Creative Collections: Organizing Challenges

I don’t know about you, but I do better when I have someone else guiding me through organizing my house… as in, telling me what to do. Even though I have no contact with these people, except for the occasional comment, I feel accountable to keeping up and making sure I do a good job.

So I’ve collected some organizational challenges that you might enjoy. Some of them aren’t currently going on, but the ideas are great all the same. Remember, doing something is better than nothing (even if you don’t complete the whole challenge). And you don’t have to do it in the same timeframe that the challenges recommend–do what works for you!

Organizing Made Fun

A Bowl Full of Lemons

Craftivity Designs

An Everyday Occasion
Breething

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Happy Organizing! Good luck!

Creative Collections: Cleaning Schedules

I’ve tried some cleaning schedules in the past–some worked for me, lots didn’t. As much as I want to do a little cleaning each night, I always end up doing it on the weekend. I hate that, but it’s what ends up happening (mostly because I crash on the couch after Emily goes to bed!). Oh well! Besides an hour on the weekend means that I can get Logan to help me…and husband help is something I know many of us have troubles with!

So here are some of my favorite cleaning schedules. And even though I don’t do much with the daily cleaning, I’m going to give it a try again! It would be so nice to have that couple hours back on my weekends!

Daily Cleaning Schedule by Organizing Made Fun

Monthly Cleaning Schedule by Two Things in Common

Quick Clean Ups by Clean Mama

Daily/Monthly Cleaning Schedule by Squirrelly Minds

House Cleaning All Year by List Template

As I was looking for cleaning schedules, I found this fantastic advice at Organizing Made Fun. Read the entire blog post here.

Pinterest Ideas

During all of this cleaning to get ready for the house to go on the market, I looked up all sorts of cleaning ideas on Pinterest. Here are some of my favorites…

Kitchen Gunk Remover by One Good Thing by Jillee
1 part vegetable oil and 2 parts baking soda. Scrub with a toothbrush.
I was a little skeptical about this at first–vegetable oil to clean up gunk??? But seriously, that paste cleaned up some of the nastiest stuff, especially over my stove.

Heavy Duty Floor Cleaner by Food.com
¼ cup white vinegar, 1 tablespoon liquid dish soap, ¼ cup baking soda, 2 gallons very warm tap water
Best. Floor. Cleaner. Ever. Need I say more?

Hard Water Remover by DIY Confessions
1/2 spray bottle vinegar, 1/4 lemon juice, rest of spray bottle with soap of your choice
This still took some scrubbing, but it did a great job taking off the soap scum and hard water buildup on my shower hardware. I’ve used it to maintain this shininess and it’s been great!

Front Loading Washer Cleaner by Eco Karen
In the barrel:  1 cup vinegar and 1 cup baking soda. In detergent dispenser:  1/2 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup baking soda
I try to run this through about once a month and then wipe down the residue that’s left.

Dishwasher Cleaner
Empty dishwater–Fill the soap dispenser with a KoolAid Lemonade packet. Run on a regular cycle. Wipe up any residue that’s still left.
I’ve done this one for awhile and it works great… though clearly I should do it more often!

Hope that some of these tips will help get your house sparkling!

Clear the Clutter: 40 Bags Finale

Well, I made it! 40 bags of things out of my house!

These last 5 were a little tough to find, because we’re still getting so many things for the baby. We’re definitely having more things come into the house than we are going out! But I figure that’s pretty normal with a new little one coming so soon. And my kiddos at school threw me a baby shower on Friday, so there were many little necessities that had to find homes.

Besides the 40 bags out, I have three other successes from the weekend:

1.   I have a guest room! Bed, floor, closet. Which means that when the baby comes, my mom can actually sleep without breaking herself getting to the bed!

2.  All of the bags are out of my house! Logan took the last little bit to Goodwill yesterday. The only exception is the box that goes to Half Price Books, but I’ve decided to wait on that until I go through my classroom library and purge at school. That probably won’t happen until this summer, so the box is tucked away until then.

3.  I finally put up my gift wrap station. I’ve had the supplies for weeks (I was going to use the curtain rods in the nursery but changed my mind) but only just figured out that I wanted to put it in the office. I was going to put it on the back of a closet like A Brooklyn Limestone in Progress did, but I was concerned with our hollow doors and the weight. Instead of curtain hooks like suggested, I use binder rings and binder clips. I already had them on hand and it was even cheaper!

