Evaluating the week of January 10

How are things going at your house? I was doing quite well at keeping everything organized until yesterday.

I don't know exactly what happened other than it was just "one of those days". Yesterday I didn't get right on the mail and it's already starting to get backed up. I'm getting the mail in order again today. Ditto with our videos and refrigerator - already. I need to show my sweet dear hubby how I had the fridge organized so we can both work to keep it in order. The videos are my fault. Although it only takes two more seconds to put the videos away, for some reason I felt the need to just set them next to the video drawer. Um, hello? I know, I know... Can you tell I'm still working on being more efficient by doing things the right way the first time? It'll take time for all of this to become habit.

How are your new organizing habits holding up? We're not that far along, so if things are falling apart, it won't take long to catch back up. You can do it!

Plan for the upcoming week: keep working at organizing the kitchen, talk about being efficient with our time, receipts in regards to rebates, medical bills, and taxes, and de-cluttering our purse / diaper bag / wallet

Tackling that freezer

On Wednesday, we tackled our refrigerators. How is yours looking? It's a bit of a struggle to maintain it, but they say anything done for two weeks can become a habit. I'm hoping for that!

Today it is the freezer's turn to get a makeover. We're going to follow the same steps as we did with the refrigerator. If you have a chest freezer, being organized is even more important so food doesn't get left at the bottom forever, as it would if we had a chest freezer.

Step 1: How many shelves do you have to work with? Because we have a side by side unit, we have three main shelves and two drawers/baskets. In the door, we have three small shelves. The freezer can be a bit more of a challenge than the refrigerator because depending on your type of freezer, you may have a lot less shelf space.

Step 2: Who uses your freezer? We have four people who go into our freezer throughout the day - two adults and two children ages 5 and 3. This means I'll have to leave space down low for my kids to be able to reach the items they need, just as I did with our refrigerator.

Step 3: What are the categories of items you keep in your freezer? For us, I'll use meat, veggies, ice cream/desserts/popsicles, and frozen meals.

Step 4: Pull everything out of the freezer. If you feel moved to wipe down the freezer shelves while you're at it, go for it. Just move quickly!

Step 5: Group the items into their categories and decide which shelf/shelves make(s) the most sense for each group.

Step 6: Finally, re-pack that freezer. You may need to get creative if you have a freezer with one shelf, like we used to. You can group like items by placing them in open bins/plastic storage containers in the freezer. Small containers will often stack well, even without lids, and can be easily marked!

Task for this week: challenge your family to see how long you can maintain the organization in your freezer

Getting rid of clutter

Before I go any more into de-cluttering, I thought it would be a good idea to brainstorm all of the things we can do with items we no longer want or need. We're not doing any actual de-cluttering right now, just making plans on where to take our clutter once we decide we don't want or need any more.

Following is a list of ways you can get rid of your clutter, some of which can be quite profitable.

Friends and family: If you have items in excellent condition, you may want to ask your friends and family if they might want those items. This is a way I like to go with some items that I really like but don't need anymore. If you go this route, though, you may want to consider giving the items for free or asking a lower price. These are your friends and/or family members, after all. Plus, you'll get to watch them enjoy the items, which is a huge bonus!

Ebay: If you have items in good condition, you can try to sell them on Ebay. Some people are able to make enough profit off of Ebay selling that they consider it a business for them. I'm not that good at it, and the fees drive me nuts. I have sold a few items on Ebay, though, and did enjoy putting a little extra money in my pocket. Before taking the time to list an item, do some research to see how many other identical items are being sold and how much they have sold for. From there, you can decide if it will be worth your time. Don't forget to figure out shipping costs as well.

Craig's List: Craig's List is essentially an online classifieds ads site. Once on their site, you can locate the page for your area. It doesn't cost a penny to post your items for sale on Craig's List which is a huge benefit. I do know some people who have done very well selling items on Craig's List. Be very careful, though, with meeting people when selling an item. Use common sense.

Resale shops: I personally don't have any experience with selling my items at resale shops. I have friends who swear by them, though, with their baby items. This may be a good way to go if you have children's items that are in good condition and brand name. You may also want to consider this if you have larger baby care items. Before taking your things in, though, I suggest deciding how much you want for each item. That way, if they offer you less, you can try your hand at selling the items on Ebay, Craig's List, or at a yard sale. A benefit to resale shops, though, is there is a whole lot less work required on your part and you can make money on your items quickly.

Yard sales: A yard sale may be for you if you don't mind people haggling with you and you have a weekend to set aside for the actual sale, in addition to the prep time. I know many people are able to make a lot of money off of yard sales. We've only hosted one yard sale, and that was because we had way too much stuff (right before our first move) to haul off to Goodwill. We did make a decent amount of money and got rid of tons of stuff. If you have a whole lot of baby clothes and items, this may be a great way for you to go.

