#JanuaryJoy - Capture the Memories

This year I intend on sorting out the masses of digital photographs I have on my computer.

I also plan to do something with the piles upon piles of children's artwork that is accumulating.

My solution for both of these is going to be a huge coffee table book. That is if I ever get time to make it. I did say in January 2013 that I would do this & I still haven't gotten around to it - isn't that awful!

Now that the kids are a bit older, they love to look at the photographs that I have printed in an album, but I kinda stopped when the littlest was under a year old! So I have years to catch up on!!

I've been searching online and there are so many companies that offer design & print services for photo books, so if you are able to recommend one to me that would be much appreciated :-)

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I will get around to this - promise! I'm going to put it into my FiloFax (which I'm absolutely loving!) and it will get done.

How do you organise your photographs?

This post is for Florence Find's #JanuaryJoy.

#JanuaryJoy - Get Organised

For the past two years I've taken part in Florence Find's #JanuaryJoy, writing daily posts following Rebecca's prompts. This year it's a slightly different format and instead of daily blog posts she has chosen a smaller number of prompts to tackle as you see fit.

#JanuaryJoy

I start a new job next week and my hours will be going up a little. I'm moving into a new role, in a new field. Still science, but I'm going to have a lot to learn and the next few months will be very busy. I've the kids for a start (granted only half the week), a house to clean & laundry to manage, a boyfriend to spend time with, an exercise regimen to keep up with, a garden to maintain and a blog that won't write itself! How am I going to manage? Honestly, I'm slightly concerned that I'm not going to have time for everything.

If I were to set myself a New Year's resolution, then it would be to 'get organised'. (My son's resolution is to play more on the computer - ain't gonna happen!) 

I'm already a pretty organised person, but I need to improve my current systems of working to make better use of my time.

One of my Christmas gifts from Rick was a FiloFax and I can't wait to start using it. (It's still in transit.)

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I'm hoping that if I plan well (in my new FiloFax!) then I can keep up with everything.

One of my problem areas is cleaning. There's just always something else I'd rather be doing. Like blogging, or sitting drinking tea!

Once the kids are in bed, the last thing I can be bothered with is picking up a cloth and scrubbing the kitchen, bathroom or wherever!

I do find cleaning easier when there isn't 'stuff' lying around everywhere. And unfortunately at the moment there seems to be 'stuff' everywhere. Chocolates leftover from Christmas in the kitchen, new toys that are yet to find homes in the playroom, mail that's still unopened on my desk...

So one of my first tasks in getting organised is to find homes for everything and declutter a bit.

I've already made progress with this, and earlier this week I managed to successfully put up some Ikea shelving in my hallway/office area and my bedroom.

Next on my list is to find some storage solutions to hide some of the clutter. I'm thinking a few stylish baskets for my new bedroom shelves to hide nail polishes and some jars for make-up brushes.

H&M Home Storage Basket

H&M Home Glass Jar

I'm also going to try and follow some of the tips & advice over on Rock My Style - The Declutter Challenge.

Wish me luck - I'm going to need it!

{New House - The Kitchen}

I thought I'd share with you some of the work that's been going on in my bijou kitchen in my new house.

I've not done very much other than change the kitchen door knobs (from bronze star ones that weren't my taste to some smaller simpler silver ones that I found on eBay), change the linoleum, my dad fitted some shelves and a new induction hob and I painted the walls. Oh, and I had an electrician fit a new light into the alcove. I have some material to make a Roman blind but I've yet to get around to that.

Before

Changed the linoleum... making good progress!

Started painting! That's more like me now!!

Painting some more!

The shelves as they are today... the basket is full of crisps, Mini Cheddars, yoghurt raisins... the star tins are full of cookie cutters (and possibly the odd chocolate treat - I still have some chocolate coins from Christmas!)... then you can see an elephant tin of tea on the bottom shelf next to the kids marble reward jars... followed by an assortment of containers!

