Revolutionizing laundry

Today is Day 17 of Pass IT On!

Getting organized.  It's one of the thing I truly desire, but find it so hard to do.  My plan before moving into our current home was to go crazy with organization. I would  implement all the plans, schedules, and routines and thus live a happy organized life.  

hahahahahahahahahahaha!  LOL to the fullest.

I have said before, I am so not good at organizing.  It does not come natural to me at all.  It takes me forever.  I over think.  I re-think and rearrange.  All in the name of finding the "perfect place" for everything.  But it's never perfect.  Later that night I will undoubtedly think to myself while rocking Micah, "Man.. I should have used that bin for this. or I should put that here."  It's not pretty. 

It's not pretty because it never gets done and there is always a mess! 

Now, in an effort of not being so hard on myself and extending a little grace... I have very little time to actually focus on organization without a little "undoer" next to me :)   So yes, it is taking longer than i was hoping for to get to where the house operates smoothly but progress is made and  positive changes are happening... one slow step at a time.

I often wonder, "Will I ever get to the point where I feel settled?  Where everything has it's place.. and it is Put there.  Where I will sit on the couch at night and look around and smile at the neatness of everything."   Do you ever wonder these things?  How do you answer yourself? (assuming I am not the only one talking to myself here!)  My answer for now has to be "think smaller".  Don't let the ultimate goal loom over you so much that it becomes unattainable and not worth working towards.  Do small things.. positive steps towards the goal. It's ok. It's OK.

That was kind of a long introduction to a rather simple and positive change I have started doing.  I am always overwhelmed with laundry (who isn't?!)  so this is an effort to get in control of it. 

One Load A Day

That's it.  One load a day and here's the key.. do it right away, first thing in the morning. What brought me to this?  I found myself doing loads and loads of laundry and by the end of the day they were all stuffed in baskets waiting to be folded.  And if i remembered, I would fold that evening.  But then putting away was postponed till the next day (or more) because kids were sleeping.  It was a never ending process... frustrating and defeating. 

So I have decided to try this new approach and see if it helps me get better control.. and complete the process by only focusing on one load.  So far so good!  I get a basket ready the night before and then first thing (after turning on the coffee of course) I throw it in the washer.  By the time we are ready to leave for school it's dryer bound.  After a trip to the gym, it's ready to be folded and put away.. and then I Am Done with that for the day!!  Accomplished!  It's a Much better feeling than the disappointment I was faced with so often when I realized the load in the dryer isn't all the way dry and the one in the washer needs to go in and the basket needs folding.  It completely erased the good feelings of getting many loads washed.. when the rest of the steps were not completed.  

What do you think?  Wanna join me?

I didn't make it hair bow holder

Today is Day 10 of Pass IT On!

Lots of hair bows and hair flowers? 

Get a jewelry organizer and clip them to it.  Easy.  Organized.  .... Happy!

it's double sided.. room to grow!

Travel Clip Board Cases

I was going to get the kids some cute travel cases with a clip board lid... hand painted all cute... but then my DIY mind took over and said "do it yourself!" (what else did you think a DIY mind would say?!)

I got the bins at Target... they are great because they are squat yet fit papers with out bending. Good for little laps that need to be creative during a long car ride across the country!

I had clip boards already that I had inherited a while back.  I used a few for teacher gifts when i made the Chalkboard Clipboards.  Happy to use a few more!

I got patterned Duct Tape.. been wanting to try it!

oh and i used my new Exacto knife with a swivel blade.. love it!  (it's just a cheapie but works!)

These are so easy and take no time!!  Make one before your next summer trip :)

Garrett's finished Clip Board Case

I stretched the Duct Tape from one side of the lid to the other.  Be sure to press down into the groves of the lid and along side of the clip board.  Trim at end.

For the extra space on the top at each side of the clip,  I laid the tape down and used the Exacto Knife to trim around.

I did Addie's first.. and i laid the tape vertically.  I noticed it started to bubble up in the middle.  So when I did Garrett's I laid the tape horizontally and creased it into the grove and up and around the edge of the lid.  I think that way works best.. so I suggest that :)

 

 

Car Ride.. Here We Come!!

