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fidgiegirl
9-21-11, 9:04pm
I was thinking today about how being organized has saved us money in the past (or conversely, how not has cost us money).

Savings:
- Our stash of greeting cards (both blank and for occasions), picked up on sale, at Half Price Books in sets, or at garage sales/thrift stores (believe it or not!). The recent thread reminded me of this!
- Our stash of gift bags/reusable wrappings and tissue paper. We NEVER buy these things. It have it in a big bin with large cardboard dividers labeled by occasion. The bulk are any-occasion. We could actually pare this down and we might this Xmas.
- Making meal plans so we don't go out to eat (slacking lately, but typically successful).
- Keeping a good eye on our supplies. We rarely have to make emergency buys at full price.

Fails!
- I bought headphones on Amazon.com and didn't even open them until well after the returns period, only to discover that they don't work and now I might be out the $20 :(
- Not researching medicines or keeping track of medical stuff. Over the last month I spent a LOT more on medications and doc stuff than if I'd been keeping my own records and been able to review them.
- I always lose track of when to start my plants in the spring, resulting in trips to the nursery.

How about you?

sweetana3
9-21-11, 9:21pm
I could have written the same post. It has so helped having "a place for everything". Now I can find the tape, pencils, paper, misc. office supplies, etc. When I organized, I found about 8 big packages of paper clips. When hubby organized his misc tools in a big rolling cart, he found 38 screwdrivers, two gun cleaning kits, two full drawers of screws and nails, etc.

We are not perfect since we still have a couple of junk drawers but we are always working on it.

Stella
9-21-11, 9:37pm
I am a firm believer in the connection between organization and frugality.

Currently I am switching out seasonal and outgrown clothes, which is one area where organization is a MUST for me if I want to be frugal. I use the Amy D bankers box system. I have bankers boxes with clothes ranging from newborn to 14 (kids). Whenever I accept used clothes from someone they go in the correct size bankers box. When I am switching out clothes for the season the outgrown clothes go in their corresponding box and I pull clothes from the box with the new size to use. So for example, James just outgrew 18 month clothes, so they go in the 18 month box for Travis to use and the box of 2T stuff came out and was put away in his daily use bins.

My freezer is organized in boxes by type of food. Meats are in one container, produce in another, grain products in another and dairy in another. Then if I am looking for the butter I bought on sale and froze, I know where to look quickly and easily. Also, nothing gets lost at the bottom of the freezer.

Madsen
9-21-11, 10:04pm
My freezer is organized in boxes by type of food. Meats are in one container, produce in another, grain products in another and dairy in another.I used pegboard to divide up my chest freezer (the holes in the peg board let the air circulate) but didn't think to divide it up by types of food -- thanks for the tip!

early morning
9-21-11, 10:21pm
At home, I am hopelessly unorganized, and there is a definite cost - in cash and sanity - to that! I USED to be organized, and I'm very organized at work, so I know it's possible, I'm just not managing well. You all are an inspiration, and I hope your examples will goad me to get moving again!! Especially you, Stella! :)

Rosemary
9-21-11, 11:13pm
Being organized not only helps save money, but helps me to feel more balanced in general. When I can't find things, or there's too much clutter around, I definitely feel more stressed. I can sense that DD does, too, when her room is messy.

I use labelled plastic bins in my freezer, too. It's a lot easier to take a bin out if need be and dig through it, than to dig through the entire freezer.

I adopted my aunt's storage system for things in the house, of using labelled clear plastic bins for things. It has made a huge difference. I used to use random boxes and other containers, but the bins all stack well in a closet and, even with labels, it's nice to be able to see into them from the outside (and the clear sides let in light so it's easier to find things in the bin). The key is to notice what needs a place, and to create that place. We used to have batteries and extension cords, for instance, in the laundry room, in the garage, and in a few other places. Now there is a bin for each, located in one place, and even my DH can locate them (and that's saying something!).

Still, the organized closets always give way to jumbling during the course of a year. One of my annual winter projects is to get through all the closets, storage spaces, and kitchen cabinets and leave them orderly once again.

