Will Your Home Be Cluttered Or Organized on July 1?

Every year millions of people resolve to organize their homes. But sadly most do not realize their goals. Overwhelm, confusion, lack of a plan, lack of structure and other issues sabotage their goals.

The Letting Go and Lightening Up class series is designed to help you organize your home by providing you with the information, structure and support that you need to get the job done. The class meets once a month so you have time between classes to work on the focus area.

What do you want you home to look like on July 1? Letting Go and Lightening Up might make the difference between feeling good about your newly organized home and being frustrated with another unrealized goal.

Early Bird Enrollment ends February 1. On February 2 the price goes up $50. Go to www.clearspaces.org to enroll today!

Stump the Organizer Saturday! Hanger Confusion

"There are so many different kinds of hangers these days. What is the best kind of hanger?" Micah nominated St. Jude's Hospital for Children along with his question.

Let's start by eliminating some hangers from the comparison. Wire hangers are great for getting your clothes home from the dry cleaner and that's about it. Wire hangers put creases in the shoulders of clothes and are just plain ugly. If your clothes are the least bit damp a wire hanger will leave rust spots on them. Most dry-cleaners will accept wire hangers back for reuse - take advantage of this policy.

Next to be eliminated are the cheap plastic tube hangers because they break so easily. The top quality tube hangers are heavier and will last longer; and, they only cost about a dollar apiece.

One of my favorite hangers is the skinny, plush-covered hanger. The skinny hangers take up much less room than other hangers and they are durable. The plush covering eliminates clothing snags and will grip the most slippery fabric.

Padded hangers covered in satin or velvet also protect the clothing's fabric. Usually pins are needed to prevent spaghetti straps from falling off - probably something you don't have to worry about Micah! Padded hangers typically have small shoulder spans which limits the type of clothes to be hung on them.

Wood hangers are heavy-duty. If the wood is cedar then the hanger also repels moths - super for woolen clothes. Often wood hangers have fairly large shoulder spans that accommodate men's clothing quite nicely. Combination wood hangers have features that accommodate pants or skirts as well as a shirt or jacket. Hanging two items in the space needed for one item is space efficient. Combination hangers contain either a bar (fixed or locking) for pants or a wire with clips with which to hang pants or skirts. Pants hangers that are like large clips are available in wood. These large clips allow the pants to be hung lengthwise by the cuffs. Wood hangers are the most expensive option at about two to four dollars apiece.

Plastic hangers are also available as combination hangers. A top quality plastic hanger is fairly durable and costs less than a dollar. The shoulders often have notches for spaghetti straps so the clothing doesn't fall to the floor. Plastic and wood hangers often have swiveling hooks which permit the clothes to be easily turned so they all have the same orientation.

So which hanger is right for you? If you are really short on closet space consider using the skinny plush hangers. Hang pants on the suit hangers and use a bar doubler to increase the hanging space. Clips for hanging skirts come as an accessory to the plush hangers.

Wood hangers are the choice for elegance. Wood hangers take a fair amount of space so make sure there's enough space in the closet to hold them. The different combination hangers accommodate a variety of clothing types. If you need the combination hangers but wood is outside of your budget, then plastic is your choice. Plastic takes a little less room than wood but more than the plush hangers.

Consider the amount of closet space, budget and aesthetics when choosing hangers. What ever your choice, stick to one color and your closet will have a uniform, uncluttered look without doing anything else. If only everything else was that easy.

Struggling to Get Organized? Try Letting Go & Lightening Up

How is your resolution to get organized doing? Maybe it's time to try a different approach. The Letting Go and Lightening Up class series is designed to help you get and stay organized.

The series offers:

* 12 hours of class room instruction
* A comprehensive workbook and class material
* Telephone support
* Snacks and drinks

Each three hour class thoroughly explores the focus subject in an interactive, relaxed atmosphere. The month between each class gives you the time to put what you learned into practice. The schedule follows.

February 20 Letting Go & Lightening Up in Your Mind
March 20 Letting Go & Lightening Up in Your Home
April 17 Letting Go & Lightening Up in Your Office
May 15 Letting Go & Lightening Up in Your Life

Each class is from 1:30 P.M. to 4:30 P.M. Our class will once again be held at the Vitality Unlimited Spa in Webster Groves.

Enroll by February 1 and the $300 series fee is reduced to $250. Enroll with a friend and you will both save an additional $50 - for a total savings of $100!

To enroll visit our website www.clearspaces.org or call Clear Spaces at 314-956-2282. Put your intentions to get organized into action by enrolling today. The Early Bird rate is only good for one more week!

Stump the Organizer Saturday! Organizing The Laundry Room

"My laundry room is really small and dark. My husband and kids leave their clothes all over the floor so it's hard to get the washer. I hate doing laundry but wading through stinky clothes is just gross. Any ideas to get my laundry room a little nicer?"

