Motivate for Sanity's Sake

Tip Tuesday: Give me an O!

2011-05-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

Do you have an organizing cheerleader? You need one. You can hire a professional. Search here for a Professional Organizer. Or you can use a friend. I think a sister (or sister-in-law) is usually perfect for the job.

The fact is, you are not objective about your own junk. No one else who lives with your junk is objective about it either. You need someone who can see that shoe box of cards you got at your wedding 15 years ago for what it really is.

If you're tackling an organizing project, call in a cheerleader. She (or he) can keep you on track and help you be brutal - two things you may not be so good at alone.

Tip Tuesday: Now You See Me...

2011-05-03T07:00:00.001-07:00

You've decided to become more organized and you're trying to decide where to begin. Don't tackle the closet first. Walk in your front door and find the first disorganized spot your eyes land on. That is where you should begin!

Choose a spot that is visible. Take 15 minutes to organize it. Take 30 (or 623) minutes if you need it but make that spot look fantastic. Then you'll have that feeling of success every time you walk in your front door. It will be a great motivator and everyone in the house will have a physical reminder of your goal to get organized. Your friend's overflowing, exuberant compliments will be a great motivator too!

About me

2011-04-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

It's no secret I built a business thinking of creative tools to help moms motivate their children.

I thought maybe you'd be interested in MY motivation. No? Okay. You can stop reading then. If you're still with me... every one of the ideas that turned into products came about because I desperately, desperately needed them.

I have one son but I like to think of him as 5-in-1. My sweet one is a handful. He recently received a couple of mental health diagnoses that validated that "handful" statement. I understand from his behavior specialist that many parents are upset to receive the news we did about some of the difficulties our son faces. Me? I was just so relieved to understand it wasn't ALL due to poor parenting. I was completely prepared to take all of the blame. Turns out it's a genetic thing. Not an environmental thing.

Still, there is plenty we can do in his environment to lessen the "handful" tendencies and fallout. I have to admit to a small amount of pride when the therapist suggested that we should use "some kind of chart with stickers" to help our son. I almost burst out laughing. A chart you say? And could you recommend one? No? Could I recommend one then? Haha!

The point is, my extremely difficult child has forced me to be extremely creative in coming up with solutions to minimize some of, well, the extremes.

While I wouldn't wish any of my extremes on any mom, I suspect if I peeled back your roof and took a peek inside on a random Wednesday night, I might find you struggling with some of the same things I deal with. Please, please tell me it's so! I can't be alone in this right?

And so, Organize It Mom! was born.

I'm just a woman with a dream of slightly less nagging, slightly more cooperation, slightly more responsible children, slightly less chaos in every household in America (Canada too). That's not too much to want is it? If my products do that even a little then I can put on my superhero cape and sleep with the delusion I have changed the world for the better.

What are some of the extremes you deal with? You never know, I might turn a solution into a product for you! Let me have 'em!

Tip Tuesday: Old Clothes

2011-04-19T03:43:00.000-07:00

Another tip from the brilliant Rebecca:

Have you ever wondered what to do with clothes that are in too poor of condition to give to good will but make you feel guilty for throwing away? With a husband who likes to work on cars, a child who loves to make messes, and a house that always needs cleaning – I am always using rags.

I take the clothes that are no longer good enough to wear and rip them into various-sized strips and rags. The best materiasl to use are strips that feel soft and gentle so they don’t scratch (knit, fleece, jersey, etc.). I throw all my rags in a plastic bag that came with a set of flannel sheets and toss it on a garage shelf. Use them to wipe up spills, finish craft projects, or during home repairs. They work great, and the best thing is that you can either toss them in the wash to be reused or you can feel better about throwing them in the trash.

Motivate for Sanity's Sake! (part 1 of so, so many)

2011-04-16T15:33:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking a lot about motivation. How do you motivate someone else to do something you want them to do?

So often, when it comes to motivating children, I feel mothers have a choice between two bad options: bribery and threats. Really, think about it. What is your go-to when you need your child to clean their room? Something like this: "If you clean your room first, you can go play with friends." OR "If you don't clean your room, you can't play with friends."? Insert any task and any reward, the formula tends to be the same.

But I don't like it! Neither approach really teaches what I want my son to know about the intrinsic reward of doing and finishing for the sake of doing and finishing.

To further complicate matters, something that works for one child will not work for another. Something that works for a child will not work for a husband. Something that works at home never works on employees at work or students in school. Boy oh boy!

