Organizing Flexibility

                Even in organizing you must be flexible. I work in a job that things are constantly changing. Sometimes daily sometimes hourly and sometimes it is minute to minute. You may think you have a system worked out and here comes a change and you have to change with it.

                This is true when it comes to organizing. If you saw my house right now you would think and she is an organizing leader? I don’t claim to be perfect or always have it together. We must be flexible enough to say ok what is my priority today? Do you have to pay bills and everything else can wait so you have time with your family? Then do just that. Yes you can burn yourself out trying to be organized and organizing yourself. If it was a stressful day at work, traffic was terrible, or the kids are on your last nerve; it just maybe the best thing for you to give yourself a break. Will the world end if you leave a few things undone? Sometimes we must allow ourselves down time to gather our thoughts. Without a clear mind you won’t be very productive and it will cause you more stress which may lead to you giving up. So with all this being said, I give you permission even order you to take a breather and gather yourself. Trust me in this you will be thankful you did. When you allow yourself to decompress you can look at something that must be done with a clear focus and say ok if I do this than that will fall into place. When you attack things with a fogged up brain that has thoughts racing at a 100 mph you are not able to see the small simple things that make things work out easier, and most often times faster. I for many years tried to over think everything and tried to do so many things at one time that I would just frustrate myself to the point I could not focus on something as simple as putting dishes away. I learned after many trial and errors that if you focus on one thing that must get done. Do that, it is much easier to also slip in a couple of little things that can be done quickly so your mental / actual “to do list” gets way more things checked off. If you have a day that you plan to tackle several projects, take a moment and figure out the priority of the things that need to be done, and the order to do things that will make the next task easier. For example I love to move furniture around it makes me feel like I have change without buying anything new. I plan what will go where and what needs to be moved first to make room for these things. (This is also my way of cleaning in places that I would normally get over look when doing general house cleaning). So in short, plan out your plan of attack and it will save you frustration and possibly even giving up in the middle of a project. By doing this it may bring to mind other tasks that need to be accomplished to achieve your end goal.

Calendar Conundrum

                How many times have you been late for an appointment? Forgot about the doctor’s appointment until you get a reminder from the office (If you get these) and realized you had a full day and there was no way you could get off work or find someone on such short notice to watch the kids? These things happen every day to millions of people just like you and I. Some people prefer electronic calendars, some like paper calendars. Either way you do it, you need to make sure that as soon as you make an appointment or commitment that you record it. Those business cards size appointment reminders you may get can so easily get lost. My suggestion is that you take a couple of minutes once a week whatever day you choose (I do Sunday) and look at your calendar for the upcoming week to see what is coming. It will give you a fresh reminder of appointments, play dates, events, or birthdays that may have slipped your mind. This also allows you to make arrangements that you may need to make, remind you to get that dress out for an upcoming party and dust it off, or get out that dress shirt you normally don’t wear and iron it. To run to the store to get that birthday card that has to get in the mail today, or get those cookies for the class party that you volunteered for. Things get hectic at times and we all forget things. I have both paper and electronic calendars. In my job I keep up with several people’s calendars and 4 conference rooms that are often booked solid and meetings times and places are changed several times. I am asked many times a day is John in a meeting? Or is conference room A open from 2-3 today. There are times that I know off the top of my head, but most of the time I will tell the person asking hold on a moment while I look for you. There is no shame when someone asks if you are available to say “let me check my calendar”. If you have that moment open but the rest of your day is booked its ok to say “I’m booked solid” and offer a different day, time or even place. Give yourself a little wiggle room for the little things that may cause you to get behind, traffic, a phone call, a spill you have to clean up, a pair of shores you can’t find, the keys you don’t remember where you placed, the meeting that runs over. Because there are always things that pop up. Nobody can reasonably plan every single minute to go perfectly as we do not live in a perfect world. Also don’t forget to schedule some time for yourself. Whether or you simply just have a couple of minutes of down time, or take a long bath, read a book, paint or even look for a place to stay on your next vacation. It is very important to make time for yourself and give yourself forgiveness for things you over looked and wiggle room because after all we are human. 

Organizational Break: I to needed to take a break.

