Showing posts with label Stay Organized. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stay Organized. Show all posts

May 20, 2015

Project Simplify Part 2





I've been having a lot of fun finishing up the different projects from my little book I mentioned a few posts ago. It feels super nice to clear things out for REAL and pare down. I have no desire to fill every nook and cranny with 'stuff' anymore. Here is some of what I've been working through.



1. Laundry room: laundry and a few random supplies, girls' backpacks and coats, drying racks, hooks, and four colored bins, one for me, Ben, the girls, and towel/sheets. That's it.













2. Kitchen cabinets. Only have one set of stoneware dishes that can be used for all occasions. All of our dishes are in this cabinet, except for drinking glasses.




All the pots and pans. Got rid of a large one that I didn't really need so I could fit the electric griddle down there. How many pans do I really need?





All the baking dishes:





All the baking food items:





I tried to organize the spices by letter I'm that neurotic.






3. Media. These two drawers hold all of our DVDs and VHS (yeah, we still have some of those). Got rid of everything that we did not really love or want for the future:








4. This is every single 'adult' book in the house!!!! It's so easy to accumulate book after book, but when it comes down to it, there are so few books that we will end up reading or going back to. So we saved only our favorites or meaningful ones. The first shelf is mostly fiction (Narnia series, Francine Rivers) and autobiographies or biographies. Second shelf is spiritual growth and teaching. Third shelf is favorite parenting and marriage books (not every one we've ever read). Fourth shelf is random but a few practical how-to books. Last shelf is my childhood scrapbook, extra copy of our wedding album, a Spanish 101 textbook, etc.:






5. Linen closet. Just kept one set of flannel sheets and summer sheets for each bed and an extra pair for the girls' bed. Towels- don't need that many. We keep ours in our bathroom, but even then it's only a few. Then beach towels, kid bath towels, and pillowcases. Anna's nebulizer medication, bath time shampoo and stuff, and a blanket:





6. Girls' closet. Top shelf are their travel bags and beach bags with swim stuff. Kimmie's dresses, then shirts, then Anna's dresses. They can wear the same size shirts which is nice. Definitely have more clothes than we need, but almost all are used or hand me downs that we really do love. I have bins in here with diapers, more hangers, and all their clothes that are too small (to hand down or consign) or too big. I like to keep them nearby so I can occasionally see if anything new fits. I also don't like storing clothes in the attic; my goal is to have everything that we use, except Christmas decorations, sports equipment, outside toys, and suitcases/coolers in the room where they are used.






Anna gets the top drawer and Kimmie the second. I just keep short, pants, and skirts in here:




Last drawer is for underwear, underclothes, and junk clothes for outside:




PJs go in the bottom of this hall tree. We probably have way more than we need:





7. I limited little trinkets and smaller items to what you see here. A couple of pictures, the shells from the girls baptism, her crown from Disney, and some hats.






The homemade bunny house found it's home in here! The girls have some sort of obsession with taking their clothes off. And I'm the one stuck putting them back on.








8. My work desk, in the closet.





So far, so good! I think I only have a few areas left: kids' toys, attic (ugh I hate going up there so I might skip this one), coat closet, keepsakes, craft supplies, and paper. I highly recommend this little book! It's been fun.




May 8, 2015

Project Simplify

I'm always into simplifying, but lately I've been wanting to take it to the next level. Especially when I looked at my closet. I think (maybe?) compared to the average person in the US, I keep a lot less 'stuff.' But yet, every time I try to simplify beyond the point I'm at, I sort of hit a wall and have trouble deciding what should go and what should stay. Well, I got this fantastic little book that has totally helped my mindset and figure out what is really worth holding on to, and the benefits of living with less: less clutter, less choices, less desire to buy more 'stuff' (since you've worked so hard to get rid of it!), and realizing the joy of living with less.




The book goes through every different area of your home so you can take it slow and hit each section as you want. Instead of going through your stuff and picking a few things out to send to Goodwill, for example, she encourages you to take everything (literally, everything) out and go through it piece by piece. I really love the questions she has you ask yourself. For clothes- is this something I would take on vacation? Do I have something to pair it with? Do I have another one of these? How often do you do laundry? (who needs two black shirts if you do laundry every week)? I realized that so many of the clothes I hung on to were ones that I didn't love, just tolerated. I went from thinking my closet was pared down to literally getting rid of 50% of it after reading the book. The goal is to have only clothes that you 'love' to wear. It also sets a standard so you don't buy whatever you find on sale, just because it's cheap. If you don't absolutely love it, you won't buy it, because you've worked so hard to keep your wardrobe a 'love it' wardrobe. I can fit all of my seasonal clothes out at once (except I put sweaters away), so I don't have to go through boxes every season. I like that.

