It's about time I sorted the maternity clothes

seeing as the babies are 7 weeks old today :)

This is my shelf with all the clothes that could fit me while I was pregnant - I actually only bought the following maternity clothes - 1 pair of jeans, 2 pairs casual pants, 2 pairs work pants. That's it!

this is the whole cupboard...before

returned one pair of pants never worn, washed and put away borrowed clothes and reorganised since it's nearly spring here

that shelf now has short-sleeved t-shirts on the left and jeans & pants on the right

here is the full cupboard view - after


Makes me feel much better knowing everything is in order once again!

When was the last time you reorganised your clothes?

Quick organising project - your bedside table

If I don't watch this area very carefully, it gets like this quickly. Probably because it's just inside my bedroom door and is right there, so I can dump things without much thought.

Fortunately for me, this drives me nuts so I don't leave it like this for very long - a day or two max.

before

after

What's on there now?

• Still a gazillion books
• Post-it notes - when I remember to do things, and I'm already in bed, I just grab a post-it note and jot it down. The next morning I can simply stick it in my diary (planner).
• Basket with hand cream, foot cream, tissue oil (for The Belly), bookmarks and pens

How often do you tidy your bedside table?

Tomorrow we're decluttering...

sweatshirts and jerseys

Are you ready for the challenge?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The Organise your Home ecourse is a step-by-step system delivered in bite-sized pieces so you will NEVER feel overwhelmed. You even get an audio of me teaching you how to organise your space.

Tons of people have been through this system; are you next?

Tomorrow we're decluttering...

pants and jeans

Are you ready for the challenge?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The Organise your Home ecourse is a step-by-step system delivered in bite-sized pieces so you will NEVER feel overwhelmed. You even get an audio of me teaching you how to organise your space.

Tons of people have been through this system; are you next?

Friday Declutter Challenge - underwear drawers

Today we're decluttering and organising our underwear drawers.

First, before you even start organising, get rid of all the old, ugly, stretched out garments.

Remember what your mother told you? What if you're in an accident with ugly underwear? :)

Now that that's taken care of, you can organise.

There's also a lot less to have to think about which in my book, is win-win!

I use cereal boxes to keep everything organised, thus dispelling the myth that organising has to be expensive.

More cereal boxes and those cardboard dividers for drinking glasses

Over to you! Let me know how you do in the comments.

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The Organise your Home ecourse is a step-by-step system delivered in bite-sized pieces so you will NEVER feel overwhelmed. You even get an audio of me teaching you how to organise your space.

Tons of people have been through this system; are you next?

Organising and storing my jewellery...and when it doesn't quite work

I don't have a lot of jewellery. My thing is watches!

So I really just use a couple of hooks on the inside of my wardrobe door. The problem happens when I just keep throwing necklaces onto the hooks and eventually, it drives me crazy.

Like this - now I know it doesn't look that bad but that's because a hook fell off and I put those necklaces on some of the other hooks.


What did I do? I

• removed everything from the door
• decluttered stuff I never wear
  
• separated them into categories - earrings, pink and white set (only pink stuff I have), work necklaces, bracelets and weekend necklaces
• decided where to put new hooks (somewhat limited by the shelves when you close the door)
• hung everything up again, this time in an organised fashion
  

Voila!

P.S. So they're not the prettiest pictures in the world but they are organised - just keeping it real :)

My bedside table - before and after

Remember I told you how quickly my bedside table gets cluttered?

Here are the pictures to prove it, and my before shot.

There are tons of books - more than I can read in a month - and behind that pile bookmarks, tablets and hand creams galore.

Notice my empty glass - I love water with a slice of lemon. Yum!


Here is the after shot.

• My evening mug of decaf tea.
• I took 3 non-fiction books back to my study - when I finish one of the current non-fiction ones (When organizing isn't enough/ I don't know what I want but I know it's not this), I'll get one at a time.
• I returned the medication to the bathroom and the extra container to my container drawer.
  
• I tidied the telephone table too and put a pretty cloth underneath the phone and message pad.
• Current pile of books - one fiction, two non-fiction, a journal and two Bibles
• Candle holder keeping my rings while I sleep at night and a gold bracelet.
  

So tell me, what do you have on your bedside table?

P.S. Happy Birthday to one of the sweetest and most encouraging people I know, Megan Spears!

The change of seasons is a good time to declutter

Remember this?

When I posted about how long we should keep clothes we plan to fit into, Carmen commented and shared what I thought was a fabulous idea - double decluttering!

She said that the first declutter is always harder for her so she then goes back over the same area a week or two later to see if she's changed her mind about anything else.

Absolutely brilliant idea!

So just before we went to the UK I went back into that wardrobe of mine and decluttered again. And it really was easier to make decisions the second time around.

