Show Us Your Life: Organization

Last week at Kelly's Korner, "SUYL" was all about organization. I'd like to think that I've always done a pretty good job at staying organized, but I found out when you throw a baby in the mix, it's time to refresh the routine. I have two rules that I live by daily, the "Rule of Three" and "15 Minutes At A Time"

Rule of 3: I get the same three things done every morning:

1. Make the Bed. I read on another blog, that if you can't keep your own bed made than you might as well give up on being a tidy person. I wouldn't go that far, but it does feel nice to have a made bed every morning. 
2. Do a Load of Laundry. I do a load everyday, about 5 days out of the week. It is so nice to never live out of a laundry basket or have the clothes avalanche waiting for me in my hamper. Folding laundry everyday might sound like a pain, but when it's just one basket, it goes by fast and Lily loves to help as well. 
3. Load/Unload the Dishwasher. We aren't the best about loading the dishwasher after dinner. A lot of times I rinse dishes and pans while I'm cooking and set them in the sink to wait for the next day. I'm okay with that. I'll usually load the dishwasher while I'm feeding Lily breakfast the next morning. Or if I was diligent about cleaning out the sink and running the dishwasher the night before than I'll unload. Either way dishes are getting done in the morning.

Having clean dishes and clothes and a made bed make me feel like I got something accomplished everyday. Even if only that. 

15 Minutes At A Time
When I started my get re-organized campaign back in January, I was all about gutting every closet, drawer, and shelf in our house. But, I learned if I started in one room at a time, for 15 minutes at a time, I would get the job done more effectively. 15 minutes is the perfect amount of time to see a little bit of change, whether it's cleaning out the bathroom drawers, or shredding 5 year old cable bills (yes, I found these in our files), you would be surprised what you can get done. I set the timer on my phone, allow myself to concentrate on that one thing for 15 minutes and done. I commit to using the first 15 minutes of Lily's naps to do these things or other tasks that seen overwhelming and it's really made a difference! My files are updated, the flower beds get weeded, and every drawer in our house is organized, etc, etc.

Lastly, a great book on the subject is Unstuff Your Life. My neighbor recommended it and the author's mail routine alone is worth the read! I'll admit that I didn't follow ALL of his advice specifically, but rather customized it to fit our lifestyle. Like I said the mail routine alone has changed our lives! Oh, and always putting your keys in the same place. Seriously the best and simplest piece of advice that has made life easier at our house. We now have a specified area for mail, keys, sunglasses, purse, wallet and diaper bag. Genius!

Any tips you guys can throw my way??

Interested in menu planning, check out this post.