Creating Organization Systems Archives - Page 2 of 3

9 Clever Storage Solutions for Organizing Your Family’s Shoes

This post is part 2 in the series How to Organize It.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Read my policy here.

Shoes have a sneaky way of walking themselves where they don’t belong. Kids’ shoes especially wind up under beds, strewn across floors, and underfoot in doorways.

It’s messy, it’s disorganized, and it drives you crazy when you constantly hear, “MOM!!! Where are my shoes?!”

So it makes sense that the right shoe storage solution for your family must be kid-friendly. (If they don’t use it, it won’t work!) Your shoe organizer has to sit where it makes the most sense for how you live your lives. And it has to meet your mom standards for functionality, quality, and even aesthetic appeal.

I have tried a number of approaches to shoe storage over the year, and these are some of my favorite products and solutions:
[Read more…]

How to Store, Display, and Enjoy Your Kids’ Art

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Read my policy here.

Is your home slowly transforming into a kiddie art museum?

I know mine is.

My son’s day care teachers entertain him with a steady stream of cute, Pinterest-worthy art projects. He happily brings home crayon scribbles, clay molds, flung-paint abstract art, glitter-covered drawings (aah!), and animal drawings built around his footprint . . . which answers the question of why his heel was ever-so-slightly-tinted blue recently.

If your kids are anything like mine, they mass produce kiddie art. They draw pictures at home, finger paint at school, create mosaics in art class . . . you name it. You want your kids to get creative and make art. But what do you do with the thousands of masterpieces your little artists crank out day after day?

Here are some fantastic ways to display, consolidate, store, organize, and enjoy your kids’ artistic creations. [Read more…]

How to Keep Your Paper & Digital Documents Secure

One thing that’s certain in life is its innate uncertainty. Everyday living can surprise you unpleasantly with burst pipes, health problems, financial upset, tax audits, and more.

But there are things you can do now that will protect your family and your financial interests against future unknowns. In particular, you can take steps to ensure that your most important records and documents are simultaneously preserved and accessible — to you and to anyone to whom you want to grant permission.

So we’re looking today at ways you can keep your precious papers safe and your digital documents secure. [Read more…]

Here’s How to Hack Your Way to an Organized Refrigerator

This post is part 3 in the series How to Organize It.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Read my policy here.

Ahh, the fridge. That chilly black hole where perfectly good food vanishes until the stink leads you to it. Or where you mutter curses under your breath as you pull everything out in order to find that one thing you need.

As little more than a giant box with lots of oddly shaped foods, the refrigerator can be an organizing nightmare. Too often, you wind up with wasted food and even double purchases after you lose an item in the recesses of the fridge.

But getting your fridge organized — and keeping it organized — is surprisingly simple. With a few fundamental principles and the right tools, you can take your refrigerator from maddening to organized in a snap. [Read more…]

How to Organize Your Bathroom Cleaning Supplies

This post is part 4 in the series How to Organize It.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Read my policy here.

I don’t know anyone who likes cleaning the bathroom.

You’re spraying, scrubbing, scouring, bending, and jumping . . . if you struggle to reach the top of the mirror like me. And then, before you know it, it’s time to do it all over again.

But there are ways you can make the process quicker, easier, and less stressful. Organizing your bathroom cleaning supplies is one of the best ways to increase your efficiency, move easily from bathroom to bathroom, and know that you have everything you need in one handy spot.

Plus — bonus! — it makes it that much easier for your husband or kid to clean the bathroom without asking you where every little thing is.

So here we go! Today I’m sharing my best tips for organizing your bathroom cleaning supplies and making this necessary chore a smoother project.

[Read more…]

Christmas Cards Made Easy: How to Simplify Your Process

The holiday season is upon us again! I love heading out to my mailbox this time of year to find happy Christmas wishes from family and friends.

But sending out those cards? That’s not quite as fun. You wind up tracking down missing addresses, fumbling through drawers for extra stamps, and nursing papercuts.

But what if you could get all of your holiday cards out without the hassle? Here’s how . . . [Read more…]

7 Free Chrome Extensions That Keep You Organized & Productive

It’s easy for your Internet browser to be a clutter magnet that slows you down. Your browser is a mess of favorite sites and dozens of open tabs — videos to watch, articles to read, messages to which you need to respond, and more.

But, if you’re a Google Chrome user, you can transform your browser into a tool that supercharges your productivity and keeps you on task and organized. Check out these 7 incredible (and free!) Chrome extensions that are more than worth the download:
[Read more…]

How Parkinson’s Law Will Make You Insanely Organized

This post is part 1 in the series Embracing Parkinson's Law.

This week, we’re wrapping up our series on improving your everyday life with Parkinson’s Law!

So far, we’ve looked at this important idea in its original format: “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

And we’ve looked at a twist in relation to your money: “Your lifestyle expenses increase so as to use up the income available.”

Today, we’ll tackle one more twist on Parkinson’s Law as it relates to getting organized: “Your stuff expands so as to use up the space available.”

Yeah, this one is so true!

When I moved out of my tiny graduate school apartment, I loaded up all of my belongings into my little sedan. Seven years later, it was a whole different story! When my husband and I moved from our townhouse rental into our current home, it took a medium-sized U-Haul and a truck with movers to wrangle the big stuff.

Our stuff had expanded.

So how can you keep your belongings from multiplying like Tribbles? Growing into piles, seeping into tidy areas, and taking over your home? [Read more…]

How to Have Clean Clothes for Less Money

Ahh, the laundry. That never-ending chore that no one loves to do. It feels as though you need to do it . . . all . . . the . . . time.

And that can add up to a lot of money.

You don’t always see the cost of doing laundry, since it’s hidden in your budget:

Water costs get absorbed into your water bill.
Power costs go into your electric or gas statements.
Detergents, fabric softeners, dryer sheets, and perfumed beads show up on your grocery store receipts.
Maintenance costs . . . well, those you might see!

If you’re looking for an easy way to save every single week, take a look at your laundry habits. Let’s see how we can spend less money getting your clothes clean and smelling great! [Read more…]

4 Easy Ways to Organize Your Recipes Quickly

This post is part 7 in the series How to Organize It.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Read my policy here.

Are you buried under a mountain of recipes? Piles of cookbooks, boxes of gravy-stained recipe cards, printouts of recipes you want to try – where does it end? All you really want is a system for honoring your family’s special recipes and organizing new favorites. Try these four methods to bring order to your recipe chaos.

Piles of cookbooks, boxes of gravy-stained recipe cards, printouts of recipes you want to try – where does it end?

All you really want is a system for honoring your family’s special recipes and organizing new favorites. If you’re ready to create a simple, effective, and foolproof system for keeping on top of your recipes, try these four methods to bring order to the chaos: [Read more…]