Archives for May 2023

5 Summer Organization Tips: How To Organize Your Home For The Summer

As a former teacher, summer was always my favorite season for the obvious reason! After 10 months of pouring into students, I was able to rest and reset for 8 weeks during the summer. In addition to resting and spending time with my family, the summer was also the perfect time to complete summer organization activities.

By completing home summer organization activities, I reset my home with tasks that allow my home to be organized well into the fall and winter months!

google summer of code organization

1.Clean Out Your Garage

Often our garage is the place where we throw items with no plan to address the items. We all know the quote “Out of sight, Out of mind.”

If we have guests coming over and we need to declutter items quickly where do we place items? The garage.

If we purchase new items and want to temporarily discard of the old items, where do we place the items? The garage.

If we have items that we are on the fence about keeping or donating where do we place the items? The garage.

As so, our garages can often look like a landfill! With warmer weather during the summer, take the time to pull items out of your garage making final decluttering decisions about the items in your garage that have been temporarily placed there or items you no longer use.

Decide to sell, donate, throw away, or find a new home in your house for the items.

summer games organization

2.Swap out your clothes

As the weather becomes warmer, take the time to organize your closet by swapping out your winter clothes for lighter summer clothes.

Include coats, jackets, sweater, gloves, etc in the items that you swap out and pack during the summer months.

As you swap out your clothes, this is the perfect time to declutter items from your closet. If you have clothes that you did not wear during the winter season, consider selling or donating the item. This is the perfect time to give away any winter clothes that have not served a purpose for you in some time.

This may be clothes that no longer fit, you no longer wear, or no longer fit your current lifestyle.

I recently left my job as a teacher. During my ten years of teaching, I accumulated a vast amount of teacher t-shirts. In my current position, my daily outfits require me to wear business casual outfits.

As a result, I have given away the majority of the t-shirts as they no longer serve my current lifestyle.

By giving away the clothes during the summer months, months will pass before you think about any of your winter clothes which will lessen your attachment to the items.

When storing your winter clothes, use a bin that you can label and place in your home or garage.

If you don’t have a space in your home or garage where you can place the items, place your winter clothes in the back of the closet.

Under-the-bed storage is also a great place to store your winter clothes.

3. Plan lighter meals

Home organization includes the management of your home. For me, this includes weekly meal planning.

During the summer months when I plan for the week’s meal, I plan for lighter meals.

My summer meals often include fresh vegetables as many fruits and vegetables are in season and readily available.

Cooking with fresh fruits and vegetables also decreases the need for me to cook on the stove which is a plus as Tennessee summer temperatures are often in the 90s!

This is also a great time to utilize your grill if you have one.

Gathering Dreams has over fifty summer ideas for dinners. Many of the ideas include fresh vegetables and can be cooked in 30 minutes or less.

4. Declutter your rooms

We mentioned that summer is the perfect time to declutter your winter clothes and garage. Summer is also a good time to go through the rooms in your home, decluttering any items that you haven’t used in some time.

This will give your home a lighter feel which is perfect for the warmer months.

Look for items that you have not used in awhile, items that are worn or broken, and items that you have.

summer closet organization

5. Create A Summer Calendar

The summer is often the busiest season of the year.

Summers are often filled with weddings, graduations, vacations, barbecues, and so many other fun activities.

To be sure that you don’t miss out on any of the fun, create or keep your calendar up to date with the summer activities that you and your family will participate in.

If you have kids who will be out of school for the summer, create a daily schedule for them! Although they deserve downtime, summer structure and routines are always beneficial.

Final Thoughts

Summer is my favorite season (fall is a close call) of the year!

With longer days, I am able to spend time with the family and complete summer organization activities. I also love that I can take care of summer organization tasks in sunny weather which boosts my mood.

Plus with the kids at home, I have extra hands that make the organization projects go by quicker.

What summer organization tasks do you complete each year?

SHHH… Secrets For An Organized Home-Free Printable!

10 Ways To Keep Your House Clean

Categories: Cleaning And Tidying

10 Ways To Keep Your Home Clean

Having a home that is consistently clean can seem intimidating. However, if you put in the effort and create systems that work for you and your family, keeping a clean home will become an effortless routine! It will require time, habits, and planning but I promise that it is possible and most importantly worth it. With a clean home, you will experience less stress, create a calm environment in your home, and gain back time in your day. With that being said let’s jump in and discover 10 ways to keep your house clean!

