Tag Archives: organizing

Tackling Those Unseen Areas

In my last blog I asked what type of housekeeper you are. I confessed that I was the type who keeps up appearances but has hidden messes. I also talked about finally tackling those unseen areas. So where do we start? We start by writing a list (if you read enough of my housekeeping blogs, you know how I love lists). Take some time to write down every drawer, cabinet and closet that you want to tackle. Go through each room in your mind. You might even have other areas like trunks or shelves that need to be cleaned out. … Continue reading →

Cleaning Out The Closets

The change of seasons is a good reminder to clean and reorganize your closets. I always rotate clothes with the seasons, this gives me more room in the closet and allows me to see what I’ve really been wearing. First you need to pull everything out of your closet, not all at once, one thing at a time. Ask yourself these questions: 1. How often did I wear this? If the answer is less than twice in six months, it should go in a give a way bag. 2. Do I feel good when I wear this? If it makes … Continue reading →

Maintaining Control of School Papers

In my last housekeeping blog I wrote about keeping order of school supplies in your home. Now is also a good time to start thinking about how you are going to keep order of the papers that will be coming home throughout the school year. Let’s first establish one thing…you cannot possibly keep every single piece of paper that your child brings home. If you do, you will find paper piles cluttering your house. So if you can learn to let go of some things, it will help. When my children were younger I basically had three options of what … Continue reading →

Keeping Order of School Supplies in Your Home

In some parts of the country, school has already started. Here in Wisconsin the official first day of school for most districts is September 1st. One of the things that are on the mind of parents is school supplies. Not just the supplies children need at school but the stuff they need at home. Many items they need duplicates of (pencils, paper, calculator, markers, crayons, etc.) and some items you need to keep stocked so that your children can pull from them throughout the school year (notebooks, pocket folders, etc.). Where does all of this fit into housekeeping? Well, without … Continue reading →

Purposefully Using the Little Things

As you may know, my husband and I are really buckling down to reduce our monthly expenses. It seems as though the prices for everything are going up, while our income remains the same. Recent unexpected expenses have drained our emergency fund and we are really trying to get out of debt. Although our home isn’t that large by many standards, there is still plenty of space for little things to collect. Many of these things don’t normally get used because they are forgotten or aren’t convenient. But purposefully using these little things will help us stretch the budget a … Continue reading →

Paperwork

We’ve been foster parents since the first darling baby passed through our front door on November 2, 2007. We had been subjected to the rules, regulations, and classes for months prior so we should have been prepared for the mountains of paperwork that accompanied the bouncing baby girl. The Placement Authorization shows that a particular child has officially been given into our care. The Designation of Medical Consenter of Non-DFPS Employee allows us to make medical decisions on behalf of the foster child. We can’t take the child to the doctor or dentist without either of these forms. Just when … Continue reading →

Keeping the Paper Piles at Bay

If you have a home office you likely have a paper issue. Paper piles can abound. They seem to grow almost overnight. So if you are ready to tackle those paper piles, here are some ideas. Invest in a bulletin board. A bulletin board is a great place to stick notes on. Instead of having sticky notes all over you can keep everything in one place. You can tack on reminders, to do lists, or passwords. Binders are another way to keep papers organized. Binders can organize school papers, receipts, bills or even CDs. Clear page protectors are a great … Continue reading →

Great Uses for Shoe Organizers

While I love using containers to organize items in my home, I have discovered another great tool to use. Shoe organizers can do wonders for organizing, especially smaller items that you just can’t seem to find a good place for. The problem with smaller items is that if you do find somewhere to put them, you may forget you put them there or they may not be easily accessible. So let me share with you some great uses for shoe organizers. Let me first clarify what I mean by shoe organizers. I am referring to the kind you hang over … Continue reading →

Closet Organizing Ideas: Shoes

Spring is a good time to purge and organize the closets. But if you are facing a mountain of sweaters tumbling from shelves, a sea of shoes in disarray on the floor and clothing attacking you from all sides, then you might not know just where to start. The key to organizing a closet, I have found is to start slowly and to use the right tools. Here are some of the ideas that are currently working for me in our master bedroom closet. When we moved to our current home, we left behind closets and were huge and plentiful. … Continue reading →

The Cabinet: Reducing Visual Clutter

The other day, I wrote about a friend whose home is amazingly clean, even though she has two small children. I was floored by the pristine condition of her living room, until she showed me her cabinet. In a large armoire or cabinet inside her living room is a mass of toys that are cleverly hidden behind two doors. When you enter our living room, you immediately see a large dollhouse that is nearly the height of my chest. There’s a row of baby strollers and small trucks to the left, a tipping mess of books inside a low book … Continue reading →