Organization 101: Day 9 Room by Room Organization- Kitchen & Pantry

Posted on January 22, 2023 by Jean Roman

“One of the core organizing principles of my life is that success comes through a delicate balance between making things happen and letting things happen.”— Robin Sharma

I decided to extend my Organization 101 Series a bit for all of you. Lets now focus on room by room and discuss some techniques I know you’ll be able to utilize in getting your life & home where you want it to be!

Many of the topics I discuss in this series I learned from an incredible lady named Marla Cilley, A.K.A. The Flylady. Her book, “Sink Relections” taught me how to incorporate all these lessons.

It was from the inspirations from her book how I developed my P.M.S. concept! So now lets get into today’s topic!

During the month of February, I’ll touch on the most common rooms in our homes and give you tips & tricks on how-to organize and clean with purpose. I thought we’d start with the kitchen & pantry… So lets go to my mudroom/ pantry.

PHOTO 1 Above: Layering items and keeping labels facing forward helps when you are trying to find something, and even more so when you ask someone else to go look 🙂

PHOTO 3 Below: Placing a small bench with totes under the coat rack allows us to sit to put our boots or shoes on. The totes hold gloves, hats, scarves in the winter.

PHOTO 2 Above:
My boys like oatmeal lol!!! I’ve found removing the individual packages from the large variety box makes FAR LESS MESS in the long run. I organize them by flavor and then they don’t have ‘dig’ through and make an unnecessary mess.

I try to keep all the kids stuff in one area as much as possible. This helps again with less disruption to the items they aren’t interested in.

In Photo 4, there are two large baskets I keep the snacks in. The one to the left holds open items, and the one to the right holds new, unopened items. My boys know they need to finish the open packages first before they can dig into the new stuff.

We also placed all of our alcohol and a few of the extra cleaning supplies on the top most shelf.

On the floor and shelf just above I placed items not as frequently used. These include garbage bags, extra bags of dog food, skillets, and some plastic storage containers.

PHOTO 4 Above: Ta-da! All cleaned up and nicely organized. See the video above to see what a disaster this room was!

Please note, we moved into this house on December 15th, 2022 and this room and closet as shown in the video were terrible catch-all’s. It was on my list of areas to organize, and what an incredible feeling it was to see the before & after!

WATCH THIS VIDEO!
Check out my disastrous pantry!

PHOTO 5 Above: By adding a couple over the door hangers, I increased my storage area for a few bulkier items.

In Photo 5 you can see I added some useful storage space by simply adding a couple over-the-door hooks. I was able to store my broom, Swiffer, and a large step stool.

Also adding a coat rack relatively higher up on the wall allows the lower area to house a can where recyclables, a mat for shoes, and dustpan can easily be stored.

Of course to make it feel homey I added some of my botanical prints and a cozy seat cushion.

My kitchen, like in most homes, is the gathering place when family & friends stop by. It’s just so natural to lean on the counter while your friend grabs a seat at the bar top and chat it up. A lot of problems get solved in the kitchen, as well as happy memories made.

It’s where little boys get to lick the icing off the mixer beaters… where soap-bubble beards are made and wet towel ‘thwacks’ happen… yes the kitchen is the heart of the home… after all it’s where we nourish those we love.

The Family that cooks together, stays together!

I have to have my morning coffee friends!

See below for pics of my kitchen!

Would you like to hear the rest of this post and find out how I keep my kitchen organized? Well, click this LINK to go on over to my Podcast to listen! Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to me HERE & THERE so you don’t miss a beat!

Click this LINK for the downloadable PDF for my list of Tips & Tricks to get & keep your kitchen organized!

Keep posted for the next in the series as we look at Living Room & Hallway organization.

If you enjoyed this blog , please LIKE, Follow, Share & leave me a comment! I love your feedback!

If you aren’t following me on Facebook, go on over & give a LIKE & Follow me for daily tips & tricks for your home & garden!

