Showing posts with label weekly organization challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weekly organization challenge. Show all posts

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Week 45 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

This is week 45 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on keeping a family calendar.

Keeping a family calendar is a great idea when you have kiddos you need to take all across town. Since mine are still littles, they don't yet have much in the way of a social calendar. But I imagine that soon their dance cards will be filling up with scout meetings, dance class, soccer practice and all that other junk that kids tend to do once they hit school age. The only person I really need to keep track of right now is The Good Husband and most days I barely register when he is home.

If I *were* to keep a family calendar, however, a great spot would be in the Family Command Center/Launch Pad. A great trick for keeping everyone sorted out, is to make appointments and events for a single person is a separate color. So appointments and events for me would be written on the calendar in pink {duh} while TGH's would be in green, The Good Daughter's in blue and The Good Son's in yellow and family events in black. That way, looking at the calendar at a glance would reveal a when someone needs their ass on the soccer field at 6 pm while someone else is across town at piano lessons.

Stickers are also another great option, with everyone having the same sticker next to their event on the calendar. 


But the key to keeping a family calendar that won't have to leaving junior sitting outside dance class waiting to be picked up, is to keep it in a central location that all family members can see and edit if needed.

Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Week 44 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

This is week 44 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on crafts.

I will admit that I like to get my craft on and on.

But I don't have a lot of crafty shit just hanging out. I tend to buy what I need for a project and nothing more. So I end up with odds and ends and a whole lot of tape.

But I keep it all fairly contained within a drawer in our buffet

If you have an entire room dedicated to crafting or just a drawer, the first rule is to contain, contain, contain. Keep all of your paints in one spot or container. Same for makers and pens and scissors and the like. Keeping everything together and grouped will make for less mess and easy retrieval when it is time to get your craft on.


Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Week 43 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

This is week 43 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on creating a personal home inventory.

This by far is the most intensive organization challenge but once you get in a rhythm, it will become easy. And once you get an initial home inventory in place, any time you make a big purchase - like a new couch or tv - you can just add it on. 



Why the hell do you need a home inventory?
It's a good idea to have one in case of anything happening to your house or you stuff. This way you have a record of all your stuff for insurance purposes. You will need to know the value of your stuff and just what stuff you have. 

1. Start with the Home Inventory Log (above) and checklist (see below). 

2. Go room to room and document everything in the room, staring with the big ticket items. Take photos or video and describe each item. 

3. If you have the receipts for the large items, keep them with the log. If you are just staring the Home Inventory project, and don't have the receipts, don't worry. The next time you buy something large - like a new flat screen tv - make a copy of the receipt and include it when you are adding it to your home inventory log. 

4. Make copies of your log and photos. Burn everything onto a CD or DVD and make several copies to store on your computer and external hard drives. 

5. And keep a copy outside of your house, like in your safe deposit box. And remember to keep it updated. 

Now, what do you need to inventory? 

Below are the things you should inventory, listed by room.
 


Living Room 
~Artwork
~Books
~Camera
~Collections
~Couches/recliners 
~DVD player 
~Family room furniture and contents
~Fireplace equipment 
~Game systems (such as Wii, Playstation, Xbox, etc.) 
~Living room furniture and contents 
~Musical instruments
~Piano/organ 
~Television 
~Toys and games

Dining Room
~China
~Crystal/glassware
~Dining room furniture and contents
~Table linens

Bedroom
~Beds
~Bedding
~Bedroom furniture and contents (master and all additional bedrooms)
~Clothing
~Jewelry

Bathroom
~Bathroom(s) furniture and contents

Kitchen
~Appliances
~Cabinets
~Dishes and utensils
~Food in pantry, refrigerator and freezer
~Freezer
~Kitchen furniture and contents
~Pots and pans, and other kitchen equipment
~Refrigerator
 ~Silverware/cutlery
 ~Stove/oven
 ~Tables/chairs

Home office/craft room
~Computer/computer accessories (i.e., printer, scanner, etc.)
~Craft materials
~Electronics
~Home office furniture and contents
~Hobby items
~Sewing machine
~Stereo
~Video equipment 

