Clean and Tidy - August

Well, some of you may have noticed (I know my husband has for sure) that I've fallen behind on my blog amidst the busyness of summer. I've missed a couple of Make Me Smile Monday's and July's Clean and Tidy. So, with August coming to an end I figure I'd better get my butt in gear and put together this months Clean and Tidy post for anyone who might be interested. :)

I've always loved the idea of a cleaning schedule. So about a year and a half ago I did some searching online and fell in love with these two printouts I found.

The first one I found at Iheart Organizing. So beautiful!

http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/2011/03/march-challenge-project-household_9757.html   (If you follow the link you'll find an amazing post on making a "Household Binder", which I have done and will write about another time. I love my binder!)

The other one was designed by my friend Estelle on her blog. Also so beautiful!


http://estellelle.blogspot.com/p/freebies-from-me.html


So after trying these beautiful printouts - seriously I tried BOTH - and realized they didn't seem to be working for me. (Even though I wanted them to so badly!) I discovered something about myself that made it hard for me to use either one: I don't like feeling "boxed in" to a housekeeping schedule. For example, I found it hard to designate Tuesday for vacuuming because maybe I wouldn't want to vacuum on Tuesday, maybe I'd want to dust! I do realize this must be kind of unusual because these types of schedules are a very common theme amongst the uber-organized.

Regardless of the fact that this may be a little bizarre, discovering this little quirk of mine meant I could now try and find a way around it. It's still a work in progress but I think I've discovered the thing that works for me!

Again I went searching online and found this at The Project Girl:

 http://www.theprojectgirl.com/2009/06/08/weekly-chore-schedule-free-download/comment-page-2/

So instead of looking to my chart and having it tell me what I need to do, I simply fill it in with the chores I have completed when they're done. To help keep me on track (ie. to make sure nothing slips my attention) I have a list of my daily, weekly, monthly and Spring/Fall cleaning chores in my Household Binder.

And before I end my post I thought I'd share one other thing! :) I used to stress myself out wanting to have everything in the entire house freshly cleaned just in time for family or friends to arrive until I realized it was completely unrealistic! With three children running around I find it takes me a good 5 days to clean my house from top to bottom so why would I expect myself to be able to do it all in one day simply because people were coming over? Especially when having guests over means I'm taking extra care with my meal planning! ;)

I now have a separate "getting the house ready for guests chore list" which prioritizes what parts of the house will be most freshly cleaned before guests arrive. At this point it's only a mental list but it works! :)

Top Priority (I want to make sure I have time for these things the day of):
1) Clean the bathroom.
2) Sweep/mop the main floor/side and front entrance.
3) Wash dishes/clear kitchen counter.
4) Over all house tidy.
5) Food prep.

Medium Priority: (I would like these done the day before.) 

6) Make sure all clean laundry is folded and put away.

7) Vacuum upstairs/downstairs.

8) Dust main floor.

9) Windows/Mirrors main floor

Low Priority (If I can fit this in the day before/day of I will, but if I need to I let it go.):

10) Dust basement.

Ideally I would like to have all of these chores done the day of and the day before we have people coming over, but recognizing what chores matter the most to me helps me pace myself. Any other chores need to be done earlier in the week.

Do you ever find it stressful trying to get your house just how you like it for guests? If you think this might work for you give it a try! :) You might just find it helps take some of the pressure off!

Clean and Tidy - June

R (Jason's sister) and I did a project together a little while back. Jen from iheartorganizing shows how to make these "Not So Plane Organizing Bins" using  clear wall pockets, spray paint, vinyl cut-outs and scrapbooking paper. R made some for her son and her craft room. I made a couple for my girls S (8) and R (5). I love this idea so much and it turned out so well that I have to share it with you!

I found these wall pockets at Staples 3 for $25. Not super cheap but not too steep either.

We bought some white vinyl and cut out these shapes on our Cricut Expression (a gift to R and I from Jason's parents). It goes back and forth between our two houses, although I feel as though R insists on it being here a lot more often, what a giving sister! :)

We took them outside and lay them on a piece of cardboard for spray painting them. (It took two coats to get a nice solid cover.) Once it was completely dry we removed the vinyl stickers. We found it helped to use a knife to very gently lift the edge and then after that everything peeled off nicely leaving nice clean edges.

The finished product. I cut out pink cardstock to fit nicely inside, covered the entire sheet with packing tape (so it wouldn't tear or fray after continued use) and then taped it in with scotch tape. I love the look!  

