Clutter Hacks
How I de-cluttered
Product of the Week: Baby Memories Box
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This may sound familiar to some of you moms and dads: it took my sister almost 3 years to pull together a baby book of her daughter’s first year.
Today’s busy parents have a hard enough time keeping up with the daily routine, so it’s no wonder that the keepsakes album gets put off until well into the toddler years, if it happens at all!
The problem with the traditional baby book, my sister found, is that it only holds 2 dimensional items.
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Product of the Week: Mario Batali Lunch Totes
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“Dear Mario, Your Lunch Bags Make Me Swoon!”
I used to carry my lunch in one of the many plastic grocery bags cluttering the cabinet under my sink, but ever since I started using reusable grocery bags, I ran into a little problem – no more lunch bags!
I may have outgrown my cutesie lunchbox, but I’m definitely not too old for a chic and class lunch tote.
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Space Treat: Clutter to Cash
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Thank you to all who wrote in with congratulations and good cheer regarding my feature in last week's Daily News! The writer, the photographer and the featured woman, Lisa, were absolutely delightful to be with so I had a blast doing what I love most - digging people, just like you, out from underneath their disorganization.
And since the focus of the article was about turning your clutter into cash, I thought I'd follow up today's Space Treat and share the best tips for creating a successful listing on-line that sells!
Here you go:
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Making the Most of Your Cabinet Doors
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I've lived in a lot of houses over my lifetime and I've had to deal with a multitude of different storage challenges, but the worst by far for me is a too-small kitchen.
I have always loved to cook and bake. I have a crock pot, a bread machine, a stand mixer, a blender, a food processor, a mini-chopper, an electric grill, a coffee maker, a toaster oven and a microwave oven to contend with in my kitchen. Plus a host of bake ware, serve ware and pots and pans. Just the standard stuff. 
When storage space is at an obvious premium, unless you want to store the new juicer in the linen closet, you have to think outside the box.
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Product of the Week: Triple-Duty Bench – Part 1 of Our Multi-Tasking Furniture Series
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Have a look at my new weapon in the battle against clutter at home: Multi-Tasking Furniture!
My definition of multipurpose furniture is anything that does double or even triple-duty work to simplify your life. Pieces like this Storage Ottoman are a great place to start if you’re looking to eliminate space-wasters and get organized.
Don’t underestimate its storage abilities, here’s a list of everything I was able to get off my tabletops and shelves:
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Space Treat: It Pays to Open Your Mail. Literally.
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Seems like as far back as I can remember, a common inaction among my wonderful clients, is that they just don't open their mail. For whatever reason (and there are many), they let it pile up on counter tops, boxes, drawers and even in shopping bags. I know some of you out there are relating.
Trust me, I really do understand how overwhelming dealing with mail is. Although it's quite easy for me and does actually give me a great sense of accomplishment, I deeply understand how painful it can be for you and my clients so I write this with complete and genuine empathy.
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A Few Of My Favorite Things, Part II
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Eva threw down the gauntlet last week, and I can't say no to a good challenge! So it's with this in mind that I bring you my list of favorite things (aka organizers).
Of course, in order for an organizer to make THE list, it has to be willing to give me 100%. I'm talking double and sometimes triple duty! I own and have used each of these items for at least 2 years, and each has exceeded my expectations.
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These are a Few of My Favorite Things…
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Ooh…kinda makes you wanna burst into song, doesn’t it? LOL!
My friend Marcia at Organising Queen tagged me for this meme. I love these! It gets me thinking and writing even when I feel blocked. So here goes – things that simplify my life:
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Organizing Fever
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Ok, so the plan was 5 minutes a day, right? Well, recently this strange phenomenon has overtaken my brain. My “5 minutes” has turned into several days of wanting nothing but to clean and organize and rearrange everything in sight!
It happens only once or twice a year. Maybe it’s the idea of starting my New Year fresh. Maybe it was that my house had reached such ultimate grossness that I didn’t want to be home anymore– I don’t know. But I’m LOVING it!
To date, I have taken down all my Christmas decorations and stored them all in my shed in these moisture resistant Sterilite bins. Then I cleaned and rearranged everything in my living room.
