Organizing Ideas for the Weekend #6

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Happy Friday everyone!  Since tomorrow is December 1st, I thought the perfect idea for this week would be setting up an advent calendar or some way for your family to count down to Christmas.  I guess I'm not the only one who thought that, because I've seen a lot of posts this week and this morning on the same subject :)

I'm going to take an organizing approach to this though.  So hopefully this post will be different enough from all the others you've probably read :)

If you're like my family, you probably have a lot of things you like to do in December.  Special activities that you only do once a year.  Traditions that have been passed down or new memories you've made together.

Sometimes fitting all these activities into a few weeks can get overwhelming.  So why not organize them into an advent calendar and have fun doing one each day?  You can tailor them to whatever your family enjoys doing.

If you think making your own calendar is time consuming or expensive, think again!  I've found lots of amazing ones that are pretty simple and cheap to make.

Here are a few of my favourites:

This one from Motherhood On A Dime is really simple and it includes free printables with the circle numbers and activities that go on the back of each circle.

Here's one from Simple Organized Living that you can put a treat in as well as writing an activity on the back of each day's number.  The only catch is you have to sacrifice a mini muffin pan for the month :)

If you'd prefer to have your countdown calendar on your fridge, here's a magnetic one you can make from Thrifty and Thriving.  There's a list of possible activities in this post too.

This is a cute banner from Pink Pistachio that would be simple to make.  Each shape has an activity written on the back.  This post also includes a list of activities.

Or, instead of a calendar with activities, you could also wrap 24 Christmas books and read one each day.  There are tons of people who have shared this idea (it's all over Pinterest!) but somehow I hadn't heard about it until this year.  Here's a post from Clean and Scentsible that includes a list of books in case you're looking for ideas.

There are lots of other Christmas calendars out there that count down the days in really cute ways.  Or ones where you can add a little treat or gift for each day.  Pinterest is full of fun ideas!  Check out my Christmas Organizing Pinterest board if you're looking for even more inspiration.

In our family, we sometimes have the chocolate advent calendars.  We also have several advent books where we read a Bible verse or talk about various aspects of Christmas.  And we use a wooden advent calendar that has little doors for each day with a small ornament in them that is hung on the Christmas scene in the middle of the calendar.  It was originally a gift we gave to my in-laws but it turns out they can't really have it out because their dog will eat the pieces.  So they loan it to us each year.  It wasn't intentional.  Really.  But we're happy to use it!  I can't show you a picture because it's still at their house but we're getting it this weekend and my daughter especially can't wait :)

[Update Dec 3:  Here are a couple of pictures!

My daughter loves seeing which ornament is hiding behind the door each day and then hanging them up.

We're keeping it in front of our fireplace in the living room this year so we remember to open a door each day.]

Next year I think I'll make one of those activity-based advent calendars.  I really think it will help make the days leading up to Christmas even more fun, as we anticipate each activity that we get to do together (rather than feeling overwhelmed at times by all the hustle and bustle, or letting other expectations crowd out the things we want to do as a family).

But this year I'm excited about the book-a-day Christmas countdown idea.  I'll wrap up 24 of our Christmas books today so we can start tomorrow.  We love books in this family so I'm not surprised that we have that many!  This is a great way to make sure each one is read, rather than only reading our favourites.


So, this weekend, spend a bit of time getting your family's countdown to Christmas organized!  Have fun anticipating all the enjoyment you'll have in these next 25 days :)

What are you going to do to count down to Christmas?  I'd love for you to share your ideas in the comments.  If you have links to your advent posts then share them and I'll pin them for others to see!


Happy organizing and have a great weekend!

Hilda





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How to Feel Less Overwhelmed This Christmas {and a Giveaway}

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A few weeks ago I told you that I'm starting my Christmas preparations earlier than usual this year so that I can enjoy this season more than I have in the past.  So far it's working!

Most of my Christmas shopping is finished, mainly because we bought things on sale throughout the year.  I just need a few more things for stockings and a couple gifts for people I only recently decided to give a gift to this year.

I've been purging all over the house so the house feels less cluttered with all the Christmas decorations and to make space for the new things we'll be receiving in a few weeks.

We completed a deep cleaning of the house last weekend (it's so much easier after purging and before decorating!).  It will still need maintaining between now and Christmas but we won't need to do as thorough a job.

