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 liking the collapsible crate idea for the washing!

I use one of these to store my earrings.

I use one of these to store batteries, stamps, rubber bands, staples, paperclips, rubbers, pencil sharpeners, etc. in the drawer.

Bookmarking to read later

Any ideas for organising craft spaces? Sewing/ knitting stuff...drowning...

For sewing you need a proper sewing box. I have a big grey plastic one with lots of compartments and enough space in the base for things like name tapes, ballet elastic, buttons, etc.

"If you're a 'cutlery in the sink' first household, keep the cutlery holder of the dishwasher in the sink so you can move the whole lot in one go just before you put the machine on."

This is a brilliant idea, why on earth have I not thought of this myself.

Thank you Sommewhereelse

Why do people put cutlery in the sink first

Just remembered, if I need to defrost some mince or chicken that comes in one of those plastic containers with lots of air in, I take the frozen meat out of that and put it in a plastic food bag, in some warm water. Even when the water has gone cold, it defrosts LOADS faster than if it was just in the original packaging.

I don't use warm water to defrost meat: keep it cold and it still works without being a breeding ground for bacteria (worst thing you can do is get the surface temp up to 20-30 degrees). Its to do with how heat is conducted through air vs through water.

the worst thing you can do is use warm water to defrost meat, just makes it a breeding ground for bacteria as Mrs Hoarder says.

One more tip (this will out me as really sad but it does help, honest)

When hanging out laundry to dry, I try to hang all DD1's clothes together, all DD2's clothes together, all my clothes together etc. That means that when I take it all down, they're already (almost) sorted. It never works perfectly but it's not too hard to do and really does speed up that tedious sorting process later on. With socks, I peg each one next to its pair, hanging from the toe end. This lets me turn the ends over to fasten them into pairs (iykwim) before I even unpeg them.

I know that theoretically it would be easier to sort it when I take the washing down but somehow that always seems to be a more rushed job (eg because it's about to rain/bedtime/whatever)

cointreau when you do 3/4 washes a day, do you get all the washing dried the same day?

organizing craft supplies

The link takes you to a supremely anal way of doing this, but another approach is to get a special desk for it all (or set aside a kitchen cupboard) and catalogue your stuff like you would your paperwork and home office things.

Alternatively you can get sewing machine cabinets, like the one here

or here, with more drawers

I do the same Alicadabra and get really cross if DH doesn't follow my perfect system .

Definitely love the bedding set in a pillow-case - got it as a tip from another MNer last year and have been spreading the word ever since.

I keep DDs' spare bedding in the top of the wardrobe in their room, and DS's in his room to make things easier.

I do a blitz clean in between ad breaks on telly when I'm watching E4 Channel 4 news; things like the washing up from dinner, or hanging out a wash, or taking the 'stairs bucket' upstairs and sorting it. It's a great way of tidying without seeming like you're taking time out of something else precious in your life like E4 :o

Love the flylady's hotspots thing. We definitely have a few of those in our house and I could easily do with putting them there fires out :)

friedsprout I got the idea from someone with a bad back.
(We don't have a dishwasher)

On the laundry front - I iron six things a day to keep on top of it.

toddling off to try to get a set of superking bedding into a pillow case. Shall I report back on feasibility to save others the wrestle?

i still want to know about washing days. do you get all your washing dried in the one day if you do 3/4 washes a day?

I'd get 3-4 loads dried if it was on the line, but not on a rack, no.

i'm going to have a go on thursday and see how many i can get done in a day.

I stack the DSs school uniform in complete outfits on a shelf in their wardrobe - so jumper, trousers, polo, socks, pants, then repeat the layers in the same order. So in the morning I can just grab their day's clothes in one swoop.

Ooh that's obvious but I hadn't thought of it and very clever MorePudding

I get it all done in the dryer. Waiting around for the weather to co-operate is something I could not do.

Depending on the age and physical strength of your DCs, the biggest organising trick anyone has up her (his) sleeve is delegation. Making them keep track of their own stuff or face the consequences from teachers/coaches, etc. can transform your DCs into much more mindful people.

that's a great idea pudding

i have another question WRT clothes storage. i will be moving house soon and if i am lucky enough to get the house i want there wont be room in what would be my bedroom for my wardrobe so i thought of putting it in the spare room, and then i realised the tumble dryer will also haveto go in there so i thought why not out the dcs wardrobe and shelves in there too and it would make puttinh washing away straight out of teh tumble dryer so much easier and quicker. but it would mean none of our clothes were in our bedrooms. thsi would be good from a ds2 point of view as he has a habit of emptying hsi wardrobe all over his bedroom floor but would we find it awkward running to the spare room to get dressed or even to get clothes to bring to our rooms? does anyone else have a similar sort of set-up and how does it work?

How old are the DC booyhoo? Sounds like it could work with small ones. tbh, I'd just have a big dressing room all to myself though