1.Declutter Ruthlessly

The best tip that I have learned in keeping a clean house is to have fewer items to clean!

The more things that I had in my home the harder my home was to clean. I was constantly trying to organize and find space for items which was an endless cycle. When I begin to declutter and remove items from my home, the time that it took to clean my home decreased drastically.

After you declutter ruthlessly, continue to declutter items in your home and monitor the items that you bring into your home. Have a designated box or bin in your home that you can quickly add items to that no longer serve a purpose in your home.

2. Have a schedule that includes daily, weekly, and monthly tasks

When cleaning your home there are things that need to cleaned daily, weekly, and monthly.

Dividing your cleaning tasks has many positive benefits. First, it allows you to create a schedule that establishes predictability. Next by chunking your cleaning activities, you reduce your stress levels as you realize that you do not have to complete cleaning task every day. Here are suggestions of daily tasks to keep your home clean.

There are also weekly and monthly cleaning tasks that you will want to complete for a clean and organized home.

Daily

Clean and clear counters

Take out the trash

Return all items to their “homes”

Vacuum (every other day)

Make your bed

Load the dishwasher

Sort and shred mail

Weekly

Complete your laundry (Include towels and linen)

Sweep and mop

Clean your bathrooms

Clean your kitchen

Declutter your refrigerator and freezer

Declutter your pantry

Clean microwave

Dust

Clean and sanitize doors and door knobs

Monthly

Check your air filters

Clean your oven

Clean your washing machine

Clean your dishwasher

3. Have a laundry schedule

Laundry can become a mountain of clutter quickly if you don’t address it!

Depending on the size of your family you will also want to create a laundry schedule to ensure that your laundry does not become overwhelming.

If you have a reset day (Click here to learn about a reset day) in your home, strive to complete all of your laundry on this day.

Schedule another day to complete a couple of loads of laundry OR you can wash a load of laundry each day.

Tip: When you wake in the morning, place a load of clothes of in the washer and dryer before you leave for work or school. When you get home, fold and put the clothes away.

4. Read The Labels Of Cleaning Products

There are thousands of cleaning products! When purchasing your cleaning products, be sure to read the labels. Most products have specific purposes. For example, some products are meant to clean, sanitize, or disinfect. While the words are often used together they are different.

Cleaning products are meant to remove dirt while sanitizing products lowers the number of germs on a service. Disinfecting kills germs on objects.

Tip: Purchase a multipurpose cleaner that often has a combination of chemicals.

5. Don’t Clean one room at a time

Cleaning one room at a time, can jeopardize your time. If you become too involved and focused on one room, you may lose track of time and not be able to clean multiple rooms.

Start with one cleaning task and complete this task in each room in your home. For example, if you are vacuuming your home, vacuum one room and go to the next room until all the rooms have been vacuumed.

Tip: Make a cleaning caddy with multipurpose cleaning items that you can move from quickly room to room.

6. Clean from the top down

When cleaning a room start from the top down. For example, if you were to dust a room in your home, you would start with the ceiling fan and dust other areas under the fan next. If you did the opposite, the dust would fall on top of an area that you previously dusted which means your cleaning would be in vail.

By starting from the top of the room and working your way down you are ensuring that you will not have to double the amount of work.

7. Make your bed every day

Complete daily habits that motivate you to accomplish other cleaning tasks in the home. Making your bed each day is a huge motivator in the area of cleaning. Start your day with making your bed and you will be inspired to clean other areas in your home.

Verywll Mind also lists other benefits that happen when individuals make their beds each day. Enhanced organization, improved focus, less stress, and a feeling of accomplishment can all occur by simply just making your bed!

Tip: Taking out the trash daily is another habit that will help you keep your house clean.

8. Make It A Family Affair

Include all of your family members in the cleaning process. When children see you cleaning at a young age, they often want to help.

Let them help!

As they become older, identify their strengths and assign them specific chores that will help with the cleanliness of the home.

9. Use Labels

To help your family members with the cleaning process, label where items belong in your home. This will help them readily know where items belong in your home which saves time and eases frustration in the cleaning process.

