Getting My (Digital Photo) Life in Order

I took a little time this summer to try and get my digital photos organized and backed up. Just in case someone else will find this helpful I thought I would share what I have done so far and what I plan to do to finish this project. My film photos are organized in albums - this post is not about those. Someday I would like to digitize them, but that will probably have to wait several years.

I wanted to do two things: back up everything and print. I am completely done with backing up and will continue working on printing. 

My Old System

A few years ago, I didn't really worry much about backing up my photos. I trusted my iMac completely. I didn't take human error (my own!) into account. Right before we moved from Wisconsin to Arizona I nearly deleted every digital photo I've ever taken.  Since then I have been extra careful about having photos backed up in more than one location.

I had my photos on two computers (iMacs) and automatically backed up the photos using Time Machine and an external hard drives. I also uploaded the best of the best photos to Shutterfly as free off-site or cloud backup to my local backup. 

Backing Up: The New Way

Last year, I decided to try Shutterfly's cloud storage service called ThisLife. I love it! It automatically backs up all the photos I load to my computer (phone and iPad too). 

ThisLife saves every photo (and video!) in my entire photo library. Unlike regular Shutterfly, I can download a full resolution photo if I need a copy for some reason. The photos are easy to look at online or with an app for mobile devices. When I signed up last year, ThisLife cost $59 for one year and I was limited to 25,000 photos and videos. I had around 13,000 photos so I knew I would be okay for awhile. Since then they have changed their storage plans and you can now get UNLIMITED photo storage for $19.99 a year. That's a great deal!!

ThisLife

I was happy with ThisLife. Then I updated my iMac and got an iPhone and wanted to give iCloud a try. Apple's iCloud does all the things ThisLife does and more. I used it to sync all my photos to two iMacs, my iPhone, and my iPad. Uploading took f.o.r.e.v.e.r and killed my internet speed for weeks. (ThisLife gives you more control over uploading and was much better in that regard.)  iCloud is a little more expensive - $3.99 per month for only 200GB of storage - and will only work for you if you are an Apple person. ThisLife will work with other operating systems.

Apple iCloud Photos

So right now I have all my photos in two clouds. You can see from the screen shots above, they are very similar. I haven't decided yet if I will keep both. I actually like ThisLife a bit better, but if I had to choose I would keep iCloud because it just works so well with all my Apple devices.

So to recap, back up your photos! Experts recommend two local and one cloud backup:

1. Local #1 - Computer
2. Local #2 - External hard drive
3. Cloud - ThisLife, iCloud, Amazon, Google, Dropbox, etc.

Printing

The second part of my plan was getting these photos where we can see them. It just isn't the same to sit around the computer screen and look at photos together. Looking at them on the iPad is a bit better, but not much. I decided against printing actual photos and putting them in albums. Instead, I have chosen to make photos books. They hold a lot more photos in much smaller space. They are also easier for the kids to handle - no ripped binder holes or photos falling out.

I have been taking digital photos since 2002. In 2002 and 2003, I still took most of my photos with a regular camera and just a few with the digital camera. Since those years had very few digital photos I made two 20 page Shutterfly photo books for them. 

From 2004 on I plan to make and order Blurb photo books. This is the company I use to print my blog books and I have been very pleased with them. The advantage to Blurb is you can fit a LOT more photos in one book. Blurb books can be over 200 pages while Shutterfly is limited in that regard. For larger books with lots of photos, Blurb ends up being less expensive.

Since ThisLife is connected to Shutterfly I can easily order a DVD of my photos and put it in the back of the photo book. That way if the "clouds" ever evaporate we will have the photos on our computer, an external drive, in photo books, and on disks.

The plan for printing:

1. Shutterfly books - for special events or smaller amounts of photos
2. Blurb books - for yearly albums with LOTS of photos (and blog books)
3. Photo DVD - to put in back of each book

So, here's where I'm at...

I have all my digital photos backed up to ThisLife and iCloud. I never have to think about this again. Each photo I take will be uploaded automatically. I have DVDs for 2002, 2003, and 2013. I plan to order disks for the remaining (and future) years. I'll wait for Shutterfly sales to do this. (In case you're wondering why I don't burn the disks myself - Shutterfly can get a lot more photos on a disk than I can.)

I have photos books for 2002, 2003, and 2013. I did the 2013 book out of order because I wanted to use a later year with LOTS of photos as a prototype for the Blurb photo book. I actually have a lot of the photos in the blog books for 2007-2011 so I didn't want to do one of those years. I haven't decided  if I will make blog books AND photo books for the same years. I am thinking I will because I don't blog every photo I take and overkill is better than not enough.

Speaking of the blog, every photo I post here is also saved on Google storage. I pay $1.99 per month for that. It is my least favorite photo storage. It is a mess and not organized at all. Every time I try and organize it I get messages saying moving the photos will remove it from my blog so I just leave it a mess. I had to start paying that fee a few years ago or start a new blog. I consider it a blog fee more than a photo storage fee.

