Organizing Friday

Not sure why this won't rotate?

Over at ORG Junkie Laura wrote about organizing your children's school papers and memorabilia.  I had a tub with each of the kids names on it.  I put all there school pics, writings, certificates and art project in it as they were made.  Then I took the things that would fit in an 8x10 binder and made a chronological book.  I gave each of my three kids a binder at the High School graduation.

I left all the rest of the "big" stuff in their baby box for them to have after I am no longer around. 

Congrats Brenda for winning the Clutter Rehab book. I put in the mail today. This is her organizing tip she shared.

"I have designated give away bags. Bag for my daughters outgrown clothes, bag that goes to my sister, my Mom etc. When the bag gets full it goes to them, and I get rid of clutter, and continue on my organization mission."

Bedford Springs

We made our annual treck to Beford PA.  Michael's company has an offsite with a combination of meetings and FUN!

Around the campfire in 90 degree weather???  Crazy



Learning to make crabcakes!



Enjoying the Chef's dinner

Ahhhhhhh, the spa!

Quick Trip to Florida

I was able to tag along on a recent business trip to Tampa.

Of course we had to mark off a couple more lighthouses and an item from my  Travel Book 

 

Sanibel Island Lighthouse

This beach is has the best shelling in the Western Hemisphere.  The shells are ate least 6 inches deep.  The best shells are found at low tide along the shore.  When you bring up your hands they are full of shells.

Sanibel Stoop

Finally saw a CROC!

Boca Grande 



Boca Grande Rear




See his beady eyes?



Clearwater Sunset

Organizing Friday Finale (For Me)

I was an active with 52 Weeks of Organizing in the beginning of this year.  But then we put our house up for sale and moved.  So I had to make our house “sellable” and then move all our stuff to the new house. 

In this process we were able to get rid of the things we don’t use anymore J  As we unpacked all the boxes we again put everything in its “home” and got rid things that didn’t fit into our new space. 

During the moving process I picked up Laura’s book. I am finished reading and implementing the 101 fabulous tips so I want to pass the book onto someone else.

But first I want to tell you my top 10 tips from the book.



 1. Less is More. My husband and I have realized “stuff” had taken over our lives. We want to live simply and not be defined by all of our things.



2. Give everything a designated place. Since we just moved it was easy to start fresh and give all our things a “home”


3. Never leave a room empty handed. I have made this a habit and find my house less cluttered.


4. Set up a beverage station. My husband is the coffee drinker and he has his coffee pot below a cabinet with all the necessities above. Great idea!


5. Start every week with a menu plan. I have a menu board for the month and my family picks out what they want to eat each week. See LINK Scroll down to the end of the post.


6. Toss your junk mail right away. We go through our mail right away and recycle all our junk mail and file the rest. No more piles to go through!


7. Streamline kitchen utensils. How many of those tools do you really use? Take them all out and put them in a box. Return them to your drawer as you use them. After a month get rid of what you don’t use. Yes, can keep the special occasion ones.


8. Organize while watching TV. While I don’t organize so much anymore I use the commercial time to clean. I can load a dishwasher, start laundry, fold laundry, dust, clean a toilet…. And still watch my show. I don’t feel like such a couch potato.


9. Have a house keeping mission statement. You will have to get the book to read Laura’s. I totally agree with what she says.


10. Invite company over for motivation. Nothing like a deadline.



Don’t you want to know the other 91 tips???? If you would like a chance at receiving my gently used Clutter Rehab book, you have to tell me an organizing tip you use in your house and give me your email. I will then put you all in a hat and pick the winner. Deadline: July 20th.

Of course I will continue to read Laura's Fridays post and read all the great tips! 

Thanks for stopping by.

Little Visitors!

If you have seen pictures of our house you would know our main floor is basically walls of windows.  So what happens when three little ones come to visit? 

They loved smooshing their little faces against the glass to see all the birds, squirells, fountain, and Freaky outside. It is like the nature channel outside. They loved it.

Blue took them around the yard.

 Blue like all the petting, rubbing and

playing with the kids.

Max  and Danny played with Matthew’ Legos.



Happenings......LONG!

We had 3 dead trees cut down around

our house.  We needed to protect our home from them smooshing us.  The guys

climbed them and they were up to 150 feet high!

I read a lot of craft blogs.  I got this idea of for a table cloth.  I used it at our 4^th of July BBQ. 

Then Sarah came to visit and she brought her beads.  We worked on making some jewelry.   I made this necklace and bracelet.  She was a the first person to share my craft room with me. 

Sarah wanted to learn how to crochet.  She picked it up real fast.  She made her kitty a little bed to curl up in. She picked out a little backpack that was a bit hard for a beginner so I made it for her.  I have never made anything but blankets and a few hats.  So this was a new thing for me.  But it turned out ok.  I may even make myself one some day.

We had all the kids over one night and had a fire to make one of my favorite treats SMORES!  It was nice spending time with all the kids.

It has been a good couple of weeks!