If I learned one thing from this back room project, it’s that I didn’t need to wait until I could devote an entire weekend to it. In the past 26 weeks, never did I wake up on a Saturday morning and think, “I’d like to spend my whole weekend cleaning out the back room.”

When motivation struck on a Tuesday morning, I took hold of it, and I finished by Thursday. I didn’t block out a large amount of time; I worked on it a little at a time.

Before & After

I consolidated stuff into fewer boxes and sorted everything. I knew we would keep most of it. The only things that are on their way to Goodwill are a laundry basket, a planter, and a box set of VHS tapes.

It’s amazing how stuff takes up less space when it’s organized.

Progress was slow. After I piled everything in the dining room on Tuesday (you can read about that and see the “Before” photos), I didn’t see the dining room floor again until Wednesday evening. By Thursday 5:00 p.m., a few last things remained on the table. I dumped them into a bag of Miscellaneous and decided I was finished.

Back Room Makeover:

1. The Before
2. The Strategy
3. The Clean out
4. The Results!

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© 2008-2010 SmallNotebook.org (all rights reserved)
Back Room Makeover Results!

And I really meant it. But now looking at that same picture, I’m not sure why I thought it looked so bad. The boxes seem kind of organized. They all fit together like a game of Tetris.

But everything was impossible to reach. We use a lot of this stuff on a regular basis. And in the weeks following, since I knew I was going to clean it out, we became even sloppier and the mess was worse. I’d throw things in there haphazardly, “just until I clean it out,” and then slam the door quickly before something fell down.

I was hoping I could just do a little at a time. I didn’t want to commit to a full-on, drag-it-all-out, show-everybody, honest-to-goodness, do-we-need-an-intervention?, complete exposure of what was taking up space in my back room.

But every time I walked in there, stepping into the only clear spot of floor in the entire five-by-seven square foot closet (yes, it is that big)… well, I didn’t last more than ten seconds before I ran right out of there and found something else to do. It was so overwhelming.

I knew I had to empty it.

Six months later, on a rainy Tuesday morning, I decided it was time.

11:00 a.m. There is not going to be a better day than today.

11:30 a.m. I designated the dining table as my landing spot and extended it to a full seven feet. I started carrying things out of the back room and setting them on the table.

11:45 a.m. Yes, it does seem good to pull everything out. Found some trash. It will be good to vacuum the floor.

12:00 p.m. This feels exhilarating. I take pictures of the progress.

12:15 p.m. I start wondering why I’m doing this. Keep going fueled by kettle chips.

12:30 p.m. My arms are tired.  My four year old wants to see all the Christmas tree ornaments.

1:00 p.m. Almost done pulling things out. Wipe shelves and vacuum.

After two hours, my back room was a clean slate. It was glorious.

And my dining table looked like this:

Here’s a view of it from the side, just so you can see how deep it goes:

Back Room Makeover:

1. The Before
2. The Strategy
3. The Clean out
4. The Results!

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© 2008-2010 SmallNotebook.org (all rights reserved)
Back Room Makeover: A Clean Slate

Before: all the clothes piled on the floor because I had too many clothes in four different sizes. After cleaning them out and then adding a couple of things, my clothes now feel more like an ensemble rather than a mish-mash of clothes that don’t fit.

And the closet floor stays clean!

Doug’s side of the closet always stays organized. It’s so easy: you have shirts, and you have pants. All the same size and all worn year-round. I’m a little envious.

And then here’s my side, and yes it does feel a little odd to show my closet to everybody, but here it is finished!

What I like most about my side of the closet is I have room to hang up all of the summer and winter clothes together, since I have fewer clothes now. I used to keep the off-season clothes stored away and would rotate them, but that required extra work. Now I keep my maternity clothes stored away.

These hanging canvas organizers have been so handy. They’re simple to move from one apartment to the next. I use mine for shoes and sweaters, and Doug uses his for socks and underwear, sweaters and shorts. I like how easy they are to hang from the bars with velcro, so we don’t have to mount them. Every time we change apartments, we rearrange them. I really like the half-sizes, but we also have some full-length ones. The three-shelf sweater size is so versatile, and so is the shoe organizer.

