Great Ideas for Getting Organized? Routines That Really Work?

One thing I did this year that gave me great peace of mind was create a one page document called "IMPORTANT STUFF". On it, I included the location (physically and on my computer) of all important identification (birth cert's, etc), financial, insurance, trusts & estates, medical, & mortgage information. I included the names and phone numbers of my closest family members, nanny, son's school, attorney, accountant and financial planner, and social security numbers for myself, my husband and kids. Then I gave a copy to my husband, mom, my dad, and my sister-in-law. This way, if anything ever happens to me they will know where to find the things they need.

Also, I have created a written "Babysitter's Guide" including everything a babysitter needs to know about my house and my kids. It has instructions for operating the television, the kids' daily schedules including nap routines and food preferences, and emergency contact information. It has saved me a TON of time when ramping up mew sitters, and my kids are thriving from the consistent routine. Happy organizing!

I can't help a whole lot but I have been obsessed with pictures lately. My daughter is almost one and I had yet to organize all her pix since birth. I found that on Snapfish you can get prints for as low as $.10 a print if you prepay for them. I've given up on albums but have discovered photo boxes. I just used index cards and put a little sticky tab at the top with the month or event that happened and put all the pictures in and then the following month etc. I labeled all the pictures with the date or whatever and that way it's so much easier to stay organized without taking the ridiculous amount of time it takes to put them into albums. It's also a lot cheaper and saves some space. My daughters first year fits in two photo boxes (from Ikea for just about nothing) and I just labeled them with the year and then they are easy to go through too. This way too, I develop the pix as we take them and never will get overwhelmed by having months worth all at once. I still have them organized by file on our hard drive too just in case the pictures get ruined for whatever reason. I was also going to burn them onto DVD and put that in her box so that it's all together. Also, the professional pictures that we have done I put into a big scrapbook because I can't possibly frame them all and have them displayed.
Hope that helps a little.
Good idea with the storage boxes.

Hi G.,

I have the Microsoft Money program and I use it. Instead of typing the expenses one by one. I go to my bank website and download the account activity into the program. This saves me a lot of time. :-)

Using this program I realized that the newspaper was billing me more money than they were supposed to.

I also keep a groceries shopping list in my kitchen and everytime that I need to buy something I write it down. I also have a coupon file. Before going to the store to buy groceries, I take my shopping list and check what coupons I can use.

I love to be orgazined!!

Cheers,

Alina

When my second child was a newborn I realized the toys were overwhelming us. You probably don't have this problem since it sounds like you were pretty organized to start with, but what I do is keep almost everything in our basement playroom in bins and baskets (there's a shelving unit and a big closet with doors that shut that hold the bins) and for the most part when a box comes out, something else has to go into storage. They get more use out of their toys when everything's kept organized and in one place, and they enjoy rediscovering toys they haven't seen in a while. Whatever's in high rotation (like dinosaurs for my 3yo right now) gets to stay handy in the living room in its bin (Zip Bin is great for that!)

I'm not very organized by nature, so another thing I do is try to catch clutter where it happens. I keep a rolling bin near the door for my first grader's school papers. I keep a recycling container close to the front door and put junk mail in immediately (bills go in a small basket that gets carried to the office for bill paying once a week.) Library books have a basket in the living room. Stuff like that. At one time I tried to put everything "away" - out of sight - but ultimately having lots of places to put stuff works best for me. We have a LOT of Ikea baskets.

I have a 5 month old and I work part time! My schedule is pretty hectic and different each week. So what I have done was put a table with a shelf on the bottom of it in the kitchen with 2 baskets on top for my husband and I ( you may want to have 2 baskets for your girls too) and then I have a basket with back up supplies (extra diapers, wipes, gloves, hats, snacks...anything that you may need to grab and run out the door with). Then I also keep 3 different bags ready to go...one for when its just me leaving the house (purse), one for when im going to work (briefcase of some sort) and then the diaper bag! I bought a bunch of travel size antibacterial gel bottles and they are in each bag and scattered around the house...for when you cant wash your hands immediately! I have pacifiers EVERYWHERE...in each bag, in my car, next to my bed, next to the couch, attached to her carseat! I also invested in a passenger seat organizer that you can keep things organized in your car. I have snacks, toys, coupons, makeup, deoderant...anything that I could possibly need for those days where your moving but your brain is still asleep! I cant tell you how many times i have left the house with no deoderant on! hahaha! I hope this helps you out a bit...or if anything you get a good chuckle remembering how insane it was when your girls were 5 months old! I couldnt even begin to imagine having twins! But it sounds like you have a good handle on your routine! Good luck getting organized!

Wow!!!!!!!!!!
It sounds like you are already a very organized person. I had never thought about doing a box of memories for my kids. I am certainly going to start after reading you message. Also how does that Microsoft Money works? Where can I get it? I am a big spender (shopping freak) my new years resolution is to pay off every credit card and save as much money as I can, and not shop not unless I need it. If you have any other ideas please email me thanks.

I am a full time employee and student and I have tree kids Juan Pablo 9yrs, Alexis 4yrs and my husband 31yrs old lol.