I’m participating in 52 weeks to an Organized Home at Home Storage Solutions 101. Check it out for tips on organizing every area of your home.

Week 12 – Organize Tax Information and Receipts: This is another one that I feel is already handled pretty well in our home. All receipts for large purchases (appliances, electronics, etc.) are stored in a file in our filing cabinet, along with warranty information and anything else that I might need to have something fixed/replaced. Most of our everyday receipts are for things like groceries and gas and I look over them to see if anything was purchased that I may need to return and then toss what is unneeded. If there is an item that I may need to return, I file it with the rest of the receipts.

I do not file these things by month. To be honest, they aren’t even filed by year. For as often as we make purchases like this, it would be ridiculous to have a folder for each one. If there is a lot of paperwork for a specific item, then it will get its own folder. For example, all the receipts from vehicle work is kept together.

For the tax information, as we receive it, I put it in a folder, and then I can just turn over the folder to the tax preparer. When we get it back, it comes in a nice big envelope and I can store them away for future reference.

Next week we’ll be working on a home filing system.

Filed under: 52 Weeks, organization by Rachel
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I’m participating in 52 weeks to an Organized Home at Home Storage Solutions 101. Check it out for tips on organizing every area of your home.

Week 9 – Organize Contact Information: This is something that I did as I was sending thank you’s out after the wedding, so not much to report here.

Week 10 – Organize Mail: When our mail comes in, my husband sets it on the corner of the kitchen counter, above the trash and I sort through it and throw out any junk mail or things we don’t need. I go through the store fliers to see if any of the things we normally use are on sale and gather up the coupons that I might use. To be honest, after that, the remaining mail sits on the corner of the counter for a few days before I take care of it. So this is something I will have to continue to work on.

Week 11 – Organize Bills: This is another one that I have pretty well under control. We pay all our bills online, and most of the statements come through the email. I have an excel spreadsheet that lists all our monthly expenses in the approximate order that they are due. This not only helps me to budget, but also keep track of what bills need to be paid, when and which ones are already taken care of. In one column I have the due dates (some bills are due on the same day every month and some are approximate). In the next column, I have the bill name. Then, the budgeted amount is last. The budgeted amount is either the set amount (for bills that don’t change like internet, phone, rent, etc.) or rounded up from the highest monthly statement we’ve had (for fluctuating bills like gas, electric, etc.) Knowing that I have the max amount budgeted means that I don’t have to worry about not having quite enough, and when there is extra, it can be added to the saving account.

I sit down to pay the bills and go over statements once a week, usually on payday or the day after. As I pay the bills, I put an “x” in the column after the budgeted amount so I know what I’ve already paid. At the beginning of each month I delete the x’s from the previous month and start clean. I also receive email confirmation when I’ve paid any bills and those emails are stores in a folder in my email.

Hopefully after this week, I’ll be more on top of my organization posts – and any posts for that matter

Filed under: 52 Weeks, organization by Rachel
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Recap Week 8 – Meal Planning

Like I said, I’ve been working on planning my meals ahead of time. I really don’t enjoy coming home from work and having no idea what to make for supper. But, it needs to become a habit, so it’s something I’ll have to continue to work on. But I did come up with this to make it a little easier:

I’ve designed this to-do list for Monday through Sunday with spaces for morning tasks and afternoon/evening tasks because that’s how I like to break up my day. In the Sunday spot, I wrote in a reminder to take a day to spend with your family, not rushing around trying to get anything else done. You could also use the Sunday spot to write in a verse you’d like to meditate on for the week. And, I’ve included a line for meal planning!

Sunday evening (or sometimes Monday morning) I try to take a few minutes to write down the things I would like/need to accomplish for that week. This also is the time for me to plan my meals, check the freezer and add any missing ingredients to my store list.

