we'll have to get another set. But we'll still use the smaller shelves, probably in the garage. I think it cost around $30. I couldn't get over how expensive shelving items were!

The hardest part of the week was going through *everything!* I checked all the dates and got rid of anything that was long expired. I also re-organized my freezers. Sadly, I had to throw out some things that had gotten lost in our deep freezer or in the back of our regular freezer. It was full to the top and I couldn't ever get to anything. Also, before I started, I had 3 shelving units of food. It was just too much for our size family. I took a lot of food out to donate and we pulled that storage unit out. I now have room to set my laundry to sort or fold. Wahoo! Eventually, I am going to get rid of the shelving units I have and get actually shelves like Lori has HERE.

So here's what it looks like:

BEFORE




Check out my stacking pile of donations, still in the bags! I should have sorted those better back then into Rubbermaid containers. What a mess! (But not any more...)

AFTER








(Check out all that extra room!) :)

Nathan helped me mop it with our new Swiffer WetJet! It feels sooo good when I walk in there now! I don't cringe when I have to do laundry now. It should keep me caught up.

So what's on the agenda for the next week? Well, I have my closets and kitchen left. I'll probably do bits and pieces of both, as time with the kids allows. So I'll just post whatever I finish at the end of each week.

Now it's not my favorite thing to share my "messes" with you but I'm hoping it helps you see that I'm really just an average person (who definitely doesn't have it together!!) And maybe it will inspire you to get your house in order, too, so you'll have more time with your family and less time spent stressing over mess!

How is your organizing going? Leave us a linky or comment to share! I'd love to see/hear what you've been up to.

UPDATE: A good question was asked about my picture collage in the playroom. I made that out of a garden trellis that I got on discount at the end of a summer last year. You can check it out HERE. It's real simple to make. Just a garden trellis, some duct tape (or other adhesive), some decor and of course, pictures. :)

You can also check out another one I made HERE. I have one in the playroom for each of the kids with pictures of our siblings, parents and nieces/nephews. I use them so they can learn "who's who."

Need More Inspiration to Organize?

If you are new to the blog, Moms By Heart and I started a 6 Weeks of Organization Series on our blogs. We needed a "partner in crime" to help us get motivated to get our houses in order---once and for all! (or for a long time, at least!) :)

Well, I've shown you some of my pics HERE and HERE but you guys really need to check out Lori's "Mudd Room" overhaul HERE. Wow!

Lori, it looks fabulous, my dear!! That is my mission for this week--my laundry/pantry room--and I hope I can get mine looking as good as yours!

I hope you will join us in getting our houses in order so we can have more time to focus on all the important things in life and not get stressed over mess! :)

6 Weeks of Organization: End of Week 2

For those of you new to my blog, I am working on a 6 Weeks of Organization Series that I just started this month. My goal is to try to get things in our house organized so I can spend less time picking up "clutter" and more time with my kids (and blogging, too!) :) In the end, I truly believe being organized can become a huge money saver!

Well, let me tell you that I completely forgot just how much fun it is to coupon clip--when you have lots and lots of them! I've switched from every couponing method now. And the only reason I haven't liked any of them is because I haven't diligently kept to the time any of them needs to "work"--and there really isn't a one-perfect method. Each has it's disadvantages.

But after "deal-finding" for over a year now, I realized that I've learned most of which coupons to keep that might turn into "frees" or "money-makers." When I decided to continue blogging, one of the sacrifices I had to make was making any type of multiple shopping trips during the week. Those trips would result in extra things for me to donate. But here's how I rationalized it--I'm still helping those in need. By me blogging, I am able to share deals with so many who can save $ and they can also learn to donate whenever possible and teach others. In the end, I'm helping more in need by skipping those trips and being "here."

So I took this into consideration when I decided which couponing method to continue with. And then Glowgirl sent me a complimentary coupon organizer, which only clinched my decision--I would clip what I need and those that might help and then give the others away to friends/library etc.

But...up until this point, I'd been doing the coupon insert method. And let me tell you, it's no fun switching from that to having to find ones worth clipping! :) We are talking hours going through hundreds of coupons. And I had them all saved from *January!* Yikes!

So are you ready for my before/after? (Note: The bucket of what looks like "crumpled" coupons wasn't my disorganization but my 10 month old got into them when I was trying to take the picture!) :)

Here's Before:

The larger bucket holds my bulging expanding folders which weren't prepared to hold 3 months of inserts, as I once thought they could! :)

Here's After:

Isn't the organizer Glowgirl gave me beautiful? I love it! :)

The one thing I never considered with the insert method is how many coupons could go to "waste" that I could have passed on. Trust me when I tell you that it was sickening to see! I have no advice as to how to tell you to avoid that unless after a month you do a search on a coupon database to see what's soon expiring and clip them to keep/giveaway? It seems like it could entail the amount of work you were trying to avoid! (Those of you that use this method, what do you do?)

I am soo excited to have my coupons finally organized and ready to use on my next trip! I also worked on a few other things this week but haven't completed them enough for an "after" picture. I need my hubby's assistance hanging a few things up!

So moving on to Week 3....here are my new goals--I'm mixing around a few weeks from my original plan:

Week 3: Pantry/Freezer - I'd like to inventory my pantry, weeding out expireds and taking note of what I need or am running low on inventory. This way, I can make my "look for deals on" list. I'll also try to work out a menu planning system. And I need to inventory my freezers because I have no idea what's in either of them.

