Organize To Thrive

A few days ago, I went in a organizing frenzy! If you know me well, you know that everything is already organized. Yes, I am that girl who has a problem with reorganizing things that are already organized. Well, now that I have cleared some of our unwanted stuff out from last year, I am trying to organize the items we are keeping. For me, this is the fun part. As much as I love to organize, I really dislike spending a lot of money buying more boxes and such to store all of my stuff in. After reorganizing, it sometimes seem counter-productive. The fact is, our homes do need to be well-organized and often that means spending a little money. But you do not have to break the piggy bank to accomplish this goal!

• Know what you need. Organize, mentally measure, then buy!  In the past, there have been times when I did not take time to figure out exactly what I needed and ended up spending money on unnecessary items  (and wasted time) because I was in a rush to complete a project.
• Buy Used. If you are not in a hurry to get a certain area perfectly organized, consider browsing garage sales and thrift stores. These places are also great for finding storage containers for areas that do not need an exact size.
• Repurpose what you already have. Obviously, this is my favorite option because it does not require spending money. Go ahead and call me frugal!  There are so many wonderful ideas for re-using stuff around the house. Check out Pinterest for all the endless options! All in all, saving money requires you to get a little creative. 

I seriously would be lost without my home budgeter spreadsheet, organizer, and calendar. As you can tell in the photo above, I max out every inch of paper with reminders. At the beginning of the week I write down all the things that I know must be done. Then, I color code those items so that I will know where it associates- school, home, placements, meetings, ect. All of the reminders listed in pencil are things that happen during the day that I did not plan for. Most of these things get accomplished on the day that they are assigned until around Wednesday or Thursday. By hump day I slowly being to push things to the next day. 

While living the single lady life I would operate one month in advance. Call me crazy, but Tony and I only were able to visit each other *maybe* once a month while we dated long distance. Then, I knew what had to be done before I jetted off 5 hours to visit him for a weekend. Or, if he was coming to visit me I knew without a doubt that I had to be done with all my chores, bill paying, cleaning, and school work so that we could spend the entire time together stress free. 

Since becoming a Mrs. I have learned many things that I have had to adapt to my new role. These days we have more bills to budget, less time, and I am no longer planning and organizing for one. I plan, organize, bill pay, feed, and iron for two.  For today's post I thought I would share a few things with you on how to organize to thrive. 

• Recently I have discovered how much I love meal planning and couponing. I especially love to coupon! I started doing both back in the fall and it just makes things so much more easier. Since we do not eat out often, we discuss what we would like to eat each week and I figure out what all we will need based on what we already have in the fridge and pantry. Looking through the Sunday papers kinda gives me an adrenaline rush. Plus, on Wednesdays we receive a free impact section of the newspaper in the mail with additional coupons that were not sold on Sunday. Those coupons basically double and make the shopping twice as good. Now, I certainly am no extreme couponer but when it comes to saving $5-15 a week on groceries it adds up fast. I will proudly be that wife whipping out my coupon book at the register for the years to come. 

• When it comes to cleaning, I am a neat freak. I know we all have our little hang ups and I am slowly growing out of some of mine because it is exhausting to fight a battle that is not worth it with my husband when I honestly do not have time. If the trash is not taking out in time for pick-up or if the floors do not get vacuumed each week, I still have a loving home to come to in the evenings, dirty or not. If you are looking for a cleaning plan there are extensive ones on Pinterest. However, DO NOT exhaust yourself doing all those daily chores if you are not a SAHM. I mean, really, some of those charts are obnoxiously ridiculous. Currently, my cleaning plan goes a little something like this: 
• Everyday- Make Bed, Take Out Trash (Especially in the kitchen if I cooked with meat), Load Dishwasher, Wash Dishes (Unload dishwasher in the AM)
• Thursday- Wash ALL Clothes and Towels from the week (Typically I wash towels more often so they do not sour. I hate that smell!)
• Friday-Change Sheets (We are weird about the sheets so sometimes they get changed twice in one week.)
• Sunday-Iron Clothes
• At least one every two weeks Tony and I try to clean the bathrooms, vacuum, sweep/swifter the floors, and dust the furniture. I will totally be honest and admit that this has not been done since the end of January. We are slacking on the home front but I truly am not home long enough for the "messiness" to get to me these days. Of course he could care less. :)

• I have learned that it is important to save EVERYTHING. Literally, I save all our receipts, bills, bank statements, college documents, tax forms, and more in a small square box with divider files. Or course I saw the idea on Pinterest but I made the file box adequate to fit our lifestyle. I am a little OCD when it comes to organization but I truly function better when our environment is clean, organized, and provides thriving opportunities without clutter. THIS is a wonderful article from Blue Eyed Bride on a how-to- step-by-step process for creating a Home Binder for everything from financial, meal planning, recipes, and cleaning. 

• Additionally, I have even gone as far to set up a budgeting sheet on which I keep tract of everything that we spend. You may be thinking that I am crazy for going this extra step but honestly it is not that time consuming or difficult. You can see the excel spreadsheet in the photo below. Although we already receive a bank statement in the mail at the end of each month it is beneficial to see where we stand during the month when considering bills, groceries, and spending money for certain things. Also, this spending tracker helps us to make sure that we do not spend more money than we bring in each month so that we can in turn contribute to our savings pot. 

As we begin our 8th month of marriage we are still growing accustom to this system of learning how to organize and thrive as one. It certainly takes time, patience, and cooperation of both individuals in a marriage. I will admit, it drives me insane to stray from our routine some days. I know that I should be flexible and adaptable but some days it is harder than most. 

While traveling to visit family or getting caught up in work and school, some days our money managing and organization plans are thrown for a loop. I must think positive no matter what life brings and I know with time our circumstances will change. Once we start a family there will be even less time and more things/people to organize. Some of these thriving tactics will be lost, new tactics may be developed, and others may be addressed differently. Who knows? Until that time comes, we plan to continue to do all that we can to thrive in this moment. 

I hope this post has helped you in some way! If you would like more organization tips and tricks, visit one of my all time favorite bloggers, Kelly at Kelly's Korner to see all the bloggers who linked up for Show Us Your Life: Organization Tips/Ideas 

How do you organize to thrive?

As always, until next time- Happy Blogging! 

PS- You can enter my Favorite Things Giveaway HERE.