Organization Class--Part II

Hello, again! I hope you've given some thought to your organization homework from last week because now we're going to talk about the three steps you must know to organize any space. It comes in a little rhyme to make it easier to remember.

To organize any space think:

Edit

Sort

Place

Easy, huh? So let's talk about editing, otherwise known as purging shall we?

When you have a space to organize, and I'm talking about any space; a cupboard, a drawer, a pantry, a closet, or an entire room. The first thing you have to do is purge the space of any unnecessary things. After all, when it comes time to put things back you don't want to make precious room for something you didn't really want or need in the first place right?

So many people are tempted to go out and buy all the fancy storage solutions that are out there but you must purge first! Often the things you need to place your items are already there, they're just being under-utilized. So how do you go about it?

First you need to pull everything out of the space. Do a little at a time depending on the size of the space. Decide what stays and what goes. Make a pile for things to keep, things to donate, and things to trash.

It seems to me that some people develop an emotional attachment to their things. I find this especially common in my parents' generation. To them I say this: "An item only has value if you benefit from it; otherwise it's clutter. If you haven’t used it in a year, name a specific occasion when you will need it, or get rid of it. And don’t feel bad about tossing old gifts. The love came from the person who gave you the gift, not from the actual sweater or gadget. You received and enjoyed the kind thoughts, so let the object go.”  Quote from Family Circle Magazine

I tell my kids all the time, "If we kept everything that we ever acquired or that someone else gave us, then eventually those things would end up filling up and taking over our whole house."

Being able to have time to spend with my family is more important to me than trying to hold onto things. Holding onto things I don't need clutters my house, keeps me from being able to find things when I really need them, wastes my time, which in turn makes me feel anxious and grumpy, and detracts from the peaceful feeling I strive to keep in my home!

So there you have it, edit your space, let go of the things that don't matter because they are, after all, just things. You cannot take them with you when you die and all that will end up happening is you'll leave your loved ones with the burden of trying to purge for you.

Click here for an example of how I organized my pantry from start to finish.

Organization Class- Part 1

And I'm back! Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to this blog but I do have some good reasons! I've been taking care of some very sick kids for the past two weeks and also I've been preparing a class on organization that I just taught on Tuesday at my church.

Now that the kids are on the mend and my class is all done, I thought I'd take the next few weeks to review what I taught in the class. So here goes!

Part I- A House of Order
First of all I had the class envision the inside of an LDS temple. If you're not LDS click on the link to see what I'm talking about. We then discussed what makes a temple orderly and came up with these answers: Nothing is ever out of place or cluttered. Everyone has a job to do and performs it in a timely and orderly fashion. It is always clean.

I then quoted this scripture from a book called The Doctrine and Covenants which is a book of revelation revealed to the first prophet of our church, Joseph Smith. The scripture says, "Behold, mine house is a house of order, saith the Lord God, and not a house of confusion. D&C 132:8.

"A clean organized room can bring the Spirit of the Lord." This is a quote I found when I was teenager and loved it so much I wrote it down on a little card to be displayed on my bedroom mirror. Back then I was not organized or neat. After years of constantly being punished for not keeping my room clean, my mom finally gave up and let me live in my filth. And I did, quite happily!

As I became a grown-up, however, and became in charge of an entire household, I realized that order and cleanliness make my house run smoother. They make things less stressful. They teach my kids to respect their home, their mother, and themselves. And most importantly, they make my home a peaceful place to be.

So here comes your challenge for the week:
Think of one room in your house or area in your life that is disorganized and ponder these questions:

1. What don't you like about it?
2. How does it make you feel?
3. How does it keep you from accomplishing what you want?

Next time we'll be discussing the first step in organizing any space albeit a drawer, closet or an entire room! Happy pondering. :)

If you're interested in learning more about my faith. Click here!

Style Matching



No, this is not a picture of my living room... but I do like the colors!



I occasionally watch The Nate Berkus Show and yesterday was one of the days I caught it as we have a cold going through our house and I wasn't feeling motivated to do much of anything except veg. Anyway, Nate and another designer were talking about how a person's clothing style should be reflective in their interior decorating. Apparently, the two should go hand in hand, and if they don't then you're not really allowing others to see the real you when they enter your home.

I find this concept to be very fascinating and I've been thinking about it ever since. I was telling my husband about this last night at the dinner table and asked him if he thought my clothes and my house matched. He looked me over, shrugged his shoulders, and said, "I don't see it..." Husbands never do though, right? However, the more I've thought about it, the more I realized that yes, my clothes and my house do tend to match.

For example, yesterday I was wearing a teal and green striped sweater and corduroy pants. Although Nathan pointed out that I don't have anything in those colors in my home he was, of course, wrong. My guest bedroom is a French country theme decorated in a dusty teal and brown. My living room and master bedroom are shades of green, and I own a corduroy chair which is my absolute fave plus two corduroy beanbag chairs. See where I'm going with this?

