I am always trying to declutter and I use to love to watch Peter Walsh when he was on Oprah. Now I follow him on YouTube so I can watch his videos.
Here are just some of his de-clutter mantras:
You only have the space you have Flat Surfaces are not storage areas When you put things into a pile to deal with later you have lost the battle Everything in your home should reflect your vision for the life you want Enjoy your day!!
New Years Eve is tomorrow and two of my goals/resolutions for the new year is to eat better and stay organized. I am on my iphone all of the time so why not use it to help me with my goals.
I did some research and found some great apps to help you eat better and to be more organized.
When you have to write or track everything you eat it makes you think twice before eating that cupcake.
Apps to help you eat healthier:
myfitnesspal-free-use on iphone,ipad, android,blackberry and windows phone
–tallies up your calories you eat each day. You can also track any exercise you do that day
imapmyfitness-free-use on iphone,ipad,ipodtouch
–tracking app uses your GPS to track your outdoor workouts
lose it-free-use it on iphone,ipod touch, ipad
–estimate of calories on the food that you eat, exercise database where you can calculate calories burned. It also gives you daily calorie budget
weight watchers mobile-free-use on iphone,ipad and android
–track food and activity, cheat sheets-best advice on what to eat when you eat at a restaurant, barcode scanner will tell you how many WW points, recipes
When you are more organized you can eliminate some of your stress in your life.
Apps to help you be more organized:
Mint-free-use on android, IOS, windows phone
–manage your budget and savings goals
Remember the Milk-free-use on iphone
–add to do lists, syncs with online version, organize with due dates, priorities and more
Ziplist-free-use on apple or android
–database of recipes, add ingredients to your shopping list, you can also email the shopping list to others
Red Laser-free-use on apple, android, windows phone
–scan barcodes to see how much they cost from a competitor
Groupon-free-use on apple, blackberry and windows phone
–local daily deals, track and redeem deals straight from your phone
Intuition+Mom’s Personal Assistant-free-use on iphone
–syncs with your google calendar, lists, calendars, mom tips and more
I have already downloaded some of these and plan on downloading more.
What are your favorite apps to help better manage your life and help you stay more organized?
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I have been trying to organize all areas of my home. I bake cakes quite a bit especially for my kid’s birthdays. My baking tools were a mess I was always digging through baskets and bags to try to find what I was looking for.
I found the perfect item that would organize all of my baking tools. I purchased the Bake stack
It fits in standard kitchen cabinets and the units can be stacked on top of each other.
I love that it saves space and clears away clutter.
The Bake Stack includes :
18 easy fit drawer dividers-
It is very easy to customize you just align the dividers into the drawer dividers and push down. The drawers pull straight out and lower so you can easily see and access what you need.
You can store icing, candles, sprinkles, cake tips and so much more in the Bake Stack.
BeforeI purchased my Bake stack
Disclosure: This post does have affiliate links.
As you have seen in other posts I am participating in a 91 Day DeClutter Challenge that Mary Organizes hosts. You can read more about it here.
This week’s challenge is to declutter the landing areas in your home. Here are the steps that were listed out to help declutter:
Sunday – Take the day off and mentally prepare for the week ahead. 91 days is a marathon, don’t let yourself get burned out by trying to sprint the first half! A day off to rest and re-focus is vital.
Monday – Landing Area by the front door.
Tuesday – Landing Area by the garage door AND Landing Area by the shoes.
Wednesday – Landing Area by the back door .
Thursday – Landing Area by the stairs.
Friday – Landing Area by the kitchen.
Saturday –Any other landing areas! Be done with them! Donate your donate items and Relocate your relocates. If a relocate item goes to a room you’ve already de-cluttered, then put it back where it goes. If the de-clutter item goes to a room that hasn’t been cleaned yet and it doesn’t have a place, just put it in the room.
The landing areas in my home are a daily challenge in my home. Especially the island that is where everything ends up and it drives me nuts. The kitchen table is another spot that the kids always leave stuff on especially since school started.
