The mobile playroom/kitchen/laundry room/garabe can

Thank you all for your great ideas on getting my office organized. My friend Joanne is coming over today for lunch and I am looking forward to getting her two cents in person. When I get some of your suggestions implemented, I will post a new picture of my office. Doesn't that sound like a HGTV show? "Stay tuned for the big reveal of Wendy's new and improved office, where she can actually find things!"
Okay, so are you ready for organizational issue #2? The car. Out of respect for Pete and in order to not ruin my father's entire day, I am not posting a picture of the inside of our minivan. Instead, I'll give you a true story from last weekend which will illustrate the state of our car pretty well. Last Saturday after Sarah's soccer game we headed downtown to Elitch Gardens (an amusement park). On the way there, Sarah decided she did not like the outfit she had picked out. I said, "I'm sorry, that's too bad." Sarah replied, "Isn't great that our car is full of stuff, I'll just find another outfit." And she did - shirt, shorts, and even another pair of socks. Sarah was thrilled, I was horrified. Why is all this stuff in our car!
Twice this summer, when we have been out of town, my wonderful father has completely cleaned out our car. Within, days it is full of stuff again. My dad likes to tease the girls that they shouldn't bring anything they like out to our car because we must have the rule that once something goes in the car it can never return to the house. Ahh sometimes it feels that way.
So here are my questions; what does the inside of your car look like? If it doesn't look like mine, what family rules do you have in place to keep it cleaned up? Do you have any nifty car organizing tricks to share? Bring on the suggestions, I can't wait to read them.

I have got to get organized!

Okay, I mean it. I have to get organized. Many of you who know me are laughing, and that's okay. I hope some of you are saying, "Amen, me too sister!" And, I hope a few more of you are saying, "I can help you with that." Praise you if you can, the good Lord knows that my parents tried for years. They still try. My poor mother-in-law who is a very clean and orderly lady, is frequently appalled by me. In her house, everything has a place, and she puts it back there. She has tried to create this system in my house, working herself ragged when she visited, but sadly it never sticks. Now don't get me wrong, my house is clean, it's just not organized. We waste so much time as a family looking for lost shoes, shin guards, library books, phone numbers – you get the picture. It drives me nuts.

For the next week or so I am going to talk about some organizational challenges I am having, and I hope you'll share your ideas and solutions with me. If you are a big mess like me and you have an organizational challenge you would like some help with, write to me and I will include it.

It's been awhile since I have had a monthly drawing, so I am going to host a drawing this month for a $10 gift card to Target. Use your gift card to buy file folders, labels, plastic tubs, whatever you may need to help get organized too! Every time you leave a comment between now and Oct 10^th, you will be entered in the drawing.

So today's challenge – my office. I have wanted my own office for 10 years. In our new house, I finally have one. It has a great walk in closet, plenty of room and opportunities, yet as you see – it's a big mess. It seems to be the dumping ground for school, church and house paperwork. There are piles of the kids' artwork mixed in with books for writing projects, crafts and family photos. So how do you organize your home office or workspace? Start sending in those ideas, and get entered in the drawing.