Organizing Mistakes (Part Three: Once and Done Mentality)

This post continues a series on mindsets and marketing ploys that sabotage attempts at real organization. Missed the first or second post?

If you’ve glanced through magazines, read articles, or even paged through books on the subject, it seems that most people find “getting organized” to be a project: buy the bins, throw out/donate a bunch of things, then arrange them in a cute way, and voila! You’re done.

I heartily disagree.

Home or office organization is an ongoing task. It’s not only about achieving an uncluttered, rational filing system for your belongings and paperwork. Organization truly lies in a system that can be perpetuated with minimal effort. 

(Is this too much common sense for ya?) 

Let’s use cleaning floors as a parallel. Perhaps you move into a new home where the floors were sorely neglected. It’s a project to either replace the floor covering or get the grime off, but it’s possible. Your end result is a clean floor. Great. 

But, steps are needed to continue to keep the floor clean. It won’t magically repel dirt going forward. You must take steps to prevent it becoming soiled (say, taking off shoes at the door) and regularly sweeping or mopping. You might find that in the winter, you need to put out an extra rug to catch gravel. In the summer, you may have to put a mat outside to keep grass clippings at bay.

Similarly, with organizing, you will probably have to adapt and flex your system as you find new needs or challenges that need to be addressed. 

The good news is that by maintaining your system, you’ll never have to make organizing a project again. And just like cleaning, if things fall a little behind, it won’t be that hard to catch up. We all get sick, have intensely busy times, and get off routine for a variety of reasons, so it’s more important to maintain a reasonable level of organization than ditch the idea because you haven’t achieved organizational nirvana.

And this is one of the times that I’ve fallen behind. In fact, I’m writing this post instead of picking up my living room, which looks like this:

And my kitchen counter, which looks like this:

 

      Ugh.

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, and to continue my goal of making my home an enjoyable place to be, you better believe I’m going to be caught up before tomorrow evening. 

How have you been viewing organization? As a project or ongoing task?

Additional Resources: Cleaning Chart, Nightly Routine

Make the Most of Your Meals (Part 3)

Mission: Reduce My Grocery Budget

I looked back through my expenses thus far during 2012, and we've been spending an average of $100-150 a week. Less than $100 per week at the grocery store, the rest is mostly from Target. That means some is non-food, like cleaning supplies and toiletries. I definitely can reduce those numbers. 

I'm pretty pleased with week number one of trying to pare down my grocery expenses and reduce food waste. My grocery expenditures this week came in under $30.


The orange pepper and green grapes were not on my list, but when my three-year-old asks for produce, it's really hard to turn him down!

My menu revolved around using up food that was already on hand. We were fortunate to have two very special nights with no cooking :)

Mon: Leftover pork from last week, leftover rice and veggies from a birthday dinner on Saturday
Tue: Mini meatloaves with tater tots (beef, tots and sauce were hanging out in freezer) and green beans
Wed: Salmon from the freezer, more leftover rice, and broccoli that badly needed to be used
Thur: Enchiladas from the freezer, salad
Fri: My Dad brought Dominos!
Sat: Date night at Red Lobster, using a coupon
Sun: Burgers and rolls from the freezer, leftover vegetables

You might wonder why I am working so hard to use up my freezer food.

Well, this is what my freezer looked like about two months ago. Aside from some wiping and an attempt to straighten up the stuff in there, it hasn't looked much different since. We had some frosting issues because there was so much stuff that the drawer couldn't close properly. Not to mention the full chest freezer in the basement...

Incorporating things on hand will help bring costs down for the meantime. And, more freezer space will give me the option of stocking up when food goes on sale. I bought the two blocks of cheese today (2/$4) to experiment and see if I can make my own snack size pieces of cheese for cheap and with less packaging.

I've posted before about some of the pitfalls of grocery shopping and why it's not necessarily bad to be loyal to a specific store.

A few things that I'd like to reinforce:

Plan your trip
Look at the weekly circular and see if there are any bargains. Consider planning your meals around meats or produce that is on sale in a given week. Review any paper coupons that you have before you get to the store, and/or look for online coupons that correspond to needed items and sales.

