5 Things You Can Do Right Now to Get More Organized

1)  Use storage furniture practically.  It feels very smart purchasing storage furniture, but if you just shove it full of whatever happens to be in the general area, you're not really any more organized.  You just have a new hidey hole.  Here's an example:

We have this HUGE storage ottoman in our living room.  It would be seriously easy to shove it full of all sorts of random things during quick clean-ups.  Before long it would be CRAZY.  Instead, we decided to fill it with all our board games.  When we have people over, it is super easy to get to them.  We are not having to dig them out of a closet somewhere.

Use your storage furniture for an intended purpose.  Fill it with things that are used in that area & do not allow it to be a place to shove stuff.

2)  Get rid of duplicates:  Once you organize your stuff, you realize just how much you have of everything.  For instance, I saw that I have like 8 medium vases!!

 When am I going to ever use that many?  At most, I would use 3 or 4 at a time.  Time to reduce.  I can start by getting rid of the ones I am least likely to use.

3)  Grab a trash bag.  Once per day, go through your house with a trash bag (Or a little waste basket or a small sack) & pick up the items laying around that are clearly trash.

4) Assign baskets.  The baskets can be labeled or color-coded for each person/room.  Let me tell you how it goes down at my house.  My 2 & 4 year olds tend to bring their items with them into whatever room they are in.  Me & my husband are also somewhat guilty of that too.  Aren't we all?  Anyway, the easiest way I have found to stay on top of this is to have a basket for each person.  At some point during the day, each person can grab their basket & fill it with items that belong in their room from all over the house.  (I take care of this for the hubs).

5)  Create a home for things that often end up on your dining room table.  We do crafts, coloring, Play-Dough, painting -- all kinds of stuff-- on our dining room table throughout the day.  If I didn't have a home for all these things, my table would be cluttered constantly.  So, I utilize the cabinets/closet nearby.  I don't just shove everything in there though.  It is organized & weeded through.


HAPPY WEEKEND Y'ALL!!
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I linked up with:

5 on Friday Link Up

Today I'm linking up with The Good Life Blog for 5 on Friday; 5 Things to mention on this lovely Friday.

1) My sister was featured in Palm Beach Illustrated!  She recently met Jeff Lewis (Flipping Out) when she worked an Alzheimer's Community Care Event where he spoke.  Jamie owns an interior design business in West Palm Beach, FL called SoFlo Home Design.  She specializes in kitchen & bath design.  

2)  Not sure if our caterpillar is alive.  My daughter found one & wanted to keep it, so I looked up online how to care for it.  I followed all the instructions, but he burrowed into the dirt & I haven't seen him since.    Hmm…

3)  My allergies have been driving me crazy!!  Look at my eyes!

4)  This is the best concealer I have ever used.  I've used it since college.  Lately I've been using a little more of it than I used to…

5)  I break stuff.  I totaled our car.  Then, within a couple of months, I backed into our garage door--which had to be completely replaced.  This is my latest mishap:

The other day I took apart the drain in the dishwasher to clean all the junk out.  Apparently I didn't put it back together right because this part melted.  I'm getting expensive.

There's my 5 things for Friday.  Go check out the link up & link your posts up too!