Three Tip Tuesday – Organization

Good morning Spin Tuesday!

Ok, so I am not all that excited for a grueling hour of intense spinning but I am slightly looking forward to checking out the new spin bikes.

I hate to report that I have not had the chance to get to Lifetime to test out those new treadmills. I know that so many of you have been super excited for my review of the hill declining features. I promise to check them out today and fill you all in tomorrow.

So what is my excuse for not getting to the gym sooner?

It is so hard for me to make myself work out inside of a gym when it is so simple for me to lace up and run simply by stepping outside my front door.

We all know that we make time to do what we want to do. As busy as we are, as inconvenient as some situations may be, if we really want to do it, we find a way.

I love running outdoors. Therefore, as curious as I am about those new treadmills, sunshine wins and outside runs occur.

I ran yesterday making it three days in a row, each run as if I had not run the day before.

I swear I usually feel stiff, slightly sore  or at least need time to warm up when running back to back days but my legs have felt great.

I do not understand it, but I will take it!

Getting back to the thought of making time to do what you deem important, does anyone else feel as though they  become a bit of a scatterbrain in the summer?

I feel as though my normal workday routine as well as the cleaning and food shopping have been taking a back seat lately.

Even though I am a neat freak, it seems to me that my house is never clean enough during the summer months.

My friend refers to her house as “summer messy” meaning that it is just impossible to keep the house neat and organized due to being home less often, increased loads of laundry from the beach essentials as well as SIMPLY NOT CARING AS MUCH.

I feel like summer messy applies to my mind as well. Lately I constantly feel like I am forgetting to do something and that I am not tackling everything on my to-do list (imaginary list that I never even got around to writing).

And my food shopping? Yeah, that’s been interesting too. I have been popping into the stores way too often picking up random things and then realizing what I really needed once I get home.

Maybe I need a vacation. Like a cruise. A nice cruise. Yes, that is what I would like.

Until I find myself on a boat, I tried yesterday to get myself,  my house and  my agenda back into ship-shape.

I realized there are a few systems I have in place that help me stay organized. While these tips won’t save you completely, they have helped me to minimize total disorganization.

Three Household Tips:

1- ELIMINATE THE MIDDLE MAN  – Admit it. You fold your clothes and place them in the laundry basket. And then instead of putting the clothes away, you just live out of the basket.

The basket is only useful to toddlers because they like to climb inside. And mess up the piles of neatly folded clothes.

Although it makes for a cute memory years later.

I eliminated the laundry basket several years ago to force myself to just put the darn clothes away in their drawers where they belong. It took some time to get used to but I honestly forgot that I used to use one.

2- SORT DON’T STORE –  We already know that I hate the mail. On the rare occasions that I actually retrieve it from the mailbox, I used to be in the habit of going through it briefly and stashing it in a drawer in my kitchen.

All that did was give me a place to accumulate papers. And papers accumulate quite fast.

To keep myself from stashing and accumulating, I eliminated the mail drawer and replaced it with coffee.

Now when I get the mail, I force myself to go through it all, throw out what  I know I do not need and file away the important stuff.

Since I hate clutter and leaving anything out on counters, this works quite well for me.

3- LAUNDRY NOTES –  I can’t recall where I learned of this little trick but it works!

I often forget what I put in the wash and then just dump all of the clothes in the dryer, not realizing that certain things needed to hang dry.

Using a dry erase marker, you write on the machine the items you need to remember to NOT put in the dryer.

Genius idea, yes?

I am off now to get ready to take the little boy to camp and then head to Lifetime.

As unorganized as I feel these days, I still make the time to whip up Kodiak Cakes.

I know, I am so Mother of the Year. Thank you.

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Do you ever feel unorganized? Is it worse in the summer?

Do you all victim to the laundry basket?

Do you prefer to run outdoors or on the treadmill?

Ever put peanut butter on your pancakes? Might Maple is the best on pancakes, waffles and french toast!