Whew! Long post! So, I'm curious... how to you back up and/or print your photos? Have you ever lost photos? Are you concerned about the safety of cloud storage? 

Room Shuffle

We decided to do a little room shuffling this summer. Eli, Justus, and JD stayed put. Hayden and Wesley moved into what was Annabeth's room. Annabeth moved into the former school room. The biggest task was moving all the school items and books into the living room. As long as we were moving all the school stuff out to the main living area we thought we'd move the computers out there as well. Previously, they had been in our bedroom.

I spent a lot of time looking at bookshelf ideas online. Thankfully, we have an Ikea relatively close so we knew we could get decent bookcases there inexpensively. I finally came up with a plan including an "Ikea hack" to build two small desks into the shelves. The hardest part was deciding what color bookcases to buy. In the end with went with white. I really liked the look of wood grain, but Ikea's version was quite dark and I knew it would show dust and really darken the room. Our living room doesn't have much natural light so in the end the white seemed like a better idea.

Here are a few before photos:

We made the trip to Ikea and bought seven white Billy bookcases. We decided to put doors on two of them to hide some of the less attractive school items. We also got a table that we would end up cutting in half to make the two desks.

I removed all the books from the shelves. I got rid of a few, but most were just set to the side to await the construction of their new home.

Jerry spent several hours over several days assembling. I put one together myself, but made a mistake and was demoted to assistant. They were pretty easy to put together and when you do so many in a row you kind of get it down after a couple.

Once the shelves were done, we got to work on the desks. We didn't put any of the books in place just in case we had second thoughts. The desks were pretty simple, basically just an Ikea table cut in half. We did reinforce the shelf they rest on with some L brackets and screw the table into place. In order to get the computers plugged in we did have to cut/drill a few holes.

It was looking good and the desks worked out great so we started putting the books into place.

We had books all over the house that are now housed together. We still need to figure out something for the top, it's a little plain right now, but overall we are really happy with how it turned out. 

It is nice to have the computers out of our room. Now if someone is on the computer they aren't hidden away from the rest of the family. We'll see how it goes doing school at the kitchen table. We've never really done that before!

Friday Fun

Fridays are a light day for us as far as school work. This week after breakfast and chores we did a science experiment. We are learning about the heart and lungs so we tested our lung capacity. It looked something like this...

Each boy got to try it twice. Once with a normal breath and once with a big, deep breath. While we were busy with our experiment Annabeth decided to empty all the Q-Tips out of the box in the bathroom. Clean up was like a game of Pick Up Sticks!

To keep her out of more trouble, I let Annabeth watch a bit of Teletubbies. JD decided to join her for a bit. Annabeth is a little copycat so when he laid down and put his hands behind his head, so did she. So cute!

Please ignore the messed up drawer (some more of Annabeth's handy work!) and the dusty TV.  I obviously need to dust. That's what having the windows open on a windy day gets me!

Friday afternoon I decided to tackle the pantry. It was getting a bit out of control and the shelves needed to be wiped down. I didn't think to grab the camera for any "before" pictures.

Now I have some space available when I go grocery shopping! I do like having a bigger pantry right in the kitchen. The one on Trotter was just a big cupboard so we ended up storing a lot of our extras in the basement. No basement overflow here. We don't even have a basement!

If you want to know the method to my madness you can read about how I deep clean my kitchen. (Funny - looking back at that post I noticed I organized my spice cabinet the exact same way here as I did in Wisconsin! I mean exactly!)

In the past, I have always tackled my kitchen spring cleaning all at once. This year I decided to do things a bit differently. I made a little diagram of the kitchen cupboards and drawers. Each day I clean one or two and check them off my list. It has been working pretty nicely. I only have a few left to do and I'll be done.

The only drawback to this method is not having it all clean at once. By the time I'm done some of the cupboard doors will be dusty again. (Thanks, AZ dust that covers everything!)

Household Notebook (Re-Post)

As you are starting or getting ready to start the new school year? It's a crazy (and exciting) time of year whether your kids go to school or you homeschool. Wouldn't be nice to start things off organized and in order instead of in chaos?

Consider putting together a "Household Notebook"... it really will make your life much easier. Remember when I gave that organizing presentation at my Moms of Multiples club back in March? The mom (Hi, Holly... if you're reading this!) that won the door prize of a binder to make a Household Notebook gave me an update at our last meeting. She told me that she put it together and she loves it! I was so excited to hear that. It really is a great organizing tool!

Below is a re-post about my household notebook:

Two things get out of control fast at my house....laundry and paper. This really helps with the paper! My Household Notebook has been my most successful organizational tool ever! I honestly don't remember what I did before I had it. I've had it for several years now, since before Wesley was born I think...so that would be over 7 years.It is basically a binder that holds all the information you and your family want to keep handy. Address book, school notices, church directories, contact information, take-out menus...anything! It is completely customizable. You could actually file these items in folders in a filing cabinet but they change or are out of date often enough that it would be a pain to go through your files that often. Consider the household notebook a mini filing cabinet.

