Using Binders to Organize

Some people are binder people and some aren't.  I am definitely a binder person.  I think my love affair with using three ring binders to organize myself began back in the early 90's when I started to organize all my teaching units in three ring binders.  Old school teachers were using manila file folders, but not me.  I instead chose to use a three ring binder for my school units.  I couldn't even begin to count how many binders I have assembled/organized over the past two decades, but I assure you the number is great.

I am a bit anal when it comes to binder organization.  You see I need everything in a sheet protector.  Forget about three hole punching something and putting it right into the binder.  Who wants the three punched holes showing up on copies?  Not me to be sure.

Now everyone is not as crazy does not have to be as anal as me when it comes to binder organization.  Remember the key is to do what works FOR YOU.  I personally love to buy the four pack at Sam's Club.  I already took the packaging off them so I am not sure the brand name, but if you shop at Sam's you will know what I am posting about. You get four one inch binders in green, blue, pink, and white.  I don't remember the cost, but I think the pack is under $10.  Of course any old binder will do, I just love the cute colors!  I also always buy my sheet protectors from Sam's.  I get the Samsill Non-Glare 200 count heavy weight sheet protectors.

I also purchased the Avery Big Tab Extra Wide Insertable Dividers (you can get 5 or 8 tabs, I always go for 8).  I bought these at Office Max and was shocked that they cost $2.59 a set.  I am not that big of a fan of Office Max, but there is one in my city so it was convenient to stop there the other day.

I have plans to set up several different binders to help me get organized in 2011:

*Household

*Coupons

*Gift Cards

*Recipes

*Financial

*Holidays

*Ben

*Drew

*Cooper

(I already have a binder for each of the boys to put important school related items, but I need to do a better job of using them, it would save lots of time looking for where important papers were placed).

I am starting to work on my Household binder first.  I have two excellent resources for setting up a household binder the first link will explain the general concept,  Organized Home's household notebook of setting up a household notebook.  Printable pages you can use for your own notebook.  I love that website and have used it for years.  Another suggestion is Flylady's Control Journal.  I know people seem to either love or hate Flylady.  There are some valuable resources on her website to help you organize your life.

I suggest you spend some time perusing the links I have shared and decide what works for you and get started on your own household notebook (which I call binder).  I spent some time this morning printing out things from all the links I shared and now will be putting together a hybrid of the two.  I will definitely share my finished product and how I ended up setting it up.  I will also share the other binders I have mentioned above as they get finished.

Please share with me if you do make any binders for yourself.  I would love to see the finished products!

Life Goals 2011

Happy New Year!  2011, you have got to be kidding?  Can someone just explain to me where the last decade two decades have gone?  I am starting off the new year posting my goals for 2011.  One of my goals is to blog regularly.  Thanks for all of you who have stuck with me, through some big gaps in blogging.

I have to admit that I cheated a bit and used my Life Goals from 2007 (that I found while in the home office) as a starting point for this coming year.  I promise to do a monthly Goal Review (and encourage you all to do the same) to assess progress.  

1) Spiritual:

*Attend church regularly 

*Visit at least THREE other Presbyterian churches to see if we can find one we like that is closer to us

*Say prayers before bed 

2)  Financial:  

*Follow Dave Ramsey Steps

*Make a monthly spending plan and track ALL expenses

*Use envelope system for certain spending categories

*Boys commission (chore charts)

*Monthly budget meeting

3)  Fitness/Health:  

*Do a month long detox (starting next week under the advisement of a nurtrionist)

*Chiropractor appts

*Exercise 90 min per week

*Healthy eating

4)  Beauty:  

*Morning/Evening routine

*Manicures/Pedicures monthly

*Schedule brow wax every 6 weeks

*Keep nails polished

5)  Home:  

*Make home binders

*Keep house clean (daily tasks)

*Keep better laundry schedule

*Organize office and closets

*Make a list of decorating/painting needs and set a schedule

6)  Career:

*Organize Module Binders

*Continue on BCT

7)  Family:

*Weekly date night with Greg

*Family game night 3x/month (each boy decides plan for night)

*Greg and Sherrie overnight getaway 2x/year

*Family vacation

*Plan  thoughtful holiday/birthday celebrations

8)  Personal:  

*Blog regularly here at Organizing Diva and my family blog  My Life With Boys

*Plan dinners out with GFs and Mom

*GNO monthly

*Dinner w/ friends

9)  Hobbies:

*Project 365

*Scrapbooking-plan one night per month to scrap

*Take a class at the Scrapbook Store

*Organize scrap supplies and set up an area for scrapping

*Make 10 layouts for each boy for 2011

10)  Menu planning:  

*Monthly menu plan

*Weekly menus

*Grocery lists

*Inventory freezer

*Inventory pantry

*Clip coupons

What are your goals for 2011? 

Pantry Organization

Well the family reunion/50th anniversary party was a raging success!  We had such a great time and everything went so well.  All the hard work and effort Greg and I have been putting in to getting the house and everything else ready was well worth it.  People were completely impressed with the house and extremely grateful for us agreeing to host.  My boys met their cousins from NY and MN and all got along fabulously.

I We did manage to get several organization/home decor projects taken care of this summer.  I will be posting photos of several of the things we accomplished this summer so keep checking back for new posts.

Now on to the pantry!  This project took took less than a day.  I started by going through all the Tupperware storage containers and throwing things out that were outdated and consolidating things into the proper sized containers.  The blue bins (I am not a fan, but my dh bought them and they work for now) hold snacks, baking supplies, granola bars, pudding and applesauce containers.  We keep them accessible so the boys can grab snacks when we need them.  Sorry for the quality of the photos as I used my iPhone, but you can get the idea of what the pantry looks like.

It is amazing how well the clutter can be hidden behind the pantry doors.

Ben wondered why on Earth I was taking photos of the nasty pantry and wanted to be in the photo.  

Scary, I know!

Much bettter!

I love my tupperware containers!  Yes we have an absolutely ridiculous amount of cereal (not all of those have cereal in them, but most do).

Look at those fabulous potatoes we got at the farmers' market.  That empty shelf is where we keep our bread (as you can see we it was time for a trip to the grocery store).

It was such a necessity to get the pantry organized prior to having all our relatives descend on our home. That empty shelf was soon filled up after a trip to Sam's club and a major purchase for feeding all our company.

I am so thrilled that the pantry is looking so great.  I love getting everything organized before school starts.  Greg put up a nail so we can hang our plastic grocery bags that we end up using for all sorts of things.  It is so nice to have them neatly organized instead of shoved in on the side.

Hope you enjoyed the tour of the newly improved pantry!  :)

Why does it take hosting a major event to get your house in order?

The fun and games are over ladies.  I start back to work in 24 days and the thought of it makes me want to cry!  ;)  It has been a wonderful summer here and we have accomplished quite a bit.  I have also made sure to have lots of fun with the boys.


We are hosting a family reunion for my hubby's family as well as his parents' 50th wedding anniversary party.  We will have *GASP* twelve houseguests for six days (as well as five others that will be joining us for meals, but staying in a hotel). Lucky them! ;)  There will be between 40-50 people for a casual Friday night gathering and then the party on Saturday.  The chorus that keeps running through my brain right now is Y'all gon' make me lose my mind up in HERE, up in here.   Hosting this event is definitely stressing me out at this point.  It's hard because this is my husband's family and he has three sisters, so even though the events are at our house, they are helping to plan them long distance.  I have no doubt I could totally pull this off on my own (and it might be easier than getting so many different ideas), but I am walking a fine line here.  Needless to say, the next week as we get ready for all of this is going to be a ton of work.  The good news is that our house will look better than it ever has by the time we are ready.


