Thanks for all the wonderful idea's for organization. For those that presented please send me your organization idea in a quick email, or with pictures, pdf's etc, if you want it in the new Innsbrook Relief Society blog. I don't have time to type up every idea, so if you want it on the blog, that's all I ask :) Also, if you weren't able to make it to the Fair and have a great organization idea you wanted to share, you are welcome to email me as welI.
Organization Summary--
Information below and some entries have links for idea's as well.
- Alicia Hinrichs - storing important documents
- Brittany Miles - useful closet storage
- Cindy Badger - fit in scripture reading
- Emily Gibbons - storing plastic bags
- Erin Tracy - variety of storage idea's
- Jackie Shafer - Daily Checklist
- Jenny Heaton - efficient way of storing clothes in drawers
- Jillayne Richey - rolling shelves,
- Joy Lansing - organizing papers
- Kristen Streadbeck - bills and paper
- Lara Vanhille - storing recipes
- Mandi Furniss - budgeting and financing
- Marci Spendlove - grocery shopping, bills
- Michelle Kennedy - grocery list help
- Ruth Prettyman - calendar menu for the week
- Sara Dunn - shapely boots, lazy susan, organize "To Do's"
- Terese Hickey - Journal keeping, groceries, organizing clothes, vehicle preparedness, bookmarking
Alicia Hinrichs
Have a fire/waterproof file safe or storage safe to store important files and Documents. For example, Social Security Numbers, Birth Certificates and so on. Have an envelope or file for each person in the family with there own important documents. Also have extra cash on hand in case of an emergency.
Brittany Miles
A useful way for closet storage-- Canopy Cloth Organizers. One tip with kids is to set there clothes out for 5-7 days ahead in each space. They grab the clothes for each day of the week.
Here is the link I found.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Neu-Home-6-Shelf-Closet-Bag/10574576
Cindy Badger
Read your scriptures as soon as the kids go down to bed, or as soon as they leave on the school bus, etc., instead of trying to clean or do other things first. You'll be less stressed about it and you'll probably spend more time reading!
Emily Gibbons
Plastic grocery bag storage-- Ask her for details
Erin Tracy
Here are the blogs where I got the Transient Items organization idea.
Jackie Shafer
The Daily Dozen: 12 things that I want to try and do every day. This checklist doesn't rule my life, but it helps keep me motivated and on track. I suggest mixing your list with things that are easy for you to do and things that are hard for you to do. I also set a high standard for some things... "Pray" is thoughtful personal prayer, not just a quick prayer over breakfast, and "Play with Addy" means one-on-one play time where I'm not multitasking. I highly recommend including "Do something I've been meaning to do," because you'll find you get a lot of those things you've been dreading over with.
The 7-Day 7: Seven things I want to get done during the week. I can do them all on one day or throughout the week. Really, I try and do these things Monday through Friday because that works best for me, but do whatever works for you.
Document Emailed.
Jenny Heaton
How to fold the clothes in the drawers and set the clothes in up and side to side instead of down. For details ask Jenny. Sorry we don’t have pictures.
Jillayne Richey
Miracle Music: My Mother-in-law gave this to me for Christmas last year and I just barely looked at the website. It's expensive. But it does work. Alan gets things done without tons of co-ersion, threats, angry loud voices, and we like to jam to the music when we finish before the song ends. And it helps teach how to work toward a long-goal without getting an immediate reward. So I love the program but realize it probably is not in many budgets. Here's my thought. Make your own knock-off version. You can go fancy and use a program like GarageBand on Macs to mix music and put in the verbal cues that the actual Miracle Music has, or you can just pick out songs that you like and play them in order. Make a playlist on your computer or burn it to a CD to play in a CD player. Whatever works. You can still try out this idea without spending 70.00. Here is the website if you are interested.
Rotating Can System: This may not save you room, but it makes using your food storage and using it in order easy for very little cost. Use the website to tell you how to do it. I suggest adding 1/8" to the width of the shelves to make sure any imperfections in cutting or glueing don't keep your cans from rolling smoothly. I also used hot glue to stick it together. I added an extra layer of glue on the bottom of the shelves where the shelf connects to the sides to try and give it extra strength. And I used a box cutter to cut out all my pieces. Then I basically draw that diagram on each of the side pieces so I know exactly where to place the shelves and glue.
I have several Lazy Susan spinning shelves in my cupboards to help me get to things quickly. I put baking ingredients (salt, baking powder...) and bouillon and vinegar and peanut butter and other things I use often on them. Or if it is a hard to reach place, like a high shelf. I'll put them there too. I now have a spice shelf that hangs on my wall for all my spices. It frees up that precious cupboard space.