The best how-to for making your own household notebook can be found here at Organized Home. They even offer printables to help you get started or just to give you ideas.

I used a 3 inch ring binder and added tabbed dividers. Here are my notebook categories:

First page is RED and has our address, phone number, and emergency contact info. This is followed by a few phone numbers you might need fast like: doctors, poison control, police, sheriff, and/or utility company emergency shut off numbers. (It's especially helpful to leave the notebook open on this page when you have a babysitter.)

Tabbed dividers include:

• Phone numbers/addresses: basically an address book...written out on a printable page from Organized Home or typed in a document to make yearly editing and printing easier (this is my method).
• "Yellow" pages: our most used business phone numbers...again typed in a document to make yearly editing easier. I've also added clear business card pages.
• Church: directory, teaching schedules, AWANA calendar, youth group calendar/forms
• Clubs: recent newsletters, directories, etc.
• Utilities: phone numbers, garbage regulations/schedules, compost hours, etc.
• ROZ: papers to save for her (work, ortho, church, school, etc.)
• WESLEY: papers for his stuff (church, soccer, etc) The rest of the children are too little to need a section but I'll add them as needed.
• Restaurants/Fast Food: menus (hole punched)
• Menus: I keep the monthly menus I have been making so I can reuse them
• Holidays: Thanksgiving menu, Christmas card list, holiday coloring pages we love
• Gift ideas: for our family and those we give gifts to
• Masters: of forms I use frequently (menus, prayer journal, etc)
• Misc: all sorts of odd stuff that I might need in the future (how do deal with an injured bird, Radio/TV station list, brochures from parks/trails we like to go to)

The tabs are followed by large envelopes (hold punched) with:

• Fast food coupons: only for places that we actually go to!
• Non-food coupons: hardware store, car washes, etc.
• Medical: Appointment reminder cards (I put them on the calendar and then save them here for future reference) and prescriptions (meds, glasses)
• Campbell's labels and Box Tops: to save for church/homeschool group
• Gift cards/certificates: that have yet to be spent
• And last....one pocket page for odd items that can't be hole punched.

I am planning on adding a few new categories. I think I'm going to add:

• Cleaning: I want to make a more formal cleaning schedule for monthly/seasonal chores
• Budget: we check it often and it's in a file cabinet right now...maybe a copy to reference
• Sizes: everyone's clothing and shoe sizes...I just can't remember them all anymore!

Once you have it all assembled keep it handy...so it's easy for all family members to find and use. Go through it every so often to remove items you no longer need and update the information. I edit and reprint my address book sections once a year. (Usually after Christmas when I get address changes from people who moved.) I go through the coupon sections more often.

The beauty of the Household Notebook is that it's different for each family. It can be whatever you want it to be. Pretty or plain. Simple or complex. If you have one already or put one together I'd love to see it!

My other organizing posts:
Websites & Internet Passwords
Laundry & Kids Clothes
Menu Planning
Calendar
Budgeting
Stuff Management Part 1

Seasonal Cleaning: The Kitchen

Here's the last post about "seasonal cleaning" (for now anyway!). Time flies! I started writing these posts when it was "fall cleaning" and now it's time to start all over again for "spring cleaning"!! If you want to see the rest of the seasonal cleaning posts click here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The kitchen is the only room that may take more than one day to deep clean. It really depends on how dirty your kitchen is and when you cleaned it last. At the same time, the kitchen is the worth the effort. We spend a lot of time there and keeping the kitchen clean will help keep you and your family healthy.

1. Prep--remove any items that go elsewhere and trash.

2. Remove dirty dish towels, rugs, and window treatments. Wash them.

3. Dust and/or wash ceiling and walls.

4. Remove all decorative items from the walls/shelves/tables and clean each item. Wipe surface before returning items. Don't forget the space above your cabinets! If you have any decorative arrangements you want to keep exactly the same, here's a tip for you: grab your camera and take a quick picture. Then when you go to put things back you can look at the picture to jog your memory.

5. Remove parts of light fixture(s) and clean them. Replace any burned out light bulbs.

6. Wash any doors (front and back), frame, and door knob.

7. Wash window(s) inside and out. Brush window screen with a dry, stiff brush. Wipe sill and frame.

8. Here it is the part you've been dreading. This is the hard part: Empty and wipe out each cupboard and drawer. Vacuum crumbs out of drawers before wiping them. Return only items you use frequently that are in good condition. Toss expired food.

If you buy food in bulk
store smaller amounts in handy containers.

