Smart Ways to Get Ready for Next Christmas in January

January 7, 2017 by Angie Leave a Comment

Christmas has just passed so the idea of thinking about it again already might seem crazy. But do you find that when December arrives, the cost of the holidays hit you hard? Every December, many people find that they have to scramble to find the money needed for all the extra expenses. From gifts to holiday travel, you can end up spending all your savings or perhaps even taking out a loan. If you want things to be different this year, it will pay to start thinking about Christmas early. Arm yourself with a plan, and when December arrives, you’ll feel much more comfortable.

Create a Plan and Budget

If you want to be prepared for Christmas this year, start by coming up with a plan. You can create a strategy for paying for your Christmas essentials and set a budget for how much you want to spend. Think about how much you want or can afford to pay for gifts, as well as how much things like travel or food will cost too. Consider creating a schedule to spread out your spending and ensure you buy certain things at the right time. For example, it will be better to buy any tickets for travel earlier to avoid paying expensive holiday prices closer to the date.

Shop the Sales

Don’t leave all your holiday shopping until December. Between then and now, you have lots of great sales opportunities. Start with the January sales, where you can find lots of Christmas gifts you can put away for the end of the year. Every time you see an opportunity to save, don’t let it go to waste. You can also look for discounts that you can use at any time of the year. For example, you can find codes on sites like http://www.plusvouchercode.co.uk/offers-discount-code-house-of-fraser.html.

Start Saving

You don’t have to start buying anything now if it’s not convenient. Another option is to get saving, so you have a good amount to spend when the holidays arrive. If you can save $10 a week every week until Christmas, you’ll have hundreds to spend when it’s time to do your shopping. Set an amount you want to set aside each month or a total goal you want to reach. You can find ways to reduce your expenses so that you can save more too. If you can spend less on your energy bill each month, you’ll have more to spend on the holidays.

Try a Christmas Savings Club

If you need a little help with saving, you can try a Christmas savings club. They help you to put aside a bit of money each month. Unlike if you just used your regular checking account, you can’t access your money until Christmas arrives. Keep in mind that there are often restrictions on how you spend your money, though. You might have to exchange them for vouchers or gift cards, or perhaps buy straight from the savings club. You can read more about savings clubs at http://www.bankrate.com/finance/personal-finance/christmas-club-accounts-1.aspx.

There’s no need to panic every December. Start getting ready for the holidays now, and it will be smooth sailing.

How early do you start prepping for Christmas?

Angie

Angie is a coffee-fueled writer, artist-wanna-be, and over-worker who currently resides in a tiny fixer-upper near Salt Lake City with her boyfriend and 70lb rescue pittie. She works full time in Customer Service/Computers, part-time in retail and fashion, goes to school part-time on and off, maintains this and another couple of blogs, as well as volunteers with rescue dogs. In her free time, what little of it there is, she likes to read, play nerd games, craft and create art, and spend time with all of the awesome people in her life.

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

Decluttering? Start with These No-Brainer Items to Get Off to a Good Start

December 26, 2016 by Angie Leave a Comment

Whether it’s your turn to have the family over for New Years Eve, you’re moving home, or you’re just sick of living around such a mess, decluttering is a necessity every now and then. Although you know it needs to be done, you may find it a little hard to get started, whether out of laziness or an instinctive attachment to your stuff in general. To help you out, here are some no-brainer items you can get rid of in no time.

Start Decluttering with These Items

Practical Items You’re Never Going to Use

Countless people just like you find themselves in situations where they’ve needed to run out and buy some practical item, used it once, and then let it gather dust for years on end. Specialist DIY tools are probably the most common culprit. When you come across these kinds of items, it’s easy to leave them be, assuming that it must be there for a good reason. Think about it though. When you’re trying to declutter and come across practical items, spend some time thinking about whether or not you’re going to have any use for it in the future. It could be taking up valuable space!

Disguised Junk

If you’re as disorganized as I was at one point, then there’s a fair chance that you’ve got what I call “disguised junk” lying around your home. Sometimes, when we let the general clutter in our homes get out of hand, it can be easy for piles of junk to accumulate, and become disguised in the surrounding chaos of our homes. Make sure you’re bearing this possibility in mind when you’re having your big de-clutter, and throwing out anything that really shouldn’t be in your home a moment longer. It’s pretty common for some households to have one big piece of junk lying around which is simply too inconvenient for them to shift themselves. It may seem like a hassle, but now’s a good a time than ever to get rid of your big pieces of trash. To make things easier for yourself, you can hire a junk removal service such as Bay Wide Hauling.

