Getting It Together: Everything In Its Place

Today, we will be featuring Tara, from Survivin' on Sweet Tea and Love.   One of the many things you'll discover as you read Tara's blog, is that she {adores} a clean and organized home.  I hope her ideas  {inspire} you as they have me. ~Belle

First of all, I am not a professional but if I could choose any career that would fit me like a glove, I would choose to be a professional organizer.  I constantly think about organization because it helps me lead a more productive life.  I organize out of habit and subconsciously so when Belle contacted me about writing this post and I agreed, I had a hard time 1) thinking of all the ways I organize and de-clutter my surroundings and 2) condensing the post because I could talk about it all day.

Some of the things I am going to share are simple and are by no means rocket science.  Maybe you practice all of these tips in your home OR maybe you don't and need a little help.  Because every person and home is different, some may work for you and others may not.  Here are a few, condensed organizational/de-cluttering tips that have proven to work for me:

Everything has a place!

When you buy something, buy it knowing exactly where its new home will be and exactly how you intend for it to be used.  Don't buy it just because you have an urge.  When you buy it, you should get rid of something else that you no longer want or that no longer has value to you.  Also, before going to bed at night, always try to make sure everything is in its proper place.  Life will run much more smoothly the next morning when everybody overslept and is in a hurry to get out the door.

Don't cover up your furniture with stuff.

I have decorations on my furniture but no more than a few items per piece.  Remember that each decoration has its own place and a purpose (either personal value or functional use).  Also, remember that the more stuff you have, the more dust it will collect and the more time you will spend dusting.

When it comes to clothing/shoes...

If you haven't worn something in the past 6 months and absolutely have no plans to wear it, get rid of it by either donating/selling/tossing.  

If you just can't bring yourself to do that and you tell yourself you will wear it, give yourself another two months to wear it.  After those months are up, be honest with yourself.  If you actually wore it and liked it, you now have something new.  If you didn't wear it or you wore it and realized you didn't like it, remove it from your closet. 

The best way to organize shoes is to buy a shoe organizer.  They are relatively cheap and come in many different forms, sizes and colors.  

Keep your closets/pantry organized by grouping.  

Grouping allows you to quickly find what you need.  Some people group by colors but for me, I can easily distinguish color differences so I group my clothes by style.  Long-sleeve button downs together, dresses/skirts together; tank tops together, jeans together and so on.  Of course, I also have my clothes sorted by seasons also.  

You should never have so many clothes in a closet that they can't breathe.  What does that mean?  See the space between my clothes hangers?  I don't have so many clothes that they are jam-packed in there, which only results in wrinkled clothes.  They should have enough room to freely hang and you shouldn't get stressed out just looking for something.  If your clothes are packed in like sardines, it is highly likely that there are some or many pieces not getting worn.  It is time to de-clutter!

For my pantry, I group by types of foods and packaging.  One shelf is for boxed foods such as rice, pastas, taco kits, etc., another shelf is for all my canned products, another shelf is for seasonings and condiments and my top shelf is for cereal and bagged items such as marshmallows.  Among the groupings based on packaging, I also group based on kinds of food.  All of my canned fruits are in one section, canned vegetables another, canned tomato products together, etc.  Having everything organized makes grabbing what I need less time consuming than if I had to search for it.  As you can see from the picture below, I also make sure all of my products have the name visibly turned outward so I know exactly what I am grabbing.  This technique is most useful for canned and boxed products because they are mostly shaped the same.  You will notice that the Pam cooking spray and olive oil aren't turned outward.  Because I use those two products often and they get put back in the same place, it isn't a big deal for me.

Keep the paper piles down.

As soon as I bring the mail inside, I tear up the junk such as credit card offers, and they go directly into the trash or recycle bin.  I put any catalogs or magazines in their place - the magazine basket beside the recliner.  With the bills, I open and tear off the remittance from the invoice.  I, then, affix a stamp and return address label immediately, enclose the remittance portion and place it in the bill organizer downstairs.  It is now ready to be mailed as soon as I enclose the check.  

