Winner, winner!

I hope Michele's beautiful planner helps ease your frustration! 

Send me an email so I can get your mailing address.

Thank you all for the great ideas about using various organizational tools. There is good food for thought there and I love getting a glimpse of how things run in your families. Makes me want to share some more of our organizational tools... maybe later.

 

Pinning It Down {2}: Ribbon Organization

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I hadn't planned on participating every week in Sarah and Pam's link-up, just a few here and there when I could manage it, but it has been so motivationally inspiring that I just couldn't help myself. Plus this was an easy one (and I actually accomplished it a few weeks ago...shhhhh!).

I was excited by so many common sense ideas in this post that I pinned the whole thing and will probably come back to it multiple times. The wrapping paper on the ceiling idea got me thinking and looking for clever ways to store my ribbon rolls which led me to this post which got me so fired up that I jumped up to go do it without pinning it first (so I did that just now). Tee hee!

Well, combining the two ideas, here is my Pinning It Down offering for this week. It's a weird angle, I know. Imagine you have just opened the door to my garage and then looked up:

One rod for curling ribbon and one for fabric ribbon. 

OK... I cannot believe I just showed you a picture of my garage ceiling. Well, it's the little entryway into the garage, but still, it's in the garage! But that's where my craft closet is and that's where it will have to stay as long as the rooms are full of little people (and not so little people). I can live with that! :)

OH... I used two tension rods that I had sitting in my closet. One of them was thicker so I put the curling ribbon on it and one was thinner but it was still too thick for some of the really tiny ribbon rolls. We found (the girls helped me) that if you cut slits in the holes of the cardboard ends of the ribbon rolls, you could push those flaps in and make the hole big enough to slide onto the tension rod. Just FYI!
 

My Recipe Binder

I have been using a recipe binder for a little over a year now (as Miss Margaret can attest to since it was in use at her visit last year). I've wanted to mention it here but I'm always hesitant to rave about something new that's working for me lest in a month or two I find it completely impractical. Well, I think a year of usage is pretty good for a test run and I can now say that it has worked beautifully and continues to do so.

Do you ever get in a rut when planning and fixing meals for your family? Do you feel like you are cooking the same things over and over? That was the sentiment that inspired this binder. It's not a catch-all binder. Oh no! This binder is strictly for tried and true family favorites that we know and love (or atleast, most of us do). There is a pocket for new recipes to try but they are held back and kept on the outside, so to speak, until they are tested and evaluated and then finally added to The Binder! 

Here is how it works. It's really quite simple as most successful things are!

I chose a colorful binder and added some pretty paper to it. It must be the kind of binder that has clear plastic cover on the outside that you can slip things inside of. Then I created a template for my recipes and started typing up the ones that we used the most, loved the best, or were the easiest to prepare. 

A package of printable dividers allowed me to sort the recipes by my favorite categories. The categories are in alphabetical order (mostly), but the recipes inside each section are not. I'll explain why below.

When I use a recipe, I pop it out of the binder and slip it into the front pocket. This acts like a page protector so that splashes and spills are easily wiped away. Then when I put it back behind it's divider, I always put it up front. What this does is create a record of those recipes I use most often at the front of the section with the ones I haven't used in a while falling to the back. This was quite a happy accident that I didn't intend, but was delighted to discover! So when I feel that rut coming on, I flip to the back of the section and remind myself about all the other meals we enjoy!

So, that's my recipe binder. It has made meal planning and preparing so much nicer. Like I said, I use the inside pocket to store recipes I might like to try, so it still allows for creativity, but those don't get typed up and added to the binder until we decide that it's something that works for a regular family meal. I love how it allows me to refresh my menu plan easily when I feel like I've become stuck and it's functional too having just the one plastic protector instead of one for each recipe.

BTW... here are updated pictures of those bookshelves I linked to above. The K.I.S.S. alphabetical shelf organization is still going strong and working well for us. There was no tidying that took place prior to taking these pictures.

Thoughts :: Organizing Life

Thank you for all who responded to my organizational bleg the other day. Apparently, it was a standard yearly freak-out that arrived right on schedule, but for some reason, caught me unawares. I should learn to read my archives more often.

