12 Ways to Get a Jumpstart on Being an Organized Mom

When we found out we were expecting, I knew my organizational skills would be put to the true test. When I found out we were having twins…PHEW, game on.

So what’s a Type-A gal to do? Well, write a list of goals and things I wanted to accomplish leading up to our babes arrival. Some items were things I’d been meaning to do for years (get up to date on our annual photo books), while other came with the territory (create changing stations so that we’d never be more than a few feet from a diaper).

Below are 12 things I’m so thankful I accomplished prior to our babies arriving:

1. Find a fun way to document your pregnancy, but don’t try to do too many different things. Making moments feel special and creating traditions is something that has always been important to me, but it can be too easy to get overwhelmed with multiple ideas as we browse Pinterest and social media. Choose one type of photo to take throughout your pregnancy to document your growing bump and make a note on your calendar to take said photos on a weekly or monthly basis (or even to mark the start of each trimester).

DONATION RESOURCE // Grant's Gifts

Two and a half years ago, my girlfriends and I were en route to our bestie’s baby shower in Cincinnati when we got a call from her husband. They were headed to the hospital due to possibly being in labor…10 weeks early.

What should have been a day filled with a celebration of the mother and baby-to-be, ended up being filled with every emotion possible and an adorable baby, Grant, being born just hours later. From there, we learned that he would have a long road ahead in the NICU.

In those first moments as parents, especially as parents of a preemie, you’ve got so many things on your mind. I’ll let Grant’s Gifts founder, Sarah Thomas, take it from here to share their NICU journey and the non-profit charity that grew from their experience.

You've Tidied, Now What?

For many of us, spring signifies a fresh start! We set to surveying our belongings, decluttering items, re-organizing what is left and finally figuring out what to do with all that unused stuff.

As a professional organizer, I find clients struggle with getting rid of items because they feel a sense of guilt – maybe you spent too much money and never used it, it was a gift from a loved one, or carries special memories for your family. The following options may help ease the burden of letting those items go.

DONATE TO A WORTHY CAUSE

There are many organizations throughout the Indianapolis area where your items can be placed directly in the hands of someone in need. Hop on over to our homepage and download the Indianapolis Donation Guide (available here when you sign up for The Minimal-List monthly newsletter).

PROJECT // A Not-So Neutral Twin Nursery

Let me introduce you to my new favorite room in our house…our twin’s nursery! We are less than two weeks away from our due date and this room has been such a labor of love. We still do not know the gender of our babies, but that didn’t mean that I had to keep this room neutral, did it?

I have never been one to shy away from color when it comes to decorating my home, so our nursery was no exception! The biggest design challenge was taking this relatively small space and making it work for not one, but two babies. That second crib really threw us for a loop.

I knew I wanted to have an element of whimsy in the space and wanted to bring that in with wallpaper. I searched and searched for a statement print that I could base the rest of the room around and landed on Hunt Slonem’s bunny wallpaper. When I saw this paper up at Drapery Street in the Design Center, I knew I had to have at least a touch of it in the nursery.

This was also the first time I have ever painted walls white in my home, so I pulled in my signature stamp of color for the furniture and added a dark chair rail to break up several of the walls.

Without any further ado, here is our not-so-neutral twin nursery.

Show Your iPhone Some Love <3

I can’t believe this LOVEly month is coming to a close! But boy, am I ready to turn over a new leaf from this winter weather we’ve been having and kick it into Spring gear.

With so much hype around tidying and decluttering, you have probably tackled a closet or two in your home already this year. But what comes after that? I think that there is something to be said about taking some of these newfound decluttering skills one step further and applying them to your technology (desktop, photos, iPhone, etc).

If any of you have started to get the screentime updates, you are probably wanting to decrease the number of minutes (okay, hours) you spend on your phone each day. Having your home screen organized will definitely give you a bit of your precious time back. So today we focus on purging unloved and unnecessary apps and finally get after organizing our iPhones.

I am going to walk you through how to purge unused apps, organize and categorize your favorites and suggest a few new apps to keep your entire life organized.

5 Resources for Expectant Moms that Make All the Difference!

Finding out you are expecting marks a pretty monumental day in a person’s life - possibly the most monumental. It can also be slightly, okay super, overwhelming as you think about all of the changes coming your way.

As an organized person by nature, I wanted to find some shortcuts to make me feel on top of it throughout the upcoming nine months. I uncovered some great resources that made all of the difference and am so pumped to share them with you!

More than anything, I’ve found that people are so helpful - with advice, hand-me-downs and so much support. Entering into this parenthood tribe is pretty cool, in my book!

