365 Photos Day 87

87/365

After I close the library on Monday nights, I have to pack the delivery boxes. Sometimes there's 1, sometimes 2, mostly 3. But there would be many more if I weren't a master packer. I pack those boxes to within an inch of their collective lives. There's no wasted space in there, that's for sure.

This is a life skill which I had to learn & perfect between the ages of 18 & 22, when I moved at least once a year, if not more. I only had my small car and could only make one trip (usually). My mantra was, "If it doesn't fit, it doesn't go."

I got really super good at making things fit.

I also got really super good at not being too attached to things, but I've been like that pretty much my whole life, but this time in my life really accentuated that trait. It's been interesting being an adult and living in the same place for many years now. I have more stuff than would fit into a car (or our mini-van) for sure, and I like most of it all, but in the end, it's just stuff.

That's why going through things for my quarter 1 project has been interesting. Some of it I look at and think, "WHY??? Why is this here?" Some of it I look at and think, "OH! So THAT'S where it went." Some of it I look at and think, "Time to pass this on."

Time to keep sorting.

365 Photos Day 64

64/365

It's been a day of "breaking a lot of eggs to make an omelette". I had a bookcase here, which has been relocated to Steve's office. I bought 2 new bookcases, and he assembled them for me. Then, when it came time to put them into place...they didn't quite fit.

Dangit.

Until Steve came in with a hammer and some scrap wood and "persuaded" the bigger bookcase to move over just enough that he could force the new ones into place.

In the meantime, it looks like a bookstore threw up all over my office floor.

But, at least they look nice, right?

Weekly Challenge #2: The Launch Pad

I'm not done with this area yet, but here's where I am with it all.

This is the area of the house where (ostensibly) our family can place everything they'll need to grab before heading out the door for another fun-filled day of work and school.

In theory, in our house anyway, this would be A Good Thing. Alas, our current launch pad does not work for us at all.

Here's what it looks like at 1 am, when all our things should be beside the door:



No sign of a backpack, or work bags, or anything remotely like what will actually walk out the door with us. Our coats are in the entryway that is through that door...except when they're hung over the backs of dining area chairs, or hung over the stairway newel post because apparently my family hates to hang up their coats in the coat closet it's hard for more than one person to be in the entryway hanging up coats at a time. (That back entryway is a prime target for this upcoming Home Improvement season)

One of the things I like to do is to clear a space out, take a picture, print it on scrap paper, and then draw all over it in order to see what will work and what won't.

I started by moving the bookcase:



Already that opens up possibilities. One of the things that really bugs me is that the carpet/hardwood floor division is right in the MIDDLE of that wall, directly under the electrical outlet. Originally the carpet was supposed to start right at the door frame and angle toward the staircase. In reality, the carpet installers had trouble with that, so our builder asked if they could just lay it lined up with the edge of the stairs. I should've come to look at where they were planning on starting it, but I didn't. And it bugs me a whole bunch. The shoes are on a remnant of that carpet, but they're actually on the hardwood floor.

ANYWAY.

I took down the clock and picture so that I could have a better idea of what I had to work with, since I'm not too happy with how it all looks. Of course, my inspection crew woke up from their naps and came to get in my way help out.



Once I'd cleared everything out of the way, I was able to sit back and think about what we need to have in that space to make it a good launch pad.

It needs to have:

• A place for keys


• A place to hang up coats/jackets


• A place for shoes & something to sit on to take said shoes on and off


• A clock


• Pictures or something to fill the space


• A lamp

In our old house, we had a peg coat rack, with an Ikea peg rack right above it for keys (this is a very old picture from 2004. Apparently Amanda was a Gryffindor Quidditch player for Halloween that year. Also, we've had that clock for a few hours short of forever.).



I went and found that coat rack from my Room of Requirement closet (formerly known as The Closet of Doom), but it didn't fit along that wall. Well, it fit, but the coats would've either covered the light switch or the electrical outlets.

Moving on, I thought that one other thing that was needed is someplace to sit to take off/put on shoes. I'd been looking at longer ottomans with storage, but didn't know if they'd fit. I got the mat from the entryway to cover up the carpet/hardwood floor thing, and got the little ottoman that has our Playstation & Wii games and controllers in it and moved it over to see if that would even work.



I'm on the hunt for the various things I need for this area. So far I have picked up some coathooks, but I don't want to put them up until I have the rest of the things that will need hung up as well so that I can lay them all out to be sure I'm putting the least amount of holes in the wall as possible.

Weekly Challenge #1: Home Management Binder

I had so much fun with the 21 Days to Getting Organized challenge, I figured I'd keep on keeping on with the new weekly challenges.

(And I apologize for the quality of the pictures. Our other camera had a bit of an, um, Unfortunate Event earlier this week, and when we found a camera we liked at the Target store we were at last night, the cameras were out of stock. So, I'm using our very first, very old digital camera for now.)

The first week was all about setting up a home management binder. I'd already had one, sort of, from doing the FLYLady thing, called a Control Journal. But the only section I really ever used on a regular basis was the finances section.



