Angie’s List Article about Janet ~ Resolve to Rid Yourself of Clutter to Expand Use of Valuable Space

The following is an article written by Angie Hicks, founder of Angie’s List, where I was interviewed. The article appeared in the Indianapolis Star, Home and Garden section on 12/26/09. I’m reprinting the article on my blog for the great tips it offers.

Find reliable contractors and doctors when you join Angie’s List today –
Use promo code LOCAL to save 15%.

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By Angie Hicks (Founder of Angie’s List)

About this time each year, professional organizer Janet Nusbaum sees an uptick in business. “Folks start to set new goals for the year, and getting organized is always in the top 10,” said Nusbaum. Owner of Simplified Spaces in Carmel. “They have an influx of new stuff that comes in during the holiday. Often, when I get the call, they’re feeling very overwhelmed, and they’re reaching out for some solutions.

The new year represents a fresh start and a chance to purge the old, unnecessary items in your life to free up valuable space and reduce clutter. Organizing a home office, garage or basement can be a family project that you do yourself or one in which you hire a professional like Nusbaum.

“The first step is to define what the purpose is of that space,” Nusbaum said. “If you see conflicting stuff there that doesn’t meet the purpose of that space, it needs to leave, pose of that space, it needs to leave, so all you have in that space are things that meet your vision for what you want to do (there).”

Some other things to consider before beginning a reorganization project:

• Make a list of the tasks you want to accomplish and prioritize by putting the tasks most important to you at the top of the list.
• Start small and allot an hour or two dedicated to one area to avoid becoming overwhelmed.
• Buy to replace, not to add.
• If it doesn’t fit or it’s out of fashion, donate it. If you’re reorganizing your wardrobe closet, hang pants long ways, rather than fold, which takes up twice the space. Use stacking hangers that can hold multiple garments. Organize your closets by color or by type.
• Keep only what is necessary to accommodate your family’s needs. Keep in mind that round containers take up more space than square containers.
• Purchase several large plastic storage bins with lids. Organize items according to their use and label the bins accordingly.

Nusbaum also recommends storing items closest to their point of use. “If your coffee maker is on the kitchen counter, it’s more efficient to store everything relating to making that cup of coffee right together,” she said. It saves you steps.”

Carmel resident and a Simplified Spaces client, Julie Bowen, is a self-proclaimed “neat freak” who has hired Janet to organize her home, garage and basement. Organizers can also help organize bills and other paperwork that often gets lost in the shuffle.

Bowen keeps systems in place so she, her husband and two children know where to find things when they need to put up and where they are when they need to use them.

“Our home is easier to maintain because everything has a home, Bowen said.

Fritz Klooz, owner of Innovative Garages in Avon said his company can maximize garage space with overhead storage, cabinets and grid wall systems and pulley systems.  “The idea is to get everything up off the floor of the garage so you can power wash your garage or sweep your floor a lot easier, Klooz said.

You don’t have to throw away and create additional waste when you purge. An environmentally savvy organizer will look to recycle whenever possible. Also, donations to authorized charities can be used as a tax deduction.

Angie Hicks is an Indianapolis resident and founder of Angie’s List, a national provider of consumer ratings in more than 500 categories of service.

(Because they wrote this great article about my business, I’m returning the favor by passing on their 15% coupon code)

Find reliable contractors and doctors when you join Angie’s List today – Use promo code LOCAL to save 15%.

Originally posted 2010-05-07 12:26:54. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Five Strategies to Reduce Book Clutter

One of the toughest types of clutter to control is books. Books enrich our lives – they provide enjoyment, humor, an escape to other worlds and they educate – just to name a few of the benefits. We build entire rooms in our home as a shrine to our books and shelves from floor to ceiling are often dedicated to store our book collection. That’s why I said in the first sentence that book clutter is one of the most difficult habits to break. 

We become attached our book collections and derive pride from a large and varied collection. So how can coveting books be a bad thing? 

As the old adage says … too much of a good thing can quickly turn into a negative. And like any other possession, more of any possession that you aren’t using or enjoying regularly is clutter.  Too often a book is purchased, put on a shelf and never touched again. Or the book is read, then put on a shelf to never be touched again. In either case, how is that book, now relegated to a book storage shelf, offering any function to your home or enjoyment to your life?