Here is my pared down closet. It's kind of embarrassing because I know that so many people around the world would think this is extravagant, and it is. But at least compared to what it was, I think it looks pretty good.

All my warm weather tops (just what's hanging, the blue bins hold 1. bathing suits and 2,3. camisoles that I wear under cardigans):


All my cold weather tops (minus a bunch of heavier tops and sweaters):


All my shorts, capris, jeans, and casual pants. Still feels like a lot, but I wear all of them.


All my dresses and skirts for all occasions:


All my work or nicer pants (four pairs):


My gym bag:



I pared down all my shoes (how many pairs of dress shoes do I really need? What would go with the most?) I saved three pairs of dress shoes- one nude, one black, and one silver. All of these and my work shoes are on the floor shelf, and all my sandals and casual shoes are on the hanging rack. It still feels like I have a lot of shoes, but a lot less than before.




 I also kept only two purses and two belts (black and brown), and two hats:


Here is the extent of my makeup collection after getting rid of unused items. Bare Minerals foundation, concealer, and blush, brushes, mascara, eye liner, an eyebrow pencil, a pencil sharpener, and an lash/eyebrow comb (no curler). It all fits into this little bag that I can roll up to take with me on trips.


And here is all of my jewelry. One side has earrings and bracelets, the other necklaces. It also packs really well:




I don't know if this still is a ton of stuff, but I feel like it's as simplified as I will probably get! Either way, I feel proud of what I've done so far.

Here is my simplified nightstand. I love how the author talks about why having a simple nightstand is a good idea and how to decide what to keep on it. A light, a coaster, one picture frame (my late father), one current book/devotional, and box with a few of my nighttime essentials (glasses and lotion).



More to come on the other areas! I've already done the kitchen cabinets and dishes and bathroom cabinets. There wasn't anything to do in the dining room because there was nothing in it to begin with!


March 13, 2015

Remembering 2014


I finally finished our 2014 yearbook (photobook)! If you missed this post, I wrote about the details of the way I decided to chronicle our family memories. Here is our newest addition:

(I blacked out our last name :)


And here are all of our books, totaling all of the years spent together on this journey:


Overall I was happy with the way this one came out. I was a little disappointed that the linen cover's color was not the same as the previous yellow from 2011. I guess they changed the color up a bit. I had a color order going on (red, orange, yellow, repeat) so it messed with my OCD nature :)

February 4, 2015

Girls' Room Redo


I've been wanting to redo the girls' room for so long, and when we were able to transition Kimmie to a big girl bed with her sister, we could finally get rid of that crib! It makes the small room look so much bigger and less crowded. I always try to re-use things that I have in other rooms, freshen something up a little, or move things around instead of spending a lot of money. For this room, I wanted to change the paint color. It's hard to tell here, but it turned out more Easter-eggy than we preferred. After some thought, I decided to save the time, hassle, and money, and try to soften the color with other items. Sorry for the dark shadows. I took these pictures with my phone.

I wanted to keep the room looking 'young' but not baby-ish, so that the girls wouldn't outgrow the decor, and when they got older, things could just be tweaked a bit. I replaced the blackout curtains that my mother had made, because we no longer needed them. For this small window, I bought one curtain panel from Target and cut it in half. Two panels would have been too much fabric (and twice the cost), but one panel worked beautifully. Trying to keep things as less-crowded as possible, I nixed the dresser that was already in the room and put it in the closet instead. It was old and ugly, and it's convenient to have all clothing in one place. Plus it frees up room for something a little nicer looking. This is a hall tree but I thought it would look cute in the bedroom. There are some of my favorite pictures, the shells that the girls were baptized with, their Rosie and Lily dolls, a lampshade that I covered a few years back, and baskets of nighttime books. The little chair from Ikea was a gift from my mother, and so was the handmade pillow. I have some lacing boards and beads in a basket there, too.