Here are five resources and services that have allowed me to enjoy each and every day of my pregnancy and took a ton of the guesswork of my plate:

4 Online Tools that Will Seriously Decrease Your Paper Clutter

Ugh….paper. It is everywhere and is likely coming in your home quicker than you can review and toss! I’m a big believer in making decisions about paper the minute it enters my home (recycle, shred or needs action), but sometimes if we don’t have an alternative in place, those items turn into a mound on the kitchen island.

No more. I’m sharing my three favorite online tools for decreasing paper clutter and would love to hear all about your experience or solutions for managing paper in your own home in the comments.

PINTEREST

I’ve raved about Pinterest again and again, but I use it to organize just about everything! As a result it has truly minimized the amount of sticky notes floating around OR the amount of catalogs that are piling up with dog-eared pages.

3 Simple Hacks for Organizing Your Students

Let’s talk about the vibe of your house on a Monday morning. Is it hectic? Or calm? My guess is that the start of your week reflects whether or not you’ve had the time to prep over the weekend. If you have a few minutes to meal plan, help ensure the kids are caught up on homework and that outfits are chosen for the week ahead, your Monday morning feels like a breeze compared to the alternative.

I’ve written about helping your kids get more organized before, but wanted to take school organization one step further now that we are into the second half of the school year! I reached out to one of the most organized moms I know, Stephanie Starkey with My Greige House, to collaborate on this post. Follow her, you’ll be so inspired by her ideas for cleaning + organization.

So let’s get to it! We wanted to share a few tips + tricks to keep your family ahead of schedule and on top of homework. It doesn’t have to be something that only happens in your dream world - I promise you!

Why on Earth Would I Hire a Professional Organizer?

Guys…when people ask me what I do for a living, my eyes light up as I tell them I have the privilege of helping families get more organized in their daily lives and homes (with a dash of party styling and event planning on the side).

But it is super common for them to say in response, “I didn’t even know that was a thing.” You see, everyone is aware of hiring house cleaners, wardrobe stylists and interior designers, but home organizing sits somewhere in between.

So if you are feeling bogged down with clutter, are prepping for a major life change or are convinced that there must be a better way to maximize the space in your home, enter the beauty of a session (or two) with a professional organizer. I wanted to lay out some of the reasons why I think hiring an organizer might just be the answer to your prayers (or at least help you whittle that To-Do list down this year).

2018 Highlight Reel

Wow! 2018 was a HUGE year (my first full year in business) for The Baer Minimalist! So many exciting transformations for clients, collaborations with realtors, countless cups of coffee shared with businesses and individuals making waves in Indianapolis, and tons of drop-offs to charities in need!

What better way to say goodbye to this last trip around the sun than by highlighting my top 10 for 2018.

Organized | LIFE, Organized | SPACESMaria BaerDecember 31, 2018The Baer Minimalist, LLCIndianapolis OrganizerComment

How to Wrap Gifts that Beg to be Torn Into

Recently a friend asked how I got such tight corners and clean lines when wrapping presents. Well, surely I didn’t intend for this to be a secret. So today, I’m sharing my tricks for wrapping presents that look like they were done by Santa’s elves themsleves.

Gather all of your materials (wrapping paper, gift wrap tape, scissors, topper and of course, the gift). Make sure your wrapping paper is rolled out on a flat surface. This is ESSENTIAL.

Organized | HOLIDAYSMaria BaerDecember 17, 2018The Baer Minimalist, LLC Comments

Top Five Consumable Gifts for 2018

I’m constantly working to help others declutter their spaces, so when it comes time for the season of giving, I’m always trying to think of gifts that are consumable or feature some sort of new experience as an alternative to gifting another ugly Christmas sweater!

Of course there are exceptions, but the idea of treating those you love to something unique that doesn’t add clutter to their space is the perfect way to be a gift-giver extraordinaire. And that doesn’t mean you can’t get creative when it comes to wrapping if you still want to create a thrill around opening!

Here are five gift ideas to add to your arsenal this holiday season:

Indianapolis Food Tour Experience: This past summer, our wonderful city launched food tours in Fountain Square, Fletcher Place and Mass Ave. Food tours have got to be one of my FAVORITE things to do when exploring a new city, but I feel like this is also a really fun thing to do right here in our own backyard. Foodies will be pumped to receive this as a treat to use in the new year, giving them the chance to devour bites from a number of restaurants AND see behind the scenes of some innovative Indianapolis establishments. Tours start at $55 per person and can be booked here. Gift certificates can be ordered through Sarah Frey with the Indy Cultural Trail (sfrey@indyculturaltrail.org).

Organized | LIFE, Organized | HOLIDAYSMaria BaerDecember 3, 2018The Baer Minimalist, LLCGift Guide, HolidaysComment

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