Duplicate Items

Once you really get stuck into a thorough decluttering session, you’re sure to find various duplicates here and there. I’m talking about any items which you went out to buy when you simply didn’t have the time to look for the one you already had! Again, tools and utensils are usually a big culprit in this category. Unless it would be a total emergency if you didn’t have a spare, it’s probably not going to be necessary to keep both of these items. Think about how urgently you’d need a replacement. If it wouldn’t be that much of a big deal, hold onto the item that’s in a better condition, and throw away (or donate if appropriate) the one that’s a little worse for wear.

Decluttering a house that’s gotten out of control can be tough work. However, finding and getting rid of these items will get you off to a great start!

Are you working on decluttering?

I definitely need to get this done pronto… Any tips you’d like to share? Leave them in the comments!

This post contains an affiliate link or two, thanks so much for supporting my blog.

Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

Tackling Laundry Backlog + Free Dry-Cleaning in SLC this Weekend!

April 14, 2016 by Angie 32 Comments

If you’re anything like me-laundry is a battle-I can never quite seem to keep up with the ever-growing mound of dirty clothes and towels. I know, I know, a lot of you are probably shaking your head right now thinking “but she’s just one person, and has been living alone, what kind of laundry situation does she have?” Well, to be quite honest, one of my own making. It’s one I’ve pushed aside, and not paid a lot of attention to as it’s tucked away in another room I avoid, but due to the recent horrified looks from the new boyfriend-it’s one I need to get under control and quick.

You see, when I lived in my apartment we had to pay to use a single washer and dryer that were down in the gross basement. I say gross because there literally were cockroaches down there so I did my best to not have to make that trip. I’d take a few loads to a friend’s house instead when I could, and thus aquired quite the collection of dirty laundry that just happened to move with me into the new house. Once in the new house, I bought myself a washer and dryer, but I’m having some electrical problems and my dryer takes about four hours to run a single load through it, so all that backlog still hasn’t gotten taken care of. It’s time.

In an effort to set out a plan for myself, I’ve done some research and would like to share my ideas for tackling that monster of backed up laundry, and also tips and tricks on how to make laundry easier for yourselves going forward. I 100% plan to implement these practices in my life in order to get a handle on things. It has to happen.

How to Handle Backed Up Laundry

So it’s time to handle that big pile of backed up laundry you have waiting for you… Maybe it’s been sitting for a week, or maybe it’s been months (ugh, I can’t judge), either way the real truth is that it needs to get handled. Here are a few important things to start with tackling that pile of despair we’re calling dirty laundry.

To Start, Don’t Get Discouraged

The first thing you’re going to have to do when dealing with a massive pile of waiting laundry is to not get discouraged. If you’re anything like me, you look at it and instantly are so overwhelmed you just walk away from it. It’s a character flaw of mine (largely thanks to the anxiety) that I procrastinate or down-right abandon a project that stresses me out too much even though it has to get done.

Sort Into Appropriate Piles

If your laundry is just sitting in a one big pile, heap, or bin-the first thing you’ll want to do is sort it out. You’ll need to at least make piles according to what can be washed together, but you may also need to make piles based on how it needs to be washed. For example, these are the piles I make:

Darks: Black clothing, jeans, dark colors, etc.
Cool Colors: Lighter cool tones such as blues, greens, violets, etc.
Warm Colors: Lighter warm tones like Reds, pinks, oranges, etc.
Delicates: Things that need to be run on the delicate cycle-for example, I run all underthings through as Delicates.
Hand Wash: Anthing that says “Hand Wash Only” on the tag or that I’m afraid to run through the machine.
Dry-Clean: Anthing that reads “Dry Clean Only” on the tag or that I otherwise know I need to dry-clean.

Not sure what should be dry-cleaned or what you can wash yourself? Check out this post.

DeJunk-Donate or Dump

Pay attention to what you’re sorting out, do you even like that anymore? Why are you washing or storing clothing that you probably wont wear even after it’s washed? I have TONS of clothes in my dirty laundry that just never get washed because I skip over them to wash the things I do wear often. So why on earth am I still hanging on to these? It’s dumb. Ditch it, and you don’t even have to wash it. Decide if the item you are getting rid of is worth donating or if you just want to trash it. If the trash is it’s fate, just throw it in there, if you want to donate the item you can wash it if it’s really dirty, but otherwise they typically wash them anyway at the donation facility. In either case, you can skip the washing and save yourself a lot of time.

Where to Donate Your Old Clothing

I’m kind of picky on where I donate money and resources, because I want to make sure the organizations go along with my beliefs and help people without discrimination. You’d be surprised how many “charity” organizations actually don’t do what they say, or discriminate when it comes to passing on your donations.

