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?

Love this thread. V tempted by the idea of a separate washing basket for uniform. And loving the idea of getting all the birthday cards once a year.

For those wrestling with paper, I have a system which will one day have an accompanying flow chart (I haven't written this down yet because DH looked at me like I was insane when I suggested it). However, for the majority of pieces of paper the actual, physical paper is irrelevant, it's the content of it which is important. Therefore scan or take a photo of the piece of paper and then either bin or file it depending on whether you do need to retain it. Apps like Evernote now have a photo setting which takes extremely good images of documents, even hand-written notes if necessary, and scans them for keywords.

For simple to do planning I use Any.DO and for anything which is more like a project (e.g. getting a tree cut down in the back garden) I use Doit.im. Both apps are cross-platform and have browser plug-ins as well so I am never without them!

I definitely keep all the wrapping paper, sellotape, scissors and pritt stick together so I don't get caught out with emergency wrapping situations. I don't actually have a box to put them in - wrapping paper is a bit of an arse to store?

nomorecake I am definately going to try the shoes on coats on alarm, 5 mins before leave the house for school time. That is such a good idea, and will help the kids to start thinking for themselves about what they need to do, instead of me chivvying them!

Fab tips on here - thanks

Get clothes ready the night before

Have a charity shop bag permanently on the go & once it's full, take to the shop

Always have a spare of bog roll, toothpaste, whatever stuff you know you're always going to need

LOVE "don't put it down put it away"!

Get the school lunches ready on saturday night, after coming home from the supermarket. Make up all 15 into little plastic bags and shove them in the back of the fridge. Stops dh the kids nicking all the frubes/ fruit/ drinks / cheese portions and leaving me with nothing to put in by Friday.

Then in the morning it takes 2 min to just make a quick sandwich or bung a croissant in. The little plastic bag stops the lunchbag getting too ruined and mucky as well.

And this

... matching lingerie ..... bwhahahaha!!!

I have a huge shiteboard in my hall with everyone's 'movements' on there. Means the whole house (all 7 of us) know what's going on, what clubs are where each day. I usually get about 2 months worth on there....

hmmmm .. that'll be a whiteboard. Not a shiteboard ;) I don't record those kind of movements

Loving the shiteboard!

I have a notebook which I use for lists etc to help me save money and keep organised. I only started it properly this year and its working well.

Stuff I do, which is in my notebook:

Cards - I have a list of all birthdays and special occasions for the year and stocked up in card factory.

Children's clothes - normally buy in sales for the following year, write down what they have/need so I can keep my eye out for bargains.

Presents - again, I shop for Xmas, birthdays all year around, but keep a note of what I have, so I don't forget.

Cleaning etc - like a previous poster, I keep a list of infrequent cleaning jobs and work through it.

Just marking my place !

Spent the last couple of days reading through this thread. It is flippin' fab.

My airing cupboard is cleared and sorted.

Five bags of mine, dp's and ds's clothes and shoes have been donated to local charity shops.

Ds chest of drawers have been cleared of junk and all toys and craft bits and bobs are organised and back in the right sets.

I have re-filed paperwork and got rid of out dated stuff.

Got endless laundry done and all my towels have a had a hot wash and have come out lovely.

I now have a swim bag with all swimming cossies and armbands ready to go whenever we need.

Persuaded dp sort all his work bag out, and he is going to keep all staff cards and work gloves in there (so hopefully no more last minute stressful rush searching for things!)

Made some phonecalls that I have been putting off for an age.

All bills set up by dd now and have sorted repayment plans for arrears.

Still have a very very long way to go but all these little bits have been huge weights on my mind, and to sit here in the knowledge they are sorted, is so refreshing. This is the start of something new. Thank you for everybodies fab tips. Hopefully more people will add to this thread and we can keep on being motivated and inspired

We have 3 DCs

We keep school uniform separate from other clothes; each child has a clear plastic tub on the landing, and clean dry uniform goes into each one. Makes it so much easier than rifling through a pile of clean clothes trying to find the elusive one clean polo shirt.

Blasted our kids ' playroom ' today and got incensed about the amount of pointless ' retro ' electrical av ( that's audio / video ) shite my other half has polluted the room with. However, he is going away for a week soon bwahahaha.....

Oops wrong thread, soz.

Sorry, don't know if anyone else has said this, but I have recently discovered the joy of blasting cluttered surfaces with a hairdryer instead of dusting them.

Bumping as slowly making my through the thread. So much good advice.

What a great thread, and great to read how it has inspired so many.

So here are my tips:
IKEA wardrobe motion sensor lights in the under stairs cupboard and airing cupboard. Makes life so much easier if your not scrabbling around in the dark.
Keep a pair of gloves in your winter coat pocket, so they are ready if the weather turns bad.
Keep a fully stocked toiletry bag ready for last minute weekends away.
I have a shelf in the kitchen which has a hanging rail underneath it. I've hung up pots with useful bits in - dh and I have a pot each which we keep our keys, we have a pot for pens (because even though we had loads, we could never find one when we needed one), a pot for DDs hairbands/clips, a pot for DDs paintbrushes/ glue sticks/scissors/selotape etc, a pot for DIY essentials - measuring tape, flathead/Philips screwdrivers, electrical tape etc. (Because its an arse to get the toolbox out for little jobs).
I keep a set of spare clothes for each DC and an emergency changing bag in the car.
We also keep our wellies, walking boots, swimming bag, bucket and spades/ picnic blanket (summer only), shopping bags, blankets, and the pushchair permanently in the back of the car.
I keep a small medical kit in the pushchair pocket.
Chopsticks are really useful for getting teacakes out of the toaster!
Stuff stored in the loft is in clear plastic storage boxes, and I also keep a spreadsheet of what is up there.

We live in a tiny 2bed house, and DH is a terrible hoarder, so I dream of living a calm, clutter free life. I'm definitely going to start meal planning, enforce the 'don't put it down, put it away' rule, and 'don't go up/down stairs empty handed'. I love the 52 chores list mentioned up thread, so will be starting that once I've sorted out the paperwork/clothes/toys mountain. Slowly but surely.....

OMG, there's been a momententous purchase in casa 'SundaySunshine'. Just got our hands on a portable scanner getdoxie.com/doxiego hey presto paper mountain disapears: open letter, scan, shred. LOVE IT.

Blatant place mark.....I used to be soooo organised but it's all fallen apart, really! Going to read the whole thread tonight

Sorry I'm just place marking . My house is currently a dump and I'm here to steal all of your ideas

I re-read this thread yesterday. It's been running for years! I'm pleased to say that all the areas I organised and decluttered in 2012 are STILL organised and decluttered!

3 bin bags of too small, never gonna wear that again & will never wear that ever!! removed from DD1 bedroom at the weekend She did it not me - result!

Starting the 52 job list - brilliant idea.

super thread. just place marking for now to read through

noticed the chopsticks comment - be careful, it's not just the metal in a toaster that might electrocute you but if you accidentally move the cage inside the toaster with a chopstick (or anything!) then NEXT time the toaster's used it could electrocute that person because of the cage being against the toaster wall. hope that makes sense

Just get rid of the toaster and use the grill. No more crumbs all over worktop, uncluttered worktop easier to clean and easy crumpet removal! Plus I can toast 10 in one go.