* GRACE *

Organizing the Home

This is WAY out of my comfort zone and something I NEVER do. I freely admit that I tend to want to be seen as perfect.

These pictures only re-sized and watermarked and taken after a long day of kids playing, some gardening, husband fixing the washing machine, packing husband and son up for a camp out, and a girls night with my girls and my 3yo son.  This is what my home looks like right now at 11:00pm.  Gratefully my home doesn’t always look like this. :)  {Keep in mind that I really don’t do interior decorating. My living room is the most “decorated” room. I would love to change that, and for now I’m making do with what I have.}

This leads up to why I’m really posting these pictures…

Have you ever felt the need to get something done that would transform your home and relationships because that thing would free up time to be more present with your loved ones? I do, a lot! Yet I often feel overwhelmed by the task.

Right now, my task is to get my home organized again. I need to do another purge (like the six month purge as this TJEd book recommends). I have too much stuff, and my home systems aren’t as efficient as they have been or can be. The “stuff” has just been overwhelming again, and I need to simplify my home. I’ve learned that I just need to take it a day at a time, while still having a plan in mind.

So here is what I’m planning for the next month or so while still taking care of my husband, five children, home, garden, callings, etc…  It can be done!

Spaces / Rooms
Living Room

• Go through all of my bookshelves and organize them into categories
• Decide which toys to keep and which ones to give/throw away
• Move furniture around for more ease and access
• Organize the coat closet

Master Bedroom

• Clear out my bedroom of unused items and reorganize my bookshelf
• Straighten up the computer desk and file papers
• Shred unwanted documents
• Update my vision board
• Reorganize our office supply cabinet
• Categorize files in small filing cabinet and refile everything
• Reorganize the CD’s on rack
• Move YW stuff to YW closet at church
• Reorganize binders for: Liberty Girls, Transition to Scholar Group, Personal Progress…
• Clean off dresser

School Room

• Revamp job charts
• Go through all bookshelves and organize books into categories
• Do something with the VHS movies (yes we still have some!)–get rid of them?!?
• Clean out and update our homeschool “closet” in our school room
• Clean out homeschool binders and get ready for a new year

Kitchen

• Purge the unused cookbooks I have/will never use
• Reorganize kitchen cabinets
• Update Recipe binder and add category tabs
• Print out recipes from blog to put in recipe binder

Laundry Room

• Reorganize and get rid of excess things that have not been used
• Clean off appliances and laundry soap shelf
• Move file box materials to filing cabinet under the stairs
• Find space for sleeping bags
• Get rid of boxes that are no longer used/needed

Children’s Bedrooms

• Go through clothing for correct sizes, repairs needed, and season appropriateness
• Help children purge unused/unneeded toys, papers, crafts, etc…
• Reorganize closets and shelves

Bathrooms/Hallways

• Reorganize closet in upstairs bathroom
• Go through medicine box and get rid of expired/no longer useful medicines
• Get rid of small postal boxes from hallway closet
• Go through cleaning supplies and store extra in food storage room

Food Storage Room

• Organize shelves
• Rotate food

Under Stairs

• Find ways to utilize wheat storage as furniture or accessories (I can’t seem to make this not sound funny, but I know what it means. lol)
• Create reading nook
• Find light(s) that work under stairs
• Move Filing Cabinet to under the stairs and put materials from Laundry room file boxes into it

Projects

Sewing and Projects

• Sew ribbons on old towels for hanging in downstairs bathroom (almost done, just need all the towels washed)
• Purge unneeded fabric
• Organize fabric to keep
• Make cover for love sac
• Create Plaque/Visual for our Family Mission Statement I’m working on for the School Room and Living Room
• Repair Lightning’s dresser

Calendar/Schedule

• Schedule times to make our family’s two week supply of bread (consistency is needed)
• Merge my online calendar with my physical family calendar
• Schedule time for teaching my daughter more cooking skills
• Create babysitting information class for my girls (and friends?)
• Set aside daily personal study time for myself

What are you working on (big or small) to organize your home or make your systems work better?

Thank you for visiting!  Comments are always welcome.