Goodwill
Local Homeless Shelters
Big Brothers Big Sisters (my city even has donation bins that are easy to find)

You can also keep an eye out for local charity drives around you. A lot of the time your local LGBT center will have a collection bin for the homeless lgbt youth, and a lot of the time you’ll find bins set up all over the place. You can also check out this list from Huff Post. While I can’t honestly recommend everyone in their list, there are a lot of good ones, and also ones thatare looking for specifics (like glasses, shoes, prom dresses, business attire, etc.) that you may have hanging around.

Take it to a Laundromat

Yes, this sounds downright awful, but if you have a ton to do you can haul it over to a laundromat and run it in multiple washers at once just to get it done and out of the way. Otherwise, you can always hire a laundry service too (many laundromats have these available at them) and have someone else do it for you.

Get Started and Follow Through

However you decide to tackle all that backlog, the only real way to get it done is to get started and keep up with your follow through. Set a timer on your phone or make sure you can hear the buzzer, and whatever you’re doing-drop it for a moment and go switch the laundry. The more you procrastinate changing it, the worse the issue becomes and the longer it takes.

Fold it and Put it Away Immediately

When the loads come out of the dryer, immediately fold and put it away. If you don’t, it’ll build up and you’ll get it all mixed up with your dirty laundry again and you’ll end up washing things you wouldn’t have had to. It’s work, but it’s a bigger pain to let it spiral out of control again.

Stick with it, because once you get it out of the way you’ll be sooooo much happier.

Do you love or hate laundry?

Free Dry Cleaning in SLC, UT This Weekend

To celebrate the grand opening of their new store in South Jordan Utah, Tide Dry Cleaners of Salt Lake City is having a celebration this Saturday, April 16th! They’ll have a live radio show and other fun stuff happening, but the real news is that they’re offering anyone who comes out to celebrate free dry cleaning on two items. That’s quite the deal. Make sure you swing by Saturday for free dry cleaning!

Enter to Win Free Dry Cleaning for a Month

You know how else you can tackle that pile of dirty clothes? Free. Dry. Cleaning. For. A. Month. That’s right, Tide Dry Cleaners have offered one lucky local reader of My So-Called Chaos a free month of dry cleaning at either of their Salt Lake locations. Giveaway ends at 12AM MST on 4/25/16 and is open to residents in Utah or with access to either Utah dry-cleaning location. Entering below agrees to all terms and conditions within the Raffelcopter Widget.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I did not receive compensation for this post, though it was offered. I just wanted to share the giveaway and the deal with my local readers. 🙂

Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

Thirty Minutes to a Clean House

December 15, 2015 by Angie 45 Comments

Thirty minutes to a clean house? Yes! You heard it right. Now you do not need to spend extended hours on house chores and cleaning when you can do it all in just thirty minutes. Time to jolt your daily routine with a splash of this new idea and incorporate it in your daily morning ‘To Do List’, before you go to work or start your day. You will be amazed how satisfied you will feel the whole day and excited when coming back home to your clean and beautiful space.

The Magic Potion for Quick House Cleaning

This is a fact that no matter how well you have decorated your house, if it’s cluttered, messy or dirty, it doesn’t look or feel good. After all, what’s the purpose of your personal home or space if you do not get a feeling of relaxation and enjoyment from it? Are you ready to enjoy your space more? I am sure by now you must be really excited to see how this cleaning task can be done in such a short time of just thirty minutes. Well just as you thought, it cannot be done without magic. So let me share with you today the magic potion of tidying your house in just thirty minutes. Ingredients of the Magic Potion are:

Right Cleaning Equipment
Task Checklist with Time Bound Tasks
A Watch
Quick moves
A go getter attitude

Mix them all and see how the magic happens in such a small time frame.

The Real Ingredient – Task Checklist with Time Bound Tasks

In the list above, you really need to do all things practically, but let me help you out with real ingredient that actually does all the magic: ‘Task Checklist with Time Bound Tasks’. This magical checklist is a combination of proven simple tricks and tips to give your house a quick fix. So time to save my checklist of cleaning your house under 30 minutes on a printed piece of paper as you will be referring to it again and again from now. Place this paper at a central position where you can see or refer to it to see the next chore on list. You can also make printed copies of these lists and paste them in every room for easy reference. Paste the printed sheet on the inner side of a cupboard, door or cabinet where they are not visible to everyone but you can have a look at them anytime, whichever room of the house you are in, to save your precious time. Once you will practice this routine everyday, you will master it in no time and will not need to refer to the lists again and again. With time and practice your body will be automatically timed to follow the flow of tasks in an automatically timed manner by itself.

