Here is a super easy organization idea that can be used with many of your messes!   It took me 20 minutes and now I can stand to open my closet again.

So we have this catch-all closet in our kitchen that contains games, Play-doh, crafts, colors, kids' dishes, baby stroller, toddler tractor...I could go on and on.  The point is it contains everything we need while we're in the kitchen but are trying to hide, so it looks like grown-up live here, too.  As time has gone by, we just piled more and more in there.  And basically, it was so overgrown, I didn't want to open the closet any more.  I felt guilty.  My daughter would ask to play with Play-doh, paints, or stickers, and all I could think was, "Please don't make me dig that out of the closet.  Can't you play with your doll or a puzzle?  Anything besides what is in this closet."  But figuring out how to remedy the problem seemed to take more time and energy than I had.

I happened to have a spare shoe hanger, and it dawned on me - I could use that to organize little crafts - stickers, colors, markers, pom-poms, glue, etc.  And then, my daughter could actually reach some of these things without needing my help!  Hallelujah!

So here it is - seriously, took 20 minutes.  It made my daughter super happy!  She wants to do crafts all of the time now and I'm not afraid to open the closet any more.

P.S.  I have a really tall door, and I still made this work.  I tied some ribbon to the hooks to lengthen the organizer so it's at a more reachable level.

Days 3 and 4 - Well, this weekend I discovered that giving up a child makes life amazingly simple.  Okay, so you can't do this all of the time (as appealing as this may seem sometimes), but whew - I forgot how easy it was to have just one kid.  I mean really, why did one seem so hard?  My daughter went to her grandparents house for a few days, and we just had the one year old.  I even had him all by myself on Saturday while my husband did a ridiculously long 103 mile bike ride and it still felt like a vacation.  I didn't have to give anything else up to help make my life simpler. So maybe not easily repeatable - but if you really need to simplify, send your kids to someone else for a day!

Day 2 - Still no flag in front of the house.  What success!  I haven't even thought about it.  It doesn't sound like a big accomplishment but trust me, it is.  So now I'm pondering what to not do today.  Ummmm..I think I'm going to not do the not-so-fun stuff for work (writing reports and search engine optimization - boy, doesn't that stuff sound awesome).  Sure, it has to be done but it's Friday, and I'm not going to do it.  I'm such a rebel.  Now normally, this causes me anxiety because I know it still has to be done Monday.  But because I'm doing this for you and the blog, it feels like a duty.  I must have fun today - it's my job!  That felt pretty good.

Cut One Thing Out of Your Day

So ironically, after creating my new blog where I'm going to offer oh-so-helpful tips on simplifying your life as a mom, wife, and/or working woman, I went to my mom-to-mom meeting yesterday where the presenter was talking about simplifying your life.  I thought - perfect!  This will give me some great content to blog about.  However, as she talked, I kept having this nagging feeling inside myself that despite all of my efforts to simplify, my life always seems to get more complicated.  Why is that?   I mean I'm terribly efficient, neat, organized, well-planned.  I'm down right perfect and more prepared than any boy scout.  But there are never enough hours in the day.<sigh>.  It occurred to me that I am a master simplifier and organizer just so I can have room to add MORE to my life.  I want to always make sure I'm prepared to do something else if I need to.  It's all about control, but I'll leave that topic for another day.
Anyhoo, so it occurred to me if I really want to simplify, I have to do more than just be more efficient and organized.  I have to cut something out of my day.  What should that be?  My kids?  Well, I think CPS would frown upon that.  My job?  My boss would frown upon that.  My new company?  Well, the bank and my husband would frown upon that.  Running, showering, or cleaning the house - I would frown upon those.  Geez - everything is frowned upon.
Okay, so I will have to do something more basic.  I accept that I'm not in a place to cut out any of the big things in my life.  But maybe, just maybe, I can find something little everyday that I think is terribly critical to just not do.  Give myself permission to slack and then see where it goes.  So this will be my experiment for the next week - give up one little thing a day that I normally feel I must do.  So today, I'm not going to stress about hanging my new season/holiday flag in my front yard to replace the Easter one I took down yesterday.  In fact, I'm not going to do it for a whole week!  Okay, you may laugh but this is exactly the kind of thing I can fret about.   You know, in case the UPS man comes to my front door and says "Holy cow!  I almost missed your house because I didn't see a decorative flag in the front yard."  Or my neighbor cries, "What season comes after Easter?  I'm lost without your flag!"  It could happen.
Day 1...stay tuned.