V and Co: back to organizing 101

last snow day I spent separating, sorting and organizing a lot of pink stuff

 We here in the midwest have been having a doozy of a winter. With frigid cold days, icy roads, and blizzard like conditions due to windy stormy snowy days...there have been more snow days and late starts in january alone than what it seems we had all of last winter! Don't quote me on that I didn't do my fact check so I could be lying...but none the less, we've had our fare share of snow days.
I've been using said snow days to my advantage and been doing some organizing. This last snow day I tackled my daughter's toys with her help.
Remember waaaay long ago when I used to talk about organizing like every other week it seemed? Yeah, well I've been off my organizing game for what now seems like 3 years. (The 6 months where we moved 3 times and then moved across country, and the last 2 and half years we've been been in our house we live in now.)
I used to talk about daily tasks and chores and quick tips of what I would do to help keep the house somewhat organized. This last little bit I've been off kilter, not completely, but just enough that I've not been feeling like I've had my organizing game face on...and well, I think I'm finally getting back on track. At least it seems like these last few months I've found a home for everything and I've been reincorporating my little quick tricks every day.

here's a couple of things that I used to do daily...didn't do for the last while I've been feeling "off" my organizing game, and what I've started to do again...which has made me feel like I'm getting my organizing act together again.

first things first:
*I've gotten rid of unused, unworn, and extra "things" that didn't necessarily need to be clogging up space in my house. 
*I've found permanent homes for most things in the house (for the time being at least, because this house definitely needs more storage cabinet built ins, which will happen as the funds are saved up to have them installed)
*I've started the whole process with the closets and moved out. (if you start the purging with your dirty little stashing places like closets and drawers, then you can make closets and drawers permanent "homes" for things, which means easier times putting things away)

AFTER I did the three things above I now do these few little tricks every day/couple times a week to keep the organizing "going":
*Daily Make beds in mornings (I make my kids do their own beds...sometimes it's a stretch that they even tried and have walked away saying they did it, but because I know some mornings are more rushed than other's I don't really get super anal about it, I go behind them after they go to school and straighten it out...Summer time is completely different story I am a little more particular as there's ample amount of time.) There's something about having beds made that just makes the day seem better and almost puts you in a "jump start" to the rest of the day. I SWEAR BY THIS. 
*Daily Do one cleaning chore (i.e. mop floors, or dust all furniture upstairs. Write it out on a list if you need helping remember what day you are going to do what.)
*Weekly/Daily: Designate at least 10 minutes to empty out completely one or two drawers/cabinets...could be as small as a cosmetic or junk drawer,  or go bigger and devote even longer (45 minutes) and do a larger project like your pantry cabinet. (depending on how many drawers/cabinets you have, you'll start to see that the organizing gets easier to do and less time will be needed to do this task because most likely you'll repeat places after a few months)
If trying to do this daily is too much try designating one day a week you do this...that's how I started and now I'm back to being able to do it a few times a week...the goal is to do something once a day (like I used to.)
*Daily: At night have everyone put back things where they belong. That way you start your morning with a put away house, and all you have to do is the daily chore and the one organizing on your list.

Those are the just the few things I've incorporated back into my life that seems to be helping me get back on track.
Granted there are weeks where things just happen and the LAST thing I want to do is keep the routine going. But if you tackle it slowly...and steadily...bad weeks will not be huge starting points again...just a little extra help will be needed to get back on track.

Every day I work on the house right after the kids go to school and I go to work (um in my house, downstairs in my basement...but, yes, I "go to work"). Because I have to work on deadlines and such things I can't spend the whole day organizing..so I allot myself only an hour to hour and half in the mornings. I'm usually working on sewing/blogging/deadline related work by no later than 10 am...(unless kids or husband need me to do some kind of errand/or I have to take the dog to the vet, child to the ortho and all the other jazz I have to do because well...I'm MOM and that's what we do...). I don't spend all day doing this just like I didn't back when I had all my kids under my feet every waking moment of the day. I still want and need to do other things, and I don't want to burn out on organizing either. Although I do have to admit, it gets addicting and I've realized just how.much.I've.missed.it.