I use an online budgeting program called Mvelopes. It sounds like it is similar to Mint, but it is not free. It is basically a digital "envelope" system where you decide how much money to put in each envelope for each expense each month. I started using it before I heard about Mint and it really makes finances between Justin and I easier. Justin and I both understand it, what is going on, how much money we have each month for what, and is web based so we can access it anywhere. Like Mint, it takes all your financial institutions (banks, credit cards...) and gathers all the activity that occurs in those accounts straight from the websites. You can also create a cash account to keep track of all the cash you have and you manually input entries for any cash transactions. Overall it has been good for us and cut down on stress. Here is the website.
Joy Lansing
*Have two filing boxes or baskets - ours are in the kitchen which is really handy.
*Organize one alphabetically and the other by months
*Each month when we pay a bill I put the invoice in that's months file. I keep them in there for a full year, so each month I empty that month's papers from last year.
*The alphabetical file I put other important papers. I have a file for each child, receipts from large purchases for our home, passports, etc.
*At the front of the alphabetical file I leave a piece of paper with the ABCs written on it. Then I keep a list of everything filed in the basket.
I hope this all makes sense! Good luck and happy organizing!
Kristen Streadbeck
Organizing bills and other monthly files: Use a binder with tabs marked for each seperate bill company (i.e. verizon, Credit Card, ..etc.) Mark the binder with the year and when the year is over start a new binder.
Also, using a binder with the top fill Avery picture holders to put all the pictures in. Make doubles of all of your pictures. File one set in the binder and then use the other set for baby books or whatever.
Lara Vanhille
Keep recipes you have printed off and like in a binder with the plastic sleeves. That way when need to use it, the paper doesn’t get damaged.
Mandi Furniss
I love budgeting, but honestly don’t have the time to do it. I know I’m not the only one in this situation. This is honestly so EASY to use and you can set your budgets for all kinds of categories for every month and it emails you updates and warns you when your limits are reached for categories and so on! This program has saved me so much time and most importantly kept me on track and has helped me control our limited budget as students.
America’s #1 Online Personal Finance service. It’s an entirely new approach to personal finance management. The over 1 million Mint.com users tell us they love Mint because it’s:
• Easy to use: You’re up and running in less than five minutes. And Mint does virtually all the rest.
• Plan for the future: Mint helps you set goals and track your progress so you can achieve them faster.
• Secure: Mint provides bank–level data security and industry–leading identity protection. Its security and privacy have been validated by VeriSign and TRUSTe.
• Always On: You’re automatically notified of upcoming bills, low balances, and any unusual activity in any of your accounts through one (m)interface.
Marci Spendlove
The shopping list was easy to make, I just typed up things I buy in order of the way I shop at the store I most commonly grocery shop. I make some copies and put it on my fridge so I can add things I run out of and use it when I figure out my meals for the week so it makes my grocery shopping go fast.
This one made is according to the Kroger at 9480 West Broad Street, Henrico, Virginia
It is also very easy to take the one I have set up and just edit it for your needs! It is 2 lists per page.
I have a binder I keep in my kitchen for all my mail. It has folder dividers with pockets so I can sort out my mail: Bills, Insurance, Doctor, Recreation, Coupons, Misc., ect... to help keep my counters free of mail and then it is easy to take it around the house to pays bills and file documents that need to be kept.
Document Emailed
Michelle Kennedy
Help for making your GROCERY LIST.
Document Emailed
Document Emailed
Ruth Prettyman
Get a calendar and every Sunday have your kids write down one or two nights what they want to eat. Get the menu and the grocery list, then when you go grocery shopping the next day, you can easily get all the ingredients you need for the rest of the week.
Sara Dunn
• to help your tall boots keep their shape: fold a magazine in half and put inside. Works awesome!
• to help find your spices quickly: put them on a lazy susan
• to help keep track of all those crazy to-do notes and stickies I keep one little notebook to write everything i have to do in it. I try to keep the book with me at all times so that when i think of something I need to do I can just jot it down. It is has been so great to have it all in one place!
Terese Hickey
If you have trouble keeping a journal, but you use your computer a lot, keep a journal on your computer for yourself and a separate one for each of your children.
FOR YOUR OWN JOURNAL: I put a decorative line in between each entry. (See below)
1) Cut and paste the emails you write and receive that are meaningful to you--immediately after you write or receive them, or you might forget or get too behindI
2) Even if there's a lot of back and forth "replying" in an email, go ahead and copy and paste it as is, as long as you have a decorative line between that "conversation" you'll know at a glance that it's chronologically backwards between those two decorative lines. If you want to take the time to cut and paste each entry in chronological order forward, then you can also choose to do so, but I've been thinking that to save time, and to increase the chance that I will get that important email documented in my journal, it is more effective to just cut and paste one last time with the whole "conversation" as it is. To save space, you can do a quick delete of spaces in between paragraphs, and indent the first line of each paragraph.
