Getting twitchy

It must be nearly May - for some reason, I have a strong urge to organise around May!

I have the kitchen in my sights, perhaps a way to spend a wet Sunday afternoon tomorrow? Time to Equalise: put everything back in its place, declutter and sort out the widows and orphans! Packet-creep is happening in the pantry, so time to take over and get the contents back into the Tupperware, where it belongs.

The herbs and spices cupboard is high on my hit-list. Other People Who Live Here have doubled up on some supplies and we really do not need multiple containers of cinnamon! Time to corral the contents back into the official jars and regain order.

By spending an hour or two, I will gain that much time and more in return. If everything is in its rightful place, then it will be where I look for it and there will be no scavenger hunt!

Bathroom Clean Out!

Our new cleaner is very good so far, had a request: could the kid’s bathroom stuff be *condensed* a little to aid cleaning!Well, I have been asking the same thing for ages!After Kieran pointed out his ONE shampoo bottle in the shower and ALL his toiletries in HIS basket in the cupboard, he was excused.He helped me trap the girls in the bathroom to complete their mission. I gave them a washing basket and a garbage bag each.Well, ever wondered who ends ups with all those gift packs? I think we know now! They have enough bath salts/bubbles etc to wash the nation and plenty of soap and shower gel if they run out. Perfume, body lotions, scrubbing gloves/mits/sponges etc – not to mention toiletry bags! I will threaten family who give such things for Christmas!When they finished, they had a decent stash each and THREE garbage bags of packaging, rejects and OMG! Stuff like ancient tampons and insect repellent: circa goodness knows when! Ashley pulled up a chair to watch and drank a beer. Rod came home from work and ate dinner and still they worked on. Bag of stuff for Savers (all the toilet bags etc, they can’t take toiletries) and – amazingly – there is enough cupboard space to fit everything in!!!! I may never need to buy soap again: always buying, Rod always complaining there isn’t any … guess where it was???I had to bribe them with a container of their choice each from Howards or Ikea, but it is worth it to see all those horizontal spaces clear!!! I think I also promised to replace the vanity (that was rash, I will need a MAN in!).

WOW! A beautifully made notebook

I had never even thought of combining scrapbooking techniques with household notebook design - but some people have!

Here is a gorgeous example

http://www.scrapwow.com/scrapbook/index.asp?album=28585XC5Y8F33UL4JS2P1RU

What's for dinner?

Groan. Our biggest challenge atm is dinner. With five adults (well, the youngest is 16) with different schedules and dietary requirements, plus differing tastes as well, sometimes it is just too hard to get food on a plate at a decent hour.

We share the cooking amongst us all, but sometimes everybody is too tired/unmotivated to cook!

Our current menu planning strategy is to assign meals to days and people to meals and hope it all comes together. My older two - 19 & 23 - both work in retail with shifts ranging from early til late. DH can be home as early as 5pm, as late at after midnight and sometimes can't get home at all - his work is with medical imaging equipment and installations and repairs obviously have tight timeframes. I work three days and get home after 5.30pm and health challenges mean that evenings are low energy times for me. So you can see how it gets complicated!

We work as a team, but some days we have to forfeit the game because there aren't enough players!!!!!

Take a moment.....

While you wait for the kettle to boil, take the moment to remove out of date notice papers off your fridge or noticeboard.

Before you step out of the, throw all the rubbish within reach of your seat into a plastic bag and drop it in the bin before you fill up with fuel.

While you *network* on the cordless phone, sort out that pile of clothing at the bottom of your wardrobe - you know, that you were going to deal with "later".

How many moments can you capture out of your day and put to use for YOU?

Acronymity!

It might be a sign of the creative side of those who are disorganised and the systems they develop or perhaps just a sign of the procrastination they do so well, but there are an awful lot of great acronyms in use in the organising world.

Here are a few of my favourites:

CHAOS - Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome

SPACE - Sort, Purge, Assign, Containerise, Equalise

STOP - Sort, Throw out, Organise, Put away

JOYS - Just Organise Your Stuff

These mantras are designed to help us focus and stay on track. They don't actually do the work for you and they don't come with any guarantees, but they add a bit of fun to the whole process.

Straight up

Using the vertical is a key trick to organising. "up space" includes the walls of our home, but lately I have learned the use the upspace of my clothing drawers as well!

It sounds weird, but try stacking your folded garments vertically instead of horizontally. Not only can you fit heaps more into tthe same space, but you can easily view and select what you need without pulling part the whole.

I already use drawer organisers for my socks, underwear, singlet tops and tshirts. Using them with garments stacked vertically gave me an amazing amount of extra space! Try it! It isn't even hard to do and you can feel confident that whatever else is going wrong - you won't get your knickers in a knot!