They are now being used to keep the girls books off their beds. I think that S may need a second one, because I just found two extra books up on her bed! :)

Clean and Tidy - May

If you're inspired to be more organized but like me you're new to the process there are a few things I want you to know!

1) You need purpose. The thing that motivated me to begin getting organized was knowing what I wanted from it. I wanted the freedom to do everyday stuff without the obstacle of having to a big tidy-up before I could get started. I wanted to be able to invite people over without the stress of a major clean-up/tidy-up job. I wanted my house to be reasonably tidy/clean not only when people were expected but most of the time! I also wanted to start getting away from living a life of excess.

2) It will take time. The initial organizing process for me took about a year - literally! I can be rather impulsive (especially when I'm excited about something) and so I had a really hard time sticking to one room at a time although I would recommend doing just that. I found it worked well for me to break it down even more than that - one area of a room at a time.

3) There will be a transitional period. Be prepared for a period of time when things will feel like they're in a bit of an upheaval. (Going one room/area at a time helps minimize this.) Just remember that it's only for a period of time and it will pay off in the end! Be deliberate about the changes you're making and keep plugging away.

4) "Warn" your spouse! ;) Let them know there's going to be a transitional stage. I let Jason know early on what was happening and he was really supportive. I explained to him that while things would be a bit crazy for a while that in the end the benefits would be for everyone. We would all enjoy how the house would look/operate when I was done.

5) "Brainwash" your children. OK, so of course I'm kidding about actually brainwashing them, but I do believe that children pick up on our silent expectations when it comes to both atttitude and behaviour. Have faith in them! Don't just expect that they won't like it, they're blank slates and don't know yet that they're "not suppose to" like certain things. If you can sincerely present them with new ideas/plans and let your excitement show they will pick up on it. I explained really simply that I was going to be making some changes in our house so that everything would have a "home". I told them this would be good for them, because it would be easier for them to tidy up their toys and they would have an easier time finding their toys. I also talked about how it would be easier to do crafts and play games when the house was tidier. I presented all the changes as being really exciting ones and they picked up on the excitement.*

If you think you can't muster the excitement, be honest with them admit you're not excited about the work involved either, but you know the end result will make it worth it - and that you're excited about the end result. Focus on the benefits that will come after the changes have been made and all you have to look forward to.

6) Involve your family. Unless you live on your own, not everything is yours anyways! My daughters S and R are now 8 and 5 and they did an incredible job when I asked them to help sort through their stuff. With Jason the approach was different. Jason's a planner, so with him I let him know in advance that I wanted to sort through an area of his and then when the time was right we went through it together. Item by item he would let me know whether it was to be kept, thrown out or given away.

7) You'll benefit from letting go of misconceptions. My first misconception was that being a good housekeeper meant that I needed my house to be immaculate any time anyone came through the front door. It turns out it has more to do with making things eaiser to maintain. If you drop by unnanounced, there will always be children playing, or doing crafts and running all around the house. I'll likely be in the middle of cooking, baking, cleaning or some other project and if Jason's home he'll be in the middle of doing something too. Our house is a home and our home has a pulse. It won't look like your stepping into a house off the front cover of House and Home. My other misconception was that being organized wasn't for me, because it wasn't one of my natural strengths. It's relieved so much stress for me to realize that neither of these things need to be true. Getting rid of clutter and becoming more organized has made housekeeping easier and it's even made it...fun!

*Jason told me the sweetest story a little while ago about something S (our 8 year daughter) had said. She was in her room one day rearranging books on her shelf and she said, "I'm just like mom because I'm trying to find the best way to organize things." It just totally melted my heart!   

Clean and Tidy - April

You may have noticed there are a few words I like use when I talk about taking care of my house: clean, tidy, organize and declutter. For fun (because I really am a nerd like that) I thought I'd give you my own definition of the words clean, tidy, organize and de-clutter. :)

Clean/Cleaning: This is the aspect of housework that typically involves water and soap or cleaner and some sort of cleaning "tool" like a cloth/mop/broom. This was always my favourite, until more recently when I discovered a love for organizing simply because it has made both cleaning and tidying more enjoyable. There's a greater sense of accomplishment for both then there used to be.

Tidy/Tidying: Putting things back where they belong. Ideally this would happen immediately after an item was used every single time. But hey, we're people not robots! ;) Even though I continue to work on this (and I'm training my children in this as well) I don't expect perfection from myself (or my children).

