Organizing Your Monthly Calendar

We have worked really hard to take control of our calendar.  If we have too little going on we are bored.  If there's too much then things tend to get stressful.  How does a person or family find the right balance?  I ready once to look at your weekly schedule and count the number of activities you had for a week.  Pick one week things felt good, peaceful and happy.  Then count activities in a week you felt disorganized, stressed and unproductive.  Your happy place for activities is right between the two.  It gives you a range.  Our range is between 8-10 activities.

We schedule our priorities first and then everything else goes in the calendar.  It's not possible or reasonable to think you can make it everything.  That will only leave you feeling stressed and resentful.

Priorities (how things get in the calendar):

1. Church- services, Sunday School, Bible Studies, activities, volunteering
2. Date Nights with Spouse
3. Family Nights, outings, birthdays and family vacations
4. Grocery shopping and errands for the family
5. School Functions, Volunteering, Extracurricular activities
6. Work Obligations other than regular working hours
7. Time with extended family, family parties, parties for God children and very close friends
8. Fitness
9. Playdates, birthday parties for extended friends and nights out with adult friends
10. Hobbies

Once these are in then we may add something not on the priority list to the schedule.  If there's not room then we may need to say no.  Kyle and I go over the calendar a few weeks before the month starts.  This way we are on the same page and can avoid getting over booked.

There are a few things in life only you can do.  Things like being a husband, wife, mother or father.  Those hats you wear are the most important.  Fill those shoes first and work everything else around them. Next week we will cover organizing the weekly schedule.  Happy planning!

The Master Bedroom

Most people have WAY too much going on in their master bedroom.  If I were to narrow it now to the essentials this would be this list:

Bed
Night stand with lamp and alarm (possibly one nightstand on each side)
Dresser
Closet with clothing

That's it?  Yes, Ma'am it is.  Bedrooms should be simple and clutter free.  When we first moved to our house we had five rooms in one.  Our master bedroom was also the office, nursery, laundry room and entertainment center.  We really did have our washer and dryer in there.  Not kidding.  If I ever find before pictures I will post them.  It was ridiculous.  We de-cluttered and took out everything that didn't belong. We also stuck with all neutral colors.  If you love color or need a splash of it use calming tones.  Colors like blue, green or purples are great companions for neutrals.  Try to stay away from lots of red, orange or yellow.   Our de-cluttered and made over room is so relaxing now.  I don't know what we were thinking before!

The master bedroom is a great place to start de-cluttering.  Start this project this weekend and improve your chances of getting a great night's sleep.  Who doesn't love sleep right?  Good luck!

Organizing Statistics

I love statistics.  The only thing I love even more is organizing statistics.  If you have been reluctant to de-clutter and start organizing then hopefully this post will shove you (nicely of course) over the edge to act.  Food for thought:

• We keep 80% of items that we never end up using (NAPO.net).

• We only wear 20% of what we own (NAPO.net).

• If people decreased the amount of clutter they have in their house they would have 40% less housework to do (NAPO.net).

• The storage facility business is $154 billion which is larger than the Hollywood business.

• On average people spend 1 year looking for lost or misplaced items (NAPO.net).

• According to the US Department of Energy 1/4 of people with a two car garage can not park a car in it.

These are just some great reasons to get started on cleaning out your stuff.   

Organizing the Closet

Once your closet is purged you can begin the organizing process.  Here are some tips to start you off on organizing the remaining items.  Hang on.  Things are about to get detailed :)

1.  Hang everything you can. Personal items, pajamas and shorts are appropriate to have in drawers.

2.  From left to right in the closet hang:

Dresses

Tank tops

Short sleeve tops

Long sleeve tops

Cardigans, blazers, vests and Jean jackets

Dress pants and jeans

Active Wear

***You could also further separate by following this same format only with dress clothes first, casual next and then active.  I mix my casual and dress clothing so that's why I keep it all together.

3.  Fold sweaters on shelves. You can also fold sweat pants or active shorts and place them on the shelf above the active tops.  It just depends on your set up.

4.  Use the rainbow as a color guide ROY G BIV.  White goes first, then the colors, brown, grey and black is last.

5.  Keep a donation bin in your closet for items you no longer need or use.  When it's full get rid of the extra stuff!

6.  Use a tote for extra shoes.  I only keep the shoes I'm wearing by the door.

7.  Hang scarves and belts on hooks or on hangers.  Accessories can be a nice break between your regular clothes and active wear.

Here are some pictures of my purged and organized closets.  One is for my summer clothing and the other for winter.  Less stuff means less decisions and less stress.  Everything I have I love and it fits!


You may be able to tell that we live in a home built in the late 1950's.  We have very small closets which in the end promote accumulating less.  My husband was kind enough to build a closet in his office so these two little ones are all mine.

I hope this inspires you to pare down and organize your closet to only your favorite pieces.  You won't regret it once you see the finished project!

Purging the Closet

It's been said that people generally wear 20% of what they own.  This project will help you figure out what items fall into that category.  The remaining 80% is what you will work on purging from your closet.  What you keep in your closet will largely depend on your lifestyle, work and climate.  Try to minimize your clothing to keeping only what you love to wear.  Here are some guidelines for getting started:

• Define purpose: do you need more casual or business clothing?
• Define season: do you need more summer or winter attire?
• What's your daily uniform? Your favorite outfit that makes you feel comfortable?
• Set limits: the number of hangers you're ok with.  I started with 60 as my goal.
• Pick out the nicest hangers you own.
• Hang everything you can.
• Get rid of anything that doesn't fit properly or is really worn.
• Turn hangers backward to see what you're really wearing.
• In 30-60 days get rid of what you didn't wear.

