This is my binder now.  I’ve tweaked this binder so many times over the past year and finally feel like I have something that works well for me.  That’s the great thing about a binder like this.  You can customize it to meet your needs.  The important thing is having a place to “dump your brain” so that you don’t have to think about things anymore.  It’s all right in front of you.

First you need a cute cover page.  Ellie drew this picture of us under a rainbow.  She gave it to me in October, hence the ghost.  I think the two of us look simply stunning so I wanted it in a place I would see often.  :)  Once you have a cover page that makes you smile, you can focus on organizing the categories in your binder to make it work well for you.  Here is how I organized mine:

Week at a Glance – On the first page in my binder (you can kind of see through the red folder above) I have the days of the week listed and set activities/things I need to remember.  These are things that always happen on that day each week.  Examples: the days my girls have library and need to take their books to school, the days they have activities like dance and gymnastics, the days it’s my turn to do pick-up because I carpool with neighbors.  I glance at this page each night before I go to bed to remember the set in stone things for the following day.  Then I look in my planner to see if there are any additional appointments or activities (there always are!) that fill up the rest of my day.  Now I know what the next day looks like for me.  This “week at a glance” page helps me a lot.  Now there will never be a time that I space a weekly activity or forget that I have after school pick-up.  My brain isn’t cluttered trying to remember the details of each day.  It’s written right in front of me!

Shopping for – My next tab is titled “shopping for” and this might seem a little crazy to some of you but here’s my deal.  I’m not good at meal planning.  I’m not one of those people who can plan out a weeks’ worth of meals and only go to the grocery store once.  I go to the grocery store about every three days which works fine for me because it’s close by and easy to pop in while the girls have dance class or after I take them to a friends’ house.  My other issue is that I buy my groceries/household items at three different stores – grocery store, Target, and Costco.  I also always have items I always need/want at the mall and other random places so here’s what works for me:

Sticky notes!  I always have four on a page.  These are my “running lists” of things I need to buy.  The great thing about using sticky notes is that when it’s time to make a Target run I can just pull off my Target sticky note and toss it in my purse so I don’t forget anything.  I know this wouldn’t work for someone who has a long list of groceries, but like I said, I go often so this works for me.

Current Projects – A list of the current projects I’m working on.  These are things that I’m focusing on right now so currently I have my “to organize” list on the top page and a few other projects that are in the works on the following pages.

When Kole is napping and I find myself with a little free time, I glance at my planner to see if there is something that HAS to get done.  If not (or once those to-do’s are checked off) I turn to this “current projects” section of my binder and work on something here.

Future Projects – Any time I have an idea for a project – a gallery wall somewhere in the house, a lemonade stand for the girls, what ever it is – this is where I write it down.  Just ideas for now.  But someday they will be moved to “current projects.”

Post Ideas – This is where I tend to “dump my brain” the most.  Ideas for blog posts are always popping into my head.  When I’m exercising, when I’m driving, when I’m typing another blog post!  The ideas are never ending.  Finding the time to implement all of my ideas is another story.  But at least I have a set place to write them all down!

Post Schedule – This is a category I’m trying for the first time this year.  The two areas of my life I’m NOT organized in – meal planning (cause I hate cooking so planning to cook just isn’t appealing) and my blog!  I am so fly by the seat of my pants where this blog is concerned.  I never know what I’m going to post until I sit down the night before.  I look at my recent pictures and somehow always manage to come up with something.  I know bloggers who are so organized!  Have their posts planned and typed out a week or two in advance.  Wow.  That would be nice.  While I don’t think that will realistically happen for me (and in some ways I enjoy blogging present time anyway) I would like to be a little more organized in this area.  I just have a blank calendar page for each month in this section of my binder where I can jot down an idea of what to post each day.

Birthdays – I like to keep a list of each month and any birthdays I need to remember.  I know this information pops up on facebook and your cell phone and all over the place, but I like a written list in my binder so that I can plan ahead.  I glance at it at the beginning of each month so that I know who I need to get gifts for and when I need to deliver or mail them.

Miscellaneous Information – I always have a “random” spot in my binder for those extra items that always pop up.  I love my current tab dividers (from Target) that have a folder included on each one so that I have a place to store any papers/forms I need to keep close by.  This is where I also have a list of my goals for the year.

That’s it for my time management binder!  I know this is custom to me and my needs, but hopefully it still gave a few of you some ideas for how you could make something like this work for you.  I’m a firm believer in dumping your brain out on paper!   Life is busy and I’ve learned I just can’t rely on my memory for everything.  If something doesn’t get written down, it doesn’t get done.

And since we’re talking binders, here are a couple more I also keep close by:

Then when you open each tab it not only has a place to write down birthdays, but it also has a pocket to hold cards.  I love this because I always buy multiple cards at a time.  (I do this because picking out cards is SO hard to do with little ones!  If I am ever in a Hallmark by myself I stock up!)  If I see a card I love for my dad, I buy it, even if his birthday is months away.  I save it in his birthday month pocket and then when his birthday comes rolling around I’m prepared!  I still like having my binder list for a quick glance because my binder is always with me and I keep this card book upstairs.  A book like this would be SO easy to make on your own.  Just buy a binder and tabs and use it the same way!

Now they are still with us, but not all over my house.  When the girls want to get out some new “friends,” they are easy to pull out and find.  The rule is that if they are taking some out, they are putting some back in.  Of course, if there are a few toys that never get pulled back out… well… let’s just say I don’t have the same problem my girls do “letting go.”  I know this isn’t a perfect solution, but I think it will work great for us.  (Hope that helps Lucy!)