(oh yeah, I'm convinced these will prevent all "are we there yet?" questions.  NOT!)

an in progress mail center

a few weeks ago when i told you about
Organize the Whole Shebang pocketguide i started a project i had been wanting to do for a while. ... a mail center. it is the first project Krista at the whole shebang encourages ... get that paper work under control! get rid of the piles! well, if you saw the rest of my kitchen counters right now.. you'd know i'm struggling! but my mail center is looking good :)


i want to find a few more organizational baskets for the top. i'm just having trouble finding the size. i think i need to order some on line. any ideas or suggestions??

here's what it started out as..


i found it on the side of the road a while ago. i picked it up... it's been a secret wish to find something like that and make it useful again since i got into the blog land this summer. i love reading about refinishing and re-purposing these "junk finds"!
someone else's junk turned into my mail center!

it's not a huge transformation... not like some out there. but still it was a first. it was fun!

i sanded it (though i don't even know if i had to since it's not real wood! lol. i took the back off. and then had to shave off about an inch off the bottom. my measuring skills leave a little to be desired.. i thought it was going to fit perfectly in the spot i chose. oops!


i gave it two coats of black spray paint. covered easily.. i used one that had a primer in it as well.










i am going to find more baskets.. and then i'll post it again. just wanted to show you...
i actually did it! acted on it.

even now it's helping reduce the clutter ..
so i can't wait to get baskets of some sort and
label them!

and the winner is.....

Thanks everyone for checking out organizethewholeshebang.com
i hope you continue to visit krista there... & continue your own quest to organize your shebang!

I'm going to try to keep plugging away .. baby steps... at getting our house ready to be packed up again... with the hopes of an Easy and Less stressful UNpacking!! I'll keep you updated & let me know what you are up to as well. Lets share tips!

so the winner of the giveaway is...... Aubrey Barela!!
my lovely assistant chose a name from the cards we put in a bucket. she was happy to help!
































like her outfit? rockin it!

a craft closet

well, i wanted to post my new "Mail Center" tonight.... but alas... as Micah took a super long nap this morning and another this afternoon.... Not that i'm complaining about that! but i was so annoyed with myself because i couldn't finish because of a mistake of my own. i thought yesterday things were moving along too smoothly. ha! well, today things could have continued to sail along.. but apparently i measured wrong. all those little lines between each inch on a tape measure... i don't always pay so much attention to them.. oops! so now i need to do a little adaptation :)

so i thought i would show you something else i just organized last week. i needed to do something with the CRAFT stuff... my stuff... kid stuff. it was all over the place. so i decided to use the hall closet because all of the crafting is done at the kitchen table so i wanted to be able to get to it quickly and easily. not like before when i had some things upstairs (not smart, but probably better for a little extra exercise).

it has already proven to be much more user friendly... or maybe it's the user that is more friendly because i know where things are!!

it's nothing fancy. i didn't buy anything new. i'd love to have those cute matching organization boxes .. but really? is that necessary? or practical? i kind of like that i used things i already had... that were not being used well anyway!

I am sure there is a better way to do this.... but i'm going to let go of that this time. Over analyzing how something should be organized is my first big stumbling block to getting anything in order. There are always things that do not fit into any specific category!! that drives me nuts. But in an attempt to move past that.. and make the system better than it was (and i know i did!) ... this is what i came up with. :)

Project Started. Project Completed!......... feelin good!































check it out! an empty bottom shelf!!
room to grow :)

an Organizational Giveaway!!

you may remember i listed a blog i found in a previous post about getting organized. i also rambled about my lack of natural tendency to organize in a post should you be interested.

