Organization

I've been on an organization kick as of late. I absolutely have to if I want my house to stay looking like this

and not turn into something more like this

The kids have always been good about picking up toys and such. The only random little toy I find once in a while is a Lego. Well, that and our furry child's toys. He still hasn't gotten the hang of picking up after himself.
So, with the help of Pinterest, of course, I found myself lots of cleaning and organization tips and made myself a home organization binder. Although I've had various apps and reminders on my hand extension (iPhone), I feel like having this larger visual to be able to mark off items and for the whole family to be able to see has helped. On there, I keep daily cleaning schedules, chore charts, weekly menus, project planners, etc. Write everything down, why not? Most of us have enough things on our mind to still have to remember these tedious cleaning and cooking and to-do mental notes. Seriously, if you don't have something like this, virtual or otherwise, make one. It'll free up sooooo much of your time!
Here are some of the links to places where I got the templates from . .

- Daily Checklist
- Cleaning Calendar
- Menu Planner
- Master To-Do list I use this for bigger projects I currently have planned like redoing my daughter's room and our downstairs bathroom.
- Shopping List I'm using this to jot down non-grocery items I don't want to forget.

Those are just a few of the pages I used. Some of those, like the cleaning calendar, I used as a sort of base and customized it to fit our own family routine. To find more, you can look on my Pinterest Organization and Pretty Printables boards. The best tip I can share is a super easy one but that really makes a difference: never leave a room empty handed. There's always a piece of mail, a cup, a toy, a shoe, something that needs to be put away, washed or thrown away. For me I've found I'm worst with jewelry. I leave earrings on an end table, bracelets on the kitchen island, you get the picture. There's ALWAYS something that could be put away. If you have a tip that works for you, please share.

When I was your age . . .

Technically, I've been blogging since 2003. Sure, I haven't been consistent on any one blog, but I've done it. Even if it was only for me to read. Maybe it's because I've had more time now that I'm on Summer break, but for whatever reason, I've gotten the bloggy bug again and even jotted down a few ideas I felt like sharing. Weird, huh? Isn't blogging like out of style now? I know that for one, I don't have the attention span to really read blogs anymore. Micro-blogging is where it's at. Am I wrong? Anyway, in case anyone feels like reading, I feel like writing. First off, let me explain how I'm currently feeling about blogging. It might further explain my lackluster approach in the past couple of years . . .

- Here's my old guy rant, bear with me. Those of you that started blogging before me or at around the same time will probably understand. If not, please don't be insulted, it's not your fault, but when someone tells me that they now have a blog, I feel like explaining how hard we had it "back when". I started when Blogger was Blogspot. There were no "add image" buttons or easy ways to customize your template other than to use code. To change any color, you needed a code. To add an image, you needed the whole Image Source command. Since I knew nothing about HTML coding, I used to take HOURS and HOURS just trying to adjust my template. I was sooooo excited when I learned how to add a picture. Plus there were no comments sections. If you wanted comments to be available to your page, you had to use a separate source. I used Haloscan and it was quite sad once Blogger finally enabled comments and I lost about two years of comments to my page. You couldn't just have a customized blog in minutes and I guess I'm pretty jealous or petty about people who in my mind "have had it easy". We used to have to walk ten miles barefoot in the snow to make one post.

- EVERYONE has a blog now. Seriously. It doesn't seem as fun as it used to. When I first discovered blogs, I read Julie Powell (before she was THE Julie & Julia), Dooce and ljcfyi. Now everyone just writes about their kids. Not that that's a bad thing, I do it too, it's just that blogs were what I used to read instead of books. They were that entertaining and new. Now it's just sort of to keep up with what people are doing. I admit that I'm guilty of the same thing, that's when I thought mine had run its course.

- Again with the EVERYONE has a blog . . . my daughter has started several as school projects. She's made a blog as a book report, a blog from the point of view of an immigrant for another project, etc. It almost doesn't seem fair to write about my kids when they are now tech savvy and can easily access what I'm saying about them. Does that make sense?

All that said, I'm willing to try this once again. With all my whines and complaints, I miss bloggy world. You can't imagine how many times I've "written" a blog in my head. I miss my bloggy friends that I've made throughout the years. We've shared engagements, weddings, babies, trips, moves, and overall, well, life. I'm ready to share again. Care to read?


Just as a little note to kind of put things into perspective. This is how my kiddies looked when I first started blogging . . .




. . and this is them now. . .