The Card System for time management - You expect me to do what, when, how??!!

If you read my first post and are thinking about starting the card system to help you get organized and better manage your time:

http://mooremagnets.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-card-system-to-stay-organized-and.html

You might be feeling a little overwhelmed ... asking me - You expect me to do what?  Exactly When?  How am I going to get this done?

I will admit that when you are first setting this system up, it is a bit of work.  Thinking of all of the things you need to do, and having a hard time getting it all done now.  Honestly, this is my favorite part of the card system, because I don't have to think about it all anymore.  I know that all I have to do is pull cards out, check things off, work a little each day, and it will all get done.  I also know that it isn't going to involve me rushing around and feeling overwhelmed that things have gotten out of control.

Today, I am going to take a closer look at my daily cards for you.  These are things that I do everyday to help me stay on top of things.  Your daily cards may look different as your problem areas may look different than mine.

The purpose of the daily cards is to maintain and to control your problem areas, and also to make the hard to keep clean areas easier when the day to clean them comes around. 

You may notice that I have a bit of overlap on my daily cards.  Like wiping counters, sweeping the kitchen and dining area, laundry and dishes.  The reason for this overlap isn't to make me do these things if they don't need to be done, but more to make me look at these areas and to be proactive in keeping them cleaned up.  About half the days of the week, I don't have laundry to do, but this way I am doing laundry one load at a time instead of 5 loads one day of the week.  In the past, I have set up my cards to only do laundry one day a week, but then I had to fold 5 loads of laundry in one day, and I hate folding laundry.  By breaking it up over several days, laundry doesn't pile up and I find it less daunting to fold them one load at a time.

Wiping the counters is also an overlapping task.  Keeping the counters cleaned off is one of the areas that my husband and I tend to bicker over.  He likes the counters clean and tidy, and I tend to pile things up there.  So, I try to focus on those as a favor to him.  It just makes the household more harmonious, and I know he appreciates my efforts. 

I have also made daily cards for my children.  Their cards contain their daily chores and we go over them each night.  At the end of each week we review and I hand out allowances.  There are other cards for them that they can do to earn extra money, but the condition is that all of their daily chores have to be met before they earn money for the extras ... if not there are deductions to their extra chores.  They know that they can't just skip picking up their dirty clothes and dishes to earn money from washing cars ... They also know that they can't just was the cars every day.

Since I made my cards, I have also found that I have some other tasks that need to be done less frequently, more frequently, and things I have forgotten about too.  So I will be adding those in.

Next time I will talk about some ideas that you might want to put as weekly tasks.

Finished Product Storage

I've blogged about my finished product storage before.  However, I have recently decided that it is just not working for me. 

Previously I was storing my finished product in my cabinets that hubby and I installed in December 2010.  However, I quickly realized that I was growing out of that space.  It became very apparent in the spring of 2011 as I began getting ready for spring craft shows, and I would have finished magnet boards lining the living room.

So, I have finally cleared out the coat closet and moved in!  Please realize that coat closet is just the name as coats have never really lived in there.  I am still storing my bolts of felt inside too, as they are too long to put in my cabinets, but I may still re-install a shelf that was removed before.

I like that now everything is in one place and it will be easy to load and unload when packing up for a craft show.  I can also space things out so that when something sells it is easy to find.

Now it is time to fill these shelves up!  Spring Craft shows are coming up quickly!


The wire shelves may be problematic, but I will use it this way for a little while before I bug hubby again.

Shoe Racks as Toy Storage

I'm a little embarrassed to show you these pictures.  Our youngest son has an armory ... an armory of Nerf guns.  He LOVES his Nerf guns and I have become quite a good shot playing with him.

However, I can't say that Nerf guns are the easiest thing to store and find a place for!

So, a genius idea came over me!  I put an over the door shoe rack on his door to put the nerf guns in!  The pockets are the perfect size for many of his smaller guns.

He can't reach the highest pockets, so I'll be putting things in those that he doesn't use so often






We are hanging his larger ones on hooks around his room.

Yes, there are more than pictured here!

Oh, well ... at least he is not addicted to TV and video games!

Organizing Never Ends! Revisiting Projects

 About a year ago my husband and I installed cabinets for my work in our living room.  I had very specific things in mind that I was going to store in each cabinet, and it was just going to be fantastic!

I still think they are fantastic, but with the addition of a new binding machine and color laser printer, the where I was going to put everything has changed ... seems like every week!

