teal frame

I saw this frame at the Crazy Store and fell in love with the colour.

What colour is it, by the way? Do you call it turquoise/ teal/ what?

You see, I’d seen something on a blog where they used a similar frame to organise their lives – the person used the three sections for To do, a shopping list and something else (maybe her weekly menu plan).

And yes, their frame was probably a bit bigger than mine but still, same concept.

I hadn’t got to this project yet when I found another makeshift dry erase board I made last year.

For that project, the photo frame broke but I kept the glass, printed a cute background (you could use scrapbook paper or gift wrap) to put in between, and used two big binder clips to hold it all together. I then hung ribbon from the binder clips.

It worked aesthetically but it felt too messy for my study.

All that writing and erasing and re-writing

Yet I forgot that when I saw the idea on the blog.

How often do we do that?

We see something cute and think that it will work for us without stopping to think about our preferences or our family’s needs.

So for me, no dry erase in my study.

A plain old notebook still works best for me. Actually, I have two.

One for my business goals for the week – Beth and I chat every week and I write down (yes, with a real pen and paper) both our goals in a notebook which stays open on a corner of my desk.

And then in front of my computer I have a scrap notebook for my scribblings.

What works for you? dry erase boards, your electronic device of choice or a good old pen and paper?

PS that gorgeous frame will not go to waste – I plan to either use it as a photo frame or to frame my monthly, quarterly and annual goals.

What would you use it for?

• Postcards or other project board (I liked the idea of finally using postcards I’ve been keeping)
• Blank or lined paper
• Elastic band (I happened to have coloured ones so I co-ordinated the colours with the postcards

• Fold the postcard in half
• Choose about 5 – 10 sheets of paper per book. Fold in half and make sure the paper will fit neatly inside the postcard.
• Use your fingers (I don’t have fancy “tools”) to make firm folds in the paper.
• Place inside the folded postcard.
• Stretch an elastic band along the spine and fold close.
• Ta da – as easy as that you are done.

Very green of me, don’t you think?

Who else loves paper?

Do you keep a notebook in the car?

A few weeks ago, I got annoyed one too many times by the cords under my desk.

I live in an old house (I think of it as having lots of charm!) and the study/ guest bedroom has only one plugpoint.

So we had a cord stretched across the carpet to reach the desk.

Well, when I got irritated with the cords, I decided there and then to switch everything around.

By the way, I recommend you measure first – I’m a move now and check measurements later kind of person which doesn’t always work out that well…

Fortunately the desk fitted the area well and I now look out the window as I work.

That is a real, work-in-progress pic of my desk - notice it's not styled to look pretty

I love it.

Not only is it functioning better with all those cords hidden but it feels more airy to me.

I dare say I’ve been more productive working at the desk in this position than against the wall.

Over to you -

1. Think of a space where you spend a lot of time – kitchen, bedroom, kids’ play area, etc.
2. Do you feel happy when you look at the space?
3. Are you energised when you’re there?
4. Does the space function well?
5. Is it organised enough for your and your family’s needs?

Your coaching challenge

- If you couldn’t answer yes to at least 3 of the 4 questions, what are 3 small things you can do to brighten up that space and make it work for you again?

- Organise your home is a manageable, step-by-step system to help you organise all your spaces in just 20 minutes a day, for 4 days a week.

- Don’t get caught up in perfectionism – it doesn’t have to be pretty to be organised.

When I started getting crafty last year, I bought one thing here and one thing there and I found I was only looking to store that one thing.

But then it started annoying me because I had these craft things all over the study and I knew I needed everything to be together (store like with like).

So I pulled it all out and realised there was enough to fill a whole drawer.

I can’t remember what drawer 1 held before, but drawer 2 is my card drawer and drawer 3 holds kraft paper gift bags.

I took some measurements and got someone to make this little unit for me (and another for our CDs and DVDs) – I must say, there is nothing quite like having something fit exactly where you want it.

