A Fresh Start Organizing

I’m Not Martha Monday – Making Fun of Organizing

2010-03-09T01:07:10Z

Making Fun of Organizing and Home Maintenance

Martha Stewart’s gardens are magical. When I own 100’s of acres of property with a staff to maintain it I will follow her gardening advice to a tee. As for now with my home and maintenance staff are so small I will have to pass on this tip…

An excerpt from her website…

Orchard mason bees are terrific pollinators, and they rarely sting, so they are a boon to any backyard. But unlike honeybees, these solitary bees don’t make hives; they seek shelter in narrow openings, such as the hollows of reeds and holes in trees.

I really would love to invite bee’s into my garden to help pollinate and make it thrive, but as of now I will leave it up to mother nature. Besides, who wants to have your kids and their friends running and screaming in fear of the bee’s and tending to many bee stings. Martha may say the stings are rare, but when your property in measured in square feet as opposed to acres, the odds of the bees stinging the kids is one I don’t want to discover!

I’m Not Martha Mondays are ways to poke fun at excessive home maintenance and organizing. Perfectionism hinders us from having fun…so let’s make fun of perfectionism and realize all we have are 24 hours in a day. Do you want to be making bee hives or reading a book to your child? Hmm…

I’m Not Martha Monday – Making Fun of Organizing

2010-03-01T18:00:52Z

I love being funny! If you know me I am sarcastic and like to poke fun. I am no comedian, but I wish I was! (I really can’t tell a joke – AT ALL!). I do though like to see the fun in organizing. I am planning a new blog series of posts on Monday’s making fun of organizing and home tips that are so out of my ability to do or fit in my day. I hope you can see that organizing is not about perfection, but is about simplifying things in your life to have time for more FUN! I hope you enjoy and participate! Send me your I’m Not Martha ideas and I will share them here!

I was going to start off my series with one idea, but today I received the Tip of the Day in my email inbox from Martha Stewart’s website. I had to post it because to me it is so fitting!

Martha Stewart Download

There are three cooking charts to download. It is recommended to download on heavy stock paper, laminate and attach magnets to the back to keep on your refrigerator. My giggles came immediately when I saw the first of the three charts on the download. It is a candy making temperature guide! Ok, if you make your own candy – you amaze me! But really – candy making. I mean it surrounds me at every checkout line I stand in. I can’t even fathom making my own candy. The time to clean it up is so not worth it to me. Again, if you can do this, more power to you! I will be the one in the candy aisle making the hard decision of which one I want to ruin my diet with!

On a side note I can see the value in the other two charts, even though I don’t think I want them gracing my refrigerator! Hello, I have Stainless Steel and magnets won’t stick!

Are you a candy maker? Would you find the value in printing, cutting, laminating and making a magnet of this chart?

28 Days to Love Your Home – Day 25

2010-02-26T05:40:10Z

Organizing Tips to Love Your Home

Day 25

We are nearing the end of the month and I hope you have a sense of accomplishment for all your hard work. Staying in our love theme, I want to talk about the love/hate relationship we have with our clothes. You may hear the same organizing advice over and over again, but for some reason, your closet remains overstuffed and doesn’t quite function. It is because it is poorly designed, right? It’s just not big enough, right? It is an old closet so it is not accustom to modern day ways of life, right? All I can say is, “yeah right”!

My favorite client expression is that they aren’t into fashion, but for some reason can’t seem to get all their clothes to fit in the closet. Whether you are Paris Hilton loving and setting fashion trends or not, you can still have a hard time parting with clothes. We all know the clothes we keep because they used to fit – anyone who has gained and lost weight knows skinny jeans are not the tight fitting jeans everyone is wearing, but the jeans we wore when we were skinny!

Why do we have such a hard time getting rid of clothes? There are the comfort clothes (old and holed sweats), the ridiculous amount of money spent clothes, the I may have an occasion to wear this again clothes and the I will loose the weight and wear these clothes again. We all have clothes in our closet we bought with intent to wear, yet never put it on. Clothes may have a sentimental attachement to them but regardless of sentimentality, we seem strangely attached to clothes.

I want you to go into your closet and take an honest look at the clothes in there. What is your reason for holding onto clothes you don’t wear. The Pareto Principe states we wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time. I have a few friends who break this rule as it seems they wear everything in their expansive closets, but this is not the norm. What are your go to clothes? If you have clothes you don’t wear, think about why.

One reason for clothes not worn is that the closet is so stuffed you can’t see what you have. An organized closet is more than visually appealing. It will save you time and money. I am not kidding! You will find what you want to wear faster and will be dressing more efficiently. And as far as savings go, you will know what you have and learn what you like to wear. Many times people purchase a repeat of what they already own because they forgot they had it (lost in the sea of hangers and clothes).

I wrote an article for Divine Caroline on organizing your closet. Check it out:

Bored With Your Wardrobe

And I wrote a blog post earlier on organizing your closet:

Create Your Own Shopping Boutique

Now get to it…clear out those closet for good. Donate those clothes and feel good doing it. Let us know how many bags you cleared out.

Do you have any tips you use for organizing your closet? Share them here!

28 Days to Love Your Home – Day 24

2010-02-25T05:49:34Z

Organizing Tips to Love Your Home

Day 24

I love to look at photos of beautiful bathrooms. They are always so neat and clean and pristine! I am a clean freak and these photos show shiny, sparkling chrome and tile – love it! I also love to look at rolled towels and beautiful glass apothecary jars in clean cabinets and shelves. The one thing though is that most likely no person has every used this space! Especially not my husband! I think I dream of the untouched space and want to have a room like that that only I can use!

I have visions of beautiful bathrooms and hope one day I can design my own! We have lived in 7 homes since we have been married. I have had many different sizes of bathrooms. Some with a ton of storage and some that I didn’t want to store anything in (no matter how much paint and shelf liner, the cabinets still grossed me out!). I found that the more storage I had the more I stored in them!