Happy Day,

Jean

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Podcast- Organization 101 Day 4: Weekly Schedules & How they benefit you!

Posted on January 10, 2023 by Jean Roman

“Organization begins with awareness of what doesn’t work for us.”

— Unknown

Organization 101 Day 4: Weekly Schedules & How they benefit you!

Many of the topics I discuss in this series I learned from an incredible lady named Marla Cilley, A.K.A. The Flylady. Her book, “Sink Relections” taught me how to incorporate all this lessons. It was from the inspirations from her book how I developed my P.M.S. concept! So now lets get into today’s topic!

Do you feel there is no time to start the organization process? Do you ask yourself, “Why bother? I’ll never get this mess under control?” Do you have a houseful of ‘people’ that just seem to trail behind you wreaking havoc with what you just tidied up?

Well if you said yes to any or all of those questions, this informative blog will help you realize it’s not too late. It’s not impossible. It’s easy to get them to change bad habits too! Despite the challenges you are facing, YOU CAN do little things each day to bring peace to order in your daily life but following these simple steps I’m about to give you!

On this weeks Podcast, I discuss exactly how YOU can create a vibrant, happy, tidy home simply by utilizing schedules!

Click on this LINK to go on over to my Podcast & listen to me explaining how to get your life to a state of inner calm, and outer tidiness.

Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to me here & there so you don’t miss a beat!

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If you enjoyed this episode , please LIKE, Follow, Share & leave me a comment! I love your feedback!

If you aren’t following me on Facebook, go on over & give a LIKE & Follow me for daily tips & tricks for your home & garden!

Happy Day,
Jean

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All text and images on this site are copyright of For Dragonflies And Me. Unless otherwise noted, you may not use this content without written permission.

Organization 101 Day 3- Day Planners & Journals: Utilizing the tool of list making!

Posted on January 8, 2023 by Jean Roman

“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.” ~ Anatole France

Welcome to Day 3 of my new Organization series! Today we’re going to discuss the importance of using a journal and day planner as well as calendars. I am also excited to provide information on a NEW tool I’ve been using to help keep me organized! Read on for more!

Let’s recap the previous post. Now that you’ve created your lists of tasks, it’s time to put them down onto paper or a spreadsheet. I started using an incredible program called Trello. It is a functional program that grows with you and your projects. You can use it for both work and personal life. I have 2 accounts- one for my For Dragonflies And Me and one for my other business, Food Trucks To You. I’ll be sharing more on this in my next blog post, and providing you with information on an incredible course I used to learn this great time saver.

You should now be at the point where you’ve created and P.M.S.’ed your lists and routines. Now you need a place to keep them so they stay organized and are easily accessible.

That brings us to today’s topic on how to utilize journals, day planners & calendars.

This is where a journal, day planner and calendars come into play. Using these tools will help you keep on track with visual ease. I could never keep up with my many ‘hats’ without them.

What’s the difference?

My journal is primarily used for household tasks and responsibilities where my day planner and calendars keep my work related projects scheduled.

Your Journal

First lets look at the journal. It can be as complex or simple as you the designer want it to be. Be aware that it’ll evolve and grow along with your children and as home renovations occur.

Day Planners & Paper Calendars

I purchase a new day planner along with a desk calendar every year. I live by my day planner and calendars because they allow me to visually see what I have going on and aid me in planning ahead through the year.

Google Calendars

I also utilize my Google calendar which aids me in scheduling personal & work appointments including Podcast & YouTube recording times with guests. I love that I can access my calendar from my phone for easy reference.

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Incorporating the use of all these elements keeps me on task.

Let’s take a look at how I utilize my journal. Be aware you don’t have to have it set up like mine, It can be as complex or simple as you the designer wants it to be. The important thing is it fits your lifestyle and needs. It will evolve and grow with your family & as home renovations occur.

I thought it would be helpful if I explained how my journal is set up, so here we go.

