I feel like today’s modern woman has to blog about her perfect marriage, tidy home, nutritious recipes cooked fresh daily, and her 2.5 children. Being Mormon, living in Utah, and owning Etsy shops are bonus points. Clearly, all I’ve got going for me is the marriage part. Because of Pinterest, I’ve spent hours perusing organizational methods of wives and mothers in an effort to corral the ever-expanding piles of crap in our home, and I decided to share some of my tricks with y’all.
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| From Pinterest, figures. |
Cleaning baskets: I keep cleaning supplies in handy-dandy Dollar Tree baskets in both bathrooms that I clean and under the kitchen sink. I’m more motivated to clean when I don’t have to schlep chemical bottles around the house. I started out with square baskets, but these oblong ones can accommodate the paper towel roll, as well. Be still, my beating heart.
Magazine articles: Currently I subscribe to three or four magazines which tend to pile up quickly. In my post-wedding purge, I began going through several years of Martha Stewart Living and Southern Living (among others) and tearing out articles or recipes that caught my eye. The articles were sorted in general categories (recipes, home decor, travel, gardening, and clothing) and stuffed in pocket dividers. Each divider is about the thickness of a magazine.
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| From this… |
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| … to this. |
Memory boxes: I snagged photo boxes from Michael’s for $2 each. I tend to save tickets, cards, programs, and such from holidays and trips. Each box is labeled with a year, and all items from that year go in it (and off the floor or desk). If I take Mac’s advice and begin scrapbooking, all of my momentos are already sorted.
What do y’all do to organize?
Baskets are the key to everything! Maybe everything in the basket isn’t “organized” but it’s out of the way. I have a basket by the front door that gets the hubs’s keys, wallet, etc. at the end of the day. There’s also one by the backdoor that has the grill lighter, batteries, random other things that always ended up laying on the counter. If nothing else, there isn’t a pile of junk laying around because it’s in a cute basket 🙂 Also, I love your last idea – I’m forever saving mementos with no clear place to store them or reason why – maybe I need to start an annual box!
I love that ecard…HAHA! Gah, that is so true.
I am kind of an organized freakshow. I love The Container Store. I love boxes. And bins. And labels. It gets me happy. Everything must have a place!!!!!!! (I am a pleasant person to be around, I swear.)
We recently went through the process of PCSing overseas, which means time to PURGE! I found myself sorting and sorting and sorting some more. I had TONS of photos from back in the day that were unorganized. I wrote about how I organized them here: http://www.mylifeinverbs.com/2013/02/omg-organized-maniac-girl.html
I like the memory box idea. I might have to try that!!
I love baskets, they are a lifesaver!
The first two sentences of this blog post have me rolling on the office floor I am laughing so hard. Truth.
I hope people don’t look at my blog and think that I am trying to display my perfect life. I need to take real pics of my house.
I love the Dollar Tree. I have so many of their baskets and containers that I use for organizing. I also use the printer paper boxes from work to hold stuff (they are perfect) as well as diaper boxes! I’m all about cheap organization, and I’m 100% okay with the fact that it doesn’t look like something out of BHG magazine. It cost me a buck.
Sarah @ The Country Inspired
http://thecountryinspired.blogspot.com
Hey Lisa,
I’m a soon-to-be married woman. I am a neat freak and purging queen. My fiance is a clutter bug. We have the bets relationship but when it comes to purging vs. hoarding….it is the biggest conflict we have. he wants to keep every single thing he has. Even that raggedy Bill Cosby shirt from high school that he swears he will wear.
I have created bins around our house like you do and it seems to help a lot. He has his own “Matt Basket” as I call it…whenever his crap is laying around, I throw it in his basket so that if he is looking for something, I can direct him there. And 99% of the time he can find it.
It’s all about developing a system.
Thanks. Loved this post!
Ginny
http://www.buttergirldiaries.com
These are some great tips! Especially the bathroom one! I’d definitely be more inclined to clean if I didn’t have to drag supplies around with me as we’ll.
I’m not organized… Lol
I need to do the same with all my mementos and magazines! Seriously, the magazine take up so much space and I really don’t need them. And I have drawers full of mementos that have never really been organized. Maybe this summer I can finally work through stuff?