Rather than printing out a page for each week (which you could do if you wanted to plan a few weeks at a time) I printed out one page and put it in a cheap (less than $5, found near the poster frames) 11×14 floating frame from Walmart. Now, I can write on it with dry-erase markers and change it each week. Because the frame is larger than the design, there is also room to write notes or doodle, and you could even add a page of scrapbook paper behind to pretty-up the frame.

Before filling the frame, I wrote in a few of the things that I do on a weekly basis. For example, “every” Wednesday and Saturday mornings I “plan to” do laundry, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays I vacuum the downstairs, etc. I wrote that on the paper under the glass, so I don’t have to write it in every week.

To download your own, click an image below:

You can find this week’s challenge for organizing contact info at Home Storage Solutions 101.

Filed under: 52 Weeks, downloads, food, organization, Printables by Rachel
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(You can find all the challenges on Home Storage Solutions.)

Week 3 Update: This past week I worked at cleaning up our food storage areas. You may remember from my DIY Labels post that I was already working on organized my hot drink area. Teas, coffee and hot chocolate used to be stored in the cabinet that also held my spices, but I move most of it out onto the counter to make the spice cabinet a little less crammed. This challenged helped me further clean up that space. I went through my spices, checking dates and throwing out what was expired. I also took my baking spices out of the cooking spices cupboard and put them with all my other baking supplies. This might have been a bad idea, but I did tell my husband where they would be so he shouldn’t be searching all over for the cinnamon.

Anything I threw out, I wrote on the store list so that it could be replaced. Unless, of course, the reason it was expired is that I don’t ever use it. The challenge post suggested that I make a pantry inventory list. I’m pretty sure that would not work in our house. I do have a store list hung on the inside of the pantry door, so when we’re running low or out of something, I’ll know to get it when I’m out getting groceries.

I also organized my baking cupboard. I had a lot of misc. little things like sprinkles, colorings, and cupcake papers that I put in a small plastic bin. I also have a couple plastic canisters that I use to keep similar items together, like chocolate chips.

Week 4: Organizing Refrigerator and Freezer

This is something I’ve been meaning to do, but for whatever reason, I keep putting it off. But, it’s this week’s challenge, so I will get it done!

The first part of this challenge is to declutter the outside of the refrigerator. Ours is fairly free of clutter, just a few pictures, but I do plan to take them all down and give the fridge a scrub. The rest of the challenge is pretty self-explanatory – take out the food, throw away anything old and gross, scrub, and put the good food back. The hard part will be actually doing it.

Filed under: 52 Weeks, cleaning, organization by Rachel
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(You can find all the challenges on Home Storage Solutions.)

Last week’s challenge was cabinets and drawers. For me this was fairly easy because I’ve always liked to have my kitchen stuff in its place. We have a cabinet for dishes: plates and bowls, one for glasses, one for bakeware, one for pots and pans, etc. But we do have a cabinet for food storage that is always out of control and a misc. utensil drawer that’s also a little unruly. Last week I took care of both.

My main focus was things that we don’t need and things that belong somewhere else. I found quite a few camping utensils that were just adding to the clutter in that drawer. They are now with the rest of the camping gear – where they belong. In the food storage cabinet, I found a lot of broken pieces and lids without containers. They all went in the trash. I also made sure that the things that I use the least are on the top shelf and the things that I use the most are down where I can easily see them.

Now, on to week 3: Pantry, Spices and Food

Step 1 for this week is decluttering and getting rid of expired food items. I recommend checking the shelf life on stilltasty.com before throwing out any expired food. Most expiration dates are when to eat an item for optimum taste. However, many canned and commercially packages items are safe to eat well after that date as long as it has been kept from pests and other contamination. Spices should be replaced around the expiration date – they’ll lose their flavor and that is the reason you use them. But, it’s not an overnight thing. Food isn’t good until midnight of the expiration date and suddenly it goes bad. It’s a gradual breakdown of nutrition and taste.

So, my goal for this week is to organize my spices/tea, baking supplies, and pantry cupboards.

For labels to help you get organized, check out these!

Filed under: 52 Weeks, home, organization by Rachel
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