5 Steps To Organizing A Closet Purge

What do you think when you take a peek in your closet? Is it pristine with everything in its place? Or do the organization fairies need to pay a visit? I know for myself when I am trying to get ready in the morning, it is much less stressful with everything in its logical place. Not knowing where a certain piece of clothing might be located or scrounging around on the floor looking for that missing shoe would not be the way I enjoy starting my day. Make the start of a new year the beginning of a  renewed organization in your home. The closet is a good place to start because it often becomes quite the dumping ground for many things we can no longer use or wear. I have narrowed the organization of a closet purge into 5 easy steps that will take you an afternoon to complete.

1) Before taking anything out of the closet, take a close look at how you might want to go about re-organizing. Will you need a new method of storing shoes? How much shelf space do you think you might have after purging? Are winter and summer clothes stuffed into the same space? Take a few moments to consider how things are arranged now and what changes you might want to make.

2) Start removing everything from the clothing rods. Make three piles- definitely keep, definitely get rid of, need to check fit/style. Once you have finished, go through the need to check pile while you are motivated and just really look those items over. Are they out of style? Are they no longer the right size with little chance of being the right size anytime soon? If you haven't worn it for a year, the chances that you will start to wear it are slim. Put it in the definitely get rid of pile.
Now you should have the "keep" clothes and "get rid of" clothes. Here is where things can get dicey. Don't put the "get rid of" clothes back in the closet thinking you will take care of them later. This rarely happens. Somehow, they just start cluttering up the closet once again. Box them up and either put them in the car for a trip to Goodwill, donate them to a clothing bank or remove them into the garage/attic for the next garage sale.

3)  Now tackle the floor and upper shelving. Take all of the shoes and items off the floor. Repeat the clothing purge with the shoes. Have a box, empty laundry basket or trash can on hand to remove miscellaneous items that have made their way onto your closet floor. Pack up those items that really don't belong in your closet for distribution to their rightful homes throughout your house. Or, take the easy way and throw things away. If it is broken or missing pieces that have little chance of being found, pitch it!

4) Everything should be out of the closet and divided into piles based on what you plan to do with it. Take this opportunity to thoroughly sweep out the area, wipe down the clothing rods, get new hangars, bins or shoe racks and change the lightbulbs in your closet area. Improving the lighting can make a huge difference!

5) Start organizing the shelving and floors with shoes, scarves, belts etc. Make a concerted effort to make these items as manageable as possible. Decide how you would like your clothes organized- by season, function (work, casual, sports), or color. Try to stick with the organizational method you have decided upon as you put the clothes back. It will really make putting outfits together so much easier.

Your closet should look much improved at this point! Having an organized closet area truly does help to reduce an area of stress for many people. Plus, getting rid of things that you will no longer use can be a huge blessing to others when you donate these items.

Awesome Packing Lists for Family Travel

If you are like most moms, taking the actual family trip is fun, but the leg work involved to get ready for the trip: not so much fun! Laundry has to be done, clothes and toiletries packed, toys and activities for the car ride sorted out. It never fails that something will be inevitably left behind, especially if you have young children.

I recently found a wonderful packing list, courtesy of the travelmamas.com website. The list heading is for babies and toddlers, but it is really a comprehensive list for the whole family. It is already in PDF format, so it just needs saved to the computer and printed out for the next trip. I guarantee following this list will save A LOT of time in your next packing adventure.

The other two lists are from Smarter Travel and Minitime. They are also terrific resources to make planning and packing for your next trip so much easier. The Minitime list has many subcategories whether you are taking a car trip, airplane, cruise, resort, etc. so it is really helpful.

http://www.travelmamas.com/media/Travel%20Mama%20Packing%20List%20-%20For%20Babies%20and%20Toddlers_PLG2.pdf

 Packing Lists

More Packing Lists

5 Tips for Better Bathroom Organization

The bathroom drawers and cupboards can definitely become a dumping ground of "stuff". It is easy to think that you'll get back to it another day and clean it out, but usually that day never comes around. Plus, you are in a hurry getting ready in the morning and if things don't have a definite place they all get piled up underneath the sink.
I have found that by instituting a few simple organization tips in the bathroom, the clutter will slowly become minimal.

1) Use an over-the-door show organizer to store make-up, nail polished, etc. If you get the organizer with clear pockets, they are easier to clean and obviously easier to see what is in each compartment. It will also save you time to have everything handy for use and easy to see rather than rooting around in your cramped make-up bag.