Don't keep four cheese graters, if you want to keep a "backup" just in case then pack those items in a box and put the box in storage. Line the shelves if they are in bad shape or you want to protect them. Organize as you put things back. Use baskets or boxes to help keep like things together. It is also recommended that you store items that you use together with each other. (Baking supplies for example.)
If you have a "pantry" in your kitchen, consider it a big cupboard. :) Which means you need to take everything out, wipe the shelves, and organize as you put things back. If you happen to store extra appliances in your pantry, and could use the space for something else, reconsider before you just automatically put them back where they were. If you only use an appliance once a year store it in the basement, if you use an appliance more often but not daily store it somewhere handy (linen closet?) but not in the prime real estate of your kitchen.
I have a fairly small "pantry" in the kitchen so I keep my overflow food and appliances in the basement. I'm not sure I'll ever do a post on organizing your basement... that seems even more daunting than the kitchen!9. Wipe outside and handles of all cupboards and drawers. Take extra care of cupboards above the cooktop. They get greasy and grimy. Don't forget to wipe cupboard sides, fronts, and along the floor.Here's another helpful hint for you: Post a list of substitutions and a few favorite recipes you make frequently on the inside of your cupboard door for handy reference. (I also have an OTC children medication chart there as well.)

10. Clean oven/stovetop. Use the self-clean if you have it. Soak/wash the stove drip pans or replace them, if needed (tip: the black ones are easier to keep looking clean). Remove all knobs and soak them, while you wipe behind them. Don't forget the drawer if you have one. If you are really motivated, pull out the stove and wipe the sides and clean the floor underneath. Clean exhaust fan. Remove and soak the mesh filter, or replace if it is really bad. Wipe down front, door, and handle.11. Clean sink and faucet. Don't forget to clean any sink accessories (sprayer, filter, etc). If your sink is stained use a magic eraser to wipe it down. A paste of baking soda and water will usually remove spots from the faucet. If needed, use an old toothbrush to clean around the fixture base. If you have a dish rack, clean it really well (soak in a bleach solution) before returning it to the sink. Clean the garbage disposal/drain area really well. Run some ice and a few slices of lemon in your disposal if you don't want to reach in there and scrub.

12. Wipe outside of dishwasher and around the door. If necessary, run your dishwasher with a cup of vinegar or bleach to clean the inside.

13. Clean refrigerator/freezer. Wipe all sides and top. A magic eraser or Soft Scrub will get off scuff marks. Pull fridge out and clean wall/floor under and behind the fridge. Vacuum fridge coils. Clean the inside of the fridge. Empty the whole thing and remove all the shelves, don't forget the shelves in the door. Wipe down inside walls/floor/ceiling. Wipe all shelves and drawers. Return food, tossing anything that is past it's date or gross. Wipe jars for drips, if necessary.Now I know a lot of you won't listen to me on this one but if you keep stuff off your fridge your kitchen will look a lot less cluttered. I know it is full of kids drawings and photos of loved ones, but those things can be displayed elsewhere. If you have to leave an occasional note to a family member on there that is one thing... an added bonus is if there is not a bunch of stuff on there already they might actually get the message! At the very least limit what you put on there to one piece of artwork per kid and a few special pictures.

14. Clean microwave, inside and out. Put a mug of water with a slice of lemon in microwave and heat for 1-2 minutes. Let it sit before wiping down the inside. This will loosen any stuck on food.

15. Clean or wipe any other small appliances that you keep on the counter top (toaster, mixer, coffee maker, etc.)

16. Remove everything from counters and wipe. Don't forget the wall/backsplash. If you feel it is needed wipe with a disinfectant of some kind. Be sure the counter is dry before you replace items. Wipe each item as you put it back. Make sure you only put back things you need or love. A cluttered counter is hard to keep clean!

17. If you don't have a separate dining room then clean your dining area with your kitchen. Wipe down all chairs and the table, including legs and decorative trim. Magic Erasers get scuff marks off of furniture.18. Wash trash can inside and out.

19. Return all clean wall decorations, light fixture, rugs, window treatments.

20. Sweep and scrub floor, wipe baseboards.
Stand back and admire your clean kitchen! Good job!!

Want to keep it looking great?

• Deal with dishes daily
• Wipe counters daily
• Keep your sink empty and clean
• Wipe up spills as they happen
• Sweep as needed, mop weekly

The printable kitchen cleaning checklist can be found here.

Get Organized Presentation

Well, I am happy to report that my presentation to the MoMs club went well! I am not fond of public speaking. Before I got started I was nervous as all get out and my hands were cold and clammy, but once I got going I was okay. It helps to be talking about something that you're excited about!

Part of my organizing/cleaning skills are nature (thanks Mom and Grandma!) and part are nurture (years of reading books and blogs for new ideas). People already think we're weird (large family, homeschool, frugal, etc.) and I'm afraid I didn't help the cause much with my presentation last night. :) If they didn't think I was weird before I'm sure they do now that they've seen pictures of my closets and drawers!

