Living spaces Archives - Organize 365

Spring Cleaning Challenge – Floors

April 8, 2013 By lisa 6 Comments

I tool a look ahead last week in the spring cleaning schedule and saw that vacuuming was on the list for this week.

I LOVE to vacuum. Growing up we had to vacuum the carpet EVERY night for my dad. He liked to see the vacuum lines. I joked to my mom that we should just drag a 2×4 over the floor and we would get the same effect.

I don’t vacuum everyday anymore, but I do vacuum at least 2x a week.

I like to cut my son’s hair one vacuuming days.

Last fall I spent 2 whole days steam cleaning our carpets. Don’t they look great?

I need to do that again soon! But not this month. I am working on blogging more and a membership site that will launch May 1st.

What about you? Did you do any spring cleaning?

Filed Under: Living spaces, Spring Cleaning Challenge Tagged With: cleaning floors, floor, money saving mom, money saving mom spring cleaning challenge, organize 365, pinned, spring cleaning, spring cleaning challenge, vacuum

What stage of organization is your home in?

January 7, 2013 By lisa 3 Comments

Let’s talk about getting organized.

In my experience I have found 3 levels of organization ~ or disorganization. ~ depending on how you look at it.

Overwhelmed
Looking for Systems & Routines
Maintenance & Repair

These stages are not static. You can progress from one to the other and back again. It’s a lot like finding your ideal weight, being debt free or the level of cleanliness you prefer in your home. There is no one right answer.

Overwhelmed

Just by reading this blog I know you desire to more organized. For some of us the thought of being organized is downright overwhelming for a lot of reasons:

You don’t have the time, or the perceived time, to get the job done.
You don’t know where to start.
You’ve tried in the past, but it didn’t work.
So many areas of your life are out of whack – what’s on more!
You desire to be organized, but circumstances beyond your control leave that priority off the ‘to do’ list.

I COMPLETELY understand! I have lived in a state of being overwhelmed for about 3 years. There was literally nothing I could do about it at the time and I just had to push through.

When the season was over, I devoted the whole season of lent to getting my “home” back.

If this is you…this year I will give you strategies and tasks to help over the course of the year bring your home into a more organized state.

Looking for Systems & Routines

I have been in this stage of organization since my second kiddo was born! Children have a way of making chaos out of any calm. My entrepreneurial lifestyle creates more ‘to do’ lists and ‘projects’ that add to that chaos.

Toys

I was not the kind of mom who put all their children’s toys away 3 times a day when they were little. I let the mess get to be a ‘project’ and then tackled it in a day. {I also do laundry in one day}

Each time I cleaned the bigger mess, I could see what the kids are playing with and create better storage solutions.

Kitchens

The kitchen is a great example of this. When you go through your cabinets and pantry you can find lots of foods you used to eat, but don’t anymore. As the seasons change so do our favorite foods.

The same goes for appliances and serving dishes. Some like the microwave and your main serving dishes are uses over and over. But others like the coffee pot gets replaced with a Kurig maker and you keep the coffee pot ~ why?

I can understand if you have parties or family over and will need a bigger pot of coffee, but I was just at a party for 40 and they used just the Kurig.

I’m sure you are voicing your opinion on this and that is EXACTLY what I want you to do in this stage. Once the clutter is gone, I want you to analyze WHY you have what you have left and then… create better systems

Routines

I would say the most universal routine is the morning routine. I’m not saying the routine is the same for everyone, I am saying most people HAVE one. It is in tweaking the routines and adding more systems to your day that you can save hours of time and frustration!

For me ~ knowing that I do laundry on Monday and Thursday allows me to not worry when I see mountains of laundry on Wednesday night. I have a plan to get it done.

If this is you…this year I will give you strategies and tasks to help over the course of the year bring your home into a more organized state by creating systems and routines that add hours to your family’s day!

Maintenance and Repair

This final stage of organization has eluded me for 13 years… hmmm how old is my son this week? Oh, yeah, 13!

I remember back to the pre-kid days of my life when I knew where stuff was and it wasn’t broken when I found it. It’s been a long time coming, but I am finally de-cluttered and have awesome functioning systems. I am ready to maintain what I have done and repair neglected areas of my home.

As I lead you through every area of our homes this year I will be looking at what needs repainted, what I need to replace and maintaining the systems I have set up.

If this is you…this year I will give you strategies and tasks to help over the course of the year tweak your home to be the best it can be.

So are you ready? It all starts with PURGING and we will tackle that tomorrow.

