Getting Organized
This is where you will find tips, tricks, articles, and information on anything that I find O-C-D-Licious. I like my house to be functional, but also have style. You CAN do both. Check out these blog posts to find out more about how. If you’ve got a great idea, please email it to me so that we can hook up my readership. I’m all about communal learning and simplified living!
My Resolutions
Last year when I wrote my resolutions for the year 2010, I had no idea what was going to come my way. I just had arrived in Washington the month before, and had gone through a miscarriage beginning on December 26th. I had no idea what was coming my [...]
Saving Money by Going Silver
My husband reads Lifehacker on a daily basis. While it is not on my personal daily blogroll, I find many of their articles helpful. At this time of year, when we are all looking for great gifting ideas, I found this article which explained why silver wrapping paper is [...]
Grocery Delivery Lifesaving Genius
When we traveled back to WA, I knew I was coming home to a seriously empty fridge. There would be no milk or other staples that I would need. I knew because I had been in on the consumption of these goods prior to our departure. I also knew [...]
Does your stuff stress or secure
I was watching Girl walk around the house dragging four or five toys that she deemed super important to have with her and I got to thinking. I know for her these items (generally speaking a doll named "baby", a matchbox car, a small ball, and 2 rotating randoms) [...]
Losing Stuff – Like my mind!
I have been accused of being Type A. As I've previously stated, I'm not. I'm a scatterbrain who has taught herself to put things away so that she can QUIT LOSING THEM! When I lose things, I fixate on finding them. It REALLY bugs me when I do a [...]
Something to shop for… the 3/50 project
My mother-in-law pointed me to this site. She found it while searching for a business local to my area (across the country from her own). What a powerful message! Check it out!! I definitely will be shopping locally for more of my Christmas giving this year. I know many small [...]
The Ice Cream Rule
I was looking around online this week and I found an article that put some perspective on preventing clutter in your house. It described the "ice cream rule" as the treatment of all of your belongings as ice cream. You wouldn't ever come home from the food store and [...]
Outsourcing: The Maid Moved Out… Or had a baby…
Ok. I am a Proud Mary. I am fiercely independent and stupidly proud. I do not like to admit that I cannot handle everything that life throws at me. By handle, I mean juggle into my schedule and vastly exceed expectations in all aspects of my life. Sometimes this [...]
Keeper Article: Gathering Spaces Solutions from Storage Magazine Spring 2006
I found these ideas on pages 29-41 of Storage Magazine's Early Spring 2006 Edition. I LOVE the picture in the upper left on page 39. Around-the-window bookcases with a storage window seat? YES PLEASE! The same type of idea is on page 40 but around a pair of French [...]
Purging Textbooks Surging Wallets
During my huge nesting purge, I sat and was looking at my bookcases. There were lots of old textbooks from college (we graduated in 2003), my MBA (2007), and WickedHubby's Masters (2010) that were probably not ever going to be looked at again. They were hogging up my precious [...]
Keeper Article: 99 Low-Cost Organizing Ideas from Real Simple March 2008
In June 2008, my neighbor shared her Real Simple magazine with me. Inside, it shared 99 Low-Cost Organizing Ideas between pages 230 and 237. I found this article very interesting. Many of the ideas in it were worthy of integrating. Others did not work with my style. Maybe they [...]
Music to Space
I recently stole this idea from my friend (Mama Ski). She asked the question "what do I do with my CDs once I import them all onto iTunes/an iPod?" I also seem to recall another friend (Mama Leia) cleaning up her CD-to-computer act... In response to these inspirational Facebook [...]
How To Fold A Fitted Sheet
I actually found a video online that said "one of the biggest challenges you're gonna face in life is how to fold a fitted sheet". This chick must have a whacked out life if this is one of her biggest challenges. No kids, husbands, jobs, or anything else. She [...]
Keeper Article: The Shelf-Life Periodic Table from Real Simple
The article that I am about to share originally appeared on pages 149-151 of the March 2004 Real Simple Magazine. If you don't read Real Simple, you're missing out. It's one of my absolute favorites! Lots of tangents just like WickedKate, but all to help you simplify your life! [...]
Protect Your Digital Self
Nowadays, many of us use technology to organize ourselves and to store important information. Like anything else, technology is fallible. Viruses, blue screens of death, and toddler accidents (amongst other things) can result in lost files. This may be something that doesn't matter, or it may make you want [...]
The Pink Thing: keeping track of it all
What system do you use to organize your life? I think everyone needs multiple systems, but the one I'm asking about today is your "to-do-appointment-coupon-information-at-my-fingertip" system... For the past five years, I have used what my husband affectionately calls my "pink thing". In it, I write down all of [...]
Loving the FlyLady
Sometimes we find something that just about exactly matches what has been going on in my head. Of course, sometimes our friends point this out to us even before we have an opportunity to organize what is going on! This time, it was NS who pointed out FlyLady! I have [...]
Old Mother Hubbord
Old Mother Hubbard, your cupboard is bare! When E is gone, I often play the "how long can I go before I have to food shop" game. Sometimes it makes me get creative, and put together some interesting meals, but I have been known to go up to a [...]
Organizing Facts
1. Since the 1970s, the average U.S. home has grown by 80%. Yet Americans face a “storage crisis,” according to UCLA researchers. Source 2. The self-storage industry is only 35 years old. It took 25 years for the first billion square feet of storage space to be built. The [...]
Rule of 5 by 5 by 5
Recently, I was blessed with the opportunity to attend a meeting where the Clutter Busters group came to speak. These people offered many helpful hints on how to declutter your house, and how to keep up with the pace of its maintenance. I have always been a bit overly into [...]
40 Bags in 40 Days
Ok. This project is supposed to take place over Lent (40 bags... 40 days...), but I was late to the party and missed the boat. I started my journey ON Easter and am working through the 40-post-Easter days. Here's the challenge: Take 40 plastic food store bags. Fill them with [...]