A sweet in-town friend has agreed to get together later this month to see if we can put our heads together trying to figure out this whole "organizational crisis". But first, a few thoughts....

I've done this before. I've got schedules, and calendars and notebooks galore sitting on my shelves collecting dust. When I realize this, I usually tend to mentally flog myself with condemnations of laziness and sloth and why-can't-I-just-figure-out-the-Right-Way-to-keep-house already? While I know I'm far from perfect, I've come to realize the temptation behind those thoughts. I've had plenty enough people over to my house and I've been to enough friends' houses to know where mine stands in the realm of cleanliness. I know where my successes lie and where I desire to improve. But when I see those lists and schedules sitting there ignored all I see is failure.

As I pondered all of your great suggestions, I realized that historically, the lists that work best for me are the ones that I make up myself to fit my family, my schedule and my standards. Isn't that the way it always is? Sure, it would be easy to pick up someone else's program and find it perfectly molded to our life? And if life stayed the same, so would my homemaking tasks, but that is not the case. Life is ever changing. The seasons change. Our health changes. Our priorities change. But I still expect one schedule to be a one-size-fits all remedy. Kind of sounds like the definition of insanity, huh? (I know Einstein is falsely attributed that quote, but my choice was to either falsely quote him or send you to a Narcotics Anonymous website.)

Still I strive for order, I need order. But one stop remedies don't work; however, I don't think they need to be chucked altogether. I just think they need to be tempered with regular reflection. I think I'm going to spend a little more time reflecting on this, but for now, those thoughts of deficiency have been banished and replaced with my new mantra ~ It's not failure, it's just adapting to change. And that's life!

Organizational Bleg

This being the first week of the New Year, all kinds of helpful calendars/schedules/programs have been popping up to help busy moms clean and declutter their homes. There are green mamas and cleaning queens and ladies who like to fly. But what I am looking for is a fellow homeschooling mom of at least 3 or 4 children (both bigs and littles) who are home with Mom all the time except for when they are out with Mom who has come up with a system that works. And at least one of those children must be middle school aged because frankly, with a middle schooler this year, our school days have grown longer by necessity.

Mom's with little ones only who take long naps in the middle of the day aren't going to have a schedule that works with mine. I remember when naptime was my favorite and busiest time of the day. That's not my life anymore. Mom's of big kids who head out the door to school also aren't going to have a schedule similar to mine. My kids are here during the day to create new messes, but they are also here to help clean them up. Of course, their school work is their first job. Ladies with no children at home really aren't going to be able to help either no matter how much experience they have under their belts (unless they used to homeschoolers and remember what worked best for them back in those days).

I really just want to see what someone else's day looks like from an organizational perspective especially regarding juggling school time and chore time.

Anyone seen what I'm looking for out there? If you have one you've created would you mind emailing me? Thanks in advance!

Lego Trays

Another area we have had organizational success in is the LEGO arena. Every mother who has children who have LEGOs is probably wrestling with figuring out how to store them. The biggest problem around here is usually... what's to be done with the creations that aren't ready to be dismantled and returned to the LEGO box? We aren't the "keep all the sets labeled in separate baggies with their manuals" kind of people. I do store all the manuals together in a box so they can be used for future reference, but I let the children decide what they want to use as a set and what they want to use to create their own designs. We usually just keep anything that is waiting to be used creatively in a box. The children are more than willing to dig around to find whatever their invention demands. But the angst sets in when at the end of the day I want to put the created things back in the LEGO box but the children are afraid that they will be sucked into the plastic quicksand and destroyed forever.

So, Husband and I had an idea to create a box or tray of sorts to store these things in that could slide under the bed, but it needed to be easily accessible if it was going to work.

Please ignore random hangers stuck into bed frames. I have no idea why it's there but I'm sure the owner of those sweet little toes would have a good reason.

I picked up a very large poster frame and drilled some holes for 3 inch handles. The poster frame was much lighter than a regular frame but still had a lip around the edge so that little pieces can't roll off and get lost. Also, it's covered in plexiglass which is lighter than regular glass.