Make the cleaning kit with the right cleaning equipment required for cleaning the house. With the cleaning kit at hand and the checklist in view, mark the time on the watch and then start running around and doing things within the time specified on the list. Remember that the success of this plan also depends upon your attitude and speed. So you need to run around finishing all the tasks in the time frame given on the list. Complete the overall house cleaning points and then move to individually room cleaning.

Enjoy the Thirty Minute House Cleaning Challenge

The next 30 minutes, you won’t even have a second to scratch your head so just get rid of all the distractions around you like putting the cell phone on silent and putting the TV off. Put on some loud and fun music to enjoy this activity as Disney’s famous Marry Poppins sings:

‘In every job that must be done
There is an element of fun
You find the fun and snap!
The job’s a game’

So just add fun to your work and make it a game. A thirty minute game or in fact, a thirty minute house cleaning challenge 🙂 and enjoy it.

First comes first, prepare your cleaning baskets before the time starts and then carry on with the checklist. So let’s start with:

Essentials of your Cleaning kit
Checklist for the overall house cleaning steps
Checklists for individual room cleaning
Final Inspection to ensure everything is in place

For complete details on these steps, don’t forget to check this fun info graphic on house cleaning.

Happy cleaning 🙂

I received compensation for this post-but I agree with the information provided 100%.

Check out this fab sponsor:

Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

Growing Up as a Clothes Hoarder

October 8, 2015 by Angie 29 Comments

Whether this applies to you or someone you know, the first step in conquering your problem is admitting that you have a problem. Clothes hoarding is not a crime but it can be a serious imposition on you and the people you love. If any of these five signs ring a bell, you my friend, or someone you know, is a clothes hoarder:

1. You screech that you have nothing to wear whilst wading through mountains of clothes, shoes and bags.

2. Your wardrobe is perpetually broken or straining under the weight of so many clothes, all of which you ‘need’.

3. You are the butt of every clothes-related joke amongst your family and friends and secretly take it as a compliment.

4. You cling to clothes that haven’t been worn for about ten years and probably weren’t that fashionable in the first place.

5. You have personal relationships with your clothes and speak to them when you think nobody is listening.

There is no beating around the bush: I am a clothes hoarder and will probably always be a clothes hoarder, and it is better to own up to the problem than to live in denial. Clothes hoarding has been a source of contention and friction in my life for numerous fairly obvious reasons. I take up a lot of wardrobe space that I should be sharing, furniture is used as additional storage and my bedroom floor has been obscured from vision for weeks on end, making simply logistical manoeuvres, for example walking, very tricky.

All joking aside, I do not think I’m alone in wanting to hang onto my clothes for dear life. The only reason why I have carried on for so long is that there is something almost socially acceptable about hoarding clothes. Hoarding dolls, old Nokia phones or cinema stubs seems to spell social pariah much more than an overloaded wardrobe. Furthermore, I would argue that the act of buying and hoarding clothes is actively encouraged in Western culture. Like many young women, I grew up watching Gossip Girl, Sex and the City and The Devil Wears Prada where huge walk-in wardrobes, clothes on tap and a new outfit in every scene is portrayed as the absolute norm. This has made way for reality shows like Keeping Up With the Kardashians and the Real Housewives franchise where owning a wardrobe the size of a small house is a sign of affluence, of social superiority and wealth. These women and characters are all classic hoarders, but when you have the space in which to keep all of your clothes, it looks a lot less like a problem.

Maybe then I am a victim of a larger social situation where we’re encouraged to buy more and more clothes that, when you’re in in your early twenties, you really don’t have space for. There is, however, the important fact that I really do love the clothes I wear because they are almost extensions of my own body: they give me confidence when I need it and allow me to reflect my moods in a physical form. Why would I then want to throw them away?

Every new season we’re encouraged to re-invent ourselves, invest in new clothes and fashion ourselves a whole new look. Herein lies the genius behind hoarding. As we all know, fashion works cyclically, with looks and styles constantly going in and out of fashion. Hoarding makes perfect financial and sartorial sense because by keeping a beloved piece that has gone out of fashion, we won’t have to go out and buy the same thing again when it inevitably rolls back around. Hoarding produces veritable goldmines, allowing you to step back in time without having to rummage through vintage shops. Ransacking my parents’ hoards has proved very fruitful. I’ve found Ray Ban Wayfarers from the 1980s, cool leather rucksacks, clip on earrings, jumpers and band t-shirts from the 1970s. Or take the Birkenstock sandal: they were all the rage in 2008 when I invested in two pairs. A year later they had been eclipsed by the gladiator, which held firm in fashion for about six years. In 2014, Alexa Chung Instagrammed one photo of herself wearing Birkenstocks and suddenly they were all the rage again. Thank god I had my two pristine pairs, carefully preserved from 2008, in the back of my wardrobe ready to wear…

I’m not one to play the ‘human nature’ card but as a species, hoarding things we love has been a part of our cultural make-up ever since the Anglo-Saxons buried their gold, jewellery and armour for safe-keeping. I may be ridiculous, I may be over sentimental but I am part of a severely underappreciated recycling project that truly invests in and savours good clothes.

