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?

I'm the world's most disorganised person, so I have nothing to add to this thread except a huge thank you. My poor DH is super organised and barely puts up with me, so this treasure chest of tips may help me avoid getting divorced.

I have literally reorganised my house from top to bottom this weekend because of this thread! New laundry system up and running (so much simpler!), cupboards sorted and so much shit junk binned, bathroom shelves adjusted to fit in a bin, storage boxes bought and organised.
I'm now in the bath with the iPhone & a bloody big small Baileys.
Go ME!

mushroom you must feel brilliant!

well done mushroom

yay!! go mushroom.

you have inspired me to make this my declutter week. i have been intending to do it for ages and always put it off or never feel like doing it so i shall start tomorrow. i expect you all up bright and early with your pointy sticks

just realised about 10 minutes ago that ds didn't have a clean jumper for school tomorrow so had to go and dig it out of his washing pile and put on a load of washing. i really need to get myself sorted. cant be doing with thsi every sundday night.

Rispeck to da Mushroom, sistas.

mushroom I am [envious]. I did not even get round to the duvet covers... (Procrastinator extraordinaire, moi)

oops

im massively unorganised. i have 4kids, and 3 are under 2 years old.

it would take more than an whole weekend to sort my house out (if i could even find the energy).
as someone said before- myvwhole house is a hotspot.

but i have made a start.
i took on helen's idea of not implementing too many at the start. (well that's the excuse!)

i have wrote down 2 general ones for myself, dp and dd1 to follow-
no going up or down stairs empty ended. (punishment if we forget, is to go back upstairs, with something- to get something)
and the 15 min blitz is brill for after the 3 younger ones are in bed.

for me, i have allocated a room to a day (today is bathroom) and i thought the idea to put clothes in outfits was genius!!!!
spent a good few hours yesterday, ironing, going through all kids clothes, sorting into, too big, too small etc and then put them in outfits on 1 hanger. (100's of hangers spare and twice as much room in the wardrobe)

came downstairs proud of myself and told dp .
me- ive just sorted kids clothes into outfits.
dp-
me- well, if i ever have to go into hospital, you'll be able to dress them all
dp- yeah, cos if you end up in hospital, that will be my number 1 priority - how to fashion the children.

he has a point!

Some brilliant ideas on here!

I struggle with what to do with shoes, we have a massive box on landing full and also loads under the stairs. I have toyed with putting a door on under the stairs so I just can't see them, but that seems to defeat the object!

We are also woefully short on storage in this house, but I just don't know where we'd fit more storage solutions. Did the poster further up ever start the storage solutions thread?

these are my organisation tip. Brilliant for flour, porridge, rice etc. Stack neatly rather than half bags everywhere, and really handy having the scoop attached!

wellies if you put a door on you could hang a shoe rack inside it! One of my life-transforming bits of kit, all kinds are available but I think mine came from Argos; it's a metal one.

Out of interest what you do you all transport your dirty/clean washing around in?
I have been using some cheapo zip-up plastic laundry bags but they are falling apart and shedding bits of plastic.
Am looking for something a bit prettier which will inspire me to keep on top of the laundry...

Ikea bags or those fold down crates.

LieIns, I'll have a look in Argos, thanks!

Pannacotta- Matalan have some lovely laundry box bag things with a rope handle, They are canvassy hang on I'll see if I can find a link These, I like stripey ones

try again! there are others if you just do a search on the Matalan website for laundry bags

Ikea bags. I don't want anything pretty to keep washing that's supposed to be being moved in: I want the incentive to be to get the washing dealt with and the bag tidied away.

They're fairly robust and about the right size for a machine full of stuff.

MrsHoarder - agree, Ikea bags are exactly the right size for a wash load and can easily be carried around the house. I also use them and it gives me an incentive to tidy things away so I can shove the bags back under the bed where they live the rest of the time.

we have a wipe clean noticeboard behind the kitchen door. Every time something runs out it gets written up, so we don't have to make a shopping list from scratch.

Thats a good point re hiding the bags away. I leave mine laying around they look awful but instead of getting prettier bags I just need to hide mine out of sight!
Yours do look nice though wellies, thanks for the link.

Thanks ladies! We're moving next week so looking forward to enacting some of these ideas in our fresh start. I'm dyspraxic myself so really struggle with organisation and tidiness but I find putting little rules and timetables together for myself really helps.

I use those collapsible crates for laundry. I have two laundry days per week, one midweek, one at the weekend, doing 3-4 loads each time.

I collect the laundry together in a vast pile, sort it into colour loads, and put each load into a crate. These are then stacked above the machine, and washed one by one.

Meanwhile, I take the (now dry) laundry from the previous wash-day off the drying rack, fold it, and sort it by family member as I go. Everyone gets a crate of clean laundry to put away, the new wash-loads are hung on the now-empty rack, and the crates are folded away. (In the summer, the washes are done in the evening, then the wet washing folded up in the crates ready to be hung on the line first thing the following morning).

I prefer to keep laundry to two days so I'm not constantly draped in wet washing.

Shoes: we have 1 pair each behind the front door - I'm strict about it! weekdays it is school shoes & on weekends, something else. All other shoes must be put away upstairs - DS has a shoe drawer & I have clear boxes from Ikea, all stacked so I can find what I want fairly easily.

We use folding crates for laundry too - they fit down the side of the washing machine when not in use.

Where do the laundry crates come from?
Cointreau I like your method, muct be nice not to have a constant stream of washing.
I do a wash most days so there is always laundry draped around the house getting dry...

Collapsible crates you can buy everywhere - Tesco, B&Q, Wilkos etc

Yes there IS a storage thread. Very useful!