Finding an easier way

Have you ever started something and right at the end of all your hard work, you find an easier way of doing it? This is what has happen with my home inventory list. I started out Tuesday, listing the big ticket items. Yesterday I started tackling the smaller item’s and found it to be pretty tasking. Today I was hoping to finish up listing everything and that’s when it happened… after a day and a half I decided it would be easier, faster and a much clearer list if I just took photos of everything. (a pictures worth a thousand words)

I have the day off tomorrow, so I’ve decided that while the baby is sleeping and the big bro is at school, I would start snapping pictures. When I’m all done I’ll save the items on CD with the info need for the inventory and bam… I’m done!

I didn’t get around to working on my billing items like I planned, so hopefully I’ll catch up with that on Monday. Happy Thursday!

Where to start on a Home Inventory Checklist... Day 1

Now that I’ve decluttered most of the house, today I’m working to create a Home Inventory Checklist!!! Its part of my overall challenge for January and it’s at a good point of the challenge to begin this goal.
I found a few sites that offer checklists. Some are really really detailed, while others offer a more general guideline. I’ve decided to do both. Today I’m going to do the simpler checklist…sort of the basics, Living room; family room/Den/Office; Dining room; Kitchen/ Laundry room; and Other’s/ Miscellanies. Check out this link to get you started. Here is the 1^st spreadsheet I’ll be using.

Tomorrow, I’ll get down to the nitty gritty and really get specific as to what we have. I’ll included serial numbers, manuals, receipts and maybe photos. Of course I may not have all this and will just have to list the item on the checklist. Either way I’m looking forward to completing this task and hope it’s not as overwhelming as it looks!! Here is the big mother of all checklist… oh and one more I really like. I may have to make it individual to my household...but it doesn’t leave much out ;) Good luck to anyone else doing this and I hope this post helps you.

I have a binder as well where I keep most of the manuals and receipts of household purchases in and I think that will be a good starting point for the BIG list.

A few more links...
HomeInventoryChecklist
realsimple.com
Home-Inventory-Checklist

Halfway point........

So far so good on my monthly organizing challenge… I have a few things I’ve let slip and didn’t complete according to my schedule, but overall I’m pleased with my results. The first thing I’ve noticed it that we just have too much stuff. While cleaning the kitchen I was able to purge lots of plates, coffee mugs and drinking glasses. In the laundry room I cleaned out old wash rags and linens.

In the dining room and living room I went through all the DVD’s and VHS tapes, and tossed all the VHS tapes and exchanged nearly half of the DVD’s. We really don't watch them anyway.

Last, I went through the Master Bath and really hit it hard, tossing any and everything we didn’t use in last year. I also got a shoe organizer and put it with my shower curtain to house the kid’s bath toys and toiletries. I love this idea!!!

I still have most of our clothes to go through, and I hope to tackle some of that tonight. I guess all in all I’ve come to realize that less really is more. Having so much stuff around, I felt like I was cleaning all the time or picking up after the kids. Now that I’ve moved things from Mr. Ryder’s range (he's 16 months...so you can only image his into everything!!!) and tossed so much… I’m picking-up a lot less. I’ve also noticed the reason I’m overwhelmed with laundry is because we have too many clothes! I’ve decided to just have one “family” laundry bin, and when it's full, it gets washed and put away the SAME DAY!!! I had a laundry basket in each room and even my husband and I had separate bins…well not anymore, just one! Hopefully this works and of course I’ll let you know how we fare.

1st Recipe of the New Year

I honor of finally finishing "The Help" and watching the movie on Saturday. I've decided that my 1st recipe from my Great Grandma' Holders cookbook will be...Chocolate Pie!!! Of course mine will be free from a certain "special" ingredient :)
Wish me luck and hopefully you can give it a try some time this week as well.
Enjoy

CHOCOLATE PIE
4 oz. German sweet chocolate
¼ cup butter or margarine
1 can (13oz) evaporated milk
3 eggs, slightly beaten
½ cup sugar
Pie shell, unbaked
Melt chocolate and butter over low heat in a medium saucepan. Add milk, eggs and sugar and stir until blended. Pour into unbaked pie shell. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Cool and serve warm. Store in refrigerator.

