Spent almost all day organizing the home office / playroom.

Including an hour devoted solely to figuring out how to print unprintable labels, but Excel came through for me.

Stacks of paper all over the floor (and a peek at my current desk chair … yoga ball)

Totally worth it …

Then, I tackled Emma’s toys, but since she can’t read, I had to come up with a better way to let her know what goes in each box.

She has given away BAGS of toys lately, so we’re left with mostly little collections, which makes organization pretty easy.

I am sure this idea is not original, but it’s something that I recently started doing with Emma’s toys, and it is working WELL for us!

I don’t feel like E has a TON of toys, but she prefers smaller toys, which are messier. I’m really trying to get a hold on clutter around here, so I decided to do the box system with her playroom toys.

I bought some clear boxes w/ lids at Dollar General for $1/each, and I have different toys in each box.

I waffled about labeling them, because I’m sure the contents will change over time – plus, they’re clear, so I can see what’s inside. For now, I think I’ll just leave them label-free.

So the rule is … one box at a time. She can make a huge mess with one box, but if she wants a different box, she has to clean up the first one.

She’s not into stuffed animals, and they’re easy to pick up, so they live in the blue and green canvas boxes. The remaining cubes in the shelving unit hold puzzles (we only keep 2 at a time in her playroom), coloring books, and reading books.

She also has a set of wooden blocks and a set of foam blocks that stay in the downstairs closet, which I cleaned out and re-organized a couple of weeks ago.

I am currently in the process of cleaning out the rest of her toys. I have a few boxes packed up for future baby, but there is some that she doesn’t like that I don’t care to keep.

Side note: she’s currently walking around with one of her baby dolls, patting baby’s back, and saying, “It’s okay, baby. It’s okay.” Awww.

I am also working to get this office / playroom cleaned out so that I can paint it. And possibly get hardwood put down if we can scrape up a little extra moolah. But that’s another post for another day.

I need to go tend to these piles of paperwork, now …

First of all, I am behind on the spring cleaning project & posting due to E’s first ear infection — and it’s a double infection, so it’s a doozy.

I spent my night here:

She is doing “eh” today … this morning was fine, but she has been nonstop crying this afternoon. I can’t really do anything to make her happy, so she’s just snuggling up beside me watching Dora at this moment.

Luckily, Simple Mom split the living room cleaning into 2 days, and I only needed one, so I’m not too far behind.

I haven’t had a chance to sit down at my desktop today, so I didn’t edit these pictures or make them into nice little before/after collages.

before:

after:

before:

after:

before:

after:

This is where we spend most of our days and nights, so it is refreshing to have it nice and clean and bright. You know, the less clutter you have, the lighter the room is when the sun comes in. And the happier we are.

My big nemesis is the laundry — I tend to just throw it in that overstuffed chair and leave it for days. I will sometimes even fold it while I’m watching tv, but then leave it in the chair. For days.

New plan :: I’m going to try to make sure that I have an empty laundry basket for all loads that come out of the dryer, then it’s dump, fold, put back into the laundry basket, take upstairs and put away immediately.

Well, bathtime, bedtime and mommy-time. Send prayers for a good night’s sleep for my girl.

xo

I worked hard yesterday morning on Spring Cleaning: Day One [read more about that here] and here are the before/after shots.

antique organ (I think this is going to live with Ken’s parents soon)

dvd bookcase

tv

sidetable next to the couch

sidetable next to the oversized chair

breakfast table (where we actually eat all of our meals)

buffet behind the table (it holds all of our small kitchen appliances & cookbooks)

bar (this is our biggest nemesis)

Did you notice something … we literally used up every.single.one of the flat surfaces in our first floor. I’m embarrassed to show these pictures, because really – not one flat area wasn’t being used.

But I know now that clutter is really what’s taking over our house. We all tend to come in and just throw stuff wherever there is space, and I have got to put a stop to that!

I also understand why my allergies & Emma’s hives have gotten so bad lately. There’s no way to dust with all that stuff everywhere — so our whole first floor is a giant dust bunny!

Ken came home from teaching and noticed the difference – cluttered surface areas are really noticeable! I don’t think we notice them daily, because we’re used to seeing it. Speaking for myself, I justify everything that’s there.

“Well, I can’t really clean that off, because if I move it to point b, then I’ll have to clean point b.”

Yeah, that’s a good justification, Messy McClutterson.

