Organization Extra: The Container Store

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As you know from previous posts, I love finding inexpensive organizing tools. In fact, when I'm looking for ways to organize papers or small items, my first stop is usually the dollar store or the dollar bins at Target.

But I also enjoy going to stores that provide inspiration for my organizing endeavors. And one of my favorite places to go is The Container Store.

Unfortunately, there's no Container Store near me...but fortunately, this is the age of the Internet.

In addition to loads of great organizational tools, The Container Store site also includes tips on organizing closets, dorms and every room in your house, along with ideas for travel, holidays and occasions like shows and weddings.

And, after all, the one thing that tops inexpensive is free.

Throwback Thursday: Donna Reed, Carol Brady and Me

This post originally ran on The Porch Swing Chronicles in December 2012. Not much has changed. 
I've eliminated some junk drawers and restored order within them, and I began creating a long overdue sanctuary in my home office. Some of my clutter-catcher spaces have been reclaimed, and both my desk and the "nest" on my living room floor have been clear for several weeks. 

I'll take what I can get.

Photo: Morguefile

I had this expectation that when I retired, I'd become Suzy Homemaker. My house would be neat and
clean because I'd have time to do these things. My family would get real dinners instead of whatever I could throw together between 4:30 and 6 because I'd forgotten to defrost something - again.

Those of you who know me are rolling on the floor laughing. Please rejoin me once you pull yourselves together.

The truth is, I've always had this crazy notion that I should be Donna Reed - the TV mom, not the actress. The reality is, I'm more like Carol Brady - without an Alice. I don't enjoy cooking and I enjoy cleaning even less. I love organizing spaces and bringing order to chaos, which is a good thing because my house, my family and my housekeeping habits (or the lack thereof) provide me with plenty of opportunities to do those things.

The truth (yes, another one) is that I'm messy. I'm not a slob - I understand the difference between trash and treasure and have no problem getting rid of the former. I also like going through piles of accumulated belongings (mostly papers in my house) and deciding what to do with all of it. And, make no mistake, I consider shredding, recycling and trashing all to be viable options. In fact, I feel an amazing sense of accomplishment when I have organized even a small section of a room...until I look around and realize what a drop in the ocean that small section is, even in my little house.

I suppose it's not too late to change - to develop new habits and become my own version of Donna Reed - but the fact is, my family likes dinners that go from the freezer to the table, preferably in a breaded form that mimics fried appetizers at a restaurant. The meals I make from scratch and/or anything healthy I try to serve is greeted with appreciation, but not a lot of enthusiasm. And there are so many other things I would rather do than cook or clean. Write a blog (or a book). Read a magazine (or a book). Play a game, sing a song, do a show.

I've always thought that part of being a grown-up was setting aside the fun stuff until after you'd done what needed to be done - eating dessert after you've eaten your veggies. But maybe all that does is make you a stuffy grown-up. We've all been given gifts and talents - and I believe they come from God - and if God, in His infinite wisdom determined that I should be better at writing books than cooking meals, and at organizing closets than scrubbing floors, then who am I to argue? Yes, I realize that sounds like a juicy rationalization (especially to my fellow Big Chill fans), but bear with me.

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I'm not saying that I should abdicate all household responsibility. Tempting though that may be some days, I happen to like preserving my marriage and setting an example for my daughter. Sure, a certain amount of cooking and cleaning has to happen - and I rarely complain about doing laundry, as it's one household chore I don't really mind - but until I can afford Alice, my own cooking and cleaning isn't likely to be at a Donna Reed level, and there's no way my house will look like Carol Brady's. And that's okay. Because, after all, that's fiction and this is real life. And no one knows that better than a writer.

Especially a household skill-deprived one.

New Life for Old Things: The Three Rs

How did you do with last week's task? Did you clear some clutter? Or have I left you traumatized and clinging to your belongings at the very mention of the L (Let it Go!) in STYLE?

Clearing the clutter sounds simple enough -- until we stop to think about the fact that much of what's in the pile (or the big rectangular space) has meaning to us. Sure, some things are easy to let go of (that pile of old magazines you keep stubbing your toe on), but others -- the things with sentimental value -- pose more of a challenge.

Photo: mconnors via Morguefile

Fortunately, throwing things away isn't the only way to clear the clutter -- unless you're talking about something that poses a health hazard, like, say, a week's worth of banana peels. If you're not composting or availing yourself of one of the 9 Unexpected Reasons You Should Never Trash Banana Peels, anything that invites unwelcome visitors of the insect or rodent variety should be disposed of. Quickly.