I honestly feel like it's taken me a long time to get back to this. Like I had to make that choice to start the process all over again because it's been years...(and YES, it's daunting to start again...let alone start all together!) Now that I've been doing it for a couple of months, and not talking about it because I wanted to see if this was just a fluke and it wasn't who I was anymore...or maybe I just wasn't ready to do it like I used to just yet. But I feel like I'm seeing a moderately organized home again. I feel like it's not so scary to finally finish the process of settling in this house...and finally getting it organized. Is it  Perfect? Am I going for perfect?  Oh swear word no...that's not who I am and remember WE LIVE HERE...so yeah it's gonna be lived in...
But yeah.
It's coming along.
And I feel like I've come back to a step closer to what I used to think was just part of me...after it not being a part of me for a few years...
It feels good.

just one disclaimer:
Don't go look in my sewing room just yet (or try like ever). That's on a completely different black hole agenda...kind of like my email inbox...(personally I'd like to set fire to my email inbox)

On another note... I've managed to bypass and trick the Overlord by setting out decoy fabric so that I could work on some stuff...and well look for a Valentine How To come this monday. (Yay! It turned out cute and it's super easy and I'm making a few kits to sell if anyone is interested, so come back Monday.)
Have a great weekend. And I hope you get some organizing done in the near future...and if you have an Overlord at your house...may you decoy your way back into some work...
We'll talk soon. 

V and Co: i miss my sewing machine...but...

 i haven't touched my sewing machine for over a week. maybe it's been almost two.
sigh.
i really miss it.
i have been thinking of a butt load of fun things to make...and yet...no sewing and no crafting has happened.

no, instead i find myself traveling in the car to and from concert band, jazz band, orchestra, gymnastics, reading camp, and scouts. phew!
every morning we are up and at em.
man, i spend a lot of time in the car.
but it's okay, my kids are happy and active in things they like. and it gets us up and moving as a family early in the am.
i can't complain, i also enjoy the time i have in the car with each individual child to each individual activity we are heading to or from.

this year we have our summer schedule again (but this time i laminated it, thank you very much! oh and i spelled vacuum right this time!)

every day they are responsible for things that aren't on the list (i.e., pick up room, make bed, take laundry up to the laundry room)
i put pick up rooms on wednesday as a more "deep clean" pick up room, as in check the closet for all the stuff that was stuffed in there to hide it, remove all excess toys on top of dressers and so forth.

and this year we added a fun little experiment to our chore list

this year we have added timed increments to each chore, and a small allowance to be earned for each chore completed either by or before the time is up.
for example for bathrooms they each have 10 minutes of hard work (each child doing something different) and when the time is up they get either 25 to 50 cents depending on the chore (bathrooms are 50 cents, dusting is 25 cents).

what?
too cheap you say?
nope.
not when you go to the pool everyday and their snack bar consists of items from 25 cents to 4 dollars.
my kids love to earn their day's snack junk at the pool by finishing up small increments of chore times.

oh go ahead say it "but vanessa you have a teenager! wont he totally say "whatever, don't care, i have money from my birthday anyways.""

yeah, well here's my answer: no work= no pool or video game time or friend time. so you can either work and get paid enough for the snack bar or you can get nothing and the whole family suffers that day.

it's never come to that thankfully. because my kids know i'll do it. i don't threaten, i follow through.

i also have decided that 5 to 10 minute increments of time is a huge amount of time when there is motivation to get the chore done.
every day we have finished most of our chores by 10 even in between all the traveling we have been doing for the summer activities.

my minions are doing awesome, and i love that this experiment of small timed increments has worked out so well.
we go to bed with a relatively put away, clean house, and wake up having to just hit the scheduled chores to keep it up.

i think i may try this on just me when they go back to school. because let me tell you when you only have 5 minutes to pick up the master bedroom and you don't want to be the only one that didn't do it in the allotted time, you'd be amazed at just how darn fast your butt can get in gear. i think i'm going to give myself 10 minuted every day to tackle the storage room that houses all my fabric scraps. perhaps a scraps giveaway and listing some fabric in the shop? hmmmm. we'll think about that later on.

