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Taming the Laundry Beast

January 15, 2019 organizeme

Who really likes to do laundry? Not me! But I do like to have a laundry room that I don’t have to trip over, and a laundry room that I don’t have to maneuver past baskets, or step over the piles of clothes on the floor. A pet peeve of mine is to have clean clothes left in the laundry basket or in the dryer. For some reason I don’t like wrinkles on my clothes. It makes me feel messy and not put together. So figuring out how to tame the laundry beast feels awesome!

To be honest, it took me many years to finally figure out a system that works for my family. In the past, I had a laundry room where we would simply shut the door to avoid looking at the piles of clothes or worse, close the door to not smell the dirty laundry as it was waiting to be cleaned. But I am happy to report I have found a system that works for my family, finally. I have to say that it feels nice to walk into or through the laundry room (which is great because you can see if from the kitchen and it leads into our garage) and not have to step over or through piles of clothes.

To keep the laundry contained I like to keep a laundry basket in each individual’s bedroom. This keeps the laundry room clear and also keeps the baskets and laundry from piling up on the floor in their room and keeps the laundry room cleared out too. When my kids turn about 11 or 12, (depending on their attitude and willingness to help fold their clothes) I teach them to do their own laundry. Then, they learn how to sort the light clothes from the darker clothes, pre-treat spots, and fold their own clothes. Once a week they wash their clothes, fold them and put them away. If you have a bigger family you can assign different days of the week for each family member’s laundry day. I do suggest following up to make sure they don’t run out of clothes or skip doing their laundry for weeks on end.

For the younger kids (I have 2 that I still do their laundry) I keep their dirty clothes together in a basket that fits under the bed. It makes sense for me because one is a boy (age 2) and one is a girl (age 9). So their clothes are not easily mixed up. Once a week, I wash their clothes and as soon as they come out of the dryer I fold them and put them away. I have found that if I don’t immediately put them away, (or have them put the clothes away) then I have a bigger mess on my hands. The kids will end up digging through the basket of clean clothes and then the floor will be covered in laundry.

Another tip that helps putting away the clothes easier is I organize the folded laundry according to the drawers they go in, as I fold. For example, I put all the folded socks & underwear together in a pile. Then the folded shirts go together, pants get folded and stacked in another pile, and PJs are folded in a separate group. I lay all the hanging clothes in one stack too. This makes it SO easy to put the clothes away because I simply move one pile from the laundry basket into one drawer, and then I am on to the next. Finally, I hang all the hanging clothes. I find this so much easier and less frustrating than picking up clean clothes off the floor if the clothes stay in the basket.

In my husband’s closet we have room for two laundry baskets. We sort them as we put our daily dirty clothes in there. One basket for lights and one basket for darks. The best news is that my husband washes our clothes on the weekend!! I know, you are jealous. And since I like to fold and organize, I fold the clothes and put them away. We also take our towels off the racks and wash them over the weekend, then we just hang them back where they go.

The older kids at home wash their sheets on the same day they wash their clothes (they are supposed to anyway, definitely follow up with this). I wash the younger kids’ sheets when I wash their clothes, and wash my bedroom sheets during the week when I have an evening at home. For the guest bed, I just wash the sheets after a guest leaves, and remake the bed. Then the guest bed is always ready.

After having struggled getting the laundry in my home under control over the years, this system works for my family. It helps to separate the clothes by person, because this eliminates having to know whose shirt belongs to whom. I remember when I was growing up, that if my clothes ended up in my sister’s drawer, she would claim they were hers. This ends that kind of battle too! Everyone has their own clothes in their own basket and it doesn’t get mixed up. It is also a great way to teach children how to care for their own clothes and to teach them how to be responsible.

The breakdown to tame is as follows:

Separate laundry by person/bedroom
Wash, dry, and fold weekly
When folding, organize by drawer where you will put it away
Put laundry away right after you fold clothes
Wash sheets/towels weekly

Something else I have learned is that it is much easier to stay on top of the laundry by scheduling yourself the time to take care of it. I know that over the weekend we are getting the laundry done. Also, it is imperative that you see the laundry through to completion. This is a big one! If you leave clothes in the washer, you have to re-wash. If you leave clothes in the dryer or unfolded in the basket, they are all wrinkled. If you leave clothes folded in the basket, they end up on the floor or unfolded and you have to re-do that too. If you can train yourself and your family to only handle things once, life will be easier and you won’t get frustrated re-doing things that you already ALMOST did. You too can tame the laundry beast!