In the corner behind the door we wedged dresses, scarves, and his shoes. The laundry hamper fits behind the door.

When I was going through the closet, I didn’t take it all out at the same time, but I worked in sections over a few days. It was easier to sort through just the pants and see which ones I should give away rather than face everything at once. I also took time to clean it, because closets can get rather dusty.

I cannot even tell you how much nicer it is to get dressed in the morning now!

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© 2008-2010 SmallNotebook.org (all rights reserved)
The Closet Makeunder

As I browsed through online articles about organizing, I came across a “quick and easy” tip that would help you to be more organized.

It left me, frankly, troubled.

The advice was clear: you should make a catalog of your stuff — specifically, your books, music, and movie collections. Then if you want to know what you have, you can look at your list. Keeping such a list could help you remember and prevent you from buying duplicates of a book or a movie that you already own.

Dear readers, if you need a catalog of your stuff to remember what you have, then you have too much. A glance to your bookshelf should be enough of a reminder of the books that you own.

If you’re thinking about buying something but you can’t remember if you already own it, don’t buy it. If you do own it, it’s obviously not useful or memorable enough to justify buying it again. And if you don’t have it yet, it wouldn’t hurt to wait a couple of days. Don’t let an interesting hobby of reading books, listening to music, or watching movies turn into a habit of buying and owning.

There might be a couple of instances when a list could help. Maybe a list of the stuff in your attic, since you don’t go up there much. Or maybe a list to help you remember what’s wrapped in tin foil in the bottom of the freezer. Even for insurance purposes, a photo of a collection will generally suffice.

Maintaining a catalog means sitting at your computer typing it up, formatting it, and updating it regularly. This is not true organization! Why keep a list of stuff when you can just look at your actual stuff? The list will keep you busy, yes. But productive? No.

Every effort to organize should start with the question, “What problem will this solve?” Please don’t make lists of your stuff. Let’s make sure all of our endeavors are worthwhile.

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© 2008-2010 SmallNotebook.org (all rights reserved)
Don’t Try This at Home: The Organizing Tip that Won’t Help You

The back room still looks much the same as it did a couple of weeks ago. I blink and a week goes by!

I did learn something very important:

If you want to complete several house projects, plan to work on something big and unappealing. Suddenly you will feel motivated to do all sorts of other jobs instead!

What we’ve been finishing (and a preview of what you’ll see on Small Notebook in February…)

Not to mention keeping up with this…

How I love the weekend!

May you have a happy weekend too.

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© 2008-2010 SmallNotebook.org (all rights reserved)
Back Room Makeover: Procrastinating

Three monkeys jumping on the bed.

It is time to gear up to clean out the back room, and we have something very important to decide: I’m wondering if I should pull everything out first, as many of you suggested in the comments, or if I should focus on doing a little at a time.

If I pull it all out, I’m committed — there’s no turning back. I have to get it done or else my living room will show it all.

It’s likely, however, that I will often be interrupted by two of my favorite people.

And since it’s such a big project, it might take me a long time to put everything back. Perhaps I should work on it one box at a time or so? I don’t know how long that might take.

Vote and tell me what you think:

Next: The back room becomes a clean slate.

Back Room Makeover:

1. The Before
2. The Strategy
3. The Clean out
4. The Results!

___
© 2008-2010 SmallNotebook.org (all rights reserved)
Back Room Makeover: the Strategy

That it’s really clean and clutter-free?

And everything is arranged oh so neatly, it almost looks like no one really lives there?

And then you start to wonder, “Wait… does someone live here?” Because the hangers are oddly the same distance apart, like no one ever moves them to get their coat. And where’s the messy stuff?

So you start peeking around, looking for a little mess. Or maybe a little bit of stuff jumbled up. Something, anything.

The bathroom shows signs of life, but it mostly looks untouched.

And then you find that even the glue has it’s own drawer, and there’s another drawer for seed packets.

Doesn’t that seem weird?

Doesn’t everybody, no matter how neat or clutter-free they are, have at least one place of messiness in their home?

Somewhere in the deep, dark recesses of the house, a place where clutter can thrive?

We call ours the back room.

It’s the kids’ bedroom closet, but since it’s spacious at five by seven square feet, we use it for general storage.