A friend and I recently organized our church's kitchen. We took everything out of the kitchen cabinets, got rid of a lot of stuff, put like things together, and determined the best place for them (which almost always was not where they were). We then labelled all the cabinets on the outside of the doors. Now anyone can go in there to work and find everything.

frugal-one
9-22-11, 2:41pm
I am ashamed of myself! The past few days I have been cleaning out the food areas. I cleaned the pantry and found BAGS of herbs (for tea) I purchased so I put each in a glass jar and labelled. Then the spice cabinet was the same (even some spices in bags in the freezer). It took me a whole day just to go through these two places and still have some spices in the freezer yet to go through. I found a few duplicates. (ARGH) I have been ruthless throwing stuff out.

Stella
9-22-11, 4:47pm
Rosemary, I think my kids feel stressed out in mess too. When things are messy they argue more and get much squirellier (probably not a real word :) ) than they do when things are nice and clean.

I am doing OK now, but when Zach is home for 3 months I am going to kick this place in the tushie and show it who is boss. I think it's kind of fun. Cheyenne does too. She wants to be a professional organizer when she grows up. Well, on top of running a bakery and being a superhero. :)

Madsen I like the pegboard idea!

treehugger
9-22-11, 5:03pm
For me, the concept of being organized saving me money is most true in the kitchen. If I wasn't organized, I would have a lot harder time cooking so many things from scratch and doing all of our cooking at home.

My sister, who works full time outside the house, has 2 kids, and a not-very-helpful husband absolutely cannot imagine being able to cook dinner several nights a week, having planned leftovers, and avoiding eating out so often. And it's true, her schedule is really tough and it would be difficult to cook regularly with her non-system of organization. She is very scattered and has trouble planning. I feel for her. But at the same time, i really do think that if she got organized, she could actually successfully fit grocery shopping and cooking into her life.

The other side of organization, as many have already posted, is that just being organized helps relieve stress and make my life easier. I hatehatehate not being able to find things when I need them. Therefore, I stay organized (and I am not a natural neatnik in any way) just to keep myself sane.

Kara

fidgiegirl
9-22-11, 8:10pm
sweetana, I can sympathize with the tools. We ended up organizing and labeling ours. We actually still have to finish labeling. We should do that.

frugal-one, no shame!! Wherever you're at is where you're at. :)

Freezers are a good reminder, too. We have a lot of stuff in ours. It's not very big, which I like. We're pretty good there, but I would like to get some kind of baskets to make it easier to see stuff.

We have to finish organizing our eBay room. DH is back into eBaying. The progress we made over the summer was good, but we kind of just slammed on the brakes.

Also there is a lot of stuff upstairs to put away and get rid of.

Rosemary, funny you mentioned the plastic bins. I used lots and LOTS of plastic drawers in my classroom and they were slick. Like you said, we could see in them, we could stack them, it was easy to remove the drawer and move it around the room. This worked best for small and medium items, as bigger drawers tend to sag in my experience. For bigger items I'd go with boxes.

I feel I need to do a big purge. We are still on a house hunt and the thought of moving a lot of my stuff makes me want to barf. Plus, maybe it will help us keep perspective on just how big a house we really will need.

One other thing we have pretty well organized is our rechargeable batteries. Too bad so many of them need to be charged. I guess the follow-through part isn't quite there . . . ;)
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6175/6173310975_09d99b4e4f_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/7733846@N05/6173310975/)
Untitled (http://www.flickr.com/photos/7733846@N05/6173310975/) by fidgiegirl (http://www.flickr.com/people/7733846@N05/), on Flickr

pony mom
9-25-11, 10:00pm
I have a lot of stuff stored in a cousin's basement. There is no basement or attic storage in our condo and we're lucky to have somewhere to put extra stuff.

When I packed it all, I used boxes or storage containers. All are labeled, like Books #1, Books #2, Kitchen #1, etc. I have a packing list at home listing each box and what it contains. Each box has a list kept inside it, with contents listed. To use vertical space, I bought one of those heavy-duty coated wire standing shelf units from Target. Each shelf has a colored sticker on it; each box on that shelf has a matching colored sticker so I know exactly where the box goes.

