31 Cheap & Easy DIY Organizers

Think you have to spend a lot of money on costly organizing tools to get your house in order?  Do you put off organizing until you can afford to buy organizing products that you see in magazines, on Pinterest, or on blogs?

Well I'm here to tell you that getting organized doesn't have to be expensive!  In fact, you CAN organize your home very inexpensively, or even without spending any money at all.  Sound too good to be true?

All through October I'm going to prove to you that you can get organized without a lot of money out of pocket.  This series is called 31 {Cheap & Easy} DIY Organizers.

Just like 31 Days of Organizing Tips and 31 Days of Easy Decluttering, I'll be posting every day for the whole month.  Each day will have a different idea to help you get organized and examples of ways you can do it.

Organizing Ideas for the Weekend: Decluttering Clothes

Happy Friday!  Time for another organizing idea for your weekend!

I've been helping clients declutter their clothing and I thought I'd share some tips to help you declutter your clothing this weekend!

It's the perfect time to do it because you're probably switching your seasonal wardrobe around now anyway.  Don't store clothing for the next 6-8 months that you didn't wear this season.  Or that you have extras of.  Purge now!  You can even purge some of the clothing for the coming season that you don't like or that doesn't fit or that you have extras of.  

365 Items in 365 Days Challenge: August and September Update

How are you doing in the 365 Items in 365 Days Declutter Challenge?  It's the 266th day of the year today so if you started in January, your target is to have purged 266 items by now.  But don't worry if you've just started.  Just jump in!  And now is a great time to declutter now that the days are getting cooler and your family is spending more time indoors. 

Today I'll be sharing what I've been decluttering since my last update.  By doing these monthly updates I hope to give you ideas of things you can purge from your home.

Creating Fall Routines So You Don't Get Overwhelmed

Well, it's happened.  Summer holidays are over and school has started.  Notice I didn't say "summer" is over.  It's not.  Even though it feels like fall here today, summer doesn't officially end until next week and I for one plan to enjoy every little bit of it I can still :)  It's going to be warm, sunny, and even humid this weekend so I'm not putting away our summer clothes and sandals yet!

But, despite what the calendar tells me, it is definitely fall because school has started.  And with fall comes new activities, goals and routines.  September is kind of like January in that it's a new year.  Whether you have kids or not, the school year is a sort of reset.  A fresh start.  A good time to establish new habits.

It's also a very busy time as various activities, clubs, lessons, and sports start up again.  It can be overwhelming if you're not organized.

Routines help keep you organized and reduce that overwhelming feeling when you get really busy.

Today I want to share some of the ways we're getting organized for fall in our home and give you tips to help you set up a fall routine as well.

How Being Organized Helped Us Get the Most Out of Summer

Sometimes organizing and summer don't go together.  Everyone likes the lazy days of summer right?  Why organize your lives and have routines or schedules?  Why make plans? 

I know it's already back-to-school time, and I've got a post coming next week outlining some tips for getting organized this fall.  But before I do that, I wanted to look back on our summer and share how being organized helped us to get the most of the season, even though it wasn't what we expected at the beginning.

When Life Gets Busy: Doing the Bare Minimum to Stay Afloat

I wrote a post a few weeks ago showing pictures of my messy home after a particularly busy time this summer.  It was well received and many of you commented on how you appreciated my honesty and that you felt better knowing that even a professional organizer's house gets cluttered sometimes.  You definitely helped me feel a little better about my mess and my decision to share it publically :)

I've been meaning to do an update post to show you the after pictures and give some tips on how you can cope and not get as overwhelmed during those particularly busy times when "life" happens.  Only I've still been quite busy so I never did.

Yesterday, I finally went to get started on the update post.  But, when I went to delete what I thought was a draft of a post I started earlier, I actually deleted the original post with all my messy house pictures. 

And I haven't backed up my blog recently.  Because, well, life's been busy.  Back to school, sick kids, new organizing clients.  You know how how it is (well your busy things will likely be different than mine but you get the idea).

Yep.  The post was gone.  Grrr.

When Life Happens: A Professional Organizer's Messy Home (Recovered Version)

[Note: I accidentally deleted this post yesterday but I was able to recover the content so I'm re-posting it today.  If you commented on the original post, those comments are now lost :(  I'd love it if you commented on this post again!]

Do you get overwhelmed at times when things get busy and you can't keep up?  You're in a hurry in the morning so dishes are left in the sink.  You rush home and drop what's in your arms at the door.  Things pile up to deal with "later".

Usually you you can stay on top of things, but there are those periods when it's hard to keep up.

Life happens to all of us.  Including professional organizers.

I've mentioned several times this summer that I have a few clients that I'm doing a lot of work for, including one who had to declutter and organize her whole home to prepare to sell it.  I love my job but I've been working so much this summer that I'm not keeping up at my home.

I've been rushing out the door in the morning to drop my kids of at day camps or grandparents' homes, working long days, picking the kids up, quickly getting dinner ready, and then racing out to baseball practices or games or other activities most evenings.  By the time we're all home and the kids are in bed, I'm pooped out and need to recharge before doing it all over again.

One of the drawbacks of helping others declutter and organize their homes is that I end up being too tired sometimes to deal with our home.  I'm not always as busy as I've been lately, but now that I've got a few weeks without clients, I need to take back my house!  I looked around my house this morning and this is what I saw.

September Family Goals {Free Printable}

It's September!  How did that happen?  It seems like summer just started and here we are, with the kids back in school and the days getting shorter.  I'm a summer gal so I still try to squeeze every ounce out of summer that I can before the weather turns colder.

It's the beginning of a new month and that means a Monthly Family Goals printable for you!  I know this is a bit late, but I'm sure there are some of you, like me, who are still working on getting organized for fall.