Author: The Organizing Lady (Page 3 of 11)

Thinking About It Tomorrow Doesn’t Make It Happen Then Either

April 29, 2020 / The Organizing Lady / 0 Comments

Most of us know that famous phrase from the movie “Gone With The Wind” of Scarlett O’Hara saying, “I’ll think about that tomorrow. After all, tomorrow is another day.” That about sums up the thought pattern a lot of us adopt when we don’t want to deal with something presently.

We hear the word procrastination so often that I think the word is tuned out of our heads. What I mean is, it becomes something we hear so much of that we don’t even hear it anymore and can’t even absorb the thought of it.

It may seem to help us take our minds off something for now, yet the situation is still going to be there the next day and the day after, as so on. And shifting our attention off of that situation could lead to unsatisfactory circumstances.

Actually, if the situation is dire enough, putting something important off a day or more may lead to something a little more severe than unsatisfactory. It could turn out disastrous.

But, you already knew this.

So why am I bothering to write an article about a topic a lot of us will just skip over and not bother reading about? Well, I don’t know however I felt inclined to put the topic in your face again.

I will say this though, not everything is an emergency that we need to handle right away. Some things are important that do not have dire circumstances attached to it if we don’t do it right now, today.

During times like this when our economy has crashed because of the Corona virus lock-down, I felt that it was important to take all the opportunities we can to improve things in our lives.

If those life improvements are related to health or diet or fitness or spiritual goals or making our home spaces better, now is the time to do it. When I say “now” I mean presently, possibly today.

And when our economy is restarted and we go back to our busy lives, we should still recognize the importance of continuing to take time for ourselves to improve our lives.

There, I’ve said what I’ve come here to say. Thumbs up for reading this!

Spring Organizing To Make Your House Bloom

April 28, 2020 / The Organizing Lady / 0 Comments

Just like Spring cleaning, Spring organizing can be a seasonal plan to get in there and organize or reorganize areas of your home that you haven’t got around to doing for some time.

And like clearing out the cobwebs, getting into spaces that haven’t had your attention for awhile may need some some, yes …. attention.

This would be the time to open up those drawers that you haven’t opened in ages because gawd-knows-what is stored in there that you hardly ever need or use. Buffet cabinets with drawers, for example, are commonly forgotten places where you’ve kept stuff that you forgot you had.

Linen closet spaces are another area that gets neglected over time, accumulating more and more stuff, especially if you’ve bought new bed sheets and kept all the old, unused sheets in there as well.

Kitchen cabinets are one more thing that accumulates more stuff over time. You might have more glassware than you need, extra sets of dishware and mixing bowls, and maybe even several more pots and pans than you need. And let’s not forget the kitchen drawers that are a little fuller than last year.

Oh, did I not mention clothes closets? There, I just did.

There are probably numerous other places in our home that need attention after a time. And when we can allocate our time every now and then to these areas, we can keep our home in better order.

After all the Spring cleaning and organizing, you might want to spiff things up a little more. Bring in some fresh cut flowers, do a bit of decorating, add a touch more of your personality around the place.

With the nice Spring weather making us feel good and boosting our mood, it feels like the right time to get us doing what we can to do things that make us feel even better.

I think I’ll go outside and get my mood into the right head-space to tackle the world!

How To Survive Without A Bathroom Counter

April 27, 2020 / The Organizing Lady / 0 Comments

When I moved into a house without a bathroom counter in my bathroom, I wasn’t sure how I’d survive. It presented one of the biggest challenges I ever faced in my home organization endeavors.

Worse part is, I’m a woman. We have more stuff than a man when it comes to bathroom space requirements. We have body creams, facial cleansers and facial sundries, nail polish, hair dryers and straighteners and curlers, hair accessories for our multiple hairstyles, various types of hair brushes, and so forth. And for some, we keep our makeup in the bathroom.

Men typically just need a place for their shaver and shaving cream and a comb or brush.

Both genders require a place for their toothbrush, toothpaste and deodorant nonetheless, so that’s a given necessity on space.

Overall, that’s a lot of space that needs to be allocated for our bathroom stuff. So what does one do without a counter to put some of it on?