The invoice portion gets filed into the bill file in the filing cabinet and I keep those for one calendar year.  Another thing I do for organization and to know exactly where our money is going or has gone is to create a spreadsheet.  I make columns for Payment Name, Due Date, Date Paid, Form of Payment (either check #, AW for automatic withdrawal or OBP for online bill pay) and Amount Paid.  With every single bill that gets paid, I type in that information.

Tax season.

Tax season is soon upon us.  I stay organized throughout the year so when January arrives, getting my tax information together is easy.  Aside from waiting on W-2s to roll in, I am always completely ready to file taxes the first week in January.  In addition to having my bill invoice file, I keep a file for medical bills and other tax files (ex. property taxes paid) in our filing cabinet.  When I receive a medical bill, it quickly gets filed away.  Most of the time, I pay co-pays with my credit card and when I get my credit card bill, I highlight where I paid and staple the receipts to that bill and then.... file it in the medical file.  If I ever get audited, I have proof of everything.  The bill spreadsheet that I keep is also printed out at year-end so it also shows medical bills in which I've also written checks to pay.

Warranties/Owners Manuals

Again, have a place for these items.  We store all of this in our handy dandy filing cabinet.  One thing I haven't done as good a job with is keeping up with receipts after I've made purchases.  Because I like to get rid of extra paper, I sometimes end up tossing them prematurely.  Recently, we had a product break and needed a receipt.  I have decided to start stapling the receipts to the inside of the owner's manual.  Products break, become unneeded or unwanted, etc. so I try to go through these manuals at least once a year.  You will be amazed at what you no longer need to keep.

De-Cluttering: plain and simple.

It is good to do it several times a year.  Some people say you should go through your house everyday tossing 3 items from each room.  I think that is a little much unless you have tons of clutter.  If I did that, my house would be completely empty within a couple of months.

If you have a huge de-cluttering project, take baby steps.  Don't try to conquer it all at once or you will get bogged down and likely give up.  Work on one room at a time or even smaller, work on one area at a time.

The simplest way to de-clutter is to make three piles:

1) Keep pile - Items that you actively use, are in good condition, have a specific place in your home and have real value go into this pile.

2) Trash/recycle pile - If it is broken or no longer being used but is not good enough for selling or donating, it goes here.

3) Donate/sell pile - If it no longer has its own specific place, is not being actively used and won't be but needs a good home, this is the pile where it belongs.

Just remember that to organize and de-clutter, you MUST be willing to purge.  If you aren't, you are only moving clutter from place to place.  And, boy, does purging feel good! 

If reading this post inspired you, be sure to stop by Tara's Blog, for further inspiration, and if you'd like, share the news about this event with your readers.  Hope you all have a fantastic Friday!  

{Thanks Tara, for sharing with us today tips on how to organize effectively.  We're so glad you were able to be a part of this event.}

Getting It Together: Bust the Clutter

As you know, my sister and I, are all about getting it together in 2011.  So much so, that we decided to make it our theme this year at Beautiful Nest.

Today, we will be featuring Emily, from Masterpiece Mothering.   When Sparrow and I, first discussed the idea of this event, I knew right away I wanted Emily to share her tips for clutter-free living.  One of the many things you'll discover as you read Emily's blog, is that she has a terrific system when it came to keeping life orgainized.  I hope her ideas give you inspiration as they have for me. ~Belle

{Bust the Clutter: Kid Room Edition}

When I was a child, I spent most of my playtime outdoors. I loved to ride my bike, to roller skate, and to build forts with my sister. The only time I was found in my room was on days when it was pouring rain or was too cold to be outside. The reason for this was not that I liked being outside better than inside; it was because my bedroom was a pit--a mess of toys, dirty laundry, and who knows what else! The ultimate form of punishment was being made to clean my room, because it took me all day. I did not get my bedroom under control until I was in high school, and only then because I had to have a quiet, orderly space in which to do my mountains of homework.

