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Mimip
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Guess that gets me to the other organizational tip. I try to make a point of having nothing stored on the floor except furniture. We just cannot handle it - we are too , well, disorganized. I'd rather purchase a little storage shelf or something than to have little items, baskets or other such stored on the floor. It becomes the place that the exploded duplos hide behind or the dog hair magnet or the thing that becomes the catch all. (Now if only someone could tell me how to keep my kitchen counter from being the catch all!)
Amen, Amen, Amen That is my no # tip in this house. All baskets and bins are stored on a shelf. We do have baskets on the floor but everyone knows those are for immediate pickup, like if someone is coming over, and later that day during our 15 -20 minute clean up we empty that and put everything into its correct bin.
Oh and I think my favorite all time tip is. "Everything needs a home"
If it does not have a home then I have too much stuff (which happens sometimes  )
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In Christ,
Mimi
Wife of 16 years to Tom, Mom of DD'00, DD'02, '04(in heaven) DS'05, DS'08 and DS '12
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Mackfam
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I can't say this tip has "changed my life" yet...I just set it up today...but it has promise.
A file for WINDOW SHOPPING
I often hear of a great book that I'd like to add to our family library that I must wait on until it better fits in the family budget or something I'd like to add to a wishlist. I created a file in my desk basket that I named "Window Shopping".
I keep a stack of 3x5 cards on my desk and anytime I come across a post here  or another source that recommends a great book that I'd like to look into I can write down the title, author, where I heard about it, why I was interested, and drop it in my file for a day when I have a little extra $.
I have to tell you, one of the reasons I came up with this system is because when I read in Faith and Family Magazine or Mater et Magistra I come across so many exciting resources I'd like to look into. I don't want to forget about them...but I was leaving magazines around so that I could go back and research and it was just a hassle. Again, stack of 3x5 notecards next to me while I read, jot down details of something that looks promising, drop in the file, save for later. Now, when someone asks me for Christmas hints I'll know right where to go!
I don't know if this idea will be a GREAT organizing tip, but I think it has potential so I wanted to share.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Paula in MN
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Mackfam wrote:
I can't say this tip has "changed my life" yet...I just set it up today...but it has promise.
A file for WINDOW SHOPPING
I often hear of a great book that I'd like to add to our family library that I must wait on until it better fits in the family budget or something I'd like to add to a wishlist. I created a file in my desk basket that I named "Window Shopping". |
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I do this, but I use Amazon. I have wish lists set up by subject, and when I find the book I'll jot down who told me about it, etc, right in the notes text box.
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Paula
A Catholic Harvest
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Waverley
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jdostalik wrote:
| I bought small round white laundry baskets at WalMart for each of my children. I used a sharpie to write each child's name on their basket. The laundry comes out of the dryer, goes into a big basket. Then, I grab the stack of kids' baskets, line them up and begin folding and putting the kids' clothes directly into their baskets. |
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I do this too and it has saved me a lot of time and a lot of nagging! What's been really nice is that before I used the baskets, I would set each child's folded laundry in their room for them to put away. But often the pile just got pushed off the bed or dresser onto the floor and then, since the child didn't know what was clean or dirty, they would send it all down the laundry shoot.  Now the clean laundry in the basket can be moved.
Also, now after I have folded the laundry into the baskets, I line the baskets up at the bottom of the steps and the kids take their basket to their room on their way up the stairs.
We also to the laundry basket quick tidy Jennifer writes about on her blog and the extra laundry baskets for each kid are used for daily tidying as well.
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Waverley
wife to Dh for 19 years, dd (16), dd (11), dd (8), ds (6), dd (4), dd (9-13-1996)
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Pamin OZ
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This is just about my favourite thread ever! Thanks!
Pam
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Pam in Sydney
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/paminoz/
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Sharyn
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oh! There are so many fabulous ideas here, I just can't wait to try them out.
I've been spending the past few weeks trying to organise my way out of chaos. I've got my washing under control, thanks to old posts I read here. I've got these new shelving unit thingies from ikea this last week that are great for storing plastic boxes full of supplies on.
Who would have thought that sanity would come in the form of lots of boxes. I'm in the process of putting everything I possible can into boxes of some sort.