Freecycle: This is a great way to go if you have odds and ends that someone else may be able to use, but the items aren't ones thrift stores would take. Freecycle is a fantastic group where you list items you no longer want, and those who are interested contact you. You then pick who gets the item(s) and they come pick it/them up. The main requirement is that everything offered is free. I've passed along clothes hangers, baby food jars, and lots of packing paper and moving boxes. I've even seen broken electronics offered for anyone who may be interested in the parts. You can find your local Freecycle group at freecycle.org. Something to keep in mind... be sure to be smart about meeting people you don't know. I prefer to set the item outside my closed garage when my husband is home, just to be on the safe side.

Thrift stores: If you have items you don't want to try to sell, you may want to consider taking them to a thrift store. Thrift stores such as Goodwill will accept most donated items, give you a receipt so you can take a tax deduction on the items, then the store will sell the item. If you itemize donations on your taxes, this can be a great way to go. One things to keep in mind, though, is to be sure you document everything. You don't want the IRS asking you to prove your donation and then not have anything to back up your claim. We like to take items to thrift stores when we don't want to wait to get the items out of our house. Also, this is a great way to go if you have items such as adult clothing that just doesn't sell well.

Garbage: Finally, if it's true trash, into the garbage it goes. If it's stained, broken, smelly, etc., throw it away. If you would be embarrassed having someone else take the item, that's a good sign you need to throw it away.

Do you have other ideas of what to do with items you no longer want or need? What are your secrets?

Today's task: make a plan deciding which methods you will use to get rid of items you no longer want or need

Getting that refrigerator in order

Ugh, our refrigerator is a mess! I really don't care to organize it because it's just going to get messy again, but I know I should... Okay, here goes nothing!

The refrigerator is a great example of how being organized can save you money. If you have food items shoved in the refrigerator, like we currently do, chances are you'll forget what all is even in there. If you forget about it, it will eventually go bad and have to be thrown away. Thrown away food = thrown away money. I hate that! Before we moved, I had a shelf location for each type of refrigerated food. When we moved to our current house, though, we ended up with a different style of refrigerator. I now get to start from scratch, which can be a good thing. At least that's what I'm going to keep telling myself!

Step 1: How many shelves do you have to work with? We have four main shelves and three main drawers (two larger, one smaller). In the door, we have four shelves, two soda can holders, and one shelf with a "door".

Step 2: Who uses your refrigerator? We have four people who go into our refrigerator throughout the day - two adults and two children ages 5 and 3. This means I'll have to leave space down low for my kids to be able to reach the items they need.

Step 3: What are the categories of items you keep in your refrigerator? For us, I'll use meat, veggies, fruits, cheeses, dairy, beverages, condiments, and leftovers. Yep, I said leftovers. I found at our old house, that if I had one particular place for our leftovers, we were less likely to forget about them. Remembering about and using leftovers that were previously thrown away is like putting money back in our pockets. Gotta love that!!!

Step 4: Pull everything out of the refrigerator. What the heck, while everything is out of the fridge, why not wipe down the shelves, too.

Step 5: Group the items into their categories and decide which shelf/shelves make(s) the most sense for each group.

Step 6: Finally, re-pack that refrigerator.

Task for this week: challenge your family to see how long you can maintain the organization in your fridge

Getting receipts in order

Before I start, let me reiterate again that I'm not a financial advisor, at all. I'm just a mom who helps manage her family's money. I love finding new ways to make and save money, and those ways typically require being organized with our finances.

To me, being organized with our finances means knowing where my family's money is coming from and going. Today, I'm just going to chat about tracking where the money is going. It's hard to know what the money is being spent on if we don't track it. There are many tools you can use to track your money. We decided to go with a computer program called Quicken because with just a few clicks of the mouse button, we're able to download all of our financial information from our banks to our computer. Talk about a time saver! Of course I also know someone who sticks with keeping track of their finances simply using a notebook. I suggest choosing a method that works best for you and your family so you'll be more likely to stick with it.

Have you been collecting your receipts in one location this last week? Whether you use cash, check, or credit cards, you receive a receipt with all of your purchases. These receipts will allow you to track your expenses. Before we can create a budget to help keep everything in order, we have to know where our money is going. Some people wait until they receive that month's credit card or bank statement to see where their money went. We prefer to take a more proactive approach.

Each day, or at least once a week, I record my (and my husband's) spending in Quicken. We have broken our spending down into different categories such as auto, books, clothing, children, education, entertainment, groceries, medical, etcetera. The computer program then calculates our spending in each of the categories for us. Bonus! If you prefer the notebook approach, simply make charts with columns listing your spending categories. If you prefer, you could also use one page per category. However you choose to track your spending, the important thing is that you know where your money is going. This can take a little time, especially when breaking down receipts into the different categories. It will be very useful later, though.

Once you've recorded your expenses, everyone has a differing opinion on what to do with those receipts. Some people choose to hold onto them in case they need to return something, refer to a receipt later, or "just in case". Others immediately throw the receipts away except for on the big-ticket items. Yet others choose to do a mix of the previous two methods.

