Keeping your work space organized will help you to keep your work flowing. It doesn’t have to be a work space, it can be the place you go to do sewing, crafting or any hobby. If you have a blank wall in your laundry room you can use a pegboard. It will keep all of your supplies intact.
Place a small table under the pegboard to hold a couple of baskets. I save any gift bags or bows that I receive, that look nice, and re-use them for gifts that I give to others. You can use the baskets to …read more

Some people have an all or nothing attitude.  They feel that if their house can’t be perfectly clean and organized, then there’s no sense in trying.  Rather than taking the clutter one pile at a time, they let it pile up and overwhelm them.  As promised, here are some tips for tackling the clutter.

1.  Commit to 15 minutes. Set the timer for 15 minutes and commit to work for that amount of time.  Give yourself permission to stop working when the timer buzzes.  This will help get you started and the time you’re working doesn’t seem so overwhelming.  This way …read more

Kitchens tend to be a dumping ground for everything.  We walk in the door and drop our keys, purse, mail, and shopping bags on the counter.  We put away the groceries and somewhere in our subconsciousness find it ok to leave the mail there.  Next thing we know, we have a few little items scattered throughout the room.  

I am guilty of disorganization in my kitchen.  I am trying to get better though.  Here are a few kitchen organizing tips.
1)  Put things away when you’re done using them.  If we did this with everything our lives would be so much cleaner …read more

Some friends of mine have confessed to me that they still have their kid’s baby toys.  Some still have the baby clothes.  These are people whose children are 8-12 years old.  Sure, I can understand hanging on to a *few* momentos.  The key word being “few”.  What I don’t understand is people that are hanging on to stuff just to have it.  It just doesn’t make any sense to me. 

I can hardly wait to get stuff out of my house.  I know that I have way too many posssessions, but if there’s something that I know I’m not going to …read more

There are quite a few posts about clutter control and housekeeping that I go back to again and again. There is just so much information and inspiration in these posts that one reading, or two or five, is not enough.
Here are three of my favorite posts from all over the web, just perfect for your weekend reading .
Top 100 Posts for Organizing Your Life
18 Five-Minute Decluttering Tips to Start Conquering Your Mess
Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things

Ever since I saw this video on organizing kid’s rooms and toys, I’ve been planning to re-do my own system for my kids’ toys. Originally, I wanted to start with this:

I’m all excited about watching the Olympic Games. There’s just something special about this event and the coming together of the world’s best athletes. Maybe we can channel the excitement from the Games into our homes? I find that I’m often inspired by products and ideas into coming up with a “Hey, I can do that!” moment.
Here are some items that have inspired me lately to think about how I can organize my home better:

* Book Buggy from Levenger. This is perfect for the room where you do a lot of reading. Store your favorite books on it …read more

* When gifts become clutter (at Clutter Control Freak)
* Turn your clutter into cash (via Best Syndication)
* Cloth napkins can save you money (via Philly Burbs)
* Shopping strategy (at Bend Bulletin)
* Freezer cooking and frugal living (at Filling my Freezer)
* Tips for sprucing up your home (via Suntimes)

One of the challenges of decluttering is knowing where to start. Often, the task is so overwhelming that it’s easier to just throw up one’s hands and give up, before even starting.
I have learned that it doesn’t really matter where I start decluttering. The important thing is that I do, one small task or area at a time. I’ve subscribed to the daily reminders from Menus4Moms. The name of the website is a little misleading. They offer help in putting together weekly menus and meal ideas, but the site is not limited to that. One of their most …read more

My hope is that someday, my kids will be able to clean up after themselves. Meanwhile, they have to be taught the why’s and the how’s.
These are the things that I try to do to get them on the path to being neat and organized.
* Make it fun with a clean-up song (Barney’s is great) or a rhyme. This works specially great for preschoolers.
* Work on small areas at a time. Kids get overwhelmed when they have large areas to clean up. Dividing the chore into small tasks, like one type of toy at a time (cars, stuffed …read more