How to fold a fitted sheet

Is your linen closet a complete mess of sheets that are haphazardly stuffed into drawers and shelves?

Check out this link to learn how to fold your fitted sheets into neat little squares/rectangles. You will truly save double space!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z5k9nWcuFc

Cleaning up after Shabbos

Don't let your dishes sit in the sink and counter tops until Sunday. Clean them NOW so that Sunday can be used for preparations for the week ahead

Fill that dishwasher, or get going on hand-washing if you don't have one and dry and put everything away. It WILL take a good 30-60 minutes, but you WILL feel great when it's done!!

Where to being?

People tell me that there is no point in them trying to keep clean because they don't know where to begin!!

My advise- start with the room that is used the most! For people with little kids, the kitchen is hands down the most used room! Next, the living room and bathrooms.

Challenge: Pick one room for this week and clean just that one room all week. Bring in a trash can and start chucking! Gather some bins and put items that do not belong there in those bins! Rid yourself from your clutter and start over!! It is very refreshing!

"Organizational eye candy"

We all do it. We get the bed bath and beyond circular in the mail. We scan for interesting new products. We see plastic organizational "eye-candy" that we "must" have because it will "change" my life forever.

Chances are, it will not change your life forever. Chances are it will add more clutter to your life. Chances are it will crack, break or become totally useless.

The way to avoid these traps is by asking the heirloom question. Am i going to have this for the next 20 years? if no its prob not worth buying.

Counter-top challenge

People are always commenting on my counter tops and how they always seem clutter free-

It is not magic, nor does it come as easily to me as you may think!

Being organized takes lots of energy, but it does not have to take lots of time!!

Start today with one room of your house, declutter it. Throw the garbage OUT!

In my opinion, your counter-tops do not need anything on them! The only counter-top in my kitchen with anything on it is the one with just a toaster! (it is just too much of a hassle to put it away and take it out every day) But it is tucked in a corner with its cord hidden behind it and the fridge. Try it!!! The declutter the counter challenge!

You have your filing cabinet, now what?

Here is a list of my folders in my filing cabinet. Yours will look similar!

1. Mortgage (important papers regarding mortgages, monthly bills)
   
2. Electric bills
   
3. Water bills
4. Heating bills
5. Cell Phone Bill
6. Bank Statements
7. Credit Card Statements
   
8. Tax (every years taxes in individual folders within the file, house/city taxes
9. Stocks
10. Health Care (insurance bills, and the like)
11. Certificates (all important certificates, birth, marriage, diplomas...)
12. Kids (report cards, special projects, end-of-year assessments)
13. Owners manuals
    
14. Dental
15. Car (all things related to car inspections/registration, repairs and maintenance checks, insurance goes under its own file)

This is to get you started. Your own cabinet will of course have variations.

Once you set your cabinet up, it will be easy to keep track of important documents, and you will avoid the pile-up of clutter.

Starting a file cabinet- from scratch

To successfully run a household, the most important thing to do RIGHT now is get a filing cabinet

• Hit up craigslist to find sweet deals on great filing cabinets for cheap
• Make sure there is ample room for at least 20-30 thick files, meaning do not get a filing cabinet that is only the height of a two year old. Go heavy-duty and get one with five long slide out drawers
• Go to office depot and get hanging files that will hang from the metal pieces on either side of the drawers
• Get actual folders in which you will place all your important papers

Read my next post on how to begin

Make-up organizer

Where do you keep your eyeliners, mascara and brushes?

Here is an organized way to keep the makeup that you use the most at your fingertips in a non-cluttered manner

I purchased this leather-coated makeup holder on ebay for under $10

Bathroom cleaning tips

Most of us can not afford a cleaning lady every day of the week. That being said, there are ways to keep a handle on the cleanliness of the bathroom:

• Every other day/night when you are ready for your end of the day brushing teeth/washing face/skin care, pour cleaning solution/toilet bowl cleaner in your toilet and spray. Let is sit while brushing teeth..., scrub and your done!!! This way, it keeps things slightly clean
  
• When you wake up and are doing the morning rituals in the bathroom, wash down the sink real fast with a spray or wipe, add in the mirror if you can as well. It takes another minute or two, but it really keeps a handle on the cleanliness

Tips to declutter your kitchen

Many complain to me about the never-ending load of dishes in the sink, on the counter, in the fridge- waiting to be emptied and washed.

Three simple tips to follow to start over from scratch, and to prevent the cluttering of dishes:

• Wash all the dishes in your sink or on your counter tops at three different times of the day: the morning after kids drop off, consisting of breakfast dishes and dinner prep dishes.
• Mid-afternoon time- around 2 or 3, from any pile-up of cups, plates, sippy-cups or the like
• At night at around 8 p.m., or after your kids are in bed- but not too late, consisting of dinner dishes and any late-night snack cups or plates that may have piled up.
  

DO NOT go to sleep with any dishes needing to be washed. The idea is that at the end of the day, it will be like the day did not happen at all- with a clean sink, and clear counter-tops.

Good Luck. let me know how it goes!