31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 18

ORDER:

 I think I've shown this before on my blog, right after I hung it up, but sometimes systems I think will work for us really don't. This one did, so I thought it was worth throwing out there to the internet world again. Admittedly, it is not the most tidy looking thing, but I can do "tidy" when the kids get older and are more capable of maintaining that type of system. Right now, if they have to put it in a drawer or cupboard, and in a specific spot, bin, or container inside said drawer or cupboard....well, let's just say "close enough" is their philosophy.

This system solved many of our school supply organization problems, except for one--illusive scissors. It didn't seem like it mattered how many pair of scissors we started the school year with, by about the 4th week in, they had all vanished into thin air. Thin air, I tell you. I consider myself a fairly patient person, but when it comes time to cut out the picture of Noah's ark and not ONE of the SIX pair that should be in the bucket can even be located, I get a little testy.

So I tied two pair of the scissors to the bucket. I realize you might be thinking "does this lady not realize she tied the scissors to the bucket with ribbon...that they could simply cut with the scissors??" Oh yes, I do. My kids are not (normally) diabolical. They're just forgetful. So this simple physical reminder works. (That and the promise that things will not go well with them if they EVER cut that ribbon.)

DISORDER:

This is from a teeny tiny room under our stairs that houses our furnace. It is all of those weird miscellaneous things you might need to maintain an old house--our miniature hardware store, of sorts. There are some things in this little room that are quite organized, but the battery basket....yeah, not so much. I think it is partially because the kids tunnel thru this basket looking to replace the batteries in the Wii, a flashlight, or any number of their battery-sucking toys. I haven't come up with a better way to store these. Any suggestions?

31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 17

Ok, so I should re-title this series and not call today day 17 since I've missed the last 5 days....but I don't want to do that much math today.

I have two "order" pictures for you today, partially because I want you to believe I have twice as much order in my home than disorder (don't talk to my husband about this) and partially because my second "order" picture will probably only excite the home-schoolers in my audience. I don't like to leave anyone out.

ORDER:

In Little House on the Prairie days, each family member owned one pair of mittens, one winter hat, and one scarf. In 2012, apparently each family member owns enough of these things to outfit an army.  At least it feels like we do. To keep these at bay, I hung an Over-the-Door Shoe Organizer on the inside of our stand-alone coat cupboard and we stick a (hopefully) matching pair in each pocket. I like the ones that have the mesh pockets like this rather than the solid canvas pockets (that you can't the contents thru) or the clear plastic pockets (that won't allow slightly-damp gloves to dry without molding first.) This is also a good place to stick the kids' sunglasses or other miscellaneous things you (or they) need to grab while walking out the door. 

This next one is for the home schooling crowd (the rest of y'all, you may want to just skip right down to my lovely disorder picture...)

ORDER:

I mentioned this on facebook this week--our paper grading desk. Click on the photo to enlarge. I placed 3 of these  Mesh Desk Organizers (which, for the record, weren't as expensive as they are now) side by side and filled them with each student's teacher's manuals. As soon as they finish a lesson and the accompanying worktext page, they bring it to this desk and grade their own work. The magnetic holder on the white board to the left holds grading pens, markers, and highlighters, and the bucket below it holds a couple stamps (star, thumbs up, etc.) and and stamp pad. It is their responsibility to grade their own work and then put everything back in place. Of course many times they will need me to grade a part of their work when the teacher's manual lists the answer as "answers will vary", so they call me over and we get it done. No more not-getting-to-grading-papers-for-four-weeks-and-they-learned-three-things-wrong-since-then at this house. Don't worry, we have other issues to contend with.

Speaking of which....

DISORDER:

I ought to have my head examined for showing this picture to the internet world. No, this is not some rice or pasta recipe. This was roast, green beans, potatoes, and tomatoes. That white stuff? Mold. I can't even claim that this was some homeschool experiment. What this was is me procrastinating cleaning out the fridge for 3 weeks. I'm sure none of you have found such disgusting-ness in the deep depths of your refrigerator. Uh-huh. 

