ADHD

 It’s been a very long time since I have sat down and blogged. Do people even do blogs anymore? Anyway, I’m still organizing my life and find great happiness in it. I would love to become a professional organizer. I have my first client and have been helping her for a little over a year now. It’s been quite the job but we are getting stuff done. I would love to help others declutter their lives. I just wish my own family could figure out that everything has a place. I was recently diagnosed with ADHD which makes so much sense now and why I thrive on organization. If I have a place for it it will stay there and I can breathe. So now I’m going to focus more on how to help neurodivergent people organize their lives.

Rule #1: Never ever impulse buy. Now this is difficult because people with ADHD need a dopamine fix and that will sometimes be buying stuff we don’t need. If it’s on Amazon just stick it in your cart and walk away. Think about it for a few days and then if you still want it, buy it. But I guarantee 99% of the time you will realize you don’t in fact need it. 

Rule #2: Lists are a must. I carry around a notebook and write down everything. Part of organizing your home is organizing yourself. I’m not going to remember when a bill is due or what we need at the grocery store. I will forget something and then I will have to pay for it. I don’t need 100 boxes of Mac and cheese but I did need that dog food. Lists help me remember things. My working memory doesn’t work well and I might remember I need dog food but then get distracted by a display and now my poor dogs are hungry. 

Rule #3 

If I can’t see it, it doesn’t exist. This is a huge problem for people with ADHD so my advice is always opt for clear. All containers and baskets have to be clear. Woven baskets are cute but completely impractical because they aren’t clear. No one in my house is going to look in the basket and now I have 10 tubes of toothpaste because it was in a woven basket and didn’t exist. 

Rule #4 

Never have empty hands. If I’m going upstairs or downstairs I make sure I have something that needs to be put away in my arms. That way I feel productive and now my house is a little less dirty. 

Rule #5 

Toy basket. Every main room has a toy basket. At the end of the day I go through the rooms and pick up the toys, and when the basket is full I have my children put away what is theirs. Having to put away one thing at a time can become tedious and let’s face it once we leave a room we probably aren’t coming back because we will get distracted by something else that has to be done right then and there. 

Rule #6 

When cleaning set a timer and don’t leave the room. I will challenge myself by setting a timer and reward myself with a cup of coffee or something like that when I’m done. It really only takes a few minutes to empty or fill a dishwasher but getting started can be the hard part. If you know you only have five minutes set a timer and get it done. 

I’m hoping using my experience and my knowledge that I will be able to help others who struggle with organizing. 

Organizing the kids and myself

I am so sick of messes I could scream. I am trying really hard to get my kids organized but that is a bit of a challenge. I have found some ideas for organizing a bit better. The kids toys are in a bunch of different baskets right now which is driving me batty, every time they can't find something the baskets get flipped over and toys everywhere. So I have decided to invest in a toy bin organizer, it will be easier on them and me. They can see where everything goes and take out the various bins when they want to play with a specific toy. Then when they are done they can put it away because they know where it goes. I am also going to label things with a picture and words, that way Caleb will be learning to read while cleaning.  I can't get as organized as much as I would like to because we are living in my in-laws house but I am getting some good ideas for when we do finally have our house. :) 

I am also going to invest in a good chore chart and calendar for my kids. I am so sick of having to tell my five year old what day it is and what we will be doing that day, if he can see it maybe, just maybe he will just know. I am also going to start working on a family book, it will have all of our favorite recipes, menus for the month, important phone numbers, a planner with all that is going on in the month, coupons and a grocery list. 

I have a drawer that is full of my favorite recipes and every time I make something it gets messy, this irks me to no end because then I have to go print off a new one.  Luckily I get most of my recipes from the Internet so it's not such a big deal, but I have decided to make a binder with all my recipes. I had one but it is packed far, far away in the storage unit. Yea, I know that was really smart of me. :) 

I saw a really cute idea for snacks; you have a box about the size of a shoebox for each kid  (you can decorate with contact paper) that you put your children's snacks for the day in. That way if you are running out the door, boom you just grab some snacks throw them in your bag. I don't know how many times I have left snacks at home or ended up grabbing something they really don't want. Also, if it is something that is in the fridge just portion it out and put it in a baggy so you can grab it on the way out the door.

With there only being one more month of school, I am really going to have to get organized because I have two very active boys that always are on the move. I am hoping that I can be organized enough that we won't have to sit at home much. 

I am trying to get better about my blog, thank you for being so patient with me.

Happy Organizing!! 

I am back!!

It has been a very long time and I feel bad that I haven't been able to blog lately. We have been busy moving. We are house sitting for my in-laws for a year. This will allow us to be able to save enough for a down payment on a house. Right now I am having a struggle with time management, so this next month that is my project. Right now there isn't much in the way of stuff to organize because it is all in storage. So I am focusing on organizing myself.