Once we finished all the cleaning, we spent an afternoon decorating for Christmas.  My hubby and 8 year old son brought in all our bins from the garage.  He was so proud to be old enough to climb the ladder and stand up on the shelf (that's taller than him!) to help.  My 6 year old daughter was delighted to go through each bin with me as they came in look at all our Christmas items.  Then all four of us had fun finding places to put our decorations while we listened to Christmas CD's.  We capped the day off watching the animated version of The Grinch.  Well, actually my hubby and I capped it off with a hot chocolate with Baileys in Christmas mugs after the kids were in bed :)

This week I'm writing my Christmas cards and starting to wrap gifts.  We'll decorate our tree this weekend.

We will be participating in a few Christmas celebrations already this weekend and it's so fun to be eagerly anticipating them rather than feeling overwhelmed with getting everything done.

One thing that has helped me get more organized this week is this Christmas Planner from The Blog Guidebook.

This planner includes calendars, a greeting card list, a gift organizing guide, a wish list, a shopping list, a menu plan, a grocery list, a place to record movies/specials that you want to watch, and a place to record your favourite Christmas games and activities.  Plus, there are 2 pages of printable gift tags.

It's a great place to record all the little details you need to remember this month!  What I also like is that you can print as many copies of each page as you'd like and then put it into a binder or get it bound.  It's really flexible.  And not only will it help you get organized this year, you'll have a record of everything from this Christmas when you start preparing for next Christmas.

If you're feeling overwhelmed preparing for Christmas, this is a simple way to get organized so you can spend more time enjoying yourself this season.

Sound good?  You can click here to purchase it.  And if you buy it today (November 27) you can get it for only $0.99 instead of $2.99!

Thanks to The Blog Guidebook, one lucky From Overwhelmed To Organized reader can win a copy too!  There are several ways to enter below.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Note:  I received a free copy of the planner to review.  The opinions expressed in this post are 100% mine.

Enjoy the planner and I hope you reduce the overwhelming feeling that often accompanies this Christmas season by getting organized now!  I know I'm already enjoying myself more :)

Happy organizing!

Hilda




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Organizing Ideas For The Weekend #5

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Happy Friday everyone!  Some of you are probably Black Friday shopping (it's even become a big deal in Canada now!).  If you are out there, I hope you're finding some great deals on things you need or plan to give.  It's really tempting to buy things just because they are on sale though and they can end up becoming clutter.  We end up getting things we think we want but that we don't really need.  I know I've done that in the past (which is why my hubby does a lot of our shopping!).  But after de-cluttering so much this year I really don't want to bring anything into our house that we don't need, use, or love.

That's great for things that I can control (like shopping).  But what about gifts that are given to us?  Over the years we've reduced the number of people we buy gifts for (and thus receive gifts from) but we still end up with a lot of gifts at Christmas.

If you want some tips on how to deal with gifts that become clutter, I found this post really helpful (link below the picture).

Source:  http://moneysavingmom.com/2012/05/what-to-do-when-a-gift-becomes-clutter.html

It's hard to purge things that were gifts.  But we can't hang onto everything just because it was a gift.  I'm trying to be more practical in the gifts I give to others and as people get to know how much we're focusing on decluttering and simplifying our home they are becoming more aware of what they give to our family.

I'm actually focusing this year on purging before Christmas to make room for all the things that will be coming into our house this season.  I think it will reduce the overwhelming feeling I tend to have at the end of December when I try to find places everything.

And it's not just gifts that make our house feel cluttered.  We live in a small townhouse and it's crowded at the best of times.  But when we set up a Christmas tree and decorate the house for Christmas it always feels even smaller.  I love the Christmas season and decorating is one of my favourite things to do.  So this year I'm purging even more to make space for the decorations.  I think it will be more enjoyable this way.

So, this weekend's organizing idea is to spend time de-cluttering to allow you to enjoy your decorations and gifts this Christmas.  Choose an area that needs the most attention and set a timer for 15 or 30 minutes and go nuts.  Then repeat for a different area of your home.  Continue this for whatever amount of time you have.

I'm focusing on my living room and dining room since a lot of our decorating is done there.  I've also been going through all of our clothes to make space for the clothing we'll receive as gifts.  And I plan to go through the toys next week.  This Christmas I really want to go from overwhelmed to organized!

How do you deal with clutter leading up to Christmas?  Do you have any tips for gifts that become clutter?

