The Saga of the Naked Flag Holder

Rehoboth Toy and Kite Company

My husband took a vacation day early last week and, as is often the case, my schedule for the day changed as well. It's not his fault. We've been married long enough that he knows to give me my space when he's home on a day that I'm not planning to use as a vacation day and I know not to expect business as usual.

Still, the very presence of someone else in the house tampers with my routine, tenuous as it is. I started out okay, making sure to post my blog, but then, before I got much further, I got sidetracked by house stuff. The shower head that wasn't working. The empty space out front where a garden flag was supposed to be. The bed linens that needed to be changed.

As is often the case, one thing led to another. In this case, it was the garden flag that led me simultaneously astray and in the right direction.

We have a spot in our garden that's too shady to sustain much plant life. Consequently, that's where the garden flag and chimes go -- one way of adding a little beauty to what might otherwise become an extension of the front lawn.

But the flag holder has been empty for months now. I notice it when I pull into the driveway, but once I come inside the house, I get sidetracked by what has to be done there.

And another day with a naked flag holder draws to a close.

For whatever reason, my husband's day off became the day I was determined to replace the flag. Doing this necessitates going into our crawlspace to pull the seasonally appropriate flag out of one of the drawers in the unit that houses seasonal decorations.

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you are probably already asking the question that didn't occur to me until that day.

Why are the flags in the crawlspace?

Um...because that's where I've always kept them?

There is a certain logic to putting the flags there, even if I'm not an I know I put it somewhere organizer. The flags are an extension of the seasonal decorations I need to get at only once a year. Therefore, they aren't stored in prime real estate.

If it weren't for the saga of the naked flag holder, I probably wouldn't have realized my tactical error.

I change these flags more than once a year.

Or at least I would if I used one of the cardinal rules of location: put it close to where it's used.

Two hours later, the flag holder bore a summer flag. The rest of its companions had a new home in a drawer in the mudroom -- right inside the door I use to enter the house from the driveway. To free up the drawer, I needed to sort through three others so I could consolidate their contents.

Tackling the drawer unit in the mudroom had not been on the day's to-do list, yet the unexpected task left me with a sense of accomplishment. I'd put like items together, tossed things that were no longer useful and put aside some things to donate. Location logic had won out over habit, and I'd emerged victorious, setting up new a system that would work much better than the old one.

It was an organizational victory worth savoring, yet I was dogged by one nagging thought.

What other storage habits do I need to reconsider?

A question for another day.

3 Keys Thursday: 3 Keys for Managing Big, Rectangular Spaces

Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

Our homes are full of big, rectangular spaces. Planned well, these spaces -- closets, drawers and even refrigerators and chest freezers -- can be a storage dream. Left unattended and unplanned, they can quickly become a storage nightmare -- the dumping ground for all things homeless.

Yesterday, I wrote about one of them (my refrigerator). Even if I don't label my refrigerator shelves (the jury's still out), there are plenty of strategies to help to keep large spaces manageable. 

Store like with like. While every home has a junk drawer, no home should have a collection of them. The contents of each rectangular space (drawer, closet, etc.) should be related in some way that makes sense to you. Whether you cluster clothing by color, style, season or occasion, your closet should be set up in a way that not only makes retrieving the item you want easy, but also lets you see your options at a glance. Last week, I set up a drawer that now contains "stationery items and sticky things." Hardly a category I'd recommend on a regular basis, but I now know where to find mailing labels, Command hooks and oversized index cards.

Divide and conquer. As an I need to see it person, I value organization that lets me see things at a glance. When I open a drawer, I want to be able to see its contents without pawing through it. When I open my closet, I want to see what my choices are. Depending on your style, you may not need to see everything, but dividing large spaces into smaller ones makes retrieval easier. A simple drawer organizer can help you separate dark socks from light ones, pencils from paper clips and stationery from sticky things.

Let your style lead. Standard issue isn't always standard. Do you need to ditch the rod? Add another one below it for shorter hanging things? Add more shelves? Roll in some clear drawer units? Trade in your file cabinet for a cart that stores hanging files or open-top file bins? Trade in your binders for accordion files? Don't assume that whoever designed your closet, appliance or piece of furniture knows best. Only you can make it work for you.

Trust your instincts. With a little time and a lot of STYLE, you can make those rectangular spaces the organizing boon they were meant to be. 

If I Label the Refrigerator Shelves, Am I Crossing a Line?

Photo: W. Carter via Wikimedia Commons

In my mind's eye, there is a map for the inside of the refrigerator. Beverages go in one spot, leftovers in other, meat in a third. That is, to my way of thinking, why refrigerator manufacturers create separate compartments.

In my family's mind's eye, it's all a haphazard game. As long as the food gets into the fridge, they are satisfied.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm grateful that the food makes it into the refrigerator. I'm less grateful, however, when I end up throwing away once lunch-worthy leftovers because they got shoved to the back behind the applesauce which, by the way, belongs on a different shelf.