A little piece of nonslip keeps the pieces with wheels from rolling every time the tray is slid under BigBoy's bed. The boys pull it out and put it away as it slides easily over the carpet.

It worked so well that I made a smaller version for The Professor's large 15 x 15-inch building plate. He has created a model called "Fort Brick" and frequently builds and rebuilds different sections. He sometimes carries it to different locations to work on it but these extra large building plates bend and flex a lot. The homemade tray puts an end to that. I tried to find an actual tray first, but 15 x 15 is an odd size and most weren't wide enough. I ended up using a 16 x 24 inch frame, I think which is perfect because it gives him extra room on the sides to put mini-figures or any small vehicles he has built.

More on Liturgical Month Boxes

From the combox Meredith writes:
As you pack the liturgical boxes for each month, would you consider sharing a snapshot of their contents?I would love to know what I should be casually looking for during the rest of the year.

Sure, I will try, if I remember. But let me just clarify one thing. I purchased these boxes back last summer. At that time, I packed some things in them, but not everything. Some of these boxes are still empty and some only contain one or two items. My plan is to see what we actually use for feast day celebrations as either table centerpieces or mantle decorations and then pack them in the boxes. In other words, my boxes will look and should look completely different than yours.

That said, here is our March box:

 

 Inside you'll find our statue of St. Patrick, pieces of white lace and boxes of sawdust and fava beans for our St. Joseph's Altar, and some large holy cards for display. 

Since these were photo storage boxes, they came with dividers to use for organizing. You can see the March one over on the side of the box. I wrote the dates and feast days that we usually celebrate for that month and put one in each box. When we open the new month's box, I make sure those dates are highlighted in my planner if they aren't already.

Closet Tops and Liturgical Boxes

One of the biggest problems I can think of when it comes to being a homemaker is organization. Whether it's organizing toys that get played with everyday, stuff that stays stored most of year or the food in the refrigerator that needs to be used before it spoils, organizing is just a fact of our life at home. This post was inspired by my in-town friend, Barb. I wanted to show her some of the organization going on over here and how I tackle what I think is one of the biggest hurdles in organization... using space efficiently.

Closet Tops

Closets are some of the biggest space wasters. Oh sure, you can go to a contain everything store and have them design you a perfectly organized closet that utlitizes every inch of available space but that's probably not going to happen for most of us whether it's because of finances or simply the fact that our needs change pretty rapidly and our closets have to be flexible (or the fact that those stores are like catnip for moms and should be avoided to save husbands from having to call out the search and rescue teams). One area that I know is a huge space waster is the top of the closet. It's not easily accessible enough to use for everyday storage space and you can only pile stuff up so high before it comes tumbling down on top of you.

Here is what we have been using for a few years now and it really works for us:

I call it a shelf hutch. I'm sure there is a professional term out there and probably an official trademarked thing that is sold in that Can't Contain Yourself place. I think I got these at the local Bullseye store a long time ago and repurposed them when we moved here. One of these 3-shelf storage organizers will make two hutches if you use the inner dividers as outer legs. Does that make sense? Something like this might work too. The new top shelf is used for keepsake boxes that don't come down very often and below can be used for accessible storage that my kids can reach themselves. Obviously, if your little ones are still very little, that's not going to work for them. You might consider using it for clothes storage while putting their toys on the bottom of the closet.

Liturgical Boxes

Below is our front hall closet. We've had the shelf hutch there for a while helping with paper and puzzle organization. Then I came up with an idea for storing our monthly feast day celebration statues, knick-knacks, mantle decorations, candles, etc.... I purchased 12 photo storage boxes like these in assorted designs from the craft store and labeled one for each month. If you need bigger boxes, look for CD & DVD storage boxes. I packed up everything that is specific to that month's liturgical days. I pull the current month's box down and leave it more easily accessible on a lower shelf with the other boxes stored up higher. I love this system because it puts a limit on what I can save. If I can't store it in the box, then I have to pare down.