Happy organizing and have a great weekend!

Hilda





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Baskets, baskets, and more baskets!

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I haven't done a post in the "I Love Freecycle!" series in quite awhile so it's time to update you on some of my latest finds.   You can see my first post in this series here for more on how Freecycle works and why I love it so much.

Last time I showed you all the mason jars that I received through Freecycle.  Shortly after that post I saw that I received several large mason jars too.  I didn't take a picture of them but you'll see them in action at some point I'm sure.

Lately, I've picked up a whole bunch of baskets.  First I was given these.

Aren't they nice?!

I even got a couple of bags of basket fillers.  One was filled with foam peanuts and the other had beige and brown paper "grass" (I'm not that crafty... is there an actual name for this?).  These materials will be useful for making gift baskets.

There was also this pretty Christmas box.  It's a little dusty but after cleaning it up I can use it to wrap a gift.  It might also be good for storing Christmas decorations or dishes.

This wooden box will be perfect for a gift basket with heavier items like wine bottles or gifts in a jar.

I have plans to put together a few gift baskets for Christmas and these will be perfect!

There were a couple of cute Easter baskets too.

Pretty good haul wasn't it?

And then a few weeks later I received these.

Aren't they beautiful?  OK the bread basket is kind of plain but the rest are great :)

This one will be perfect for keeping some gardening tools and supplies in.

Another pretty one for a Christmas gift basket.

This one will be great for the base of a centrepiece once I kick my decorating gear up a notch :)

I'm so excited to use these baskets!  And you can't beat the price... free :)

What kinds of things do you use baskets for?

What's the best thing you've ever found on Freecycle (or a thrift store/garage sale)?  Let me know and maybe I'll feature you in a future post in the series!

Happy Organizing!

Hilda




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Organizing Ideas For The Weekend #4

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Happy Friday everyone!  This weekend's task is to organize your kids' puzzles.

First, purge any that are missing pieces or that your kids have outgrown.

If you have boxes that are worn or broken (or duct taped together!), here's a great way to store the pieces so none get lost!

Source:  http://timetoorganize-rebecca.blogspot.ca/2012/09/puzzle-organization.html

You can use any containers you have on hand as long as they are sturdy and seal well.  Plastic shoe boxes work well or you could repurpose baby wipes containers.

Once you've put the pieces in the containers, cut the picture of the puzzle off the box and tape or glue it to the outside of the container.  That way your kids can see which puzzle is inside and use the picture to assemble the puzzle.

You could do this for adult puzzles too, particularly if you have worn boxes or even boxes that are all different sizes and shapes.  Using matching containers will allow you to stack them better which will make it easier to keep them organized.

How do you organize your puzzles?  What other containers could you use for puzzles?

Happy organizing and have a great weekend!

Hilda





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Blog Awards - I Feel So Special!

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Wow! I've had 3 amazing ladies nominate me for a Liebster Blog award in the last while.

• Raquel from Organized Island

• Angela from A Typical English Home

• Susan from Achieving Creative Order

I've also received this award previously (see my post here).

In addition to the Liebster Blog award, I also was nominated for the 7 Things About Me award by Helen from My Lil Adventures.

Lastly, I was tagged by Gracie at Kitchen Table Art and, since playing along is very similar to the process for these awards, I decided to include that here too.

Thanks ladies!  I truly appreciate these awards and I love knowing that each of you read my blog and enjoy the organizing tips and ideas that I share!  I also had fun reading the things you shared about yourselves in your posts.

Please click the links of these bloggers to check out their wonderful blogs.  They're ones I read consistently and they have fantastic ideas.

I am not going to answer all the questions associated with these awards since each one seems to have different questions and we could be here all day :)  But I will answer a couple of my favourites to help you get to know me a little better.

Why do you blog?

I blog because I want to help overwhelmed people get organized.  I love being able to share tips with others to help them save time and money by organizing various parts of their lives.  And I like being able to share the organizing projects I'm doing to make my home and life less crazy.

What is your biggest piece of advice to a newbie blogger?

Well, since I'm only just coming up on 6 months of blogging, I still feel like a newbie myself sometimes.  But, I think my best advice is to visit lots of blogs in your "genre" and comment a lot.  Get to know other bloggers through social media too.  Bloggers are so willing to help each other out which makes the learning curve so much easier.  It makes it a lot more fun and it's amazing how many friends I've made and the support I've found in the blogging community.  

