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We are finally buying our first house! Unfortuanaltly it is my family's home. Which means we have inheritaed all of their crap. They never actually moved out. I can handle that, we have a dumpster! My problem is it is an old brick home with lots of character (meaning lots of work) I do not know how to organize it into "zones" which seems to be the new thing! I have scraps of paper everywhere, clothes everywhere, arts and crafts projects I can't get done. Everything is so cluttered and disorganized it is overwhelming and I just want to leave so I don't have to see it. It doesn't work, it is still there when i walk back in the door!!
Every magazine, book, tv show says you should have zones for everthing. Kids bring home papers and I dont know where to put them. Mail comes in the house and ends up somewhere. And there is a basement and room full of family stuff. How do you tackle big projects and remain sane!?
any advise would be wonderfuln
alizabeth
Answer:
I've been retentive on wanting to get organized lately. I bought a handful of normal 3 pronged folders (like kids get for school) that have pockets on the inside, and started labeling. Household, Church, Taxes, Christmas/Gifts (for project ideas, etc). I have some of those laminated sleeves you can put papers into in a few of them, for menus, pay stubs, etc that I don't want falling out everywhere. I have a file box but it is crammed full of stuff (one problem of mine is I don't know what on earth to keep and what to chuck; I've gone to the extreme from having too many times where I needed something I had thrown away) so I can't EASILY find anything in it. (That's a project I need to tackle soon.) Maybe getting a folder for each kid and putting a dozen sleeves inside, and then when it's full, take something out to put something new in. It may work for you. As for the crafty stuff, I know a little of how you feel. I have crafty junk everywhere. The dollar store has plastic boxes with lids that you can get for a buck. Label the outside if you want/need and separate and organize your craft stuff inside those. The other thing that really helps out disorganization with clothes (if you don't already have it) is a closet organizer. I'm starting to think they're definately worth the money, even the cheaper ones. As long as it allows you to efficiently use all the space in your closets -- vertically in addition to horizontally -- it is worth more than its weight in gold.
A few things I've found that help me:
-Setting the timer for 15 minutes and speedcleaning one room.
-Doing it all one layer at a time. I've tried to deep clean one room, but the rest of the rooms get worse b'c of neglect. Now I do the 15 minutes in each room to get it presentably clean and then if I have the fire, I do another 15 in a room to go even deeper.
-Being severely brutal with what I pitch. I used to be really sentimental and was a packrat because of it. I love the quote "save your love for that which can love you back" (my paraphrase).. it helps me to say sayonara to a lot of junk that i've been holding onto for God only knows what reason. I'm still purging! one little success will give you the boost to strive for more -- good luck!
Answer:
this is what I do and it seems to help.. I open the mail literly over the trash can and what i trash goes it right then and there. then I have a pile for bills to be paid, filed. then they go to the desk. My projects that need to be done, arts crafts mending....etc are all in one area/pile. they get done as I can get to them but if they are all in one place and not spread all over the house they are more likely to get done and not get stressed over them. HTH Also just take everything one room at a time.
Answer:
I also open the mail over the trash can!! Then, everything gets torn up right away. I put the bills in the "to-be-paid pile" on our desk.
If you need to have "Zones".....you will need to create them. Basicly, if you can carve out a nice spot on the table for the kids to do home work, then you can set that one spot up nice n neat and encourage the kids to sit there for home work.
Same thing with other "zones". Figure out "systems". What I do is I develope a system that will work best for different tasks. For example, I have a laundry basket in each person's room. Each person is responsible for tossing dirty clothes into that basket. Then, on laundry day, I grab the laundry from all the baskets and haul them down to the laundry room. I hang shirts-to-be ironed on a nice bar above the washer/dryer. I keep the iron and ironing board near the washer dryer so that everything is in reach.
For each room, I try to imagine what tasks I will complete in that room on a weekly basis. I try to simplify my life by having all the things I would need for that task within that particular room. Then, I am not running around every day searching for this-n-that.
Since every thing is kind of chaotic right now, I would start by making piles in each room and then start organizing after you have things in their designated "zones".
As for renovations....try to stick to one project at a time, or else none of them ever get done!!!! In our last house we lived with-out a door on our master bathroom untill we decided it was time to sell the house. It's amazing what you get used to!
Answer:
Okay, forget zones. Here's what you do:
First, I heard this tip once. For everything you have, ask yourself "Do you love it? Do you need it? Does it make you money?" Whatever doesn't fit into any of the three categories, has to go. For everything that's left, here's what you do:
-Mail- Find a comfortable place where you, DH whomever else retrieves the mail can agree to put it every time it comes in. This will also be the place where you put kid's notices from school. This place should be near a trash can and/or a recycling bin. Go to Walmart/Target/Whatever and get one of those little mail sorters and a letter sized accordian file. The mail sorter will go where the mail is brought in and the mail doesn't actually have to be in any specific organized fashion, it just has to go into the sorter until it gets organized. The accordian file goes elsewhere, out of sight: a closet, drawer, wherever. When you go through the mail, if there is something that needs to be dealt with immediately, you deal with it as soon as you can. If you have something that is to be dealt with at a later date (maybe a bill that you don't pay for another 2 weeks or some kind of correspondence), you put it in the accordian file. Also, whenever you pay a bill, write on the paper left, how much you paid, the date and the check number. Put that paper into the accordian file.
-Notices from School- Notices are usually easy to deal with. 1) You need to sign and return. No biggie. Do it when you get it. 2) You have a date to remember. You should write it down in a master planner you have for the family. This time of year, you can get one for 2007 very cheaply. 3) It's a notice about how your kid is doing. Deal with it immediately, and, depending on the content, either discard or place in the accordian file.
-Misc. Paper You Want To Save- This inclludes kid's artwork, birthday cards, photos, whatever. You should get a LARGE box, or even a Rubbermaid bin and use it as a "sentimental" box. You can put whatever you want in there. If you really have a lot of stuff, you can have a box for each member of the familiy. This box should be kept on a shelf in the bedroom closet of whomever the box belongs too.
-Keys, pens, etc- Somewhere (probably near where you keep the mail, get a "junk drawer". In our house, this is where we put our keys, pens, gift cards, the kid's immunization records, etc. Always things that we need to have on hand but we don't want them out all the time or floating around. Don't let the drawer get out of control. Make sure to clean it out at least once a month. Make sure that the only stuff in there is really stuff you need on hand.
-Storage, Storage, Storage- Place some kind of shelving/cabinet system in the garage, if you have one. On the shelves, place rubbermaid bins. These bins are great for Christmas decorations and anything that you can't figure out where to put it, but you don't need very often. You should also invest in some good boxes of various sizes. Ikea has some great ones and you can order through their site. I use boxes for the kid's art supplies, booties and headbands, photos, scrapbooking stuff, whatever. The boxes fit nicely onto closet shelves.
-Other Misc. Paper- Also get a large file for records you need to keep (ie: tax records, birth certificates, instruction manuals, product warranties, whatever). Keep it well organized and clean it out once a year. This can also be neatly tucked away in a closet.
-Label It- It's not too bad to invest in a label maker, or even just some sticky white mailing labels and a good marker. Label every box, every bin, every file. Make sure all labels are clear and easy to read. In a pinch, you can find something quickly and when you or others in the household go to put something away, it's easy to see where it goes which eliminates the need to just "put it wherever".
I don't know if this answered all your problems with organizing. It sounded like paper was your main problem, so that is what I tried to focus on. I hope this helps. If you need more specific advice, let me know. I love organizing.....I know, I'm sick.
Good luck!
-Lucky