Getting organized Mondays: desk drawers

In the past few months, we have organized so many drawers and closets at our house, but some of them still remain in need of help. I wanted to devote one a day a week to a small organizational project, and preferably, a free organizing project :) This one is both.

Our office desk drawers were not that bad, but they definitely could use a little help. They certainly could use a little "prettying up."

I used scrapbook paper to line the drawers because I had a bunch of it, and most of it was pretty!

I already had the clear trays; I found them at a local dollar store a few years ago.

I think the overall result is way better, don't you? And best of all, this project cost us nothing.



Linking to Stonegable, Worthing Court, Cedar Hill Farmhouse, Confessions of a Plate Addict, and French Country Cottage!

Getting organized before baby: how to keep baby gear from taking over your house

Everyone knows babies require lots of...stuff. And if you're anti-clutter like me, then it's truly easy for all the baby stuff to take over your house and make you crazy. Our house is not big, and the house where we lived when Emorie was born was even smaller. One of the hardest challenges to storing baby items is finding a place to put everything.

Here are a few ways to combat the storage issues and most of them are pretty easy.

1. Only bring what you need into your home. 
A common idea among new parents is that you need everything for your baby before the baby is born. We were guilty of this the first time around, too. Now that we have had one baby, we are more conscious of what we need and when we need it. You can really cut down on the clutter by not bringing things you don't need yet into your home. For example, we are aware that our child won't need a high chair until she is at least six months old. For this reason, the high chair is being stored elsewhere until we need it. Another way to accomplish this is to look for items that are dual purpose. The first time around, we purchased a bassinet, a bouncer seat, a Pack 'n' Play, and several other items that we didn't need altogether. This time, we have realized we don't need a bouncer seat as the Pack 'n' Play has a built in bassinet that has the vibrate feature our bouncer seat had. We sold the bouncer seat. The Pack 'n' Play can be used in place of a co-sleeper or a bassinet, as it has a "newborn napper" attachment.

2. Donate/consign/pack away baby items that are outgrown/ no longer needed. 
If there are baby items that your child has outgrown or no longer needs, get them out of the house as soon as they're no longer needed. You can donate them, give them away, or consign them for a little money. If you're planning on having more kids, do what we did and pack them away until they're needed again.

3. Use "sneaky storage" spots to store things. 
Crib skirts are your best friend. When baby is tiny, the crib mattress is at its highest point. This provides you with a lot of storage, and the crib skirt will hide the mess. We have underbed storage bags and small plastic totes underneath Aubrey's crib, in which we are storing extra diapers, wipes, baby wash, and other small items.

4. Try a closet organizer 
My dad helped us build closet organizer shelves in both girls' closets to give us vertical storage, and this gave us nearly twice the space we had before. Now, we can store things in baskets in the middle of her closet, as well as on the top shelf and in the bottom.

5. Dresser drawer organizers keep items easily accessible. 
We have used dollar store containers, old wipes containers and plastic baskets to section off drawers so we can keep items separated and easy to find.

6. Try some storage furniture. 
We currently have one tall bookshelf and two cubby shelves in the playroom. We are in the process of getting another vertical shelf. We are going to use the shelves to store items belonging to our older daughter so we can keep items with small parts or art supplies out of baby's reach. We also plan to use the cubby drawers and baskets to corral smaller toys and keep them organized.

Do you have any tips for managing baby gear and not making your house look like a Babies 'R' Us store? Feel free to share!

Linking to Stonegable, Worthing Court, Cedar Hill Farmhouse, Confessions of a Plate Addict, and French Country Cottage!

Tuesday: Motherhood and Organization

Getting organized: Organization and Motherhood 

Photo by Hillary Graves Photography 

Motherhood and organization truly do go hand in hand. Well, let me rephrase that. Motherhood is messy, unpredictable, and often, nothing goes the way you'd planned- so the more organized you can be outside of those things, the better off you'll be. There aren't any do all to end all ways or formulas to make life with kids more organized, but as always, there are things I can share that are working for us. 

1. Have a good, well-structured routine. 

Luckily, my kiddo is like me- she craves order and routine. This makes having and sticking to a routine easier. When we get home, we immediately pack Mommy's lunch (E doesn't want to pack a lunch, so she eats daycare foods), lay out clothes for tomorrow, do chores and start dinner. After dinner and some play time, it is bath time, devotions and story reading time, and bed time. The hardest part of our routine to maintain is bath time and bed time- it's not surprising that we all function better when we stick to the bed and bath routine. 

2. Prepare for the next day, on the night before,  as much as you can. 

I've already mentioned that we pack lunches the day before, so all we have to do in the morning is grab the lunch box out of the fridge. We also set our clothes out the night before so we're not struggling in the morning. We make sure bags are by the door, and anything we need to bring with us that we don't usually have, we make sure it goes into the bags. On the weekends, we launder Emorie's daycare blankets and sheets and then put them right back into her bag for Monday. We also put dinner items in the fridge the night before so they'll be thawed and ready. 

3. Teach your kids to pick up and put up.

My kiddo has had the toy bins in her playroom labeled with a word and picture since she's had a playroom. I was initially chided by a family member that the labeling was well-intentioned, but she was far too young at 18 months to know where to put away her toys. She took to it well, and still knows where to find and put things away. Granted, sometimes getting her to put away her things is a battle at times, but she knows she has to do it, and she almost always does. 