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The Mighty Morphing Power Planner
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(My title dates my kids, huh? lol!) For anyone who follows this blog, you know my love of sticky notes. Well, lately my system of sticky notes at work has morphed into something interesting.
I keep a my big work planner (a big black binder) open on my desk at all times. I have several sections for the different aspects of my job - projects, blogging, site banners, As-Seen-In items, information, etc.
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Space Treat: A Bag a Day Keeps the Clutter Away.
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Well, we're deep into the holiday season now. I've been to quite a few parties and have more to come. Every time I arrive somewhere, I've always got gift in hand and so does everyone else. You know what that means, more stuff… and where is it all going? So even if you're not hosting a party, you're probably bringing some kind of gift through your front door this time of year.
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Paper, Paper and Still More Paper
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If you're ever going to keep up with all the paper in your life, you have to decide on a system and keep tweaking it.
Read more about how to deal with mail clutter and decide if my system will work for you as is, or if you need to make slight adjustments. I'm cool with that!
One of the biggest mistakes people make with organising paper is jumping to the filing instead of eliminating the source.
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Space Treat: Fresh Eyes
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Every week when I meet a new client we start the session off with a house tour. Even if their initial priority is the home office, we'll walk through the entire home.
This past week I met with a new client, Michelle. During her Phone Intake Consultation, we determined that setting up an efficient home office where she could store and access papers, schedules, mail, bills and files was her number one priority.
With that in mind we set out on a house tour. During this step we open all the closets, drawers and cabinets. There are 2 main benefits to the tour:
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Recycle Paper the Easy Way
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I've always said that if you make something too complicated, it just won't work, no matter how well-intentioned you are. That's why it's so important to make your systems easy, especially if you live with other people and you want them to live by your organising "rules".
That's true for designing a good flow for laundry in the home and also for recycling paper in the office.
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Clutter Control: Organizing Computer Passwords
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For the longest time, I had the bad habit of creating usernames and passwords for different websites that I visited thinking, “This password is easy enough; I’ll remember it.” And for the first two or three, I did.
Then I started jotting them down quickly while I was creating them, only to misplace or accidentally toss them later.
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10-minute clutter hacks - Computer
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Don't get fooled by the Organising Myth that you have to have a block of 2 - 3 hours to get anything significant done.
Not true!
Here are some tasks that will literally take you only ten minutes.
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Where Did All These Shoes Come From?!
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I did not know that a family of five could own so many pairs of shoes! I am always shocked at how many, and how quickly they pile up by the front door. And if you are one of the unfortunate ones (like me) who don’t have an entry way at the front of your home, the shoes wind up spread across half the living room if they aren’t kept in check. But how? With no entry way, I’ve had to get creative with our shoe storage.
Here are a few ideas:
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Clutter Control Through Boundary Setting
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If you are an accumulator, if you snip articles out of papers, or purchase
endless amounts of fabric or beads, or save vast amounts of nails or old
cell phones or your children's art work. Or if you are crafty and you
collect odd things that you "might use some day" (such as 583 empty toilet
paper rolls), you need to set boundaries.
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A launch pad saves you 5 hours a week
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That's a picture of my handbag on my launch pad.
A launch pad enables you to hit the ground running every day.
In the office
Your launch pad is writing down your high priority items on your eat the frog form so you start off your day on the right note.
You can save TONS of time if you don't have to think about your priorities every morning.
How much time could you save if you immediately started each day on the most important tasks?
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Get Back to Basics with Menu Planning
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When things start going a little bit crazy, the first thing I do is go back to basics.
Like when I feel overwhelmed with the business, I drag out one of my master to-do lists and start writing down everything.
In the same way, when if feels like things are too busy in my life at home, I get back to basics with a few things. I:
- write EVERYTHING down on our kitchen calendar
- clean my kitchen (I like a clean and uncluttered working space so this helps me feel centred; a friend of mine likes doing laundry - she is obviously crazy :)!!!)
Read the rest of this post »Posted September 23 2008, filed under How I de-cluttered, Clutter Control Products, Clutter Hacks | 2 Comments | Permalink
Turn Your Clutter Into Cash!