I, for one, am not a fan of storing much stuff on counters anyway, especially the bathroom counter. Fortunately, I tend to find other solutions as to where to put things. Yet sometimes it’s still a challenge, particularly if I don’t have counter space for soap to wash my hands.

Well, thank the lord someone invented bathroom storage cabinets, medicine cabinets and wall shelving!

I use a tall bathroom storage cabinet to store practically all my bathroom needs and the medicine cabinet for my toothbrush and toothpaste, as well as a wall hanging shelf organizer. Bam! Problem solved!

I’ve run into bathroom space issues before, like in the house before the one I’m in now. The sink at least had room for soap!

I’ve had to learn to find alternate methods of storing bathroom whatnots. I wanted to give you some ideas on how to utilize wall space for shelves, rods to hold hooks, wall shelf organizers, and other solutions for the space.

Here are some:

You can also get a lot of ideas on Pinterest. Have fun! And good luck!

Seasons In Your Closet

April 26, 2020 / The Organizing Lady

The seasons come and go, much like our clothing. What we wear depends on the weather, so it’s either cold or hot weather to dress for.

When the temperature is warm or cool, that’s the in-between time when we can throw on a sweater or jacket, whatever is appropriate.

During the Summer, I hardly ever look at my Winter long-sleeved clothing hanging in one area of my closet. So it’s easy to focus on just the short-sleeved and sleeveless clothes area. And visa-versa when Winter hits.

Now, organizing a clothes closet by season is a nice plan if you have the space, yet some of us have to use other measures to store seasonal clothing.

Some solutions include under-the-bed storage containers for a season of clothes or in unused luggage cases. Some people have enclosed (zip up) portable wardrobe closets in their garage. And there are people who just pack up in storage bins and store until the next season arrives.

But if your clothes closet is large enough to hold all your seasonal clothing, you should organize them by season – short sleeved and sleeveless shirts and blouses grouped together in one area, long-sleeves in another area.

And, of course, a spot for slacks, suits, skirts and dresses. But even my dresses are thrown into the designated season.

By the end of a season, you’ll be so tired of your season’s clothing, that you’ll welcome a new look for yourself in the new season. It’s like a whole new wardrobe!

You Got Mail

April 25, 2020 / The Organizing Lady

Love that line from the title of the movie, “You Got Mail.” I was actually going to title this “You Got Accumulated Mail” but the other one has more pizzazz.

Accumulated mail is a real clutter-beast. It’s a monster of all villains. It haunts us when we look at the piles of it and it attacks us when we find out we missed paying our bills.

I get it, we don’t all have time to deal with everyday mail. However, it will end up dealing with us eventually. There is going to be that day of “reckoning” when we have to sit down and open it.

Mail is one type of beast that you shouldn’t hide from. It’s the thing that we need to conquer so we can get on with the rest of our life. Tackle it head on and without mercy!

Throw away those solicitor’s junk mail lurking among your mail pile. Open up those bills and get them put someplace to pay when you sit down to pay bills. Get everything you need to do something with OUT OF ENVELOPES and placed in an ACTION place (a tray basket or desktop file holder, for instance).

And, for goodness sake, have a PLACE FOR YOUR MAIL other than throwing it on some surface where it doesn’t belong. If you don’t have a place to contain and hold the monster, create some containment place.

The Mail Monster can only defeat us when we ignore it. It cannot harm us when we attack it head on, so it’s a winning battle for us.

Let your battle begin.

Why You Should Keep Household Essential Goods In One Area

April 24, 2020 / The Organizing Lady

Cyndi Seidler - organized household essentials

The experience of keeping your household essentials in various places around the house can be a not-so-fun experience. I know this because I’ve experienced it.

My thought pattern thinks better when I know I only have one place to go for most all my household essentials. I don’t have to wonder (or wander) which place they’re located because I only have to remember ONE PLACE.

I tend to pick a place that will hold all the essentials for the household. A linen closet with drawers in a hallway has proven to be a good spot for me. Sometimes it’s a reach-in hall closet with shelves. Sometimes it’s conveniently put on shelves inside the garage near the door.

Wherever you have a good spot, utilize containers or whatevers to hold a group of like items, like batteries. This way it won’t clutter up the storage area for your household goods.