It sounds like one of the first things to do is tackle laundry collection. If family members are responsible for bringing their own laundry to the laundry room, then make it easy for them by putting a hamper right by the door. Also add a sorting hamper on wheels. Consider getting a hamper that has a hanger bar such as Whitmor's Supreme Laundry Center found at Stacks and Stacks. The addition of the bar over the sorting hamper provides a place to hang clothes directly from the dryer. Make sure the sorting hamper has wheels so you can move it around the room.

Ultimately, you will want your family to sort their laundry directly into the sorting hamper. Since your family is currently tossing their clothes on the floor, the first step is to simply encourage them to put the laundry into the hamper. After they master the first step, then teach them how to sort. Tell your family how helpful it is for them to put the laundry in the hamper - praise the positive a lot. Changing behavior in a step-by-step manner with praise is called shaping behavior, and it is a very powerful technique.

Of course if walking into the laundry room is like walking into the cave of doom, you'll need to lighten the place up. Light-colored paint and proper lighting can make a world of difference. Wall sconces will provide warmer lighting than the overhead florescent units and are much more attractive. Consider painting the floor with a paint specifically made for the basement floor (like an epoxy). One of my clients, an artist by trade, painted a window looking out to a field of flowers in her windowless laundry room. If a mural is beyond your painting skills, find a beautiful poster to hang on the wall. The point of the paint and the art is to transform the room into a place that you will feel comfortable in. The last creature comfort is a radio or small TV.

Yes, I am normally anti-multitasking, but you can get away with it when one of the tasks if fairly mindless and the other task is also simple. A little entertainment will make the time fly while you're working.

Make the room more efficient with a few additions.
* Add track shelves above the washer and dryer to hold laundry supplies.
* To preserve precious floor space, mount a drying rack on the wall over the sink. The Leifheit Telegant Mounted Clothes Dryer is sturdy and the rack disappears into the case when not in use (available at Amazon).
* An Elfa drawer system provides a place for each family member's clean laundry and the melamine top is the perfect place to fold laundry. The wire baskets can be removed so the clothes can be carried to each person's room. Use one drawer per person. Elfa is available at The Container Store. The annual Elfa sale is going on now so you can create your own custom drawer system and save 30% until the end of the month.

Truth be told, laundry is far from my favorite chore. I sort the laundry every day. If I see that one of the sorting bins is full, I do a load. Sometimes I do two loads and sometimes I have the day off (wa-hoo!). Dealing with a small amount of laundry on a daily basis is so much easier than dealing with a weekly mountain of laundry. I found the latter made me resentful while the former is just part of the routine.

Good luck Colleen! Thank you for your question. Colleen has nominated St. Jude's Children Hospital to the charity drawing.

Stump the Organizer Saturday! Packaging Clutter

"This might seem like a trivial problem but it's driving a wedge between my husband and me. What do you do with all of the boxes for the electronics and toys? I want to throw them away but my husband says we have to keep them. If something breaks it has to be shipped back in the original packaging. Is that true? How do people keep all of those boxes? Thanks for your help and our charity is any animal rescue."

Thanks for your question Sandy. Actually, the question of what to do with the original packaging is pretty common one for organizers. I imagine after the holidays there is a lot of packaging cluttering up people's homes. The problem can be solved with a little research on your part and a marker.

The first step is to read the warranty literature for the product. Does the warranty explicitly state that a product must be shipped back in the original packaging? No? Then toss that packaging in an environmentally responsible fashion. By the way, shipping stores like the UPS Store will recycle Styrofoam peanuts.

If the warranty does indeed state that the product must be shipped in the original packaging, the next piece of information you need is the length of the manufacturer's warranty - also in the warranty literature. Next extrapolate the warranty expiration date from the purchase date. For example, if you bought a cordless phone on 12/1/09 and the length of the manufacturer's warranty is ninety days, then the warranty will expire on 3/1/10. Write "Expiration Date" and the expiration date on the exterior of the original packaging. Store that box in some out-of-the-way location. Attics and basements are great places to store this sort of thing.

When you happen to be in the storage area and you see boxes with past expiration dates, you can in good conscience dispose of them. Writing the expiration date on the box is the key to keeping the packaging just long enough.

If the warranty does not indicate retaining the original packaging, then you have the option of asking a shipper to package the product for you, if needed. Shippers are experts at safe packaging. Of course if space is not an issue in your home, you can save the original packaging - just remember to use the expiration date.

The next logical question is what to do with the paperwork. Here are some options:
* Tape the purchase receipt to the warranty and file it all in your "Warranties & Manuals" file.
* Write the purchase date on the warranty which is filed in the "Warranties & Manuals" file. File the purchase receipt in the "Tax Deductible Equipment or Supplies" file (if you can deduct the product from your taxes) or in the appropriate month file. If you file the receipt separately from the warranty, write down the name of the item on the receipt. It will easy to locate the exact receipt if it is labeled. Also make sure that your purge schedule for your files is after the warranty expiration date.

I hope this information removes the wedge and the excess packaging clutter from your lives, Sandy.