Make a list and stick to it
If possible, take the time to make the list in the order that you travel through the store. Buy only what you knew you needed at home. It's healthier if you stick to the perimeter of the store.

Don't shop at five different stores
Not only do I view this as a huge hassle and time-waster, I think it becomes a financial mistake. If you frequent one or two stores, you know exactly where to find things. You'll browse less, and you'll remember prices for sake of comparison. How much money do you really save by making a special trip for that really good deal on blueberries?

Don't be ashamed to buy the "house brand"
I find myself doing this all the time recently. Over and over, the price of the store brand comes in lower than the sale price for the name brand. There are so many things that you can buy without the name brand price--crisp rice cereal for those marshmallow treats, frozen spinach, macaroni, baking soda, vegetable oil, salt, etc. Plus, those are things you rarely see coupons for. Take the extra 5-10 seconds to find the house brand instead of grabbing the trademarked packaging that you instantly recognize (because that seems to be the only reason for the higher price).

Try to know your prices, at least on the bigger stuff
I know not everyone is a stay at home mom like me, and time is often more important than money. If you have the luxury of doing some price-comparison shopping, do it. I love shopping at Target and have found that I can get a lot of my dry goods there for a lot less (sugar, coffee, cereal, granola bars). It's very, very rare that I can get a better deal on cereal at the supermarket.

Next week, we'll talk about building a good pantry stash without going overboard.

A Light Bulb Went On!

Sometimes you have an idea so good that you can't stop grinning.

I solved two problems at once attaching my son's bibs to his high chair. I don't have to designate a drawer or counter space for the bibs, and they are right where I need them. Yay for brainstorms!

(Sorry the picture is not as good as the idea...)

LOVE this!

Imagine overnight company is coming in two hours...here's how to do a burst of cleaning. Hopefully it means the rest of the family is either helping or is out of the house somewhere!

A Cheap Motivational Device

Like many parents of toddlers, I've learned how useful timers can be. Something about that third party timekeeper makes life more fair and alternately speeds things up or encourages patience.

I'm in awe at how this device--which I used to think was merely intended for monitoring baked goods--can settle the score between siblings and make a game out of cleaning up.

Your timer doesn't have to be digital, or anything fancy, really. Oh how I loved winding these up and then forcing them down to zero to hear the ringing as a kid...over and over again.

You might not have kids in the house, but if you find yourself procrastinating, overwhelmed, or with a few idle minutes, I encourage you to "trick" yourself using a timer.

You see, we often over- or under-estimate the amount of time we need to do a project.

The other night I cleaned the bathroom (everything but the shower) while my husband was taking a shower and I was awaiting my turn. For some reason, this was a task that I'd been hemming and hawing about starting all week, but I finished it in the typical five-minute-guy-shower timeframe.

I've encouraged you before to try and time your weekly tasks so that you can better budget the time you spend on cleaning. But today I wonder what you could accomplish if you set the timer for 15 or 20 minutes, and tried to beat the clock. (That's why I like the constant tick-tick-tick of the dial timer.)

As you work, remember the left to right, up and down technique so you can stay as focused as possible. Good luck!

Yea and Amen!

A few weeks ago I posted on the six commandments of organizing and I'm still sticking to them. But this article essentially covers them in three points. I love it!

"Outer order contributes to inner calm."  Oh yeah.

Shout Out for An Organized Lady

Overwhelmed? House full of clutter? Already planning how to simplify in the New Year?

You're going to want to keep an eye on Glynnis' blog for the next month or so. Love her ideas!!!

