Have you ever taken a step back and gotten a bird’s eye view of your home? This will certainly give you the motivation needed to get the ball rolling on an organizing project. Stop what you are doing and go take a picture of a random room in your home. What do you see??

Often we get so busy in our day-to-day lives that we don’t allow ourselves to see the big picture. We can easily let the clutter fade to the background as we go about our day. Once we get to the point of overwhelm we finally take notice.

If you are getting organized this year start by taking a picture of each space and taking note of those problem spots that stick out. The picture allows you to disassociate yourself from the space and for a moment you can pretend it is someone else’s clutter!

Are you taking on a big organizing project in 2012? Where will you start?

Take a piece of paper out and write down one business and personal goal you want to reach in the next year. Over the next few weeks start making a list of all the little tasks that need to be done to fulfill that goal. When the new year rolls around start implementing a few of those tasks each week until you reach your goal.

Plan out your week ahead of time to see how these new tasks can fit in. Be aware of this procrastination pitfall: As your list starts getting marked off you may see there are a few tasks you keep skipping over because you just flat out don’t like to do that activity or it is not a strength of yours. Instead of avoiding it all together, ask yourself if the task is necessary to get the job done, if so can it be delegated? As mom’s we tend to see ourselves as a “one woman show” when in reality we have a multitude of friends that would be willing to share a specific skill set. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Break your goals into manageable bite sized tasks while keeping the big picture in mind! If you are connecting the dots, which dot is next in order to get the picture to look right?

For the past few months I have been collecting shoe’s from friends, family and clients for Soles4Souls, the organization I traveled to Haiti with. It is certainly a great time to start weeding out those shoes and summer clothes! I just had to pull out the winter clothes for the kids and I know some of you in the north have done that long ago.

Before the holidays are upon us let’s think about other things we can start weeding out. The maintenance part of staying organized is all about keeping on top of things that no longer have a purpose in the house. What about that ice-cream maker you bought five years ago and never touched? Unless you have made that a summer family tradition by now, it’s not likely to happen. Take a good look through cabinets and closets to see what needs to be weeded out.

What about spots equipment and pool toys? It’s easy to throw them in a big box when they are not in use. Remember the float that has a hole beyond repair. Or the helmet that the youngest has grown out of? If it’s broken let it go. Unless it can be handed down to another sibling let things like helmets and outgrown bikes go as well.

All of this stuff takes up space in our homes and lives. It’s time to weed! Don’t let these things lead to overwhelm.

You would think that being a perfectionist means we get stuff done with ease but sometimes it is the complete opposite. See, every time I try to use a list, I focus more on the list itself. It has to be just right or the “system” has to be just right before I can get started. A client showed me the elaborate systems she had tried one day and I told her she was spending more time fussing over the lists than actually cleaning.

For us simplicity was key. I told her to stop with the lists and just make cleaning a habit. For instance, I bought a set of cleaning supplies for each bathroom. When I help kids get ready for bed my habit is now to do a quick clean up (because the supplies are right there) and I don’t have to do a deep clean nearly as often! These spaces almost maintain themselves. The laundry gets done because it is a habit wrapped in with our morning routine.

The kids have certain things they have to help out with each day, not as a chore to earn a reward, but as being part of this team. They have a list of things they can do for money, but they rarely opt to do that.

How about you? Are you a lover of checklists? Or not so much?

1. Don’t duplicate – Have you ever made a purchase and came home to find that you have one or even more of the same item at home? Maybe you just placed it in some random cabinet or closet and forgot about it. First and most importantly organize what you already have!
2. Make a list – If your intention is to go grocery shopping make a list and follow it to avoid making unnecessary purchases. A super Walmart can be a dangerous place if you are wandering around with out a plan. You need meals for this week, but you come home with a new outfit forgot two ingredients for tomorrow nights dinner. Now your making an extra trip to pick up the forgotten ingredients and you also grab a pair of pants you had your eye on the day before. It’s a viscous cycle, your wasting time, money and gas here!
3. Avoid late fees – We’re talking movie rentals, library books and yes, bills! Have you ever looked down at your calendar and realized… “Oh, not again! The credit card bill (or whatever it may be) was due yesterday!” Perhaps your kids misplaced a library book or you can’t find the movie you were supposed to return. Late fees are avoidable!
4. Save receipts for returns – Keep receipts until the store’s return policy or warranty expires. While I was organizing with a client we found a receipt that was expiring that day. She was so grateful because the receipt went to a bench she bought that was damaged. She returned the bench right after our session together and it saved her $250!
5. Tell your money where to go – Make a budget and stick to it. Sit down with your spouse and spell it out in black and white. Decide together what your future goals are and where you want to see yourselves financially. When you find yourself out shopping with no real objective in mind ask yourself, if you really need whatever it is you are desiring and how it fits into your long term goals. Make conscious choices about your spending!

