Day 7:Bathroom Linens

Messy mess mess...

 I'm not even going to try and make an excuse for this one... I'm lazy and didn't want to fold and put away towels.

So, first I pulled everything out so I would have a fresh, clean start.I put everything that didn't belong (heating pad, TENS unit, medicine, etc) and put them where they did belong.

I sorted...Rowen wanted to help. 

Then I folded everything nicely and put it away.
Bath towels and baby bath towels on top. Wash cloths, baby wash cloths, and hand towels on bottom.

Simple enough. Hopefully maintaining this one will be easy ;P

After...

This is day 7 of a 31 day series. To see the rest of the series click here.

Day 5: Study Successfully: Get Organized for School

Today's post is a little different. My goal is 31 days to an organized LIFE, not just a more organized home.

 Today I want to focus on the one thing that causes me so much stress....School. I realize that this post is not going to be applicable to everyone, but I bet you can all think of at least one student who could benefit, whether it be your child, a friends child, niece, nephew, etc..

For those of you who do not personally know me, I am in my final semester of  my bachelors in kinesiology with an emphasis in exercise science. I go to school full-time. I also work part-time so my fiance can be a stay at home dad. We decided when I was pregnant, that we didn't want to put our daughter in daycare if we could avoid it. The only way to swing that, was for me to both work and go to school. It is incredibly hard.

Last semester was almost unbearable and my grades suffered...a lot. I had so much going on, was constantly in the new parent, zombie, exhausted haze (I went back at 2 weeks postpartum), and was so incredibly disorganized that I was just setting my self up for failure. Luckily I passed...barely..but I passed.

This semester has been better..but not by much. I have still been missing deadlines, staying up late trying to finish an assignment I didn't realize that I had until the day it was due.

My online classes are the worst. I never think about them... I know, I know, I have already heard the "That's why you shouldn't take online classes" lectures. But by taking online classes, I have made it possible to spend 4 days a week at home, with my baby. I was away from her for 40 hours a week for the first 7 months of her life, I didn't get the average 4 months of maternity leave, and missed so much because of it. But it was a sacrifice I made for my family. I don't want to miss anything else, and she is only this little once.
 
Now, the ways to go about getting organized for school, seem so obvious to me. Its all common sense, but for some reason I have had the hardest time executing what I need to do, and sticking to it. This challenge, and  this post particularly, are going to be what I use to hold myself accountable to stick to this and to stay organized.

Step 1: Get a planner!

I love my planner. It has plenty of room to write everything I need down.

Step 2: Fill out the planner!

At the beginning of the semester, my professors hand out syllabi with every homework due date, test date, even the date and time of the finals.
I sit down that first weekend and fill it all in. I have a record of every due date from now until December. Granted, deadlines may be pushed, but isn't it  better to have a few extra days to do something, than wait until last minute because you had no idea the due date was coming up?

Step 3:  ACTUALLY LOOK AT THE PLANNER REGULARLY!

This is what I have the hardest time doing.. yes, everything is there, but what good is it going to do if I don't look at it? The answer..NONE.
From now on, I will put forth the effort to look at my planner every Sunday night.


Taking it even further..

Scheduling is one of the organizational keys to succeeding, but all of the scheduling in the world doesn't make a difference if you cant find the handout you need, you don't have the materials you need for class, or you just plain cant find your homework.

1. Get a binder AND a notebook.

Some of my professors post PowerPoints of their lectures, others don't. Either way, there is always extra information I need to write down that is not on the lecture slides.. That is what the notebook is for. Likewise, there are going to be plenty of papers handed back that you need to hold onto...queue binder.
In my opinion BOTH are needed.

2. Dividers....

They sell them for a reason. They make life so much simpler. I divide everything by unit....a unit being the information that will be on a specific test. It lets me know what I need to study, and helps me focus my attention on what is important.

3. Be Prepared...

If the teacher assigns a reading..read it. If a teacher tells you to print out a handout and bring it to class... print it out and bring it to class... These things may seem mundane and you may think that you can get by without them, you can just follow along the conversation or look off of your neighbors handouts. You are wrong. There is a reason the professor assigns these things... believe it or not..THEY HELP!