I'm on to sorting out the paper beast at the moment. I have files and files of 'fantastic' things that I have printed off the internet over the years. It's all wonderful, but I seldom read it. So I have been hardening myself and putting as much as I can into the recycle bin. The rest I must sort out some how.
Can't seem to work out how to quote you Mackfam but I do a similar thing with good books I've discovered from websites, and I've got to tell you that thanks to you and your blog my book list has swelled 
I have a file with dividers in it like 'books to get soon', 'books to remember', 'books for homeschool'.
I used to have dividers like 'books on asia''science books', these being books from the library which I didn't want to buy, but might forget if I didn't write them down. I threw those out last week.....it seemed the right thing to do in the enthusiasm of the moment
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Mum to dd (00), ds (03), dd (04), ds (06), one in God's care (08), dd (09), ds (11), one in God's care (13), and ds (13)
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Servant2theKing
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Thank you, DeAnn, for startimg this thread, and to all you who have shared tips! I've been struggling to muster the motivation to tackle several clutter zones in our home, after a difficult year, with several deaths in the family and going back and forth when my daughter gave birth to her twins. ALL the wonderful ideas shared here have offered just the boost I needed to get moving and quit procrastinating!
I actually tackled four closets last week, which were some of our worst "clutter magnets", using several ideas shared here...containerize, keep things together according to use, keep the floor clear, and purge!
While gutting the closets I re-discovered a couple tips:
~Wherever possible, go vertical!
For example...I like to hang tablecloths on hangers, rather than taking up drawer or shelf space (makes them much easier to sort through). Inside our pantry/closet, I hang pan lids on the wall, in a rack originally intended for magazines (free from a fabric store...found while driving through the alley in back of the store...true confession, I come from a long line of "garbage pickers"...we asked permission/ they were glad to be rid of them/ they've been SO handy.)
~Don't be afraid to think outside the box and alter the intended purpose of space in your home.
In two of our homes we've used linen closets as library space! In our current home, our linens are stored in a plastic drawer unit in one of 2 MB closets (w/ tablecloths hanging above). A wider, wooden shelf-lined linen closet, inside the hall entrance of our MB, contains the bulk of our curriculum. An extra-deep, narrow closet, in our "Spare 'Oom", holds several more shelves of real living books. Our MB serves multi-purpose in our smallish home...a sofa and loveseat, along with our king-size bed, make a comfortable familyroom space, where we camp out for read alouds, watching movies as a family, or an occasional board game. The extra furniture occupies space that would have been used for dressers...we opted for plastic drawer units, inside the closets, for folded clothing, with plenty of room above for hanging clothes. Using shelves and drawer units inside closets in our home has made the house seem (somewhat) less cluttered, even though it's much smaller than our previous home.
Thanks to whoever mentioned getting things off the floor, we now have videos lining a wall of one MB closet, on shelves recently purged of excess books. The videos had previously been stored in shallow plastic tubs, beneath our king-size bed...which definitely attracted dust bunnies, as mentioned! The movies are much easier to find and I'm so thankful to have the underside of our bed cleaned out (except for the suitcases we still store there)!
As always, you ladies are such an inspiration! Thank you all!
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All for Christ, our Saviour and King, servant
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Kathryn
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I wasn't able to read through all the posts yet but for my (smaller by comparison family of 5) I squeezed one of those 3 laundry dividers betw. the washer and dryer and the kids dump there clothes there and there's SOME semblance of the laundry already being sorted (whites, lights and darks) and out of their rooms.
Then I have one of those folding mesh laundry bags that sits beside the dryer. When I need to take a load out of the dryer but don't have time to fold it (or want the kids to take the load out), I just throw the load in there and can stash it in my room or wherever until time to fold. Keeps it from spilling all over the place, off the couch, onto floor etc. That usu. just works on the things that can get wrinkled otherwise then I have to add ironing to my list and that doesn't happen often!
Last, the setting the timer for 15 min, telling the kids to race around AND putting on some upbeat music gets the house tidier than one would ever think.
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Kathryn in TX
(dd 16, ds 15, dd 8, dd 5)
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SuzanneG
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Here's one more I thought of that is such a relief to me:
Master Grocery Lists for Sam's Club and the grocery store closest to us......with space added at the bottom for add-ons.
This makes it easy for dh to do most of the grocery shopping and it saves me lots of "thinking".