Laundry room
~Ironing equipment
~Laundry room furniture, appliances and contents
~Washer/dryer

Basement
~Basement furniture and contents
~Dehumidifier

Attic
~Attic furniture and contents
~Christmas (and other holiday) decorations

Outside
~Air conditioner window units / portable heaters
~Lawn furniture
~Lawn games
~Plants and landscaping

Garage
~Automobile equipment
~Bikes
~Garage furniture and contents
~Garden equipment
~Golf clubs
~Grill
~Ladders
~Lawn mower
~Tools
~Sporting goods and equipment
~Workbench

Whole House
~Carpets and rugs
~Ceiling fans
~Curtains and draperies
~Decorative items
~Fixtures
~Furniture
~Hall(s) furniture and contents
~Items in storage (within your home)
~Lamps
~Shelving


Hopefully, you can take a week - or three! - and soon have a complete home inventory system in place.

Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Week 39 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

This is week 39 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on receipts/tax documents.

Since I work from home and have hoarder tendencies, I tend to keep a lot of paperwork around. It's not as bad as it used to be but I could stand to let things go. I justify that I need to keep everything b/c I saw Erin Brockovich years ago and we might need something for tax purposes.


But most normal people don't need to keep a ton of paperwork. What do you need to keep or toss or shred? Unless you are keeping things for tax purposes, below is a handy guide.

Toss and/or shred
~Phone bills
~Utility bills
~Credit card statements

As soon as you are finished paying and reconciling, toss or shred. Want to keep track of monthly bills but don't want to end up a paper hoarder like me? Use this bill tracker

Keep for one year
~Bank statements
~Pay stubs
~Medical records unless needed for insurance purposes. And hey! I have a way for you to keep track of this too!


Keep for about six years
~Tax records, including copies of returns and supporting documents
~Documents relating to the purchase or sale of a home, or payment for home improvements


Keep longer/forever
~Insurance records should be kept as long as the policy is in effect, plus five more years
~IRA and retirement contribution documents until you withdraw the money, but shred quarterly statements
~Warranty documents for the length of the warranty
~Birth, marriage, divorce, death certificates, Social Security cards, deeds, wills, car titles for as long as you own the car 

At the end of the month, after all the bills have been paid and I have balanced the accounts, I toss and shred all the paperwork. You can also look for community paper shredding events near you. About 3 times a year, along with glass recycling and household hazardous waste collection, our city has a big event where you can drop off all your paper and they will shred it for you for free.

With this system, you hopefully won't end up dead under a pile of papers, like I might.

Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Week 38 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

This is week 38 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on bill paying.

There are two main ways to set up bill paying - the old fashioned way with stone tablets paper checks and using the internet that Al Gore invented. There are pros and cons to both.


Online
Pros - faster, usually, since accounts can be credited the same day, especially if using the account website (Capital One, for example) versus your bank's online bill pay option
Cons - for us poors, you might need a day or two to make sure you have enough cash in your account to cover the bills
Pro - some banks, like my awesome one, offer rewards for using the online bill pay
Con - it is easy to forget when a bill is due and/or record the transaction in your register

Paper checks
Pro - a paper trail is created should you ever need to verify a payment or fight an unfair charge
Con - you have to make sure you always have checks on hand and stamps
Pro - some accounts, like medical bills, still usually only accept paper checks
Con - some poor account representative will have to try and decipher your serial killer handwriting

I do about 90% of bill paying online. I have alerts set up on my computer and smartphone to remind me to pay bills on time. I also have my bill checklist to help remember as well as a daily planner. My bank offers a mobile banking app, so I can pay bills anywhere, anytime. And I get those rewards I mentioned above. All and all, it's pretty sweet.

For the other 10% of bills, ones that need actual checks in the mail, I like to sit down once a week, usually on Thursday since that's shitty TV night, and write all the checks and enter the transactions into the register. Then I stamp them bitches and put them in the outgoing mail slot for a trip to the mailbox on Friday morning.


Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Week 37 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

This is week 37 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on mail.

I talked about what we do with our mail when I showed you our Family Mail Station. I got the mail holder at Jeffery Allens a while back. 

