Four Steps to Putting Away Laundry

Step #1 : Get little sister on your shoulders. Make sure she has a hanger of clothes between her teeth, so she can hold on to your head...


Step #2 : Stand & steady little sister on the shoulders....

Step #3 : Walk to the closet, closer, closer, closer....Hold steady. Little Sister gets the hanger on the bar. Declare Victory!!!!

Step #4 : Repeat until all closet clothes are off the bed & in the closet...


How do you get the laundry put away at your house?

Tweet

More Organizational 'Techniques'

This is a continuation of my Organization Series (just started yesterday, LOL)...

In an effort to keep up with coats, jackets, boots, shoes, sweaters, scarves, hats, gloves, etc I put up a metal garment rack, right behind my front door, with a small shelf under it. I don't have a mud room or closet in the living room, formal entry way or anything else of that nature...you walk in the front door and there is the living room.

Shoes are thrown on the shelf. I have many many hangers on the rack itself for coats, hoodies, jackets, etc as well as a few extra hangers for guests' coats and jackets. The garment rack has a wire 'shelf' across the top, complete with hooks at the ends. From the hooks hang items such as my purse, laptop bag, diaper bag, backpacks, etc. On the shelf I will soon be putting a small storage basket for items like gloves and hats. I also put packages up there that I plan on mailing out (one of these days). Just past the garment rack I have a key organizer screwed to the wall...where keys are supposed to be hung after walking in the door....

I am also a firm believer in 'everything has a place'...now I have not yet practiced enough to get into the habit of 'everything goes in its exact place, neatly, immediately' but I do attempt to keep like items together. Bills, school stuff, etc all go on my desk, or on the filing cabinet. Items needing mending, scrap fabric, non-scrap fabric, etc all go on the sewing table. I have a small tote for my knitting & crocheting items...hooks, looms, yarn, scissors, etc. I have a trunk for crafty things, inside that trunk I do have a small tote for the kids' crayons & craft items, but mainly just because I can latch the trunk and Mikaila hasn't figured out yet how to get into it.

The chifferobe that I am using as a TV cabinet has two drawers - in the drawers I keep some drawing paper for the kids as well as all our board games (or at least the pieces to the games as I run across them in the floor). The shelf above the TV that is supposed to just house the Wii and DVD player is also the 'catch-all' for the video games & recently watched DVDs, often not put back in their cases, but in a pinch all I have to do is shut the doors and 'hide' the clutter. The kids have a separate TV & DVD player that currently resides in my dining room. It sits on a shelf that is supposed to be used for the VHS tapes, of which we only have 4, and I'm considering moving their books from the shelf in the playroom to the shelf below the TV.

In my dining room I also have a small cupboard type thing where I store all 'extra' blankets...I really need to go through it and donate a lot of the baby blankets in there, but I'm torn.

I have a large tote upstairs, in the storage room, that I put clothes in that are too big for the kids right now, or that are off season that I don't have room for in their dressers. Every season change I go through each of their dressers and closets and throw out badly worn clothes and make a donation pile for everything they've outgrown and in decent shape still. I then sort the donation piles into different bags to different people who could use the clothes and one bag for Goodwill. I mark each bag before I start stuffing them and generally immediately put them into the car, in the front seat...in sight so that they're not as easily forgotten.

In my laundry room I have a sorter hamper, with 3 compartments. As I bring laundry down I sort it according to color/type. I have an additional hamper for towels or sheets. I also have a garment rack stocked full of the empty hangers from everyone's closets. As I pull laundry out of the dryer I put the hanging clothes immediately on the hangers before hauling the basket of clothes to be folded upstairs. I have a small dedicated basket for socks that need to be mated and folded, then fold everyone's clothing. Each person over the age of 4 is responsible for putting their own clothing away. I start the teaching process when they are 3 (or 30 in the case of my husband). Laundry is to be put away in the dresser or closet before bed.

Sheets are washed every Sunday. I have found that if I skip a week or two we all suffer from allergy type symptoms. Pillows are washed on the first of every odd month; blankets and comforters are washed on the first of every even month.