I think where most people go wrong in the organization of the bathroom is product remorse. You have bought soaps, make up, hair care products, face products and medicines that didn’t quite work the way you thought. You hold onto them because they weren’t cheap and you feel guilty having spent money on it. The, “maybe one day I will give it another try” bottles line up in your cabinets and drawers and start to take over. You now have no room for towels, a hair dryer or anything else that is normally stored in the bathroom.

Today is the day to let it go. Storing an item will not bring back money for it. If you really feel bad, see if a local shelter could use the unused portions. This can make you feel a little less guilty for the money you spent. Clear out to just what you need and try to limit the back ups to one. I like to have one shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and such on hand. When one runs out I have a back up and have time to put it on my list before I am stuck washing my hair with dish soap (just kidding).

Getting the bathroom in tip top shape is easy if you pair down to what you use. I would say need, but that word is hard for some. I may “need” it one day plays in their head. So get down to what you use instead. I mean really use. Not the foot scrubber you used once. The things you are really using on a daily or weekly basis.

Things to think about in organizing your bathroom:

Towels – How often do you do laundry? How many days will you use one before you change? For some, no matter how green they want to be, they want a new towel everyday. For some, it is one a week. I can’t tell you what is right for you, but I can tell you to have enough to get you through the week. No more than that!
Products – As I mentioned before, one you are using and one for back up. That is enough. This applies for soaps, lotions, shampoos, etc.
Make up – I have written a few posts on make up organizing. See them here:

Unburying Your Make Up Treasures

Make Over Your Make Up

Toilet paper – Ok…what is the deal with the jumbo Costco toilet paper storage. I understand the savings, but I where do you keep it? I like the toilet paper holders that you keep next to the toilet. They may not be the most decorative (although you can find nice ones) but there is nothing worse than being left with no toilet paper to spare! A basket next to the toilet with a few extra rolls is nice, too. If you are a Costco fanatic, find a place to keep the jumbo extras and keep a few backups close by!

Like any organizing project, you need to figure out what you really need, figure out where you need it to be to be efficient, and have an easy way to put it back where it belongs. Your bathroom will be a place of rejuvenation with good organization. Your bathroom will also be a place of efficiency to get you out the door quickly with good organization. Love on your bathroom and make it a place you like to spend time in!

28 Days to Love Your Home – Day 23

2010-02-24T04:49:25Z

Organizing Tips to Love Your Home

Day 23

What are you doing in the bedroom? (Get your mind out of the gutter!) So many of us have turned our master bedrooms into multitasking hubs. Most people will tell you to get everything out of the bedroom and leave it as a retreat for you and your significant other (yes, a dog counts as a significant other!) I am all for keeping your room as a sanctuary, but for some, depending on your home, this may be the only place to actually get things done. Smaller homes need multitasking rooms. So can you have a retreat, an office, a laundry room and a play room all in one? You can if you try to keep it zoned off.

Whether you are using the master bedroom for a retreat or a multi-functioning central point in the home, organizing plays a key role in making it work. You can’t have clutter surrounding you and go to bed at ease. (I do know some who can, but it is very rare!) I like to ask my clients to envision how they want the space to look and feel. I ask them to think of their favorite hotel experience.

Hotel rooms are set up to have many functions. From work (the writing desk they provide) to laundry (the iron and ironing board) to sleep, you are able to function in the space. Part of the reason we function so well in a hotel room (besides maid service) is the fact we have less in the space. You traveled with a limited amount!

Break your room down to smaller zones. Do you need to work in your room? Then you need an adequate functioning desk. If work out in your room, what equipment do you need? Does it have a home? Also, laundry is a major function of the master. Do you have sufficient space to work on it? For many, your kids need to be entertained in your room. I know, this doesn’t scream retreat, but if you want a shower and you have a toddler, this may be the only way to get one in for the day!

Once you know what needs to take place in the space, and you have created zones for each activity, it is time to remove everything that doesn’t belong. If you have returns to the store, get them out of your room. If you have storage items, find a home for them (I know easier said than done, but for now we are working on your master!) Think about what isn’t serving a purpose and remove it! Your bedroom may serve many purposes, but long term storage is not one of them.

Following are things I think are great for a master bedroom:

A current picture of you and your love. Remind yourself of love in the space.
A nightstand. This is not to fill with stuff! Keep only what you use at night or first thing in the morning on the nightstand. Decorate it so you keep it clutter free.
A good lamp next to the bed. If you read in bed or if you need to get up in the middle of the night for a sick child, a lamp next to the bed is important.
Good bedding. I am not talking about the million thread count that Oprah sleeps on, but a nice set will make you want to keep your bed clutter free.
A chair or bench. Besides being a place to put your shoes on, it just looks nice. If you are a reader, make it a reading nook. Just beware if you like to pile clothes on it. It is not a hanger!
Good window coverings. A dark room allows for better sleep!

If you are the type who hangs clothes on your exercise bike or pile things up on a chair, catch yourself in the act of doing it. What are you thinking when you do it? Is it because it can be worn again, or because it needs to be repaired? Figure out the why behind it and find a solution. If you are going to wear it again, hang it up in a separate section in your closet for the “worn, but can be worn again” clothes. If it needs attention, put a basket in your closet for “to be dealt with” and write down in your calendar when you will deal with it.

If you need to keep work in your room, have a way to close up shop for the night. If you have only a lap top and some pens and pencils, give it a home besides your nightstand. Have a basket for work related items you can place away from the bed. If you have a desk in your bedroom make sure you have dedicated enough time in your day for clean up Take 15 minutes to check your work for the next day, clear off papers, and prepare for the next day. If you are organized for the next day you will have an easier time sleeping.

Do you do fold laundry in your room? I have found if I carry our laundry upstairs to the master (Yes, I want to know who put the laundry room so far away from where clothes are worn!) I fold the laundry on my bed. It is a large space to separate as I fold. I create the piles for each family member to go to their prospective rooms. (Yes, I make them put it away!) I can watch TV and fold. Yipee! (Just kidding, I hate folding laundry and putting it away!) At least I have the space to work in my master. I am still holding out for an amazing laundry room so large I have space to fold and separate, have it next to the bedrooms, and have Martha Stewart’s staff assisting me. But I am dreaming right?! (Did you notice I have a lot of parentheses in this paragraph!)

