I mentioned on Monday that my "word" for 2015 was Organize. I want to get my home, work, and life in order. Lately I've found myself super interested in things like meal planning, budgeting, and organizing. It's kind of weird haha! Since I'm home 95% of the time, I get a little crazy when things aren't where they're supposed to be or when my current method is insanely inefficient. We live in a pretty small home and with four of us, we're already a little cramped. I'm hoping that with a bit of work, I can transform our house into a well-oiled machine. I started an ORGANIZATION board on Pinterest to help organize (ha!) all of the good ideas I run into.
I'm still early in the planning process, but I thought I'd share a handful of my favorite ones and see if y'all had any suggestions or tricks up your sleeves! I have no desire to go "minimalist" or anything, but just give things a home that makes sense, ya know? We don't even have a linen closet (hot water heater is there) so we're hoping to build some shelves in our bathroom above our washer and dryer. Mike recently solved a small part of our kitchen storage problem by building an extended 4' cabinet to hold our new dishwasher and stuff. Gosh it's been nice to have that extra space! Anyway, here we go.
// 7 items that keep your fridge neat. (Like these clear boxes from Crate & Barrel)
// 51 game changing storage solutions that will expand your horizons. I really wish I had a closet to do number 5 in!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I'd love to hear some of your favorite tips and tricks on organizing your life! Y'all, I need them! Seriously. Things are so chaotic over here and I need to feel like something makes sense again haha I have a feeling I'm going to be so so ready to just throw everything out when the Spring cleaning bug hits. Anyone else?! xo
I use all the wall space I can. After I realized that I had a huge closet with similarly huge wall space, I decided to get creative with it (shelves, hanging things, etc.). It's much more pleasing to the eye now and there's less clutter on the floor. Win!
ReplyDeleteI also break cleaning into chewable bites. Vacuum, break, mop, break, clean ceiling fan, break. I find that if I do it all at once on a random Sunday, quality suffers because I am miserable over losing out on a perfectly sunny day because my apartment is a mess.
Thanks for sharing this post -- love all the links here!
-- Meg @ http://adventuresinverdance.wordpress.com
I recommend The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying-Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo. It asks to to look at each item you are considering and ask "does this bring me joy?" before keeping it or giving it up. It goes through various sections and items in your home like books, clothes etc and gives you a great strategy for each.
ReplyDeleteThe best tip I have is to have less in general. Less stuff = less to keep organized. We definitely aren't minimalistic, but I've been getting rid of stuff for 2-3 years now and somehow I still have more to organize!
ReplyDeleteI have those clear fridge organizers, and to be honest we don't use them as much in the fridge as we do our pantry! The soda can one is great for soups/canned veggies in the pantry.
ReplyDeleteI recommend only doing organizers on one of your fridge shelves, so you can have space to maneuver when you've got odds and ends. Though I do sort things in the fridge, like eggs/butter/yogurt/cheese etc. top shelf, next shelf meats in a plastic tray and leftovers and whatnot, drinks on the bottom, condiments in the door.
I'm had a label maker since I was in middle school, I'm a freak for organization!
Thank you so much for doing this post! I need all of this in my life like yesterday!
ReplyDeleteI don't consider myself a minimalist generally, but I moved here to Nashville with only what fit in my car, so maybe I am. Who knows. I do work for a personal organization company here though and I have to say, minimalist or not, people ALWAYS have stuff they can get rid of. It feels like it might be sad to do, but getting rid of stuff and having more space is freeing. Now, I'm not saying get rid of it all, or only get down to the basics, I'm just saying that getting rid of most of the "someday" projects isn't a bad idea. Even as a professional organizer I still have a hard time with fridges. Good luck with organizing!
ReplyDeleteIts pretty sad but all this organisation talk actually really excites me! There's nothing better than knowing everything is organised around you.
ReplyDeleteLizzy from Nomad Notebook
My biggest tip for organizing is to get into serious, serious purge mode. I am absolutely a minimalist (we have photos in our house, but almost no knick-knackery for "styling") so I can't stand too much stuff around the house. I get everyone's different, and people are entitled to love their knick knackery and stylings for their home. However, I'm a firm believer that if there's less stuff to organize, then it's easier to do in the first place as well as when you get into maintenance mode! :) Good luck!! (toys, by the way, hardest thing EVER to organize).
ReplyDeleteI love Jess Lively's trick - she does a sort of "100 Things" project where she collects 100 things to throw out (http://jesslively.com/2014-throw-out-100-things-challenge/). I always thought 100 things was a huuuuuge number, but it's insane how quickly you get them together!
ReplyDeleteI have moved to a new home a month ago, and I'm trying to organize everything properly, those links are so useful!
ReplyDeleteLove this....I'm working through the same type of things this January (meal planning, organizing my wardrobe into a "capsule wardrobe", cleaning/organizing schedule/plan, etc). I came across your blog the other day while during a pinterest search for my capsule wardrobe inspiration and you may or may not have a new blog stalker. ;) I love your fun, retro style!
ReplyDelete