Organization

what I'm loving right now

Filed Under: Organization, Uncategorized

Jul252011

Erin Condren

I’ve become obsessed with everything by Erin Condren since I ordered the Life Planner. I didn’t even know about the Life Planner until Meredith mentioned it and now I’m obsessed. My life planner will arrive in about a week, I think, and I can’t wait! I’ve been trolling around her site and making a wish list a mile long of the other paper items I’d like to get. Do you any of you have any of these items? What do you think?

And today on The Plum District, you can get $50 worth of Erin Condren products for $25! Click here to get the deal! Just search for Houston: Memorial/Central deals!

*Note: I was not compensated for this post. I just happen to love Erin Condren and have a new obsession.

The gift labels are just adorable and so easy to stick on to an adorably wrapped package for any occasion.

I’ve also got my eye on these mom “call me cards.” I know I would use them and the designs are just too cute!

And finally, these address labels are amazing. I just don’t know if I ‘d want the big or small round sticker or a rectangular sticker. And what design? They’re all so cute! And the mailing labels! They’re perfect.

Backpacks

I’m searching for a new backpack for Hudson. He had an adorable little Pottery Barn Kids backpack last year that we bought from Kim, but I think he has outgrown it. And since he’ll be going to school four days a week in the fall, he may need something bigger to bring home all of his projects at the end of the week. I’ve got my eye on the following backpacks and snack packs.

I really like this Pottery Barn Kids Fairfax backpack in red for him. They have a preschool size and it still appears to be big enough for what we need. Any other suggestions are appreciated!

Tunics

Since Hayes was born, I have just lived in tunics. I was lucky enough to not be pregnant during the hot summer months with both pregnancies, but I have had to have post-baby body during the hot summer months. So cute tank tops, skirts, and dresses are out for me. I prefer a flowy tunic with sleeves to help hide my imperfections. I got both of these from Anthropologie right after Hayes was born. They were both kind of a splurge, but I’ve worn them so much I feel slightly justified.

I’ve also picked up a couple at Target, TJ Maxx, and SteinMart. They breathe enough so that I don’t get too hot wearing them with white jeans in the summer. Do you have any great summer tunic recommendations for me? Anything on sale would be preferable!

my home organization notebook

Filed Under: Featured Posts, Organization

Jul212011

A few weeks ago, I mentioned my desire to create a Home Organization Notebook based on the one I saw on Honey We’re Home. I was so inspired to have everything all in one place instead of having multiple lists around my house with loose papers everywhere.

*Look at the bottom of the post for links to all of the printables I used.

After weeks of finding just the right printable pages for my notebook, I have completed my home organization notebook!

I decided that it would just be too difficult for me to keep my daily and monthly calendars in this notebook, so I will continue to use my MomAgenda for the next few weeks. Today I ordered a new Erin Condren Life Planner to use for the remainder of 2011 and all of 2012. I’m so excited! Do any of you have one? I’ve loved my MomAgenda for my calendar, but was ready to try something new.

Anyway, I will keep a separate daily and monthly calendar with all of my actual appointments and things. But the home organization notebook keeps track of everything else.

I bought a black faux leather binder at an office supply store because it looks nice and not junky. I bought tabs, page protectors, new pens (because I couldn’t resist), and a folder for the back of the binder.

Because these are the categories that I dabble in the most every day, these are the tabs I created for my notebook.

The Daily Do-It Checklist includes things that I need to accomplish every day. These are things that never change. For the specifics for that day, I will reference my MomAgenda or Life Planner to see what is on the schedule for that particular day.

In the meal planning and recipes section, I have a weekly meal planner printable page. It also includes a grocery list broken down by category, so my shopping trip will be a little less chaotic. I only plan meals for supper time because we all do our own thing for breakfast and lunch. I already got started on next week’s meal plan!

Also in the meal planning and recipes section, I have my Favorite Recipes sheet and another sheet called Recipes to Try. It has a place to record where I got the recipe and any changes I may have made to the recipe. This stays in the same tab as my meal plan. In addition to these two items, the last thing I put in the meal planning tab are the actual recipes if they come out of my recipe binder. Every month, I tear recipes out of the Southern Living or Cooking Light that arrived that month that I want to try. I put them in page protectors and put them all in a binder by category. If a recipe is on the meal plan, I just move the recipe from the recipe binder into my home organization notebook- for easy reference!

Another tab is for my Weekly Chore Checklist. This is a breakdown by day of all of the things I need to get done during the week. On Mondays I wash, dry, fold, and put away the boys’ laundry. On Tuesdays I do the same with my laundry. Every day I clean the kitchen counter tops. We do have people that come to clean our house once a week, but this is a way to keep up with the basics to keep a clean home the rest of the week. Boudreaux’s dog hair is a lot to keep up with!

In the Blog section, I have a different layout for a weekly calendar. This one has plenty of lines for writing. If I have an idea for a blog post and don’t want to forget it, I can jot my ideas down here. I can also plan ahead for blog posts when I’m not at my computer. This has already been really helpful.

Another tab that I added is Bible Verses. This will help me with scripture memorization and if I read something during my quiet time that I want to remember, I can put it here. Or if I heard something at Bible study, I can write it down when I get home. I have been wanting to work more and more on scripture memorization and I think this will help.

For Party Plans and Vacation Plans, I’ve recorded my ideas for parties and our plans for upcoming vacations. I have a few pages for both of those behind each time in case I’m planning multiple parties or vacations.