Do you have toys in your room? (PG blog) Kids toys that is. I love when designers and organizers tell parents get the toys out of the bedroom. For parents with small children, having toys in the bedroom may be the only way the you get a shower in for the day. A small basket of toys in the room is ok, as long as the toys aren’t taking over. Also, think about the age of your children. An 8 year old’s toys don’t belong! Set boundaries for YOUR space.

Make your room everything it needs to be. We all are sleep deprived and your bedroom should be a place to refresh yourself. Who doesn’t want a great night sleep? I know that I can fall asleep easy, because my room is clutter free. I am not thinking of all I have to do because it is not staring me in the face.

What’s going on in your bedroom? What needs to change? What seems to accumulate in your room? Tell us how you plan on changing it!

28 Days to Love Your Home – Day 22

2010-02-22T19:14:48Z

Organizing Tips to Love Your Home

Day 22

One week left on loving our homes! I am so thankful for my followers and hope you have been getting some valuable tips and motivation to fall back in love with your homes! I have been talking about kids spaces…those hard to keep clean and organized areas of our homes! Now it is time to work on the dreaded area – study spaces. Whether you are a homeschooler (bless you…I would be fired from that job on day one) or just need a place for homework to take place, organization is vital in making the study space a welcoming one. I am still not sure I have met a child who WANTS to do homework instead of play, so if you have one – lucky you!

I did a post on this called Homework Haven earlier in the school year. If you read it I talk about how my son chose to do homework in his room. Well, six months later and we have a desk in my office for him! Knowing you child and how they work best is key to success. My son is social and wants to be with people. He thought he wanted to study in his room – but would feel so left out he would make his way back down to the kitchen. I was so tired of the papers all over our small kitchen that we invested in a desk in my office. Low and behold he actually will do his homework on his own and I sit at my desk and get work done! Yeah us! The point here is to find out what works best for your child!

Here are a few items I think are vital for your homework station:

1. Clean and Orderly. If it is the kitchen table, the kitchen counter, your office desk, their desk, their bed or the car (Yes, I said it. My kids and their carpool friends are happy homework doers in the car! They are locked up in seat belts- genius!) Again regardless of where they are doing it, give them space to do it. Also, clutter and mess are visual distractions, so unless you want homework to last longer than it should, keep it clear!

A child doing homework will be distracted by anything…the dog breathing, the bird that flew by, the loud car coming down the street. We know as adults, the more distractions the longer it takes to do something. Multiply that by 1000 and you can understand how hard it is for kids. We can’t do too much about the dog breathing or the noise from the street, but we can control it by clearing the unnecessary clutter and mess from their work space. I am not saying you have to clean up after them, I am saying you need to keep your stuff out of their way if they are utilizing shared space for their homework.

2. Supplies. I cannot tell you how many times my son leaves things behind. His protractor is never at home when he needs it. He forgets everything. Really. A habit we just can’t seem to break. He even forgot his report so many days in a row that he turned it in late. He was bawling (11 year old boys crying is so not cute) so you would think he would learn from it…not a chance. So having extra supplies on hand can make or break your homework rhythm. Now if only I could duplicate the actual work to come home…I am waiting for virtual learning tools to make their way onto the scene.

3. Home. No, I don’t mean your home. I mean the items your child uses need homes. Like where to put their back packs, where to store their supplies, where to keep project that are still in progress…If you don’t assign a place for these items, they get lost in the shuffle. Trust me, when your child has been in school for 6 or more hours and is hungry, tired and doesn’t want to do their homework, looking for what they need is not going to go over so well! Assign homes for their items and get them in the habit of putting things back where they belong. Regardless if you have a large desk for them to work at or the kitchen table, their items need a home, too. If you need to store the items out of the way during off homework hours, use a caddy that can hold all the items needed.

I like caddies with smaller sections. This can help separate their supplies so they aren’t wasting time digging for what they need!

Find fun products your kids will want to use. Make sure they are easy to use though. If it is has too many things to get it open or close, chances are they won’t put it back! Think fun and easy when looking for anything organizing for kids!

Where do your kids like to do their homework? What is your secret to success? Remember sharing is caring so post your comments!

28 Days to Love Your Home – Day 21

2010-02-22T01:04:57Z

Organizing Tips to Love Your Home

Day 21

Bathrooms can accumulate a lot of clutter. Kids bathrooms can be a magnet for mess! Keeping the bathroom clean and neat is tough. Really tough. Between the toothpaste everywhere, the wet floors, toilets that must move when the kids aim (if you have boys you know what I am talking about), and wet toys that take on a life of their own (not sure the bacteria that grows inside them is a good thing!), a bathroom for little ones can be a war zone!

My boys share a very small bathroom. There is one open shelf for storage and a small countertop. We HAVE to keep it under control! But, as I have cooed over before, our home in Tennessee had a large bathroom in each of my boys rooms. I have found through all 7 homes we have lived in (yes 7 in 10 years…we are nuts!) there are a few keys to keeping a child’s bathroom clean and neat.

1. Organize the Drawers. I have talked repeatedly about drawer organizers. I must say in a kids bathroom, go inexpensive! I love the plastic Rubbermaid Drawer Organizers. Because I have a small countertop, there is little that sits on the counter. I keep the tooth brushes in the drawer in their own organizer space. I try my best to make sure the kids put their toothbrushes back in their own assigned drawer organizer so they don’t spread germs. I use a drawer organizer for floss and threaders (a brace face necessity). There is also a place for the toothpaste and any medications (hello athletes foot runs rampant in our boys -EEWWW!). These organizers keep the nasty toothpaste drips separate from the medicines and so forth! It keeps the mess contained and I only have to clean one container instead of the whole drawer!

2. Hooks for towels. Our home in Tennessee was a new construction and it came with NO towel bars and toilet paper holders. This was actually a blessing. Not only did I get the chance to pick what I wanted, but I wasn’t limited to what they had chosen. Usually a towel bar is installed in the bathroom. I prefer hooks. I had spent the first part of my marriage re-hanging the towels after my husband had showered. It was never lined up nicely. It would drive me crazy (there is a part in the movie Sleeping With The Enemy with Julia Roberts where her crazy husband sees the the towels aren’t lined up and goes nuts…I was verging on this!) I finally realized he would never put the towels back the way I wanted. So I fell in love with hooks. Now, the towels are hung up and I am not wasting time adjusting towels like a crazy person!

