Take 5 Friday - Medicine Cabinet

So this week I went to work on the medicine cabinet. You might have read in the challenge post earlier this week that I put up a freebie for the entry with the oldest expired medicine. (Don't forget, be sure you email me with your entries by Friday evening. I'll draw a winner on Saturday for a copy of my book The Organization Prescription.)

Since I'm obviously not entering my own contest I can share mine. I'm happy to report the oldest thing I found in our medicine cabinet expired 08/17/05. I didn't think that was too bad. I'll post some pics of how I keep our medicines organized later on Friday. I just wanted to get a jump start on this post so you can get in your entries for the drawing.

Keep organizin'!

Updated to add: Congrats to Avlor. She emailed me with the oldest medicinal remedy in her cabinet and will win a copy of my book, The Organization Prescription. Thanks for participating!

I promised pics. Here's my medicine cabinet, which is actually in my kitchen. For those of you who have your medicine in the bathroom, you may consider another location as heat and moisture (like from a shower) will cause the medicine to go bad/lose their potency. I sort our medicines into categories (like cold & allergy, children's, adults, etc.) and keep them separate in small plastic baskets. It sure helps when you're fighting a cold to have to just look in one place for quick relief!

Take 5 Friday Challenge

You can thank my friend Dr. Leah over at Transformation Revolution for this week's Take 5 Friday idea. She suggested to me that we tackle the medicine cabinet and I took a look at mine. Sure enough, after this past cold and flu season, it looked like it could use a dose of organization! (Sorry, couldn't help that one!) So, this week, take a few minutes to peek inside your medicine cabinet, and maybe your first aid kit if you have time. Toss out expired prescriptions and take note of anything you might need to restock. Come back here and share your progress on Friday.

Let's give you some extra incentive this week. I'll be giving away a copy of my book "The Organization Prescription; Your Immunization to Disorganization" to the person who finds the oldest expired item in their cabinet. How fitting is that?! Here are the rules:

1. Email me with your oldest expiration date (to keep the entries a secret) by this Friday.


2. On Friday post a short comment on the Take 5 Friday post, then link up using Mr. Linky.


3. Post your project on your site, and link to Organizational Enlightenment.


4. I'll email and announce the winner on Saturday, March 29, 2008 for those participants who emailed me their entry.

Good luck and see you back here on Friday!

10 Interesting (?) Things About Me

I've recently been "tagged" and honestly, this is somewhat new to me. The rules state you have to share some things about yourself, no problem. And then tag other "bloggy" people. This is where I get hung up...I don't know that many bloggers yet! So, I decided, I still wanted to share some little known things about me even if I didn't end up tagging others. So here goes...in no particular order of weirdness:

1. I have just recenlty let go of my obsession preference to have the folded edge on the bath towels face in the same direction in the linen closet.
2. I used to change the toilet paper roll in other people's houses if it was on the "wrong" way. You're going to think twice before you invite me over now, aren't you?
3. I generally don't like taking baths. I prefer showers. I can't get it out of my head that I'm wasting time if I take a long soak.
4. I have made it my personal mission to drive more often when we go places as a family since I found out my youngest daughter thought "girls weren't allowed to drive boys around".
5. My husband thinks I've made it my personal mission to drive him nuts.
6. I sometimes have an uncanny ability to picture a person in my head and then run into them a few minutes later. (Just for the record, this is not always a gift...there are some people that you'd just rather avoid!)
7. If we're driving by a house at night and the blinds are open, I'm checking it out to see how they decorate/live. This is why it's good to have my husband drive. You're going to think twice before you leave your blinds open now, aren't you?
8. When I was little, I had a short-lived habit of biting my toenails...gross, I know, but I was 3, people! I've outgrown that now...I can't put my feet up that high. I'm really going to regret sharing that one.
9. I don't like eating in a restaurant by myself, but I'll go to the movies alone.
10. I've never flown in an airplane, but I did go up in a hot air balloon once at a fair.

There you go. Ten little known things about me. This little exercise in self-discovery just made me realize I'm more quirky than I thought. I'll find out after posting this if I still have any friends after they read #2 & #7...and maybe #8.

Take 5 Friday - The Mom Taxi

My van had started to look like a caravan for wayward things instead of a mode of transportation for people. The front (my domain) wasn't too bad, but the dash looked like it hadn't seen a dustcloth in the the 3 years since I'd bought it. But, whoa! One look in the middle section where my two adorable kids sit and I knew it had to be done.

