By: Jessica DiRamio
2011 was the year for getting the kids into a better morning routine, finding time for afterschool fun, getting into a groove with dinner time and more. I am excited to report that I, along with the help of my family, I accomplished those 2011 goals just in time to make more goals for 2012.
My list for 2012 is mighty long, but with a recurring theme along the way: GET ORGANIZED! To help me with this goal, I’ve created a list that both I and any of you can use:
- Get Rid Of The Paper. I have so much paper in my house. Between school papers, bills and junk mail, it seems sometimes that paper is taking over my house. I don’t have a defined plan yet, but this is the year to go paperless wherever possible. I signed up for E-bills through my bank and now I just need to turn off the mailed bills. I also plan to utilize my shredder and get creative with my girls’ school papers.
Beef Up My Current Family Calendar. Patting myself on the back, I must say I am really great at managing the family schedule. Lately, I’ve found that because I keep a lot of the events to myself, I am completely stressed out and can barely take on new tasks. I need to hand off some of the tasks, e.g. driving the daughter to practice, running to CVS to get a prescription, etc. In 2012, I plan to loop the hubs into the family calendar.- Keep “Mount Washmore” Under Control. Laundry. Five People. Two kids in sports. Enough said! This one should be on everyone’s list.
Closet Patrol. I am ashamed to say that I have no less than 7 closets in my house that are completely full and have no idea what is in them. No wonder why I am stressed! All of the stuff that should go into the closets are out in the open. Pure chaos!!! In 2012, I will purge, purge, purge and then stuff those closets to the brim again with the things that should be in there.
OK, now I’m really stressed. Seeing this on paper really drives home the fact that I have my work cut out for me this year. My complete list is about 10x longer but to me, these are the most urgent To Do’s. I will get organized in 2012! I’d love to hear about your feelings about these. Are you paperless yet? What are your secrets to keeping laundry under control? Help out a friend, here!
Community Voices for Health 
Laundry was a huge goal for me last year. Here’s what I do, every day I do at least one load at the end of the day from start to finish. It started as a way to get myself “out from under” but then it just stayed. It really helps to keep those piles of laundry at bay plus I find we actually need less clothing. We tend to wear the same few outfits every week (which doesn’t really matter since I stay at home, if I were working this would change) and it’s so much easier to have to just put one or two outfits away after they are washed than an entire wardrobe.
If you want to feel better about your closets, simply come see my bedroom, “office”, basement and garage. They are in complete disarray. So, I, too, am on a kick, but more for decluttering than organizing as I think it will take me the entire year just to do the former.
I have tried a number of things for Mr Washmore. Two that seem to work the best for me are limiting our wardrobes more (less clothes means less laundry) and doing at least one wash a day instead of saving it all up. It makes if far more managable.
I have a product plug for paper! We all have organizational challenges in my house and paper is the worst thing for all of us. Between travel schedules, a couple side businesses, combined household etc it is everywhere. We broke down and bought a Neat Receipt Scanner this year and it has been a Godsend. It is a small scanner and the software that comes with it that allows you to scan in just about anything…receipts, bills, personal documents, report cards, business cards etc and then categorize it into customizable things. You can then print out a report at the end of the year if needed (for taxes) or recall and print anything you might need. We LOVE it!!!! It turns into searchable PDF documents and can export into TurboTax, Excel, and many other formats. They have a couple different sizes, we have the small, portable one. Has reduced the paper piles in our house by a huge amount. http://neat.com/ to see demonstrations. We bought ours at Staples locally. Worth every penny!
I agree with getting organized, my husbands office is a nightmare of papers lying on the floor and lying unsorted in 4 boxes, which includes all his paperwork for his tax year which he hasn’t sorted out. I was thinking about hiring an office worker for a few days to get all our paper work sorted out and then keep up the filing from then on.
I also want to cut down on entertaining costs and cell phone call costs.
I’ve found a Tracfone family value plan that is impossible to beat for best value for money, $27.96 for a family of four, in total, per month!. I get 50 minutes and the rest of the family get 40 minutes each for $5.99. I’ll be saving over $100/month having changed from a contract. It’s a $1200 saving a year.
I’ve decided to entertain 2 friends a week at our dinner table, with no frills, just a simple meal with the family with just fruit and a liqueur for desert. By keeping the meal simple we can entertain regularly and keep in touch with our friends.