When gazing at beautiful images of meticulously organized rooms, color-coded closets and flawless family schedules, does it make you think you are not measuring up? Some suggest at least 80% of of women feel organizationally challenged. Wow. Could this be true? Buttoned Up’s co-founders, Alicia Rockmore & Sarah Welch sadly found this to be the case when interviewing hundreds of women for their new book, Pretty Neat: The Buttoned-Up Way to Get Organized and Let Go of Perfection : Simply put, many thought their “imperfect” ways left them short of the mark organizationally.
In the introduction, Alicia and Sarah state, “Chasing perfection fuels something we call organizational inertia, a type of paralysis that makes it virtually impossible to get started. All too often, the most difficult part of getting organized is knowing where to start. If perfection is the objective, paralysis makes sense. Keeping your house, work and schedule magazine-ready requires a superhuman effort to achieve and constant superhuman vigilance to maintain. The goal of getting organized isn’t necessarily to have everything picture-perfect, but rather to eliminate inefficiency so that you have more time to do what you actually want to do.”
Pretty Neat is just that. The book drives home that getting organized can be approached in a practical way and insists women need to stop holding themselves to ridiculously high standards. Once readers get past these psychological hurdles, the book provides simple solutions for taking control of their time & stuff without having to become anal. Pretty Neat’s collection of road-tested tips from real women show busy people how to:
* Take charge of to-do lists
* Tame inboxes
* Temper toy tsunamis and more!
I love this simple solution found on page 103 for helping reduce clutter in our closets:
Place a large cloth bag or two on the floor of your closet. Each day as you stare at your wardrobe, ask yourself three questions about one piece of clothing, a pair of shoes and an accessory: 1. Is it flattering? 2. Do I love it? 3. Does it represent who I am today? If the answer to any one of these questions is no, put the item in the cloth bay straight away. Don’t rationalize. When the bag is full, take it to Goodwill. Repeat as necessary until your closet only contains clothes, shoes and accessories that you truly love and wear.
Wanna win $250? I would love to here your best organizational tip or shortcut. Share your tip here by commenting on this post no later than December 31st at midnight! The reader who submits the best tip across all participating blogs will win $250. The winning tip will be selected by Alicia and Sarah of Buttoned Up and announced on January 10th.
Can't wait to hear all of your get tips for getting organized!
Can't wait to hear all of your get tips for getting organized!
* images via Martha Stewart and Buttoned Up
** I received no monetary compensation for this post. I received one copy of Pretty Neat (book) for review. The opinions herein are my own.
Colour-coded kids.
ReplyDeleteIn a household that has three children who have a tendency to 'dump' their stuff we have solved the age-old question of 'Who owns this....towel, cup, etc?" We colour-code.
Child one is pink, two blue and three yellow.
They have one cup that they use for the day [rinsing between drinks] and this is kept on a tray on the dining table.
Their sheets, towels, face washers, laundry tubs, beach towels are all in their colour, so if any one of these items has been 'dumped' on the floor I know who to get to put it away.
It's a simple system but it works a treat.
Felicity x
Felicity... love your tip! My mom with four kids did the color-coding with bath towels. I was yellow.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your great tips!
xo,
cristin
I think the thing that helps me to stay on top of things is to go through the mail each day as I walk through the door with it.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise as soon as it is dumped on that console table in the entryway it is completely forgotten until numerous days of mail is piled up there, cluttered, and it takes me forever to go through it.
By immediately going through the mail - throwing out garbage and putting bills or things I need to get to soon into a drawer the area stays neat and I don't have that nagging feeling of needing to sort through the mail or that I am missing something important.
Best tip is to marry an organized spouse! My husband is super organized and when my piles start to pile, he really helps me, all the while still loving me. :)
ReplyDeletepve
I recently began scanning important paperwork and shredding the originals. I use Quicken to keep track of bills and it allows for you to "attach" a bill to the line item you are entering. So, if I am paying my electricity bill, I can attach the image of the bill to the register entry. This helps when we get surprises down the road (like a really outrageous bill) so we can easily compare month to month. But also, it reduces the paperwork I need to continually file. My home office stays neater and I can easily retrieve information when needed. I back up my Quicken files regularly to my hard drive and the internet (it happens automatically) so if something happens to the computer, I am not out of luck. I look forward to learning from everyone else's tips!
ReplyDeleteAll great ideas and I love the book concept. I hope it has lots of pictures.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people, adults and kids alike are doing the 'this is my drink cup' at home thing...good for all of us.
What a giveaway! $250 - booyah.
I find that breaking down jobs into manageable portions is a great way to start. One drawer a day in the kitchen. One shelf in the bookcase, etc. Make it manageable but be persistent!
ReplyDeleteLists - i make lots and lots of lists and constantly update them.
ReplyDeleteBaskets, baskets and more baskets! Now that I have two kids the amount of clutter and toys around the house is enough to drive me insane:) I have baskets or containers for everything! Toys, keepsakes, papers, mail etc.. I have just recently purchased three wall hanging magazine slots to keep school papers at bay. All the paper from school takes over my kitchen counter and I think this will be a great solution. They are tucked out of the way on the wall in my eating nook. One slot for my daughter, one for my son and the other for me and my husband.
ReplyDeleteAndrea
Organizing tip:
ReplyDeleteDo you get distracted checking emails, facebook, etc while at work. Set up specific times during the day to check these, i.e. 1st thing in the morning, at lunch, & before leaving work, then set a timer for 15min. & when it goes off, get back to work. This way you won't lose track of time!
Excited to hear what everyone else's tips are!
