Hit me with your BEST organizational tips for those who are horribly disorganized

[joyful mama]

horribly disorganized? yeah, that's me. I lose things, forget things, and all attempts to change this ...ok, well, most, don't work :doh

So, how do you stay organized with...

...housekeeping?
...school stuff (both away and home)
...schedules/appointments for the family
...paperwork
...food/meal planning

and anything else you can think of.

I don't have much money to put towards tools or things like that.
I do have a mother's journal type address book thing that helps a little
I have a big calendar that is on my fridge that everything goes on... that helps a ton.

:ty2

[MomtoJGJ]

housekeeping: I've just made a mental note to stay on top of it... if I think about it, even to say "I don't want to" I do it anyway.... and I actually am enforcing that the children must tidy either downstairs or upstairs before bed each night. That makes it where when there are days I really and truly CANNOT do something it's not so bad.

school stuff: we homeschool... I have our schoolroom set up in the breakfast nook and have a sideboard that holds everything.... games are in the pantry.

schedules/apps: I have a wet erase board on the fridge that I keep a running list of things by date. Beside that I keep our awana calendar.

paperwork: I go through the mail as we get it... toss junk, open everything and toss all envelopes, put bills to be paid in front of the computer and other important stuff in a cardboard box under the desk.

meals/menus: I have a five week menu... five weeks of different meals with two leftovers/eat out/friends house/church days each week. That hangs by the stove and I just make our grocery list based on that. I also have a breakfast schedule and snack schedule hanging below that... it's not as strictly followed. Our other meal each day it sandwiches.

[mokamoto]

:popcorn. I can always use good new ideas! :-)

my input: the things I need to use daily have a home near where I use them- clip on fridge for school calendar, next to lunch boxes and related supplies. I think my kitchen is better organized than the rest of the house. I bag outgrown clothes as I put away laundry.

Watching for ideas to improve those other areas on little funds. Hubby says elimination is the key. Too bad I am a crafter and everything seems usable!!! Bless him for his patience!!! Hth- even if only to commiserate. ;-) :hugs

[Aerynne]

2 things

1. declutter. a lot. Then declutter again. We all have way too much stuff.

2. When you're done with something, put it where it goes. Don't hang your coat on the chair- put it in the closet. If you get your hands on a paper that needs to be filed- file it. This is seriously something I am just now teaching myself at the age of 30.

[Havilah]

I c&p'd this from an old post. I've been using this system over two years and it works SO well for me. I'm very organizationally challenged, too. I recently took it as a huge compliment that my best friend, who is totally born organized, asked for the details so she could swipe my system. :O :giggle


A little over a year ago I HUGELY revamped our filing system and it's made paper chores so much easier. I have a small tackle-box style portable file box with a hanging file for each month, then extra files for health insurance, taxes, bank statements and one for each of our cars. I think that's it. Anyway, everything that doesn't fall into the car, insurance, taxes or bank folder goes into the folder for the month. That includes (paid) bills, receipts, stuff that seems potentially sentimental, artwork for the kids... everything that might potentially clutter my counter. I keep it all for a year, and clear it out the next year as I put the current years paperwork in for the month. By then it's easy to throw most of it away without any thought. The artwork has had a year to "season" and I keep a few special samples from the year before.

I put all bills that need to be paid (or any other paper that needs attention) in a special place and go through those every two weeks. It's on the calender.

This has been so easy for me to manage. I can't remember the last time I've spent more than 5 minutes looking for a piece of paper.

Oh... and I have another smaller tackle box for tax stuff. It has 6 files numbered 1-6. Every year I put the current year's tax docs and bank statements in the #1 slot, and move the others back a slot... and shred whatever is in slot #6. Easy peasy.

Both of these ideas came from the forums at Organized Home dot com. I don't visit there often, but I always get great ideas and inspiration when I do.


---------- Post added at 10:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:03 AM ----------

I also have a big black artist's portfolio that looks similar to this:

http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=fa0345&channelid=

I bought a really inexpensive one. It stays under the bed and catches all the larger artwork that won't fit into my tacklebox. Everything stays neat and tidy until I feel the urge to purge a bit. Not that I've actually felt that urge yet, but at least it's not all over the house. :phew

[Joyful Mommy]

:popcorn

[Abibigail]

Don't put it DOWN; put it AWAY.

