28 Day Cleaning/Organizing Challenge (Day 19 - Desk/Paperwork)

I'll have to admit, it took me 5 days (off and on) to accomplish Day 19's task.  The fact that almost 17 years of "important paper" had accumulated before I actually had the nerve to do this one is probably what led my heart to skip a few beats.  What I discovered is this - foremost, it's all about your comfort level.  There are some who shred everything and keep nothing, then there was me... 

This is my "stockpile" of paper.  Before accomplishing
this task it was really difficult for me to find things
that were supposed to be important enough to keep.
In doing this, a lot of irrelevant things were discovered as
well as a box full of office supplies that I'd no idea we had.

Before I began there were lots of web searches and reading (a/k/a research) about how long you really  should keep this kind of stuff.  I found a few government web articles to be really helpful, specifically Managing Household Records" at http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Money/Personal-Finance/Managing-Household-Records.shtml and "Organize a Home Filing System" at http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_g/G229.pdf.  After reading them, I started to get comfortable with letting some of the paper go.  I also realized that there are somethings that you really don't need to keep forever, that there are suggested timelines.  For example:
Personal Income Tax Returns should be kept for 7 years.
Paperwork for Real Estate or Loan Items (Cars, etc.) should be kept as long as you own them.
Household bills should be kept until you get the following month's that shows a proper balance.
Receipts should be kept until you balance your register.

Starting this undertaking, I got two baskets - one for shredding and the other recycling. Shortly after I began a trash bag was added to the mix for items that didn't fall into either of those categories and were tossable.






This is where I drew the line:
Tax stuff I'm keeping for 7 years.
Real estate and loan items will be kept until we no longer own them with the exception of payoff paperwork, which I'll keep "forever."
Household bills, will be stored for 3 years.
And I'm keeping daily receipts for the current and past year with the exception of big ticket items, which will be kept as long as they are.

 

There were a few miscellaneous items like military and school paperwork that I used my judgment on...like if it was orders or transcripts they were kept but if they weren't they went.

All in all I tried to go through and organize as best it could.  Here are the subcategories that I wound up with for filing's sake:

Manuals/Receipts (Baby Gear)
School (Eldest Child)/(Youngest)
CV/Transcripts (Wife)
Reviews/Promissory
Social Security
Birth/Marriage/Sacrament Certificates
Military
Stock
Medical Reimbursement
Medical (Husband)/(Wife)/(Eldest)/(Youngest)
Medical/Dental Insurance
Life Insurance
Disability Reimbursement
Housekeeping

Homeowners Insurance
Manuals/Receipts (Garage)
Manuals/Receipts (Furniture)
Manuals/Receipts (Equipment)
Purchase/Sale of “First House”
Purchase/Sale of “Second House”
Purchase of “Third House”
Mortgage PayOffs
Loan/Credit Card PayOffs
Loan/Credit Miscellaneous
Car Insurance

It may seem like overkill or not broad enough for some but the list should work for my purposes.  I made filefolders for the banker's boxes that all the paperwork went into.

THIS.WAS.WHAT.THE.TO.BE.SHRED.PILE.WOUND.UP.BEING.

And this is what the final product looks like all boxed up:

Needless to say, I wiped my brow a few times on this one...it really was a wild ride!

I wanted to also add that there are a few additional items that are being stored in the "Lifestyle" box.  The spirit must have moved me because I also went through all my magazines that I'd been keeping because they contained great ideas...sort of like an old-fashoned Pinterest.  I went through and ripped out all the pertinent information and put them into their own subfolders (Beauty, Home, Cooking, Kids, Vacations and Miscellaneous).  This way, I don't have to sort through to find what is needed and a lot more paper (the remainder of the magazine) was put out for recycling.

