Fall Cleaning Series: Day 2 - Taming the Paper Monster

Getting Household Papers Organized

Today, I shifted my attention from my kitchen to my living room. My living room is the space in which we spend most of our day . . . when we aren't cooking or eating. Our television, computer, desks, bookshelves, video games, and one wonderfully ancient denim sofa are in our living room. We also enter our home into our living room.

Before I could do anything with the room, I had to start with the papers.... I had papers collecting on top of my printer, papers on my desk, papers on my computer desk, papers on the coffee table . . . papers pretty much everywhere. They were about to form a paper monster and eat me alive. They had to be conquered.

The Paper Monster

I figured out that I was dealing with my own paper monster.

Neat Paper Monster

While I love checking out Neat's amazing paper scanners, I have a lot of papers that I want to keep on hand.  I have a set of working files, but not all of the working files were working.  Here is how you can separate your files into three groups.

Permanent Files

Working Files

Weekly Files

Permanent Files

The Permanent Files are in my filing cabinet upstairs.  Our finances are filed according to Ric Edelman's guide.  I have the rest according to what our papers can be grouped into easily.  Each person/couple will have a different set of file labels.  I have a home business, others will have files on their careers.  I have a file for homeschool records, many others will have a file for each year of school their child goes through.  Your permanent files are files that you need to have, but do not need to access frequently.  Perhaps once a year or less.

Working Files

Working Files are files that you need to access more frequently.  They may pertain to a project that you are working on.  Bills that need to be paid monthly.  You might keep your address book pages in this box/cabinet.  You want them nearby, but you don't need to get at them all the time.  These should be labeled clearly and have useable information inside.  If you have your bills inside, you need to include a printable tracker that helps you to know when your bills need to be paid and where you can record when you paid the bill.  If you have yearly goals, you may want to keep a file on your goals and review them monthly to stay on track.  Working files need to be workable.

Weekly Files

Weekly Files are those files that you will access every week and contain papers that you will use continually.  You need these papers filed and labeled so that you are able to wrap your mind around your tasks.  Without Weekly Files you accumulate papers and add more papers to the papers that are out . . . "because you are working on them."  Even papers that are a part of weekly planning need a job.

This is where my "Working Files" were failing.  I had my Permanent Files and Working Files, but I didn't have Weekly Files.  I just made a pile of all the papers that I was currently working on.  Then I added more papers to my pile that still needed to be worked on, then more papers on top of that, until I forgot what was underneath the pile.  I was overwhelmed by feelings of fear due to this paper monster.  Let me explain . . .

The Fear of 'Things Left Undone'

"The papers in my house began to scare me.  However, I have come to realize that it isn't the need to organize the papers that evokes my panic, but the fear that I might discover things left undone, items on my to do list that I never finished, or even worse, people that I've disappointed by not following through.

As I go through my papers and remember tasks that became forgotten, I have to give myself grace. I don't remember every task every time. I don't follow through with everything that I commit to with the best intentions. I will hope to do better next time, but today . . . I just really need these papers to get organized."

Have you discovered box file folders?  They hold more files helping you organize.



Taming the Paper Monster

I have all of my files separated out, filed, and for the most part put away.  I've made a huge step in taming my paper monster.  I still need to go through my labels, add a few more files (such as one for to do lists), but I have a great start.  Organization doesn't really have an end.  You keep organizing and reorganizing your life because life never stops changing and we never stop growing.  Take a look through your papers and see if you can't figure out a better system of paper control for your home.

Day 1 - Conquering the Kitchen

Day 2 - Taming the Paper Monster

Fall Cleaning Series: Day 1 - Conquering the Kitchen

Organizing the Kitchen

When I begin my Fall Cleaning, I normally start in the room that is impacting my life the most.  I exist in the kitchen during the Fall and Winter.  I cook all of the time and I prepare broths (visit Boholistic Mom for more details on broths).  My husband loves to bake and enjoys preparing food in the kitchen.  This is an important room.

Thus when I considered starting a Fall Cleaning Series on my Blog and cleaning my own home, I'm starting in the kitchen.  If this room is not your greatest need, feel free to start elsewhere and come back to this post.

Tips for Conquering the Kitchen

1 - Have Supplies

You need the tools of the trade.  You want to have what you need to really get the entire kitchen clean.  Keep these handy tools on hand:

Ceiling Brush

Duster

Glass Spray Bottles

Apple Cider Vinegar (some of the white vinegars have petroleum added)

Paper Towels and/or Cloth Towels

Baby Bottle Brush (for long glasses and vases)   

Scouring Pad

Trash Can

Recycling Can

Broom

Dust Pan   

Mop

Mop Bucket

2 - Be Systematic

You can't piddle about kitchen cleaning.  If you do a little here and a little there, you'll never keep on track.  You have to have a plan and stick with it.  My favorite method is going from the top of the kitchen to the bottom of the kitchen cleaning and organizing.  This keeps me on task and helps me complete the entire kitchen rather than just parts.