Stumped by an organizing dilemma? Send an SOS! Email your question to me for our Stump the Organizer Saturday! post. Also send the name of your favorite charity which will be entered in our end of year drawing for a $25 donation.

Organize on Friday to Prevent Sunday Night Haunts

It's Friday, and for most of us the work week will come to an end. I know it's tempting to run out of the office as soon as the clock strikes five, regardless of the disorganization on your desk. After all, the weekend is calling. After a couple of days of fun, friends and fiestas, Sunday night comes along and your desk starts to haunt you.

When is the meeting on Monday and what action items were you supposed to take care of? How are you going to get the research done for the presentation on Wednesday? Did you turn in your time report?....

Sunday night desk haunts can seriously diminish the fun and relaxation of the weekend. I don't have to mention they do to your mood on Monday morning.

Instead of ruminating Sunday night, spend the last fifteen minutes in the office on Friday planning for the next week.

* Review next week's calendar.
* Capture all of your undone, open items on paper.
* Jot down the next action that you need to take on those items.
* Make a quick review of your calendar for this week to insure that all crucial items have been done.
* Put things away and leave your desk tidy.
* Leave your list of items with the next actions on your desk so you see it Monday morning.

Now you can leave the office with a clear mind. Putting things away on Friday is a ritualistic way of declaring the end of the work week. Writing things down almost magically banishes worry. Monday morning you will know exactly where you left off Friday evening. Well maybe after a cup or two of coffee.

Have a worry-free weekend.

Are You Ready To Get (And Stay) Organized?

Join Professional Organizer and owner of Clear Spaces, Denise Lee, for her 4-class series, Letting Go and Lightening Up – In Your Mind, Your Home, Your Office and Your Life.

By combining organizing systems with life-guiding principles, Denise will help you make conscious choices about what to let go of, what to keep and where to put it.

If “getting organized” has been a struggle for you, this workshop will empower you to create the lasting change you desire.

All materials, a comprehensive workbook, support calls and snack are included in the cost of the four three-hour classes: $300.

Early Bird Special: Enroll by February 1 and pay only $250. Enroll with a friend and you both receive another $50 off!

KICK-OFF CLASS:
Saturday, February 20
1:30 – 4:30 P.M.
The remaining classes of the series will be held on
March 20, April 17 and May 15 from 1:30 – 4:30 P.M.

WHERE:
Vitality Unlimited Spa (www.VitalityUnlimitedSpa.com)
29 West Moody Ave.
(in the rear meeting room)
Webster Groves, Missouri 63119

TO ENROLL:
Call Denise at 314-956-2282 or email Denise@clearspaces.org
For more information visit www.ClearSpaces.org or www.LettingGoandLighteningUp.com

National Clean Off Your Desk Day!

Did you know that Monday, January 11 is National Clean Off Your Desk Day? Is your desk buried under a stack of papers? Let’s liberate it from the clutter and turn you into the efficiency star in the office.
Grab the following items:
• The Trashcan,
• Folders,
• A Marker and
• If you can get away with it - some snappy music on your iPod to create the proper desk clearing mood.

One of the keys to keeping your papers straight is treating action items differently from reference items. Action items require you to do something. Common action categories are:
• To Pay
• To Call
• To Write/Email
• To Copy/Fax
• To Enter (as in data entry)
• To Read
• To Follow-up
• Future
My secret power categories are “To Follow-up” and “Future.” Items that need follow-up are currently being acted upon by someone else but for various reasons you may have a need to make sure that the action is completed satisfactorily. The real power behind the follow-up category is to make a note in your planner on a date you need to follow-up. Future is the place to store the items you need for an event in the future – like theater tickets. Use the marker to label some folders with action categories that apply to you.

Label additional folders with the names of your current projects. Papers will be filed in the appropriate project folders when there is no action needed on it and the information contained within it is not easily available elsewhere. So if a paper contains information that is available on a website, there may be very little need to keep it. The less you have to keep means the less you have to manage. Make good use of the trashcan.

Now you are ready to sort those papers into the folders and the trashcan. When you’re done, put the action folders in a vertical sorter or a slanted folder on your desktop. Put the project folders in the file drawer. Before you know it, your desk is cleaned off and you know exactly where all of your papers are.

Stump the Organizer Saturday! Newly Diagnosed With ADHD

“Denise, my 15 year old grandson lives with me. After nearly flunking his first semester in high school his pediatrician diagnosed him with ADHD and prescribed Ritalin. My grandson has been taking the medicine for almost a month and let’s just say it’s not going well. His room is horrible. During his first week back from winter vacation he forgot his homework everyday so his starting the new semester with Fs. He has become surly. I see that you work with people with ADD. How can you help him? “ Name Withheld Upon Request

Watching someone you love suffer is not easy. No one wants to flunk. No one enjoys a surly mood – even the person afflicted with it.