I use a leather-bound 1 1/2 inch 3-ring binder for my journal. It’s filled with top loading plastic sleeves and side tabbed divider sheets. It’s broken down into the following Sections.

Zones refer to each room of your home and is where you’ll put your room-by-room detailed cleaning routine lists. With this concept of zone cleaning, spring and fall cleaning can almost be eliminated.

Daily Routines holds my morning, daily, after school and evening routine lists as well as each day of the week’s schedule of routines that get done. This is where the example of my morning routine I shared with you last time would be placed.

Here’s an example of my Monday Routine:
*Purge magazines and newspapers

*Fill bird feeders

*Bathroom (this is where you’ll go to your Bathroom Routine)- tub, sink, toilet, floor

*Wash all area rugs and throw blankets in the laundry

*Kitchen floor, sweep, dishes

The Daily Home Blessing is my Mission Statement. I’ll share this in an upcoming post!

Zone’s:

My Sections are in this order:
Zones
Daily Routines
Daily Home Blessing
Menu Plans & Grocery Lists
Tools
Personal and Activity Frequency List

Pro Tip: Having a menu helps in grocery shopping and meal prep. I will go into detail on menu planning and grocery shopping in an upcoming post… so stay tuned.

Menus & Grocery lists. I like to spend about an hour once a month creating our monthly menu. I of course ask for input from Dave & the boys so everyone is happy!

Generally I try to design the menus seasonally.

Spring & Summer menus focus on the fresh produce we’re growing and that’s available at our local farmers market.

The second is Fall & Winter which features what we’ve canned, frozen and what’s in the root cellar along with what we may have left in the garden & again what is available at the farmers market.

…and now for your personal touch!

My Personal section holds things that inspire me. I have several poems on mothering, being a good wife & person in general, cartoons, drawings from the children and cards from friends and loved ones.

Frequency of Activities section simply holds a list of how often I want to do particular tasks.

*Each section has a Title Page. I have family photos, pictures the children have made, poems, cards and other special things to me.

As I said, your journal is exactly that- yours. Let it be a reflection of what you love, who you want to be, your faith and your passions!

Day Planners & how I use them!

As a writer, and now having both a Podcast & YouTube channel, I have multiple dead-lines for articles and projects which cannot be forgotten. I keep a list of the magazines, other blogs for inspiration in my day planner in the sidebar on the Month-at-a-glance page. I write the topic for articles & when they need to be published along with the due date. Having these visible on this page makes it really easy to organize my writing time through the month.

All my appointments are kept in this part of the planner as well.

My newest tool is an online organizer called Trello!

“Trello is a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. In one glance, Trello tells you what’s being worked on, who’s working on what, and where something is in a process.

Imagine a white board, filled with lists of sticky notes, with each note as a task for you and your team. Now imagine that each of those sticky notes has photos, attachments from other data sources like Jira or Salesforce, documents, and a place to comment and collaborate with your teammates.

Now imagine that you can take that whiteboard anywhere you go on your smartphone, and can access it from any computer through the web. That’s Trello!” Source- https://support.atlassian.com/trello/docs/what-is-trello/

I use it both singly & collaboratively! Here is a screenshot of my home page. I will be devoting a blog on this! So keep posted!

More on Day Planners

I purchase a new day planner along with a desk & wall calendar every year. I live by my day planner and calendars because they allow me to visually see what I have going on and aid me in planning ahead through the year.

On the Daily Pages of my planner I keep more detailed information. Here are some examples

*On office/desk day I’ll jot down all my phone calls that need to be made.

*I put down what’s for supper if it requires something needing to come out of the freezer, like meat.

*I’ll add extra chores to be done that may not be on that day’s routine. For example, during the canning season my kitchen gets a bit more messy. The day we do apple sauce I may want the floor washed or the cupboards wiped down when we clean the following day.

*Errands, appointments, birthdays and anniversaries also go here.

