Using Time Wisely

Organized to save money, energy, and time

You are here: Home / Archives for Household / Organizing

Organizing: Dining Room Bookshelf #2

by

Though this summer has been busy with family outings, play dates, and regular household maintenance, I have used my time wisely in getting a few organizational projects completed. Some of the projects have been planned while others were the result of a distraction. 🙂

After organizing my first bookshelf in my dining room, the second bookshelf appeared cluttered. You know what that means . . . another organizational project! I love sorting the items – donating what we do not need, throwing out anything broken, placing similar items together, and cleaning the area. My kids are always bringing home more toys, crafts, and projects. Having a place for them keeps the clutter off our dining room table and the mess to a minimum.

Since my living room and dining room space is the hub of our house, we have 2 bookshelves to hold all the projects, craft items, and our cookbooks. This choice might be unconventional, but it works for us.

After my deep cleaning project, I decided on using time wisely and organized the second bookshelf.

BEFORE:

At the start of this project, the 6 shelves held the following items on the corresponding shelf:

  1. Creative Cook’s Kitchen books and tall cookbooks by height,
  2. Miscellaneous cookbooks by height,
  3. Entertaining books and recipe cards,
  4. Story of America history card collection,
  5. School papers, projects, and “if you don’t know where it goes, then put it on this shelf” items, and
  6. Silverware box surrounded by story collection books.

In following the 10 steps to organizing a bookshelf, I was able to donate a couple unused cookbooks, place similar items together, and open up more space.

AFTER:

Now the 6 shelves are clean and hold items our family uses without clutter:

  1. Creative Cook’s Kitchen books and tall cookbooks by height,
  2. Miscellaneous cookbooks by height,
  3. Entertaining books and recipe cards,
  4. Story of America history card collection,
  5. School papers to keep and small centerpiece for dining room table, and
  6. Silverware box surrounded by story collection books.

Taking the bookshelf one shelf at a time breaks down the big project into small manageable sections. Start small (one shelf) sorted, cleaned, and placed back neatly. Then the next shelf, and continue until your project (entire bookshelf) is complete.

I was thrilled with the results: a clean bookshelf with similar items together and some empty space. Since I keep my home organized year round, this project might seem insignificant. Though many might not notice the difference in the before and after pictures, I know that the shelves are clean (not dirty), clutter-free (donated or trashed items not used), and better organized (pleasing to my eyes).

Question: In using time wisely, what you are doing to keep your house organized? Whether your project is small or large, please share your projects in the comments.

My Distraction: Food Storage Container Organization

by

In going about my daily activities on Saturday afternoon, I got distracted by an organization project. Believe it or not, this scenario is very typical. Getting to organize and create a better functional space thrills me. I just ♥ to organize! My oldest daughter also enjoys organizing. Just watching her line up her shoes or Little People characters or the toy cars moves me. As she grows older, we are going to enjoy creating clean, organized spaces together. 🙂

The Distraction

On Friday afternoon, a shipping service delivered a brown box to our house. The box was brought in and left in the entryway. On Saturday afternoon, my husband brought the box into the living room and opened it. My new food storage containers had arrived.

Hence, my distraction! (I was able to snag this package from Wal-mart for $10. 🙂 We needed more containers, and this price was perfect.)

The Problem

Even before they were placed in the dishwasher, I needed a new home for them in my kitchen. Usually I keep all the plastic containers in the lower cabinets for my younger children to scatter and keep themselves entertained while I work in the kitchen. Though this system works for me, hubby gets frustrated with this arrangement. With his tall stature, the bending down to find the container and then the lid without knocking something over is too uncomfortable for him.

So, a new system was needed.

The Current Solution

To keep items in the cabinet below for my little ones’ enjoyment, I replaced the plastic containers with the water bottles, plastic pitchers, and sandwich keepers.

(Sorry, I took pictures after making the changes. I just got carried away with my organizing project before I remembered to take pictures.)

I then moved the food storage containers to the lowest shelf in the upper cabinets. Since the basket I was using to house the lids was too big for that cabinet, I replaced the basket with a cardboard box. I love using containers like baskets, boxes, etc. to keep similar items together.

This container organization works for me. I can take down the box, add or remove the lids, and replace it.

The Result

Yeah! Hubby is happy with the containers on a higher plane, I like the organized shelves with plastic containers for my children’s playtime, and we have new containers!

Though I got distracted by an organization project, I was able to alleviate some frustrations while using time wisely in maintaining my household.

Question: How are you improving your household organization?

Organizing: Dining Room Bookshelf #1

by

Though unconventional, I have 2 bookcases in my dining room. These bookcases hold cookbooks, arts and crafts, puzzles, projects, and toys. Since we work on our crafts at the dining room table, the best place to house our craft supplies is in the dining room. The farther away the supplies are to the work area, the more time I have to spend carting the supplies from one area to another. To use my time wisely, I have bookshelves to hold these items in my dining room.

During my recent deep cleaning project, the first bookshelf was in need of organization. From getting used, some items had made it to the wrong shelf, were not needed, and took up too much space in the current arrangement.