The Six Commandments of Organizing (Part 2)

Here's part two of the post I shared earlier with the cardinal rules of organizing, as I see them (complete list):

1. Each area of the house should be set up for only one type of activity.  Don’t pay bills in the kitchen, or eat in the bedroom. Use rooms for their intended purpose and designate an area for paperwork in an office or at a desk. Don’t cram all your activities into one room, or you’ll set yourself up to lose things!
2. Handle items only once, or at the very most, twice.  Sort your mail next to the trash can.  Toss junk mail right away, take bills immediately to your desk (or schedule them for online payment immediately). Don’t make a habit of ‘piling’ unless you make a habit of sorting the pile for an hour each week!
3. Designate one place in the house that will always be clutter-free to serve as your sorting area. You need a place to set down grocery bags, stacks of paperwork or supplies, and any other items you bring home with you. Unpack or spread out the items, then start putting things away immediately, working to clear off the sorting area.  Sometimes you have to make a mess in order to organize or clean it up!
4. Work methodically, starting in one place, and sticking to a task until it is completed.  Try not to get overwhelmed.  Focus on one drawer or shelf, and work with it until you are done. Set a timer if it helps you keep moving. Small successes will be a big motivator.
   
5. Group items with similar uses together where you use them.  For instance, store the supplies that you use to clean the bathroom underneath the sink or in a nearby closet - don’t hide them in the basement!  You’ll save time if you keep extra trash bags in the bottom of the can, protected by the bag that’s already in place.  Plus, you won’t need to find a shelf to store the bags on.  If you absolutely do not have room in the area, box up items, label them clearly and store them together with similar items in a storage area.

6. Ask yourself: Could someone else benefit from having this item more than I am benefiting from it?  Check with them to see if they could use it.  “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Remember Matthew 6:25-34 – Do not worry about clothing, storing up treasures, or other things.  If you have not worn it in two years, picked it up in a year, or if it has a thick layer of dust on it, it isn’t doing you any good! You can donate just about anything to various causes, or you could bless a friend with something they can use, but may not be able to afford.

Cleaning Chart

Before kids, and when I worked full time, Saturday mornings were a time of laundry and frenzied cleaning. I spent several hours racing around trying to get everything back in shape. Now, I do cleaning in short bursts when I have time, or at least before company comes over.

I just read an article that affirmed my experience, saying it's more productive and less stressful to break things down into small jobs throughout the week. I never really timed these projects until I planned to write this post, but it is true that you can do a lot in 20 minutes.

When breaking up the tasks, I worry that I'll miss something.One of my friends told me she has a set day for dusting, another for vacuuming, etc. I'm not sure I can hold myself to such a high standard.

Because I believe that good organization means developing a system that actually works (not just sounds or looks good in a magazine), I came up with this cleaning chart to help me personally cover the basics. I'm sure it will require some adaptation after a few weeks.

As an example, I only scheduled myself to vacuum upstairs every other week. Maybe you think that's gross, but let me say that it's better that I do it every other week than procrastinate and have it go far longer in between.  Yes, even though I like to clean, some jobs just require more effort to start.

I'd love to hear how you make your chores fit into your schedule. Until then, happy cleaning!

Pregnant, Barefoot and in the Kitchen

This description may not always be the most flattering, but this is exactly how I found myself today. I spent the entire day making soup to freeze for quick and easy meals after the baby is born. Call it nesting or call it crazy, I now have 29 quarts (more than seven gallons!) of soup put away.

This was the first time that I spent the better part of a day in the kitchen cooking (aside from making applesauce). It also took a few hours of planning and shopping before the cooking. I pulled out the recipes and made my list, then checked it twice. Here's a picture of my canned goods stacked alongside their recipes, just to be sure I had enough beans, tomatoes, etc.


Since I had five types of soup to make, I borrowed a pot from my neighbor (thanks, Jen!) in addition to my dutch oven and stockpot so that I could keep the process going. I was able to chop vegetables, clean up, or package a cooled batch while the current pot was simmering. Of course, the kitchen didn't always look so organized...

It must have smelled pretty good wafting out into the backyard. Look who showed up!

Here is what my soup looked like as it finished freezing solid. The goal is to have nice, firm rectangles that can stand up on their own in the freezer. I debated on what might be the most eco-friendly storage solution and determined that reusable containers are great, but also take up more space in the freezer. And of course, I can't afford to buy all glass containers. So, I feel pretty justified in using less freezer capacity/energy even though the bags will only be reused once or twice at best.