When labeling items and creating categories and zones for items in your home, strive to keep the categories simple.

Creating too many categories can become tedious and overwhelming especially for your family members.

Tip: If you have children in your home, use incorporate visuals on your labels. This will help them determine where items belong.

10. Keep It Simple

Lastly, we all have busy lives that require us to complete many activities and make multiple decisions in a day. When cleaning your home keep it simple!

By not complicating your cleaning process, you will be more motivated to clean your home, others in the home will understand the cleaning process (less work for you), and you will save time when cleaning your home.

Creating a schedule that incorporates a routine and breaks down your cleaning activities will also help you keep it simple.

Remember purchasing multipurpose cleaners will also help you keep it simple when cleaning multiple rooms.

Final Thoughts

This article discussed daily and practice tasks to keep your home clean.

Although we discussed 10 ways to keep your house clean, start with 1-2 habits and slowly add in additional routines.

This will allow you to not feel overwhelmed which will help the habits stick.

Feel free to detail how you will keep your home clean in the comments.

SHHH… Secrets For An Organized Home-Free Printable!

6 Incredibly Easy Tips To Keep Your Kitchen Organized

Categories: Productivity

6 Powerful and Practical Home Tips For Working Moms

Being a mom is one of the greatest gifts of all time. We have the opportunity to watch our children grow into adults who go out into the world and make a difference. More importantly, we have the opportunity to guide them, support them, challenge them, and cheer them on.

As a working mom, we are also essentially home managers of our homes. In reality, this can be hard for a working mom who only has 24 hours in a day. As a mom with three children who have different needs and who has worked since the age of 16, I see you. At times I have failed in managing our home but thankfully I have also learned strategies to help the flow of my home.

If you often feel overwhelmed and have working mom struggles below are 6 powerful but practical tips for working moms that can help you.

No matter if you are a working mom with babies, a working mom with toddlers, or a new working mom, these tips for working moms will guide you and will help you save time!

1. Have Compassion

First, before anything else have compassion and grace for yourself! As humans, we overly criticize ourselves in many areas of our lives including our home life and work life as we often set high expectations in these areas and evaluate ourselves negatively.

Although there is a time and place for self-criticism, it is important to be kind to yourself and know that you are doing a great job as a working mother.

We all are human and being perfect in all areas of life is just unrealistic! Integris Health affirms that “Perfection is not something we can actually be or achieve. It’s an illusion, a legend, a myth.”

Practice having grace and compassion for yourself by meditating and thinking about your strengths in the areas of motherhood and your career. Use those strengths to make improvements in the areas that you would like to improve in.

2. Ask For Help

Although every mom is a superhero, remember that perfection is just an illusion.

Each day we only have 24 hours to complete various tasks. As a working mom, a huge portion of those hours are devoted to your career and job which means that you will need a plan to accomplish home tasks.

While in a perfect life, we would LOVE to complete home and work tasks by ourselves, it is okay for you to ask for help!

Help may come from a spouse, family member, friend, or you may be able to outsource help. It may come from all three!

I would love to have help from family members but as a military wife, our immediate family lives 6 hours away. Currently, we outsource help and it has been a game changer for the household.

We first decided to outsource help when my husband was assigned a tour overseas. Although he had been on many deployments, during the previous deployments, I was closer to home and now our family had grown (we had welcomed our baby girl) and I became the sole parent at home to three children on top of having a career.

We hired someone to bi-weekly to deep clean our home and we also hired someone to upkeep our landscaping.

Just by outsourcing these two tasks, I was able to gain back time to spend with my family and decrease my stress levels.

While I still had to clean my home between the cleaner’s bi-weekly visits, I was able to create systems that allowed me to maintain a clean home between the cleaning company visits.

One myth that I always believed before hiring a cleaning company was that we could not afford a cleaning company. However, we used referrals and were surprised that the cost was similar to our other monthly bills.

Below are common areas to outsource.

Areas To Outsource:

Landscaping

Housekeeping/Cleaning

Home Organization

Home Maintenance

Grocery Shopping (Pick Up or Delivery)

Laundry Services

3. Schedule and Plan Everything

As a working mom, it is important to make the most out of your time. It’s also important to manage your time. A good way to do this is to utilize a planner or calendar. In the planner or calendar write down birthdays, appointments, meetings, and any other upcoming obligations.