When my daughter was born 8 years ago, I quietly determined that her bedroom would be a haven, a place where she could enjoy her toys, read a book, or get lost in her imagination. By the time my son arrived 4 years later, I had devised a workable solution to helping my children maintain order in their bedrooms. Much of our system has been the result of trial and error. But it has paid off. Both of my children are able, without much effort, to keep their rooms tidy. Yes, even my 4-year-old can cheerfully clean his room without my help. Without further ado, let me share what I have learned.

{Part One: The Purge}

1. Living in excess is unhealthy. Children can understand this, and you can involve them in the purging process. No child is able to enjoy what he has if he has too much. Before you begin the purging process, let your child choose several toys to donate to a worthwhile charity. A home for battered women and children or a children’s hospital is a good option. Your children will surprise you with their generosity. Allow them to give away whatever they choose, even if it is uncomfortable for you. They will benefit far more from being selfless than they will from hanging onto things that mom is attached to. There are, of course, exceptions to this.

2. Keep what is important to your child. You will know, for the most part, which toys are most loved by your child. Put those toys aside in a safe place.

3. Be ruthless with the rest. The truth is—and I know this from years of personal experience—your child will not miss most of the things you get rid of. Having lots of toys does not make a child happy. With items that tend to accumulate, such as Barbie dolls, stuffed animals, and matchbox cars, keep a set amount of each and give away the rest. My son has more fun with his 10 matchbox cars than he ever would with 30. When clean-up time comes, he is not overwhelmed with trying to pick up 10 cars. Asking him to put away 30 cars would likely result in a meltdown.

4. Only repair the important things. If you know you will not be able to repair a toy promptly, throw it away. Take that pressure off yourself. A peaceful mother is more important to a child than the repair of a toy that will likely sit in a drawer for months before you ever get around to fixing it.  

5. Establish a reasonable goal for how much to keep. When we moved from Arkansas to Florida last summer, each child’s toys fit into three Rubbermaid totes.  Keeping the toys limited to three totes per child is a very reasonable goal. For larger families whose children share toys, the number might be even smaller than that. As you sort and purge, keep the three totes with you as a measure for how you are doing.

6. Fix the end result in the front of your mind. As you sort through toys, envision your child happily playing in a peaceful room, and truly enjoying the toys you keep. Then imagine that child easily cleaning up the room without a battle at the end of playtime. Think of how nice it will be to walk through the bedroom or playroom without risking the comfort and well-being of your feet!

{Part Two: Getting Organized}

1. Rotate toys, especially for younger children. Remember those three totes you filled? Those totes are perfect for storing your toy rotation. Divide the toys you have kept into three groups. Two groups will be stored away. The third group will be put out for your child to play with. Some of the mainstays will always stay out—things such as favorite action figures, dolls, and art supplies. I mark toy rotation dates on my calendar and rotate about once every 3 months. Each time I rotate is like Christmas for the kids. They don’t have a chance to get tired of their toys. Don’t forget that you can rotate books, too. By the time my daughter was in 2^nd grade, she was responsible enough to care for all her toys at once. At that point, I stopped rotating for her. You will need to evaluate your own children in order to decide when to stop rotating toys for them.

2. Have a place for everything. Invest in a storage cube. Target and Ikea both carry these fabulous organization devices for less than $100. For young children, draw a picture of a certain type of toy and tape it to the front of each storage box so they can easily remember where each type of toy belongs. Clear, plastic bins are also great for storage of items such as Legos, Brio trains, and action figures. Many families have a large toy box. Use that for storing dress-up clothes or stuffed animals. Before you start to feel overwhelmed at the volume of organizational aids, remember that at any given time, your child should not have much more to put away than the contents of one, large tote. A storage cube and a few plastic tubs should be all that you need.

3. What about all those clothes? Be ruthless with the clothes like you are with the toys. If your child doesn’t wear it, don’t keep it. On the day that you rotate toys, do a quick once-over of your child’s wardrobe. Remove any clothes that are too small or are not being regularly used. You can store seasonal clothing in rubber totes just as you do with the toys. Label the tote with the type of clothing, such as “Julie’s Summer Clothes. Open April 2011.” I use a half sheet of paper to make my label and I tape it on the tote with packing tape.

