No, there aren't really any numbers between 20 and 24...

Just because my life has been chaos lately, I'm not keeping up with my daily blogs...sorry.

Just because my life is still chaos, my blog entry for day 24 is pretty simple. It makes me laugh at how true this is to my wishes....

Day 20

Greetings!

Today I'm revisiting the kitchen. One of my favorite things to do with my mom as a kid was visit kitchen supply stores and look at the fancy tools. We would play this game with the tools. Basically we'd try to stump each other showing a gadget and the other person had to figure out what it did. This game began my obsession with cool tools. If it has a nifty purpose, I want it. I may never use it but once or twice in my life, but I want it anyway.

You don't want to see the drawers in my kitchen.

The process of going through these nifty gadgets and getting rid of the cool tools that I never use is something I dread. Why? I don't really care about the little figurines or other dust catchers that people collect, they don't have a whole lot of sentimental value to me. What really brings a tear to my eye is the cool gadgets.

I've been trying to figure out a way to keep all of them without living in clutter. I'm seriously considering some sort of modern art creation that would require welding the stuff I never use together...I just don't know where I'd put it...but it sounds cool, huh?

Anyhoo, how does one go about figuring out what one uses and doesn't use? Put all the tools in a bucket. A Tuff Tote works nicely. Take out your favorite spatula (you know you have one) and can opener (unless you use an electric that sits on your counter or something) and any other obviously used item. JUST ONE OF EACH! You can put these in your drawers.

Take the Tuff Tote with all the rest of your gadgets and take it out to the garage or somewhere else where it is not as easily accessible. Write down the date you did this and put it on the tote somewhere. The key here is to only take out stuff when you use it. After you use it, you can put it away in the drawer. One month later go back and look in the Tuff Tote. Any of that stuff you have not used in a month...so you probably don't need it. The only exceptions that I would make are the stuff you only use for special occasions. Holiday cooking is a bit different and sometimes I use different stuff. For those things, I'd take them and store them in a holiday bin. Break them out when you break out your decorations so you can celebrate with all your cool tools.

Day 19...No, I didn't notice that I skipped 17 and 18...

Did I mention that my life is chaos? I am becoming more determined and yet more distracted...it doesn't help when I spend time in the hospital, though.

Enough whining. I'll explain better in my other blog...if I can.

Today I'd like to talk to you about putting away groceries. Okay, it's really about your kitchen cabinets and fridge. I'm not incredibly organized in this area. It's one of those things that I will be working on and will have before and after pictures for. It's going to be awesome.

I recently heard a trick about grouping things in baskets or boxes by type of item (i.e. all the pasta in one big basket) that makes it easier to find what you are looking for as opposed to sorting based on the size and shape of the container. It also creates space on the shelves and looks better.

My plan is to use the Bin Pulls from Clever Container to hold those items together. The thing I'm afraid of in a basket is that I won't see when I'm out of something or I'll miss it because it's under something in the basket. Bin pulls are clear so you can see everything. It won't look as pretty as the baskets, but it will be more functional...and I'm closing my pantry when I'm done anyway.

On the inside of my pantry door I have Clever Pockets. This is one thing I already do to organize stuff. The clear pockets hold all the drink packets, spice packets, and general small stuff that goes in my pantry. It is really nice to have.

Other than that, because I'm going green...er I'm going to be switching to bags of cereal for the girls and getting cereal containers that will make it easier to store the cereal. I have a tendency to always buy the same kinds (but still sticking to what is on sale) so this should be pretty simple to transition to.

My kids put away the groceries most of the time. If the twins are in charge of cans, I never know what my pantry will look like, but if my son is doing it, the pantry is usually in order. Canned soups, vegetables, everything has a place and an order with him. The girls just put it in fast. My son is more likely to take everything out of the pantry and put it back in in order so that he has control over the order and there is no chaos. If only all my kids had a bit of OCD in them....