I’ve found that I can’t function in disorder. It’s much easier for me to create if I know exactly where to find my things.

my 3-drawer unit fits right next to my desk

this is a pic of the whole top drawer – from the bottom left moving clockwise: punches, small bags, two layers of washi tape, twine and a spare roll of masking tape (I LOVE masking tape), glue, another punch that didn’t fit with the others, some glue sticks and next to the washi tape, my beloved binder rings. I’ve made things a bit messy so you can see them better

punches

the two baskets of washi tape – I need to go through it because I see I have many rolls never touched- baskets were 3 for R12,99 at PEP

blues and grey, and some fabric tape too

organised by colour

binder rings – all sizes

I use one big ring and keep the other similar sizes together

this pic is easier to see how I organise them

these are D-rings I still haven’t used

As for my scrapbook paper, I simply stand those on a shelf in the wardrobe (it takes up less than a cm).

I do have a small plastic box to store the 6 X 6 squares for the mini books I make but I forgot to take a pic. Nothing exciting though.

How do you organise your craft supplies?

PS remember my secret fantasy? I don’t ever want to expand to more than I can fit in, say 3 drawers.

PPS click on the links above – they are old posts from when this blog was on Blogger, in the good old days.

I found these cleaning caddies at a gigantic homewares store and immediately had to have some.

Not for cleaning, mind, but for crafting.

They’re so useful because you can easily carry your stuff to wherever you want to play.

These pictures are from when Kendra was in the hospital over Christmas.

I took lots of stuff with me to make some mini books, washi tape books, notecards, etc. 

Where do you re-use containers for other purposes like organising?

Mandy asked in a comment on a post last week if I had any tips to organise ribbon.

First, I don’t have that much ribbon, judging by the posts on the internet, but it is a lot for me.

I do like things stored with their friends, so all my ribbon is together.

I used to organise my ribbon like this.

But now, this is the shelf it lives on – those circles are 2-inch punched circles, my writing (I have no patience for finding and printing “the perfect font” and a bit of Prestik.

Coming in closer – those 4 on the top are my most-used ribbon. When I wrap gifts, I use those. When I tie labels to things, I use those – they are all double-sided satin 10 mm. I love them so much I may never go back to thicker ribbon again. They’re just so versatile. And so organising rule number 1 – keep things you use often near you.

this is the rest of my stash. It’s all stored in a spaghetti jar. I have the longer pieces of scrap ribbon rolled around a clothespeg and also thrown in here.

this is that horrible ribbon used for gift wrap. Once this is done I’m never buying anymore. That double satin ribbon will do this to you – I am spoilt forever.

These are scraps from gifts we’ve received. I throw nothing away that can be re-used. And I’ve found that when I make mini books (my latest creative obsession!) I can quite easily use these scraps to decorate the binder rings I use to keep the books together.

So that’s how I organise my ribbon.

Then, while browsing the internet last night, I found two gorgeous posts.

I love this woman’s unique ideas to store ribbon:

Here is post 1 and here is post 2.

How do you organise your ribbon?

Melody says:
My biggest organizng question is how to keep my kid’s rooms organized? I have closet shelves, hanging organizers, baskets, totes, etc. However, still their rooms are a mess75% of the time. I give away toys regularly, but it seems that there is always still too much left behind. The rest of my house stays neat and tidy most of time. I have family members who hoard so I am very aware of too much clutter and actively try to remove and control clutter.

And then a friend, Julia, also emailed me a similar question. She has a hard time getting her 11-year-old son to keep his room clean and asked if I had any ideas.

These are my suggestions:

Agree on what a clean room means
Yours might be vastly different from his definition but come up with a list of about 5 things (clean carpets, dirty clothes in laundry basket, clean clothes folded and in cupboard, books on shelf, toys away, etc)

Make a checklist
You can reprint it if you like but I hate paper (yes, really!) so I’d prefer to laminate it and re-use the same list

Print a monthly calendar to mark off progress
There are tons of cute, free calendars on the internet otherwise don’t get caught in perfectionism – the blank option in Outlook works just as well.

