January.... 31 Days of Therapeutic Organization.

I don't know how it is February 1st already, but that's what my calendar says, so I'm assuming it's correct. Most people get a little bit of "January Blues" each year and while this January wasn't exactly a good one for us, I always love this time of year. Out with the clutter of stuff building up from the whole year and the Holiday season and in with everything crisp and simple and clean.

For those of you that have kept my farmer and I in your prayers during this (for a lack of better word) shitty time, I love you, I appreciate you, I thank you. January is a new year and a fresh start. It's why I love it so much and this year is no exception.

If you remember my last post (which was a very long time ago) you will recall that I grouped my house into sections for week by week organization and cleaning. I usually keep a pretty tidy home, so it was a little bit more about organization. I did this in January, but February is also a perfect month to get it done before Spring gets here and all you want to do is be outside.

Judging by my laundry room sink it looks like I am ready for Spring.



Here was my little "schedule". I tried to plan around things that I had to do during the month. For instance; I knew the first week I was still going to be getting the remainder of my Christmas decor down and packed away in the basement, I didn't want to over schedule myself that week so I did bedrooms and closets. Easy peasy.

JANUARY'S ORGANIZATIONAL MONTH

Week of January 3rd:

• All bedrooms and closets   

Week of January 10th:

• Bathrooms

Week of January 17th:

• The Kitchen and pantry

Week of January 24th:

• Laundry Room and Craft Closet

Week of January 31st:

• Garage

For some reason when I walk into my closet it seems SO organized - and when I look at it in photos... it seems... a little discheveled. But regardless here is my closet, well about half of it is photographed. A big organization tool for me is baskets. This basket at the top of my shoes section is full of swim suits. Next summer I will switch it out with the basket that I have full of hats and gloves that's currently on the bottom shelf in the below photo.






I did the same for my upstairs bedroom closets. They are pretty clean anyways, I just went through and re tidied everything up.

Week 2 was bathroom. Basically just the same thing but I added lining to a couple of drawers that I had ran out when we moved in. I take this opportunity to also see what I need to stock up on. I usually like to have one extra of everything.



Week 3 was the kitchen and the pantry. The past couple of weeks had been pretty basic. Just an evening or two of sorting. By this time I was ready to dig in deep. After sorting through everything you are really able to see what you have and what you need. I already feel like I don't waste as much food becuase I know what we have.



I purchased a label maker at Wal-mart for about $20.00. Best money I have spent in a while. I'm a little addicted to labeling everything. Why yes it was necessary for me to label my chocolate chips, because you might not be able to tell that they are... Chocolate chips. :)



I currently need to go to the store.



My mom gave me these great produce baskets. Usually they house potatoes and onions - I am sure that I will really use them come summertime in the garden.



Everything has a 'spot" just as it should be. And as you can see if anyone needs lasagna noodles in the next 3 years - call me. :)



My addiction to baskets and labels continue.... I have tea bags and protein drink packets in here.



Baskets, Mason jars, more baskets, more containers..... that really is the key (for myself) in staying organized.




These little spice jars with labels are so so cute, but not completely functional. But - they are so cute that it's worth it. If you come over for Pizza and need crushed red pepper just give me 10 minutes to find it. :) I need a better system for that little section.

Baskets and bins and more baskets.



I have this little bulletin board for notes and pictures and event invites. I have to go through and clean up every couple of weeks but I love looking at all of these sweet faces.



The pantry was actually the last spot of the kitchen that I tackled. I started the week off with wiping cabinets down, the next night I cleaned all the appliances and from there cleaned up and organized drawers. For most every drawer I purchased little drawer organizers. It's just alot easier to keep things together, otherwise your drawer is a mess in no time.



The laundry room was next. It's still one of my favorite rooms in the house. Most everyone that comes over says that it's just "too pretty" to do laundry in.

After taking this photo I realized I was out of fabric softener and bleach. These items are another thing that I always like to have double of. Nothing is more frustrating than a pile of laundry and not quite enough detergent.



My "cleaning cabinet" Cleaning products, extra light bulbs, seasonal soaps and candles. Miscellaneous stuff. This cabinet is pretty full so will be tougher to always keep tidy. But everything has a place, so that's a start.



I have different folders for everyday bills and misc stuff but for big important documents that I add to all the time I keep these folders. It's been handy to just go here and add to as opposed to having to dig for something.





 

I even use drawer organizers for my laundry room drawers. I have different sizes because it seems like you have much smaller little miscellaneous stuff in the laundry room. It's not stuff that you need everyday but when you need super glue you want to know right where it is. :)



Still lots of spare room in this drawer. 

One of the best decisions that I made while building our house was to make make our half bath a little smaller and instead create a "craft closet" in my laundry room. I do not know what I would do with all of this stuff if I didnt have this little space. I keep everything in here from craft items to beverage containers for hosting parties, to all of my glass vases, board games and cleaning buckets, all paper products like paltes, napkins, and silverware. The list really does go on and on.  I have alot in here. With the hustle and bustle of Christmas this area took a beating. You could just close the door and no one had to know it was a mess. So I was really happy to get it straightened out and now it's much better. 

Instead of baskets in here I opted for differnet sizes of rubbermaid containers - and my label maker and I went to work. This really is my happy place.



A big reason that I tend to stay so organiozed is my philosophy is "less is more". If you keep EVERYTHING  your space is going to be much more cluttered or it's going to be harder to stay organized. But i am a sentamental person. I love looking thorugh old cards and notes. So each year I get a banker box like this one shown below. I label it that year and keep it in a spot, usually in a closet. I do not keep everything, but if there is a nice birthday card or a church bulletin, a card for flowers that I love I will put it in this box. I kept magazines and papers about the World Series and nieces and newphews birthday invitations. It's not full, it's maybe not even half full. It goes down the basement on our storage shelves.

Yesterday we worked on the garage, not quite completely done, but it sure does smell good. And since our sweet Molly sleeps out there I swept up an insane amount of dog hair. Not much to share out there but I am sure I will post sone photos on my instagram page.

There is one room that is noticeably absent from my household organization and that's my farmers office. But, from a first generation farmers wife, you do not mess with a farmers office during tax season. I opened the door the other day to water a plant I have in their (it has such great natural light) he very sternly asked me what I moved while I was in there. SO we are going to tackle that project together after tax season. And for the sake of my marriage, I will just assist him with my label maker and let him call the shots. After all, I guess he was farming about 15 years before I came along with my label maker.





If you didn't spend the month of January doing serious cleaning and organizing do it this month. Make a realistic itinerary (for your lifestyle and schedule) and stick to it. 30 days later you will not be sorry. I'm making more time for the stuff that counts right now. Buy some baskets, some containers, some drawers dividers and a label maker and I promise it makes it ALOT more fun.   

Tweet