If you need a plan, check out the Kitchen Cleaning Checklist on my Etsy Shop:

Kitchen Cleaning Checklist | Designing Life

3 - Work Isn't Bad

If you really want to get your Fall Cleaning done, you have got to stop thinking of cleaning/organizing as bad.  It's a part of life that has to be done repeatedly.  When we consider cleaning and organizing as something to be avoided at all costs, we hinder our progress and even more so . . . we never begin.  Keep a positive attitude when you take on a cleaning project.  This is your project and you want to see the fruit of your labors.

4 - Avoid Choking

Personally, I get winded and can't continue when I use conventional cleaning progress.  If I pull out the bleach and the degreaser and the mopping solution or whatever other product that companies have created, I choke and I stop cleaning.  I get dizzy!

Let me propose something to you . . . you don't need ANY of those products for cleaning your kitchen.  The companies created these products to "make cleaning easier" and to "disinfect every germ," but really . . . they just want you to pay them $3 or more a pop to buy something that you don't really need.  Vinegar is a GREAT cleaning product.  It disinfects.  It degreases sufficiently.  In the absence of vinegar, I've even used water to clean my stovetop.  Water and some elbow grease.  Remember, work isn't bad!!!

My other favorite product is Young Living's Thieves Household Cleaner.  I use it to clean my trash cans, the stove top, my dining room table, and my counters.  It smells fantastic and it doesn't choke me!  Keep breathing and cleaning by using non-toxic cleaning products and save some money at the same time.

(Note: I do sell Young Living, so if you buy it I will benefit from your purchase.  Thanks for supporting my blog!  My YL # is 1620234)

5 - Persevere

If you don't have time to complete the entire kitchen in one day, then plan to devote more time the next day to finish your project.  It's easy to devote a day and then say, "that was my day, all done!" whether or not the project is truly done.  Make a day of it . . . then make another.  You won't regret having a spotless and organized kitchen that encourages you to feed your family and smile doing it.

Happy cleaning!!!

Ciao,

Brooke

Designer/Organizer/Essential Oil Lover/Crunchy Mom

Designing Life Blog

Designing Life on Etsy

Designing Life on Facebook

Boholistic Mom

Boholistic Mom on Facebook

Disclosure:

I am a part of Amazon affiliates, so when you click and purchase from the links I make money.  Cool, right?  Thank you for your support.

Dry All Night Printable



I heard about the book Dry All Night: The Picture Book Technique That Stops Bedwetting by Alison Mack last month.  We, like most families, have had trouble with figuring how to help our child figure out how to stop peeing in the bed at night.  Honestly, no one talks about it.

I had my son in cloth diapers from newborn until three years old, but all of the sudden the cloth diapers weren't enough.  The soakers weren't enough.  Nothing was enough.  I had done my motherly service by keeping the chemical laden diapers from my toddler's tushy and all of the sudden I'm forced to put him into pull ups.  Either that or let him wet the bed.  Every night.  Sheets to launder every day.  Are those really choices?

Honestly, I wish they had a younger version of this book.  Dry All Night is great, but younger children of age 4 and 5 haven't developed a sense of shame over wetting the bed unless a parent has shamed them.  The book has the little girl acting ashamed about her peeing in bed.  At 6 or 7 when they are in school, they start to think they are the only ones and are ashamed to have this 'bad habit.'  The book is more for children around 6 or 7.  Still, it's extremely helpful regardless for the technique and visualization exercises.

Maybe I'll write my own e-book soon for children who are younger and need help thinking through how to control their bladder muscle.

Since Dry All Night was written in 1989 there are no current resources for this book.  There is a chart in the book, but, honestly, it's a little boring.  I googled "Dry All Night SCOREBOARD" to see if I could find a copy of the chart in the book, but it isn't online.  So I designed a new one with a splash of color.  If you happen to have sought out this book in a desperate attempt to help your child to gain control of their bladder muscle . . . I hope this is a huge help to you.

The above graphic is just the jpeg file:

 

Click here to download the boy's version in green.

Click here to download the girl's version in green and pink.

Please remember that this is my design of the chart in the book and as such you need to link back to my blog in order to share the file ethically.  Thank you for remembering this.

 

Also, if you love this printable and found it useful, please check out my Etsy Shop full of other useful and stylish printables.

 

Ciao,

Brooke