Catching Up - Sorting Kids Schoolwork

This month (July) was a catch-up month. I figured it was a good time to tidy up around the house and actually tackle those items that I walk past daily and they shout out to me "give me a home" or "file me" or "sort through me". I'm sure you have those types of items in your homes too.


The thing is, these tasks never take as long as I imagine they will and the results are great. So why do we put off these little tasks and continue to walk past them?

I had a large stack of papers and projects, mostly from the second half of school. It took me only 15 minutes to sort through all the papers for two children. I sorted them into keep and toss piles. That alone cut the pile in at least half.

Second, I took photos of the craft projects from my daughter's preschool and put them in a clear plastic box just for her school work. This took me about 20 min.

A bit later I went through my son's pile of crafts and papers. It seems that once they hit Kindergarten, there is a lot less crafty stuff and a lot more workbook pages that are much more easy to part with. His pile took about 15 min. to photograph. And then I added his "keepers" into his clear plastic storage box.

His box is pretty full now so next school year we'll have to be a bit more strict and review what we really need to keep from the past two years. It's hard to let evidence of their growth go, but photos help a great deal with this issue and saves a ton of space.

This entire task took me under an hour. And since I did it in three small chunks, it was completely painless (minus the heartstrings being pulled when seeing evidence of just how sweet my kids are).

Now to tackle a few other items around the house begging to be given some attention. And I'm hopeful that they won't really take that long once I just do them. I'm sure I've spent more time stressing about them than it will take to handle them once and for all.

Good luck with your small catching up projects!

I Reorganized My (sort of) Pantry

I would love to have a pantry, but I simply don't have one. I am expecting to have some storage space built in my garage someday down the road, but not yet. It's a work in progress. So, in the meantime, I have been stashing my very small stockpile of extra food in my linen closet. I didn't think I had much and tucked it away in the dark corner of a shelf next to my towels. Lately, I've been getting some good deals on things and have been putting them in my linen closet until it got to the point that I really couldn't get to the linens! There was a row of spaghetti sauce in front of my towels.

I decided to reorganize my closet and see just what I had. I was shocked to see just how much stuff I had collected. I decided it was time to put all the food on its very own shelf so it's easier to see what I have and to access it. And my towels and sheets can be retrieved as well without any issues.

Here is a picture of my end result. Almost one shelf of food. But now I can quite easily see what I have. Much better! Though I'm still looking forward to that storage space in my garage.

I also have quite a few toiletries and healthcare items that I have stashed in my linen closet as well. They only take up about half of a shelf. Thank goodness for these deep shelves!

I always feel better when things are in order!

Decluttering My Hard Drive

OK, so, my computer has been running really slow lately and you can hear it working and working and working to do very little.

Last night, my husband decided to take a peek at the space on the hard drive. (Right click on the start button, click on explore, right click on the C: drive, click on properties.)

Yikes! The entire pie chart was blue. That means, my hard drive was about completely full. Wow! I had no idea. (I don't claim to be a computer guru.)

So now I'm in the process of decluttering my hard drive. After cleaning up the disk there is a little more room. (Yay, a little slice of pink on the pie chart.) But I need to go through my files and delete a lot more "stuff" that I have no need for.

Decluttering our lives goes way beyond our homes. It includes our daily schedules, and our computers!

That's what I'll be working on for the day! Do you need to declutter YOUR computer? Your emails?

Finally! Organized Tools!

You know how they say you can't organize another person, or their stuff? Yeah, well, it's still hard sometimes to live around someone elses stuff that really needs to be dealt with and not say anything.

But I am writing today to say that my husband has finally organized his tools!

Over a year ago, two Thanksgivings ago, he bought himself a really nice Craftsman tool cabinet with all the fancy drawers. However, he never got around to actually putting his tools in it! Instead, they remained in the large outgrown tool boxes that he had prior. And, they all sat in the area between my door to the garage and my washer and dryer. So I had to see it and navigate it almost daily. Plus, if I needed a tool, it was a hassle trying to sort through the boxes trying to find what I needed.

Over the recent holiday break he took a couple hours (yup, that's all it took) to transfer his tools into his fancy new tool cabinet. It looks great! And it freed up a lot of space on the garage floor for us to walk through. AND, it's going to be a breeze now finding the tools we need for whatever project is at hand.

He's been suffering my nagging for over a year about this and with a short amount of time it's now over and done. I'm betting he wishes he would have done it earlier and avoided the accumulated hours of me pestering him about this!

Anyway.... thanks honey for finally organizing your tools!!!!

Now, onward with the rest of our garage organization project... and more things for me to put on my honey do list!

Flylady vs. Amy Knapp wall calendar

I just received my brand new 2010 Amy Knapp Big Grid Family Organizer wall calendar in the mail and I'm thrilled!

I have been happily using the Flylady calendar for the past few years and love that the boxes have lots of space for writing everything I need in them. It has been durable and I love the back slot for keeping special papers in.

What made me change? I'm a bargain hunter!

I was looking to see if I could find the Flylady wall calendar with stickers cheaper than on her website. The calendar is $14.95. If you want the stickers with the calendar, it's $17.95. And don't forget the cost of shipping.

In my browsing around looking for a comparable big grid wall calendar I found Amy Knapp's Big Grid Family Organizer. The measurements are almost the same as the Flylady calendar. It measures 15 by 22 inches opened, and each box per day is 3.5 by 2 inches. (The Flylady calendar is 14 by 22 inches opened and each box per day is 1 7/8 inches by 3 1/4 inches. Not a big difference.)

I was pleasantly surprised when I opened my new calendar because it had features that weren't mentioned on Amazon.

• There are several pages at the back of the calendar where you can tear off a small "to do" list. One page has 12 perforated lists to use and there are seven pages. That's 84 little to do lists to use.


• It also comes with 300 small stickers at no additional cost.


• There is also a small shaded area on each day to write down what's for dinner, something I currently do, but it was nice to see that it was there, reminding me to plan ahead.


• There's also lots of room to write other notes, "project lists" and "don't forget" lists on each month. It is a great use of the space provided.


• The paper is also "real" paper, not that glossy kind that a lot of calendars are made of. This is what I prefer.

The only con that I can see is that it doesn't have the big pocket/slot that the Flylady calendar has in the back. But that's minor to me and I'll find somewhere to put those few papers.

How much did this all cost me? Just over $10 and free shipping! You can't beat that! AND, I ordered it yesterday morning and it came via UPS this afternoon. Totally unexpected! (Not that Flylady isn't very quick as well.)




I wouldn't use a cheap calendar just because it costs less. It has to be a big grid calendar with plenty of room for writing and planning out all of the family's appointments and activities. Give this calendar a try and I'm sure you'll be as delighted as me.

For more tips about how to use a family wall calendar and to see exactly how I use mine, click here.

Welcome

Welcome to the Plan and Organize Life Blog!

I plan to use this blog to share quick items with you as they present themselves along with some tips for getting organized.

Happy organizing!
Tracy