Skeletons in the Closet

Maybe not skeletons but a whole lot of junk. I could not believe the amount of stuff that was jammed into the closet. In order to sort through everything, I removed all of it and brought it into one big area. Once I was done that, I went through every item and placed it into one of five pile.

The five pile where as follows:

• Keep in the closet



• Keep be somewhere else



• Donate



• Gargage



• For husband to go through

I found things that were forgotten about, like a box of VHS and BETA tapes, I wonder if my husband will finally let those go. He definitely does not believe in the golden rule, if you don't use something in the last year or two it's time to let it go. When it comes to craft stuff, I can definitely be the same, so I try hard to be understanding when it comes to letting go of things, but BETA tapes seriously, come on.

The before picture.



Pictures of all the stuff.




The donate pile and the husband pile.




The closet with nothing in it.




Now, I wait for my hubby to come home and go through his pile before I make the decision on where everything goes. We have a small house, so somethings that are not kid related will have to have a permanent home in the closet. The non-kid things will have to be out of reach of the children, so this will be my main challenge.

I can't wait to get the closet back together. Please stay tuned for pictures of the completed closet.


Keep dreaming...

Fear or Freedom?

Today I read a post on the blog Nesting Place ( http://www.thenester.com/ ) about 5 ways to know if you are decorating out of fear. I have to say that I answered yes to all 5 points. The main fear that stood out was asking everyone's opinion before making any decision, but this is about to change. My goal with the kids room, that I'm starting Wednesday, is to make all the decisions myself. Except for the fabric because last night my bff and I pick it out.

To be honest, I have always needed others opinions before making a final decision, then I worry that if I didn't follow their advice they would get upset. Really is this any way to go through life?? Creating stress where stress has no place. It's time that I stand on my own to feet and jump right in.

When it comes to decorating and organizing, I don't think it will ever be a life or death matter. I might drive my husband a little crazy if I change my mind a few times, but that is a chance I need to take. I read somewhere that perfection is an impossibility that good enough is the way to go.

Thank you for reading my little rant, maybe this will be the small epiphany that I need to boost my confidence.

Keep Dreaming!!!

Here we go!!!!!!!

It's time to start a room make-over. So excited, a little scared though. There is something intimidating about posting pictures of your disorganized house. I'm going to put on my big girl pants on and just do it.

The first room to get my magic touch will be the kids room. Right now, it is very plain with a closet filled with miscellaneous stuff that has nothing to do with the kids. I want to brighten the room up, and organized everything. And maybe just maybe, paint a few pieces of furniture. In the room there is a huge armoire that my dear daddy built for me, I really want to paint it but scared that it won't turn out and I will wreck it. I think it will look totally beautiful in a high gloss white with new hardware. So we will have to see what my heart tells me to do.

So before I go any further here are my pics of the room. I was so tempted to clean before I took the picture, but I decided there is no point. I want to be 100% honest with my readers.

Oh my god, I can't believe I actually posted them. I feel so queasy. It makes the room look messier then it really is.


Here is the plan, Wednesday I will empty everything for the closet and sort through what belongs and what doesn't. I will have four piles- 1. keep 2. donate 3. relocate and 4. Trash. After everything is out and I know what will be going back, I will utilize the closet organizer things I got from IKEA. What I really want to sure of, is that anything that stays in the room has it's home place. So excited. I will post my progress on Wednesday night. Wish me luck.

Keep dreaming.

Home Management Binder

As promised in my previous post, here is information about my Home Management Binder. You might ask what exactly is a home management binder? Well, in general terms it is a place to combine all pertinent information to help run your household. To me, it gives me peace of mind knowing that all my appointments, important numbers, shopping list, etc are located in one place. For those of you that know me, know how scattered brained I can be sometimes and so far this solution is working well for me.

Let's start out with all the items that can be organized in the home management binder:

• Emergency information




• Babysitters information




• Important numbers




• Calendar




• To-do-list




• Meal planning




• Grocery shopping lists




• Pantry and freezer inventory




• Cleaning checklist and schedule




• Budget information




• Holiday planning




• Community schedules and guides




• coupons
  

You can add pretty much anything that will help you become the organized person you want to be. For me I didn't include all of the above, but started with the ones that I thought were the most important to me. There is a lot of free printable on the web for the different templates needed. If I had to designed all the forms I wanted, well lets be serious, it would never happen. Here are links to some the forms that I have been using.

http://donnayoung.org/f11/calendar-f/cal-2011/clean-2011.pdf

http://printables.yourway.net/

http://organizedhome.com/household-notebook/printable-pages

Most of these websites have different styles, if you don't find anything that you like, simply type home management binder printable into google and you will be surprise at how many options there are. If you think that there is a format that you love, print 3 copies and try out before you make your final decision. You don't want to print 20 forms of something you won't use. I totally did this and another tip don't go to Staples to print off copies, so expensive and the quality sucks.

These websites also have a lot more to offer, great information about the home management binder, as well as many other tips to offer. When I get my binder exactly how I like it, I will share photos with you. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me and I will be happy to answer them for you.

Keep Dreaming

Where I find my inspiration.

Seriously, how do people do it.?  I've been checking out other peoples blogs and pinterest, their spaces are organized and absolutely beautiful.  Some people must be born with the organizing/clean gene.  I'll tell you one thing I definitely was not.  Keeping a house and managing a family keep me really busy, but I really want to push myself to find my organized self.

A couple of blogs that have given me some inspiration are www.iheartorganizing.blogspot.com and www.simplemom.net .  If you haven't visited these blogs before I recommend them as some of the best out there.

One of the first things I notice on both these blogs is that the writers use a home management binder to help run their household.  Being the paper nerd that I am, I started one for myself.  I was so excited, started all gung ho {like always} and began to struggle only after a few weeks.  Discipline is not something that comes easy for me, but I hope by telling you about my home management binder it will help me stay with it.

Over the next few posts I will share what information is included in my binder, where I got the information and why I think this will help with a more organized life.

Keep Dreaming!!!

Where to Start????

Hello world!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for joining me in my journey to a more organized life. For me an organized life means that all aspects of my life are in line, this includes myself, family and household.

Now time for me to admit that my life is a little chaotic, my house is in totally disarray and my mind and body are in desperate need of order. Hubby and I started fostering two little kiddos about 4 months ago, which is such a blessing, but has changed the way we look at life. My little house feels cluttered and cramped. My body needs to shape up so I can do all the activities I want with the kids. My mind needs help keeping everything in check. So in other words I need to organized and simplify my life.

I'm so excited for this next chapter of my life, an organized one. :) So here I go, time to create a plan.

Keep dreaming!!!!