WASH DAY IS FOR THE BIRDS!!!

I hate doing Laundry. When my 4th little duckling was born I felt like I needed to do it twice a week. Eight months ago my washer and dryer broke so I had to get a new set, so I bought bigger tubs. Now I feel like I can do wash once a week. I have to say my family hates it and are not very happy, (especially my oldest duckling)…BUT MOMS HAPPY!!!

Here is 8 great tips to make wash day a little more bearable!!

1. Find a system and follow it consistently. (I sort all my wash on Wednesday night. I sort them in 8 baskets…whites, whites, jeans, lights, darks, bath towels, cleaning towels, delicates.

2. Get your family's help. Make each person responsible for transporting their clothing to and from the place were you sort.

3. Let children help you with the laundry. It's the best way for them to learn. (I am learning to do this one…I have not been able to master it yet!!!)

4. Do all your laundry in one day OR in two. (I just cut back to once a week and love it.)

5. Make sure your hampers have no lids...this makes it easy to put dirty clothes where they belong.

6. Have a hamper in everyone’s room. .

7. Help teach everyone in the family to make a decision about each piece of clothing as they get undressed. There are two options: clean you return to drawer or closet and if it’s dirty then the hamper.

8. Keep a backup supply of detergent, softener and stain remover. Whenever it’s on sale stock up.

I hope this helps with your wash day!! Have a great and organized weekend!!

Homework: Organize half of your laundry room.

***Sorry my pictures turned out fuzzy...but you get the idea!!

An Organized Garage is in your FUTURE

So when you go out in the garage, are you stumbling over bikes, fishing gear, camping tents and boxes filled with junk while your car sits in the driveway? If your garage looks like a rummage explosion just happened...it's time to schedule some time to organize the garage. You may even be able to put your car in its HOME…and find that baseball mitt that's been missing for five years!!!

***When you clean your garage, take everything out and put it in the driveway. Clean and sweep out garage, and check items for damage.***

1. Sort through the clutter. Discard what's broken and sell anything that you're not using.

2. Concentrate on reorganizing the stuff you want to keep. Group things together. For example, store your tools together, camping equipment together, and what ever else you can group together.

3. Use large stackable plastic bins to keep certain items such as, Holiday decorations, clothes that older children have grown out of, etc. I like to also color coat mine. Red and green for Christmas, orange and black for fall, Etc.

4. Attach shelves or cabinets to your garage walls, or put up freestanding units. Store the heaviest items on the lowest shelves. I also like to hang shelves on all three walls above car-roof height.

5. Hang rakes, brooms, shovels, garden tools, and other flat items on the walls

6. Hang bikes on hooks from the ceiling or along the side of the garage.

7. Build a low storage platform that the hood of your car slides under if you're really pressed for space. Use it to stash stuff in what would otherwise be empty air (unless you're hanging your bikes there).

I also like to put old rugs in my garage so I can wipe my feet off before I get in the car or go in the house.

Tip***DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT use your garage to store things until you can put them away properly.

Make sure everything has a HOME in your garage!!!

How to Cheat at Organizing

I hope you all had a great and organized weekend!!!

When it comes to tackling clutter, its okay to “cheat” or take shortcuts. Instead of worrying about being a perfectionist, try for simple, real-life solutions that work for you.

Jeff Bredenber, author of How to Cheat at Organizing came up with 4 ways to make organizing a little easier…

***I like to call them the 4 S’s***

• Strip: Pull everything out of the cluttered storage area, pantry and closet so you can assess what you have.
• Scrap: From foods you never eat to clothes you never wear, throw away the stuff that is "no longer good, no longer relevant to your here-and-now life,”
• Sort: Put like things with like. "Cluster them together into easily understood groupings," he says.
• Store: Return items back into their appropriate storage areas using proper storage bins and boxes.

This is another great way of tackling your drawers, cupboards, closets, and more.

***On Wednesday find out how to tackle your garage!!!***