Day 16

Tip of the day: You can't organize other people. You can go through their stuff with them and set them on the path to organization, but you just can't change them to make them organized.

The decision to become more organized has to come from them. I try to organize my family, but the reality is, they have to choose to organize themselves somewhere along the way. I teach the principles to my kids and help them set routines, but they have to do it themselves for the lasting effect.

I can't actually organize my husband. He is a man who can be very organized, but doesn't choose to be all the time. From what I understand, he is an amazing secretary...can one do that without being organized? He is really good at his job, but at home...he's kind of a mess. An awesome mess who does great things for his family...but I still pick up his socks from the living room floor daily.

The hardest lesson I've learned in my marriage is that my husband will change when God moves him or he decides to change on his own. I'm not going to change him. I could leave his socks in the floor, but that wouldn't do anything but create a pile. I could complain, but that only makes me angry when it doesn't work and he doesn't listen. The fact is, Tony will change when he decides to. Until then, I pick up the socks.

I say this not to make you stop from hiring a professional organizer, but to help you realize that hiring someone to clean up your mess is temporary, you have to change to make your life more organized. The professionals are here to teach you, but you have to decide to learn and do it.

Day 15

Pictures are my friends.  I love taking them, I love playing with them (on the computer and/or scrapbooking), I love looking at them.  I'm not the best photographer, but I'm good at what I do. 

How does one organize pictures?  If they are printed, Clever Container has an awesome Photo Organizer that does the job well without damaging your pictures if you need to store them for a long time.

On the computer is another thing entirely.  I recently purchased software from Creative Memories (I know several awesome consultants if you need one).  It's called Memory Manager.  The coolest thing about this software is the organizing system.  As you go through your photos, you can sort them several different ways and it can access the photos in different categories...it's kind of like tagging them.  I really like it.  Honestly, there are probably a bunch of programs out there that do the same thing, but this one I earned for free by hosting a party, so I got it...free is good.

So there you go, that's how I organize my photos.  Now I need to go take some.

Day 14

Today I am packing for the weekend. A couple of years ago that would have meant I threw a bunch of clothes in a backpack and just rolled. It's probably my new obsession with always being organized and prepared, but suddenly one backpack has become a backpack, a bag and my purse. I am beginning to understand why so many women pack so much.

Now, my backpack and travel bag are filled with different things. I have snacks (I'm going to a women's retreat with my church friends) and stuff to do in there. Then I have a rolling bag. It has my clothes, toiletries, my Bible and a couple of books in there. I actually made a checklist so I could make sure I had everything.

If you know me, you know how different that is.

I was that person who always used to have to run by Walmart on the way to wherever we were going because I forgot a toothbrush...and/or soap...and/or deodorant...okay, anything else besides clothes...unless I happened to forget to bring some of those too. It was especially bad after my kids were born. I just didn't keep myself together. My kids were okay. I usually had everything they really needed. Not always in diaper bags, sometimes in the back of my car....

I have this basic aversion to carrying anything. I like having my hands free. Now that my kids are getting older I'm carrying more stuff. I know, that's the opposite of most people, but it's true. I carry stuff to keep my kids from going crazy. I carry stuff to keep myself from going crazy. I carry stuff to be more organized and prepared. I just carry more stuff.

The thing that I'm using to make things more organized for this weekend (beyond the normal stuff) is my Grip It from Clever Container. I have cords for my phone, all my travel size stuff, my contacts, pens, medicine and hair things all in that little grip it. It's all easy to see and easy to get to. My travel size stuff is secured a bit better (so it doesn't pop open while we drive up or down the mountain and spill everywhere) with tape...which is in the Grip it too so I can secure it on the way back.

I'm pretty sure I'm prepared for most things and I have easy access to everything. The one thing I wish I had is the Shelves On the Go from Clever Container. It would make things even easier to access when I'm there...but I don't have one...yet.

