three steps to creating a home bucket list

Source: deliciousdecors.com via Mallory on Pinterest

I've spent a lot of our time living in this house being tired. First, working full-time with an every-day-is-different, odd hours work schedule. Then I was pregnant with the same work schedule. Then there was a (sweet) newborn but the same work schedule. Then pregnancy, infant, work schedule. Then just pregnancy, infant, but discombobulated home schedule due to odd-hour renovations. Then newborn and toddler--the most awake I've felt since getting married! Then, first-trimester pregnancy, infant, toddler. Now, second trimester, infant, toddler, but the energy is coming back. Dang, do I appreciate the second trimester!

And knowing that this energy could be zapped any day, I am eager to get my house in order. How long have I been wanting to get this house in order?!. Better yet, how long have you been wanting your house more orderly? I'm desperate enough that I've tried a few projects alone and had to learn some hard lessons. But more on that epic fail tomorrow.

Today, I've got my home bucket list for y'all and three steps to establishing your own. This list is time-sensitive in that it isn't our grand bucket list, which would include the WFB Trifecta, as it is fondly called in our area: kitchen, master bedroom suite, and family room additions.

Why create a list? Not everyone is a list-maker (I adore lists like other people adore dessert). But for this event, we all need a list. We need visual order and tasks that can then be eliminated/accomplished.

Let's get list-making!

THREE STEPS TO CREATING 

A HOME BUCKET LIST :

time-sensitive version

1. Start with the areas that drive us nuts. I learned this from Project Organize Your Entire Life (30% read) that it is best, for me, to work on the places in my home that irritate me and paralyze me from doing good work elsewhere. These areas are not necessarily the most visible to others, but they limit my peace of mind and general efficiency, thereby making everything else more difficult. The biggest area for me is our basement. It keeps me from creating play spaces for our kids that max their creativity and interest, it keeps me from moving disorganization upstairs into rightful storage downstairs, and it just plain stresses me out every day I see it on my way to do laundry.

The Big Deal about this first step is that it is the de-cluttering step. Not a decorating, renovation step which comes later. Proper decorating and renovating can best happen when we see a clean slate before us. POYEL does a great job of explaining this in terms of storage purchases; you know you want more bins, totes, etc., but until you know what actually is left in the space, you won't be able to make the most prudent purchases. I fell for this. We have 18 clear plastic bins, which I know I want to continue using them, but I wouldn't say they've helped me organize too much just yet.

Also, I say start and not identify because I'm finding action words work the best. This first step trumps the following two, but it all works out because of that great word, START.

DO: Sit down and determine your top three "danger zones," those areas that drive you nuts and keep you from other good activity. Then, work your way through your home, room by room, and write down everything you want to accomplish. When you have your list, reorder it in terms of "danger zone" priority on a separate sheet, even separate items within the same space. Remember, you can have three areas listed in one space, followed by two in another, and then two more in the first space. Prioritize in order of your sanity, not in order of physical space.

Then, throw the first list away.

2. Note which actions require additional funds and manpower. For example, I really want our staircase and upstairs hallway done. Hawk encouraged me to get frames up along the stairs (even though 75% are empty), and I finished a chalkboard wall the kids are already glued to. The chalkpaint cost $9 at Home Depot so it didn't require much budget planning, but one of the other actions I want to complete in the space does, and I need a second set of hands. So the upper hallway is still near the top of my list but because it requires more preparation, it may get shuffled around a bit.

DO: Mark those actions which you already know will require more $$ and manpower, and possibly add a planning/budgeting/scheduling task to your list. For our hallway, I know who is willing to help but I need to work around his and his wife's work schedules. This has also allowed me to determine if I can purchase the ingredients this month or the next.

3. Consider what can be done during lag-times. This step helps to keep us from paralysis or inertia. I completed a small laundry decluttering quickly but haven't had the time to tackle the next area in the same way. I made a short list of things I could do quickly, or things that were somewhat standing in my way, so that I could remain active and keep my motivation and momentum.

