February is Organize Your Kitchen Month

Well the month is half over and I am just getting started!  Well, actually, I've been doing quite a bit and just haven't had time to sit down and blog about it.  But, I have been organizing, and taking photos to show you what I have been up to!

Over at my favorite organizing blog IHeartOrganizing.com, Jen issues a monthly organizing challenge and February is the Kitchen.  Well I had just happened to be planning on issuing the same challenge here, so I figure I will just go along with her challenge and show you what I've done!  Maybe between both of our blogs you will be inspired to organize your own kitchen!

I love my kitchen.  I love the colors of the cabinets.  I love the granite.  I love the tall ceilings and how it is wide open to the dining and living areas.  It truly is the heart of our home and I spend a great deal of time there.  The one thing I don't love about my kitchen is the amount of cabinets we have.  It really just isn't enough.  But, by keeping the clutter down and having a home for everything, we are making it work.  I've done quite a bit over the last 9 months organizing and tweaking the way I do things.  I think I have rearranged the pantry 3 times already.  Maybe, eventually, I will figure it all out.  But just as all organizing is, it is a process to get it just right!  But I have done a few things that I really do love that have made a huge different and I am excited to show them to you over the next few weeks.

So, start thinking... What do you want to organizing in your kitchen this month?

Get Organized in 2013 - Challenge #7 Command Center

Hello friends!  I love seeing all of your emails with your photos of your organized entryways.  You need to get BRAVE  and post them on our Facebook page too so others can be inspired by what you have done.

In my last post I said that today we were going to talk about mail stations.  And that is true but we are not only going to be talking about mail stations, we are going to be talking about our Command Center.

A  Command Center is where all the information flows in and out of for your family.  Here is a picture of mine.

A good Command Center has

1. A calendar - everyone needs to be able to know what is going on easily.  I purchased my Calendar at Target.  To put the dates on, I use a WET ERASE MARKER so that the numbers don't rub off.  I only discovered wet erase markers about a year ago and I use them for everything now.  I use various colors of DRY ERASE MARKERS for everyone's activities.  This helps keep things straight and I don't have to write each person's name with their activity because they have their own color.  This calendar is used more for my family's benefit than my own.  I use Google Calendars very heavily.  I will talk about them in another post.

2. A message board.  This can be cork, magnetic, dry erase, whatever works for your family.  I purchased mine at Target.  I love that it is magnetic to hang little things we need to pay attention to and is also dry erase to write to-do lists or groceries.

3. Mail Station.  This is a CRUCIAL piece of organizing  your home.  So much of what comes into your home is PAPER CLUTTER. Paper clutter is  HUGE problem for most families.  Knowing what to do with the mail, papers from school, newspapers, coupons, etc. seems to be something that a lot of people struggle with.  A mail station is the answer.

As  you can see from the photo, my mail station is in an opaque box with color coded file folders.  Both of these items were purchased at (you guessed it!) Target. 

In the front of the box I have a RED folder marked ACTION.  Papers that go in there are things I need to take care of right away.  Papers to sign for school, a note to give someone, a letter to go out, etc. This folder is checked at least daily.

Next I have folders for each family member.  The kids are in BLUE and my husband and I are in RED (just because the pack of file folders I bought only had 4 of each color.)  Items that go in here pertain to each family member.  I will put mail that is for my husband in HIS folder.  The kids have school papers usually in their folders.  Their reading calendars, book reports, spelling and vocabulary words, etc.  These folders are looked at usually at least weekly and cleaned out monthly.  The kids can put papers that they want to save in their folders as well and when I clean them out, I file them in their school papers binders and boxes. (More on those in another post.)

The next items in GREEN have to do with money.  When my husband and I get home for the day we put our receipts in the receipts folder if it is something we need to keep.  Bills to be paid go in their own folder.  In the third green folder is where I keep this week's grocery ads.  They come in the mail on Wednesday and I usually do my meal planning and grocery shopping on either Saturday or Monday.  I like have a place to keep them so that I can refer to them as I plan. I usually do my grocery shopping at Walmart and they will honor other store's ads, so when it is time to go to the store, I just grab them out of the folder and stick them in my purse (to show the cashier.)  Then I recycle them as soon as I get home and the folder is empty when more come.

The YELLOW folders are for coupons.  I'm not a HUGE couponer, but I do love to save money whenever I can.  I divide the coupons into four categories: coupons, groceries, activities, and food.  The first folder, COUPONS, has those random coupons that come in the mail or paper for carpet cleaning, dry cleaning, repairs & maintenance, etc.  The GROCERIES folder is exactly what is sounds like, a folder for grocery coupons.  These come in our paper every week.  I will usually look through these when I do my meal planning  and grocery list as well.  The ACTIVITIES folder is coupons for activities like bowling, movies, fun centers, etc.  These come in handy when we are looking for things to do.  The last folder is for FOOD.  Not grocery food, but eating out.  My husband and I love to try new restaurants and we of course indulge on some fast food every now and again. 

In the back of my box is my Home Management Binder.  We will talk more about this in another post.  I also wanted to mention that during the summer I post the kids chore chart on the front of the box. You can check out my previous post on chore charts to see them.

4. Recycling/Trash.  It is important to have a trash/recycling can nearby when you are sorting your papers.   If something needs to be shredded, I will usually add it to my action folder and then take it downstairs to be shredded later.

5. Stationary Items.  You can see my woven drawers in the photo.  The top drawer has tons of pens, pencils, scissors, tape, a stapler, etc.  Anything I, or the family, needs to grab for writing a list or note, doing homework, etc.  The middle drawer holds stuff for the little kids.  I have two preschoolers and we  practice letters and numbers in their workbooks.  The drawer also holds their markers and crayons.  The bottom drawer is mine.  It's where I keep MY wet/dry erase markers, notepads, thank you cards, etc.  That is usually where you will find one of my very favorite organizing tools as well.  My DYMO Label Maker.  It makes me happy!