Happy Organizing!

Count Down to Christmas

December 2, 2018 organizeme

December is finally here, and Christmas will be here before you know it! Are you ready? Are you close to ready? How will you get ready? Here are some ideas on how to get organized and ready for Christmas.

If your goal is to just be ready to have company and have your home looking presentable, now is not the time to tear open the closets and drawers and try to get every perfect. Company will not be inspecting your drawers, cupboards, or closets. Go through the house, one room at a time and get it looking clean. Clear off the “horizontal surfaces” aka tables and other flat surfaces that collect everybody’s things

If you find you aren’t using things, as you come across them, now is the time to let them go. Get yourself a few trash bags, one to fill with things that are broken or just trash, and the second to fill with items that you or your family aren’t using or don’t need that you can donate. You will also need an empty tote. Fill the empty tote with items you are still keeping, but belong in a different room. This will keep you from getting distracted as you focus on the room at hand. You can’t organize clutter, so give yourself permission to let some things go.

Then, when you are done clearing out the room, immediately take the trash out (so no one tries to reclaim anything you have discarded). Also, put the donate bag into the trunk of your car (so you can drop it off tomorrow when you are out and about). Last of all, take the tote and put the things away you have found that were out of place. Now you should have a room that will be fairly easy to clean. Continue this process, room by room. Focus on the surfaces and floor. Don’t be tempted to conquer the hall closet or pull out all the tupperware. In order to get the house presentable you need to clean up what people will see. After the holidays you can systematically get the whole house in order.

With the house cleaned up there are still more things that need to be done so that you can enjoy Christmas this year. You need to pull out your Christmas Decorations, get your gifts purchased, gifts wrapped, some gifts mailed, and don’t forget the baking that goes along with this time of year. Whew! No wonder so many people get stressed out over the holidays! By gaining control and having a plan, there is no need to feel so overwhelmed and pressured to be ready for Christmas. So let’s get to it!

Nothing says Christmas is here like the Christmas Decorations. You don’t have to do it all in one day either, it isn’t written anywhere. The tree is usually the first decoration I put up at my house in my living room. I like to put my decorations on it and have it be pretty.

This year I put Christ centered ornaments on my tree and I love it. Then on another day, I like to put up lights and an extra tree on my front porch, the kids help with this. I also have akids tree I keep in the family room. Every year on Christmas Eve I give the kids their own ornament. They decorate their tree with the ornaments they have collected over the years. Another bonus to giving them ornaments each year is when they move out, they will have about 18 of their own ornaments. The next weekend I ask my husband put the lights on the house. Usually, within about a week I have time to get all the decorations out, from towels to tablecloths to cute little reminders of Christmas throughout the house. Now, on to the gifts under the tree!

Have you ever been there? Late at night on Christmas Eve? Wrapping all the kids’ presents and then looking at the piles of gifts? Do you see that you thought you had gotten a few more gifts for one child, but now you realize that you forgot to pick it up? I have a solution for you. You need a list for each child/person on your list. You can also keep their wish list/Santa list there too, then as you are shopping you know what they would like. I really like the list available on FlyLady’s Holiday Control Journal. The list I use is on page 18, but I print one for each child, this helps me to keep each child separate. There is also a list available on Fly Lady for Catalog orders. This is located on on page 22, I use that list to keep track of the Online orders. When you have it all in one place you will know what you have purchased and what you still need to buy. I keep my list in my purse so I can find it and use it at the store. Yay! Keeping track of gift buying has a solution! That’s a wrap!

