I love to get holiday cards in the mail. I can’t wait to see what the mail brings this time of year and I love to look at them, and I even look forward to update letters.

I’ve tried displaying them various ways over the years: decorating a doorway, clothes-pinned to a decorative cord on the stair bannister or on the mantle.

However, I’ve discovered that I like them best in a little holder I got at some Christmas party. I keep it on the kitchen table because it’s where I tend to spend a lot of time, and I like being able to get them out and look at them.

But, my biggest problem is what to do with the cards when the holidays are over.

I’d love to be the crafty person to recycle them and make something cute, but I’m not.

But, if you are that person, here’s a few ideas to recycle old Christmas cards:

1. Cut the backs off, and use the fronts to make a Christmas collage (fun activity for kids), or decoupage a tray, a small box or a frame.

2. Use the backs for scrap paper or to make lists, etc.

3. Make gift tags for next year with a hole punch and some ribbon.

Or, you could cut the backs off and donate the fronts to a preschool, kindergarten or library for crafts.

Additionally, St. Jude’s Ranch for Children has a Recycled Card Program. The children at St. Jude Ranch make new cards from them to sell.

But, my dilemma is what to do with the pretty photo cards people send. I have the worst time throwing away pictures, and for years I’ve stored photo cards in a cigar box (remember those?) and it’s getting full. I know it’s clutter, and I need to go through it and pick out the special ones, but I can’t seem to do it.

Any suggestions how to declutter or save photo holiday cards?

I like to think that the space under our bathroom sink contains an efficient combination of cleaning tools and extra supplies ready to go at a moment’s notice. While it does contain those things, there’s a whole other category of items squirreled away under there that I call “The Island of Misfit Toiletries”.

In the Island of Misfit Toiletries, you’ll find things like that shampoo that seemed like exactly what I needed at the time, the one that would make me salon beautiful (after I ponied up enough cash), but ended up hating it.

It was expensive, so it’s not like I can throw it out, right? So, under the sink it goes!

There’s also the huge bottle of lotion, a brand I don’t normally use, but it was on SALE! I got it for some reason, though I didn’t really need it. I keep it “as a back-up” while I continue to buy my regular brand, secure in knowing I have a “back up” in the event of a lotion shortage or if I get stranded at home all winter.

(Note: I was actually stranded at home for several days during an enormous flood last year, and I can report my “back-up lotion” was of no use when we should have had “back-up food and water”, but I digress.)

It was on sale, so it’s not like I can throw it out, right? So, under the sink it goes!

I’m unclear what my resistance is in getting rid of these things that I’m clearly not going to use. I tried giving them to my daughter thinking that perhaps her taste was different than mine and she’d use them. This was a great idea until I discovered them in the “Island of Misfit Toiletries Annex” in her bathroom.

Back to the drawing board, or more specifically, back under my sink.

I even tried using them on my sons thinking, “How picky can a guy be?” But, it turns out that there’s only so much smelling like a flower that a 9 year old can take, and apparently floral isn’t a “thing” for high school guys, either. Who knew?

I’m sure I’m violating basic organization principles by keeping things I don’t and probably won’t use, but this is an area that I keep telling myself I’ll, “Deal with it later”. After all, these are perfectly good items, why waste them?

Your turn: Tell us what do you do with that expensive lipstick that turned out not to be quite the right color or that liquid eyeliner you thought you’d try and were inept at using (wait, that might just be me…).

Do you have an Island of Misfit Toiletries, or do you get rid of things right away, knowing you won’t use them?

The past couple of posts have been around and about my kitchen. I talked about making school lunches, and shared my coffee mug problem.

I didn’t really intend to keep talking about the kitchen until I was trying to cook dinner, and opened the spice cabinet to this:

While I’m fortunate to have a space dedicated to these types of things, this is one area that my family cannot seem to understand is arranged with a purpose. If you take something out of there, why not put it back where you got it?

Contrary to popular belief, the items in there aren’t randomly placed.

The bottom shelf is supposed to be cooking items such as spices (on the turntable thingy), cooking sprays, cooking wine, envelope mixes, etc.

