It’s 2013! WOOT WOOT! Happy New Year everyone! I hope you’ve all been enjoying the past week! I took a mini computer break to spend time with my family. We have been traveling. And partying. And eating. Oh my word have I been eating! Tis the season, right? The season for barely squeezing into your jeans. And for then setting goals to once again fit into said jeans. I always have mixed feelings when January comes rolling around. On one hand I’m sad that Christmas is over. December goes by way too fast for me and when it all ends I typically find myself in a post party funk. BUT. The good news is that January brings along a cure for that funk. My marvelous go-to cure/drug/instant upper.
Time to organize!
Today I started working on my 2013 organizing list! This year will be a bit different for me since some of what I’m organizing will be going straight into boxes. Our new house won’t be done until late summer/early fall but I’m already anticipating just how crazy moving is going to be. My goal is to get a jump start by de-cluttering and simplifying as much as possible. Anyone else ready to de-clutter and simplify? Aren’t those fun words? I think I’ll say them again. De-clutter and simplify. Are you with me!? Who’s with me!? Let’s do this! (Clearly too much football today. Along with too much food. Did I mention I’ve been eating too much food?)
I’ve rounded up a few past posts that might be helpful for those of you who have decided that 2013 is the year you are going to get organized…
I hope they help! I’ll be sharing my list for the new year soon and of course, lots of details about how I’m organizing my life and home this year. I think I’m coming out of my post December funk already.
:)
Happy New Year everyone! 2013 is going to be a great one.
xoxo, Erin
Happy new year Erin!
Wanna know what I did when building our own house?
Six months prior to moving day I started boxing things, one room at a time. Organizing lists, time schedules and deadlines were my best friends :) It may sound too strict but trust me! With 3 little ones, house building, school and everything in between you will crave for some time scheduling!
You will need to make a list NOW with all the things your family will need that dreaded moving week: medication, special toys/blankets, number of clothes, snacks…anything you will absolutely need.
I gathered A LOT of boxes from supermarkets, friends etc and then I purged and purged and purged and purged some more! After each box was full I labeled it thoroughly: in which room this box is going/what it contains etc
Leave central rooms like kitchen and bathroom last.
Since you have so many toys, I’d suggest that each month you start box the ones that are not used often. You’d be surprised of the amount of toys they will never even remember or ask about. And then you can donate said boxes without even opening them :)
And what really saved my sanity was that I started de-boxing BEFORE moving day. In the majority of cases, closets, kitchen and cabinets will be installed at least a month before everything is completely done so everytime something got installed, I cleaned that room and when possible (say if nothing dusty needed yet to get installed)I moved the appropriate boxes by car and then put everything in closets.
Don’t try to organise now. Just put things in the right rooms and later you’ll have all the time in the world to do your magic!
Hope I’ve given you some ideas!
I love those words too! De-clutter and simplify!! Here’s to a great new year…thanks for being such a great inspiration…
Happy 2013 Erin! It will be an exciting year for you and I can’t wait to see how you organize your new house. I’m totally with you on the post Christmas funk… and how organizing brings me out of it! De-clutter and simplify are beautiful words :)
Dream Catcher – THANK YOU so much for the great tips! I am absolutely going to start boxing up anything we aren’t using every day and get a jump start on things. So great to hear advice from someone who has been in this same situation. Thanks again!
Happy New Year Erin. Let the organizing begin. I already have my list for January.
So excited for this New Year. I am sure you are too.
Cathy
You make organizing sound fun! Really it feels great and love January for this reason. My kids used to say mom can’t wipe the grin off her face when we are cleaning out our rooms :).
You have no idea how happy I was to read this post today! I am in the process of planning my wedding coming up this May and getting my house ready to sell so I can move after we’re married. I am totally in de-clutter and simplify mode. Thanks for always being so inspiring!!
Thanks Becky and Cathy! Always so fun to hear from you two. :)
Anonymous – Thank you! And congrats on your upcoming wedding! So exciting! And busy. :) I hope some of my posts will help with the simplifying!
I feel the same way, I get sad when Christmas is over, but the New Year fresh start organizing always makes me feel better. I actually got a ton done today since my kiddos went back to school. I packaged away all my xmas stuff & organized it by room so next year each room has its own holiday decor box. I went & bought the Martha Stewart chalkboard labels @ Staples , those are great, you can get a chalk pen ( I got mine on Etsy), and you can write on the labels on the box & then wipe off & rewrite if you change the contents in the box. Very useful for Holiday decor boxes !
What a great idea Reenie! Love it! And I’m jealous you’re all done putting away Christmas. My kids don’t start until Monday so I’ve had a hard time getting much done today!
I am super excited to see your 2013 organize list! Have you updated your Time Management Binder at all? I would love to see an updated binder if so- am always looking for ways to tweak my systems! =)
Thanks for all the organization inspiration!!!
Woohoo!! So excited for more organising posts!! Love, love Christmas, but this year found reorganising boxing everything afterwards almost as much fun as putting it out! :)
I love to organize. I am working this month on getting all my paper clutter organized and some system set up to not get behind. I want to do this once and for all. This is one of my huge problem areas that seems to always be a problem year after year. Organizing calms me too! It is amazing how much calmer I am when the house is picked up and everything has a place!! Happy New Year!
One of my favorite traditions is how we take down our Christmas cards: starting on January 1 we take down one card every evening at dinner and pray for the family who sent the card. Then we throw it away (but you could save it to scrapbook or whatever!). It’s fun to spend the dinner time thinking and talking about the family!
Thanks everyone!
Hi Melissa! I changed the binder to a notepad and mixed things up a little for Christmas. You can see the post here:
https://www.thesunnysideupblog.com/2012/12/time-management-notepad.html
I’ll post any other tweaks I make too! :)
Erin – I love that tradition! What a cool idea. Thanks for sharing it!