back to school 2015-2016

BEST TIME OF THE YEAR!!!!!!

Dont get me wrong I love my kids to the end of the earth and back, but they need to go back to school and be with there friends. This year is going to be a little different I will not have any kids at home.  I cant even imagine it right now. MM was only in school Tuesdays and Thursdays last year and that was great, I got lots done and somedays nothing but free time for myself. I am a little sad but that's normal. I am ready to get back to work and work on following my professional organizer dream.

Ok before school starts there has to be a plan of action, and organization. School time can be a stressful time but I find the first few weeks run so much smoother if I have a plan. The plan is never perfect. Last year MM broke his arm and had emergency surgery the first day of school. I tell ya i didn't have that on my list of things i wanted to do.

Today I am going to share some old ideas, maybe some common ideas. I am not reinventing the wheel here also not looking for perfection.

step 1-  Command center. This area of the house has evolved a lot over the last 3 years. It is always changing for our needs.

wall organizer from thirtyone gifts

In our large china cabinet I have just plain old magazine holders(ikea 2.99 for 5) it holds all that paper that needs a home but does not really need a permanent home in the file cabinet. I use those pocket things that you can get at any office supply store or the dollor store to sort some of the stuff. My hubbies work ticket stuff is in the pink folder lol so if he needs it right away its there for him and I don't have to get out of the filing cabinet downstairs for him. The kids one is mosly art that will come home from school and then it goes down stairs in there memory bin.


 

Our dinning room is our homework area to Red has a desk in her room if she need quiet, but 90% of it is done here. Simple is my middle name.

This is my drawer. I have a "problem" with color coding someday lol I love my sharpies and my ink joys. ahhhhh pure HAPPY!!! 

 

 

 This spot has not changed at all, why change something that works well right.

 

step 2- bedrooms

     I love a clean bedroom. Studies show kids that have messy rooms have lots of stress in the morning and it carries on through out there day.

 

 

Most of the kids clothes are hung up. I do this for 2 reason, one they are out of site out of mind kids, so they need to see all there clothes to make a decision. Second reason is they put there clothes away on laundry day. Like most kids they can not fold at all. (OCD mom right here). For the most part it always looks good.

 

 

My favorite thing in the closets is and always has been is a "TOO BIG"  "TOO SMALL" bins I am a bargain shopper and I get great deals for next size up. Also I like the small bin cause if something is to small they toss it in there and every few months, I will go around and collect the stuff and take it away to the thrift shop.

Step 3- lunches  The lunch center really haven't changed, why it works so well.

 See what I hide in here, here.

 

Now, with your plan in hand you are ready for a smooth school season. Just a reminder, you are the master of your mornings. If you are stressed in the morning it makes your kids stressed but at the same time all plans have hicups so don't be to hard on yourself. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

storage under the stairs!!!

This is a good one!
In our 950 square foot house without a garage storage area, storage is a big deal. But with saying that also you have to be aware of what you are storing, are you storing clutter and or garbage. Lots of clients get so excited when I come and they have just purchased 50 bins to put stuff in, That is the worst thing to do. The very first thing is to remove the obvious, garbage. Set a timer for 15 minutes and a bag. Lots of my clients are really shocked at how much garbage I remove in the first 15 minutes. Second step is remove the stuff that is not suppose to be there. I have found tooth brushes in the kitchen drawers. Third is remove stuff you want to sell and donate. The end goal is that we don't want to waste time on bins and organizing things that you don't love. So much stuff is kept but guilt. Your mothers wedding dress, grandmothers china so on. I have seen some very cool idea done with donated things. A lady makes burial gowns for still born babies with old wedding dresses for hospitals. Your grandmothers china didn't make it in the move to a new home so you have it stored because you just don't have the heart to toss it. well I think making a mosaic table top or garden stones would be fun.