So during the lag-time between basement decluttering areas, I managed to bring in our kitchen nook table, update our Home Binder, paint three areas with chalkpaint, and destroy the "epic fail" project you'll read about tomorrow. When my kids' naps finally returned to a brief overlap these past two days (thank you, Lord) I was able to start on the next basement area. Slowly but surely. 

DO: After creating your first list, either create a shorter, second list from the first or just star those items on the grand bucket that you can complete between bigger projects. These can be done when a smaller chunk of time arises and you want to get something accomplished; fillers between big actions.

Here is the beginning of my list, just to give you an idea:

MY TOP THREE: BASEMENT, MASTER BEDROOM, UPPER HALLWAY

• Create & install laundry risers by recycling old cabinets. (Need to purchase additional lumber.)
• Re-sort all kids and adult clothes in storage. 
• Build & install large shelving into laundry area.
• Create drying area in laundry area.
• Paint upper hallway ceiling with opera starbursts (will require $$ for stamp purchase and manpower).
• Assemble & install vintage map puzzle as hallway art.
• Organize laundry baskets for best use.
• Declutter shelving under the basement stairs.
• Build second large shelving area behind media wall.
• Build third square shelving area behind play cubbie.
• Paint opera starbursts in play cubbie.

LAG-TIME ITEMS

• Paint chalkboards in upper hallway, basement door, hanging board.
• Move low shelving unit into Blue Room.
• Research opera starburst stamp.
• Research fabric for MBR curtains (will require $$ to purchase).

What do you think? Feel like getting started? I can't recommend the following enough: Project Organize Your Entire Life for getting to a clean slate, and Home Comforts for making a house truly a home. If you catch either, do come back and let us know your experience!

So do tell: what is one of your "danger zones"?

icj,

~j

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making it home :: succeeding at the daily routine

Last week's great comments about the daily routine got me thinking about how to explain and encourage you if you're working it into your own life. I recalled a few things I did to get started.

First, I picked a Saturday/Sunday 

to begin this whole crazy endeavor, 

so I could start with a truly clean slate. 

Do you remember Dangerous Minds when Michelle Pfeifer says that the kids don't have to earn an A, they just have to maintain the one they already have? If you don't, here it is (and I'm totally feeling old now). 

The same thing goes for housekeeping. I found it extremely helpful to go nuts one weekend, give my son to my husband for some quality time, and clean as much as I possibly could from top to bottom. Now, I used a lot of what is in the book to adequately do so--an efficient and worthwhile checklist and how-to is included in the book.

So when I began my daily routine on Monday, I was merely maintaining rather than reestablishing order. It is MUCH easier to maintain something than to establish it bit by bit. If you jump into this series, I suggest giving yourself a clean slate first and then give the following 3 weeks to see how it improves your time, energy, and effectiveness.

Second, I embraced the weekly routine 

along with the daily, 

and this makes a big difference because it allows for things to be done on a weekly basis rather than a daily basis (duh). Okay, that was totally obvious. Let me explain it better: one of the great thing about having the weekly routine alongside the daily is that I only clean the kitchen floor, scrub the stovetop, wipe out the microwave, etc., twice a week, so on a daily basis I am returning the room to a certain standard rather than starting all over again.

So my daily routine is really about 
maintaining the status quo,

and my weekly routine gives me 
time to reestablish it.

But wait, you haven't posted about the weekly routine yet, you fool!


Yes, this is true. It's coming on Thursday!!!

Have a lovely Tuesday, friends. I hope this helps you start off with more ease and satisfaction.

icj,
`j

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making it home :: starting your housekeeping routine, the daily list

Boston.com Community: We are running an updated version of this post in early November. Check back if you're looking for more guidance on how to start house cleaning in an organized, manageable, and enjoyable way!
~jen

We're back to Home Comforts,** and I'm particularly excited about this post because I've had quite a bit of time to work on it. You won't be getting a week's worth of experience but rather a couple of months!