That's okay though - I really think that organizing isn't something that you do, and then you are done with.  I think it is an ongoing process that needs to be evaluated all of the time.  Let's face it, our interests changes, our kids' interests change, we stop doing things and start new things, and people and businesses grow!

So here is the newest arrangements of one of my cabinets.  I decided that I could really put some of the things I had out into a different place.  I wasn't using them right now, and even though I have plans to use them in the future, they don't have to stare me in the face everytime I open this cabinet up.  So, I've decided only to keep the things that I use right now in here.

I really love that I actually have some extra space too!  And I love having a basket that is just for fabric I have out for outstanding orders.  This will save me so much time since I don't have to dig through my fabric bins over and over again!

And, the rest of my spice racks turned paint racks came in!  The new ones that I ordered are actually a little deeper so I can even fit my spray can in there too!  I love that my brushes are there too ... they make me happy!

I am sure that some of you have tons more paint, but I must say that I got a deal on these spice racks on Amazon through ACE Hardware - They were less than $2 each!

Ok!  Back to work!  Hope you have a fantastic day!

If I could find my scissors then I wouldn't need 15 pairs!

So, I decided that it is really time to clean out my workspace. I am removing half finished projects and putting them in a bin so that I can come back to them later. When there are lots of little pieces for the projects I am putting them in baggies so that everything stays together. I am also putting all of the Christmas crafts in a bin so that I can pull them out at the end of the year when it is time to get started on them again.

However, what I have really found ... is that I would have a WHOLE lot more space if I just got rid of all of these multiples of things ... like sanding blocks, pliers, and scissors! Really - I would not need 15 pair of scissors if I could actually FIND scissors when I was looking for them ... This is what came out of ONE drawer!



Oh my ... I have a problem ...

Clear Jars - Saving me from madness!

I seriously only have 5 minutes of organizing time today ... I really need to devote more time to it tomorrow.

But ... each small step is still getting me toward that elusive goal of actually being organized! I do have my doubts that I will reach that holy grail at this point though!

So, today I grabbed some canning jars that weren't being used and seperated all my buttons! Some glasses are also handy for pens and paint brushes! WooHoo! I can see what is in them and they will fit nicely in my cabinet!

I just love using things for multipurposes!

Crafty Storage Ideas! Spice Rack as Paint Storage

So, I was cleaning out my spice/baking cabinet over the weekend and decided to finally get rid of some of those spices that have been in there for far too long. I also decided that I really needed to find a new spice rack since this one was a wee bit too big for the cabinet door causing it to not close all of the way.

This morning I realized that it would be the perfect place to store all of those paint bottles that are shoved in a basket in a closet! Maybe I won't have to dump out a whole basket of paint to find the right color anymore! Now I just need to add a dab of paint to the top of each lid so that I know what color is there!

They fit so well that I ordered a few more from Amazon for the rest of my paint stash! WooHoo! Gotta love repurposing your stuff ... especially if it isn't working quite right!

FYI - I do not know the brand of this rack as it was purchased many moons ago, but it is about 12 inches wide and 3 inches deep. It fits 14 of the small 2 oz bottles of craft paint.

Coupon Organizers! Back in the Etsy Shop!

'Coupon Organizers!' by MooreMagnets

Large Coupon Organizer ... MooreMagnets $12.00	Large Coupon Organizer ... MooreMagnets $12.00	Large Coupon Organizer ... MooreMagnets $12.00	Large Coupon Organizer ... MooreMagnets $12.00
Small Coupon Organizer ... MooreMagnets $8.00	Small Coupon Organizer ... MooreMagnets $8.00	Small Coupon Organizer ... MooreMagnets $8.00	Large Coupon Organizer ... MooreMagnets $12.00
Large Coupon Organizer ... MooreMagnets $12.00	Large Coupon Organizer ... MooreMagnets $12.00	Small Coupon Organizer ... MooreMagnets $8.00	Small Coupon Organizer ... MooreMagnets $8.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

180 CD's on One Flash Drive

I've still been cleaning and decluttering around here ... just not being very good about updating my blog! Between taxes, spring break, end-of-school-year-craziness ... and regular work ... The blog has been a wee bit neglected!

But, for the last month or so, I have vowed to FINALLY put all of our music cd's on the computer, and on a flash drive!

180+ CD's later ... here I am!

Can you believe that huge stack of CD's fit on this little 8G flash drive!

Organizing - Up and outa there!

So, since I missed a few weeks of organizing projects there ... I thought I should do a couple extra this week!