Let’s take a look at what I mean by some “household essentials” …

Batteries
Light bulbs
Electrical cords and plugs
Toilet paper, paper towels, kleenix
Tee candles and/or candles
Vacuum bags
First-aid kit

If you have the space, you can even include cleaning supplies, however often we tend to keep those elsewhere.

Now, this isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Some people don’t have the kind of storage space to accommodate all their household essentials in one place. I get that, and it’s okay.

I’m just throwing out the idea of keeping it all together in one space, if possible. But, wherever you do keep these things, at least try to keep them together in a convenient location.

What’s “convenient” is another topic.

Meal Planning For The Heck of It

April 23, 2020 / The Organizing Lady

Willy-nilly daily meal plans may work for some people however, without thought-out advanced planning, we may end up ordering fast food or dining out, or even having to thaw food out in the microwave last minute.

I think people on special diets would be planning their meals for the week in order to stay on track with what they eat and ensure some variety each day.

Meal plans make shopping for food a lot easier, too. Once you know what you’ll be preparing during the week, you can check to see if you have all the necessary ingredients on hand for those meals.

Sometimes however we just want to have some ideas in mind for our meals throughout the week. In this case, having a list of meal ideas written down is a good way to have at-a-glance plans.

I like to have a nice framed chalkboard for my meal planning menu board that I can erase each week. Also you can list your planned meals on paper that you hang up on the fridge or some place in kitchen is another way.

Creating a meal plan …

The way I like to create my meal plan for the week is to go through my recipes. I love this app called AnyList to collect recipes I like from the Internet (without having to type in the recipe), as well as ones I create. The app includes a shopping list for free, but has an very small annual fee for the recipes.

You can also look through cookbooks or even Pinterest boards that contain food recipes. And there’s Facebook recipe groups galore, so you could use those as another resource for ideas.

I write down (7) seven meal ideas on a notepad. I also check the ingredients I’ll need for those meals. If I already have chicken, for example, I may make a point to find a recipe I haven’t tried yet that includes chicken, just for variety.

Meal planning is something that you want to develop as a routine so that you do this every week. Pick a day to plan the meals before food shopping, then do your shopping on another day.

Bon Appétit!

Cyndi Seidler professional organizer los angeles

Benefits of Pretending To Move When You’re Not

April 20, 2020 / The Organizing Lady

If we were to look around right now at all our stuff, it may seem like a harmless array of belongings, especially if we’ve surrounded ourselves with a lot of this and that.

Yet, if we were to look around at our stuff with the idea that we’re moving, it may suddenly seem like an overwhelming task to pack up and take everything with us that we’ve accumulated, especially if every square inch of space is occupied.

When people move, they typically take the opportunity to get rid of stuff, either by tossing, donating, or selling at a garage sale. It’s particularly necessary when you have to move to a smaller place that has less space and storage.

So let’s say you’ve opened up that jammed linen closet to pull out some sheets. Now look inside and pretend you’re going to move. What would you take and what would you get rid of?

If you made those decisions now, you would be streamlining the possessions you have, which makes it a lot easier to pack up and move with. And better yet, you’ve just sorted out what you absolutely need – no more, no less.

A friend of mine always seemed to be getting ready for a move, even when she didn’t have an immediate moving destination. She would constantly be going through her belongings and either getting rid of stuff or packing things up for garage storage, particularly keepsakes.

So, like my friend, I allowed myself the time to review my belongings and determine if I wanted to take it with me or if I could say my good-byes to it. This always gave me the chance to re-evaluate what I really cared about the most.

There have even been times that, after I move and am getting settled, that I end up re-evaluating an item again as I unpack. I then end up getting rid of even more stuff, oddly enough.

I actually went through a recent move 5 months ago. My calamitous display of decor and floral arrangements was going to be too much for my new place, so I had to make some decisions.

If only I had lived as if I was going to move (someday), that this last move would have been a lot easier on me. It goes without saying that I would have needed less boxes for packing.

So now I look around regularly at my stuff to make sure I love everything, that everything has value and a good use for me, and so on.

I now pass this wisdom on to you. Do with it what you will. But always know that pretending can be a fun game all in itself, so give it a try!