Let's review a bit of what we've learned from previous posts, primarily why she suggests establishing a routine:

I can't agree more! A routine gives an outline for the attainable. Since establishing a routine, I finish each day with that sense of accomplishment, particularly if other daily requirements permit me to spend the time saved on something I enjoy like reading, blog stuff, etc. To sum up the entire approach, a routine gives the homemaker the ability to accomplish real tasks and see real results--thereby enjoying a clean home and moving on to other enjoyable activities.

Ms. Mendelson offers Daily, Weekly, Monthly/Seasonally/Intermittently, and Semiannually/Annually lists of activities. I have only attempted the Daily and Weekly thus far, and we'll start with the Daily today. 

Here are the steps I took in starting my housekeeping routine:

Step One: Try the Routine She Suggests
There are times I think it's good to look over and pare something down to my needs, but when it comes to housekeeping -- something totally new to me -- I found it most helpful to just try what she suggests and see what works and what doesn't, as she encourages.

Let's start with the Daily routine*, page 21:

I knew a few things:

1. I would need a good 3 weeks of living by this routine before I could determine what was and wasn't working for me. 
2. I need the list to be visible so as to constantly remind me
3. I had to make it my own, visually and physically

So I did the following:

1. I gave three full weeks to her method and then reevaluated. I started by copying her full list (see above) and hanging it in our kitchen, our most visited room in the house. 
2. I ordered the tasks from the top of the house to the bottom (our bedroom is upstairs and most of the crazy kid stuff is on the mid and lowest levels).
3. I gave each task a one-word, quick check reminder, followed by a more detailed explanation. This helps me glance at it and recall whether or not I've completed it.
4. I printed it out in pleasant colors (I've since changed them, but more on that in another post) and hung it on a clipboard in our backstairs hallway.
5. I added kids specifically because cleaning toys, trays, etc., is a unique activity of its own.
6. I adjusted a few words like down slide instead of hamper since we have a laundry shoot.
7. I gave an ordered list of how to clean up afterwards from meals so that if anyone else checks it out, like when Obie arrives and I'm not cleaning up as much myself.

Here's my revised list after completing the above:

Bed: Make the bed

Clothes: Put soiled clothes down slide & hang up other clothes

Sinks: Clean sinks & tubs after use (including drains and traps)

Supplies: Check soap, toilet paper, other supplies in bathroom

Meals: Prepare meals and clean up afterward (dishes, wipe table, wipe counters, wipe stove)

Floors: Sweep kitchen, dining room, and entryway floors

Neaten: LR at the start of each sleep time

Kids: Clean chair; clean bottles nightly

Thus far, this daily routine really works for me. I like how the list looks, where it is located, the level of detail and at-a-glance it offers, and most of all, how it helps me keep the house ordered through completely manageable, defined tasks.

If you're joining me in starting from scratch with housekeeping, I know you'll find Ms. Mendelson's text the most helpful. Even checking it out from the library is worth it, and I'm only through the first 3 chapters:)

Have a lovely Thursday, friends!

icj,
~j


*NOTE: I am only speaking of the daily task list in this post, but in reality I did both the daily and weekly together, which definitely makes it easier to figure out what works and what doesn't. But for the sake of brevity...

*I am not being perked, paid, or praised for reviewing this text. I wish. This series came from my own lack of experience and the euphoric sense of direction and possibility I found in reading Home Comforts by Cheryl Mendelson. (thanks again, joyce, for this sweet housewarming gift!)

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pinterest friday :: laundry days

One thing I am excited to do is vamp up our laundry area. I know, really Jen?  That's what you're excited for? But for those of you who spend a lot of time per week with laundry, you know you feel it.

Here's my criteria: the pins below have to be able to be accomplished by the average diy-er. They need to be attractive, practical, and functional. Meaning those pins with 2+ dryers? Silliness. Pins with endless storage? Overkill. And it has to be in a relatively small space.


TV while you load? Yes, please. Curtains with stripe? Open shelving? Drum light? mmmmm.