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that my house is by no means perfect. I am an organizational work-in-progress and my house has multiple hot spots -- places where clutter gathers to have a little party at my expense. I respect other people's right to organize differently than I do, but when my husband's I know I put it somewhere style meets my I need to see it style in the refrigerator, I spend a lot of time muttering under my breath and searching for solutions.

Last week, after I neatly re-stacked the leftovers and replaced the cut fruit on its shelf (the one where it belongs, not the one where it was), I seriously contemplated getting out the label maker and labeling the shelves. There's a good chance, after all, that what's in my mind's eye is different from what's in my family's mind's eye. I see shelves filled with food that can be categorized for easy retrieval. They see a large rectangular space that keeps things cold.

Photo: Morguefile

As I type this, I'm still considering my labeled shelves idea. The only thing holding me back is the ever-changing nature of refrigerator contents. The shelf that works for leftovers stored in stackable plastic containers might not work for the leftover pizza. Cut fruit needs more storage space in the summer than it does in the winter when we have less of it. Will constantly changing labels that are likely to be ignored cause more annoyance or amusement?

For now, I'm opting to leave well enough alone.

But the next time I throw away perfectly serviceable cold chicken, I just might change my mind.

3 Keys Thursday: 3 Keys to Managing Stuff While Time Works its Magic

Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

Yesterday, I posted about the role that time plays in the organization process. While this is a great idea in theory, the practice sometimes gets us into trouble.

Take my pile-up on the step for example. That is not a procedure I'd recommend. If we need to employ time as part of the process, we need to use a few strategies when we set aside our "maybes" to ensure that time is a tool and not simply an excuse.

• Store it intentionally. Whether you box it up and stash it out of sight or leave it where it lives until you make a decision, put your collection of maybes somewhere on purpose and mark it accordingly. Label the box, tag the clothing or use some other method to remind yourself that the item is in limbo. Otherwise, you've made the decision to keep it -- at least until the next time you get to that pile or location.

• Set a deadline. If you box up your maybes and store them out of sight, make sure to mark them with an expiration date. Write it on the box in permanent marker or on a sticky note in pencil -- either way, determine at which point it moves from "maybe" to "keep" or "find a new home for." Or, consider the change of season your decision point. Unless you're a snowbird or going on a tropical vacation, there's no better time to get rid of those clothes you didn't wear all summer than at the beginning of fall.

• Decide whether to view or not to view. I'm a big fan of not viewing things a second time. If they're a maybe when I put them in the box and I haven't opened the box by the time the deadline rolls around, opening the box again is only an invitation to a new dilemma. It's important to make this decision when you put things in the box, however. You need to know you've made a promise to yourself that the box leaves your house with its contents uninvestigated before you put things in the box, especially if your personal style is I love stuff. If you know you shouldn't look, but think you won't be able to help yourself, make a list of the contents and tape it to the outside of the box. Reading a list of contents is much less emotionally evocative than going through the items one last time.

When used strategically, time can be a valuable part of our organizational process. Employed as a thinking tool instead of an excuse to hang on to things past their prime, time allows us to thoughtfully separate trash from treasure. Then, when we are finished, we are left with the things we use and enjoy enough to care for and store appropriately.

The Test of Time

Photo: myrfa via Pixabay

Although my organizing and clutter-busting has come a long way since I started organizing by STYLE, there are almost always hot spots in my house. And, as with anything else we pass by often enough, I don't even see some of them anymore.

One pile in question has been living on the step in my office for longer than I can remember. I can't really even call it a hot spot, as I don't usually drop new things there. It came to be when I was doing one of my attack-the-office sessions, and it was a small price to pay for a neater space overall.

What was supposed to happen was that the stuff in that pile (homeless stuff that had accumulated in my work space) would get put away.

How often have I written about finding homes for things? Piles like this are the reason. Homeless items don't miraculously find themselves a place to live. If your house is anything like mine, they make up the bulk of the clutter.

Last week, for some reason I don't quite know (perhaps it was divine intervention -- and no, that's not sarcasm), that pile began to irk me, and I decided it was time to do one of my low-key stealth attacks, also known as organization games. I realized that if I simply picked up one thing every time I walked by the pile, and made a decision about it, I could make that pile go away. That was, I must admit, a pretty exciting prospect.

Some of the stuff on the top was actually easy. Yay! Progress.

Then it got a little harder, so I decided to dive into the middle of the pile where the older stuff was. One box seemed to be taking up a lot of space. Moving it would yield a substantial payoff. I pulled it out.

The manuscript for my first novel.

Generally speaking, I'm not an I love stuff girl, but I must admit to a sentimental streak. I remember putting this box there, planning to recycle it and its contents. I even picked it up a couple of times, but couldn't quite bring myself to get rid of it, so there it sat, collecting dust and attracting more things to the pile.

I weighed it in my hands. It was time.

Photo: stevepb via Pixabay

One of the organizing strategies I love is the one that allows us to set (some) things aside temporarily, getting rid of them later only if we haven't missed them in the intervening time. Usually, with the odds and ends that make up most piles in a household, packing them away for a month is sufficient. Six months is more than enough for most of the rest, even for I love stuff folks.

