It’s crazy to think that one whole month of the new year has already passed! Doesn’t it seem like yesterday that we were all setting goals and resolutions for 2016? As fast as this month seems to have flown by, I know that I have been super busy! Here is s rundown on the past month:
First the fun stuff ~
- A New Year’s Day hike in Joshua Tree National Forest
- A visit to Pasadena where we got to view the Rose Parade floats
- A field trip to the Rosecrucian Egyptian Museum with my students
- A winter tea party with my friends
- A quick trip to Maui with my husband
- Whale watching with whales breaching boat side
- Swimming in a waterfall on the road to Hana
- A romantic dinner with my hubby – more about that later 🙂
- A night away and dinner with ten girlfriends from high school – that’s 35+ years of friendships!
- Dakota started doggie school with Sophia training her
And the OMG moments ~
- Nicole headed back to school for her final semester of college.
- Olivia headed to the Philippines for a semester abroad.
- Alyssa sustained a pretty rough concussion while snowboarding. Parenting from afar means I texted her every hour all night long to make sure she was ok. She spent the first night with a married couple that kept on eye on her, and her friend that was boarding with her at the time kept me up-to-date as well. She is still healing and thank goodness she was wearing a helmet. The helmet did not survive.
- Dominck had to endure a medical procedure to try to determine what is causing him stomach issues.
Needless to say, it has been a busy month! A month full of some really good stuff – time with family and friends. And on top of all that – I have been purging, cleaning, and re-organizing! My master bedroom is done! The master bath not as much as I would have liked, but I am making progress. And that is what I believe is the key to getting it done. Pretty much like so many aspects of life, it is about putting one foot in front of the other and continuing on the journey – baby steps will get you there.
Last week I told you about the KonMari method of folding clothes and a few readers asked me what that looked like. So here are two photos. A drawer with my t-shirts folded as I have always folded them, and the second with the t-shirts folded in the vertical KonMari method.
This does not give me any more space, but it does allow me to see everything that is in the drawer without needing to rifle through the stacks. So far -so good!
My plan for February was to tackle all of the books in my home. As an English teacher – I love to read and my house is overfilled with books. But like much in life, sometimes we need to switch up our plans. I just got off the phone with my mom, and I am really hoping that they will be visiting us for the month of March. So instead of tackling the bookshelves, I am going to focus on hall and linen closets and one of the kids’ rooms. My parents usually visit over the holidays when all the kids are in the house, and they have the pullout sofa in the office. But since they will be visiting when the two girls are away at school, I will be having them stay in Nicole’s and Olivia’s room. So before they show up, I will be doing a run though of their bedroom. It’s not too messy, just needs a little love and attention to get it ready for visitors. The kids’ bathroom on the other hand – ugh! That, despite its weekly cleaning, needs a bit more love. It is amazing how disorganized bathroom drawers and shelves can get!
I did learn last month that Friday night re-organizing is not my thing! After working all week, Friday night is not for cleaning – no way! So this month I have assigned myself jobs for Monday through Thursday. As much as I would like to think that the jobs are only 15 − 30 minutes long, they seem to take me longer. So I do not assign anything on the weekend – I use that time for catch up if needed. Plus my master bath is not 100% complete, so I will be trying to finish that as well.
Getting Organized! Home Organization Plan February Calendar
Life is busy! And we don’t always get it all done. That is OK! Spending time with family and friends is what makes life good. The quiet moments, the smiles, the encouraging words shared with loved ones – that is what is important. If you are feeling like you have not made much progress on your new year’s goals – take heart and know that baby steps will get you there. Just don’t give up. Take some deep breaths and move foreword. This is real life – picture perfect is not the goal, progress is.
Good luck with tackling your goals in February! Perseverance will get you there!
For a printable version of the calendar, please click February Home Organization Plan.
Thank you so much for sharing the calendar. I will use them!
Wow, I wish I had the time to organize like you do! I am planning to get some of my design supplies organized this month, I hate when I can’t find things quickly since it cuts down on my productivity!
omg I dont even bother organizing the hubs drawer he will make it a mess no matter how I fix it. the kids drawers are ridiculous. full of pretty clothes they wont wear!!!
I definitely need to print out your calendar. I saw a couple of items there that I’ve been neglecting, like the floor in the front closet and the drawers in kids’ bathrooms. But going through the junk drawer in 15 minutes would be too ambitious for me. I think it will be more like 2 hours since my kids are still little and ask for something every two minutes. Good luck organizing!
Wow, you traveled quite a bit! That’s so nice! I need to reorganize my drawers using the konmari method.
Omg just loving your calendar girly!!!!! Good luck with kicking February’s butt! New months and goals are always so exciting 🙂
You’ve had a crazy busy month, haven’t you?! I’ve been folding my clothing the same way for years and lo-ove it. But I run my fold shirts from side to side so it’s easier to remove them from the drawer (the ones in the back of the rows the way you have them always gave me trouble)
Thank you so much for sharing the calendar. I’m going to have to give this schedule a whirl! And it sounds like you had an exciting month!
It’s a good thing to keep in mind that we can’t always complete every task on our list. We have to get done what we can and keep our priorities straight.
I am purging too! Slowly but surely…I wasn’t going to try and do the KonMari folding, but I might have to give it a go – it would be easier to not have to dig through my drawers. Although, I am hesitant to say that the shirts on the bottom of the drawer are feeling like they are weak from holding up all the other clothes…
Wow! You did have a very busy month. I have heard so much about this KomMari method. I need to look more into it.
I love the idea of taking baby steps. I love this printable.
Great printable! I like how you are breaking up this larger tasks into bite size morsels…Organizing can be so daunting and overwhelming!
January sounds like such an adventure month for you! Wish you good luck for February. I like KomMari method. I did this method, and help me organized my wardrobe much better than usually.
I agree with you, staying organized is important but spending quality time with family is even more. Thanks for the printable!
Interesting! I have actually always stood my shirts up in the drawer, I fold them a little smaller than that, but it works really well!
Baby steps are definitely the way to go 🙂 Love your thought process and will have to implement a few ideas myself!
Sounds like you had some awesome adventures in January! Good luck with the organization! I may have to borrow this calendar!!
decultter, purger and organise, are my three favourite words. Thanks for sharing your tips.
I love the quote! And I also need to start a plan to be more organize but with kids is even more difficult 😛
I love your organized approach to reorganizing 🙂 You’re right. Friday is not a time for cleaning.
You have had an incredible month well done! I hope you had good time at the Egyptian museum and whale watching sounds wonderful.
KonMari is all the rage right now. But I agree, Friday nights should be a clean free zone. It should be a law or something. 😉
Your dog is amazing! So big and gorgeous! Good luck with your school
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So interesting, I never knew of the different names of folding and organizing. You put your thoughts down very vividly!
Love that you swam in a waterfall! omg – how jealous am I! Anyway, you are smart to make a chart to organize – and to NOT do it on a Friday night, girl! Good luck with the monthly goal!
Karen | GlamKaren.com
I agree – baby steps are the way to go! I’m loving the calendar – I can see where I’m making so much progress. Thanks!