Decluttering starts with Mommy, and trickles down

This post is a spin on the decluttering concept- one where we talk about "stuff" that accumulates in the house

It is important as parents to imbue in our kids a sense of not buying "Junk" that gets played with for the first few weeks of its life, then gets ignored, lost or broken. The reason for this is because most of the things in this category will make up a decent percentage of the overall clutter of kid-related mess in the house!

Teach your kids that toys that last forever are the ones worth keeping by only buying sustainable, well-quality items. Examples: Puzzles and wooden educational toys, legos. Toys that can break or ones that need batteries you know will not last forever...

Want to declutter but don't know how to get started?

Pick one small area that needs help and roll up your sleeves and get to work:

Example problem areas :

• Book shelf
• counter-tops
  
• Other various surface areas
• Play room
• Kids closets
• Bathrooms
• Pantry
• The "drawer" - you know what I mean- that drawer that *** everything *** gets dumped into!

The next posts will touch on specifics in all of these areas. Try to pick one from the list and work 30 minutes at it tomorrow. if its the only thing you accomplish all day, so be it- at least you can scratch one off the list. Try it!!

Tips for organizing your week

Sit down at the computer or get out some paper and pen and write something like the following to successfully organize your week!

Sunday:

Laundry + folding in a.m
shopping + homework from noon-2
basketball - yomin, 2-3
clean first floor + dinner and lunches 3-6
party + basketball 7-9:15

Monday:

Bake cake and cookies with yonason + prepare dinner in a.m before 11
doc appointment, plus bathroom cleaning, library 1-4
showers, homework, dinner 4-7
zumba-7:30-8:30
date with hubby 9-11

Tuesday:

Bootcamp @ 6:00
kitchen moping, play time with yonason and first floor house sweeping before 11
dinner prep 11-12
showers, homework, dinner 4-7
work on invitations, scrapbook, and desk cleaning 7-10

Wednesday:

Playroom clean-up- 8:30-10:00
work on college registration, menu for shabbos and coming week 10:00-12:00
dinner prep, cake and cookie baking 12:00-1:00
showers, homework, dinner 4-7
bedtime for kids 7-7:20
gym 7:30-8:30

Thursday:

Boot Camp - 6 a.m
Play time with yonason and adara 8:30-10:00
dinner prep, floor moping10:00-12:00
shabbos and week shopping- 12:00-2:00 -
shabbos dessert baking with kids, general house cleaning- shabbos prep- 2:00-4:00
dinner, homework ,showers for shabbos- 4-7
shabbos cooking- 7-9

Friday:
shabbos cooking with yonason- 8:30-10:00
finish cooking and cleaning while kids are sleeping 10-1 (includes getting candles ready, cholent pot out, water tank out, tablecloth out, shabbos clothes out for kids)
kids do chores, set table, prepare salads, shower for me, bath for adara- 2-4

Your will obviously be customized to your own lifestyle, but you get the gist. The day can be split up in any style of increments, hour or two hours ones work for me. Try this for a week, you'll never go back!!

NO space for coats and gloves?

If you do not have space for coats and winter accessories- try to look for a slice of bare wall to bang some hooks on a wall!

You would be surprised how much weight a good hook can hold. I personally have been using hooks and just thought of the idea to get cloth bags from Michaels and have the kids decorate them- then have them hang on the hooks under their coats - to hold gloves and scarfs.

This way the kids will:

• always have a place to put them after use
• always know where to look for them
• develop cleanliness and organization skills starting from 2 years and up!

Putting gloves in their own decorated bag will be fun and is a practical solution to lost gloves and crazy cold rushed morning! Try it!

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.