I like to have the mail station in the dining room, since it is the first place we come into after coming home and getting the mail. I put incoming mail in the top - bills on the right, statements on the left. I put the outgoing mail, along with some stamps on the bottom.

Having the mail station in a central location allows me to do several things - I can easily sort the mail into bills, statements and junk. Like I said, I put the bills and the statements in the mail station. I recycle the junk in the recycle bin in our pantry. Having our Command Center next to the mail, allows me to add anything to our schedule - like dentist appointments and activities - when I get a notice for it. Having an outgoing mail spot allows for The Good Husband to throw his shit in there and know I will take it to the mailbox when I take The Good Daughter to daycare in the morning.

What do I do with all the bills and the paper work?

Week 38 will cover bill paying with Week 39 covering receipts/tax documents and Week 40 covering my filing system.

Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Week 36 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

This is week 36 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on home office.

I work from home so I need a dedicated area where I can work - not just a computer in the corner of the living room. We decided to turn a room in our unfinished basement into my home office. 

That is what we started with.


And this is how it looks now.


It's still a little bare bones right now b.c we are in debt payoff mode and there are more pressing things that need to be done before I can decorate my office. Plus The Good Son gets to stay at home with me while I work, so his shit is taking up some space down there.

The closet only has some functionality, since it houses the water heater and the furnace. 
 

I would love to get more storage down here - shelves and another bookcase and table, but I haven't found anything that I love love love, so it remains bare. 

Meanwhile, I am pinning things I like for inspiration.
 

Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Week 35 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

This is week 35 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on kids' games.

Since The Good Daughter has her own room, she keeps all her toys in there and out of the living room, like we had in the past. But I don't keep any of her games in her room.

One, I don't want her getting into them when I am not in her room and everything gets lost or messed up. Two, I love family game night and it is easier to have the games in a common area so we can get them out and actually play with them.

So the games live in our entertainment center.



Right now we have a good mix of adult and kid games.



We also have games that The Good Husband loves (Up Words, Chess, Checkers, Scrabble) which I hate and games that I love (everything else). Right now, TGD can play Candy Land and Operation. Everything else will just have to wait.




Since I couldn't fit all the games into one cabinet, this side doubles as game storage and DVD storage, mainly box sets. I have some card games in here as well as other kid games.

See that game Pictureka! in there? It is one of the best games I have ever played. I love it to death and play with anyone, anytime. I highly, highly recommend it. Everyone from my 88 year old grandma to my 6 year old niece loves it and we all have an amazing time.

This post rounds out kids' bedroom organization. I have highlighted how I like to group like toys, separate clothes by size and keep games in common areas to facilitate family game night.


Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Week 34 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

This is week 34 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on the kids' closet. 

I will admit that I haven't done much organizing of the kids' closets. The Good Daughter has too much shit and The Good Son has almost none at all. So I started with his closet and will hopefully continue on to TGD's soon.

TGS mostly has clothes in his closet and not a lot of much else. Other than boxes I still haven't unpacked from when we moved into the house four years ago.

But organizing his clothes can be a pain, since little babies have so many different sizes of clothes in the beginning.
 

So, one way I like to keep them organized is by making clothes labels. This way I can divide the clothes by size and once he is out of the smallest size, store or sell them.

I have labels until to size 2T. By then I figured he would have mostly all the same size in his closet at once.


To make the labels, I just used old CD labels I had around the house. You know, from back in the day before MP3 players. I made a simple design for each one, printed them out and then stuck them on some cardboard. I cut a slit on the left side so the label would fit on the bar and then organized the clothes until my heart was happy.


Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Week 33 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

This is week 33 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on kids' books. 

I love to read. I was reading Steven King novels in 6th grade. I blame The Stand on my zombie/survival/end of civilization obsession. It was very important for me to show my love of books to The Good Daughter. At Christmas and on her birthday we ask that everyone get her books or clothes. I tend to buy her just books. 

So she has a lot. And we keep them in her room so she can read them whenever she wants and I am able to read them to her each night before bed. 

There are two ways that I organize her books.

The super anal retentive way {by far my favorite} by placing them on the shelf in order of height. 

And the group by colors.



