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Organized Households Support Group - Page 4

post #61 of 120
1/1/06 at 12:48pm
my mom was gonna help me and my sis make memory quilts with our t shirts from sports and school and camp and concerts and whatever..... then some idiot set our house on fire my senior year of high school, so that didnt happen..... im gonna do that when i have kids tho
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post #62 of 120
1/1/06 at 5:39pm
New Year's Day has a way of making people think crazy thoughts. I have 2 days of vacation left and I am toying with the idea of going absolutely insane with cleaning/organizing. I have a notebook set up from when I was going to try and do the whole flylady thing. I was thinking of starting on the first page and tackling each thing on each list until I run out of time.

I know she talks about "baby steps," but that drives me crazy. I really want to start a routine, whether it's flylady or another one. I always have in my mind that I can start the whole thing at once as opposed to adding one little thing at a time. I know doing it all at once is not the best way to start a habit.

I was thinking that if I get the house generally clean and orderly then maybe I really could keep it up better. And then I just think that I'm fooling myself.

Anyone have any success this way?
post #63 of 120
1/1/06 at 8:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by trini
I know she talks about "baby steps," but that drives me crazy. I really want to start a routine, whether it's flylady or another one. I always have in my mind that I can start the whole thing at once as opposed to adding one little thing at a time. I know doing it all at once is not the best way to start a habit.
I know that you are ready to go and want to change but the more you try to do at once, the harder you will fall when you burnout. So baby steps it is.

Or compromise- take toddler steps but take it one step at a time.
post #64 of 120
1/1/06 at 9:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Amys1st
I know that you are ready to go and want to change but the more you try to do at once, the harder you will fall when you burnout. So baby steps it is.

Or compromise- take toddler steps but take it one step at a time.
Yeah, yeah, I know. That's why I've never been able to get into this cleaning routine thing. Because I want to do it all RIGHT NOW!

However, I was just in the kitchen and I opened our "junk drawer" and organized it. It wasn't too bad because I already had some of those drawer organizer things in there, but I threw away a few old grocery store flyers and expired coupons and sorted out some stuff. We have one little container we toss paper clips, twist ties, and rubberbands in. It's always a tangled mess, so I straightened it out...

...and I made a rubber band ball!!!! I am so excited about the stupidest little thing. But we always had a rubber band ball growing up. It is a very fond childhood memory. If you needed a rubber band, you got one off the rubber band ball. Now ds will get to have a rubber band ball in his home, too.

Now if I could only get this excited about clean baseboards.
post #65 of 120
1/2/06 at 3:33pm
I'm in! NAK

? What do those of you who do not wash your clothes after each use do with that item? Do you put it back in the drawer or closet? Do have a special place? Like kid socks. My kids will wear them for the time we go out to the store, and get home. Then they are off again. I wash them cuz I hate to put dirty clothes in the drawers but is there an alternative?

Does anyone have any suggestions of websites for organizing WOHMs with SAHDs? Dh has a heck of a time keeping the house clean but I'm never home. So the house is always a complete disaster!

As far as laundry, I have definetly found that the laundry basket be organized makes it easiest so I have kids clothes in one (their dressers share a room), towels, t-shirts and my/dh's other clothes. Then its even easy to assign dh the towels to fold and put away. However, I do need to organize the hall closet. Any thoughts? I have regular size towels, kids towels, "blankies", blankets, and several different size bedsheets and pillowcases in there as well as cleaning supplies in the top drawer. Everything ends up mixed together within a few days.
post #66 of 120
1/2/06 at 10:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by wendygrace
? What do those of you who do not wash your clothes after each use do with that item? Do you put it back in the drawer or closet? Do have a special place? Like kid socks. My kids will wear them for the time we go out to the store, and get home. Then they are off again. I wash them cuz I hate to put dirty clothes in the drawers but is there an alternative?
:
post #67 of 120
1/3/06 at 1:58am
I keep a separate laundry basket in the bedroom to toss things as I take them off. Then I fold that basket along with the clean laundry on laundry day. I've found that works better for me than folding (actually *planning* to fold) and put things away as I take them off. It also has the advange of letting the clothes air a bit (not that they really need it, but it makes me feel better).
post #68 of 120
1/3/06 at 2:01am
In regards to the hall closet, I keep my sheet sets in one of the pillowcases for the set. That way, when I change the linen I just pull out the pillowcase and it's a bag of everything else needed. It's also nice because they stay on the shelf fairly well and can't get mixed up with each other.
post #69 of 120
1/4/06 at 12:08am
NAK

I'd like to report that I organized the hall closet while I supervised the bath last night!!! It looks so nice!
post #70 of 120
1/4/06 at 5:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by sapphire_chan
In regards to the hall closet, I keep my sheet sets in one of the pillowcases for the set. That way, when I change the linen I just pull out the pillowcase and it's a bag of everything else needed. It's also nice because they stay on the shelf fairly well and can't get mixed up with each other.
That is brilliant!!!!
post #71 of 120
1/5/06 at 2:15pm
Woo Hoo progress! AND THEN a backslide!!
I organized the cupboard with my flours, sugars, etc....wiped off the shelves, refilled the containers....I have Tupperware for all my pantry goods. Then I did the spice drawer, stood all the jars upright, labeled the tops (except the black lids, how can I do that? label?) and threw out a bunch o junk: ramen noodle seasoning, old old spices

Then dh and I did big shopping, hit three stores for different sale items...put all that away.

