Getting ORGANIZED 2011

Isn’t there just something about a new year that makes us desire a fresh start?  After all the eating and shopping and lazing around of the holidays, come January 1, I’m always ready to edit, purge, clean, and organize!  Something might be wrong with me, but I really look forward to it! This month I’ll be running a series of posts dedicated to getting organized for the new year.   Some friends will be joining me in providing you with simple and practical solutions for controlling the chaos, and creating an organized home that you can relax and unwind in.   image I can’t believe I made a button!  🙂 But first, we have to put away Christmas!  Considering how long it look me to put UP all the holiday decor, I kinda dreaded taking it all down and storing it away.  But I knew I’d feel like I’d lost 10 pounds when it was done, so I spent the better part of New Year’s Eve tackling the project.  Here’s a peek at how it ended up!  I like the green 30-gallon plastic storage bins with the red lid from Target because they signify “Christmas items in here!” image My motto was divide and conquer.  I divided up the job into two parts: 1) Ornaments, and 2) Decor.  I figured if I could get those two categories of items into two giant piles, I could see what I had (including what I didn’t use this year) and decide what to edit out and how much storage we’d need.  Luckily, we have a good size attic to store the Christmas bins. CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS STEP 1:  I emptied the tree and vignette of all ornaments and lay them on our dining room table, sorting them by color. image image image  STEP 2:  Some ornaments were lucky enough to find a home in their original packaging, but many were not.  I found that shoe boxes, wine boxes, and plastic spinach containers worked well as new homes. image image  STEP 3:  Then it was time to pack them up into the bins by color. image STEP 4:  Then make labels so the contents are easily recognized.  I like to label three sides of the bin so that you can see the label no matter how they are stacked. image DECOR Now onto the explosion of Christmas decor!  Wasn’t it fun to start to remove all that garland?  But I have to say, taking it down went about ten times as fast as putting it up!  image I piled everything into what is supposed to be the “media room” but is more like storage central, and grouped like items together. image Can you believe all of THAT fit into THESE? image image I think I’ll be so happy next year when it comes time to decorate again!!  image Did you do something similar with your decor?  Is it still up? 🙂  We doubled our bins this year, but I think it’s still a manageable amount of holiday decor.  Oh, minus the big box that the nativity scene goes in and two wreath containers.  What do you think? ********** Here’s the line-up for the next two weeks!  I’m super excited about tomorrow’s post authored by Simply LKJ.  You will seriously be blown away and hopefully, inspired, by her amazingly organized KITCHEN! Calendar HWH Organizing Series January 4-7, 2011 Header- Simply LKJHeader- A Thoughtful PlaceHeader- Name 5 ThingsHeader- House of Smith's January 10-14, 2011 Header - sixty-fifth-ave-finalHeader- Serenity NowHeader- Hi Sugarplum!Header- Ten June   Header- Decor Chick!      ********** image Here’s to Happy Organizing! p.s. You can go HERE to see my New Year’s Resolution. 

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Meet Megan

Hi! I’m Megan, mom to a thoughtful teenager and spunky young girl. We call Houston home and recently moved into our dream home. I traded my lawyer hat to become a full-time blogger in 2010. I love sharing my passion for affordable fashion, home decor, organization, & fitness to help inspire you to take care of you!

52 Comments

  1. Yippee! You read my mind! I'm putting it all away tomorrow. My bins are down from the attic, and all I have left is the tree. The kitchen? A bomb zone…with 4 kids, two dogs, and a husband…all home for 2 weeks during vacation, three parties, baking, treats galore…it is time to purge. Can't wait to see an organized kitchen! 🙂

  2. Hi Megan! Miss you, girl!!!! I've been catching up on your blog! You make organizing look fun and easy! I am inspired. Love the green and red bins. Such a great idea….
    Hope all is well. Loved the Christmas pics of James. He is getting so big!!!!
    I am in the middle of a blog makeover and I plan to be up and running in the next couple of weeks! I'm getting back in the groove.
    I'm 17 weeks today and finally feeling like myself again…. yippee!!!! 🙂

  3. Our decorations are still up, but will be going back into the attic tomorrow. Both mine and my hubby's birthdays are so close to Christmas (his, Dec. 25th. mine, Jan. 2), so we wait until our birthdays are over to tear down.