The middle shelf is supposed to be baking items, syrups, cocoa, cookie decorating, food coloring and such, and the top shelf is larger items I keep on hand for emergency bake sale situations and the occasional pumpkin pie (a family favorite).

I was tired of looking at it and trying to work around it, so I got up there and started putting it in order. I began by taking everything off the top shelf, and found (wait for it…) more coffee mugs.

I threw out expired things, and unidentified objects in plastic bags. I got rid of stuff that was possibly older than my oldest kid, and put like things together.

This was monumental for me since usually, when I’m confronted with the need to clean out or rearrange an area, my perfectionism paralysis takes over and I don’t do anything because I feel like it’s not worth it if I don’t have time to do it exactly right and in detail.

This time, I fought the urge to put it on the calendar and I just took a few minutes and did it. It turned out pretty well (or, better, at least):

I need to get better at “just doing it” (as opposed to scheduling and planning a “good” time) when a mess needs to be tackled, but I’m working on it.

Are you like me, do you have trouble starting projects unless all conditions are “perfect”? What area in your house would you get under control if you had a few minutes?

I’ve been writing here a few weeks now, and I feel like we know each other, so there’s something I need to tell you.

My name is Busy Mom, and I have a bit of a coffee mug problem.

In the event of the zombie apocalypse, I could serve each of them coffee in a mug:

Sadly, that’s not my entire collection, and I’ve even pared down the second string mugs recently. The whole thing doesn’t even begin to cover the mugs that are part of my china set.

I may write a column called “Ordering Disorder”, but that doesn’t mean I’ve ordered all my disorder, as evidenced above.

I drink coffee, but probably not more than the average person. But, even if I drank an extraordinary amount, I could only use one mug at a time, so this really makes no sense. I’m not even sure how it all started.

When we got married, we got the requisite “everyday” dishes as well as china, and the coffee mugs were just part of the sets, nothing special.

I work in health care, and back in the days when pharmaceutical sales reps gave out goodies, it was considered a “score” if you got a coffee mug from one (as opposed to the requisite ballpoint pen, or something less awesome).

So, come to think of it, that’s where my problem might have started.

As the years have gone by, we’ve also acquired them as vacation souvenirs, gifts from the kids, favorite restaurant and job mementos and there’s also a sizable population of cool mugs of unknown origin.

I realize this is how people who wake up one day and discover they have 47 cats get started, but even though the cabinet is crowded, we like all of them. Each is a work of art, a nice memory or a gift and I have no idea how to weed them out.

I’ve boxed up some and set them free in the teacher’s lounge at my husband’s school, but other than that, they all just live in harmony in the cabinet. The very crowded cabinet.

I have no idea if I need an intervention, psychological counseling or a organizing tips, but the first step is to admit the problem.

Do you share my coffee mug problem? Any tips?

Our house may not always be in order, but one thing I pride myself on is the state of my car. I spend a lot of time in there, and I work very hard to keep the clutter down despite having 3 kids.

One way I keep things in order in the car is to require the kids to get their things out of the car when they arrive home. It’s a struggle sometimes, but I’m trying to teach them the value of putting things away promptly so you know where they are. Doing so also reduces the chances of backpacks being driven away on an errand or to a sibling’s sports practice when it’s time to do homework.

Another thing that helps me keep order in the car is to go through it quickly while I’m at the gas pump. I throw away any trash that may have accumulates and gather any stray items into a grocery bag, or at least a pile to be returned to their proper place.

However, my need for order in the car sometimes conflicts with my need to be prepared for whatever comes my way.

When the kids were small, I carried everything in the world in the car: you name it, I was prepared for it. We could swim, go skiing, make crafts and eat for a week, all from the trunk.

Over the years, I’ve learned to pare down, and now I like to think of my car trunk as prepared, yet efficient. I still spend a great deal of time in there, and sometimes the kids’ sports events take us far from home, so I still like to be prepared, especially when I’m going to be outside.

Some of my must-have items I keep in the trunk:

Folding chairs - they’re not just for sports, I’ve used these in several situations and I’m always glad when I have them. They usually fit way back in the trunk, and aren’t really in the way often.