                It has been about 4 years since I posted a blog. In all that time I never stopped working on organization. If anything I found more things to write about and give others ideas. A lot has changed; I have started a new job. My youngest got married and is expecting her first child. My husband and I have remodeled and sold our prior home to buy a new one and move closer to work to cut down on our commute time. We have been remolding our new smaller home to make it what we want and we have much more yet to do. Funny how a few years goes by and things change so much. My newer job keeps me on my toes. I work as a receptionist for a company that is growing and expanding quickly. Where I support and work for several departments. Trust me when I say I am not just a receptionist. I juggle so very many things all at the same time if I was not a multi-tasker or as organized many major errors would occur. I ask you to stop here for just a moment and think of the many tasks that you juggle every single day…

 You too have the ability to be a multi-tasker and be organized. For example when you drive a vehicle you are organizing and multi-tasking. You are steering, controlling the speed, watching other drivers, reacting to them, as well as paying attention to where you have come from and where you are going. There are many other things some do while driving, but ultimately you are multi-tasking in an organized fashion, by what dancers know as muscle memory. When you do things over and over you get more efficient at them and they become almost second nature and you do them without having to think of what you are doing or how you need to do it. This is to show you that with a little practice you can become organized. Starting anything new is hard, and there is a lot of work to be done. As you go along things will become easier and second nature. A new way of doing things will take getting use to, but it will be well worth it. So when change comes your way and you know it will, you will be much better equipped to take it on. My hope in telling you these things are to inspire you to take a step in the direction of organizing yourself and ultimately your life.

P.S. Don’t get caught up in the "I must change everything at one time.” attitude / thought process. Take it step by step even one little change can make a difference. Don’t overwhelm yourself. Like they say “Rome wasn't built in a day”.

Who or what is being groomed?

As we continue to take care of your bathroom let’s take it a step further. Grooming supplies take up a lot of space and we often have old out dated items lying around.

               Women do you have tons of makeup, creams, lotions etc.? When was the last time you used it? Sure we women sometimes like to change our look and use different colors and that is fine, but if you have makeup you don’t remember when you purchased or when the last time you used it throw it out. Many of us get irritated eyes or even eye infections from using old makeup. Yes even makeup can grow bacteria. If you use old makeup it can even cause rashes or pimples. So go thru all of your cosmetics and get rid of old stuff or products you no longer use. This will cut down on what you have to store leaving more room for what you do use and therefore you can organize it better and cut down on time to searching for just the right thing.

               Men you too have items you have lying around. If you use a trimmer when was the last time you cleaned it? You should brush it out after each use and use rubbing alcohol to clean it off every couple of uses.

               Brushes and combs when was the last time you cleaned them? Many of us have our favorite brush, comb, pick etc. We forget to clean these items. So take a moment to pull out our extra hair out of these items. Gather any makeup brushes as well take these out to the kitchen and place them in the dish washer. (If you have any ball caps that have not been washed you can put them in as well.) Run the dish washer on glasses or sanitizing cycle without soap. It will clean off the sweat, hair products and bacteria that grow on these items. Ball caps will be clean and not lose their shape. (Do not run these items with dishes.) Toothbrushes should be replaced every 3 months, or after getting over an illness to prevent you from reinfecting yourself.

               Now that things are clean and you have decreased the number of items you have to figure out where you would like to place them for a neat and convenient access. Our grooming items can sometimes make a hugh mess in our bathrooms. Sometimes you may wonder who or what was being groomed with hair and dust being around.

               Do you have scissors, tweezers and other metal items used in your bathroom? When was the last time you sanitized them? It is simple to do this, simply take rubbing alcohol to clean these items and since it dries quickly it won’t cause these items to rust.

               Main tip is to get rid of old out dated and unused items, and to clean and sanitize the items we frequently use.

Bathroom Blues

Does your bathroom drive you crazy? It is a room often used but seldom given attention. It is one of the smallest rooms in our homes yet it has hundreds of items in it. Even though it is a chore many of us don’t like, it is a room that honestly needs to be cleaned well and often. Other than the kitchen it should honestly be the cleanest room in our homes. I am suggesting that you once again empty out areas to start fresh and get organized. In a later blog entry I will cover grooming items (i.e. makeup, brushes, combs, toothbrushes, etc.)

               First start in your linen closet (if you have one). Take everything out.  Sort items into categories, i.e. towels, washcloths, cleaning supplies, etc. Now I personally sort my towels into a couple of piles. Hand towels, bath towels, hair towels, and old torn towels. I try to put the best and most often used on top.

