I Have a Plan! (of sorts)

Happy Monday everyone!  I hope you are having a great day thus far and you're getting a lot accomplished. Today I didn't really do any focused organizing or decluttering.  After the big closet project on the weekend; I still had to get things back into some sort of order. Today was spent just doing regular stuff and getting caught up on the laundry.  I think by tonight I'll have the laundry all caught up and put away. Now if I could just learn to keep it that way. Seems to be a lesson I struggle learning.

Since I really don't have a focused project to share with you today, I thought I would talk to you about my schedule of sorts for organizing/decluttering.  If you follow my main blog at all you know that last August I attempted to do the Holiday Grand Plan.  I did fairly well, but dropped off the wagon (in the blogging sense) about 3/4 of the way through.  Now that is over and Organized Home has another cleaning plan going that just started this month. It is called the New Year's Cleaning Grand Plan Challenge. The idea is to get everything done over the course of 4 months rather than a week or two of wild spring cleaning.  Sounds like a fantastic idea doesn't it? Yeah, I thought so too.  Then I thought about myself.  I start off with such gusto that I'm going to get so much accomplished. Then somehow life has a way of sidetracking me and next thing I know 4 months are over and I accomplished 1/2 a room.  So what to do? I have to do something.  I cannot just sit here and look around at all the things that are on my last nerve. Enter The Magical Forums of MagicalHolidayHome.com. The girls over there are doing the New Year's Cleaning Grand Plan Challenge but they have mixed it up a bit.  They made up their own schedule and it seems much more do-able.  They are allowing themselves 2 weeks per area.  *Light bulb moment here* - This could work for me!  So I've created my own schedule that will take me until just before the kids get out of school for the summer.  I don't know about you, but once summer vacation is here I know I will not get any major cleaning done other than the basics to keep things presentable.  I'm not going to fool myself that I can do more, just going to plan with the reality of my life.

January 17 to 30 - Living Room
January 31 to February 13 - Entry & Hall (Finish up in living room if needed)
February 14 to 27 - Master Bedroom
February 28 to March 13 - Bathroom
March 14 to 27 - Kid's Rooms
March 28 to April 10 - Maintenance in rooms already completed & finish up in kid's rooms if needed.
April 11 to 24 - Kitchen
April 25 to May 8 - Outdoor Storage & Yard (Spring Clean-Up pickup May 13)
May 9 to 22 - Dining Room
May 23 to June 5 - Laundry Room
June 6 to 19 - Deck and Front Porch

That's my plan.  I think it looks do-able. Also in my notebook I have each area broken down into what I would like to accomplish and have started a wish list of things I would like to purchase or change about the room.

Hope you find it helpful to see my schedule.  Do you have a plan when you declutter or organize areas of your home or do you just go in there knowing what you want to do?

I Have a Plan! (of sorts)

That's One Organized Craft Closet

Well, we did it! It wasn't easy, (ever do a project with your husband? Then you know what I'm talking about.) but we both survived and it is finished!  I am really pleased with the results. Thank you hunny for all your help and putting up with the fun that it was ;).

This is the top part of the closet.  On the very top shelf are things I rarely use. I have a box for scrap paper (I keep pretty much all the scraps for card making, ect), a bin for things to be scrapped, a big paper cutter, and a basket full of stickers for scrapbooking.  On the next shelf I have a basket for all my adhesives, a basket for pens, markers & the like, a basket for punches, and a basket for embellishments. The next shelf holds my Big Kick and other die machines, a basket of dies and folders for the machines, a basket of pieces for cutting systems, and a basket for tools (scissors, cropadile, ect).

The bottom shelf has a little desk like spot - a place I can put bills, keep a calendar, just whatever I need to keep track of. To the right of that I have my idea books (need to have those handy), my 8 1/2x11 paper and my scrapbooks. Oh yeah, and the little basket with a little sewing machine is just there for now.

At the bottom of the closet I have 2 rolling carts.  In the black cart I have items I've bought or saved for projects, things like notebooks to alter, clipboards to alter, stuff like that. On top of that cart I have 2 storage bins for my 12x12 paper.  In the white cart I have all my stamps in the bottom drawer. Inks and other sorts of stamp pads in the second drawer. The top drawer holds everything for embossing and glittering cards.  On top of the white cart I have the 2 cutters I use the most and a basket with all my stuff for the felt projects I want to make.

