Sunday, January 29, 2012

A little before and after organizing (lets keep it real!)

So I remembered to take a before and after of our little office space. I managed to get it clean and organized and it has lasted a week which is really unbelievable. I am now a firm believer in a place for everything and everything in its place.

So here is the before (and there may be some people who have lived with me at some point in my life who are laughing but whatever)
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And here is the AFTER!!!
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(Now I should mention that I am still about waste deep in my paper management which are the boxes under the desk but I am making progress, I used to be buried!)

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Look everything has labels!!!

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Finally found a place for all Troys strategy guides and our printer paper. These are boxes I got from a work a few years ago when cleaning out an office.

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We used to have all our software discs everywhere in random drawers and files we went through and probably thew out more than half now they all fit in one little $1 store container in the drawer

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I want to get a nice little organizer for my top drawer but I am happy with this for now!

Now onto the playroom/schoolroom/dining room! Wish me luck!

And the organizing continues....very.........slowly......

But I have finished a few very troublesome spaces, so I am making progress but it may be because I want to avoid all the other spaces that I don't want to deal with.

First was the kitchen, now mind you I still am struggling to keep up with counters & managing dirty dishes but in my defense my dishwasher died! But I organized cabinets, drawers and on top of my fridge and it has been like this for two weeks!

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I corralled all of my bread and chips in to two baskets!

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I also took a over the door shoe organizer(unused!)and used part of it to hold commonly used utensils.

Next I worked on the kids linen closet and their bathroom. I was able to make a lot of space by purging a lot of my baby stuff I just didn't want to go through. And by folding my towels and sheets differently, seriously all I did was fold them different and went from 2 1/2 shelves of towels to one!
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Best part I was able to fit 7 sleeping bags up on the top shelf of the linen closet!

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I also used the other half of shoe organizer to organize four kids and their many brushes, now everyone has a place for their toothbrush and hair brush, and I even got everyone their own toothpaste. It actually has been working nicely.
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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Organizing Kick

So I have started an organizing obsession in my house. Truth be told my house is always a mess, and it doesn't matter what I do I am constantly going in circles in regard to cleaning. I always think to myself if I could just put my kids in school for one week my house would finally be completely clean. But alas, I chose homeschooling and with it the mess or at least till I organize everything!

So I started with a really small space, my laundry room, everything was pulled out. I cleaned and then sorted through EVERYTHING, and everything was given a place, either out of the laundry room if it didn't belong, and into some kind of container or designated space for whatever stayed. And after two weeks she is still clean, most of my hair brained organizing schemes last a few days. The key was purging, and sorting into specific categories rather than general ones.

The best part I didn't buy one thing to organize I have been hanging onto a lot of my little containers and finally put them into use.

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I put a little can over the lint trap, one to collect all the lint that is pulled out because before the kids just left it on top of the dryer. And to remind me to clean the lint trap, not something I remember to do!
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I found this idea for a pocket find or junk jar on Pinterst!
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Alas my chalkboard labels are not working as well as I would like they keep getting wiped off. But I wanted something I could easily change and that has already come in handy.