Day 12...and 13

Okay, so maybe I was a little ambitious with the EVERY day thing. It's not as easy as it sounds.

Today I'm going to talk about kids and school. Every day last year my kids came home from school and suddenly my house (which may or may not look lovely before they get there) suddenly looked like a tornado just came through it. I worked and worked to find a solution before my youngest two started school. This is what I came up with.

First of all, I put hooks in the living room for their backpacks. I tried having everything in their rooms, but it just doesn't work. They come in and drop everything still. I now have a place for everything that they need to drop when they come in the door. The hooks were a good start. I found a cute little shelf with hooks under it at my local craft store and painted it with the colors of my living room. There are 4 hooks and 4 kids...this is really important.

For those of you cringing about your decor, remember the backpacks on the floor or everything you have to say to your kids, "pick that up and put it in your room!" all the time. I don't do that.

Also there's the clipboard. Anything that needs a parent signature to return to the teachers gets put on the clipboard. If it doesn't get on the clipboard, it doesn't get signed. My kids don't get in trouble, so these are mostly reading logs and that kind of thing.

Papers that are being cleaned out of backpacks go into a box for me to go through and decide what I'm keeping. I like Clever Container's Document boxes for this because they are small...so I don't let the job get too big before taking care of it.

All this stuff goes on the shelf. Sometimes it gets overwhelmed, but it's not spread all over my house so no one knows where things went.

Bonus tip:

Okay, it was really the tip from yesterday: many cultures practice taking their shoes off as they come in the house. This is awesome for organization as well. My family does this out of the desire to be barefoot more than the clean house or cultural practice. What do you do with the shoes? Do you have a neat place for them? My girls have Clever Pockets on the outside of their door to keep their shoes in. Why the outside of their door? I can look over and see how many there are and know what needs to be found before morning...plus they see it as they open their door so it reminds them without my having to say anything. My husband and I have little baskets for our shoes in the living room. He and I mostly wear one pair of shoes each throughout the week so this is practical for us...plus I'm lazy and don't want to take the time to go to my room every time I take off my shoes.

Day 11: Shopping

I am a serious shopper. It's something I have to tame in myself. I am also a bargain hunter. Not just a sale at a departments store, I want clearance at the outlet. I also shop thrift stores regularly. I'm pretty cheap, but I'm a SAHM and I want to stay that way.

Here's the thing, that kind of shopping can lead to a lot of clutter. It's really easy to say "oh, it's only 50 cents, so if I don't use it, it's not that much of a waste." The problem with that attitude is that when you get home and don't use it, you still have to get rid of it. Getting rid of bargains is just not as easy as it sounds.

The tip that I'm giving you, whether you are shopping with me at Clever Container or at a thrift store or in a mall is that if you aren't going to use it, don't buy it. Impulse buying is the worst clutter creator in my house. I'll see something, find it great for (fill in the blank) then never use it. It just doesn't fit in my life at that moment. However, if I'm going shopping and I have a specific purpose to fix a problem in my life or fill a specific desire, I'm more likely to actually use the thing that I buy.

Thrift shopping is difficult to stick to this with. I'm always finding something else besides what I originally came for. This morning I was looking at winter jackets for my kids (I pay $5 or less for these at a thrift store as opposed to $40 or $50 and still get good stuff). I walked away with one for only 2 out of 3 girls and none for my boy. They just didn't have everything I wanted up to my standards and it's not like I needed them for today. The problem was that right next to the jackets was jeans...and they were half off...I walked...then talked myself into going and looking for my oldest daughter who walked out the door this morning in jeans that seemed a bit too snug. She probably has enough to last her a while, but I thought I should replace the ones she had on today. Honestly, it's not like I spent much (I paid about $1 a pair), but I left there with things that I probably could do without. Okay, I also walked past the books and HAD to stop. I had already compromised, it was too hard to stop myself. I left still under budget, but with only half the jackets that I originally needed.