Until you actually SIT in the back from their vantage point, you don't really see all the stuff kids can cram into those side pockets! I actually even have to open the driver side back door every day when I help my littlest in and out of her carseat and I still didn't notice!

I figured the best line of defense in this case was to empty everything into a grocery sack and have the kids sit down and determine what was going to stay and what would go. I tossed the things that were clearly trash and wiped off the front dash. That took all of ten minutes and the van looked so much better for it. I would have still felt I'd accomplished something even if I'd have stopped there.

But, the great thing about these ten minute projects is that sometimes when you do have extra time, it inspires you to do more. I got out the shop vac and vacuumed the floors and the kids' seats where bits and pieces of snacks had accumulated...yuck!

What happened to that bag of stuff? I brought it inside, gave them their assignment. I heard everything from "that's not trash" to "but I need that for something to do". I'll fill you in...we live about 20 minutes from any location that we frequent and we haven't been on a "trip" that takes longer than an hour in over 3 years. They don't need anything to keep themselves that occupied. By the time we've reached our destination, they're still too busy squabbling with each other over the last thing they were arguing about when we left the house. All that stuff is NOT going back into the van!

The bag is still sitting in their room...waiting for one of them to cave and start putting their things away. I guess they didn't "need" that stuff after all. They're at their grandparents' this weekend...do you think they'd miss it if it "disappeared"?

What about you, did you tackle the junk in your trunk this week? Or maybe another, small but meaningful organizing project? Share your story with us here! If you're new to Take 5 Friday, please read the guidelines before posting. Thanks for participating!

Take 5 Friday - Challenge

Now that warmer weather is finally here (I hope, although it's currently rainy), I'm itchin' to clean out my van. I try to keep it fairly clean as we go by keeping a trash basket in between the back seats and carrying a tote bag to bring things back into the house. But every once in awhile, it deserves (and needs!) a quick clutter busting session.

So this week, your Take 5 Friday challenge is to get in there and clear out the junk in your trunk. Toughen up and tell those fast food sacks to hit the road and the the kids' gear to take a hike. If you feel really energized you can drag out the vacuum, but the most important and first step is to do the quick sort and toss. See how much you can accomplish in 5 or 10 minutes, then report back here on Friday to let us know how you did.

M.I.A.

Wow! Over a week since my last post! Where did the time go? I'm not entirely sure. It was like the week was over before I knew it and I didn't even have time to get in last week's Take 5 Friday post. I don't even think I turned my computer on more than twice last week.

Ah well, we all need a break from the norm every once in awhile and for no reason in particular...last week was my lazy week. But, I'm back!

Take 5 Friday - Desktop

So this week I challenged you (and myself) to focus on cleaning up our desktops...and I don't mean the horizontal space in front of me as I write this post. I mean our computers themselves; the desktop, the hard drive, those temporary internet files, old emails; all those files we save that clutter up our inboxes and computer.

I have to admit, this one wasn't as fun or satisfying for me as most of my organizing projects, but it needed to be done. I keep up pretty well on my emails, deleting as I go. So I usually only have about a dozen in my inbox at any given time. But I did have some old files that I was able to chuck and I like to delete my temporary internet files every once in awhile to keep the system running smoothly. If you've never deleted your temporary internet files, you can find some easy to follow instructions here.

Did anyone else attempt this or another Take 5 Friday project this week? (You can still post any 5-15 minute organizing project you completed, even if it wasn't this week's challenge idea). Notice I said 5-15 minutes; think "coffee break" time here. It doesn't have to be exactly 5 mintues and you'll find that you'll get faster at organizing the more you do. Have fun with it!

Take 5 Friday Challenge

For this week's Take 5 Friday project I'm going to look no further than my computer. While we may take the time to clear our actual desk tops, we often forget our desktops. Got that? We're talking computer clutter, new age "junk mail", over stuffed file folders...or worse yet, no files at all. Where every electronic document we've saved over the past 5 years is haphazardly stored on our desktop or in unknown locations on our hard drives.

So, this week take 5 or 10 minutes to do a quick purge of the clutter from your computer. Add some file folders, delete some emails, empty your "trash". Then, come back here on Friday and let us know how you did. Trust me, your computer will thank me for it!