When there were any changes to other sections (emergency contacts for one) I'd either hand write the changes on the paper, or worse, put loose pieces of paper or post-it notes in the section. I had lots of things in the inside pockets, where yes, they were in the binder, but not in a useful fashion.



I'd thought what I had was OK. Sure, it could always stand to be improved, but it worked. Mostly.

Until I was talking with a co-worker at the library about who pays bills in the household, and what would happen if someone else had to come in and try and make sense of the system being used. My husband came in to see me, so we asked him. He said, "Oh, I don't think I'd have a problem. I could just follow the information in that binder you keep in your office."

Uh, yeah. About that.

With that in mind, I started updating and redesigning the flow of said binder. I got a new binder and new divider tabs because this was my fresh start. (Besides, I'm really LOVING that color of the new binder. I'm pretty sure I'm going to paint my office that color this upcoming painting season.)



I started by really thinking about what all needed to be in there, and what categories would be most helpful to me. I finally decided on having a pre-section section and four other sections, with one held in reserve for now.

The pre-section section is all about who to call in case of an emergency.



I have our doctors, dentist, and veterinarian, insurance agent, all of our cell & work numbers, and next of kin. I also have a separate sheet of family addresses & phone numbers.



For the four other sections, I have:

• Finances: This section has a list of what bills are due when and how much they'll be. We have most of them on auto-pay, so that's good. I also have the addresses and phone numbers for all the companies, banks, and utilities. I also have a page with insurance information.



• Cleaning: For now, this section just has the FLYLady zone detailed cleaning lists. I'm going to add a list of other household things that need done or checked on a monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis, as I tend to forget what's been done when.



• Projects: I'm working on making a project list for myself for this upcoming Home Improvement Season. Last year I painted all the upstairs closets, hung some curtains, and re-did a room to turn it into an upstairs TV room. This year I'll be working on the main floor, so I need a better idea of what all needs done.
  I may also subdivide this category and add a craft project list.



• This & That: I printed off my favorite quotes and put them here. I also put cartoons and old notes from the Kid here because they make me smile.

The last section I'm keeping open because I'm pretty sure I'll need it for Menu Planning when we get that far.

Here's what it all looked like while it was in progress:





And here's what it looks like all done:

365 Photos Day 29

29/365

I spent most of my day cleaning my husband’s home office, with the help of the Kid. There’s still a small bookcase to be gone through, and some things that need relocated down to The Basement of Doom, but pretty much, it’s good to go.

I like the challenge of bringing order to chaos; it’s one of my many talents.

But this room almost bested me. Almost.

This was a before picture from earlier this week. This is NOT how it looks now.

21 Days to Getting Organized Day 21

I'm kind of sad that this challenge has come to an end...but happy that there'll be weekly challenges to keep me going. The house is definitely improved (except for a couple of rooms, to be dealt with soon) and I'm more at peace. I've also enjoyed visiting other people's blogs and seeing how they're doing. :)

Day #21 ~ Getting Organized Challenge (You pick!)

The "you pick" option always momentarily paralyzes me. I have to think about which spot needs it the most, which spot will give me the biggest improvement, which spot will be the PERFECT spot to do. However, I also remember the FLYLady saying of "You are not behind! I don't want you to try to catch up; I just want you to jump in where we are. O.K.?" which reminds me to just pick a spot and go.

That said, I really was looking forward to cleaning out my husband's office on Thursday night.

Here's what it looks like:





But he had to work on some things for the Knights of Columbus, so couldn't until the weekend. Well, dang.

So, I came back to my office, and looked around. And saw this pile by my desk:



I'd cleaned the rest of my office on Day 9, but had ignored this corner, because well, it was all CONTAINED, right?

But after having a nice clean desktop and office for a couple of weeks, this pile HAD TO GO.

So, with my normal supervisory crew in place, I started:



To start with I had 5 stuffed to the limit magazine holders, 2 binders, a big file folder, 1 big ziploc of house stuff, and a partridge in a pear tree. (OK, no partridge or a pear tree, but not for lack of trying).

I started with the magazine holder I stuff as much as I can into it put house project ideas I've sketched out on post-its, my lovely collection of paint chips, and other relevant house ideas in.



I sorted through it all, piece by piece. And recycled most of it



Here's the after(it's the black holder), with Izzy waking up long enough to come check things out:




Then I moved on to my library book-buying holders, where I put publisher's catalogs, notes to myself about good books, and various library related magazines.



And, recycled most of those as well.

Here's what is left from all I started with:



I decided to put the binders with my other library stuff, so it's all in one place, and put the remaining magazine holders under the table to create less visual clutter for me.



And then I put the pile of recycling in the bins:



Done! Now my whole office is clean! Yay!