See? I'm bad. Don't do this to yourself! Stick to a list! You can do it!

Day10: The Scheduler

My schedule is really crazy. Between everything that my kids do, all the therapies that my son needs, everything that my husband does, everything I do with my business, all our family activities, and caring for my grandmother's appointments and being her chauffeur, I'm a time juggler.

Writing things down isn't really in my nature. Until recently I remembered just about everything and stuff just worked out. Along came MS.

I can't remember anything anymore.

I started writing things down on multiple calendars trying to have enough space for everything, color coding one calendar that we had in a prominent place in the house...all these things just didn't work. They didn't go with me when I needed them. They didn't keep everyone straight.

Enter the smart phone.

I used every calendar on my phone until I found an app that works for me. Every list I need to take, every appointment that needs to have a spot, every time that I have to remember goes in this app. It's called Cozi. I can coordinate all the kids' schedules, my husband's schedules, my schedules, and everything else on the calendar. I know who is supposed to be where because of that app. The grocery list is there. The to do lists are there (and can be sent to the person who needs to do them via email if necessary). There's even a spot for a journal for the scrapbooker in me who wants to remember stuff about certain events. It's really cool.

The other cool thing is that my husband and I both have the app on our phones and share the calendar and everything in real time. If I'm at the grocery store he can add stuff to the list while I'm looking at it if I've forgotten something. He can look at the schedule and find out where everyone else is to see if he has the ability to say that he will be somewhere. He knows where everyone is as well as I do.

I love it that I don't have to remember things, I just have to check Cozi. It's an easy habit to get into. It works great for my family.

Day 8 and 9

Okay, I have another fail. This one had more to do with a technological error.  I tried to post, but it wouldn't upload from my phone because I was in the middle of nowhere with no service.  Anyhow, I have my post for the weekend and we are just going to leave it at that.

This weekend I am getting hand me down clothes for my girls from their cousin.  Before these clothes go into the drawers or closet, I'm taking out a bunch of other clothes that they don't or can't wear.  These clothes are separated into 2 piles, trash and hand to the next kid(s). Anything that has a stain/hole/otherwise messed up goes to the trash.  The other goes into a bag. 

Here's the trick that makes all the difference in the world: get rid of the bag the same day that you collect it from the drawer.  If it is going to someone not close by, put it in the mail that day.  If it's going to a friend, give it to them that day.  If it's being donated somewhere, do it that day.  Don't leave the bag somewhere that makes it become clutter in your house.  Consider that step to be the last step in cleaning those drawers and don't do it until you have time to finish the job.

I've found that if the bag doesn't disappear, someone will find it and want the stuff back.  Then the clutter spreads everywhere again.

Just finish it.

Day 7...oops

Okay, so technically it's not the 7th.  I messed up.  I missed a day.  I'll make it up with 2 blog posts today.

Since I messed up on creating my habit, I think I'll talk about that.  Habits are formed when you determine to do something consistantly for a length of time, right?  Did you know, though, that backsliding is actually an important step in creating the habit too?

The goal for me is to become more organized, and in this specific case, blogging about it consistantly every day. Creating a habit.  Missing a day can do one of 2 things: it can make me give up, or it can make me all the more determined to create the habit.  It's all a matter of what I choose to do about my mistake.

At the moment my choice is clear, I choose to become more determined.  If I make another mistake, my determination will hopefully increase again.  I hope I do not slip again, but it could happen.  The choice is still open with every failure, but if your determination builds every time you fail, you will eventually reach your goal.

Failure isn't bad unless you don't learn from it.

Day 6: You and Your Purse

I can't claim to be an expert on purses. I really don't like to carry one. It's just a necessity to me. Still, I have read a book on the subject and gotten a few tips from a professional organizer who works with me in Clever Container, Melissa Schmalenberger. She is an amazing lady and a wonderful upline.

Anyway, here is my take on purses.

