Welcome to the Top 5 Organizational Projects of February. As of the 1st of the month there are only 48 days left until spring!!! I already have spring fever. Did you know that a 2013 survey showed that more than 72% of households in the US do some form of spring cleaning? The trend seems to increase progressively each year. Look, you’re not alone.
If you’re like me, you’re getting itchy to get your hands in the dirt and start growing those pretty flower, fruit and/or vegetable seedlings or maybe your dirt seems ready to clean out the garage or attic or maybe be ready. to make your to-do list for all the exciting possibilities Spring has in store. Let’s jump in here and get to our next top 5 organizing projects:
Our first item on the top 5 list is to focus on the rest of our closets starting in January and adding cabinets.
“Originally, the hold served primarily as a coal yard. Today it houses the boiler, idle suitcases, out-of-season sports equipment, and many sealed cardboard boxes that are rarely opened but always moved with care from a home to another with each move with the belief that one day someone might want baby clothes that have been sitting in a box for twenty-five years.”
Bill Bryson, At Home: A Brief History of Private Life
I read the above quote one day and had to share it because omg I actually have those boxes of baby clothes in my attic. Honestly, I saved them for when my kids were kids so they could share their baby clothes, but now I only visit those boxes simply because I need to remember. Psst, I think it’s time for them to go to a better home. Now, I understand that cleaning out all those cupboards and cabinets can be a daunting task, however, imagine how surprised and free you will feel every time you open any cupboard/cabinet. and see all the available space and how tidy everything is stacked, hung, boxed and/or stored. I try to work alone on at least one cabinet and closet a day. So I don’t feel overwhelmed.
This leads perfectly to the second item on your organization list: pots, pans, brooms, sheets, towels, or items in boxes that sit in the back of the closet and you have no idea what’s in them. And let’s not forget the kids’ closets. This is where the fun really begins because now we can separate everything into boxes marked to keep, discard and donate. Keep a blank pad of paper near you at all times so you can make your own list of what needs to be replaced or repaired. Last year I found out there were a few mechanical items that needed to be donated like the Roomba we never used and the fish cage for the BBQ and I was able to repurpose the kids’ old t-shirts collecting enough to make a quilt with “Everybody Wants To Save Earth, no one wants to help mommy do the dishes.
PJ O’Rourke, All the World’s Problems
The third element is to specifically organize your shoes. I’m talking about ALL shoes. Girls, it’s important to leave room for the new sandals and flip flops so go for it!! I store my summer shoes in a large rectangular wicker basket during the winter and use an adjustable shoe rack on the floor of my closet for the current shoe season. Rotating my seasons keeps me focused on the present and allows me to pay close attention to which shoes will need repair and what they will need when that season is over. I have to admit that it’s a very exciting time for me when I alternate my shoes because it means I’m always looking forward to outfit possibilities. Lately I’ve been enjoying an Old Dominion song called “Shoe Shopping.” Check it out while checking your shoes. It’s quirky and fun.
“Above all, believe in true love and know that men are like shoes. A partner is like a left foot and a right foot, and the perfect fit is out there. Sometimes it is necessary to change styles and compare prices to Sometimes you have to adapt styles, sometimes you feel like something that is unstyled but comfortable, and sometimes one style, as much as you want, just doesn’t fit you and will never fit.”
Camilla Morton, How to Walk in High Heels: The Girl’s Guide to Everything
The fourth item may not apply to everyone, especially if you filed your taxes in January, but at my house, most tax documents finish their journey to my mailbox by the end of January, so my husband is ready to begin the classification process. go out and prepare the information to be archived. If this is the case for you, this may be the year to start creating file folders or bins specifically for tax preparation. Create a filing system, clearly label files to collect receipts throughout the year, scan specific documents like pay stubs so you don’t have to save each and every one. Keeping on top of this mound of paperwork from the beginning of the year will be a blessing come tax season next year. Print this document to help you know what to keep and for how long.
The adolescent’s invention was a mistake. Once you identify a period of life where people can stay late but don’t have to pay taxes, naturally, nobody wants to live any other way.”
judith martin
And so, here we are at the fifth item on our organizing list for February. Article 5 is a fun article and relates to my own restless disposition regarding gardening. Sometime around February 15, and in some places even earlier, certain seedlings can be planted in a starter garden. If you have south-facing windows where sunlight streams in all day, that’s the ideal spot for your starter garden. If you’re like me and go crazy with seedlings, then you know that your indoor starter garden area runs out of usable space. In cases like these, where you simply don’t have enough space for all the seedlings you’ll be starting, you can use special light kits that are set up neatly and effectively to help those seedlings get the best possible care. The fun part of this project, besides the planting, is going to the store or ordering from a favorite catalog all the pretty flower seeds and food seeds you’d like to have growing in your garden this year. This is a great project for the kids to help out. My kids loved watching their seedlings grow. It is the best thing after a pet.
I hope you enjoy the discoveries and the space you will find this month.
See you in March!
“It was a pleasure to sink my hands into the warm earth, to feel at the tips of my fingers the possibilities of the new season.”
Kate Morton, The Forgotten Garden