Are you a night owl or a morning person?

Definitely night owl!  My brain just works better later in the evening and into the night.  I get up early when I need to but I need to do things that don't require a lot of thinking then.

What is your favourite board game?

Risk!  I have fond memories of playing with friends in high school (we'd start a game in the early lunch period and then trade off players for the middle lunch period and then whoever was still alive traded off again for late lunch - so much fun).  I've played it lots of times in the years since and I can't wait until my kids are old enough to play.  We recently started a weekly Family Game Night but we're still mainly on basic games since my daughter's only 6.  I'll be so happy when we graduate from Candyland (well maybe a little sad too).  So Risk will be a while still.  But at least we're starting to move into Life or Monopoly (the Star Wars versions LOL!).  

OK, this is the point in the post where I'm supposed to pass on the award to others.  However, I am not going to do that.  Why?  Well, partly because a lot of the people I'd like to award this to have already received it!  But mainly because I put a lot of time and thought into the bloggers that I featured in the 31 Days of Organizing series and I pointed you to their blogs during that series.  All of them deserve this award too!  So, if you haven't checked them out yet then I encourage you to do so.

Thanks again to all the ladies who nominated me for these awards!  I am truly honoured.

Happy Organizing!

Hilda



I link up at these great parties - Check them out!

A Simpler Season & My First Giveaway!

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Have you started preparing for the holidays yet?  I usually don't officially start until late November or early December.  But I always feel rushed.  So this year I want to start earlier.  I may not do a lot of decorating yet, but I'm definitely planning and preparing.

I love Christmas!  I always picture what I think Christmas will be like.  I look forward to enjoying special times and building memories with family and friends.  But every year I end up overwhelmed at some point by all the tasks on my Christmas to do list.

I want this year to be different.  I want to anticipate and enjoy the preparations.  There's more to this season than just a massive list of things to be done!

One thing I'm doing is starting everything earlier.

This year, I plan to write my Christmas cards earlier.  I may not send them until early December, but writing them can be done in November.  When I was working full time, there were years that my cards just barely made it to people by Christmas.  But no excuses now!

We buy gifts throughout the year to take advantage of sales and spread the cost out.  But we have a lot of people we give Christmas gifts to (and a lot of fall birthdays!), so at this time of year I usually make a list of everyone and go through my gift inventory list to see what I still need.  I just completed that process and I'm really happy that I only need to buy a few more gifts.

Those are two obvious things than can be taken care of in advance.  But I wanted to see if there were more things I could be doing to make Christmas less overwhelming this year.

That's why I was very excited when I heard about this new ebook.

Doesn't that sound wonderful?  A Simpler Season.  Yep!  Count me in :)

This book is by Jessica Fisher from Life As Mom and Good Cheap Eats and it is just what I need this year.  It's not only filled with great editable and printable lists and calendars, it also includes lots of reflective questions to help you truly prepare for the season.


Here's my favourite quote:  "Through careful planning, you can create custom-made Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s plans for your family that will help you breathe deeply and enjoy the season more."

Ahhh... sounds wonderful!


We've already celebrated Thanksgiving here in Canada but I will definitely refer back to this book next fall.  I don't know how you do it in the U.S. with so many holidays so close together.

I'm really excited about all the amazing ideas in the Christmas section and I'm going to go through some of the reflective questions with my husband so we can make choices together about our priorities this Christmas and then simplify our season around them.

Another quote that inspires me:  ""Now is the time to be proactive and make the coming holiday season restful, memorable, and meaningful."  Sounds good to me!

Here's what you get in this book:

• creative ideas for celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s

• over 150 pages of content: ideas, recipes, and inspiration for planning a special holiday season with your family

• 70+ printable pages: calendars, to do sheets, inventories, and planning pages

• games and activities to do with the kids

• 24+ family activity cards to print and do over the month of December

• printable recipe and gift cards to help you make edible gifts

• a variety of family devotional ideas to explore with your family

• a list of children’s books to enjoy as well as extension activities to do with your children after the reading

• family-friendly recipes for the each of the winter holidays

• questions to get you thinking about how you really want to spend your time this year

• easy downloadable format in pdf or on kindle

Sound good?  You can click here to purchase the book.  And if you buy it today Jessica has a coupon code for 30% off here.  You can also get it for your Kindle here.