While I prefer the almost OCD organization practice of sorting by size, I don't want that to rub off on TGD. So I let her hand me all the books at the end of the night and I put them on the shelf in the right order. However, she can group her books together by color, so I found that at the end of the night, both of us can help clean her room and feel good about it.

Now if only I didn't have to sing that damn clean up song every fucking time.


Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Week 32 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

This is week 32 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on the kids' room. 

A while back, I talked about how I updated The Good Daughter's room from a nursery to a
woodland critter themed big girl room. Before the room just had white walls, her crib and wardrobe which is a hand me down that I have had since junior high.

I wanted to keep her room fun and functional. Shit, I even painted it pink. Growing up I never had a bedroom that I decorated. My mom would just get some furniture and then put it in my room and I would have to work around it. I had the wardrobe and a teeny, tiny single bed, a desk, a tv stand and a cabinet for dolls I didn't really like. So I thought it would be awesome if TGD could have something that she got to help create and she can live with for a few years.

But since we moved the crib out of her room and had another baby to put in that crib, that shit had to go somewhere too. What was once my home office became the new nursery. Once I found out I was pregnant, The Good Husband busted ass and got my office finished in the basement. There is no before photo of the hell that was my office.

Since I have two kids' rooms, each with separate functions {baby v pre-k'er}, each room as to serve a different purpose.



TGD's room has to be fun and colorful and give her a place to play, to sleep and offer storage for all her shit. TGS' room is basically there to keep his clothes and change his diaper, since he sleeps with us and doesn't play in his room at all. 

We also have to keep our personal computer in there until we can finish the rest of the basement. For now, since no one sleeps in there it is ok, but as soon as The Good Son can play in there, it will have to move downstairs.

One thing that I did do differently this time is I added a changing pad. I use the top of the dresser for a changing table and keep a small container, similar to the one I use for my new mother breastfeeding survival kit, to help with diaper changes. That way I can have lotion, diaper area wash, rash cream and other essentials within reach at diaper change. I also have the dirty clothes hamper at one end of the dresser and the dirty diaper pail at the other.

 

TGS has a small box of baby toys in his room for when he can play with them. Right now TGD likes to get into it and pretend to be the baby again.
 


Another thing I added this time was a rocking chair. Now I can savor the 20 minutes I get each night rocking TGS to sleep. I get to snuggle in, rub my nose on TGS's little bald head and take 20 minutes to reflect on the day, to prepare for the next day and relish the last time I will probably have a baby in the house.

 
TGS also got all of TGD's nursery stuff - crib and bedding and decor. When it is time for his big boy room I will paint and give him some stuff that is all his.


Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Week 31 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

This is week 31 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on purses.  

Like everything else even tangentially related to fashion or style, I have a basic (read - ugly) purse and wallet. I chose function over fashion more than a few years ago and have had this purse ever since.


Since I have the personal emergency car kit, I need to carry very little in my actual purse.

Starting from the outside pockets, I have pens and my checkbook.


I also have one of the most important cards I can carry in the outside pocket for easy access. This card allows me to whip out a tit when I need to and not get arrested for it either. Not that I have ever had any problems nursing in public but I still carry this on the off chance I can go all Nora Rea on someone's ass one day when they make a stink about my boobs in public.


The inside of my purse is divided into personal and business.


In the business side of things, I have my wallet, a notepad and some tissues.


And of course I have an ugly wallet to match my purse. It contains no cash, one too many credit cards, my drivers license and my voter's registration card.


On the personal side, I have some powder makeup and this clear plastic bag to contain small beauty products like lip gloss and lotion.

Maybe for Christmas I will get a new purse, but for now, it is organized and functional.

And with this post the bedroom should be organized. Next we move on to kid bedrooms which are normally harder to keep organized. Stay tuned!

Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Week 30 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

This is week 30 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on jewelry.

Much like my
clothes and shoes, I don't have a lot of jewelry. I blame 12 years of Catholic school for my lack of fashion sense.  

What I do have, I keep in a jewelry box The Good Husband gave me a few years ago. You saw it when I posted about our master bedroom


For me, I like the uncluttered look of a simple box on top of my dresser. It holds everything I have now - some ear rings, necklaces, broaches, bracelets, a watch - plus has room for when I get something new.