I don't yet have all of the boxes packed with everything I might want them to hold (I expect that to take a full year plus) but you can see here what it looks like in our July box. Our chalice and prayer to the Most Precious Blood along with our St. Anne holy card and display stand. I have room to add some seashells and the black lace, too. Some statues, like the St. Anne statue we like to keep out all the time, but others, like our St. Nicholas and St. Patrick can go in the boxes for rotation keeping them fresh and new.

Speaking of boxes... one thing I have learned is that for my family is that toy boxes, baskets and buckets just don't work. Like I was saying about the liturgical month boxes, a lid creates a natural limit that some of us need. A drawer serves the same purpose by creating a definite closed space that is small enough to maintain easily. The same thing that makes baskets great for book rotation or school work organization, namely, the fact that you can see their contents easily is the same reason that they don't work for toy storage around here; they become catch-alls. Toy baskets and buckets in my house end up with a perpetual case of the stomach flu. (Sorry, that mental image is Husband's doing. He often reminds the children that dresser drawers can't throw up so they shouldn't look like they're trying to!)

Now an open bin can work for us provided it has a closed space to reside in like the ones below. I am a firm believer in labels even for see through containers and especially for closed containers. I don't own a label maker mostly because I like to print them up myself. They can be functional and pretty too! The ones below are attached with Velcro sticky-back tape so that they can be changed up should the contents of the bins change.

You will notice the two open shelves where Superman is in a fierce yoga tangle and some other things are piled on top of Fr. Dowling's vestment box. I intentionally left those two spaces open so that we could see the difference ourselves between open spaces and spaces that could be contained. We wanted to see if we needed the space for anything that might not fit in a bin. I'm not sure what we will ultimately decide, but right now I am leaning towards getting two more of these things. (You can find those cheaper at your local Bullseye store, btw! The only thing I don't like about them is that over time they will get floppier, but they still stand up enough to do their job.) 

All of the children, but BigBoy especially, love knowing where to find their toys and also where they go when it's time to clean up and that makes all the difference in my little guy's attitude and cheerfulness when asked to do his chores.

P.S. This post isn't intended to claim that I have organization mastered or to make anyone feel bad who is still struggling to find what works for them. Simply to offer a glimpse at what works for us now, what hasn't in the past and what we've learned from it.

Spice Cabinet Organization

My first thought when it came to spice cabinet organization was to look at spice racks online but most of them come with preselected spices and they require either counter space or wall space, two things I am severely lacking in my galley style kitchen. That doesn't mean that I didn't drool over Jennifer beautiful, home re-made spice rack! While I couldn't fit something like that in my kitchen, I really liked her idea of creating a baking center. I tackled the job by first removing everything from the cabinet (it's my favorite way to start) and then tossing what was old or unused. Boy, that was a hard one. I tend to stow away spices just in case I get the urge to make a really unique dish that calls for white pepper, coriander and chervil leaf. Just get rid of it, you silly girl!
Next step... I organized my spices based on the ones I use most of the time. Yours will look different but, for example, mine are garlic salt, minced onion, pinto bean seasoning (great for chili), cumin, cilantro, parsley, onion powder, garlic powder, cajun seasoning, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Those are kept up front, within reach. Everything else, I moved to this handy little storage box. It's actually a CD holder from Walmart. I think it was $1. They are stackable if you have taller shelves. I put all of my less frequently used spices there stacked on top of each other. That messiness doesn't bother me because I'm not sorting through them every day. It created so much space on the other side of the cabinet... a perfect place for a baking center.
The only thing I don't like is keeping my flour in the paper sacks. They are incredibly messy. I am considering making flour sacks out of some scrap fabric. Anyone have any thoughts on that? Have you ever tried it? I'd love some ideas.

Craft Closet Organization

The organization bug is biting everyone it seems. Meredith's pantry challenge first got me thinking about those areas where I was wasting valuable storage space. If you haven't read Elizabeth's interview, it just might be the boost you need to get you digging through your cabinets and closets. De-cluttering is a great thing to do when you are cooped up inside anyway. I have been meaning to tackle my craft closets and finally got around to it last week. It annoys me when I know I'm not using my space efficiently and that was the case with these cabinets. While I am a firm believer in the principle that good organization can sometimes means spending money on the right tools, my goal for this project was to use what I had. When I looked inside I saw empty containers and stuff piled on top of stuff...