Still, as someone with her own love/hate relationship with clutter, I know that tossing things into the trash isn't always as easy as it sounds. Luckily, there are alternatives, which I'm classifying into three categories: Recycle, Repurpose and Resell. In the interest of keeping this post from becoming overwhelming, I'm going to focus on just the first R (recycle) today. We'll talk more about the others next week.

First of all, we need to think outside the recycle bin to the broadest possible definition of recycling: giving new life to old things. When we put it in those terms, it's about more than just tossing a rinsed out soda bottle into the recycling container. It can be about finding new homes for things we've loved but no longer need.

Let's start with a few things you might have found in the back of your closet when you were doing your big rectangular space reorganization. Google "donate wedding dress," "donate business clothes," or "donate prom dress" and you'll find a page (or more) of local and national organizations that will put those items into the hands of women who need them. While I'm not ready to donate my wedding gown (unpreserved though it may be) any time soon, I'm more than happy to let go of that bridesmaid's dress I most definitely did not wear again.

Lots of other useful but unnecessary items can find new homes or new life as well. Did you know you can recycle blue jeans? Ship off that plastic hotel key you brought home by mistake to a place where it can be melted down and made into...more plastic hotel keys? Donate the reusable grocery bags that seem to overrun your car when you don't need them but hide from you when you do?

The Pittsburgh Tote Bag Project

My favorite way to recycle those bags is to donate them to The Pittsburgh Tote Bag Project. I don't live in Pittsburgh, but I love that this organization donates the bags I'm no longer using to local food pantries so their patrons have a way to haul their groceries home...wherever home may be. If you're not close enough to drop them off, you can contact PTBP for a mailing address. They'll be ever so grateful.

Wondering what to do with other household items? Homeless shelters and animal shelters will often be happy to take old sheets and towels off your hands. The Purple Heart Foundation takes a wide variety of household items -- and they'll even pick them up. I regularly take bags full of books to our local library. Some they keep, others they sell to raise money to buy more books.

Do you have something you're ready to get rid of, but have no idea how to find it a new home? Check out Wow, You Can Recycle That? for ideas. If you're like me, it'll end up bookmarked for future reference.

For this task as for all the others, I stand by my (consistent) assertion that one size does not fit all. Only you can decide what's trash and what's treasure, and you're bound to end up with some things you simply can't let go of -- yet.

More about that next week. Till then, please share your successes (and ideas) by leaving me a comment below.

Organization Extra: Why I Love Pinterest

This pin from Four Generations, One Roof
is one of my favorites. 

Last week, I featured 23 Easy Organizing Ideas for Your Entire Life, a great gallery of easy, inexpensive organizing ideas. As I read the article, I added my favorite ideas to my "Organization" board on Pinterest.

I was slow to join the Pinterest party, but now that I have, I see how wonderful it is for I need to see it people. Find a recipe you like? Pin it! Tacking a reorganization project? Pin ideas for containers, room set-ups and systems. It's all right there where you can see it, and, if you've pinned well, you can link back to the source to find things like directions, details and, well, more ideas.

My organization board was one of the first ones I set up, and last week, I added a companion board on one specific organizer (shoe bags) so I can gather ideas for a post I'm creating. Some of my boards are just for fun; others relate to my writing and my Thirty-One business.

Are you on Pinterest? What's your favorite way to use it?

If You (Don't) Love it, Set it Free

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At the heart of any organization project is a decision -- to keep, or not to keep. Finding systems, shortcuts and containers that complement your styles is important, but even the best of these containers is neither bottomless nor infinitely expandable. Like it or not, going through the "stuff" and determining what to keep and what to toss (or dispose of otherwise) is an important step toward getting organized.

And for many people, this is the most difficult part of organizing -- just ask an I love stuff person. The mere mention of getting rid of anything is painful to those who love stuff because each item holds a memory or significance, endowing it with a life of its own. 

Cram and jammers and I know I put it somewhere organizers, on the other hand, are usually able to be more heartless about this task (unless, of course, their personal style is I love stuff!) They may not like the labor involved, but their "out of sight out of mind" outlook makes it easier for them to separate trash from treasure. I love to be busy folks and drop and run organizers may also have little difficulty making the "keep or toss" decision, as their organizational struggles arise more from a lack of time than from an attachment to their things. And we I need to see it people are often delighted to get rid of things because it reduces the pile and, along with it, the feeling of being overwhelmed by how much we have to do.