Now who wants to come over for supper??

(To view all of my posts from most recent to oldest, click here.)

31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 11

Are you wondering if you missed day 10?? No, you did not. I missed day 10. But hey, I lasted 3 days longer than I thought I would!!

Not wanting to completely disappoint my plethora of fans....

ORDER and DISORDER: (yes, together)

This is what we affectionately call "The Cube" at our house. And it is organized in a disorderly fashion. With 4 kids, this is how we keep track of everyone's shoes and coats. (Everyone under the age of 12, that is.)  As you can see, it gets a little messy at times. And even without the extra items and with everything put in its place, it doesn't portray that all-neat-and-tidy feel. But at this point, if the kids can locate their shoes and coats in 2 minutes or less when I say, "It's time to load the car!!", I won't complain.

31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 9

A business associate of mine used to clean his desk every Friday. For people like me, I think that is a great policy. The only problem is apparently Friday only comes once a month around here...

DISORDER:

(yes, I'm going to switch things around today...)

Now I figure in the realm of desk tidiness, there are two types of people: the kind that completely trash their desk and then do a major overhaul once in a while that never lasts long enough, and the kind that magically maintains order and tidiness all the time. Guess which one I am. If you're having trouble figuring it out, ask my always-neat-and-tidy-desk-minded husband...shoot, for that matter you could ask my 5 year old!

ORDER:

(after no more than 15 minutes of effort) 

Why does it always seem like it is going to take 3 days to tidy my desk, when it really just takes a few minutes?? I really am my own worst enemy.

What does YOUR desk look like right now?

31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 8

Laundry room again. (It's a very bi-polar kind of room.)

ORDER:

As I fold clothes, they get placed in each person's labeled basket. When the basket gets full, I put it in their room on their dresser and they are responsible for unloading it and returning the empty basket to the laundry room. One of my favorite parts of this system is the sock system:

This is actually one of those hanging shoe holders. But hung next to my folding station, it becomes a hanging sock sorter. Each person has their own slot, and as I fold, if the pair isn't immediately obvious, the sock gets stuffed in here. At the end of the basket, I pull out all of one person's socks and pair them up.  Hey, it's the little things in life that make us happy, right?

DISORDER:

This (still in my laundry room) is like ALMOST organized. But being ALMOST organized is really irritating, like having an itch in the middle of your back that is just barely out of reach. The tall baskets are our dirty laundry baskets--light colors, dark colors, reds, and towels. Yes, this sounds organized, but not if you can't find a good and systematic place to PUT the baskets. I'm still working on it...my poor family never knows where they're going to find them as I move them around from week to week!

PS: Isn't the carpet awesome? If you said yes...you would be wrong.

31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 7

We're in the bathroom again. But this time "order" is in my bathroom, and "disorder" is in the kids'.

 ORDER:

 It took me a long time to figure out a good system for my earrings and necklaces. I even actually have an expensive jewelry box, but it doesn't have very many individual compartments. And have you ever realized that you only really wear about 10 favorites anyway? At least I do. But I don't want to get rid of the other 40 pair. So those live in my expensive jewelry box in the closet. My favorites live here in two inexpensive ice cube trays stacked one on top of the other, in one of my bathroom drawers. (Which fit perfectly, by the way.)

DISORDER:

I have yet to figure out a good system for the kids' toothbrushes and paste and such. I thought the individual mugs might help, but it still looks cluttered and messy. There are no drawers in this bathroom. AT ALL. So my options are limited. How do you keep YOUR kids' toothbrush/paste mess under control? I'm very open to suggestions!

31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 6

School-themed post today.

ORDER: (to the max)

For those of you who think home-schoolers really don't actually do school, (which I'm sure does not include anyone who reads this blog,) let me reassure you, at the Binder house, we definitely do school. I don't do this much schedule planning for nothing.