Here are the before and after pictures:
So much better now if I can just keep the areas clean. It is nice to walk into the kitchen and have all of the ares cleaned and clear of clutter.
You should join the DeClutter Challenge and get your house clean before the holidays.
As many of you know I am participating in a 91 Day DeClutter Challenge that Mary Organizes setup. My house is looking better every week.
Last week challenge was to declutter your closet. Here are the steps Mary listed out to help.
Sunday – Take the day off and mentally prepare for the week ahead. 91 days is a marathon, don’t let yourself get burned out by trying to sprint the first half! A day off to rest and re-focus is vital.
Monday – Take everything out of the closet, immediately purge items you don’t need anymore.
Tuesday – Sort things into categories and types. Do another round of purging.
Wednesday – Put everything back.
Thursday – Repeat as necessary.
Friday – Repeat as necessary.
Saturday –Repeat as necessary. Donate your donate items and Relocate your relocates. If a relocate item goes to a room you’ve already de-cluttered, then put it back where it goes. If the de-clutter item goes to a room that hasn’t been cleaned yet and it doesn’t have a place, just put it in the room.
I worked on two closets. The first one is the closet that is right when you come in through the front door. I use it to store the kids games and crafts. I do have hangers in the closet for when we have company.
The next closet I worked on is the closet right off the garage. This closet has always drove me crazy. It is always a mess and it is a very narrow hallway and the bifold doors took up a lot of room. So I decided to take off the bifold doors and put up curtains. I also took out the show shelf and put in closetmaid stackable organizers so more shoes can fit in there. I installed hooks for the kids backpacks, so they wouldn’t be on the floor all of the time. I bought four fabric bins to put headrests,umbrellas and snowpants in them to make it alot better.
Here is a picture of the fabric bins I put on the top shelf
I absolutely love how it turned out. It looks more open and organized.
This week is landing areas I already took before pictures and it is scary stay tuned for a post with before and after pictures.
Are you working on decluttering or organizing any areas in your home?
I love watching youtube videos on organization. I found a lady who is a professional organizer her name is Alejandra here is a link to her channel. I can watch her for hours she has so many great ideas.
I watched this video of how she organizes her wrapping paper and I loved it so much I ordered the items she used from Container Store. Here is the video if you want to watch it.
Anyway here is what I had my wrapping paper in before. It would be hard to get them all in there sometimes they would get ripped it wasn’t that easy to see all of the wrapping paper I had either.
Now here is my new wrapping paper organizer. I am going to order another storage basket to put next to it to put gift bags and bows in.
What do you think, do you like it?
As most of you know I am participating in a DeClutter Challene that Mary Organizes set up. You can find out more information here
This week’s challenge is to clean your office space. Here is how the week is broken down.
You will see a lot of papers this week. Get that recycling bin ready!
Sunday – Take the day off and mentally prepare for the week ahead. 91 days is a marathon, don’t let yourself get burned out by trying to sprint the first half! A day off to rest and re-focus is vital.
Monday – Desk drawers
Tuesday – Files
Wednesday – Printer station and school supplies
Thursday – Shelves, other furniture, and storage
Friday – Desk top(s) and surfaces
Saturday – The floor and anything else, then wrap everything up. Donate your donate items and Relocate your relocates. If a relocate item goes to a room you’ve already de-cluttered, then put it back where it goes. If the de-clutter item goes to a room that hasn’t been cleaned yet and it doesn’t have a place, just put it in the room.
I really don’t have an office per say. I made a closet in the basement in the last bedroom which I made into my exercise room. The closet is small and I really don’t spend much time in the office/closet except to look for items or to file paperwork.
Here is my before pictures, which is embarassing how bad it was.
beforeIt was such a mess I started on the bookshelf and cleaned it off by shelf and put like items together and put items that didn’t belong in that area where they were suppose to be. The desk was full of my son’s paperwork almost a year worth of his art work and other kindergarten paperwork. I also put a shelf up that I had to keep my desk cleared off. The file cabinets were a mess a lot of paperwork I just needed to file and other items belonged in other areas. I found a bench at Target on clearance for $30 and I think it all looks great.