{Part Three: Staying organized}

1. Apply the Even Exchange Rule. When a child receives a new toy, an old toy must go. Have the child choose a toy to give to charity before the new toy enters the bedroom or playroom. While this may seem harsh as first, remember that the results far outweigh the temporary discomfort of giving away a toy. Being generous cultivates a heart of thankfulness. Refusing to live the excessive lifestyle of our culture will develop a child who is content. What parent doesn’t want to stamp out selfishness in their child?

2. Say no to commercials. If your child watches television, you have probably been bombarded with countless whines of “I want…” or “I need…” in response to what is being advertised. If you do not already have a DVR, get one. It is worth the extra $5 per month. Record your child’s favorite programs, and then when they watch, make it a rule to fast-forward the commercials. 

3. Train your child to clean up his or her personal space. After playtime, show them where each item belongs, and help them put everything away. A few days of this is all it will take to train them. Sing as you work and make clean-up a cheerful time. Talk about the toys and express thankfulness for each as you put it away. I would suggest that you do not use a system of reward for cleaning the room. Having toys is a privilege. Cleaning up their mess is the responsibility that comes along with the privilege of having toys. 

4. About once each week, go through the child’s room yourself. Remove any broken toys. Return stragglers to their proper places. Dust and vacuum the room. By doing this, you are setting your child up for success by removing potentially frustrating obstacles. I never have to spend more than about 15 minutes each week in each child’s room. This includes putting away laundry. 

5. You can do it! If you are tempted to be discouraged when you look into your child’s room, close your eyes and visualize a peaceful child who can easily maintain his or her space. Imagine the enjoyment that child will received from the organized room. It is worth it!

If reading this post inspired you, be sure to stop by Emily's blog, for further inspiration, and if you'd like share the news about this event with your readers.  Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

{Thanks Emily, for sharing with us today, "how-to" Bust the Clutter!  We're so glad you were able to be apart of this event.} 

Today's Feature: Turley Times

Today we’re featuring Hannah, from Turley Times!  I {Belle} discovered Hannah's blog about a year ago, while reading her mother's blog, Nancy Tidbits, who we featured two days ago.  Hannah and her husband recently, as within the last year, purchased a home and Hannah shares, at her blog, all the joys of home ownership.  What I love about Hannah's blog is that it is well rounded.  Its not just about decorating, but living and enjoying life along the way.  If you've haven't visited Hannah's blog before, be sure to stop by and say hello.  With that said, here is today's featured blogger. In this post, Hannah will be sharing with us a tutorial on how to make Ribbon Stars.   Enjoy!

I learned how to make these ribbon star Christmas ornaments from an issue of Martha Stewart Living last fall.  They are very simple and inexpensive to make - in other words, it's a craft even I can handle!  All you will need is a glue gun and some ribbon.  For this demonstration, I used 3/8" red and white grosgrain ribbon from Michaels.

All you are going to be doing is making six loose, flat knots so that the two ends of your ribbon will come together to form a six-pointed star.  For the star I made in these photos, I cut off about a foot of ribbon from the spool.  The length is going to vary depending on how loose or tight you make your knots and the width of your ribbon (the wider your ribbon, the more you will need to make each star).  Make sure you have enough extra ribbon so that you can tuck the excess into the ends and glue it all together.  It will require a little trial and error on your part.

Start out by making your first flat knot.  Notice how I left a little extra ribbon on the end...that will get trimmed later on, but I'll leave some of it there so I can glue my ends together when I'm finished.

Then, make your second knot directly adjacent to the first knot.  You don't want to leave any space between each knot so that the two ends will come full circle after you've made six knots.  And make sure not to tighten your knots.  They should be pretty loose...you aren't tying shoes here!  :-)

Continue on with your knot making...here I've made three knots.

Four knots...

Five knots...

After the sixth knot, the two ends should be meeting each other quite nicely.  At this point you will snip off the excess ribbon, leaving just enough extra to dab on a bit of hot glue and tuck it underneath your last knot.  This is what a completed star should look like.