I love birdhouses and welcome signs. You'll find them everywhere in my country-cozy home. I keep my home styled in earth-tones, nothing bright. I myself and a quiet person who prefers to blend in for the most part. I want people to feel comfortable in my home as much as I want them to be comfortable around me. I think my personal style both in my clothes and home say that. I'm a genuinely kind and quiet person, a peace-maker and I've often had people tell me how peaceful my home is.

So, having said all that. Now it's your turn. What do you think your clothes and home say about you? Definitely something to think about. :)

Half the Hamburger, Twice the Health

I learned this tip from my mother-in-law who raised nine children. Mealtime at her house was a hectic time, I'm sure, trying to manage all those little ones. So she started cooking large quantities of hamburger at a time and freezing it in smaller portions for later. That way, when she was ready to prepare a meal, half the work was already done.

I don't cook with hamburger too much because I'm just not a big fan of red meat, but when I do, I most often cook a whole pound and take half of it and freeze it for another recipe. I then double whatever vegetables the recipe calls for so as to not make the liquid be off-balance.

It's easy to do. Simply scoop out the amount you wish to freeze and place it in a quart-sized freezer bag. Press the hamburger flat. This makes the meat much easier to break apart and reheat when you're making another meal. I'm all about saving time when cooking and this is a great way to do just that!

Here's a yummy recipe to get you started!

Szechwan Beef
1 lb ground beef
1 tbsp minced onion
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups sliced carrots
1 cup frozen peas
1/3 cup water
3 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 can cut baby corn
2 cups instant brown rice

1. In large skillet, brown ground beef and onion. Remove from skillet and set aside. Place half in a Ziploc bag and freeze for later.
2. Add oil to skillet and return to medium heat. Add carrots and peas and stir-fry about 3 minutes.
3. In small cup, combine water and soy sauce with cornstarch and ginger. Add to vegetables in skillet.
4. Return ground beef to skillet along with baby corn. Cook over medium heat until heated through.
5. Prepare rice according to package directions. Serve beef and vegetables over rice.

Better Book Organizing for Kids

We love books here at our house! And because we love them so much we have accumulated quite the library. I'm glad that I have passed down my love of reading to my children and I'm glad they love their books so much. However, I wasn't glad with the way the little kid books were always a mess on the shelves. I wasn't glad that my children couldn't find the book they were looking for, and I sure wasn't glad that I was the only one who could put them away.

So, I did something about it!

Instead of lining up all the books vertically, I stacked them horizontally by category, placing the largest books on the bottom and the smallest on top. This way makes my kids be able to see what they're looking for and be able to put them away. I wrote the categories on Post-It notes and laminated them to keep them looking nice. I then attached the labels to the bookshelf with painters tape so the finish would be protected. I put the really large books on top of the shelf in neat piles.

Here's the way I categorized them:

• Animals
• Potty books (for little kids)
• Babies
• Dogs
• Feelings and Opposites
• Getting Dressed and The Body
• Colors and Shapes
• ABC's and 123's
• Touch and Feel
• Bedtime
• Nature and Food
• Church and Jesus

These categories are, of course, just suggestions. Categorize them in the best way for you. And don't worry if your child can't read the labels. With your help, they'll soon be able to memorize where their books go. Before you know it, they'll be reading the labels too.

That is, after all, the whole idea of books. :)

Unwrap your Smile

I have found that it greatly irritates me when I run out of something, especially when I have just been to the store and could've picked up the offending item while I was out.

However, if I unwrap things then I can easily see how much I have left and can make sure I never run out.

Another plus to unwrapping your everyday paper products and diapers is you can fit a lot more of them into a space. This is very handy if you have a small space to work with. If you look at the picture, you can see that I fit an entire box of diapers on one small shelf. I made one giant-sized package of toilet paper fit on another, and worked a whole lot of paper towels onto the bottom. That's an abundance of stuff in one small space!

The last benefit of unwrapping is the way it looks. I think it is more aesthetically pleasing when you store your paper products and other items in their purest form. And since mine are stored on open shelving in my laundry room, it is even more important that everything look nice and clean as guests pass by on their way to the bathroom.

What can you unwrap today?

Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup

 Since the weather seems to be stubbornly staying cold, I thought I'd share my creamy chicken and rice soup recipe that I shared a while back on my other blog. I am a self-proclaimed "convenience chef" and although I am perfectly capable of cooking from scratch, I find it so much easier with my small kids to cook using precooked foods. Someday I'll go back to cooking from scratch but for now, here's a recipe I made up that's healthy, tasty, and super easy.

Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup

Ingredients:

2 cans of 98% fat free cream of chicken soup

2 cans skim milk (use empty chicken soup cans)

1-2 cups of frozen vegetables (the one I use has corn, green beans, peas, & carrots)

1 can of Costco all white canned chicken, broken up into bite-sized pieces.

1 tbsp minced onion

1 tsp parsley

1 tsp basil

1 pkg Uncle Ben's Ready Rice (Long Grain and Wild)
1/4 cup slivered almonds

Directions:
1. Whisk together soup and milk over medium heat.
2. Add vegetables, chicken, onion, and herbs and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.
3. Cook rice in microwave and add along with the almonds to the soup.
4. Stir until heated through and serve! (Serves about 6 but can easily be doubled)


Told you it was easy!