Update

I thought I'd just hop in and update! I didn't have too much time tp be online and blog laterly. Had two little ones home with the flu, and I am not feeling well myself for a few days now. Still haven't created a launchpad, and I am behind in my recipe binder as well. I will get back soon! Stay tuned :)

Launchpad Make Over

Another post with embarrassing pictures....
A bowl full of lemons has another weekly challenge up. So here we go... This weeks challenge is to create a launchpad. And I must just say OH MY. I know that I have to do something about it (with or without challenge) and a week is probably enough to fix the worst, but not everything.... Judge yourself.

This is our entry...

In case you didn't figure it out, I did not do any extra cleaning or picking up before taking the pictures, lol. The build in dresser is overfloating with my husbands stuff, and he is still in the process of decluttering it. I figured I will help him a little with that these days to at least have a enough space to hang the claots.
I did get a small shelf to put the shoes on today, so we will no longer have to put them into the build in dresser. We also finally need a desk for my computer. We need a place to hang our keys. This is just a small brainstorming about what we need to get done by the end of this week! Check back soon for changes and updates!

The cooking part.... and a few finds at the chinese store

Before we start this, I admit I am not the best cook and probably will never be. I could blame it on my mom who didn't teach me anything, but I am straight honest when I say I was never really interested in it either. I try my best, sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don't. And when I do, well, my husband and kids reactions motivate me to continue giving my best.
I decided to create apost every now and then about what I have been cooking, at least as long as I remember to take a picture of it.

Homemade Pizza Funghi

I just realized that I forgot to take apicture of my Omelette à la forstière earlier today... Oh well:/

However, I went to the chinese store today and found a few helpful tools to get organized.

Storage Boxed for tomatoes and peppers

This is for my husband actually. A few days ago he was talking about how he needs a small dresser to put his clothes he wore once or twice in, but are still not dirty, while he would put the washed clothes in his regular dresser. I do not understand the logic, but since he doesn't want his worn clothes and his washed clothes to get mixed with each other this should solve the problem without having to buy another dresser.

I found out today that switching my computer off after using it keeps me from using it all day. I got so much done today, had dinner ready in time and the kids were all in bed at 7:15pm (what's supposed to be their regular bedtime!)! I tend to deny that I am obsessed with the computer and with being online, so we can consider this as a start, right?

So today I....

Yesterday night I realized that the drawer I keep my silverware was in an innacceptable shape. It was when I was about to go to bed, so I took a picture of this desastrous drawer first thing in the morning.

As you can see there was way too much in there, which made it hard to keep it clean. So I took everything out of there and took this picture.. Gross...

After vaccuming it and completely cleaning the drawer as well cleaning the organizing tool (which is to be put into the drawer), I spotted an old coffee box which I had kept because it was so pretty. I decided this was the perfect tool to put my wooden spoons etc in.
So here we go with the AFTER pictures...

So one more thing got cleaned and a little organized and I am happy about that. :)See you later.

Under the kitchen sink

"I am an organizing junkie" has a great 52 week challenge to get organized. I thought I'd jump in... now. You bascally chose the drawer, closet, room or area of your home you want to organize and blog about it. The author, Laura, also asked a couple of questions, so I will do my best to answer them.

1. Name ONE reason you want to get organized. It will be neat to see the variety of answers: Saving time by looking for what I need. I want to be able to know EXACTLY where I put something instead of looking for it for an hour or more.

2. What did you organize last week & were you happy with the way it turned out?

My first area is.. Under the kitchen sink, since this is one of the areas I skipped at a previous challenge. I am almost too ashamed to admit it... BUT there was a huge mess under my kitchen sink. It yould be so cluttered and disorganized I was stuggling to find what I needed. The reason why I wanted to organize it so bad is because I really need the items there daily, so having it organized will actually save me a lot of time! You don't want to see a before picture of this, do you? Noooo... You don't? Really? Well... okay then... Ready?

