Organized Chaos

So the other day I swung by Staples and picked up some organizing stuff.  It is, after all, a new year and the perfect excuse to buy cute (over-priced) office supplies. Plus, I really did need a new planner.

I had previously found some cute printable calendars on Pinterest, so I decided to assemble my own planner this year.  I posted the above pic on Instagram and Facebook and ended up with several email inquiries so I thought I'd put together a blogpost. Because why not.

I will preface by saying this is not the cheapest route to go for planners.  That Martha Stewart is pricey...and cute.  But it was one-stop-shopping for me and that my friends is priceless.  

The genius of this planner is that you can assemble it however best for you.  It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted, and I'm still tweaking it as I go.  (Also, I *may* have 3 hole punched the wrong side of some paper sheets because I was watching Safe Haven on Netflix while "planning")

I've been using this basket to hold everything.  It helps in locating where I stuck my planner.  It also holds a bunch of stick-it notes, and pens.  The red spiral notebook is what I use for various notes and my grocery list.

It's kind of hard to see, but on the left inside of the binder I glued a Martha Steward plastic folder that can hold misc. loose paper.  On the right side, is a zip pocket that holds little stickers that I can place in the calendar to label events or whatever.  Also some washi tape to mark off weeks of vacation or stuff like that on the calendar.

The green thing I got at Target for $5.00.  It's a year long monthly calendar.  Originally I bought Martha Stewart pages that were kind of expensive, only to find out that I bought them for the year 2013.  Yeah.  Staples better give me my $ back. ;)  

And this is what the calendar looks like on the inside.

The next sheets are ones I printed that I found on Pinterest.  I paid$7.95 (I think) for the download.  You can go HERE to see it.  Also, the cute color tabs: Martha.

Daily checklist and then you will see below that it also has weekly and beyond.  I haven't filled mine out yet.  Irony.

 A weekly Menu planner (which I then use to make my grocery list)

The red tab holds a "Blog Idea" print out that I have not filled out yet.  Of course.

These calendars are from the download that I linked to above.  Yes, I have 2 sets of calendars in one notebook. :) This one is to keep track of daycare hours. 

That's it.  Now I just have to remember to keep using it.  I know from previous experience that the more I use it, the less scattered and full my brain is.  There is something calming about writing down the chaos. 

I didn't take a picture of it, but I also have a big desk-top calendar that hangs on the wall.  It's the go-to one for our family.  The notebook/binder one is more for organizing my every-day life of activity and things I need to get done.  

Organized chaos.  

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The List

I'm not kidding when I tell you that I often sit down to blog, and then just "check a few other sights first" and get completely distracted by other peoples decorating-crafting-fashion-genius and by the end of it I can't even remember what I sat down to write about in the first place.


ADD.


We are in full summer break mode here in the parsonage.  It's magical.  Well, most of it is magical.  The bickering and complaining and such is...not magical. 


Several weeks ago the family and I made a Summer Bucket List, which I copied from another blogger.  I think I copied it from Meg at Whatever, because generally I want to copy everything about her.  But don't tell her, because I may have not even ever left a comment on her blog and then that makes me seem all stalkerish.  


So the family and I made a Summer Bucket List.

What seems to happen to us, is at the end of every summer we start to remember fifty thing that "we were going to do" but forgot about.  And I'm a procrastinator, which means I always think there's {plenty} of time to get around to doing whatever we need to do...and there's not.


The kids flipped over the list.  They love it.  We're going to cross stuff off as we go.  (It' hanging on the wall in the old kitchen, in case you were wondering. :)


Do you do this sort of thing to?  Has it worked for you?  Please say YES!

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Around Here...

The remodel project is coming along!  

And upstairs...

...just little sneak peaks. :)  I promise a whole walk through once it's done.


Right now I should be painting...


Anyways.  


My organization spree continues.  Again.


I started using a plain old planner from Target this fall.  Just to see if I would actually use it.  And I did *insert clapping for myself*


So, when I found a coupon for this planner that I've been dreaming about.  I jumped on it.


Thank you www.erincondren.com 

The. Cutest. Planner. Ever.


On another note...

• I went to vacuum out my van today, but then decided it was too windy.
  I'd likely get a ticket for littering once I opened the van doors and the wind got a hold of all the garbage in there.  Now, instead, it can just blow out when I pick the boys up from school.  Nice.
• Priming drywall is hard work.  And I am a wimp.  
• I stood in Target for several minutes trying to find the best deal on ground coffee (by the pound.)  Because lately, I've been a little picky.  And cheap.  I finally decided on one that was $7.99 (Archer Farms Caramel.)  Oddly, I didn't think twice about the almost $5 I paid for ONE grande iced caramel macchiato that I giddily bought from Starbucks on my way out Target's door.  At least I'm aware of my discrepancies.
• Lucy thinks Curious George is a dog.    
• I watched The Bodyguard twice this weekend.  Once, on Lifetime, while there were ten hours of commercials...but I did get my whole ironing pile done.  Then last night, DVR'd, so I could skip commercials.  I have no shame.   

Happy Monday!

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The One Where I Put Our Friendship to the Test...

It's days like this, as I sit down at the computer and type, I think to myself how weird blogging really is.

Because what I'm about to write is absolute nothingness and it should be considered kinda boring, even by close friends...yet, people will read it. And some will comment on it...and the cycle continues. That, my friends, is why I love blogging.

I can't explain it, but most of the time, my favorite posts (written by others) are the ones that are not well thought out, because it's in those moments that I get to peek into your lives...your real lives and see that in our own unique ways, we're each a little weird. The same kinda weird...and that is comforting. :)

Here goes.

