Organization

It's common knowledge with my friends and family (Hi mom!) that I'm exceptionally disorganized. I don't think DISorganized really sums it up, it's more like UNorganized - complete lack of organizational skills. It's very strange for someone with as much anxiety and OCD tendencies as me (LOL) to lack any sense of how to organize, but it's true. As a kid, my room was always messy, but it was my messy and I could find things. My desks and binders in school were always a problem. Maybe it's laziness, I have a bad habit of just stacking things, setting them in piles (am I a hoarder? Maybe).

It never really bothered me, because usually I could find things (and my memory wasn't always this bad so I didn't forget things left and right) and it was just my way of doing things. However, recently I've really wanted to get organized. Get some systems behind my madness, and honestly make things look better than just piles here and there that I have to root through when looking for something.

So, I've settled to be a better homemaker and essentially mom but digging deep with in to find that organization itch that I know is buried somewhere within all the OCD tendencies. With the help of the ever-addicting pinterest and stumbleupon, I've come across some really cool ideas that make organizing look not only easy but fun and let's face it - cute.

Today, I made a system for my mail. My mail is one of the biggest problems in my house. I go through it when I get it, look at what interests me and then leave the rest piled up until it gets so big I finally file it away in the office. The laying around part had really started taking over my kitchen table and my coffee table and I knew there had to be an easy solution. I'd seen lots of examples of mail organization systems hanging on walls via pinterest, but that wasn't really the route I wanted to go. That's when I remembered the magazine basket I'd acquired from a gift or something, some how, that's always just sat in my bedroom, empty, staring at me begging for use. This afternoon, I made this:
Sure it's not super fancy, but it serves it's purpose and I practiced the good art of "Reuse" in the Reduce, Recycle, Reuse theory. All it is is the magazine basket and a piece of a box cut with "Cut, Shred, File, Pay" printed on the top with sharpie. Easy peesy, and it keeps the mail off my table and I know what I need to do with it when the basket gets full! It will help keep track of what bills are still left to pay, too. The basket was big enough I could even get some other clutter off my counter tops when I included blank envelopes, pens, and memo pads that had been lying around. It may not be much but I'm proud.

Another down fall of my lack of organization is my grocery shopping habits. I just kind of buy and then try to figure out what to make with what I've got. With a baby though, I can't run out last minute when I've finally figured out what meal to make and there's a little something missing. I've heard lots of people rave about meal planning and Jonny and I actually used to do it (just on paper) back in the day to help us budget (it helped save A LOT of money). So I realized it was a great habit to get back in to. I'm a big fan of white boards (or writing on mirrors with dry erase markers) and inspired by many different meal planning systems on pinterest, I came up with this tonight:
Still not the most elegant, but I'm actually really proud of it. It's just scrapbook paper that I wrote on with my trusty sharpie again and stuck in a frame. I hooked it up to the side of a kitchen cabinet with those command strips as not to destroy the cabinet. I think it's pretty cute and goes well with the decor in the kitchen and can really help us figure out what we're eating and what to buy for the week.

So there you have it, Mrs P's attempt at organization. I know many of you out there are domestic godesses (I still read even though I don't comment much!) so please, by all means, leave your organizational inspiration in the comments section! I'm most interested in organizing laundry doing (I feel like I do 80 thousand loads a day and man do I HATE putting it away), the laundry room, and closet space. Any other organizing tips are appreciated as well, as I'm sure even the smallest thing will help me get on track!

Happy Friday everyone, hope you've all had a great week!

17 comments

  1. My biggest problem area is my bedroom closet so I use an over-the-door shoe organizer for little things that don't have a home. I'm sure that could be applied to just about anywhere in the house! I also have trouble with my kids' toys -sigh- You could always hire a professional organizer to help. I nannied for a mom who did that for a living, and man, her house was PERFECT!

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  2. The best organizing idea that I have used for closets is to use over-the-door shoe holders. They have all those little pockets that are supposed to be for shoes, but I use them for lots of things. In the entry closet I organize all of the kids hats/cloves, etc in it. In our rooms I put our shoes, but also hats, hair bows, and other little things in them. It really helps keep stuff neat & sorted and off the floor, plus saves some space.
    I wish I had some great laundry tips though - I could really use those too!
    I like the ideas you've created so far - the meal frame is a great one! Good luck with the organizing!

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  3. I love the frame! So cute! That's a good idea.

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  4. I've gotten the organizing bug too, which doesn't come easy for me either!! I found this blog, http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/, which is what really made me want to get my shit together! We have a lack of storage space-my plan is to start utilizing it better!! Good luck!

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  5. "it was my messy and I could find things."

    i call it 'organized chaos'.

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  6. Oooooh ... I'm a sometimes visitor (I put pink in my http field to find you) and I felt like I wanted to catch up with you today. So here I am and ... I suck at organising!!! And I'm 44, with three smallish (8, 7 and 4) kids, and about to homeschool because our school is so disastrous. And I love that frame. I'm totally going to do those for two things: my kids want to replicate morning calendar at school, so I think I'll get me a big frame for that one, and I am going to do a dinner one ... I even know where I'm going to put it, thanks!

    Anyway, I hope you are doing okay. You should know that, because of your lovely spirit and writing, that random people pop by to see how you're going, that's how special you are!

    best,

    karen in vancouver

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  7. A tension rod above your washer and dryer was one of the best tips I ever got. Store extra hangers, pull stuff out of dryer, let clothes air dry.... it all works on the one rod. Something about hanging it right there and not having to drag it room to room.

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  8. I love these ideas!!! I think I may use this meal planning system. :)

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  9. Great ideas! Those are two areas I have been trying to improve too, I always have a hard time coming up with WHAT meals to put on the list and then tracking down the recipes and making a grocery list. I tried the website saymmm.com and it is awesome and enlightening. My problem is with a 1 year old I just don't have much time at the computer, soo I think I am going to go back to a little box with index cards and lists of ingredients to help me so I will be able to pull a couple index cards out, write the list on the menu and write out the grocery list. Hoping this will save time and money!! For the mail problem, I am still hoping to find a perfect entry way table with drawers, so maybe I can do the same thing you did only some how keep it hidden :)

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  10. Love this! I actually really need to make something similar for my mail.. it kind of just ends up every where and piled in random places!!

    As far as the closets go I would recommend getting some cheapo baskets from like a big and lots of dollar store they really help with storing the little random stuff!!

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  11. LOVIN' the meal planner!!! It's fantastic!!!

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  12. I love the ideas! I saw the picture frame on pinterest before, and have been looking for a cute frame at goodwills and thrifts. Planning on making that a "options for family day" board.
    ps- I also hate putting the laundry away too.

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  13. I like the frame!!!! the scrapbook paper is SO PRETTY!!!!

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  14. I love your recipe board! What a good idea. This isn't very innovative- kind of "duh"- but I have trouble with piles of papers too, and what helped me was getting one of those small tabletop manila file organizers and filling it with file folders labeled "medical", "car", "taxes", "utilities", "vet records" for my cat, etc. That way once I pay a bill or get a paper I need to keep, I can put it in the right folder and find it later. You can also find advice online about how long to keep different types of records- I need to do that since I'm sure a ton of my stuff needs to be shredded!

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  15. Love Love Love Pinterest! It's been my obsession lately. I have several creations from my pinsperations, haha! And I've got the organization bug too! Have you heard of FlyLady? She has helped me out quite a bit. Check out www.flylady.net

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  16. Thanks for the insight. I have to reorganize my mail strategy at least once a month. I admit, I have quite a big pile on the table and a few other places too!

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