You may remember reading about my epiphany that I had on Monday - that my desk was always a mess because I was setting myself up for it to be that way ... So, I am doing something about that!

This is actually a picture of the Cleaned up desk ... but you might notice that overflowing basket of stuff I need to sort. Not the nicest thing to look at!

So, I found it a new home INSIDE the cabinet! I actually had another storage thingy in here before, but since I only use it a few times a year, I decided that it could live somewhere else!

Now my storage for important things and things I need to sort is right next to me when I am sitting at the desk.

I'll have to make sorting it a project for next week!


















Also earlier this week I came up with this fabulous idea to put magnets underneath my cabinets, and store some of the items I have for sale there until they sold!

However, I liked the idea so much ... and decided that I could use those containers for organizing ... I decided to just take some out and keep them for myself! So, now I have this whole little section where all of the different size buttons and grommets I need are labeled and in easy reach!

I think it looks pretty neat too!


Now I just need to get all of these photographed and listed for sale! I am going to see if I can round out the sets though and make them all sets of three! I think I will even include a magnet in case someone wants to put them under their cabinets too!

An organized desk ... and what I WANT it to look like!

So ... I have this fantastic new desk space! We actually installed these cabinets and countertops right before Christmas ... and yes - what an excellent Christmas present it is!!



The only problem ... the counters RARELY look like this picture!

However, it dawned on me this morning - that the reason that it doesn't look like this more often is because I am setting myself up for it to NOT look like this!

Normally I have some project out on the counter that stays there for days, but I also want to be able to cut fabric in that exact same spot. Also, there is usually papers out on the printer ... but they are there because I haven't created another place for them to live! Also ... let's talk about pens, scissors, and rulers! I usually have a huge container that is full to the brim with pens, scissors, and rulers out on the counter ... but I also have pens, rulers and scissors in the drawer right next to me ...

So ... this week I am going to be working on making new homes for these things - or clearing out space so that these things have a place to live! The way this space looks right now makes me HAPPY! I completely understand that it won't look like this while I am working on something, but it CAN look like this MOST of the time!

So ... onward and upward - start out with the space that you WANT and then make the things that you need fit into that vision ... if it doesn't fit ... then evaluate if you really need it!

ACK! I only have 10 minutes for organizing! Tackling the Junk Drawer

ACK! I am running really low on time lately ... unfortunately my blog shows this all too well! My shop has been hopping, which is FANTASTIC, but it has left little time to stay on my 52 weeks of organizing goal!

So ... today I decided to set aside 10 minutes for organizing!

What in the world can you get organized in 10 minutes? Well, it took me a few minutes to figure that out too ... so then I only had 8 minutes!

1st thought - The kitchen junk drawer! We all have one ... a drawer where you put all of that stuff that you don't know where to put it!

Here it is before:

I am embarrassed to say that the drawer would not even open when I first pulled on it. So, obviously this was needed!

So ... Operation - take everything out and put it on the counter for sorting ... Not Pretty!!

I actually found that most of the stuff in here already had another home to live in!

(Probably doesn't surprise all of you professional organizers!!)

So, tools went to the tool box, office supplies to the desk, medical stuff to the medical box, and so on ....





I did decide to leave pens, pencils, and note pads in the drawer even though they could be thought of as office supplies, but this is really close to the phone where I need to jot down a quick note ... and I don't want those living on the counter!

Finished! Still had a minute to spare!

And the drawer opens now!!

52 Weeks of Organizing - Week 1

So, I am committing to the 52 Weeks of organizing over on OrgJunkie's blog

Here is my Week 1 Project.

I haven't shared with all of you my FABULOUS new workspace, but I will try to do that soon ... perhaps after some of these 52 weeks project!

Anyway - we moved out my work area furniture and installed upper and lower cabinets in our living room - before the spaced was lined with a metal cabinet, desk, and armoire that I used for my business. Now the cabinets give it a more streamlined look - although I did have to do quite a bit of re-arranging.

So, my week one project is this cabinet pictured -

I had a metal file organizer in one side, but since I only had one, the otherside is still just stacked with a basket on top - really pretty unfriendly to actually get anything out of. So, yesterday I took action and ordered another file organizer!

Originally I searched on Etsy and found a few vintage ones, next I searched ebay, next I searched a few office supply stores ... well I finally ended up back at Etsy to order the vintage one.

Here is a picture of that one - it is coming soon! I already got the shipping notification from the seller!! Thanks, AuntSistersPicks!!

