The Return of 52 weeks of organizing: buffet & wooden puzzles

So I have found that I do not organize with as much zest without my weekly organizing post. So I hope to participate in the 52 weeks of organizing for the rest of the year so I can get this house into shape and ready to sell & this will make moving much easier to move!

This weeks project the buffet...Unlike many folks we really use our buffet to serve dinner. I store all of our paper products in the buffet along with the cloth napkins in the drawer. On top of the buffet is a basket purchased at Goodwill for about $2 with our silverware. I never really organized it when we started using it for storage so here is the result.


buffet before

 So this is what something looks like if Mama never steps in to organize. They have creatively stuck stuff every-which-a-way!

buffet after

So here is the buffet after the re-organization. I removed some serving platters we never used and the coffee carafes we rarely use and put them in an upper kitchen cabinet.  We took the cups from the pantry and put them in the buffet. I found out we have 2 big boxes of spoons, we rarely use plastic spoons so those should last a while. In the corner are table cloths for the table, most of the varnish is off of our table so we are using table cloths to have a sanitary surface to eat off of and to avoid purchasing a new table. The wooden box in the corner is a napkin holder which is full of neatly stacked paper napkins.

I also bought a wood puzzle organizer, unfortunately, I do not have a picture of the drawer the puzzles were kept in before. We have several small/oddly shaped puzzles that don't just slide into place. I am still please with the purchase and it is definitely a much better solution then when they were in the drawer. We used to pull out the puzzle then find the pieces that go with it, this is much better even with little puzzles piled on top.

Well, I hope everyone else is becoming more organized day by day...to see more folks organizing their homes over 52 weeks you can go to Orgjunkie.

52 weeks of organizing week 7 Living Room & 8 Porches

Living Room under the TV before....

I'm back after a very short hiatus filled with grandparents and pneumonia! If you are interested in what happens when a family with 5 kiddos gets pneumonia you can read my post "Pneumonia Schooling".

Now onto organizing....

Living Room under the TV after

Week 7 -  I organized a very unorganized and unsightly Entertainment area in our living room. We used an antique Pie Safe which was given to us by some friends of ours who used to own an Antique Shop. My dear Husband found scrap wood and made shelves and he added support to the back of the once rickety cabinet.When the pie safe is closed the whole room is so peaceful and so simple you'd never guess what's hiding within it.  It is  housing  the Entertainment Center: VCR, DVD/Stereo, converter, DVD's, CD's and books. Also, did you notice the basket that was on top of the curio cabinet (an organization project in progress) has found a new home on the Pie Safe. Right next to the safe is an antique locker drawer which now holds the baby toys. This was just sitting on the floor in front of the dresser. Next to that is something or another for my husbands surround sound system (given to us from some friends at church) & a cute basket (we won at a 4th of July Party) with remotes. Underneath all of that is a little drawer that holds VHS tapes sadly it didn't fit in or under the safe. As I look around this room the different items within it remind me of the love our family and friends have shown us over the years. Truly I think the only thing we purchased was the TV a couple of years ago for $200.

Total Cost of this organization project = $0

 Week 8 - So during week 7 my parents were here & we had pneumonia but before it all hit I did manage to get the front and back porch cleaned up and organized.

Front Porch



Back Porch

 Until the challenge I think I was just blocking out all the eye sores and pretending they didn't exist. Now, however, I stop and organize little things if I think I have time. When I look at a space I wonder how could I make it functional yet simplify it.

Son on the Back porch you'll notice the Pie Safe was kept on the back porch until Wayne had time to work on it! The back porch had a conglomeration of items that just never got put away! So the first thing I did was put things away, cleaned and swept. I adjusted the grill cover and situated the tanks out of site. The drying racks are stacked neatly next to the grill. The front porch needed to be picked up and swept and I needed to remove some items we didn't use.  I thought these items would be cute junky decorations but they unfortunately they just looked like junk! I needed to find a better way to organize the mud boots. So I got an old apple basket put it next to the door and piled the boots in there, so the kids can grab a boot and go! I ended up switching the furniture from the back to the front. I topped an iron table found on the side road with a lace curtain that was given to me in a bag of kids clothes. I added a white cross I had purchased a couple of years ago at the Roundtop Antique Fair. I think the furniture looks great in their new locations.

The total cost of this organization: $0

New back porch



New Front Porch



I have decided to keep an eye on what I am spending to get the casa organized. So in the last 7 weeks we have spent $18 on laundry room sorting baskets. You'll see that project later.

So here is my progress on organizing my home one week and one project at a time. I'm really enjoying the calm relaxed feel that it generates in our home and in this Mama. Well at least as calm as it can be with 5 kids running around! Now, if you want to see what other super-focused organizing Mamas are doing you can head over to OrgJunkie's 52 weeks of organizing Challenge.

52 weeks of organizing week 6- Hall Closet



hall closet before



Welcome to organizing on a dime, though I love to see all the really cute stuff out there that helps us to get organized but Roosterhill has limited funds for organizational projects at this juncture. So this week we reorganized a closet with the things we had on hand!

