Getting Organized

Well, I'm not much for New Year's Resolutions, but last Sunday our Bishop talked about goals and the importance of writing them down. My goal for as long as I can remember is to get more organized, but I never write it down or the steps necessary to actually get more organized. This is my attempt at not only writing down my goal, but hopefully I will feel more accountable since all of you know about my goal too.

I'm starting kind of small because Ally is still nursing and demands quite a bit of my time, but that should be coming to an end in the next few months and at least she doesn't need me quite as much as she used to. I really want to focus on the kitchen to start. I am a piler, I admit it. I tend to leave things out that I'm going be using later and I pile things up that I intend to go through later when I have more time (like all the stuff the kids bring home from school, mail on the table, etc. when it's all of a sudden time for dinner and we need the table - to counter it all goes in a nice neat pile). Well, as we all know, you're just as busy later as were right then, so I'm really trying to put things away right away, or toss, shred, file, etc. I'll have to take pictures, but I hope that by the end of the year my kitchen counters will always look clean, especially the little one by the phone where everything ends up. It's not that my house is super messy, but I know that if I'd get rid of the extra clutter and put everything away immediately, then I wouldn't have to spend so much time going through piles later. Doing a little all the time is easier than a lot all at once - plus it really doesn't take that much more energy or time to just put something away than to just move it to a pile.

I decided to try using flylady.net because I have heard that this website has helped a lot of people to get more organized and keep a cleaner house. I have been getting emails and have been reading things on her website for 4 or 5 days now. I know that it isn't very long, but I have to admit that I'm not super impressed so far. The emails seem more distracting than helpful and the website seems kind of jumbled and a little confusing. I think I need to get more into it and adapt things more to what will work best for me. I can see the value of a lot of the ideas I've learned about so far, I just need to find what works for me. Hopefully I'll be able to establish some new routines that really get me going and keep things up better rather tackling things once they've built up.

I'll keep you posted with some before and after pics of things that I've let build up and then finally get organized; like the den, pantry, etc. Lucky for me I have a super organized and clean husband. I never have to put away any of his things. Now if I could just get the kids to do their part I'd be in great shape. I know I haven't set the best example of putting things away before you get something else out, so we'll all be working together, one babystep at a time.

On a fun and postive note: We just bought a new couch and love seat yesterday! They will be delivered on Wed., so I'll post pics then. We wanted leather because they're nice, durable and very kid friendly. We drove about 45 mins. away to go straight to the supplier, rather than the retailer by us and saved close to $400. YAY! My mom is coming in Feb. and I hope to utilize her talents and creativity to help me decorate our family room. We got a big screen TV and new entertainment center in Aug. and I haven't really done anything with it because I was waiting to decide on furniture first (and I could some advice). Now I need to do curtains, pillows, decorations, etc. I'm excited to get started, but I'm sure it will be a work in progress for some time.