Once you’ve done your daily inspection, tick in the daily block.

Agree on a reward according to the child’s love language
Determine your child’s love language or currency, as Dr Phil calls it and choose an appropriate reward.

Julia’s son’s love language is quality time so I suggested that after every 2 weeks, they have a “date with Mommy” and after the next two weeks, a “date with Daddy”.

Keep decluttering
Please remember to always declutter before birthdays and Christmas.

I sound like a broken record but if you live a simplified life, there is not that much to mess up a room

Those are my suggestions.

What are your tips to keep your kids’ rooms organised?

Meredith says:
How about how to have an organized house as a single parent and not pull all your hair out in the process?????

LOL, great question, Meredith

I have three main suggestions for you:

Declutter and simplify as much as you can

It sounds boring for me to keep repeating it but it’s the truth – the less stuff you have, the less you have to clean and organise, and the easier and more fun your life will be.

Create systems

Make things really easy for you and your kids. Have checklists, do a weekly menu plan, have a morning and evening routine, etc.

One very important system is to have a regular clean-up/ organising session, whether that is daily or weekly is up to you, your lifestyle, the age of the kids, etc.

Enlist help or delegate

You don’t have to do everything. Kids at any age can do something.

A reader shared on a post last week (I think it was Rachel) how her two teenage daughters have permanent chores – one cooks every night for the family and the other does the laundry.

I’ve also shared before on the blog how my twins were putting away their own toys from about 14 months. Granted, sometimes (like this Sunday) it is more of a pain than it would take me to just do it, but I like to think I’m raising independent kids with good life skills.

I would love to hear from you, especially if you’re a single parent or you have a husband who travels a lot.

Please click through from your reader and share your best tips with the rest of us.

 Kimie says:
I use to be on top of everything, a job, a very clean home, social life, did sports and even baby sitted for my older brother. Now, I don’t know where to begin to start organizing anything.

I had to get on disability, I was diagnosed with Lupus, Fibromyalgia, Depression, Diabeties…..etc. And now my kidneys are failing so I really want to get things organized so my husband and I don’t have to worry so much about where things are and have a cleaner home.

Here’s my answer for Kimie

I’m so very sorry to hear about your chronic diseases – really I am.

Practically speaking, I would try to declutter as much as I could and only keep things that I really needed (and not much else) so there’s less to clean and organise.

A simpler life is always easier to maintain.

On another note, though, I had a small taste of what you’re going through when I was pregnant with the twins.

I could barely do a thing. I’d come home from work and that was it for the day. Some days I didn’t even have the energy to wash my hair in the shower (my hairdresser made lots of money off me in those months!).

At that point I really just learnt to do the bare necessities – keep us fed and reasonably clean and organised.

So my advice to you would be to identify your bare necessities (even mine would look different now that we have kids), delegate what you can and just take one day at a time.

I also like to tell my clients to redefine success – if success for you before was a clean and sparkling house, maybe on a bad day, it’s just to have the dishes done or the bed made, and that’s fine.

Are there others out there with chronic conditions who can help Kimie further?

Please chime in and share your words of wisdom.

Jenn Wells says:

I want to know how to organize the kitchen utensils better.

Well, Jenn, in my view, the betterway for anyone is a way that you’ve tried and tested and now works for you and your family

Let me share from my own household though.

I used to use the first two drawers to store the cutlery and the other utensils, like this:

Then my babies (two-year-olds) started “exploring” and since I’m not one for being hampered in my own kitchen, I moved the things out of their reach.

So now we have this situation going on:

The second drawer has all the plastic cutlery for taking food to work, etc, and the utensils are split between my top drawer where I keep the ones I use most often and a repurposed formula can.

The formula can keeps all the sharp items like scissors, can openers, etc.

I did the two formula cans in the same scrapbook paper so they’d look nice and pretty. As you can see, the other one holds all the babies’ plastic cutlery.