LoveLifestyle: Unclutter It Thursday

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Un-Clutter It Thursday #15 - Bills, Bills, Bills

Welcome back for another week of uncluttering madness!

Can I let you in on a secret? You promise not to tell anyone else? Just between us girls? Ok, here it goes... I hate to file. I mean I loathe it. I'd rather reconcile a bank account that hasn't been reconciled since 2008... actually I recently did that for a client so I'm speaking from experience. And yes, I hate it that much.

But I have a question for you. Tell me how someone who hates clutter lets paper pile-up? Oh, let me answer that! She hides it that's how! It's true, I hid a pile of paid bills in my filing box because the thought of filing was too much for me.

Oh the shame! I'm hanging my head very low right now. I can barely look you in the... uh, screen.

Now that I've confessed I must correct the wrong, right.

Last year I started a Home Management Binder and one of the sections was financial, there I kept our check register, budget and bills due. It was working, but I really needed something more comprehensive. I migrated the entire section to its own binder and added a bit more to it.

First I have a monthly calendar, I write the bill name on each due date.

Next is the budget sheet. Kinda self-explanatory.

Then its on to the Finance Checklist. As a bill is paid each month I put a check mark in the column. (Notice the direction of the check mark. People tell me all the time I write them backwards, but I say, they're not backwards to a left-handed person. Duh!) This sheet is from Iheart Organizing.

This sheet is followed by a pocket for the bills waiting to be paid. I have to be honest, most of our bills are electronic now... the whole I hate filing thing is a great motivator to be "green".

Then I have a pocket for receipts that I save. Some are for write-offs at tax time, others are for potential returns.

Next up are the "filling" tabs. Each bill has it's own section and its really easy for me to 3-hole punch and then put it in its section.

That wraps up this binder and I think I may have just solved my filing issues... I'll let you know how it goes.

I'll be handling the whole paper clutter issue for a few weeks as I'm revamping a few of our non-functioning systems at home. Of course I'll be sharing with you along the way!

Last week I never got the party officially going but we've rectified the problem for this week so... let's get ready to PARRR-TAAAAAY!

- Please link up your organizing/un-cluttering post(s) and not just your blog home page.
- Please put a visible link or my party button in your post so others can find it and join in.

- If you're new to The Uncluttered Lifestyle I hope you will become a follower.
- And of course, take some time to visit a few other participants and maybe find some new blogs to enjoy.

Un-Clutter It Thursday #13 - Photo Organization

Hello all! Welcome to another round of Un-Clutter It Thursday!

The last time we got together I showed you my mess of photos. Remember this fright? SCARY!

But I dove in head first and tackled it. I sorted through each and every single photo. I had 31 categories total.

The photo boxes that I got from Hobby Lobby didn't come with enough dividers so I used manilla folders to make more.

I chose coordinated scrapbook paper to cover the dividers.

Then it was time to load up the boxes. Mind you, each box holds up to 1000 photos and I have two boxes.

I'm so happy to have this project behind me! There were times that I just wanted to give up! But... the next time someone visits and asks to see photos I can proudly go to my bookcase and say, "Here you go!"

While I was at it I also organized a few "quick-grab" photo albums, currently being corralled in a vintage box.

To be honest with you, this particular project is not for the faint of heart. So if photo organization is on your to-do list, take my advice, give yourself some time and tackle it in small increments. However the flip side was a nice walk down memory lane, which is always nice. :)

Oh and for those that are going to ask, the frames are all in storage boxes. So what did you tackle this week?

- Please link up your organizing/un-cluttering post(s) and not just your blog home page.
- Please put a visible link or my party button in your post so others can find it and join in.

- If you're new to The Uncluttered Lifestyle I hope you will become a follower.
- And of course, take some time to visit a few other participants and maybe find some new blogs to enjoy.

POSTPONED: Un-Clutter It Thursday #13

Good day all... I have to apologize, Un-Clutter It Thursday is delayed for a day or two.

I haven't had time to take pictures because my family has been on pins and needles for the last day or so... my eldest niece is preggers and recently started having contractions. Normally that would be great news, but her baby has a chromosome disorder called Trisomy 4p. With this disorder comes severe medical complications both during and post delivery. Add to that, the fact that she is not due for another five weeks... we all holding our breath, hoping the contractions stop.

You can read more about my niece and Trisomy 4p in this post.

I'm hoping to get Un-Clutter It Thursday going no later than Saturday morning.

Till next time...

Un-Clutter It Thursday #12 - Still In The Family Room

Welcome to another week of Un-Clutter It Thursday.

Some highlights from last week.

Lorraine at Miss. Flibbertigibbet (I love saying her blog name, flib-ber-ti-gib-bet. LOL. There's something wrong me) gave us a tour of some of her storage spaces. Most of them had a vintage twist to them! You know me, I'm all about having storage with a vintage twist. I love this cabinet that her husband built, to her specifications, to house her microwave and silverware.

Christina at Controlling Craziness organized her son's extensive collection of legos.

This week I'm still plugging away in the Family Room. Working on organizing the photo craziness that we had, well... everywhere. Funny thing, we had some friends over for the first time this past Sunday and the first thing the wife asked was, "Do you have some pictures I can look at?" Me, "Uhhhhh, (long pause) I guess." Then I hesitantly handed over my new photo storage box. Insert sad face here. In that moment I made a internal agreement with myself to never have that feeling again. (Have you ever had those moments? You already knew a certain thing needed to be address or maybe you were already working on it. But then someone asks to use it, see it, borrow it... or whatever it and instantly you get the kick in the pants that you need to get the project done. No, I'm alone on this?) Well in that moment, I knew I had to get. it. together. Iesha!