Right now I don't have a dishwasher and my hands crack and peel if I do dishes too often, so dishes are done every afternoon...unless I can get Mikeal to do them after dinner too.

I have all hardwood floors in my house and only two utility rugs, so I sweep everything on average once a day. Everything gets swept into one big pile in the middle of the dining room (central room of the house) and from there the pile is sorted into baskets/boxes and I have my trashcan right there with me...a basket for laundry, basket for shoes, box for toys, trash into the trashcan. Then everything in the box or baskets gets put away where it belongs.

In the bathroom I have a small wastebasket (most of the time...lost it at some point over the last month) and a hamper that hangs on the door. All dirty clothes are to go in the hamper before leaving the bathroom after showering/bathing. All wet towels go on one of the two towel rods on the wall or door...still working on getting the 33 year old to realize that a shower curtain rod is NOT a towel rod. I have a small closet in the bathroom that is a GODSEND! On the top shelf I have all medications in a plastic storage drawer, every 3 months I go through the drawer and restock on bandaids, OTC meds, etc and throw out any medications we no longer take. On that shelf I also have extra bottles of shampoo, body wash, etc as well as my bathroom cleaning supplies. I have a small basket for all of my make-up that sits on the shelf with the towels dedicated to mine & Brian's use. On a lower shelf I have all the kids' towels, the hand towels, and wash cloths. I also have a 7 drawer storage bin with dedicated drawers for sample & travel size items, a drawer for hair bows, a drawer for bathroom electrical items (razors, hairdryer, curling iron, etc), a drawer for personal hygiene items, a drawer for bath toys, a drawer for miscellaneous items, and a drawer for bar soap. Under the sink I keep a few extra plastic shopping bags to use as trashcan liners and the toilet bowl brush. Over the toilet I have a wire kitchen organizer things that I screwed to the wall, then lined the base with a piece of cardboard to keep magazines in, every few months I change out all the magazines for new ones.

In my storage room I have sturdy boxes or totes for everything to be put away in. Curtains in a box. Seasonal items separated into a different tote or two for each season...this year my Christmas items expanded from just one medium size tote to include a larger tote. Everything in the totes are put back in their original packaging when I put it away or if I'm unable to get it back in it's original packaging I put it into zipper bags. I put it exactly where it goes as I take things down, and immediately into the tote. The tote is then put back into storage, labeled.

All totes in my storage room are labeled so that I can glance at it and know what is in it without having to dig or open everything.

Lets see....

Everyone's clean/extra bedsheets are kept in their individual closets or other storage space in the bedroom folded and completely together. In the event of accident or sickness there is no hunting down to find clean bedding and its always right there on sheet washing day to replace the removed sheets immediately.

Upholstery cleaner and Febreeze is kept in the living room, on the previously mentioned garment rack in the living room so that they are always handy. All other cleaning chemicals are kept on the top shelf of the pantry shelf. I have a large drawer in the kitchen dedicated to cleaning cloths, dish towels, cloth napkins, placemats, etc...

I also have small 'catch-all' baskets throughout the house...one on top of the fridge, one on top of the tall bookshelf in the dining room, one on top of my desk...you get the idea. The baskets are an eyesore quite often, which prompts me to put all the stuff away that has accumulated in the baskets on a regular basis...no set regular basis, but keeping the 'junk drawer' stuff out of drawers and in these baskets helps to keep me from letting it all accumulate and losing items.

I'm hoping to soon find a large rolling tool chest that I can give to my husband and then, HOPEFULLY, he'll be able to do a better job at keeping his tools put away...and maybe he'll quit stealing my tools that I *had* in my bucket that is lined with a tool organizer... The only tools I can count on being in there are my gardening tools, and even then I have to hunt them down once in a while when the kids think they're fun toys to play in the yard with...

That's all I can think of at this time....I'll add more as I think of more.

Tweet

MY Organization Techniques....

Start with just one thing at a time. It has taken me a few years of doing the same things every week/month/year to get into the habit.