I'm also really excited to be offering my first giveaway on the blog!  Jessica has generously offered a copy of the book to one lucky From Overwhelmed To Organized reader.

There are several ways to enter below.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Enjoy the book and I hope you have a simpler season!  I know I'm looking forward to one :)

Happy organizing!

Hilda






I link up at these great parties - Check them out!

Organizing Ideas for the Weekend #3

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Time for another quick organizing tip!  This one comes courtesy of Lifehack.org.  In this post called "How to Get Rid of Things After You Declutter", Lori Thayer commends people for decluttering, but recognizes that sometimes we don't actually get the items we've purged out of our homes.  Boxes and bags can sit in garages or entryways or corners of a room, waiting until we do something with them.  But, today's tip is to just get rid of them!

Source:  http://www.lifehack.org/articles/money/how-to-get-rid-of-things-after-you-declutter.html

I'm sure none of you have any piles of decluttered things right?  You dropped them off somewhere as soon as you purged them right?  :)

Well, you're doing better than me then!  I'm guilty.  I've had several boxes and bins in various places in my home for months.  "Why?" you ask?  Good question!

Some of it was legitimate.  I had clothes that I wanted to sell at Once Upon A Child but they were the wrong season so I held onto them.

But mostly, I just allowed obstacles to get in my way, and in the end several boxes have been sitting in my dining room for months, just reminding me every time I walk past them that I still have to bring them somewhere.  Shameful I know.  Just keeping it real here folks :)

I have dropped off a few loads over the last few months to Value Village.  So it's not like I've been hanging on to everything I've decluttered.  But I wanted to try to sell some things instead of donate them.   Good idea, but I never actually did it.  So those boxes sat.  For months.

Well, this week I've been on a "getting completely rid of things mission"!  You haven't heard of that?  It's new... really new... actually I just made it up.  I felt like I needed to call it something since I spent a lot of time doing it :)

Here's why you haven't seen me blogging this week.  I sold 2 large Rubbermaid bins of clothing, toys, and games at Once Upon A Child. And I have 1 garbage bag of clothes to hand down to relatives.  Plus, I've got 4 boxes and 2 garbage bags on my front porch, waiting to be picked up by the Diabetes truck!

It feels SO good to finally get these things out of my house!  And to see my dining room floor again :)

I'm so happy, even though I'm not going to make money from trying to sell some of those items.  Those boxes sucked emotional energy out of me the whole time they sat there, and I just couldn't let that go on any more.

I'm not saying you should never sell some of the things you decide to purge.  Just make sure you do it right away.  Or set a reasonable time limit, and if you haven't sold them by then, give yourself permission to donate them and be rid of them.  You'll be glad you did.  Trust me!

So, if you've got items that you've decluttered, but you haven't donated or sold them yet, then do it this weekend!  If you need ideas on where you can donate or sell things, the article mentioned above lists several options.

And if you haven't got anything to donate or sell right now, then spend a bit of time decluttering this weekend first :)  It's a great time to go through your clothes or your kids' clothes with the change of seasons.  Or go through your shoes and coats.  Just a few ideas... you choose what you think you need to declutter the most.

Do you get things out of your house right away after decluttering or do you tend to hang on to them for awhile before you get around to it?  Where are your favourite places to donate or sell used items?

Happy organizing and have a great weekend!

Hilda





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October Review & A Look Ahead to November

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What a month October was!  It flew by and I can't believe it's November already.  We celebrated Thanksgiving in October here in Canada as well as Halloween, so November is kind of an "in-between" month without holidays.  Gives me time to get organized for Christmas!

I won't do a picture collage for October because it would just be more of the 31 Days of Organizing Tips button and you've probably seen enough of that this month :)

Here's a quick recap of the month on the blog.


Most Read Post:

The most read post in October was 31 Days of Organizing Tips (Introduction).  This was actually written at the very end of September but it was the post I updated every day with a link to the latest post in the series and it was the one I linked to The Nester's 31 Days link party so others could follow the series.  I also linked it up to a few other link parties throughout the month to promote the series.  Becky from Organizing Made Fun pinned it and I can't believe how many people have visited the blog since then.  {If you haven't read her 31 Days of Organizing Fun series, you definitely should!}


Most Commented On Post:

This title goes to 31 Days of Organizing Tips:  Day 17 (Medicine Cabinets).  But I loved all the comments throughout the series as people shared their own organizing tips and also discussed ways they were applying the tips I was sharing in their homes.  It's rewarding to know that these posts were helping you out!