Wrapping presents! Wrapping can be a time consuming endeavor. If you break it up a little by wrapping some presents each time you go shopping, then you won’t be stuck on Christmas Eve wrapping at the last minute. I also like to set up a table in my room, along with plenty of tape and wrapping paper, put on a movie, lock the door and wrap away. As I finish a gift or two, I put them outside my door. Then, my kids, who understand I am wrapping THEIR gifts not only leave me alone, but they excitedly look for when I put some by my door, and then deliver them under the tree for me (as they shake and feel them). So I get my wrapping done, enjoy a movie, and they put the gifts under the tree. That’s a win-win-win scenario! Some of the gifts go out of town though, so you need to get them sent, on time.

Although I am not in the habit of mailing Christmas presents (my family live close to me), I do know that you will save money if you get those gifts in the mail sooner. According to the USPS there are a few dates to keep in mind when mailing out your gifts. December 14th is the last date they recommend to ship out retail ground for Christmas packages. Then as late as December 20th, you can ship with First Class Mail or Priority Mail to get there in time. You can also ship out on December 22nd with Priority Mail Express. Your best bet though, to save money and time in line, is to send out your packages by December 14th. That gives you two more weeks! You can do this.

The last hurdle to jump, in getting yourself ready for Christmas is the Holiday Baking! Sometimes this gets pushed to the back burner (pun-intended) because everything else on your list seems so pressing. BUT, now that you have a plan and know that you CAN get it all done you will have time and energy to bake to your heart’s content. There is hardly anything else more frustrating than setting some time aside to get baking, and halfway into the recipe find out you are short on an ingredient. Dig out those recipes! Check your cupboards! You can stock up on the ingredients you need now. Then, when you go to bake the cookies with the kids everything you need will be right at hand. You will have the house smelling like Christmas Joy in no time!

Christmas is wonderful time of year to spend time with family and loved ones. I hope that as you go through this month you will have a wonderful Christmas and it will be enjoyable. If you will just take one step at a time, you can get your house ready, gifts bought and wrapped and enjoy the time with your families.

Happy Organizing!!

Organizing Christmas Gift Giving

November 13, 2018 organizeme

Occasions for giving gifts comes up fairly often. If you have kids, there are plenty of birthday parties. There are also times when you need a gift for a friend’s birthday, or even someone from work. Also, Christmas is just around the corner. Why not get the gifts you need ahead of time and not spend the last two weeks in December trying to get it all done? Running to the store at the last minute is not much fun, and there usually isn’t enough time before you need to give the gift (or before your child tells you he/she has a party they are supposed to go to). Here are some ideas to help you get ahead!

I have many clients that have space dedicated in their homes for a surplus of gifts ready to save the day for such an occasion. The problem they most often encounter is that the gifts are stuffed into different cupboards and not all contained in the same location.

In this cupboard the top 3 shelves hold all the gifts, and the bottom shelf has 4 of the plastic bins stacked behind each other. There is a bin for large bags, one for medium bags, and one for small gift bags. Behind the bags is a bin for all the gift paper and small gift boxes. Everything is right there. In an adjacent cupboard there is a container with gift cards/envelopes.

Keeping the gift wrapping supplies near the gifts creates a win-win when it comes to gift giving. Another nice added benefit for buying gifts/bags ahead of time is you can save money by picking up items on sale or clearance!

What about Christmas shopping? The best tool I have found for keeping all of my gift giving under control is the Fly Lady Holiday Control Journal. On pages 17-19 & 21 there are fill in the blank pages that help organize your shopping. There is a list of items to purchase, items to make, and then a list of your online orders so you can keep track of them all. This really helps when you are buying for multiple children to ensure you don’t buy too much for one child who is easier to buy for, and then only have a few gifts for another child. It helps you keep track.

Here is another gift giving idea which helps create a more simplified Christmas. It’s commonly referred to as the Want, Need, Wear, & Read Christmas. This idea focuses more on each specific child and what they are really interested in versus on accumulating a lot of gifts under the Christmas tree. I also added a Santa Gift to the list for my kids. I told my kids we were going to try this idea and they were reluctant, but in the end, they all got something they had wanted and it really made my job of creating an enjoyable and affordable Christmas a reality. The Want-Need-Wear-Read Christmas really made the holiday season easier when I tried it for my family.

