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Get Organized: It’s about time
This 5-part series may inspire you to organize and simplify your home. It’s a new year and a fresh opportunity to clean up, clean out and develop ways of storing and managing your stuff
Week 4 – It’s about time
Have you ever sat down at the end of a day and wondered where the time went? Perhaps you did not accomplish what you had hoped to do and that’s a frustrating feeling. A few simple ways to organize your time may be helpful.
Use a monthly planner. These inexpensive books can be found at Dollarama. There is a double page for each month. At the beginning of the new month jot down any appointments, commitments or birthdays.
Keep a running shopping list. Anytime you runout of something or are getting low, jot it down either on paper or on Notes on your cell phone. Use the method that best suits you.
Keep a birthday book with names and birth dates so that you won’t forget anybody. This can be done on paper or electronically. This saves your time later when you have to ask when someone’s birthday is (again!) or forget completely and need to send a belated Birthday message.
If you send real cards and some of us still do, buy a lot of them at once. Your time is too valuable to run out to the store every time you need a card. Perhaps pick up an assortment of cards for adults and children and buy stamps in books or even a roll. Going to the Post Office to buy 1 stamp is not a good use of your time. Canadian postage stamps have a P on them which means permanent. If the price goes up then that stamp you purchased is still fine, no extra will be charged.
In the morning make a list of 3 goals. If you write down 10 things you will likely not achieve that and it will be discouraging. Cross them off as you complete your 3 chosen tasks.
Plan meals for the week. Then make a shopping list based on your meal plan after checking what you have in the house. One trip to the grocery store is a better way to use your time than multiple trips there. Also, it is safer during COVID to minimize your trips to the store.
Establish routines. Do all your morning chores right away, such as taking medication, brushing teeth, making the bed, opening the curtains …. any of the mundane things that need to be done. Get them over with early in the day.
If you work outside the home, prepare some of your things the night before. Set the breakfast table, choose your clothes and lay them out, make your lunch and because your car keys are in the bowl near the door already (Everything in Its Place – Week 2) you will be ready to head out the door.
Hoping that you found at least one helpful hint that you can use in this 5-part series!
Week 1 – Declutter
Week 2 – A Place for Everything
Week 3 – Purge the Paper
Week 4 – Learn to Love Your Laundry
Week 5 – It’s About Time
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Get organized: Learn to love your laundry
This 5-part series may inspire you to organize and simplify your home. It’s a new year and a fresh opportunity to clean up, clean out and develop ways of storing and managing your stuff
Week 4 – Learn to love your laundry
Wash. Dry. Fold. Repeat.
It’s the job that never ends. You gather it, sort it, wash it, dry it, fold it and put it away. Then it starts all over again.
A few easy tips may help you to get ahead of it, or at least keep up with it.
Each member of the family can have their own laundry basket. No sorting afterwards wondering what belongs to who.
Buy all the same socks for each person. Providing you can find a sock you love to wear, if all your socks are the same pairing is easy! Singletons (that is when one sock is missing from a pair) simply become “spares” rather than outcasts.
If you have a large family designate a washing day for each person. Post their day. It is their task to take their laundry to the washer on their day. Depending on their age they can wash their own, get some help or an adult can wash it. This teaches a lot about personal responsibility. Kids can fold from a young age. It does not have to be perfect.
To avoid washing an item multiple times, use a stain remover spray, the sooner the better for best results.
When you clean the lint out of the dryer, save it to make fire starters. Simply stuff the lint into a used toilet paper roll.
Minimize the number of shower/bath towels, particularly if you have teens, by assigning everyone a hook for their towel. A large towel does not have to be washed every time you bath or shower.
Use cold water except for bedding, towels and heavily stained work clothes.
Overusing laundry soap can create so many suds that they actually trap dirt which goes back on the laundry. If your front-loading washer smells stinky that may be the result of too much soap. Use less. If the smell persists run a hot water cycle with 2 cups of vinegar.
If your whites are looking a little gray it might mean you need to use hotter water. It may also be caused by overloading the washer.
Using a dryer sheet or fabric softener helps to reduce winkles. Remove the clothing as soon as they are dry and fold them or hang them up right away.
Prepare the laundry. It takes just a few seconds to “unball” the socks or unroll sleeves.
Environmentally conscious? Yes, we all try. Dryer balls can take the place of dryer sheets. They reduce drying time, fluff and separate items and can be used up to 1,000 times. Use a half cup of vinegar in laundry that is especially “aromatic.” Hang your laundry out to dry.
We may not love doing the laundry, but it feels great when it is all put away! Then begin again.