I am not a mental health expert nor am I a doctor. But what I hear between the lines is a real concern for your grandson’s behavior – especially his change in temperament since beginning Ritalin. If you have not done so, please express your concern for your grandson’s well being with him in a way that he knows you are on his side. Please, please, please express these concerns with the pediatrician. There are many drugs used to treat ADD/ADHD. Some drugs work better for some than others. Doctors use patient feedback took ensure that patients receive the most effective treatment. It is important to know that drugs do not cure ADD/ADHD.

Dealing with the emotional impact of his diagnosis and learning behavioral strategies for coping with ADD/ADHD are the realm of a psychologist or licensed counselor. Your pediatrician should be able to make a referral so your grandson receives the help he needs.

I encourage you both to arm yourself with knowledge. “ADDitude” magazine (www.additudemag.com) is one of my favorite resources. Look into joining a group such as Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (www.chadd.org) or Attention Deficit Disorder Association (www.add.org). These groups provide support and knowledge. Driven to Distraction (Hallowell & Ratey) is a great book – many of my clients really love it. ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize (Kolberg & Nadeau), Organizing Solutions for People with Attention Deficit Disorder (Pinsky) and The Organized Student (Goldberg) are excellent resources for organizing strategies.

Organizing strategies can make a difference in how effectively your grandson operates. Being more effective and productive may lead to a sense of greater control and calm. Here are a few organizing strategies you can put in place now.
* Make sure that your grandson has a student planner and he writes down his assignments and all of his social commitments.
* Use large, brightly colored sticky notes on the front door, bathroom mirror, and locker with checklists of routine things to remember.
* Strengthen his sense of time by using analog clocks and an analog timer. One of my favorite timers is the Time Timer (www.timetimer.com).
* Set up acceptable working periods – such as 20 minutes – to encourage focus. If the activity is not completed in 20 minutes then take a couple minute break then set the timer for another 20 minutes.
* The Sonic Boom alarm clock (www.sonicalert.com)has a really loud alarm and vibrates so even the hard-to-wake wake up.
* Make everything as simple as possible and eliminate unnecessary steps.
I wish you and your grandson peace and understanding as you face this challenge in your lives.

Is Your Fridge Clutter Sabotaging A Healthy Diet?

One of my personal goals for 2010 is to improve my health with healthier meals and more enjoyable, vigorous activity. I am certain that millions of people have the same goal. One of the easiest ways to focus on healthier meals is to be sure your fridge, freezer and pantry have the ingredients to create healthy meals.Organizing the kitchen for efficiency, making healthy choices, and planning meals (and snacks!) nourish the goal of creating healthier meals (I couldn't resist the pun!).

Organizing the kitchen for efficiency is the subject for today, specifically the fridge. When was the last time you gave your fridge a thorough clean-out? This is a great time to open that fridge door and start tossing the junk food, the holiday food, the science experiments and the "what on earth was I thinking?" stuff. You want to eliminate the clutter and keep the food that is healthy and fresh.

Now let's organize that fridge. An organized fridge is more accessible and easier to work with than a fridge that has its contents thrown in without rhyme or reason. For information about organizing the fridge, I am directing you to "Let's Get Cookin'" blogger, Carla. Carla wrote a great post on organizing the fridge. I hope you enjoy it and the rest of her blog: http://cakescraps.wordpress.com/2010/01/02/organizing-your-fridge/.

In addition to gaining an organized fridge, you will undoubtedly find a few good recipes to try on Carla's blog. Organizing the pantry and meal plans are the subjects for subsequent Clear Spaces posts.

Happy de-cluttering!

Stump the Organizer Saturday! Start Getting Organized

"How do you get started getting organized? One of my resolutions this year is to be organized by the end of 2010."

Thank you Gail for opening the new year's "Stump the Organizer Saturday." January is "Get Organized" month and for good reason. "Getting organized" is perennially in the top ten New Year's resolutions.

When I first meet with my clients I ask them to describe their vision of organization. I write down the key phrases in their description. I encourage you to do the same. To capture the spontaneity use a digital recorder to capture your description and write your notes from the recording.

I also ask clients to create a vision board: a picture that captures the feel of the vision. You will need
* a small piece of poster board - about 9" X 11"
* a stack of magazines with pictures that you like
* a pair of scissors
* a glue stick
The process is fairly simple. Tap into the emotion that you feel when you think about your vision as you look for pictures. Find pictures in the magazine that resonate with your vision and cut them out. Create a collage with the pictures and glue them to the poster board. I encourage my clients to frame their vision board as a way of honoring their vision. Hang the vision board in a place that you view frequently so you have a constant reminder of the vision.

Recording your vision and capturing it with a vision board provides you a target for your efforts. Additionally, they will help pull you toward your vision when your enthusiasm peters out - which will happen. Put your notes in a folder and label it. Assign a handy home for your folder. You will need to access and add to the folder as you work on your project to get organized.

Obviously, setting up a folder and creating a vision board are not the only steps you will take to get organized. They are the first steps because you need to have a direction whenever you start something new.