I guess you can imagine one of my next projects is organizing the freezers to make room for applesauce!

Here's what I made:

• Minestrone Soup
• Chicken Wild Rice Soup
• Pasta Fagioli (I'll have to reprint the recipe sometime)
• Tortilla Soup (double batch), similar to this one
• Amish Chicken Corn Soup

A very special thanks to Nana for watching my boy while I worked. :)

Packing Checklist

Though summer vacations are winding down, I decided to make a few revisions to my packing checklist based on recent experience and repost it as a PDF for you to use. Enjoy!

Maintaining a Happy Home

Do you ever find yourself wishing you could get another family member a bit more on board with organizing, helping around the house, or some other project?

I found Mark Gungor's analysis of men's and women's thought patterns to be so interesting (and quite funny). He explains that women think in a winding trail like spaghetti and that men tend to compartmentalize. Take a few minutes and hear what he has to say.

Supermarket Loyalty Cards

I stumbled across this article a few weeks ago. It seems to fly in the face of everything that hard-core bargain hunting coupon ladies are all about. It tells you not to sign up for customer loyalty cards.

In a very roundabout way, the article suggests you don't rely on that card to get you all the deals you need. But you knew that already. Just like you knew many of the tips from my previous post on grocery shopping. Loyalty cards and coupons are sticky wickets when you are a brand-loyal consumer. I'll admit that I only want Heinz ketchup and I don't care if the other brand is a dollar less because it tastes weird. So, I choose to wait to stock up on Heinz when it goes on sale ('cause I've never seen a coupon for Heinz ketchup). However it's no surprise that when I buy one brand of pasta at the store, I'll get a coupon for a competing brand.

Once again, I have to compliment my favorite store, Target, for their wonderful checkout coupons for the stuff I actually buy. I will more than gladly take that $1.50 coupon for the coffee I buy every few weeks. Even better that I can combine the store coupon with the manufacturer's coupon. Target has the best price on it anyway. Not to mention their awesome credit card that automatically gives you 5% off your purchase.

Anyway, I can't say that loyalty cards, checkout coupons and store credit cards are all bad. You just have to know how to work them in your favor, and be glad to put more than a few in the recycling.

What do you think? How many stores do you visit in an average week to get the best savings, and do you have their card?

Lost Keys

I can't believe it. I lost a set of keys!

They were a spare set, but still. I pride myself on having a good system in the foyer so that this doesn't happen. It's not appropriate to blame my two-year-old for moving them, is it? Since I went and had a new set made this morning, I'm sure they will turn up later this week!

One of the first things we bought for this house was an entryway set with a matching table, mirror and lamp. This was in part because we have a pretty large foyer compared to the rest of our house. Plus, it was important to me that there was a place to set things when coming home, or set things that needed to go out (library books, mail, etc.). It's easier for me to remember what needs to go out the door if it's nearby.

After we set up that nice entry table, I also found a bowl to put keys in. That bowl of keys has become sort of a toy these days (whose toddler doesn't love to repeatedly lock and unlock the car with a remote?) but for five and a half years, that was an easy way to keep track of keys. The idea would also work nicely for hubby's wallet and cell phone, but it's never really caught on. :)

Well, here's hoping I find those keys!

Update: these keys were found lurking in the diaper bag, of all places. :)

Boggling Principle

What can you learn about organizing from a family game? More than you might think!

I just returned from several relaxing days at a mountain cabin with my husband's family. It was wonderful! After the kids were in bed, we chose to play a few rounds of the game Boggle. I enjoy word games because I read so much, but I also devised a system for winning. See, the Boggle letters are arranged in a four by four square. I mentally divided the letters into two by two quadrants and started looking for word patterns in each quadrant. This really seemed to work and keep my mind focused when all the letters were facing different directions and it seemed easy to get distracted.

So, how to apply this to real life?

Start with a logical system to keep you from getting distracted. I've found this really helps me in the kitchen, where I can clean or straighten from left to right. My dishwasher is one of the right-most things in the kitchen, so I can keep funneling dirty dishes to the dishwasher or food to the fridge. Obviously, you can work right to left or in another patten if your kitchen is different, but I bet you'll find it's easier if you work with the same system every time.