THEN dh's parents came by, they leave for Florida today until May....brought us everything in their house:4 open cereal boxes, 5 jars of mayo, really 5....light, regular, low-fat.....ketchup with about an inch in it, a full mustard (now I have 3), 5 open boxes of crackers from Christmas,onions, garlic(we just bought that too) stuff in freezer dh put away, sour cream (now I have 3 just bought) OMG so mush junk they should've just thrown!! I am so frustrated. Some is helpful, but geesh 5 mayos?? DH thinks I can condense the condiments. ugh
post #72 of 120
1/5/06 at 2:25pm
Sounds like something my family would do. My mom often brings open containers of "stuff" when she comes to visit so it doesn't go bad while she's gone.

I'm going so slowly here. I just can't seem to get the laundry under control at all.
post #73 of 120
1/5/06 at 2:36pm
For the black spice containers: what about using silver or gold gel pen?

Toss any food you won't eat (compost pile is your friend). Even the stuff that would stay good until May. Unopened food could go to a food bank if you can make it to a donation drop-off.
post #74 of 120
1/6/06 at 3:15pm
[QUOTE=wendygrace]
? What do those of you who do not wash your clothes after each use do with that item? Do you put it back in the drawer or closet? Do have a special place? Like kid socks. My kids will wear them for the time we go out to the store, and get home. Then they are off again. I wash them cuz I hate to put dirty clothes in the drawers but is there an alternative?
[QUOTE]

Mostly I'm here looking for ideas, but here's my little tidbit to share: We have little hooks on the side wall of our closets to hang those 'in-between' things, like pj's that can be worn once more before washing, etc.
post #75 of 120
1/6/06 at 5:58pm
Subbing! I just posted in TAO about trying to figure out how much stuff is enough, and how to de-clutter and simplify. We have a large 4br 2.5ba house, 3 kids a big dog and 2 cats (well, and fish, too) that is FULL of stuff. There are currently 4 hampers of dirty clothes that have not been washed in I dont' know how long, but we all have so much clothing that we aren't missing any of it : I counted 7 diaper bags yesterday, 4 strollers, 6 carseats, and more other misc. stuff than I can remember. I need help with everything- way to get laundry done (for a 5 member family), way to stop eating out 4x a week and buy groceries/cook meals instead of just going grocery shopping and aimlessly buying whatever looks good...And decluttering all my "hot spots" where stuff just gets stuffed. I can't wait to go back and read all the replies to this when the kids are down tonight so I can take notes Thanks so much to you organized/de-cluttered mamas for making suggestions!!
post #76 of 120
1/6/06 at 10:00pm
I love this thread! Thanks for starting it I went back to work in Oct and I'm still trying to get my house under control. Finding anytime to organize and streamline feels so hard. I'm trying to get better. I have gone thru a big stack of mail while I've been on MDC tonight
Chrissy
post #77 of 120
1/6/06 at 10:07pm
Well, I wish I had more hours in a day to work on this, but I'm trying to grab a few minutes here and there to go through stuff. I've gone through the big shoe basket by the front door and took about 5 pairs out to donate. It's a small start, but it's better than nothing (or better than eating ice cream while cruising MDC )
post #78 of 120
1/7/06 at 5:11am
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post #79 of 120
1/12/06 at 11:37am
Thread Starter 
So, DH has recently come totally on board with my organizing/cleaning/quest for a routine. We acquired (for FREE!) some really lovely furniture from a friend of a friend who moved to France. We got an awesome new computer desk, coffee table, and and S-shaped chair with an ottoman. They are really, really nice! DH was really happy with how the new additions changed our house - it's so much more 'homey' now! He wants to keep them all looking nice, and wants the house to keep that homey feel, so he's been *helping* with *cleaning*. I am so impressed! I've been sick the last couple of days (and yesterday I was so sick I couldn't get out of bed) and DH totally picked-up where I left off, cleaned the house all by his wee self AND organized one of our catch-all areas! What a man!

I really have to find a way to organize my knitting stuff. It's *everywhere*. Also, DS' wool dipe covers while they dry - we need a good place for them. Right now they get hung in the bathroom on the towel rack, which just takes-up needed towel storage space. Hmm... Maybe I'll get some walls hoooks or something for DS' "room" (that he doesn't sleep in ).
post #80 of 120
1/12/06 at 1:46pm
I've got my yarn in a plastic tote (about 18" by 30") in my craft room. I have a pretty "current project" basket (about 12" by 15") that gets to live in the living room, it's also convienent for long car trips (knit half a scarf on a trip to Chicago recently ). My limited collection of needles (I've got like 6 pairs) live loose in the yarn tote at the moment. If and when I get/need more, I think I'll sew a holder and keep that in the yarn tote. Of course, if/when I get more knitting needles, there'll probably be an accompanying influx of yarn and I'll go to multiple totes.

One thing that helps is to label your areas. The few things I have organized are organized because it's clear in my mind what they are for. Like, I have the "fiction bookcase" so all the fiction in the house is regularly put away and organized. However, I've also got, "that bookcase that's kind of for whatever comes off the dining room table, but I really don't know what it's for" that's always a huge mess. Anyway, just designating a home for your knitting should help it be organized.

Also, if you aren't using ds's room as a room for him, maybe you need to rethink it's name. Could it become the "indoor drying room" while ds is in diapers? And then "ds's play room" and later "ds's room". I'd just mount a clothesline inside the room.