My last set of bags:

40.  Craft supplies (old adhesives that are dried up, weird scrap paper I’ll never use, ugly colored thread that I have no idea how I collected–some things went to trash, recyc
39.  Linen closet (2 blankets, also going to the family at school)
38.  Logan’s dresser (a huge stack of old t-shirts–some will be used for rags but most aren’t going to make the cut)
37.  Linen closet (stockpiled shampoo, deodorant, etc–a family at school lost everything in a fire so we’re passing things on…this was one of the times me not getting to Goodwill was helpful, because we’re also giving them the saucepans and kitchen utensils we collected last week)
36.  My dresser (pregnancy clothes that I’ve outgrown…good things there’s less than 3 weeks left!)

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35.  Around the house (more books to donate–how many places do I have books???)
34.  Under the bed (shoes to donate)
33.  Around the house (more things to take to school for their “garage sale” at the end of the year)
32.  Kitchen (trash/recycling from consolidating multiple jars of things) 31.  Kitchen (really nasty rags that had to be trashed–yes, there is a point when a rag is no longer usable!)
30.  Kitchen (2 small cookie sheets and some miscellaneous utensils)
29.  Kitchen (3 saucepans and lids to donate)

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28.  Office (extra little table that didn’t end up fitting in the nursery)
27.  Office (bag of things to return to Target because I’m terrible about making sure to return things in a timely manner)
26. Office (filing cabinet–lots of extra bills, papers, etc that got shredded)
25. Office (empty wine bottles–I put candles in these and use them for centerpieces, but I had too many. So any that couldn’t fit in the wine holder had to go)
24.  Office (magazines and books for Half Price Books)
23. Office (bag of random trash)
22. Office (bag of random trash)
21. Office (scraps too small to do much with went in the trash)
20. Office (several yard+ fabrics that were donated)
19. Office (several yard+ fabrics:  4 bolts, so 2 bags)
18. Office (bag of shredded papers to recycling–these were the ones already stacked on my shredder)
17. Office (paint cans–these were ones still being used in the house so they were consolidated to much smaller containers)
16. Office (paint cans–there were 5 paint cans that got consolidated so I’m counting it twice)
15.  Office (paint cans–these we don’t use anymore so they’re going to be donated…when I can find a place to take them!)

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14. Guest room (wrapping paper, bags, tissue paper to toss and donate—goal before the baby comes:  finally get the gift wrap station hung)
13. Kitchen (some nonperishables that went to my school’s food bank)
12. Extra decorating box (old set of curtains, candles)
11. Linen closet (shower curtain, miscellaneous pillow cases, another crummy towel)
10. My dresser (pre-pregnancy unmentionables to toss—these will eventually get replaced, but still)
9. My dresser (more “regular clothes)
8. My dresser (“regular” clothes that I don’t need to be wearing anymore)

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7. Nursery (lots of packaging trash from all the beautiful gifts from the shower)
6. Nursery (extra clothes for the wrong season, batting to go back to Shannon, and a diaper tub for Grandma’s house)
5. Nursery (extra swing to give to another set of friends expecting their first baby)
4. Linen closet (I tend to collect all the little samples from hotels, but how many do you really need? And some less-than-great-towels went too)
3. Bookshelves throughout the house (off to Half Price Books)
2. Guest room closet (emptying out that dumping ground for some really random things to head to Goodwill)
1. From all over the house (a whole bag of random things that go back to school)

I hope your purging was just as successful!

Tweet, Tweet

So apparently, I’m nesting. I guess this shouldn’t come as a huge surprise since we’re less than 3 weeks away from our due date. But for a long time, I thought I was just doing the “it’s a new year, I should clean and organize” kick that I go through every year. But it’s February. And it years past, that kick was long over by now.

So it’s nesting.

And let me just say, nesting is a little exhausting. Because when you add those projects onto your job, naps (absolutely necessary now), making dinner, regular cleaning, and time with your husband, there’s not much time or energy left. But I find that some of these organizing, cleaning, and to-do projects become obsessions. Ones that I can’t stop until they’re completely finished.

Take that day Shannon and I cleaned the office. That was hours worth of work! I could have stopped long before we did, just from being too tired to really be efficient. But I couldn’t…. because it was on The List.

Ahh yes, The List.

