Spring Cleaning Pics

I organized the changing table in the closet to hold extra blankets on the top shelf and Ali's clothing on the second. The third holds bags of clothes for the kids to grow into. I sorted through the hanging stuff and weeded out things that can be stored until fall/winter. I did leave some heavy coats out because camping in Wyoming involves some icy cold nights in the mountains!

The hanging shoe organizer was $1 at a yard sale. The kids enjoy keeping their shoes in it and they can find shoe options faster now! Jer's clothes are in the tub, diaper supplies are on the shelf under them, and Ali's sock and undie bins are under those.

My friends who have seen our coat closet will agree that this is a vast improvement! Kids' coats, shoes, and backpacks once littered the closet floor and we had all of our winter stuff cluttering up the rack and boots were thrown in on top of shoes. It was bad! Now it holds the shoes we use the most and our summer coats. I also found a way to hang diaper bags and backpacks so they are neater and easier to find.

About twice a year I go through my save pile which is in my bedroom on my dresser in a stackable office tray. Bank statements, important papers and letters, and bill stubs are some of the things I have to sort. Most of it ends up getting tossed, thankfully!

Much better! 3 Piles:

Save

Bank Statements

(to go in my specific folder for these)

Destroy

Before the drawer-paper was put in I had these mats lining the drawer and they would often scrunch up and get all wrinkled under the utensils.

Pretty stick-on paper makes my utensil drawer much neater!



My "Tickler File" which is just a cheap file box folder where I stash various papers on our desk that I can't take care of right away. I sorted through it to see what papers could be tossed or dealt with.

The pockets were labeled with various categories but I put sticky notes with my own labels over them. I have a file for papers to save (cute drawings that Ali made for me), a preschool paper file, wrist injury file, hubby's stuff file, odds and ends, homeschooling papers, etc.

My aunt taught me to do the Tickler File. She uses the bottom drawer of her desk and has regular hanging files. She has a folder for each day of the week and then one for each month. She goes through it every day and "deals with" the papers that are in her folder for that day. It keeps things handy for her for mailing cards, homeschool tests, bills, etc. I have found that my system is better for me because there are many days when I don't have time to go through my file or forget to. So, as long as I go through it and sort things now and then, I stay on top of it and can deal with the papers as I have time and not have them cluttering up the desk.


So, I accomplished 4 of my 6 Goals for the week. I did not get my kitchen shelves re-organized, but that can be done this week. I also need to spend about 5 minutes tidying up my sewing desk. However, I did get a lot of cleaning done that I hadn't originally planned on thanks to some icky poopy ordeals outside with Jer. All the yard toys got washed, the van got completely vacuumed and scrubbed, and thanks to some wetting accidents by the boys, the couch cushion, couch afghan, and pillows got washed as well as all their sheets, blankets, stuffed animals and Justus' crib! I also tidied up the linen closet.


It turns out my in-laws, who aren't usually spontaneous, decided they are coming for a visit so my spring cleaning is getting wrapped up in perfect timing to have company! They'll be here Friday night and will be able to spend 3 days here.
My last big remaining spring cleaning goal is to shampoo our carpets sometime this week.

While it may look like a lot got accomplished this week, I assure you that most of these projects were very easy and were quickly done. Breaking spring cleaning up into one organizing project a day makes it very simple and I really enjoy organizing and find it to be energy-boosting!