Funny Thing for Today...

I used to be the type of person who wouldn't buy anything unless I knew for sure that it was exactly what I wanted. I have fortunately been broken of that habit. With kids in tow, sometimes it's more important for me to just grab and go and hope whatever I bought works. This method of shopping has led me to become quite acquainted with the return process.

Recently I was back at Target to make yet another return. I hauled my bag and receipt up to the return counter, went through the return process, then continued on to do the shopping I needed to do that day. I didn't think anything of that day's return until yesterday.

Yesterday I was going through our receipts and breaking them down into the categories in which we made our purchases. (We like to track our spending in each category.) I entered the Target receipt into Quicken and started to file away the receipt until I noticed what it was that I had returned - a toilet seat and a utensil tray. Although the seat was unused and still in its packaging, I had still placed both items in the same bag. Yes, call me strange for even thinking anything of it, but ewww! At least I wasn't going to be needing that utensil tray!

Toys, Toys, and More Toys!

Oh my gosh do my kids have tons of toys! Granted, it does look a bit worse because most of our kids' toys are in one room in the basement, but holy cow! It's actually rather embarrassing. When you have three children of different ages and both boys and a girl, it's hard to get rid of toys.

I hit my, "We need to get rid of some of these toys!" point the other day. I tend to develop attachments to things until I start to get stressed out because of the clutter. At that point, everything is fair game! When I told the kids we needed to start cleaning up and they were complaining that there was too much, I knew some of these much-loved toys needed to go. I have a really hard time throwing away perfectly good items. I hate to feel wasteful, so I'll always garage sale, donate to Goodwill, or Freecycle something that I think still has a lot of life in it.

I did throw away all of those little kids' meal toys that just clutter up the place. Then, I pulled out some of the lesser used toys. We have so many kids' items, that I think we'll actually have a garage sale this year. To make preparing for a garage sale easier, I wrote prices for each toy on a sheet of paper that I tucked in the bag with the toys. Now, when garage sale time rolls around, we just have to write the price on some tape and stick it to the toy. (Okay, so in reality, my husband will be doing that because if I do it, I'll start to second-guess myself.)

You know, I just had a realization. Part of the reason I feel bad about getting rid of the kids' toys is that someone spent time and hard earned money to purchase each toy for the kids. Here's my "aha!" idea... I think I'll have my dear hubby keep track of how much money is earned from selling the toys. Once it's all done, we can split that amount of money into three, and deposit it into each of our kids' savings accounts. It's the best of both worlds. We don't have toys laying around that aren't being used, and the kids have extra savings because of those toys.

Now there are still a ton of toys in the kids' play area, but there's plenty of time until our garage sale to weed out a few more toys. Just don't tell my kids!

Organize the Recycling?

Thursday was recycling day for us. I started recycling when we lived in Ohio where there were drop-off places you could easily drop off your recyclables. Where we live now, there are drop-off trucks at particular sites on particular days. Recycling is fantastic for us because it means we only have one garbage can worth of garbage a week, it's good for the environment, and it's free!

We used to just drop our recyclables in an old clothes hamper we had laying around. Now, though, unlike in Ohio, we have to sort our recyclables. This wasn't a big deal for me to do when dropping everything off until it started to get cold. I'd rather just dump and go! I started sorting our recyclables in plastic grocery bags and leaving those lying on the floor of the garage. Well, dear hubby wasn't too hot on that idea. I can't say I blame him. =) That was when he came up with a free and very basic idea. Check it out:

My dear hubby labeled clothes pins so we'd know which type recyclable goes in which bag. The hamper on the floor is for our cardboard, paper, and glass items. We bag the paper and glass and leave them in the hamper because they can be so heavy. Our system isn't pretty, but it's working quite well for us. We plan at some point to pick up bins to hang in our garage, but that's way down on our priority list.

Hmmm, this gives me an idea.... Maybe instead of my coming up with ideas of how to organize everything around here, I should have the kids and my hubby come up with their own ideas. Maybe if I let them get in on the action, they'll be more likely to help me keep everything organized.

I'll have to test that theory...

Decluttering Your Purse

I know we've been working on our kitchens this week, but I'm going to change things up a little. I was digging through my purse the other day trying to find a particular receipt. There is so much stuff in my purse, it was rather embarrassing. What does your purse, diaper bag, and/or wallet look like?

What prompted the need to clean out my purse was lost money. Nope, I wasn't missing actual cash, but while looking for that darn receipt, I had missed a great opportunity to save money. Ugh, I hate that! You know how much I love loyalty programs for the "free" items we can get as a result of simply shopping for things we're going to buy anyway. Well, I had a coupon for $10 off any purchase at a store I shop at often for my kids' clothes. Because I didn't have a system for making sure I used the coupon, I forgot about it and lost out on $10 worth of free clothing, which we could use. UGH!!!

Time to dump everything out and start fresh. Honestly, while I don't care for the process of going through everything, I do love having a clean, organized purse. I'm going to file in this month's receipt file the receipts I don't need to keep in my purse. All of those extras pens are outta there! I only need two - one for use and a second pen for backup. Do I really need three lipsticks in my purse - especially since I rarely even remember to put it on anymore? Buh bye clutter!

Probably the main culprit for cluttering up my purse are all of those store coupons such as 20% off your purchase at _________ in addition to gift cards. I need a system for all of these coupons and cards because I don't want to miss out on any more opportunities to save money! (Let me explain that I hang onto these coupons for if I happen to need to purchase something at those particular stores. I don't buy things just because I have a coupon.) I have a coupon organizer for my regular coupons, but that would be too bulky for my purse. I have used envelopes in the past, but have still forgotten about money off coupons until it was too late.