Some major things we have done:
~Painted the den
~Bought new couches for the living room and den
~Bought new decor for the console in the foyer
~Bought new bedding for our oldest ds's room (he really needed it)
~Organized the boys' bedrooms and closets (God Bless Greg he did this)
~Organized the basement (well Greg and Drew did this, I don't do basements ;))
~The cleaning lady came Thurs so the house is clean and she will be back the day before everyone arrives


Work in progress:
~Paint touch ups
~Grocery shopping and menu planning for the meals and party
~Organizing the kitchen pantry- I have been doing that today and it's been SO not fun! ;)
~Organizing all kitchen drawers
~Getting all laundry done and prior to guests arriving


What we plan on still doing:
~Buying a new blender (ours broke)
~Buying some new pillows for the boys' rooms
~Buying new fingertip towels for the powder room
~Changing the bedding in Drew's room back to PB football
~Painting oldest ds's bedroom
~I am negotiating getting the other two boys' bedrooms painted because they desperately need it.  They still have the craptastic flat builder's beige paint that shows EVERYTHING!
~Organizing the clutter corner of the master bedroom
~Organizing the master closet
~Organizing the office
~Iron and put back up the shower curtain in the boys bathroom
~Put up the valence in the boys' bathroom
~Frame the adorable prints for the boys' bathroom that I got YEARS ago.  
~A ton of baking before people get here and a MAJOR Sam's club run for food.


Things that I wanted done that just are not gonna happen:
~Painting the white doors on the main level
~Painting the white trim on the main level
~Painting the master bathroom
~Painting the powder room (this actually has been painted, but I would like to choose a color instead of beige)
~Curtains for the living room and den
~New office furniture and painting that room (that seems to be at the bottom of the priority list).




I have been taking photos of some of my decorating/organizing projects and promise to post them sometime soon.

Summertime Organization

Things have been very quiet on this blog due to the end of the school year.  There has been lots of drama and tragedy at school, but I will not bore you with the details.  Suffice to say that I am THRILLED to pieces that my summer break has finally arrived.  Today is officially Day 1 of my break (not counting weekends) and I am definitely going to make the most of my time of to refresh, rejuvenate, and declutter.

We have been busy around the house (well mostly my husband Greg has been).  A few weeks ago he painted the den.  Here is a link to my other blog with photos.  Just to prove we I haven't been a total slacker.  I can't take credit for the painting, other than choosing the color which matches our accent wall in the living room.

Greg has also been busy trying to throw out all the useless crap delcutter and organize the basement.  We are hosting his family reunion/50th anniversary party for his parents this August so we have a ginormous to do list for the summer and most of it must be done prior to the party.  The good news is the house will look awesome with more rooms being painted, the bad news is all the work it will entail.

This week is kind of a transition week for me because the boys are attending VBS and our church is 40 min away so that involves lots of travel.  Fortunately they can spend some time at my parents (who live 12 min from church), but we still have BB games they need to be home for.

I have set a goal for myself that I will spend 60 min daily organizing.  This 60 min will not go toward normal cleaning/laundry, but will involve working on something that I have overlooked for a LONG time.  My first areas of business will be the master bedroom, closets, and the office.  Today I am attacking Mt Washmore so I will spend the 60 min challenge time going through things that have accumulated in our master bedroom (damn that large seating area that is just a clutter magnet these days).

I do plan on revitlazing this blog.  Thanks for all of you that have been hanging on.  I have been getting my life organized, I just haven't had time to blog about it while teaching full time.  Gotta love summer break.

PON Week #3 "Organize Your Cleaning Schedule"

I am following the weekly schedule found in the book:

The book is available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Week 3 is "Organize Your Cleaning Schedule"

This Week's Goals:

~Make a list of all the chores that need to be done around the house.  Break them into daily, weekly, and monthly activities.  Create a chore chart and have a family meeting to delegate the jobs.  Post the chart so everyone can see it on a daily basis.  I have done this in the past and it has worked quite well.  We are very blessed to have two ladies that clean our house top to bottom every other Thursday.  Make no mistake though, having a cleaning service does not get you off the hook from having to clean your house.  It just means that know know it will be deep cleaned every other week and you need to keep up with the day to day cleaning (and deep cleaning on that off week).


