I had to go over my master list and create a new list (yes, I know...shut up) with the items that I have not completed yet (so I could see it easier!) and I realized I have completed about half my list. Not bad.
1. Organize DVDs in cabinet. Technically Larry did this one and not only did he organize but he alphabetized as well. He is crazy-ass too. We make a good team.
2. Organize drawers in nook desk. Actually, it was drawers and cabinets. Went through them all, threw out a bunch of crap, and cleaned.
Here is the nook desk...
...which is just off the kitchen (hence "nook") and next to the back door. The files you see on the right side of the desk are my decorated file folders for my loose recipes waiting to be filed. Cute, yes?
The large cabinet where I keep mainly cookbooks and my recipe 3-ring binders.
The center drawer is usually a "catch-all". I have to work diligently with this sort of "habit" because otherwise it becomes a mess FAST! There are baskets filled with tons of scratch paper, glue sticks, and a dictionary/thesaurus. That's it. Fingers crossed!
The top drawer is for (my) recipe collections. Basically, the green notebook you see holds my recent freezer inventory list, the current months menu plan, and the recipes for the month. The basket holds loose recipes that need to be filed (which I shouldn't really need anymore because of the cute file folders sitting ON TOP of this desk, but I haven't ironed out the find details yet). The small basket is for those little recipe bits I pick up at Winco or that come off packaging.
The second drawer...filled with a drawer "organizer" that holds everything from paperclips to highlighter pens to erasers to scissors. Desk-type stuff...
Ah, the bottom drawer. It is deep and large and prone to becoming a jumbled mess of a drawer in a blink of an eye! I like to keep one space (when the kids were younger the space was an entire cabinet...or two!) where I house a "boredom" drawer. Stuff that they can easily get to and cure the boredom blues. Stuff like workbooks, suduko books, crossword/word search books, embroidery projects, hand-held electronic games, and so on. Open it up and find something to do!
Another tall cabinet that holds my recipe 3-ring binders and an entire shelf dedicated to my Scentsy scents!!!
3. Take pictures of kids school work/art for the past school year and box up. Gawd, I hate this task. Back in the day when Josh was the ONLY kid in school I used to take pictures of his artwork and school work every month. Yeah, those days are LONGGG gone. Last year before we moved from Pennsylvania I spent a week sorting papers and art from all three kids from previous YEARS of school work so I can take pictures and throw 89% of them away (shhh!). My system is simple: I gather the ones I think I want to hold onto during the school year and then I lay them out and take a picture. From there I decide if it can be boxed up or do I want it to go into a pocket in their scrapbooks? Of all the collected papers/art I keep about 2% for their scrapbooks and box up and label the rest.
The pictures get scrapbooked, a small portion of the actual art/school work gets placed in a pocket of their scrapbooks...and the rest get boxed up, labeled, and stored far, far away...
4. Clean laundry room desk drawers. I realized something this summer: we have too many friggin desks in this house! Besides my office and Larry's "loft office" we have desks in both the nook AND the laundry room. It is hard to keep crap out of all those drawers!!! Anyway, I FINALLY went through these drawers that have not been touched since I threw papers in there when we moved in last summer. Now, I can breathe again. Gawd, I love organizing!
Some shots of the laundry room "problem areas". I'm so ashamed.
The desk in the laundry room...
The main cabinet: after. The bottom shelf is where we keep some books, bills to pay, checks, glue sticks, stamps. The middle shelf are the 3-ring binders, piggy bank, etc. and the top shelf is mainly envelopes.
The middle drawer is where we keep warranties on everything from our garage door opener, the oven, and my mixer. I also keep our recent "moving journal" because we still have boxes that have not been opened yet, and a handful of small notebooks that pertain to the house.
The top drawer is dedicated to phone numbers. I keep our subdivision directory, the directory that the elementary school hands out, a book I put together with all business cards I have collected along the way/years, and a basket to hold loose business cards I collect but haven't made it into the book yet. Also, some hole punchers and a stapler.
The bottom drawer is dedicated solely to...grocery bags (that I use for trash). Okay, I realize that a large, deep drawer that only has one pathetic purpose like holding plastic bags is a bit silly but I have a hellofalot of drawers and cabinets in this house and so we can afford to dedicate one to trash bags.
The center drawer is now a place for school lined paper and divider packs. Oh, and more scratch paper! We need scratch paper everywhere!!!
Ta-Da! The way it looks now. I love it!!!
5. Go through baskets in laundry room. Okay, so there was a basket on top of the laundry room island but I realized I couldn't keep the CRAP out of it (three kids, enough said) so I placed the basket (which kept somehow growing in crapdom) under the desk. Then, a tote, also full of crap, joined the basket to keep it company in the dark. Now, both basket and tote are gone.
6. Clean out end table in family room. We have an awful lot of drawers...even in our furniture! This was easy because the space was small and not nearly as stuffed full as I have seen it in the past.
The end table...
...and the end table organized. I like keeping paper and pens handy because ideas hit me everywhere and I like easy access!!!
7. Make jams, sauces, etc. to freeze. I made some great cucumber salsa and a cucumber sauce that will work great over some chicken. I also made a grilled zucchini spread that would also work either over a meat/chicken/pork or on top of pasta (like a pesto) or spread onto some crusty bread and drizzled with a little olive oil and Parmesan cheese...yum. I plan to make jams too but maybe once the kids go back to school.
8. Organize wrapping drawers in laundry room. I have two huge drawers where I keep stuff like bows and ribbon, tissue paper, bags, scissors, and tape. The very large cabinet ajacent to the drawers is where I keep rolls of wrapping paper.
Bows, tissue paper...
Bags...
9. PAPERWORK. Okay, this has been a sore subject for me (the photos are all above under #4/laundry room). Normally we are so organized and I can put my fingers on most things we need but since we moved back everything has been a jumbled mess and because I was in a state of sadness/overwhelm I didn't touch any of it. So, I put together a system in a cabinet where we keep our checkbook, bills to pay, stamps, paperclips, related books, envelopes, piggy bank, and 3-ring binders for organizing things like important documents, school records, and our yearly paperwork (see my rough draft post for more on that project!).
10. PAPERWORK. I had baskets (my head held in shame) in the master closet that just needed to be filed and put away and I put it up there because I didn't have to see it. But, I did see it. Every time I went into my closet for months. Ugh. Finally got rid of it all! Feels SO GOOD to shred, file, and purge!!!
11. Shred and throw out papers. Okay, this was a separate item but it goes with both #9 &10 above. We purged A TON and the rest either got filed properly or boxed up and stored. Amen.
