Organize with liljeani

Closet Organizing

2010-02-07T10:34:00.000-08:00

Please check out my new article at the Examiner. I would love some feedback.

Thanks!

An Organized Kitchen?

2010-01-31T09:42:00.000-08:00

BEFORE

After

BEFORE After

Ok, you may not see a HUGE difference, but this change has made my kitchen more efficient. I concentrated on the things that bugged me, like having to move the coffee pot around to fill it from underneath the cabinets in the corner and moving the juicer from off the top of the fridge to the counter where I would more likely use it.

Believe it or not this constitutes fun for me. :-)

January Switch

2010-01-17T17:09:00.000-08:00

Plato once said, "neccesity is the mother of invention" and I found this to be utterly true this month. I planned on re-organizing my kitchen but ended up reorganizing and disorganizing my bedroom, that is to say that I moved bedrooms. The new bedroom has been organized but the old bedroom, which is now a Workout/Dressing room is in shambles.

I have three rooms upstairs, a bedroom, office, and another room I used as a TV/Workout room. The old TV/Workout room was where I spent most of my time and very uncomfortably, I might add. I love to snuggle with my dogs when I watch TV and the small roll-a-way bed in the TV room just didn't cut it. It would have been nice to have a futon, but we gave that away years ago and we just don't have the budget to buy any other furniture right now, so I decided to combine my bedroom and the TV room.

I think it will work out, because now I will have a separate place to work out. There is only one problem, I like to work out with DVD's or Video's and there is no TV in the workout room. So, again, not having the budget to buy a new TV/VHS or DVD player I decided for now to use my laptop DVD player. Then again there is always the TV downstairs that has both a DVD and VHS player, but then why do I have a separate workout room? Anyway, it will have to do for now...

I didn't get a before picture, and I don't have an after picture quite yet as it is a work in progress. Will update you later...

Room by Room

2010-01-03T07:31:00.000-08:00

I have learned to clean room by room - that is I start in one room - usually the kitchen - anything that doesn't belong there is taken to the next adjoining room whether it belongs there are not.

Here is why I don't always take the item to the room it belongs right away - too distracting.OK, lets say I left my downstairs phone in the upstairs kitchen. I run downstairs to take hang up the phone, while I'm downstairs, I realize the garbage needs emptying and the furniture needs polishing and pretty soon I have forgotten entirely about the kitchen! Sound familiar? So, I usually keep a basket handy and anything that doesn't belong in the kitchen goes in the basket and into the formal living room. Once I am through with the kitchen, before I start the dishwasher I will check all rooms for dirty dishes and try to fit them in. Those that won't fit have to be hand washed - so I have become very creative in fitting them all in. I continue onto the next room, take out anything from the basket that belongs in that room and put it away and then start collecting anything from that room that doesn't belong and adding that into the basket. I continue this way until all rooms are clean and back in order.

Since, it is just me, my husband, two dogs, and a cat I alternate weekends cleaning upstairs and downstairs. During the work week I try to maintain and do some light cleaning and vacuuming. This works really well for me until a holiday or I get sick, then things pile up, but I suspect things would pile up anyway. My husband tends to be a pack rat and I have to admit, although not as severe, I have rascally rodent like qualities as well.

So this year, I am going to apply my room by room cleaning strategy to de-clutter. Starting in the kitchen. First, I have to find a boxes. The first box will be used for any kitchen item that I can sell in Garage Sale or Ebay. Then I will have a box for donation and of course the final box or bag would be for trash (sometimes I may need two for trash - one for hazardous that needs to be disposed of separately(like ink cartridges or batteries).

The next step is too check where and how to store what I have efficiently. I will need to ask myself - what bugs me the most about my current arrangement; ie spices falling form shelf when I open the cupboard. Then how do I solve it? ie; Lazy Susan - Extra shelf organizer? Spice rack?

OK, I know this sounds like a lot of work, but I really find it fun to problem solve like this. Once the practicality is solved, then I can look at decorating. Am I happy with my current decor? What can use that I may have stored to make the room feel more like us? For this I need to consult hubby too.

Time Management. OK, I will do one room a month - so in 9 months I should be finished - upstairs and down! January is kitchen month! It will be fun - I think I will take before and after pics - be looking for my next blog to see the before pic.

