Automobile - Organizing Round-up

It is time again for the Monthly Organizing Round-Up at Organizing Junkie.
For the month of June it was all about our CAR.

We do a pretty good job keeping extra clutter from piling up in our car, but we are not very good at keeping the car clean or stocked. Our car needed some work.

I started by taking the car to the mechanic. That pesky check-engine light was on again. Whenever it gets really hot something triggers it, but it is not readily obvious why and there are no other symptoms. I took it in to test it and in the middle of the test it went off. We will watch it for another few weeks before investing serious money to fix our phantom problem.


Time to tackle the cleaning.

• I started by taking everything out of the car - car seats, mats, papers, toys, maps, etc. It was amazing how much stuff was hiding under the seats.


• Next I wiped everything down. There was about an inch of dust on the dashboard and the windows were desperately in need of cleaning.


• Then it was time to vacuum. There were cheerios and gold fish hiding everywhere. I ended up removing the seats entirely to clean under them.

Finally time to organize:

• First I checked and restocked the emergency kit: jumper cables, tire patch kit, flares, first aid kit, a few tools, blanket, etc.


• Next was the glove box - only the registration info, a pad and pen, and the air pressure gauge made it back in. Two maps were refolded and returned to the door pocket.


• Lastly were the random supplies that we keep, "just in case:" plastic bags (kept a paper towel roll), small umbrella, a few toys (doodle pads, most importantly), baby wipes, sun block, hand sanitizer, a few clean rags.


• I also normally keep extra clothes, diapers, etc. in a small bag for emergencies, but I decided to keep a ready-packed bag in the entry closet instead. I can grab it quickly, but it doesn't have to take up precious car space all the time. Our kids are old enough that we haven't used this bag in a long time, but we'll see if I end up regretting this decision.

So, how is your car looking these days?

Thanks to Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for inspiring me to tackle this much-needed project.

Toy Shelf - Organizing Round-Up

This month, I was inspired by the Monthly Organizing Round-Up at Organizing Junkie. For the month of May, it was all about a surface or shelf.

I decided to tackle the shelving for all the kid's toys and books. I have tried to organize this area several time in the last year, but have never quite been successful. The biggest problem is that there is TOO MUCH STUFF!

Before trying to organize everything, I really needed to PURGE. I took everything out, sorted it all into keep and clear out piles, then put the keepers back in an organized way. I cleared out one box of books and puzzles, and a garbage-size bag of toys and stuffed animals.

The before and after pictures tell the whole story.

Before the big purge...

After the purge, organization and redistribution ...

Now every item has a home and there is room to spare on the book shelves and in the toy bins. Thanks to Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for inspiring me to keep working at getting my home in order.

Entryway Closet - Organizing Round-Up

This month, I was inspired by the Monthly Organizing Round-Up at Organizing Junkie. For the month of April, it was all about a closet or cupboard.

I had to tackle the entryway closet. This closet degrades into chaos so quickly, but this time I tried to set up a few systems that would help slow the mess.

Back in February, I installed a new system for holding our winter hats and scarves. You can see the shoe holder hanging on the back of the door. It has worked well for us these last few months. And now that sunny weather is here, our sun hats and sun screen have found pockets here, too.

Before the big purge, the coats were crowded overflowing; the bottom was stacked with fallen coats, food, picnic stuff, paper recycling and who know what else; the top shelf was stuffed with bags and everything random you can think of.

Here is the closet last week before I started cleaning.


I had to clean this closet in small steps. I could only make a mess that could be cleaned before the kids got up from their afternoon naps.

I started by pulling everything out that had been stacked on the floor of the closet. I tried to put things in general piles as I pulled them out, to make the sorting a little easier. I then spent the next hour sorting, putting things where they go and finally putting a few things back in the closet.

What a mess! I could not believe all that had been on the closet floor.

I didn't get any pictures of the two additional times I attacked the closet this week, but here is what I did:

The next step was to clear out the the top shelf. There was some weird stuff up there - far too many empty paper bags, some empty boxes, a long lost brownie mix, more winter hats, etc. Again, after pulling everything out, it was the same sorting and tossing process.

A few days later, I pulled out all the coats for sorting. Some were stored for next winter, some given away and some put back in the closet for cool summer nights.

Here is the after picture.
It may not look that different, but it really is!

It feels great to finally have my closet back. Now I just need to tackle the linen closet...

Check out more great closet organization at Organizing Junkie.

Picture organization...

I was going to participate in Org Junkie's Monthly Organizing Round-Up this month, but couldn't seem to make enough progress. The project for the month of March was Picture Organization.

Digital photography is wonderful and horrible at the same time. I love being able to take a million pictures to capture that perfect look; and I love looking through the pictures before spending money to print them; and I love have the ability to fix red-eye and other picture issues; but I hate the additional effort this new technology requires to get to the final product.

I don't have a problem downloading pictures, and I even have an okay file structure for all the pictures, but I never get around to getting prints of my pictures.

One thing I have decided this month while trying to tackle years worth of pictures ... I am going to start creating photo books that come to me already printed. That may seem horrible to those of you who are wonderful at creating albums, but I really think this will work best for me (plus, I don't have a hair's worth of talent at scrap booking).

Org Junkie shared her system on her latest post Six Steps to Picture Organization. The step that I really need to add is step 2 -- "Copy." I need to start using a "to Print" folder and fill it every time I download pictures. That way I don't have to go back through hundreds of pictures to find the few that I want to print.

How do you organize your photos? And how to you get those digital pictures into albums?

On a side note, do any of you have a good recommendation for printed photo books (without paying an arm and a leg)?

Paper Problems

It has taken me a month to tackle my weekly "problem area" -- my paper problem. I was inspired by Org Junkie's Monthly Organizing Round-Up.

Before I started, I gathered all the stashed paper from around the house.


We purchased a new file cabinet a few months ago to add some storage space to our ever-growing filing needs.


However, I never seemed to have time to organize it properly and it quickly became another "junk" drawer.


I also have several other attempts at organization that never worked like I was hoping. This little plastic drawers-on-wheels was one attempt, but it didn't worked right, and the clear sides allow the mess in the drawers to leak a feeling of chaos.


And this little desktop file box was suppose to help, but I could never keep it neat enough. Again it just left a visible feeling of disorganization.



Here is the reward of a month's worth of effort.


It could use a little more purging, but at least the paper is under control (and hidden) again. The new file cabinet provided the space to hold all our files for the business and personal finances.


I also learned a thing or two about the weaknesses of my system while reading all sorts of organization articles online this month. The biggest change to my system was the addition of filing space for articles that I keep about my personal interests: health, food, parenting, etc. This should help keep miscellaneous papers piles to a minimum.


The old plastic file drawers-on-wheels and our old black file cabinet will be converted into other storage space for crafts, office supplies and kids activities. But that is a project for another day.

Now all I have to do is keep up with the filing.