As I was speaking to the group, I realized it's the little things that make a big difference! I am sure some of the moms saw my pictures and thought I must spend hours and hours keeping up my house. But I really don't!! I promise you, I don't... ask Jerry.

I told the group that I didn't want to hear any excuses because I had an answer for every single one! Don't tell me about small houses, I've lived in one. Don't tell me you have lots of kids, so do I! Don't tell me you work full time, my house was still clean/organized when I worked. The only "excuse" mentioned that I didn't really have an answer for was being just plain old "lazy".

The more I thought about this, the more I thought that's not an excuse... that's exactly why you should get organized!! I'm pretty lazy myself. I would much rather spend my time reading or surfing the internet than doing just about any household chore. My "system" frees up my time so I have more time to do the fun things (like blog) not less. I like to say "I'm not lazy, I'm efficient" but the truth is I'm efficient so I can be lazy!

I'm not saying "my way" is the best way. It works for me, but each household manager has to find their own "system". I can only share what works for me. There are literally hundreds of books about cleaning and organizing. Check out a few from the library and try a few of the suggestions. If they don't work out for you, move on and try something different. If you don't know where to start... start small! One drawer or cupboard or closet at a time. But definitely do something... "a penny saved is a penny earned" and "a stitch in time saves nine"... and that "stitch you save"... well, it will give you more time to do the things you want, no matter what it is!

In the next couple weeks, I'll be sharing some of my notes from the presentation. If you want to see the handout click here, some of it might not make sense but most of it will and it does include all the seasonal cleaning checklists from my blog posts just in time for "spring cleaning" plus a great resource list. Happy Organizing!!

Why YOU Need A Reader!

One of my goals this year is to get more people reading blogs! [One of my other goals is to get more people writing them! So watch out!] The biggest reason people don't read more blogs is: "don't have time". What if reading blogs was as easy as checking your email? What if you didn't have to bookmark all your favorites and go to each site? What if each site came to you instead? That, my friend, is what a reader can do for you!!

Once you have a "reader" you just add all the sites you want to follow and then check the reader like you would your email. All the new posts show up as they are published. You just have to scroll through them. No more going to a blog only to see it hasn't been updated. You just "set it and forget it". [Hey, I sound like an infomercial!] If you have an Gmail account you already have a reader, just look at the top of your Gmail page and you'll see:

Click on the word "Reader" between Documents and Web.

A reader really is a huge time saver! You can organize your reader any way you see fit. So if you are only in the mood to read friends blogs but want to skip the others you can do so easily. I subscribe to all sorts blogs, including several "money saving" blogs. Now I rarely miss a great freebie or deal!Another great feature of a reader is the ability to search what you've read. If you want to look up an old blog post for some reason (ex: recipe) then, in Google Reader anyway, you can just use the search function. Again this is a great way to keep up with the deal blogs... just search the store you're looking for a deal at and all posts from all the sites you subscribe to will show up (sorted most recent first). This is how I make my CVS or Walgreens shopping lists.
Jerry and I both use Google Reader, but there are other readers available. They are easy to set up and easy to check. There really is no reason not to give it a try! I know some of you use the links on your own blog as a "reader" of sorts, but you are still clicking over to each blog to read. With a reader they are all on the same page. There's no need to click back and forth. You also won't miss any posts. If more than one new post has been added, those sidebar links will only show the most recent post not all the posts since you last checked. You might be missing posts... and you don't want to miss any posts (especially mine)!!

If you're skeptical, just give it a try... I think you'll be surprised!

Here is a YouTube video that explains it for you visual learners:

Fall Cleaning: Living Room

This should be one of the easier rooms in the house to clean. If you are like most people you probably do a pretty decent job of keeping up with the living room since that is the room people see most often when coming to your home. And this is a great time of year to clean the living room since a lot of people are moving knick knacks and furniture to bring out the Christmas decorations anyway.

1. Take down all window treatments and wash them (if possible). At least shake them out if you can't launder them or take them to the cleaners. Dust or wash the blinds.

2. Wipe down ceiling fan, if you have one. Remove all the (removable) parts of the light fixture(s). Wash glass shades in hot soapy water and dry. Wipe down the remaining parts of the fixture that cannot be removed.

3. Dust the ceiling first, then dust the walls. Use a rag or an extending duster. A regular (dry) Swiffer also works nicely.

4. Wash door (front and back), door knob, and frame. Don't forget the top of the door and the door frame.

5. Wash window(s) inside and out. Don't forget the sill and frame. Brush window screen with a dry, stiff brush.

6. Vacuum any upholstered furniture. Don't forget to take cushions off furniture and vacuum under them.
7. Move each piece of furniture and vacuum under it using the vac tool to get along the wall. Dust any parts of the walls (including the baseboard) you may have missed before you moved the furniture. Dust the furniture (top, front, back, and sides) before returning it to it's place. Clean any decorative items and lamps on tables. [You can move all the furniture at once or do it one piece at a time.]