28 Day Cleaning/Organizing Challenge (Day 18 - Mail/Bills)

I used to be one of those who would pull things out of the mailbox and then put the envelopes on our kitchen table.  Inevitably, they'd then migrate to another location (ether a shelf, counter or possibly my purse)...from there, all bets were off.  Over the years, I've had several methods of keeping track of what came in and their due dates...with trial and error my current system seems to work best.

www.anishu.com has a great app called Home Budget. Don't have stock in this company, so aside from having used the product for close to 4 years I can only provide my personal experience in using it as a tool.  It's wonderful!  Since starting to use this product, I've not "forgotten" to make payments.  It has a great feature where you put bill dates on a calendar and will remind you days in advance.  It's kind of like a financial personal assistant in one.  Not only does it have that fabulous feature but it'll also keep track of your account balances and can provide reports of where/how you are spending.  Best $5 spent...however, if that cost is steep for you or you'd like a more simplified app there are a ton out there.  My only suggestion is finding one that'll remind you when things are due...it makes the rest of my system work swimmingly.

The other thing I do, and as some might have seen on my Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/theclosethousewife, each January we get a new redwell dedicated to the year:

Inside I put 12 manila folders and envelopes each labeled with the months.  All bills go into the folders along with their "paid" confirmations and receipts go into the envelopes.  When bills come in, they automatically get put into the app as far as what amount is due and then when I need the actual bill, it's easy to find in the respective monthly folder.  I cannot tell you how many times we've been saved by keeping all the receipts in one place!!!  It's been a lifesaver.

There are some additional files that I also keep in the redwell.  Ones for both my husband and my paystubs, savings/checking account info and tax paperwork get their own subfolders.  NOW I have one just for future shredding...all in all, this method keeps me straight.  The best part is that it's portable so it can be taken with me to work (for paying bills at lunch) or left at home in a desk - it really is convenient!

28 Day Cleaning/Organizing Challenge (Day 17 - Plasticware)

If you are anything like me, there's a drawer/cabinet in your kitchen that looks like this:
 

If you had seen this drawer over the years, there would have been every make and model of plasticware known to man in here.  Didn't matter, if we'd used the product (like margarine) or received it as a to-go (fast food), our house kept that plasticware for future reuse.  Thankfully, those days are long gone.  No more trying to match-up the pieces here - na uh!  Over.  A few years back I nipped that in the bud, only store purchase containers of the same brand.  Made that decision and have stuck to it, thankfully.

Having only one brand, however, doesn't keep the plasticware wrangled.  It winds up all over the place, half the time it's falling out of the drawer onto the floor.  Drives.me.crazy.  Thankfully, another housewife brought this issue to my attention which validated my thought that it happens to most everybody.  So here we are...looking at each other's plasticware.  How to fix the dilemma?
Well, as always I started out by removing all the items from the drawer so an assessment could be made of what there was to work with.  I took this opportunity to go through the items looking for anything that needed to be purged.

If you have plasticware that has white bubbling or is discolored, it's time to recycle it.  The item is starting to break down and will begin to leach into whatever is being stored in it - no matter what, toss!  Not worth the health hazard.

Then, I made sure there weren't any orphans.  If we had too many bottoms or tops they got recycled too.  In the long run, I feel its better to only have in here what can be used, not what could possibly be used in the future (maybe).

It was time to start loading the items back in and before today I would have thought to do this...

Which, is what picture #1 from the blog started out as.  No dice.

Yesterday, while at the coffee machine I had a moment of serendipity.  At last, an idea that is worth repeating and sharing with my fellow housewives.  Best part the fix, is quite possibly something you already have in your house!  I took a K-cup box and deconstructed it, then folded it back inside out and cut off the lid.  Wallah!

 

It's just the right size to keep all the lids together!!! 
(Now, I did think about all of you who may not use K-cups and I believe
the same can be done by cutting a large box of cereal down.)

 

...but when I put it all back together and loaded up the drawer it looked like this:

 

May even try wrapping the boxes in some pretty designed duct tape to make them last longer.  I think it's the perfect remedy! 

28 Day Cleaning/Organizing Challenge (Day 16 - Master Drawers)

Another area in our house where the method of folding is purposeful (so that the items fit better) is the bureau in our master bedroom. As seen in and earlier blog (Day 11 from 2/13/14), all of my clothes are on shelves and in bins in the master closet. So, the full contents of these drawers are my husbands. It could be that his clothing is bigger in nature or that he has a collection of TShirts that can't be parted with...but that's a whole other blog.

