Friday, January 14, 2011

Getting Organized

I have been reading a lot of organization blogs and have realized they all have this goal in common. "If it’s not useful, pretty or sentimental get rid of it. You’ll have less clutter in your storage spaces. If you haven’t used an item in a year or two, you will likely not use it again unless it has sentimental value."



I want to get our spaces working for us as effectively as possible.

Over at

Photobucket
 
She shared her “process” of organization.


Plan your attack

Remove items from the space

Organize stuff into piles, sort & purge

Containerize

Evaluate your plan

Solve and simplify

Smile, relax and enjoy your hard work

This weeks questions:

1. What did you organize this past week? I organized our front hall closet and the side of our fridge.

2. Did you have any difficulties with it? Stumbling blocks? Major breakthroughs? The only stumble I came across was not telling my husband that I joined this Organization Project. He thought I was going to throw all our stuff away and got upset that he was not involved. I tried to explain that I was trying to make our space more functional, while clearing out what we don’t use anymore. Lesson learned!

Here are the before and after of my projects.
BEFORE

AFTER
I plan to get a holder for my plastic bags.
I found a larger container for our owners manuals, sorted the cold weather items into scarves and gloves and put all the plastic bags together in one bag.  I also took out all the shoes in the closet and vacuumed the bottom.  Much better!

BEFORE

AFTER
While this area worked for me I wanted to make it work better. Since I am not a fan of cooking but I love to cook for my family, I needed a solution. Never ask what is for dinner, just tell me what to cook. My husband I came up with a menu board idea. I printed out all of our main courses, laminated and put a magnet on the back. Next I purchase this cheap magnetic calendar and put up on the side of the fridge. Now WE set the menu for a couple weeks and I am not stressed over what to cook every night.




I made this shopping list so I can just mark off what I need when I run out of things.  I got the idea off a craft site but I didn’t save it so I can’t give credit to the owner of this idea, sorry.  But I can give you the word document so you can adjust it to meet your family’s needs. Just email me.

Looks like grilled sandwiches tonight!





10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your frig looks amazing! what a great system

Krajcimama said...

What an AWESOME idea!

I have way too many little hands all over my fridge for this to work for me right now...but I am going to try and think of ways to adapt it and maybe make it work somewhere else. :)

I would love a copy of the check off list! My email is: mamakrajci@gmail.com :)

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Elle said...

That's an awesome idea. Great job on the organization this week!

Anonymous said...

Your husband sounds like mine! He comes home early to find me doing this week's project and starts trying to tell me other things that need to be organized. I about slapped him! I told him I was following the orgjunkie challenge and give me time I would get to whatever he just told me to do! This is what I get for being "liberated". My DH wants to help make all decisions regarding home and he still checks to make sure I have dinner planned (old habits die hard I guess!).

Alexandra said...

I love the menu planning idea. Great job this week!

The Scrapbook Speedway said...

wow! looks like you are off to a fantastic start!!!

Anonymous said...

I love that menu/meal planning board. I just may have to try this with my family. - Dawn

Samantha said...

I really like your new meal planning center and your grocery list. Those are super ideas!

I keep my plastic bags in an empty tissue box. I am amazed at how many of those I can stuff in those little boxes.

Samantha

ukrainiac said...

I love the menu idea! I don't mind cooking, either, but I just hate to have to come up with the ideas every night! What a way to reduce stress -- and to know ahead of time what you need at the store! Well done.

Melissa @ Mommy, The Coupon Hunter said...

I LOVE the menu board and shopping list! I add our menus to the family calendar online, but I'm thinking the visual on the fridge is a much better idea. Great job!