My purse weight varies. It really depends on what I'm doing that day. It mostly depends on all the stuff that my kids need...okay, maybe the business too. Mostly I just want to be prepared. It's the reason why most women carry all their stuff in their purses, right? Did you know that the American Chairpractic Association says that your purse should weigh less than 3 pounds? How many of us can claim that every day. Most of us have backs that are in serious trouble. According to Kelley Styring's book, In Your Purse (the Amazon link is above), most women's purses weigh between 5-10 lbs. Scary.

My purse, like most women's is a mobile junk drawer. The difference between the one on my arm and the one in my house is that my purse gets cleaned out once in a while...mostly because I can't find anything...but I usually am switching purses when I do it. Imagine being able to go to the store and buying another junk drawer...you'd never find anything.

So what can we do to fix these problems? My new favorite thing for my purse is the Grip It On-the-Go from Clever Container. Seriously, I have saved a ton of time searching for stuff that falls to the bottom of my purse because of that thing. It makes reaching into my purse less of a nightmare. Everything just slips right in, but unless you are taking it out, it doesn't fall out. It grips on to your stuff so even if you are flinging it (say, you dropped it on the floor or your kid digs into your purse for something and moves it out of the way...yeah, that's happened to me) stuff doesn't come out. Nothing comes out unless you take it out. It's really cool.

There are a bunch of other CC products that I could talk about, but I'm trying to restrain myself.

So, when is the last time you cleaned out your purse? I just cleaned mine out today, but that is because I'm having a Clever Container Purse Party tonight...that's why my mind is on this subject. I wonder what my mind will be on tomorrow....

Day 5: Crafty Chaos

Recently my daughters joined a group of kids making Artist Trading Cards weekly. It's a really fun and quick project for our girls to do all the time.

Today was my turn to host. That meant the kids were all at my house. Today's theme was paint.

If one isn't organized, this can be a minor disaster.

Someone else had snack duty, so I didn't have to worry about that, but the paint, paintbrushes, tables, drop cloths, etc. were all my job. I began with the table and tablecloth leftover from my son's birthday party. As a matter of fact, just about everything I put out that wasn't paint and brushes was leftovers from his party. We used leftover paper cups for water to wash out brushes and leftover napkins for wiping hands and brushes. It was really nice to use all that stuff. We weren't likely to throw another Cars 2 party, so there was not another use for them.

Having everything out before the kids arrived wasn't really an option...or as it turned out, a good idea. It was nice to have everything ready to put out, but not actually out yet so the kids were listening to the instructions before starting.

Just because I happened to have a spare inexpensive canvas sitting around, I thought I'd throw in an extra project for the kids to do for a break from the usual 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inch papers. I set up an easel with the canvas and all the kids painted a bit on the single canvas. It was fun to see it come together.

Another thing I did that really worked out well was having a small TV for the little kids in another room besides where they were painting for the younger kids when they got bored of crafts. I put on short movies so they could come back and work again when they wanted to instead of being glued to the TV.

Having all the supplies ready is a given, but having a place for the kids to clean up after themselves can sometimes be forgotten. As I took out everything while giving the kids instructions, I showed them where everything went when they were done so that they didn't have to be told again and again when they were done. All anyone had to say was "time to clean up!" and everyone knew just what to do.

My house is not very big. There were 8 kids here from ages 5 to 10 plus 4 parents. It didn't feel overcrowded, but there still wasn't much space. It could have easily gone crazy, though, without a touch of organization.

Day 4: The School Meeting

I have four kids in school now. One has special needs and has an Individual Education Plan (IEP). An IEP is a contract with the school district about what accommodations and goals that my son needs set in place for an appropriate education. It's really just all about money and my son's needs.

Some parents see IEP meetings as a battle between you and the school district...and it can be, but not always. It really depends on who is involved. My meetings are rarely a battle. I come heavily armed anyways. It's always best to be prepared. Budget cuts tend to be a major weapon, but I battle with the law (free appropriate public education...it's a federal law) and lots and lots of data.