Speaking of students in school - I am one and I recently took a class about organizational behavior where one of the topics was motivation and the professor shared this quote:

"Spending time and energy trying to 'motivate' people is a waste of effort. The real question is not, 'How do we motivate our people?' If you have the right people, they will be self-motivated. The key is to not de-motivate them." Jim Collins. Good to Great. p. 89

AHA! Now you know! Your kids are just the wrong people! Kidding.

In class, we talked about diagnosing motivation problems and a motivational theory. The theory (Vroom's Expectancy Theory - in case you were wondering) says people go through the following process of questions before they do something and problems happen when someone answers no to one of the questions:

Do I think I can do it? Do I think I'll be rewarded? Do I value the reward?

Now that's a theory we moms can sink our teeth into right? Problem: Susie won't clean her room. Does Susie really have the skills to clean her room? Does she know what a clean room means? Is she old enough to do the cleaning without help? Has she gotten negative feedback when she hasn't cleaned her room "correctly" in the past? Susie must feel capable of the task.

What about the reward? Face it. We all need one. Maybe you've gotten to the point where finishing is it's own reward. But it's still a reward. Think of Susie and her room again. What is her reward? And does she value the reward?

Think about your children. You know what rewards work. You do! You may not like them but you know what they are. One child might go to the moon and back for a tootsie roll. My son will do almost anything for 15 minutes of Poptropica (a computer game).

Over the next couple of weeks, I'll write more about motivation and rewards. For now, just think about those questions. If your child doesn't think he has the skills to do what you've asked, how can you fix that? If there is no reward, rethink that. If there is a reward but it means nothing to your child, rethink that.

What works for you? What doesn't? When do you have the hardest time motivating your children and what tasks are the most difficult?

More to come!

Tip Tuesday: Socks

2011-02-22T03:45:00.000-08:00

Another idea from the amazing Rebecca:

After only 6 months, my pile of mismatched socks looks like this:

I hate matching up socks...especially all the little boy ones that are so small and easy to lose. I have very little storage space and don’t have room for multiple laundry baskets/bags for easy sorting so I bought a linen bag at Walmart for $0.97.

Each night when my son’s socks come off, they go right into the linen bag, which is kept on top of his laundry basket of dirty clothes. Then when I do the laundry, I zip up the linen bag and toss it into the wash with the rest of my laundry. Easy in, easy out.

Although the tricky part is getting kiddos to put their socks in the linen bag, it certainly saves time and is worth the laundry lessons!

Tip Tuesday: Kid Supplies

2011-02-22T03:25:00.000-08:00

My friend Rebecca is amazing. Seriously. Amazing. Maybe you have a friend Rebecca and maybe she's amazing so you know what I am talking about. She told me this tip and I'm passing it on for you - so maybe we can all be a little more amazing.

"Last summer I decided at the last minute to stop at the park for my little boy to play. Forty minutes later I had a soaking wet, dirty, thirsty and slightly pink child. I was so unprepared!

"I went straight home and came up with an easy solution. I took a cardboard diaper box (the one thing I seem to have a lot of), turned it inside out, taped it together, filled it with items I would need throughout the summer and put it in the trunk of my car. I felt better prepared, it cost me $0, and it seriously took me five minutes.

"Now as the seasons change, I restock my box for items I might suddenly wish I had. Items in my summer box included, swim diapers, towel, wet wipes, hat, jacket, change of clothes, toys, sunscreen, bug spray, small first aid kit, bottled water, fruit cups & spoon, granola bars, antibacterial soap, disposable camera, and a magazine."

See? Amazing right? If you don't have a friend like mine, (who you can shamelessly borrow from during park escapades) make your own box. Make it work for you. Use a bigger box for more than one child or use a crate or recyclable grocery bag if you'd prefer.

Go on. Do it now! And don't get distracted thinking you have to clean out the trunk of your car first. Just push that stuff out of the way. We'll conquer that another day.

Tip Tuesday: Picture Perfect Placement

2011-02-08T04:50:00.000-08:00

Hate hanging pictures? Me too. Or at least I used to before this tip.

If you are hanging a picture or a group of pictures, begin with a piece of wrapping or butcher paper. Place your picture(s) on the paper, trace them and cut them out. Then hang the paper on the wall. You can use removable tape to get the placement just right. Then measure the width picture and put your nail (or screw) in the middle of that width. Hammer or screw it right into the paper. Then take the paper down and hang the picture.

Badda Bing! Badda Boom!