...on top of stuff...

...and more stuff!

The best way to handle this kind of job was to pull every thing out, sort it, organize it and then label it. I love labels! (I will spare you the Ode to Labels I composed expressing my unending love for these sticky little sanity savers.) These cabinets are in our garage and we originally purchased them to be pantries for our old house which didn't have one. I ended up tossing a trash bag full of unusable stuff and using only what I already had in the closets for organization.

Ahhhh...that's better!

Decorating the Monastery

So our living room is definitely wearing its new makeover well and we have settled back into our schooling space nicely. The kids do table work and couch work just like they did before but the addition of the maps on the walls and the art display adds a new feel to the space. Husband says it reminds him of an old newsroom, but I think that's just the clacking of the typewriter on the desk. That old thing has been getting a daily workout since we had it fixed up.

The book cubbies are working perfectly with the only problem being overcrowding but that's not a problem I mind! We also moved the hurricane tracking chart under the bar area which means that it is being looked at more frequently. (I think my son was actually disappointed that he didn't get to track Gustav into our area. He had visions of pretending to be Jim Cantore with his safety goggles on in the back yard.)

I am finding that there is a balance to be found in a large space like this. How much is too much? It is hard to make a large area feel cozy like a smaller space without it quickly becoming cluttered. I don't take a minimalist approach to decorating, but I am being careful what goes up so that I don't go overboard. So far, we like what we see.

Final Laundry Hangups

NEVER IRON AGAIN! Well, maybe not never....

The last additions to the my laundry room are functional and pretty (well...one is anyway). We needed a new lighting fixture because the old one broke. Husband installed this one we got from the big blue home improvement store as opposed to the big orange one (just in case you really like it and your old one breaks too).
The other addition is something I have wanted for a while but was hesitant to get until I saw it on sale here (same price in the store as online!Love that!) only because I am always skeptical of anything that looks like it should have AS SEEN ON TV stamped on the box. Never fear... it works great!

Every laundry guru I have ever come across says that the really efficient laundry goddesses always hang up their iron-able clothes fresh out of the dryer. Now, maybe you do this, but not in the laundry room. Maybe you take yours over to the master bedroom and hang them up there but I have discovered that for me, the master bedroom is the black hole of clean clothes. They get sucked in (along with lots of other junk) and then stay there until the density of the room is so thick that you can't see them anymore. It's true in my house!

So I knew that I needed to heed the warnings of the gurus and find a way to hang clothes up in the laundry room making my husband's morning ironing as easy as possible. Yes, you read that right. He irons his own clothes. I am spoiled, I know! But if it's too late for you and you want your daughters to live in the lap of no-ironing luxury like I do, then make sure they marry a man who has at least 8 siblings. God bless my MIL! (Seriously, I do iron his clothes for him sometimes and I have proof of it here. : )

First, I tried hanging things on the wire shelves seen here, but because I have a mommy dearest like abhorrence for wire hangers (see #5) and only use the plastic tubular ones, they wouldn't fit in the slots on my highest shelf and the middle shelf was too low.

Solution: (cue the trumpets) THE INSTAHANGER!

It opens to hold all of your hangups and then closes out of the way when you are done. I love it! I put it on this wall so that the kids can easily see it (and within their reach). They have already seen some of their clothes hanging up and taken it upon themselves to put them away WITHOUT BEING ASKED! My mommy heart swelled with pride. Maybe it is the newness of the gadget, but I'm not ready to have that bubble burst yet!

Wishing you fresh towels and clean underwear!


P.S. That tiny little door you see is my pantry. I told you it was minuscule!

One quick thing...

...about the Crunch Can below.

If you do your laundry in the dungeon (love that image Barb!) or have to carry the clean clothes upstairs to be put away, then you should know that the straps on the crunch can are very thin and might seem too weak to carry a heavy load. You can also carry it by the metal frame on top, but there are no other built in handles. I don't have to worry about carrying it too much because my older kids come to the laundry room to get their clean clothes and put them away. I am usually left with our foldable laundry and BigBoy's stuff. Hangups are put away separately.

FYI!