My biggest tip in organizing school meetings is this: come prepared with paper data. It shows the school that you are paying attention. You know what your child needs because you are watching. The data is what will prove your point more than anything.

Generally I hate papers. They clutter up my life. I have too many of them. I was once told by a professional organizer (and I totally believe this statistic) that 80% of papers that come into your house you will never look at again. If I'm never going to look at them or need them, why have them? IEP meetings are the reason why I keep every paper that comes home from my son's school. I know, that's crazy to many people, but I have found that having that data made all the difference in the world. Writing samples to prove that my son was not improving with the current writing program no matter what their test data showed. When papers came home with test scores, I keep them and compare because there have been discrepancies and I needed an explanation. All these things make me keep everything. It's the reason why I have an IEP that makes a lot of parents jealous. My son has a 1 to 1 aid. It's not completely unheard of in the district, but most parents have had to hire lawyers to get them. I didn't spend a dime.

Okay, now what did I do to organize all that stuff? File boxes. It's not pretty, but I separate by month and year. I can't take them with me to the IEP meetings, but I can take samples from each month. Getting rid of everything but the samples is probably going to be my next step, but not for anything within 3 years of education. Anything past 3 years probably isn't going to be helpful...except for my samples. I want to show progress (or lack thereof) over time and the best way to do that is to have my own file for these things.

That's my mess, but it's effective.

My girls get files too, but no where near as extensive. They don't have as much of a need. My girls' tests are in the files as well as samples of other work. I like to be able to compare my data to what the teachers present in report cards or parent/teacher conferences. If I ever had a discrepancy, I know I can bring up the issue with papers in hand. Mostly teachers are good about this, though. At least my girls' teachers. They have to prove stuff too, so they are usually prepared. I'm pretty sure that I'm on a list of parents not to mess with, though. I know I am in the district office. People know my name there and it can be said with a bit of a groan. No one has to like me, though. They just have to provide my kids an appropriate education.

Today I have organized my Sophisticated File Tote with everything I need from my files for my son's yearly review of his IEP. I have made a list of my goals for my son. I have made a list of things that I know will help him achieve those goals. All I have to do now is explain my position and listen to the others on the team and work with them to create a plan for the rest of the year that will help my son reach his goals. It makes the meetings less of a fight when I have this attitude. I can only have this attitude if I'm already organized and prepared.

Day 3: Doctor visits and the ER

Today I am inspired by a visit to the ER with my son who had a seizure.

What is to be organized with an emergency visit to the hospital? Well, everything runs much smoother when you have all your important medical information in one place. My son visits the doctor often.  I keep all his information in my purse.  I keep it there because of emergency visits like the one we had today are far too frequent.  My girls have a separate file that is at home, but easy to grab.

What is in their file? Doctor cards, shot records, information about significant past visits to the doctor, and lists of all medication that is being taken.  My son's shot record is actually in that file at home with the girl's stuff, I have the doctor cards and medication information in my purse as well as a list of all important dates (date and time of last seizure, last time he got a shot, last doctor visits, etc).  It's the abbreviated version for ER doctors who can look up most things on the computer.

Going to a regular office visit, I bring the entire file, a list of any questions or concerns that I have, and about 5 things for my child(ren) to do in case we have to wait a while.  That means a video game, a small pack of crayons and paper, stickers, an MP3 player, or anything else that is small and doesn't have a lot of pieces.  All this goes in a little bag for them to carry.  I like to use reusable shopping bags because they ar easy for the kids to carry and hold a lot of stuff conveniently.

I know most parents have this down after the first year and all those doctor visits, but since I'm blogging every day and visiting the doctor is obviously on my mind, I figured I'd share that.  Tomorrow is going to be fun...I have an IEP (it's a school thing for special needs kids...I'll explain better tomorrow) so I'll be talking about being organized for school meetings. 