The downside to coveting books is that they take up a lot of space, they collect dust and moisture (that contributes to allergies), they can infiltrate every room and flat surface of your home, and they deprive us of open space for the possessions and activities that we use and do daily.

In my old life I wished for floor to ceiling book shelves in my living room that had vaulted ceilings, with a rolling ladder that I could climb to the top and get any one of the hundreds of books that I envisioned filling the many shelves. In this era of simple living I now view books in a different way. Now I view the habit of accumulating books and storing them on bookshelves like any other old, useless possession that doesn’t enhance my life on a daily basis. When you look at it this way, aren’t bookshelves just storage spaces for unused items to collect dust. I no longer give into the urge to purchase books that in reality I know I won’t touch anytime in the near future. And on the many storage shelves where my books were once stored, I’ve purged and narrowed it down to only my favorites.   

Here are five strategies for keeping book clutter under control:

1. Pass It On, or Swap for Titles You Want

When you’re finished reading a book, pass it on to a friend or make a trade for one of her books you’d like to read. This allows you and your friends to read many books without each of you having to purchase and keep each book in your home.  Here’s a great site where you can swap your unwanted books for titles you want – all free.  www.PaperBackSwap.com

2. Use Electronic Media (E-Readers)

To a professional organizer, E-Reader technology is the greatest thing since sliced bread. A few of the top brands are:

• Amazon Kindle
• Sony Digital Reader Pocket Edition
• COOL-ER
• eSlick Digital Book Reader
  

In my next post, I compare these four popular brands.

The e-Reader allows you to download thousands of book titles from sites like Amazon.com, as well as from free sites like Project Gutenberg. Project Gutenberg is particularly good if you are interested in reading the classics.

E-readers are great when traveling especially. I have heard from clients that they loaded five or more books on their hand-held e-Reader that would’ve taken up half their suitcase and weighed it down too much to carry.

3. Frequent the Library

Your local library is a great option for current titles that you borrow, read, and return. No lasting book clutter. Before buying a book, always check to see if it is available from your local library. Most libraries will let you put your name on a waiting list for popular titles and new releases. Try to delay gratification by renting the book and giving it back when you’re done, instead of buying the book and adding it to your book storage shelves.

4. Buy One, Remove One

As I always suggest to my clients, if you bring one in, let one go. Make a deal with yourself that if buy a new book, an older one has to go.

5. Use Audio Books

I love Audible.com. I love the selection and quality of their audio books. Project Gutenberg also has many audio books that can be used with an MP3 player.

With my busy schedule, I now prefer audio books, which allow me to “read” while doing other activities like exercising, weeding, driving, or housework. They provide another way for me to read without any clutter.

So the next time you consider buying a book at your local bookstore, or on-line consider if you truly have time to read the book in the near future, or will the new book be relegated to your book storage shelves to collect dust along with all the other books you had good intensions of reading.

Originally posted 2009-11-22 15:44:19. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Peter Walsh’s “It’s All Too Much” DVD Review

Recently I was contacted by Peter Walsh, best selling author and professional organizer from TLC’s Clean Sweep, about his new It’s All Too Much with Peter Walsh DVD release and his new book It’s All Too Much, so get it together.  (This second book is designed for older kids, say age 10+ through young adult. I’ll review this book in a future post.)

I was thrilled to receive a copy of the DVD and his new book. I popped in the DVD and was impressed by the great presentation of what can be a dry topic for some – home organizing. I’ve been a professional organizer since 2005, but even I learned many new tips from the DVD that I can share with my clients.

Like having a professional organizer right in your home, It’s All Too Much with Peter Walsh DVD offers a step-by-step guide to reducing clutter and getting organized. Walsh moves from room to room offering practical, inexpensive and easy to maintain tips and strategies that anyone can do. I was pleased to hear Peter say that the key to getting organized in any space is to have a vision for each space and what activities you want to perform in each space. Then create zones in each space and establish limits. He explained and illustrated these concepts in an easy understand fashion.

Here are a few of my favorite strategies:

GARAGE: get things up off the floor onto shelves. Items are much easier to access when stored vertically and not stacked on top of each other.