~Carry a basket around the house while you are cleaning.  If you find something that does not belong where it is, put it in the basket.  Just make sure you empty the basket out and it does not become a clutter collector!  This a fab idea and I sort of do my own version of it.  As I am going through the house picking up things I put anything that needs to be taken upstairs on the steps.  When I am done cleaning I make sure that I take everything upstairs.  You will not see clutter left on my staircase because that is the first thing that all visitors see when they come into the foyer.  We definitely have our clutter hot spots; mainly certain counters in the kitchen and the laundry room of course.


~Take 15 min each night to straighten up the house.  Make it a family chore by assigning each person a different room and list this on the chore chart.  This is such an easy and simple concept, but one many people do not take the time to do.  I LOVE the idea of everyone in the family being assigned a room.  Either Greg or I make sure the kitchen is clean and we usually have the boys work on the living room and den.  The spouse that is not cleaning up kitchen could make sure the laundry room is clean (that is where all our winter gear goes, as well as, the boys backpack so it is definitely a clutter magnet.  My youngest is four and he tends to help out, but is not ready to do a room all by himself.  The older boys are great cleaners (especially my middle son).  I think if this becomes an expectation/habit you can set the timer for 15 min and it will become more of a game/challenge to see what each person can accomplish.  We have used the timer method for years to increase the cleaning efforts of our boys, with great success.


~Clean one room or complete one chore each day.  This will save you from wasting your entire Saturday cleaning.  I LOVE this idea and would love for my family to buy into it more.  My dh and I both work full-time so cleaning after a full day of work and making dinner/doing dishes, is sometimes the last thing we want to do.  We definitely do much more cleaning on the weekends, but I would love to get into the routine of doing one thing each day to leave less for the weekends.  Things are obviously easier to keep up with in the summer because I am not teaching.


~Assign each family member his or her own towel.  Color-coding the towels is the easiest way to tell them apart.  I actually thing this is a great idea.  I want to purchase new towels sometime this year and picking out two different colors for the master bath will be easy.  Right now the boys' bathroom is Pottery Barn Froggies and there is a blue and green that would be perfect, but I am not sure about the third color and think white is a mistake for little boys (well my boys anyway and I speak from personal experience).  Anyone want to share a brand of towels you love and where you purchased them?


~Place a set of disposable disinfecting wipes in each bathroom.  It's a quick way to keep the bathroom neat between thorough cleanings.  I completely need to buy stock in Clorox wipes.  Three boys, three bathrooms "nough said!


~Save space by minimizing cleaners.  Start buying one all-purpose cleaner whenever possible.  This makes sense.  I know there are all sorts of homemade cleaners people use.  We use vinegar on our hardwood floors.  I use windex for the window and glass and myriad other uses.  What are your favorite cleaners?

The author shares several great tips in this chapter and I will share a few on my faves:

~Make your bed everyday.


~Clean up the kitchen as soon as dinner is done.


~If you have small children write down jobs they can do on small pieces of paper and stick them in a jar.  Each day have your child choose a chore from the jar and complete the task.  This makes chores a bit more fun.




I think this chapter has a lot of great tips and ideas for getting yourself organized.  Remember that being organized is a journey, not a destination.  As soon as you get yourself organized everything starts over (like laundry).  Every step you take in the right direction will help you feel more organized and at peace with your home and life.  Good luck and please answer some of the questions I asked above.

