LITTLE things that help keep you organised?

[starrychime]

There's a lot of threads about cleaning routines, 15 min sessions etc which I love to read but never get round to following (one day, one day I will!)
Wondered if anyone has some little hints and tips that make things just a little bit easier about the house?
I use paper plates for morning toast, lunchtime sandwiches etc as I HATE washing up (no washer) - and it keeps it down a little bit.
Also keeping a small Ikea drawer sorter in the bathroom with DD's bobbles and clasps so they're to hand in the morning helps a bit.
Anyone else have any little tips?

Booyoo - yes, way too many washing baskets!

Just have one - or one split into 2/3 sections for lights/darks/towels etc

Failing that, jsut get rid of all of them and put everything straight in the machine

Just loving this thread! I REALLY like the idea of setting a timer for when I sit down to read the news/browse mumsnet - I can get lost here for an hour!

Something I do is a 'Functional/Aesthetically pleasing sweep'!! I read about it in a book once. The premise is that EVERYTHING that you can see (on your kitchen surfaces, your dining room table, on the sofa etc) should either be functional or aesthetically pleasing. If it's not, it must be put out of sight. So, for example in the kitchen: your kettle, toaster etc can stay because they are functional. The flowers, bowl of fruit etc can stay because they are aesthetically pleasing. But everything else goes!

So when I notice that a room is getting out of control, I stick 'F/AP sweep' on my to-do list, and if it's done regularly it only takes 5 minutes.

I do occasionally wonder out loud to my husband what I should do with him, as he's not particularly functional or aesthetically pleasing

A proper 4 drawer office filing cabinet in the office/spare room. Never lose any document again. Brilliant, best buy ever.

Just spent half an hour reading this lot when I should be tackling the post-holiday ironing but reckon it's time well spent!
Already do the duvet thing, meal planning&freezing stuff. When it comes to clutter I try to stick to William Morris's philosophy and if it's not useful or beautiful dump or sell it.

I shop all year round for Christmas and note purchases in a special secret Christmas book which has been on the go for about 20 years. It has a list of our family/friends in it each year with space to note ideas and what we've bought them. Saves duplications and nice to look back on.

we tried the 'no washing basket' method and ended up having washing being kicked about the floor all over the place as i dont tackle it straight away and get a back log building up on the floors

ok so i think what i will do is, keep the one in the bathroom as we all strip off there for showers/baths and all the towels/flannels are used in there. and tell the dcs that all their washing goes in there from now on. it also means it isn't in teh cupboard in their room where i will forget about it.

i will also keep the black one and white one in the kitchen a) because ds2 strips off at regular intervals trhoughout the day either due to wetting his pants (toilet training) or jsut because he feels like it and b) so i can just take the bathroom hamper downstairs in the morning and separate it into whites and colours in teh kitchen and whatever has the most can just go straight into teh machine.

well, that's the plan anyway.

I promise you, there are no threats to masculinity in our house. I just explained that it was less messy, had seen in done in the USA, asked if it could be done in our bathrooms. Luckily DH saw the reasoning and the boys just followed his example.

It is a complete non-issue.

Wipe animal bowls with a little oil after washing them up.
It helps stop any food setting like concrete on them.

I am a one for 'little kits'.A little sewing kit that's easy to get to for the most likely repairs.A little shoe cleaning kit.A power cut kit.A manicure/nail care kit......

Meal planning and online shop and veg box shop done on a Saturday morning while I have a coffee - takes 20 mins.

Meal plan written in large planner that stays on kitchen island- so each meal is written in there for each day (dinner not breakfasts/lunches).Pinched the planner idea from LeQueen - much better than a calendar.

Envelopes,paper,stamps tucked in the back.Addresses,emergency numbers,dentist etc in the front. A spare tenner hidden in there where only I know about it .
Cards written in advance and tucked in on the day they need posting.
Each person writes appointments/work shedule in.
DS writes his homework in ( hes 14) and ticks it off when its done

Cats get flea treatment once a month- sticker placed in there to remind me to do it - also use dishwasher cleaner and do a hot empty wash - 95C on this day.
Chalk board in kitchen with daily jobs -dishwasher,wipe sink and loo with disposable wipes,vaccuum,cat litter,tidy hall etc.
I allocate jobs the night before and put initials next to it.
Have identical spare small makeup kit in car,bag,workbag.
I could go on but had better stop now

teapig

Don't stop, don't stop

These are not do much ideas as a way of life.

awe

I didn't mean for that to be a link - it doesn't go anywhere

What made me chuckle recently was that DH cleared out a cupboard of junk in the hall upstairs and made it the looroll cupboard.