Thankfully, most of his clothing was in fair order as I keep it pretty tidy along the way (when clean stuff is put away). But, it does get a little disheveled here and there and could use a bit of straightening. 

I started by removing the items and taking a look at what he has.  There were a few pieces of clothing that had holes in them so they were thrown away.  I however, used great restraint in not donating any of the shirts, which occupy 2 of the six drawers...but I digress.  You may want to go through and determine if anything should be put in the second-hand pile.  I've been setting aside all those items and am going to schedule a pick-up in the near future.

TShirts are folded the same way as our school-agers (shown in Day12 from 2/14/14), shorts in half with the rear-end out and then half again (with the crotch tucked in), while his undershirts get folded like a bath towel (Day 3 from 2/3/14) and his drawer-drawers in thirds while holding the waistband and then down in half from top to bottom while tucking in the crotch (they are boxers).

Needless to say, I also took it upon myself to clear the top of the furniture because there were items from our weekend project or installing an new vanity top and removing wallpaper from the master bathroom.  Yes, we are busy people!  Who'd have it any other way???

28 Day Cleaning/Organizing Challenge (Day 15 - Coat Closet)

Well, you've been a guest (virtually) in my house a few times now.  So, I guess it's time to share the skeletons (or mess) in our closet with you.  For such a small area, it really can get jammed full of all kinds of stuff.  Whether it be because we are too lazy to take things upstairs (like sweatshirts, dress jackets and shoes) or we haven't found a better place to put things (bags, etc.) this is another location where I wouldn't want a guest to necessarily look...which is ironic because theoretically, if you come here with a jacket...it'd be the FIRST place you'd see.  With that said...it was time!

To begin, I removed all the closet's contents.  I like starting with a clean palette and moving on from there.  This gave me a good opportunity to really see what all was in here.  Any items that took hiatus from the actual home, went back...there really is no good excuse for not putting things away in their rightful place.  



I then took a look at what was left and determined what other items would be better served in another location.  The diaper bag went into the living room next to the stroller and the other bags got hung on a hook in the basement stairwell - they really don't get used often enough warrant prime real estate.  Finally, I went through all the coats, gloves and hats and set aside orphans and items that could be donated. 

Our coats got loaded back into the closet first, then I stood back and took a good look at what other space there was to work with.  We have two large plastic bins -one houses our baseball hat collection (which gets its own - we have that many) and the other our winter apparel of hats, gloves and scarves that needed to go in.  However, I had flashback memories of them crashing down on my head and then spilling all over the floor - so I thought it best this time that they be put down on the floor.  I was left with a whole empty upper shelf!  You might have been wondering earlier in the challenge where we put all the DVDs...well, until now they really were transient.  When I saw the big gaping whole, immediately the DVDs came to mind.  The spot really does suit them, I don't like having them accessible by little hands who like to dump them out "for fun."

Once everything was loaded back up this is how the closet looks:

It really is amazing how moving some things around can be so transforming. There are a few future projects I'd love to do in here, like install the wire racking that is in our bedroom closets but sometimes you can only do so much and I've come to realize that that, is better than nothing!

 

28 Day Cleaning/Organizing Challenge (Day 14 - Childrens' Outgrown Clothing)

Well, it seems only natural after having cleaned out/organized the kid's drawers and closets that the progression of things moves us into to long-term storage solutions of items that have been outgrown by the school-ager that our infant will use later.  Luckily, I have two boys (born on the same day 8 years apart) who are following the same height/weight pattern so my "craziness" of  keeping everything has actually paid off. 

Going back in time...when our first was outgrowing things I realized quickly that throwing everything into plastic garbage bags wasn't going to work.  I wanted to keep the clothes as nice as possible for hand-me-downs (we wanted to have other children).  Not sure if it was foresight or madness but - back then, I came up with a "filing method" for just this reason.