P.S. I will also be happy to share any item that I would be willing to sell/donate with any of my readers for shipping cost only. So I will try and post them here first in case your interested. Stay tuned.

Mail, Bills and Important Papers - Organized in 4 easy steps!

2009-12-03T11:17:00.000-08:00

After years of organizing and re-organizing my bill paying and filing system. I have found a winner!

Tools Needed

In Box - Two Tier - Top and Bottom
32 Manila File Folders - 3 cut - 12 are for monthly bills, 20 are for placing in hanging file folders.
Hanging File Folders - I use about 20 (These are for the records you want to keep for longer than 3 months, such as Tax info, Vet Records, Credit Card Terms, )
Binders - I use 2 - One for bank accounts and one for investment accounts.
4 - Pendaflex Accordian Folders - Need to purchase at least one a year.
Stand Up Folder Organizer
Pen or Label Maker
Mail/Bills- Arghh!
Shredder - Note: I have to pay the bills before I shred them. :-)

Set Up

Label file folders with Name of Month and place in stand up folder organizer
Label remaining file folders and place in Hanging File Folders
Label One Pendaflex with the current year
Label Second Pendaflex with Warranties-Upstairs Items - Refrigerator, Range, Small Appliances
Label Third Pendaflex with Warranties-Downstairs items, TV, Electronics, etc.
Label Fourth Pendaflex - Important Papers - Keep in Safe

Steps

1. Daily: I immediately sort junk, letters or cards, magazines, bank stmts/investment statements, bills, warranties or important documents.

Throw out junk,
Open letters and cards - read thoughtfully and place in bottom inbox for reply if I cannot reply immediately. If no reply is needed - I add to this months folder - ie; December
Add new month's magazine to coffee table and discard last months if read - if not I distribute it to the bathroom where it is sure to be read! LOL!! Also, throw out prev. month from bathroom if still there.
Open bank and investment statements, review for action, if no action necessary place in this months folder. If I need to take action, say make changes to my investment portfolio then I add to the Inbox Bottom Folder if not Urgent - top if Urgent.
Bills in TOP Inbox to Pay - highlighting due date. I try to pay at lease 5 days prior to due date. I pay all my bills online and have a bill reminder so there is no need to keep a separate list. When I didn't pay online I used to keep a list of my monthly bills to make sure I received and paid them, some programs like Quicken have a bill reminder feature also. In addition, I have some reoccurring bills setup to automatically pay, like my Mortgage. Once paid, I add to this months file folder.
Warranties/Instructions (I make a copy of the receipt and attach it to the front of the warranty - I add date of warranty expiration in RED = file in this months folder
Important Documents such as marriage license, insurance documents are placed immediately in their pendaflex in safe - label each section accordingly.

2. Quarterly: Keep last three months of files in monthly file folder. So right now I have Sept, Oct, Nov. - I have just started paying December Bills, so I need to add December paid bills to December file and file September into hanging file folders for those items that I will need longer, add bank statements to binders, add warranties to pendaflex, or shred those I won't require for more than 3 months.

3. Annually: Add all file folders for year into annual pendaflex, accept prior year taxes. Review Warranties and discard instructions or warranties of items no longer owned. Review Important Papers and update any licenses, insurance policies, passports etc.

4. Bi-Annually: Add taxes to tax year, example in Jan 09, I will have Jan 07 taxes to file into 07 pendaflex.

Benefits

1. Sorting Mail Daily - eliminates clutter and keeps me up to date.

2. Monthly Files but Quarterly Filing/Shredding - Helps me find a bill or statement quickly, by this time, I know whether or not I need to keep that item for a longer period, at the quarter I'm only filing and shredding for one month so it is time saving rather than filing and shredding every month or making it an impossible task by holding onto it all for a year.

3. Annually - All my tax info is right where I need it, in the tax folder! All my other info can be easily accessed by year. I developed this system after receiving a collection notice from a doctors office from a visit that my insurance company had paid for 4 years ago. It took me forever to go through my medical records just to find out who was my insurer at the time. Arggh.

4. Bi-Annual - Keeping my taxes handy for two years - helps me to be able to compare last years taxes with this years taxes to make sure I haven't left off any deductions.