3. Toy storage. If you have kids, you have toys. Bathtubs are multitasking machines. They are play zones and cleaning zones all rolled into one! For our home, our small kids bathroom also serves as the guest bath. We cannot leave the kids toys scattered all over the bathtub floor. Also, I feel like the toys get nasty if they don’t have enough time to dry out – hello germs! So I love toy storage for the bathroom. I love any storage with holes that let air in. Take a look at these options. You can see I am not a fan of mesh…I personally think it gross, but that is just me. I will not think twice if you love mesh holders!

4. Hair Care. I have two boys, so no hair accessories are worn in our home (except me). But working with clients with young girls, I know how hard it is to keep the hair products under control. We do have one large bin that hides all the gels and hairsprays we use on the boys. My boys have cal-licks that take more products than Dolly Parton uses! You would think we are trying to hold up mohawks instead of just trying to tame the hair fairy! I just pull out the bin, tame the hair beasts and then throw everything back in and put it away. So easy!

For girls, you require more accessories. I love anything clear for ease and convenience. Clear acrylic/plastic jars are great for hair accessories. Kids will see what they want to get out and will easily toss it back in when they are done. Also, there are some adorable Etsy products where you can find fun new ideas for storing hair accessories. Also, a great idea is a jewelry organizer that can hang on the back of the door.

Now it is time for you to clear out your kids bathrooms. Clear out the drawers and cabinets and get rid of anything that you don’t need anymore. This means have used bottles of shampoo your kids don’t like, old sunscreens, and other products that you’ve kept for years but never used! Get down to what you actually use now and a FEW back ups. A few extra rolls of TP are suffice, that is unless you store things in them for the whole house! Clear out the broken hair accessories, clear out the broken and mildewed toys, and clear out the extra stuff you don’t NEED!

I would love to see before and after pictures! What do you do to keep your kids bathroom under control? Share your tips and tricks!

28 Days to Love Your Home – Day 20

2010-02-21T00:45:50Z

Organizing Tips to Love Your Home

Day 20

I have an organizing nemesis! I know I am not alone, because I work with many moms who have the same problem. Children’s art is one of the hardest things I find to organize! Isn’t it so hard to throw away something your child made? Especially when the art has “I Love You Mommy” written on it!

I had an Ah Ha Moment (thank you Oprah for coining this phrase) one day when I was looking at my hall closet. This is where I had been hiding my problem. Every time my kids would bring home their arts and crafts, I would leave it on the kitchen counter for a few days and then move it into the hall closet. I just couldn’t figure out how to deal with it. The arts and crafts come in all different shapes and sizes. Not only are they different in size and shape, but the volume of what comes home is so overwhelming! I couldn’t come up with how to deal with it all.

My Ah Ha Moment came from my need to face my problem. I couldn’t be an organizer and have this clutter problem hiding in my closet! I couldn’t believe I didn’t know what to do. I knew I would run into a client who would need help with this as well, so I thought long and hard about how to fix the hidden clutter. As I have stated before, boundaries and limits are vital in organizing. I needed to set the boundaries of what I was to keep and what I was going to let go. Here are the guidelines I set as the boundaries to what art I keep and how I could keep it:

What to Save:

Art that is art. This is the work they spent a long time on. They worked on this with passion and vision. This is not the quick squiggle on a page or blob of paint on paper.
Art, crafts or schoolwork that show progression. This is the type work that shows they advanced. Like the first time they draw a picture of a person where they have no neck or hands and then one that shows a body with details.
Art, crafts or schoolwork that is about them and/or their family. These are pictures or essays of summer vacations, what they want to be when they grow up, pictures of the family doing a favorite activity…
Their first. Their first spelling test, their first self portrait, their first book report…

What Not To Save:

Art with food attached. The glued on Cheerios, the painted pasta noodles, the food coloring dyed rice…You are only asking for bugs and rodents!
Any thing with glitter on it. That is unless you want everything you own to have glitter on it, because it will only attach itself to everything in your home.
Any bulky or over sized arts and crafts. Seriously, how much room do you have to store your children’s art? These are too hard to store!

I have found another way to help decide what I will part with. I have an art gallery for my children’s work. No, I haven’t rented a store front and opened up shop. I have a place in my office (where I spend a lot of time) where we display the kids art and school work. Each child has their own magnetic write on wipe off board. I purchased wooden letters (their initials) at Michael’s Craft Store and spray painted the letters black to match the board. Then I glued magnets to the backs of the letters and placed them at the top of the board. They each have a large display space but with boundaries.

Once their board is full of art and they bring home more, I ask the children what they want to take down to put up the new art. The children are usually most proud of their recent accomplishments, so they want to take things down to put their new work up. I am always surprised to see what they are “over” and what they still love. Involving them is a great way to take the pressure off of what they value!

The board I use works for me, but this is not to say you have to follow what I did. Here are a few suggestions for displaying your children’s work:

Magnetic, Cork or Fabric Boards.
Moulding to create a large frame on the wall.
A designated area on a wall (be careful how you attach to the wall!)

*I don’t recommend the refrigerator for displaying children’s art. Your kitchen will seem cluttered. If this is the only place to put it, don’t layer! Keep it to a contained limit of how much can go up!

So now you have items that you have decided to keep. First decided what you are keeping for you and what you are keeping for each child. We need to look at what we are keeping and why. We don’t want to pass on a bunch of “stuff” to our kids! Think about the stuff and what their reaction will be when you pass on a bunch of needless stuff.

I think the hardest part for me in this whole process is how to save it. I had a pretty good idea of what we were going to keep, but then how it was supposed to be stored stumped me. I have found I am not a scrapbooker. All the things I liked seemed to be more like scrap booking type solutions and I knew I wouldn’t keep them up. Finding the right storage solution was vital for me in my maintenance. If it is a struggle, I won’t keep it up.