    We organize our stuff very similarly. We have red tubs that are labeled, makes taking out the decor so much easier.

    Can't wait for this series! x

  4. We also spent New Year's Eve taking down decorations and doing some cleaning along with it. It feels nice to have everything up and a fresh start.

    I am looking forward to seeing everyone's organization tips!

  5. So excited for the next two weeks! The timing is perfect as everyone has their organizing hats on. 🙂

  6. Oh how I wish I just had that much to store! LOL I prefer clear containers so I can see in as well as read what I have in the boxes, (because sometimes I put random stuff in a box just to get it put away) I have 90% of my decorations down, just the fake tree and decorations on that to do, so I feel good about the progress. I am waiting to put back all the regular decor stuff, I want to re-do and edit what I have, plus I just feel it looks so much less cluttered since all the decorations are gone. Kinda loving that look but I am sure it will only be for a couple of days and I will be back on the band wagon of decorating. Looking forward to the fun organizing posts! Yours was great, so neat and tidy, you will so appreciate it next Christmas when you start decorating!

    Oh and since this comment is so long I might as well leave a comment for your New Years Resolution Post. YOU LOOK AWESOME! You are one hot momma, even if you never lose that last baby weight you will be no less beautiful.

  7. um…is it ridiculous that I'm SOOOO super excited for this organizing series. And the lineup?? OMG!!! Seriously can't wait!!

  8. With the start of the new year, I am all set for decluttering and organising our home too so these posts of yours will be perfect to give me a little direction.

  9. Love the 3sided labeling system: I do that with the boys' clothes… NB to 5T = a ton of containers.

    Luckily all in deep storage at my mother's!

    Looking forward to reading your lineup!

  10. I organize the same way, started this afternoon. I have decor for 3 whole trees and then some. All color coordinated and labeled. I think organizing after Christmas is my fav time. I put all the ornaments back in their original packaging as I have found over the years I break fewer ornaments that way. This year I went with new colors so added to my stash with half off finds 🙂 looking forward to the upcoming posts! Hugs from Conroe, Tx

  11. You made a blog button! Fun. I like it! We are working on organizing around here too, seems like I'm always up to something in this area. Can't wait to read what your posts. P.S. Want to come organize my home?

  12. Looking good – I love your three sided bins – I don't have as many yet, so I know which bins are which at this point, but the labels look so neat! I am also super excited about the series – looks like a great line up!

  13. 1. Yay for the blog button!! I can't figure that out yet…especially how to get it down to a decent size. So, kudos to you!
    2. I am also envious that you have everything down! Everything at my house is down and in bins except for my garlands. I hate taking those down. The worst part is getting everything up to the attic.
    3. I really am excited for this series. 🙂 Thanks so much for asking me to be a part of it. There's a great list of bloggers!

  14. Way to go! Don't ya just love those storage totes?!! All of our Christmas decor got packed away this past weekend as well. I am loving the clean slate! Can't wait for the series to begin. Thanks so much for including me amongst so many wonderful bloggers!

  15. Ahh you put me to shame and i just stuffed it all in a bag and hid it under ths stairs – oops ;-)! Looking forward to this week – you have so much in store for us!
    Rachie xo

  16. Love that you are doing this. I am one of those people who love to organize! Oh, and if there is something wrong with you, then there is definitely with me.

    I have used the red and green bins and love them!!! Never thought to label them as you did and I just might have to do that : )

  17. I'm jealous your decor is put away. I will be working on that over the next couple of days : (

    Looking forward to your new series, fun!

    Paula

  18. Oh yes.. I feel the same way come the start of the new year, but it always fades. THIS year one of my 'goals' is to make sure it doesn't fade. I want to keep the freshness going!