PON Week 2 "Organize Your Schedule"

I will be attempting to follow the weekly schedule found in the book:

The book is available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Week 2 is "Organize Your Schedule"


This Week's Goals:
~Find ONE daily planner to use.  I have been using my iPhone calendar app.  I like it, but it does make me nervous to think that if anything happens to my phone I have lost my calendar.  I also love google calendar and how they will send you a reminder through email.  I need to find a great calendar/organizer app for my iPhone.  Any suggestions?
~Sit down with your family and plan your week/month ahead of time so you can:
   *Schedule babysitters
   *Divide errands
   *Plan meals
   *Divide chores
     I think for us it would make sense to do this on a weekly basis.  We obviously do our calendars monthly, but a weekly check-in as a couple would be great.
~Gather all To Do items from post-its and other lists and make one main list in your planner.
~Sort To Do tasks by:
   A)  Tasks that need to be done today.  Schedule these in your planner.
   B)  Tasks that need to be done this week.  Schedule these in your planner.
   C)  Tasks that need to be done in the future.
   I am the queen of TO DO lists, but I really like the idea of breaking them into A,B, and C lists to prioritize.  I used to have a TOP FIVE To Do list everyday and it really made me prioritize what the five most important tasks were that needed to be accomplished.  I need to make more realistic To Do lists for myself.  There are only so many hours in the day and sometimes my To Do lists are not realistic for the time I have available.
~Once you have tasks sorted into categories, number the tasks in each category, in the order they must be accomplished.  Do you A (daily) tasks first, then B(weekly) or even C (future).  If you don't get all your A tasks done, make those unfinished tasks top priority for the next day.
~Schedule dentist and doctor appointments for the next year.
~Make a long term To Do list.  Use this list to write things down that you won't have to worry about forgetting.  I need to get working on this.




Good luck focusing on Organizing Your Schedule this week.  Please let me know how things go for you.  I am still looking to get caught up after a late start on these weekly focus areas so stay tuned for another one coming this week.

Project Organize Now- Overview

I will be attempting to follow the weekly schedule found in the book

The book is available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I thought it was a very simple and straightforward book that would be a great resource to try and organize your life one week at a time. I am a bit behind on the weekly time frame because I just recently purchased the book. I think what I will try and do is double up a few weeks here in the beginning to try and get things on track.

The book is broken down into the following sections of organization:
Organize Yourself (Weeks 1-4)
Organize Your Papers (Weeks 5-12)
Organize Your Things (Weeks 13-19)
Organize Your High Traffic Areas (Weeks 20-30)
Organize Your Personal Spaces (Weeks 31-37)
Organize Your Storage Areas (Weeks 38-43)
Organize Your Special Events (Weeks 44-52)

I may choose to switch around weeks if it suits my organization plan better. Feel free to post along with the organization challenges.

Weekend to do list 1/15:

Spiritual:

~Find daily devotion book and start using it today

~Church Sunday (√)

~Attend Adult Ed Class "The Peacemaking Church" (√)

Financial:

~January budget

~Start using Mint.com

~Expense track

~Find receipts for school

~Organized 2010 bills/paperwork

~Organized household binder

~Find all gift cards and make not of bonus ones that expire

Fitness/Health:

~Exercise

~Track all food in WW journal (√)

~Drink daily water (√)

~Purchase and start taking a daily multivitamin

~Follow good health guidelines

Family/Marriage:

~Start planning Ben's birthday parties/set date (family/friend)

~Play board games this weekend with the boys

~Spend some one-on-one time reading or playing with Cooper

~Lunch out with family Sunday (√)

~Sunday dinner and family chat time (√)
~Have boys finish writing thank you notes (√)

Home:

~Work on home decor goals for 2010

~Finish packing away Christmas decor

~Put up Valentine's day decor

~Organize pantry

~Straighten house

~Spend 30 min decluttering the office

~Spend 1 hour on Master closet

~Spend 1 hour on Master bedroom

Laundry:

~Darks (√)

~Whites

~Bedding

~Towels

~Colors (√) (√)

~Bathroom rugs

Beauty/Accessories:

~Mani

~Pedi

~Brow Wax

~Organize jewelry

~Declutter/organize purses

Menu Planning/Meals:

~Get post read for Menu Plan Monday (√)

~Plan lunches for school (√)

~Try at least one WW recipe

~Try at least on Barefoot Contessa recipe

~Make grocery list for Trader Joe's and local grocery store (√)

~Clip coupons

~Bake (√) and frost snowflake sugar cookies

~Bake banana bread (√)

~Bake apple bread

I copied my list from last weekend and am hoping to accomplish quite a bit.