Tip Tuesday: Cords

2011-01-25T07:00:00.000-08:00

I know you have a mess of electrical cords somewhere in your home - maybe you have them in every room of your home. Solutions like this make me drool.

My single biggest electrical cord problem is behind the computer. So I finally tackled it. I put plain white labels on each end of each cord indicating what the other end should plug into. For example, the cord that goes from the computer to the printer has two labels. The one side of the cord that plugs into the printer says "Printer to Computer." The side of the cord that plugs into the computer says "Computer to Printer." Each cord has two similar labels. I can't tell you how much this came in handy when we moved or when we had to add a new cord to the chaos.

It's such a simple thing to do but saves me so much time and headache every time I crawl under that desk!

The Art of Good Disguise

2011-01-19T07:00:00.000-08:00

This defies the logic and purpose of organizing as you know it. I'm pretty sure you're not going to read this on any other blog. But it's the truth.

Sometimes organizing is not about organizing, it's about disguising messiness. And sometimes the best organizational systems are simply the ones that hide the mess best. This principle is WHY there is a Container Store.

Do you have a "mud room?" I rest my case.

How do you hide your mess? Come on. I know you've put your dirty dishes in the oven when you got a call saying your mother-in-law was dropping by unexpectedly. Admit it! Some of you have even forgotten to take them out and done permanent damage to your tupperware. No. What makes you think I'm talking about me? Good heavens. I'd never make that kind of mistake.

There are so many ways to hide a mess. Cupboards are my favorite. Baskets are a close second. Take a gander at some of the messes my cupboards and baskets are disguising:

The kitchen cupboard hides my son's school and craft supplies. The basket hides my Christmas receipts.

I won't post a picture of it but I love the way a cute cap hides messy hair. Wait. Is that off topic? Or is washing 'n styling your hair really just organizing it? Hmmm.

I have a friend who is fanatical about closing her pantry door. She's constantly reminding/nagging her kids and husband to keep it closed. I think she's hiding a mess in there. I'm all for it. It's easier to "remind" than to organize sometimes right?

Happy Hiding!

Tip Tuesday: Avoid the Mess

2011-01-18T07:00:00.000-08:00

The best way to clean up a mess is not to make one in the first place. You can avoid making a mess in simple ways:

Put it away when you're done using it.
Screw the lids back on.
Use two food preparation bowls instead of three this time.
Don't buy black soled shoes that scuff hard floors.
Have a shoes-off in the house policy.
Don't carry dripping things across the floor or carpet. Even a little water on the floor is enough to pull dirt off shoes and leave messes.
Have a designated "leftovers" shelf in the fridge. EAT the leftovers and you'll never have to clean out the fridge.

Tip Tuesday: Paper

2011-01-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

Research shows that 80 percent of what is filed is never looked at again (Donna Smallin, Organizing Plain and Simple). Did you know that? Look at your filing cabinet right now. 80 percent of what you're keeping, you'll never look at again. So, don't you think you could go ahead and get rid of 50 percent of it? How about 5 percent of one folder right now? Stop reading. Go do it!

New Year's Reso..pbbbt

2011-01-06T06:56:00.000-08:00

My husband is big on New Year's Resolutions. He makes 'em and he sticks to 'em. He pulled out his list of last year's resolutions and check! check! check! That made him very enthusiastic about setting this year's resolutions so he got right to work on them and started asking about mine and my son's.

My eight-year-old son loved how excited his dad was so he cranked out a list too. Here's a preview:
Never fight
Never kill
Feed the hamster
Earn money

Any predictions which ones he'll accomplish? I like that "Never kill" one. I'll have to add it to my list.

Resolutions depress me because they imply I'm falling short in some way - which is TRUE - but depressing. I believe in goal setting but sometimes you just need to be okay with the messiness of life and accept your shortcomings so my resolutions this year are three - one of which is "smile everyday." I think I can handle that.

A word about organizing goals. Okay, more than one word. Don't make them without knowing your priorities first. Your goals should align with your priorities. If my first priority is spirituality and all of my goals are about exercising, does that make sense?

My priorities in order of importance:

Spirituality
Relationships
Personal Health and Sanity
Professional
Home Improvement

Your list may be different or in a different order but you can see how my goals should fall into those categories so I'm not forgetting to work on the things that are most important to me. By the way, my other two resolutions fall into the relationship category so I think I'm on track.

How do you organize your goals?

Tip Tuesday: Half-way

2011-01-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

Some things seem overwhelming because we make them that way. Take me and vacuuming. I don't get the vacuum out unless I intend to vacuum the whole house. Sheesh. Extreme? All jobs are easier when broken into little pieces.