My novel came out in 2014.

I'm glad I didn't just stick it in the basement. Although it would have made my office life neater, I can promise you it would still be gathering dust there if I had. Now, one published novel, two works-in-progress and more blog posts than I can count later, I'm ready.

As I've said over and over (and over) again, organizing is a process. Sometimes, time is an important part of the process. While I'm not advocating letting things pile up in your workspace, I am saying that sometimes, the rules don't apply. Sometimes, we need to let time take the lead, and respect our need to do things on the timeline that makes sense to us. It may mean that things are less-than-perfect  in the meantime, but it also means we're less likely to make decisions we regret.

I don't regret keeping those pages, nor do I regret the fact that it took me three years to reach the point where I was ready to let them go because that's how long it took me to reach the point where clearing the space was more important than keeping the stuff in the pile.

All too often it's all too easy to force ourselves into decisions that meet other people's needs. Unless your stuff is interfering with your ability to live your life, cut yourself some slack.

Sometimes, time is the answer.

3 Key Concepts for the I Know I Put it Somewhere Organizational Style

Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

Those with the I know I put it somewhere organizational style are arguably the tidiest of the Organizing by STYLE bunch. Driven by a need for clear spaces and neat appearances, these folks are better at putting things away than their cram and jam or drop and run counterparts.

The trouble is that any open drawer, shelf, nook or cranny is fair game, and, without a system, I know I put it somewhere organizers aren't as organized as they may look.

Still, they have the right idea, and a few tweaks can transform them from I know I put it somewhere to "I know exactly where I put it!"

• When it comes to organizing, those with the I know I put it somewhere organizational style benefit from reminders. Clear storage, color-coded systems or even a master list can serve to remind them which storage spot (that seemed so perfect at the time) is the one they should be looking in now. Any step that I know I put it somewhere organizers can take in the direction of a plan or system will bring them one step closer to finding what they need when they need it.

• Location plays a similarly important role when it comes to list-making. A designated drop spot, whether a desktop, the kitchen counter or the Notes app on a cell phone, can make the I know I put it somewhere organizer's lists more accessible, and therefore more useful as well.

• In goal-setting, as with list-making, visibility and accessibility are important for the I know I put it somewhere organizer. Perhaps more important, however is storing all of the items for a particular project together in a consistent location (the same place every time). Nothing slows progress toward a goal faster than not being able to locate the things you need to take the next step.

If you're a drop and run organizer, what key ideas do you swear by? Share in the comments below. 

For more ideas on the drop and run organizational style, check out my original post here. 

For printable information sheets 
about containers and the styles, 

click on the CHARTS tab at the top of this page.

Under or Over?

Photo by Annie Spratt via Unsplash

In her book, The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin explores the question of overbuying vs. underbuying. Underbuyers try to get by on as little as possible, often to the point of running out of things. Overbuyers, on the other hand, like to stock up.

When it comes to organizational supplies, I'm a recovering overbuyer. I buy organizers that interest me, even if I don't quite know what I'll use them for and I often buy things I like in multiples. Consequently, I have my own little stash of goodies in the basement. I "shop" there quite often when I'm re-working an area of my house, hoping to find that I already have something on hand that will solve whichever organizational problem I'm working on.

If I'm to be honest, though, I have much too much. Part of this is due to the fact that, back when I was teaching organizational skills to elementary school students, I used to buy containers and folders to supply the monthly organizer giveaways I ran for the kids. When I retired, I still had a stash of those things in my office closet and, not knowing for sure where my organizational advice path would lead, I took them with me. Many have been put to use, but some are still stacked, one inside the other, on shelves in my basement.

Whether you're naturally an overbuyer or an underbuyer, I think the trick is to find the middle ground. When you find an organizer that works for you, it's not a bad idea to buy an extra to keep on hand for future use. But, unless you're stocking up for a remodel or giveaways of your own, buying too much of a good thing only serves to create a new organizational issue: organizing the organizers.

Similarly, being an underbuyer isn't necessarily a bad thing, but, when it comes to organizing, it might be worth considering why this is your behavior of choice. Are all of your things organized just as you like, so you have no need to buy anything? Are you struggling to solve an organizational issue, but still on the lookout for tools that fit your styles? Do you think that good organizers need to cost a lot of money?

If you answered yes to the third question, let me assure you that the majority of the things in my basement stash cost $5 or less. (When you're buying five to seven of one organizer so that there's a winner in every classroom, you tend to go cheap). In addition, depending on what you're storing, re- purposed shoe boxes, jars and egg cartons can work just as well as more expensive shoe racks, desktop organizers and drawer dividers.

Although I love that Gretchen got me thinking about the underbuyer/overbuyer conundrum, in the end, I think whether someone is an underbuyer or an overbuyer is less important than whether or not the buying habit works. Chances are, each of us is an overbuyer in some respects (for me, it's storage, stationery and toilet paper) and an underbuyer in others.

Where's your happy medium?