3) Insert photos every once in a while
4) Type up meaningful notes/cards from family/friends, or if you have a scanner handy, scan and insert meaningful notes/cards from family or friends
5) Most importantly, if you don't have a scripture study journal, use this journal (or start a separate one--Nephi kept two sets of records, after all, affairs of his kingdom vs spiritual) to record spiritual events, experiences, inspirations and other personal revelation. If you don't record those spiritual experiences, you will forget them, and what power they could be for you in the future as you reread them, or for your descendants who would have been inspired by your experience.
6) DATE EACH ENTRY! I even put the day of the week because that has seemed important to me through the years.
FOR YOUR CHILDREN'S JOURNALS:
1) Do everything above, as applicable, but don't encumber yourself by trying to get in lots of photos. Everything takes time. Be discriminating and sparse unless that's the only photo journal they'll have!
2) Try to write down or type up AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, the funny or touching comments your children make. Use sticky notes if you need to!
3) Especially record the spiritual experiences relating to them, so they will have them when they are older.
4) If you have a scanner handy, scan in special letters they write or receive and pictures they draw. Don't try to put in every single thing they write or draw...just the most meaningful. You might keep a file folder or drawer or pile of their things and choose a handful after a few months.
5) AGAIN, DATE EACH ENTRY, LETTER OR DRAWING! You can even note their age and grade, if applicable.
Make sure these files are being backed up!!!
My plan is to print these journals at some point, so I haven't resolved that issue precisely yet.
Happy Journaling!
Terese Hickey
Groceries
"This is a helpful format for my grocery list. To remind myself what items I need on the list, I can either print
1) BEFORE I mark what I need with a highlighter or pen, adding whatever items are not already on there, or I can print
2) AFTER I sit down at the computer and mark in bold/highlight/color what I need, marking any additions with the same format.
If the list doesn't need much tweaking for a grocery trip, just print a copy (or a bunch of copies to pull out each time you need one) and mark it up.
However, if life events are changing your needs, and you are adding the same things regularly to the list, go back into your document and make the changes that better reflect your current needs."
Organizing socks, clothes & setting up &
preparedness bag for vehicle.
Socks - Do you wish you didn’t have so many unmated socks?
1. One solution is to buy 10 pairs of one kind of sock--that is great for the basic black and kids’ white socks.
2. Another VERY time-saving solution is to rubber band each pair of socks as soon as you take it off. The pair will stay together through washing and drying (unless you do it too loosely) and can be returned to their owners either still rubber banded or the traditional folding--but without searching for a possibly misplaced mate! Depending on how tightly you rubber band it, it might be damp under the rubber band, so roll the rubber band to a dry area of the socks and either throw it back in the dryer or just send it to its owner. It’ll most likely be dry soon enough!
Outfits - Do you wish you could find both the top and bottom of a child’s outfit or your garments after being laundered:
Rubber band each outfit as soon as you take it off. It’ll stay together through washing and drying (unless you do it too loosely). Then remove rubber band, fold them together and either return them folded, or even better…roll them together and rubber band them!
Outfits - Do you wish there was an easy solution to you or your children choosing clothing that matches?
Choose the matching clothing in advance--a shirt and pants/shorts (add socks & underwear if you wish)--partially fold them, roll them together, then put a rubber band around them.
Set of clothing in the car for emergencies - Be prepared for whatever!
Keep rolled up & rubber-banded sets of clothing (including underwear and socks) in a bag in the car, plus a set of toothbrushes and toothpaste for EACH child (even the older kids). I’ve used ours countless times after impromptu water fights, dirt digs, accidents… It’s made our time away from home end less stressfully when we’ve had a surprising turn of events! Along with the clothing and toothbrushes, keep packets of cheese or peanut butter sandwich crackers or granola bars or some other snack for "emergencies". Ours get rotated regularly!
Bookmark
"For readers, Rubber bands make a great bookmark. You can even show that you're on the left/right page by placing the rubber band on that page, and wrapping the rubber band around the left/right side/cover. On top of that, if you'd like a quick reminder of where you are on that page, you can add a Post-It sticky note on the paragraph you left off. I sometimes even draw an arrow on the sticky note, and point that exactly where I left off. You can tell I have a hard time remembering things!"