While I was sorting things out, the top of my desk was crazy messy. I've become so used to having a cleaned off desk that it was really bothering me. Thank you, Toni, for hosting this awesome challenge. It's exactly what the house (and me) needed. :)



Since I'm done with this challenge, I get to say:

21 Days to Getting Organized Day 19

Day #19 ~ Getting Organized Challenge (Master Closet)

I painted this closet this past summer, so I'd already sorted through everything. When I put the closet back together, I only put up one hanging bar to help keep everything under control (there were hanging bars with overhead shelves on all 3 sides, which really got to be a HUGE mess). Most of the clothes are my husband's work clothes, plus some of his at-home clothes. All my clothes fit into my half of the dresser, mainly because I only keep the clothes for the current season out (winter clothes are out now...turtlenecks & long pants; summer clothes are packed away: t-shirts and shorts in the box that's visible at the back of the closet).



Close up of the off-season clothes box (complete with Christmas doo-dads I forgot to pack up with the other Christmas stuff):



We don't have anything on the shelf, but that's mainly because I like the clean uncluttered look.



The one thing I meant to get last summer after I finished the closet overhaul was a shoe rack. It's not that we have a gazillion pairs of shoes but rather that everytime I vacuum in there, I have to move all the shoes. With a shoe rack, I can just move them all at once. Some of our shoes are down by the entry door, but that's a whole 'nother problem area.



So, tonight I went to Target and looked at shoe racks. I found one for $2.99 that'll do the trick.



Much better:



With a little help from Kit Kat, I cleared off the top of the dresser:



And went to my Room of Requirement (formerly known as The Closet of Doom) to find a basket that my husband can put the things he takes out of his pockets:



This is the other part of our Master Closet, but I disassembled it last summer when I was painting because 1) we didn't use it, and 2) it was actually supposed to be a linen closet, but the house plans weren't changed and I didn't catch it. I have plans for it this upcoming building/painting season though. :) It's right across from the main Master Closet. The hallway leads toward the Master Bathroom.



All in all...not too bad!

21 Days to Getting Organized Day 18

Day #18 ~ Getting Organized Challenge (Keepsakes)

I had to think about where exactly our keepsake-y things are first, and then how we have them stored. The containers could definitely be niftier, but they work for now.

Here's the Kid's keepsake boxes on the top shelf of her closet:




The paper ream box has some baby stuff and some school stuff.



When she was in grade school, at the beginning of each year she'd get a folder with school information in it. I'd keep some of her projects, most of her awards, and some report cards and then stick them all in the folder, which then was put into the box.



When we were looking through it as I was taking the pictures, it was fun to see her reactions to some of it. I also noticed that I hadn't really saved much after 3rd grade, but I think that's because I went back to school myself when she started 4th grade and was overwhelmed by too much constant clutter and papers and so just tossed a bunch of stuff I'dve normally gone through and sorted out.

The blue box has some of the things she's collected over the years that she's not ready to part with yet. She has all of her medals from various softball tournaments, a container of shells, and who knows what else in there. As long as it's corralled, I don't care what's in there.

As for my husband's keepsakes, some are in his office and some are in a storage tote down in the basement, which I am not going to go looking for because the basement is alarmingly in need of organizing right now thankyouverymuch (this weekend's project, maybe).

My keepsakes are mostly photos, which are in boxes in my Closet of Doom (which isn't so Doom-y now).



For the "thing" keepsakes, some are in the cedar chest (the double-wedding ring quilt) and a hand-crocheted tablecloth, some are in storage containers in the basement (the family Bibles), but most I either use or display around the house. Yes, it'd be a Bad Thing if they got broken, but I'd rather have things that I USE than things that just take up space (One of my favorite sayings is, "Make yourself useful, not just decorative." The Kid rolls her eyes when she hears it.).

21 Days to Getting Organized Day 17

Day #17 ~ Getting Organized Challenge (The mail station)

I used to have a more centralized mail station until I rearranged the kitchen and repurposed the cabinet as the Tupperware cabinet. But that's OK because the way we sort mail doesn't need to be location specific. Most of our bills are set up as online billing & payment, so that cuts down on the amount of mail we have coming in every month. Also, we sort the mail as soon as it comes in, even if it's just a quick go-through.

Here's how it works:

The mail gets brought home from the post office:



It gets sorted out into 3 piles: 1 is recycling, 1 is garbage, and the last 1 is to-do something with.



Recycling goes into the recycling, garbage goes into the garbage, and then the to do something with pile is gone through, and sorted by whose mail it is.

Bills go here:



And people-specific mail gets put on his or her desk. (No pictures for that...my desk is clean. Nobody else's is. Yet.)

For items that need filing, I get out the portable file:



When I was setting it up, I came across Toni's post about how she did her filing system, which was very helpful.

I have different categories (Auto, Cats, Insurance, Investments, Taxes), and we each have our own file folder. Within each category, there's a specific file folder for a specific thing, such as in the Auto folder, there are 2 file folders--one for the van, and one for the car.



I also have my family color coded for the big family calendar. It saves me having to write who's going where, and we can see at a glance who has what going on everyday. I've been known to get a little cranky when something gets sprung on me that SHOULD HAVE BEEN written on the calendar. ;) (I get the calendar from the Dollar aisle at Target, and keep the previous year's for reference so I can be forewarned about things that tend to come up every year.)




It's not fancy, but it works. Now if I could just get a good launch pad system going, we'd be set!