The Kitchen Pantry

I've been cleaning and purging since I took the Christmas decorations down almost two weeks ago. Yesterday we went grocery shopping and when I got home to put things away, the kitchen pantry and I had it out!  He put up a tough fight...but I won!!

Top: Coffee and Tea / Bottom: Pasta, Rice, etc

Top: Baking / Middle: Orderly Cans / Bottom: Cereal and Snacks

Top: Glass in the bin / Bottom: Breads

Can you tell we are eating healthy?  All junk food was either thrown away or {more likely} eaten like crazy on Jan 1.  What are you tackling this week?

 

Organizing the Game Closet

I've mentioned a couple times that I was going to be spending a few weeks organizing different rooms.  One room that I have been working on is our school/movie/game room.  The closet had gotten out of control with games, movies, and homeschool papers and projects.  I did not take a picture of the entire closet before because it was too much of a mess, but I did take a picture of the smaller hand held and card games.  They were just piling up on top of each other.

I bought a couple bins from the Dollar Store and now look at them!  There is a smaller white bin with a lid under the black one.  I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner.

And here is the rest of the closet.  DVDs are to the right, games in the center, and past homeschool work is on the left in binders and bins.  What I like best is the empty space on the shelf.  :)

It took me about a half day to clean it out.  There were some things that I had to take out, like our large collection of VHS movies that were taking up precious space.  Those got placed in a bin and put in another closet (which I will show you next time). 

Are you working on a cleaning project?  If so, I'd love to hear about it!

The Christian Home is a weekly Blog Magazine posted every Monday morning by The Legacy of Home.  Articles are submitted by various Christian bloggers.

 

Bathroom Organization

After our Spa~tacular birthday celebration was over, I was left with several cute and colorful containers.  I thought a while about what to do with them and then after opening a very messy guest bathroom drawer, I had an idea!!

I organized all my daughter's nail polish in one, hair ties in another, lipsticks in another, and so on. 

Two of the larger baskets were the perfect for some of the taller items.

All of these containers came from the dollar store and they were either $1 each or 4 for $1.  Prior to shopping there for this party, I never realized how many storage containers they carry. 

I'm so happy with her new space!!

 

Breaking Work Into Manageable Tasks

So you are starting a large project but are not quite sure how to tackle it.  Maybe it’s cleaning out that old junk room or sorting through the garage.  Maybe you have finally decided on organizing and placing all of your child’s photos for the past seven years into albums {cough}.

But where do you start?  Projects like these can become overwhelming.  You need a plan and you need to break the work into manageable tasks.

The first and most important thing you need to do is to identify all the tasks required to complete the project.  This can be as simple as listing 10 things you would need to do in order to go from the start to finish.

Next you should assign a priority level to each task.  High level items are the most important and should be completed first, medium are important but are not an immediate concern, and low level tasks are not necessary, but would be nice to get completed.

After you have assigned a priority level to each task, put them in order from first to last.  If you are working on the project with family members or friends, you can also assign tasks to people.  You are bound to know that person who is perfect for a particular job.  Now is the time to take advantage of those talents.

It is also important to estimate the time required to complete each task.  Is it something that will take 30 minutes or 2 hours?  Once you know the time required, you can easily set aside time in your day or week to work on it.

Lastly, set a deadline.  Give yourself a reasonable amount of time to complete your project (plus a little extra).  It's also a good idea to set mini deadlines along the way for those high level tasks.  You'll feel a sense of accomplishment as you complete each one.

So there you have it!  I hope these steps will help you to get some of those large, previously overwhelming projects completed in no time.  Good luck!

If you haven't checked out the 2011-2012 Schoolhouse Planner you should!  There are some wonderful articles and tons of great homeschool forms!  You'll find my article (this one) on page 157.

 

Before and After: Under the Desk

I have a lot of things "hidden" under my office desk.  Although most people cannot see what is there, it is a mess.  Here it is pulled out from under the desk.  Most things are just packed away in overflowing shopping bags.

Now here it is all neat and tidy.  The bottom bin has all my craft and sewing supplies, the middle bin has all my scrapbooking supplies, and the top basket has all our extra school supplies (folders, scissors, etc).

The box to the right has all of my completed hair bows and accessories and then next to it on the shelf are all my ribbons. 

The best part about this organization project is that I already had the boxes and bins around the house.  I just had to find them!

The Christian Home is a weekly Blog Magazine posted every Monday morning by The Legacy of Home.  Articles are submitted by various Christian bloggers.

 

Before and After

Do you have a room that's in need of some cleaning?  Has it gotten out of control?  Well, that is what happened to our daughter's room this week.  We were out of the house for a lot of the week and I was also not feeling well for a couple days, so her room was neglected.  Not by her of course, you can see she is playing on her bed, oblivious to the mess around her.  I had neglected to make sure she was cleaning it each day.

So this afternoon we worked together to find a place for everything.  We worked double time (or what we like to call "quick clean") and we actually finished in about 30 minutes.  And only a few things secretly made it to the trash.  ;o)  Below are our results.

I think it turned out pretty well.  So don't be afraid to tackle those out-of-control rooms!  Grab a partner and get cleaning!

The Christian Home is a weekly Blog Magazine posted every Monday morning by The Legacy of Home.  Articles are submitted by various Christian bloggers.