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Situation:
A room where no one could enter. Life happened and this extra room became a haven for spare furniture, crafts projects, gifts, bags and warehouse food overflow.

This client wanted to continue to renovate her home and also pursue her hobbies to unwind after work. She loved to make crafts and matte pictures but her ‘supposed crafts’ room had lost it’s purpose.

Challenge:

This busy client could barely walk into this room. The rest of the house had been repainted and renovated but this room stopped progress dead in it’s tracks. It was so overrun with items that she was at a loss as to where to begin. It also seemed overwhelming to do it on her own. Her successful business took all of her spare energy while at the same time, made it very important that she had an area in which to get creative and unwind.

Solution:

We began digging into the contents of the room and found that most of the items could be either moved to another area in the home or donated. We donated extra furniture and moved some to the garage. We created a gift center and storage for extra home decor in another bedroom closet.

The remaining crafts, books and office supplies that needed to stay in this room were categorized, containerized and labeled. We installed two bookshelves inside the closet to work as a storage haven for supplies, books and photo albums.

Another client was getting rid of a great crafts table that she no longer had the space for but didn’t want to give it to a stranger because it was such a nice piece of furniture. When I suggested that we re purpose it for one of my new clients, it was a win-win. Now this client has a beautiful and inspiring place to pursue her hobbies.

Now this room has everything! A library, home office, crafts studio and even a treadmill for exercise.

*Note: These photos do not represent the actual finished project. After the room became completely functional, my client decided to donate her old desk and install a custom L desk to add more horizontal work area and file drawers. It turned out quite well and this room is now optimized to it’s fullest potential!

What Our Client Said:

“Clutter has prevented me from getting my home improvements done. I was stopped from redecorating and painting because I couldn’t get into the rooms and the workers couldn’t either until the piles were gone. Now I can walk around without falling over things and it is much more peaceful. I am also really motivated to get started on the projects that until now have been on hold.”

M. Stewart San Marcos

Kathi,

I work from home and can’t seem to stay focused. My desk and schedule are always overrun with items that don’t apply to my job.

Karine, Del Mar

Karine,

With the shorter commute time, you can tidy up your desk at the end of each day without worrying about rush hour. You will begin with a clean slate and produce results in a much shorter time each morning.
You might need to create a separate desk space or counter area for your personal finances. Set up a corner of your kitchen counter for bills and personal correspondence. This will help you focus on work when you are in your office. Keeping personal matters separate from business also makes your home office eligible for a tax write-off each year.

Hire someone to do the lawn, house and other routine chores around the house. This will alleviate the tendency to putter about the house throughout the day instead of tackling the workload.
If long periods of sitting makes you lethargic, arrange two working levels so you can do some of your work standing up.
Get at least ten minutes of exercise each day. Decide to step away from your desk at regular intervals. This will reduce fatigue and increase your concentration for the task at hand.

Kathi,

My husband has a lot of hobbies that are spread throughout the house. I can’t figure out how to keep him contained and happy at the same time.

Jessie, San Marcos

Jessie,

Use tool and tackle boxes to contain his tools and smaller items. Designate one convenient area for him to work on his hobbies and this will be where his tools are stored.
If he plays multiple sports and has a lot of gear, use duffel bags to contain the equipment. Use one duffel bag per sport. This way he can grab it on the way out the door. Keep all of these bags in one central location. Hooks in the garage positioned along the wall by his car will make it easy for him to load and unload when he arrives home. And yes, you get the bonus of keeping them from being spread throughout the house!

Kathi,

I can’t seem to keep track of my “to do” list. It keeps growing and I feel like I never know which task to tackle first. How can I organize my lists to help manage my priorities?

Tanya, Encinitas

Tanya,

For starters, record all tasks and related notes in your day planner or electronic organizer. Keep this planner/organizer handy to add tasks quickly. Forget about sticky notes. Keeping all to-do items in the same place makes retrieving the information easy and quick. No task will get lost and more will get done.
When writing notes, keep a space cleared on the left for priority numbering. Organize your tasks by writing numbers to the left of each item in the order of priority. These numbers will keep you focused on what you wish to accomplish first. After completing the task, draw a slash through the number and move on to the next priority.