Get Organized for 2013

Filed Under: de-clutter, kids, Kitchen, Living Dayton, Living spaces, Organize 365, productivity, Puging, Stages of Organization Tagged With: how to organize, organiz365, organization, organize, pinned, purge, purging, stage of organization

Get out the door on time!

September 12, 2012 By lisa Leave a Comment

The last two days I have shared about how I use checklists to keep my mind free and our family moving toward to goal of getting OUT the door ON TIME!

Having a designated place for everything “school” helps too!

My kiddos need places for backpacks, coats, sweatshirts, books on tape…

Last spring I got a wild hair and created this back hall masterpiece.

But the pictures – art – calendars never really worked…

So for our anniversary I took pictures out of a small album I made hubby and put them in a frame I had in the basement.

I also had this frame already done.

Together they were just what this back hall needed.

Here are some other launch pad blog posts that have spoken to me….

OrgJunkie’s post Why a Drop Spot is a Good Idea

I Heart Organizing’s Back to School, Our Organized Entry

Downshifting”s Back to School Launch Pad

Echoes of Laughter’s School Launching and Landing Pad

What about you? Do you have any morning organization tips?

Filed Under: Living spaces, On the Go, organization Tagged With: back hall, drop spot, drop zone, family, organization, organize, organize 365, pictures

I should get a Bozo Button.

September 5, 2012 By lisa 2 Comments

I DID IT!

What you say?

Cleaned BOTH the first and second floor of my house!

This only happens about 3 times a year.

I am SO excited! I even decorated for fall.

Hubby thought it was too early, but…

1. I LOVE fall.

2. The house was clean.

3. And if I wait… it might not get done!

I am SO happy with my Labor day success. Did you get anything big checked off your To Do list over Labor Day?

Filed Under: Living spaces, organization Tagged With: cleaning, decorating, fall, fall decorating, house cleaning, organization, organize, organize 365

A 72 Year Old Letter.

September 4, 2012 By lisa Leave a Comment

Today I was featured in The Courier in Findley, Ohio

What to toss, what to keep?
By SARA ARTHURS

Staff Writer

Letters, diaries, photographs and other personal papers can have immense sentimental value, but it’s important to know how to organize them so you can find what you need.

Beyond sentimental value, these items are also important for research purposes.

click here to read the full article.

Here is a picture of the letter Sara referenced in the article.

This letter was written 72 years ago. 72 years ago! Both the author and addressee have long passed away, but the letter lives on.

This letter is so powerful. So I will share it with you. Maybe you’ll write one for a special family member of yours…

Written Monday, September 9, 1940 From Owen A Kelly Senior to Owen A Kelly Jr on his first day of college at John Carroll University.

My Dear Son Owen,

This first day of your college experience marks your stop upon the threshold of your manhood. I am more proud of you than it is possible for me to convey! Proud of your splendid record to date, or your fine humanity, your clean life and the fact that you have chosen John Carroll University.

I am satisfied that your record to date is an indication of nobler and more honorable accomplishments to follow.

My advise, “which I offer as a suggestion” is – be democratic – avoid snobs – do not be snobbish yourself. The classification of man is his character not his possessions or lack of them. Be generous, but not foolish.

Avoid excess in all things. Enter freely into the social life but prove your mental strength by refusing any temptation of overindulgence. As you know I have implicit faith in your ability to make your own decisions.

It is better for a young man of eighteen to think things out by himself and not be influenced by mass psychology. Your conclusions regarding many things may differ from mine when you have reached a mature age. If they do I shall be as happy as they agreed as I am sure they represent your own analysis and inquiry.

I have thought of writing this letter for a long time and I pray God that the tie that binds us shall be strengthened by the great hope that I have in you and the great love and appreciation I have for you.

- Dad.

Filed Under: Living spaces, organization, Paper & Office, Storage & Garage Tagged With: family, family history, findley, letter, ohio, organization, organize, organize 365, the courier

My 40 Days ~ 1 Whole House Challenge is DONE!

April 10, 2012 By lisa Leave a Comment

On Easter I quickly straightened the front hall closet.

after

I had already cleaned the front porch and put out my spring “children” and decorations.

I can’t believe how much I accomplished in organizing our home during Lent.

About 10 days ago hubby started his repeated comments about how organized our home was. He was so happy with the lack of clutter!

I think the turning point was days 19 and 20 when I finished our Master Bedroom. That was a big transformation. In the past our bedroom was a major dumping ground because only “we” saw the clutter.

Honestly it is still weird to be in my bedroom without all the “extra stuff”. I kept thinking the clutter would come back because I “needed” it, but I don’t!

Now, before you roll your eyes and resign that I must be perfect…

I told hubby that the Christmas wreath HAD to come down by Easter… but here is a birds nest in there now.