Lately we’ve been tossing stuff back there. It’s gotten bad.

And I’m going to clean it out.

Next: Should I pull everything out or do a little at a time?

Back Room Makeover:

1. The Before
2. The Strategy
3. The Clean out
4. The Results!

___
© 2008-2010 SmallNotebook.org (all rights reserved)
Back Room Makeover: the Before

For many of us, getting organized is the fun part. We love buying materials for new craft projects. We love school supplies. We’ll make our lists and schedules, and even organize our recipes.

We’ll spend all of our time planning and getting ready, but then starting to work on those projects stumps us. So what do we do? We organize some more.

If you’ve wondered why some people are so productive, how they manage to finish those projects and accomplish so many things, it’s not just because they’re organized. Being organized is not enough; you also need to be willing to take chances and try something that is hard. You have to be willing to start.

• Cut into that fabric even if the finished piece won’t be as pretty as you imagined it.
• Bake that new recipe even if it flops and the whole thing winds up in the trash.
• Send that difficult email instead of organizing your email inbox first.

We often think about organization in terms of appearance: if it looks pretty, if it looks calm and orderly, if you can find what you need, then it’s organized. But organization is every bit as much about usefulness as it is about appearance, and something is only useful if you use it.

Sometimes organizing masquerades as productivity, when it is often another form of busyness. Don’t let organization be a tool for procrastinating something that is hard to start.

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© 2008-2010 SmallNotebook.org (all rights reserved)
Sometimes Getting Organized is a Big Fat Waste of Time

I love to cook and I love to bake. Almost as much as I love to eat.

I have a ton of recipes. Some are old family recipes passed down from my great-grandparents, others are from pages of magazines or printed from the Internet. Over the years I have tried a number of different ways to keep track of and organize our recipes but nothing ever felt right.

Rachel has written about organizing her recipes electronically using Evernote and I really wish I could make it work for me, but I just can’t.

Here are a few things I’ve tried.

Spread sheet on-line

Pros:

• These are relatively easy to maintain and edit to include your own notes and modifications.
• Not so good recipes can be deleted from your collection with the press of a button.
• It’s neat and legible for everyone.
• The search functionality is fantastic.

Cons:

• You need to print off recipes to refer to while you’re cooking or;
• You need to have a computer within close proximity to the kitchen.
• It’s a bit cold and lacks personality.

Binder with clear sheet protectors

Pros:

• Keeps recipes flat and ordered.
• Spills and splatters can be wiped off.
• Easy to re-order recipes and insert new ones.

Cons:

• Not all recipes are printed on the same size paper. You may need to fold some, while others float around.
• Binders are typically tall and so they take up a lot of vertical space.

Spiral notebook

Pros:

• All recipes are contained in one neat little book.
• Doesn’t take up a lot of room.
• You can number the recipes and create an index at the front which makes finding recipes a snap.

Cons:

• If you don’t like a recipe it’s tougher to get rid of it. Especially if you write on both sides of the page.
• It’s difficult to insert new recipes especially if you’re sorting by category.
• Difficult to share individual recipes with others. You need to transcribe it for them or give up your whole notebook.

Kicking it old school: Recipe Cards

All of these organizing methods have brought me full circle, back to the good-old-reliable recipe cards. I think there’s a reason they’ve been used for the past several decades. I love looking through my Grannie and Grandpa’s recipe box and seeing old family favorites as well as ones I have yet to try. They have such personality. Aged from years of living in the kitchen, handwritten, stained and grease marked — a sure sign of dishes held near and dear.

Pros:

• One recipe to one card. These can be edited, re-written and modified easily.
• They don’t take up a lot of space.
• Inexpensive.
• You can easily insert a new recipe when sorting into categories.

Cons:

• They become messy with food splatter, grease marks and stains.
• Ink may fade with time.
• Can get out of order if not everyone is on board with your system.

Old school recipe cards are pretty tough to beat. Your handwriting adds warmth and personality even if it’s not perfect. Remember that the recipes you write out today may be fondly admired by your grandchildren years from now.

