Working on Having an Organized Home

 Crystal at Money Saving Mom has been hosting a challenge this month to all of us to work on having a more organized home. This has been something I have been working on anyway and because we could be moving soon I have been wanting to work on it more. I also recently read her book "Say Goodbye to Survival Mode" that has motivated me as well. So anyway - I have been trying to join in.

  I started following along the first couple of days she was doing it in March (but didn't find time to blog about it) but then we left on our trip and so not much progress was made - but this week I am ready to go again. :-)

Crystal has various assignments that you can print out and check off. Since I find that rather fun to do - I have done that.

One of the assignments for today was to clean out the silverware drawer. That was something I was wanting to get done anyway as we have company coming this week and for some reason the silverware drawer seems to collect crumbs and things. It is an easy but satisfying project.

 This week is a busy one for us as we have a church Retreat this weekend and we are helping out a lot with that and will also be having friends stay with us while they attend the retreat with us. So I have projects to finish for the retreat and then a house to get clean as well. It was nice to sit down and write out a list of things that needed to be accomplished to be ready for this weekend.

  In the assignment we are told to find 7 things to declutter. I have found that sometimes I find it a little hard to get started on this but once I do and can really get going and find far more than the required number. Though I tend to collect stuff and like to have plenty of things on hand, I have also started to realize how freeing it is to have less. There is less to clean and less to think about - that translates into more time for me to do other things besides dealing with stuff. I like that.

 Besides the physical stuff another area that I have really been working to declutter is on my computer. I have been working to keep my inbox emptied out -Yesterday I finally got it all empty - Yeah! Of course it doesn't stay empty so it is a constant project to try to deal with things as they come in and then get rid of them. I have also been trying to go through, weed out the bad and organize all the photos on my computer - that is a fun (though time consuming project) and makes things so much easier to find. I love it!

 Another things that I have been working on organizing better in my home is to make double batch meals so that I can freeze some for another time. That means that I don't have to cook so much which saves me time and I really like it! This month I did make a menu out that included lots of meals that I could double and freeze and then days later where I could take a break. Tonight I made calzones (a new recipe from the Pioneer Woman's site - though I made my own whole wheat squash roll dough for them) and they were a hit. Everybody was quite happy that I made enough for three meals.

And this doesn't have to do with organizing at all....

But I thought I would show you a picture that Aaron took today of one of our chickens. Our weather has been getting warmer lately (with some days above freezing even) and the chickens have really enjoyed getting out of their coop. Today the boys and Megan hauled them all over and let them play where the snow had melted. A fun time for kids and chickens. :-)

 How did your day go? Would you like to join me in trying to get more organized or are you already there?