    You did awesome with organizing your Christmas decor. I will admit… we pretty much just threw our Christmas decor in a few large boxes and put them in the storage room in the garage, however we took out decor down on New year's eve so technically we were still in 2010 and I can get away with being lazy and unorganized for that right? ha!

    This post makes me want to go back in and drag it all out just to re-organize it all the right way 🙂

  19. Seriously?! You are killing me with how organized and efficient you are!! I am sooo envious!

  20. Great job, honey!!! Can't wait to hear what everyones got to say about organizing!! 🙂

    PS. Your post on Leah's blog made me love you even more! This is super lame, but you go girl!

  21. That was some good packing up megan! You're right, you will be so happy next year with everything so organized!

    Looking so forward to the up coming posts, thanks again for having me!

    Londen

  22. It must feel great to have it all packed up and away! Our is packed up and labeled. . . but still out as we started a major project where it all goes. Oh boy. I am so excited for your series. And thank you so much for including me. I am honored. xoxo

  23. Hi Megan! Your Christmas decor looks just as pretty down as up, love those pics of the ornaments. Looking forward to reading the organizational series, it's that time of year! I was thinking of starting to organize the kitchen cabinets today…but now I have a good excuse to put it off until tomorrow and wait to read the kitchen post 🙂

  24. Looks awesome! Can't wait to see what other tips these ladies have! What a great way to kick off the new year!

  25. Perfect post today, Megan! I actually bought those same bins over the weekend at Target and your tips couldn't have come at a better time. I still have all my decor up and was trying to figure out a plan of action today. It all seemed a bit overwhelming because I have accumulated more this year. Thank you for sharing all of this! I think you look adorbale in the photo of you pregnant! You look beautiful with James, too. What a lovely woman you are!

  26. we packed ours away too and i'm not quite as organized as you. 😉 love the labels and might need to go back and do some. look forward to more of the series..

  27. I also purged a lot of things that haven't been used in the last few years – it felt great! Can't wait for the kitchen portion tomorrow!
    Erin

  28. I knew I was forgetting something – LABELS!! Adding it to "the list". My Christmas decor is still up. I normally take it down the weekend after New Years. I'm going to organize by color this year too. BTW, I'm jealous – a blog button?? I wouldn't even know where to start!!! Happy New Year!

  29. I am so looking forward to the organizing tips. I took down my Christmas stuff last week. I wish I could have been a little more organized about it.

  30. My Christmas take down was a piece of cake compared to yours! Bravo. Just became a follower…your blog is fantastic!
    Mary Ann

  31. I love to organize. Although post-baby I could stand to do alot more organzing. I am not sure where the time goes each day! I am impressed by your color organization of the tree ornaments! Already packed mine up for this year but I most definately will be doing that next year! Btw I saw your resolution and I already think you look fab post baby!! But I know how you feel, I finally shed the last few pounds but it was hard! xoxo

  32. Girlfriend, you are on a roll! Every post just keeps getting better and I love any organization tip.

    You're kitchen will be posted on my blog Friday!
    xo,
    abby

  33. I LOVE your blog! Happy New Year and Congratulations! I gave you the Stylish Blogger Award at It's a Lunsford Thing.

  34. We spent Christmas or actually the whole month of December at my moms house (in Norway) so I never got to decorate my house, therefore, not much to put away. But with four months to go before the new baby arrives, I am definitely in a nesting mood…. Gotta get organized before the third one comes along 🙂

    (Click on over to my blog for a Target giveaway)

    Hugs

  35. Megan you did a great job!!! And fab idea to use the spinich containers.

    thanks for the peek at the blue room!! 😉 This is a fun series…thanks for including me!!

  36. Megan-
    I've recently discovered your blog and I don't know how I've lived without it my whole life!!
    I am absolutely blown away by your house, your organization, and your style.

    Just wanted to drop by to tell you to keep blogging! I can't wait to read what you post next!

  37. okay, so I can say I did this. The problem is that the boxes are still stored in in the family room;-)

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