And this is our school schedule--for three children, and the various days of the week, including a different schedule on Wednesdays for when we do have co-op classes, and when we don't.

Some of you think I'm the queen of organization right now. Some of you think I could benefit from medication.

To top this off, each child has a system of personalized alarms that I've set up on their computers--a pop-up reminds them when it is time to start each lesson, when they have 10 minutes left, and when they are to be done. If they have work in that subject left at the "stop" alarm, they save it for "homework" later in the day.

Before you start sending sympathy cards to my children, you should also know that if they finish their lesson, work, and have it graded before the "stop" alarm for that subject, they get a small piece of candy. It is truly amazing how hard they will work for a Dove chocolate.

DISORDER:

This seems harmless, doesn't it? Fairly organized, right? The problem with this lovely cart and the two boxes of old home school curriculum that I need to haul to Kansas City to the consignment shop to actually sell is that it has been in this exact spot in my downstairs hallway for....say....3 months?? Why? Because I don't know where to put it. I could hide it in a less-conspicuous spot, but then I figure I really won't ever do anything with it.

So I keep walking around it. Not doing anything with it. Now that makes sense, doesn't it.

Maybe I do need medication.

31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 5

Wow, I almost didn't make today's post in time! But I didn't want to disappoint both of my readers!

ORDER: (in a disorderly kind of fashion)

Once upon a time, in the not too distant past, there was a royal family that had issues with putting their shoes away. The queen of the land decreed that only one pair would be allowed "out" at a time for each royal family member, and she commissioned the making of a "tangible spot" for said shoes. Ok, ok, that's about as much regal speech as I can muster. I had higher hopes for the appearance of this organizing masterpiece, but hey, it works. The rule is...you are allowed to keep one pair of shoes out at a time, and they go in this spot on this rug. ONE pair. ONE spot. Everything else is put away. We don't wear our shoes in the house, so it is nice to be allowed easy and fast access to one pair for those quick trips outside or in the garage. This has, for the most part, eliminated the mountain of shoes just inside the door.

And in case you're wondering exactly what this is, it is a fairly cheap rug with a permanent-marker-outline of one pair of each child's shoes on it. Their first initial is on their spot, and I let them "decorate" it. I had hoped for something a little more...classy...but when you're working with a 10-, 8-, and 5-year old, you get scribbles. Or a mish-mash of unidentified objects. I try to choose my battles wisely.

DISORDER:

I can't believe I'm actually showing y'all these places in my home. Would you believe me if I said after this one, I've run out of "disorder" photos?? No? (Did you sneak into my house lately?)

This masterpiece comes from my upstairs hallway. A few weeks ago I purchased 4 new laundry baskets.  That all matched. These old laundry baskets were supposed to go. And yet here they are. Because it seems like such a waste to throw out perfectly good laundry baskets...with broken handles. I tried to get hubby to take them over to the shop to put parts in. I think the point where I lost that battle was when he pictured himself telling one of the other workers, "Go get the carburetor out of the light blue laundry basket..."

This is, in simplest form, just a bunch of stuff that I've allowed to accumulate. I know no one else has this problem. But, guess what I'll be tackling tomorrow?? (And if you're interested in some less-than-perfect laundry baskets, you can find them in our brush pile.)

31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 4

Last Saturday, the kids and I rearranged my bedroom. And did a thorough dusting. My husband was delighted to see the bedroom tidy and clean again. This was his comment, "Good thing you dusted the furniture in here. It was starting to look like someone had died, was cremated, and requested their ashes be sprinkled all over our bedroom furniture." He has a very real, very natural talent for great word pictures. (That are truthfully, most of the time, right on.)

So, from our bedroom....

ORDER:

Hooray for clean furniture!