On with our storage space. Our basement is finished but not really, if that makes sense. We have this space under our stairs it is such a awesome space. Most would not look at it as an awesome space but I love it. Granted it has taken a few tries to get it to were it works for our family. It is a very hard spot to photograph with not having a lot of light.

 

 



It is organized very simple, really. Like with like is my main goal. The bins are mostly Christmas and Halloween stuff yes that is all the decoration we have. I don't spend a lot of decorations at all. Most of them are diy or use what I have ideas. As you can see I have a paint stash hard core. I also LOVE spray paint. I love this space a lot everything has a home and it is easy for my hubby to find and put away things. love it!!!
working with the like with like idea, I love clear bins really bad. I still label the bins. it is proven that you are 30% more likely to put stuff away if its labeled, to me it is like a brain trigger that is like "oh I should just put it away right away" If it takes less then a minute do it now.

 

the labels just are like a cherry on top of a sundae or the olive in a martini lol.  

 

I am a project person I love to just do projects on a wim sometimes so having this space organized helps me to see what we have or what I will need to stock up on.

people that know me well, know I LOVE peg board. This piece was a cut off from a other project I was going to toss it but then thought It would be great here. BAMMM!!! I love it too. It keeps everything easy to grab and put away, all ways a win win for me.

 

With having a small house we have to think a little bit harder to set up systems that work well. we do have a little pantry area as well, past the laundry room. But that is it that is all the storage we have and it works well. think out side the box sometimes. Also don't over think systems too.

good things happen to those who wait.....or work hard.

Good day!!!

Today I am here to share my living room redo. If you have been reading my blog, you know I love to decorate all the time. Over the last 3 years I have been making our 950sq foot home ours. 3 years a go we bought this house from my brother and have never looked back. lots of people would think a 950sq foot house is so small, but we love it. Really the new trend happening is 1962 small lol if I could call it that. Lets get to the fun stuff.

This was the dinning room 3 years ago when my brother owned it. For a single guy with room mates, it worked well.

 

The living room 3 years ago.

this is the wall 3 years ago lol its the biggest wall in our whole house. it shares the dinning room and living room.



 

Lets get to the after pictures!!!!!!

last before pic 

 

Let the fun start It looked like my house got shot up.

 there is a small difference between the old and new.

 If you are interested in the board and batten wall you can read here.

 

 Are you ready!!!!!!

 my favorite view!!!! those flowers are fake, can you believe that. I love them.

My puppy loves to pose for the camera. 

 

I love color. so its still in need of a shopping trip for some pillows but I love the cleanness of it. It is getting there slowly. I guess good things come to those who wait....... or work hard. Till next time!!! working on showing you how I organize the dresser with all our outside stuff.

 

 



waiting for perfect

As I sit here, at my kitchen table trying to think  of ideas for my living room. I cant help but think I have to wait to share with all of you my hard work. Its not perfect yet, it might not be perfect for a few months. I am not about to go shell out $250.00 for the coffee table that I want just to make blog world happy.

This is the problem with the world today. Everyone has to be the perfect, put together person. That alone, is stressful. We are suopse to make mistakes, take chances, live life without fear or judgment. I was talking to my daughter the other night well she was doing homework. I asked her why did you skip that question? her answer was "what if I get it wrong". it hit me like a bean bag was just fired into my chest. she lives in fear that she will be wrong, so she dose not even try. her and I talked for a bit, I never thought that she would aswer like that. I want her to try her best but the fear she has at 8 is already holder her back. I asked her why she was scared to get it wrong. after saying I don't know 20 times she fianly said she dose not want to make us mad and the teacher to get mad.