It was an exciting day at the parsonage yesterday... The Hot FedEx Guy, FedEx Ground guy, and UPS guy all visited me. The Hot FedEx Guy, well because I'm married to him, the UPS guy brought me my new swimsuit I ordered, and the FedEx Ground guy brought me my newest bestest friend I will be wearing on my arm when running....meet Garmin.

He's a running watch...with GPS and I have wanted him for a long long time, but could never quite justify it because, well, I didn't really run enough. But now I do. And I found a good deal! And now he is going to kick my butt in shape by telling me how far I went and what my pace was, and he'll beep at me when I'm slacking...he's super smart like that. We are going on our first run together tonight, after Bible Club. I'm wearing him around today, ya know, just to get used to him ;)

The swimsuit looks like this. I've been wearing a tankini for the last several years, so this year it was time for something different...and it was on sale...and yes, I am coveting that models tan...and thighs...lets not talk about swimsuits anymore, they're expensive and depressing...and seriously, I can't stop thinking about having a tan :)

Maybe Garmin can help with the thighs...it's a lot of pressure to put on a watch.

Now I need to get off the computer and deal with this:

The Desk. Boo.

And these:

The more gadgets we acquire, the more cords! Anybody have any ideas how to organize them, because the system of wadding them up and shoving them in the drawer and then ripping them apart when we need one is, well, not working out so great. Shocking, I know.

If you've made it the end of this post, you have proved your loyalty...*pat on the back* for you my friend!

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Too Random for a Title

Today I Am...

• realizing that I have not left the house since Sunday...except on Tues. when I took the kids to school...about 4 blocks away. I'll try to refrain from whining about the weather today, but seriously, it's -45 here...school is cancelled because pretty much everything is FROZEN. Waaaaah. There. Done.
• working on the Beth Moore Study, Living Beyond Yourself. It is kicking me in the tail...right where I need to be kicked. Good, good stuff.
• excited to tell you that the author, Mindy Starns Clark, of my favorite little book right now...The House That Cleans Itself, emailed me to say she'd be sending me THREE more copies of the book to GIVEAWAY to you wonderful people! YAY! (and even if you've bought it already, you can still totally enter to win it as a gift to pass along!) I'll do that giveaway as soon as the books are here. You can also check out her blog here...it has lots of great tips from the book...and MAYBE you could let her know I sent ya ;)
• wishing my sweet friend Heth a super-happy-frozen tundra-kids home from school-birthday today! When it thaws out a little, Starbucks is on me :)

Happy Thursday my friends....and if you live down south and it is warm there...go outside and enjoy it it...for me :)

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Progress & Giveaway

I really am on a tangent here.

It consumes my thoughts and conversations and has completely taken over my blog.

The House That Cleans Itself. Good book. Very good book. Gonna give-away a copy for anyone interested ;)

But first, I must force you to look at pictures of my progress. Because my friends...I have earned it. Organizing...it's hard work. HARD.

I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The big fat mess that comes when you start going through stuff has pretty much disappeared...except for the attic storage room, which I don't want to talk about now...I'm pretending it doesn't exist for at least a few weeks. A girl can only take so much, ya know?!?

Pictures. I promised them.

I'm trying to use the principals that I talked about here.

Let's start in my mud room. I LOVE my mud room. Before the book, I had thought that it was fairly organized, yet I was ALWAYS frustrated with the boys coats and shoes left all over the place. After all, there were hooks! After taking a different view of the room, I realized that the hooks were actually too high for the boys to reach, so they didn't bother. Easy fix. We moved the top hooks higher and then placed 3 hooks at little boy level. Each boy has their own hook and boots go underneath their hook.

Next was the kitchen rug. It was a cute red one that looked adorable...only RIGHT after being vacuumed, otherwise it always looked dirty. Drove me nuts. I figured that I needed a rug that cleaned itself, so to speak. So I got this little number.It's woven bamboo and it hides all the junk. Looks clean even when it's not. Perfection.

The next project is painting the kitchen. I love the current shade of green, but I think I'll love a deep bright yellow even more!

Plus, the kitchen is the easiest room in my house to paint. It wins.

On to the bedrooms. Yikes. I have currently hauled 6 garbage bags of stuff to Goodwill. After cleaning out my closet to just the stuff I actually like, I also have two containers to go to consignment (which I've never done before)

Oh yeah, I labeled them. Little trick I like to use: Clear packing tape over the label, helps it stay better. Genius, I know. *cough*

Noah and Eli share a room. It normally looks like this:

Now, it looks like this:I know...miraculous. They actually gasped and jumped up and down when they saw it...mostly because they could actually get in the room now. In the far back corner you'll see the plastic drawers (with labels) that became their entertainment/Lego center. These had been in Jake's room, but he didn't really need them. Now they actually KNOW where stuff should go. I thought they did before...but really, how could they?!? I was expecting too much.

Simplified. That's all. These hooks are behind their bedroom door. It used to be stuffed full of sweatshirts that neither one knew whose was whose (thanks to hand-me-downs) I hung up the ones they didn't like as well and then gave them each 2 hooks.

My closet. Yesterday I mentioned my excessive amount of clothes mixed with my lack of closet space. Something had to give. The clothes I don't really love had to go. And it feels GREAT! I forgot to take before pictures, but here's the after:

The best thing is...I can actually see what I've got now, and it makes it a lot easier to put outfits together.

*PHEW*

Now, if you're like me and you want some PRACTICAL help with organizing...leave me a comment and let me know and you'll be registered in The House That Cleans Itself giveaway (and an email to reach you if you're not a blogger.)  It's only the book. I can't come help you. I've got my own mess.

Oh, and even if you don't want/need the book, you can still totally leave me a comment, just let me know :)

Happy organizing friends...A winner will be randomly generated tomorrow!

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