Weekend To Do List

Spiritual:
~Find daily devotion book and start using it today
~Church Sunday (√)
~Attend Adult Ed Class "The Peacemaking Church" (√)

Financial:
~January budget

~Start using Mint.com

~Expense track

~Find receipts for school

~Organized 2010 bills/paperwork

~Organized household binder
~Find all gift cards and make not of bonus ones that expire

Fitness/Health:
~Exercise
~Track all food in WW journal (Sat)
~Drink daily water (√)
~Purchase and start taking a daily multivitamin
~Follow good health guidelines (√)

Family/Marriage:
~Start planning Ben's birthday parties (family/friend)
~Play Clue this weekend with the boys (√)
~Spend some one-on-one time reading or playing with Cooper (√)
~Lunch out with family Sunday (√)
~Sunday dinner and family chat time

Home:
~Work on home decor goals for 2010
~Finish packing away Christmas decor
~Put up Valentine's day decor
~Clean out fridge (√)
~Organize pantry
~Straighten house
~Spend 30 min decluttering the office
~Spend 1 hour on Master closet
~Spend 1 hour on Master bedroom

Laundry:
~Darks
~Whites (√)
~Bedding- 4 bedrooms (√) (√) (√)
~Towels
~Colors
~Bathroom rugs

Beauty/Accessories:
~Mani
~Pedi
~Brow Wax
~Organize jewelry
~Declutter/organize purses

Menu Planning/Meals:
~Get post read for Menu Plan Monday
~Plan lunches for school
~Try at least one WW recipe
~Try at least on Barefoot Contessa recipe
~Make grocery list for Sam's (√), Trader Joe's-shop there next Sun, and local grocery store
~Clip coupons
~Bake and frost snowflake sugar cookies
~Bake banana bread (√)
~Bake apple bread


This is my to do list and I don't really plan on accomplishing all of this over the weekend.  I like to have it written down as a record of all the things that need to be done.  I will update my progress throughout the weekend.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

School End of Day Routine

If I accomplish the following list of things before I leave school for the day, I am assured of starting off the following day of work stress-free.  It also means if I have a last minute sick day (as happens with three young boys) I am completely prepared for a sub taking over my classroom.

I started following a list like this a few years ago and then really implemented it as a sort of check-out list when I had a student teacher.  It was helpful for her to know what the expectations were of her prior to leaving school for the day.  She worked very hard to always have things set up for the next day (in case she would not be there I would have to take over and I did not want to be left in a lurch).  Obviously the list just stuck to school related responsibilities for her.

I strongly urge you to make some sort of list like this whatever your career may be if you work outside the home.  Coming to work in the morning knowing you are completely organized and ready for the day is such a liberating feeling!  (In the future I will share the afternoon list I use during summers/vacations when I am a SAHM).

School-End of the Day routine:

Write out assignment board for tomorrow.

Check tomorrow’s day file has needed copies.

Organize desk and straighten top drawer.

Straighten daily files and file today’s papers in binders/file folders.

Start a TO DO list for tomorrow including list of calls/emails to do.

Pack up laptop and cord.

Organize computer table.

Pack up stuff to go home:  coat, lunch bag, computer, and purse.

Check in basket and put correcting/projects in order of priority for the morning.

Turn off lights.

       *Unplug lights under window

Leave desktop in wonderful shape to welcome the morning.

   Tomorrow’s daily file

   Seating chart/class list binder

   Lesson plan book

   Teacher Edition 

2010 The year of the Organizing Diva!

There are many areas of my home/life that need to be focused on and organized in 2010. Here is my master list that will be revamped along the way.

