Get Organized with 5 Boxes, a Bag and a List

The most common reason I hear from clients that prevent them from tackling an organizing project is “where do I start?” Many folks get overwhelmed at this stage, feel defeated, and don’t ever get started.

With any large project, it is most effective to break it down into manageable steps, then focus on just one step at a time. The formula below provides a step-by-step process for tackling any organizing project.

Five Boxes, a Bag and a List is all you need to organize your home or office, one room or area at a time! Let’s get started.

1) Gather your supplies –

• 5 large, easy to store cardboard boxes or plastic bins. These boxes will become your decluttering tools for rooms to come!
• A large trash bag
• A couple of Sharpie markers
• A pad of paper
• A timer

2) Commit the time – from 30 to 60 minutes

3) Assign each box a purpose – write on a piece of tape or tape a piece of paper on each box with these words (1 per box):

• KEEP IT
• ROUTE IT
• GIVE IT
• SELL IT
• STORE IT
• TOSS IT

Now You’re Ready to Simplify Your Space:

4) Choose the space to declutter and set your timer for a predetermined time of 30 to 60 minutes. Allow for an additional 10 minutes for final clean up and routing misplaced items. If time is up before the room is finished, remember or mark where you stopped.

5) Line up your labeled boxes, trash bag, and keep the pad of paper close by. Start sorting items beginning on the left side of the room and work left to right. Here’s what goes in each box:

• KEEP IT – place in this box only those items that you love or can identify a specific purpose for current use. These are items that will be kept in the space you are currently working in.
• ROUTE IT – collect items that you will be keeping, but do not belong in the this room. The goal is for you to stay focused on the room you have committed to. By placing items in this box that need to go to another space, rather than taking them now, will keep you from getting distracted in other rooms. This box will be dealt with later.
• GIVE IT – collect treasures that are no longer needed or wanted, but are in good condition. This box can be donated to your favorite organization. There are many worthy organizations who will pick up your discarded treasures, saving you the time and physical work of loading it in your car.
• SELL IT – with the popularity of auction sites like eBay, you can easily make money on the treasures that you uncover. If you don’t have an interest in learning how to sell on-line, you can take your items to a local ‘auction drop-shop’ or ‘trading post’, as they are commonly called. For a percentage of the final sale price, the drop shop will handle the selling process for you. If you have no interest in selling your items, eliminate this box.
• STORE IT – collect items you are unsure of (keep or purge), close up the box at the end of this decluttering session, and place a scheduled toss/donate date on the box. If items in this box are not accessed by that date, you have just proven to yourself that the items inside are not needed or missed. After the dispose of date, deliver the box unopened to the charity of your choice.
• TOSS IT – use the trash bag to collect trash, items that are in poor repair, non-sellable/givable items, or you have no idea what it is.
• THE LIST – collect To-Dos or reminders. While decluttering, you may remember tasks you haven’t completed and be tempted to act on them. Don’t be distracted from your current project of decluttering to handle a ‘To do’. Add the ‘To do’ to your list and forget it for now. Stay focused on the current project of decluttering your space.

When the timer goes off take the clean up time to:

• Empty the KEEP IT box in the space where they go
• Empty the ROUTE IT box – take items in this box out of the space you were just working in and put them away in the spaces where they go
• Throw out the items in the TOSS IT bag – get the TOSS IT stuff out of your space immediately
• Store the STORE IT box in a place where you have access if needed, and you can see the “toss by” date.
• Schedule a time to donate the GIVE IT box and decide the best venue for selling your SELL IT items (i.e., consignment store, auction drop-shop, do-it-yourself auction selling, garage sale)
• Schedule the To-Do’s on your list.

Continue this process consistently in at least 30 to 60-minute time blocks (increase your organizing time as you progress) and you’ll soon have a newly decluttered space that you can enjoy again.

Originally posted 2008-08-18 06:42:50. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Think in systems to organize your home and life

When I worked in the corporate world as a business analyst it wasn’t a stretch for me to think in systems.  In an office environment processes and procedures are established to create order and and establish habits.  Often office systems are documented in a Procedure Manual for all to follow.  We are also accustomed to having the supplies needed in our work space in order for us to perform our job and to follow the company’s systems. 