This post was contributed by MaryJaneFashion.com, an online ladies fashion wholesale supplier. They are based in Manchester, UK and ship celebrity-inspired fashions worldwide.

Words by Elizabeth Harper

Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

Saturday Spotlight: The Importance of Planning by Emilie Lima Burke

June 20, 2015 by Angie 17 Comments

Wake up. Pee. Brush teeth. Get dressed. Head to gym. Spin. Come home. Shower. Then what?

It is true for most people that we have a routine. Every (week)day consists of a pattern of things we have to do. If you’re anything like me, though, it’s the small details that get you caught. I hate when I have to get to the post office, dry cleaners, or bank, and I can’t seem to remember it- until after they’re closed, of course.

For this reason, I’ve joined the community of men and women who swear by their planners. I first started using a planner meticulously in my sophomore year of high school. My then-PE teacher required us to write our assignments down every day for a the second quarter as a way to earn extra credit. Being the Type A student I am (I mean, you don’t get to Princeton without it), despite the fact that I didn’t need extra credit, I decided to go for it.

You see, up to this point I did not write down my assignments because I could keep it all in my head. I was 15 years old. I had school, sports practice, and a fast food job. In the grand scheme, it wasn’t that much on my plate.

Despite not having much on my plate, every once in a while, things still fell through the cracks. I did sometimes miss an assignment or forget to study for a quiz. I’d remember a shift that I had offered to cover at work, but I didn’t remember to bring my uniform to school. It wasn’t all that time, but it was often enough. When Ms. Soltis, then, opened up this challenge, I was excited to get on board.

Just like that, things changed. I stopped forgetting things. This is important to note: Some things still didn’t get done. It wasn’t, though, because I didn’t remember to do them. It was because I was too busy or something came up. Things weren’t falling through the cracks. I was able to plan for them now.

Here I am, over six years later, still swearing by a planner.

The thing with planning, though, is that there is no right way to do it. Over the years, I’ve tried so many different planners. I’ve used a Bloom Planner, a Lilly Pulitzer Planner in multiple sizes (examples here), the free ones that show up at your door, and lots others along the way. There is only one, though, that I’ve felt has given me the freedom and flexibility to accommodate all the different parts of my life. That is my beautiful Erin Condren Life Planner which you can see below.

A photo posted by Emilie Lima Burke (@emiliecreative) on May 9, 2015 at 6:08pm PDT

What makes planners really unique is the way they give you the power to organize your life. The EC Planner, as you can see from the picture below, gives you the power to categorize your life into three boxes. The planner comes organized in Morning, Day, and Night. Those, though, are not my needs. Instead, I customize it, based on my needs for that day or week. Usually, I use To-Do, Blog, and Work, which I use to keep track of both school stuff and work stuff.

A photo posted by Emilie Lima Burke (@emiliecreative) on May 11, 2015 at 5:24am PDT

You’ll notice that here I’ve added some embellishments to my ECLP, like the hedgehog paper clip, and washi tape in the pages. It’s just a little flair that makes it more exciting for me to plan. This gives me the opportunity to be both creative and organized in the same location!

My planner has become a place for me to not only be organized but push myself to be creative on a regular basis. For example, if I make a page design that I don’t love, I only have to put up with it for a week. Then it’s on to the next one!

Here are some of my favorite planning guidelines to help you be the best planner you can be:

You are never wrong. Your way of planning is your way of planning. We can always try to be better, but that does not mean you were wrong.
Make it suit your needs- don’t try to fit your planning style into theirs.
There are tons of etsy shops that make planner stickers that can help you truly make your planner your own. Do it. Forreal. Find and customize however works best for you!
Plan every week at the same time. Maybe you’re a Sunday night planner. Maybe you’re a Monday-gal. Whatever the case, find a day and time that works for you and stick to it every week. Rome was not built in a day.
It should be something you want to do. Don’t do it because you have to. Planning should be helping you. If it’s not you might want to reevaluate your system.
Sometimes you fall of the horse. It’s okay to brush it off and get back on. It’s not just okay- it’s expected. Sometimes you’ll miss a week. That’s why there’s always next week.

It seems to me like a lot of those tips could also apply to life… hmm.

