Let me propose something to you. In light of hurricane Harvey, If you had to evacuate your home in under 10 minutes what items would you throw into the trunk of your car? Many of us hold on to so many things. Things that we say we might need some day. What if the things that "you might need someday" are the things that someone else needs right now? Trust me, you don't need 7 serving spoons and 10 serving dishes... You just don't. When you look at the items in your home, think about the last time you used them, and that someone else might not be able to afford to buy a brand new one. Donate it. If you're not sure if the quality is good enough to donate... donate it anyways. Let the employees at Salvation Army deem it donatable( yes, I made that word up hehe)or not.

Perfection

 Organizing and Perfection

It's just like social media to make us feel bad about ourselves, yes? How many times have you looked on someone's Instagram page or Facebook page and said to yourself"self! I wish my house looked like that." The reality of it is that, if you were to jump inside that tiny picture of their seemingly perfect life, you'll notice something. Something that is all too familiar... Clutter! If you could see the photo before it was edited you would see all the clutter that they pushed just outside of the camera's frame, or they have thrown all their junk into a basket and shoved it into the the closet or in the cabinets. The reality is, our lives aren't like magazines. Keep your chin up and remember... real people are never perfect and perfect people aren't real.

Keeping Your Children Organized

I've heard someone say that cleaning your house with kids is like brushing your teeth with Oreos. No matter how many times you clean up  an hour later it looks like a tornado went through and tore the place apart. I’ve never been the type to follow my kids around and clean up after them as the toys hit the ground, because as busy mom's, "ain't no body got time for that!" So I wanted to share some tricks you can implement to keep the house looking nice AND keep your sanity!

Rule number one: Have rules and stick to them! As  much as our kids don’t like it and even rebel, structure is a key component to raising respectful and selfless children. Do you have clear boundaries set? If you asked them would they be able to tell you what those boundaries are? 

Structure leads me into my first tip…

 

Checklist: Make a clear check list of things that they need to do. Make one for the morning and one for after school. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Write it out on paper and slide it into a plastic sleeve that can be erased and written on with a dry erase marker. Make it clear that they have to finish their check list before the can play out side, play on the Xbox, watch TV, or whatever they enjoy doing. Let them know if they check off the list and they actually didn’t finish the tasks they lose their privilege for the night. Stick to your guns mom and dad!  If they slack off and don’t do their list and you let them play anyway, there's no point in asking them to help because you'll get frustrated, they’ll get an attitude and before you know it you're more stressed out than if you were to do it all yourself.  If they don’t get their list done they don’t play. There will probably be push back the first time or so but they will learn that you’re serious and soon will respect your rules and get their tasks completed. 

Baskets at the foot of the stair or hallway:  Give each child a basket to put their things in. This is has saved me so much stress. When we clean up the house anything that belongs to the kids goes in their basket, and at the end of the night (you can put it on the checklist wink wink) the kids are responsible for cleaning out the basket and putting the contents away in their rooms. We have gone through a couple different baskets so I would suggest spending a couple extra dollars and getting a sturdier bin. I like this one.    

School area: Just like the bins in the hallway give each child a bin for homework or school papers that need to be kept. I like this one. I store their flash cards, weekly papers that get turned in on Fridays, and things that will get practiced every day like Monster Math( math facts)sheets.

Have a supply caddy that holds pencil sharpeners extra erasers highlighters etc. I like this one. Or you can make one! tutorial here.

Have a shoe box sized bin to hold crayons colored pencils and markers. Go through them every once in a while to sharpen the colored pencils and throw away any broken crayons and dried up markers. I do this during spring  break and at the end of summer break when were getting ready to go back for a new school year.

Have a specific place for them to keep their book bags whether its in their room or on a hook in the mud room.

Board games:  After 10 years I have given up on puzzles. I know, I know, I know bad Mommy! But let me tell you what, I should have implemented the “one game at a time” rule about 7 years ago. I recently put a couple rules up for the game closet and, to my surprise, the kids actually follow them. My 3( almost four) year old is the enforcer and will tattle if the older kids forget. I didn’t enforce “heavy” rules; just ones to remind them to play nice with the pieces, and no fighting.

