Ocd mum & organiser - Blog

Where did I go.....

14/7/2017

Although it has really only been a few months, it feels like a year, since I last posted.
The main reason why I haven’t been posting stuff is that our internet was playing up. When I finally fixed that the laptop decided to shit itself completely And then the internet wasn't working, so we changed providers. And has now just worked again, but don't tell the kids.
So I was only able to post stuff through my phone, my website I couldn’t access it through there.

A few months ago I started back at work, first time in 8 years that I had to juggle home/work.
But the opportunity came up and it really is too good to pass up. I took it and haven’t looked back.
So there was an adjustment period, although I’m not sure we are all adjusted.

I have been still been organising stuff in my house. Even if it hasn’t been huge amounts.
Like putting a big cardboard box on the hall table, so I could just easily put stuff in there for Vinnie’s or salvos.
Also as I bought any new clothes, I would take one or two items out. Which was easier then I thought, we all have clothes that we think I will fit back into that but never do.

Keeping on top of the chores while working is always a challenge. I have gone back to cleaning certain stuff at night, like the bathrooms, dusting, laundry every night.
I used to clean at night when the kids were younger, as it was easier to have them in bed and I could just get stuck into the bathroom or whatever it was.
It also works if I have a busy week at work.

Since I have been at work I realise that I really do have a lot of stuff.
Probably doesn’t help that I work in a minimalist environment.

So lets get back on track and get our lives organised.

Kids toys......

31/3/2017

Oh my, Last week I was so busy that I only had time to keep up with the most basic of stuff.
So my kids had a ball and made a mess in their room that I couldn't even get in there to put away clothes.
By the end of the week, when I did have a few hours, I spent it in the little girls room and my sons room.

Why do we hold onto toys that are no longer serving a purpose????
At one stage I thought that I would do FDC, but that wasn't to be.
So I am on a rampage to get rid of excess stuff.

As I was tidying up, I was also doing a pile of things to give away.
My son was really good at it, all I had to say was that it was a babies toy and he was more then happy to get rid of it. And he even got any broken toys for me.
The little girls were a little upset with me, so I let them pick two toys to put back.

The way I do it is putting like with like. Then finding somewhere on the shelf or putting it where it lives.
Also having a plastic bag for rubbish and I use a clothes basket to put the toys I am giving away in.

The toys that I am giving away either went to salvos, child care centre across the road or preschool.

Probably the best thing was also no one was home but my son, so no one noticed what I was really getting rid of. Even now they haven't asked for anything.
Which really shits me, all the time & money spent on presents and they really only play with a few.
So this Christmas I am going with the rule of:
-something to read
-something to wear
-something you need
-something you want.

sons room

girls room

February 15th, 2017

15/2/2017

We all have piles of stuff around the house, even me. Then we tell ourselves that we will put it away later, but we don't and it probably stays there until we need it next.

I have 4 piles:
- one near the front door, some clothes to salvo's
- another pile on top of our bookcase in the bedroom
- stuff that has come off the dining table when it is being set.
- the table next to the dining table, the table has been there since Christmas

I have packed the salvo's things into the boot of the car and will take them this arvo on the way to school pickup.
The pile on the table has been going down a little every day.

If you have an area that is piling up, take 10 minutes every day to sort and place things back to where they should live

on top of bookcase

what comes off the table

salvo pile

need to move this table

What I learned......

6/2/2017

Yes it has been a month since I went on holidays.
2 weeks away, it was so relaxing and just what we needed.
When I came back it took me a week to get over the holiday feeling.
Which then makes it hard to get back into the schedule of things.
The last week I have been settling my younger two into preschool and kinder.
A huge adjustment for everyone, but mainly me.

While we were on holidays we were involved in a car accident, nothing serious, but it made the trip home fun.
I learned a few things these holidays:
1. I pack too much shit.
2. I can survive two weeks with only a quarter of my clothes
3. we need to cull even more shit
4. glad we have insurance & even on holidays it's important to know all details

Why am I telling you this??
As organised as I am, life can throw things at you. And it made me realise that I really need to cut down on things that we pack and probably need at home.

I got so used to having the bus and the extra large boot space and all the space in the car.
So when I had to pack to come home, it was an eye opener to how other people pack and I really do pack too much shit.
We had a much smaller car and trying to fit everything in, I did have to leave some stuff behind. which we will pick up in march, lucky it was at a place that we could do that.
It made me re-evaluate what we really need to pack.