To keep our bills in check I have a main calendar that I use to circle expected paydays...for the whole year. Then I write a list of every bill that I know I will have every month of the year - rent, electric, water, insurance, internet, phone, etc...Then I group the bills by their due dates - rent & phone are due at the first of the month, insurance, electric, water, etc are due towards the end of the month. Most months we only have two pay periods so I then split the bills between the two pay periods, and write down which ones to pay when, how to split them, etc so that we have roughly the same amount of $$ coming out of each paycheck... As soon as the bill comes in the mail I open it and write down the exact amount on my calendar, then put the bill itself in a basket that usually hangs on the wall behind my monitor...only bills are allowed in that little basket. On payday I pay all the bills that I have written on my calendar before we spend anything out of that paycheck - I stay on top of the bills and paying them first keeps me from spending that money on something else. Even if I do something like split the rent between two paychecks, I pay the partial amount the day the check deposits.

As soon as any appointment is made I write it on the calendar. Every Sunday or Monday (since Brian usually knows his schedule by Monday at the latest for the following week) I write down his work schedule, compare it with the kids' school schedules, doctor appointments, extra activities and Brian and I map out everything else that needs to be done that week - shopping, etc...and try to get trips into town condensed to just one trip or combined with a different trip...such as him picking up something on his way home from work so that I don't have to go into town for just some piddly item.

I also write down all of my school assignment due dates in my calendar so that way its right there in front of me ...taunting me...

I use a red ink pen to write down the bills that are due...blue ink for doctor appointments & scheduled activities...and black ink for my school assignment (it was purple ink until I realized today that I have lost all my purple ink pens)

Every night before I go to bed I again look over my calendar and make a list of everything I need to do in town if I have to go into town and take that list with me so I don't forget anything.

I have a decent upright freezer so instead of making daily/weekly trips to the grocery store I spend the first of the month cleaning out my fridge of leftovers, etc and I have Mikeal right down items on my shopping list as I see that I need them, as I'm cleaning the fridge, that way I don't forget as many things. The next day I basically do the same thing to my pantry cupboard-organize it and wipe it out, call out needed items while Mikeal writes them down for me.

Over the next day or two I take inventory of how much food I still have in my freezer & pantry and how many meals I can get out of the food in there, and make a tentative menu...basically I figure out 25 dinners for the month, since we RARELY go out to eat...then I write down any other groceries I need to make those meals. Then only go shopping once for the main stuff...I'll then spend a day preparing a lot of the meals-generally it takes me about 5 hrs to prepare, in advance, 15-20 meals to just stick in the freezer immediately then thaw when we're ready to eat it (depending on how the month goes). I always have a few 'simple' dinner supplies on hand for the nights I either forget to set something out or just really don't feel like cooking. I generally always go grocery shopping on the 10th of the month - just a day I picked - and if for some reason my schedule doesn't allow for me to go that day... I nearly always have about a week's worth of meals 'leftover' either in the freezer or pantry.

I also keep a filing cabinet right next to my desk...in the top drawer I have hanging folders for each person with different keepsake types things in the folder, a folder for the current year that has three folders in it...one for receipts, one for paycheck stubs, and one for miscellaneous things that I need to keep up with (insurance claims, student loan stuff, etc)..., a folder for vehicle information - title, tag paperwork, etc. -, a folder for other legal paperwork - birth certificates, marriage license, etc... In the bottom drawer I have a folder for all appliance/electronic paperwork and then each year I take the folder that's full of receipts & pay stubs and move it to the bottom folder and add the tax paper work after it's been filed....at some point in time I'm going to decide if I'm going to start shredding the paperwork that dates back to 1998, when I started working....

To keep up with housework, etc...well, I'm still working on that for the most part. That is mainly this year's 'tackle' since I have the rest of it fairly well down pat. It has taken roughly 5 years of practice to get the system down in such a way that works for me and my family....and even then once in a while things fall through the cracks. The most important thing I have found is that when things do fall through the cracks to just jump back on it to get back on track. The more often you jump back on the track the longer you'll stay on track. Make it a HABIT! ...and when someone like my husband makes fun of you and says you're being OCD and such about it just remember ...if you're not OCD about keeping yourself on a schedule then he won't have any clean socks to wear to work....

Tweet