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You were warned.. LOL. Now, I checked those ubercool plastic bags, and realized it was old stuff my husband had put there after he finished painting the living room. It was stashed there to bring it to the recycling center ONE day. Since he went to the recycling center yesterday and the day before yesterday because he realized there was too much stuff we no longer needed or were broken and couldn't be fixed, everyhere, I figured it would be a great time to get the counter under the sink a little organized. The rags and cleaning products, well, needless to say I needed them. So I put the cleaning producs along with some pieces for my vaccumer into one plastic container, and the rags (which I still need to fold neatly), into another one. I labeled each one of the containers. This saves me so much space that I could actually put a six pack of water under the sink as well, so it is not standing somewhere on the floor or cluttering up another area. Ready for the after picture? I bet you are...

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Before I forget itm here's a picture of a premature Valentines Day gift for mister "I don't need to organize my tools because I always know exactly where I put which item, btw, do you know where I put ______????"

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NO before picture possible because I would have needed to take pictures of each and every corner of our place. He had spread his toolds just EVERYWHERE because of "ongoing projects".
Yes, I am very happy with how everything turned out and I am motivated to maintain it this way!

3. Have you had any breakthroughs or a-ha moments yet? I would love to hear them!
I guess my biggest a-ha moment was the one when I realized it actually doesn't take as much time to organize an area than I thought. My biggest reason why I didn't get really organized before was because I didn't have the time, and whenever I had the time I kept procastinating by saying that I was short on money and couldn't spend a lot on storage containers. After finishing the area under the kicthen sink, I realized that it had not taken me as much time as the total of time combined while I was looking for something and couldn't find it. Same thing for the containers. They didn't cost me as much money as new items (I'd have to buy because I can't find the ones I know I already have) would. Taking the time, and the few dollars for containers, to actually organize an area saves you more time and more money in the futur.

Motivated to join me in the 52 week challenge?

By the way, I checked the statistics of my blog and realized I am getting quite a lot of hits. I'd be glad if you could leave your link so I can visit you too! Who knows, maybe you inspire me? :)

Filling my binder

I didn't think that filling my binder would be as much fun as it actually is. The fact is I have used it each day since I created it. I am amazed at how empty my drawers are, how much papers I actually shredded and tossed. I probably need one more binder for my bills, receipts, tax papers etc. I printed out the entire calendar 2011 now, and marked in the last day of school, as suggested by Aby at "Creative Organizing". She posted a monthly checklist which I am trying to work on during this month. On top of that I just picked up the catalogs for summer vacation today. We actually *might* go to Euro Disney Resort Paris, which is only 4 hours away from where we live.
Other than that, I keep decluttering... :)

Progress

Today, I went some more through a drawer full of paper clutter and I admit I was too ashamed to take a picture. The papers I still need are in my Home Management binder, the others were shredded.
Today, I stumbeled on a blog called "Finding Joy In My Kitchen" which I will be visiting more often from now on. The kitchen is a huge hotspot, so I am happy to announce that today, DH cleared ALL of his clutter out of there and will bring it to the recycling center tomorrow. I was nagging for a while, and figured he won't clean it out if I keep nagging, so I didn't say anything for a while and voila. I guess he found it way to complicated to find his own stuff and gave in! :) Anyway, SnoWhite from "Finding Joy In My Kitchen" has some great ideas and inspired me a lot, more than she will probably know! :) So more on my kitchen progress soon here (hopefully).
Want to take a look at what I did with the toys a during the 21 day organizing challenge over at "A bowl full of lemons". There you go. Keep in mind that this pictue was taken AFTER the kids dragged a lot out again and put it back after several reminders.

Have a nice evening!

Creating a Home Management Binder

As I already told you, I am participating at the weekly challenges at "A bowl full of lemons". The first challenge is to create a Home Management Binder. I got my binder, labeler (finally!) and dividers today, while I could not find a pencil pouch in the various stores I visited.

I bought extra sheets of dividers because it would't be the first time I mess something up and get discoureaged.

The frontside of my binder.

My one and only labeler. I actually put it in a small storage container, along with the utilization guide and the extra roll of tape that came with it.

This free menu plan was found at "Free Printable Grocery List".

This weekly calendar is the one Toni from "A bowl full of lemons" used for her tutorial. You can grab your free copy there as well :)

So far, I created 10 categories: Calendar, Schedules, Menu Plan, Cleaning, Finances, Contacts, School, Medical, Services and Job. I was amazed how motivated I was to go through my cluttered drawers and sort my papers, punch holes into those I still needed and put them into my binder! I feel so much better now that I started this:)