Storage Solutions

Scrapbook. Bless you if you are gifted in this craft. This is something I have tried and failed at. But if this is your idea of fun, use the larger books for the odd size art work. If you want to keep over sized art work, you may have to fold the paper.
Notebooks and page protectors. You can easily slip papers into the page protectors, but again you may have to fold larger art work.
Storage bins. You can use these like a file drawer. Stand the art work up and create dividers by age or grade.

If you are can break the sentimental bond to the actual artwork or crafts, I love the idea of taking a photo of the project and creating photo books. You will still need to set boundaries and limits, but the volume is cut down significantly when you take a photo! Also creating a photo book of your kids art is quick and simple when you use the numerous services out there.

www.Kodakgallery.com
www.snapfish.com
www.shutterfly.com
www.inkubook.com
For Mac users, iPhoto

There are also companies that will scan your children’s art work and create books for you!

www.souvenartbooks.com
www.forkeepsbook.com
www.artimusart.com

There are so many ways you can gain control over the art. Do you have any tips and tricks to share? Are you ready to face the art monster? Share with us!

Budding Artists-Taming Your Children’s Art Clutter

28 Days to Love Your Home – Day 19

2010-02-20T00:10:01Z

Organizing Tips to Love Your Home

Day 19

Does your child’s room look like Target and Toys R Us unloaded a shipment of toys directly into their room? Can you find the floor amongst the stuffed animals, Legos, Polly Pockets, Transformers and Brats Dolls? When there are so many toys, our kids have a tendency still tell us they are boarded and have nothing to play with! Did you know that less is more, even in the case of toys! (Don’t tell your kids this..it’s our little secret!)

We love our kids right? (I know some days that questions is harder to answer than others…I tell my kids I always love you, I just don’t like what you did!) So as we are loving on our homes, our kids rooms are not to be ignored! I am a big proponent of teaching your children to take care of themselves. Teaching them to care for their belongings at an early age will be one of the greatest investments you can do. But you can’t expect your kids to care for their belongings if they don’t know how. We need to set them up for success!

There is not a one way solution for organizing toys! I am sorry I can’t give you an immediate solution, but I can give you guidelines to make it easier to do it yourself. I have a 3 Step Plan for getting control of your kids toys and having them help keep the room clean. Follow along:

Step 1: Purge Party

I don’t care if you have large or small rooms in your home, the principles apply no matter what! I have small bedrooms currently, but when we lived in Tennessee, our boys rooms were bigger than our upstairs is now! Regardless of size, it is time to purge. Gather all the toys in the room and begin to sort. If the toy is broken – it is time to toss it. Unless you are great at fixing things, toss the broken toys. Also, it is time to toss the toys that are missing pieces. The odds of finding the missing piece is about as good as me getting back into my junior high jeans!

For all they toys that remain, evaluate what they actually play with. I find most kids do want to keep all their toys, regardless if they have not played with them in years. They reattach themselves and are very committed to playing with the toys again. (Strange how they love their baby toys all over again when they are 9 years old!) To avoid the battle, I use the “Two Week Bag” technique. I find the toys I am sure they haven’t played with in a long time and think they never will again, and then place them in the two week bag and stash the bag in a place the kids would never be. If they ask for a toy that is in the bag, I tell them I will look for the toy in a little while. The toy will reappear and the kids are happy. If they haven’t asked for it in two weeks, the toy is donated or stored for future use. Out of sight out of mind is the key ingredient!

Once you have done your initial purge, it is time to ask the kids to help purge. Kids need and incentive to purge. I had one client offer her girls a new American Girl doll if they got rid of all the Barbies and Polly Pockets. The girls were so excited they happily gave up the toys. (If you have ever tried to keep track of Barbie shoes or Polly Pockets anything you can envision the happy dance that was performed by the mom!) This is not to say material things are needed to give incentive. You can tell the kids there will be more room for sleepovers, more space to play a game they like, or whatever motivates them.

Now one additional aspect of the purge is the parents attachment to the toys. You spent money on it! You have sweet memories of your children playing with it. You feel guilty if the relative or friend who gave them the toy finds out they no longer want it…The list goes on and on. Don’t guilt your child into keeping a toy. I have seen it over and over again. The child is ready to let go and the parent comes behind and says, “Oh, but you just got that and it was so expensive”. The child now holds onto it. This underestimated their decision making and hinders the progress! So if the toy is rejected by the kids…HOLD YOUR TONGUE!

Step 2: Location, Location, Location

Now that you are down to a manageable amount, it is time to assign homes for the toys. Like Dorothy says, “There’s no place like home”, and there is no better relation to that than finding homes for the toys! Get your children involved in this part of the process. If they take ownership in where things go, than they have no excuse as to why it is not put back. Also, this gives them a sense of independence. Don’t second guess where they want to keep something. You can suggest and guide, but ultimately if you want the child to clean up their rooms by themselves, they will be more likely to do it if they have some say in the organizing process.

Homes are places we (typically) want to return to. Look at the space and try to zone out where the toys will go. Try not to keep everything spread out across the room. This will make it hard to clean up. Set up stations like a preschool does. Think of categories and groups. Again, keep your children involved in this. What they think of a grouping may not be your idea, but if it works for them, that is all that matters. Remember to think on a child’s level, literally! Get down on your knees and see from your child’s perspective. If things are high or hard to get to, the kids may get the toy out, but forget them putting it away!

Containers are boundaries. Boundaries are set to create a limit. Limits are vital in organizing. If you need containers to help assign homes, think like a child! Clear plastic containers are great because the kids can see through them to know what is inside. This helps avoid the dump and run game kids like to play while looking for their toy of choice! Also, color containers are good for keeping things separated. You can assign colors to certain categories, like purple for doll clothes, or blue for action figures. Make sure the containers are durable! Nothing worse than seeing what a kid can do to an adorable basket..it isn’t pretty!

Labels help in more ways than you know. I know some feel it is organizing overkill, but for kids, it is vital. The excuses that fly, “I didn’t know where it was supposed to go” do work! Whether the label is a picture, words or a combination of the two, your kids (and their playmates) will know where the toys belong! Preschools use it and so should you!