The List is this ever growing creature that keeps getting jobs added to it that I want to get done before the baby comes. Things for baby, things to deep cleaning, things to make for the house. And purging. Lots of purging. But as soon as I mark off a few things, a few more magically appear. Like when I cleaned the fan in the master bathroom and realized the shower curtain liner needed cleaned too. Or when I had Logan move the living room around and realized just how badly the woodwork needed dusted.

I do realize that none of these things are important for the actual arrival of the baby. But does that make me less obsessed with getting them done? Nope.

Here are some projects I’ve completed from The List that are worth sharing. I’ll post directions on the projects in the next few weeks!

Finally decorating the top of our media shelves

My sister-in-law made the taller cake stand for Christmas. Love it.

 Kitchen Curtains

Living Room Curtains

Boppy

Okay, this was important for the baby coming.

Car Seat Cover

Since Baby Girl will be born in March, we'll need something cozy for a few weeks until Indiana weather warms up.

Under Counter Kitchen Lights

This was actually Logan's job, but I'm loving it when I cook!

Coffee Filter Flowers from

Still to Make:  Cord Box for the Office

Miscellaneous Cleaning Projects:
*Deep clean the bathrooms
*Clean the wordwork
*Touch up paint
*Deep clean the kitchen
*Gift wrap station
*Purge
*Depill the couch

Clear the Clutter: 40 Bags Update 4

I can’t believe how close we are to the end! Or how much stuff I had to get rid of!

The biggest surprise this week was how many bags we found in the kitchen. I had recently gone through the drawers and cabinets, so I wasn’t expecting much. On Saturday, Logan and I super cleaned the kitchen:  inside and out of cabinets, backsplash, stainless, appliances, floors. Three 3 hours together with vinegar, water, baking soda, and grime–he’s a great guy! ). As were were going through things, we found quite a few things that we didn’t need or use anymore. Guess I just needed him to give me the little extra push to purge in the kitchen!

35.  Around the house (more books to donate–how many places do I have books???)
34.  Under the bed (shoes to donate)
33.  Around the house (more things to take to school for their “garage sale” at the end of the year)
32.  Kitchen (trash/recycling from consolidating multiple jars of things) 31.  Kitchen (really nasty rags that had to be trashed–yes, there is a point when a rag is no longer usable!)
30.  Kitchen (2 small cookie sheets and some miscellaneous utensils)
29.  Kitchen (3 saucepans and lids to donate)

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28.  Office (extra little table that didn’t end up fitting in the nursery)
27.  Office (bag of things to return to Target because I’m terrible about making sure to return things in a timely manner)
26. Office (filing cabinet–lots of extra bills, papers, etc that got shredded)
25. Office (empty wine bottles–I put candles in these and use them for centerpieces, but I had too many. So any that couldn’t fit in the wine holder had to go)
24.  Office (magazines and books for Half Price Books)
23. Office (bag of random trash)
22. Office (bag of random trash)
21. Office (scraps too small to do much with went in the trash)
20. Office (several yard+ fabrics that were donated)
19. Office (several yard+ fabrics:  4 bolts, so 2 bags)
18. Office (bag of shredded papers to recycling–these were the ones already stacked on my shredder)
17. Office (paint cans–these were ones still being used in the house so they were consolidated to much smaller containers)
16. Office (paint cans–there were 5 paint cans that got consolidated so I’m counting it twice)
15.  Office (paint cans–these we don’t use anymore so they’re going to be donated…when I can find a place to take them!)

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14. Guest room (wrapping paper, bags, tissue paper to toss and donate—goal before the baby comes:  finally get the gift wrap station hung)
13. Kitchen (some nonperishables that went to my school’s food bank)
12. Extra decorating box (old set of curtains, candles)
11. Linen closet (shower curtain, miscellaneous pillow cases, another crummy towel)
10. My dresser (pre-pregnancy unmentionables to toss—these will eventually get replaced, but still)
9. My dresser (more “regular clothes)
8. My dresser (“regular” clothes that I don’t need to be wearing anymore)

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7. Nursery (lots of packaging trash from all the beautiful gifts from the shower)
6. Nursery (extra clothes for the wrong season, batting to go back to Shannon, and a diaper tub for Grandma’s house)
5. Nursery (extra swing to give to another set of friends expecting their first baby)
4. Linen closet (I tend to collect all the little samples from hotels, but how many do you really need? And some less-than-great-towels went too)
3. Bookshelves throughout the house (off to Half Price Books)
2. Guest room closet (emptying out that dumping ground for some really random things to head to Goodwill)
1. From all over the house (a whole bag of random things that go back to school)