(from Rachel: Okay, I’m convinced. Even though my recipes are on the computer, I’m going to copy my favorite ones on to recipe cards, and maybe tape them to the inside of the cabinet door for quick glances.)

Sherri Kruger writes at Zen Family Habits, a blog celebrating all things family. She’s a stay at home mom of two and also writes at her personal development blog dedicated to sharing simple tips to enjoy life.

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© 2008-2010 SmallNotebook.org (all rights reserved)
Organizing Recipes: Kickin’ It Old School

(Photo of my popup paper dollhouse)

Recently I received an email from a reader with a question:

When I read that, my first thought was, “Yes, I wish I knew that too.”

Small children can divert and change the best-laid plans. If I were to write my routine on poster board with a permanent marker, I’d have to tear it up as soon as I finished, because it would need to be different. Truthfully, I resist having my days carved up into a tight schedule, but a routine can be quite useful.

Instead of having a schedule that would be ignored day after day in real life, I follow a daily routine of touchstones — key elements to mark a successful day.

* Wake up early. It’s essential. I wake up so much earlier now than I did before, but it’s still not early enough to beat the kids. It seems like they hear me and wake up too. I downloaded a free eBook called Maximize Your Mornings. This book shows you how to get up early, read your Bible and exercise before the day begins. Its practical tips are incredibly motivating.

* Start the laundry first thing in the morning. The sooner I get it started, the sooner I can put it away so it’s not a pile of clean laundry waiting to be jumped in and poured out on the floor.

* Make the bed. An unmade bed is like wearing sweatpants, but a made bed makes me feel ready for the day.

* Play outside. If it’s warm enough, kids can run off excess energy in the morning.

* Eat lunch. This one is hard for me while I’m trying to take care of the baby, but I want to be refueled by nourishing foods.

* Afternoon rest time. Lane stays in her room and hopefully takes a nap. I still can’t convince both kids to go to sleep at the same time.

* Early dinner. If dinner is postponed, it throws off the evening routine, makes everything feel rushed, and results in late bedtimes.

* Pick up and wash dishes. I try to do this every night before I collapse into bed.

Everything else settles in between these daily markers. I might have planned to work on something, but then the baby needs extra care, and before I know it an hour has passed by. I keep a list of weekly tasks and another of unique to-do’s, and I try to do some of both each day so I feel like the basics are taken care of, but I also make progress on special projects. We are at home most days, and I run errands or do grocery shopping one afternoon a week.

What are the kids doing?

Lane doesn’t like to play by herself very much, so I try to involve her in what I’m doing.

If I’m cleaning, then she walks around with a spray bottle full of water and a dish towel. If I’m baking, then she either helps me or I pour some salt into a bowl and let her play with the measuring spoons.

Sometimes she watches a movie. Sometimes she’s in my closet trying on my clothes.

The baby is always close by, watching me, or I’m carrying him in a sling.

One of my favorite parts of living in an apartment is that both kids are always within earshot, and I don’t have to wonder what they are doing.

What about a cleaning routine?

I think a cleaning routine needs to be changed regularly to keep it fresh and appropriate. I always do the same daily basics such as dishes and laundry, but my cleaning routine varies according to our family’s current needs.

At times I do all of the house cleaning in a few hours during one afternoon, but these days that is exhausting and impractical. I’ve also divided up the tasks between days of the week and that works well too. These days I know what needs to be done, and if I have a good moment I just look around and see what looks the worst, and then I do that.

Overcoming Challenges

A couple of years ago, I knew my daily barriers were:

1. Feeling tired and grumpy.
2. Being over-ambitious in planning.
3. Procrastinating and not taking advantage of short time increments.

Now I feel I’ve succeeded in overcoming those. I get enough rest by going to bed early. I stopped drinking sodas so I have more consistent energy during the day. I don’t try to plan too much, even though I do have days when my to do list doesn’t get done, and I have to move things to the next day. I’ve learned to stay busy and do things when I have the chance, because I know that getting a solid block of two hours to concentrate just isn’t going to happen.

Now one of my challenges is to be able to shift gears once things are quiet, because I am so used to having my attentions divided and staying up and busy.

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© 2008-2010 SmallNotebook.org (all rights reserved)
My Real-Life, Practical Daily Routine