8. Dust any remaining items hanging on the wall. Wipe down frames/mirrors, clean glass with glass cleaner. Remove any items from wall shelves, dust the items, and the shelf.

9. Wipe any heating/cooling vents. Wipe light switch plate.

10. Go around room and wipe baseboards with a damp rag.

11. Vacuum floor/rug. Use vac tool to get along the edge of the wall.

12. If you need to declutter: Don't put back any items you don't use or belong! Keep only a few items on top of tables or shelves. This makes it much easy to clean on a regular basis.

13. Nothing should be stored loose on the floor (books, videos, toys, etc.). Find a home for these items-use baskets, drawers, or shelves. We store the kids books in a basket inside of an end table that has a door. We also keep a small basket of toys out as well, but most of the toys are in the basement. If you do keep a lot of toys in the living room figure out a way to keep them tidy. Kids can't be expected to put away their toys if there really is no place to put them!
14. If you have a front entryway, clean that as part of the living room. If you need tips on cleaning out a closet, follow the tips in the master bedroom post. We don't use our front hall closet for coats... we converted it to homeschool storage by adding shelves. We hang our coats by the back door. When we have guests we just put their jackets in the master bedroom. If you lack storage somewhere in your house, seriously re-think the extra space in your front hall closet. At our old house we used the front hall closet for toy storage. Get creative and think outside the box closet. Toy storage, homeschool supply storage, or even extra pantry space are all good options!The living room cleaning checklist can be found here. Want to keep it looking great?

• Pick up toys and clutter daily or twice daily.
• If you get something out, put it away.
  
• Dust and vacuum once a week.
  

If you have a family room, just follow these instructions. I'm not going to do a separate post for halls or entryways, but don't forget them! The last room we have left is the kitchen. We saved the hardest for last. I'll save my kitchen post for the first week of December. Then your whole house will be clean and ready to go for the Christmas season! I am planning on doing a whole post on organizing the paper that can clutter up our homes and lives after the new year!

Hats and Mittens

Keeping track of hats and mittens for five little boys is a real challenge. Actually, I'm surprised we don't lose more mittens and gloves! Earlier this year when the winter gear went on clearance I went and bought several sets of gloves, mittens, and hats.

The problem is multiplied by the number of people we have and the fact that we have to keep track of more than one pair of gloves for each person. We have lighter weight gloves for when it's not too cold and super thick, waterproof mittens for playing in the snow. Each person has at least two pair plus a hat. Except for me, I don't have a hat... I look silly in a hat. I only wear one if I'm shoveling (which isn't often) and then I'll only wear it if it's dark!

We've tried storing these items in a basket but then it's a pain to find the matching sets. If it takes each person 2 minutes to find matching mittens we'll always be 16 minutes late wherever we go! Sometimes, when we're out and about especially, we just stuff them in the kids sleeves, but that's not a very good long term solution. One of my friends, who also has six kids, custom built lockers in their back entry. Since we don't have lockers, I had to come up with a better storage solution for our back hall. I considered my options all summer then last week I found one of these plastic shoe organizers on clearance.
I already had two of these in the house, but one is Roz's and holds her shoes and the other is in the front hall closet full of homeschooling supplies. I think this will help us keep track of gloves, hats, and mittens this winter. I especially like that you can see what's in each pocket and it doesn't take up any extra space in the closet! And look... we even have some empty pockets!! I put the boys stuff down lower so they can reach to both retrieve and put away on their own. Having the clear pockets was helpful so I didn't even have to label the pockets with names.

Now if I could only think of a better way to organize the boots than to just line them up outside in the garage!

Fall Cleaning: Laundry Room

The laundry room can be a challenge. Some of you might not have a laundry room at all. At our old house we had a laundry area in the unfinished basement, but I still tried to keep it tidy. I didn't really have walls to dust, but I'd still get the cobwebs and complete the rest of what is included in the checklist below at least yearly. Personally, I spend a lot of time doing laundry, so it's nice to have a tidy area to work in! Even if your laundry area is in part of storage area, garage, or basement you can still give it a good cleaning once or twice a year and keep it neat.

How it should look!

How it usually looks!
At least those clothes are clean!

1. The first step is to get the clean laundry put away. I need to work on this. I get the laundry done, but I am really bad about putting it away. Our goal right now is to clean the actual room so the first thing you want to do is get the clean clothes out of the area so they don't get dirty while you clean.

2. Dust the walls and ceiling. Wipe down any decorations. Wipe any vents or fans. Wash any rugs and curtains. Lint gets all over in a laundry room. (If your laundry room is in a bathroom follow the bathroom cleaning checklist.)

3. If you haven't already, clear the tops of the washer and dryer. Wipe down all sides of the washer and dryer. They get dusty! You may also want to wipe out the inside of your dryer, especially around the door area where lint can build up.

