Where Bloggers Live: How I Organize

Hi. It’s so appropriate that I’m writing a post about organization on the morning that it’s due even though I’ve had moooooonths of notice. sigh I just can’t seem to get my blogging life together. Especially now. We’re on our summer schedule at work {4 ten-hour days}, so by the time I get home the last thing I feel like doing is sitting down at my computer. Truth be told, I barely have the energy to take Bleu out for a walk. My family says they take her out just before I get home, but she still insists upon going outside as soon as I walk through the door. She’s lucky I love her so much.

ABOUT WHERE BLOGGERS LIVE

Welcome to the monthly edition of Where Bloggers Live. It’s kind of like HGTV’s “Celebrities at Home,” but…Bloggers! Who doesn’t like to peek behind the scenes and see inside people’s homes? Over the next few months, a group of seven bloggers will be sharing their work spaces, their homes, towns and more!

I should note – because this is super important – the creative brain behind this project is Bettye at Fashion Schlub! Love her!

The Celebrity Bloggers

Bettye at Fashion Schlub
Daenel at Living Outside the Stacks
Em at Dust and Doghair
Jodie at Jodie’s Touch of Style
Iris at Iris’s Original Ramblings
Leslie at Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After

Make sure you visit everyone to see where the magic happens!

Side note wherever you see words in bold italics and a different color, those are clickable links. Those links will either take you to related posts or links for purchase. If you decide to purchase something using those links, I’ll earn a commission at no extra charge to you.

THE THEME: How I Organize

Were you a fan of The Cosby Show? Do you remember Lisa Bonet’s character, Denise? She was scattered and eclectic and bohemian and all things undirected. That was me. My family and friends used to say it’s as if they researched me and my life to shape that character, down to our features. After dropping out of college and floundering around a bit and bouncing between jobs, Denise ended up going to Africa as an assistant to an artist/documentarian and returning to the U.S. with a husband and stepdaughter.

I did the same thing. Except I joined the Army, had a baby, got married, and gained a stepdaughter. Oh, yeah, I also spent some time in Korea.

Anyway, I said all of that to say: I’m hyper organized for someone who never really had her life together. Even in elementary, middle, and high school, my organizational skills were unmatched. The Army just helped me to fine tune my methods…

You’ve seen my kitchen, I line my refrigerator shelves with contact paper to keep them clean. My pantry shelves are organized alphabetically and by height, because I like to be able to find stuff. I do need to make things a little more aesthetically pleasing though. Ultimately, I’d like for my refrigerator to look like these. I mean, really, just look at them.

I have my eye on these glass storage containers:

What do you think? I like glass pieces because they don’t get those funky stains like plastic ware.

They’re so beautiful. The Hubs and I are planning a renovation on our pantry in the near future, so I already have plans for that area. You can see my ideas here. I love everything – from the doors to the organized shelves. Looking at everything in the clear {and labeled} containers just makes my heart sing.

And baskets… I. Love. Baskets. for storage. Especially these ones:

While my preference is for traditional baskets, for the pantry, I like wire baskets. For me, it’s all about the clean up and the visuals. If we can’t see it, we forget about it and if it gets messy then I’ll get *insert loud obnoxious noise here*.

My closet, as you can see here, is organized alphabetically by color, by sleeve length, and collar. Everything is facing the same direction, all buttons are buttoned, etc. This is a direct result of having served in the military. The only thing I don’t do is fold my delicates so that they’re the width and length of a dollar bill. I did for the first few years after I separated from the military, but I’ve learned to relax a bit on that front.

Besides being the director of library services at our college, I also run the school’s social media, so I have to stay on top of things. I have a master calendar where I keep track of all official and unofficial holidays and celebrations. I also keep track of all campus events, important college start/end dates, etc. And, because we have eight campuses, all of whom I take pictures for, I have to make sure that I keep track of when and where I take the pictures. So I have a folder on our shared drive where I keep track of pictures and social media graphics. Within that overarching folder, I have folders for each campus as well as each department. Within those folders, I have everything further broken down by month. So if someone says “Hey, Dani, do you have pictures of the nursing students from the Ferriday Campus in September 2020?” I can just open up the 2020 folder, look at the Ferriday Campus, go to the month of September and then look under “Practical Nursing Students.” It takes me all of 10 minutes or less to find what they may need. This is incredibly helpful and convenient, especially when the Chancellor says he needs specific pictures for events. I don’t like to make him wait. This also helps us when we’re putting together our end of year review: because everything is so organized, it only takes us a couple of days to put together our posts for the countdown.

All that being said, stuff still escapes me. I show up late for appointments. I forget important events. And I double book myself for others.

Now it’s your turn, I’d love to hear how you organize. Or, ya know, if you don’t. Leave a comment below with your favorite tip.

THE SERIES

YOU’RE INVITED TO JOIN US FOR STYLE IMITATING ART

Style Imitating Art is hosted by Salazar {14 Shades of Grey}, Terri {Meadow Tree Style}, and me. Style Imitating Art challenges us to draw style inspiration from pieces of art. Every other Monday one of us selects an inspiration image and we each post the image on our blogs. The following Monday we share our art inspired outfits. Participants submit their art inspired outfits with the curator by 10 PM Tuesday and, that Wednesday, the curator shares all of the submissions on her blog. For the current theme, see this post.

Cheers,

LET’S CONNECT

For more stylish inspiration, check out the following linkups:

Where I Co-host

Ageless Style – Eight women show that style is ageless. Third Thursday of the month.
Fab Forties – Six bloggers, over the age of forty, show they’re still fabulously fashionable. First Monday of the month.
Style Imitating Art – Style inspired by pieces of art. Every other week.

Click Here to See Where I Link Up