Once you have purged out the excess you will be ready to organize the things you have left.  The items that you love. The next article will teach you how to organize your newly purged closet!

Best Toys to Keep for Kids

Not all toys are equal.  Some are a fleeting fancy and other stand the test of time.  The ones that are the best to keep are the toys that span generations.  Toys that fuel creativity and interest.  Pass on the gimmicks.  Kids are fickle.  They will love them for a moment and discard them the next.  Here are our Top 10 favorite toys and activities:

1)  Dress Up Clothes
2)  Kitchen with play food and dishes
3)  All building items: leggos, duplos, big blocks, Lincoln Logs
4)  Trains and Trucks
5)  Baby dolls with accessories
6)  Art and craft supplies
7)  Play Doh and accessories
8)  Puzzles
9)  Books
10)  Games

These are a great list of items if friends or family ask what to get for gifts.  We also suggest gift cards to go and do things.  Experiences are often better than material stuff anyway! 

Tips: Organizing with Kids

Organizing with kids can be fun and productive.  Again, its all about setting limits.  Cleaning out the excess.  If that can be done then it will be a whole lot easier to maintain and keep the house under control.  It will be so much less stressful and the home will be a peaceful place to be.  The kid's space is personalized but not cluttered.

1)  Color code.  Each child has a color.  Try to purchase anything for that child in their favorite color.
2)  Have a tote for each child for their next size of clothing.  Anything purchased ahead of time or gifts of clothing go in this bin.
3)  Have a bin or tote in the closet for when they grow out of clothes.  Too small?  Goes in the bin.  Once its full you can sort all the items.  Donate, hand me downs or give away.
4)  Use a file folder for each child.  Their favorite or best school work or projects go in here.
5)  Have a treasure tote for each child.  Special things go in here.  Favorite stuffed animal or blanket, baptism items, baby shoes, gifts they're not old enough for.  This will be the tote they leave home with.
6) Put together snack bags on Sunday.  Store them in a tray where little hands can reach them for snack time.
7)  Buy a shower caddy and use for art supplies.  It will keep markers, crayons, pencils etc contained and organized. 
8)  Keep all toys in toy area organized. Use baskets and bins so one or two sets of toys can be taken upstairs, into bedroom at a time.  When they are finished with that toy it is put back and another can be taken out.
9)  Use kids artwork as decor in the playroom or their rooms.  We put up an "ART" rope and hung pictures by using clothes pins.  Cute and useful!
10)  Place extra books and puzzles up on shelves.  Rotate the books out.  I have them tell me which books they would like on the lower shelves within their reach.  That way all the books are not strewn all over the house.
11)  Place limits.  Number of pajamas, stuffed animals, sweatshirts, toys, puzzles, books etc. 
12) One on one out.  When the kids get new gifts from birthdays or Christmas we expect that they go through their belongings.  They can donate to charity, a younger sibling or sometimes an item makes it way to Grammy's.  Then they have some activities to do when we visit.
13) The "crap" basket.  I use a small plastic basket with handles.  A couple times a day I fill it up with things I find laying around the house.  I have the kids help gather and put items back in their proper place.  If I'm tired and everyone's asleep I'll pick stuff up and keep it in there until morning.
14)  Every Monday we take a laundry basket and bring all extra toys downstairs to the playroom.  I also walk through their rooms with a trash bag and throw all random items away.


Kids Closet and Bedroom

Playroom

It is possible to get and stay organized with kids in the house.  We have two girls and one boy ages one year to six years old.  We have a wide variety of toys.  We try to keep the toys that everyone loves or will love.  The key is getting rid of excess.  Purging the gimicky toys and keeping the classics.  Stay tuned.  My next post is about our favorite, timeless toys.  The best ones to keep for your kids if you are looking for a guideline.

Finished Projects: Our House

We moved in our house about 6 1/2 years ago.  It has been a long process of organizing, figuring out space utilization, de-cluttering and cleaning.  Last year we decided to see how simple and minimal we could get.  This is where we arrived.  We may try to de-clutter further but right now we have things in our home that we love.  We went with decor that works in almost every room.  Then if we want to shake things up a bit we can easily move things around.  Here are some of the rooms:

Living Room

Kitchen

Master Bedroom

Mudroom

We did replace the henious green floor in this three season porch.  The material was free from a friend (thanks Kevin!) and we just had to pay for install.  For our family it worked better to use it as a mudroom.  It is right off the garage and leads into the kitchen.  Using it for a sitting room would have been another empty space to fill up with stuff we didn't need.  We added hooks ($30 from Target) and the two benches ($100 from Shopko and the other was $40 from Walmart). 

To start go room by room.  Is there any big furniture you don't need that's just taking up space?  Then move to the walls, shelves, tables, drawers, closets and finally the floor.  Anything that you do not use or absolutely love get rid of.  If there is something you just can't part with see if it works better in a different room.  Happy de-cluttering!