               Now that you have everything out and sorted, how many of the items do not belong in the bathroom? We seem to use our bathroom linen closets as a quick stash place when we are rushing around cleaning up. Anything that doesn’t belong put where it does belong. Before putting things away clean the area. Wash off shelves sweep out the bottom. Figure out where you would like things to go. (Yes we are again planning.) You may have kept things on lower shelves before and now you would like them up higher or vice versa. Things you don’t use as much you may choose to place either up higher or on the bottom. Whatever you choose is ok. Do what is best for you and your family. There is no right or wrong way to do it.

               Ok what is below your sink are there things you would like to move to your linen closet? Go ahead and move these items and do the same with items you had in your linen closet you want to put below your sink. (If you have small children keep cleaning supplies out of reach, do the same with soaps, shampoos etc. or put a lock on the cabinet doors.)

               Keep thing near where you use them. Toilet paper kept on the other side of the room does you no good if you are going to the bathroom and the roll is empty. Here again planning is important. Some people don’t like to keep an extra roll out in the open and that is ok. You can find many things to keep them in. Little cabinets meant for rolls of toilet paper, some place them on the plunger handle, (hopefully it is clean) others have decorative baskets or boxes where they put the extra rolls. Whatever you choose is ok. I simply recommend you keep things where it makes sense to you and where you need the items. With a little work and ingenuity we can transform our bathroom into a room that is pleasant to be in.

               Don’t forget while you are organizing to clean. Your shower is sometimes the most disorganized area in the bathroom. Do you have several different types of shampoos, conditioners, soaps etc.? Check to see if you have empty containers if so throw them out. If you keep your shaving items in the shower check for rust. If your blades are rusted throw them out. Can you decrease the number of items in the shower? If so please do so. Once every couple of months you should take down your shower curtain and wash it in the washing machine with ½ cup of bleach. This will kill any mold that may be lurking on it.

               Do you have items on your vanity that just take up space and are not used often? If so put them away. The cups, etc. that are around need to be cleaned. We sometimes forget to do this. Another tip many don’t know is do not keep medications in your bathroom. It is the moistest rooms in your home and can cause your meds to get damp, stick together or even start to dissolve. Most meds should be kept in a cool dry area, so the bathroom is not a good choice.

               The primary goal for today is to place things where you can easily get to them and where you use them. Also clean the areas and items that are most often missed. No sense allowing germs and bacteria to grow and getting yourself or your family sick.

Can I keep this up?

If you have been following me the past 28 days I have been giving tips every day for 28 days straight. I admit there have been a few days that I missed, but I then recover with 2 entries the following day. That is also what this blog entry is all about. There will be days that we don’t do anything, I encourage you to do what you can when you can even if you have only done a few things you are a success. These things don’t have to be just my suggestions or ideas; they can be anything that you may have done to organize yourself and your life. They say it takes 28 days to create a new habit so again if you did not keep up doing something every day, it is ok. Tomorrow is a new day; you always have a new chance to make choices. I encourage you to just keep trying to do something, even if it is only the 5 minuets I challenged you in previous challenges. I am simply trying to give you some ideas that you can do to organize yourself. Everyone has different needs and circumstances, and I do understand this fully.

               When I started this blog I was working a full time job, trying to take care of things at home, assist my daughter in her college search and all the things that go along with getting into college, and doing this blog. My life to say the least was very busy. At work I had to be flexible because things changed frequently sometimes weekly, other times it seemed as though things were changing by the minute. You must be able to forgive yourself if you don’t do everything you want and things don’t turn out the way you thought. As with my life things and circumstances change and you need to be able to change with them. You will learn as you go something’s that work for others may not work for you and vice versa. I am constantly changing how I do things as I realize that a different way will work better. So don’t give up if you try something and it don’t work the way you wanted, just try to look at it to see how it may work. Don’t forget to take time to plan. Sometimes this is a step we often skip to save time and later on down the road realize that what we did does not work, if we would have just taken time to plan we would have seen it wouldn’t work. Trust me on this point I have learned that the hard way about many things and made ten times more work for myself in turn taking way more time than I should have had to take.