Source: houseandhome.com via Sharon on Pinterest

Lantern to help you see your way through the mess. Pretty wallpaper and sweet chicken-wire open shelving.

Source: decorpad.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Soothing green. Makes me want a breath mint or a bouquet. Or both.

Source: southernliving.com via Jamie on Pinterest

Who doesn't love recently laundered kiddos? (especially that baby...)

Source: google.com via Chris on Pinterest

I'm a sucker for easy and neutral. And sweet painted concrete floor.

Source: boligpluss.no via Mari on Pinterest

Can you see me? Here I am! Wait, now I'm hiding...

Source: nestegg.typepad.com via Ginger on Pinterest

Window, upper and lower cabinets, yes please. Random orange water can...meh, up to you.

Source: hgtv.com via Caitlyn on Pinterest

Pretty pretty wallpaper. Love me some Oscar-the-Grouch-but-cleaner garbage can.

Source: Uploaded by user via Carrie on Pinterest

I want to hug this kid.

Source: iiiinspired.blogspot.com via dana on Pinterest

Yay. Open shelving. Why not display your collection near your dirty unders? I say go for it.

Source: nestegg.typepad.com via kalah on Pinterest

Happy Friday, friends. Thanks for bearing with us through our illness and for all the emails/comments from people we've never even met but who care anyway and texts from our sweet friend with a wee little baby girl. Means a lot.

Have a lovely weekend. What are your plans? Hopefully something exciting or so relaxing I'd be jealous. We're getting housework done and I finally have a chance to get my yearly eye exam and score some new frames (first time in 6 years!).

icj,
~j

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free february calendar :: it's not too late!

If you're anything like me, then you'll still be able to use this calendar. I made it for myself because I can't stand not having something and now that I'm finally on the mend, it's time to get things going! It's never too late to be organized.

I made three versions. Hope one of them works for you!

i love you, beer, & naps I saw a version of this in pinterest (you and naps) and thought it was so cute. I added the beer because, well, I like beer. Good beer, none of that lite stuff.

print it

i love you, them, & us. This is the one I'm using for our own house; Hawk, our 2 kids, and who we are together.

print it

 i love you, wine, & books My second favorite. I'm thinking chocolate, a warm blanket, and a real book.

print it

Happy Thursday!

icj,

~j

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come home from a vacay and remain relaxed

 You know what it's like: you come home from a trip with suitcases and bags galore and three days later, there are still things left to unpack. You spend that transition time stepping over open cases, returning again and again to the same place to retrieve the items you know belong elsewhere.

Hawk, Callan and I joined our friends, the Conners (with their 12-week-old daughter!), for a four-day-weekend up north. It was lovely. And coming home was just as pleasant. I judge the quality of an experience by how contented I am to let it end. Then I know I got everything I could out of the experience. 

It was the same for me in college. I've never been one to reminisce about the good ole days as if the past could ever be better than the present, and I'm convinced it is because I lived those experiences to their fill. Like how a delicious dessert leaves you satisfied rather than craving more when you just can't pack any more goodness into that potbelly.

Ah, I digress. Back to unpacking.

This is the first time we've returned from a trip, even a single overnighter, and felt settled, with the peacefulness of the experience still lingering in the air. I'm pretty sure the difference is three-fold:

• We spent the day before departure cleaning the house and packing. We knew we wanted to come home to a clutter-free environment, clean sheets, clean clothes, clean counters, cleared floors.
• We planned to return home hours before Callan's bedtime. Here in the great state of Wisconsin there was an inch of ice over every road on our 4 hour trip. We saw dozens of cars in the ditch and multiple accidents. But arriving home 90 minutes late still didn't disrupt our rhythm because we'd planned ahead.
• We swapped playtime with Callan so that we could each unpack all our items before his bedtime. 

So get this people: We were completely unpacked in 45 minutes. This includes all of Callan's items (which are a-plenty), my suitcase, Hawk's suitcase, snow gear, toys, food items (3 grocery bags full), baby monitors, etc. Everything was back in its place or down the laundry shoot in under an hour. It was amazing and so freeing, and we weren't even at a rush!