So I’m feeling good!  Two items checked off my list!  That’s a good thing.  Lots still left to organize.

{Getting organized}
1) Don’t let organizing your home overwhelm you. The thought of organizing your whole house can be so overwhelming. Don’t let it be. Start small. Pick one drawer or area that’s really bothering you and start there. One way of tackling your house is to walk around and make a list. (I just love lists, don’t you?) Write down the spaces in each room that need to be organized and then pick one space/cupboard/drawer to work on whenever you have a minute. (I often organize while making phone calls.) Don’t start a new project until that space is finished. Just having a list will take some of the overwhelmed feeling away. Now your goals are written down and you have a place to start.

2) Use your space wisely. I store a lot of my holiday decor in high spots above closets because I only get them out once a year. On the other hand, my children’s most often used toys and games are stored low where it’s easy to get to them.

3) Give everything in your house a home. If you have created a specific place for everything in your home it’s much easier to put things away where they belong.

Once you’ve made a home for everything, labels are a great way to help you remember where things belong.

4) Organize things in a way that makes sense for your family and the way you live. For example, for a long time I had all of our baking supplies (flour, sugar, etc.) on the main shelf in my pantry. I also had a whole shelf dedicated to cook books. Cook books that had a layer of dust on them. I’ll be honest, I don’t love to cook and with my kids around, we are reaching for the crackers and pasta more than anything else in our pantry. It makes sense for us to have those items on the easy to reach middle shelf in the pantry and the baking goods up higher for the rare occasion that I actually use them. (I tossed out all my cook books except one or two that are stored in a drawer.) Someone who cooks and bakes a lot would organize their pantry another way. Websites and magazine articles are great places to get organization ideas, but don’t just copy what someone else is doing. Organize your home in a way that is functional for the way you live and it will be much easier to keep things organized.

5) The most important thing to remember when organizing: If you want to be organized, you have to be able to let things go. Get rid of it! Seriously. You’ve maybe heard “when in doubt, don’t.” Well my motto with organizing is “when in doubt…DO!” If you’re not sure about whether or not you can part with something, trust me, you can. You might think “what if I need this someday?” Chances are you won’t, but what if you did? Would it be so awful if you got some flowers and needed that vase you’d been storing for three years and then trashed? Could you put the flowers in something else you had on hand? What about your closet? Are you saving clothes for when you lose weight? If you lose weight you’re going to buy new jeans, not wear the ones you’ve been saving for four years since you had a baby. Get rid of it! When keeping things for “sentimental value,” be smart. Do you really need to save every drawing your kindergartner comes home with? Would one or two be enough to remind you of her year in school…or even better, a picture of several of her drawings for her scrapbook?  Being able to let things go is so invigorating! It’s just stuff. And we’re always buying new stuff. Less really is more. Use the space in your house to keep only the things that you use or love.

{Staying organized}
1) Teach your family the importance of having a clean, organized home. If your family isn’t on board, forget about it! There is only one you and you will never be able to keep things organized on your own. Teach your kids how to put things away in the place you’ve created for them. My girls know that when it’s clean up time there is a select place for their barbies, books, dress-ups, etc. Time and time again I have gone over where we keep their things so that now it is second nature for them to put things where they belong. {Getting them to do this without being asked? Don’t have the answer for that one. :)} Assign clear responsibilities for keeping the house clean and give consequences when they’re not accomplished. (My girls’ toys get taken away if they aren’t put back where they belong.)

2)  Take the initiative to put things away where they go and teach your family to do the same. Keeping something organized takes constant work and upkeep. Once you’ve organized and made a place for something, put things away in that place! How many time do we set something down and think, “I’ll just put this here for now.” Resist the urge! It usually takes only a few seconds longer to put something away it its place vs. just setting it somewhere it doesn’t belong. Not procrastinating and consistently putting things away where they belong will lead to a clean, organized home.

3) Take a minute to straighten up your organized space the second it starts looking messy. If you do this, you will avoid having to completely re-organize your home time and time again. My fridge, for the most part, stays clean and organized. That is because every time I buy groceries, I do a “mini cleaning”. I pull out things that are getting old, wipe off a shelf or two, put new groceries in their designated spot, etc. When Kenny comes in with the mail I immediately go through it, toss out the junk mail and file everything else – or I bug Kenny until he does it. (Being a great organizer sometimes means being a great nagger ;)

4) Think before you buy new things. When I’m about to make a new purchase, I always ask myself two questions: Do I have space for this? Is it something that I will really use or will it just be more clutter in a few weeks? Many times I have put something back after asking myself these two questions (especially when I’m about to buy the girls a new toy!). Thinking ahead about how you’ll organize new things you buy will not only help you keep your house clutter free, it will also help you make smart purchases.

5) Choose every day to stay organized. Keeping things organized is a daily choice we make. It’s just like choosing what to eat. If you want to be healthy, you have to change the way you eat. You have to consistently make healthy food choices. Just like you can’t participate in a one time diet and expect to always stay thin, you can’t organize a closet and then pat yourself on the back and expect it to magically stay that way. (I know this because I’ve tried!) You have to consistently put things away where they go and take that extra minute to keep everything organized.

When your house is full of clutter so is your brain. Simplifying your home will bring so much peace. Life will run more smoothly and you’ll have more time and energy to focus on what’s really important – your family – the very ones who make it so incredibly difficult to keep things organized! :)

Happy Organizing Everyone!

p.s.  Want to see how I organize my home?  
Click on the sun below for links to all of my organized spaces.