De-clutter/De-cluttering: Sorting through the things you don't want, can't use, don't fit into, or are broken and then either recycling, fixing, disposing of, selling, donating or giving away these things. Keeping only what you need, want (sometimes we keep things because they're very sentimental) and know you will use.

Organize/Organizing*: This (along with de-cluttering) is what makes the first two more manageable! It's about decluttering and finding permanent "homes" for your things. This is the aspect of housekeeping that saves a lot of time and effort! Tidying can be an endless, stressful and exhausting job when things aren't organized, because you're constantly in a state of flux moving things around (into temporary homes) trying to figure out where they should go.

So there you have it. This is how I define the words clean, tidy, organize and declutter. Each one plays an important role in keeping things "clean and tidy". :) Any thoughts?

*This was the missing piece to the puzzle for me. I mentioned in another post about the "aha!" moment when a friend shared this with me and I thought, "how have I never figured this out before?!". It's the reason I love talking about organization so much! And even though organizing in a way is "never ending", you can get to a stage where it becomes about tweaking what you have or setting up new items as you bring them into your house.

Clean and Tidy - March

So today I'm letting you into the one room I never take people into when we're showing them our house...the laundry room! The reason, you ask? Pure vanity! Jason and I are in our first house and we hope to buy a bigger house in a few years so we don't want to spend the money or time fixing the room up. It needs One day I would like to have a laundry room that has finished walls and a finished ceiling. I don't see that happening as long as we're living here, although I do have plans to put a fresh coat of paint on the floor this spring (which I think will make a big difference), and I'll be sure to post some pictures when I do.

For now, I'm working at being more efficient when it comes to getting my laundry done. Those of you who have children know that when you have a new baby the volume of laundry seems to grow exponentially. Astonishingly so, considering how tiny their things are. One thing I've discovered in growing from a young family with a newborn to now having an 8, 5 and 2 year old: as your kids get bigger so do their clothes and in turn so do the piles of laundry!

I'm happy to say I've discovered a system that works for me. There's still (what seems to me to be) a ton of laundry to be done, but it has become much more manageable. Some of you likely have your own way of doing things, probably more clever than mine, but I'm excited to share how I do things anyways. I'll start at the beginning!

I used to use these baskets for everything:

The dirty laundry went into the baskets upstairs, they came downstairs to the laundry room sat beside each other on the floor until the laundry got done, I would disinfect the baskets, fold the laundry into the noe clean baskets and then bring them back upstairs for the clothing to be put away. The trouble I ran into was that it took up a lot of valuable space on my laundry room floor and sorting everything was a big job. I would spread out my three baskets and then have to make at least two additional piles for sorting. 

I realized that I needed something tall and skinny to take up less floor space instead of the short wide ones I had, so I began to look around. At first I planned on buying three of these and was watching online for them to go on sale. I thought they would fit nicely in the spot I had available: 

When I went in to Canadian Tire to check them out I realized they were bigger than I thought and might interfere with the door s being able to open and shut easily. That's when I discovered this:

It had wheels, took up less space and I liked the look of it even better. So I decided to give them a shot. Honestly, I can't remember whether or not I got it on sale. (I love sales and try to buy as much as I can on sale.) Regardless - it was incredible the change it made!

I brought it home, put it together and automatically designated the three sections for darks, colours and whites/lights. Whenever I brought dirty laundry downstairs I would sort it right away and that way the laundry was always ready for me run downstairs whenever I had 5 minutes to start a load. This made such a huge difference. Once I was caught up on my laundry, I found it was so much easier to stay on top of!

A few times however something would come up (a weekend away from home, getting sick, etc.) and again I would fall behind. So, I went and bought this matching hamper with only 2 sorters. The two sorter hamper became for colours and the 3 sorter hamper for darks, lights and whites. Having these two separate sorters has been just right for our family of 5 and keeping things sorted and ready to go even when things come up.    

So this morning while the boys were playing Go Fish! (which was really just the two of them searching through the giant pile of cards for pairs)...

Cute!

I sorted the laundry which was beginning to pile up...

I rolled over the second hamper and began to separate. It took me ten minutes, which includes taking pictures of both J and B's game of Go Fish! and the laundry room as well as cheering the boys on as they took turns running in to show me each match they came up with. :) While I prefer not falling behind, I've found that having this system set up means that when it does it is so much easier to sort. Then once everything is sorted it's ready to go!