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Suzanne in ID
Wife to Pete
Mom of 7 (Girls - 14, 12, 11, 9, 7 and Boys - 4, 1)
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teachingmyown
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Okay, no one peek into my house right now or you won't believe anything I say! 
My favorite tip is numbering all the storage bins and making a master list that I keep in my "mom" drawer. I used to write on the bins what was in them, like "girls' toddler", for example. Inevitably, though, the bins would get mixed up. When I needed clothes for my toddler girl, I would then fill the bin with the baby clothes she had grown out of. So, now, I don't need to search each bin moving them all around. If I need to change the category, I change the list. It has especially been helpful because I can send a large child to get a bin with the simple instruction of "get bin #2".
The rest of my life is a disaster, but I know what's in my bins.
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In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
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LLMom
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kristina wrote:
The last idea is google notebook. I have several 'notebooks' with different titles. I highlight items online that I want to see again.. use.. maybe print later.. etc.. then I right click and then select 'note this'. I have saved many of the ideas to celebrate the liturgical year that I have found here and on blogs and websites into monthly folders. I also have notebooks for recipes, curriculum, prayers among others. This saves space on my computer as well as printer ink and paper, so I don't print every good idea that I come across. The notebook is nice that it always saves the website that the 'note' came from, it can be edited, I can add my own jottings, notes can be deleted and moved as well. |
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Kristina,
I am a computer idiot , can you tell me how this is different from saving things under the favorites tab on explore tool bar? I went to the google notebook and couldn't figure it out and saw no help button.
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Lisa
For veteran & former homeschool moms
homeschooling ideas
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DeAnn M
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Hi Ladies,
I was out of town for a few days and these wonderful ideas continue to roll! Thanks so much for contributing to this growing wealth of tips.
I'm currently cleaning out one of our "catch-all" areas. We have three weird closets in a row in one of our main rooms. It looks sort of odd and makes no sense. My husband and my dad are turning the outside closets into lovely built-in shelves and cabinets. I like the idea of changing things around so that they have both function and beauty. We've finished one and my Dad is coming up this weekend to help with the other.
A professional organizer once told me about using a linen closet for a library of sorts. Someone mentioned that earlier. It's nice to think outside of the box...or closet in this case. She recommends putting everyone's sheets somewhere in their bedroom--under the bed in a box, in a bottom drawer or in the closet somewhere. I try to do this and it's very convenient when sheet changin' day comes 'round!
Another thing that may be obvious, but I never really implemented until baby #6 is to have several baby changing stations. Having diapers/wipes/cream in a cute basket on each level is very handy.
Also, does anyone have a real dining room anymore? If not, what is its use now? I feel like this is a junk-catching waste of space. We don't get much light in ours so I can't seem to make it into a school area. I need natural light during the day!!!
Thanks again, ladies.
Blessings,
DeAnn
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kristina
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LLMom wrote:
Kristina,
I am a computer idiot , can you tell me how this is different from saving things under the favorites tab on explore tool bar? I went to the google notebook and couldn't figure it out and saw no help button. |
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Lisa,
After I posted, I went to the google notebook while signed out of my gmail account and found out that:
Google recently stopped development on Notebook, which means it's no longer open to sign-ups by new users or being improved.
So sorry! I save favorite websites under bookmarks, but with google notebook, I saved just the bits that I wanted from any particular webpage (webclippings).
I just googled for alternatives. Here is a site which lists some.
__________________
kristina
yesterthoughts
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JodieLyn
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DeAnn,
a room without much natural light could be good for..
a library with cozy reading nooks with reading lights
a tv room/media room again cozy with the tv and movies and such in there
a den for visiting in.. often happens in the evenings without natural light anyway.. a sort of cozy space to "get away" from some of the hustle and bustle without actually going anywhere
any of which might free up space in a living room area that has more natural light so that you could make a school corner or such in there.
__________________
Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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JodieLyn
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Mackfam wrote:
I often hear of a great book that I'd like to add to our family library that I must wait on until it better fits in the family budget or something I'd like to add to a wishlist. I created a file in my desk basket that I named "Window Shopping".
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Jennifer, it's not a physical file but I use email drafts like this..
in my draft folder you'll find a "shopping list" (groceries) and a "purchase list" (big things that need large chunks of money like after recieving a tax return) and a book wish list and a movie wish list..