Planning my weekly meals (week 1)

Planning my weekly meals is something I've been hoping to do for a while. Now that I'm working on my 31 days to a more organized home challenge, today is the day to tackle this goal.
The best free printable I found for planning dinners is here which I found on momsbudget.com.
So with further ado, here is my list starting Monday January 9^th:

Monday
Tuna Helper (everyone)

Tuesday
Chicken with corn and stuffing
Pasta Ravioli for the Kids

Wednesday
Salmon cakes with sauce and sweet peas
Chicken nuggets with macaroon and cheese for the kids

Thursday
Pork with mashed potatoes and broccoli
Gilled Hot Dogs

Friday
Pizza (everyone)

Saturday
Tacos
Quesadillas for the kids

Sunday
Roast with egg noodles
Pizza bits with fries

January's Challenge 2012

Ahhhhhhh 2012, is here… out with the old and in with the new! 2011, is one of those years I would like to put behind me, while I was very productive, some of my personal affairs can use a fresh start.

I have lots of goals to work on this year, but before I jump in and tackle those… I plan to declutter. I follow the blog Scrappers Challenge and they are participating in the 52 Weeks to an Organized Home.  I love this idea and plan to follow along, but in my own way. I’m already pretty organized so going through stuff just to say I did it isn’t going to work for me. Instead I plan to take the proposal …and go through each room in my home, and around the house like the car, yard, and shed.

Here are my thoughts for January 2012 day by day:

Sunday, January 1^st, clean car, go through each console and organize CD’s, books on tape and papers. Detail inside.

Monday, January 2nd: Finish car…wash outside, get storage containers for kid’s toys and snacks.

Tuesday, January 3^rd: Clean out pantry and go through cabinets in the kitchen, clean out both refrigerator and freezer

Wednesday, January 4^th: Wipe down kitchen cabinets and baseboards in kitchen and dining room. Wash curtains in dining room.

Thursday, January 5^th: Look into Planning Meals for the week. (I’ve always wanted to do this but never really took the time)

Friday, January 6^th: Put a basket or bowl for incoming mail on kitchen counter

Saturday, January 7^th: Put toys away in Playroom (I already cleaned out this room and took a bunch of stuff to Goodwill just after Christmas. I’m going to try really hard to go up there with the kids at least once a week to make sure things are in order)

Sunday, January 8^th: Relax ;)))

Monday, January 9^th: Clean out Living room… go through old DVD’s and clean computer desk area.

Tuesday, January 10^th: Clean out Dresser in Living room

Wednesday, January 11^th: Master Bathroom, Clean out all cabinets and drawers (medicine cabinet). Get rid of old towels, go through make-up.

Thursday, January 12^th: Master Bedroom closets

Friday, January 13^th: Master bedroom dressers and clean baseboards. Wash curtains, go through jewelry.

Saturday, January 14^th: Relax

Sunday, January 15^th: Relax

Monday, January 16^th: Clean kid’s room, go through dressers and stuffed animals.

Tuesday, January 17^th: Personal home inventory

Wednesday, January 18^th: Personal home inventory cont.

Thursday, January 19^th: Start working on a billing system and bill pay on-line

Friday, January 20^th: Start Recycling again… make a new space for recycling

Saturday, January 21^st: Relax

Sunday, January 22^nd: Relax

Monday, January 23^rd: Go through books and CD’s

Tuesday, January 24^th: Pets

Wednesday, January 25^th: Filling system and manuals and warranties

Thursday, January 26^th: Relax

Friday, January 27^th: Magazines

Saturday, January 28^th: Yard

Sunday, January 29^th: Relax

Monday, January 30^th: Photos and photo books

Tuesday, January 31^st: Photos and photo books cont.

Hope this helps anyone else like me, who doesn’t need a whole lot of time organizing, as much as a basic guide to work on specific items each day.

My challenge for January is pretty much just tying up loose ends from 2011 and getting things organized for 2012. Last I plan on working with the folks at Scraperschanllenge and rid myself of at least five things from each room, like towels, CD’s and DVD’s, and other clutter hoping to make my life a little less stressful J Happy New Year everyone!!!!