A Plan

It just ocurred to me.  We have been rearranging and "organzing" all willy-nilly in this house, and while it has worked somewhat, we are down to needing a plan!  Yes, I thought it was a novel concept to for I am that smart!  I originally decided I didn't want to plan things out because that was to static for me and I wanted the freedom to do super easy things since I am on bedrest and really shouldn't be doing hard manual labor.  However, I have come to realize that maybe my plan to not plan was not so smart.  Why you ask?  Well, because I really don't know where we are at with everything.  And that my friends is a waste of time.

So sitting here reading some of my favorite organizing blogs (Org Junkie and The Lazy Organizer) it finally dawned on me that I do in fact need a plan.  Maybe a plan isn't for everyone, but as you may have guessed, I am a planner.  I really should actually get a job in some type of planning field (event, wedding, personal, etc.) as I thrive in those situations.  Anyways, I have decided I need a definite plan for EACH room in the house.  We have a lot of little things left to do in each room, and even some big things, but I won't know about them, or remember them if I don't write them down in To-Do List form because that's how I roll.

Theoretically I want everything done before Weston gets here, but I don't really see that happening.  So I need to focus on his room first.  Which is very hard for me because I don't go in there very often so I really haven't been able to assess what is needed in there.  I think once someone gets home tonight, or maybe 2 someones, I am going to go in there and look around and write down every single little thing that has to be done before a baby can inhabit the room.  Which is really kind of annoying since he won't be sleeping in there for awhile, he will be in with us, but whatever, it's the right thing to do. 

By elimination, that means OUR room has to be done next since he WILL be living in there a lot.  Our room is almost done, but there are tons of clothes that need to be hung up and the bathroom really needs to be cleaned and organized.  Then there is our extra closet which is full of bedding crap that will probably bite it, or get turned into dish towels.  I also need to get some lights for the closet.  And we need a curtain or something for the freaking ginormous window that is right by where I sleep.  I hate light when I sleep and the dogs keep ripping down our ghetto fix...an old sheet.  So yes, these things must be done.

Next up is the living room.  This one has to be done because this is where we, as a family, hang out the most.  I am sure I will have Weston chilling with me in the living room, so everything must be in its proper place and there has to be room for all his fun swings and bouncy things to keep him happy.

Next comes the new office because I will spend time here a lot once he is born as well.  Right now it has turned into a catchall because I didn't have a plan.  See how this has backfired on me quite a bit.  There is tons of crap in here, most of it from my car and from my office since they were moving right as I was put on bedrest so I thought ahead and brought all of my stuff home so no one would have to move it.  Nevermind the fact that its been out in my car since December 7th (and earlier for a lot of the stuff), its in the house now.  I want to setup an effective working system in here, doesn't that sound exciting?

Next will be the kitchen/place to eat.  This one stresses me out.  This is probably the one I am dreading the most because I know a lot of things need to be moved around.  I need an effective cooking space and effective storage and right now I have neither.  This goes along with getting our lovely dishwasher installed so we won't be using the portable one anymore.  I would like everything cleaned up and in its proper place before that happens though.  Also, does anyone need glasses.  We have enough for a family of 20, so if you need some, I know the perfect place to get them.  I wonder how things like that happen anyways?

So there, I now have a plan for a plan (HA).  I will start writing my plan tonight and who knows when it will actually go into working mode.  I guess that all depends on the results of tomorrows appointment.  But, at least I will have a plan of attack for each room and people can do things for me, or if not, then once I am back home with my son, I can work on the plan while he is sleeping and I am not awestruck by him...on second thought, everything better go well tomorrow so we can all get our butts in gear, none of us will do anything once he's here, I just know it.

Plastic Bag Bliss

I'm in a blogging mood.  Mainly because I am so excited about things going on in my life right now.

Anyways, I don't know about you, but we tend to keep the bazillion plastic bags we get when we go to the grocery store, or any store really.  We then use them to take our lunches, scoop cat litter, carry random things, etc.  Except, there was a huge organizational problem.  All the bags were just getting thrown on the floor in the pantry.  We are talking several years worth of plastic bags, because of course they move with us!  It's been driving me batty, it was so nasty and tacky looking and clutter-y and just rage inducing really.  I was complaining to my Mom about this and she took awesome initiative and got the box her space heater came in and loaded all of the plastic bags into it!  She put all of the paper bags into a huge plastic bag we had as well.  I took all of the paint cans outside.  These were leftover from the idiot previous owner, and they too were driving me batty.  So now we have a nice clean, organized pantry floor and it is truly a thing of beauty.  It really made me feel great and refreshed!