4. Do not procrastinate..

Easier said then done. Things come up. There are other things you would rather be doing than an assignment that is due next week. Well before you know it, its going to be the night before and you haven't started. Insert panic, cramming, and lack of sleep. If you just START, that is that much less work later. For me, when I start a paper, I usually realize it would just be easier to finish it then. Think of all of the time you will have, and the lack of stress that you can experience by simply doing something in advanced.
I know, life comes up, and it doesn't always work that way...but isnt it worth a try?
I am really going to start working on getting assignments done early.
This way I will be able to savor rocking my baby to sleep, rather than rushing because I have an assignment due in a couple hours.


This is day 5 of a 31 day series. To see the rest of the series, click here.

Day 6: An Easier Trip to the Grocery Store; Meal Plan and Shopping List

Now, I started dabbling with the concept of meal planning a few months ago.
I was a new mother and had just returned to school and work. I would come home at night and the dinner discussion would go something like this:

                             Me: What do you want to do for dinner?

                             Colin: I dont know. What do you want for dinner?

                             Me: I asked you first.

                             Colin: Well I don't know. What is there?

 and so on...

I finally got fed up with it, and decided that we were going to start meal planning.

We go to the grocery store every Sunday morning. Early. Before everyone and their dog decides to show up.
I usually end up scrambling to finish the meal plan Sunday morning before we leave the house. This ends up in me forgetting to jot an ingredient down, and ultimately causes problems later in the week when I go to make dinner only to find I don't have everything I need.

How to get organized:

• Designate one hour the night before you go grocery shopping to fill out the meal plan and grocery list.

I designate 8-9pm on Saturday nights as my meal planning hour.

 Meal Planning 101:

• Pick your recipes.
•  I usually ask Colin if he has any preferences.
•  Then I pick a few regulars that are simple and easy to make.
•  After that its off to Pinterest to find inspiration

Be sure to write everything down! I can not tell you how many times I have found recipes I wanted to make and forgot to write them down, then had to spend forever hunting them down again.

• After you have picked your recipes for the week, go through, one by one, and write down the ingredients.

Write EVERYTHING down, regardless of whether you think you have it or not.

• Go through your kitchen and cross off any ingredients you already have.

Be sure to check quantities! You want to make sure you have enough of everything.

• Whats remaining is your grocery list.

One Step Further:

I began to ask myself how I could make my grocery shopping experience even simpler.
Do you ever get through your grocery list, only to find you forgot to grab something clear on the other side of the store? I do this all.the.time.

This is my solution.

Organize your grocery list by types of food.
   List all of the meats together, canned goods together, breads together, etc.

Here is my grocery list template: 

Grocery List

Happy Shopping :)


This is day 6 of a 31 day series. To see the rest of the series, click here.

Day 4:Baby's Bookshelf

Hmm... yea...so... this is a mess.

The baby bookshelf is in our bedroom..so the only time I have to look at it is when I am putting the baby to bed, going to bed myself, or getting up for the day. No one sees our bedroom, except for us, so this has always been on the low priority list. Until today!

Lets take a look at what we have hiding here:

Random bag of too small baby clothes 

Books, chargers, who-knows what else

More books..stuffed animals..annoying toys from Grandma

Basically...

RANDOM, OUT OF PLACE, CRAP!






What did I do about it?

First I took everything off and sorted it into piles on the floor.

Exhibit A

I put all of Rowens hair stuff in this cupcake pail. Its ridiculous how much hair stuff she has, but have you seen her head? She needs it!!

I then put all of her stuffed animals in this cute little canvas box that I got as a baby shower gift.

 The box of stuffed animals and books went on one shelf.

Assorted keepsake items, such as her coming home outfit went into a box. I am planning on doing a shadow box with them.

The bag of baby clothes was neatly folded and put in a box to give away.

Everything else was filed into its own designated spot. And yes, I am going to put a picture in that frame.

Before.... 

....After

This is day 4 of a 31 day series. To see the rest of the series, click here.

Day 3: A Walk in the Park: Dog Leashes

Before...

If there is one thing that drives me nuts, its the baby chewing on the dog stuff. Unfortunately this is a common occurrence since she is teething and EVERYTHING goes in her mouth.
We don't have the space for a table or anything near the door to put the dog leashes on, so out of habit and convenience, they just go on the floor behind the couch.
I can not count how many times I have had to take the leashes away from the baby and relocate her to another part of the house.