This is my favorite spot because I love the feeling of accomplishing my tasks and seeing them be crossed off the list!

The Desk & Wall Calendars!

My desk & wall calendars are basically large visual aids at a glance. It is also where Dave & the kids can leave me notes of anything they have coming up including field trips, teacher notes, vacation dates, etc. I then add those details to my planners.

Well… now you have some great ideas of how to create your own journal and an outline on what to include in your planners and calendars. Go ahead and start working on these until I get back with the next article in the series… How to utilize Trello and an incredible opportunity for a course I’ve taken! After that we will look at how-to do a ‘walk through’ and then the how-to on Zone Cleaning!

If you’d like to see more photo’s of organization, stop by & follow me on my Pinterest page!

If you aren’t following me on Facebook, go on over & give a LIKE & Follow me for daily tips & tricks for your home & garden!

If you enjoyed this blog , please LIKE, Follow, Share & leave me a comment! I love your feedback!’

Happy Day,
Jean

Copyright Policy

All text and images on this site are copyright of For Dragonflies And Me. Unless otherwise noted, you may not use this content without written permission.

Organization Day 5: The Walk Through

Posted on November 18, 2013 by Jean Roman

My office Well today I thought it was time to touch base on a common statement that occurs in my home every single day… The Walk Through. “What is a walk through?” you ask. Well, it is the next step in my organization series.

The walk through is a very basic concept that I believe most of us do everyday, but never really had a name for it. It’s easy to apply to our daily schedules and routines and it’s one that children can completely understand. The walk through is simply going through a room and picking up everything that is out-of-place AND putting it away where it belongs. Simply eh?

In the next post we’ll learn what Zonal Cleaning is and how to apply the walk through in it.

It’s been said that if you do something consistently for thirty days, it’ll become a habit or a routine~ that works with good or bad stuff, so be careful! I’ve incorporated this aspect into our daily lives over the last ten years and now it’s just a normal part of cleaning up for me and my children.

Here are a few tips when going through this step in the organizational process of getting your home where you want it to be:

*Each time a walk through is done, take a plastic bag and basket along with you. You’ll use the bag for trash and the basket for items that need to be put back in their proper place.

*As you go through, it’s best to start from the top down. For example table tops, book or other shelves, couches and chairs and then onto the floor. Be sure to look under the furniture. Gather up what needs to be put away in the basket, put trash in the bag.

*While you’re doing your walk through straighten things up as you go, fix haphazard cushions, re-fold any throw blankets, straighten pictures on the wall, tidy books and magazines on tables in the room as well as on the shelves, straighten any decorative objects or table clothes/ linens.

Once you’ve completed the walk through, I suggest you vacuum or sweep the floor. That gives the finished look!

The walk through is not ‘cleaning’ day, it’s something that should be done repeatedly through the day and especially right before bed. Vacuuming only once unless needed more.

I focus on three daily walk throughs- right before lunch- this is when we typically vacuum, just before supper (or just before dad gets home from work) and then before bed. There is nothing nicer then getting up in the morning and coming down to a tidy house!

Keep posted for my next topic in my organization series: Zonal Cleaning.

Happy Day,
Jean

Organization Series Day 1: Creating and Maintaining Routines

Posted on October 29, 2013 by Jean Roman

I’m all about routines, lists and general organization. I wear several different hats: Wife, mother, writer, organic farmer/ gardener and winter farmers market Manager/ Owner, to name a few 😉

Up until recently I also operated a fifty member CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share program on our farm which was a type of co-op. I organized and scheduled several farmers crops along with our own two acres according to our needs. I also attended a weekly farmers market. Our farm had several wholesale restaurant accounts where we sold specialty sausages, eggs, other meat products and produce.

Our farm raised both hogs and poultry for meat and eggs. We also have an on-farm butcher shop. Cut flowers for bouquets was another branch on our tree.

