Cleaning party to Springsteen!

There were fabulous parts to my day.   Getting to see the excellent quality live-streamed Rock in Rio concert was one of them.  Doing that while sorting out a massive pile of papers at least got me through the cleaning up in one piece.

Here's what I'm up to - its the Cleaning Grand Plan from Organized Home. I am loving trying something new and sticking with a new method of getting things done - breaking out of my previous habit of insanely repeating the same things over and over and hoping for a miraculous change.  

Today I moved along all the clean laundry from the laundry room into bedrooms and the linen closet, freeing up room to move shelving from in the laundry to it's proper destination - the kitchen.  However the spot for the shelving in the kitchen was a little cluttered with what I like to call "boxes of rubbish" but apparently are made up of equal parts bills and children's artworks with a selection of random craft, mementos and photographs!

This is the pile of papers for my father that I need to copy! Oh how I long for a lackey to do THAT for me!

 I did take some lovely photos of elder child's artwork. I like how insanely bright this is! She doesn't want to throw it all away, but my next project is to label it as photographed and if it drifts out of her bedroom then in the bin it goes. I also hope to print out a collage to frame on the wall, but thats a project for another day.

What I learnt today was that it is a very bad thing to let bills get out of control and pile up, because in this household, that means they eventually end up in a random box with other non-bill things and that's never going to end well.  I also learnt that getting control of paperwork is going to always be an ongoing thing for me, its not at all my strong suit. In fact papers would easily be where I lose the war with 'stuff' - I am reconsidering the sanity of having all bills arrive by email. For me personally that would require a separate 'bills' email account so they didn't get lost in my general and junk mail.  That's certainly something to get onto, as then the 'paper' could pile up inside my computer where only I see it!

This afternoon's exercise was a walk up the hill from the children's playground to my Dad's nursing home, about 20 minutes with views like this along the way.

Sunset over the river. Glorious time for walking in a beautiful place.

 I have a thing for clover on the side of the road. Especially around the bottom of very old telegraph poles :)

Tomorrow is a work day, also a day for sorting out quite a bit for my Dad. Hubby should be working on the shelving while I'm gone, so kitchen progress will be made. Tuesday all going well I will move on to the next cleaning adventure on the Grand Plan.

Motivational Thursday (Bruce!) - the results

I was surprised at how easy it was to get stuck into the Entry just the way my friend suggested!

Here are the results of what I called The Motivational Thursday Project.  For anyone who missed it, this was motivational Thursday.

Part way through. Still quite a bit of chaos.

This was moved from the main wall to make room for the new Expedit shelves.

Wall waiting for shelving.

Front corner less chaotic, and with temporary curtain!

Voila! New shelves filled with all our stuff! (and a bag packed ready for  the trip to Melbourne!)

Today I steam cleaned the rug and tidied the last junk off the pine hutch. It feels great! Inspirational music today was Shackled and Drawn.

Organising tools ahoy!

Hello, a quick update today about yesterday's shopping trip to Officeworks. I was out, child-free for a change and while in Officeworks found these funky tools that I'm already getting great use from.

This little A5 zip-up folder is to put in my handbag as a portable office. I am too cheap to pay freight for FlyLady's "Office in a Bag" so I'm having a go at the version for under $10! It already has some medical bills for my Dad in it that need to be delivered to Medicare.

This groovy little sideways piece of plastic is to go on the wall beside my computer. I'm going to store current bills in it. Previously they went into piles, which grew and grew towards the ceiling. With this slender wallet on the wall there will be a limit to how many bills fit in at once, so I'll be forced to keep up to date. I really need this kind of visual reminder.

These very boring looking magazine holders are already seeing use. Back in December I photographed my cousins's sorting system where she kept these all decorated up as sorting systems for school and extra-curricular activities for children. At the moment I've already stocked 2 of them, one with my daughter's school notes, tuckshop bags, and other important documents relating to school. The second one is what I call "home and motivation" and it contains my dreams workbook, housecleaning notes and other nifty house organising references.  Once I have the system working I will decorate them and re-post.

I'm doing well with side-ways pictures today! These labels are for storage in our fridge. We are often confused about whether food has been 3 days or 5 days - which can make a difference. If we label the leftovers I figure thats one more part of life we've saved time and made easier. We both share cooking so its easier to be able to open the fridge and see whats in it. Especially good for my husband who finds it difficult to think about anything once it is inside a container unless there is a label.

And these little beauties are re-useable labels for anything. I figured my husband who loves labels can find a use for them.

What organising tools do you use?

Keeping up with correspondence and other paper issues!

Or, paper is my nemesis! I find paperwork the single biggest cluttery mess of all time. Recently, cleaning out a box that had been sitting idle for 3, yes THREE years, I managed to reconnect with a schoolfriend, who'd written me a letter and included her email address. With the wonders of facebook we were soon chatting online, just as we used to in primary school :)

Which leads me to posting about what tips and tricks I have learnt about keeping up with paperwork and correspondence. Its absolutely a work in progress, as I'm still learning!

1. My first tip is to find somewhere to store all the 'outgoing' correspondence stuff. Thats the stamps, envelopes, notepaper and cards. I love cards, and like to keep cards for all occasions on hand. A large part of my difficulty with corresponding is the sheer volume of child-unfriendly stores I need to visit to successfully send anything! Here's a pic of my storage box for correspondence. You might prefer yours labelled.


2. Write seasonal birthday greetings. I started this a few years ago, and it has been my most successful method of sending greetings yet. Instead of writing a card the week before individual birthdays, because of my organisational challenges, I send 3 months of cards at one time. I still phone or email, or whatever is normal on their birthday but at least then they also get a bit of a bright card too, because its nice to receive letters in the post. Its much easier to sit down once to write to a few friends and family than to find the time every week. You might find it perfectly easy to do weekly, or perhaps once a month is a good time. For me, its every 3 months. I know I can fit it in 4 times a year. I use a recycled Elephant Poop Calendar to keep track on a perpetual calendar for all birthdays. You can get something similar, minus the poop here. Or you can make your own, using a funky free download from the lovely Avie Designs Stationery




3. Incoming mail. I always open the incoming mail and immediately sort it into a. rubbish; b. filing and c. to pay - I no longer have a 'to read' pile, as the one I started sat 6 months unread and growing. In the minimisation effort that is my house, as I open it, into the bin, filing cabinet or 'bills' pile it goes immediately. I have even taken to paying bills when I open them in order to have all paperwork immediately in the filing cabinet or bin!


4. information from schools, doctors etc is my current disaster when it comes to paperwork. Generally these things need keeping for reference. Many people find a decorated magazine holder for each type of information e.g. school, doctor. works for them. I am beginning to go paper free - I answer school notes immediately, just like opening bills, and I use my phone's calendar to immediately enter in any important appointments or dates and even reference information so that I no longer need the note from school in its physical form.

5. Birthday cards and mementos - I have a single box at the moment for each child as their memory box. At the moment its small and plain plastic because its a relatively new addition to my organising regime. After display on the birthday, the cards go into their box. Achievements at sport go into an album, as do school reports and other school related certificates. At the moment school certificates and awards for my daughter are in a simple binder from Officeworks.