You know the old saying, "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right." That's a bunch of baloney. There are plenty of things worth doing poorly or half-way.

Here are just a few suggestions:

Don't mop the whole floor, just spot clean the three biggest eyesores.
Don't have your kids clean their whole room, just have them pick up and put away their laundry.
Don't fold the blanket, just wad it up and hide it in the linen closet.
Go ahead, buy pizza for dinner tonight.
Pay half the mortgage. Oh wait. That one won't work. Don't. I repeat. Don't do that.

You get the idea. What can you do half-way today?

Give me a Break

2010-12-27T07:00:00.000-08:00

How I love Christmas Break! Each day is as good as the taste of the first bite of my favorite dessert. And not just because I've been doing that (eating dessert every day). Sometimes you deserve a break and the stars align to let you have one. This week, I'm breaking from my job, my school (miserable master's degree - what was I thinking?), my son's school, and all other obligations I can shake free of.

Know what I'm picking up instead? Lots of good books, some lengthy British movies, my son for snuggles, bowl games with my husband, lunches with friends. And post-Christmas organizing. Does that one seem out of place? Well, call me crazy. I LOVE organizing after Christmas. It is so fun to work that new board game into the cupboard, put together the annual Christmas puzzle and then put it away. Is there anything more satisfying than vacuuming up the last of the pine needles? Ahhhhh!

When I was a girl, rearranging my room after Christmas was as much a tradition as Christmas carols around the piano.

Think about it. Every gift needs a home after it comes into your house - even the gift cards. Nothing is so aggravating as losing a gift card. Am I right?

I hope you get a break this season and that it tastes like dessert.

Tip Tuesday

2010-04-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

Little drives me more crazy than having my refrigerator look like this:
Clutter on the fridge makes the whole kitchen look messy. What is on the face of your fridge right now? Calendars? School Schedules? Grocery Lists? Pithy sayings? Reminders?

Here's how we overcame the cluttered fridge front:

Fridge as art. Nice right? No one wants to put a fridge magnet over that. It's too pretty. The fridge magnets are still there but on the side. We can still see that stuff when we need it but it doesn't seem so messy. You can find similar decals here. Just so you know... on the side of our fridge, you'll find this, this, and this.

Who is the Boss of You? (Giveaway)

2010-04-17T20:00:00.000-07:00

My son is the boss of me. Really. He is 7 and he's completely in charge. It's okay though. It works for us. The little man is the boss of me. The big man is the boss of him. And I am the boss of the big man. See? Works!

But really. Who is the boss of you? Is your clutter the boss of you? (Hint: If you're paying for off-site storage because it's easier than sorting through the stuff, then ya. Clutter's your boss.) Are your kids the boss of you? Is your boss the boss of you?

Your boss is anyone dictating what you do with your time. Now. Don't get me wrong. That's not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I think it's best to simply know who your boss is and relinquish power. Otherwise, they'll still be your boss and you'll just be resentful.

Besides, diapers must be changed. Kids must be fed. Husbands need love. Work must be done. And you're the gal for the job.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't set up boundaries for your bosses though. Your boss at work shouldn't be telling you what to do at home. Think about your bosses. How do you set boundaries for them?

At the risk of revealing what a dork I am, allow me to use a Star Trek example. (Is it redeeming at all that I have to look up all of the Trek cast members names online? No? Just checking.) The Enterprise would end up in a pickle and Captain Kirk would always ask Scotty how long the repair would take.

Scotty (imagine Scottish accent): "No less than 10 hours Captain."
Captain Kirk: "Make it 8 Scotty."
Scotty (blustering): "Impossible!"
And then he'd do it in 6.

Okay, well, that's how I remember it anyway. Scotty always exceeded expectations because Scotty was a boundary-setting-genius.

I'm not suggesting you lie about how long a certain task will take you but know your limitations and make sure your boss knows them too. Your conversation might go something like this:

Kid/boss: "Moooom. What's for dinner?"
You (with a Scottish accent): "Sweety, I already told you, I'm working on this. Dinner will be at 6. And it will be something you don't like."
Kid/boss: "I'm hungry now!"
You: "Tough."
And then you have dinner ready at 5:30.

Okay, well, you get the idea. You can work out the specifics of your script.