Step 3: Maintain So You Don’t Go Insane

Maintenance is vital in keeping the toys at bay. Regularly purging through the toys is important so you don’t have major overhauls. Before any holidays, birthdays or special occasions where kids may be getting toys, purge before you bring anything else in. The incentive for the child it to make room for the new. Teach them about the “One In One Out” rule. For every toy that comes in, one must be donated. You are teaching your children generosity, sharing, and how to avoid living with excess!

In addition to regular purging and finding new homes for new toys, avoid giving in to buying just because! I am a reformed toy giver as a reward for making the kids go with me to run errands. Yes, my son had over 50 Hot Wheels before he was 3 because he got a new Hot Wheel every time we went to Target. It was a cheap investment (under a $1 at the time) but what were we to do with all the cars!!! My son didn’t care for the toys because there were so many he didn’t need to. He knew a new one was coming next week! So learn from a former giveaholic…detox the need to give just because!

Less is more. Our kids don’t know this concept. Between getting all the toys from Happy Meals and Party Favors (even now as gift bags after a sporting event!) our kids rarely go without a new toy a week! Think before you give clutter to another family and before you give it to your own. Your kids will survive with less…and you will be surprised how much more they appreciate their toys when they don’t have so many!

What do you do to limit your kids toys? Do you have a creative way of storing them? Do you use a “Two Week Bag” technique? Fill us in on all your great advice and challenges!

28 Days to Love Your Home – Day 18

2010-02-19T01:32:38Z

Organizing Tips to Love Your Home

Day 18

This month as we love on our homes, we can’t ignore our dreaded rooms…especially our children’s rooms. The little girl in this picture cracks me up. She looks guilty, overwhelmed and innocent all in one expression! I think this is so true of our kids as they try to navigate cleaning up their rooms. Getting your kids involved in the cleaning and organizing is not as hard as you think! Don’t get me wrong. This is not a Barney TV show with all the kids happily singing and cleaning as they go. This is a way to take the overwhelm out of the dreaded clean!

Today we will tackle the clothes. Children are so small yet we seem to think they need more clothes than a fashion model! So how much is too much? That answer varies from family to family. I like to break it down to:

How often do you do laundry?
What activities do they participate in? How often?
Are they really dirty kids? (I have one that is cleaner than the other…the younger one!)
Do they wear uniforms?

Depending on how you answer these questions, you can guesstimate how much they actually need. From socks and underwear to t-shirts and jeans, really think about how much they truly need. Also, for special occasion outfits, how many do you really need? My kids get dressed up honestly about 2 times a year! We go to a casual church and love to eat at casual restaurants – so for school functions and random special events, we don’t need to hold onto dressy outfits! I know dressing two boys is not the same as two girls, but think before you give into your fashion divas clothing demands!

After you get a good idea of what you need, your next step is to see what you have actually fits and that they like it! We need to realize what we like and what our children like can be very different! We need to let our children have a say in what they want to keep. That is not to say we let our little girls wear mini skirts and midriff bearing shirts, but with guidelines we want to give our children fashion freedom! Do think, our kids tend to gravitate toward the same clothes over and over again, so why hold onto something they just won’t wear (or at least won’t wear without a wrestling match to get it on them!)

Once you weed out to what you need and what fits and what they will wear, it is time to put it away. This is easier than you think. Every room is different. You may have loads of hanging space and little dresser space or vice versa. Or, you may have little of both! No matter what you have, there are storage solutions to fit your needs. But you can buy a thousand products to solve your storage dilemmas and nothing will change if you don’t purge first!!!

I like to store anything in a drawer standing up. Think about when you put clothes away in a drawer. If you stack clothes on top of each other, you wear what is on top and rarely wear what is underneath! Also, if you want to wear something that is toward the bottom of the stack you mess up the stack trying to get the what you want out. To store standing upright, you need to fold a little differently. It usually takes one additional fold to fit the depths of a dresser drawer. You will be putting one behind another. In this case you will see what you have in the drawer! Your kids will love to see what they have! It is easier to keep the drawer organized and clean! They won’t be on a scavenger hunt every time they go to get dressed! (Look at the last photo in this post to see what I mean. The socks are lined up instead of stacked up.)

For hanging clothes, keep things easy for the children to hang. For younger children, a second bar in the closet helps utilize the wasted space (did you know kids clothes are much smaller than ours?!?). Young children can hang up clothes on their own, so make it easy for them to help! (Yes, 4 year olds can hang up their own clothes if taught how!) I know some kids who will change themselves seven times a day if they have access to their clothes, but this may change if they are responsible for hanging the clothes back up!!!

Make categories of clothing. For drawers, keep separate spaces for underwear, socks, shorts, pants, pj’s, short sleeve shirts, long sleeve shirts, etc. The same for hanging clothes. Group and separate shorts, pants, skirts, short sleeve shirts, long sleeve shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, etc. Not only is it easier to get your kids to help put things away in order, but it will be easier for your kids to get dressed! Who doesn’t want to save some time in the morning when getting the kids ready! I like these drawer dividers to keep the clothing from migrating around the drawer!

Asking your kids their opinion on how and where things are stored is one of the most helpful way to get them to keep up their rooms themselves. Ask them how they want to categorize their clothing. Ask them where they want to keep it. Their opinion matters!

What do you do to keep your kids clothes under control? Do they help keep up their rooms by putting away their own laundry? Do you have a fashion diva that needs an intervention? Share with us your tips and troubles!!!

28 Days to Love Your Home – Day 17

2010-02-18T02:11:10Z

Organizing Tips to Love Your Home

Day 17

What is hiding in your linen closet? I ask this because like a hall closet, it seems to get abused. Things are stuffed, shoved and hidden in this closet and left for dead. When we go to actually get sheets or towels out, they seem to all jump out at the same time as if they may be rescued from disorganized mayhem! Keeping a linen closet organized is not as difficult as it may seem.