Once you've made your first star or two, you'll really start to get the hang of it and will be making tons of them because they are just so pretty and fun!  Here are some of the stars I made last year.

I even dedicated an entire Christmas tree to my ribbon stars.  I used little metal ornament hooks to attach mine to my tree, but you could also just stick a tree branch into the middle of each star and hang them that way.

{All photography courtesy of Hannah}

One piece of wisdom I learned last year that I will pass along to you.  This is probably going to be painfully obvious to most of you, but I didn't realize this at first.  If you are using ribbon that has a design printed on only one side, your stars will show only half of the design because of the way you tie the knots.  I ended up making some ornaments that were half plain, half decorated because I had bought a spool of ribbon with a screenprinted design on it.  It wasn't that big of a deal, but you will probably be better off using solid ribbon or ribbon that has stitching or printing on both sides.

That's it!  These ornaments are a really easy way to add a little "homemade" to your Christmas tree.

Thanks again Hannah for sharing this ornament idea!  To all our readers, thanks for stopping by Beautiful Nest and we hope you all have a wonderful day! 

Today's Guest Blogger: Nancy's Tidbits

Today we’re featuring Nancy, from Nancy's Tidbits!  Nancy will be sharing with us a tutorial on how to make Pinwheel Christmas Tree Ornaments.  If you've visited Nancy's blog you know that she has great ideas when it comes to decorating, and this is one of them!  So without further ado, here is today's feature!

I first saw a pinwheel craft on the blog Made By Stephie. I liked the idea, but wanted a different pattern. So I just googled and found a simple pattern. It's basically a 5.25" square. And the procedure is very easy! First you find some pretty double sided scrapbooking paper you like and cut a square (5.25").

Next, you start cutting from each corner towards the middle, but don't cut completely to the center. You'll be cutting approx. 3.25" from a corner towards the center. Do this on all four corners.

Then you take every other corner and bring the tip towards the center and hot glue it down. I'm terrible at giving instructions, but I'm confident you'll begin to make the pinwheel shape!

After you're done glueing the corners in the middle, glue a vintage button in the center, hot glue a piece of ribbon to hang and you're done!

Thank you so much for sharing your tutorial, Nancy!  We couldn't close this post without sharing some more of Nancy's many creative ideas.  These four captured my {Belle} interest from the moment I saw them.  Fun, classy, simple and elegant you can find them all at Nancy's Tidbits.  Like these quick and easy Christmas tree ornaments, made with vintage sheet music! Or this Fleur de Fun coffee mug, or table makeover and what's not to love about this necklace made from tile pendants?  I sure hope you'll stop by Nancy's and say hello and when you do, be sure to tell her how you discovered her blog.

{All photography courtesy of Nancy}

Thanks for stopping by Beautiful Nest today and we hope to see you visit again soon!

Featuring Quit Eating Out

When it comes to recipes, look no further. Quit Eating Out is the place to fly away to for inspiration. Kim has a variety of recipes, from heavenly desserts to kid-friendly meals to elegant dinner menus. We're featuring two of our favorite recipes at Beautiful Nest.

My Favorite Sandwich

{photo courtesy of Kim at Quit Eating Out}

{Both Belle and Jenni have made this recipe for their families who loved it! } The pesto loving woman that Belle is, she just couldn't resist making it for dinner one summer evening. Not only did this sandwich taste amazing, it was easy to make, a plus for a busy momma of four lil' ones!

Roasted Chicken with Rosemary Potatoes

{photo courtesy of Kim at Quit Eating Out}

If you're like Belle, you've attempted many a time to bake a tender, juicy, flavor-filled chicken only to be disappointed with dismal results. Well be disappointed no more! Not only was this recipe easy to prepare, the results were stunning! Belle was so impressed with this recipe she intends to use it for this year's Thanksgiving turkey. It will be Belle's first attempt preparing and baking the turkey, so wish her luck!

{photo courtesy of Kim at Quit Eating Out}

Not only does Kim have a quantity of recipes to glance over, but she hosts a blog party each Saturday called Saturday Swap, so if you enjoy baking and cooking be sure to stop by and link your recipe to the swap!

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