Review your planner daily and share the appointments with others involved. For example, If I have an obligation or appointment which requires my husband to pick up the kids, he will put the event in his phone. Next, I will remind him a week before and the day before of the appointment (Don’t judge me).

To-do lists are also a great tool. As a working mom, you will make many decisions at work and home each day which is taxing on your brain. As a result, you can often forget things.

Compiling a daily to-do list helps you keep up with things that need to be completed at home. If to-do-lists work for you at home, they may also help you at work.

Tip: Don’t create a to-do list with a huge list of items to complete. You will become overwhelmed. Prioritize your tasks and try not to exceed 5 items.

4. Have A Reset Day

Schedule and choose one day out of the week, where you intentionally plan to reset your home and plan for the upcoming week. Ideally, choose a day on the weekend or you can choose a day during the week when you are off.

Remember that you have to do what works for you and your family.

In resetting your home, you are completing home tasks that will allow you to set your week up for success.

One benefit that you will immediately notice is that in resetting your week on a Saturday or Sunday you will gain time back in your weekday due to your being proactive and completing certain tasks that you would normally complete during the week.

Here are some tasks to consider including on your reset day:

Create a weekly menu and go grocery shopping or have your groceries delivered
Meal prep
Clean out your pantry and refrigerator
Laundry (Don’t forget about your linen)
Prep outfits for the week
Complete home management responsibilities (pay your bills, review your budget, review any upcoming appointments)
Clean your kitchen
Clean your bathrooms
Vacuum and dust
Clean out your work bag and children’s bookbags
Wash your linen

When my children were younger (and on a sleeping schedule), I woke up early and completed some of these tasks while they slept. Today with older children, I still wake up before everyone else to complete certain tasks (I am more productive in certain areas when I work alone).

5. Model For Your Children

If you feel overwhelmed as a working mom, you are probably juggling your career plus a huge load of housework. There will be seasons when this is the norm, especially when your children are babies and toddlers.

However, children are sponges and learn so much during their adolescent years. Teach and model for your children how to help around the home by cleaning and maintaining their spaces.

As they become older, they can be assigned chores that will help you with the housework.

Tip: Bins are excellent tools to use when teaching young children how to clean their spaces. After children are finished playing with their toys model how to clean up by placing their toys in the bins.

By placing the items in bins, you immediately reduce clutter and children are learning to pick items up and return them to their “home”.

6. Have a Strong Morning and Evening Routine

Lastly, we are what you do. If you currently feel that your home is chaotic, you may have habits that do not resemble structure.

Morning and evening routines provide so much structure in your home. By implementing a morning and evening routine in your home, your kids know what to expect each day. It also helps create a calm, organized, and time-managed environment. These aspects will always help you as a working mom as it will reduce your stress levels and build healthy habits in your children.

Final Thoughts:

This article contained tips for working moms. Remember to give yourself grace and that you are doing a great job! To improve in the area of being a working mom, try out at least one of the tips mentioned.

I would love to read some of tips that have helped you juggle motherhood and a career. If you plan on trying some of the tips for working moms, please let me know!

The Master Declutter Home Checklist: 90 Things To Remove From Your Home Now (Free Checklist)

At the beginning of this year, I watched two Popular Netflix series, Tidying Up With Marie Kondo and The Minimalism, which prompted me to start the journey of decluttering my home. A few months have passed and I have fallen head over hills in love with the results of decluttering my home! My home is less cluttered, I can tidy the rooms in my home in 15 minutes or less, and I now have extra time to complete other activities. While I didn’t have a checklist in the beginning phases of decluttering my home, a declutter-your-home checklist will help you focus during the process.

A checklist also gives you additional ideas of items that you can declutter as you complete the process. Before you scroll to see the declutter your home checklist let’s look at some of the steps that you will need to do before you actually start decluttering your home!

Create A Vision

Before you begin the process of decluttering your home, create a goal for your home by deciding what you envision for your home in terms of home organization. You may want to think and ask yourself:

Why do I have attachments to certain items in my home?

Do I have more than one of the items in my home?

Do I have broken or worn items in my home?

Do I use items in my home on a consistent basis?

Do I want to only declutter certain rooms and spaces in my home?

Do I have a specific day or timeline that I need to declutter my home by?

