Five Organizational Projects to Tackle Before Summer Is Over

It’s crunch time around here.  The summer get-away trips are over and I have just a few precious weeks before I return back to school for pre-planning days.  In May, when school had just let out, I was excited about all the things I was going to accomplish around my home.  I must be honest though, with trips to the beach and movies to catch, I haven’t accomplished nearly what I set out to get done.  I really love returning to work with as organized home as I can.  I look at it as an investment in the coming school year.  Here are five organizational projects that I think make a big difference in the efficiency of a home.

Project 1:  Purge and Organize Clothes

I have become ruthless when it comes to purging clothes for myself and my kids.  For myself, I make a split second decision on it and I stick with the choice.  For my clothes I categorize items into…Love It, Hate It, It’s Just Okay.  The Hate It pile is quickly boxed up to go to the thrift store and the Love It goes right back in my closet.  The items that fall in the It’s Just Okay pile are scrutinized and I only keep items I will look for a replacement for.  For instance, I have a white sleeveless button up in this category.  I’ll keep it until I can find one I like better.

Purging and organizing my kids clothes is so much easier because I’m just considering fit and condition.  Organizing their clothes now helps me get ready to plan back to school shopping.  This way, I purchase things I really know they will need rather than items I just think they might need and it helps me set a budget for back to school shopping.

Project 2:  Organize Dish Towels

I know this may seem like a small organizational project, and it is.  These are the best kind because it only takes a few minutes and makes a big impact on your day to day life.  Besides, after all the clothes organization, a small project is in order.

Once or twice a year I like to go through my dish towels and move the less than impressive looking ones to the rag pile.  I don’t like to use up very much space in my kitchen for dish towels, so I keep a small drawer of them keeping it organized by rolling them up.  It’s a real space saver and I find I use all of them equally.

Project 3: Toy Organization

Summer is a time to play.  Around my house I know it seems like the toys multiply at night.  We clean out before Christmas but it always seems like there is an abundance of toys again at the end of summer.  I need to go back through and clean things out again.  All of my son’s toys are in his bedroom except for one lidded basket in the living room.  This summer I’m going to try to organize his toys into “play pods” meaning each container is going to hold all the things he needs to do an activity.  I hope it fosters more creative play and helps him generate a “story”.  Here’s an example of one I have done so far.  A T-Rex, school bus, police, firetruck, knight, hockey player, super hero, a building, and a helicopter.  I can think of lots of play stories to make up with that combo.  Who says you have to keep “like things” together?

Project 4:  Spice Drawer Organization

I seem to have a lot of organizational projects that revolve around the kitchen.  It is the main hub in our home and once I go back to work I need the kitchen to function well.  A few years back I created a spice drawer with every spice I could need for cooking any meal.

This is a great time of year to go through and replenish anything that is low.  I like to date the bottom of the jar with a piece of tape showing when I bought the spice.  Spices lose some of their potency with age, so if they are more than 18 months old I like to replace them.  Sound expensive?  Check out your International Foods aisles in your grocery store.  I find spices in that section for a lot less.

Project 5:  Pantry Organization

This is on my list for the summer because I know it is going to be a bigger job for me.  Plus, if you read my post on my Journey to Health you know a pantry re-do is in order.  I really want to re-do my pantry but I’m on a tight budget (I spent all my “fun money” on vacation which you saw if you follow me on Instagram).  I turned to my friend Lauren from Bless’er House for some budget friendly pantry organization style.  Lauren always has great ideas and can accomplish wonderful projects in her home on a shoe string budget.  Here is a pic of her pantry makeover using old diaper boxes…amazing.

I guess I better get to work.  I have a lot of organizational projects to accomplish in a short amount of time.