This is going to be great to sort out all of the different labels and papers that I use for various business tasks!

I also like that it will fit inside the cabinet and when I close the door I still have the streamlined look that I am going for!

New Year equals new projects and goals!

So, I haven't really set any new year's resolutions this year, and given everything that has happened in my household over the last few months, I had really decided that I just wanted to work on "normal".

However, not having a goal or project to reach for this year has really been eating at me. So, when I read about the 52 Weeks of Organizing over on OrgJunkie's blog, I thought this would be the perfect small project to work on.

Basically you are just thinking of 52 areas or things that you would like to get organized during 2011 and then talk about them on Friday's.

So, this week I will work on at least a partial list of 52 things and also complete one organizing project. I'll take pictures and blog about it on Friday!

Hit the ground Running!

Oh, I had a great night's sleep! Woke up all refreshed and ready to go! As much as I love having all of my guys around for a long weekend, they sure can make a mess! I have a lot of friends who are such good house keepers. Honestly, I don't know how they do that - their counters are always clean, the floors are always clear, no dust can be found, and they must eat out all of the time! My house ... well not so much! There is always at least one room in the house that is in disarray, unless we are having an event at our house ... then I am drill sergeant mom and don't let anyone take out anything. So, today, I will strive to tackle the mess ... again ... and see if I can take one step towards becoming a more organized mom! Maybe I will get there before they all go off to college =)

Paperwork! Organizing my stacks!

It's a rainy day today, and I am finally finished sending out my outstanding orders. As much as I would love to just take the day off and do nothing, I have a giant stack of paperwork staring back at me!

I have several files already set up, but since our new computer arrived, I have decided to rearrange my desk. Things are coming along nicely, but it is forcing me to tackle some of the paperwork projects that I have been putting off for a while.

I will be taking pictures during the day to show you part of the process, but here is the list of the supplies I have ready to go to tackle this project!

File Folders
Label Maker
Large clean surface (my living room floor)
Stacks of paperwork
Empty file box
Note pad
Pens/Pencils
Shredder

I am not sure if I will be able to reveal my final office yet, but stay tuned hopefully it will come soon!

Organizing Tip! Organizing Digital Photos

One of the hardest things for me to keep organized these days are my digital photos! I am guessing that is because they really don't take up any physical space. However, as an online seller of my craft photos are an essential part of my business. In my former life in the business world I maintained a database of thousands (maybe millions) of electronic papers and pictures and the system that we used was a dating system. It didn't take me long to figure out that we needed to use a coding system of year-month-day-document number - Today's first document would have looked like this: 2009-09-09-00001

However, that system didn't help me in business since the day that I took the photo was irrelevant. I currently use a system that uses the size of the magnet board, framed or unframed, fabric description, number - so my files end up looking something like this: 12x12Bluedots01 or 18x23Framedpinkgreendots01. For the items that I make that are not magnet boards my files look something like: pencilholderpurplegreenflower01 or mailholderorangewhitescrolls01

This naming system is generally how I keep all of my photos that have been edited, but I don't re-name the original pictures that are downloaded from my camera - I probably should, but since time is short - I don't.

Another thing that I do is I keep a file that is labeled - Show pictures - These are pictures that are my best photos of my work, and the file that I open when I need to find a picture to print for craft shows, juried sites, website design, flyers etc... Every picture in this file is a copy of the original.

There are other ways of organizing your photos, such as, coming up with a numbered category system where you have a number for each main category, perhaps a number for a subcategory, and a photo number. However, if you use a system like this you will need to make sure that you keep a list handy of all of your category and subcategory codes. Personally I prefer a system where I don't ever need a reference sheet and I can quickly look at the name of the file and determine what the photo is.

So, what is the first step to creating your own system? I would suggest that you first make a list of all of the different types of photos down, and then decide how many categories that you have and how many subcategories you have. After that you should be able to come up with some sort of system!

Organizing Tip Tuesday!

If your house is anything like mine, you ALWAYS need more organization! So, I hope that you can pick up one tip from my blog that will help you get just a little more organized!

Closets! Between me, my husband, and 3 boys there is always a closet in the house that needs to be organized, and most of the time it is due to clothes and shoes that don't fit or that no one wears any more. So, years ago I decided that each closet needed two bins in them no matter how the rest of the closet was organized. One bin is for dirty clothes, and the other bin is for clothes that don't fit, or that no one can or wants to wear anymore.