Organize the Whole Shebang with Krista Colvin. If you didn't check out her site before.. you have to now! I'll tell you what... if we were moving to Washington instead of Florida... i would be hiring her for sure! I love her site and her approach to organizing. "You can do it all... just not in one day, week, or month". That is where so many of us get frustrated and give up. We expect to get organized in a quick weekend and then be forever happy and organized. But things change and we need to adapt everything.. even our organization.. according to our crazy lives!

i totally identify with Krista when she labels herself a "piler". i am too! piles everywhere. i like to be able to see things. if i put it all away. it's out of sight and out of mind. however matt is a "piler" too.. and that's not good when it comes to our paper piles. mail. uh, how i hate to go get the mail. i never do it. when matt is gone for a week.. yep.. it piles in the mailbox unless garrett gets it. so when i ordered Krista's "the smart woman's pocket guide to doing it all"... i was actually excited to get the mail. i checked for a full week (even with matt out of town!) Confession: i didn't even know what mailbox was ours.. i tried a few before i found it! So you know i was excited to get this. Finally I emailed Krista about it since i figured it shouldn't take too long to get from WA to NV. She got back to me right away.. and what a great gal! apparently i had ordered the downloadable copy.. but i like the print in my hand for something like this... so she changed it and sent it right out. a few more correspondences and she offered to do a giveaway on this here little blog!!

you Need to check out her site !! it's great. tons and tons of ideas, tips, things to download.... i've been camping out there lately.

GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!
Krista will send you a pocket guide!!! All you have to do is: leave me a note saying what you are organizing... what you want to organize.. or what you love about organization! (i know some people read via facebook.. so leave me a note there if you would rather. but make sure you do so i get your name in the drawing!) then bop over to her site and sign up to be a SHE VIP. (you can do it through this link as well). You will receive awesome updates and tips!

I'm working on Creating a Mail Center this week. check out what Krista has to say!

we'll announce the winner this friday!

Quest to organize!

hello!!!! hope everyone had a great weekend. i did... it was up. it was down. i have some fun things to share.. but i'm going to hold off on that.

right NOW i'm going to tell you about my quest... my quest to get organized. i think this is a quest i've been on for .. oh.. forever. through the years i have realized: i am not very good at it. i think i'm an emotional organizer.. so i start off ready to go.. but get all swept away with the memories and find it hard to put things away, give things away, and throw things away. i think back to high school and all the notes that i kept! seriously what was i ever going to do with all those.. "we are bffs, i can't believe she said that, i'm so upset, he is a jerk, i love him..." kind of notes!?! and i know even younger than that i kept everything.. pictures, magazines, notes, etc. It's just Me.

i think of me in college. finally having a space completely my own (well to share with my roomie). a few things come to mind.
* my desk. it was always a mess with tons of things piled on it. not just work, but pictures and things too. organized clutter .. if you will.
* my room. after moving from the dorms to a house with some friends i had my own room. hummm.. thinking back .. it was not like the other bedrooms in the house. LOTS of stuff. just stuff. lots of pictures. dried flowers because if i threw them away i guess that meant i never got them. the list goes on... but i will stop there. i'm getting depressed!

i think of me now... as an adult. as a wife trying to make a home. as a mom. truth is i love my place in life right now. i just don't love what is surrounding me sometimes. I tell matt all the time that being in the house stresses me out. anxiety. it's cluttered. there isn't "a place" for everything. it's cluttered.

ok... i need to give myself one pat on the back! i've been told that my house (our different homes we've had) feels "homey" and i love that compliment. my house is well decorated. or at least always a work in progress. i enjoy working on new things. i like changing things & moving things around. i like lots of things on the walls. ........ but....... i don't like clutter.

so back to that. i'm trying to find a happy medium. i'm trying to find a way to get organized. i don't want to always compare myself to my military friends that seem to have the ability to move from one house to another..effortlessly. i don't want to compare myself to friends that have their house happily under control. i know everyone does not have it together all the time. but somehow they do at least sometimes. i feel like i'm always playing catch up.

always trying to find a better way to get organized.

we are months away from another move. another home. i want to use this time kick start the organization process. i know that it can't all be done before we move. but it's the perfect time to start! i have started some things around the house already.. and it encourages me to keep going!

so.. this is not what i planned on posting! ha! but it feels good to spill that. spill my dirty laundry so to speak. anyone else feel this way? would love to hear from you. and then check out my next post ... it may be the jump start you need too!