i've said it before, and i'll say it again. one of my favorite things about the midwest is the fireflies, and the clouds.

 this looks like it's some kind of smoke billowing from some far away fire...but they aren't they are clouds. this was the scene when i looked east from my back yard.

and this is what i saw when i looked west later on that evening on my husband and my walk. 

i love the midwest clouds. my husband is like "why are you so weird about the clouds?" and i'm like "they totally look like "Toy Story" clouds and then at other times they do weird things like...blah de be blah blah blah." yes, by that time he tunes me out. what can i say i like them. it makes me happy. happy makers they are.

so yes, i've been feeling like i really would love to put in some sewing time. and i will here and there. (there has to be a rainy day in there again sometime right?) or perhaps one day the kids just decide they want to stay home and make quilts one day instead of going to pool. no? well maybe. you never know.

but for now, i'll enjoy the things that are making me happy till i can get back to the other thing that makes me happy...sewing.

:) we'll talk soon.

V and Co: my new sewing space

 as i have mentioned before.
i went from not having a sewing room to having a sewing room to not having a sewing room all within years time. our first home didn't have an extra room for me to have so i sewed in my kitchen area. i also kept my fabric in my kitchen as well. it was cramped but it worked for what i needed at the time.
then we moved into a bigger house (when we decided we were going to stay in our little town for the long haul) and i got my own glorious little office sewing room, wrote a book in that room, and well i created a mess that was never really organized because after 6 months of living there we found out my husband's company closing it's doors. we moved...blah de be blah you know the story and we had to find a house in two days in our current state of iowa.
i love my neighborhood, i love my neighbors, and i love our schools. we got super lucky with all of our choices, except for the fact that most homes in our price range only have 4 bedrooms. sooooo we again find me not having a room to call my own as a sewing room.

BUT all that has changed. well not really. i still don't have an actual room, but i do have a corner in my basement where the kids' playroom/play video games/watch movies is located.
so now i can totally be in their faces whenever i need to be.
kidding but not really :)

it's still in it's beginning phase. i found that bookcase at a garage sale (WHOOT!) for $10 painted it white, and bought some cute storage bins from target. i still need to go through all of my fabric bins...and probably try to pare down some (so look for some fabric sales coming your way perhaps?)
i also found that white rolling shelf tray thing that holds "sergio" the serger at a garage sale. it reminds me of the one the husband's grandmother had in her kitchen.
anywho, it's not all that glamorous, or fancy, but come on, seriously would you expect that from me anyways? yeah didn't think so. i'm still in search of some more garage sale finds to place in my corner for storage. ah the hunt never ends.  :)
okay off to continue the cleaning and organizing.
we'll talk soon!

get the crap out of my house party

<a href="http://www.vanessachristenson.com/"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUKyt-L6dwdBEUD_TcoaWQD8xnZcoFkfuRINovKqj1kI_ng1OfnqAnRVMWEWR2b7lvr7j32aLaFBPn-oYwMeWPlnqR94g8ZUWxw6TRxaPjjdqehqjTuaLFKESFDQ5ab8whlAeeChrczr2H/s400/getthecrapout.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498794097194306834" border="0" /></a>

well did you do it? did you gain a little more control on the clutter and crap?
this last week the kids and i tackled their closets, drawers, toys, and "treasure" drawers.

this time i want to talk about how to get the kids to help.

one way to get my kids to help with the process is to let them know that no "new things" can enter our home, or toy bins without getting rid of something that has seen better days or things that are no longer used. we've been doing this process for a few years. i want to say 5 to 7 years. they have essentially grown up knowing that this is how our house works.
they also know that mom is on a weekly/daily cleaning schedule and this summer we've been working on getting everyone involved so they can learn to be able to do it as well if need be do it on their own as well. hopefully not but i'm trying to set them up for the future. next in the next few weeks i'll talk about that said schedule. it's been tweaked here and there and it works great for our family. of course it will have to be tweaked again once school starts next month.
but we'll talk about that later on.
so now, are you ready to link up your success posts?
please add your button somewhere in the post!

