Showing posts with label Organization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Organization. Show all posts

Fabric Organization

I don't know about you but I have a LOT of fabric... I buy it for something, have every intention of making it... and rarely get around to it!! I have yards and yards of fabric... Hobby Lobby should be scared!

That much fabric poses some problems... one of which is storage. I share my craft space with my guest bedroom so I use the dresser for storage. I originally just folded my fabric and tried to organize it by collection... but really I just ended up with a massive amount of heaping material.

So... a few weeks ago, I came up with this:


I fashioned this after the reams of fabric at the stores... At the end of last year I ordered a box of the large Flat Rate postage boxes and didn't use all of them... shhhhh... so I cut the boxes up and made 8x11 and 4x11 sections. Then I used the large pieces for anything 1 yd or more and the small pieces for anything more than a scrap but smaller than 1 yd. Some of the small ones I doubled up on too.

So, this was my latest organization project. The entire room is being re done right now, so I'll post more pictures and ideas soon!
, , , , ,

Home Organization Binder

** YOU CAN NOW DOWNLOAD ALL THE PRINTABLES IN THIS POST HERE. **

It's here! It's done! Well, almost - I still need to add contact information, but other than that - done deal! I'm going to post some pictures and then I'll also post pictures of the pages I'm using. If you would like the blank pages, I'd love to share them with you - please email me or leave a comment with your email address and I will be happy to share with you!

Here it is...!

I used a notebook and some dividers I had lying around. I love this notebook, so I'm glad to have a new purpose for it!


These dividers are perfect - you can use them over and over. I'd previously written on all of these dividers with a Sharpie, so I figured I couldn't use them again - but, *genius idea* that squirty stuff you use on dry erase?? Yep - takes Sharpie off of these dividers! They're not really laminated, but they are glossy and it was easy and perfect!!

I have 10 dividers:

Daily Schedules
Calendars
Weekly To-Do Lists
Cleaning Info
Meal Planning
Grocery Lists
Shopping Lists
Contact Information
Medical Records
Projects & Miscellaneous (this is a folder divider)


The Daily Schedules divider holds both the Daily Routine and the Daily Schedule pages. I placed one Daily Routine in front of 7 Daily Schedules, I'm loving this... I have every day right at my finger tips like you would in an agenda you buy at the store, but I have so much more control over it - it's customized to me - that, and I like the font :0)


As you can tell, there wasn't much on my schedule yesterday, haha!


Calendar... one for each month ;)


Weekly Routine - one page to keep up with the most important stuff every day - but one that can be customized to the specific things happening that week.


Monthly Cleaning Calendar... I will do one for each month - just an overview of what is going on. While I'm getting used to this, the days of the week will look very similar.


Meal Planning and Groceries...


My Grocery List - I can not wait to actual use a whole list!!!


Shopping List - one place to write down the things we need and want for ourselves, Reagan and the house. I really need a new Swiffer, since ours broke but I can't just get one on a whim. So, it's on the list!


Medical Info... do you keep this info written down somewhere?? I didn't - not really... I usually write an email to my mom or mother-in-law with what is going on with Reagan, so I'd be able to find the info there - but otherwise, I rely on my memory. Just last night, while filling this out, I realized my memory is already not what it used to be! I have one for each family member and can just add another page when one is full.


Here is a picture of each page, so you can see what it looks like - again, if you'd like to get your own copies of these, please email me from the link above or post a comment with your email address. I don't mind sharing - and obviously, when I email then to you, my schedule and info won't be on them!!