This post, The Importance of Planning, is written by Emilie from EmilieLimaBurke.com, where she blogs about her transition from college into the real world. Her blog topics include crafting, saving money, and going on new adventures.

Want to learn more about how I plan? I’m excited to announce that I’ll be starting a planning series on my blog! You can join in on the fun! or subscribe to my email list below.

Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

The Weekly Round-Up: Favorite Get Organized Posts

March 15, 2015 by Angie 4 Comments

The Weekly Round-Up: Favorite Get Organized Posts

As part of the 12×30 Challenge we like to show off our favorite posts from the month prior. I’m a little behind again, but I’d like to share my favorite organizational challenge posts from the month before.

Happiness with a Side of Tea: 5 Tips for Getting Organized

♥ Happiness with a Side of Tea shared 5 Tips for Getting Organized on her blog.

♥ The Nerdy Fox shared how she organized her makeup. Very helpful for those of us that have a lot.

Anchor in the Stratosphere: Organized Your AM

♥ Anchor in the Stratosphere shared how she organizes her mornings, which is good for those of us who are late starters.

♥ Dirt Road Daydreams shared great ideas for Room by Room Decluttering. I really like her ideas-so useful.

With a Little Help from My Friends: How I Stay Organized

♥ With a Little Help from My Friends shared how she stays organized. I really need to work on using my planner more.

Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

12×30 Challenge: Organization & Cleaning Calendar

February 3, 2015 by Angie 16 Comments

For the February Organizational 12×30 Challenge I wanted to really work on getting organized this month-but I didn’t want to totally overwhelm myself in the process. Then the idea hit me-I needed an calendar with tasks split up day by day, and not only did I want to make one, but I wanted to share it with my friends in the bloggy world too. So here it is-click on it to enlarge. You can also save/print it. Can you imagine how nice your place will look if you get through all of these?

Get organized this February with daily tasks!

For those of you that might prefer a checklist version of this calendar, never-fear for I have created one of those too!

As you can see, I’ve left some room on both of them for you to add things you need as well. So feel free to personalize it a bit and make it what you will after you print it. Here’s a further explanation of what some of these mean:

Organizing Your Kitchen

Organize Pantry: Organize your food storage, cans, pasta, etc. Throw out food that is past it’s expiration, or donate food you know you’ll never eat to a local shelter or home.
Organize Pots & Pans: Organize your pots and pans storage. Throw out/donate any that are worn or unused.
Organize Dishes & Cups: Organize your dishware and throw out/donate any that are not used or broken.
Organize Utensils: Organize your silverware and serving utensils so things are easy to find. Throw out any that are broken or worn. Try hanging things like big spoons or measuring cups.
Wipe Down Cabinets: It’s probably been a while, so take everything out of your cupboards and cabinets and give the shelves a good cleaning. Try using vinegar and water or a cleaning solution.
Deep Clean Fridge & Freezer: Take everything out of the fridge and freezer (make sure to turn it off when you do) and give it a good cleaning inside and out. Throw out any food that is past it’s expiration. Throw away coupons or papers you have hanging up that are expired or not applicable any longer. Don’t forget to turn it back on when you’re done!
Clean Stove, Microwave, and other appliances: Give these a good deep cleaning/de-crumbing.
Disinfect Trash Can: Take out your trash and then give the can a good scrub down with some bleach.
Clean Behind the Stove & Refridgerator: Pull them out (carefully) and sweep/mop/wipe down behind.
Clean Walls & Baseboards: Give your walls and baseboards (and don’t forget the dirty light switches) a good scrub down. You might find that they’re more white than you remembered…
Sweep/Mop/Scrub Floors: Give your floors the best cleaning of their life-wax if needed.

Organizing Your Living Room

Organize & Dust Shelves: Sort your books, movies, music, knick-knacks, etc. and dust.
Dust TV & Appliances: Dust around these, and use electronic wipes to get the fingerprints and smudges.
Wipe Down Furniture: Give your table, stands, lamps, and furniture a good wash down.
Clean Walls & Baseboards: Give your walls and baseboards (and don’t forget the dirty light switches) a good scrub down. You might find that they’re more white than you remembered…
Vacuum Floors & Furniture: In between couch cushions, lift up rugs, make it thorough!

Organizing Bedrooms

Organize Drawers: Sort out your dresser and make sure everything is in it’s place-fold socks and sort into proper matches, get that pesky night-stand in order, etc.
Organize Closets: Go through your clothing, shoes, bags, etc. and figure out what you no longer use or wear. Donate the stuff you don’t or wont use and get your closet into a workable condition. You can put in more shelving, get a hanging wrack, use bins on shelves, etc.
Dust/Organize Shelves: Sort your books, movies, music, knick-knacks, etc. and dust.
Clean & Flip Mattresses: Give your mattresses a good vacuum and flip them! If it’s a pillow top, you can just rotate the mattress to prevent wear and tear. Clean any mattress pads or toppers you may have.
Clean Walls & Baseboards: Give your walls and baseboards (and don’t forget the dirty light switches) a good scrub down. You might find that they’re more white than you remembered…
Vacuum Floors: Vacuum under your shoes, under the bed, under rugs, etc.