So there you have it. The warmest winter on record for Cincinnati and I still have my Christmas wreath up on my house.

Yep, perfection is never something I am going to reach here on earth!

Filed Under: 40 day challenge, Closets, Living spaces

40 Days ~ 1 Whole House – Day 37 The Loft

April 6, 2012 By lisa Leave a Comment

The upstairs loft has served many purposes over the years.

Initially when we purchased this house I had no idea what we would use this space for!

Pre-kiddos it was a home office with beautiful matching office furniture.

Slowly the loft transformed into a playroom.

A few years back I had – had it with the mismatched toy chaos and set out to recreate a Pottery Barn type feel for a lot less moolah.

I found these awesome bookshelves at Office Depot.

The red baskets came from Walmart. It’s not the complete Pottery Barn look, but it’s a ton better than what I had!

What tricks have you found for corralling your kids toys?

Filed Under: 40 day challenge, kids, Living spaces, organization

40 Days ~ 1 Whole House – Day 35 the Back Hall

April 4, 2012 By lisa 35 Comments

My back hallway has never been my favorite area in my house.

I have always longed for the cute cubby photos in Pottery Barn.

I have added hooks and photos here and there. I don’t understand why the kids cant just hang this stuff up!

I purposely put the back hallway and laundry room off to the end of my 40 day challenge hoping I would find a great solution.

And I did!! Last week on OrgJunkie I found this link to Stacey Lee’s Entry Command Centre.

I knew I HAD to do this. The next morning I got right up and started my plan. measured the back hall, my frames and calendars.

Then I made a to scale drawing of the wall to see if everything would fit and how long to make the hook holder thingies.

by 8:30 amLizzie and I headed out to Lowes. By noon I was home with wooden boards, screws, and 10 out of the 15 hooks I needed.

I took everything down off the back hallway walls. I decided to quickly paint each wall.

I took the shelves into the kitchen, spread out some wax paper and started painting.

I didn’t want my wood to stick to the wax paper so I used plastic hangers for the wood to dry.

Back in the back hallway I marked out where the studs were and made a plumb line to visualize where the shelf would hang.

Hubby went from Lowes to Lowes looking for those 5 extra hooks recognizing my laser focused intensity!

By 5 pm I had done it! I recreated this Entry way in my home!

Every thing above the shelf I already owned. I love the calendars, I had just stopped using them.

The black frame is magnetic. I am going to out the kids school flyers and party invitations here.

I like the ledge. I was going to make it a full blown shelf, but it was more costly and who needs another 9 foot long hot spot?

I have already found myself using it for keys, and my cellphone.

The kid’s backpack hooks were already in studs, so they stayed where they were.

With the additional hook storage I added a place for our library bag, a dry cleaning bag, my purse and there is room for returns!

I am BEYOND thrilled! I finally have the back hall launching pad I have dreamed of!

Filed Under: 40 day challenge, Closets, kids, Living spaces, On the Go, organization, Organize 365, productivity, Storage & Garage

Day 34 the Dining room

April 3, 2012 By lisa Leave a Comment

Let’s face it, I don’t cook. So to have a whole room related to dining is well… not me!

I love the look of a wooden table so I have stripped away the table cloth. I know the table might get damaged, but what’s the point in protecting something you never see?

I FINALLY recovered these chairs. After years of “meaning” to get to it, I went out and bought the fabric. A good friend helped me get started at the end of the Super Bowl.

I am SO happy with how they look!

I have the kids do homework and I tutor in here. I love this Remote Caddy from Clever Container. The bottom protects the table, and everything we need for homework is in ONE place!

After returning home from the workforce I seriously de-cluttered the master bedroom. In doing so, the 2 printers came down here.

About 6 months ago I moved our shredder into the dining room. Now I never have shredding piles! I walk right in and shred mail the day I receive it. It’s part of my 10 Steps to Organized Paper.

I have a dimmer switch I bought over 2 years ago. Hubby installed it today!!

Grandma’s Hutch

This hutch was my great grandmother’s. I remember seeing it stuffed with papers in her home.

I LOVE the bubbled glass in the hutch.

When we bought this house, my grandmother bought us the buffet that my printers rest on now. We chose Ethan Allen furniture thinking we would go and purchase the matching hutch one day.

Well that day never came, and now the hutch is not made. So, when I had the opportunity to get my great grandmother’s desk and hutch I thought it would be a great place to display and store our Waterford collection.

The desk is very well used. It hides the essentials for my tutoring business. Math manipulative’s, flash cards and special papers are hidden away in the desk.