Several times I've had to find something stored there. It was so easy to refer to my list at home, then go and pull out the correct box from its designated place. I have a trunk with a lot of things tightly packed in it; when I remove something, I drop a Post-It note with the item written on it in that spot--that way, I know exactly where it will fit when the item is returned.

OK, I know I'm anal but it was fun. Would be much easier to just get rid of it all but a lot are really nice decorative items, mementos and things I'll use someday if I ever move out of my parents' home.

OTOH, my mom, who just packed stuff with no system, spends a lot of time down there, looking through all of her boxes and wasting time trying to find one particular thing. My way is quicker. I love it when I'm right, for once.

Sissy
9-25-11, 10:44pm
No more mystery bins! Clear only for me. They don't have to be labeled. I am in the process of organizing my clothes and yarns. We have moved so many times that those solid bins and have been labeled (with permanent markers) so many times that I don't have a clue. Well, yes I have a small clue and I think they are Christmas decorations which I don't use any more and no one wants. Anyway they are stacked in DH's shop in a corner that I simply cannot climb to, so I don't care what happens to them. I am sure that I could toss them and never miss one single item.

As far as the clear bins go.....I finally found some that I just loved. Some were low enough to slide under the bed. Yay! But wouldn't you know that when I went back to get some more, they no longer carried them............grrrrrr........ Ok, I will figure something out.

About the freezer. We have 2 actually, a chest type that DH had and that I cannot reach down into and then an small upright that is perfect for me. But, we don't seem to be able to make good use of them. Cooking in bulk doesn't work for us for some reason and then we allow food to stay too long and have this freezer-burnt stuff that eventually gets tossed. Shame on us!!!! Is there any hope???? I will read and see what you guys do. DH is pretty good at cooking what he knows in bulk, but the menu is limited and so we get tired of the stuff and it gets old in the freezer. this is a waste of freezer and and food!

You guys sound so organized!
Changing out seasonal clothes. Definately need clear, well locking bins to keep mice out. And then there is the problem of them not fitting from season to season. The buttons seem to shrink up when in storage. How does that happen?????

At any rate, we have very little closet storage upstairs and have to use the basement and there is always the musty smell to deal with.
Not a perfect solution on the horizon, but we will have to do what we can.

Sherry

fidgiegirl
9-25-11, 10:56pm
I am tempted to do the clear bin thing. We have a lot of heavy wooden boxes and can't see inside. I would like to make a list like Sherry suggested. We'll see if I can bring myself to spend the money on them, though, when we have all the wooden boxes already.

ETA: Whoops! The list idea was ponymom's!!

Sissy
9-25-11, 11:06pm
The bins were $7 and $10 each at the dollar store. I spent almost $60. That is quite a lot, but in the long run, I will be glad I did it, I think.

Also, I kinda hate to say it, especially here, but I do like even my storage to look, good, lol!

JaneV2.0
9-25-11, 11:59pm
Add me to the list of clear plastic bin fans. I'm an unrepentant containerist! Thanks to a collection of bins and a stack of labels, I'm making noticeable progress. All my culling, sorting, storing, and labeling is slowly paying off.

Costco has wonderful big sturdy bins, and I've found some nice shoe boxes there, too. Otherwise, I buy Sterilite and Rubbermaid when I find them discounted.

madgeylou
9-26-11, 7:26am
being organized saves so much money and, just as important to me, time. there are people in my life who are so disorganized that i don't know how they get anything accomplished -- there's 10 emergencies a week (which i think stretches the definiton of the word emergency).

i've noticed that when you are disorganized, even the simplest things take twice as long. it's the same reason. that poor people often end up paying extra for check-cashing/crerdit/etc. when you're that close to the edge, you fall off more.

luckily i've been fairly organized for a while now ... not perfectly organized of course, but good enough to make sure i'm able to focus on longer term goals instead of shorter term fires. if only everybody would get their chit together, the world or at least my part of it would run so much more smoothly.

fidgiegirl
9-26-11, 8:51am
Costco has wonderful big sturdy bins, and I've found some nice shoe boxes there, too. Otherwise, I buy Sterilite and Rubbermaid when I find them discounted.

Ooh, thanks for this tip. I sometimes forget to check Costco for those kinds of items.

Crap, you guys, I have a million more thoughts on this, and will have to go to work . . . later!