Happy Organizing!

6 Tricks to Organize Your Kitchen

I went to a moms night one time were we played a game were you went around the table and to the person next to you, you said something nice about them and each thing had to start with the letters of their name. And the one thing that stood out to me was the "L" in my name. She said I was a Learner. And that is spot on. At this time in my life Pintrest is a huge part of how I learn. And I want to share a few tips about the kitchen. Thank you to my fellow bloggers for bouncing ideas back and forth through the beloved Pintrest.

1. Put garbage bags on the inside of the cabinet door.

I have this in my home. LOVE it. It's so much easier and it takes up less space then the box it comes in.

2. Spice Organizer

 I love this idea because when you have a pull out drawer for your spices like I do you have to look through all the spices to ind the right spice. When its written on the top you see which is which right when you open the drawer.

3. Using  paper/file organizer for your cutting boards. Genius!

4. Put cereal in plastic bins with a measuring cup.

I cant not tell you how this saved on cereal. Not only does it save space on our shelves but tit has saved so much cereal from going into the trash. It gives the kids the ability to get their own cereal in the morning without filling the whole bowl and not finish it. Im pretty sure 3/4cup to 1cup measuring cup is about the serving size of cereal.

5. Dollar store wire basket for sponges.

6. using outside flower baskets for potatoes and onions( or fruit if you like)

We have also implemented this trick at home. I made sure to put them up with a stub and some heavy duty mollys. I am able to put a 10 pound bag of potatoes in the baskets with issues.

How To Part With Clutter

We all have things that are near and dear to our hearts. Things that are special and we can never see ourselves parting with. Many times it's something that belonged to a loved one that has past away or things that are from our "glory days". When life gets topsy turvy its so simple just to throw things in boxes and hide it away in the basement or in most cases rent out a storage unit.

I've heard it said that when someone plans on renting a storage unit for their things its only supposed to be a temporary move, but more often than not the stuff sits in the unit for years with out being touched. But the bigger issue is that we are accumulating things just to have things.

I had a client once who's mother had pasted away and she rented out a whole condo underneath her own for her mothers belongings, in which she was adamant about not going through. Now, I can't say that I personally know what it's like to lose my mother or my father yet but I do have children and understand what its like to have to donate all their baby things and come to realization that, that season of my life is now over. I think as humans its in out carnal nature to make excuses for why we do things. It took me 8 years to get rid of my girls baby clothes because I thought I might need them one day. Truth is if I had another girl that would 5 kids and I meant just lose my mind, up in here, up in here. HAHA! Some reasons I come across when working with people for not getting rid of things are;

#1 It's sentimental. If given enough time for someone to think about it, everything we have in our homes has a reason it should stay right where it is. We bought it for a reason, because we liked it. But then there are things we have in our homes that were loved one's. Most likely all their things are in boxes. Let me ask a couple questions... What is more honoring of your family member, 12 boxes of their things or 3 or 4 things displayed (and taken care of) around your house? If its been in the boxes for a while, are the things that important to you? Or the actual person?

What about for kids art projects and reports etc? I always suggest you get ONE clear bin, how ever big or small you like, and put everything in there.

What I do to pick what kids crafts I want to keep? I  have a old crib spring in the hallway that we use as a bulletin board. Tutorial Here
The kids put their favorite pictures or tests that they are proud of up there. When it gets full I pick my favorites and put them in my memory bin. I've found it helps the kids when I say I've recycled their other projects instead of saying I through them in the trash.

#2 It was a gift. How many times have we opened a gift and pulled it out of the box with a fake smile and a cheesy "thanks, it's what I've always wanted", knowing you'll never use it or wear it. Take that bad boy back to the store and get something you'll use! If it's been sitting in your closet for a few years then don't feel bad. Has the person whom gifted it asked about it at all? More than likely they haven't, and if they're anything like me, with it almost spring time, they have already totally forgotten what they got you for Christmas let alone something they got you 5 years ago.