My Favourite Post:

This is a tough one this month because there are so many posts to choose from.  I loved the whole series, but I think the early posts that helped outline some helpful steps to use when you are organizing were my favourites, since they can be applied in any context (which is probably why I referred back to them throughout the series).  Planning, De-Cluttering, The Organizing Process, Grouping Like with Like, Containers, and Labels all top the list :)


Other Posts From This Month:

I won't list all the 31 Days posts here because there are so many of them.  I have put a tab at the top of the blog that has links to every post in the series, so if you missed any or you need to refer to any of them when you're working on an organizing project you can just click there.

There were a couple other posts this month that weren't part of the 31 Days series though.

1.  Google+ Blog Hop - I was so honoured to be one of the co-hosts for this fabulous hop.  The hop is over so you can't link up, but if you want to meet some great bloggers and build up your Google+ circles, you can still click on everyone who linked up.  The next hop starts at midnight CST tonight! I won't be co-hosting this time but you can go to In The Old Road after it starts to link up your G+ profile.

2.  The All Star Block Party - again I was so excited to be a guest co-host for this fabulous link party.  That party's over but you can check out all the great links or click on one of the regular hosts' links to link up to this week's party.

3.  Features from the All Star Block Party - I had so much fun choosing the posts I wanted to feature from among all the great links.  Of course, I was drawn to the organizing posts and featured my favourite links that would help you get organized!


Previous Months' Posts That Were Popular This Month:

1.  Gifts In A Jar continued to be well-read this month.  As Christmas approaches a lot of people are looking for these types of gifts so I'm happy to be able to share this post!

2.  My Daughter's Closet is Finally HERS! was popular in October.  With the change of seasons I think a lot of people are interested in tips for organizing closets.  I also linked this up with the Kids' Closets week of Home Organization 101 from A Bowl Full of Lemons which brought some new readers to the blog.

3. Summer Reading Club and Journal Writing was viewed a lot in October again.  This really seems based on spam because I get a lot of spam comments for this post (and a few other old ones).  Anyone know how to prevent spammers from being counted as pageviews?

3b.  The Garage Clean Out Part 2 post was also viewed quite a bit this month.  Since #3 is skewed by spammers, I wanted to include this one as a more legitimate popular post.  I know a lot of people are cleaning their garages before winter and they can be so overwhelming.  I'm so glad to be able to give some tips to help you organize yours.  


Highlights This Month:

1.  Where to start?  There are so many!  Let's start with the fact that I did it!  I posted 31 posts in 31 days on organizing.  See my reflections on this challenge if you haven't read it already for more on what I learned from doing this series.  

2.  I have been completely blown away by the increase in pageviews this month.  I started October being excited about reaching 25,000 pageviews (after 4 months) and ended the month with over 38,000!  It's not all about numbers for me, but seeing more people reading my posts really kept me going this month.  It is so rewarding knowing that I am helping people move from overwhelmed to organized.  Thank you!

3.  Everything grew this month.  More Facebook likes.  More Google+ fans (especially after the Google+ blog hop!).  Lots of new Pinterest followers!  And more email and RSS subscribers.  If you haven't followed in one or more of these ways, I encourage you to do so (buttons are all on the right sidebar).  Subscribing means you'll never miss a post (which is important now that Facebook isn't showing everything in your newsfeed from pages that you've liked!).  Following on social media gives you access to more organizing tips, ideas, questions, reminders, and fun!  I try to share different content on each site so you won't see a lot of overlap if you follow all of them.  I love interacting with you so come join in the conversation!


Goals From Last Month:

1.  Post every day for the month of October as part of the 31 Days of Organizing Tips series.  Done!

2.  Write at least one other post each week based on organizing projects I'm doing in my house.  Nope.  Wrote a lot more content into the organizing tips posts than I had intended and co-hosted 2 blog hops/link parties, so I didn't write any posts on what I was organizing.

3. Continue to spend time getting to know new people on Pinterest, Facebook, and Google+.  Yes!  And will continue to do this on an ongoing basis.


Goals For Next Month:

1.  Pin all the ideas that were part of the 31 Days series. {I had planned to do this as the series progressed, but I only pinned some and but didn't keep up on all of them}.