KITCHEN: I’ve shared this kitchen organizing strategy with my clients and I was glad to see Peter illustrate it in action. Empty your cooking gadget drawer into a box. When you need to use one of the gadgets in the box over the next month, take it out of the box and put it back in the drawer. After two months, go back to the box and see what’s left in it. The items that are left in the box haven’t been used in at least two month, so do you really need them?

CHILD’S ROOM AND TOYS: use the vertical space as much as possible by installing hooks and hanging clothing and shoe organizers. Limit the number of toys and create a routine for putting toys away and purging as new toys come in. I taught these skills to my kids early and they are now very comfortable with these tasks.

When Walsh’s book It’s All Too Much was first released in 2007, I bought the book on Unabridged 6-CD set and listened to it in the car daily for at least six months.  I then also purchased the hardback as a reference to refer back to again and again.

I’ve read LOTS of books on organization and many are just rehashed versions of the same body of knowledge. But Peter’s books are different. He  has a way of explaining our fascination and obsession with stuff in such a practical and logical way.  The way he presents the material is like a light-bulb going off that says “why are we living our lives with so much stuff?” and “why are we putting up with it our home looking like a storage shed?” The DVD has the same great qualities and I’m sure anyone who watches this will be motivated to get started.

Great contribution Peter! I highly recommend the It’s All Too Much DVD, Book on CD and hardback.

You can find It’s All Too Much with Peter Walsh DVD on Amazon.com

Originally posted 2010-04-12 13:53:39. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Organizing Small Spaces: Bathroom, Laundry, Entry, Linen and Other Closets

Now that the kids are out of school, why not tackle some of those pesky home organizing projects that you were just too busy to tackle amidst school and extra-curricular activities. There are many smaller spaces in your home that, (like bathrooms, linen closets, and entryways), once organized, can add time to your day and make your home run much smoother once things get busy again in the fall. In the next several blog posts, I’ll talk about bathrooms, linen closets, entryways and laundry rooms. Up first is the bathroom:

BEAUTIFUL BATHROOMS

The bathroom surely gets a workout each day. Get it organized with this easy-to-follow process.

INVENTORY, SORT AND PURGE
To start your bathroom organizing project, take an inventory of all the items housed there. What may be a more important question to ask is what you feel SHOULD be housed in the bathroom. Answering this question helps you make decisions about moving items to another space that you deem don’t need to be stored in a bathroom.

Start by removing everything from each space – under sink, drawers, linens, etc. And I do mean EVERYTHING! You will be much more ruthless in your purging decisions when everything has been removed for the space.

Sort them into categories, such as medical, hair care, body cleansers, shaving, tooth care, cosmetics, paper products, cleaning supplies and the goes elsewhere items. Having a trash can close by is a must.

Once everything is grouped together like with like, you’ll see where you have duplicates, (and once organized, you’ll avoid overbuying the next time you run out to the store.) Now is also the time to toss expired medications, sunscreens, cosmetics, and anything you no longer use (do you really need three curling irons or 15 hand towels past-their-prime? What about the 20 miniature-sized travel shampoos?) Now you have a true vision of your bathroom’s current storage needs.

SET UP STORAGE
Some things are shared items, while others may belong to a specific person.  Take into account the available space in your medicine cabinet, vanity drawers, and under-sink storage, as well as in your linen closet. If you need to add storage, consider installing shelving on a wall or a free-standing storage cabinet above the toilet, or under sink. I love using portable shelves to use dead space in cabinets under sinks. As you place items, group them into categories, and/or assign a specific home for each member of the household. For example, each person could have one drawer, one basket on the shelf, or one toteable caddy. If you’re grouping by category, you could use baskets, bins, or specific areas on your shelves for easy locating. I love using portable helper shelves in cabinets under bathroom sinks and other similar places like under kitchen sinks. The image featured is a small size, but these shelves come in Small, Medium and Large and expandable. Be sure to label so that everyone knows where to find necessities.

Add hooks behind the door or on the wall so everyone has a place to hang towels. I like the sets of hooks that you can hang over a door (no nailing into walls or doors and the over the door row of hooks is portable). All of these additional storage options are making use of vertical storage.

And while you’re at it color code the towels and toothbrushes by family member so that there’s no “ownership confusion.”

