Grab it and go shelf

Oh. My.

Laura from I’m an Organizing Junkie linked to me. Thats like…HUGE! And, it’s from a post I did back in 2006.

Here’s my website traffic for the last 30 days, take note of yesterdays hits…..237!

Wow.

It’s good timing, too, because I’ve wanted to post another efficiency post for a while, but didn’t have time to gather the goods until now.

Our mud room is probably my favorite room in our house in terms of organization. I know where everything is in that room. It’s the room thats between the garage and the kitchen. Hubs and I always come into the house through the garage, so I did my best to organize this room so we’d have a place to dump our things when we got home. I also know I’d need a place to put things that needed to leave the house.

Here’s my Grab-it-and-go shelf. I keep my purse here so I always know where it is- anything I have to return to a friend, need to take into work, or need to mail also goes on this shelf.

The drawers pull out and I store all kinds of goodies in them, but mostly my iPod running gear and winter accessories (scarves, hats, gloves, etc).

I recently added note cards to the organizational theme of the room. The door into the room from the garage is a metal door, so magnets work very well to hang my notes.

I started by purchasing a cloth pencil bag that already had magnets in it, then I loaded the bag up with a few pens, a marker and notecards. I hung the bag on the back of the door, so as we’re leaving the house, we can see any notes we left for ourselves.

I made some note cards that I know we’ll use often, such as “Board Meeting today” or “Cooper Camp today!”

The other day, I needed the Trash day reminder AND I had to remember to take in the cupcakes I made for a friend’s birthday, so I added another magnet and keep it on the door:

It’s great having a reminder system like this thats so…in my face! It works really well for me.

Maybe in 2010, Laura will link to this post

March 27th, 2008 Posted by Jessica | Efficiency Tips, Life | 3 comments

I can’t CONTAIN it!

Betcha didn’t know today was Container Saturday! I was on a container kick. I went to Garden Ridge to “window shop” (I know, most people window shop at Macy’s and Saks, but not me) and ended up with some really cool stuff.

I bought this box and turned it into my ribbon storage for my stamping/scrapbooking goodies:

And, with the help of my trusy drill and some dowel rods and caps I bought, I turned it into this:

My friend Holli’s husband made her one, so I’ll give credit where it’s due….thanks Shane for the great idea!

And while window shopping, I came across this (which I’m VERY excited about):

What is it? It’s a container to store wrapping paper! And it has a handle for easy carrying. And the clear top pops off and there’s storage inside the red thingy for ribbon, tape, and scissors! LOVE IT! And, it was only $10.

It’s OK. You can make fun of me for taking such joy in the small things- I can handle it.

From today’s To-Do list:

• Updated Quicken- CHECK!
• Checked out the two houses I found online last night- CHECK!
• Garden Ridge- CHECK!
• Laundry- no check
• Clean out the ‘rents closet- no check
• Fed Jet- CHECK!
• Went to the movies with Matt- CHECK!

September 30th, 2006 Posted by Jessica | Efficiency Tips, Scrapbooking etc | 2 comments

Done….Check!

I live by lists. I make lists for everything. Because I travel often, I keep one in my wallet of the things I absolutely cannot forget to pack like my cell phone and charger, laptop and charger, bluetooth headset, boarding pass and drivers license (you’d be amazed at how many times I’ve left for a flight and forgot to pack one or more of the aforementioned items).

At work, I have “to do” lists that I manage either through Outlook or through Digital Post-It Notes which are awesome! In Outlook, using the Calendar as a reminder system, I “make an appointment” for a certain time, remembering to change the status from “busy” to “free” and then write the reminder in the appointment line. For example, it might be “Reminder: Feed Jennie’s cat” which I actually have in my calendar because I’m housesitting for them.

Or, I use the Digital Post-its which are like the paper notes, except they’re on your PC. There’s a keyboard short cut that you use to bring up a new note, you fill out the note and you can tell it to “always stay on top” which means no matter what program(s) you’re running, that note will always stay on top and be visible to you. Or you can not select that option and the Post It stays on your desktop with your icons, so whenever you minimize or exit all programs, all Post Its are visible. I also have tabbed memoboards that store the notes for me. I have one called “Voicemails” and another one called “Do before you leave today.” Because I can type faster than I write, I bring up a new post it for every voicemail I listen to- thus ensuring my desk stays clean and free of little yellow messes!

One of the most important lists is the grocery list. It’s an excel spreadsheet that I created that lists all of the most important/frequent items we purchase. I keep a dry erase board on the fridge and write things down as I remember I need them (like if I use the last can of tomato sauce). Then before I hit the grocery store, I fill out the spreadsheet by placing an asterick (*) in the column next to the item. The nice thing about completing a premade list is that I’m often reminded that I need an item I didn’t write down on the dry erase board (it’s frequently a personal care item….like shaving cream or the all important toilet paper). Reading down the list prompts me to think about everything and whether I need that item or not. Then, after I’ve asterick’ed the necessary items, I sort the list by column B (which then groups all of the checked items together and drops the non-checked items to the bottom of the list), I delete the unchecked items and then print the list. I created the list according to how grocery stores are typically laid out, so for example, the fruits/veggies and breads are the first categories since those are usually the first sections you walk through.

September 30th, 2006 Posted by Jessica | Efficiency Tips, Life | one comment