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!

Why talk finances?

You may be wondering why I am including finances in a blog about being organized. Well, other than the fact that I really get a kick out of trying to stretch my family's money, having your finances organized goes right along with having an organized life and household. Don't worry, I'm not planning on getting into stocks and all of that stuff. That's definitely not an area I know much about! I'm more into the basics of saving, budgeting, and making our family's money work for us. Before you can start budgeting and saving, though, it helps to get your finances organized.

***Disclaimer - I am not a financial advisor, just a mom who loves finding ways to stretch our family's money.

When we got married almost nine years ago, my husband and I each came into the marriage with different ideas of how we should manage our money. I believed firmly in using checks and cash to make most purchases. (This was more than nine years ago.) My husband, on the other hand, believed very much in using credit cards - responsibly, kept and filed every receipt ever received, and filed away all bills, bank statements, and anything he may possibly want at some other time. In addition to this, he kept track of his money spent on a computer program. It was tough trying to combine our two methods since it would mean streamlining my husband's process while I would have to learn how to work the computer program. Also, I'd have to get comfortable with using credit cards more.

We had the some of same issues when it came to budgeting - I had my ways, he had his ways, and we needed to find a compromise. I'll get into all of this more as we get further into the new year.

If your finances are already organized, kudos! Feel free to share ideas of what works for you as we get more into this on future Tuesdays. If you haven't kept on top of your finances, now is a great time to start!

Your financial task for this week is to start keeping track of those receipts. Select a location to keep your receipts - a simple shoebox or desk drawer will work for now. We'll work on organizing them next week.

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.

Topic Schedule

Since this is a blog about getting organized, I suppose it would be a good idea to make a schedule of sorts to help me keep on task. I don't know about you, but I get pretty overwhelmed when I don't have a plan for accomplishing something - especially something as big as a blog!

Schedules and lists are so important to me. They are about the only things that help me remember to get certain things done and help me stay on task. Lists and schedules are important, though I think it's also important to remember that they need to be flexible. While I try to cross everything off my list by the end of the day, sometimes life gets in the way. That's okay. Also, sometimes a schedule I've worked out for myself just isn't working. That's when the flexibility comes in handy - being flexible enough to change the schedule around to try to find one that will work better.

To start, I'll try to stick with the following organization topic schedule:

Sunday - time

Monday - house

Tuesday - finances

Wednesday - house

Thursday - decluttering / eliminating / simplifying

Friday - house

Saturday - evaluating the past week and planning for the week ahead

What are your thoughts? Is there an area you would be interested in covering? Let me know!

New Year's resolution time!

Yep, I'm a day late with wishing you a Happy New Year. Better late than never though, right?

With every new year comes new year's resolutions. Why not make it your new year's resolution to get your home and life organized with me?

You know, I never fully understood the need to have my life be organized until I became the mom of three. Before my youngest was born, I was able to procrastinate and still pretty much get everything accomplished. Now, my procrastination is resulting in more stress, things not getting done, and less time for everything I really want to be doing.

How about you? Have you been putting off being organized because you just don't have the time? Baby steps. It's all about taking baby steps. Trying to take on too much at one time can be overwhelming. Let's aim for baby steps. If I can do that, so can you!

Today's task is to resolve to get organized this year. Together we can get it accomplished!

Contact Me

Welcome to my blog! I hope you enjoy what you read here. Do you have thought, ideas, or questions? You can email me at: WellOrganizedBlog (at) gmail (dot) com

A New Year, Time To Start Blogging!!!

Welcome!

I originally planned on starting this blog about ten months ago. Unfortunately, between caring for three young children and dealing with everything related to moving, I never managed to get this blog in gear. Now, I have high hopes to get my life and home organized in 2010. I hope you do to0!

I am not a professional organizer, although there have been many times the thought of organizing as a job has made me quite giddy. Yep, it's a sickness! As far as blogging goes, it is a learning experience for me. I'm slowly learning how to get certain features of the site working and will possibly have some glitches until I get it all figured out. Please bear with me. It will get better! If a feature or link won't work for you, please let me know so I can get it fixed.

I am hoping to publish new posts daily or at least every other day at the least. Please join me on this journey to become well organized!