If I can survive two weeks with only a quarter of my clothes, although most days we were in swimmers. why can't I do that at home??
So this year I am not going to buy anything new, apart from underwear, unless I really need it.

With all the stuff we took & left behind, we really don't need so much.
Yes I do cull throughout the year and don't buy a lot during the year, but obviously I can still do better.
Like at the moment I am using fitted bed sheets as a table cloth, as I couldn't fit in the coast bag.
So I will be looking at what else can we live without.

Knowing what your insurance will cover and having on hand all the details that you need. Which was very handy being a long way from home.
So if you have an accident so you know what your insurance will pay for???
I might just have to change the hire car policy, as we aren't covered unless we are more then 100km's from home.
which we were thank god.

So how was your holidays???

DVD & PlayStation games......

8/1/2017

I have noticed for a while that i needed to do something with the DVD and the playstation games. They were falling out of the cupboard and the kids were struggling to keep them tidy, which was driving me crazy.

I took the DVD's that were under the kids, hubbys boxsets and playstation games.
Sat them to the side.
Pulled all the kids DVD's out and divided them into two parts.
1. all movies, they went into the top part of the cupboard
2. movies in sets, like all shrek movies, all spiderman etc. they were all placed into the bottom section of the cupboard

Where the playstation games were, i put our movies up the top, Yes they are in alphabetical order.
Then down the bottom i placed all hubby's boxsets.
My boxset's are still in the fabric box.

I took all the playstation games out of the cupboard.
My hubby went to ikea and bought a bookcase, that fits perfectly in the corner.
I then arranged the games in this order
- our games at the top
- singstar, eyeplay & buzz games
- kids games
- extra microphones and accessories
- games controllers, cords,microphones etc in box on left, spare playstation, vectrex games
I did have to put the dance mat's into the cube shelving, where our movies were.

I felt so much better and it only took 10 minutes to do.
I have noticed that the kids are putting the DVD's away, so much better.

Christmas deco's & toys, School books......

30/12/2016

Christmas decorations

I have put away the christmas decorations.
Just before christmas i bought a bigger tub to fit all the decorations in.
And they did, except for the reindeer, santa sacks, hats and cards.They went into the plastic bag, that i already had.

I put all the hanging decorations in paper bags, ziplock bags. If they are breakable i wrap up in tissue paper and place in a plastic bag.
If the original container is there, i will use it.
I keep all the same ones together and i just place the baubles on top and in beween spaces.
If any have broken i throw them out.
Then they went into the shed for another year.

new ones from the sales

the end result

Christmas toys.

Finding room for all the new stuff.
Thankfully i did a cull of toys before, so the new toys could just fit on the shelf.
Other things i put with things the same, like hair ties and hair bands in the bathroom.
Beach towels with the others.
Ten pin bowling in with the balls.
Craft things in the craft box.

I will do another cull when they are all at school

School books

I went into officeworks and got the two high schoolers books.
Before i went i sat down with the catalouges and checked who had the cheapest and worked out how much it was going to be.
And also checked what we already had.
I circled the products in the catalouge, makes it easier to see.
It only took 30 minutes and not expensive.

Since that didn't take long we went to get high school uniform for the 12yo starting next year.
By going before the end of december i got a 15% discount.
I only have to get everyone socks and shoes. which i tend to get just before school.

Also all the books from this year.
I go through them all and see if i need to keep any, especially if they have pages left in them.
If they are kept i put them either in the craft box or in the hallway cupboard.
The 13yo put hers into a drawer in her bedroom.
If they aren't being kept out they go.

the books all ready for next year

Pantry.....

19/12/2016

It has been a good 6 months since i have cleaned out the pantry really good.
And this week is an excellent time to be doing it.

I start top to bottom. I pull everything out and wipe the shelve and sides all down.
As i get the items out of the pantry i check the expiry dates on them, it is surprising how many things you have with out of date or near out of date items.

I then replace the items back into the pantry.
I have 6 shelves.
At the very top i have items that i don't use very often.
The shelf under that holds my cooking, pasta, rice and alcohol box.
The middle shelf holds the items that i use alot, like spices, sauces and anything that i have cooked for the kids
the shelf under that has my bread box, cereals and spreads
The second bottom shelf has all the pantry items all stored in order with like with like items.
The bottom shelf has the extra cereals (behind the potato container), potato container. our foil, paper & cling wrap holder.I also store the kids lunch bags behind the cling wrap, with any softdrink and sauces.