This is going to be our way of doing things from now on. Peace can be addicting, I tell ya.

So what is your vacation ritual? I'm very curious!

Happy Monday, friends.

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making it home series : what's so great about a schedule?

a series about starting from scratch

Welcome back to our making it home series, where I share with you my triumphs and trevails as I make my way through Cheryl Mendelson's Home Comforts in an effort to make this house a home.*

Would you all say that you long for home? I'm not sure that I did until recently. Too often, home became for me more to do. When I worked full-time the laundry, meals, cleaning and generally neatening were still my primary if not sole responsibility. I think it's safe to say that is likely the case for most of you, too. 


I scoured the 10-minutes-to-clean articles online and in magazines. I tried to put them into practice, but I was never satisfied and never felt free of the next 10-minute fix. Ms. Mendelson proposes that these fixes do little to actually fix. They are more like bandaids than methods of living well. 


Living well. Remember, this is a foundation of our making it home series. 


I believe this dissatisfaction stemmed from a compartmentalized mindset: here's my to-do for the kitchen; here's my quick fix for the bathrooms; etc. They were disjointed, disconnected from each other and while I wanted the whole house to be beautiful and inviting, it wasn't happening.

Homes today seem to operate on an ad hoc basis. Washday is any time anyone throws a load into the machine. Dishes are washed when the dishwasher is full. Meals occur any time or all the time or, what amounts to the same thing, never, as people serve more and more prepared and semi-prepared foods. Cleaning and neatening are done mostly when the house feels out of control. It is not in goods that the contemporary household is poor, but in comfort and care (HC 7-8).

This was me to a T. I believed that the right thing to do environmentally was to pack the dishwasher full and only then start the cycle.  Not a bad idea, but terrible when the goal is effective homemaking. 


Ms Mendelson proposes a system of housecleaning, a schedule. This includes daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly suggestions---all exhaustive with the admonishment to be realistic about the needs of your own home. As someone who tends toward disorganization, organization is actually a fresh of breath air! Let me explain:


I read once of a study in which children were placed on a borderless playground set at the center of a large, cleared field. During the first week of study, the children rarely played more than a few steps away from the playground sets. The next week, they established a ground border around the playsets and a fence around the larger perimeter. When the children were reintroduced to the playground they utilized the entire area, even slipping over the fence and running through the fields a bit.


What did this imply for the scientists? Simple: when we have boundaries, we are free to live within every inch of those bounds, but when we have no guidance, we tend toward reservation, the mundane, the familiar. 


In a similar way I have found Ms Mendelson's insistence that one create and abide by a schedule of housekeeping quite freeing! I don't do laundry on any day but Laundry Day (more on this later). I plan my weekly meals, and thus the strictly budgeted shopping list, on Sunday & Monday nights before my Tuesday marketing day. My kitchen floor is most often clean enough to eat on (literally, I have an 11-month-old son) because I now have the time and foresight to sweep and even wash it a handful of times daily. 

Living by a housekeeping schedule has created freedom for me in our home. What I thought would be cumbersome has left me with time to blog, time with my son, time with my husband, time to make meals, time to read, time to make the home our home. I am less bitter about cleaning and in fact, I find joy in it!

In upcoming making it home posts, I'll dig into the practical side of scheduling, what I've tried, what I've adjusted (as she encourages), what's working and what isn't. 

Thanks for joining me on this venture thus far! I love having friends alongside. 

Happy Wednesday, everyone.

icj,

~j

*This series intends to highlight my own experiences, but in no way can these substitute for reading Ms. Mendelson's manuscript yourself. I strongly recommend that you purchase or library check out the book rather than rely solely on my remarks. Thank you!

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the mess we've made

Well, I really made the mess alone. And Hawk returned from work, saw it, rolled his eyes and said, really.

Our living room has never been very post-worthy. We just haven't had the money and time to put into it--we'd rather spend both of those in other areas like the dining room and babyland. And baby medical bills. Which are less than baby-like.