Ask For Help

If you are a person that works better with assistance, ask a family member or friend to help you as you declutter your home. If you work better alone and have kids, ask for help with the kids during the time that you will be decluttering your home. If that option is not available, set a time to complete decluttering tasks before your kids wake up or after their bedtime.

Prep And Set Up Your Supplies

Prepare to declutter your space before starting the actual process. Gather a trash bag for items that will be thrown away, a box for items that will be donated, given away, or sold, and another box for items that will soon have a new home inside your home. Sticky notes, index cards, pens, scissors, and tape are also needed for labeling the boxes.

Purge

Empty the space that you are decluttering, removing all the items. As you purge, assess and place your items into bags and boxes that you prepped (donate pile, sell pile, find a new home pile, and trash pile).

Next, clean the space and place the items that you will keep back in the space.

Tip: If you notice that as you place items back in the space, the space still seems decluttered, declutter and remove items from the space.

Make The Most Out Of Your Time

Set your timer for 20-25 minutes and declutter as much as you can. After the timer expires, take a 5 minute break and return to complete another round if needed.

Note:

Depending on your decluttering goals, the size of your home, and the number of items you are seeking to declutter, decluttering each space in your home may take longer than a day.

It may take longer than a week. It may take months for you to fully reach your goal.

This is totally okay! Remembers that life is a marathon and not a sprint. Celebrate the small wins and use the small wins as motivation to complete your ultimate goal.

Related Posts:

6 Benefits Of An Organized Home

How To Decorate Your Kitchen Counter Without Clutter

Now that you have a guide on how to start decluttering your home, read below and grab your declutter-your-home checklist, bringing the new vision of your home to life!

Things To Declutter In The Kitchen

Expired food and spices

Extra lids

Old kitchen gadgets

Old dishes

Coffee mugs

Worn or chipped plates

Worn or chipped casserole dishes

Old kitchen towels

Old Tupperware dishes

Expired medicines and vitamins

Items in your junk drawer

Cookbooks

Items that you have multiple sets of

Old bottles and sippy cups

Multiple syringes used for your kid’s medicines

Old lunch bags

Declutter Checklist For The Living Room

DVDs

Mail

Game Systems

Games

Puzzles

Books

Blankets

Remote controls

Papers

Mail

Candles

Magazines

Writing utensils

Home Décor

Checklist For The Bedroom

Trash

Paper and items in the nightstand

Items under the bed

Extra pillows

Bags

Books

Checklist For The Bedroom Drawer

Undergarments

Socks

Shorts

Camisoles and tanks

T-Shirts

Scarfs

Belts

Jewelry

Things To Declutter In the Closet

All clothing that you no longer wear and no longer serve a purpose

Shoes

Purses

Scarves

Hats

Belts

Ties

Plastic and store hangers

Things To Declutter In the Bathroom

Expired makeup

Duplicate or unneeded shampoo

Identical or unneeded conditioner

Duplicate or unneeded lotion

Brushes

Combs

Curling irons

Hair accessories

Toys for the tub

Old toothbrushes

Old toothpaste

Perfume and cologne

Old cleaning supplies

Tip: If you have duplicates of shampoo, conditioner, and lotion and the containers are both open combine the two liquids into one container

What To Declutter In The Office

Old papers

An abundance of pens, pencils, and office supplies

Old books

Old calendars

Planners

Things To Declutter In The Play Room

Worn Stuffed Animals

Torn toys

Toys your children no longer play with

Toys that you can rotate

Puzzles with missing pieces

What To Declutter In the Garage

Trash

Any items that you have moved from inside of the home and no longer use

Old tools

Aged paint

Lawncare equipment that no longer works or you no longer use

Sporting goods equipment that you no longer use

Seasonal items that you have not used in years

Old appliances

Old boxes (Use the boxes to place the items that you are decluttering in)

Obsolete and unused car parts

What Technology Items To Declutter

Old phones

Old tablets

Aged computers and printers

Old chargers and cords

Miscellaneous Items To Declutter

Old cards (Christmas cards, birthday cards)

Final Thoughts

Now that you have read the article, I hope that you have additional ideas and suggestions to help you start on your decluttering journey! Click HERE to access the declutter your home checklist.

Which room in your home will you declutter first?