The donation bins are treated very much like the laundry bins - but they are not mingled with the laundry bins. So, every few weeks they are checked, and sorted by color, and washed. Once they are washed I sort the clothes by things that will be handed down, and things that need to be donated, and things that are just too worn out to be donated. The hand-me-downs are transferred to the next wearers closet, the worn out things are usually sent to the garage or workshop, and the donations are transferred to bags or boxes and taken to the donation center.

I don't wait until I have a truck load of stuff to go to the donation center - I found the closest one to a store that I frequent, and stop and drop of just one bag or just one box at a time. My boys know the difference in the bins - they were cued by color when they were younger - and they use them sometimes. Actually the teenagers are starting to use them more and more as they are much more motivated by style right now!

Hope that helps! Good luck on your organizing quest!

Clean Up The Crap Wednesday - Continued!

So, I decided that I really needed to clean up our coat closet. Kinda funny that I call it that since we don't put coats in it, but I use the closet to store the vacuum, winter hats/gloves, and stuff for my business. This morning is was a complete disaster, and I actually couldn't even get the vacuum into the closet. Bad since I haven't used the vacuum since last week!!

So Here is the before picture:


I am ashamed that this closet still housed:
- playdoh toys that my son hasn't played with in almost 2 years
- a basked of coloring books, markers, and crayons that I didn't know about
- and bags that I transport product in that were falling all over the place
- the lids to plastic storage bins that are probably long gone

I want to use this closet to house:
- overflow shipping supplies
- bubble wrap
- over flow baggies for product
- wooden shape supplies
- overflow of magnets
- winter hats/gloves
- vacuum cleaner and parts

So, I emptied it out and put everything back - I have relocated the coloring things to my son's room, but most of the other stuff is going to goodwill or the trash!

I can even fit the vacuum in the closet now!

Also - I wanted to point out my organizing solution! I hung an over the door shoe rack with clear pockets on the back of the door a while back - but most of the pockets were empty. So - they have been filled up and arranged so that I can see everything! The best part is the pockets are clear so I can give the label maker a rest for
the day!

Clean Up The Crap Wednesday!

Something always needs to be cleaned up and organized around my house. Truly I could blog about this everyday, but I will spare you - and only blog about it on Wednesdays!


So, I decided to clean out my supply cabinet. Originally this cabinet housed our TV and stereo, but we recently purchased a TV that hangs on the wall. I use this cabinet to hold all of my supplies that I use in the house, as opposed to the supplies that are used in my workshop. I found that these items needed to be in a temperature controlled environment, and also didn't need to be exposed to the dust that is created by power tools in my workshop. The pictures really just do not show the full scope of the disaster this cabinet was, and I have been putting off the task of cleaning it out for months!

So, first things first, the cabinet is emptied out. You can see that I literally just took everything out and piled it on the floor. For me, it is just easier to get everything out and then sort it. I sorted by a few different categories for the first sort: Trash, doesn't belong in this cabinet, and keep. Next, I sorted out the things that were staying in the cabinet by what I used them for - office supplies, fabric and fabric crafts, paper crafts, partially finished projects, tools (used in multiple crafts). Next, I sorted each of these categories by how often I used the item.

This last sort is required because this cabinet is fairly deep, and I want to utilize all of the space. Therefore I placed the items that are used least often in the back of the cabinet, and items used most often in the front of the cabinet.

Putting things back in:

As I said above, I tried to put the items that I use least often in the back of the cabinet. However, I also had a few boxes that were full of excess office supplies. So, I took out a small amount of these supplies to store at the front, or in a different location, and then placed the boxes in the back of the cabinet.

I didn't buy any new containers for this organizational project. I simply re-purposed what I had already. Baskets that weren't being used now have a purpose, and bins that were overflowing were cleaned out and used for a different purpose.

There were a few surprises that I found - First was a box of supplies that I didn't realize that I had, and I had just purchased more of these supplies the week before - what a waste of money!! Also, I found a box of paperwork that needed to be added to my tax documents! (Glad I haven't finished taxes yet!).

Lessons Learned: I really need to do things like this more often! Buying supplies that I already have, and having tax documents in a supply cabinet is really bad! I also learned that I need to get better about not putting things in this cabinet that don't belong here! Finally, I need to remember that every square inch of every space does not need to be occupied. Having a bit of room is helpful when you need to move things around, take things out, and put things back in. Also, I am quite sure that there is a supply that I need and have not bought yet!