Here is the bed the girls share; it's my old one from college. It's low to the ground so it's easy to get in and out of, and there is not much damage to be had by a possible roll-off. The birdcage frames used to be gold and on the family room wall, but I never liked the way they looked. They also contained 4x6 prints, and something about small print 'collages' on a family room wall reminds me of dorm-room college days. Instead I took the frames, spray painted them white, and filled them with pretty scrapbook paper. It's hard to see but the paper is bright and beautiful.






This is the other wall. Some art pieces that I thought were beautiful and reminded me of a fantasy land- from the Christmas Tree Shop, the best store ever for extremely inexpensive home decor.


I printed this off from the computer and framed it. It's kind of hard to see:



And lastly, the dresser that I stuffed in the closet. It really is convenient.


Pretty hair bows all in a row:



I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, and how I was able to repurpose things. The room looks much softer and spacious now.


January 23, 2015

The Science of Budgeting

I've finally gotten our family's budgeting system down to a science. I've used a zero-balanced budget since graduate school and have tried multiple different ways of working it. The biggest roadblock I found was expenses that were not regular- that came up twice a year, or every three months, or here and there. Things you knew you needed money for but didn't know exactly when or how much. It was stressful to have an expense come up that you suddenly had to scramble and find money for. I used to try to save money for different varying expenses but it was always hard to keep track of how much I saved and for what without my eyes crossing.


I didn't want to do a new, or updated, budget every month. I wanted one budget that we could use all the time, and only needed to update if something major changed. The question was how to make a catch-all monthly budget with expenses that weren't monthly expenses (say, a quarterly utility bill, or Christmas).


About 6 years ago, we took out 8 separate savings account- our 'sinking funds', from a primarily online, high interest-earning (for a savings account, that is) bank. Back then it was called ING Direct; since then it was bought out and renamed to Capital One Direct. Anyway, these were no-hassle savings account that you can transfer money to and from your regular checking account online (ours is Bank of America), there aren't monthly fees or rules, and you can set up automatic transfers. We designated each savings account and named it for a different purpose (e.g., travel, gifts, insurance).  I estimate how much we spend on each category per year, and divide it by 12. Each month, that amount is transferred to its savings account. Whenever the expense comes up (say, a car tag fee), then I transfer the money from its saving account to my checking account. It is a great way to keep track of how much money you have for what areas, to save up for something down the road, and to keep your budget from running you over.


For things like travel, car maintenance, gifts, etc. we have to guess how much we think we will need each year. Just because we have a fund for it doesn't mean we always have what we do need. For example, our medical fund never has what it needs because it's always being depleted. And Ben still drives his 96 Oldsmobile because we can't replace it (and he likes having a ghetto-rigged bumper, let's be honest), BUT it helps us keep things sorted out and gives us goals. So, for example, we try to spend no more than $300 at Christmas. That includes family, friends, kids, gift exchanges, teachers' gifts, etc. So divided by 12, that's $25 a month. Then I figure we have approximately two baby showers/birthday parties/weddings each month (lots of baby showers among our group), so that would be another $40-50 or so. Soooooo each month we transfer $75 into our 'gift' fund. Does it mean we always have money for what we want? No. But it does help us balance things out a little bit better, particularly around the holidays.


These are our sinking funds. Remember, regular monthly expenses can be figured into your monthly budget without these. Our regular monthly expenses include our mortgage, gas, groceries, personal items, children (diapers, clothes, etc.), power/internet/gas bills, life insurance, and money that we gift to missionaries/ministries/churches. The sinking funds are specifically for expenses that vary or that we don't use each month:




1. Travel (family visits, vacations, etc.)
2. Car (oil changes, repairs, replacement, etc.)
3. Insurance (car insurance, property insurance, tag and registration fees)
4. Gifts (weddings, showers, birthdays, Christmas)
5. Home Maintenance (calling the plumber, furniture, etc.)
6. Emergency Fund- Dave Ramsey-style.
7. Medical Expenses- medication, doctors' visits, ridiculously high family deductibles that you have to meet every year (*cough).
8. Miscellaneous expenses: this includes as many extra expenses that we anticipate will come up each year- things like school supplies, our quarterly garbage bill, Homeowners Association dues, our computer backup program, haircuts, school registration fees, Continuing Education for my license, etc. Everything I can think of- even if they are not big expenses. Anything that might stretch the budget a little bit. We add up the total predicted cost for the year (for all expenses) and divide by 12. Then each month that amount is transferred into the "Miscellaneous" account. So when I need a haircut, I already have that amount set aside and I don't have to figure out where to take that money from. I have labeled on my spreadsheet what 'Miscellaneous' includes, so I don't forget what we actually budgeted for and what we didn't. We have something like 10 different miscellaneous expenses included, and it's easy to forget how much you saved and for what.