 this is one of the resons I do the things I do. I was a labled kid in school. I was in the "special" group of kids. I hated it and loved it all at the same time. the expectstions from people was very low for me. "she cant do that". half the time I was sent off to another room well the "normal" kids learned school stuff I was being showed how to use a calculator and spell check. in the moment it was nice, I got the easy way out. know that I am older and have kids my self, I refuse them to be put into the "special" class. being labeled not smart at a young age was hard on me. I didn't go to collage because I had fear I would fail. For years I wanted to start my own blog, to put my voice out there, but because I was labeled 12 years ago as a not so strong writer I thought that no one would want to read a blog from someone who has the worst grammar and spelling. as you can tell I didn't lisen to the nay sayers. I wanted to show my kids even though I am not a strong reader or writer I have a voice and a talent. I love to organize and I love computers. I remember a teacher came to me one day and asked me what I was good at. I didn't know all I knew was I was not good at a lot of stuff. she showed me that the things I was not strong at were holding my things I was amazing at down too. I met this teacher in grade 11.

so in the end we all  looking for a thing that realy does not exixt. perfection does not exixted non of us are perfect, some might think that, but nothing is perfect well exept for a sunrise and a sunset. stop waiting for profection its never going to come. I think that us women need to show reality sometimes. The 3 teir cake was not easy, it took hours to plan and make "perfect" it was manufactured stress just so my kids would have the perfect birthday to remember. I bet the only thing they really remember is the nut case of a mother trying to get the thing to say up.
so lets help each other out. non of us are perfect.

home blessing!!!! aka cleaning

Today I am going to share my trick for keeping my clean enough with kids, a black lab puppy and a husband. Lets get started, so home blessing is a thing that fly lady started me on years ago. I had 2 demanding kids under the age of 3. MM was a colicky, cry 24/7 baby, it was no fun for any of us. Under extreme anxiety I stumbled on flylady looking for ideas to help with the house stress. She had some great ideas. I started them right away. Step one was keeping the sink clean. WHAT is there a bottom of a sink, but I follower her advice and made sure I had a clean sink every night. it was AMAZING!!!, but for me it was not just a clean sink, it was starting my morning off with nothing to do just make the kids something to eat and unload the dish washer. It was big, I felt I could control the mess a bit. The next step was to get dressed to laced up shoes , crazy right I am a stay at home mom I don't need to get out of my pjs. ha that was even bigger step to calmness was to get all the kids and I dressed even if we were not going out anywhere. It gave us energy and happiness. I would even brush my hair and maybe toss on some makeup, not for anyone else but for myself. Then came making a cleaning schedule, she did not say I needed one I just needed one to make me feel like I had purpose, that I could control at least one thing in my life. I liked to get most of my cleaning done in the morning. At first it was basic stuff, sweep and mop, dishes, make bed. As what flylady says baby steps. Then came home blessing hour, she does hers on Monday I tend to do mine on Fridays. kind of get ready for the weekend I might do a quick version on Monday if we have had a lazy or busy weekend. I see it like a reset on the house.
This is my home blessing hr. She does her differently as I said before, all in all it is what works for you and your family.

1. 10mins putting laundry way.
2. 10mins vacuuming or Swiffer the 10lbs of dog hair off the floor.
3. 10mins away dusting what ever needs doing.
4. 10min  laundry room filling up the smaller jugs whipping down the machines, sweeping, making sure all loads are done.
5. 10 mins doing a 21 toss, this is me getting a shopping bag and going around the living room and dinning room and basement living rooms, trying to find 21 things to toss could be garbage or a old broken toy or something to donate.
6. 10mins to put stuff back in there parking spots.

DONE!!!!!

I love to listen to pod casts, my favorite one is hardwall. It is an hour long so it is perfect for this and it is high energy and gets me moving.

had to share this its so sweet. you can download the file at http://fordwardmovingmommy.blogspot.co.nz/2012/10/flylady-commandments.html

I hope this helps to relieve some stress from your life. Have a blessed day!!!!!

office organizing!!!