(For the super observant you might have noticed our sink. It's stained with many different colours of paint! This is the sink that was here when we moved in, it has been scrubbed vigorously multiple times but to no avail! If you know of any tricks, I would love to hear them!) 

And voila! :)

Another benefit to these new hampers is that now I have have one permanent dirty laundry basket which stays upstairs to be filled, as well as 3 permanent clean laundry baskets that are stored in the laundry room. This is so much more convenient for loading and unloading the dryer, folding laundry and transporting clean clothes upstairs. 

Before I wrap up, I have two other little tricks up my sleeve!

1) Some of you may be horrified to hear this - but - as a time saving device, anything that's supposed to be washed by hand or in the delicate cycle gets thrown in the wash with everything else. Then I pull it out of the wash before the load goes in the dryer and I lay it out to dry. So far I've had no mishaps, all our clothing is fine. :) The only problem with this is remembering when and how many items need to be pulled out. So, I decided to do this:

  

Notice that little mason jar? It has a handful of magnets in it. Numbers 0 through 9. Whenever I'm loading the washer I keep track of how many items will need to be pulled and then do this:

I put the magnet right there where I can't miss it, and then when it's time to load the dryer I know exactly what shouldn't go in! 

2) I really like to keep the dishcloths, tea towels and hand towels I'm using in my kitchen clean. Kitchen counters and sinks can get really germy, and I like cleaning them frequently. One problem I found with this was that I had no in between place for them to stay in those moments when I'm busy in the kitchen and can't bring it down to the laundry room immediately, but don't want to leave a dirty cloth sitting on my kitchen counter. So, I now use one of these:

It's outside of my kitchen by the side door going downstairs to the basement. Even though it's mostly out of the way, I didn't want it to be an eyesore, and I'm very happy with how this one has worked out. In those busy moments, dirty kitchen linens get tossed here and then when I get the chance they go down with me to the laundry room.

So there you have it! These changes have done nothing to eliminate the amount of laundry I deal with, but it has helped me to be much more efficient than before When everything is sorted and ready to go, I can throw a load of laundry in whenever I have a few minutes. And that helps keep me from feeling overwhelmed by the seemingly neverending mountains of laundry! ;)

I would love to hear any time saving tips you have!

Clean and Tidy - February 2011

I shared my story in December about the shift that's taken place in my approach towards keeping house. The other day I was thinking about my kitchen and the changes that have taken place there. My kitchen counter used to function as a catch-all for the flyers, mail and school papers that came into our house. I always found this frustrating whenever I needed to use the counter or we were having people over (which pretty much translates into being a constant frustration!). Because the changes made have had such a big impact and have eliminated so much stress for me, I thought this would be a fun place to start. :)

Before I get started I just want to say that this is a very humbling thing for me to write about. Being organized is very new to me and I'm sincerely excited about all I've learned. I have to admit there's a fear of being judged (that some might wonder why it took me so long to figure it out), but I'm going to push right past it and share what I've learned anyway. I want to be relateable and in order to do so I've got to throw it all out there!

I'd like to share some pictures I snapped of my kitchen the other night after the kids were put in bed.   My kitchen does not look like this all day long, and it doesn't even look like this at the end of every day so please don't think I'm trying to give that impression! What I am trying to say is that because of a few changes I've made it's no longer overwhelming to get my kitchen looking like this and I no longer have to resort to (think you can handle it?) shoving everything underneath my microwave stand and closing the doors just to give the impression that it was clean (gasp!).

Ok, now that we have that out of the way! ;) Here's my kitchen:



I confess...I was tempted to put the dishes away, but I thought I'd leave them because I always put them away in the morning. I did however clear a few things off the counter - one of the kids toothbrushes and toothpaste, a couple little toys and a couple pencil crayons and a few things I picked up at the store that day) I like to try and do this daily (more realistically though it happens probably 3 or 4 times a week since we do have a pretty busy house) and this usually
happens after the kids are sleeping.

I used to think that having an organized house was just not for me. That it took being superwoman (which I'm not), with super skills (which I don't have) and super speed (because where else would I find the time?) and I just knew I didn't have it in me. What I've learned is that I really just needed to change my approach in a few ways and that it would make all the difference in the world. It takes me less time and less effort to keep my house in better condition and gives me a much greater sense of satisfaction.