 This is the before picture isn't that pitiful for months we haven't been able to close this door all the way for months. It really irritated me but the thought of stopping and reorganizing it was too daunting. I only have a few hours in between naps with the twins and homeschooling. But when I undertook this challenge it was because things had to change! By under took I mean I asked our Dear Bethany if she could organize this closet for me.  She did a great job organizing it and she labeled the drawers so the kids should be able to more easily put their things in the right drawer. 





After


1. She removed the little yellow bin to the left of the white plastic organizer
2. put the white plastic organizer back together and labeled the drawers
3. Remove a huge bag of random bags  and organized the remaining bags into a single backpack hanging on the rail
4. Organized and put all the games on the top shelf

5. We removed some Christmas decorations that were in the closet and relocated them to the Christmas boxes in the attic.
6. removed a flower arrangement that was in the closet and moved it to the living room. I think it's headed to a garage sale soon. Because fake flowers collect dust and I don't like to dust.

Look at that there is a floor in that closet, who knew! Also the door shuts, all the way without force. 

Well next week I am working on another problem area, well more like an eye sore, in our living room. entertainment area and I promise I will do my own work next week. Ha! If you want to check out some more homes moving towards organization you can go to orgjunkie's 52 weeks of organization!

 



52 weeks of organizing week 5



On top of the curio


So last week a gal that bought books from me had a great idea she suggested I post my list! So here it is in all of its splendor. If you have any suggestions of other things to add that would be wonderful! Also I'd love to know what you think. Don't you love how I clutter a neat stack of scrapbooks that you can barely notice under our cute picnic basket! Ha! I'll try to post what I have already completed with a photo report next week. I'll try to take pictures of other organization Don't forget I still need help on my list so if you have some ideas I'd love to hear them!!!

1. computer desk
2. homeschool bookshelf
3. master bedroom closet
4. sewing table
5. sewing cabinets
6. upper kitchen cabinets
7. entertainment Area
8. homeschool book shelf (Homeschool Room)
9. homeschool rolling cart
10. homeschool bottom shelf
11. homeschool small white bookcase
12. entry shelf unit
13. piano top
14. attic organization
15. hallway closet
16. laundry room basket
17. top of curio
18. homeschool lesson planner
19. homeschool book shelf bedroom
20. twins closet
21. changing table
22. laundry room tall shelf
23. athroom cabinet kids room
24. bathroom cabinet Master bedroom

...okay I still have a few to go!

So I noticed Orgjunkie asked why we wanted to get more organized. Which is something I had not given a great deal of thought to until then. So here are some of the reasons I want to get more organized:

1. So that my home will run more smoothly and efficiently.
2. So I am not wasting time and money looking for items I already have but cannot locate.
3. So my family knows how to help (I am making lists for the family)
4. We have a lot of kiddos and the more organized and scheduled life is the easier it is for everyone (especially our dear one with mild Autism). 

So as I embark on this journey let me say I do not want to have a perfectly clean house because that seems to come with a lot of wear on tear on the family.I want a neat organized home where kids can play and company can relax. I want the organization in our home to help create a peaceful & joyful environment that glorifies the Lord. An environment where the my 'husband lacks nothing of value' and where the children may rise and call 'me blessed', not cranky! Ha!

May the Lord fill your home with grace & peace too!

52 weeks of organizing: week 4

 This year I am getting the Casa organized! And participating in Orgjunkies 52 weeks is like have an online decluttering encouragement group! So here are some of the things I worked on this week:

1. We are organizing all of the boxes in the attic.  We numbered all the Christmas boxes and I listed the contents of each box in an excel spread sheet and placed the spread sheet in my home management folder. We have already numbered some of the many boxes of children's clothes and shoes that are in the attic my goal is to have all the boxes in the attic numbered, cleaned out and organized.
2. I am continuing to cull items off of my desk. I went through the pens and got rid of the ones that don't work, put homeschool items back in their area & gave Wayne the tire gauge (?). He was actually excited about the tire gauge and said, great now we have 3! 
3. Tomorrow, I will be loading things into the back of the Suburban to take to my friend Rachel's house where we will have our garage sale sometime between now and May. This will eliminate a lot of clutter in the house and in the shed. When the weather is more temperate we will start pricing the items in the shed.
4. I organized the piano books and moved all the 'out of use books' into the bench and put the 'in use books' on the basket on top of the piano. I also removed knock-knacks and paddy whacks off the top of the piano.
5. I am finishing the planning for the end of this year's homeschool year. Additionally, I am ordering and printing Scope & Sequences for next year.
6. We have meals planned through May which is the end of soccer season.
7. Finally, I am working on completing my list 52 weeks of organizing list so I can make a focused effort to get the casa organized.I was running out of ideas  but luckily my dear husband is helping me with it and  it turns out he has all kinds of good ideas.

Hopefully by next week I'll figure out how to download the pix's off the camera onto the computer.Ha!