Now, not necessary for a Command Center, but definitely for ours is our intercom. Three out of five of our kids rooms are in the basement and rather than yelling down the stairs, we just use the intercoms.  It is especially handy for waking the kids up in the mornings and telling them when they are running late!  It saves our voices and our heads!

So, Get Organized in 2013 Challenge #7 - Command Center and Mail Station.  This may take you a few days (it's not like we can all run out TODAY to get all the stuff!) So I'll continue to check in with you to see how you are doing.  Remember to post pictures!

For more ideas on how to set up your Command Center check my Pinterest Board.

I've been working on my laundry room and can't wait to show you the reveal!  Have a marvelous day!

Get Organized in 2013 - Challenge #6 Entryways

The Master Bedroom is done and now you have a place to retreat to when the rest of the house is in chaos.  But wouldn't it be nice to walk into your home and have it organized right from the moment you walk in?  Well that is what we are going to work on for the next few days.

Get Organized in 2013 Challenge #6 - Entryways

The entryway sets the mood for the rest of your home.  We want to set up a system that works for you and your family and the way you walk into your home.  So set the timer, there is work to be done!  Here are a couple of links to my Pinterest boards to maybe get your juices flowing for your entryway spaces.  Entryways    Closets     Mudroom

Also check out my original post for my entryway.

1. Have a place for everything.  Where are you going to hang coats, purses, and backpacks?  Do you need hooks? A coat rack?  Is there a closet nearby?  Does that closet actually get used or do you and your family tend to just drop things?  Find a system that will work best for hanging things.

2. Have a key drop.  If you have a place to put your keys as soon as you walk in the door, you are a lot less likely to lose them.  Whether that is a little dish or basket or a hook to hook them on.  In our front entryway (which is the one we use most of the time) I have a little dish in the top drawer of our shoe cabinet.  By the back door we have some hooks right by the door.  Find what works for you!

3. Have a place for mail.  Do you put mail by your front door?  Does it tend to pile up there?  If you do, add a recycling station right there as well.  My mail place is in my kitchen, so I don't need it in my entryway.  But you might!

4. Have a place for winter gear. Baskets, a drawer, whatever works for your family. As you can see, the hall closet is very tiny and barely fits the coats we wear.  Our hats, gloves, scarves, etc. are in labeled baskets in the bottom. I got them at Target.  When the boots aren't wet, we store them in my son's closet.  He has a very large closet and doesn't use three quarters of it, so we keep our boots and hang our snow pants in there.

Hopefully that gives you a few ideas.  You'll have a few days to get things in order.  You definitely want to organize the entryway you use the most often but don't forget the other ones you use too!  Please post photos and questions and ideas on our Facebook page or here in the comments.  I can't wait to see what you get done.  Monday we'll move on to a mail station.

I love a good purge!

Hello my lovelies! I am seeing great photos come in by email for not only the challenges but other areas of your home that you are tackling.  I can see the motivation that is stirring in you and I absolutely love it!  Don't be afraid to post to Facebook with your pictures.  Remember practice is PROGRESS!!!!

I myself have been busy cleaning up Christmas (it is FINALLY down), and have myself finally attacked my Master Bedroom this morning.  I had clothes on the floor, a bag that hadn't been cleaned out since our trip the week after Christmas, and piles of magazines, receipts from Christmas, and other misc. items all over our dresser.  Nightstands needed to be cleared off and now I finally feel I can have the peace and serenity back in my bedroom.  AHHHHHH!  Bad motivator, but I totally forgot to take a before photo.  But here is the after.  It makes me so happy!

Along with the Master Bedroom, I also attacked my closet right across the hall.  This closet is weird.  As you can see, it sits up high because it is over our staircase leading to the basement.  

I had organized it once before which worked for a while.  But, it was again in disarray and needed some purging and cleaning up.  When I had originally organized when I moved into the house, it was summer and so we needed access to all of our pool stuff.  But now that it is winter, we didn't need access to it anymore.  So the majority of our beach towels were moved into bins that during the summer store our winter stuff (boots, snow pants, hats, gloves, etc.)  Love that the bins can switch between the two.  I did leave a few towels just in case the kids went to an indoor pool sometime during the winter months.  I also left the bin of sunscreen because I didn't want to store those in a bin.  But, these items (as well as others that are rarely used) were moved from lower shelves to the top shelf.  The shelf is so high I have to climb up and inside the closet to even get to it.

Other items were also rearranged.  I moved decorative pillowcases and extra sheets to an upper shelf and my bin of regular pillowcases (that I seem to get into often) to a lower shelf.  Want to know how to fold your sheets so they are nice a pretty on your shelf?  Tutorial coming!

I also moved batteries, extention cords, and other often used items lower.

And I of course have my bin of Command Hooks on an easy to reach shelf as they are one of my organizing staples, plus a basket of pillowcases, and a Misc. box that basically has our portable DVD player and cords, some playing cards we use often, and usually holds my camera.

I was left with an almost completely empty bottom shelf with just a blanket I keep upstairs for snuggling on the living room couch (The rest of our blankets are stored downstairs) and the bag I take to church (I am the secretary for our women's organization.)   I keep my camera bag in this closet and used a Command hook to hang it up. And of course, to wrap up the newly organized closet, I had to make it all pretty with some cute labels.

Want to see what I got rid of in this closet?  A lot of trash and some items to be moved down into our newly finished storage room (more to come on that later!)  Boy do I love a good purge!

I'll be posting another challenge tomorrow.