The current state of my guest room (we’re getting so close!):

As a side note:  Remember back in the post about using natural cleaning products? And I hadn’t tried the peroxide/baking soda combination yet? I tried it on my stainless steel microwave front and sink with mixed results. It did okay on the microwave, but did leave a film that was hard to scrub off. However, this combination did AMAZING on the sink. We had some discoloration and with a little scrubbing, the sink it bright and shiny new!

Quick Projects

Do you ever have a night where you just need to get lots of things done quickly? Crafty things.

That’s what happened to me Friday night. I think it’s because I was finally starting recover from my migraine but still couldn’t go out an enjoy the unseasonably warm Indiana winter. Because it was still too sunny. Lame.

So in the dimness of my living room with Food Network keeping me company, I cut out a few quick projects. And then I actually sewed them!

Project 1:  Spring Cardigan
Long before Pinterest, I had found this tutorial to make a quick shrug. Granted, I won’t need it for several months still, but now it’s ready. Mine is just a turquoise knit one.

Project 2:  Giraffe Rattle
For Christmas, Shannon got me Lotta Jansdotter’s Simple Sewing for Baby. This is a great book with some quick and easy projects that are so cute. I’ve already made a boppy and crib bumper (more on that later). I love how cute this giraffe is!

Project 3:  Fleece Baby Hat
Another project from Simple Sewing for Baby. Perfect for baby girl coming in a month!

Project 4:  Swiffer Pads
Much as I liked the Swiffer Pads from a previous post, I got tired of trying to fit them over the velcro. So I cut a cloth diaper in half and attached the soft side of velcro to one side. Fits on quickly, super absorbent, washes like a champ.

Clear the Clutter: 40 Bags Update 3

*Sorry that this update is coming a week late. I never did hear from the support department of WordPress. But I think I have it fixed for now. Thanks for being patient!

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In these two weeks, I collected all my bags from one room:  the office/craft room. As in the current dumping ground in our house. It’s right off the garage, and I’ve hung up a curtain to separate it from the dining room. Which means that when we get home with large things, they get dropped into the office. Or when we’re hosting, all the stuff that’s not easy to put away gets thrown into a bag and dumped in the office. Not to mention the fact that I have a TON of crafting/sewing supplies.

It was time for a serious cleaning job!

This time though, I had reinforcements. My sister, Shannon, came over to help me around the house (she picked up on me stressing about getting things ready for the baby and offered to help–love her!). So off to the pits of the office! She helped me move some of the furniture into better places… actually I helped her and she did most of the hard work, because she’d yell at me for being 8 1/2 months pregnant and moving furniture. Shan rehung pictures, covered a little cabinet with fabric, shredded papers, and held up a shelf while I ran the drill.

Pretend you don't see the spackle that I haven't touched up yet

But there comes a point in purging that someone who doesn’t use the room can’t help with. So while I went through all sorts of things, she kept me company (she was hemming some pants). And kept me working. Translation:  she kept me in the room and not giving up to go watch tv!

So here’s how we did:

28.  Office (extra little table that didn’t end up fitting in the nursery)
27.  Office (bag of things to return to Target because I’m terrible about making sure to return things in a timely manner)
26. Office (filing cabinet–lots of extra bills, papers, etc that got shredded)
25. Office (empty wine bottles–I put candles in these and use them for centerpieces, but I had too many. So any that couldn’t fit in the wine holder had to go)
24.  Office (magazines and books for Half Price Books)
23. Office (bag of random trash)
22. Office (bag of random trash)
21. Office (scraps too small to do much with went in the trash)
20. Office (several yard+ fabrics that were donated)
19. Office (several yard+ fabrics:  4 bolts, so 2 bags)
18. Office (bag of shredded papers to recycling–these were the ones already stacked on my shredder)
17. Office (paint cans–these were ones still being used in the house so they were consolidated to much smaller containers)
16. Office (paint cans–there were 5 paint cans that got consolidated so I’m counting it twice)
15.  Office (paint cans–these we don’t use anymore so they’re going to be donated…when I can find a place to take them!)

