I admit it, I'm obsessed with organization. Not that I'm entirely organized, although most my friends would tell you I am, but more that I love reading, thinking and planning on organizing. Actually doing the organization itself even is enjoyable. So, it should come as no surprise that for 2015 I signed up to work through the 52 week challenge with Home-Storage Solutions-101.com and accepted the 14 week Organization Challenge with www.abowlfulloflemons.com. The 52 week challenge is one that focuses on one area for each week of the year. Not only do they have a theme for the week, you can also download the monthly calendar to access each days 15 minute job.
Really, 15 minutes a day can lead to organization? YES! Several years ago I read the book The 15 Minute Organizer by Emilie Barnes and it changed my outlook on so many things. I began to see that what we say we don't have time for can typically be done if we break it into 15 minute a day segments. Doing this helped me not only work on areas of the house I wanted to work on, it also allowed me to get several scrapbooks completed and read several books. I still use the ideas from that book today, and doing so continues to allow me to take some time for things I want to accomplish each day. 15 minutes isn't a lot of time, but it is affordable time. I don't believe there are too many people that couldn't find 15 minutes in their day for something. In fact I'd venture to guess that sometimes, after setting the timer and working for 15 minutes, many would discover that they could actually set it for 15 more minutes and do that much more. With that in mind, I think the Home Storage Solutions monthly calendar is a wonderful tool for getting things accomplished. It also has wonderful tips for getting started, and staying organized.
If that's the case though, why does my January calendar on January 8th have all the days of the month except for 8 crossed off? The main reason is I'm in a different season of my life where I'm working outside of the home pretty much full time. As a substitute teacher, and mother of 2 teenagers it's not always easy to tackle an extra job. I do still take 15 minutes of the day to do something I want to do, but as much as I love organizing sometimes I want to spend my 15 minute working on my son's scrapbook, reading an extra chapter in my book, or looking through Pinterest. With that in mind I've decided that when I do have a day off I would look through the monthly jobs and do more then 1 days worth. I started the month doing only the job for the day, but today it's -12 with windchill and school was cancelled, so I decided I wanted to tackle the majority of the kitchen.
A year ago I went though the kitchen and really decluttered. I got rid of plastic cups and containers we never use, bakeware that had been just sitting in the cabinet and ended up with 1 whole drawer and 2 different cabinets with 1/2 empty top shelves! So the decluttering part of this months mission wasn't needed as much as the general straightening of the cabinets. After all, we live in our house and use our kitchen and therefore sometimes don't put things back where they go. So how long did it take to go through all of the cabinets, wiping them down on the inside and straightening them? 60 minutes. On the calendar itself it breaks the jobs down into smaller sections then just cabinets, so instead of the 16 different 15 minute missions (i.e. food storage containers, plastic bottles and cups) I just chose to go through my whole kitchen at once.
Organization is doable. Find some good books, you can read my blog for reviews on several organization books, download the calendar and missions from Home-Storage-Solutions-101.com/organized-home.html or make your own lists of tasks you want to get done. Having things where they belong and knowing how to keep them that way really will keep your life running more smoothly. My final tip, label areas so that others know what goes there, or at the very least tell the family that you just organized, for example, the kitchen and ask them to please look around to make sure they know where things go before putting things away.
Once you have an organization plan, and have accomplished it staying on top of the area is key. For me I am working on getting some daily and weekly habits going to maintain the kitchen area.
Daily I plan on keeping the dishes out of the sink. Either by loading the dishwasher/emptying the dishwasher in the am or at dinner, or putting any drying dishes away before bed. Wiping down counters after each meal, and straightening the pantry while making the grocery list every Saturday, as needed. Simple steps that will make the kitchen function better, and make me feel better. After all, coming downstairs in the morning to a sink full of dishes just makes me feel like I'm starting the day behind.
Best of luck with the organizing in 2015 should you choose to jump into the challenges that are out there to rid your lives of the extra clutter that is taking up your space!
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