Under Important Dates and Numbers, I am keeping track of holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries so I can better manage when to send greeting cards and gifts.

Under Gift Ideas, I just have blank lined printables where I can jot down ideas for specific gifts for people. Right now there are four different baby gift ideas recorded for four different moms-to-be.

And for Hudson and Hayes, I am writing down things that they say and do that I don’t want to forget. I’m also writing down questions that I may want to ask their doctor or reminders for myself to make their doctor’s appointments or to call and set up a play date. This section will also probably be where I start managing our play group information.

If you have any questions, I am happy to answer them. If you have any suggestions on how I can make my notebook better, please send them my way. I’m so excited to get my new planner and I am so happy to now finally have a place for everything.

Resources and References

Hundreds of Lists to Put Your World in Order

Pinnable Me Friday: Home Organization

Filed Under: Organization

Jul82011

Note: I’ve gotten a few emails asking about Hayes’s sleep training. I did a post last week about Moms on Call. It is truly wonderful! While I am a huge advocate for it now and am one hundred percent a believer in their method, I can’t post their program on my blog. I didn’t write it and that would be plagiarism. So go to momsoncall.com to see what we’re doing with Hayes and watch the seminar for the full effect. It really does work! I promise!

I’m linking up with Stefanie from Paw Prints and Pastry Bags again this week! You should, too!

Yesterday’s goals were mostly about being organized and planning meals and schedules. So most of my pins from this week are about the same thing!

The embed feature on Pinterest is a serious pain in the you know what, so I had to sort of improvise this week. I’m sorry that I can’t link to every original source.

Home Organization Notebook cover from Honey We’re Home

The adorable family on Honey We’re Home has a home organization notebook that has a printable daily calendar and monthly calendar. There are slots for loose papers like mail and bills and invitations that need to be RSVPed to. I could also put my meal planning notebook as part of this! MomAgenda has printable calendars and I may just do something like that instead this year so I can keep everything in one place.

Menu Planning Binder inside from Our Life Accounts

So their menu planning system is exactly what I’ve been thinking I need to do. The other pictures on her blog show the printed out recipes, the grocery list, and an extras tab. This is truly what I want my system to be. I’m so excited I saw her tweet the other day linking to this post!

Snack Station in the refrigerator from Oh Dee Doh

I love this little ready-to-go snack station. This has perfectly portioned snacks for Hudson and for me. He can reach in and grab what he needs and I already have my snacks measured out according to what I should be eating that day. I just love this! It definitely takes planning, but I need to be more organized.

i love to organize!

Filed Under: Organization

Sep212010

Some days I feel like I’m barely keeping everything going and I’m constantly juggling fifteen different projects, people, activities, etc. This is why it’s so important for me to stay organized. If I take ten seconds to put something back where it belongs, I save thirty minutes later by not having to search for it.

I’ve gotten a few emails on how I keep things organized, so I thought I’d share it all with you. If you have tips for me on how to save time and stay even more organized, please let me know! I’m not an expert and I find that as life changes we have to change our organizational ways. I’m a huge fan of Excel spreadsheets for budgeting and creating timelines for projects. But what do we do with all the stuff around here?

Handbags

I have about three handbags that I rotate throughout the year. Switching them out is a breeze because I have small pouches in them that hold all of my stuff. Nothing, other than my wallet and cell phone, float freely in my handbag.

I have this cute set of Toss Designs pouches that fit perfectly in my handbags. Each pouch holds something different: 1. lipstick and powder, 2. feminine products, 3. writing utensils.

I just transfer these cute bags to the new purse when it’s time to switch. Easy peasy!

Calendar

I use the MomAgenda Mini Daily and the MomAgenda wall calendar to keep our schedules going. The mini daily goes everywhere with me and the wall calendar hangs on the bulletin board in our office/playroom. My daily to-do list goes in the mini daily, but our family activities and days that we’ll need a sitter for Hudson go on the family calendar.

It has been really helpful for us to keep track of everyone’s activities and to juggle three people’s schedules.

Mail

We have a mail sorter that sits on our kitchen counter. I go through the mail every day and throw away what we don’t need and keep the things we do need. If it’s an invitation, I respond to it immediately and put the date on our calendar if we can attend. If it’s a bill, I put it in the mail sorter and we usually pay the bills over the weekend. In the last year, we have really taken care of our mail pile up issue. I cannot stand stacks of paper. I like to deal with them immediately and get rid of them.

We also have a filing cabinet (it’s actually attractive) that holds all of important stuff that we can’t trash. We try to go through that once a year and purge the things that we know we don’t need to hang on to anymore.

Toys

Our playroom cubbies and shelves are finally finished and we’re just in the process of arranging them. But I will show you a sneak peek. It is so great to have vertical storage rather than having so many toys scattered on the floor. I’m still in the process of choosing containers for the cubbies based on our needs. Containers can be expensive, so I want to make sure we know exactly how we want things to be organized before we make any purchases. I’m also planning to put a TV in that large opening in the center, but we’re just looking for the right TV and the right price!

The categories that I have for containers are 1) small plastic toys, 2) puzzles, 3) small stuffed toys, 4) bouncy balls and roll-around balls. You can probably see that Hudson has tons of books and those are honestly his most favorite toys.

His big toys that won’t fit in the cubbies are just hanging out on the floor of the playroom, but it’s nice to get some of our floor space back.

How do you keep your house organized?

«Previous Page