First, we need to empty it out and wipe down the shelves. We do in fact want a Fresh Start now don’t we? (yes shameful plug for my business!) Also, you don’t want dusty sheets and towels now do you? So get cleaning!

After you have sparkling shelves, start sorting and purging. Keep only what you NEED! I like to have two sets of sheets per bed. One on and one in the closet. If you like to switch out your sheet sets for seasons, keep in the linen closet only what the current season is. The additional sheets can be store in a less convenient area (high up in the closet, under the bed, under another bed, in a drawer in the guest room…). Also, I like to keep three towels per person in the house. I am big on all white – cause it is easy! I can bleach them when they are grungy, I can wash them all together, I can use the same one in every bathroom in the house…the list of advantages go on and on.

Other things that may be kept in a linen closet are extra pillows, blankets, cloth napkins and table cloths. Be realistic with your space. If you have room to store lots of extras, you are very blessed. But for the most part, we only need a minimal amount. I have had clients baulk at me because of their kids needs. From sleep-overs to forts, people feel they need so many extras. Here is my answer to that…if you have an extra set of sheet for all the beds in the home, you have enough for sleep-overs and forts! Unless your sheets are made of gold, why would you not just use these spares? Also, how many extra pillows do you really need? Can’t you ask the kids coming over for a sleep-over to bring their own? Think how you can get by with less. Your bulging closet will thank you!

For your table linens, think about how often you really use them and how much you really need. I like the concept of white. Please don’t tell me it is boring! I love that I can dress up the white with anything! It is so simple, because anything matches it! I get to use any accent color I want! I look at it as a blank slate that I can be as creative with as I see fit. Also, it can be as sophisticated or casual depending on what you decorate with!

Once you get down to what you REALLY need, assign homes for your linens. You will be surprised how helpful this is. Label once you have arranged the space. This will help when others go to look for what they need and help them put things away (remember to delegate chores!!!). If you have as much trouble getting your sheet sets to stack (you know the leaning tower of sheets!) as I do, try using a basket to hold each set. Looks clean and neat, whether it really is or not! Love to fool the eye into thinking everything is looking good!

I will say, I don’t use my linen closet for linens any longer! I keep the spare set of sheets in the bedrooms they belong to! I use the high closet shelf in one bedroom for the extra set of pillows (2) for sleep-over guests. Also, I keep spare towels in each bathroom! (I got caught out of the shower with no towel a few too many times!) I keep my table linens in a drawer in my living room. Closer to the dining area and the piece has shallow drawers, so the linens fit in it perfectly! So what do I use my linen closet for? I use my linen closet to hold board games. I will be honest, it is not even full! (Please don’t hate me!) My home is not large, so you can tell I really keep only what we need!

What is the strangest thing kept in your linen closet? How do you keep your linen closet clean? How many sheet sets do you really need? Can you use the space for something else? Let us know!

28 Days to Love Your Home – Day 16

2010-02-17T02:40:52Z

Organizing Tips to Love Your Home

Day 16

Just like our relationships take hard work and maintenance, so do our homes. As we love on our homes, we need to remember that a maintenance schedule is vital in helping keep the love alive. As with relationships, we need to know what battles are important to fight for and which we can back away from. With cleaning, we need to battle the battles that make the most sense and let the others slide.

What battles are vital in keeping up your home? Each home is different, so you need to think what works for you. Today we are working on establishing a cleaning schedule. I know, how boring, but the more routine your cleaning is the more efficient you will be and the less effort it will take. Whether you have a full time maid or you are your full time maid, cleaning schedules help keep the flow of the home.

Take out a sheet of paper and divide the paper into four sections. Label each section: 1) Daily, 2) Weekly, 3) Monthly, 4) Half Yearly. Take each section and divide out what needs to take place in these time frames. For example, dishes and wiping off the kitchen counter would fall in daily and dusting and vacuuming the closet may fall in monthly. Walk around and inspect the home for things you would like to have done and how often you think it would need to take place. Evaluate if an activity like sweeping is necessary everyday (multiple kids and animals in the home) or if weekly is sufficient.

Once you have the chores broken down, now it is time to assign the when! For daily activities, map out the best time of day for these to take place. Don’t save dishes for the end of the day when you are exhausted…otherwise you blow it off and they pile up! For weekly, do you want to spend a portion of your Saturday doing chores or would you rather do a few a day. You have to think about what works best in your home and family situation. The same goes for monthly and half yearly chores. Set a schedule on the calendar to you know when it is expected to be done by. I know I will blow off vacuuming under the bed unless I remind myself it needs to be done!

After you have figured out the what and when of your cleaning routine, it is time to figure out the who. Yes I said WHO! Delegate your cleaning needs to those in the home. You will be a miserable camper if you are the only one doing all the work of the home. Get your family involved! Kids can do more than we give them credit for! We tend to do things for them because we feel like they are overwhelmed with their lives. What does this teach our kids when they flee the nest? Not always will you be there to clean up after them. Also, a family is a team and there is no I in team! Delegate activities so the home is running smoothly and efficiently!

Here are two related posts to help you get the family involved with ease!

What Are We Teaching Our Children?

Help Me Please!

How do you keep up with the cleaning in your home? Do you have any trick or tips to get your family involved? Let us know your secrets to success! Or, let us know what you plan to get help for in your home!

28 Days to Love Your Home – Day 15

2010-02-16T01:33:18Z

Organizing Tips to Love Your Home

Day 15

Laundry is like fleas in the summer. It multiplies so quickly you and your washer/dryer can’t keep up! What is a family to do when shopping everyday for new clothes is not an option? It is time to conquer the laundry room and laundry schedule!

Not all of us are blessed with a laundry room. Some of us have to deal with laundry in the garage, the basement, or a closet in the hall. Laundry spaces need about the same things regardless of location and size. A shelf or cabinet above the washer and dryer are great. If you have a hard to reach cabinet or shelf, you may need to consider other options. Think about how much laundry you do! If things are inconvenient to get to you won’t use it! That means laundry soap doesn’t make its way back into a cabinet. This is one easy way to have a messy laundry space! Invest in good functioning shelves or cabinets if necessary. You will be amazed at how important this is!

