Water Wars with your Plants & Baskets

Summer is around the corner.  Time for a fun little organizing project that everyone can help with. Plus there is the potential for a little water fight (you have been warned).

"Mary" need some organizing help with some items from a recent move. Well, she moved about a year ago and is still working at unpacking and finding homes for all her stuff.

She has a large collections of baskets that have collected dust for sometime. I shared with her a Basket Tip:

Rinse them off with a little soapy water.

You can see how dull the baskets. Then after their little bath, the baskets are bright and shiny.

If it is a good wood basket, you should let the basket soak in water at least once a year so it doesn't dry out.

You can rinse off your houseplants by hosing them down outside then letting them dry in the sunshine. No more dusty leaves.

I even take the chairs my boys sit on at our kitchen counter and hose them off a couple times a year. (gets all the crumbs out of the cracks)

Next time you're trying to dust a houseplant, clean a chair or dust a basket, think about just getting them a little wet.

What are you going to hose down?

Yes YOU Can Get Your Garage Organized

Getting your cars parked in your garage may be a dream to you, though now is the time to get your garage organized. Seems everyone is out there, cleaning out from the change of seasons. Getting ready storing away the nasty snowthrower and dusting off the lawnmowers. Beginning the project, for many people, is the toughest part.

You see the piles of stuff and the shelves overflowing with items randomly tossed about for storage. Here's how you can go about organizing a garage:

step #1: Notes - Look at every wall or area and right down notes on items seen, comments made by my client or in your case little thoughts that drift into your head. It's OK to write, "absolute disaster" or "hopeless mess." Just get it down on paper. Doesn't have to be a novel, random notes are perfect.

step #2: Ideas - Envison what your garage would look like. Use your walls for storing as much as possible. Think shelves, racks, hooks, bins, bags, etc. All of these ideas can be attached to the wall, getting your stuff off the floor.


step #3: Plan - Maybe take a bit of a break and let your thoughts simmer. Come back into your garage and plan what you are going to do. Take some measurements for shelving. Remember to use the studs as much as possible, this will keep your stuff on the walls. Studs are typically every 16 inches along the wall length.

step#4: Action - Get your garbage bags ready, boxes for donations and rev up those power tools ... the organizing party is about to begin. Hang up your shelves first, if possible. This gives you space to store the items you use. Items you do NOT use do NOT go on a shelf, trash or donate. Work around your garage and find homes for the things you use. You will be left with stuff that is has no use in your home.

step #5: Clean Up - You will be left with stuff that has no use in your home. Donate or trash it. Get it out of your life. It's OK to part with stuff. Sweep up the floor and pull your car into the garage. Reward yourself for a job well done!

What random thought do you have about your garage?

Farting and Organizing ... it's all good

So, my youngest son walks up to me and says:
"Mom, I think getting organized is like farting."
"Um ... why is that?", as I snicker (oh, you laughed too)
"Because both make you feel good after you do it."
~wise words from a 12.5 year old boy.

With two boys, we live daily on hourly fart jokes.

Getting organized truly does make you feel better.  

You can breathe easier.  

You're less stressed. 

And, you're out enjoying life.  

Find some time, even 5 minutes, each day to focus and become more organized.  Need some guidance on where to start?

Try these past Challenges.

“Don’t take life too seriously.
You’ll never get out alive.”
Bugs Bunny

(note: Since 1940 (73 years),  Bugs never dropped a fart joke)

What made you laugh today?

Being Lazy is Good

You know.
The more organized you are.
The more you can ENJOY being lazy.

Be lazy can be very, very good.
Another fabulous reason to get organized.
Perhaps in addition to being a professional organizer, I am also a productivity specialist in the art of enabling laziness. (just a thought)

How do you enjoy being lazy?

Home Lifestyle Show - Organizing Tips presentation

The Monroe County Home Builders and Remodelers Association (HBRA) asked me to be their "Celebrity guest & Master Organizer" for their Home Lifestyle Show.  I was quite honored to share with their audience tips and tricks to getting organized.

This is an article that appeared in the Bedford Now and the Monroe Evening News prior to the event:

It was a great event and the response was overwhelmingly positive.  Glad I could help and encourage the attendees to think about the "other" benefits about being organized and ways to be more productive throughout the day.

What is your favorite organizing trick?

It is OK to let that funky plastic container go ... Trust Me.

If you have plastic containers that are as old as your kid entering high school or college, you are worth new containers.

The crusty, microwaved spaghetti stains will not come out of the old ones.

Trust me.

What is the oldest plastic container in your home?
(bonus points for identifying the stain)

Get Organized: How many Junk Drawers do you have?

We all have junk drawers.
(OK, maybe a couple ... alright several)

An organized junk drawer, we'll that's just crazy talk.

Things get tossed into the junk drawer because they were needed at one time, not really sure an easy place was available when you were done with it. Now your junk is a mishmash of items from nail clippers, hair brushes, foreign coins, pencils, paintbrushes, ball inflator valves, guitar picks, ... uh, you get the point.

Today's organizing project: Your Junk Drawer
Bring the garbage can nearby and start tossing thing out.
Reward: Call up a friend you have not spoken to in far too long.
Seriously, are you REALLY going to need that "L" shaped assembly tool for the cabinet you put together 5 years ago? What about those little bags of extras screws?
Get rid of them!

As you pull items out, place them into similar groups. Once everything is out of your junk drawer, wipe the funk out of it and think about what you REALLY need. There are all sorts of fancy plastic containers to use to keep items organized. Use them if you wish, but you may have some small boxes or old plastic bowls that could be used, as well.

Make your junk drawer a functioning member of your happy organized home.
... and guess what.  You are going to feel sooooo much better, too!

How many screws did you have in your junk drawer?