4. Clean any counter tops and wipe out the sink, if you have one.

5. Wipe down the outside of cabinet doors and drawers. Empty each cabinet and drawer, wipe down shelves and replace like items together. If you store cleaning supplies in the laundry room, safely dispose of any that are really old or stuff you know you'll never use before returning them to their spot. If you need to dispose of household chemicals, you might want to find out about proper disposal. In our county you can take chemicals to a county facility where you leave what you can't use and others can take it if they need it. And it's free! (A great way to get a little bit of paint for small projects by the way!)

6. Organize what's left. Place it on shelves or in cabinets. Use bins or storage containers for items you use most often. If your laundry room doubles as another room it can be a challenge to get it organized. Sometimes laundry rooms are the back entry or part of the basement or even in a bathroom. Our laundry also happens to be a half bath. Try and keep like items together. Cleaning supplies in one cabinet, laundry supplies in another. Some other things I keep in the laundry room include: batteries (regular and rechargeable), light bulbs, shoe polishing supplies, and bug spray.

7. You might want to take the time to clean our your dryer vent. Not just the trap in the dryer but the actual vent that goes to the outside. If you get a lot of lint built up in there it can be a fire hazard.

8. Clean any mirrors or windows.

9. Sweep and scrub the floor. If you are really motivated (I wasn't this time) pull out the washer and dryer to clean behind them and look for any lonely socks that may have dropped back there when you weren't looking! If you haven't moved your dryer in years it would be a good idea to do this, like I mentioned before, lint can be a fire hazard.

Here are some other laundry room tips:

• Have a designated place for dirty laundry. I highly recommend a 3 bin laundry sorter or two! This is how we store all our dirty laundry. I requested these for Christmas a couple years ago and I can tell you they are worth every penny.
  
• Have a designated place for clean laundry. If you are really good... put it away immediately. If you're like me, you'll use a laundry basket and the top of the dryer. Whatever you do don't mix clean and dirty laundry! That just makes more work for you!
• Have a rod handy to hang clothes on hangers right as they come out of the dryer. I refuse to iron so this is really important for Jerry's wrinkle-free work clothes. This can also be used to hang items to dry when necessary. We just have a rack on wheels that I got at Walmart for under $20. It's held up surprisingly well.
• Keep a trash can handy. For lint, used dryer sheets, and candy wrappers that you wash.
  
• Create zones. A pet supply area, cleaning supplies, laundry stuff, a place for tools, etc. Keep like things together so you can find them and so they are tidy. Baskets and containers are your friends!
• The junk drawer. Above is our "junk drawer" for lack of a better name. We have a basket for the rechargeable batteries that are "dead" right above a basket of the charged ones. I keep a few screwdrivers in here to open the back of any toys to replace batteries. This is also were we keep tapes of all kinds (electrical, duct, clear package, etc.). I have another drawer between the washer and dryer where I keep the lonely socks that have lost their mate. They keep each other company there until their mate comes along. If you don't have a spare drawer you could use a small basket.
• Keep a small container for junk. I keep mine right on the counter. If I find coins, rocks, beads, screws, or buttons in a pocket or the washer I toss them in this container. Every couple months I dump out the container and put the stuff back where it belongs. In the meantime if we are missing something small that is where I usually look.
  
• Get it out! If you don't use it often, don't keep it in the small amount of space you have in the laundry room. Like I said, I rarely iron so I don't keep the ironing board in the laundry room. There really isn't a good spot for it and I'd rather use the precious space for something else or nothing at all!
• Go vertical. If you have brooms and mops that you keep in the laundry area get one of these organizers from the home improvement store to hang them on. Then they won't be flopping all over the place and in your way.

A printable laundry room checklist can be found here.

Fall Cleaning: Kid Bedrooms

Here's where we part ways! If you "see a fork in the road, take it" kind of thing. I'm pretty sure what I do in kids bedrooms isn't what you will do or want to do in kid bedrooms, and you know what... that's okay! I'm not saying you have to do it my way. I'm just tossing out there what I do and if you can pick out an idea here and there that works for you, great!

My intentions aren't to get you to do things the way I do them. You should get your rooms organized and cleaned your way. If it truly doesn't bother you to have clutter or dust... carry on! BUT if you do want things neater or cleaner then do something about it! What I hear the most is that people do want to change; they do want a cleaner, more organized house... they just don't know where to start. Well, the first step to is to start doing things differently than you are now. That works with anything... saving money, getting healthy, or organizing your house!

