Just breathe.

Stay, stay at home, my heart, and rest; Home-keeping hearts are happiest…” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I am overwhelmed today. Work. Study. Home. Life.

Sometimes it helps to just breath ... and remember what is important.

(ringing up work and halving your availability helps too!)

Christmas storage.

Our tree, outdoor lights and toy train get stored in the shed. That's easy.

The rest used to get thrown into a suitcase (and several boxes) and was heavy, impossible to move and a jumbled mess.

This year I hunted the post Christmas sales for idea - and I am so glad I did!

Here's what I found.

My biggest bargain - 15L plastic storage boxes (with wheels.) These were from target. Original price $8.99 - now $1.75 each. Total bargain! We labelled these and use one to store Children's nativities (yes we have several), Christmas cd's and dvd's, Christmas books, and Eliana's barbie christmas ornament collection. (one every year since she was born.)




Big W had fabulous options!
These ornament boxes were excellent for organising all our ornaments. They keep them safe, organised and less likely to tangle.






This was originally a gift wrap organiser. But I used it instead to store tinsel, larger ornaments, wall hangings, Christmas teddy bears, all those extra things.



And I LOVE this. It's a gift wrap organiser. I bought plain coloured wrap half price this year (at IKEA) for use for gifts all year round. A big money saver. In the end there is a zip section which houses tape, ribbon, stickers and cards.




And everything is stored in this. It is av 4 shelf unit from the hardware store. (under $30 at Big W). As we store all this in a funny little nook in our garage (which is soon to be our playroom) and it is out of sight I don't need anything fancy. This was inexpensive, adjustable and strong.



It took a little bit to set up - but with post Christmas markdowns it was VERY inexpensive and now everything has a home. I also bought two extra of the cheap plastic target boxes for other seasonal decorations (birthday things, easter, australia day) so I have places to store the things I buy for these holidays and they are easy to find at short notice! Normally it isn't till after the holiday is over that I find I have these things. This way I can get the box out as the holiday approaches, and it is all there together!

SO Christmas is away. I am Happy! (and even better - it all colour co-ordinates!)


(and after - not the best pic - but you get the idea!)

The mess you just don't see

I don't have time to declutter today.
I have to work. Shop for school supplies. Do assignments. And somewhere in there be a mum.

Except here's the thing. I want to reach this goal of a peaceful uncluttered home. And can't and don't have time are pretty poor excuses.

So this is what you can do if you have six minutes. Literally six minutes.

Get rid of the clutter you just don't see, that you just live with and accept. I mean the fridge. We pile stuff on there. Magnets and school notes and bills and STUFF.

(I hadn't realised how bad it was!!!!)

In six minutes it is gone.

Step one
Remove leapfrog toy and ALL THOSE LETTER magnets and put in a box with Miss E's toys. After all she is reading already and barely uses it. Make note in diary to donate in 6mths when she will be reading longer words than this game uses.

Step two
Remove rest of contents from fridge. File paperwork in paperwork system (as discussed yesterday). Throw trash in trash

Step three
Clean fridge (just the surface. This is a QUICK clean. Deep cleaning is for another day.

Step four
Replace what you NEED on the fridge. Just what you NEED.



Step five.
Decide to throw magnets in bin. They just enable clutter. You have a system for paperwork and a noticeboard in the kitchen. Why does stuff have to go on the fridge???

Step six.
Utilise really cool magnetic storage box to store the essentials. Pens. Scissors. Timer. (not shown as in use) I got mine from deals direct - link is here http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/p/magnetic-laundry-storage-bin/









Step seven
Discover it took longer for you to blog this post than to do the actual job!

How I am beating that "just inside the front door clutter"

I guess you've figured out I am messy by nature.
But I CAN be tidy if I make it easy on myself.

The spot I hate the most - just inside the front door. EVERYTHING ended up here. Shoes, mail, bags, library books, shoes ... more shoes.

We've tried this for a few weeks now ... and it is working for us.

Here are our tips.

Give yourself permission to have a dumping box (I like mine to have a lid!) This one is a dvd organiser from BigW. Inexpensive - but it looks nice. All those little things (keys, sunglasses, my work stuff) get dumped in here as soon as I get home.



Mail sorting and other paperwork is the bane of my life. I'll post later about how we file what we need to keep for our records. But this is how we cope with short term paperwork.




We use clear plastic document envelopes.
Label them 1) Bills to pay 2) Things to file, 3) Eliana etc etc
As a piece of paper comes in I deal with it. Bills get paid on payday.(even if they are not due). Filing gets done when I get a moment - but at least before the file is full. Everything has a home and the junk is gone. That's what matters. And this way nothing SHOULD go missing!

Find a great storage solution. We love this hallway bench. It's from Ikea (of course) It's the Leksvik shoe rack.




This piece of furniture is the key for me. Something pretty on top to encourage me not to dump things on top. Places for shoes, hats, library books, my diary, my paper work

This is really working for us! We still have mess at times - but it is so much less! And so easy to get sorted. And for me - if this area is clean my whole lounge room is clean!

Two days decluttering

And this is just what is going to the dump.

Who would have thought tea would need organising?

Before and After




I like that I can stack these containers in my new pantry. By going up rather than across it will be a more efficient use of space

Cleaning the pantry

We are installing a new kitchen in January. One designed around great storage solutions. (thank you ikea!)

In the meantime - we have a big job - packing up the old kitchen and getting rid of stuff we don't need.

Step one - the pantry. I. cannot. wait. for my new pantry. Seriously!

Paul helped me out. I love that man! I HATE cleaning the pantry! And he gave me a heap of time to get it done. We still have three shelves to go - but things are looking an awful lot lighter! (as in one huge garbage bag less already!)

The aim for the new kitchen is to have a place for everything and a list to work off - so we do NOT waste food again.