But I also have a "recipe" folder in my email.. and I'll move a email draft with a copied recipe into that.
paper things just get lost around here 
I love my email drafts
__________________
Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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LLMom
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kristina wrote:
Lisa,
After I posted, I went to the google notebook while signed out of my gmail account and found out that:
Google recently stopped development on Notebook, which means it's no longer open to sign-ups by new users or being improved.
So sorry! I save favorite websites under bookmarks, but with google notebook, I saved just the bits that I wanted from any particular webpage (webclippings).
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Kristina,
It let me open one. Maybe because I have a blogger account with google? I don't know. But I don't really know how to use it. So you can put the whole clip on the board thingy and not just the link?
__________________
Lisa
For veteran & former homeschool moms
homeschooling ideas
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JennGM
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JodieLyn wrote:
Mackfam wrote:
I often hear of a great book that I'd like to add to our family library that I must wait on until it better fits in the family budget or something I'd like to add to a wishlist. I created a file in my desk basket that I named "Window Shopping".
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Jennifer, it's not a physical file but I use email drafts like this..
in my draft folder you'll find a "shopping list" (groceries) and a "purchase list" (big things that need large chunks of money like after recieving a tax return) and a book wish list and a movie wish list..
But I also have a "recipe" folder in my email.. and I'll move a email draft with a copied recipe into that.
paper things just get lost around here
I love my email drafts |
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I have a gmail account, and it let me open up notebooks. But I do the same as Jodie. My email drafts are full of lists. Most recent action item is my son's birthday gift idea list.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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Cay Gibson
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JennGM wrote:
I have a gmail account, and it let me open up notebooks. |
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I swtiched to gmail as well. Danielle told me it would help organize my online life. I need a tutor on this.
The best organization this house has seen is when my husband and sons built an overhead loft-addition to our new shop. 
__________________
Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks
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DianaC
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The tip that actually did change my life was "store it where you will use it".
This saves so much time! For instance, I used to keep all of my craft supplies in the closet of my guest room. But, whenever I needed to make some cards or put some ribbon on something, etc. I had to go digging. Now I keep some basic card making materials and some ribbons, etc. in a drawer in my kitchen right where I'm most likely to sit down and use them.
Also, I usually use the top surface of my washer and dryer for wrapping presents. I'm thinking of putting a small rod under the cabinet above the washer and keep an all-occasion roll of giftwrap, some rolls of ribbon and a pair of scissors right there for when I need them.
Also, I have a few file folders that I keep in one of my kitchen cabinets (near the phone). They contain things like photocopies of birth certificates, sacramental records, latest physical forms, camp information, forms and contact information for any extra-curricular activities, etc. Here I store anything that I might need in a jiffy and records that I likely wouldn't remember where I put otherwise These files are handy - yet out of sight.
I also keep a separate set of cleaning supplies (toilet scrubber, windex, paper towels, duster, etc.) upstairs so that I'm not constantly going up and down when various rooms are due for cleaning.
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kuehnemom
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Great thread! I use an over the door shoe organizer for all the hard copy photos we still have. One day we began to separate them by event/person/age... and got them into piles which we put into the shoe holder in the hall closet. Works well.
Also, I collect baskets (mostly picnic) at yard sales and have them all around the house holding stuff. One has cd's, another holds stray socks, a really large one (like a wicker trunk) holds extra beach towels.
I keep our camping stuff up in the attic in a big bin. And so that I know what is in there, I keep an index card in a file box downstairs with the items listed.
I keep a bin ready for evacuation. This is sort of a 72 hour kit with food, freedom flashlights, first aid, cash, and important documents. I do this mostly because we live in S. Florida and its nice to know I'm ready to evacuate if a major hurricane threatens, and we need to get out. The idea is that we've got everything ready except clothes which would have to be tossed in at the last minute.
I always stock up when prices are low or there's a great sale. I think its a shame to pay full price for most anything.
I yard sale almost weekly, and get a lot of what we need at a fraction of the cost. I think the key is to go regularly and let the Lord know what it is you're looking for!
I often shop at more than one grocery store for all the deals, so I keep a small cooler bag in the car to temporarily store the frozen food which allows me to pop into one or two more places before having to head home.
:)
Theresa
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: What Organizing Tip Changed Your Life?