Jordan, Simply Organized Designs
It sounds simplistic, but it's really the easiest way to stay organized: put everything back from where it came from. This means that everything that went into the car comes back out (immediately upon returning home). Mail immediately goes into the bills/magazines/recycle file from the mailbox, and clothes always go back on their hanger, in their drawer, or in the hamper. I also have a detailed filing cabinet for paper files, manuals, etc..
ReplyDeleteYou learn quickly where things go if you are constantly putting them back in the same spot each time, which means that you always know where things are.
I'm a major keeper! But whenever I need to purge my space I go through my stuff and ask " Will I really be sad this is gone 10 years from now?" and "How does this object define me?". It's obvious what to do from there!!
ReplyDeleteI love all the baskets, soo great for orginization. Especially in my little beach cottage! I even store anything from nail polish to dog food!
ReplyDeleteI was not born into an organized family and it does not come naturally to me. But I did marry into one, and I have been trying really hard. One concept that helps me a lot is the concept of "point of use." Keep the things that you need close by where you actually use them. Then, you will actually put them away. For example, I have scissors by the mail sorting location for coupons, clippings, etc. and another pair by the trash can for opening bags, etc. Even though both spots are in the kitchen, they are more apt to get put away b/c they are close by where they are used. A somewhat similar concept is I put all the sandwich ingrediants (e.g. lunchmeat, bread, cheese, condiments) in a bin in the refrigerator so they are ready to go when I want to make a sandwich.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to write down just one task that helps this house stay organized. Of course there's lots of baskets, corkboards and well laid out storage room but if I had to pick my best tip it would be... each night after the kids go to bed my husband and I do a 10 minute pick up... could be anything: toys in bins, books on shelf, coats returned to mudroom, homework in school bag, mail into office... anything laying out gets put away. Doing a little every day seems to help not let things pile up and not one person feels like they have sole responsibility of the house up keep!
ReplyDeleteOrganizing tip for kids' artwork: Keep only the best of the best. Then take a digital picture of the others and toss it.
ReplyDelete@juliebavi
I have all of my son's toys sorted by "type" into different bins on a bookshelf. To help him remember where to put things, I'm taking pictures of what should be in the bin (legos, blocks, cars, balls, etc.) and turning the photo into a tag. As he gets a bit older, I'm going to get rid of the photos and replace them with simple tags I've made from bass-wood squares (.29 at Joann's) and painted with chalkboard paint. That way I can write the name of the contents of the bin and they can be easily changed as needed.
ReplyDeleteLinen closets can be a difficult area to keep organized. Sometimes when changing our sheets, we can't find the complete set. Keep the set organized by folding and storing them in one of the pillowcases. This method guarantees the set stays together.
ReplyDeleteBaskets are a time saver as well as clutter hider!
ReplyDeletePurchase a large wicker basket for each child to store under a console in the living room. As you walk around the house and see a hairbow, book, toy, etc. toss it into the child's basket. Then, each child is responsible for hauling their items from their basket to their room! (Babies get a free pass, and mommy's can haul their stuff ;)
Jess
zocalcreative.blogspot.com
Color coded boxes and baskets for each room. For my tools which are in allocated to the green "laundry" room, I also wrap a green piece of tape around the handle so it has its specific spot. Not sure what I'd do without colored tape or boxes!
ReplyDeleteHelen
Wow what a fantastic giveaway Cristin! I like to have my dresses color coded, that way it's a lot easier to find the item I'm looking for, and it makes it a lot quicker to put together an outfit :)
ReplyDeletexo Linda
My sock and underwear drawers were always disheveled so I bought small baskets and boxes to place in each drawer in which I sort different styles and colours.
ReplyDeleteIn my bathroom sink cabinet I got extra shelves cut and placed all my meds, creams,hair produts, etc in small 2" high 'trays' that easily slide off the shelf when I need access.
If you look up ADD in the dictionary, you'll find my husband's pic plastered there, so this is definitely a tough one for me. Over the years, I've managed to find ways to work with his ADD strengths.
ReplyDeleteThat leads me to be my #1 organizational tip: Work your strengths and find ways to work WITH your weaknesses.
Can't break the habit of tossing your keys and pocket change on the first surface in the door? Find a decorative bin or container so your habitual mess looks deliberate.
Packing...whether it be for a trip, school, emergency, vacation...I like to think 'head to toe' and its a kid friendly method too. Before we leave the house, we start from the top and work down to make sure we have all the essentials whether its hat, coat, mittens, snow boots or umbrella, sweater, lunch, galoshes before heading out the door...head to toe, its great for remembering the small stuff too like lipstick, belt, stuffed animal, socks (often forgotten).
ReplyDeleteI plan around my habits. I know that I need a recycling bin in my office as well as my kitchen in order to make sure all my recycling gets recycled. My front-door shoe rack holds more than one pair of shoes, because I know that's the only way I'll keep them organized. And I know I'll always have spare buttons, so I might as well keep them in a nice glass jar.
ReplyDeleteI have 3 young children and toys can add up! So, before every birthday and Christmas they go through their toys and we decide what we can donate. They know they will be receiving a few new toys so they need to make room for them. The kids are actually very generous and go with me to donate them. Clears out the toy clutter and teaches the kids to give to others!
ReplyDeleteIf you have multiple children for whom you need to fill out the same paperwork (such as camp or school forms) review the form first and determine which sections will be identical for each child. Fill those out first and then photocopy the form and complete the remaining sections for each child. I also like to keep a copy in my school folder in case the form is identical the following year. In addition, I always keep a copy of the signed immunization forms in case I need one for a childrens class like ski school, etc.
ReplyDelete-Beth