Not to mention I write two personal blogs, the one you are reading and Wren In The Willows http://wreninthewillows.com/2013/10/28/irony/

I contribute weekly to The Detroit News, The Good Life blog http://blogs.detroitnews.com/thegoodlife/2013/10/17/how-to-incorporate-herbs-into-your-table-decor/#comments

More recently contributing weekly to “Your Home with Karie Engels” http://yourhomewithkarieengels.com/2013/10/24/how-to-create-a-friendship-garden/ and “Farm to Table, Field to Plate.”http://outdoorsexperiencejournal.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/kitchen-gardens-tips-and-ideas-on-how-to-create-your-own/

I also have a new cookbook and gardening book in the works.

I’m currently working on a new Food Co-op project at one of Michigan’s oldest nursery/ greenhouses. Besides the co-op, we’re working at creating a community garden as well as a farmers market there in the next few years.

On top of this and several other things I didn’t mention, I am a mom. My youngest children are six and three years old. They require much of my attention. Encouraging them to help and work along my side is part of the process as well. I couldn’t do all I do without the help of my children.

Being mommy is the most important of my ‘hats’ and it requires the most energy and thought. It would be very easy for me to get side-tracked and neglect them. That is why I do much of my writing and computer work ‘after-hours’. Knowing my limitations helps to me stay focused and organized. I know where to dry the line and not over-extend myself. I know when to say ‘no’ to a project that just doesn’t fit into my life.

To the point… I have a lot to organize and my time must be scheduled accordingly. I don’t have time to diddle-daddle or fly by the seat of my pants . Every minute is precious and must be used wisely. I plan on a daily, weekly, monthly and seasonal agenda according to what project is at hand.

Over the next month I’m going to help you get your life organized by teaching you how to set and maintain routines. Routines are the key to success in life and when you have a plan of action written down to visually see, you will succeed!

There are many benefits to creating routines which include keeping yourself organized, scheduled and on track. You’ll be able to create daily, weekly, monthly and seasonal routines that will be geared toward your life and what is happening with you and your family.

Today lets look at the first important element in creating a happy organized life!

Creating and Maintaining Routines

How do I create routines?

*First, think about yourself and your needs.

*Next you’ll make a list. Get a notepad and write down what you’d like to accomplish in your home over the next week and through the current month. Remember to start small and don’t worry about trying to organize the list right now, you’ll do that later. Right now just focus on brain storming and write down everything you think of no matter how large or small the task.

*Write down your normal household chores, for example, laundry, cleaning out the fridge, etc. If you do any of these chores on regular days, jot that down too.

*Now make a list of your appointments for the current week and month in your notebook. Include yours, your spouses and your children.

Now that you have all the basics down, you’ll be able to create routines for everyday of the week and organize your time through the year.

The next step is my favorite! P.M.S.~ This is not going to be what you think…and this is for the next day, so keep posted!

How do I maintain my routines?

Like anything else, once things become a habit it’s much more likely that you’ll continue to do them. Routines are no different. By doing your routines on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, they’ll become second nature to you!

I also have my routines for each day of the week written down in a journal. I use to keep it open on the counter during the day so everyone could see it freely, although over the years I’ve drifted from this simply because they really have become habits.

Until then, here is a sample of my Morning routine.

MORNING ROUTINE- School days

“She riseth while it is yet night and giveth meat to her household…” Proverbs 31:15a

This would be during the school season. I have a different one for our summer schedule.

•5:50am~ Rise and shine with smile and praise in my heart and get the coffee brewing!

•Swish toilet and sink; get a load of laundry together to throw in.

•Brush my teeth; get a quick shower; put lotions on; get dressed.

•Have some quiet time with the Lord and a warm cup of coffee…

•Check email/messages; send any responses that need done.

•7:00am~ start waking the rest of the clan up… get breakfast going.

•Throw load of laundry in.

•7:30am~ everyone at table for breakfast; family devotions