The solution? Two words:
Command. Hooks.
I used the medium sized hooks.

 I love these things. I use them to hang paintings, pictures, you name it. We rent, so we really cant put holes in the wall. These are super easy to use and do not damage the walls. Win Win!! O and they are only $3 at Walmart!

....After

Behind the door, out of sight and out of mind. Simple but oh so effective!

Now if only I could find a place for Colin's shoes....


This is day 3 of a 31 day series. To see the rest of the series, click here.

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Day 2: Desk from Disaster to Decadent

...ok so maybe not decadent, but definitely a billion times better!

I am actually really embarrassed by this, but for the sake of the challenge.. Here is the before.

Get a package in the mail..stick the box on the desk.. Hey, I might need it later.

Get a box full of stuff from my sister... stick the box on the desk.

Find something random laying around.. stick it on the desk.

Papers? O, stick those in the desk drawer...

.

See a trend here?

The desk had basically been the dumping ground for things that I didn't want to deal with. I kept telling myself every week that I would get around to cleaning the desk...but it never happened.

For this very reason, I decided that the desk would be the first project in this challenge. It desperately needed to be done and there was no way I was going to put it off any longer.

First I purged. I took everything from the top of the desk and the drawers that we no longer needed and threw it in a pile to be taken to the trash.

Then I sorted.

I decided that one drawer would be used for all office supplies, and the other for paper.

Office Supplies Drawer:
I stuck all of the miscellaneous school supplies such as pens, highlighters, staples, etc. in these plastic utensil organizers. I think I got them at Walmart, 4 for $1.

I organized the drawer so that everything had its own place, nothing overlapping. I can now open the drawer and see everything, without having to dig through multiple layers of stuff.





Paper Drawer:
Where there are obviously safer ways to store important papers (i.e. a safe), with our limited space its not an option right now.
First I sorted everything into 4 categories:

1. Medical Stuff- Insurance information (pamphlets, providers...), Vaccination Records, etc.
2. School related stuff- Degree plans, financial aid information, and so on
3. Big Bills- Things we pay on monthly such as my car.
4. Manuals for various electronics and baby stuff we may need.

Then each category got its own, labeled, manila envelope.

Now when I need to look at my daughters shot record, instead of rummaging through a drawer full of random pieces of paper, I can simply pull out the medical envelope.

**I actually ended up moving the manila envelopes to a different place (post to come later this series), so I could put printer paper in the desk. It made more sense to me considering that the desk is where the printer is. **

This is probably a common sense thing, but PLEASE, if you do get rid of a bunch of papers, SHRED anything with credit card numbers, social security numbers, bank account information, etc.  You definitely don't want anyone to get a hold of that!

 Before......

                                                                                                                                 ........After

What are some things that you do to organize your desk or work space?

This is day 2 of a 31 day series. To see the rest of the series, click here.

Day 1: Organized State of Mind

And so it begins!

This project is...well... overwhelming. There is so much to be done, and I wasn't really sure where to start.

I feel like in order to be successful with this task, I need to organize my thoughts, my plan of attack, and remember WHY I am doing this in the first place.

• I am tired of spending hours looking for my lost homework.
• I am tired of spending hours looking for my measuring cups.
• I am tired of pretending like the mess in my house doesn't exist.
• I am tired of spending so much time trying to fix it, when the system I have in place is obviously not working.

I AM TIRED OF DISORGANIZATION.

• I am ready to accept the truth...I'm a mess.
• I am ready to have the tools and organization I need to succeed in school and rid my life of the last minute  "O crap! I have an assignment due in 2 hours" moments.
• I am ready to have a clean, organized house that is easy to maintain.
• I am ready to be a better fiancee, mother, and student.

I AM READY FOR THINGS TO BE SIMPLER.



What do I have to do to achieve this?

1. Purge, purge, purge. Get rid of everything that is taking up space and not being used.
2. Clean, sort, organize.
3. Maintain. Come up with tools that emphasize my goal of a more organized life. Get in the habit of being  organized in the present and avoiding the "I'll do it later" attitude.

It's time to make a change.


This is day 1 of a 31 day series. To see the rest of the series, click here.