If you purchase paper products in bulk, store the excess in an out-of-the-way area, such as the laundry room, hall closet, or garage or basement cabinet, keeping only a week’s worth in the bathroom. Replenish as needed.

KEEP IT CLEAN AND SAFE

Make sure that the garbage can is easy to access and large enough for at least a couple of day’s worth of trash. Consider an additional small basket to catch recyclables in the bathroom. Many communities recycle plastics (such as shampoo and body wash bottles) and cardboard (such as toilet paper tubes and the boxes that toothpaste, soap, and cosmetics often come in). You’ll be surprised how many recyclables you generate! Keep the bathroom safe for the little ones by storing medications and bathroom cleaning products out of their reach. (Many medications lose effectiveness in the bathroom humidity, so consider placing them in another room.)

Finally, remember that counters are easier to clean and look best when uncluttered by oodles of bottles, tubes, and boxes. Keep only a bottle of hand soap and lotion on the countertop, plus a decorative element like a plant or small vase of fresh flowers. And if you wish, add a small clock to keep you on time. This clear and lovely space will give you inspiration to keep the bathroom neat and tidy throughout the day!

Originally posted 2010-06-11 15:08:32. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

How to Set-up a System to Keep Important Life Documents in One Place

How many times have you torn apart your house trying to find an important document? Often times these documents contain important pieces of your life that need to be in easy access, especially in an emergency. For most people organizing the documents and items that make up our lives is not a priority until there is a crisis. Then most will search frantically for the needed information only to waste time and increase stress.  Take it from a Professional Organizer who has worked with hundreds of clients who put this uneccessary stress upon themselves because they haven’t been proactive to design a system or were not aware that there are ready-made products available that will solve these paper clutter issues. Before the next crisis, set up a system to keep all your important documents in one place.

Ahh … imagine the relief of immediately finding any piece of needed information in the exact location you expect it to be.  I searched and found a couple of great products/solutions that solve just this dillema for my clients. Each serve as a central repository for important life and family documents, designed to be kept in easy access.

LIFE.doc  is a ready-made binder by Buttoned Up to keep all of the critical information of your life together. Life.doc has eight tabbed sections designed to organize all of the pieces of information that are needed for most people to keep one’s personal life in control.

These eight sections that encompass the most critical areas of life are:

• family basics
• in sickness & in health
• insurance
• dollars & sense
• legal ease
• caregiver information
• home sweet home
• emergency plan

It also comes with an accompanying CD-ROM with interactive forms that work with Microsoft Word (PC or MAC) making it easy to complete forms digitally and save them to a computer.

This comprehensive and bright red sturdy binder composed of 120 pages of straightforward forms for easy access are a roadmap that make it painless to get organized.  Life.doc will give you and your family the peace of mind that whatever information that you may need will be easy to find. This is the way to make sure that your house stays in one piece the next time that you need to find a piece of your personal information.

The VALUABLES.doc is another way that you can keep the things that you need in your life in one place and inventoried. This is a complete kit that will make it easy for you to catalog and keep track of all of your belongings.

• Valuables.doc binder by Buttoned Up includes:
  Eight tabbed sections for you to record all of your valuables room-by-room
• Jewelry
• Collectibles
• Family/living room
• Kitchen
• Dining room
• Bedrooms
• Basement
• Other

So, if and when disaster may strike in your life, (remember Hurricane Katrina?) you will have the necessary documentation to recoup the loss of many of the valuable keepsakes in your life.

POCKET.doc

The Pocket.doc provides simple to fill out forms that easily fit into a wallet, purse or backpack. So you have critical emergency, medical, and contact information when and where you need it.

The Pocket.doc by Buttoned Up includes:
Three sections to ensure that you have your emergency plan, medical information and important phone numbers when you need it. What’s great about this little record book is that it is the size of a credit card and easily fits in wallets, backpacks, glove compartments and briefcases.

Perfect for busy families on the go.

Each of these products would make a practical gift for your loved ones.

Visit The Simplified Home to learn more and to purchase.