Now, onto the kid's rooms... they are a bedroom so it's going to be very similar to the master bedroom except for the toys... ahh, the toys! So use the master bedroom checklist (and blog post) for the cleaning part, I'm not going to repost the whole thing again here. You should know the drill now anyway, clean the WHOLE room... top to bottom... every surface.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fall Cleaning: Kid's Bedroom(s)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. Window treatments 2. Bedding, flip mattress 3. Ceiling fan and light fixture 4. Ceilings and walls 5. Door and door frame 6. Blinds 7. Window and frame 8. Vacuum carpet including under furniture and along wall 9. Dust furniture front, back, and sides 10. Dust stuff on walls and shelves 11. Clean mirrors 12. Vents and light switches 13. Baseboards

14. Don't put back any items that aren't used or don't belong! Keep only a few items on top of dressers. This makes it much easy to clean on a regular basis. Group small items together in baskets or containers so you can pick them all up at once when it's time to dust. Empty each drawer and return only necessary items. Donate and toss appropriately.

16. Closet time: Take everything out of the closet. Wipe down shelves, dust the ceiling and walls. Vacuum. Have 3 boxes ready as you go through the closet: trash, give-away, and storage. Only keep the items that currently fit. Store clothes that are too big or too small somewhere else. At the very least get everything off the floor and vacuum, dust the closet corners, and look through the clothes to donate any unwanted items or remove items of the wrong size.

I like to hang all shirts. I find that folded clothes just don't stay tidy with little kids around. If we had a bit more closet space I would hang pants too but since I have four kids sharing one closet I don't have the space. We fold pants and keep them on shelves in the closet. Pajamas, underwear, and socks go in drawers. We have one five drawer dresser in the boys room and one three drawer plastic cart on wheels in their closet. Drawer 1 of the dresser is Wesley's underwear, drawer 2 is Wesley's jammies, drawer 3 is all older boys socks, drawer 4 is twins underwear, and drawer 5 is twin jammies. The three drawers in the closet are Hayden's undies and socks, jammies, and pants. All shoes are in a large laundry basket on the floor of the closet. I color code the clothes on hangers. Go ahead... call me crazy, but it's nice to know at a glance whose stuff is whose.

clothes on color coded hangers
(in the closet at our old house)

J.D.'s closet set up is a bit different. I don't really like it but it's what we've got. He's got two closets in his room. One with two rods and the other with just shelves. His clothes go on the bottom rod in the hanging closet (and in his drawers). I keep a few out of season shirts for each boy and spare hangers on the top rod. The shelves hold baby toys that are currently out of rotation, crib bedding, cloth diaper supplies, and a few odds 'n ends. The bottom of the closet holds a huge draw string bag that I made out of a sheet. This is where we keep all extra stuffed animals that aren't being cuddled with.

17. The easiest way to keeps kids rooms clean is to keep toys elsewhere. Don't store toys in the bedrooms at all. Bedrooms are for sleeping! I know this may sound radical to many of you, but toys are what usually create the messes in kid's rooms. If you must store toys in the kid's rooms, don't keep every toy they own in there, just keep a select few (we do have a small toy box in the baby's room with baby toys). Rotate them. Use containers to help keep things tidy. If you're overwhelmed reading this, think how your kids feel. Seriously, kids have too much stuff!

If you are honest with yourself, I am sure you will admit your child(ren) have way more than they use or play with on a regular basis. Christmas is coming and that means new toys are coming. The first step is to not get them so much in the first place. Unfortunately, we didn't learn that lesson until Roz was older but the boys are benefiting from our new ways.

This year consider cutting back on the "stuff" and putting the money you save in a savings account instead. Wouldn't it be wonderful to hand your child a bit of money when they buy their first car or set up their first apartment? They will appreciate that a lot more than another Barbie or Match Box car. For me, it's sad to see a child opening gift after gift on Christmas morning (or a birthday) as they just toss aside the new toy and move on to the next package. "No time to look at it kiddo, hurry up, there's more to open!" What are we teaching our children? Anyway, if you choose to get rid of some toys, consider donating them. This year, especially, it could really make a difference!

So, where are all the toys if they aren't in the kids rooms? You can read about my toy storage solutions here. 18. Nothing should be stored loose on the floor (books, videos, toys, clothes, etc.). Find a home for these items-use baskets, shelves, drawers, plastic storage containers, or even cardboard boxes.

19. Again, if you haven't vacuumed under the beds do that now and if you store stuff under the bed make sure it's stuff you really need and you have a way to get to it if you need it.

Want to keep it looking this great? Here's how in about 5 minutes per day:

• Make the bed(s)*. EVERY day.
  
• Put dirty clothes in the hamper, never leave them on the floor. Ever.
• Put trash in the trash can.
  
• Keep clean clothes hung or folded and put away.
  
• Put stuff (especially toys) away. If it doesn't have a home... make one!
• Dust and vacuum once a week.
• Train your children in the above! It's their room, they can keep it clean!
  

*In the kids rooms we do bed making a little bit differently. We only use a bottom sheet and a blanket. The blanket gets folded and laid at the foot of the bed and the bed is made. Easy for little kids and less stress for mom. Read more about it here in my original post about organizing kid's rooms.