Day 2: Organizing Kids for Church

I have to admit, my husband does most of this. He's amazing. He gets up with the kids every morning and gets them ready. I'm up in time to speed things up and do hair for my girls.

The thing that I've always gotten wrong is I don't set things out the night before. I know in my head that it would make things run smoother, but I just don't do it. I love it that my girls make decisions about their clothes and we work together to build the outfit. I could do that the night before, but I know that I'm always in a hurry to get them to bed, so it's difficult to focus on the next day in the midst of that.

Still, it's just an excuse.

I'm working on it. My plan (I have a lot of plans) is to begin putting their clothes together in complete outfits when I'm folding and putting away clothes. Then I want to get the Handbag file from Clever Container and put the outfits in the sleeves there. That way the girls have complete outfits ready that they can see and they don't have to go searching around for the stuff to make an outfit. Having putting it away like that makes me use less time because I will be eliminating the step of doing it every day.

That's the plan. Stay tuned to see if it works. I'm going to get at least one of those handbag files this month to test it out...I just have to afford it first.

Day 1: A Tip from an old Pooh

"Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up." A. A. Milne

Tonight I have a Clever Container party. The hostess is a friend of a friend and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm organizing a routine for each party so I can make sure I don't forget anything.

The most important item for me in my business is my Sophisticated File Tote. My pink one holds all my papers for my party. It's basically my business in a box...a very cute box.

Using this tote for the first time, I immediately thought of several other things I could do with it. I now have one in chocolate to take with me to my son's IEP meetings and I am saving up for another to organize my bills.

What else am I doing? I'm taking out all my Clever Container stuff and setting it up in my house so I know I have everything. One of these days I hope to eliminate the need for that step, but for now, I just don't feel comfortable without it. I am making a checklist so I know I have the things the hostess specifically wanted to see. I'm making a phone call to my hostess to make sure everything is running smooth on her end and calming any fears or pumping her up so she is as excited as I am.

The step I usually forget is to eat before I go. I have to put that on my checklist...sometime before getting dressed so I don't get stuff on me.

See how easy it is to be a Clever Container consultant? My hostess said she could have as many as 20 at her party so I should take home a good amount for a few hours of fun. When the order arrives I will have the opportunity to deliver to my hostess all her goodies and get some wonderful feedback about the good time everyone had. It's going to be a great day.

Why?

Why in the world would I want to start this blog?

This blog is going to be all about my journey in organization. I just want to share all the little things that I am working on to organize my house, my Clever Container business, and everything else I can organize.

Why not just use the old blog for that?

I just don't want to. Supermommie's Beautiful Life is all about my family and my life. I guess I just don't want organizing to be my whole life. I like being me. I like my family. I like not having to tell my family and friends constantly about my business.

Am I just going to use this blog for spamming purposes so I can put all my business stuff in one place?

No, not just that. I will be advertising for my Clever Container business here, and I will be showing the products off and everything that I am doing in my house/car/etc. with my products. I will also be sharing some other organizing stuff that I am picking up along the way.

Who are you anyway?

I'm Supermommie. Okay, I'm also Trina Escarzaga, follower of Christ, Clever Container consultant (BTW, you should go check out my products at www.clevercontainer.com/trinaescarzaga I'll be mentioning them a lot. ), terrible housekeeper, super mom, anti-perfectionist, crazy lady who talks too much. That's why I blog. There's not much about me that I am quiet about. I'll share almost anything with random people. I'm pretty opinionated, but God is working on me with that. If you want to know more about me you can read my aforementioned blog about my life.

So here we go. My challenge for myself is to blog every day for the first 31 days...well, for the entire month of October. So that really starts tomorrow. So basically this post doesn't count for much. I'm just posting it because I want to just start my regular posts tomorrow instead of introductions. So consider yourself introduced!