               In a nut shell I am trying to encourage you to do what you can when you can, and challenge you along the way. Like I have said before many times. Almost everyone can find 5 minutes per day that they can do a little something to organize themselves and life. Again if you have any comments, questions or even suggestions of ideas or things you would like a topic on let me know. I am always open to new ideas and challenges. You may either leave a comment here or email me at organizingrebel@gmail.com. Either way I welcome your ideas, comments and even constructive criticism. I want to thank all of you for following this journey and look forward to the future as we together get organized.

P.S. I do apologize for the gap in entries, I too get so busy at times that don’t get all of my to do list done. I will be doubling or even tripling up the next couple of days. Then in February as I start a new chapter in my life I will not be posting daily it will be a couple of times a week. Again thank you for going on this journey with me and following my blog.

Food, food everywhere and nothing to eat.

Does your cupboard or pantry have mass chaos going on? Do you spend more time digging around for the things you need than you do cooking? If so this is for you. This is another project I challenge you to do that will take more than 5 minutes. First empty your cupboards or pantry. (I will refer to pantry if you don’t have one and only use cupboards that is ok). Sort your food according to type i.e. can food, pasta, sauces, snacks, baking goods, etc. Now go thru all your items and check the dates. Even dry goods have dates on them. If it is out of date please get rid of it. Now break down your types further i.e. can food into meats, vegetables, fruit, etc. Take a moment to clean out your pantry, wipe down the shelves, and sweep the bottom out. Now that it is all clean figure out what you want to go where. I keep my baking supplies on the top shelf since I don’t get into them as much as other things and I keep the snacks on the bottom, because when you are looking for something to eat quick you may choose something at eye level that is healthier rather than bending over to look at the snacks. If you have small children you may need to rethink this step and keep the snacks up higher to keep them out of them. Now start to put things back into your pantry. Place like items together. My pantry door has shelves on the inside to place my can goods; this is very handy for me and my family. When putting the food back into your pantry make sure that the date that expires the soonest is in front of dates that have more time. This will help you in using the oldest stuff first.

               I personally have one shelf for baked goods, the cans are in the door, one shelf for boxed meals, and noodles, one for sauces, marinades etc. and yet another for cereals, lunch items etc. I try to keep things that I use more often in the center of the shelf and the things used less often to the outsides. When making out your grocery list you can see much easier what you are low on or out of. (I keep a running list on my fridge so that when I use something and see I am low or out of an item I can put it on the list.) There is no right or wrong way to do this, it is whatever way works better for you and your family. I am just giving some suggestions of how I do my own pantry. Like I have said before it takes time to do this, but it is time well spent and helps you save your precious time when looking for ingredients, a snack, grocery list, or even when trying to figure out what you will be cooking for a meal. If you have children they can help, make it a game and have them match items for you, this will allow you to be doing something else and cut down on your time so the task will go much quicker for you.

Daunting Dishes

When you open your cupboard do you get attacked by bowls or are your dishes crammed into the back and you have to dig them out? If so here are a few tips that will help. Let me warn you, you may find this hard to deal with. I am suggesting that you reduce your amount to dishes.

               First take all of your dishes out of the cupboards. Plates, bowls, lids, cups, glasses, etc. Sort them according to type i.e. plates, bowls, lids etc. Now place all of your matching sets together. Make sure your dishes are in good shape. If they are cracked, chipped etc. throw them away. Now any storage bowls you have make sure they have lids. If they are bowl without lids or lids without bowls toss these out. Do you have any dishes you never use? If so get rid of them. If you have dishes you only use on special occasions put these in the higher shelves that are hard to get to. Or place them at the back of your cupboard. Now of the remaining dishes, cups, etc. that you use how many do you have? You should only have enough for 2-3 meals per person in your household. This will not only cut down on the amount of items in your cupboard, but will also force you to keep up on your dishes sot that they do not pile up. For storage containers you don’t need tons of them. Sure you will want to have several on hand of various sizes, but you don’t need enough to fill your refrigerator. I personally love the newer sets of storage containers that all stack together and the lids are only 3 sizes which also nestle together. It makes storing them neatly a snap. As far as glasses, cups and mugs you only need enough for 2-3 per person in your household. If it is glassware you may want to have a few extra just in case any get broken of you have guests. Silverware is the same as dishes enough for 2-3 meals per person. Again this will cut down on items in your drawers and keep them from piling up.

               Like I said this may be hard for most to follow. If you are too scared to completely get rid of these items box up the extra & place in your attic, basement, garage, etc. If in a few months you have not had to get anything out of the boxes you know you don’t need them. So now you can get rid of them. Whether you throw them out, donate them or put them in a garage sale.