DISORDER:

Does anyone else in the world think a person needs a Master's Degree to effectively deal with storing their children's clothing?? You know the process--the let's-go-thru-your-clothes-and-pull-out-everything-that-doesn't-fit-anymore-and-store-it-for-your-younger-sibling process. Those of you who don't have multiple children of the same gender have no idea what I'm talking about, but those of you who do (or plan to and are saving in future anticipation)....yeah, you know.

My husband believes Rubbermaid totes are from the devil himself. Partially because a person can store insane amounts of stuff that really should be dealt with another way (given or thrown away), and partially because totes greet him at every turn in our house. Including our bedroom. The sad part is, these totes contain the kids' clothes. Which reasonably should be placed in the kids' rooms. Right?

The truth about these totes is that I just have refused to deal with them. In my defense, we have literally no storage space other than our unfinished attic, which is only accessible thru a wobbly pull-down-from-the-ceiling staircase.

But the effort it takes to pull down that staircase and heave-ho these totes into the attic is worth the reward of not having to stare at these things anymore. In my bedroom.

And sometimes you just need to blog about it to figure that out.

31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 3

Today's post comes from the Master Bathroom. This is one of those rooms that NO ONE goes into except me and my family. So it is easy for me to let it get out of sorts. Not that that's a good excuse.

ORDER:

I got these organizing trays at Target and they fit perfectly in my master bathroom drawers. The top tray slides forwards and backwards to reveal the bottom tray. (look on the right-hand side by the blush) LOVE THESE.

DISORDER: (brace yourself)

The master bath counter doesn't always look like this. But there is typically more on it than there should be. Horizontal surfaces are my worst clutter enemy. Obviously. And I would love to blame it on this little monster...

...but most of her "spoils" end up on the floor, or in a completely different drawer, not on my counter. (This, by the way, is Mr. Organized's drawer. Of course none of the junk on the counter is his...so he probably still wins.)

31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 2

Today's submission, for your viewing pleasure, is from the pantry.

ORDER:

This is actually one of my favorite things. I know, you're wondering what on earth I'm talking about.  The jars are on top of an 18" turntable from Bed Bath and Beyond. These babies have revolutionized the top shelf in my pantry because now I can actually GET TO everything, without dragging a chair to the pantry. And yes, I know the cardboard divider between the two layers is classy. Hey, I work with what I have at the moment.

DISORDER:

The sad part is my pantry has the potential of being organized if I would just keep up the system. (Which is true about almost every disorganized area in my home.) 

31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 1

The Nester is hosting 31 days of...just about every topic imaginable. Go ahead and check it out.

Yeah. You thought I was kidding, didn't you. At the time of this posting there are 844. You won't see mine listed there because (a) I didn't think they needed one more 31 days of anything, and (b) knowing myself, I will fizzle out at about day 6. If I'm lucky.

So why the Order/Disorder theme? Because the other day I realized I am a study in extremes. Particularly in the organization department. I know some of you think I'm really organized. And there are pieces of my life that ARE really organized. But those other pieces? Yeah, total chaos. And as much as I would like my home and life to look like a spread in a Martha Stewart Magazine, it's just not going to. And I'm trying to be ok with that, as long as the reason for the disorganized part of my life is because I chose other, more important things. Things of eternal value. Investing in people. But let's face it, sometimes the disorganized part of my life is caused by my own laziness and selfishness. But that's a whole different "31 Days" topic...

So before I get too reflective, here we go. Today's post comes from the Laundry room.
Day 1
Order:

These professionally crafted beauties are made out of cardboard and a Sharpie. And they help me sort the hung-up clothes AS I hang them. Putting the already-sorted clothes away is a snap.

Disorder:

THIS example is mild. Normally the pile in front of the dryer is 3 times this size. (Hey, I'm just being honest here.) I call it Mount Never-rest. It makes me wish for Little House on the Prairie days when everyone owned 2 outfits--an everyday set and a Sunday set. And both hung on a hook.

I just haven't been able to convince my family that 2 outfits per person is a good idea.

But then again, they're not the ones doing the laundry.