Good morning friends and happy TUESDAY!! We returned home from our lake vacation late Saturday. We were so close to staying the night and coming home Sunday, but it did work out great to wake up in our beds on Sunday. On thing that we like to do is return home on Saturdays from trips. It is so great to have the day to ease into a week and have that extra day to reset!

With school starting and a couple weird instances that occurred at our house (one of them being our dehumidifier crashing in our basement) – we reached our boiling point in terms of clutter and disorganization. I will have to admit, I like to think I am pretty organized, but I’m starting to see I’m not – I think it’s all in my head! I absolutely LOVE the thought of organization and less clutter, but just cannot execute or maintain it well. I am now realizing the some of the reasons I struggle to be organized and less cluttered – 1) we have too much CRUD, which comes with having kiddos – toys and little pieces parts are everywhere! 2) Most of the clutter needs to be purged and a more “bite the bullet” approach needs to happen right up front so things don’t get out of hand.

I’ve personally noticed I will let things sit around that either A) do not have an appropriate “home” and normally refuse to put it away until I have that spot or, B) require a more extensive put away process (i.e. storage bins in basement, pulling out kids clothing bins, medical/insurance bills filing, kids mementos, decor, etc.).

So how can I help myself be more organized – by simplifying our lives! Here are some of the things we’ve been focusing on and certain ways I am forcing myself to become more organized! I would love to hear how you organize/simplify your life and household – any other tips are greatly appreciated!

Bite the Bullet

As I mentioned before, I would let things linger and constantly was telling myself I would get to the task and never did. This caused other tasks to compound on top of that and well, that’s where the clutter begins. If I am to deal with the annoying task right away, I won’t suffer in the long run! Can’t get to the task at the moment, see below…

Write it Down and File it

With so many things going on and school coming up, it is extremely important to keep your calendar up to date. My planner has been the first thing I go to in the morning – especially with all the appointments, events, practices and parties happening. BE SURE TO CHECK BACK THIS WEEK AS I SHARE SOME OF MY DOLLAR TREE ORGANIZATION FAVORITES!

Meal planning is HUGE! Writing that down at the beginning of the week has been a game changer for us (and also a big money saver!)

I am also using a joint gmail account for all things family and school this year. My regular inbox gets flooded with promotional emails and all the important things get lost in the shuffle. Having this gmail solely for school and extracurriculars will be a gamechanger! I’m very excited about that!

Simplify To-Do Lists & Think Ahead

I’ve done this with my house cleaning, but am realizing, I need this in other facets of my life! My planner has a to-do column and I will check back on the week prior to make sure all my to-dos were completed. For the following week, I sit down and think of anything that NEEDS to be done and those tasks get added to my list. This forces me to think ahead about the week – even the next couple weeks and prep for those tasks rather than fly by the seat of my pants (which I’ve done all too many times!).

Before leaving for vacation, I went on a cleaning spree. All the dishes were cleaned, laundry was caught up, floors were clean and kitchen uncluttered. I knew it would be amazing for us to return to a nice clean home after feeling refreshed from vacation. Since the house was already tidied up and things were put away, I was able to unpack all our vacation stuff with ease. If the house was left in a cluttered state, I’m sure our unpacking would compound on top of that. That’s how my mind works – I would have been WAYYY too overwhelmed, wouldn’t know where to start and left it. Having this starting point, made it so easy for me to bite the bullet of the post vacation laundry. I’ve already finished that and put all our clothing away.

PURGE!

This one is huge for me! I have hoarding tendencies (sometimes helpful – I have found there are items I reused in some form and was thankful to have saved it!), but now I really am in the mood to get rid of useless STUFF! If it’s not practical, unused or unworn – it’s to be donated or thrown away!

I have an exception for certain things (i.e. kid’s toys, clothes, housewares, etc.) I plan to do a garage sale first (if you’re new here, I LOVE garage sales) and then donate and give away whatever my fellow garage salers don’t want!

Identify your problem zones and find ways to fix it!

For me, this is my dining room – I will put things on the dining room table that do not have a proper home at the moment. I notice, I do need some sort of console table in my dining room to store some of our excess groceries (i.e. k cups, protein powders, juice boxes, etc. They currently sit on our floor and I’m sick of looking at it! That is a major problem zone, and I need to fix it! Looking for a new console piece ASAP!

Papers and bills are another problem for me. I do have a nice mail sorter on our dining room wall, but I need to make sure I am going through this more frequently and purging/filing any papers I can!

Would love to know how you deal with organization!

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