[monkeylicious]

one thing that helps me - when i catch myself thinking "that will only take a few minutes later," i remind myself that it will only take that long now. and do it. if i put it off until later - it will take longer (cause there will be a bunch of things to do) and i will be more tired/stressed/annoyed... (i know that may not be an organizational issue, but things that i could have done quickly, turn into big piles here!)

i am also trying to use flylady and a homekeeping binder. but DO NOT go join her email group - it is overwhelming. you can go look at her site and start with the first couple of steps (1. shiny sink every night) because that will become habit and the clean spot will spread :yes she has a housekeeping schedule that is do-able for me - not that i've been doing it recently, but i can start fresh again and not feel too badly about it. she has a "house blessing hour" on monday and then pretty much just working on that week's zone the rest of the week. your house won't be spotless in a week, but it will be better than it was the week before and that will accumulate. she also does preventative maintenance (swish the toilet daily and wipe bathroom counter/sink) to keep them looking good all the time with little effort)

[ThreeKids]

Very broad categories of what goes where

DH was wanting to create all these different categories such as keeping nice stationary separate from ordinary stationary - no way, that wasn't working. "Stuff to write on" is as broad of a category as I'm willing to make, more along the lines of just "Office supplies" works even better for me.

Another category I have is "Fasteners" - tape, glue gun, clamps, velcro, string, etc., anything meant to hold stuff together and the supplies needed for that all go together.

More recently, it's been tougher because so many things have to be separated by how quickly ds can make a mess out of it.

[hey mommy]

:popcorn

[crunchymum]

My two organization big guns are

declutter. The less you have, the less you have to maintain. ;) and

store/keep items *at their point of use* when at all possible. If I have to walk across the room, or into another room, to put something away, it will not happen. :no




just those two things transformed my housekeeping drastically. Along with the keeping things at their point of use principle, the principle of "prime real estate" is helpful... Store the things you *use* the most in the most accessibe places - for most people that means anywhere you don't have to reach up too high or bend down to get to. In my kitchen, for example, my prime real estate is the drawers at waist level, the middle part of the pantry, and the bottom sections of the cupboards above my counter, if that makes sense. :)

oh, and another tip is, "revisiting". This is a biggie, and one I still struggle with. Revisiting means you have to always be aware that what works for you right now, may, and probably will, need to be tweaked in the future as your needs change. When a system or storage solution isn't working for you anymore, it's time to pay attention to the message that problem is sending you, and revisit what needs to happen.



On another note, I want to give you hope... My mom was horribly disorganized as I grew up (still is!) and I never learned how to organize, so I became horribly organized once I was on my own. I ended up needing a professional organizer to help, :lol but it is possible to learn the skills to do this. :hearts

[Quiteria]

:popcorn

[mom2chrisnluke]

I am very scattered so I can't manage big plans that take lots of follow through so I came up with this plan.....I have a small dry erase board and every night or first thing in the morning, I write down:

what is for dinner
any errands we need to run or appt we have that day
and three housework goals I want to accomplish

I try to keep myself to complete whatever is on my board for the day. Even if I have to finish the housework before I go to bed. If I can do those three things whatever they are I seem to stay on top of stuff. I general put down things out of my normal routine, I do laundry and dishes everyday regardless if they are on the board so the board is for scrubbing toilets and vacuuming ect. HTH!!

I love all the other tips you have received, I think I will be using some of these as well!

[KLin]

DH and I were both raised by pack rats. :-/ My mom was/is horribly disorganized, MIL had a beautiful home, but every closet, drawer and underbed was packed with things.

I always feel like I need to keep anything that was special, or still in good condition-:shifty even if we have outgrown the need for it. I am trying to improve.
DH made a rule that if someone brings something to us (large item) then we need to get rid of equal volume 'stuff'.

I donate stuff all year, have yard sales and give away as much as I can. I pray that the stuff I let go of is going to be used well by someone in need.

I try to keep the livable areas de-cluttered. It is hard home educating, because we are always home, and either working or playing. :shrug3

[ArmsOfLove]

I decided to answer your question by finally blogging out journey :) It's three posts on my blog

http://theluttonfamily.com/mamadomain/?p=311 Starting the journey
http://theluttonfamily.com/mamadomain/?p=313 The journey
http://theluttonfamily.com/mamadomain/?p=315 What I learned from the journey

[bananacake]

I decided to answer your question by finally blogging out journey :) It's three posts on my blog

http://theluttonfamily.com/mamadomain/?p=311 Starting the journey
http://theluttonfamily.com/mamadomain/?p=313 The journey
http://theluttonfamily.com/mamadomain/?p=315 What I learned from the journey

Crystal, did you move your blog? You used to be in my feed, but these didn't show up :scratch