Hope this helps you get organized! I'll post a link of sites that also have these binders, so you can get more than one perspective soon too! Happy Organizing!
, , , ,

Meal Planning

Obsession Confession: I have to know what's for dinner a week ahead of time. I have had this obsession for quite some time. OCD, remember?? Uh huh.... Each week Most weeks, Kyle and I plan out our meals for the week and then I go to the grocery store. I take a piece of notebook paper, usually from one of my handy dandy notebooks of which there are about 20 floating around in this house (another obsession: pretty spirals)... and make a column on the right hand side that looks something like this:

S -
M -
T -
W -
R -
F -

** No Saturday, huh? Usually we'll either eat out that night or we'll go to the store as a family on Saturday to get the things we want for the weekend. Special snacks, desserts, fresh meat to grill, what-have-you. **

Then, next to each day I write a meal for that day. After the nail pulling meal planning is done, I make my grocery list on the left side of the page. Kinda typical, yes? BUT... I just don't think it's the best way to do it. I'm always looking for ways to improve! Recently, with this new organizational/cleaning kick I'm on... I've seen ideas from others and I wanted to share a few of those ideas as well as things I've used in the past.

I keep recipes everywhere. I love trying new recipes, but I find that with Reagan I have curbed my new recipe use. She is at a point where she will touch nothing green, including green onions which are a staple in my home. I LOVE onions - all kinds... but my husband? Not so much. Green onions he will eat, so they go in everything! But if the green is on Reagan's plate she won't touch it! So, I find myself either picking out the green or pulling her portion out before putting the green in (if possible). Make her eat the onions, you say? I do this on most foods, make her at least attempt to eat it... but with onions it is a texture issue and I just think it's torture to make her eat something that makes her mouth revolt. Stubborn not eating is one thing... texture issues are another. Although, don't tell her this! This is my secret, or before I know it EVERYTHING will be a texture issue because we all know my princess is smart. So, back to recipes... I keep them bookmarked online, I keep them in a folder in My Documents, I keep them in books in the pantry, I keep them in my recipe box. I have recipes all over. I need a list to keep up with the recipes and where they all are! Kyle would kill me if I made one more list.... Of course, because I am a freak, I mean, OCD I can't put just any piece of paper with a handwritten recipe in my recipe box... oh no... it has to be on the recipe card and it has to be written in fine tip black Sharpie. And it has to be filed correctly. See where this can be taxing?!

Once upon a childless time, Kyle and I kept a tin with meal ideas in it. I typed up all the meal ideas we love to eat and cut them out into little strips. I folded the strips up and placed them in the tin. Every Sunday afternoon, we would pick 5 strips each. We would look at our picks and could put one back immediately if we didn't want that meal. Leaving us each with 4 strips. Then we would get to veto one of each others strips leaving us with 6 meals. After a while though, we were bending the rules and just using the tin as an idea generator. Then one day I needed something to keep fresh garlic in, so the tin was re-purposed and the strips thrown away.

Recently, while creating my new Home Organization Binder (which I'm hoping to debut early next week!!), I came up with this menu plan:

I'd like to fill this out, keep it in my binder and then transfer the groceries needed over to my new grocery list (pic below). Redundant? Yes, but then I can keep this page and add a new one on top each week and have a running list of not only what we ate each week but what ingredients I needed for it. If you have started to realize how many lists I have already, you'll just know that writing my groceries down twice isn't a big deal.

Grocery List:

I am also hoping my new labeled grocery list will help me not only remember more of what I need to write on the list, but help me not backtrack through the grocery store 80 times. If this doesn't work, please know that I WILL make my list to fit my local HEB and design it by aisles... :D Guess I need one for Wal-Mart too then... hmm....

One of my fave websites is Kevin & Amanda. Have you visited Amanda? If you haven't, you should, she is uh-mazing! She has an awesome blog about EVERYTHING! Her blog has recipes, blog tricks, photography tips, weight loss info, scrapbooking ideas, amazing free fonts you can download, and two super cute Boston Terriers that make her site so cute!! She also does giveaways that are to die for... although I never win those, ha! Well, Amanda recently posted What's For Dinner? 6 Weeks of Ideas. I have never been in meal planning heaven before, but today I found it. Not only does she include recipes, but she has PICTURES!!! I *love* her!! What I love most about this post, and what I will take away from it is this idea:

Amanda says:
"I sorted the recipes into categories like soups, pasta, chicken, red meat, and seafood and tried to plan one meal from each category for each week, so we’d have something different every night. And I didn’t plan it out down to the day, so after grocery shopping for the week, we would have a few options available to pick from on a day to day basis, depending on what we were in the mood for that night. Oh, and I definitely made sure to include at least one “quick and easy” recipe every week!"
GENIUS! Pure genius.

