Story by Hannah Dillon

Photos by Colleen Harrison

 

Staying organized isn’t always easy, but there are some simple steps you can take to make life more efficient and orderly.

Mandy Grzybowski, an Albert Lea resident, has a handful of tips she employs throughout her household to keep things organized.

“I’m always organizing,” she said.

Grzybowski lives with her husband, John, and their three children: 18-year-old Scott, 14-year-old Keith and 12-year-old Elise. The family also has two friendly cats, Reese and Pippi.

 

Kitchen

Grzybowski said the biggest organization change she’s implemented in her house is starting a binder. She keeps the binder in the kitchen and has everything going on for the week inside. She also keeps her shopping list and weekly menu there so she can make one trip to the grocery store, which she does on Friday.

The binder also has all of the family’s emergency numbers in case something goes wrong.

“It makes it easy for everyone,” Grzybowski said.

She keeps a stack of recipe cards out for the week so she knows what’s on the menu. After she finishes with a recipe, she puts it away.

In the pantry, Grzybowski rotates her food so the newer items are in the back and the older items are in the front.

 

Den

In the desk, Grzybowski keeps a file of all of her children’s papers and grades. She has three bins — one for each child — full of their school papers. Once the file gets too full, she transfers the papers to the respective bins.

Grzybowski said her children will be able to take their bins with them when they’re finished with school, so they can always have their papers, even back to when they were in preschool.

The den closet is where Grzybowski keeps the family games. She keeps the most-used games in the front and the lesser-used games in the back.

For items the family isn’t using anymore, Grzybowski said she sells or gives them away, to not create clutter. There is a space in the den closet as well for her children to put clothes, shoes and other items they don’t use anymore. When the space gets full, Grzybowski bags everything up and takes it to the Salvation Army.

 

Living room

Grzybowski’s house is full of Longaberger baskets — she’s been collecting them since 1996 — but the living room features many baskets that are used for different purposes.

There are two baskets in between the kitchen and the living room — one for Grzybowski and one for her husband — that hold items for them. She said if she needs to make sure something gets to her husband, she puts it in his basket.

In the living room, there are baskets that hold toys. Even though her children are older now, Grzybowski said her nieces and nephews come over from time to time and can use the toys in the baskets.

Grzybowski suggests using baskets because they can easily hide things like toys in a living space.

“Baskets are a huge way to organize,” she said.

 

Utility room

A large shelf on one side of the utility room, which houses the washer and dryer, holds baskets that are used to keep laundry sorted.

There is also a large cabinet that holds different items. Grzybowski said she keeps the things she uses more — like lightbulbs — on the lower shelves while items that are mostly for emergency — such as power outage supplies like flashlights — are kept on the top shelves.

A closet directly outside the utility room uses that same principle: things her children use are kept at the bottom while things used less often are kept near the top.

 

Bedroom and reading room

In her children’s bedrooms, Grzybowski keeps toys in clear bins in the closets. While her children don’t use the toys as much anymore, Grzybowski said her nieces and nephews can easily come and find the toys, because of the clear sides of the bins she keeps them in.

Grzybowski said her family reads a lot, and the family does its reading in the reading room.

In the reading room, Grzybowski keeps the books her children are presently reading in a drawer while other books are kept on the shelves.

If her children end up not liking the book they read, she said she donates that as well.

 

Other tips

Grzybowski said she likes to have a routine. For example, she cleans the house on Monday and does all of her grocery shopping on Friday. She said if she doesn’t have a routine, things don’t get done as quickly.

She said if something isn’t being used, it doesn’t have to be kept. She said she routinely goes through her closet and has her children go through theirs to take out things that don’t fit or that they don’t like. She donates the things she or her family doesn’t want to keep.