4-DRAWER CHALLENGE. Drawer 2/4: Personal documents

Assalamualaikum & good day,

Source

The above image, is a good guide on important documents that we should be keeping in an organized system. In the spirit of the 4 drawers challenge, I'll be sharing on how I organize my personal documents' drawer. I referred to 1 and 2, on what and how to organize the documents.

Steps

1. Empty out the drawers. Lined them with A4 colored papers.
2. Arrange containers in drawer 1 & 2 and filled them with the treasured items.
3. I don't have file box. So I used three expanded files to store the documents. Sort the documents into categories: finance, family and others. 

Cost

Zero cost. I used the expanding files from previous projects. The bills are now organized using a different system. Will share about it soon.

What next?

Sort the rest of the documents and make labels to each section.

Before & after

Now that I've created 'home' for the documents, hopefully they won't pile up in the drawers like before :)

Before (will post them later. In a different HP)

After

Drawer 1: Stationaries and coins

Drawer 2: Bills / Credit Card Statements, old CDs, greeting cards, cords

Drawer 3: Note books and 

• Expanding File 1: Finance - Bank Statements.  
• Expanding File 2: Family - Medical receipts/insurance paperwork. 
• Expanding File 3: Others - Copies of certificates, etc.
• Files: Receipts, Tax Items, etc  

~That's all from me. Have a great weekend~

TASK 1: DAILY/WEEKLY SCHEDULE

Salam Ramadhan al-Mubarak & good day,
About 2 weeks ago, I dreamt of completing major tasks in 4-week wait-no-more challenge. We could only plan, but He has a better plan for us :) Things happen. So, I've to be realistic & made changes to tasks, to within my capability. Here it is, Task 1 is Daily/Weekly Schedule.

Steps
1. I arranged the task in Jen's template.
2. I downloaded the schedule from here

Cost
RM1.50 A4 hard case
RM3.50 Post-it note (in a case)
RM5.00

After

I don't want to re-print the page nor wipe the case every day. Post-it notes works for me at the moment. Well, better to put them there than posting it on the computer screen ;)

When a task is done, I simply take down the Post-it note. If it is yet to be completed, the note stays there. 

~Happy fasting & organising~

FOUR-WEEK CHALLENGE

Assalamualaikum & good day,

I've a few deadlines to meet, at work. But at home, I've projects to complete as well. So, I'm taking up Jen's four-week challenge. Basically, in this challenge, everyone needs to tackle a project/week in four weeks time.

Tools
I'll be using Jen's checklist to outline my tasks.

At the moment, my plan is to tackle the following problems:

1. Kids' drop zone
2. Pantry
3. Old photos
4. Kids' school record

Hopefully, I'll a able to cross one of the tasks by the end of this week. That's all for now.

~Happy organizing~

MONTHLY CHALLENGE: 2015 PLANNER

All praise to Allah for still giving us the chance to breath in this world. Tomorrow, a new year shall begin. How time flies. There are tasks which are not yet completed & worst have not yet started T.T Hopefully I'd be strong enough to push myself & others around me to be a better person tomorrow and the day after tomorrow & so on insyaa Allah. As a preparation to boost up the spirit, I spent ~1 hour to personalised my 2015 planner - courtesy from my employer :) {same as Ayu's ;)} Basically, there are three sections: 

 Weekly view 

Note section

     Monthly view

The monthly view is quite small to write any note on it. Not a problem. For monthly view, I prefer to use the digital calendar as practised by Nah where I can share, receive & synchronise any event easily with my colleagues and Mr Hubby.

Steps

1. Add tab flags at the start of each month. 

2. Divide the note section to six divisions; 5 divisions are for each child and 1 division is for family. The planner acts as my family journal as well - idea from Sarah. I added an envelope to each division to hold tickets, cards etc.

3. I put two envelopes on the cover side as pockets. In one of them, I put loose note pads in case I need to write notes to someone. Have you ever torn down pages of your planner/diary because you or someone need a piece of paper? I've done that & do not wish to repeat it again. The pages are priceless to me.

Cost

Paper tab flags RM9.50 (Kedai Buku Syabab)

What next?

I haven't put labels on the tab. Planning to have them printed nicely as done by Fizah. I wonder if she accepts sticker label orders. Do you Fizah? :)

Before & after

Hopefully I'll be more productive in 2015 with the help from my PA, the planner ^.^

Linking with Fizah's challenge

ORGANIZING ENTRYWAY

One of the problems we have during the early morning rush hour is finding the socks. 

Do you have the same problem too? 