So I'm thinking this... Super cute note card box with dividers (much like my current recipe box) but meal ideas in the box only (with suggested sides). Then I can either use it as inspiration or pick the first one in the tab for each week, put it in the back and go again the next week. OK, going on the project list!

Then, my next plan is to blog my menus for you - with, *drum roll please* PICTURES! So, this is an idea I'm hoping to start week after next. This week is pretty much over and next week is Spring Break so, I'll start week after next.

And back to new recipes... I have a friend who finds and makes a new recipe each week. I should do this. I should try this. You never know until you try, right?

So, projects from this post:
  • Make a meal planning note card box
  • Update all my recipes in my recipe box
  • Make a list of 6 weeks worth of meals
  • Add "Recipes to Try" & "Recipes to Die For" section to my blog
  • Start posting menu plans, recipes and pictures week after next
Stay posted!
, ,

This Is Not Easy...!

I haven't even been able to start yet! I've been working for a week to put together my notebook!!! Procrastination? Maybe... but I want it to be just perfect. I've been trying to figure out all the things I want to put into my notebook and most importantly, the time management tools I want to use. I've really utilized the posts I linked to last week as well as Microsoft Templates for Word, Excel and Works and spruced it all up with my own ideas.

Here are some problems I've run into... basically, I'm moderate-severe OCD in that I CAN NOT... CAN NOT, CAN NOT, CAN NOT... did I say CAN NOT???... stand it... when I have handwritten notes on typed pages. UNLESS it's the type of page that requires notes.... I also can not write on a page in a different color ink than the original ink. And, as Reagan's preschool director learned this week, I can not stand to cross things out on a form and add/update new things. I'd rather just have a new form. When I was in school, if a teacher (usually math teachers) made marks on my pages when I asked for help, I HAD to get rid of them, and if that meant starting over, start over I did. Maybe that explains why I did so poorly in math... like failing remedial college algebra...?? Sorry mom, it wasn't laziness after all! It was my OCD ;) I honestly believe that if I WANTED an A in a class, I could have it in ANY class but math. I was a horrible student, not because I wasn't smart but because I was lazy, uninterested and always had something better I could be doing (like rewriting the encyclopedia, drawing the flags of every state or memorizing all the SAT words in the dictionary...). Yes, I actually did those things, but write a report on Barbara Streisand? Nope, don't want to, you can't make me and I won't. Well, I did... but I hated every moment of it and now have a severe fear of her. Rambling again? OK... probably another reason I wasn't a great student!!!

Now do you see why it is so hard for me to get this notebook done?! *Insert 100 other things I will decide I need to do while doing this* and NOTHING is ever completely finished. Do they actually call that adult ADD??

Well, I did complete my Dry Erase Glass Calendar! I am SOOOO proud of it! So proud, in fact, that it is already 24 hours old and has yet to be hung on the wall :/ BUT, that is a task for tonight. After I spent 4 straight hours working on it last night I needed some time with my hubby. We had a cheese fondue and finished watching Season 6 of Gray's Anatomy. That's another post for another day.

Pictures you ask? Pictures you get! Here is my version of the Dry Erase Glass Calendar...

This picture has poor lighting but no glare...


This picture has horrible lighting (flash) but the colors are more true to life.