How many times do you find unopened Christmas gifts, like games, art sets, or toys stuffed in the back of a closet? When you get your child something they really want then you know that it won’t be stuffed in a closet. The next item, the need, could be a new set of headphones, or even a new backpack, you decide what your child needs. Then, picking out something they can wear could mean a jacket or a new outfit. Usually, in the case of teens though, I like to get a gift card to their favorite clothing store so I know they will love it. And the fourth gift, read. When buying books for my kids, I like to get them one from a series they are reading or an audible book from Amazon. Christmas made easy!

I also like to keep the gifts in a tote, hidden from the kids until I am ready to wrap. And sometimes, after I wrap them I still keep them in a tote. I have a few sneaky kids that like to peak and shake the gifts. Then I go over my lists of gifts and make sure that I have gotten all the ones that I have ordered and that I don’t need to run to the store. This year my goal is to get everything purchased and wrapped by December 1st so I can enjoy this special time of year with my family.

Some of my clients keep plenty of gift cards for popular restaurants , music, or Amazon on hand for gifts. In this case an entire cupboard or closet isn’t necessary. You could easily devote a drawer with the gift cards. In this drawer you could also the keep some of the old fashioned gift cards that you actually write in. By keeping them near the money filled gift cards it will make for easy gift giving.

After all is said and done, gift giving is meant to come from the heart. Keeping your gifts, and your gift wrapping/bagging supplies in an easily accessible and organized place will make your life that much easier. Also, by organizing your Christmas shopping, you will be sure to know what it is you have purchased and what you still need to buy. Another plus is that by staying on top of your Christmas shopping you have a better chance of staying within your Christmas budget too. Make Christmas Great Again!

Happy Organizing!

Pantry Organizing

November 7, 2018November 7, 2018 organizeme

Pantries are definitely a great place to get organized! The holidays are coming and it will feel pretty great to swing open the door of your pantry to find exactly what you are looking for. It is also gives you an amazing feeling when you have company over during the holidays, and you can feel proud when anyone goes perusing through your pantry for a snack or to help you cook. Having everything in its place sounds like the type of thing that dreams are made of.

BEFORE Left side of Pantry

BEFORE

Pictured above is a typical pantry. It is stuffed with all the food necessities and favorite foods of a family. Pantries typically have everything from water bottles to medicines, to pantry staples like cereal and flour. There are lots of items families use and consume, but often they are not things that everyone puts away in the right place. Then, over time, it becomes a continuous game of trying not to knock over the front items when reaching for the items in the far dark corners in the back.

This pantry was a little more challenging because all the contents needed to be cleared out and the old shelf paper removed. Then, once the shelves were all wiped down the new gray shelf liner was put on the shelves. This really cleaned up the look of the pantry, and the new shelf liner also made it easier to wipe down the shelves. But believe me, old contact paper likes to stick, and isn’t easily cleaned up without removing the paint and re-painting. In this pantry it was possible to cover up the bumpy residue with the new shelf liner.

Once all the contents were removed from the pantry, the kitchen looked like it was the dumping ground for a year’s worth of food! I barely had any room on any horizontal surface, and I couldn’t believe how much food I had removed from the pantry and that it had actually fit inside the pantry.

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After all the shelves were re-lined with the new gray shelf liner, the fun part began. Fitting it all back into the pantry!! I guess that is why I am a nerd, because that was my favorite part. 🤓 The corners seemed like such wasted space in the prior version of this pantry, so I purchased 4 corner shelves. They worked great for storing rarely used items on the 3 corners, and then on the more utilized corner, the corner shelf housed the supply of seasonings.

In the other 2 corners I used large Lazy Susans. One of the lazy susans became the perfect place for sauces and extra ketchups. The other one housed all of the coconut milks. This made it so that each sauce or milk could be easily reached, and it is now easy to see all the contents of the spinning shelves.

Corner shelf with Tomatoes & Rice

Spinning shelf with Coconut Milk

Corner shelf with Seasonings

My favorite way to corral cans and dressings is with the tiered expandable shelving. It creates height and also lets you see everything you have at one glance. Another option for this pantry, because of the deep shelves is adding shelf riser behind the tiered shelf to hold more cans right behind the shelves. I did this near the medicines, which I’ll show you later in this post. By using this concept, when the amount of food stored increases, the shelf can easily be added to create more usable space.

