Mission: Organization

I have a goal to organize the entire house... every cupboard, every drawer, every closet, every little place where "junk" is... before baby comes in January. Early nesting, maybe? ;] There are some days when I'd like to just accomplish it all in one day, but I think it's a far more realistic goal to do it in, say, 9 months ;] I'd say I'm doing pretty well so far! I haven't tackled any "huge" projects yet (like the attic), but a lot of closets and cupboards have been organized and I think it's fun. Everyone's level of needed organization is different, but this is what works for us. We've only lived here a year and got rid of a ton of stuff before we lived in Kenya, so we have very little "stuff" compared to the average family, I think. We're very simple and try to be frugal but I liked to be organized. I tend to be a pretty Type A/OCD/organizing freak (I like it, okay?!), so this kind of stuff is right up my alley.

Target has some GREAT bins and totes right now in their "$1 Spot" and I've been there a few times to "stock up." Organizing is only good if you have a place to put everything you are organizing :] Otherwise you end up taking everything out of a closet to organize it, only to realize there's no way to organize it as you put it back in. Some people need fancy baskets (= EXPENSIVE), and while matching baskets may look nicer, if they aren't really in view to the general public, I personally don't really care so much. :]

I thought I would share some pictures so that people with "real houses" (aka, not magazine worthy or pinned on Pinterest) would be encouraged. Looking at the big picture (organizing the whole house) seems overwhelming... but if you just start in one cupboard or one closet, it's an easier task. Smaller bites are easier to chew! 

I don't have any "before" pictures of these areas... just imagine a lot of things thrown into one place, and that will be about the gist of it :]

 [this is my "master cupboard." Home organization binder, address book, church directory, cook books, basket of pens, tape, note cards, COFFEE, mints for when the nausea strikes, extra nuks, and mixing bowls/goodies I don't know where else to put yet. Not much to be organized here, but it's an easy cupboard to just throw "stuff" into, so it looks a lot better now.]

 [This is under the sink. We don't use many chemicals at all, so it's pretty bare under here... we mostly clean with vinegar, baking soda and home made cleaners. The basket was found at Target; $3 in the $1 spot... how does that work? Haha...]

 [Hall linen closet. This is where medications, vitamins, etc go (they were stored in the kitchen in my "master cupboard," but that's right next to the oven, so I figured here was a better place for them), as well as towels, a heater/fan, humidifier, hair dryer (that I never use)... It's still pretty empty with a shelf and a half of extra space, as well as 6 drawers below it that are pretty empty. I love how much storage there is in this house!!!]

 [My bathroom drawer. The blue bin and little red baskets (came in a pack of 4) are both from Target.]

 [My second bathroom drawer. The orange bin is from Target and the three smaller bins are from the Dollar General store. I think they were $1.50 for all three.] 

 [The hall "coat/shoe closet." I have such fancy names for these places...! Since... SOMEONE... doesn't necessarily remember to put away his shoes, I made it super easy for him and put them all in a hanging organizer that was previously hanging (empty) in Ryan's room. He still doesn't always remember, but he's getting better ;] Since I'm a giant and can reach the shelf in the closet, I have my shoes up there.] 

 [my shoes in the wire bins on top; Ryan's shoes in one green bin and hats/mittens in the other (not that we need those right now...)]

[Ryan's bag gets hung in here, too.]

You can see in this post that we did some "updating" in our dining room/living room areas... the whole built in cupboard in the dining room was cleaned out and organized, too, and it's basically empty now. So much storage! But I don't want to just fill it with "stuff!" I think it will be helpful for keeping school stuff contained some day. 

That's all I have done so far... not bad for a couple weeks worth of intentional organizing. I'm working on our room right now, but it's not anything worth showing because it's just our dresser and closet. Kinda boring if you ask me :] Big projects to work on... guest room, office, and attic... I'm SO not looking forward to doing those!! I'm going to enlist Jake's help for those projects, I think...!