BEFORE:

The 6 shelves held the following items on the corresponding shelf:

  1. Handmade gifts collection and cookbooks,
  2. Science encyclopedia, cake decorating books, and recipe box,
  3. Crayons, paper, paint, Model Magic, and a puzzle,
  4. Play-Doh and Moon-Doh,
  5. Puzzles, and
  6. Bags, lunch boxes, and toys.

In following the 10 steps to organizing a bookshelf, I was able to donate some of the unused books, place similar items together, and open up more space.

AFTER:

Now the 6 shelves hold similar items on their corresponding shelf:

  1. Handmade gifts collection and cake decorating books,
  2. Coloring books, paper, science encyclopedia, and practice books,
  3. Craft supplies: paint, crayons, stamps, and Model Magic,
  4. Play-Doh and Play-Doh supplies,
  5. All puzzles, and
  6. Bags, lunch boxes, and toys.

Taking the bookshelf one shelf at a time breaks down the big project into small manageable sections. Start small (one shelf) and continue until your project (entire bookshelf) is complete. I was thrilled with the results: a clean bookshelf with similar items together and some empty space.

How about you? Do you spend 10-15 minutes a week organizing? Try it. Start small, and come back to report your progress in the comments.

Organization: My Pantry

by

As I continued to grow my stockpile with all the great deals to be had at my local Bi-Lo and Publix, I found my pantry overflowing and in dire need of organization. Since I could not find a place for the items I had purchased, I decided to rearrange and reorganize my pantry.

Overflowing, disorganized pantry

When I begin an organization project, I follow the same basic system. I work top to bottom and from one side to the other. In this case, I opened my pantry and started on the top shelf.  I removed all the items on the shelf. I then decided how much space was needed for those items, and then I neatly placed those items on the shelf. The top shelf of my panty houses all the extra spices, flour, cake mixes, frostings, brownie mixes, powdered sugar, brown sugar, and other baking needs.

I used this opportunity to rid my pantry of expired foods. On the second shelf, I found expired salad dressing, and later on the floor, I discovered expired juices. These items were removed from my house and disposed of.

Since I was removing all the items, one shelf at a time, I organized the products when returning them to the pantry. I chose to place the newest item (the expiration date is the farthest away from the dates of similar items) at the end of the line for those products. This way, I was placing the older items purchased in front of the newer items. Then when I need a jar of mustard, I will reach in the pantry and select the first mustard I find.

After completing the organization for the top 4 shelves, I came to the floor of my pantry. I again removed all the items. While I was sorting the items into like categories, my 15-month-old went exploring. She found a nice hiding place in the pantry where I was working. She enjoyed sitting and watching Mommy work.

Learning how to organize

All the items had been removed from the shelves, sorted into similar piles, and placed back neatly in the pantry. The finished project allows me access to the product quickly which helps me use my time wisely. I love knowing what I have in the pantry and what I am missing. I kept a grocery list handy while I organized, and I wrote down items we had used and needed to replace.

Completed organized pantry

What happens when your pantry needs to be organized, but you cannot work on this project for an hour? Try organizing one shelf at a time. Just like organizing the bookshelf, you can complete this task by using your time wisely. You will also save money, energy and time as you will know what you currently have, get what you need easily, and quickly get your products in hand. Wow . . .  multitasking, you can organize and get your grocery list started. What are you waiting for? You can complete another project. Just take it one step at a time. Happy organizing!

Organization: Coat Closet

by

Were you able to get that bookshelf organized? I hope you were able to follow those 10 steps and complete your project. Having a finished task brings me great joy since I can find what I need without clutter. When I cannot quickly get to my items, I waste energy and time. Digging through a mound of games in our coat closet to locate one game costs me valuable time.

Our downstairs coat closet had quite a bit of empty space. To maximize that space, my brother-in-law kindly installed white wire shelves. I love having shelves to hold our family games that we play often. The games with little pieces can be stored on top shelves out of little one’s reach. I can also easily get to a game in a stack of 5 games without disrupting an entire stack of boxes. When my children request a game, I can usually go to the closet, locate the game, and get it out. The problem comes when my children and/or husband help put the games away. After the games have been repeatedly pulled out and put back, the closet mysteriously became disheveled.

After wasting time searching for a requested game, I decided to use my time wisely and organize the coat closet. Here is a before picture showing the lovely mess in the coat closet.

BEFORE:

Disorganized Coat Closet

To organize the contents, I did the following:

  1. Took out all the games.
  2. Sorted them into piles: large, medium, and small.
  3. Placed the random game pieces found on the floor with the appropriate game. If I could not locate the game, then I put the extra pieces in a container. As I found those games, I took the extra pieces from the container and placed them in the game box. Then I placed the game in the small, medium, or large pile.
  4. Designated a home for each game. The larger games were placed on the floor whereas the smaller games were placed on the shelves.
  5. Put games in designated places. When all the games were put back into the closet, I had plenty space. The result was a clean, organized coat closet.

AFTER:

Organized Coat Closet

Entire closet neat and organized

As I open this closet door and see the neat shelves, I can easily scan the shelves and locate the game I want. Keeping this closet organized is helping me save money (refraining from purchasing a game we already own), energy (retrieving the game needed without moving items out of the way), and time (getting in and out of the closet quickly). Spending my current time organizing helps me spend my future time wisely. Though you may have organized that closet in the past, keeping it organized requires maintenance. Enjoy the process and happy organizing!