2.  Contact all the bloggers whose pictures and ideas I shared in the 31 Days series to let them know (in case they didn't see the posts) and to thank them for being part of this series.  {Again, I had intended on doing this as I wrote the series but I didn't keep up on this either.}

3.  Catch up on writing posts about organizing projects I've done in my house. 

4.  Continue to spend time getting to know new people on Pinterest, Facebook, and Google+.



So that's my look back on the month of October.  It was an amazing {busy!} month and the accountability of writing a post every day was really good.  I'm not committing to continuing that pace but I did learn that I can write more than I thought I could and also that I'm passionate about helping people get organized.  So I plan to write more consistently than I did in the first few months of blogging.

Once again, I am so grateful that you have taken the time to join me on this journey from overwhelmed to organized!


Happy Organizing!


Hilda

Reflecting Back on 31 Days and a Big Thank You :)

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I can't believe the 31 Days of Organizing Tips series is over.  What a month!  When I decided to do this series, I knew I was taking on a real challenge to write 31 posts in 31 days.  I mean I had only written just over that many posts in my first 4 months combined!

Subconsciously, I think part of why I did this series was to see if I really was committed to blogging or not.  Now I know.  I love blogging about organizing!  And more than that, I have a passion for sharing tips and ideas with you to make it easier for you to organize too.

It was a great month!  Beyond my expectations.  In addition to what I discovered about myself, I also really enjoyed hearing how you're using the tips to organize your homes.  Many of you also shared your own organizing tips which was fantastic.

I'm proud of the quality of the posts I wrote this month and I'm proud of myself for completing this challenge.  So, now that the month is over, I wanted to take a few minutes to stop and reflect on it.

Here are some of the positive things that came out of this series:

• The satisfaction of knowing I DID IT!
• Nearly double the number of comments than in previous months.  
• So many new blog friends :)
• The chance to feature some of my favourite bloggers' ideas so you could see how great those bloggers are too.
• A HUGE increase in traffic to my blog!  Thank you so much!

I learned a lot during this series (more positive things!).  Here are a few of my lessons:

• I should have started Pinterest much sooner so I wouldn't have had to spend as much time finding the pictures and posts that I knew I had seen before and wanted to include in the series.  {I'll have lots of time to build up my boards before next year!}
• I need to decide earlier that I'm going to do the series so I can plan posts further ahead.  
• Next time I should have a button that I can update with each day's topic so that when people pin the post they can see the title (rather than just one button for the whole series).
• I should have my Day 1 post ready to go when The Nester starts her party so I can link that up instead of an introductory post.  I know a lot of people were looking for the list of posts on Day 1 instead of my initial post that was written in September.
• For better Search Engine Optimization I should use a shorter series title (so I can fit more of the topic for the day into the title).

It's a lot of work writing every single day!  Here are a few ways I can make things a bit easier next time:

• Set up a template with the basic things I say each day (I sort of did this part way through the month but you would think I would have been organized enough to figure that out right away!)
• Write less!  I know I wrote too much and that it became overwhelming for some people to keep up with reading the posts, let alone trying out some of the tips. I'm chalking this up to the fact that I hadn't posted previously on most of the topics I was writing about so I had a lot to say.  That and the fact that there are just SO many great ideas out there!
• Start writing some posts in advance.  I decided to do the series too late for this and while I had expected to write several posts at a time so I could get ahead, I was usually writing each day's post (or most of it) on the day it was being posted.  

There really weren't any negative outcomes of this challenge.  Well, except maybe a bit messier house and a little less sleep.  But those things happen a lot of times anyway :)

If you missed any of the posts during the series or if you want to refer back to them later when you're working on a particular organizing project, I've put a tab at the top of the blog that has links to all the posts. 

Even after writing for 31 days straight, I still have SO many organizing ideas and tips I want to share with you.  I'll continue to incorporate organizing tips into my posts and I will also share them on Facebook, Google+, and Pinterest.  I'll particularly focus on great ideas that I find online in the "Organizing Ideas for the Weekend" series on Fridays (which will resume next Friday).  

For the next little while I plan to share more of my organizing projects with you.  If you just started following me through this series, feel free to look back at some of my other posts to see some of the organizing I've done around my house.  And I hope you will stick around!

Once again, I want to thank you for reading this series!  Your encouraging comments kept me going.  Really :)

Have a great day and happy organizing!

Hilda



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