Now it looks 100% better.
After
What do you think? How do you keep your office area clean?
As some of you know I am participating in a De Clutter Challenge that Mary Organizes set up. You can read more about it here. I know I am behind posting this but I had to wait for my husband to put together the sofa table I ordered.
This is for Week #4 and it was to organize an extra room (guest,craft,kids, etc). We have a spare bedroom in the basement. It is a catch all room because it is in the basement and no one really goes in there very often. The only people who stay in there are my in laws and they only visit about twice a year.
Here is the before pictures:
Yikes what a mess!
I worked really hard on this room. I moved the bed to another wall. I bought all new items for the wall, a new bedspread, sofa table ,lamp and other trinkets for the sofa table. I also painted a wood stand white so it would go well with the other colors.
Ok now for the big reveal:
This room makes me so happy. I absolutely love how it turned out. Let me know what you think?
As you know I am participating in the 91 Day DeClutter Challenge. This week I am working on the laundry room.
My laundry room is right off the garage and is a catch all area. Things gets thrown on the counter or the washer and dryer as we come in the door.
It only took me about an hour to clean and put everything back where they belong. Hopefully we can keep it clean at least for a little while. I also added a laundry room vinyl lettering to the top of the window.
We don’t really use the sink to much but I added a towel and some flowers in the corner.
I love how nice it looks I keep peeking in to look at it.
Next week is the master bedroom.If you would like to participate in the 91 Day Declutter Challenge you can find more information here.
Have a good week.
The past two weeks I have been working on cleaning the kid’s rooms for Week 2 and 3 of the 91 Day Declutter Challenge that Mary Organizes has set up.
I started in my daughter’s room. She has two spots that get the messiest her dresser and closet where her toys are kept. I also went through all of her clothes and had two separate piles donate and consignment.
clothes that she has outgrown her dresser before Before
I went through her toys and got rid of items I haven’t see her play with in awhile. I wanted to be able to close her closet so I put the shopping cart by her Dora Kitchen in the dining room and then reorganized some toys. On her dresser I just put all of the stuff away where it should have been.
her dresser after the closet after her room after
Then I started working on my son’s room. His messiest areas are his desk and closet where his toys are.
his room before his closet before
I cleaned his room in sections. I started on his desk first and put everything away. Then I worked on his closet and out his toys where they were suppose to be. His bookshelf is the hardest to keep organized so I reorganized all of the books.
his room after his closet after his room after
So much better I have to walk by both of their rooms to get to my room. I love walking by and seeing them clean and organized. We will see how long they stay that way. Next Week I will be working on the guest room.
I have been using coupons for over 7 years, and I constantly looking for a better way to organize my coupons to optimize my savings. When I first started couponing I just used a small accordian case and then as I started using coupons more I eventually started using a large binder with coupon inserts. You can read more about it here.
I have used the binder system for several years. I do like it but it is time consuming to put all of the coupons away and to go through at the end of each month and pull out the expired coupons. I happened to come across a blog post about Glow Girl Fibers Coupon Organizers. She has so many great designs,colors and sizes of coupon organizers. I ordered the Waterproof Mega Large Coupon Organizer.
The coupon organizer will hold about 1,000 coupons. It clips onto your cart so you can easily look through your coupons as you shop. You will also receive 30 blank dividers and and peel & stick labels. I like the fact that you can customize it to your needs and put the labels on in the order that you want to. I am going to put my CVS, Walgreens coupons,extra care bucks and reward in mine so I don’t have to carry a seperate envelope and I will have them with me all of the time.
I love how light it is to carry instead of my large binder. I can carry it easily with the strap and I love that you can strap it to a cart so I can easily look through for the coupons I need. There is a label for using today so you can plan your trip and put all of the coupons you are going to use for your shopping trip right up front.
You can order your very own Glow Girl Fibers Coupon Organizer
How do you organize your coupons?
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
I am participating in the 91 Day Declutter Challenge that Mary Organizes has set up. Each week we focus on a different area and each day we focus on specific areas.