Rosemary
9-26-11, 10:31am
I spent the last two nights re-organizing the kitchen. Somehow it went from "ok" to "intolerable" over the course of the past two weeks or so, and with houseguests and school starting I hadn't had time to get to it... but every time I needed to prep food or cook it was making me crazy. Just highlights how much more pleasant everything can be if things are organized...

Mrs-M
9-26-11, 10:38am
What an awesome thread this is! Enjoying all of the superb ideas! Great stuff everybody!

fidgiegirl
9-26-11, 6:12pm
Ok! I thought of another HUGE one for us.

It's the two-minute rule from Getting Things Done. If you can do it in two minutes or less, just do it. Don't put it off until later. Just do it.

An example of this is pulling out the computer when I get an unwanted catalog and entering it in Catalog Choice, then putting it in the recycling. I have fewer temptations and less paper coming into my home since doing this.

Another example is filling the filtered water right away when low. Less tempting to pull out a glass of milk or a can of pop instead since there is no water ready to go (rarely my choice, but it happens).

Also, paying bills when the arrive instead of hanging on to closer to the due date, forgetting, and then getting socked with a late fee, even though I had money to pay it (can you tell this has happened to me in the past . . .:|( )

In an unrelated one, I keep all my misc stamps in one spot. Last night I was able to cobble together enough for a letter to Canada instead of going to the post office.

WorldFoodie
9-27-11, 2:21am
A couple of food ideas...
In my upright freezer I store by shelves, meat in the bottom where it is coldest, then cheeses above, next shelf gets veggies on the left and fruits on the right, the top shelf breads and ready-to-eat. When I find I've got something that needs attention (been there too long) I use the allrecipes.com advanced search and fill in the items, then peruse the results. Spices, I loosely alphabetize from left to right. Items are put in my pantry withe the newest being in the back so I use the oldest first.

In my bedroom the clothes are organized by type and color - shirts, light to dark, pants, light to dark, etc. Any piece of clothing not seen by the public is put, by type, in a corner of a drawer just out of the laundry. My idea is why spend time folding panties etc. when the wrinkles will stretch out as I put them on my tushe. (grin)

simplelife4me
9-27-11, 9:53am
I've done the stupid thing of buying a CD that I already had...because I was not organized. Lesson learned.

Sissy
9-27-11, 1:08pm
A couple of food ideas...
In my upright freezer I store by shelves, meat in the bottom where it is coldest, then cheeses above, next shelf gets veggies on the left and fruits on the right, the top shelf breads and ready-to-eat. When I find I've got something that needs attention (been there too long) I use the allrecipes.com advanced search and fill in the items, then peruse the results. Spices, I loosely alphabetize from left to right. Items are put in my pantry withe the newest being in the back so I use the oldest first.

In my bedroom the clothes are organized by type and color - shirts, light to dark, pants, light to dark, etc. Any piece of clothing not seen by the public is put, by type, in a corner of a drawer just out of the laundry. My idea is why spend time folding panties etc. when the wrinkles will stretch out as I put them on my tushe. (grin)

I like the ideas you use for the freezer. There is absolutely no reason that I can't make that work. Thanks, mucho

Marianne
9-28-11, 8:44am
Terrific thread!
I didn't realize that I organized my freezer until I read some of these posts and thought 'hey, I do that already'. :o)

I have to unload the dishwasher so I know where things are. DH puts them wherever he thinks they should be, but he's not the cook here.

What drives me batty are all the paper sacks of screws, nails, odds and ends that we've had to buy. We have a boatload of plastic jars/containers for said items, even many metal 'parts drawers' on stands for tons of this stuff. DH is content to keep opening paper sacks until he finds what he needs - or doesn't find it and then buys more.

Me? Not so content with that routine. I'm using this stuff, too. So occasionally I go jihad on the work areas, sorting, grouping, putting things away and emptying out the dang bags! Six months later, I repeat. :o)

Mrs-M
10-7-11, 6:54am
Originally posted by WorldFoodie.
My idea is why spend time folding panties etc. when the wrinkles will stretch out as I put them on my tushe.ROTFLMAO! So true!!! This, is my laugh of the day!