This week I've been getting it together. With most of our recent photos are stored on CDs by year I could focus all my efforts on the printed photos. Remember this pile from last week?

All together the collection is quite extensive and meant more to me than keeping in an old printer paper box. Not that you could tell by looking at the last picture. So this past week I did some research into creating a successful photo organization and storage system.

Believe it or not, it was not as simple as just moving the pile to a photo storage box, which is why it's taking a little longer than I anticipated. It turns out, I had to decide where I wanted the end before I could begin... go figure. I found a site that help me come to that realization. Here are some great questions to start with to get the photo organizing juices flowing.

Once I went through every photo and freed all the duplicates it was time to go supply shopping, the best part of course. Speaking of duplicates, I have a question for you. Do you think its wrong to toss all the duplicate school portraits of the kids? You know the ones that you bought in a package every year the boy was in school. Do we really need to keep the 11x14, 8x10, twenty-seven 5x7s, annnnd one hundred wallets? I know after looking at the 11x14 that my son is cute, do I need to keep the other 128 copies to confirm? The hubby says yes, I say no. What do you say? Do you think my extended family would wonder why I'm mailing them 10+ year old pictures of the boy? But I digress... on to the supplies.

- Photo storage boxes. If you would like to preserve your photos for a decent amount of time remember whatever you store the photos in must be acid free.... No Shoe Boxes Ladies! I found some at Hobby Lobby for $3.99.

- Photo albums. I had to get knew ones. The ones that we had were from 15 years ago and were yellowing, very bad sign.

- Slide sleeves. We have slides from my father-in-law that we will eventually mail off to get scanned. But that's down the line.

- Scrapbook paper. For divider in photo box. Has to be acid free

Next we'll definitely go on a tour of the new system. This week I'd love to see what you've been up to.

- Please link up your organizing/un-cluttering post(s) and not just your blog home page.
- Please put a visible link or my party button in your post so others can find it and join in.

- If you're new to The Uncluttered Lifestyle I hope you will become a follower.
- And of course, take some time to visit a few other participants and maybe find some new blogs to enjoy.

- No link parties added to this party, please.
- No advertising, please.

Un-Clutter It Thursday Party #11 - The Family Room

Hey, hey, hey, we're back for another round of partying!

Thanks to all those that turned out last week and linked up some stinking awesome projects. It was more than I expected to link up for the first party! Can I get a BOOM! for meeting and surpassing a goal! Shall we have a few highlights.

Lani showed a Pretty Little Organizer (aka IKEA hack) she did. I just love the new green color and the fabulous usage of Martha Stewart organizer tools.

Danielle gave us a glimpse into how she organizes her household with her Homekeeping Binder. Let me tell ya, if you don't have one these binders... you need one. I use mine everyday. Danielle also has links to some free printables.

And the most clicked was...

Bliss. She shared her Devil Drawer makeover. The after is superb, but.... let's just say there was a... uh... unique makeup tool discovered along the way that gives a new meaning to "apply gently with index finger".

And last but not least the winner of the giveaway is... K Coake. K. Coake contact me via email for more details!!!

Now, let's get this party started!

This week I'm still in the family room... all 144 sq. ft of it! The family room in our house is a high traffic area. We normally start our day with watching the news and drinking coffee, then end our day with Mr. Uncluttered watching TV, while I'm reading a decorating magazine. Not to mention we are movie buffs, so lots of DVDs watching and most of our entertaining happens in this room too. So as you can imagine, this room attracts a lot of clutter. And since space is at a premium, I'm having to pull out all of my tricks to manage the clutter.

One of my latest tricks involves a roadside rescue that Mr. Uncluttered brought home last week. Thank you honey! Its an Elfa Storage Drawer System from The Container Store. The frame alone is $47,and three of the drawers are $16 and the narrow one is $14... for a total of $109! Can you even imagine someone leaving this on the curb as garbage?! Yoo-hoo...there is nothing wrong with it... not one thing! A little scrub, scrub to get the cobwebs off and it was good as new. Check out all the storage potential! Let me stop drooling. More on this new week.

This week I wanted to give you a peek into the Media Dresser. Remember this project?

Lets take a closer look inside the drawers. The top drawers holds what's left of our music cds (most have been converted to MP3s and tossed) and workout DVDs. (Sidenote: I love Jillian Michaels and stopped watching Biggest Loser when she left.) In the basket are extra cords for all Mr. Uncluttered's audio components. I think I'm going to leave that drawer specifically for him. I'm constantly hearing, "Babe, do you know where my coaxial cable is?" Umm... how 'bout we start with, "Do I know what a coaxial cable is and then I'll tell you if I saw it."

In the next drawer we house all of our Wii accouterments.

The boxes are from a CD organizer drawer that looked kinda like the one below, but brown ultrasuede.

Do you have one those sitting around your house too?

Why spend money when you can repurpose? I always shop the house first! I simply pulled out the drawers and used them.

That's all for today because I have to get back to this mess! Yikes! Photo organizing... sigh.

Your turn. So what did you do tackle this week?

- Please link up your organizing/un-cluttering post(s) and not just your blog home page.
- Please put a visible link or my party button in your post so others can find it and join in.

- If you're new to The Uncluttered Lifestyle I hope you will become a follower.
- And of course, take some time to visit a few other participants and maybe find some new blogs to enjoy.

- No link parties added to this party, please.
- No advertising, please.

Un-Clutter It Thursday #15 - Bills, Bills, Bills

Un-Clutter It Thursday #13 - Photo Organization

POSTPONED: Un-Clutter It Thursday #13

Un-Clutter It Thursday #12 - Still In The Family Room

Un-Clutter It Thursday Party #11 - The Family Room

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