Being coming up to christmas i am trying not to store too much.

top shelves

middle shelves

two bottom shelves

Present Ideas.....

7/12/2016

I don't know why i started giving the teacher's a present, i think when i only had to buy one and then felt like i had to keep on going.

Over the years i have given things like homemade shortbread, homemade fudge, necklaces, homemade christmas chocolates, santa gnome
I have a look in the sales and see if there is anything i can get to use, i know who is teaching my kids the next year as they have a moving up day before school finishes.

This year i bought the teachers teatowels and gingerbread covered in chocolate in a fabric bag. Total cost came to $5.
I also picked up the fabric bags on sale at Kmart
The preschool teachers i am making it personal by putting in some wine and matches.

When the kids give out their cards, something always gets given with it.
Sometimes its candy canes, other ideas are:
- christmas pencils
- baubles
- make reindeer poo (malteasers)
- reindeer noses (malteasers with one red jaffa)
- reindeer food (oats with glitter)
- christmas stickers
- make a pipe cleaner reindeer ears

Last minute presents are always a hassle.
I am part of a secret sana every year and don't know who i get until the 1st december. And i feel alot of pressure.
But i love Kmart, Target and typo, although deadly, they have great presents for an affordable price.

I picked up a teacup with saucer, with hot stuff written on it, a mermaid tree decoration at typo.
The gingerbread at Target.
The calender at reject shop, didn't know if they had one.
The delicious bowl at Target.

I love having a box of M&M chocolates as a standby in case someone pops over.
I also picked up the best cocktail glass and tea travelling mug from typo.

Vouchers are also a fantastic idea. i got a voucher for all you can eat star buffet for the MIL and FIL.
Another present i got that i absolutely love is a shirt from a charity.

Kmart i picked up a head halo piece as well.

All of the presents but the shirt and voucher are all under $20.
I love to give something different that hopefully the other person loves and that they wouldn't get themsleves.

Girls summer clothes....

24/11/2016

That time of year again. going through the girls clothes.

I did this last weekend, as I had sick kids and I was meeting up with some friends and we were doing a clothes swap.

I got the older girls to go through their clothes and see what fitted and what they weren't going to wear. While I went through the little girls clothes.

As I went through them if they hadn't worn it or weren't going to, into the bag it went.
After I had gone through the drawers, I went into the top of the wardrobe to see what was up there and if anyone was going to wear it.
I really had to cull this down. I just had so many, so if the older girls didn't want it and I didn't think the younger ones would. in the bag.

I had got the clothes in the wardrobe down by half.
And if I can pass any onto my son then I will
All the clothes in the wardrobe are all sorted into season and size, makes it much easier to find what you need.

before the cull

and after the cull, so much space

bags off to clothes swap, salvos and friends

Christmas tree and decorations......

12/11/2016

,
That time of year again....Christmas.

I love getting out the tree's and decoration's, as I get to see what great stuff I got at the sales.
I store the tree's and decorations in a plastic storage container and bag. Although this year I will be getting a bigger container, just to have it all in the one.
I saw these plastic tubs at Bunnings and bought one. Trees and all can fit
I find by having it in a limited space means I can't have too much.

I get the trees out and give one each to the kids.
The kids get one each, saves fight's and they get to decorate as they wish.
And I can also put their present under their tree and know who's is who's, as I don't write names on the presents.

As I am pulling out the decorations I make sure that they are still in one piece. If not then out it goes.

We put the Christmas trees and decorations on the hall table, which is right near the front door.
And we put the ornaments on the white filing cupboard and in front of the trees.

what I used to hold all the tree's and decorations in

container from bunnings

I also have a bag in the bottom of the dining room cupboard that has my plates, cups, bon bon's, piñata bags etc.
That I check to make sure we have enough for the day, as once again I picked these items up in the sales last year.
And take note of what I need, usually cutlery.
I also have the placemat's and a game that I picked up at reject shop sale.
It seems I have no bon bon's and need a few more plates.

And lastly Christmas crafts......I have them in a shopping bag at the moment.
These are craft things that I picked up at the sales last year.
I will have to pull them all out and see what is in there and what is age appropriate for each child.
I set up one craft a day in the week leading up to Christmas
I like to have something for the kids to do, other then drive me crazy.
I will add in wrapping the presents in this one as well.
It is a craft activity for mum...
I will transfer these into the old plastic tub that the decorations were in.

in the plastic container