Welcome!!! spring is in the air and I am loving life.  I have a few free minutes I wanted to share some of my office organizing with you today. This may be the shortest post I have ever done. Ok here we go, well you all know I LOVE!!!!! labels I don't think you can over label, well maybe a little.

so I got his cabinet from a friend. I cant wait till the weather is better I can toss a coat of paint on to it. For now it works great for my office stuff. I am so happy with this space right now. I run 4 companies out of my little 10x13 office. The wifi printer fits perfect here the little drawers up top hold all the paper and labels, then I have all company's divided in magazine files. I love magazine files SOOOOOO much they just make piles look so much better lol.

It is super simple with some nactac and some labels all from the dollar store and it looks so clean and nice. My catalogue for thirty one is all put into a binder in protective sleeves. My calendar is also in there its easy to book parties.  

 

 

this shelf if my organizing company and all the HR stuff for my families business. yes I have a whole basket for jimmy hooks yet another obsession.

 

well that is all the time I have today. pray for good weather so I can paint this asap.  have a great day

 



sanity savers

Good morning world.
So today my day started off realy early. Like 3 am, yes most would think i am nuts but such is life. So as i make breakfast for the man and all i can hear is the trickeling of the coffee maker, my mind drifts in to what my next blog is all about.
 Today i am going to share some of my "sanity savers" . Being a very busy person, somedays i need to run on auto pilot. The best thing i ever did for my sanity was create a home binder. At first i started with basic stuff. Ie. Phone numer list, small calander, and some important papers that didnt have a home or i didnt want them lost in the filing cabinet. 5 years later i have 3 binders, one is still my home binder the second one is the kids and pet binder and the third is the budget binder. Then i tossed the filing cabinet and now have binders holding all that stuff. It really is only 6 binders i got from the dollar store. It works WAY! Better for us. It is a bit stressful for me to put pictures of my binder systems on the web just because there is so much information in them.   So for you to have an idea i have put my favorate blog links here. Idont use one idea i use lots of differant ones to make my binders work well for us.

1: budget binder

2:home binder

On to another sanity saver. Timers, i love them.  They keep me focused and help me move fast and somedays just help me move. Somthing i dread is dishes. I hate them. So for the first few years of life on my own i would let them pile up till the whole kitchen was covered. Perfectionism and laziness got the best of me on that one. I didnt think i had 2 hrs to clean the kitchen perfectly so i just would not do it. Well 10 years later almost every night i have to set my timmer for 10 min and beat the timmer. I aways win.  I also use my timmer for putting away laundry. It shows me how much i can do in 5,10,15 min intervals. Try it you be supised at how fast you can unload the dishwasher, and put the towels away. Then you feel like you can have a 15min break. Half the time it motives me to do more.

Baskets and labels!!! I love bins, buckets, what ever I got handy. The thing about them is they can make the craziest places look amazing. The trick to them is lables. I make mine out of bisuness cards on my computer, or if you like your writing to can do that too. In the begining of a projct i do the handwitghting ones so i can see if the plan will work for every one. Another tip, baskets should not be for junk everything needs a home.

Command center!! Oh i love ours. It works well for the kids too. Its super simple, which i love. I did a very small post a few years ago on it. Here  It got a new paint job to go with the new color that will be going in the living room 

Next is my cleaning schedule. I dont love to clean but I dont hate it. I found when i had mm and 2 kids under 3 i could not keep up with the house cleanining. I was big cause of alot of my anxiaty. So i set up a cleaning schedule it realy is simple. It makes me feel in contoll of the house.... most days.

This sits in the back sleave of my home binder. I have been doing this system for a few years so i dont realy have to look at it everyday.  It s also just on paper not stone. Stuff happens, kids get sick other stuff has to get done but i have made it so i can get it done in around 15 mins. Thursday is my big day i find. It is the day for fridge cleanning. Garbage day is friday so i want all garbage and old food in there by thursday night. I will figure out how to get pdfs put on here asap. If you want a copy of this please email me and i can send you it.


Well thats all for today well for this time in the am. Iam working on some great posts for the next few weeks so like me on facebook, so you can get updates. Crazyvalleymama