Christmas gifts

This year money is tight so to save some money I am going to be making some Christmas gifts. I am super excited about this because I love to make things. The things I am making are pretty simple and don't cost much to make. I am also going to be making my own wreath this year, I have not made a wreath in years but I am so excited. Making things yourself can help save money and who doesn't like a homemade gift. You always know that time and love went into it. I will post my projects when they are done.

Cleaning and Menus

I don't know if you are like me but things get so chaotic that you never get things done and when the end of the week comes you find yourself with a whole weeks worth of chores and laundry. I have found a simple way to get yourself organized when it comes to chores and laundry. I pick certain days to do certain things. Like for example I try to focus on one room a day, like Monday I focus on my kitchen, now granted you can't just do the kitchen on Mondays but that is the day I deep clean it and mop and clean out the fridge. I of course clean up other rooms but I only do the nitty gritty stuff that no one wants to do on one certain day, that way I know it is done. I would like to show you my list and hey you can steal it or you can make your own. I live in an apartment so my list might be smaller. I am sure that when I get into a house I will have to make some changes and add some stuff, but right now it works for me and I have not had a dirty house since I started it.

Chores:

Monday: Kitchen

Tuesday: Master Bathroom

Wednesday: Kids Bathroom

Thursday: Living Room

Friday: Master Bedroom

Saturday: Kids Bedroom

I do the same with my laundry that way it doesn't seem so daunting. I hate doing laundry but I have found I only have to do two or three loads a day with my system. You can be super busy and still be able to keep a clean home.

I have found that when I plan out my meals that I save so much money. I also have a list of meals that I know my family likes and rotate through but sometimes I throw in a new thing just for fun. Anyway, I like to plan out the whole month. I like to only shop twice a month if I can. Obviously I have to go to the grocery store more often for bread and milk, but everyone has to do that. The day my husband gets payed or the day after I go to the store and buy all the things I need for the week and then I buy stuff to make meals for the next week also. I call it cooking fresh the first week and the second week because money is tight I cook things that I can make from stuff I have. We eat a lot of spaghetti. It has helped me save money and I am not always wondering what we are going to eat and end up spending money on fast food. I also make sure I have a frozen pizza or a very simple throw in the oven meal for the days I just don't want to cook.

You too can start organizing your life and saving money, it is so easy.

Until next time happy organizing!! :)

Fall Cleaning

I know that most people do spring-cleaning but I like to do Spring and Fall cleaning. This means going through things twice a year. I am in the process of organizing my closets; this is a work in progress. My goal this week is to get rid of everything that I am not using. You should all know my motto by now. "If you aren't using it get rid of it." We are hoping to buy a house next year so I am trying to get rid of as much stuff as I can so moving will be a breeze. I get on these little actually I should say huge cleaning binges. When I get on these you better watch out because I get rid of everything. It all started with the Master Bath yesterday because I couldn't find my brush, I did find the brush but I realized that I had so much crap and I wasn't using half of it. So, I spent probably three hours going through everything. I had three piles, now the pile thing is a good thing when organizing. You have your keep, throw away and your donate piles. The smallest pile when you are done should be the keep pile. Since it was the bathroom I only had two piles this time, the keep and throw away. I ended up throwing away a whole garbage bag full of makeup, lotion, and other toiletries that were old and gross. When I was done with that I went on to the living room, my living room is quite easy to organize because it is so small so that didn't take long. I mostly got rid of a game system that my oldest son never plays with and some toys. I then proceeded to the front closet, I am quite proud of myself because I got rid of so much stuff in the closet, I have not been able to fit my vacuum in the closet but I can now. I got rid of a bunch of Easter stuff. The Boys get a new Easter basket every year and my closet was starting to overflow with them. I also got rid of my diaper bags and some other baby stuff.

Today I started on the kitchen, I am not done with it yet but I will be done in the next day or so.

Till my next post Happy, organizing.

Week 1: The closets

I live in an apartment so being organized is really important for my sanity. Four people in a two bedroom apartment can get kind of congested, especially when you really just don't have room. I have to keep up on getting rid of things all the time. Right now my closet needs some real help, it's been more about money than anything why I haven't done it yet. I discovered these really cool slim hangers, they make it so easy to fit more clothes in your closet. I get mine at TJ Max for $5 bucks a bundle. I also got rid of a lot of clothes and bought some baskets to put clothes and other stuff in. I need more baskets and the ones I have were discontinued so now I have to start all over again. I also, bought a shoe organizer but need to get another one. I tried the over the door ones and they never seemed to work for me, so I bought a wooden one that sits on the floor. I also, have my scrap booking stuff and other craft stuff, right now they are in bags but I would love to get some containers to put them in. I also need to get some containers for my winter clothes, right now they are just folded on my shelves waiting for a child to knock them down.

My boys room, I need to go through clothes and either get rid of or pack up clothes that don't fit anymore. I also need to get rid of some toys and other junk.

The front closet needs some real help, it is overflowing and driving me crazy, I can barely fit my vacuum in it and I would really love to be able to fit my vacuum and my steamer in there.

I'm not sure what I am going to do to make it better but I will let you know.

This is my project for the week. I will let you all know how it goes when I am done.