I would love to see your vision boards. If you'd like to share, please email me a picture (a .jpg) of your vision board along with a brief description of your vision. Email me at Denise(at)ClearSpaces.org. I'd love to feature some vision boards on this blog.

Our Stump the Organizer Saturday posts need your questions. When you submit your questions, please send the name of your favorite charity. At the end of the year, I will draw from the entries for the charity to receive a $25 donation.

Winner of SOS

Happy New Year and welcome to the second decade of the 21st century!

As promised, I drew from the Stump the Organizer Saturday (SOS) entries for the charity to receive a $10 contribution. The winner is Cathy with her question of managing paper and paying bills. Cathy nominated the Humane Society to receive the contribution.

Thank you all for your questions. I look forward to a year of organizing questions from you.

May you and your family be blessed with health and prosperity in the new year.

My Wish To You: Peace

It is the day before Christmas and I am sure for the majority of folks things are far from quiet. If you feel that you are battling the clock, look for some shortcuts.

Last minute gifts: contribute to a charity in the recipients name or a gift card for a service like a massage.

Last minute cleaning: There isn't time to deep clean so focus on the public rooms.
Put away what doesn't belong.
Wipe off the horizontal surfaces and vacuum.

Decorations: Less is more.
Pick one focus area. Use scented candles or scent diffusers for a sensory treat.

Meals: Complicated dishes take more time and energy than what's available.
A simple roast beef or turkey and simple veggies.
Pick up bread and dessert from the bakery.
Throw a tablecloth on the table.
Trim a few snippets from the tree and put them in the center of the table with a collection of candles.

Add an abundance of holiday music.

Breathe deep and enjoy.

I hope you have a peaceful holiday.

Stump the Organizer Saturday! Organize Spice and Mix Packets

No, my calendar didn’t break. Unfortunately, I had a bit of the flu this weekend and really could not do anything beyond an “autopilot” mentality. Thank goodness for vitamin C.

This week’s question comes from Dianne who poses “How can I organize spice and mix packets? I use a lot of Homemade Gourmet because my sister sells it. I have other mixes too. It drives me crazy when I can’t find what I want or I forget what I have. I tried a basket but it took to long to find things – if I could. I found a wire basket at Walmart (I think) but it is too small and I would need to get a lot of them to screw onto the cabinet door.“ Dianne added later that she has soup, appetizer, seasoning, dinner, and desert packets. She wasn’t sure how many she has for each category. Of all the categories, the seasoning packets are the smallest.

The first step is to sort the mixes into categories. Dianne named the categories so these are perfect to use for sorting. Another possible way to sort might be sweet versus savory. The latter might work for a smaller collection.

While you are sorting, toss out anything that is expired or you have decided you do not like.

Look at the physical size of each sorted category. Will a shoebox accommodate the collection or is something smaller better? The Container Store has different sizes of shoeboxes. I love using translucent containers for the visibility of the contents. Use a separate container for each category and toss the lids. If using a shoebox without its lid makes you really nervous, then sit the bottom of the box on the lid. A little double-sided tape will attach the lid to the bottom of the box. Label the narrow end of the box with the name of the category, and set the mixes in each box as though they were index cards. Alphabetizing the mixes will provide very fast access to a specific mix. Alphabetize by the general name of the thing rather than the exact name. For example, file the potato soup mix as “potato soup” rather than “Auntie Helen’s Creamy Potato Soup” because you will think “potato soup” rather than the exact name when you want it.

Cut out some poster board or cardboard to create dividers for each box. The width of the divider should be the same as the box. The height of the divider should be a little taller than the packets. Use a card for a range of the alphabet - A through E, for instance – to reduce the number of cards you need to make. Crafty folks will enjoy decorating the cards. It may be constructive to appoint a specific color to each set of cards – red for seasonings, for example.

I hope these ideas help you bring order to your mix collection. Dianne has nominated the Alzheimer’s Society for the end of year charity drawing.
Please send your questions for Stump the Organizer Saturday to Denise@ClearSpaces.org. Include the name of your favorite charity for our December 30th drawing for a donation. The winner of the drawing will be posted on the blog on December 31.