#3 I paid money for it.  Everything you have costs money,unless gifted, but the truth of the matter is that keeping it won't bring the money back.

#4 What if I need it one day? This is the one that I struggled with. I think what flipped a switch with me was when I knew that 4 kids was my limit and it was then that I realized that other people were not done having children and they could really benefit from the baby things I had in the attic. I kid you not, we had 16 bags of clothes,blankets and/or burp clothes that we donated to the Salvation Army.
A rule of thumbs is if you haven't worn it in the last year then you won't wear it. You've had 365 days to wear it and you didn't choose to put it on. It's time to donate it so someone can have it. Hey, you never know, it may end up being their favorite thing they ever bought! Giving something away is never done in vain.

#5 I don't know where to start. Start in one room and don't go on to a new project until that room is all the way finished. It helps to break it down into sections. For example is there are a lot of clothes, go through all the bins and get the clothes out. Put in laundry baskets to be washed, fold/hang them up or put into a box to donate. Another way to do it is to start in one corner and work your way around the room. If you skip around the room it doesn't look like you have made any progress. If you start in the corner then when you look back, the corner will be done and you will see the progress . Before you start don't assume everything has to go in the trash for the room to be cleaned. Many things can be donated or belong in a different room of the house.


The question isn't how you got all this clutter but why you have it. There are a few things to remember when you're in a situation where your things have consumed your space and are stressing you out.

#1 If everything is important then nothing is important.

#2 We are not your stuff. Your things do NOT define you.

#3 Memories are in your mind not in material items.

#4 Letting things go is on the same playing field as forgiveness- freeing.


Once we begin to let these concept dictate our thinking about material things we begin to let the chains fall. It lifts a lot of weight and its a relief that things are done.

Getting To Know Me

With this being my first blog post there are so many topics to post about. I feel as time goes on I will grow in my practice of organizing along with my blogging style. Blogging always seemed like a far fetched thing that I never had time for. Now that the kids are school age it frees up a bit of time from chasing toddlers around and changing stinky diapers.

In creating this blog I've asked a few of my friends to give me some topics that they struggle with. I've been at the organizing game for 4 years now and it seems like there's still so much to learn. I say that because every person is different and their back story is always unique. 

I would like to share a little of my back story of how I got into organizing with everyone. When I was a single mom I was working as an insurance agent. Being an insurance agent was the hardest job I'd ever had in my life. I worked 50-55 hours a week with no promise of a commission check. If you know me I'm more of an introvert and far from the "in your face buy from me" kinda person. Cold calling is my worst enemy... well that and home made brownies. Those things have got me pulling out my hair. I can never seem to get the bake time right. ANY WHO!... 

So I took a job at an insurance company but this time as a part time receptionist. It was a newer branch of the company and brand new office. I was the first person to take on the position so the kinks were being worked out as my time there progressed. My very first task as the receptionist, wouldn't you know, was to organize his client files on the computer. Deleting any duplicates putting spouses contact files together, that sort of thing.  Doesn't sound very fun but to me it was something I had never done before and turns out I enjoyed it. My time there had it ups and downs and a visit to the Pastors office to shed some tears. But as I worked there I ended up reorganizing the mailbox system, all insurance agents forms, created a good system on reordering life insurance forms, purged and refiled/moved all 200 some client files and cleaned up the storage room. Once I had a good system down for all the daily tasks I felt like he was paying me to sit around and I left my position on a mutual basis. In the midst of all of this, this is where I heard the Lord's call for my life. Organizing.

Its been 4 years since then and client after client I feel my self becoming more and more confident with myself and with the work that I do. I never pictured myself doing this line of work but here I am and here I'll be. I've come to realize that even though every person and situation is different, there is one thing that is the same, I'm never there for myself I'm there for my clients to help them, to free them from stress and some times, bondage from the things that tie us down and keep us from truly living the life we were meant to live.