Practical Organizing by Betsy

Today I would like to share some practical organizing tips/systems for everyday activities.

1. My grocery list. I have made a master list of basic sections of my grocery store and mass-produced them. I have attached them to a large sheet magnet and have it hanging on the side of our refrigerator. When an item is getting low or someone in the family uses something up, we add it to the list in the appropriate section That way we always know when we need something and everyone is involved in the process.
It also makes grocery shopping easier since everything is listed by the general layout of the store.

2. Meal planning. Above my grocery list is a blank calendar that is also attached to a large magnetic sheet. I write down our basic schedules on this to show which nights we are planning on being at home. I then write in pencil the meals I plan to make within the next week or two. This allows my family to know what I am planning and it is a central location to plan my grocery list as well.

3. Leftovers. After dinner I place individual meals into small glass containers to place in the freezer. This way my husband can just grab a complete meal from the freezer to take for lunch. He doesn’t have to try to put the meal together by going to each pan that the meal originated from.

4. Place a load of laundry in the washer right away in the morning, even before breakfast if possible. Then by the time you have eaten, showered and are ready for the day you can place that load in the dryer. You will have one load of clothes done before your day starts. I also try to fold laundry and iron clothes while making phone calls. They are both easy tasks to do while on the phone.

I apologize that my tips today revolved around the kitchen organization more than anything else. Four days is really not enough time to share all that I could share. Tomorrow I hope you will join me for my list of favorite organizing books/authors. I hope to pass along information where you can get into organizing on a deeper level than I have been able to do in these few days.--Betsy