2) Plastic silverware container for toothbrushes, dental floss, toothpaste. Instead of organizing your spoons, knifes, and forks, take a $1 dollar store silverware container and put toothbrushes in separate compartments, toothpaste in the larger section and dental floss on the ends. Plus, it is easy to drop it in the dishwasher and clean.

3) Get a tiered cupcake/sandwich stand and use it to have lotions. sprays and perfume on one tier. Use additional tiers for Q-tips, cotton balls and other odds and ends. It looks nice and just takes up a corner of the sink to display.

4) Take a small, three drawer, plastic mini-organizer to get pills and medications in order. One drawer can hold OTC pain relievers, allergy/cold meds. The next drawer could hold digestive aids, vitamins. The last drawer might be used for prescription medication. It is so helpful to have them readily organized rather than rummaging around in a bottomless pit of medicines.

5) We have a bunch of mugs that have accumulated over the years that almost never get used. I have taken a few and re-purposed them for holding my hair accessories. I place the mugs on a cheap tray and leave it under the sink. One mug holds barrettes, one for hair ties, one for my brush/combs, and I prop my curling iron in one. I used to just drop all of my hair stuff in a drawer and it always got tangled up. This way I am not having to do much more work, just dropping them in their mugs.

Hopefully, one of these tips will help lead you to a more organized bathroom!

Easy Chore Organization For Kids

Organizing chores for your kids can seem like a daunting task for many reasons. For starters, it may seem faster to just do it yourself and many times the kids are less than excited to participate. Plus, finding a good system is also an obstacle.
After many starts and stops, I decided on a chore card system for the kids and it seems to be working smoothly. I use index cards and an index card case with dividers. I make 4 sections: one for each child's chores, a section for tasks they can work on together and a division with a card for each child with the daily tasks they must complete.
My daughter is 8 and I will write out ten cards with various chores on each card. Each day, she picks out the first two cards and completes the tasks on those cards. Afterwards, they are filed in the back of her section. Her 10 tasks include: swiffer kitchen, vacuum great room, empty her trash, put away folded clothes, dustbuster stairs, dust coffee table, wipe down breakfast table, swiffer bathrooms, dustbuster couches, wipe down bathroom mirrors. I ask her to do 2 each day.

My son is 5 and he has less chores. Each day, he picks one card from his section and files it to the back. His 5 chores consist of: dustbuster great room, wipe down bathroom sink, refill napkin holder, dustbuster kitchen, empty trash can.

The tasks that my daughter must complete every day include: make her bed and pick up clothes and put them in her hamper. My son must put his clothes in the hamper each day. The tasks that they work on together are: putting toys away in their basement play area and cleaning up their rooms together.

I let them put a sticker on the back of the card when they complete the chore and after the accumulation of so many stickers, they can pick a prize. I have liked this system so far because the card case is compact and it isn't taking up much space or wall space to hang a chore chart. In addition, the kids have several age-appropriate chores to complete and it is simple for them to pick the next 1 or 2 cards in their section. I also like them to have jobs that they must learn to work on together. Implementing a chore system can be difficult to get rolling, but I feel once you get in the habit it can be a beneficial aspect of family life for everyone.

3 Tips for Organizing Photos

So, you've got tons of pictures saved to your digital camera and phone. Will they sit in picture purgatory forever or be unceremoniously deleted a year down the road? When I first had kids, I decided to make a concerted effort to keep pictures printed off or organized for future use. I scrapbook so it does force me to keep things in a somewhat orderly fashion, but I've found a few other ways to store or showcase my pictures.

1) Show off your pictures in a digital photo frame. Take your photo card and use a digital photo frame to scroll through the photos. It can be displayed for guests to view and is a nice way to have a constant reminder in your living room of favorite memories.

2) I print off my pictures through an inexpensive photo printing service and store them in an accordion file for later use. I always try to separate them in the files by holidays and events. It makes it much easier once I am ready to scrapbook them or put them in an album.

3) Make online photo books. There are plenty of options for photo books from elaborate and costly to simple and inexpensive. For quick picture organizing, you can utilize a ready-made template to place the pictures for you. I might make a simple book focusing on Christmas pictures or fall events and it doesn't take longer than a half hour or so to put together plus they make excellent gifts.

Take the time to organize and enjoy your pictures! Photos are wonderful for triggering happy memories. It is a great gift for your kids to someday have pictures of their childhoods. They are not being enjoyed by anyone if they sit on your phone in photo no-man's land never to be fully appreciated. Finding old pictures from your childhood is always such a treat and having a full album or book with photos is priceless!