Nylon-backed picnic blanket - this type of blanket has been handy for just hanging out, it’s been a spontaneous table cloth and it can even keep you warm when it gets cold unexpectedly.

Duffel bag - I keep automotive supplies in here such as jumper cables, rags, extra oil, funnel, tools, a flashlight, gloves, rain poncho, fix-a-flat etc. in it. It’s nice to have it all together, and it’s easily relocated if needed.

I also keep paper instructions in there about how to jump a car because I can never remember, but I don’t like to let people see them because I’m a grown-up and I’m supposed to know these things.

Tote bag: this has the reusable grocery bags, a couple of blankets, a towel, an extra jacket, a travel pillow, a multi-plug, a couple of small umbrellas and a few other items.

This was born of the fact that I’m often waiting for kids at various places and I hate it when I’m unprepared, especially during transitional weather. I also hate loose items in the car.

One thing I’m planning to add is a pair of shoes or boots. I know that’s standard for some of you in the north, but I never thought a lot about it until I was snowed in at work last winter here in the sunny south and I was faced with walking home in my party shoes in the snow.

I’m curious, what kinds of things do yo keep in your car trunk (besides “the bodies”, smartypants)? Do you have things you never leave home without, or am I the only one over-thinking this?

The Internet is replete with advice on how to clean the house in an emergency when unexpected guests are on the way. It’s also full of advice on how you should “just keep your house clean” and you “won’t have to worry about these things.”

Yeah, thanks for that advice. Why didn’t I think of it?

Despite that sage wisdom, most of us have probably had that Oh-No-Second when you realize someone is on the way to visit and the house is less than presentable. While our house is neither a model home nor a complete disaster, we have kids and sometimes the house just is what it is.

Our, “Oh, no” moments have become more frequent since our oldest started driving as she is prone to telling us she’s “on the way home” with 37 of her closest friends. But, we always rise to the occasion and can implement the Fake House Plan in impressive time since we’ve had practice.

The Fake House Plan steps can vary according to the pending visitor, but it all starts in the kitchen since it tends to be the most used entrance to our house, and it goes something like this:

1. Phone call: guests on the way.
2. Run around kitchen in a circle waving arms.
3. Remove everything from counter tops and stash in nearest cardboard box. Place in laundry room.
4. Load dishwasher and clean sink (scars from Fly Lady).
5. Remove papers etc. from front of fridge and say bad words because you’ve told everyone to stop putting stuff there, it goes on the side.
6. Find strongest smelling cleaner under sink and wipe counter tops.
7. Check time and walk in circles around kitchen again, decide to sweep the floor.
8. Proceed to bathroom.
9. Put linen closet door back on track, close shower curtain, and throw some Comet in the toilet and swish it around.
10. Dismantle fort and put couch cushions back on couch and pick up gross particulate matter from the floor.
11. Spray the poor coffee table with furniture polish in a can.
12. DVDs, game discs and boxes all in no particular order swiftly placed in entertainment center.
13. Spray smell-good stuff on door frames in hopes that people think the house must be clean if it smells good.
14. Clean miscellania off stairs and vow never to put anything on the stairs ever again as long as we live.
15. Take rest of house and shove it in guest room and dash to kitchen table and sit casually as if we’ve just been there chatting when guests walk in.

Oh, look who’s here! Come on in, we’ve just been sitting here reading the paper…

How about you? Share your Fake House tips or tell us the most outrageous thing you’ve done to get the house in order quickly.

Like many families, our kitchen is our command center for schedules and documents.  We have 3 kids in 2 schools, 4 sports teams and various camps. Combine that with life in general, and it can make for an avalanche of “important stuff”.

We’ve tried many organizational tools over the years (there are so many great ones available), but we usually revert back to what works for us even though it’s not very fancy. Perhaps I should even be embarrassed by this “system”, but it’s just what we do.

For us, folders, holders and books for current, “active” papers, schedules etc. tend to make them “out of sight, out of mind”, so we don’t have much luck with them. Now that I’m writing all this down, though, it seems we use the “appliance method” of organization.

