Little Projects

I always seem to have little projects going on. They can be home projects, art projects, or projects related to my kids. I just finished the huge project of clearing out our attic of my daughter’s clothes from the first several years of her life. I saved most of them in case we had another little girl, but we were blessed with a little boy instead so it is time to let them go! I worked hard to tag everything and get it ready to sell at a great local consignment sale. I’m so glad I did it, but I thought I’d never get finished. The sale was this past weekend and went so well! A portion of the profits benefit two local MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) chapters, a ministry very close to my heart! MOPS can be found all over the country and I would encourage all Moms of young kids to get involved in one! For me, MOPS has been such a wonderful time of making friends in the same life stage, sharing the struggles and joys of motherhood, and a sweet time for my children to play and learn with others their age!


As far as other projects on my way too long list….

• catch up on my kids’ scrapbooks

• go through and clean out several closets

• tackle a huge pile of papers that need to be filed or shredded

• create a book of my daughter’s artwork from Kindergarten

• go through a large bookshelf overflowing with books

• set up a “First Grade Information” notebook to hold all of the communication, newsletters, calendars, etc. that come home from school each week

• I could keep going, but maybe I’ll start with these! :)

So, I love being organized, I even enjoy reading about it! A few books I’ve found super helpful are Coach Mom, by Brenna Stull and Simplify Your Life, by Marcia Ramsland. I found many helpful ideas in both of these. Everything from organizing your kitchen and setting up a work center (for maintaining incoming/outgoing mail, scheduling, etc.) to decluttering and storage ideas for all your kids' “stuff”!  If I was only as organized as I have “learned” about being!! :)  Again, a work in progress!!

Another project I recently finished was creating an art center for my kids. We had art supplies scattered all over our home and I wanted to consolidate them to one place so they would be easier to use (and easier to clean up)!  I just used some sterilite plastic drawers and organized like supplies together inside a cabinet under my kitchen island. Here is a peak:

Two drawer units, large and small.

Inside drawer with smaller containers for crayons, colored pencils, markers, and watercolors.

Small plastic shoe boxes to hold play-doh and supplies.

I really like this set up!  My daughter has been using the art supplies even more often than she did before, now that they are all in one spot and easier to access.  Here is one of her most recent, beautiful creations:

Created by Savannah
Mixed media: collage materials, watercolor, and marker

What about you?  Do you have a list of unfinished projects?  I'd also love to hear about your ideas for getting organized or ways you've made your home run a little more smoothly!!

Happy creating,
Jenn