Everyday Organisation

Keeping everything at home in it's place or even finding place for things, can be a challenge. Clutter in a family home can easily become overwhelming, with children to 'help', we are just tiny mice trying to push an elephant up a hill on a hot day! Here are some different methods to try and make it all a bit easier on ourselves and keeping it simple will hopefully help the rest of the brood follow suit.

We used to have a drawer in our house, which we called the Man Drawer, after the Michael McIntyre bit. It would be unfair to say that my husband was the only one throwing random bits in it though, we were all guilty of that. One day, I set about sorting through it to see what on earth was getting dumped in there and made the effort to find places for all the clutter. A year on, these are the solutions which proved most affective at keeping the decks clear and we still use them today!

Spare change was scattered all over that drawer, but it looks even better now it's stowed away in this beautiful pot from Terramundi.

They are not only lovely to look at, but are also a fantastic answer to saving up those pennies for something nice. Breaking them open once they are full may seem a waste, but if opened properly, they can be reused for other purposes (a fancy plant pot for example!). They come in all sorts of designs and can be personalised too.

Piles of post coming through the door can be a real nuisance. Junk mail used to drive me banana's! Somehow it worked it's way further into the house with the important mail and then that would all get stacked up before filing. The solution to this was not the Man Drawer!

Firstly, putting a waste paper bin in the entrance way, immediately stopped the junk mail problem. I could dispose of all the nonsense; putting a stop to the funeral services and frozen food outlet invasion! Simple I know, but how many of us keep a bin in the hallway?

Secondly, for all the important mail that needs a place to be kept before being filed away, I got a napkin holder! Now that might sound a bit weird, but this works I swear! I have it on a table by the front door with the bin below. Junk goes straight in the bin, I open all the post before it gets any further into the house and if it needs filing it goes right in the napkin holder. At the weekend I file it all away, ready for the next week. There are some pretty options to chose from to suit your style. These are just a few from Ikea and range in price from £1.50-£5.00. (Oh the expense!)

Batteries are a pain in the bum to store! They roll about, square batteries should be kept away from metal (serious fire hazard) and they always get mixed up with ones that don't work; though no one ever understands how! The solution to this was a plastic compartment box.

Some boxes come with adjustable compartments, I found this one to be ideal though. It's about A4 size and fits really nicely and discretely in a cupboard or shelf until needed. I divided all the batteries up and stuck a nice chalkboard label on the front (in case the person looking for them is incompetent-the box is transparent!)

Pens I have squirrelled away into a nice decorative tin near the phone (there is never a pen when I need one mid-way through a call). I wanted them out; so I could grab one quick; tidy for obvious reasons and disguised from the sneaky sticky fingered children, so I actually had some left to use! Here are a couple of lovely tins which fit the bill. (There is something about this duck tin that makes me smile!)

These are from Temptation Gifts and they have a really good selection. These are Wrendale and Sara Miller, but they also stock Emma Bridgewater, Orla Keily and lots of others too.

The amount of keys we found in the Man Drawer, which had no purpose whatsoever, was astonishing. Neither I or my husband had any recollection of where they came from and upon further investigation, we found they didn't fit any locks we had. We binned those, labelled the rest and now keep them all safely tucked away in a nice decorative pot (I had bought to cheer up the house a bit). There are lots of pretty pots and jugs available which will do the trick and add beauty to a home. Here are some of my favourite designers...

Emma Bridgewater Pottery

Burleigh Pottery

Hogben Pottery

I hope these tips have proven useful, they certainly worked for us and help keep our house a happy home.

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