The kids and I love making brownies together. What’s even better though is eating them together!  I wish I could say that having the kids helping me bake is always a joyous occasion in our house but usually it stresses us all out. I am not the regular cook of the house, hubby is, and he is just awesome at multitasking while cooking! The kids are usually right under foot as he cooks and everything magically comes out tasting exactly as it should. I on the other hand can get easily distracted and forget which ingredient goes next. I usually line everything up and measure it all out as I go but inevitably it happens…. something is forgotten when a child starts arguing over whose turn is next to pour what.

I finally found what works for me!  This time before the kids came in the kitchen I got all the ingredients out and measured them in individual bowls. And here I thought this stuff was just for TV and making pretty pictures! Then I had the kids come over and gave them each what they could pour in, no fuss no muss and everyone gets to lick the bowl at the end!

It’s really common sense but I think I avoided it before because I didn’t want to dirty the extra dishes. In reality it was just a few extra bowls but we all were much happier during the process! Well worth it!

Are there ways you can simplify in order to cut out stress?

I have noticed one little problem though, the kids rooms are so small that when they make a normal mess it seems so much worse! In the old house you could still see the floor have room to play and honestly, just forget about it until the next day if you really had too. Not anymore! There is no room for a mess and still get around.

To fix this problem,  I got out my trusty timer and put the kids up to a challenge. I gave them 5 minutes. They had to pick up toys and put them back in their designated “home.” Whoever worked diligently the whole time and picked up as much as they could, would get a small treat at the end. Five minutes is just about long enough to get the whole room picked up if they do it without dragging feet. That is where the treat comes in. Nothing wrong with a little bribery, I mean motivation!

This works for us big kids too. Using a timer will help you stay on task for a specified amount of time. Take 5, 10 or 15 minutes and do a sweep through the house putting away out of place items. Pick a time each day to do this and you will be one step closer to taming the clutter monster.

School is back in session for us, so we have been spending some time getting things in order for the new school year. I have one child entering 5th grade, one in st and the other in preschool. I can’t believe how big these kids are getting!
Here is what we do to organize our school shopping experience:

Consolidate Your Lists
With three kids I was done shuffling multiple lists around so we consolidated everything we needed into one big list. Having a master list saved on time dramatically which is a necessity when shopping with the kids in tow!

Shop For Sales
The school supply circulars are starting to come out in the newspapers, so be on the lookout for the best deals.

Sort It All Out
Now sort all the supplies out for each child. To make sorting easier and to coral all of the school supplies I used a separate bin for each child. As we checked the supplies off of the lists we then put them in the designated bin. Now we can tuck them away until school starts and easily add the few extra things we need to pick up.

Label It
Now that you have all of your school supplies neat and orderly, don’t forget the labels! Every school has different rules for what should be labeled. Make sure you label backpacks, lunchboxes, clothing and outerwear too! After you make the investment on all of your back to school gear you don’t want it to end up lost forever!

Here is what a typical evening looks like in our home…

5:15-6:15 pm: Prepare and eat dinner.
6:15-6:30 pm: Clean up after dinner. Make sure lunch boxes are out for the next day. Oldest son loads dishwasher.
6:30-6:45 pm: I take the dog for a walk with or without the kids. This is much more relaxing without the kids.
6:45-7:45 pm: The younger kids play inside or outside, usually climbing on Daddy. My oldest son uses this time for homework if he did not do it after school.
7:45-8:30 pm: Shower time! The kids get showered up, stories read and off to bed.

I know exciting stuff right? I know routines don’t sound fun but I feel it’s necessary to give your family some sort of guideline to go on. Choose a schedule that works for you. You might prefer doing some of your morning chores like packing lunches the night before. I prefer to do them in the morning. I find that in this season in my life I prefer to wake up before the kids and not stay up as late at night. Believe me this has been a very gradual process, I am NOT a morning person. I have found that this just works better for us.

Do you ease your kids back into a school routine?

It has been a week since we closed on our new house and we are already 3/4 of the way unpacked and put away. Downsizing has been a great experience but I have to say I am missing our old walk in closets in every room. Yes, EVERY room! We had tons of extra storage available and now we have barely reach in closets in all of the rooms but the master bedroom.

This new smaller house is not only making us get more creative with storage but we are really trying to simplify everything including cleaning. Since everything is more compact I am trying to lessen the amount of products we use and the routine in which we use them.

While I was contemplating my next post here I was putting something away in the bathroom and noticed how grimy the bars of soap were already getting in the showers. I think we will all switch to a body wash instead of bar soap and use shampoo/soap dispensers which take little to no maintenance besides filling them up. Then no soap grime to clean up. One product cuts out two problems, storage and grime!

It’s simple really, whether you are wanting to streamline your cleaning or storage take a walk around your home and see what you can do to make things easier. Chances are you can come up with a few ideas to try out and see what works best for you. Don’t be afraid to try something new!