For smaller items, like spices, I prefer to use the bamboo expandable shelving. These create stable surfaces for organizing spices and extracts. Another trick is to organize your spices alphabetically or group them according to their use. Here the spices are alphabetized, and then the rubs are grouped together in containers that can easily be pulled out for cooking.

The right side side of this pantry is mostly dedicated to kids’ snacks, food storage and family medicines. On the floor is the long-term food storage, along with bags for shopping, and another basket with lots of bagged popcorn. Cereal and baskets with chips and snacks are on the lowest shelf for easy access for the children. The next shelf up has awesome bamboo stackable containers for different types of snacks. The homeowner loved these so much that 3 more are on order and will fill that entire space soon. A cool metal basket houses all the crackers, while the turn-table next to it holds different drink mixes, shake mix-ins, and spoons. The white wire basket holds paper plates, straws, and cups. Behind that basket is extra cutlery and more cups for replenishing the wire basket as needed.

On the medicine shelf, there are just the most frequently used medicines of the family, along with the thermometer so it can be quickly reached. Behind, on the expandable shelf, are medications the family needs organized and in sight, but not necessarily on a daily basis. Next to the shelf of meds is another container with allergy medications, and on the other side is a first aid basket with easy accessibility. On the top shelf, in two baskets, are the cold medications, and headache medications. Behind those is another basket, stacked under a bamboo shelf, filled with cotton balls and q-tips.

BEFORE

AFTER

Here are the BEFORE and AFTER side by side photos. Creating organization and different zones for all the things in your pantry can create a calm and peace to your home. This helps you find what you are looking for, and the labels help everyone in the family learn where things are supposed to be. Then, as things are put back, the organization will be better maintained, and life will be a little smoother for your family, at least when accessing the pantry.

Happy Organizing!!!

About Me

November 3, 2018November 7, 2018 organizeme

Hello, my name is Melodee, and I love to help people organize. I wonder if there is a support group for people like me? Maybe I should start one.

Processed with VSCO with c6 preset — Melodee Finlinson

Until then, I guess I will continue to let people know that I am here and love to help them get things organized. I have a lot of experience in organizing, due mostly to the fact that I have been raising 7 kids over the past 24 years. My youngest is just under 2. Another life event that helps me with experience in organizing is the fact that I have also moved over 19 times in the past 25 years. I am happy to report that the military life is behind me and I am completely content to spend the rest of my days in sunny St. George, Utah.

About 5 years ago my life got turned upside down. I was a stay-at-home mom for 19 years and then divorced. I still had 5 kids at home and my oldest daughter went into the Navy. I was proud to see her paving her own way. It was a difficult time with many changes, but living close to my parents helped a lot. They helped fill in and allowed me to chase my goals.

I had an associates degree at the time, but I decided it was time to finish my degree. I wanted to show my kids that even when hard things happen you have the power to change your situation. I went to work a full-time job and started completing my Bachelor’s Degree full-time. I found a program that was one night a week with a four-hour class. Then every 4 weeks you completed a class towards your degree. Beginning with an Associate’s Degree, in 2 1/2 years, I was able to complete my degree. In 2016 I earned my Bachelor’s of Science in Communication, with an emphasis in Organization and Leadership. It was a proud moment.

There were several other exciting things that happened in my life in 2016. I was married in March to a great man who loves me and is helping me through this journey of life. I also had a son return from a 2-year mission from Brazil in October of 2016, and at the end of December 2016, my husband and I had a sweet little son. 2016 was a great year for me and my family.

Organizing Nerds was officially launched in April of 2018 and I am excited for the opportunity to help people find peace in their lives through organization. When things are organized it helps eliminate at least one added stress in our lives. With so many things in life outside of our control, our environment is one place we can take leadership in, and make it a welcoming and calming place for our families. This business is something I have always wanted to start and now with the best kind of support from my family and friends I am happy to report it is finally a reality for me.

Happy Organizing!