Tonight, hubby and I washed our cars. This is a perfect example of how a grid or sectioning system works in your favor. Start with the roof, then windows on each side, then doors, moving from left to right and top to bottom. This ensures you get every nook and cranny without having to do spot cleaning later.

I envision the same principle to tackle papers on my desk, reviewing items from left to right and prioritizing projects.

How can you see this applying to your life? I'd love to hear your suggestions!

Closet Switch

Ah, May is here, and it was 80 degrees yesterday. Time to put away the winter clothes. Ugh.

Do you dread the seasonal closet switch like I do? You know, hauling bins of clothing up from the basement and sorting, washing, and packing away the stuff that has been in your closet. Of course, the coming addition to our family means that I had to haul out the maternity clothes, too, and pack away the summer stuff that already doesn't fit to make room in my dresser and closet.

So this year I decided to do it right and went and bought four more storage bins--one for overflow sweaters, one for my son's outgrown clothing, one for clothes he has yet to grow into, and one for my husband. I was proud of myself for thinking ahead and writing down the brand and size that I needed. If there is one thing I've learned from this dreaded project, it's to try and have bins of the same size and brand, with sturdy lids. Even if they are the same size, different brands make different shapes and that makes them frustrating to stack. You just have to label them since they all look alike.

Normally, this would also be the time when I carefully review what I didn't wear much, what didn't fit, and what I was just plain tired of looking at; that stuff would be donated at the thrift shop. However, since I don't know what my post-baby shape will be, I'm hanging on until fall. Then I imagine I'll be getting rid of a lot of things! (I realized that one of the shirts in my closet is still from high school. That's thirteen years ago. Maybe it's time to say goodbye?)

I once read a great tip about how to decide when it's time to part with a piece of clothing. The author suggested that you start the season with all your hangers turned around (so the hook came toward you instead of the wall). As you wore an item and rehung it, you then hang the hanger the right way. At the end of the season, you could honestly assess what you didn't wear at all by looking at the hangers. I'll confess I've never done it--possibly because I don't have too much trouble parting with things--but I like the concept a lot.

What do you do that makes this project easier? I need ideas since I haven't perfected the process.

ps-Interestingly enough, my pastor talked this week about Americans being overfed and overclothed. This whole post is testimony to that. And, if you are one of those folks who doesn't have to switch out their closet because your closet is big enough to hold all your clothes, I don't want to know about it!

Time Savers

Every minute is precious.
 It's also an opportunity to
get something done!

When you have young kids, people frequently admonish you to enjoy the time because children "grow up so fast". It's especially fast when you are the parent. Unfortunately, I don't know how to put life on pause.

There are a million things that drain your valuable time each day. How can you capitalize on what feels like wasted time?

A few ideas that will hopefully get your organizational juices flowing:

1. Multitask when you are on the phone: unload the dishwasher, throw in a load of laundry, wipe the counter. These all take little concentration and won't distract you from your conversation like, say, replying to an email would.
2. Keep mail, a magazine or other reading material that isn't time-sensitive in your purse or diaper bag. Look over it when you are waiting at the doctor's office, in line somewhere, or waiting in the pickup line at your child's school.
3. Keep a microfiber cloth or swiffer in your car. When you are stuck at a light or getting gas, give the dashboard and console a quick swipe.
4. Use any time you are sitting and waiting as an opportunity to clean out your purse.
5. I check my pockets and purse when I'm in line at the grocery store, and toss any trash on my way out.
6. Keep a pad and pen handy to write down things you need to do. You can refer to this list when you have a few minutes for a project; you can probably find one that will fit into the time that you have available.
7. I find myself wasting a lot of emotional and mental energy saying, "I need to remember to ______". If I don't have paper handy, I often email myself, or call and leave myself a voicemail at home. Those are easy to delete and they're paperless, too!
8. If you find yourself a few minutes early for an appointment and need to kill time, stop to get gas. Even if your tank isn't empty, you're less likely to run out or need a special trip later.
9. Find some time to put your most frequently called service contacts (hair stylist, dentist, physician, pharmacy, etc.) in your cell phone so that you can call for an appointment any time you have a spare minute, no matter where you are.
10. Waiting in the kitchen for a dish to finish cooking? Use that time to straighten items in a cabinet or glance through your fridge to see what needs to be used up, put on the grocery list or tossed out.