Organizing Bathrooms

Deep Clean Toilet, floors, Tub/shower, etc.: Pretty self-explanatory.
Clean Mirrors: A little vinegar water is a great natural alternative to glass cleaner. 🙂
Organize Vanity Area: Sort through your vanity area and make sure everything is in it’s place.
Throw Out Old Makup: Did you know makeup has an expiration date? Definitely check how everything in your stash and throw out anything that’s no longer good or that you don’t use.
Organize Jewelry: Sort through your jewelry and toss/donate anything you no longer wear.
Organize Medicine Cabinet: Go through your medicine cabinet and make sure everything is easy to find.
Throw Out Old Medicine: Throw out anything that is expired or that you may not use.
Clean Walls & Baseboards: Give your walls and baseboards (and don’t forget the dirty light switches) a good scrub down. Especially make sure you get behind the toilet and the shower walls as they can catch all manner of things you might not want to think about.

Bonus: Kenzie found this awesome makeup expiration chart!

Organizing Your Workspace

Organize RSS/Bloglovin: Clean out your Bloglovin or RSS feed. Delete any blogs you don’t follow or constantly find yourself passing over and sort your blogs into different categories for easy reading. I even have A, B, C, etc. categories set up for who I want to read first, or when I’m not busy, etc. Groups like “Beauty Blogs”, “Fashion Blogs”, “Fitness Blogs”, etc. are great too!
Organize Your Pinterest Boards & Bookmarks: Make sure they’re all classified like you need (create new boards if necessary so you can find things easier) and delete any that you don’t think you’ll ever really use or that lead to dead links.
Organize Computer Files: Sort your pictures and documents into folders and clean up your desktop.
Backup/Organize Your Phone: Back up your phone and sort through the files and pictures there as well.
Sort Mail/Paperwork: Sort through your mail and paperwork that you have laying around. Recycle any junk mail or unwanted papers (make sure to shred anything with your personal information on it first!), and file anything important. Filing cabinets or bins are easy to come by, or you can create a big Filofax/life notebook with the important information.
Tidy/Dust Shelves & Desk: Sort your books, movies, music, knick-knacks, etc. and dust.
Organize Closets: Go through any closets or storage and dejunk/organize it.
Organize Drawers: Go through any drawers and throw out any junk that is just cluttering it. Try sorting things into bins (I use mason jars for pens and stuff) for things like paper, pens, etc.

Organizing Your Vehicle

Detail Car: Clean the apolstry, wipe down your dashboard and vents, wash the windows inside and out, take the car to a car wash if needed and get it nice and clean-a good wax goes a long way too!
Vacuum & Clean Carpet: This will make your car seem so much cleaner!

Organizing Other Things in Your Home

Wash Windows: Wash your windows inside and out.
Wash Blinds: Take your blinds down and give them a good soak/scrub down. Especially the Kitchen.
Dust Ceilings: Get a long handled duster and run it across your ceilings and door jambs. This will collect any unwanted dust and spider webs that may be lingering.
Launder all Rugs, Blankets, Pillows, and Towels: Give everything a good laundering, and make sure to take anything extra nice (like down pillows or blankets) to a qualified dry cleaner.
Wash Light Fixtures: Take the light fixtures down and wash/dust them. Ceiling fans too!
Change any Burnt out Bulbs: While you’re in there, replace any bulbs that no longer work.
Organzie Hall Closets: Go through your closets and organize them. Fold any towels/blankets that may have just been stuffed in, organize games and storage, etc. Use tubs and boxes to sort cords and other small stuff that you need. Throw out/donate anything you no longer use or want.
Re-Pot House Plants: Check your house plants and re-pot anything that has outgrown it’s current pot. This will make them grow bigger and healthier in their new little home.
Replace A/C & Furnace Filter: This should be done at least twice a year for better breathing.
Clean Keyboards/Remotes: These things get really gross, wipe them down with approved wipes or a damp disinfectant rag (lysol spray helps if you’re careful with it) and use an air can to blow all the gunk out of your keyboard. Giving your computer, monitor, and phones a quick wipe down is a good idea too, make sure you’re careful with anything wet though.
Sweep Porch/Sidewalk: Any outside space really, sweep or vacuum it and keep it looking nice.
Tidy Garage/Storage: Garages and storage rooms/facilities can easily get gunked up with junk. Go through and throw out/donate anything you no longer need, and sort and organize the stuff you keep.
Vacuum Air Vents: Take the air vent covers off and vacuum any dust or gunk that’s fallen down in them. I’d give the vents a good wipe down too while they’re off.
Wash doorknobs & Handles: I forgot to put this on the list-but it’s a great idea to disinfect these!

Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

February 12×30 Challenge: Get Organized

February 2, 2015 by Angie 16 Comments

This month the 12×30 Challenge is all about organization. This could mean organizing your closet, your computer documents, your entire house, your priorities, or all of the above! Of course it is completely up to you how much or how little you would like to organize. Being organized has a plethora of benefits such as saving you time when you need to locate something, it helps you stay on top of bills, and it helps cut the clutter.

I’m a very cluttered individual-yet I’m OBSESSED with things that make organization possible. Totes, labels, shelves, you name it. I think it’s because deep down I want to be organized-even though (or especially because of) I’m not an organized individual. One day I will get this stuff figured out. ONE DAY.

Here are some ways to work on your organization this month:

Quit procrastinating. I swear I’m the worlds biggest procrastinator-but I’m going to work on fighting back each time I get that urge to put something off. Get stuff done first = stress-free relaxation instead of anxiety-laced laziness.

Create a life notebook that holds all of your important papers. Things like yearly to do lists, emergency contact information, insurance documents, gift idea list, important birthdays and anniversaries, website log ins and passwords, employment history, vehicle information, school records, veterinary documents, contracts, mortgage documents, etc.

Dejunk your closets. Go through your closets and pick out what you no longer wear or use anymore and put it in a donation bag/pile. Take that bag immediately to a donation center (Goodwill, Boys & Girls Club, etc.) so you’re not tempted to take things back out of it. Let it help someone less fortunate than you instead of just laying around not being used.

Keep your junk drawers in order with with bins for specific types of items. Bins for things like pens, random nuts and bolts, batteries, papers, etc. Minimizing the size of your junk drawer also helps keep the clutter to a minimum.

Create a recipe and meal-planning binder.

Schedule your cleaning/organizing. Spending a little time each day on something is less stressful than trying to clean everything in one day. Make yourself a grown-up chore chart!

Make daily to-do lists. Just make sure you don’t overwhelm yourself-be realistic.

Store sheet sets in their corresponding pillow cases. This keeps everything together and in one place.

Take advantage of vertical space. Add vertical shelving to walls to hold decor, books, etc.

Keep items such as nail polishes, spices, medicines, etc. on a lazy Susan.

Hang kitchen utensils such as measuring cups or spoons on the inside of a kitchen cabinet door. You can even add a measurement converter above or below the utensils!

Don’t set your mail down. Sort through it as soon as you bring it into the house and recycle what you do not need.

Use velcro, tape, or zip ties to keep wires together.

Sort the blogs you follow on Bloglovin’ or your RSS reader. Sort them into categories such as: fashion, beauty, do-it-yourself, etc. I even have categories like A, B, C, etc. for which blogs I want to read most and which ones I get to when I can. Also, it’s OK to unfollow the ones you don’t read-it’ll make your life easier!

Blogging Prompts:

Before and After-show us how you’ve organized your life this month and how you did it.

Post an Organizational DIY Project.

Share your favorite Organizational/Cleaning pins and posts.

Share your favorite organizational apps/tips, etc.

How to participate:

Link up your organizational posts and progress throughout the month.

Include the button (code above) so others can join along.

Visit others in the linky and show some love!

Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

My New Erin Condren Life Planner

September 23, 2014 by Angie 16 Comments

Remember how last year I bought a planner and never used it? Well I thought I’d give it a try again this year because I’ve been super curious about the Erin Condren Planners everyone keeps talking about. It’s a bit pricier than some of it’s competitors but I’m pretty happy with how it turned out anyway. Here’s hoping I actually use it this time-and I wanted to share it with you because it’s cute! This is not a sponsored post, just an honest review as I purchased the planner myself.

I ordered the Sea Life Life Planner in Seafoam and look how cute it is! The cover is also removable in case you want to change it out with other cover options. They’re typically $10-$15 a piece, but she also sent a $15 coupon/gift card with the order! So much fun-here’s a look:

I also added on an order of stickers with my friends and family’s faces to put on their birthdays-so fun!

All in all, the package arrived beautifully wrapped and filled with extras-and everything was very high quality. I will likely order from Erin Condren again and recommend it to my friends! So lovely!

This post is not sponsored in anyway, I just wanted to share it with my readers!

Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com