How did it become 2014???

As you can see, I didn't keep up with this blog last year.  I had all my hopes up that I would do it on a weekly basis!!!

I am happy to report...the stuff we did organize in 2013 is STILL ORGANIZED!!!  We did do some more work as we prepared for our city water instillation and now 2014 is MY YEAR!!!  

Here are some things I did to prepare for 2014!!!

First up is our Mail Center.  It had been up most of 2013, but was not organized.  I used a Hang-Up Organizer from Thirty-One.  As of right now, my calendar is marked with holidays, paydays, and special events.  The dry erase is used for need to make appointments and the pockets are labeled:  Menus, Pups, Sally, and Drew.  My husband has been good about sorting the mail!  Shocker!!!














Next up is the List Center.  This is where both of us can see what needs to be purchased.  Here it just shows Costco and the Market, but have since added a To-Do, as in special chores (ie Clean Kennel), and Other (ie Auto Zone-Wiper Blades).  On the wall I have a 3M hook and bought a little pail at Dollar Tree to hold dry-erase markers and erasers.

 

Last up is my rough draft of my Stove Cabinet

Reorganization.  I decided about a month ago

that I was going to take over all the cooking.  Drew

gets home late and when he was cooking we were

eating later than I'd like.  Since doing this, the 

kitchen chaos has been reduced! Less mess!!!  It 

isn't where it needs to be at this point, but a good

start!  So now I am in the process of making it

"Short Stack" friendly...as Drew says!  Drew is 6'8 

and I am only 5'2 1/4 (had to throw that in there).

This will by far be the longest part of the kitchen

reorganization!

Well that's for all for now...and I promise to try my best to keep up this year! 

 

Productive Day Off!!!

We were off today for the MLK holiday!  We spent the weekend with my sister.  She always inspires me to clean!  She makes it look so easy to have a clean house.  Needless to say I get overwhelmed once I get home.

After driving from Ohio to Indiana in the blistery cold snow, we actually accomplished A LOT!!!

Drew was able to run cable to both of the kitchen tv's through the attic instead of on the floor and he changed out the wall mount so I can move one of the tv's.  

I vacuumed and picked up puppy toy remnants in the living room and vacuumed the backdoor rug and under the cabinets and in front of the washer and dryer.  This was all before we went to run a few errands and pick up the pups from the kennel.

We came home and Drew made a nice steak dinner and finished some wiring.  I continued with the vacuuming and did Danica's kennel and also cleaned the front of the washer and the inside.  I swear I pulled out enough dog hair to cover another pup!!!

We also ran the dishwasher and did 3 loads of laundry.  

Today was also Danica's 1st birthday so they each got dessert, a busy bone!!!

I feel like I did enough today than I have done all month.  Hopefully tomorrow after work we can keep up the pace and accomplish a couple more things.

Until next week...

Those dreaded to do lists!

The last 10 days or so, I worked off my to do list.  I spent a lot of time making phone calls...I don't know why I can never seem to make my doctor's appointment, vet appointment, hair appointment, car appointment, etc.  Well they are done!  Even got the pups booked at the spa for all of our planned vacations for the whole year!!!

All these calls took a lot off my list and I am happy about that, but it also means that some stuff didn't get done as planned. 

Saturday was supposed to be a simple trip up north to pick up my car from it's appointment and it turned in to a whole day adventure!  Needless to say nothing got accomplished.  Sunday was our anniversary, but Drew had to work so I had lunch with my cousins and visited with my parents and Aunt.  Once again...you guess it, nothing got accomplished!

Working late this week, but am DETERMINED to not have a repeat of the last week or so.  I will get something done!!!

Until next week...

How did the first week go???

This week was a short week.  We made a plan and a list.  Drew ended up working 12 hours on both Saturday and Sunday so our time to accomplish a lot was limited.

We had 17 things on our to-do list!  We completed 9 of them!  I am pretty proud of that since some of them have been lingering for months!!!  Sometimes the simplest things take the longest to accomplish because they keep getting put off to another day.

One of our biggest plans that we hope to continue is to do our regular laundry during the week.  Hopefully this will allow the weekends to be doing other projects instead of laundry or washing bedding, pet bedding, blankets, pillows, etc.  It is so nice to be sitting here on a Sunday night and not having to worry about work clothes!!!

I need to remember we are organizing our lives...not just our house.  So making those phone calls for appts are important and shouldn't be overlooked as doing nothing!

Until next week...

First Step!

Today we went out and took the first step.  We bought a few things to help us start the new year off right!  Mail is one of the things we just can't keep up with since we pay many bills online.  We just don't go through our mail like we should.  We tend to keep IT ALL!!!

 

New Year, New Beginnings!

This year, Drew and I, decided it is about time we end our chaotic life!  We have acquired soooo much stuff over the years.  It is time that we gut and purge all this "stuff".  

We will be using this blog to journal our progress.  It will be overwhelming and we want to be able to look back and say..."Look, we've made some progress!"  We know it won't be easy and we are hoping that we will find some good tips on organization along the way.  

We aren't just organizing our home, we are organizing our LIFE!  We love to travel...you can also check out or travel and photography blog, Opolski Travel and Photography.  We pick up so many things in hopes of incorporating them into our home and they just sit.  We hope to purchase less and enjoy more!

We are also hoping to learn new things, donate more to charity, and spend more time with friends and family.  It all sounds great, but we are hoping by becoming more organized we can fit everything in that we want to do and continue to enjoy our lives. 

Thank you for taking this journey with us!