That's not to say this is a simple task. Even for those who may find it easy (or even cathartic) to de-clutter, the task can be time intensive. If getting rid of things is hard for you, begin by taking stock of what you've accomplished over the past two months. If you've been reading along and chipping away, you've probably already let things go -- containers that weren't earning their keep, things you came across during a Give it Five! session, items that had no home -- and so you've already passed go and are well on your way. 

Photo: jdurham via Morguefile

Next week, we'll dig in (no pun intended) a bit more deeply, but for now, let's start with a list of expendable items. All of these can be thrown away or recycled relatively painlessly:

• Things that are torn or broken , or missing pieces
• Half a pair of anything
• Things that are outdated (e.g back issues of magazines)
• Things  you no longer use or need

So far, so good? If so, and if you've recently been working on the large, rectangular spaces in your bedroom, you might want to add "clothing that no longer fits or is out of style" to your list. Unless you really do want to throw it away or have a destination in mind, set it aside for now -- just for now.

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If this is really hard, do what you can and congratulate yourself. Throwing things away is the most traumatic way for some of us to divest ourselves of our extras. If you find any of the above categories to be more magnetic than expendable, try choosing just one category or even just a few things you think you can manage; then, celebrate your successes. Or, set a goal for yourself -- say, ten items -- and see if  you can meet or surpass it. Every little bit helps.

Next week, we'll talk about finding new homes for the things that no longer belong in our homes. Meanwhile, if you've got a great suggestion for a way to give your old stuff new life, please share it in the comments below. 

Organization Extra: Professional Organizers

billyjoel.com

In the world of organizing, there are these wonderful creatures called professional organizers. They come to your house and consult with you about how to clear your clutter and live a more organized life. They offer classes and strategies and, I suspect, live in glass houses where there would only ever be a mess if someone threw a stone.

Needless to say (if you've been reading these posts), I'm not one of them. Throw a stone in my house and it's likely to end up on a pile of papers. But I'm working on it. And hey, my large rectangular spaces are looking good.

I took an online class on professional organizing once. It was interesting, but it made me squirm. Nowhere in it was there a word about following my style or my default habits. And as someone who's spent a great deal of her adult life trying to transform myself into a Type A organizer, I know the old tricks don't work for me.

But I know there are good eggs out there. Professional organizers like Julie Morgenstern and some of my HGTV favorites who don't have a leave-no-clutter standing rule at the expense of their clients' better judgment and favorite things. Organizers who send out newsletters and motivational emails and  sticky notepads with "Today I Will Do One Thing" imprinted on them. Organizers like my friend Cindy Bernstein at Aim 4 Order.

Okay, so Cindy and I have never met face-to-face, but we've chatted via email enough for me to know that if I were going to bite the bullet and hire a personal organizer, Cindy would be the first one I'd call. In the meantime, I subscribe to her e-newsletter and read all of her great ideas there and on Facebook. I especially like the fact that she suggests good homes for things I'm ready to say good-bye to...

...but more on the L of STYLE (Let it go!) next week.

Throwback Thursday: Just One Thing

This post first ran on the Porch Swing Chronicles in December 2013. (There are no piles on my desk now :-) 

Sitting on my desk, amid haphazardly stacked papers and files is a cute little Post-it Note I got from professional organizer Cindy Bernstein:

Yesterday's note has four things crammed into the bottom section. On one I used last week, I ran out of room at the bottom and started filling in the white space around the words at the top.

Yes, I know that defeats the purpose. But in my defense, all of the things on the bottom were related. One category = one thing, right?

Wrong.

It's a wonderful concept, this determining the most important thing on the to-do list, then focusing on it, finishing it and checking it off. But, when multiple roles (mother, wife, writer, professor) converge, finding that one thing is a challenge.

I suppose I could use one note for each role, but I fear that by doing this, I am again defeating the purpose.

Of course, there's nothing on the note that says the thing I write down is the only thing I'm allowed to do...but that one thing often leads to another...and others present themselves as the day moves along (or careens by, as the case may be....)

Photo: pschubert via morguefile.com

And since I know I'm not the only person who finds herself in this predicament, I thought I'd share my strategy. It's very simple, really.

I'm going to use this notepad. I could just as easily use a piece of scrap paper, but since I have this cute little notepad, I'm going to abide by it. I'm going to write down the one thing I really want to get done before the day is over.

It won't stop me from making other lists, or cramming as much into a 24 hour period as I possibly can, but it will help me to check something off my list, at least once a day.

And who knows? Maybe I'll even write something fun on the list some days. 

I will do one thing today: Eat chocolate.  

   

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