Stump the Organizer Saturday! Organize a Busy Desk

Thanks Rachel for your question for SOS. Rachel has entered the American Cancer Society for the charity drawing at the end of the year. Here’s how she described her situation: “Right now, I am working from a desk in our loft. But it is also used as our computer desk, filing area, etc...basically it's a HUGE mess.” She added that she’s pretty organized everywhere else in her life. Also the desk has no drawers or any other storage because her last desk had too much storage and that led to problems. The picture is of the desk area.
The key in this situation is to think beyond the desk, and create an office with different processing centers. Luckily, the basics for setting up an organized office area are already present. My first suggestion is to set up a chase perpendicular to the right side of the desk so that the chase fills in the corner and is the same height as the desk. This will give you an L-shaped surface area.
The chase will hold the printer so it can be moved off the floor. I’d put the printer at the end away from the desk. Move the vertical sorter to the left of the printer. The vertical sorter is my favorite tool for creating an action file. Each slot holds papers that need a specific action such as “to pay,” “to read,” “to write/email,” “to research”, or whatever suits your needs. However, I have found that “follow-up” is an essential category. “Follow-up” holds items that you need to revisit soon to make sure that someone else has completed their action. Align the vertical sorter so that the empty slots are facing you. Now you can label each slot with its specific action. The labels are absolutely necessary in keeping your action items organized. Now you can easily view and access papers that need action. When the needed action is completed for an item, just file it in the file cabinet. If there is room, place a tray to the left of the vertical sorter to act as an in basket.
Under the chase you will have room for the plastic drawer unit, a shredder, and a can for recyclables. There may even be room for the file cabinet at the end of the chase. Moving the file cabinet under the chase will create a paper processing area with left-to-right flow for paperwork. Good flow is efficient and has a comfortable feel.
The chase can be as simple as a finished board – like a bookshelf board - resting on the plastic drawer unit and file cabinet, or the board can be mounted to the wall with bookshelf brackets. The length and width of the chase depends on the dimensions of the area. From the photo it looks like a two-foot by four-foot board will fit the space nicely.
While you are picking up a board for the chase, pick up a narrow board that is the same length as your desk and two glass bricks. Use the bricks and board to make a shelf that will sit on the desktop against the wall. The shelf will hold the boom box, box of tissues, cup of pencils, and other necessary supplies that you need while you are at your desk. Raising these items off the desk maximizes the amount of space left for work. The glass brick allows light to reach the area under the shelf.
There are just two additional suggestions. Illuminate the area with wall-mounted lamps. Task lighting really helps make an area more comfortable. Label each drawer in the plastic drawer unit with the category of the items within it. Labels tell you not only what belongs where, but also what doesn’t belong.
The suggested changes are pretty easy to make but provide needed space for existing processes and defines what each space is. I would love to know how these suggestions work for you.
If you have a question to submit to Stump the Organizer Saturday! please email me at denise@clearspaces.org. Please include your favorite charity for the drawing to receive a $10 donation at the end of the year.

Stump the Organizer! What Do I Do With These Off-Season Clothes?

“I thought I was really being organized when I took my summer clothes out of the closet and my drawer but I don’t think I thought everything through. Now they are in a pile on the floor. What do you suggest?”

Lu this is a great question. It sounds like this may be the first time you have stored off-season clothes, so we’ll go through the basics. By the way, I welcome everyone’s questions for Stump the Organizer Saturday (SOS). Let me know the name of your favorite charity with your submission. At the end of the year I will draw for a charity from your entries and make a donation – I’ll post the winning charity. Lu has entered the National Breast Cancer Foundation (www.nationalbreastcancer.org).

There are several good reasons to store your off-season clothes. Getting to the clothes you need is easier and faster if off-season clothes are out of the way. The extra space in your closet increases air circulation and prevents the wrinkling that results from clothes being pressed together. Your off-season clothes may actually last longer if they are protected from dust, bugs and moisture. Storing clothes is simple with a strategy and the right tools.

First decide where you want to store your clothes. The extreme temperatures and humidity of an unfinished attic and basement can be hard on clothing. A cool, dark, dry room place is ideal. If you are blessed with ample closet space consider dedicating an area to off-season storage. A spare closet is the next logical choice but it’s not always available. Create your own spare closet by setting up a wardrobe in an extra room or a finished basement. Wardrobes are available in a wide range of prices and styles. The most inexpensive wardrobes are garment racks that have a cloth cover. The most expensive wardrobes are fine furniture that contain drawers and shelves in addition to a garment bar.

Further protect your clothes with containers and bug repellent. Good clothes need to be stored in good containers. Fabric boxes and garment bags allow air to circulate and are the containers of choice for natural fibers, leather, suede and fur. Air circulation prevents trapped moisture that can lead to mildew.

Thankfully, bug repellent can be much more pleasant than poisonous naphthalene. Solid cedar blocks and hangers are a popular effective alternative. Give the cedar a quick swipe with some sandpaper every year to refresh it. Rosemary, thyme, mint, and cloves are among several herbs that are natural bug repellents. Place a handful of herbs in a cloth bag to create a sachet, and replace the herbs annually to insure potency. These natural bug repellents smell lovely, and you don’t have to worry about possible carcinogens.

Clean clothes are less likely to attract bugs than dirty ones. Before you store your clothes make sure the pockets are empty and they are freshly cleaned. Dirt and perspiration can irreversibly stain clothes if they are allowed to sit for a period of time. It is also worth mentioning that you only want to store items that you love and look good on you. This is a great time to bid so long to frumpy, uncomfortable clothes. Somehow the end of the season makes it easier to let go of the clothes that don’t serve us well.

Keep like items together – casual dresses with casual dresses, for instance. Packing is easier when like items are together. Hanging clothes in garment bags will prevent wrinkles, but may stretch knits out of shape. Neatly fold knits and loosely pack them in boxes. Use labels to identify the contents of the bags and boxes so you can easily find what you need.