So, I'm in love with it! I can not wait to hang it and start using it. I had the frame from a picture we'd purchased long ago and had hanging in our old house. When we moved, we changed the style of our home and we also have a lot less wall space due to a more open floor plan and larger windows and doors and just couldn't find a place to hang a picture that large. The frame is 28"x21". We had planned to throw out the entire picture, frame and all but it was perfect for this project! The inspiration from Somewhat Simple used only the glass with no backing, however I was very nervous about having exposed glass in the house, especially where we decided to hang it, and I wasn't sure the color of our walls would be optimal for the markers. My other problem was I don't know how to cut vinyl and even if I did, I don't have a Cricut font that I love... or really like for that matter - not when doing something that doesn't need a whimsical feel. So, I bought poster mat at Hobby Lobby. The mat was 30"x40" and was $7.99. It was not on sale, but the ever handy Hobby Lobby coupon of the week was 40% off, so after that the mat was $4.79. Pretty reasonable. The lettering is stickers. Yup, stickers. All stickers were 50% so I bought 2 different styles of American Crafts Remarks letter stickers. The larger letters for our name and the year are Hazel in black and the smaller upper case and lower case letters are JFK in black. Each pack was $7.99 but half off, so I got all the stickers (all 1300 of them...) for less than $8. I did everything on that board and could probably make it again at least 3 times. TONS of stickers and plenty of each letter. The Hazel stickers only come in black and there are about 300 in the pack. The JFK stickers you get in both black and white and there are over 1000 in that pack. Perfect for my project. Kyle and I both love fleur de lis and we love to decorate with it. I bought a small stencil and used that to place the fleur on the mat board with a Sharpie. The project cost me $19.10 after buying the mat, stencil, stickers and 2 new Sharpies (ummm, hello... those are NOT cheap!). Since I can use everything again, the cost of the project will eventually even itself out and I think under $20 is well worth it!

I had a hard time deciding where to hang it, but we've decided it will hang on the wall in the entry from the garage near the pantry door and also near the kitchen. This is a highly trafficked area in our home, it will be seen well and seen often and in my experience, that is a huge help for making something useful. Out of sight, out of mind, right?? That is sooooooo true in my life, so true.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to print out everything I need for my notebook and put it together while Reagan is in school. Part of my new planned & organized life is shopping for groceries on Monday. I will be starting this tomorrow... grocery shopping after taking Reagan to school on Monday. Monday and only Monday! Wish me luck...

I've not had much time to find new ideas since I've been working hard to implement the ones I've found! I know I will be making the cleaning box soon and I've been eying this Lost Sock board, also from Somewhat Simple (can you tell what my new fave website is?!). My laundry room is very bland. Very white and very bland. I need something to spruce it up, maybe that will help me do the laundry more often....?! *Here's to wishin'...*

Isn't it cute...?!


So this is totally on my upcoming list.

Agenda for the week:
  • Finish my notebook
  • Make my Cleaning Box
  • Keep my house clean
  • Hang and use my new glass calendar
  • Make a homemade meal every night (haven't decided about Ash Wednesday though)
Eesh! I better get busy and stop rambling on here!! Have a great Monday blogville!
, ,

Cleaning Inspiration

So... I'm not the best housekeeper.... NOT.AT.ALL. I am actually horrible at keeping my house straightened and cleaned. Oh sure, I wash the dishes all the time (that is therapeutic actually) but bathrooms? floors? laundry (haha)? Ummm, no. Our house gets a good deep cleaning every time we know we will have company, but if you drop by on the fly, oh buddy - you're in for it!

Why am I this way?? Well, for starters, I've ALWAYS been this way. When I was a little girl and my mom would tell me to clean my room, I'd tell her "I like it the way it is, if you want it clean you can do it yourself!" ::Do you guys remember what I said about my perfectly sassy child? She MUST get that from her father... MUST...:: So, then my mom would usually pay my much older sister money to clean my room and I never had to do it. I've deciding... being the baby of the family is soooooo wonderful when you're a child... and SOOOOOO horrible when you become an adult. I also don't have that gut instinct to finish what I start. I'm a quitter... plain and simple. If I don't like something I don't push myself to finish it. I say "Why would I put myself through this for something I don't want to do?!" So there are a few checks against me with housecleaning already. Then there is the whole... it's just so not fun! I'd so rather be crafting or watching TV or playing online... or all those other things I like to spend my me time on... other than cleaning. And to top it all off, my husband is exactly the same way I am. He may have different reasons, because I KNOW his momma made him clean his own room... BUT, alas, we are the same.