When I became a Professional Organizer in 2003, it occurred to me that we can transfer this same ‘systems theory’ to managing our home. You manage your home in systems as well.

So what do I mean by a a home management system?  It is a set of procedures and processes, or a routine/habit that is put in place in your home to manage five key variables:

·   Space

·   Your stuff

·   Information flow

·   Your time

·   Relationships – with those for whom you share your space 

 

Develop systems to manage these variables and you have designed solutions to calm the chaos of your daily life. A system can be as simple as a labeled folder to a specific organizing product designed to hold all your personal information, like those available in our e-store The Simplified Home.  The important thing is that you establish a consistent routine or process for yourself and your family for the repetitive tasks you perform regularly. These routines/processes done consistently become habits.  One of my favorite quotes, by Ben Franklin, is …

 

 “To change a habit begin immediately and let no single exception to occur.”

 

Consistency is the key to establishing a habit.  

When I work personally with clients, I assess the systems they have in place and those that are missing. So what systems should you consider to simplify your home?  Here’s a list of home organization systems I suggest that my  clients consider.  

 

• System for keeping track of your daily schedule

• System for processing incoming mail – from the mailbox and from children’s bookbags

• System (or consistent home) for finding car keys, purse/wallet, cel-phone, laptop, etc.

• System for paying bills on time

• System for teaching and delegating household chores within the family

• System for food shopping (grocery list and organizing coupons)

• System for keeping track of daily and weekly To Dos (actions)

• System for regular decluttering / weeding

• System for tracking birthdays, anniversaries

• System for the home laundry process

• System (routine) for getting out of the house on time for work, appointments, meetings

• System for staying focused and productive (i.e., timer, alarm)

• System for processing children’s school papers

• System for keeping track of home information (warranties, operations manuals, room dimensions, carpet samples, etc.)

• System for family communication

• System for merchandise returns, errand-running

• System for weeding out no longer needed clothing

• System for filing and retrieving vital family records

 

I call this a ‘Home Systems Checklist’ and I give this checklist to new clients so they can evaluate and analyze their own household. 

 

So how about you? I invite you to use this list to do the same in your home. Also think about the supplies you need to establish these systems.

 

You too can get organized by thinking in systems.  I’d love to hear your feedback – please leave a comment about home systems that have worked well for you and if you can think of a system that I didn’t include. Also, if you’d like to hear more detail about any of these systems, leave a comment about your greatest challenge and I’ll do a future post about specific systems you want to learn more about.

 

I also invite you to visit The Simplified Home for many ready-made home organization systems and solutions so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

Originally posted 2008-10-24 21:27:45. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Capture the Magic ~ Give your kids photo proof that Santa is real

I’m taking a break from organizing to tell you about this amazing website ~ Capture The Magic ~ where you can actually photograph Santa in YOUR house to give your kids proof that Santa is real.  Seeing is Believing!

You know how it goes … your kids want to stay up on Christmas eve to catch Santa in the act of leaving their presents. As parents we do our best to set the stage like putting out cookies and milk and carrots for the reindeer. I actually eat part of the carrot and take bites from the cookies to keep the magic alive for my kids.  I love to watch the wonder on their faces as they imagine that Santa was actually in our living room.

Now with the help of Capture The Magic you can actually give your kids photo proof that Santa was actually in your home.  Seeing is believing! Here’s how it works:

1. You take a photo of your living room
2. Upload the photo to the Capture The Magic website
3. Select a Santa image from the website that fits your living room photo (100′s to choose from)
4. Merge and blend the Santa image with your photo
5. Purchase your photo for just $9.95 (the 2nd photo is free)
6. Download your photo

Imagine the look on your kid’s faces when they see a picture of Santa in their home? Sure to be a hit for Christmas 2009. You’ve got to see it for yourself. Visit Capture The Magic!

Originally posted 2009-12-02 23:43:50. 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

Organizing Small Spaces – Lovely Organized Laundry Rooms

So far in my weekly Organizing Small Spaces series I’ve addressed your home’s entry way and bathrooms. The third installment in the series is about organizing your laundry room.