My son is an only child and sometimes he expects all of the attention from all of the people all of the time. When he was younger, I used this to teach him boundaries:

I would write what I was going to do in the blank and he'd put up a picture of what he was going to do during the same time. Sometimes we'd be doing the same thing. Sometimes not. But he started learning there were times he could have my attention and times he'd have to wait. Plus, he was excited to do his own stuff! It was fun for him to set boundaries too.

You can read more about this product here. Or you could WIN one by leaving a comment. Your chances to win are really, really good because I don't have a lot of readers or followers yet. I'm closing the contest on 4/20 at midnight.

Be the first to win!

Tip Tuesday

2010-04-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

Does anyone know how to fold fitted sheets? If you do, tell me. I need a tutoring session.

Most of the time, I just can't be bothered. So here's what I do instead. I wad the thing up. Oh, come on. You do it too. But then I fold the straight sheet and tuck the wadded up one inside so on the shelf, it looks like this:

Nice right? I also tuck the pillow cases into the sheet too so when I pull it out, the whole set is there.

Tip Tuesday

2010-04-06T13:20:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite cleaning tip of all time. It has revolutionized the way I clean. More accurately, this one tip has made it so I don't even have to clean a whole pesky area of my house. It's a spot that would probably get neglected anyway...

See the top here? Don't you just hate cleaning up there?

Well. I don't anymore! You don't have to either! Just line the top of your cupboards (or entertainment center, or bookshelves, etc.) with wax paper. Once a year, instead of cleaning that yucky kitchen grease from the top of the cabinets, just toss the old wax paper and put up new.

You can't see it can you? There's wax paper up there right now!

Organize Your Bling

2010-04-01T11:40:00.000-07:00

My sis started making jewelry and my collection of bling has outgrown my old organized system. YAY! Time for a new system! How I love a reason to reorganize - just ask my husband's ties.

Thing is... I already had a system I liked. Here it is:

I liked that I could see everything at a glance and that things didn't get tangled up but I started to get too many necklaces to fit.

So. The new system has all of the elements I liked with one huge bonus - it's a MAGNETIC cork board. I didn't even know such things existed. Did you?

I had these groovy see-through lidded, magnetic containers that were perfect for my bracelets. I also had some stackable, twist-on see-through containers perfect for earrings and rings and ta da!

The best part of the system is that it's all in my closet - totally accessible and helpful for matching to outfits in the morning. Love it!

Tip Tuesday

2010-03-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

Color Coding:
Assign a different color to every member of the family and then color-code everything. If Tommy is assigned red, he gets a red toothbrush, red ink for his calendar items, a red backpack, a red towell, red sheets, and red socks (No. I'm kidding about that. He can wear white ones.)

Tip Tuesday

2010-03-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

To motivate kids to keep their rooms clean:
Tell them about the clean room fairy. She likes to pop in every once in a while. If the room happens to be clean when she does, she'll leave a surprise. If the room is messy, she'll leave a note saying, "Better luck next time! CRF" Moms, want to know the best thing about this tip? You don't have to be consistent. The clean room fairy is flighty - you can not be blamed for that! Read more about it here.

Tip Tuesday

2010-03-16T07:00:00.001-07:00

As promised:
To prevent piles of mail, be sure your shredder and/or recycle bin is located between your mailbox and the place you typically set the mail down. Better yet, stop the mail before it even gets to your mailbox - read ideas here about how to do that.

Good Intentions

2010-03-11T22:00:00.000-08:00

Oh. I've got 'em. I've got so many of 'em, they can pave the way to you-know-where with enough left over to get me half-way paved to the other, better, more-desirable-place.

What good intentions are you holding onto?

I have had for a very long time a great intention that I would build my business by sending out an e-mail with organizing tips every month. (You remember: www.organizeitmom.com? Oops. Was that shameless self promotion? Yes. Yes it was.) But the e-mail is a good intention not an action. So. Now that I have a blog, I'm going to be posting tips that I intended to e-mail and my new intention is to do so every Tuesday. Subscribe. You don't want to miss them. (Shameless. Shameless!)

Do you want to move from a good intention to an action? If you were reading above, I just showed you how. The first step is to realize you have a problem. Next, you confess you have a problem. Wait. That's a different program. But hey, if the steps fit...

Actually, intention articulated can increase your sense of obligation. So if you want to move from intention to commitment, it can help to say it out loud to someone. Be accountable to someone else besides yourself.

Often our good intentions get swallowed up by a whole other pile of stuff that must be done. I often say to my little guy, "We have to do what we have to do, then we get to do what we want to do."