Odds are if you are packing off-season clothes you are simultaneously unpacking stored clothes. Swapping everything in one session may feel overwhelming so consider swapping clothes in two or three sessions that are several weeks apart. Scheduling insures that the packing and unpacking gets done and provides you with a timeline for getting things mended, laundered and dry-cleaned. Since weather changes gradually, you will always have the most comfortable clothes handy.

Packing off-season clothes is an organizing task that yields great benefits. Taking the time to weed out unwanted clothes and packing clothes that are wrong for the weather generates space in your closet and drawers. Your clothes will look better longer because of the care in cleaning and storing them. And you will look like the sharp, organized person that you are.

Stump the Organizer Saturday! Organize Your Purses

Thanks Rhonda for your questions and your nomination of the Humane Society for the charity drawing. Rhonda hit the jackpot this week with two challenges:

“I have a lot of purses and bags that pile up on my closet floor and hang from every door knob in my bedroom and the hall closet. I switch bags a lot, but sometimes the things that are inside one bag don’t make it to another bag. This is a problem because I found a check the other day that was written to me over a year ago.”
First let’s look at what to do with your bounty of bags. Autumn is a great time to review and organize your bag collection because summer bags can be stored away until warm weather returns.

Grab some de-cluttering supplies: a trash bin, a stack of acid-free tissue paper, a pad of paper, a pen, an empty shoe box, and an empty medium-sized box for donations or items to sell. Gather all of your purses and bags in one place and check inside each one. Dump the trash. Toss the items you find into the shoebox until you have emptied each bag, then you can return those items to their proper home.

Once the bags are empty, it’s time to sort them. It’s easy to eliminate the purses that you no longer love or the purses that are worn beyond repair. It’s harder to eliminate the purses that are in great shape, but they just miss the mark for winning your love. Maybe they’re too tiny to carry what you consider necessary, maybe the color just isn’t right, or maybe getting in and out of them is a difficult, time-consuming task. Whatever the reason, collecting dust on the shelf will not redeem them; in fact, keeping these irritating fashion accessories around will just detract from the bags you do love. Your sanity is priceless – put the bag in the donation /sell box. Take note of every bag in the donation box if you plan to deduct the donation from your taxes.

The remainder of the bags can be sorted into off-season, everyday and special occasion. One of the principles of organizing is to store frequently used items, like your everyday bags, so they are quickly accessible. Special occasion bags can be stored so that they are close but not necessarily “front and center.” The seasonal items can be stored out of the way until it is time to switch for the seasons again.

There are several organizing tools that can keep your bags handy and out of a jumble on the floor. A purse cubby is larger than it’s cousin the shoe cubby but its larger size accommodates about ten bags. It sits on a shelf or on the floor. If you have about a foot of free bar space in your closet, a hanging purse organizer can hold a dozen or more purses, depending on the design. If you have just a few purses, they can be kept in order on your closet shelf by slipping shelf dividers between the purses.

Properly storing your purses can prolong their life. Put crumbled tissue paper in the purses you store to help preserve their shape. Protect a fine purse’s finish from dust and scratches by storing it in a pillowcase tied with a decorative ribbon. Loop the ribbon through a luggage tag holding a digital picture of the purse for easy identification.

Keep the inside of your purse organized and make it easy to switch purses with a purse insert. Two popular inserts are the Purse Pouchee and the Purse Purseket. These inserts are loaded with pockets to hold your purse’s contents. When it’s time to switch purses just lift the insert out of one purse and put it in the next purse. It’s fast and easy.

Organizing your purses can keep them off the dusty floor and accessible, plus you will preserve your investment. Keeping the inside of the purse tidy will preserve your sanity – and prevent checks from getting lost.

Hoarding

Once again the subject of hoarding has captivated the public’s attention. Every week the A&E show “Hoarders” spotlights the clean up of two different cases of extreme hoarding with the assistance of a professional organizer and a crew. Despite the unpleasantness of the deep clutter, rodents, insects and squalor our attention is held by the need to know why someone lives this way. What is clear from watching the program is the intensity and magnitude of emotional pain caused by hoarding for both the hoarder and his family.

No one willingly chooses to hoard. Psychological and emotional factors underlie hoarding behavior. Mental health workers have traditionally considered hoarding as a sub-type of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; however, recent research seems to indicate that hoarding is a feature of many psychiatric disorders. While the research on hoarding has been fruitful, there is still a lot that is unknown.
The show’s opening displays the statistic that three million people in the United States are hoarders; however, the exact number is unknown. I have seen estimates as low as two million and as high as 20% of the population – about 61,528,000 people. Shame, embarrassment and fear contribute to the social isolation of hoarders and the difficulty in identifying them.

People who suffer with extreme hoarding behavior are adept at hiding. Friends, family, repairmen, utility workers – anyone wanting entry - are typically barred from the house. Such isolation can lead to further degeneration of behavior and of the home. In the most extreme cases, doors and windows blocked by clutter trap the occupants from escaping during a fire.