I have found two very simple things have helped me keep paper clutter off my counters: 

1) Regularly weeding out the stuff I don't need. Primarily this involves recycling all of the paper I don't need and sorting out what needs to be filed and (actually) filing it. I don't put pressure on myself to file everything right away, as long as it gets done in a reasonable amount of time.  



About a year ago we replaced our old microwave stand (which was missing a door) with this one. It has more room underneath as well as the extra shelf on the top.   

Here's the inside. I'm sure you can imagine what the old one would have looked like crammed full of papers. :) I will point out that I have a pile of stuff to be sorted through and it does need to be done soon (the bottom right on top of some cookbooks). This is on my February to-do list. :) The paper trays hold more cook books and the plastic drawers hold our church directory, waste management calendar, a few restaurant brochures, some dividers and address labels.

Here on top of the microwave, I keep what few flyers we hold on to and my Ikea catalogue, which I will keep until I get the new one. :) (The little white dish I used for storing J's stickers when he was first potty training. Now that he's done I need to put them away. :) )

Again...I was tempted to remove the almonds and the garlic, but this is really how it is. :) In this cupboard I have: my stationary, mailing envelopes, kids scissors and bingo dabbers (they're safer here out of reach), pencil crayons (in the tins in the back), a mason jar for collecting pop tabs for school, mail sorter which holds my stamps, reciepts I want to hold on to for a while or need to filed downstairs, calendar stickers, extra cards for our Accountable Kids peg boards, my recipe keeper (which I'm still working on putting together) and the binders on the left and the baskets up above I will save for another post. :)  

I keep my day planner, address book and star stickers (for S and R's Accountable Kids peg boards which I heard about from Tammara at A Whisper of Grace in this post here) and the pencil I use for my planner in this mail sorter. I love these Brocade office supplies and it makes me happy to store these things in here instead of leaving them in a pile on my counter. It feels more deliberate. It also helps me to not try and push how much stuff I'm keeping on my counter. The egg cup holds my binder clips (reserved for using in my day planner) and the white Ikea Asker jar hold the adaptor for charging our cell phone. My "DIY" charging station. ;)  

2) Finding a home for the kid's school papers and involving them in the process.

The paper filing system I set up to help keep the kids school papers under control (and out of the kitchen), was inspired by Jen from iheartorganizing's mailing station in these two posts here and here.

This magazine file was downstairs sitting on Jason's desk looking pretty but not being used. It was perfect for mounting on the wall and using to hold onto school papers that are not ready to be recycled yet. The top folder is mine, it holds the school calendar for the year which I can refer to if I'm looking ahead to PA days or holidays for planning. The folder in the middle is for S. I keep any information papers in there for upcoming events, field trips  concerts etc. in there. The file underneath is where I keep the similar papers for R. You'll notice January's calendar peeking out from the front. We also keep R's big plastic envelope in there (the teacher uses it to send notes and presmission forms home in).

This is where S and R come and put any papers I need to look at, they store their homework here as well as their libary books. These two trays have saved us so much time and energy searching for things around the house. Once the girls have finished putting their stuff away then I look through their papers and sort through. Some of it gets recycled and then the rest is divided into two piles: papers to be filled out and school work keepsakes to be filed. I save the keepsakes for Jason to admire, together S and R help me pick out a couple of their favourites to be filed away as keepsakes and the rest is recycled.   

Here's what it looks like in the big scheme of things. :)

So, that's it! Not being shy to recycle what I don't need right away, making sure I have a "home" for those things we can't avoid holding onto and involving my kids in the process have made all the difference in keeping the paper clutter off my counter. For those of you who don't have something already on hand you but might be still interested in setting up your own filing system on a budget, I've got an idea you might be interested in on the way!

What about you organizing veterans? I would love to hear any tips you have on keeping your paper clutter under control.

Clean and Tidy

You may remember that I mentioned wanting to start some regular posts about organization - since I've recently fallen in love with it. As it turns out I'm not quite creative enough to come up with a fun title to call my cleaning and organizing inspired posts - but - I'd really like to get started, so I've decided to simply call them "Clean and Tidy". :) For now I'm going to start with simply a monthly post and maybe in time will be able to commit to one post a week. Likely you'll be seeing a lot of links to other blogs where I've discovered ideas for cleaning and organizing that work well for me, along with things I've learned myself along the way. My guess is that what I've gleaned from others will far outwiegh what I've discovered for myself, but together we'll have to simply wait and see!