Besides solving problem, I decided to extend my project to cover the entryway as well (Task 25 in my to-do list). Why? Just look at the photo.  ~So not inviting~ Expect heavy traffic by the door. Coat hanger: collection point for headscarves, bags and jackets. Drawers: home for socks, hand-socks, gloves and on top of the drawers, stop point for mail/bill sorter. 

Steps:

1. Re-arrange the socks in the drawers using dividers. Label each divider: Dad, Mom, Boys, Girls
2. Cover the front side of the drawers with wall paper.
3. Move the coat hanger and the drawers to the other side of the sofa.
4. Hang a kufi poster under the switches.
5. Organize the mail/bill center.

CostDrawer divider (RM2.90x3) RM8.70 (Mr. DIY)Wall paper RM3.30 (Mr. DIY)Pre-loved kufi poster RM5 (Creative by two)Total = RM17 
What next? Maybe I'll put the basket, which I used to keep my headscarves before, under the switches. Before and afterNow everyone can go in and out of the entrance freely as the coat hanger is not longer in the way. Most importantly, the socks can be found in a nick of a time to be put on the happy feet :) 

  

Linking with Fizah's challenge

MONTHLY CHALLENGE: AIR WELL AREA

Susun Atur Sioca is having another challenge, organization in air well area, sponsored by http://mylifeconcerto.blogspot.com/ - a catalyst for me to 'work' on the area. As in most homes, we use the area as our mini library & also as family area where we put

• books - too many for the small space
• sofa - 2 of them (in cream & brown) that caused the area feeling cramped
• TV - with disorganized wires 

Our area definitely need a TLC... 

Source

Mine

Steps

1. Re-arrange the books
2. Organize the TV & broadband wires
3. Move the cream colored cover sofa to reading area, leaving only the brown sofa
4. Put a carpet in front of the brown sofa

Cost
Nil

What next?
Label the file stands.

Before & after
After days of planning & organizing ... =)

MONTHLY CHALLENGE: HIGH/LOW OF BROOCH ORGANIZATION

I use brooch every time I go out to hold my scarves. Thus, quick and easy access to my brooch collection is so important as I usually have time limit of 5 minutes (to transform to a supermom) to wear my scarves. Really in need of a better way to coral my brooch collection instead of putting them in a box and digging in the pile every time I need to find a brooch.

Jen organizes her jewelries by using ceramic egg crate, at a cost about USD4-7. Convenient and practical,  I adore it. Diane uses the same crate but yellow in color. Yellow? Wait a second. I have something like that too. Thanks a lot for the idea!

Jen's

Diane's

Mine

Cost
Recycled Ferrero Rocher box RM0 (did you notice it?)





What next?
Buy another box of Ferrero Rocher to organize more brooch collection ;)

High & Low

"My momma always said, life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you gonna get" [Forrest Gump, 1994]

So, true. Let's eat chocolate gals =)

High

Low

Linking with Jen's challenge

MONTHLY CHALLENGE: FAMILY AREA

This is my first entry in an organizing challenge :) which is organised by Susun Atur Sioca Kecil. The sponsors are

1. Rehan's Wardrobe & 
2. Aku Bukan Penulis Tegar 

As an introduction, my family area is average in size. There's nothing much can be done in terms of arrangement of the furniture. In addition, my youngest child is only 1 year plus. That really constrict how and where I put my stuff. 

In this entry, I only want to address one problem. The messiness of the shelves - quite obvious right. A family area is where we want to have a peace of mind, chatting with each other whilst watching the TV. I can't enjoy/concentrate on the TV program because of the two-disorganize-shelves by it's sides. Who can? So, after months of patience, I decided to eliminate this problem. 

Steps

1. Emptied both cabinets & gave them a good wipe.
2. Re-arrange and put all the books in the right hand side cabinet ONLY 
3. Designate the open shelving on left hand side cabinet into three areas namely display area (top), stationary area (middle), toy area (bottom).
4. Arrange the remaining items in their designated areas.
5. Display area - added a pot of flowers :)
6. Homework station - Grouped like-stationary-items together in containers. Put revision books in file folders.
7. Toys area - Put the toys in a number of boxes (easier to rotate the toys for Adik to play with)

Cost
Free labour.

What next?
Organize the closed-door shelves. At the moment, they acted as my extra throw-in-junk-place. Sad but true.

Before & After
Took me a few hours and the results I leave it to you to see it yourself ^_^ ... (Sorry. have problem with uploading the photo)

Right hand side cabinet

Left hand side cabinet

Linking with Fizah's challenge