I digress.

Our living room looked like this last fall:

And then like this last Christmas.

And like this last week.

Yikes. Don't come a knockin' at this joint just yet. I need to let you know how I'm approaching this whole new homemaking venture. Unlike that photo indicates, it is rather organized and somewhat planned out. Rather and somewhat in a good way. It definitely involves another period of deep purging and decluttering. The likes of our first apartment. More on that later.

Suffice it to say that I won't be showing any updates of the house interior anytime soon. I know, take those knuckles from your mouth, you can relax now.

So Happy Wednesday, everybody. Hump day is here and I hope yours is smashing!

icj,

~j

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a little app-titude

Okay okay, I know, the subtitle might be stretching it a little, but a girl's got to try, eh? For Christmas, we got a great deal on iphones, and as we were in need of a switch (my refurbished Blackberry had cracked in three places and was aesthetically deplorable, though in great working condition) and our contract was up for renewal, it seemed like a no brainer. At first, I wasn't interested. The whole iphone - and - app thing appears rather faddish from the point of view of those not directly involved. But once we decided to go for it, I was all in.


The first question Hawk asked me was, "What apps are you going to get?" It took me a full minute to grasp what he was referring to, though not because I'm unfamiliar with their appeal. It just hadn't occurred to me, you know? And how does one begin searching for "their app"? Well, the many hours I spend in glorious peace either nursing or cuddling Ace provided me with the perfect opportunity to review a few apps and find my way into the vault of app fun.


Let's start with my favorite. I'm addicted already and even writing about it here makes me want to cease writing and snatch the phone to use the app. Yes, I'm a dork.

8mm

It's like it was made for me. I wish we'd had this at our wedding last year. (wait, two last years ago, now!) The effects are simple and fun; I can't stop following Mac around with shots like this. It also eerily reminds me of the hotel room from the movie-mini-series The Lost Room.

Here's a great clip to give you an idea.

baby connect

Because we nurse on cue (rather than a schedule) and he has had his days and nights sorted out from the start, I didn't think I would appeciate something like this app. I started out using Similac's free version, which in some ways was easier in that there were fewer steps to recording/timing data, but I wanted a better summary system than it has (the graphs aren't conducive to my brain's way of working). Thus far, I really like how with babyconnect I can automatcally sync Ace's info with Hawk, graph observations more effectively, and record pumping, medications, etc. I would think this would be an especially helpful app for those with colicky babies, medical issues, or sleep challenges.

white noise lite

Free app! And would still be worth a price of $2.99. Some babies need the white noise to sleep well. Ace wasn't too restless before we began including white noise into our nightly routine, but with it, I've noticed a marked calm through the night. We originally used my old portable humidifier as white noise and, well, a humidifier, but the water expulsion is just too strong for our hardwood floors to handle much longer. The ONLY downsides to this app are that if used every night, it would necessarily decrease the longevity of battery life, and one can't switch to other phone mechanisms and keep the white noise going. Aside from these two things, the multiple sounds, the schedule and fade out and shut down are convenient and particularly helpful. I also like how on "sleep" mode, it displays an old-school digital clock in a variety of colors.

momento

I've been keeping a journal for little C the past month and using momento makes it easier to complete. I record throughout the day and later write them by hand in the little brown moleskine cache. Another top app for a reason.

fruit ninja

Sword, flying fruit, glowing bananas. Enough said. o yes, it is a time waster. But it is the best one I've found, especially for free! I've never been a big gamer, so I only play when I'm desperate to stay awake while nursing the little boy at 3am or when I need a mental break and he's sleeping in my lap. It's just too fun, high on the most-downloaded list for a reason.

I only choose apps that receive a rating of 4-5 stars, and I read reviews carefully and with a discerning eye.

Question for you:
What other apps would you recommend and for whom would they be best?

icj,
~j

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whatever you have is under your care

photo by johnnyberg

STUFF. the Hawks are downsizing. Bit by bit, space by space, we're hoping to clean clutter and get rid of things we don't need. 