The kitchen is small, and as such all my plates and glasses are stored elsewhere in a display cabinet. Which isn't very handy, but I'm getting used to it.

1. Some kitchen equipment - Magimix accessories, barware etc

2. A broken extractor fan :-(

3. Tea, coffee, sugar plus mugs!

4. Tea towels

5. Some more kitchen equipment

6. A broken dishwasher :-(

7. Cleaning products and a leaking stop cock which is yet to be fully sorted :-(

8. Storecupboard essentials

9. Cutlery

10. Pots and pans

The cooker is also full of baking trays as I just have such limited space!!

There is a small alcove with my fridge/freezer and I think I could probably organise this better to make more use of the space available.

This cupboard (number 8 in the photo above) is a total disaster and I know that I need to organise this better. I think I could make much better use of the space if I had it planned right.

With a broken dishwasher, and limited counter space, I need to be careful because most days the kitchen worktop looks like this... a total bomb site!

Trying to resolve some storage issues! These little hanging pots can be detached from their hooks... so when the kids are setting the table for dinner, I just take their cutlery pot down for them. Likewise, if we're baking - the other pot comes down :-)

One of my other major issues is what to do with my recycling. It normally ends up all over the floor... more on this later as I'm on the hunt for the best solution!

{Getting Organised - Toys!}

One of the major issues at my new house is lack of space / storage; with that in mind, here are my tips for getting organised with your children's toys.

I like everything to have a place, and this is especially important in my new house as space is at a premium. This goes for everything, not just the toys!

Declutter

Ditch broken toys, duplicate toys and toys that haven't been played with for a long time. I managed to clear a few boxes of baby toys before our house move and I also sold a few larger items on Gumtree.

Set the Rules

We have a defined play area. I'm lucky to have a 'grown-up' room and a 'play' room. From the moment we arrived at the new house, I've been very clear that the front room is for grown-ups and the back, more informal room, is the playroom. So far, so good and all the toys have stayed in the play room. These boundaries are so important.

The kids have soft toys and books in their bedrooms, but that is all. I don't want to encourage playing with noisy toys during or after the bedtime routine. I've learnt from mistakes made at the old house!

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Get Organised

I've categorised the toys into boxes/baskets...

In our coffee table drawers we have -
1. People - e.g. Happyland people, Fisher Price Little People & Playmobil characters
2. Animals - e.g. Schleich animals, My Little Pony
3. Musical instruments
4. Lego
5. Small cars

I've used plastic shoe boxes in the coffee table drawer to separate the categories, similar to this under bed storage drawer

In the glass display cabinet drawer we have -
6. Puzzles

And on top of the cabinet we have a basket with -
7. Barbie stuff

In the pantry/cupboard we have -
6. Big cars
7. Bigger toys - e.g. Octonauts / Happyland house
8. Games
9. Arts & Crafts - paper, crayons, pens, stickers, paints, Play Doh etc.

The big toys that we have out on show in the play room are -
10. Kitchen - wooden kitchen plus wooden shopping trolley of play food (the kitchen has a few baskets with a shopping till and tea party stuff) 

In the shed -
8. Outdoor toys (in an Ikea storage bag) - football, skittles, tennis rackets

In their bedrooms -

14. Books

15. Soft toys

I need to get clever with storage, and something similar to these fabric carriers on the bag of their bedroom doors would work quite well I think. I think I could knock this up on the sewing machine.

Involve the kids in tidy up time

I'm trying to get into good habits with regard tidying up... if we move activity from dolls to crafting, then we tidy up the dolls first. At nursery they play the Mission Impossible theme tune and the kids know it's time to tidy up. I'm thinking I might download it onto my phone!

Rotation

I used to rotate toys at the old house and would put a bag of toys into the basement out of sight for a few months. If I get enough space in the shed, then I might start this again as it did work really well.

What are your tips on getting organised with toys?

PS I have a {Get Organised} board on Pinterest other ideas :-)