It is important to point out that hoarding, like many behaviors, follows a continuum. The National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization (www.nsgcd.org) created the Clutter Hoarding Scale that is used to objectively describe clutter in place. The scale uses four factors to assess the level of clutter on a scale from one to five. The examined factors look at the integrity of the home’s structure, the pets and vermin present, household functions and cleanliness. Most lay people would describe a Level I home as messy and a Level V home as uninhabitable.

If someone you know and love hoards it is important to seek help. There are several organizations that provide information and forums. Children of Hoarders (www.childrenofhoarders.com), Messies Anonymous (www.messiesanonymous.com), and Squalor Survivors (www.squalorsurvivors.com) are very good websites to visit. When speaking to someone about his hoarding use neutral and supportive language. Sometimes good-meaning friends and family decide to do a surprise cleanup of the cluttered house. Such gestures are usually not a good idea. How would you feel if a group of people came into your home and threw out things without your knowledge or permission? Respect and dignity are always important and appropriate when dealing with anyone, and provide the foundation for taking the first steps towards recovery from hoarding.

Stump the Organizer! Organize Bill Paying

“How do I keep track of bills so they get paid on time? Then how long do I keep them after they are paid?”
This is such a great question Cathy because it’s about a topic that affects everyone.
Unpaid bills need a home s so they’re easy to find when it’s time to pay them. Personally, I like to keep an action file that is organized by the category of action such as “to pay,” “to read,” and “to follow-up.” I like the action file because I like doing similar activities together. Some people like the tickler file system that is based on 43 files (1-31 for each day in the current month plus one file for each month). Bills and anything else that need to be processed on a particular date are filed under the appropriate day. Items for future months are filed under the appropriate month. Some people like how the tickler file creates a daily agenda.
Regardless of how unpaid bills are filed allow sufficient processing time. Payments need to be mailed seven to ten days prior to the due date to avoid late charges. Allow three to four days for processing when making online payments. Record the date to pay bills in your calendar, and use this date to file the bills if you are using the tickler file. I like to limit my bill paying to a couple of days during the month because the routine provides me with a certain amount of financial predictability. The dates chosen for the bill paying routine allow sufficient time for the payments to be received and processed.
Bill paying is a rather mundane task and it’s easy to put it off or forget about it. Schedule bill paying in your planner. Scheduling provides the time to get it done and a certain amount of importance.
The last step of the process is filing the paid bills. File the bills as soon as you are finished so you avoid making two tasks out of one. Using a month system to file paid bills is fast and easy. Bills paid in September are filed in September. In a year, just take out the old bills and shred them before filing the new bills. However, if your bills are tax-deductable you will need to file them with all of your tax-deductions for the year and keep them for seven years after filing taxes– or for the length of time your tax preparer recommends.
Organized bill paying involves providing a home for the paid and unpaid bills plus scheduling the bill paying. Once organized you may find you never pay a late fee again. It’s like money in the bank!

Stump the Organizer! How To Organize A Large Jewelry Collection

“Can you suggest a jewelry box for me? My jewelry is not expensive but what I have means a lot to me. I mostly have earrings and necklaces.”
I too have a jewelry collection, and its value is more sentimental than monetary. As with any collection, make sure that you love each piece of it. Anything that does not make your heart sing will detract from that which you love. Bless someone else with the collection pieces that do service you.
The traditional jewelry box that sits on the dresser is inadequate for a large jewelry collection. In addition to being too small, most jewelry boxes do not keep the contents sufficiently separated to prevent knotting and general chaos.
Consider turning your jewelry collection into wall art. Put several Command hooks on a wall and hang your necklaces from them. I saw a clever wall-mounted jewelry rack on the Belle Dangles site (www.belledangles.com). Even though the Belle Dangles organizer is relatively small (it’s only 20” long), it holds a lot of jewelry. It can even hold accessories such as scarves, hair bands and purses. I love multi-purpose items!
One of my favorite multi-purpose items is the mirrored jewelry cabinet. The cabinet is a standing mirror that opens up to reveal hooks, bars and shelves for jewelry storage. Mine is pictured here. Laura Greiner designed this and other multi-compartment jewelry boxes (www.lorigreiner.com).
An inexpensive multi-compartment solution is the plastic tackle box. Most boxes are made of see-through plastic that allows you to identify the contents immediately. A collection of several boxes allows you to dedicate each box to storing a specific type of jewelry. The lid helps keeps the contents orderly and clean. But if the extra step of opening the lid discourages you from returning items back to the box, cut off the lid.
Now the question is: what to do with that jewelry box that’s been sitting on your dresser? If it’s one that you love consider giving it another purpose. I inherited a lovely jewelry box from my grandmother that I use to store the extra buttons that come with new clothes. Trim small paper cups to fit in the box to keep things organized.
Of course if you don’t like your jewelry box, bless someone else with it.