Tuesday Tidy no. 3

Toys! We've done a pretty good job of keeping the toy collection down. I don't think we've paid for any of the toys as they've been mostly gifts or hand-me-downs. My son is great taking things out and while we're playing I'm all about the mess. So many fun things to do! Seriously, 8 months is fun with the crawling, furniture cruising, looking at books and examining how things make noise.

Then he goes to bed and I realize I can't see the floor. So my quite method for reclaiming the floor is simple: six small bins.

I got these bins at Target for a different purpose, initially. The two short ones fit under our coffee table and also under the fireplace hearth. With wood floors this means I can toss all the toys inside (either bin, no rules here) and then slide them underneath to get them out of the way.

The three more sturdy bins I turned on their side and placed in front of the baseboard heater as a barricade and they serve as his bookcase. It's great because he can get book out and also uses the bins to stand, since they are sturdy enough. These are in his bedroom since that is where most reading takes place.

The tall one is also in his bedroom and basically holds anything that isn't a book (although books are welcome). His small room means I can toss things into the bucket from anywhere in the room. Seriously, 30 seconds and it's all put away.

It is so fulfilling and always makes me wonder if I could have something similar for my own things. Part of the struggle with moving is needing to live in a space long enough to figure out what types of systems makes sense in the space. So far, this one is a huge hit!

Tidy Tuesday no. 2

Clothes Edition

I have a lot of work to do in this area but we are started with a giant sort/purge. Since we moved a lot of my clothes have been stuck in bins in various closets in the house. I've collected them all in the bedroom and have been diving through, one at a time. I've got the following piles going (see photo below) and it's feeling awesome! I have a laundry basket for the donation/sell items and when it's full I do a load of laundry. This keeps it easy so I know that they do not go back in the drawers or on a hanger.

My biggest tidy tip for clothes is Project 333 - a fall uniform that makes getting dressed easier each morning and also washing and managing clothes easier. It means that things I'm not wearing are AWAY and out of the flow of things. this worked so well for me when I returned to work after having a baby. I thought I'd only last a few weeks with my capsule wardrobe but ended up doing the full 3 months and then a little more. It's been fun to weed through the boxes and it feels very easy to part with certain clothes because i really haven't worn them in a year and a half or longer.

Here are some other clothing tips to keep things tidy. Have you tried any? Got any additional tips?

• apartment therapy has some good links
• i love how shutterbean.com uses labels!
• this gal has great ideas like only buy one type of sock and then you never have to match socks again!

Happy sorting!

Tuesday Tidy

I have really missed blogging and when I take such long breaks it can be hard to know where to start. So I decided on a simple new series: Tuesday Tidy.

I'm slowly unburying myself from my email inboxes. Between multiple email accounts I had over 300 "unread" emails. I put that in quotes because some of them I marked as unread so I'd remember to deal with them later. But the truth is, I just don't have the bandwidth to deal with these emails...

So this morning I set a 10 minute timer. I figure I can commit 10 minutes and then move along if needed. So for 10 minutes I moved emails to the correct inbox folders, deleted those I didn't need, and unsubscribed from unnecessary emails (I always end up back on these lists!). When the timer went off I'd dealt with 27 emails!

After a 5 minute break I was motivated to try again. With the first inbox at zero, I decided to tackle the monster account with 257 unread emails (insert embarrassed face...). After another 10 minute session and I'm down to 181!

Here are my quick tips so I don't dwell on tricky emails and get lost in the process:

• Sort by subscriptions or companies first so you can deal with them at once. Start with an easy one that you know you can delete without much emotional attachment.
• When in doubt, unsubscribe. Clearly I haven't been using the coupons and when I need a coupon, I will know where to look
• Make a list: recipe emails are so inspiring but they clog up my inbox, so I open the link to the recipe and save it in a document called "Recipes to Make," that way I can search later and delete the email now.
• Create folders for certain categories. I have purchased many knitting patterns over the years and they often come in emails so I have a folder where I move these emails so they are filed away. Makes it easy to access later and doesn't clog up the "IN" box.

Looking forward to more tidying and less emails this week! Have other tips and tricks for organizing email? I'd love to know!