So, no matter how bad my house looks I will ALWAYS tell you it looks absolutely horrific so you think I am usually tidier than this. There you go... that's it, my secret is out. Now, what I love about this line is that friends usually say "Oh girl, you've never seen my house when it is out of order!" I have a few problems with this statement. 1. No, you're right, I haven't. This is either b/c I'm not crazy enough to show up at somebody's house unannounced or you're house isn't EVER like this... and 2. You're lying anyway! Well, maybe not everybody... but most of the people I know, would be lying in trying to tell me their house is messier than mine.

Let's put it this way... when Kyle and I straighten our room, our three year old usually asks us what happened. :/

So, remember that whole "New Blog, New Life?" post??? THIS PART OF MY LIFE IS GOING TO CHANGE!!!! I've found a whole slew of websites devoted to home cleaning, home organization and changing your home care habits. I will be taking a little time to go through sites and work out ideas/plans that work for me, my house and my family.

What blogs do you read that deal with home cleanliness?? Here are a few I've found so far...

Of course there is FlyLady.

FlyLady helps you come up with a program by using a step-by-step program. You start out small... clean and shine your sink everyday, get up and get ready every morning, do hotspots for a short time everynight, etc, etc. Her program is good, but it is a jump in and go and never look back type of thing and I'm just not sure I'll stick to it.

Then, I found this idea from Sister's Stuff and immediately fell in love!!! If you know me at all, you know I am a list person. I am the most organized, unorganized person you will EVER meet. I am creative and creativity lends itself to messiness, although that almost seems like an oxymoron. I keep lists for everything. I make a list everytime we leave town (although not lately as my mother-in-law can tell you, as I've sent Reagan to stay the weekend without shoes and mst recently without any panties...). I have a list of everybody in our wedding pictures and how many they were in. I have a list of every item of clothing I own. I have a list (this should be plural) for every crafting item in my craft room, and if you've seen this you know it's a mini-Hobby Lobby in there. I'm a list freak. It calms me when I'm not feeling so centered. I know this must mean I have some severe form of OCD... but whatever it means, it is just me. Plain and simple, it is who I am. Off track and rambling? You don't say.... Back to the Sister's Stuff idea...!!

Here is the notebook they posted:

The gals at Sister's Stuff found inspiration for this book from Missy over at So You Think You're Crafty. This notebook will be a must have for my new cleanly life!

Sticking to the notebook idea, here is another idea that is a different kind of notebook, but I will incorporate this into my above notebook. This is from Sarah over at Clover Lane - great idea for any of you who need serious spring cleaning or are about to sell your home!

Another great Sister's Stuff idea (one of my new fave blogs...) is this: Cleaning Box.


One word: AMAZING!!! This is also a must have on my new venture. You know, I'm partially convinced I like these things b/c it gives me a way to craft AND clean...!!

And lastly, for today... this is also on my project list. It isn't much of a cleaning tool, but it is definitely an organizational tool and I will be making this with an old frame too!

Dry Erase Glass Calendar from Somewhat Simple. I am sooooo ready for this one to be hung on my wall!!



So.... I will be working on these ideas and implementing them into my house. I will post my results as they are finished and let you know how my progress is.

My house received a brutal shake down last week in preparation for friends coming in from out of town and I am happy to report that with the exception of today (which isn't over and only because I didn't go to bed until 5AM this morning and woke at 7:15) our house has stayed extremely clean and tidy and smells like home!
, ,

Copyright {It's A Muegge Life}. Designed by BloggerTemplate