Organization Tips From Our Home To Yours

A couple weeks ago I had a good friend of mine compliment me on how I seem to “do it all.” I of course thought that was a ridiculous statement but was very flattered! I do not do it all, but I sure try! She was mentioning how I seem to blog, work and go to school while also cooking and keeping the house clean. I do think I do a pretty good job of this but I owe it mostly to the fact that God blessed me with the gift of organization! 

I organize everything. I am all about sorting, color-coding, diagraming and all other forms of organization! Anyone can understand how hectic life can be and that is even if you aren’t married or have kids (can you imagine adding those to your already hectic life?) The Hubs and I have a lot on our plates and regular old life stuff throws itself in the pot too. We have to keep track of paying bills, cleaning, laundry, cooking, watering plants, taking care of the animals, work schedules, church events, family events, date nights, and so much more! I know I am not the only one who live a life as crazy as this. So I thought maybe because I was gifted with the skill of organization, I could give some tips that may help others in their homes! 

I have written some other posts about organization here, here and here. So check those out too! 

The Organization Station

Yes, I really call it that...this is the hub of all things organized in our house. You might say, this is where the magic happens (well, one kind of magic ;) A little overwhelming to look at maybe, but let me break it down and show you how it all works! 

Calendar

This is the calendar that I put both The Hubs and my events on. It is color coded to help keep track of what kinds of things are going on. I add things as soon as I know about them and also have evenings where I sit down and look it over to make sure it is all in order. I glued a magnet to the back of a pen, so it is always beside the calendar for easy additions. I like having the visual to know what is coming up and what I need to be ready for. It also is good for The Hubs when he has questions about what is going on. I just direct him to the calendar and he can see it whenever he needs to. Works great for our family, I would like to eventually get a whiteboard calendar but I just haven’t gotten around to it. 

Bill Organization

This is how I organize our bills that need to be paid. I just took two clothespins, glued magnets on the back and labeled them with a Sharpie. As bills come in I put them under the “Due” clothespin in order of when they are due. As they get paid they get moved over to the “Paid” clothespin and eventually I file them away in our filing system. The Hubs is actually the one who gets them all paid on time, so he likes that I keep them organized for him. This is an easy way to keep track of bills, where they will be in plain sight and (hopefully) not forgotten. 

Tithe Chart

I even like to keep simple things organized, so they are not forgotten. The Hubs and I are guilty of being “every-once-in-a-while-tithers” for the first few months of our marriage, but we got back on track and this chart helped a lot. We have figured out what 10 percent of our income is and make sure that each month we give that to our church or a good cause like missions. Once we have tithed for the month I simply cross off the box. This is another great way to be visually reminded, especially because it is right by the calendar. 

Cleaning Schedule 

I wrote a post about my cleaning schedule here. I keep the schedule posted on the fridge as a reminder and for The Hubs in case I need him to help out that week. In a way it makes cleaning a tiny bit more fun cause I made such a cute schedule! (per my sister's request I will post this as a download sometime, when I figure out how to!)

Random Items

Some other random things are organized on the fridge like my Student teaching schedule and information, coupons, stamps and important letters/forms. Since the fridge is visited often in our house, it is a great place for us to store things! 

Front of Fridge

On the front of the fridge, surrounded by pictures our our nieces and nephews is a white board for notes and reminders. As well as a shopping list and pen! On top of the fridge you will find the weekly menu, which I wrote about here. 

Well, there you have it! I hope some of these helped you out or gave you an idea of how to keep things organized and in line! Now I will just go on fooling people that I can “do it all!” :)