get the crap out of my house challenge

<a href="http://www.vanessachristenson.com/2010/07/first-step-to-organizing-and-cleaning.html"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUKyt-L6dwdBEUD_TcoaWQD8xnZcoFkfuRINovKqj1kI_ng1OfnqAnRVMWEWR2b7lvr7j32aLaFBPn-oYwMeWPlnqR94g8ZUWxw6TRxaPjjdqehqjTuaLFKESFDQ5ab8whlAeeChrczr2H/s400/getthecrapout.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498794097194306834" border="0" /></a>

alrighty. you have spoken so we are going to do a link party this friday and you can link up your progress or your success story.

here are the official rules:

here's the post that started it all

**starting friday you can link up to the post where you talk about with a picture of the area you have tackled or are tackling.

**place this badge in the post (either beginning or end) or on your sidebar to show you are actively trying to get the crap out of your house!

that's it.
no before and afters are necessary,
you can just do the after if you want to.

this is here for motivation or support. please no nastiness or else i'll have to unleash my colombian mother on you and she can put you back in your place.
we'll see you on friday so until then get the crap out of your house!

and then we'll talk more about schedules and how to get your kids to help.

first step to organizing and cleaning your home

so i don't care if you have never been in the game or if you are trying to get back in the game (as i am) or have never left the game and are interested in hearing other ideas (and sharing your own!). i have this organizing/cleaning schedule that works for me and my family.

is my house perfect?
HAHAHAhaha...ha...hmmm
no.
can you find occasional dust bunnies under my couch?
yes.
do i spend all day every day cleaning?
no.
can my house look somewhat put together in 20 minutes if someone were to come and drop by?
most often yes.

see nobody's house is ever completely clean. i don't care who you are, it just isn't going to happen. because guess what...
everyone poops and takes showers in your bathroom, and everyone makes dirty laundry and dishes in your house.
if you never have those things get dirty in between cleanings then you must be pooping and eating at someone else's house every single day. (and btw that's not very nice. i'm just sayin.)

nope a rotating cleaning schedule wont make your house completely clean all the time but it will keep it somewhat tidy and look clean enough that if by some chance your mother in law calls you from en-route to your house for a surprise visit you can get that baby looking spic and span within 20 minutes just in time for her arrival.
are you ready to gain control?

okay first things first:

GET RID OF STUFF.

that's right before you can be on a cleaning schedule that will work you have to get rid of the extra crap lying around in hidden places.

ever feel like you are just moving one pile of crap to another section so you can clean off one surface only to make the other surface now cluttered?

yeah you have too much stuff.

GET RID OF THE EXTRA STUFF YOU DON'T USE.

here's where to start: inside your drawers, closets, and under the beds.

get three boxes label them:
*throw away
*give away
*store away

empty out completely all the contents of your drawer, closet, or under the bed.

now start placing in the boxes where things go.
if you are keeping that particular item in that drawer or area then keep it and place it aside for it to be placed nicely back in the area you are working on.

***here's a few tips for you people having a hard time getting rid of your glory days jeans...yeah i know you are out there.

if you haven't fit in your glory day jeans in say a year. GET RID OF THEM.
if you can still fit in them...good for you, you should be proud that you still can, but ask yourself this...when was the last time you wore them?
if its more than one year.
GET RID OF THEM!

now do that with all your clothes and all the stupid nicknaks and junk that is clogging up your closets, and drawers and make room for the stuff that is all over your house being pushed around from surface to surface.