As far as schedules go, our weekly and monthly calendars are on the side of the refrigerator. The monthly calendar is a standard paper one, and I write in the recurring events such as sports practices and all the other known activities.

Every Sunday morning, I write the schedule for the week on the white board next to the monthly calendar. We go over it on Sunday nights as a family to make sure everyone knows what’s going on for the week and to ensure we haven’t left anything out:

Important, “active” paperwork (as opposed to things that need to be filed away) is kept on top of the microwave (yeah, I know). I’m not sure how that started, but everyone treats it with proper reverence and knows things you don’t want to lose go there, so that’s where it stays:

Finally, those reminders and papers that are critical for the day, the ones that absolutely can’t be forgotten, go on top of the coffee maker:

While that may not be the most conventional place to keep vital information, if you think about it, it makes sense. The kids won’t touch it, and there’s no way we could forget to look at it in the mornings.

So, that’s how we keep ourselves going. What about you? Tell me about your family command center, where do you keep all your “important papers”?

I have 3 kids in 4 different sports, and have had more than that (sports, not kids) over the years, so we have more than our fair share of sports “stuff” around the house.  In order to keep the sports miscellania from literally being “around the house”, I’ve had to develop a system.

Now, I’m not saying it’s a life-changing system, but it works for us for the most part. I’d love to say that we just fold uniforms and put them away neatly in their rooms with the rest of their clothes, but as many of you know, it doesn’t always work that way.

When my older kids were young, if changing clothes once a day was good, changing clothes 8 times a day was better. They didn’t discriminate between play clothes, church clothes, bathing suits, costumes or soccer uniforms, all was fair game in “change your clothes roulette”, and that made for some interesting searches the night before the game, so I have a “thing” about wanting to know where the uniforms are.

The older 2 kids take care of their own uniforms for the most part, but our youngest, age 9, plays several sports and has quite a few uniform and practice things to keep in order. We use an inexpensive baker’s rack to organize all of it. The keeps things easily accessible, but the the shelves help maintain a system.

The top shelf is uniforms and associated accessories ONLY for whatever sport is in season. This shelf is “sacred”, and he knows not to get things from there unless there is a game, because he’s prone to wearing his uniforms all the time if left to his own devices.

The next shelf is cold weather clothing that’s obviously not used in summer, but he does have the occasional need for warm-up pants or a sweatshirt in a cold gym. The third shelf is a basket full of string tote bags since bags (and water bottles) seem to be disposable around here.

The bottom shelf is a round laundry basket that contains the “other” stuff for whatever sport is in season. Since soccer is getting ready to start back, it holds items such as practice clothing, spare shin guards and cleats and a ball pump. It used to be able to hold a ball, but as you can see on the right of the rack, the red bag holds his ever-growing collection of soccer balls.

We have multiple round laundry baskets, one for each sport, that we store on the top shelf of the laundry room, and we just change out the basket and uniform items on the baker’s rack with the sport season.

For example, when soccer is over, it will all go back into the soccer basket, and it gets changed out with the basketball basket, and those uniforms go on the top shelf, etc.

For us, it’s important that the baskets are different from our regular laundry baskets, so they don’t get sucked into the laundry abyss.

Even if you don’t share my driving need to know where the uniforms are at all times, how do you keep all the sports items in order?

Oh internet, the things I do for you. These are photos of my cabinets. I did no cleaning before taking these, obviously.

A few months ago we finally finished installing the cabinets in our mudroom/laundryroom. I couldn’t imagine at the time how I was going to fill all that glorious space. But it is true what people say, the more space you have the more you fill it.

Slowly things just started getting placed into there. Don’t know where to put something? Hey, just stick it in the empty cabinets.

And that is just what we did. With wild abandon. I want to cry every time I open them. And not just because heavy things fall out and hit me on the head.
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Alternate Title: This week is kicking my butt and I haven’t finished this project yet!

This is one of those weeks where my mantra is: “What needs to get done, will get done. Everything else will get done eventually.”

Remember last week I shared the horror that is my gift wrap situation? I loved your input on that post and was particularly inspired by the old dresser as gift wrap station. I have the perfect dresser to use even.

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