Like I said before, our budget is monthly. In graduate school I used to get paid monthly, so it worked out perfectly. But most people get paid bi-weekly, and at first that REALLY messed me up. So I found a system where each month's paychecks are deposited into our savings account, and then at the end of the month, that total amount is transferred to our checking account to be used for the next month's expenses. So on February 1st, I transfer all of our paychecks from January to our checking account, and we use this money for the month of February. This has been the most effective budgeting method for us. Mentally, I feel more comfortable using last month's paychecks for this month's expenses.

December 5, 2014

Work It, Baby Part II

Continuing on from my previous post, I'm becoming acclimated to doing a large portion of my work at home. In theory, this sounds super convenient and easy. In reality, it can be very frustrating. In order to write, I need complete uninterrupted time. Otherwise, the tons of puzzle pieces and statistics I'm trying to juggle around in my head get lost in one split second of, "Mommy?" or "Lisa?"


Because our computer is in our main living space, it was not providing the type of environment that I needed to focus and be efficient. We don't have space for an office in our home. We didn't know we would need one at the time that we bought it. If we knew I would be working from home, we would have definitely made an office a priority. But oh well. After thinking and talking about as many different options as we could, there seemed to be only one solution that was acceptable to all of us. We had to turn one of the closets (particularly, the guest room closet) into a workspace. I did not want to make the guest room or the play room a half-office, and there wasn't room for that anyway. BUT there was a small space in the closet that held promise. After lots of digging around, I found a desk that was the perfect fit for the closet, and with the attached hutch, it made use of as much space as possible. So we picked up the little guy (Micke from Ikea), and after I cleaned out the closet we created my workspace! I can close the doors when I'm done and you don't even know it's there. And it's at the end of the house so I can hole up for a couple of hours at a time, which is what I need most. I had to run an extension cord into the closet to create an outlet. I also had to get a laptop, something I really did not want to do. I hate laptops, but I really need one for this job. I found an HP on Craigslist and so far it seems to be working fine. Fingers crossed.


Here's my new space! I love that I can write all my stats and norm ranges on the white board, so I don't have to look them up each time.





There's my beloved DSM-V desk reference on the shelf:






May 26, 2014

Storing kids' art and backing up your computer

Recently my mom gave me a huge box where she had stored all of my art projects, books, programs, letters and notes from childhood. I enjoyed going through them and had quite a few laughs.

Anna and Kimberly have already started doing some 'art' at school and I was never sure where to store it. I don't want a lot of papers accumulating and I know the pile will only get larger, but I also don't want to chuck everything in the garbage and never see it again.

I decided to continue with my past post about going paperless and I found another use for my scanner: saving the girls' art projects! I created a folder for each girl and within them separate folders for each year, and I've started compiling all of their art in digital form by scanning them into my computer. This way I don't have to hold on to all of the individual pieces, only a few that I want to display. I'm thinking that I will compile all kinds of art, notes, certificates (the nice thing about scanning is that you can shrink larger papers down into smaller picture files) and other sentimental tokens and put them into a large photo book down the road. Wouldn't it be fun to have a nice book to look through down memory lane instead of piles and piles of papers!

Here are some examples of art I've already scanned. Be sure to organize them by date so you know he child's age at the time:

 

 

 

 



When you start storing important documents on your computer you always run the risk of losing them. I highly recommend getting a good backup system on your computer. You want one that backs up continuously rather than requiring you to back up manually. I've tried several and the one I've been most happy with is Backblaze. It's super easy and is constantly backing up your files without slowing down your computer too much. If you were to lose anything on your computer they would send you a zip drive with everything on it. It's about $50 a year for the service. A small price to pay for piece of mind (if you want to sign up,  you can get a free month).