***this is what i'm doing right now. i used to do this every 6 months and weed out broken things and papers and just junk that collects because we have 6 people that live in my house.
6 people can break and create a lot of junk in 6 months. it feels liberating once your house is under control and you can open up closets and not have things stuffed in there falling out and know what is in every closet in your house. no really i dare you. do it.

if you are having a hard time getting rid of things even if you know you haven't worn or used something for the last year...put it in your store it away box. and then seal it up with duck tape and then put a date of 6 months from that day's date. if you haven't touched that box or needed anything from that box in 6 months...GIVE IT TO GOODWILL!

so here's my challenge.
for one week your challenge is to tackle one closet or drawer or heck go nuts and do a ROOM. go around every single corner of that or closet or drawer and then room, and get rid of things you are not using and get rid of junk that's just taking up space.
and watch how your clutter on surfaces disappear.

i'm going to do it too.
my craft closet is on the list, and it gives me hives just thinking of tackling it. i may just try something easier first but i don't know...

are you ready to regain simplicity of your house with me?
who's with me?
anyone?

very good thrifting day and keeping it real

this summer i wasn't able to go on my weekly thrift store run.

a) i don't have the greatest track record when i take all 4 kids someplace on my own

b) i'd end up having to fight against a lot of questionable toys making their way home with us

so when i got to go for the first time in a LONG time with just one kid...

i found some super sweet finds!

love this fabric! don't you think a lovely fall skirt is in order? oh yes i think so.

this skirt i found is too big for me...
but with this price i couldn't let it go and i loved the black and whit polka dots!

so i've got an idea.

i think i'll start on it today and cross my fingers that it works.

i also found this vinyl table cloth LOVE THE COLOR! the red pillow i have on my porch are made from a clearance table cloth...they are pretty beat up but am planning to make more for next summer...this table cloth will be made into patio pillows for my back yard. yummy!


now this next picture was a result to someones email or comment. it went along the lines of "how do you keep your house so clean all the time. i feel so inadequate compared to you, seriously you must be on crack."

just kidding she didn't say crack. she said speed.

so here's the truth:

we make messes all day long.

yes i like to organize, and i don't mind cleaning.

but we're a family who live in a house where i take pictures in. we're not a stage house.

we live in our house, which means, we make dirty dishes, we make dirty laundry, and gosh darn it we make skid marks in the toilets sometimes. i have three boys who claim to be potty trained yet they still manage to not aim well and miss the toilet. as a matter of fact two days ago, my five year old came out of the bathroom all proud announcing to my friend and i "MOM! i did it with no hands!" (meaning he peed with no hands...oh heaven help us) no my house isn't always CLEAN by any means.

so yes i have a schedule of cleaning the house, i like to try stick to it. i also like to have places for things. i like to clean up after every meal, and yes i make the boys help clean up their rooms every night (and not to mention the bathrooms on a regular basis!). my house is probably the nicest to look at when the boys are at school and at 9:30 pm after the dish washer has been turned on and the floors have been mopped (after they've been licked by the dog), toys have been put in the right places and laundry has been put away (with a load dauntingly waiting in the dryer and another one already going in the washer...i hate laundry). one thing is for sure, i like to start the next morning in a nicely put away house, just so i can have boys pee without using hands and be able to clean up the messes as we go.

and there you have it: we're a messy normal family, i'm a mom of 4 who sometimes gets frazzled that i AM a mom of four, so i make fun of it and laugh about it cause that's funner than crying about it (but cry sometimes about it too), and we have skid marks in our toilets more often than not.

have a great weekend, i'm off to sew something in between cleaning up messes.

organizing 101: getting your kids to help

i did an organizing 101 of "where do i begin" read it here.

this time i want to talk about how to get the kids to help.

to help with the whole process of chores we use the token system in our house. granted we've modified it as the year has progressed. certain things are bigger rewards and therefore earn more tokens while other's aren't that important anymore. but cleaning and chores still hold their market value. earning tokens is basically earning "privileges" or money to buy toys or to put into a savings account.

they even have been known to pay for "maid" services (meaning i can't handle it anymore and i clean it up) that's a total of 10 tokens each ( i ain't cheap!) this system has SAVED our family.

something that is important to note is that you can not expect your kids to do anything you yourself aren't willing to do.

first you have to teach your kids what you mean when you say "clean your room."

cleaning your room in my house means picking up and putting away everything where it belongs. and it means i do it with them. as the years have passed by, my older boys know what i mean when i say "clean your room" and they actually are getting real good at it.