Originally posted 2009-10-22 16:18:22. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Organizational Tools for New Parents

When it comes to being a new parent, there is always a need for tools and systems to stay on top of your new life and your sanity. Do you often feel like you’d loose your head if it wasn’t screwed on?  I sure did when my kids were little. The organized world I’d devised prior to kids went out the window when I adopted my first daughter at ten months old. Since most of my clients are busy families, I often hear moms say “I used to be so organized before I had kids” If you’re a new parent, you are probably forgetting the most minor things on a daily basis. Don’t worry-it happens to all new mothers.

Being a new parent is rewarding and fun, yet difficult and exhausting at the same time. So whether you are a new parent or you know someone that is, you need to know about tools and system to help the new parents out there to remember the important things that tend to slip the mind.

One of the best organizational tools ever made for a new parent on the go is the New Parent Checklist. Going out of the house with a baby can be very stressful. I remember those days … it could easily take an hour to gather everything needed for baby.  If you’re anything like I was, you make numerous trips back into the house because you forgot a bib, or a change of clothes or your cel phone. There are so many things that a new parent must pack before leaving the house on even the simpliest errand or play date with a friend. The New Parent Checklist lists all possible items you would need to take with you so you don’t forget anything. As I’m sure any new parent can relate, when you’re feeling brain-fried, wouldn’t it be nice to have one less thing to you need to keep in your brain?

Another vital tool for a new parent to have is the “Don’t Kill the Kids, and other babysitting basics“ checklist notepad. Every new parent needs to get out and away from their kids from time to time. With the “Don’t Kill the Kids notepad, parents don’t have to write a list for the babysitter each time they go out. This checklist includes everything you could possibly need to communicate to your babysitter. Again, one less thing you have to keep in your brain and remember. No more multiple phone calls to home telling the babysitter everything that you forgot to tell her before you left.

Here’s a new product that we found, now available in The Simplified Home for organizing socks all the way through the laundry process. My kids love these colorful SOCK-LOCKS / LOC-A-SOK. It has totally eliminated lost socks and the time spent sorting and matching up socks.  SOCK-LOCKS are offered in 4 colors, so you can assign a color to each family member for quick sorting.

Originally posted 2009-01-19 00:29:12. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The Couponizer – Coupon Organizing System

The Couponizer® is a time and money saving organizing system for the shopper in the family. Invented by a busy mom, the kit includes all the tools necessary to make saving money easy. The Couponizer® System will not only help keep your coupons organized, but it will keep you motivated to shop for savings over and over again.

The Couponizer® System includes:

* The Couponizer® wire-bound 6 x 8 booklet
* Your Guide to Smart Savings book
* CoupStacker coupon sorting mat
* Shopping List pad (store in Couponizer)
* CoupTracker list pad for recording monthly savings and spending
* Scissors for cutting coupons
* Durable clear-plastic zippered bag for carrying and protecting your Couponizer

Having sold out multiple times on QVC, the Couponizer is the #1 best selling coupon organizer on the market.

LEARN MORE

Originally posted 2010-07-10 22:35:43. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Dresserz™ Dresser Knobs Make Kid’s Bedroom Organization Fun and Easy

When I work with families, organizing the kid’s bedroom is always one of mom’s challenges.  Kid’s go through so many developmental stages – infant, toddler, pre-schooler, pre-reader, reader, elementary school age, etc. etc.  so it is always a challenge to develop systems that work at each stage. Recently I found a great decorative solution for organizing kid’s clothes that also reinforces pre-reading  and organizational skills.  Dresserz™ dresser knobs for boys and girls:

Dresserz™ dresser ceramic knobs are 2″ in diameter and come in 2 styles (boys & girls)  in a set of 6 dresser knobs, available as individual knobs, or in packs of two. With Dresserz™ knobs, mom doesn’t have to make her own picture labels to place on the dresser drawer as I’ve seen many moms do.

Here’s what the sets looks like:

For warm weather, four new styles were just added:

Three for girls: shorts, skirts and tank tops

And one for boys:

What a great organizational solution for moms and kids!  Why didn’t I think of this??

What I also like about these knobs is that each knob is multi-colored, making it easy to match most kid’s room decor. And installation is easy – anyone can do it.  Each ceramic knob measures 2″ in diameter and comes with a 1″ screw that fits most dressers.

We now carry these fun, colorful and educational Dresserz™ knobs in The Simplified Home e-store.

Originally posted 2010-04-29 11:02:49. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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