Tidy Brown Wren, bringing order to your nest

A young housewife and new mother recently asked me for a list of things to do each day to help her stay on top of her household chores. Here is what I gave her. Daily: -wipe up kitchen, plan dinner -make beds -wipe up bathrooms -sweep kitchen floor -put away items before bed Monday: -laundry, grocery shopping Tuesday: -iron clothes, water plants Wednesday: -dust whole house Thursday: -vacuum whole house Friday: -mop floors, change linens Saturday: -clean glass surfaces, clean bathrooms Sunday: -attend church, rest, plan menu and grocery list for next week Each week, pick one of these items to accomplish. -wipe down fridge (inside and out) -clean oven -mend clothing -vacuum and dust behind furniture -change filter for heater/air conditioner -wipe walls and door trim Every home will have different chores that need to be done. The point is to break up the work into smaller chunks and do a little every day. Try it!

What do you do with those pictures you've ripped out of magazines? What about the newspaper articles, travel brochures, and "someday, I'll. . . " ideas? It's time to get those papers organized. Let's get started. 1. Collect all of the papers. Check on your desk, bedside table, car, purse, kitchen counter. Gather them together in one pile. 2. Go through them, one by one, and sort by topic. Any papers that are obsolete need to go directly into the trashcan. 3. Decide what to name your topics. Examples are: decorating wish list, weekend get-aways, party ideas, inspiring quotes and stories, organizing ideas, new recipes to try. 4. Label separate files for each topic. Place the papers in the labeled files. 5. Place files in file drawer or file box. 6. Glance through the files every once in a while and weed out outdated papers. If this seems too detailed for you, at least keep all of your papers in a single drawer so you can look for them in one pla...

Now that Christmas is over and the decorations are put away (right?),you're left with the paperwork that came with your Christmas gifts. You know, warranties, directions, receipts, user manuals, etc.. They are probably piled on your desk or kitchen counter. An easy way to deal with them is to make a warranty binder. Just a few items and in less than an hour, you'll have it all organized. 1. Purchase a binder from the store and some clear page protectors or pocket dividers. An easy way to determine how large your binder should be is to pile all of your papers into a stack, measure the stack, and that should give you an idea of how large a binder you should get. My personal binder is a 3" size. 2. Divide all of your papers into catagories. Examples can be: electronics, appliances, toys, office equipment, etc.. There is no right or wrong way to catagorize. It is totally up to you. 3. Label the different page protectors or pocket dividers with your catagories. 4. ...