Making it as organized as possible, so that we could just pull the appropriate size and use them, the first thing that came into my mind was the card-filing system at the library.  (Yes, I am dating myself.)  Before the ease of a search cue and computers, you knew where to find a book by alphabetically going through that cabinet.  We have a storage area in the basement that suits the need perfectly so...this is what I came up with.  My own Closet Housewife Decimal System, here is what we have amassed over almost 9 years time:

I made a contentious decision to use the same sized boxes so that when stacked, they look uniform. My 9-5 uses a lot of copy paper so I just take home the empties, which would otherwise be thrown away. However, if you don't have the same opportunity, the local office supply store sells banker's boxes that are the same size. I just didn't want to invest in plastic containers as it could become expensive very quickly and chances of them keeping the same style/shape/size over the years is unlikely.

 

For each clothing size, I "opened a new file"
and labeled it per it's content's size.  To
further differentiate the contents, clothing
is divided in separate boxes per season.  So,
for example, 0-3 month sized items are kept
together and the boxes labeled for
Summer (full tree), Winter (bare tree) and
Miscellaneous (onesies/socks/underwear) (half-n-half tree).

If you are interested in using the same labeling method as shown, I used 2" x 4" mailing labels.  For the trees, I looked for clipart - you could also do something cute like a snowflake for winter and a sun for summer...the possibilities are endless.  Another suggestion - should you have boy and girl clothes - is to put an additional marking (whether it be a seperate label or not) indicating whether they are M/F attire.  What you are going for is a consistent labeling method but the personalization is limitless!

This method works, as I've had turn over in the school-ager's clothes for use with our infant.  The only tweaking along the way was to go back and reinforce the boxes with some packing tape as the years haven't been kind to the glue (seperated on a few).
If you are doing it along the way, as I have, it really is easy to keep up with - all you have to do is get a new box at the change of seasons.  I will say, that if you are having to rework an already in progress method - this is totally worth the time investment in the long run.  It also makes your storage look REALLY impressive!!!

Conquering the Dreaded Fitted Sheet (How to Fold Sheets so That Look Like They Could be on Display)

Those of you who know me, you are aware of the hate-hate relationship that I've had over the years with the vile fitted sheet.  All kinds of stall tactics to never, ever have to fold them were implored.  From washing, drying and remaking the bed all in the same day (with the same set of sheets) to just wadding the thing up in a ball...I realized when the thought of reorganizing our linen closed made me break out in a cold sweat (because THAT sheet was in there), I had a problem.  I don't know what gave me the courage to finally face my issue head on (it could have been the 4 cups of coffee), but after ehrhumm5hourserhhhcough, cough...I finally put the sheet "to bed." [Pun intended.]  Here is a step by step on how:

  

Take your flat sheet and fold it in half, then
going the opposite way, half again so that
it is in quarters.  Lay it out on a flat surface
(either a table or bed will do).

Some fitted sheets do not have the elastic
that goes all the way around.  If so in your
case, find the four corners of the sheet
(where they've sewn in the side seams
to allow for the mattress's thickness).
take two of the seams and pinch them
together.  With your other hand take the
other two seams, pinch them together.
The sheet should sag like a "u" between your
two hands.

Take the two sets of pinched seams and
bring them together, folding the sheet
in half loosely.

You see here that I have the four pinched
seams in my left hand and I am straightening
out the un-elasticized edge with my right.
I stuck to fingers into the loops and pulled
them taught. 

Then I found the sewn in mattress thickness
seam allowance and flipped all four into one
another and using my left hand made the
sheet fold into itself while holding the looped
portion of the edge in my right hand.

Gently lay the sheet down on top of the
flat sheet so that it looked like this.  I
never realized that there could actually be
two flat folds (on the right and bottom of
the picture). 

Taking the left third of the flat sheet, fold
it onto itself with the fitted sheet inside.

Fold right third into the middle.

Next fold the pillow cases (all but one for
the set).

Fold down in half.

Fold up into quarter.

Fold from left to right.

Fold again from left to right.  Repeat for
each case (except for one).

Go back to sheets.  Fold in half from
top to bottom.