4. Kids CAN do chores.

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Have you seen this post on Pinterest about age appropriate chores? Some of these I had never even thought of for my kiddo. Luckily, she is still at the age where it is fun to help Mama clean. I am planning on taking advantage of this as long as I can- I know she is eventually going to think cleaning is not fun and she'll try to get out of it. We don't have her making her bed just yet, but she can dust, help load the dishwasher and sweep. 

5. Regularly clean, organize and assess all kids' spaces

We have a bin in both girls' closets for outgrown clothing. We toss the clothes into the bins and either pack away Emorie's outgrown clothes for Aubrey to use, or we donate them. I have a similar bin in mine and the hubs' closet so we can do the same. We utilize consignment shops so we can get a little bit of money out of our donations. This cuts down on having outgrown items to take up spaces in closets. The same goes for toys- pack away outgrown toys and throw away the broken ones. 

6. Create an "emergency car kit" and keep it stocked at all times. 

We created a kit to keep in our van- we have a plastic "toolbox," filled with necessities such as baby wipes, tissues, hand sanitizer, bandaids, trash bags, extra feminine supplies, pen and paper, safety pins,  nonperishable snacks, cleaning wipes, and, now that we are having another baby, there is also an extra diaper or two. There is also a bin with CDs and DVDs, and one with books and toys for my kiddo on long car trips. Of course, you do need to keep an eye on the kit in case you are running low on something. 

What are some of the ways you keep your family and your kiddos organized? 

Linking to Stonegable, Worthing Court, Cedar Hill Farmhouse, Confessions of a Plate Addict, and French Country Cottage!

Getting organized: Organize your finances

Today, I'm going to talk about something that isn't that fun to talk about- organizing finances.

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This is admittedly one of my biggest struggles- we've gotten slightly better at organizing our finances, but we've far from arrived. Two of our best resources for organizing our finances are our home binder, the mail bins in our command center, and our "bills to pay" list in the command center. 

First, let me tell you how we use our home binder to track finances. We have an entire page dedicated to tracking finances. It is right behind our monthly  calendar, and even though we don't always use it the right way, it does give us a pretty good picture of monthly expenses. 

We also use our "week at a glance" sheets in the binder to write down what bills are due for the week, or what we need to spend that week if there is something extra coming due. 

We have three mail bins in our command center. The one on the left is for bills that are due. The center one is for bills that have been paid, but haven't cleared yet. The bin on the right is for things that need to be filed. Everything else goes to the shredder. 

We also use the second pic frame from the left to record what bills are due and the dates they are due. 

We have also tried to keep a grocery list to record what we run out of, and make a meal plan before shopping. This has cut down on impulse purchases dramatically. 

As I said before, we are still working to become better at organizing our finances, but we certainly have improved a lot. Do you have any ideas you'd like to share? 

Linking to Stonegable, Worthing Court, Cedar Hill Farmhouse, Confessions of a Plate Addict, and French Country Cottage!

Getting Organized: Command Centers

I've briefly talked about our command center before, but now I'm about to talk about it in depth.

The command center is completely DIY'd and we really do use it a lot. The bulletin board, which holds inspiration for me (pictures, Bible verses and quotes), is made from a large picture frame that the glass broke out of. We no longer used the frame, so I cut a piece of foam board to fit the frame and covered it in fabric. The calendar board was bought from Hobby Lobby, but the calendar is DIY'd with some line tape. Here is how our calendar looked a few months ago! 

Each week, we use the calendar to look at what bills are coming due, what other expenditures we'll have, and what important dates are coming up. The smaller red weekly calendar is where all of this information gets recorded. 

These frames hold our cleaning checklist, bill pay list (where we list what bills are due and when), the red weekly calendar, and a weekly menu board. The frames were $3 Dollar General specials and the items within the frames were made by me on the printer. 

The mail bins are just Chlorox Fresh Brush boxes covered with black canvas and adorned with mail plates.  You can read about how I made them here. We use these to organize bills that need to be paid, bills that need to clear, and bills that need to be filed. Everything else promptly goes to the shredder. 

Having this command center makes it so much easier to know what's going on in each family member's lives during the week, as well as helping us organize finances and eliminate piles of paper around the house. It's honestly one of the best things I ever did. 

Hope you'll join us next week for some financial organizing tips! Thanks for reading!

Linking to Stonegable, Worthing Court, Cedar Hill Farmhouse, Confessions of a Plate Addict, and French Country Cottage!

Organizing tools of the trade: Time management

I can organize a drawer with the best of them, but time management and organizing my time are not always my strong suits. Like many people, I'm very good at wasting time or just simply doing a poor job of managing my time. I've gotten significantly better at this in recent months, and I'll happily share some of the things that helped me become better at managing my time. As always, I'm not an expert. I've still got a lot to learn. If you have things that have worked well for you, please feel free to share them.

1. The Home Binder-

Getting organized: A new series

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Hello and happy Tuesday! I am debuting a new blog series this week, simply titled "Getting organized." This series is going to take a look at some organizing tools that I use and some that have been recommended to me. Here are some of the posts you will see in this new series:

1. Best organizing apps for your smart phone
2. The home binder
3. Keeping your closets organized
4. Command centers
5. Motherhood + organizing
6. Organizing finances

Once again, I am NOT a professional organizer. I'm not an expert. I'm just a human who craves order and has learned a few tricks to help me be more organized. I am only passing along that which I've already learned. I'm still looking to learn more, so please, if you have any ideas or tricks of your own, I'd love for you to contribute.

Linking to Stonegable, Worthing Court, Cedar Hill Farmhouse, Confessions of a Plate Addict, and French Country Cottage!