I know there are prettier ways to display jewelry, but I am a traditionalist when it comes to this area. Besides, I wouldn't know where to put any cute display anyway. Also by having all my jewelry inside of a box, it stays untangled and dust free. And since I only wear some of these things a few times a year, the rest of the time it would spend collecting dust and tempt the little fingers of The Good Daughter.


Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Week 29 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

This is week 29 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on shoes.

Since I don't have any fancy closet system and my closet is just a hot mess, my shoes just live on the floor of my side of the closet, under my clothes. I have them turned with one heel out b.c I saw it in a magazine once and it just looked pretty. I am sure that if I had any fashion sense {and let's be pretty fucking honest here, these shoes show that in no way do I have any fashion sense what.so.ever} storing your shoes with one heel out would help in outfit development.

But since I have few shoes {a pair of tennies and flats are here too but out of frame. I couldn't take any more shame} I can keep them on the floor with relative organization. The Good Husband has exactly 4 pairs of shoes. We are some sad sacks over here.


If I had more shoes, I would get something like this to help organize them. Or even this. For now they are happy at the bottom on my closet.

Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Week 28 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

This is week 28 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on seasonal clothing switch.

Last week I posted about our master bedroom closet.

In that post I shared how I like to have my seasonal clothes, in this case fall/winter clothes, closest to the door of my closet, so I can see them when I open the door. I have all my formal clothes first - suits and dress clothes for when I have to actually meet clients and otherwise go into the office - and casual clothes last. My spring/summer clothes are close to the wall and out of the way-ish.


Since I don't have an extensive wardrobe, I don't have to pack clothes away each season. I just move them closer to the door in the closet. However if I did have to do long term storage, there are several options you could use.

~Store clothes in clear plastic bins {we have a lot of these on hand} or in clear vinyl comforter bags. Store smaller bins and bags under the bed.

~Canvass bags with clear windows also provide for great storage and can fit under the bed.

~Hang several items of clothes on one hanger to save space. If using garment bags, place a hanging label on each bag with the contents listed. You can even get fancy and take a photo of each item.

~Keep bathing suits and towels in a beach bag and in the closet, under the bed or in the linen closet.

~Don't forget to add a cedar sachet to your clothes storage to keep sweaters odor and moth free.

Next week I will highlight shoe storage. Stay tuned!

Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Week 27 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

This is week 27 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on the master bedroom closet.

There is it in all it's messy glory.


We are lucky to have a walk in closet but it can get disorganized quickly. Stuff tends to find it's way in there. I really wish we had a closet system, but we don't. ::sad trombone::

I do have it organized though. His and her shit on either side. The middle bar I use for extra hangers, The Good Husband's jeans and suit jacket. The reason he gets one whole and one half side is simply b.c he has more clothes.

The top of our closet is a hot mess but the idea is to keep the things we use by only occasionally up there. For example, I have my stack of maternity clothes up there along with an electric blanket.


On his side, TGH has hunting clothes or some shit, and duffel bags. Our good luggage is in on the middle shelf. {Anyone want a vintage pound puppy or kitty for cheap? Email me}


As for how we organize clothes - I have two principles I use in this area. 1. I sort clothes by season. Right now fall/winter clothes are closest to the door, where I can see them when I open the closet. 2. I then sort by formal/casual and color. So starting from the left, closest to the door, I have my formal fall/winter clothes in order of color {black, grey, white, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red} followed by casual clothes in the same color order. My spring/summer clothes follow the same principle (formal by color and casual by color).


I do the same on TGH side. However, he likes his dress shirts and uniforms towards the center of the closet, so that's where I put them. His clothes are then arranged by short sleeve casual/formal/color and long sleeve/casual/formal/color.


And I know I just did a post about the laundry hamper, but when I was rotating my seasonal clothes {post to follow} I kept cursing the baskets and realized I was the moron that didn't put them out of the way. So, meh, there they are now. Under TGH's clothes in the closet.


Next week, we will focus on more closet organization with seasonal clothing storage, shoes and purses.

Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges