OPERATION END THIS INSANITY: Photo Organization pt.1

I was originally going to tackle our budget and making a family binder with a whole slew of organization to start implementing into our lives but I decided not to do it just yet. I wanted to tackle something more fun this week especially since we are still getting hit with the Polar Vortex and I am avoiding going out since the roads are so bad so I am going to get a grip on all our pictures.

I have not scrapbooked in over a year and have only gotten a few pictures actually developed.

Thank God for my Aunt Erin doing our wedding album for us because there is no way I would have been able to get it done in one week.

So here are my plans for this week:

• Finish sorting and categorizing all the pictures on our computer.
• Find an effective way to backup our pictures instead of cds.
• Scrapbook my Bridal shower pictures.
• Do a Shutterfly book for our Honeymoon pictures.
• Finish putting the pictures in the Project Life album I have of Tank and Diesel.
• Find a way to start doing yearly photobooks for our little Family. 

Sorry I don't really have any pictures for this post.

But there will definitely be more pictures on Saturday of what I get done.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and I am actually looking forward to going to work tomorrow since I have been cooped up in this house since Friday evening, cabin fever is kicking in.

Operation End This Insanity: Closet Organization pt.2

How are you all surviving Snowmageddon 2014?

We got so much snow today that I didn't even end up going anywhere which kinda blew my big idea for our closet makeover out the window. That is okay because I was perfectly content with laying around with the furbabes. We even went out to play with them in the snow for a little bit after cabin fever started kicking in.

It was nice to go out and get some fresh air but I cannot stand the cold so it didn't last long.

Anyways back to the closet makeover.

If you missed part one last Saturday you will see how much better it looks now!

 Here is a little before and after

 We cannot believe how much better it looks now.

The major difference is the new paint.

I ended up using a gallon of paint I bought a couple months back at Habitat For Humanity for $8. Unfortunately the color was not on the can but I have ended up using it for the kitchen and now our closet. Definitely the best $8 I have ever spent.

Now how about a break down of what is actually going on in here now:

 I was going to use shower rings on a hanger for scarf organization but then I found these hangers from some blankets we bought at TJ Maxx and they are working perfect for all my scarfs.

This is Anthony's side (he has about 3 loads of laundry that need done) and in the back are my summer dresses. I ended up pulling all of our camo, hoodies, and coats out and putting them in the laundry room closet. 

 Over here we are hanging all of our pants and above are belts and camis on a circle hanger.

We are a little behind on laundry too because the rest of our pants are in there right now too.

Below on the other side are all of my clothes.

Can you tell I purged out a full laundry basket of clothes to get rid of?

I was easily filling up a whole bar and a half in here before.

It is so much easier to get ready now.

 Some more of the organization is just putting stuff in baskets.

Above is all my swimwear (left) and lingerie (right) and below is a long basket I got at Hobby Lobby for our wedding programs to go in and it is now the home of all my workout shorts.

My favorite part is the mini gallery wall I did on the back wall.

The heart was a wedding gift my cousin Missy made me and the other picture frames are all from TJ Maxx.

The chalkboard I made for our wedding as a menu on the bar and I am still trying to decide what I am going to put on it now. I figure some quote since this would be one of the first things I read in the morning while getting ready for work.

Some stuff I did to end the insanity we had going on were

• Pull out all the clothes we no longer fit into or just do not wear.
• From now on we are doing the little trick of flipping hangers to decide what needs to go at the end of the season. My method is going to be backwards from how it is done normally. When I put clothes back I am going to put them back in backwards then in the six months I will pullout what is still facing in. I am doing this because I am more likely to pull something out to wear that is easier to take out and then I will most likely wear something more than once unless it is a favorite.
• I moved all our hunting gear to the laundry room closet since they are so bulky
• I also moved all our hoodies and coats to the laundry room closet because usually when we get home from work we take off those clothes and put on comfy clothes (sweat pants and hoodie) and by having these items in there we can take off our dirty clothes and put them in the right basket to be washed.
• Socks and underwear were moved to on top of the dryer in little canvas tote baskets so they can just be pulled out of the dryer and thrown in the correct basket without spending the time to actually sort them. We all know there is always a match missing anyways.
• I was originally going to put a tall skinny dresser at the end of the closet against the wall where we would store socks and other under garments along with running shorts and whatever else couldn't be hung up. I had the dresser painted already at my Mom and Dad's and was going to go get it today but then it ended up snowing like 7 plus inches and even the interstate here was closed because the County and State are running out of salt. Needless to say the dresser idea was nixed and in exchange I put up the awesome gallery wall, so it all played out for the better anyways.

I am planning on checking back in here in a month on the result of if this was a successful change for the better. I am hoping it will prevent us having clothes building up on the floor and laundry getting so backed up because it never makes it to out of the bedroom. Tomorrow I am going to be revealing the next project we are going to be working on to be more organized in 2014 and hopefully for years to come if we can make it a habit and stick to it.

I hope you all are having a great weekend!

Operation End This Insanity: Closet Organization Pt.1

Part of my NY resolutions are to be better organized in life.

Oh wait isn't that everyone's NY goal?! 

And I am pretty sure it was my goal last year and probably the year before.

This year is going to be different. This is starting to sound repetitive.

But really there is only one way to make something happen and that is by actually doing it. My old boss favorited this quote and used it all the time:

"The definition on of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" Albert Einstein.

This is so true.

If we continue to eat fast food we are not going to lose the 15 lbs that need gone ASAP.

If I continue to only run that comfortable 4 miles instead of bumping it up to 6, 9 and eventually 12 and 15 I am never going to be ready for a half marathon.

If I don't purge some of these clothes in my closet (some from my high school days) I am never going to get a grip on this horrible laundry situation we have going on. You would seriously think the Duggars lived here by the laundry mountain we have in the hallway.

If we don't sit down and make a budget and stick to it we are going to be stuck in this rental house forever. 

If I don't make some meal plans my husband is going to continue eating deer meet every night until we run out then I am going to have to cook something. Pretty sure we can't live on wine and pb&j.

So in an effort to not be living with so much insanity I am going to make it a weekly goal to implement new organization routines into our lives. 

Each week I am going to pick a certain area that needs major improvement and fix it. 

This week we are starting with our closet.

Our closet is not a standard closet and it's not a huge walkin closet.

But it is a walk in closet that is big enough for the two of us to not have to put away our off season clothes and have to find storage elsewhere.

We also don't use a dresser, instead everything is hung up. Unless it is socks, underwear, bras or running shorts, 

So I have scoured Pinterest for the best closet organization tips and ideas and this week I am going to see what we can do with our unorganized mess and I will do a follow up at the end of the week, most likely on Saturday.

Some areas that need improvement are:

+a place for scarfs

+shoe organization

+swim wear

+socks & under garments

+workout clothes

+hunting clothes

+bulky winter coats & sweatshirts 

The biggest problem will be:

+getting rid of everything I do not need or wear!

 +I am also going to focus on making it an area that is easier in the eyes (read: goodbye light blue paint and weird ceiling) 

Do you have a great storage idea for me? 

Please leave any suggestions for us because at this point we are considering all options.

Meet Helga & Milton

There is a bookshelf that resides behind my bedroom door.

I named her Helga.

My great Uncle Gary, who is now deceased, built her long ago.

She  has served many purposes since moving to my room. 

First she housed my sweatshirts and shoes when I was in high school.

When I scrapbooked  out of my bedroom Helga held all my scrapbook supplies.

Quickly that became too big of a task for her.

She currently holds my large collection of books. 

Along with books she often becomes the collector of junk mail and emptied pockets.  Pretty much whatever I don't want on my dresser.

Last night I decided to give her a good cleaning.

There was too much accumulated. 

Here are the before & afters.

messy earring area

My Nicholas Sparks collection, minus a couple.

Helga also now proudly displays my vintage camera collection.

This would be Milton.

(I will post more on my cameras in another post)

I started to realize I had quite the accumulation of gift cards. I ended up finding 14 and called every company to check the balances and what do you know they are nice chunks of $$$ on them!

SCORE!!! it was like Christmas all over again.

I guess I figured they had already been used and there was a couple dollars give or take on them

Not the case. 

Total when I was done calling everyone:

I am so excited! 

This was all just in time for spring too. I am seeing a shopping trip in the

 near future followed by lunch and dinner.

Wonder who will be my lucky shopping partner for that day?!

Thanks to all those giftcards I also got to have Subway today, for FREE!

Closet Organization & a little Tank love

This weekend I started out being very lazy.

It was not in my planning but it happened.  You see Mom made baked mac n cheese

and it was so delicious, however extremely greasy. That grease did not agree with my belly.

I was sick most of the evening and we didn't make it to Chase's surprise party.

My fiance is awesome though and actually offered for us to stay home.

Love him.

That was all on Satuday.

Sunday.

woke up really really. 

Didn't make it to church. I am not happy about that one.

Went to town with Dad and Anthony.

Dropped Mom's car off at Sams Club to get new tires.

Then we went to Home Depot to waste some time.

I was able to get some paint samples to get ideas for this weekend.

After getting Mom's car, Anthony dropped me off at my house and he went home.

I sat around for a while but then got this sudden urge to clean and organize.

Love urges like that!  

I ended up cleaning out the top of my closet.

There were tons of books, notebooks, vhs tapes and all kinds of stuff from when I was in Elementary School.

I decided to throw away almost all of  it. I kept one journal that had some cute things I wrote in it.

Other than that I also sorted through my piles of junk mail, pay stubs, credit card statements and college stuff.

I ended up with 2.5 bags of trash. 

Then I sorted through more clothes. 2 bags going to Maddy and 1 to donate!

I then decided to tackle my purse/bag organization or lack of. 

Of course I searched Pinterest for some ideas.

This is what I came up with:

Source: Tart House

She used hooks and hung her bags on the clothes rod in the closet. 

I had the left over shower curtain rings from the old curtain so that is what I decided to use. 

Here are my results:

The ones on the left are my befores. I had purses and bags

hanging every where and on everything. I am so happy with

it now because they are away and in my closet. After clearing

out a bunch of my clothes I had that whole rod available for

the purses to hang on.

While all of my cleaning was going on everyone else was watching the race.

I mean everyone, including Tank.

I couldn't get into it because I was too focused on cleaning.

But Mr. Tank was enjoying it. 

He loves to watch TV. We even have the Westminister Dog show saved on DVR so he can watch it.

I love him so much!

When he came back for bed he was amazed at how much room was in my room now.

It was so cute, he was walking around trying to find a place to lay day.

He has such a personality!

Below is a picture I snapped of him watching the race.