Look at all these additional clothes I managed to get rid of the second time around!

They don't look like very much there but I filled two shopping bags to bursting.

This is the wardrobe before. The door on the left pretty much stays closed all the time with a small laundry basket in front of it, so I keep all the current season's clothes on the right. You can see some short-sleeved suits on the right and the pants hanging below are also summer clothes.

(If I could do the writing on the photos with arrows and such like you see on other blogs, I'd show you but for now, just pretend there's a line down the middle)


And this is the wardrobe after. I've now moved my winter pants and jackets to the top right and my long-sleeved shirts to the bottom. My boots are also easy to reach and the whole wardrobe is just a lot prettier. (when I've just organised a space, I like to leave it open for a few hours to just gaze at the loveliness, don't you?!)


And there you go - a beautifully organised wardrobe/ closet.

Have you heard of double decluttering? What do you think of the idea?

10-minute clutter hacks - BEDROOM

We all need some quick and easy tasks that we can do when we have a spare 10-15 minutes.

One of the main problems many people make is they wait for a huge time block of 2 - 3 hours to organise a room. The truth is that we'll have to wait a really long time to find such a big block of time.

So use the little bits of time that you DO have.

Let's start in the bedroom.

What can you do in 10 minutes?

1. pick up and sort all the clothes lying around - fold, hang up, throw in laundry basket, etc.


2. clear out your make-up drawer


3. tidy your bedside table


4. declutter all the books and magazines


5. sort through your spare linen

So are you in on the challenge? Post in the comments :)

Organising jewellery storage

There are some great solutions to organise your jewellery - hooks on doors, compartmentalised jewellery boxes, tool boxes from the hardware store, cutlery trays, etc.

To start with, analyse what you have (earrings, bracelets, necklaces, etc) and how much you have. Then only select your storage solution.

I have lots of small studs (well...about 8 - 10 pairs) so I just lump them all together in a small jewellery box.

I have some hanging earrings, bracelets and necklaces which I keep on hooks.

No need to get fancy - chop a coouple of nails on the inside of your wardrobe door and drape them over there. Have a look at a picture of my wardrobe door. Or hang them on a martini glass (I blogged about this here.).

I also like ice-cube trays (if you have that much space in your drawers) but I tend to advise going vertical with this kind of storage.

How do you store your jewellery?

Favourite organising tools#10 - baskets (3)

For more WFMW posts, visit Shannon


Wow, I haven't done one of these for a while. And then I found the last of the basket posts in my drafts!

here is post 1 and here is post 2 on organising with baskets. There are more great ideas in this e-course.

This is how I organise the smallest bathroom in the world. Honestly, I'd love to know if you've ever seen anything smaller :) I certainly haven't!

baskets on a 3-tier tray keep different categories of toiletries together

this blue one holds Dion's toiletries separate from the rest of the stuff in the bathroom vanity

my bedside table - night cream, hand cream, bookmarks, pens, etc.

spare socks and pantihose - I stash the closed packs in this space between my two piles of clothes

P.S. Guess who bought 12 cute baskets at Pick & Pay? That's right - at only R4,99 each, can you blame me?!

Are you sold on baskets yet? Make me happy and tell me YES! :)

Blog about the contest and you can win $25 Stacks & Stacks gift card

Tackling bedside table and to-do list

Remember to check my main blog page for your discount on my new 7 easy steps to Organise your Office book

Last night I wrote my to-do list for today and when I was putting my planner on the pile mountain of books, I grabbed it again to add "tidy bedside table".

The things on my bedside table have been multiplying slowly over the last week because I've been spending such a lot of time in bed. I used to only have the one basket before but I have so much stuff - notepads and stuff - that I brought one of these pink baskets out to contain the extra stuff. It helped a lot because I didn't have to stretch for a long time to find things; I just grab the basket and find what I need.

Here's the before, just after I finished my muesli and yoghurt this morning.

and here's the after

And here's the pile of books that went back to my bookshelf. I need to finish that time management one before I get the goals one!

What else am I tackling today?

Because I have to be sedentary, I made a master to-do list of 19 computer things I want to do (some of them, like writing a new e-course, has multiple parts, so is going slowly) and so far (yesterday and this morning) I've done 6). I'll keep you updated.

What does your to-do list look like?

Tacke it Tuesday - handbags

Okay so I promised that I’d do the handbags this week.

These were all in a big old mess (too ugly to take a picture). That’s because I am a handbag junkie. In fact, handbags, wallets and watches. But since I found my perfect wallet, I’m almost cured. Same story with the watches

I find I go through phases with handbags – at the moment, I carry around my diary, a coaching notebook (for my coaching, not coaching clients) and a general notebook. In addition, there’s a make-up bag, wallet, cell phone and some pens.