He does a stock take regularily and proudly shows me how many loo rolls we have left

no please dont stop i am loving these!

i have, as a result of this thread hoked out my magnetic dry wipe boards and markers and i have devised a 5 week meal plan based on the meals we already eat but in a random fashion. at least now we wont be eating pasta four nights in a row due to lack of imaginations.

Teapig - what sort of planner do you use? That sounds like an excellent system

I nicked the idea from LeQueen
Mine is a Collins Elite executive day planner - like a largish filofax .
It was £30 ish and sits open on the relevant day.

I need to do that.

We do meal plan but what I dream of getting round to doing is coming up with 20 meals that we enjoy, then just selecting 7 on a Sunday night.

I tried the Kitchen Revolution for a while but some of the meals were weird at it was actually very expensive to do.

well i just wrote down all the meals we eat and variations that i want to try that we might like. after writing them all down i sorted them all into the type of dishes they were and decided that sunday would be roast day (that one was easy ), monday -pasta, tueday - potato dish, wednesday- soup, thursday- leftover dish/quick fix dish, friday- something and chips (saus'n'beans/burger/,meatballs/fish fingers/chicken), saturday-pizza. it wasn't hard once i had decided that TBh and we have a different dish for each of the five weeks. so bolognaise only happens once in five weeks and stew only happens once in five weeks etc.

I love the secret tenner idea!

I used to keep an emergency tenner,but that was for taxis or whatever if stranded or needed to get to kids or something.

But a secret tenner is a whole different deal.

please can this go in Classics so we can all go back to it - I am too disorganised to write down the ideas and keep them somewhere safe!

Talking of good organisation, on the rare occasions go out I keep a spare tenner for emergency taxi money IN MY BRA!

If you poo, you scrub the loo.

DH kept claiming he "didn't realise" he had made a mess, or "forgot to look", so now there can be no excuses, it gets scrubbed EVERY time, regardless of the state it's in!

There's a book called Saving Dinner by someone associated with Flylady that has daily meals and shopping lists in it. Saw it at a friend's -- not sure if she uses it much or if it was an aspirational purchase and she ran out of steam. Looked like nice, doable meals with ingredients easy to find and laid out by season which is a healthy idea.

Booyhoo - that should make your laundry much easier!! You had wayyyy too many places for laundry to accumulate.

Whilst ThePeaPig's filofax thing sounds lovely - all you really need is a large (sort of A4 ish) book - Poundshop/Wilkos or a large diary (all cheap this time of the year!!). If you use one of these (make it large and keep it in one place!!) then you don't need a complicated filing system for bits of paper either. Just write the details in the book. So - for example, if one of the DC has a school trip write it in the 'Diary/Planner/Organiser (DPO)', if you need to pay for it but can't do it that day then write that in the DPO, if you need to get 'kit' ready, write it in the DPO. That piece of paper can then go in the file (if you are confident you have all the details written down, put it in the recycling, if not, put it in the 'paperwork dealt with' box. You don't need to keep bringing it forward if you have it written down. You just need to get into the habit of using the DPO :)

The other thing is Nike :) Just Do It don't think 'I'll put that away later'/'I'll do x later'... Just DO It, it generally only takes a minute and it's one less thing making a mess that you have to think about :)

Arf at ThePeaPig

I did look at diaries/notebooks that were cheaper but I wanted all names/addresses/info to be usable each year and it also has a monthly expenditure section.
All I need to do is buy a new filofax diary insert each year.
Plus it looks naice on my kitchen island

yep chipping. there were piles of washing everwhere. and whilst i was constantly reminding the dcs to put their washing in tehir wash baskets, I was always forgetting to empty them so they were over flowing and spilling out onto teh floor of their room.

i have an A4 diary out of easons (do you have easons in england or is that irish?). it has the time in half hourly slots down the side from 8am til i 8pm which i find really handy. i also have divided each page into sections so one for what is actually happening that day. one for my 'to do' list, one for any items i have to buy that day (this isn't for my weekly grocery list as it is on the fridge, this is otehr stuff like, paint for the kitchen door), one for what money i have spent that day, and one for notes (so things like, gran's birthday or ds1's friend coming after school).

my problem is i dont look at it and use it religiously like i should. i use it for a day or two then get out of the habit. i should really sit down with it at breakfast, homework time (when the letters come in from school) and in the evening when i'm watching soaps.

Top thread!
DC have 2 wash baskets each, one for school uniform , other for everything else. Every wash now we put in one of those 'colour catcher' papers - they realy work, so no need to sort inot colours and whited, unless -eg white sports gear needs stain remover/bleach.