I am a little behind, my daughter started preschool yesterday. But I am caught back up now.
I cleaned out the most cluttered cabinets. I love the the pullout cabinets they are so easy to get to everything. Now if I can only keep it looking nice. I decided to get rid of my Foreman grill and an extra set of pots. That made it look a lot nicer.
Before After
Then I cleaned out my lazy susan cabinet. I like it but it can get messy pretty easily and things get thrown around a but when you turn it. I went through all of the food and checked expiration dates. If anything was expired I threw it out. I moved most of my coffee to a different cabinet. I have way to much coffee but I like to have different varities.
Before After
I cleaned out my largest drawer and it gets messy very easily. It is the drawer that we use most since it has all of our silverware in it.
Before After
If you want to join on the 91 Day De-Clutter Challenge you can find more information here.
I am participating in the 91 Day Declutter Challenge that Mary Organizes has set up. Each week we focus on a different area and each day we focus on specific areas.
Today’s task is to de-clutter pantry.
I started with the top shelf and worked my way down. I have some pans that I only use a couple times a year(angel food pan and bundt pan) so I moved those downstairs I have a kitchenette with a lot of cupboard space. I stock up on cereal when it is on sale. I like to have different varities of kinds so I don’t get tired of one kind. My son has favorites also as you can tell. We are the only two in the house who eats cereal.
As I worked down on the shelves I looked at all of the products expiration date, if anything was expired I threw it out. Then I grouped items together so it is easier to find items. I love the shoe organizer I have on the door the top couple of rows are for my husband and my treats. The lower rows are for the kids so they can easily access snacks. They do have to ask permission.
I had a lot of chips also. My son already started school and my daughter starts this week so I am making a lot of lunches. I did put any unopened bags downstairs in the kitchenette.
I love how organized it is and I can see more of the floor now.
Before After Trash and Recycling after cleanupIf you want to start the 91 Declutter Challenge you can find more information here.
I am participating in the 91 Day Declutter Challenge that Mary Organizes has set up. Each week we focus on a different area and each day we focus on specific areas.
Today’s task was to Clean out your fridge/freezer. Remove expired and dirty foods.
The first thing I did was to take everything out of my fridge and check expiration dates. I threw out all of the expired foods. Then I wiped out all of the shelves and put everything back in and grouped the items that belonged together so it is easier to find everything.
Before After
Then I took everything off of the fridge and determined what I need to keep and if it even belonged on the refrigerator/freezer in the first place. I hate how cluttered it looked. I had a ridiculous amount of magnets on it. I kept the laminated to do/note sheet because I use it a lot as soon as I run out of an item I write it under to buy that way next time I go to the grocery store I remember to put that item on my grocery list.
After
If you want to start on the 91 Day De-Clutter Challenge. You can find out more information here. Tomorrow I will be working on de-cluttering my pantry.
I have a pretty big pantry and I love it but it gets messy so fast people just throw stuff in there. Most of the stuff ends up on the floor. I go in the pantry a lot that is where we store all of the snacks.
I have a shoe organizer on the door to hold fruit snacks and a lot of other snacks I love it. It works out so great I put all of the kids snack on the lower rows so they can just grab what they want. I put my snacks and my husband’s snacks on the top rows that way the kids can’t reach them.
I hate when I open the door and it is messy it really stresses me out. I like things clean and organized. I think I am going to label the bins hopefully that will get people to put stuff back where they are suppose to go. The top shelf is full of cereal. I like to stock up on cereal. My son and I eat cereal almost every morning and I don’t want to pay full price.
The first thing I did is take stuff out shelf by shelf. Start to put like stuff together. I wiped down the shelves. I bought a roll of peel & stick laminate several months ago and finally had the time to put it up on the walls of the pantry to bring a pop of color to the pantry.
I measured the shelves and wall and then cut the peel & stick laminate. It was very easy to put up and I love it. It brightens up the panty. Then I put the stuff back on the shelves and put the like stuff together.
Now I smile when I open my pantry door.
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