"How Do You Do It?"

Believe it or not, I get asked fairly often, "How do you do it all?" Between two children, homeschooling, digital designing, and working one day a week outside of the home, how do you get everything done and still find time for the things you love/enjoy like crafting and scrapbooking?

There is no short answer to this question. It has multiple, multiple parts. :) I'll start by sharing a couple today. Of course, I couldn't do it without the loving support of my hubby, who knows that those things that I do for myself help keep me sane. lol I'm a creative person at heart, and need to have that as a part of my life in order to be happy...

A good place to start with this is organization. I don't think of myself as a super organized person, but... I like to have a place for everything. ie., I do not alphabetize ANYTHING, but there's a spot where most things BELONG.

For me, that translates into baskets. Mostly because I'm a dump and go kinda person. Here's a great example: DVD's on the right, Wii games and controllers on the left. All within handy reach, but hidden away, so things are nice and neat in short order.
Another example: schoolbooks. At the end of the day, they're tossed into this basket and then slide right under the table with the pretty gray table cloth. Ready for tomorrow, but neatly hidden away... Finished loose schoolwork pages go directly into a binder in a closed cabinet close by...
Linen closet: this is right around the corner from the sink in our master bathroom... below the second shelf are the towels, and then the linens...
Recipes: as you all know if you follow my blog at all, I'm a true foodie at heart. I grew up cooking and baking, and then worked in the industry under a couple of great chefs that taught me a lot... so I've got quite a pile from some of my favorite authors. That dumpy looking binder on top is my collection of stuff that I'm hoping to organize this year!

Magazines and family devo stuff: This and the previous basket are kept underneath the side tables in the living room...
Ok, don't burn me for this one! This is the hall closet with the cleaners, cleaning cloths, and the top shelf is our hurricane preparedness basket with batteries, flashlights, candles, etc. On the floor, I have a cooler for grocery shopping and our re-usable shopping bags. Dust mops and broom are there, too.
Ok! That's it for today! The boys room is also filled with various baskets and organizers, but I didn't take the time to photograph those.

If you can stick with me, I'll be sharing my cleaning philosophy/method next week! I generally don't spend a lot of time cleaning, and that says a LOT since we have two small boys!

One last photo before I got today. Homemade cream of chicken and rice soup topped with yummy goldfish crackers...
Please leave a comment to let me know if you find this post interesting and/useful! I'd love to know! :) Have a great Thursday!