Look how nice it is! From completely stacked to the top to half that. Logan's much happier about it.

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14. Guest room (wrapping paper, bags, tissue paper to toss and donate—goal before the baby comes:  finally get the gift wrap station hung)
13. Kitchen (some nonperishables that went to my school’s food bank)
12. Extra decorating box (old set of curtains, candles)
11. Linen closet (shower curtain, miscellaneous pillow cases, another crummy towel)
10. My dresser (pre-pregnancy unmentionables to toss—these will eventually get replaced, but still)
9. My dresser (more “regular clothes)
8. My dresser (“regular” clothes that I don’t need to be wearing anymore)

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7. Nursery (lots of packaging trash from all the beautiful gifts from the shower)
6. Nursery (extra clothes for the wrong season, batting to go back to Shannon, and a diaper tub for Grandma’s house)
5. Nursery (extra swing to give to another set of friends expecting their first baby)
4. Linen closet (I tend to collect all the little samples from hotels, but how many do you really need? And some less-than-great-towels went too)
3. Bookshelves throughout the house (off to Half Price Books)
2. Guest room closet (emptying out that dumping ground for some really random things to head to Goodwill)
1. From all over the house (a whole bag of random things that go back to school)

AND, Shannon loaded up her trunk with all the things going to Goodwill, so they aren’t even in the guest room anymore. I feel like I should also count a bag from all the dog hair that we dusted and swept up (Smokey sleeps in that room), but that just makes me sound like a really bad housekeeper!

Here's the state of the guest room bed. I have 5 weeks to get it cleaned up so my mom can stay here when the baby comes. I'll make it, right?

Keep up your purging too!

Clear the Clutter: 40 Bags Update 2

This week was harder to motivate myself to purge. Not that I didn’t want to get rid of things… but between all the naps I have to take just to function, purging/organizing didn’t make it high on my list. So instead of about 1 bag per day, it was more like 7 Saturday morning. But they got done.

14. Guest room (wrapping paper, bags, tissue paper to toss and donate—goal before the baby comes:  finally get the gift wrap station hung)
13. Kitchen (some nonperishables that went to my school’s food bank)
12. Extra decorating box (old set of curtains, candles)
11. Linen closet (shower curtain, miscellaneous pillow cases, another crummy towel)
10. My dresser (pre-pregnancy unmentionables to toss—these will eventually get replaced, but still)
9. My dresser (more “regular clothes)
8. My dresser (“regular” clothes that I don’t need to be wearing anymore)

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7. Nursery (lots of packaging trash from all the beautiful gifts from the shower)
6. Nursery (extra clothes for the wrong season, batting to go back to Shannon, and a diaper tub for Grandma’s house)
5. Nursery (extra swing to give to another set of friends expecting their first baby)
4. Linen closet (I tend to collect all the little samples from hotels, but how many do you really need? And some less-than-great-towels went too)
3. Bookshelves throughout the house (off to Half Price Books)
2. Guest room closet (emptying out that dumping ground for some really random things to head to Goodwill)
1. From all over the house (a whole bag of random things that go back to school)

And… believe it or not, I actually did succeed in getting things out of the house (instead of leaving them on my guest room bed). I took 4 boxes to Goodwill and got Shannon’s bag of things to her. Too bad I keep adding more to the piles in the guest room! But I guess that’s the point right now. I’ll collect for two more weeks and then do another round of deliveries.

*Little advice when you have things to return to other people:  Mark that you have something for them on your calendar. That way when you remind yourself about what time you’re meeting them, you also remind yourself that you have something to return to them! Hmm, maybe I keep forgetting to return some things to people…

How about your purging? Is your house going on a diet too?

Sorry about the lack of pictures. WordPress isn’t letting me upload any. Hopefully next time!

Cleaning Schedule

Every year, I promise that I’ll deep clean my house. And every year, I get a good start and then fizzle out. But 2012…

I found this idea for a Deep Cleaning schedule on Two Things in Common (from Pinterest, of course!).

I liked her idea, but this list needed a little tweaking for us. Especially since there’s a baby coming in March! I’m debating between deep cleaning one room per month or deep cleaning one specific thing each month. Regardless, I’m starting January and February with my 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge, so I have until March to decide!

Cleaning Schedule One Area at a Time

Cleaning Schedule Room By Room

I’ve attached my lists so you can modify it to fit your life. Happy Cleaning!