You know what? It's okay for good intentions to be swallowed. It's unrealistic to think every good idea should become a reality. And you really do have to do what you have to do. Think about it for a minute and before you decide to move a good intention from the "want to do" list to the "have to do list," be sure it's really more important than the other "have to do" that will need to fall off the list to make room for the new one.

If your good intention makes the cut and it's now on the priority list, you need one more critical thing... a deadline. You have to create a sense of urgency for yourself. If you don't have a deadline, other fires will be more important EVERY time.

So, you see how I did this above? I decided I want one of my intentions to be a priority. I told you about how I'm going to change so I'm accountable to you. (In case you were wondering, that means you can pester me if I don't keep my promise.) Then I gave myself a deadline.

I'm feeling really good about this intention not becoming another paving stone on my road to who-knows-where. Only Tuesdays will tell.

How do you move a good intention to action?

Psst. Over here!

2010-03-09T14:39:00.000-08:00

I'm guest posting at the Organizing Junkie's blog about how to Lean into It. I LOVE Laura's blog. She has a zillion good ideas. Come check it out!

Organize It!

2010-02-20T09:20:00.001-08:00

If you want to get organized there are some basic rules to follow. These are my rules otherwise known as "organizing it's":

Leave It

Love It

Lid It

Loose It

Lean into It

You'll hear a lot about these if you visit my blog often. This is a short overview for each "it."

Leave It
One of the biggest barriers to getting organized is that you keep buying stuff. Quit it. If you see something at the store you really like, ask yourself these questions: Do I already have a place for this? Do I want this more than I want the money it will cost? Do I want it enough to dust/launder/clean/maintain it?

Think of every purchase as a commitment. If you buy it, you are committed to caring for it. Are you really up to that kind of commitment for that particular item? If not, leave it at the store and you can go back and visit it any time.

Love It
Because everything you own comes with a commitment, it's okay to keep the stuff you're really committed to. LOVE your stuff. If you don't love it, you don't need it. How do you know if you love it? Think of the thing and see if you can insert it into this sentence, "You can have my _____, when you can pry it from my cold, dead hands." Now that's love!

You love it if you can think of creative ways to use and/or store it. One client of mine loved a green, sequined skirt she wore in her high school show choir days. She could not part with it (despite my pleading). So the skirt is now her Christmas Tree Skirt.

Little tip: if your thing has been in a box in the garage for six months, you don't love it.

Lid It
To be organized, you need boundaries. Where they aren't naturally, create them. You have some boundaries you must stay within, the top, bottom, and four walls of your house for example. Your stuff must fit within these boundaries. Technically, you can spill over and put your couch on your front lawn, your stuff in a storage shed. But don't. You'll be surprised how effectively a simple boundary will keep you organized. Look around. Where there is a trouble spot, see if you can use a lid to solve the problem.

Loose It
Ah, the fun part. This is the It everyone thinks of when they think of getting organized, the It where you sort and get rid of stuff. There are so many ways to make this a fun process like using a friend or having a purge party. It boils down to this: You can simplify. You don't need everything you have. Getting rid of it will make you feel like a new person.

Lean into It
Have you ever noticed things that seem magical almost always seem magical because someone has put A LOT of behind-the-scenes work into them? Organizing is hard work. You need to know that and lean into it the way you would when walking in a hurricane.

Lean into it is also about putting systems into place that work for you and not the other way around. This will require some trial and error so stick with it.

So that's my philosophy in a nutshell. What do you think? Have the "it's" worked for you?

And I just can't hide it!

2010-02-12T09:50:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited and... well, see above.

Here's what you need to know about me 'n my new blog:

I'm just launching, but have written for others (The Organizing Junkie, The Organized Mom).
I'm freakishly organized. Ask my closet.
I'm a mom who has done crazy.
I own Organize It Mom!
I'm a gal in love with two guys - my big guy who is 6'9" and my little guy who is whatever size guys are when they are seven-years-old.
I won't stop talking. Really. Try. Stop me.
I want to do big things but think a lot of little things may be the same thing.
I love books like other people love cookies. Wait. I love cookies too.
I like short sentences and just-right words.

So now you know me. When you come back, you can expect sound organizing advice, lots of giveaways (stuff like this and this. Oh, and this!), and tips and tricks that work for keeping sane, motivating yourself, and your kids. Come back. Comment. Subscribe.

Welcome!

2010-01-12T20:17:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my blog! I'm excited to get started blogging and hope you will put my button on your blog so that you can come back and visit often.

Just copy and paste the text below into the html on your sidebar.