Spring Cleaning and ORGANIZING

All sunscreens in a bin

Put all extra lotions in rubbermaids

I keep a tub of books by each of the boy's beds!

I try :) to hang short sleeve t's together, polo style shirts together, sleeveless together, and play shirts together etc.

A tub for Dawson's PJ's

I keep a tub in Dawson's closet just for undies and socks and it is easy for him to reach!

I keep books and puzzles in Dawson's closet so when he has his "room time" (thanks to Sherri and Heather for that grand idea) he has stuff to do!

Put hat/gloves/scarves in seperate containers









Put all tupperware lids in on big container

I liked this idea of putting all your jello/pudding in a small pull out drawer instead of stacking them in the pantry

I like seperating snacks into different containers.

One for applesauce, one for popcorn packages, one for salty snacks, etc.

For some reason I had my recipe boxes seperate from my recipe books so I put them all together

I tried using a spice tower but they were constantly falling forward and falling out of the cupboard so I know put them in a pull out drawer and label the top of them so it is easy to grab and use!

We have an art closet and it always seems to be a mess so I decided to add my little touch to it! I first bought this "magazine organizer" at Walmart so we don't have anymore bent construction paper! It is nice because both the boys can carry it and take it to the table to do their work!

I also got this big container for all the coloring/sticker/paint books.

All playdough and toys in one bin.

The boys have a closet in their toy room so I try to put as much as I can in clear rubbermaids so they can go grab one and bring it out to play with. Generally they know what belongs in what container. I was tired of having pieces of toys all over and missing pieces so this has helped keep them some what together! (Ex: small animals, small blocks, large blocks, balls, firefighters, rodeo guys etc.)

All their dress-up stuff in a container!

More toy containers

Another thing I do is frame some of their artwork. Pottery Barn has really neat frames but not in my budget :) so I get the frames at Walmart or Kohls! The art work I don't frame and want to keep I put in a file in our office and will occassionally go through it and pitch whatever needs to go. When the file gets to full I put that artwork in their memory boxes that get stored in the attic.

Ok before you wonder what in the world all these pictures are for, let me explain! I love to organize anything in our house or friends houses. The disclaimer is this: No my house is not always clean because organization and cleaning are two different things :) No, I am still waiting for that cleaning lady to show up once a week but for some reason my hubby has not approved that in the budget yet :) Anywho, I love the challenge in organizing! A lady came to a Mops group a couple of years ago and spoke on "Household organizational tips!" That was one of my favorite meetings :) She had a hand out for us with all sorts of information. This year I was able to go tour her house with a bunch of other women! It was so fun and interesting to finally see it with my own eyes!

So I am going to share SOME of her helpful info with all of you on staying organized and also some great tips on helping your children be organized and responsible. So sorry to all of you whom this may bore :)

*Purchase good indoor & outdoor entry mats- 80-90% of the dirt in your home enters through the doors. Good mats will stop that dirt before it enters your home.

I found some sort of neat ones at Sams for $15 each (yes I pitched my pretty decorative ones but they were way to small and everyone tripped over each other trying to take their shoes off there!)

*Recipe file boxes- have seperate boxes for main meals, dessert items, and misc.

She had about 4 different boxes

*She kept an index card in a drawer by the phone of frequently called numbers.

*Personal spiral notebook- use to write down daily "to do" lists. Have 3 columns: CALLS, DO, GO

*Wall calendar- In January, fill in all your personal & family appts, b-days, anniversaries, vacations, school delays, etc. per month for year. Use same calendar to keep track of daily current events. You can also make a list of cleaning jobs which only need done once/twice a year and assign a month to each. Ex. defrost freezers, dust tops of hard to reach furniture & refrigerator, clean stove, clean refrigerator, clean behind washer & dryer, clean windows, flip mattress, clean light fixtures, fans, etc.

Pantry

*Bigger tubs- for lunch pails, sippy cups,thermos storage.

*Large plastic containers for special occasion napkins, b-day/holiday items, extra dishes/china.

Den

*Seperate box for stationary/thank you cards. Card file for all your special occasion cards. She had a huge "book" that held all the cards she would need for the year. She would go to Factory Card Outlet at the beginning of the year and know how many cards she needed and purchase them all then. They are usually $.50 each so it won't be to much for all of them. She then puts them in her organizer in the right month and then has them all ready to go when the certain event rolls around.

* another neat ideas she had for out of season clothes if they don't all fit into your closet is to put them into a box and number that box and on a index card put that number along with what is in it.

*put individual bulletin boards in each of the kids room for school papers etc. Have them change it weekly.

*Label puzzles. # each puzzle piece with the same #. Store entire puzzle in zip-lock bag.

There is so much info she gave that I could be sitting here for 3 more hours so if you are interested in a copy of this info, I would gladly mail you a copy. Consider it my $.40 some cent donation to each of you. It is jam-packed with a lot of ideas for organizing as well as allowances for children etc. If you would like a copy e-mail me knmiller4@verizon.net or leave a comment on this post and I would love to convert you to the crazy world of organzing! It does not take much $ either to get organzied, this lady used shoe boxes etc to organize, but if you are anal like me and like things matching and see-thru then go to walmart/target! I'll leave you with a few more pictures of ways I organize around my house! And if you are needing help getting started my sister Jaime and me love helping people get started! We have done this a few times and enjoy it!