Room by Room: Office

Well, we have exciting news...baby #2 is due in November! I guess this is a partial excuse for my infrequent posting the past few weeks.

As we prepare to welcome a new little one, we will soon say goodbye to our office (the third bedroom). Truthfully, we've been working towards this goal over the past year. We have gone virtually paperless, paying bills online and scanning documents that we want to save. Still, losing this space has me thinking about what is really essential when there is limited space.

For my home office needs, I've narrowed it down to a laptop and mouse, flat workspace, a file box, a safe, a scanner, shredder, router and one shelf of a cupboard for office supplies. I really didn't think we could pare down from two desks to this little. It was refreshing to cut down on files and realize that I really only need to save the most recent bill from the water company, the electric company and so forth.

One tip from a friend: Lest you become too zealous in getting rid of paper, make sure you have at least one copy of recent bills (electronic or paper). If you need to call for service, they will want your account number, and you don't want to be left without it.
Do you have pictures of a condensed workspace that you want to share? Please post a comment; I'd love to spotlight some of your ideas!

Weekend Getaway (Packing Checklist)

My sincere apologies for not having any new posts for awhile. Work has been busy and thus preempted some free time during naps. DH has been working hard too. Fortunately, we were recently able to get away for the weekend at a lovely bed and breakfast in Lancaster County. Thanks to the grandparents for watching our boy!

I don't know about you, but there are two parts to going away that really bother me: packing and laundry. It's not especially easy for me to figure out what to throw in a bag, even for a 36-hour excursion. (Will they have a hair dryer? How fancy a restaurant are we going to go to on Saturday?)

So Many Errands!

Just about everyone I've talked to this week has spring fever. Enough of the winter, dashing from heated house to hopefully warm car, trying to avoid the bone-chilling cold. Doing errands in this weather is no fun, bundling up and toting a toddler around. I'm freezing or sweating, and there is no happy medium.

So, let me share with you my new, favorite way to do errands: Amazon.com. I've been a longtime Amazon buyer for books, but a few months ago found out about Amazon Subscribe and Save and Amazon Mom. Silly me thought a lot of people knew about this, but I've mentioned it a handful of times in recent weeks and no one knew what I was talking about. So, here we are.

Amazon Subscribe and Save lets you order consumable stuff and have it shipped to you at regular intervals. Cereal, shampoo, diapers, Sonicare toothbrush heads, and pretty much any personal hygiene item you can think of. Set it up to ship any quantity at one, two, three or six month intervals, and automatically save 15% with no shipping charge. Plus, you can change the shipping pattern or cancel at any time. Just be sure you stop the subscription before you have a garage full of cereal. You only have a short window to tell them to stop a shipment. On the bright side, you can also speed up a shipment if you are running low on something. The full details are here.

Amazon Mom is especially cool, because you get the free two-day shipping that is part of Amazon Prime, with no minimum purchase (normally $79 a year if you sign up for that program outside of Amazon Mom). For every $25 you spend on baby stuff, the Prime benefits are extended another month. For instance, I bought a $100 item with Christmas money and the benefits were extended four more months. Plus, it's better than subscribe and save because you get an additional 15% off (total 30% off) many items, including diapers! Plus the stuff comes right to your door.

Due to the two-day free shipping, I have been seeing a lot of my UPS guy. He's a very nice man, and with all the visits he has been making, I'm thinking he's going to deserve a Christmas gift this year!

Seriously, if you are tired of running to the store for the stuff that runs out--vitamins, makeup, coffee--take a look at these programs. I bet you will save some time and cash, not to mention the chance you'll have to develop a special bond with the guy in brown!