Frozen Frustrations

Is your freezer stocked with things you are not aware of? Do you have containers and bags of unknown food? If so this is for you. Stocking your freezer when you find a good sale or great coupons can be a great idea, but just like everything else you need to keep it organized. Very few things are as frustrating as having to freeze your hands off digging thru your freezer for just the right ingredient.

               This is much easier to do if you have an upright freezer. If you have a chest freezer you will need to take the same basic ideas, but adjust them to your space and stack your items. This will be a task the first time, but if you keep up on it when you place the items in the freezer it will make life easier.

               Take everything out of the freezer. (Depending on how full it is and the temperature, you many need to have some coolers on hand to place the items in so they don’t thaw out). I recommend you make separate piles keep meats in one fruit in another, veggies in yet another then there is frozen dinners etc. Then look for expiration dates. Yes even some frozen foods have expiration dates. Now if your freezer is frosted up it is the perfect time to defrost it. Now neatly place the items back into your freezer. I have one shelf for veggies, one for meats another for box meals. Then I place containers of soup in the bottom. Make sure you keep the oldest items at the front or on top. If you buy meat in bulk and it is not packaged for freezing I encourage you to invest in good quality freezer bags or containers. Package your meat in them and write the date you purchased them and even what the meat is (i.e. ground beef, boneless pork chops, chicken breasts, ground turkey, etc.) Do the same if you freeze soup after making it. Label what type of soup and the date you made it.

Here are the basic guidelines of freezing foods from the FDA:  Item – Months Bacon and Sausage 1 to 2, Casseroles 2 to 3. Egg whites or egg substitutes 12, Frozen Dinners and Entrees 3 to 4, Gravy, meat or poultry 2 to 3, Ham, Hotdogs and Lunchmeats 1 to 2, Meat, uncooked roasts 4 to 12, Meat, uncooked steaks or chops 4 to 12, Meat, uncooked ground 3 to 4, Meat, cooked 2 to 3, Poultry, uncooked whole 12, Poultry, uncooked parts 9, Poultry, uncooked giblets 3 to 4, Poultry, cooked 4, Soups and Stews 2 to 3, Wild game, uncooked 8 to 12. (Again these are the basic guidelines.)

               Now when you purchase new items place them at the back or on the bottom. Other words rotate your stock. Again make sure you use packaging meant for the freezing in the freezer sot that you don’t ruin the food by allowing it to become freezer burnt. It is better if you are able to vacuum pack food before freezing.

*Tip I take my meat out of the freezer and add my marinade into the frozen bag (if I plan to marinade), put it then into the refridgerator and allow it to thaw. As it thaws it will absorb the marinade and flavor the meat. Then cook as you like. My favorite treat on a salad is grilled chicken breast meat marinade in Italian dressing and then grilled. When I grill my chicken breast for dinner I make sure to have an extra piece to place on the grill. After cooking it I then chop it up into smaller pieces and place them in a snack bag. Then when you are having a salad or packing a lunch all you have to do is grab your baggie and you have a gourmet salad quickly. (If you don’t have salad real often you can refreeze the cooked chicken.)

Pots and Pans

Do you like many others have a lot of pots and pans that are mix matched and some with no lids? Here is something’s you can do in just a few minutes that will help you to organize them. First this may seem daunting but pull them all out of the cupboard. Now which ones are the ones you use the most? Pull these along with the lids to the side. Now the remaining pots and pans stack neatly so that they will fit back into your cupboard. Push them all the way to the back. Now if you have room and hopefully you do place the lids upside down in the pots and pans and place them in front of the pans you don’t use on a normal basis. If you have any room in a lower or higher cupboard put the pots and pans that are rarely used in these places at the very back. This way it leaves room for you to keep the ones you use more often in an easy to reach and easily seen area.

               Now if you have any pots and pans that are rusted and you can’t remember the last time you used them give them away of throw them out. If you have any lids that are damaged or lids with no pans throw them out. You can do the same thing for your baking sheets. By getting rid of the ones that are rarely used you are making more room for those you use and making it easier to get to them. Keep it simple, no sense stressing yourself out and making it harder than it has to be. Unless you have an overabundance of pots and pans this should only take about 5 minutes.