What Should Be In A Junk Drawer?

April 18, 2020 / The Organizing Lady

Most of us have what is commonly called a “Junk Drawer” which holds an a sundry of non-related items that we want handy access to.

The actual reason it becomes “junk” is when we end up throwing things in it just to get it out of sight and don’t know where else to put it, or don’t want to bother putting it where it should go.

I believe in having junk drawers. But not ones that actually contain junk. What I mean is, I like having miscellaneous items handy in a drawer that I often use or want quick access to – like scissors, razor blade, tape, pens, a tape measure, twisty-ties for bags, rubber bands, a note pad, matches, toothpicks, lighter, maybe keys, and the like.

Throwing receipts, written notes, fast food condiment bags, household hardware, or anything that doesn’t have a need to be used often (or never again) is what becomes a cluttered drawer, especially with accumulated abundance of these things.

If you want to go a step further in compiling your handy items for the junk drawer, get a drawer divider to categorize or group things. Certain things, like rubber bands, could be in containers. It’s just another way to create a smiling drawer when you open it.

Now, this drawer is a one-of-a-kind type of drawer. It also has “personal preference” settings, just like setting up your settings in a new account. It’s going to differ from person to person based on their need of having something handy.

So, in deciding what should go in your junk drawer, figure out your personal preferences for what you need to have around so you have quicker access to it. Keep everything else out of it.

In With The New, Out With The Old

April 16, 2020 / The Organizing Lady

This is a philosophy that has been a long been standing guideline among the professional organizer community. When you bring in something new, get rid of something old.

Of course, it doesn’t have to be “old” to get rid of it. It just has to be older than what you bring in that’s new. It could be something no longer useful, no longer worn, no longer stylish, no longer loved, whatever. But it existed in your space longer than the new item you just brought in.

I, for one, love garage sales and thrift shops. Buying second-hand stuff is like a treasure hunt because I’ll often find things I wouldn’t find in a retail store and at half the cost. But I have to shop smartly, especially when it comes to room decor and art.

When I shop with my daughter, she has to point out what I’m not thinking about at the moment of my new discovery. “Mom, where are you going to put that?” she asks. I then look around my room mentally and can’t find a surface for it anywhere! Darn her!

Now, if I really, really wanted it, I would have to determine what item I could replace it with. No, the tabletop candelabra has to stay. But can I just move that somewhere else possibly? I ask myself. Well, what about that floral vase on the end table? I keep scoping the room out in my mind.

If I am able to find a place for it while scanning the room in my mind, I buy it. But I must really love it in order to buy it at the risk of having to get rid of something else though!

I’ve always had this same principle (or rule) going on regarding my clothes closet, as well. When I buy some new clothing or pair of shoes, I force myself to pull out something I haven’t worn in awhile or no longer love. Sometimes it hurts, but I make myself part with something.

And people love their books. One person I know purchased extra bookshelves to hold all their books, but now there isn’t anymore room for more bookshelves. What if they forced themselves to get rid of a book every time they bought a new book?

Imagine how much better our lives would be when we’re more in control of the belongings we have with this one simple guideline?

To put things into perspective, I try to think of the organized spaces I created and if I would be disrupting the harmonics of the room if I added too much to it. There are some hard choices to make when buying stuff.

Belongings are often personal. So are we willing to let go of something we have in order to replace it with something else? If we part ways with an item, will it haunt us later? Are we so fearful of letting go of something and later think that we wished we kept it?

I’m planning a trip with my daughter to some local thrift shops soon. I’ve gotten even wiser now though. I take photos of my rooms so there’s no mind-guessing on available space and occupied surfaces.

Maybe I’d have to rearrange some decor items on my bookshelf, but I don’t mind that so much. I just have to be careful to not clutter it up!

Of all the guiding rules I try to follow, I must not fall into that idea, “If there’s space somewhere, a woman will fill it.” While I believe that to have some truth – especially in this one area I just moved something out of, leaving a space void – I must keep trying to visualize the “openness” of the area now.

It’s killing me right now, but maybe it will stay an open space, maybe not. Time will tell, depending on my next thrift store treasure find.