Sometime within the next few days I will be posting my February post, which will be about the changes that have taken place in my kitchen. Un(?)fortunately I have no befores, but I will have a lot of after pictures for you! I'll be sharing what I have learned about controlling the paper clutter that used to take over my kitchen counters. I'm really excited! I hope you have as much fun with it as I know I will!

Clean and Tidy

The past year has been one of change around our home. And I mean in a very literal sense not at all figuratively. At the same time it has impacted our family life in a very positive way and has developed in me a passion for all things organized! Since I'm pretty sure I've been driving my family and (some of  my) close friends crazy with this new interest of mine I feel as though I need an outlet. So, in addition to "Make Me Smile Mondays" I'm going to start up another weekly entry dedicated to organization. I'm in the process of coming up with a name for it and I would love to hear any ideas you might have. Please keep in mind I can only pick one, so I might not be able to use it. If I am able to, I will happily give you full credit when I first introduce the name. :)

For today I'd love to share my "story" with you!

Last year I was beginning to feel really overwhelmed by our home. Well that's not entirely accurate. I was feeling overwhelmed by the task of keeping my home clean and tidy. We bought our first home (a semi-detached, 3 bedroom home) in summer 2005, so we've lived here for just over 5 years. When we first moved in it was just three of us: Jason, myself and our 2 1/2 year old little girl. We felt incredibly blessed to be first time home owners and we still do. Moving from a 2 bedroom apartment to a 3 bedroom home we couldn't believe the space - it was incredible! But, 4 years and 2 additional children later and things were feeling pretty cramped. Jason and I were suddenly feeling like we didn't have enough space even though we hoped to get a few more years out of our house before selling it. I was determined to make the time we had left as comfortable as possible.

Now don't get me wrong - this wasn't like an episode of "Hoarders" or anything. But keeping my house clean felt a lot more like a roller coaster ride than a walk in the park. I would work really hard and get the house nice and clean and then in a matter of a couple of days every thing was messy again. Then I'd have to work really really hard to get it clean again only to have things fall apart in the matter of a few days. Round and round it went.

At the time I couldn't figure out what I needed to change. Until I went to visit a friend one day in her new home. She, her husband and their 4 children had just moved into a bigger house. For as long as I've known her she's always been one of those women who makes taking care of her house  look easy. Her house always seems to be not only clean and beautiful but welcoming. And now in her new (bigger) house, she still managed to make it looked that way. What was her secret? I wanted to know! Leaving her house that day I left with a very valuable piece of information: everything - no matter how small - needs a place.

That was in November. Somewhere in between that conversation and Christmas I got the flu really bad. Jason's mom watched the kids for me for two days and I took off babysitting so I could recover. Just as I was on the mend we had a few people drop by for a football game. I can't even tell you how embarrassed I was with the state of my house. I knew that even after a couple of days out of commission things didn't need to be quite so bad. It was the final straw!

On boxing day of last year, I began the process of de-cluttering the entire house. And I mean the entire house! The closets, dressers, shelves - everything. Bags and bags of stuff went to goodwill, got recycled and thrown in the garbage. Taking time wherever I could get it, the first major overhaul took me one whole month of very intense work. I went to Canadian Tire and bought a couple of shelving units for my storage/laundry room and bins (everything seemed to be on sale)  for our toy closet. After that I spent the next few months going back over these same areas fine tuning what I'd already done.

What started out of neccesity has now become a passion.  Decluttering was the first (most crucial) step. Since then I've been discovering how organizing my home not only makes it easier to clean and more peaceful to live in, but it also helps make my home more beautiful. What I used to think had to do with the size of a home or expensive furnishings can easily be accomplished with a little organizing. The use of  every day items like baskets, bins, vases, and even decorative magazine files and paper trays have worked there way into my heart as I've seen them transform my house.

From my own experience I can look back and see that it ("it" being focusing merely on the cleaning aspect of keeping my home and not the so much the organizing/clutter control) wasn't so much an issue in our first apartment and didn't really become an issue until we had a few children and had been living here for several years. When I first discovered the importance of these thing I remember wondering why no one had ever told me before. So this is why I share my "story". I imagine there must be someone out there who can relate. Whether you've been feeling like all of a sudden things are catching up to you (like I did) or you're just starting out I hope that by sharing what has been helpful to me it may also be helpful for you!