The first three day weekend of the school year is nearly here!!!! I’m so freaking excited about all the naps I’m going to take. Everyone is looking a little harried by the new schedules and work loads but, so far so good. We’re all looking forward to a quiet weekend at home.

It’s taken me over three years living in this house to finally get my entry way 95% done. Seriously. A few days ago I tripped across a website while researching something totally unrelated and discovered some amazing tools and techniques. If you get the chance you have to check out www.flylady.net

I’m far from being the most organized person on the planet and this website has helped me dramatically reduce a lot of clutter and “hot spots” (aka dumping grounds) around my house.

This is my entry. We have a bench, which works great as a “launch pad” the kids put their books, backpacks, etc. on the bench so they are ready to walk out the door with them. I don’t usually allow shoes to be worn in the house, the bench has a shelf that stores shoes, flip flops, slippers, etc.

To the right of the window (that’s the window that displays my “No Soliciting, No religious queries” sign) I have a calendar and mail sorter. Instead of dumping the mail and catalogs on to the desk or kitchen counter, the mail is put into this bin and I dutifully sort it out and trash the junk mail daily.

I found the calendar on Amazon, it’s a dry erase calendar with a cute black frame. The mail organizer I purchased through LillianVernon.com but I found several on Amazon as well.

The dry erase calendar is a life saver! My old system for keeping track of appointments, upcoming events, birthdays, etc. was a combo of post-it notes, pocket calendar, and some attempts to use the calendar option on my computer. Having a calender near the front door has managed to keep everyone on track. One of my favorite things is to note the holidays where everyone has the day off from school or work.

The entry way of my house is split, if you look straight ahead from the front door there is a long hallway that leads to the family room. Along this hall way is the door to the garage and the half bath. I have decorative hangers on the wall to store purses, hats, and jackets so the things we need to leave the house are right near the front door. This also works great when guests come over as I typically just have them hang their purse/jacket on one of the hooks as they come in.

Yesterday I received a daily challenge in my inbox from FlyLady.Net. The challenge was to wipe down the front door, sweep off the porch, and basically straighten it up. I had this done in under 10 minutes and it looked great! I don’t know many people who think about wiping down their front door, but it is the first thing people see when they visit.

Today the challenge was to clear the flat surface of your desk. In ten minutes I had the piles of paperwork sorted, filed and the desk cleared and organized ready to go to work.

I honestly gave this post more than a second thought for fear of looking like a “Stepford Wife” or something. I realized that I enjoy hearing about other people’s tricks that they have discovered to make life easier and so I thought you might enjoy some of these.