So there it is! My first organization project complete.  The only thing I want to do is make some labels or tags to hang off the baskets so I will remember what's it what without having to look. Plus it would be good if anyone else uses my stuff; so they can find and put it back easily.

Now to put the rest of my house back in order. ;) Funny how when organizing one space everything else gets neglected. So today will be spent getting the house tidy and ready for a great week of organizing, decluttering, and working on routines.  What are you going to do today?

That's One Organized Craft Closet

Craft Closet in the Making

Today starts my first organization project. I've been talking and thinking about this project all week, so if you follow me on Twitter you already know what this project is all about. My first project is going to be making a craft closet! I hope that it turns out as good as the idea in my head.

Here is what we're working with:

This is my craft area. Right now it's located in the dining room, which in theory works great because it's the room with the best lighting and the table is big enough that I can have a friend or two over to craft with me. I originally had all my craft stuff in my bedroom closet. I never crafted when it was in there because it was too much trouble to bring it all out. So moving it to the dining room fixed that issue and for awhile this system (if you can call it that) worked well. Until I started getting so much stuff that I have to fight with the drawers to get anything in or out of them. So I'm back to rarely crafting.  It's such a hassle to find what I'm looking for and then trying to put it all back - ugh!  I'm hoping that by creating the craft closet I'll get back into crafting on a more regular basis. Being able to find what I want and hopefully the ease of putting it back will inspire me to enjoy creating again.

Top half of coat closet

Bottom half of coat closet

We have a lot of coats in there. I think we wear maybe four of them. Many of them are my darling husband's from way back when. "They are good coats, we can't get rid of them". Yes, my love they are good coats and if we were still in the late 80's early 90's I'm sure we'd be wearing them. No matter we're out of that decade, I'm sure we're long out of some of those sizes.  You wait, I'll show you some pictures of the treasures we have in there. :)

And those TV trays - can you say faaaaancy!! They were his parents and honestly they were quite handy when the big kids were little.  I used them often when the kids were sick and I would make them stay in bed (that's how I keep them from faking to get out of school *wink* ), but I can't honestly remember the last time we actually used them recently.  So I think we can get rid of them and maybe just buy one wooden tray to have on hand if kidlets are sick.  All the games will likely go into my closet for now (that's another project for another weekend) and the hats & mittens will be gone through and divided up into the bedrooms of the owners.  The kids already keep their coats in their bedroom so it's just a matter of making room in our closet for the coats hubby and I decide we must keep.

This is my inspiration - We'll see how it actually turns out.

So this afternoon we are off to buy shelving. R is going to help me clear out the closet and get the shelves up, then it will be up to me to get it all organized.  Tomorrow I hope to have beautiful pictures of an organized craft closet to share with you.

What are you organizing this weekend? 
Have you made a craft closet before? Do you have any tips or recommendations for me?

Craft Closet in the Making

Welcome to Home Organization 365

Welcome to Home Organization 365! I decided to create this blog to have a place to write about finally getting organized, or at least my attempts at getting there.  I hope that it will be an inspiration and that maybe some of you will join me for this journey. 

There is so much around the house I want to get done, but I always seem to never have the time to get beyond the basics of tidying and laundry. Hopefully this blog will give me some motivation. I know time management is sometimes (okay usually always) an issue with me.  I want to have fun and play and do anything other than cleaning all. the. time.  So my plan is to tackle things one by one. Even 15 minutes a day on something extra will get things done. Some projects I have in mind will take longer than 15 minutes but it'll be okay, I plan to enlist some help from my big, strong, helper husband (I'm sure he'll be thrilled).

I hope to post something every day. Now it may not be an organization project. I know myself well enough to know that isn't going to happen every single day. So some days I will have an organization project to share, I will share some of the files I have made for my home management binder and I think I'll have some days where I share some great web sites that I refer to in my attempts to organize my home and maybe some days will just be a simple cleaning tip or instructions. These are just some of the ideas that I have floating around. It'll be fun to see where this blog goes.

I would love so much if you talk with me. I want this to be a place that isn't just (hopefully) an inspiration but also a place where we can share ideas. If you have suggestions or would like to see something on here let me know! We're all friends and in this together! 

Shake off your feather duster and let's get ready to get organized!

Welcome to Home Organization 365