Situation:

This balcony was used as a catch-all for items that needed to be moved to other places within the house. It all began with the laundry. The family needed a central location to gather laundry and the ideal spot was on the balcony outside two of the bedrooms. This was a OK idea but, as we know, when items outgrow their space, clutter grows into more clutter!

Challenge:

The baskets being used did not provide enough space for all of the laundry as it landed there. Once the laundry began to overflow, other totally unrelated items began to gather there as well. Surprise! OK, not really…

Solution:

We cleared away everything that was not laundry related and either donated it or moved it to other parts of the house. The kids were old enough to safely remove the mesh barrier. We purchased a set of nice wood cabinets that held three large laundry bins. Now the landing area is clean and clear and the laundry is behind closed doors! The view from the front door looking up is fantastic and even the dog loves the new perspective.

*Please note: the picture does not show the new three drawer laundry system.  It was taken after we had cleared the landing and before the new cabinet was installed The photo above is representative of what we used for the cabinet solution.

This is an excerpt from my new book~ How to Master Your Muck. If you are in the process of setting goals for your life, this chapter might help make the process a bit easier.

Think and Speak Specifics

Create a mission statement for your goal. Effective mission statements should include components such as values, vision and purpose. One of my clients created this mission, ”My mission is to help others to grow personally, professionally, emotionally, and Read the rest of this entry »

Situation:

This garage was used for watching tv, working on crafts, and an extra playroom. At the same time, it had to be used to store the usual garage items including holiday décor, extra entertaining supplies, etc.

Challenge:

In the beginning there was no storage in this garage, only some assorted furniture, TV and a desk. As with many garage conversions, this space had to accommodate many different types of activities and serve as a comfortable retreat /playroom for the two boys and a space for mom and sons to create craft projects and read.

Solution:

My client had wall-to-wall cabinets installed along the longest side of the garage without windows. The cabinets made it possible to create order with the deep freeze storage items like holiday décor and also made a place for sporting equipment and extra entertaining items to live while not in use.

I shifted furniture around to create zones for each type of activity. The desk was moved to the back wall so that all craft supplies were in the same zone with small table and chairs positioned for action.

The lateral file cabinet was moved next to the door into the house as this contained the permanent family records.

The large cube shelf was moved behind the couch to create division between storage and TV zone. All extra toys were grouped together ‘like with like’ and stored in baskets behind the couch. As the boys decided to play with different activities, they brought out one basket at a time and learned to put the first one away between activities to keep chaos at bay.

I recently had the chance to try out the new Stadium File Organizer from Smead.

There are a few things that I really like about this product. As a Professional Organizer I find myself saying over and over again, ‘keep your papers vertical and away from piles on your desk.’

Unless you are one the rare, and there are a few I admit, professional paper pilers, papers need to stay far, far away from horizontal stacks of any variety.

A few of the features of this system include lightweight construction, the ability to hold numerous sheets of paper (900+), and the flexibility of your filing categories. You can choose to organize your papers by month, A-Z, or by household subject. If you need to subdivide your categories, this system also accommodates letter size file folders.

The thing that I like best about this system is that it is tiered and stepped so you can see all of the tabs and headings clearly. As you insert papers into the system, they fall nicely into their own category and because the bottom is also stepped up, the papers are easily retrieved later.

One downside to this system is that is is not easy to pick up or move when it is full and again, a plastic version would last a bit longer. It is a quick fix, however, and should be considered if you have piles of papers clogging up your desk or kitchen counter right now.

For those of you who  have only a small amount of papers to manage, this might be a good tool to use. It is cardboard so it won’t last forever but this also keeps the pricing reasonable. If your papers are piled right now, consider checking out this new Smead organizing product.

Smead 70211, 12-pocket Tiered Stadium File

You just purchased a new computer but might be in a quandary because you still have 2-3 old computers stuffed into your closet and have no idea where to take them. First of all, Read the rest of this entry »