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Most Americans accumulate books, CDs, and DVDs, but many adults with ADD are plagued by the endless clutter that these items create.
Books on the shelves, in the closets and in the basement that were (maybe) read once and forgotten about. CDs in the rack, in the car and under the couch that make you cringe when you look at them because you can't believe you actually listened to that music at one time. And DVDs that you forgot you even owned!
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Don't get overwhelmed. Mind-map it!
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Sometimes, when you're not very far along on the Journey to Organisation, you may start feeling overwhelmed.
There are SO many places to start so you become indecisive.
Should I start in the kitchen? Should I start in the study? Should I start in my craft room? Maybe I should tackle the kids' rooms?
HELP!
Okay, okay, re-lax…
Here's what I suggest you do:
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August De-Clutter Challenge - Day 14
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Not only should this two hour de-clutter qualify as my last four for the week, but it should win me a prize for the weirdest de-clutter project. I de-cluttered my youngest son's head.:)
My youngest had major cranial surgery when he was a baby and he has a scar from ear to ear across the top of his head. In an attempt to minimize that, he started growing dread-lock at the age of two. My husband joined in as an act of solidarity and support. You'd think this would be a care-free style, but they need regular maintenance to keep them lookin spiffy. Guess who gets that job? To the left is the before shot.
Cookbook and Vitamin De-clutter
ByOk - Here are my Saturday and Sunday de-clutters for Marcia's August De-clutter Challenge.
I de-cluttered my vitamin cabinet (I was shocked at how many expired items I had in there - good thing no one remembers to take vitamins around my house. I guess.)
Before:
After (I used one of these spice rack steps so I can see what's in the back):
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August De-clutter challenge - Week One!
ByOk, so I don't have pictures because I didn't have my camera when I de-cluttered. And I didn't spread it out over seven days because it's too hard with work. But I did de-clutter seven things!
I spent Sunday afternoon de-cluttering the five drawers in my nightstand and then de-cluttered my bathroom cabinet and the étagère over the toilet (seven things!).
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Buried in Business Cards?
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Dig yourself out with these solutions:
· Pick up a few business card boxes from an office supply store. If you've got a knack for remembering names then organize alphabetically, otherwise organize by the event or place you would associate the contact with such as "Betty's Business BBQ" on 7/26/08. Use one box for personal contacts, one for professional, and one for lifestyle. Each box usually comes with dividers.
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Organising for Sentimental People
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I am usually not a very sentimental person.
With letters, cards and notes, I restrict myself to a memory box which is the size of a big shoebox (the ones that boots come in).
When that box gets too full, I make myself go through it to throw out things that are no longer as meaningful for me. It's amazing to me how something that you absolutely had to keep at the time can lost its sentimental value after a few years.
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Take the Guilt Out of Organizing
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I think the most overwhelming and frustrating part of organizing my messy home is that I can’t seem to stay focused on one space.
Oh, I’ll tell myself that I’m not going to overwhelm myself this time and I’m going to stick to just the desk. Well, as I’m clearing off the random CD’s and taking them to the bedroom, I notice my CD collection is all over the place and it makes me feel the need to straighten that as well. No, stick to the desk.
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Do Your Bad Organizing Habits Follow You to Work?
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Generally, the organizing methods you use at home are the same ones you use to take care of your office, and probably every other area of your life.
Look at all of the things that upset your life such as not being able to find things when you need them, never having room to store things or having a closet that is packed so full that everything is wrinkled when you put it on. Now take a look at your office setting and I bet that you have the same problems.
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Tweaking Your Organising Systems
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One of the most important parts of organising is tweaking your systems.
It's perfectly normal to organise a space and find that it's not quite working the way you envisioned.
That doesn't mean you throw out the whole thing! Please don't do that.
All you need to do is a little tweak here and there.
Like this:
The other night I was doing my whole face routine and realised that I was slightly irritated by a tiny cabinet above my basin. Remember, I have the dubious honour of having the smallest bathroom in the world. My Private Platinum Clients actually love seeing it - I should charge admission.
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