See why everything is so bad? But I’m proud to say that all surfaces lasted a day without being messed up. And I actually either threw or put everything away that was on them.

next up: the living room (I’m a day behind, btw)

Two posts today!! Don’t miss the final recap of Emma’s first day of preschool. It ended well. :)

I’m a day behind on the Simple Mom Spring Cleaning challenge, but I didn’t catch up on my Google reader until late last night. I’ll deal.

Spring cleaning is definitely something that we are going to do this year. Our house is unbelievably cluttered with junk, and it’s just time to get rid of it and start fresh.

We have actually been purging quite a bit …

And I have pictures ready of things to list on Craigslist. I’m really proud of Ken, because a lot of what we are finally getting rid of is stuff that he’s had for many MANY years. But the more we clean out, the happier we are. I need less clutter in my life – it’s just part of being me. And as we all know, a happy wife/mommy is a happy household.

So the Spring Cleaning challenge from Simple Mom came just at the right time. And can I just say that her before/after pictures are making me all giddy inside? Dude, her house looks like our house!! I’m not horribly inept at keeping a house clean – it’s totally normal to have piles of crap everywhere! Woohoo!!

Day One was called “A Clean Sweep”

The goal is to quickly sweep through your home, throw away trash, and toss items you no longer need or want into a box for later.

And that’s what I’ll be doing today. And yes, I’ll have some before/after pictures to share, because I am all about keeping it real.

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” -William Morris

I made a HUGE boo-boo back in January, and I didn’t catch it until last week. Unfortunately, it ended up messing up some of Ken’s business stuff, and I feel horrible about it. It really was an honest mistake, but it’s something that could have been prevented with more … you got it, organization.

I was listening to Wife Swap on tv yesterday while cleaning up the bar/breakfast nook area, and this one woman said that she was the home manager, so everything that went on in the home was ultimately her responsibility. Granted, they were using her as one extreme while the other extreme was a wife/mother who did nothing, but her comment really struck a chord with me. When I left my full-time job to stay at home with Emma, my job became House Manager. Ken’s responsibility is to work and make money for our household, while my main responsibility is taking care of Emma while also managing this house.

I’ll never be a fifties housewife, and I’ll never have a spotless house, but it’s time to stop reading about it and do something. So for the next couple of weeks, you’ll see some big changes in our house. Well, you may not SEE them, but you’ll hear about them. And maybe I’ll take pictures, too … just for kicks.

On that note, here’s my weekly menu …

monday: spaghetti
tuesday: chicken soft tacos
wednesday: crockpot chili
thursday: chicken spaghetti casserole
friday: oyster stew w/ crackers & cranberry sauce
saturday: spicy shredded pork sandwiches
sunday: crock pot salisbury steak w/ mashed potatoes

I started using Google Calendar to do my menus, and I repeat each recipe every 3 weeks. That way, if I get behind, I’ll always have a menu to fall back on. But if I want to substitute something else, I can do that, too.

I already have a huge pork shoulder from a sale a couple of weeks ago (see how that stockpiling comes in handy?) so I added a shredded pork recipe to this week’s menu, and I know I’ll have TONS left over, so we can do sandwiches for lunch and then quesadillas for supper on Monday. Maybe even a quick pork chili on Wednesday. Why does stuff like that excite me??

Lastly, Ken is moving my blog over to a different server tonight, so if the blog disappears or acts funky for a while, that’s why.

Thank you for the replies and thoughts and prayers. I am feeling much better today.

I really wish I wouldn’t get so overwhelmed, and I had a long talk with my mom this morning on what I can do to keep those feelings to a minimum. I can definitely do things to help with the pressure …

Today, I started using the Daily Docket from Simple Mom (Jen, I recently discovered this site and love it, as well!) — I know, it’s ANOTHER thing to download and print and possibly fail at using, but I told myself I’d try it for a week. It’s not a list of things that someone else tells me to do – it’s simply a planner of sorts that I fill out with what I think I can get accomplished in one day.

And if I don’t get everything marked off, that’s okay!

The first day has gone okay. There are several things on my general plan that haven’t gone according to plan, but my hour of email/web time turned into 2.5 hours of work time with a little email/web time thrown in.

But I just put Emma down for her nap, and if it’s anything like yesterday, I’ll be able to get about 2 hours of cleaning and non-computer work in as soon as I sign off here.