get rid of junk:

just like i said in the 101 on "where do i get started". you need to get rid of stuff starting from the closets and drawers first. make room for things that belong in that room

then go through all the toys and get rid of all the junk, or broken toys, and yes even toys that you have a hard time getting rid of, but realize that they don't play with them.

don't buy anymore clothes or toys

unless you have a place for them. if you don't have the room, refrain from buying it. my kids do not have many toys, but the toys they do have they love.

set a time every day that you pick up the room.

for us its two times a day. once in the morning (generally just making beds, and picking up and putting away pjs) at the end of the day right before we settle down we do a once over of putting away toys in bins, and making sure all dirty clothes go in dirty piles and in the laundry room.

weed out stuff regularly.

during the school year i do it while they are at school. once a month or so i look and i get rid of "junk" that gets collected. we also (as a family) around fall time do a big "get rid of stuff because birthdays and christmas is coming" the kids know that in order to get toys they need to make room for them. and that usually means we need to get rid of a few less loved toys.

make your kids pay for their own toys.

well except for birthdays and christmas...here's where the token system comes into play again. 10 tokens equals $1 my kids like to get 100 tokens and then go and spend their $10 on whatever they want to spend it on.

******8

i hope some of these pointers will help with getting your kids started on helping out in keeping their rooms clean.

keep in mind i'm not a professional in any way shape or form, and my house does get lived in and isn't perfect by any means...one thing i do know is moving a lot and living in houses of all different square footage, and any size house will feel small if you have too much stuff in it, and these are some of the things that have worked for us.

organizing 101

Where Do I Begin? in the past 7 years, i've helped people organize their houses. first thing most people want to do is go out and buy all new containers and storage bins...i tell them to hold on to their britches cause we aren't at that point yet. first, we are going to go and peek into your closets and drawers. because lets face it that's where we store most of our unused, and unwanted...crap...mixed in with the stuff we use on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.
so here's your organizing 101 for the day. your first step to getting organized is:
GET RID OF CRAP.
a good place to start is your closet.
*get rid of clothes you don't wear
*get rid of clothes that don't fit you
*get rid of your old glory jeans from 1998. trust me even if you could fit into them again you wouldn't want to.
***but you have to honest with yourself. you can't just say "oh but i'm going to wear that." or "i might need that." if you haven't already worn it in the last 6 months or last season...you ain't going to wear it. and if you haven't needed it in 6 months you ain't going to need it anytime soon. GET.RID.OF.IT.
***so here's your challenge. pick a closet, or drawer, take out it's contents and only put back what you use. box the rest and take it to your local goodwill store. go on... you know you want to. and if that feels good...go to the next closet and drawer. it can get addicting.
have a great weekend.
see you monday.

a before and after

remeber last week i said i was painting and organizing? (and failing to file my taxes)

this is what i did last week: have you ever noticed that i try to strategically take pictures so that i don't show you this area? well there's a reason. first off the red table bugged me...never liked the red it turned out in the first place...and well, what can i say? uh... i've been busy creating and making things and never had enough time to clean up (so i keep telling everyone and i'm sticking to that). instead i was stuffing and pushing anywhere i could find a slot.

remember how i said i'm adding more white? well here you go. my first wave of white completed. and now i can hide crap under the skirt and not feel bad about it...AND it also serves the purpose of a FORT for clone troopers, a CASTLE for tea parties, and a HIDING place for wild jungle beasts (aka the cat). who knew.

a sentimental wreath and purging

so some of you remember the sweet little 2 year old that passed away in my community this past august. well her aunt asked me to help fix up a wreath to be on her grave site. i was happy to oblige, and i am happy to know that i could be a little help in beautifying little alyssa's grave site this thanksgiving. it made me think how thankful to of actually of known this little girl and to know her family. this little girls mother and family are a perfect example of faith and hope , the knowledge that we will be able to be together as a family forever. they know that they will be able to raise their little one in the eternities. it still makes it hard, but it's so comforting to know that that is not the final chapter of that relationship.