This is going to be a great week as knowing your inventory levels and being able to watch for deals and plan shopping lists around menu plans is a *huge* money-saver. Honestly, if you don't want to coupon, these are great ways to save big!!

I hope your organization is going well! Do any of you have any new organization questions to share with me/my readers? Thank you to those that emailed me with some. I hope I was able to help!

6 Weeks of Organization: End of Week 1 Re-Cap

I mentioned last week how Moms By Heart and I are working on a 6 Weeks of Organization Series that started last Tuesday. Well, it's the end of Week 1 and I thought I'd give you an update on where I'm at. Here were my goals for the first week:

Week 1: Closets/Garage - Finish the last few closets that have clutter and flip over to the next season's clothes. Our garage has become a store-all over the summer and we need to re-org. I'll also be cleaning out our vehicles and getting them "winterized."

Before I show you pictures, this is what you must know. We do not have a basement in our house. So everything we need to store--lawn equipment, keepsakes, holiday decor, baby items, bikes, etc. must all be stored in our garage, tiny attic above it or in a small coat-sized closet in our family room. Everything else is in our own rooms. When we decided to start working on this on Sunday, we took everything out of the attic and went through it ALL! So in the before picture below, this is everything in our garage and attic. It took 4 hours to go through it and get it ready to recycle/trash/donate. Only 3 containers went back into the attic, along with a few camping items. We were able to move our Christmas village up there, freeing up room in our inside closet.

BEFORE


AFTER


It was tough work but it felt great to see what we accomplished. My in-laws watched the kids so we wouldn't have to worry about them. My hubby and I chatted the whole time. We also did the "memory lane" stuff of, "Aww...remember when Nathan fit into this?" :) Now while it wasn't quite a dinner/movie date, we still had a lot of fun together.

On Monday, I decided to work on my SUV. I vacummed it out and then gave it a good cleaning with Armour All to shine it up. I took *everything* out before I started. Emptied out the glove box, center console, all the toys, etc. It's amazing how clean it is now. I even went as far as to get a New Car Scent Freshener to try to remind me to keep her looking like new. Here is the after picture:



I also straightened out our coat-sized closet in our family room. I still have one more closet to finish (mine!) but I think I did pretty good this week! :) It feels great to see everything so clean.

What's on my agenda for Week 2?

Week 2: Paper Areas - Our computer desks have been taken over by paper! I also need to revise my couponing organization, as I just have too many to fit my current organizers. I'm also going to work on our next budget and find a better solution to mail/bill storage.

I've got a giveaway lined up for "celebrating" a great Week 1. So stay tuned.

I'm hoping your organization is going well, too!

Also, I wanted to open this posting up to any organization questions. Are there any areas that you are struggling with and need tips on from either myself or my reader friends?

6 Weeks of Organization - Hope you Join Us!

If there's one thing I need more of right now, it's organization!! I had mentioned prior that I'd love to do a "Conquering Constant Clutter" series, but lately with several projects going on, the clutter has been conquering me!!

I was chatting with my friend, Lori, of Moms By Heart, and we thought it would be fun to do a "Getting Organized Together" series which I am playfully calling the "6 Weeks to Sanity Series." For the next six weeks, we'll each be tackling a different area of our house. And of course, there's always a fun giveaway along the way!

Since each of us has different areas that needs focus, you'll set your own schedule. Lori was so sweet to make a planning worksheet that you can use below to help customize your "game plan" for this challenge.

Here's what mine looks like:

Week 1: Closets/Garage - Finish the last few closets that have clutter and flip over to the next season's clothes. Our garage has become a store-all over the summer and we need to re-org. I'll also be cleaning out our vehicles and getting them "winterized."

Week 2: Paper Areas - Our computer desks have been taken over by paper! I also need to revise my couponing organization, as I just have too many to fit my current organizers. I'm also going to work on our next budget and find a better solution to mail/bill storage.

Week 3: Pantry/Kitchen - I'd like to inventory my pantry, weeding out expireds and taking note of what I need or am running low on inventory. This way, I can make my "look for deals on" list. I'll also try to work out a menu planning system. I have two areas of my kitchen that constantly clutter that I'll try to find a better storage system for them.

Week 4: Fridge/Freezer - Another area that needs inventory! I'm not quite sure what's in that deep freezer of mine! I'm also hoping to get in a fun freezer cooking session to share with you!

Week 5: Kids' Stuff - I'd like put together weekly "school sessions" with Nathan. During this time, I'll work on planning activities we can do together and finding creative ways to get him ready for pre-school next year.

Week 6: Schedule - After I finish tackling the clutter, I'd like to work on a schedule for keeping up with it. This is where I'll set up daily tasks to stay on my toes, as far as kids, blogging, meal-planning and housework!

Tasks are always more fun when shared with friends! And it's easier for me to hold myself accountable this way. So I hope you will consider joining us in our mission to get ourselves organized over these next six weeks!

Below is the sheet you can use to work out your own 6-week organization plan for this challenge! Thank you to Lori for all your help in getting this together! Want to hear what Lori's going to be up to during this series? You can check out her "game plan" HERE.

6 Week Plan

ListPlanIt: Free Trial Membership

How timely is this posting---I figured this would fit in with my Organizational Tips series! Money Saving Mom has a posting HERE on how you can get a FREE trial membership for ListPlanIt, where you can print off all sorts of organizational materials.