I’m also utilizing a few other things from the Simple Mom website:

• online meal plans
• weekly master checklist
• Gmail – I already use this, but the efficiency of her way is working well for me

She has loads of other tools for productivity and organization (including an amazing home management notebook that I do plan to have eventually … when I get caught up on everything else) so if you’re like me and feel like you’re floundering, check out her site and see if at least one of her ideas will help you!

Wow, I totally didn’t mean to turn this into a post all about Simple Mom, but there you go.

Finding peace is a very personal thing. Some people find it with running. Some with taking a hot bath with a glossy magazine. Some with getting a pedicure. Some with reading the Bible. Those are all ways that I find peace, and I’ve fallen behind on all of them. I need to remember what brings me peace and make time for that in my day.

“Crawling in to a large hole without any idea where it leads, but she knows where she’s at right now & it can’t get any worse” ~storypeople

I need to find some peace in my daily routine.

I want to stop feeling like I’m doing 247 things a day without getting anything done. I spend too much time looking for a way to organize instead of actually organizing. I make empty promises. Not that I mean to. I truly do feel like I could do the things that I promise to do, but then when it comes down to it, I can’t. I need to learn to say NO.

I have notebooks and lists and planners and menus … but they get discarded or forgotten after about a month.

My daughter is 21 months old, and, sadly, I have not found a balance, yet. I want to spend time with her, yet I need to clean the house and do laundry and make supper. I feel like we need to get out more, but when we do, I come home exhausted with a full to-do list still left to finish.

I read blogs and talk to friends, and they seem to have it all together.

And I am floundering.

I wonder …

Am I incapable of getting everything done?

Am I the only one who lives in a pile of laundry and dishes and toys?

Can I not follow a simple list without making it a hundred times harder?

I know I’m not the only one who feels this way.

There are hundreds of blogs out there geared towards helping people get organized. People pay money for organizational gurus to come to their house and get them organized. There are loads of free programs and downloads out there to help people get things done. Trust me, I’ve probably downloaded them all.

I have single-handedly destroyed trees in forests with the amount of things I’ve printed to help me stay organized.

And it’s time for me to let go …

It’s time for me to forget about it for a while. Forget about having the house clean at all times. Forget about my to-do list going ignored for four days. Forget about finding the perfect balance between life and living.

It’s time to live. Life will figure out a way to fit in … eventually.

All pictures were taken at my parent’s house in Georgia this past weekend.

I talk about organization in here a lot. Mostly because I have this great desire to be organized, yet I haven’t really figured out how. I’m working on it, and I really do think that moving my desk down here will make a huge difference. I think the biggest part of being un-organized was having everything spread out all over the house. I’m quickly learning that it makes more sense to have everything together. That way, I’m not misplacing losing things while getting them from point a to point b.

So today is Project Organization Day. Not to be confused with Martin Luther King, Jr. Day even though they happen to fall on the same day this year.

I’m starting out with this 3-tier desk shelf from Staples.

top shelf: bills to be paid
middle shelf: personal paperwork to be filed
bottom shelf: business paperwork to be filed

Ideally, I will get the mail daily, open the bills, add them to my calendar and then put them on the top shelf. Then, I will pay bills on Monday and file whenever I have a few extra minutes. Ideally.

I also have a recycle box for envelopes/junk mail/paper, a trash can, and a shredder for credit card offers that we don’t want going out into the world.

Next, we have two file crates (also from Staples) — I actually REALLY like using these, because there are no drawers to open (um, I’ve tipped the file drawers over one too many times!).

One will be for personal bills and household paperwork; the other will be for our home business.

Eventually, I would like to make this little charging basket, but one project at a time. Just bookmarking it for later.

So I’m going to get back to work now. I’m hoping to have everything finished enough to get some pictures before it gets too dark.

No, not out of the house … although I think Ken would be happy if I did right now.

We finished moving my office to the front room downstairs – which was no easy feat since we had to take the desk apart to get it out of the great room.

We gifted the green sofa to a young couple with a little boy Emma’s age and a 5-month old baby boy. It was bittersweet, because that sofa was my first “big” purchase when I was living on my own. I saved for months so that I could pay cash for it.

But I think they really needed it, so I got karma points for a while! LOL

Everything is kind of a mess in here right now, but my organizationally genius mom is coming up Monday & Tuesday to help me get everything in it’s rightful place.

I’ll upload some pictures in a minute. When I find the USB cord.