ah... yes, i've been purging...not in the flu or eating disorder sort of way, but in the simplifying our lives sort of way. what a better time to donate lightly used toys and clothes to those around you, or to your local second hand store. a few of us have been doing it here in the middle of nowhere and we've swapped a few toys but mainly we're all trying to simplify. i try to do this every 6 months but with the last two and a half years of moving so much and having our things in storage for a period of 6 months...i've lost focus. but no more! the boys toys have been minimized to a few small containers of things that are the favorite things to play with. the rule of the game is that if it wasn't played with for over 6 months we would donate it. same has gone for my clothes and shoes, if i missed a season of wearing it, it's gone. it feels really nice to be able to walk into their room and know that everything has a place now. i'm working on all the closets and drawers. it's been a slow on going project because i keep getting sucked into books (i blame the cold weather and quilts calling my name) and small projects here and there. but surely i'm moving in the right direction.

i found her doing this

the little one was kind of quiet so i knew something was up...i told you she liked to organize. keep in mind NONE of those cans were there because i put them there...that was all her. she's even got the "verizon bar" thing going! hmm i should probably start looking in the yellow pages for therapists. oh wait i'm married to one when he's not playing soldier.

the secret to organizing

i absolutely love how i feel when things are organized. that's what this fall has really been about at my house. slowly but surely i'm trying to get back my organizing skills that i had when we bought our first little house. really, that was the most organized i have ever been it seems. i was trying to figure out why... and i've come to a few conclusions a.) it was a small place 1200 sq ft. b.) i didn't have much and when we moved into that house i didn't have enough to fill in all the storage space that came with it. c.) it was OURS (our first ours) believe it or not that made a huge difference in my eyes, and d.) it was before we started moving every few years.
since buying our second home, i feel like i'm slowly getting back to that organizing *need*. we've been here the longest in the past 4 years...a whole whopping ALMOST 2 years. yeah moving is tough...and i've been having those nesting feelings that everything should have a place. only problem is: we have more kids, we have more furniture, we have more STUFF, we even have more pets...so i'm trying to reclaim simplicity which has come to be the real secret to organizing in my eyes... constantly weeding out old, or un-used items is the best place to start. i've started in my closets and gone out...just think about it. less clothes means smaller mounds of laundry, smaller mounds of laundry means easier times stuffing the clothes into the drawers, which means less clothes lying around not knowing where to house them. so i'm applying that (again) to every single drawer, closet, nook and cranny in my house. then i will try to tackle my car which you basically need to be up to date on all your tetanus shots to feel safe to get into (but i guess that's a cleaning thing not an organizing thing)...happy organizing.

**as a disclaimer i want to let everyone know that i will not *reclaim simplicity* in buying fabric, i will forever indulge in buying fabric, THAT ALSO makes me happy, just wanted to be clear on that!

fall cleaning...

i'm cleaning today. before i can sew and start back up on all pending projects this needs to be taken care of...
especially when one of your good friend's house ALWAYS looks like this, you kind of get inspired
the friend that everyone thinks we're related because we kind of look alike and i hung out yesterday at her house moving furniture around and taking some of her adorable bowls and plates and using them as decoration. her house is so simple i love walking into it because it just always feels like she worked her tail off to clean it. but in actuality, she's just one of those special people that doesn't clutter her house...i am not one of those people, if there is an open space i have furniture that will replace it, if there is a table of a shelf i put nick knacks on it. controlled chaos with a purpose i call it. but anyways the inspiration is there and organizing continues at my house.

i was going to tell you about my "technically i did not lie to my children" story, but the little one is currently in hysterics because i wont let her sit on top of the keyboard while i type so that will have to wait for another time. maybe later today like around midnight when i finally don't have someone constantly needing me, that's when i do my best work other than mommy work anyways.

this is the tutorial that i am going to show you come monday. i'll show you the easiest form of applique, there are many techniques but i'm all about fast and easy and inexpensive. so come back then! have a good weekend!

before and after

these containers house my tampons and toilet paper but i didn't like the little kid feeling of the polka dots...so add some spray paint and...
there you go much nicer more adult containers for the back of my toilet for my tampons and toilet paper. someday soon i'll be sewing again, i just have to finish the massive vampire book so i can get my life back in order, and clean the house and start back up on my life.