Do you dread visiting your laundry room? Maybe you’d have more fun sorting your whites if the space was more organized!  Here are a few tips for making it a pleasant and inviting atmosphere.

There’s no reason a laundry room has to be dark and dingy. Paint the walls a light, happy color. Make sure to use the maximum-allowed bulb wattage in your light fixtures. Add task lighting, as needed, some inexpensive, framed artwork to the walls, and a clock or timer.

If you need more storage space, add a couple of rows of shelving above the washer/dryer. Keep laundry necessities – such as detergent, stain removal pens, fabric softener, an iron, starch, and bleach – within easy reach so you can grab and go. Use baskets and boxes (labeled of course) to hold not-as-frequently used things such as clothespins, old rags, and your pile of missing-a-mate socks. If you prefer hidden storage, install some inexpensive cabinets on one wall (available at any home improvement store).

Drying racks are nice if you enjoy line-drying your clothes. There is even a variety of wall-mounted, fold-out options available that will save floor space.

To make laundry day easier for everyone, implement a laundry sorter/hamper and teach your family to place whites in a white basket or hamper and darks in a colored basket. Our laundry sorter has been a life-saver. I’ve taught my kids to use it religiously. If they don’t get their laundry in the sorter it doesn’t get washed. I recommend purchasing or constructing a laundry sorter that is very sturdy – don’t try a cheap one.  If you prefer that you kids have their own laundry basket, the collapsible kind is preferred – it takes up less room and can be flattened and slid under a bed or between furniture when empty. This type is great for dorm rooms and apartments too.

Do you battle the piles of unsorted socks in your home? To get dressed in the morning, do your kids have to go fishing in the abis of unsorted socks to find a matching pair. That used to be our story. But I found Loc-A-Soks. With Loc-A-Soks (also called Sock-a-Locs) you’ll never have to sort socks again, because a pair is matched before going into the laundry, and a pair stays matched together with Loc-A-Sok gripper through the entire laundry process.  Kids love the bright colors and find it fun to stick their socks in the grippers.

If you dry clean frequently, add a separate basket for dry cleaning, preferably close to the door where you leave the house. Having the basket there will be a reminder as you are leaving the house.

Place clean, folded laundry in color-coded or labeled laundry baskets. Have family members retrieve their baskets from the laundry room, or deliver them to their rooms, so they can put away their own stuff. Remember … many hands make light work!

For more tips and ideas about getting kids to help with laundry and other household chores, learn about our household chore system, Mom, Can I Help Around the House.

Originally posted 2010-07-02 13:54:13. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Is Your Laundry Getting the Care it Deserves?

If you’re like most busy folks, the answer is probably no. Most people don’t stop long enough to find out what all those little symbols mean. Even if you do think about it, they are usually written so small you’d have to have a magnifying glass to see the words!

Well here is a FREE quick 1-page printable that will help you out. It can be posted in the laundry room as a reminder to you or show your family members how to care for clothes so they last longer. This printable was a great resource when I was teaching my children (now 11 & 14) how to do the family laundry. It’s also a great resource for teens who may be moving out soon or anyone who doesn’t do the laundry often enough to remember what the symbols mean!

Here’s another handy laundry organizing gadget that we couldn’t do without in our home – Lock-A-Socs.

This handy gadget keeps a pair of socks matched all the way through the laundry process. You just stick the toe of each sock in the pair through each gripper and drop them in the laundry basket or washer. The pair of socks stay matched through the wash, dryer and then back into the drawer. Each family member can have a different color, making putting socks away much easier as well.

No more sorting socks! Can you imagine the time you’ll save each week? We saved a good hour by not having to sort the family’s socks each week after they came out of the dryer. The socks make it back into my our drawers much quicker too. The Lock-A-Soc completely eliminates the sock sorting and matching process.

Lock-A-Socs can be found in our store – The Simplified Home.net.

I’d love to hear your time-saving laundry tips – please leave your tips below in the comments.

Originally posted 2010-05-13 11:26:59. 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

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

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