I'm telling you, these organizing people are right...it's a great high!

Sunday?!

Can this weekend really be almost over?  We have been semi productive this weekend, with today being the best day yet!  My Mom has really been working on her room a lot today.  There is a storage room where she sleeps at and when we moved her in, we just piled tons and tons of crap in there because we didn't have time to go through everything.  Well, now is the time.  I guess I've inspired her through all of the organization I've been trying to do in the rest of the house. 

It's so refreshing when things are picked up and clutter is cleared.  It really does make you want to do more and more.  My only issue is, there isn't much I can do right now because we are doing a big room rearranging on Wednesday.  We are completely switching the living room layout and moving the dining room table into the breakfast nook, and making the dining room the office.  This really is going to be the most efficient layout for us and I am so excited to get it done!  I know Victor isn't looking forward to this task, but I'm sure he will be so happy with the outcome...even if he can't see the TV while he eats dinner now :).

My Mom and I went grocery shopping yesterday morning at Super Target, so I will be back later with my Menu Plan Monday stuff, which I am very excited about.  I'm a little nervous at all of the cooking since I tend to really crave fast food when we setup menus, but this is truly for the best.  We need to stop eating out and wasting tons of money on groceries.  We aren't branching out too much with our menu, but it will be a challenge :).

On that note, I'm going to skidaddle for now.  I'm quite tired and need to get the dining room table cleared off for dinner (that Victor is bringing home...from Wendys, last night I promise!).

Organization Revolution

There is a great blog I read, Org Junkie (http://orgjunkie.com/ - I am not one to know the HTML stuff yet, sorry), and I have become absolutely obsessed.  She has such great tips on how to organize, and one thing I really love is that she makes it clear that what works for her might not work for anyone else.  Don't ask me why I value this so much, I just do.

Anyways, once I stumbled upon her blog, I knew I could no longer lead my life in such an unorganized fashion.  I absolutely had to get my entire house organized and get systems (something she preaches about) in place as soon as possible.  Her website has been invaluable to me.  She has really inspired me to get my act together, so to speak.

I've slowly started going through my house, piece by piece, and pulling things out, going through them, throwing away, and then reorganizing.  If you walked in, you wouldn't be able to tell this.  But that isn't what matters to me.  What matters to me is that things are getting done.  One of her major philosophies is to start small and work your way up.  Well, that's exactly what I'm doing.  I went through our filing cabinet and good grief you wouldn't believe the amount of crap I was able to throw away or shred.  A lot of the stuff just wasn't even important to begin with, so why it was in there, Lord only knows.  Now I have about 6 hanging folders in there that are labelled properly so I know whats in them and where to stick new information I get.  The only sucky part was that the filing cabinet does not hold legal sized papers, which is what a lot of our housing documents are, so they are in the bottom drawer laying awkwardly.  Oh well, I'll survive that I'm sure.

I haven't been following her method entirely.  I just kind of pick something and go after it for a bit.  I've been picking up books and magazines from around the house and placing them in there *hopeful* proper spot.  And I've completely gone through the fridge and freezer and gotten rid of tons of crap that we just won't ever use.  She is so right when she says there is a "high" associated with cleaning and organizing these things.  It feels great to have things in order, not having to look everywhere for things.  I actually found my marriage license while doing this.

As I said, I still have a very long way to go!  I'm not sure what I'm going to work on today.  I try to do one thing a day, nothing too big as that isn't very smart for a woman on bedrest.  Tuesday we went to Target and bought 2 boxes of some Tupperware, the kind where everything clicks together, because I absolutely could not stand my tupperware cabinet anymore.  I started washing the pieces yesterday and went through the cabinet throwing away pieces I no longer want.  Org Junkie talks about using baskets a lot...well I don't have a lot of extra money laying around, so I started looking at my old tupperware collection in a new light (something I think she'd be proud of...can you tell she's kind of my hero :)).  I could use the bigger pieces for baskets, say to store all of my spices in.  I poured my Cheerios into a taller container that I had to get rid of the boxes, etc.  It's amazing how much nicer things look.  I'm still not done with the tupperware cabinet as I'm not done washing the new pieces and I decided to store the old pieces in the cabinet because I don't have anywhere to just set them right now.

I'll probably be chronicling my journey to Organized Heaven on here, it's something I've become quite passionate about...to the point where I think I annoy my Mom and my husband.  But, I'm sure they will appreciate my hard work in the end.  At least I get to feel productive, if only for a minute or two.  I will take pictures, though that is hard for me because I'm embarassed of the shape of my house.  If I get brave enough, I'll post said pictures and after pictures too!  Here's to a new Organized Life!