Think about what you need to do in the laundry space. I hang a lot of my laundry, so I have a lot of hangers and a dry rack in my laundry room. If you don’t hang laundry, this isn’t necessary for you to have! Do you need to fold your laundry in this space? If so, a flat, clean surface is important for you. (I tend to do mine on the floor in my office while watching shows I have Tivo’d.) Do you iron in this space? Then an ironing board and iron should be in there. (Now don’t say duh!)

For laundry supplies, I like to use plastic bins in the cabinets and shelves to group like with like. I keep one with all the ironing supplies in it, one with cleaning supplies that need to be easily accessible, but not under the sink, and one with stain remover and color catchers. This helps keep everything from spreading out in the cabinet and keeps the bowling effect to a minimum. (When you reach into the back of the cabinet and knock everything down.) You can pull this bin down when you need things and put it back with all items in tack!

I keep two baskets in my laundry, one for ironing and one for the dirty clothes that are stripped down near the laundry room and all the kitchen towels. This keeps the laundry from the being all over the floor of the laundry room! This is a picture of my laundry room and the baskets for dirty and ironing!

I keep rags and other cleaning supplies in the cabinets around the washer and dryer. I also keep a back-stock of paper towels and tp for our downstairs bathrooms. I use the upper shelves in the cabinets for less used items and back-stock and the lower shelves of the cabinets.

I blogged about doing laundry before and have a lot more tips there: Laundry Tips

How do you handle laundry? Do you have any secrets to make laundry less of a drag? Music? TV? What helps you get through the never ending laundry? We would love to hear!!!

28 Days to Love Your Home – Day 14

2010-02-14T19:30:26Z

Happy Valentines Day!

Organizing Tips to Love Your Home

Day 14

Ok, we are half way though the month and it happens to be a special day! I know you would rather snuggle on the couch with your honey than doing any organizing, so lets make today an easy task. The coat closet is a small project to take on. This small closet is a dumping ground for most homes. It’s original purpose was to hold coats, umbrellas and boots. Now days it seems to hold a variety of random objects. What is lurking in your closet?

I will be honest, living in Southern California, our family does not need a lot of jackets and coats. Ours fit in our bedroom closets. I personally like getting dressed and picking my coat all at the same time. So my coat closet holds other items. The point of me telling you this is to help you figure out what your coat closet needs to hold. Is is truly a coat closet, a supply closet or a long term storage closet.

Once you have decided what you want your coat closet to hold, empty out your closet and sort through the stuff. Truly decide if you need these items and where they belong. This will be the hardest part of the process. There is a reason why you shoved it in the closet! So today you will have to make some decisions.

Photo from MarthaStewart.com

Can you see how beautiful this space is? This is a perfect example of a great use of space. (Yeah, Yeah it is Martha Stewart, so of course it is perfect!) I know many people have to also store a vacuum in this space, too. So if you were to get a shelving unit that can accommodate space for the vacuum, you will still utilize the space well. You can find inexpensive shelving units at Target, Walmart, Lowe’s and Home Depot. Find sturdy containers to hold the loose items you need to house. If you have lots of little items, an over the door shoe organizer is a great addition to this mix. Suncreen, sunglasses, gloves, scarves, dog leashes and other small items are easy to find in this storage solution. Don’t feel you need to fill all these pockets. You can trim this inexpensive holder to suit your needs, freeing up additional space for hooks for bags!

Bags you take to places on a frequent basis can be held in this closet. Use hooks for bags you take to the gym, your bible study, a day at the beach/pool, meetings, and more can be stored and ready to go in this closet. Maximize space and hang umbrellas on hooks in dead space next to the over the door organizers. Look to see where you can maximize the dead space in your closet! If you have room you may want to put a mirror for a quick once over before you run out the door, but if you have one in another convenient area, save the space for something else!

What do you use your coat closet for? What great storage solutions have you found work for you? What “skeletons” are in your closet? It is time to make this space one you are proud to hang your company’s coats when they come over!

28 Days to Love Your Home – Day 13

2010-02-13T21:23:30Z

Organizing Tips to Love Your Home

Day 13

I love to have the kids a part of the family room. I mean they are “family”. But what I don’t love is when the kids use it as a play room and kick the parents out. There are kids toys all over and you walk around land mines, setting off musical alerts every time you cross the room! We need to balance the room to have the kids enjoy the space, but still look like adults live there too! This is where good shelving and cabinets come into play.

Baskets and bins are great for storing the kids toys. Limit the amount of toys to the space dedicated for them. Kids need limits and boundaries. Having dedicated storage for the kids toys and a place to actually put them away is key to keeping the room clean. Labels are key for helping kids participate in the clean up process. If you have kids that aren’t reading yet, use pictures for the labels. Laminating the labels are great to keep the abuse of little hands to a minimum. Kids will always bring additional items into the family room. Keep an outbox (basket, container) to put the items that don’t belong in the room in. This can be emptied out at the end of the day (OK maybe sometimes it will be every 3rd day, but at least you have a place to put it in until you get to put it away).

Gaming is big for kids, and it can be the dread of parents. Cords are all over, the cases to games are spread out, the disks are left where ever there is an open space, you know…How do you keep the gaming alive without wanting to kill it? I use baskets to separate each type of gaming unit accessories (like the Wii controller and numb-chucks in one, Playstation controllers and Rock Band accessories in others. I label them so there is no reason the kids won’t know where to put it back!

For CD’s, DVD’s, and game disks, I prefer a good storage case like the ones below. I find kids have a hard time taking the time to match up the disks with the cases, so just sliding it into a case is much easier.
If you like to keep the disks in the cases, there are so many options out there for storing them. Here are just a few from Target:

Now for old fashion games. If the boxes are in great shape, these stack well in a closet or cabinet. Be sure not to stack to high. I prefer no more than 3 that are similar in shape. Use racks to make use of space

These are the shelves I used in my closet for games…

If the board game boxes are in dire straights, these are amazing for storing them…Giving everything a home to live in will help keep the clutter under control. There are so many ways to organize all your toys and games…what do you do to keep it under control? Where do you have issues? Let us know so we can learn and help!