Fold in a third from top.

Fold remaining third up and then flip over
so that the seams are on the bottom.

Lay out the remaining pillow case so that
it is longer from left to right.  (I put the
open end on the right.  Place sheets on
top of pillowcase towards the left (un-open
end of the the case); then, lay the folded
pillowcases on top of the sheets. 

While holding the pillowcases tight to the
sheets, put your left hand under the bottom
pillowcase (like a spatula) and fold the items
over towards the right.

Fold over again from left to right.

Your sheets/cases should look a burrito.

Add the finishing touches by stuffing the
extra pillowcase into the sheets' crevices.

Wallah!  Isn't it beautiful??!!??

I hope that this tutorial helps you.  It is possible that in the near future (when I get the guts up to go on camera) that there'll be a video which may be even more helpful.

Myself, I've done this three times since figuring it out and it just keeps getting easier...no more dreaded fitted sheet.  We're friends.

28 Day Cleaning/Organizing Challenge (Day 13 - School-Agers Closet)

I figured, haven taken the giant leap of faith going head on with the school-ager's drawers that staying in his room and finishing up might be a good idea.  So, the next area in need of organization and cleaning...the closet!

You can see, it isn't pretty.  There's a good foundation, but somewhere around...ah, who am I kidding...it's a mess in there!!!  Another place that when the door gets shut, I instantly forget that it exists.

I placed the plastic containers with his books (which, were organized earlier in the challenge) in here as well as two with his stuffed animals.  Plastic containers are good wranglers and keep these items from slipping between the wire tines of the shelves.  

To get a handle on the closet's contents, I began by emptying it out.  It seemed that a clean/clear canvas was needed.  While doing that, I started to make piles...this time it was 3: keep, donate and trash.  Once that was done, the "keep" was then separated out further into like items.  School uniforms were put on the lower rack for easier access while other hang-able clothing, up top.  Baseball memorabilia got its own shelf and was neatly displayed while the books and stuffed animals took lower (again, easily accessible) shelves.

Every school year I open a new storage box for all the items collected throughout the year like art projects, etc.  I label the front of each box with the school year and teacher so that we can "look back through the years."  The boxes are alike; however, I realize that through the years their availability might become nil - so, next time I'm at the store, plastic storage containers (12) are on the list for purchase.  (I like clear containers because they are easy to see through, but realize others may dislike them for just that reason.)   

When I was done:

...the harps played.  This was a spot that for months, I wanted to tackle...so happy it's finally done.

28 Day Cleaning/Organizing Challenge (Day 12 - School-Agers Drawers)

Leaving the condition of your child's drawers in their hands leads to this...

You would think having given him neatly folded piles, they'd magically appear in the bureau without worse for ware. Instead, in opening a few drawers, I found the state of his wardrobe to be less than desirable. Why have folded them in the first place??? I guess this exercise in futility taught me something, you can lead a horse to water, but can't ensure they'd do things the way you would. From now on, I'll leave dusting and making his bed to him while the laundry, (at least folding and putting it away) will remain on my list.

To get things into order, I removed everything and laid it out on his bed. This was a great opportunity to remove anything that has been torn/tattered, outgrown or could be donated aside. Then, I put all similar items together so that when they go back like will be with like. This is another place (like our linen closet) that the way I fold is directly related to how it will fit in the drawers.

Here is how I fold a shirt:


Short Sleeved

Step 1: After shaking out your
shirt, lay it face-down on a
flat surface.

Step 2: Begin by folding
shirt in towards the
middle.  Make crease at
collar opening.

Step 3: Fold back onto
itself the sleeve, lining
it up with the folded edge.

Step 4: Repeat Steps 2
& 3 on the right side.

Step 5: Take bottom
hem and fold up.

Step 6: Flip shirt over.

Do the same for a long sleeved shirt except:

Additional Step: Fold
sleeve down with a mitre.

When I filled the drawers back up there was one for: ankle socks, full socks, underwear/pajamas/white TShirts, shirts (both long and short sleeve), pants and then sports gear.