To accomplish more each day, never do errands on impulse. Plan your routes carefully, handling as many errands as possible each time. Hopefully with these tips you’ll find yourself making more slashes to your list than additions.

Kathi is a professional organizer, image consultant and event planner based in San Diego California.

Please submit your questions to: advice@addspacetoyourlife.com
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San Diego Professional Organizer

Dear Kathi,

I have a small home office and I don’t know what to do with all of my papers. I bring work projects home periodically and then my personal correspondence and bills get lost. Do you have any recommendations?

Kyle, Solana Beach

Kyle,

When you mix business with personal paperwork, items will invariably get lost. Create an area in your office for large work projects. This can be as simple as a basket where your project is stored when you are done for the day. For multiple work projects, use a file drawer or free-standing file unit to hold resources and information separately for each project. When a project is just getting started, you can keep it in your current projects vertical file described in the last paragraph.

Create a filing system for all work projects, personal bills and correspondence.

There is a super file system that I recommend to all of my clients. It is called Freedom Filer. This system is self-purging and rotates your files so that you have paper archives for two years and tax archives for ten. It makes filing a breeze and also teaches you what to keep and what to throw away. It is expandable and works well for personal file systems, home-based businesses and corporations. You can learn more about this filing system at www.freedomfiler.com.

For papers aren’t yet ready to file and need attention, designate a holding area. Your desktop is a logical space because they will remind you to work on them when you see them every day. Stack these folders vertically and label them Current Projects, Waiting for Response, Bills to Pay, Calls to Make etc. There are many labeling possibilities for your folders. Use whichever label titles work best for you and work on these files a few minutes every day. Implementing these practices will keep you free and clear of the black hole syndrome.

Dear Kathi,

My family just purchased a new RV and we love to go camping. Every time we want to go somewhere, we invariably forget things. With multiple people packing, important items often get left behind. Without making one person responsible for everything, how can we manage to be provisioned? PS After we put all this stuff in the RV, how do we keep it from falling around when we drive?

Ren, Cardiff

Ren,

You can solve your provisioning challenge by creating a list. This list will itemize the food that you wish to have onboard for each trip. It will probably contain staples like olive oil, spaghetti noodles and sauce, butter, potatoes etc.

It is best to camp once as you create your master list. Once you analyze this list away from home, it will become clear what you need to include. After this, you are ready to type and print several copies to keep in your RV. Make sure to leave a few blank lines.

When you are underway, keep your master list visible. A spot on the refrigerator keeps it front and center. As you consume food that needs to be replenished, add a checkmark beside the item. Family members can also add forgotten snacks to this list.

If your RV is not going into a storage facility, DO NOT MOVE this list until you are ready to buy new provisions. Keep your list on the fridge for safekeeping. If your RV does go into storage, place this list in a file at home until the day you shop. It’s a great idea to restock as soon as you return so that you can leave on a whim if the spare time presents itself.
For bedding and towels, keep a collapsible hamper on board where you can toss soiled items. Don’t mix your clothes into this basket, they should have their own dirty clothes bag. Launder the bedding hamper items separately and take them immediately back to your RV. You don’t have to worry with unpacking at this point. A family member can make the bed and stow the towels once you are underway on your next adventure.

Speaking of stowing, it is best to place loose items in plastic boxes with lids that fit snugly inside each cabinet. When a door jars open because you take a bump or curve, the worst that will happen is the items within each bin will become jumbled. Bins also make it easy to clean the inside of your cabinets. There are so many plastics available that you should easily find a bin to fit within each space.

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Kathi is a professional organizer, image consultant and event planner based in San Diego California.

Please submit your questions to: advice@addspacetoyourlife.com
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San Diego Professional Organizer