One note on the receipts. These can add a lot of clutter if you don't keep them in order. Be sure to select a location such as a small box or drawer to save your receipts until you get a chance to enter them into your finance tracking system. If you're planning on saving your receipts, have a plan for how to file them away. A simple accordion file can do the trick if you want to save the receipts by month, category, or even by what the item is. We prefer to file by month since we can look in Quicken to see when we purchased an item to help us find the receipt.

What does your system look like? What has or hasn't worked for you in the past? Do you have a hint or tip with a method that has helped make this process easier for you?

This week's financial task: choose and start a system to help keep track of the finances and decide how to keep receipts from becoming clutter

Tackling that dreaded junk drawer

I have a confession... Although I love to organize, I have one location in our house that will likely never stay organized, and I'm okay with that. Actually, I'm more than okay with that. I have this need to have a junk drawer in our kitchen where we can throw small odds and ends that may not really have a good "home".

While I'm okay with our junk drawer not always being organized - it is, after all, a junk drawer - I do still feel the need from time to time to de-clutter and organize it. Here's what our junk drawer currently looks like:

Does it look familiar to you? Most of what you can find in our junk drawer probably belongs in our home office, but we don't really have the place for it there, either. Besides, I like having ready access to pens, paper, batteries, rubber bands, etc. Let's get those junk drawers under control!

Step 1: Pull everything out of the junk drawer. This is the only way to see what all is hiding in it.

Step 2: Throw away anything that is obvious garbage.

Step 3: Set aside items that belong elsewhere. Once you have all of these items sorted out, put them away before moving on. I've found that it's frustrating to seemingly get to the end of a task just to discover you still have more to put away. Ugh, I hate that!

Step 4: Wipe out the drawer. Why not? It'll take two seconds and the drawer will thank you!

Step 5: Time to get creative, or not. There are tons of drawer organizers you can purchase to help keep your junk drawer under control. If you don't want to buy more stuff, you can see if you have anything around your house that will do the job. One freebie way would be to cut boxes of various dimensions down to size - short enough to allow the drawer to open and close. I ended up using a small box and its lid to organize our loose batteries, paper scraps, and random odds and ends.

Step 6: Step back and admire your work!

Here's an "after" photo of my junk drawer:

Today's task: de-clutter and get your junk drawer under control

Cleaning schedules

Cleaning, ugh!!! I love to organize but boy do I dislike cleaning! Maybe I should pair up with a friend who loves to clean, and we could swap organizing/cleaning jobs. Hmmm...I might be on to something! Unless I make it a priority, the cleaning just doesn't get done. Believe me, with three young children, I can always find something else to be doing. That is why we're creating a cleaning schedule today. A cleaning schedule can help you be more efficient with your time. You know what that day's task is so you can spend less time trying to decide what needs to get done.

The thought of cleaning our entire house makes me want to not even bother starting. Talk about an intimidating task! I have found, though, that by placing my cleaning jobs on a schedule so I have a smaller job each day, I'm much more likely to get the cleaning done.

To create my cleaning schedule, I listed all of the tasks I would like to get done each week: vacuum/sweep floors, dust, water the plants, clean the bathrooms, de-clutter the minivan, and wash the bedding. Your tasks may be completely different from mine depending on your situation.

Once you have your list of jobs, break the list into smaller chunks deciding how much you feel you can readily handle each day. At this point, look at your weekly schedule and decide which day would work best for you to tackle each cleaning task. Here's what mine looks like in addition to my reasoning behind why I set each task on the day I did (if there was a particular reason):

Sunday: sweep/vacuum and mop floors

In reality, the mopping doesn't happen every week, but that's my goal. I set this on Sunday because it's the best day for me to try to squeeze it in.

Monday: wash all bedding

I almost put this on Friday so we'd have wonderfully clean sheets for the weekend, but I had other tasks I wanted to tackle then.

Tuesday: vacuum and sweep

Wednesday: dust and water plants

For some reason, I have a really hard time remembering to water plants. That's why I put that task on my schedule. If it's not on the schedule, it's probably not going to happen. (Most of the plants in my house are very draught-resistant!)

Thursday: de-clutter minivan

Three young children... need I say more?

Friday: vacuum and sweep - again

With three young children and two dogs, there's always going to be stuff on my floors. I figure there isn't any point in my going crazy trying to vacuum/sweep more than two to three times a week.

Saturday: clean bathrooms

This is my least favorite cleaning task. I stuck this on Saturday because it takes so much time.Also, it's a lot easier for me to clean the bathrooms if my husband can take the children so they aren't getting into the cleaning supplies. Depending on when we're likely to have guests, I'll sometimes stick this on Friday.

Once you have created your cleaning schedule, post it on your calendar or somewhere you're likely to see it on a daily basis. Stick to your commitment to get the cleaning job done each day. If some part of the schedule isn't working for you, change it up so it will work better. While it's important to stick to the cleaning schedule, it's just as important to be flexible with it as needed.

Now, let's get cleaning!