Anyway, I bought one of these fabric organiser things from Ackermans. There are 3 nice big shelves on the top and then littler ones below that. The little ones are meant for shoes but you know I like to use things, not as they were intended, but as I see fit.

Now the double rail in my wardrobe is a bit of a hindrance but I found that it doesn’t bother me too much and keeps my handbags much neater – they were all over the place before.

Top half of organiser

Bottom half of organiser

This basket is on the bottom of the wardrobe. It holds 5 bags if I place them in nicely. At the back I have a big red/ maroon bag that is holding a smaller black suede bag.

WOW - I just saw this is my 50th post. Been slack around these parts until recently.

Tackle it Tuesday - organising giftwrap & bedside table

I usually do my tackles on the weekend since I’m at work during the week. This is one of the systems that keeps me on track since I’m constantly doing something in the decluttering/ organising area to keep my house in tip-top shape. Well…mostly.

This weekend I was drugged out on Nurofen so I only did a couple of small tackles. They are what we in the coaching world call tolerations. They drain your energy a little bit every time you see them. So I felt almost compelled to tackle them this week because they call to me everytime I pass them.

Mini tackle 1

These are my rolls of wrapping paper and some other bits that also found their way to this spot.

Before

After - nice, neat wastepaper basket

Mini tackle 2
Bedside table with too many books, too many Bibles, too many bookmarks, notepads, etc.

Before

And after. I know it won’t stay this way for very long but it’s satisfying while it lasts.

Mini tackle 3

And then for the third project, I tackled some long-overdue blogging. This is a blog we made for our friends and then I also had to update the ministry blog at church.

Mini tackle 4

And last but not least, I got all up to date on my end-of-month business tasks like balancing the account, updating client lists, responding to emails, and so on. I won’t bore you with the less-than-cool aspects.

That’s it for this week. I’m leaving the handbags for next week.

Sept 2006 - organising challenges

Week 1 – Organise your paper & plastic goodies.

This week, we're going to sort out all the cling wrap, foil, sandwich bags, bin bags, etc.

Dedicate a drawer or shelf for all these packs. If you have a wine rack you're not using, the bottle compartments work nicely to keep it all organised.What other ideas do you have?

You know those metal/paper ties you get in each pack of freezer bags? The ones that pile up because you only ever use 2 - 3 out of every packet? This week, we're throwing them out.

Week 2 – Organise your sideboard OR crockery & cutlery you use to entertain.
Really evaluate all the stuff - if you have 3 sugar bowls and you only ever use 2, give the other one away.

If you have 50 plates and the most guests you ever have over is 20, then use some of them as your everyday plates and get rid of the old, ugly ones. You get the picture...

Do the same for everything you keep in the sideboard but don't obsess - do 15 minutes a day so you're not overwhelmed. You can easily do a drawer or a shelf in 15 minutes if you don't get obsessive compulsive.

Remember, we're decluttering and organising, not detail cleaning.

Week 3 – Declutter and tidy your dressing table or any flat surfaces in your bedroom.
I want you to look around at any and all flat surfaces. Basically, we're targeting all those common dumping grounds like the bedside table, dressing table, top of chest of drawers, chair, etc.

Starting with one "hot spot" at a time, remove everything. Decide what you would like to keep there. Move all the other stuff to a box or basket in the meanwhile. Do not start putting these things away in the rest of the house - you'll get sidetracked!

Now organise the keepers. Do this same process for each of the other hot spots.

When you've done, you can then remove the box or basket and restore the other things to their rightful places, even if it's just to the laundry!

There - you're done. Now doesn't that feel good.

Week 4 – Declutter and organise your bathroom vanity and corners of bath.
A bathroom can be a place of peaceful tranquility or it can be a messy, cluttered space. And you don't have to have a big bathroom to have it feel peaceful. Trust me - I have one of the smallest bathrooms in the world so I know what I'm talking about (when I figure out the digital camera, I will show you what I mean).

Is your bathroom vanity cluttered with lots of stuff - knick knacks, soaps, toothbrushes and toothpaste, etc, etc? See if you can't mount a holder on the wall to use up some of that vertical space.

Get a rubbish bin and look in that bathroom cupboard. Throw out all old medicines, shampoos, anything you're not using. You can donate some things like the shampoo you used once and don't like, and the old medicines must just be thrown out.

Decide to use your bath salts, bath oils and so on or give it to someone who will use it. When you remove all these things from the corner of your bath, you can finally see all the dust that has gathered there. If you do have a decorative bottle, wash off the dust and wipe it down.

This challenge won't take you longer than 20 minutes but it is going to make you feel so good! You can reward yourself by having a nice, long, bubble bath (men too)!

***introducing something new***
If you're seriously doing these challenges, then please take before and after pictures, and send them to me. I'll post the best ones on the blog to encourage the rest of the subscribers.