Cleaning up the Inbox

I thought we had a good system for our emails - I had a hotmail account to sign up for interesting deals, newsletters, etc., and we had a personal account for actual correspondence with family and friends. Then along came group buying sites - and this turned our email system upside down! It started off with sending some groupon sites for our Christmas holiday to our personal email - because we were both interested in these deals, and it was an email that we both read more frequently. Then somehow my husband's flyers started to creep in the inbox too, and one extra newsletter here and there later -- things started getting lost in the clutter, and emails from friends have started to go missing and unread. Not cool.

Then, just a couple of weeks ago, one of the group buying sites that I signed up for ended up being a scam (or so we think). We got our money back from the gift card we attempted to purchase (fyi the site was deal55.com) - but, they had my email and password. Not cool. So I decided to close down my hotmail, and start fresh.

Which means starting fresh with our other email too. Which means doing some electronic house cleaning.

So, our new approach is going to be: our home email (which is shared) is for just that - email. And then my hubby and I will each have our own seperate emails to use to sign up for interesting and relevant deals, newsletters, etc. - but he won't need to sift through all the groupons and etsy emails, and I won't need to wade through his Globe & Mail financial report updates (although I probably should!).

And, since I've closed my hotmail account, I'm starting with a clean slate and have to go and add anything I want to receive again. But, it was probably time to do it anyways, considering I've had my hotmail account since undergrad and there were some 2000 unread emails in my inbox. :)

So, organization can extend beyond the physical house! Feels good!

The defacto storage unit

I think that every parent owns at least one piece of Ikea Expedit shelving. It meets all of the key criteria for toy storage: good storage space for small pieces, looks modern & clean, and is a decent price point (because let's face it - we want to have something that looks good but we know the wear & tear that kids and toys will have on it!). We have two of their units - a large one (4x4?) downstairs, and today we purchased the 1x5 for upstairs. Because toys have taken over our house.

Now the interesting thing is though, that there are limited options for the storage containers that you can insert. I'm not a huge fan of the plastic ones that Ikea sells, and the wicker ones I think will scratch the shelving too much (we've had lots of issues w/ wicker baskets and our floors -- look nice but they've done a good number in a couple rooms!). I went on a bit of a search for a nice basket that would fit it -- and came up a bit short. However, I didn't have a lot of time to invest, I will admit - as I wanted the unit set up this weekend. I did manage to come up w/ some cute cloth Reisenthel boxes at Storage Solutions -they don't fit perfectly but they have lids on them, and so they look nice and neat. I just thought, this MUST be a market opportunity for someone, to produce some alternative storage boxes for the Ikea Expedit shelving, that are a perfect fit?!

Here's how it turned out!

My first post

It has been 20 months since my second son was born. He was a wonderful surprise - a little miracle that we were hoping and planning for, but after struggling to conceive our first son, it was a true shocker to get preggers on our first attempt the second time around! And so, 20 months ago, life changed, for the second time, but in a much bigger way, at least for me. Keeping organized and on top of things has been MUCH more of a challenge. And so I spend alot of my time trying to figure out how to better organize and manage our home and our life to stay... well, sane.

I subscribe to alot of blogs - for parenting/mom tips, home reno tips, cooking (and batch cooking!), local events, work topics... the list goes on. All to say, I am constantly on the lookout for other great ideas, on a wide array of topics.

So what do I think that I can add to the blogosphere? I am hoping that I can share some of the things that I am doing as a working mom, in a bursting house, to keep all the ball in the air. I plan to blog on household organization, clutter, and cleaning, on juggling schedules, and on trying to eat healthier and live more naturally while being on the run. I hope that some of my ideas will be helpful to some of you out there!