I plan to place all of my gift cards in one particular compartment in my purse. At least then they will all be in one place. I just need to make a habit of checking it periodically to see what all is in there and use the gift cards when applicable.

As for those store-specific coupons, I think I'm going to use an envelope again to keep them all together in one place. This time, though, I'm going to use technology to my advantage to help me remember I have them - specifically the "free money" coupons such as $10 off your purchase of $10 or more. From this point on, I plan to make an entry in the calender on my phone and possibly even on a paper calendar about five days before the money off coupon expires. This way, I'll have a reminder if I forget the coupon is there, yet I'll still have five days to get to the store if I want to use the coupon.

Now that I have my coupons under control, it's time to put back in my purse everything that I actually need. Ahhhhhhh, much better!!! This may sound silly, but I'm so excited to finally have a plan to help me remember I have those fantastic "free money" coupons.

How about you? What have you done or are planning to to do to help keep your purse organized? I'd love to hear any ideas you may have!

Task for today...organize your purse - your shoulder will thank you for it!

Magazines

To go along with the snail mail clutter theme from yesterday, the task for today will be to organize those magazines we all have laying around. You know, the ones we plan on reading when we find the time yet are still sitting around months later? At our house, magazines tend to collect on the tables in our living room, just in case guests want to look at them. Now that I think about it, though, I sure hope we're good enough hosts that our guests aren't dying for a magazine to read!!! Goodbye junky-looking magazine piles!

1) The first step is to decide which magazines you really want to keep around. Recycle any and all that you really don't feel you need to keep around. If you have a hard time throwing away magazines, see if your friends, your library, or local doctor's office would like to have them. There, now doesn't that feel better? At this point, you may want to consider discontinuing any magazines you no longer care to read. This will save you money in addition to saving you from the unnecessary clutter.

2) The second step is to decide which magazines you want to keep as reference material and which ones you just want/need to read.

For those you want to read, ask yourself why they haven't been read. If you aren't truly committed to reading them, recycle them! Are they just not handy when you want to read them? Find a way to put them in a more handy location. I have a tote I keep next to my bed that neatly holds all of the magazines I want to read. For some, hanging a magazine rack in the bathroom works well too. Just be sure to recycle those magazines after you've read them so you're not just moving around the clutter!

For those magazines you would like to save as reference material, Consumer Reports and Handyman Magazine for example, I suggest finding a location where they will actually be used as reference so they don't just become more clutter. We have magazines filed in our basement and in our garage depending on the magazine.

Once you've chosen your location, you'll need to find a way to keep them organized. There are many magazine racks and holders of all different types, materials, and colors available on the market today. I prefer ones that keep the magazines such that you can read the date on the magazine's spine. I also like to be able to label the holder so I can find what I need at a quick glance. Find a magazine holder that works for your space and style. We like using just the basic holders. You may prefer something completely different. If you prefer a free option, you can always use a cereal box cut to the same shape:

You can also paint or cover it to make it more fun!

From here on out, as soon as you receive a new magazine, your task is to either recycle it, place it in your "to be read" location, or file it away. It will take some time to get into the habit, but you can do it! Bye bye magazine clutter!

Movies

As I was looking around our house getting psyched up to get organized, I'll be honest... I got pretty darn overwhelmed. There's so much to do and seemingly so little time each day in which to do it all.

I thought about starting with our "junk" drawer. Do you have a junk drawer - you know, the one that is the catch-all for all of your odds and ends? We have one. Honestly, when we first moved into this house, my first question to my husband as we started unpacking the kitchen was, "Honey, which drawer is going to be our junk drawer?". I know, pitiful, huh? I got all charged up ready to dive in, until I opened the drawer. It was closed almost as quickly as it was opened. I figured I'd better start will something a bit more manageable.

Our first project of the new year is to get those DVDs, Blu-Ray disks, and VHS cassettes (if you still have some like we do) organized. Do yours look anything like this...

or this...?

This is actually pretty straightened up from what they sometimes look like. To start getting our videos under control, we decided to find a bin to put them all in. We took measurements of how large the shelves were for our DVDs/VHS cassettes so we would know how large a bin we could use. Unfortunately, every bin we found was too big for the shelf space - usually too tall. One other issue was that we didn't want to waste all of the space in the back, because we knew we'd need that space.

Since we couldn't find any DVD/VHS organizing bins that suited our needs, it was time for us to start thinking outside the box. We ended up finding sweater bins that were both cute and the perfect size for our space. Check it out...

Since we have two shelves for our DVDs and VHS cassettes, we decided to purchase two bins - one for our kids' videos, and one for all of my husband's action movies and my chick flicks.

The great thing is now we can quickly see all of the video titles. Also, we're utilizing the space all the way in the back.

Now it's your turn... you can do it!

Thinking outside the box

I encourage you to think outside the box when it comes to organizing. I absolutely love stores that sell stuff to help you organize. I could spend a ton of money there on all of the cute little bins and other storage items. I don't know about you, but as much as I love all of that cool stuff, though, we don't have an endless supply of money to spend on all of those fabulous items. Because we're on a budget, I sometimes have to think outside the box.

There's nothing to say you can't use boxes and bins you already have laying around the house just because that wasn't their intended purpose. We have all types of boxes and bins around our house being used for things other than they were initially meant for. It's okay of they're not the most beautiful boxes or bins. They can be covered or decorated with fabrics, wrapping paper, or other items you may already have around the house. The trick is not saving every box or bag you receive, though, because that can lead to a whole other problem which we'll start conquering later - clutter.

As we begin on this organizing journey together, I encourage you to start thinking outside the box.