Budget/Bill Paying
(Dave Ramsey plan)
Filing System

Home
Cleaning
Decor
Painting
Maintenance
Organization
Landscaping/Planting

Laundry

Menu Planning
Menus
Coupons
Grocery lists
Recipes
Organizing recipes

Children
School
School Papers Binder
Homework kit
Chores
Commission

Paperwork

Personal life
Healthy Eating
Exercise

Professional life

Spiritual life
Church
Prayer
Devotion

Schedule
Calendar

Holidays
Birthdays

Vacations

Hobbies

Toys/Recreation

School starts tomorrow and we are ready!

I have not had time to keep up with both blogs and this is the one that suffers. I will tell you that I have been a busy bee getting things organized in my classroom and at home. I guess it is better that I am actually doing this rather than just posting about it on my blog.

If you are about to start school and feeling overwhelmed or disorganized here are a few tips for you. First of all start with laundry and menu planning. These both encompass two major areas in your life/household and if you can keep on top of them everything else should fall together.

When I say menu planning I am speaking of planning menus, grocery shopping, keeping a clean and organized pantry and freezer, and then actually cooking what you have planned. I made sure to clean out my fridge this weekend so we are starting with a clean and organized slate. Groceries have been bought and put away in an organized fashion. I am really lucky that my dh also was bit by the organizing bug recently and defrosted and organized our extra freezer, as well as, the pantry in our kitchen where we store canned goods.

I am still formulating my menu plan for the first two weeks of school. The biggest challenge is that my two oldest ds play football and have practice several nights a week (and not always the same night). August was a challenge to actually sit down together as a family and eat meals. With it getting darker earlier I think practices will end by 7PM and we will just end up eating later than normal, but at least we will have a nice dinner together.

One thing I did with the boys was go through the Sept hot lunch calendar and I had them choose what days they are eating hot lunch. Now this is not set in stone and they are free to change their minds, but at least I will know in advance what days they are taking cold lunch. I have to say there aren't too many cold lunch days for them in Sept which actually makes my life easier.

Moving on to laundry. I made sure that ALL the laundry was done prior to school starting tomorrow. I washed all the bedding and towels today. It is so much easier to choose outfits when there is a multitude of clean clothes to choose from. This afternoon I had each of the boys choose four outfits to wear this week. I hung each pair of shorts and t-shirt on the same hanger and that way they can choose whatever outfit they want in the morning. They tend to have inherited their father's lack of color coordinating gene. :) New tennies were purchased this summer and are ready to go tomorrow.

We took all school supplies along with them to open house the other night so their backpacks will be empty tomorrow. It's nice to have all that out of the way. School supplies are another post I never got around to typing.

Because tomorrow is my first day of school with students I will not be around in the morning. We are used to this routine and even though I would love to be around to send them off, I have my own students starting their first day. This morning we had our back to school breakfast because I had time to make it. I made pancakes, sausage, and bacon. They loved it and I made enough pancakes that they will be able to eat some later in the week for breakfast. We met dh at TGI Friday's for lunch.

Don't worry if your house is not as clean nor organized as you wanted it. At the very least take time before the first day of school to make sure your kids have an outfit picked out, backpack is all packed and ready to go the night before, and lunch is taken care of. Make sure they get to bed at a decent time.

I am feeling pretty prepared for our first week of school which starts tomorrow. Bonus that it's only a four day week! Wish they all were. :)

Summer Organizing Projects

I can't believe the summer is half over and I have so many "summer projects" I have not even started. I am making a list of all I have to do here and will update with my progress on them.

~Office
~Kitchen pantry- my dad is going to build some slide out shelves for me
~Linen closet
~Drew's closet
~Ben's closet
~Cooper's closet
~Master closet
~Boys' dressers
~My dressers
~Nightstand drawers
~Kitchen drawers
~Den bookshelf
~Laundry room
~Recipe binder
~Basement pantry
~Upstairs freezer
~Bedding for bedrooms (need to purchase new sheets due to furniture shifting to different bedrooms)

The list is quite long and the common theme seems to be closets and drawers. I plan on getting this all done before going back to school at the end of August. I should have plenty of time for it, I just need to commit to accomplishing something everyday.

What are you attempting to organize?