One of my wise friends, Joyce, recently gave a talk regarding "stuff." Of the many positive points she made, one of the most influential for me was this statement:

If you have it, you have to care for it. You'll have to give it a place, clean it, move it. It takes the space of something else. Is it worth that space? Is it worth your care? Does it add to your life, or do you avoid it?

This has been invaluable advice. I used to be the sort of person that would keep every knickknack because at one point, it had sentimental value. I felt guilty if I gave it away or sent it to trash heaven (or hell, depending on your point of view). My last room as a single gal was overwhelmed with all my possessions (partially because my roommate at the time wouldn't allow my personal affects outside to appear anywhere outside that space). Things I never used. Things that were dusty, crowded, and didn't correspond with any style, tone, or personality.

When I moved into the apartment we would come to share after our wedding, Hawk required that I let go of half of my possessions. He would walk around and say, "When is the last time you used this?" or "Did you even know you still have this?" I kicked and screamed and literally stomped my feet. I cried, I shouted, and acted like a complete child. 

It was extremely difficult for me to purge possessions. I'm sure that a portion of my outbursts stemmed from the loss of complete independence that is necessary in marriage (and preparing for marriage). I'm amazed we were still able to walk down the aisle, it was that difficult. 

And then, he asked me to do it two more times! The second was just before he moved his stuff in the week before our wedding (though he still lived with the guys). I had purged a lot, but there was still an entire bedroom worth of boxes and bags and possessions to be sorted. And the third time was just before we moved into our new house in August.

I'll speak more on this in upcoming posts because I believe it is a choice about freedom from being owned by the things we own.

So to start us off, I'll go with something small. A few weeks back, I cleaned out our dresser/tableware cabinet. 

Some great things to know about it:

1. We got it for free! That first apartment of ours had a basement, and in the basement was housed anything that previous renters forgot/left behind. Our manager was going to throw it to the curb, so we snatched it up! It was in great condition, very clean, and the mirror is perfectly aged. 

2. Judging by similar pieces in our friends' homes, we think it is about 80 years old.

3. It has the worst wheels known to man attached. We're hoping to someday switch those out so they stop scratching our hardwood floors!

As you can see, it has 4 main drawers--two small side-by-sides and two large drawers on the bottom. I really only straightened up the top two drawers which were completely cluttered, but here is a glimpse inside the dish drawers:

It took me about 90 minutes to sort through every piece, determine new homes or donation buckets for each item, and then sort the remaining pieces into something helpful. Another point that Joyce made:

When reorganizing, the result should add ease, beauty if possible, and definitely efficiency to your life. 

I think our correspondence drawer does both:

Here's how it works:

1. sorting: I sorted each unused card into a relevant pile---blank cards, thank yous, specific-to-the-occassion, and letterhead. 

2. reusing: I hate wasting paper if I can help it, so I reuse our wedding RSVPs and placecards for little notes. Anything from a grocery list to a love note. 

3. being creative: We kept all the C&B ribbon from the wedding gifts, so this worked our perfectly in keeping piles from spreading through the rest of the drawer as soon as it we closed it. 

4. keeping the fun: And of course, stamps and stickers have their place.

The last drawer is less interesting, but just as important. We are constantly grabbing things out of it, so it needed to house items that were relevant to each other and still keep things accessible.

How it works:

1. I removed batteries from their original packs and put them in appropriate sandwich bags. In the future, I'd like to grab pretty bags for this instead, just for the fun of it.

2. We kept the tape and scissors separate from the cards/letters because we use them for so much more than correspondence. 

3. I put our extra hanging nails, chairfoot pads, and other such items in a cute decorative and see-through box Mom Hawk gave me.

4. Grabbed a small pyrex bowl for twist-ties and rubber bands.

5. Kept our extra C&B ribbon available for future needs.

Hope this little (and long) explanation helps you out in your own organizing! Let us know what you do to keep your spaces tidy!

icj,

~j

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