How to put away your nativity scene(s) faster

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I hope you had a great Christmas!  I certainly did.

Now that Christmas is over, it's time to put the Christmas decorations away.  (Awwww, sad face..)

If you have a nativity scene fancy enough to come in a foam box with little individual spaces for all the figurines, putting it away will likely take five minutes (or ten) since the spaces do not perfectly resemble the figure that goes in it and you have to fuss with it just to figure out which way the figurine goes in.   (“Is Joseph supposed to go here or is it the standing wise man?  Hmm... Is Joseph supposed to lie on his back or his side?  Dang, I can never remember!”)

I finally figured out a way to eliminate all the guesswork about which figure goes in what space AND a way to eliminate all the time it takes to find the orientation of each figure.  With this system, it takes maybe 45 seconds to put away the nativity set.

What figure goes in which space?

First, number all the figures in your nativity set.  Write the number on the bottom where it won’t show.  Or you can write the name of the character in the space where it goes.  (Numbers help when you have multiple nameless shepherds and multiple animals included in the set.)

This wise man was dubbed "3"

As you figure out which figurine goes in which space in the box, write the number of that figurine in the bottom of its space where you can see it.  Ta-da!  You have halved the time it will take to put away your nativity set!

Space "3."  Also notice the dot with arrow coming out of it, which is explained in the next section.

Which way does the figurine fit in its space?

When you have figured out which way the wise man fits in its space, take it out and place a dot on the wall of its space to show where the wise man’s feet would be.  When you see the dot, you will know the feet should always "stand" on that dot.

 Then draw an arrow from the dot that points in the direction that the wise man will face when he’s put in correctly.

Congratulations!  You again halved the time it will take to put away your nativity set!  In total, it should take a quarter of the time than it did before!

This may not seem like it buys you much time if you have just one nativity set, but if you are one of those people who happens to collect nativity sets and display them all, this tip will really save you a lot of time and effort. My Mom helps with a church nativity display that involves something like a truckload of nativity sets, and she has a very similar system to help her put them all away in the right place.  (She also has to code the figurines and boxes so she knows which figurines go in which boxes.)

Do you need extra help with organizing and de-cluttering? Hire me! Go to www.phoenixhomeorganizing.com for more information about my services! Did this article help you? Be sure to share it with your friends!

Organization is not always pretty

I recently blogged about creating Master Meal List, creating a Weekly Meal Plan, and using that to create the grocery list in my post What should I make for dinner tonight?

I just wanted to make the point that these lists don’t have to be pretty.  They just have to work.  (Plus, they are small and simple enough that visitors probably won’t notice them.)

If the main way you learn about getting organized comes from home magazines, it is easy to get the impression that organization will always be (and should always be) pretty to look at.  Thankfully, that is not true, and understanding this will help you jettison unnecessary guilt.  (Keep in mind that if magazines did not have pretty pictures, we wouldn’t be so drawn to them, so these magazine editors know a pretty picture of rows of color-coordinated ribbon in a white shelf is going to please the reader more than a system that is functional but slightly messy.   However, magazines can’t capture some very useful aspects of organization visually, like routines and systems.)

Yes, pretty is a bonus, but if pretty conflicts with function and efficiency, living will not be as easy and streamlined as it could be.  As an example, do you want to see what our meal planning system looks like?

This stack of papers represents our Weekly Meal Plans and grocery lists, probably for the last 37 weeks.  We keep it clipped together hanging on our refrigerator.  No way are a bunch of squealing homemakers going to share this on Pinterest.  ;-)

We only cook for two people, so our grocery lists aren’t going to be very big.  It saves paper to have our grocery list on the same page as our weekly menu.  Also it means there is only one piece of paper to keep track of, instead of two.  Yes, the paper looks dog-eared.  That happens when you keep putting it in your pocket and taking it out over and over at the grocery store.  Yes, I could copy the menu onto a nicer sheet of paper after grocery shopping, but that would add an unnecessary step.

Next, here’s our Master Meal List.

Obviously this is also not something likely to show up on Pinterest.  The major advantage is that it is really easy to add to it.  I can do it with a pencil if I want to!  (As opposed to printing something out with just the right font, or making a bunch of mini tags with scrapbooking doodads and bows on them..)

For a while I used a chart on which I listed our meal plans for a whole month, but that turned out to be not so helpful. 

Notice how usage trails off after a while..

For one thing, we could see we had eaten quesadillas at least once every week, and seeing that over a month made us feel pathetic.  (Who wants to be shamed by their own organizational methods?  Not I, said the duck.)  So we decided we only needed to look at a week at a time.  We’re okay with eating quesadillas once every week as long as we don’t have that frequency blatantly called to our attention. 

What systems do you use that work really well but wouldn’t get featured in a home magazine?

Do you need extra help with organizing and de-cluttering? Hire me! Go to www.phoenixhomeorganizing.com for more information about my services! Did this article help you? Be sure to share it with your friends!

What should I make for dinner tonight?

Lorenzo Serafini Boni, http://www.flickr.com/photos/lorenzo_serafini_boni/6441999729/ 

Every night the same thing happens.   You stand in front of the refrigerator for 10 minutes wondering what to make for dinner and often give up in disgust by ordering pizza.  You have a vague feeling that you should eat better, but you’re not sure what to do to change.

The problem is that you are forcing yourself to be inventive at a time when it is difficult to think (when you are hungry).  A much better method is to create a Weekly Meal Plan that you post near your refrigerator.  When dinnertime comes around, you will choose from the list what you are in the mood to make and eat.

A Weekly Meal Plan may sound like you have to list out 21 separate meals, which is a very intimidating prospect.  Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be that involved.  First, you can take it for granted that breakfast will be cereal (or some other breakfast food that you make).  Second, you can also assume that lunch will be something very simple like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or leftovers from last night’s dinner.   That will leave only seven meals to choose and plan.  Depending on how big the meal is and how willing you are to eat leftovers, you may only have to plan three or four meals.   Planning 4-7 meals sounds a lot more doable, doesn’t it?  You will use your Weekly Meal Plan to build your grocery list.

To make it easier for you to create a Weekly Meal Plan, you can make a Master Meal List.  This is a list of all your favorite foods that you like to make.  You keep this list with your recipe books and you will consult it weekly when it is time to create your Weekly Meal Plan.

A fast way to create your Master Meal List is to:

1.     Look through your recipes and write down all favorite main dishes

2.     Walk down the frozen food aisle at the grocery store and write down everything that looks good

You can also make master lists of favorite veggie dishes and fruit dishes to help your family get adequate nutritional intake.  You may choose to rotate according to schedule if routines help you, or you may pick and choose according to mood.   When you try out new recipes, decide whether it is good enough to be put on the Master Meal List or whether it can be consigned to oblivion.

Having a Master Meal List and a Weekly Meal Plan has been a big help to us.

·      The Master Meal List makes it much faster to plan meals for a week.  No more straining the brain to make something up.  Instead, you choose from a list.

·      Having a Weekly Meal Plan makes it really easy and fast to create our grocery list.  You only put on the list what is needed to make the menu.

·      Buying only what is needed to make the menu means you don’t waste money on impulse buying.  

·      You won’t waste food, since everything you buy is needed for the menu.

·      No more standing hungry in front of the fridge trying to think of something to make for dinner.  You have a meal plan to guide you!

 Do you need extra help with organizing and de-cluttering? Hire me! Go to www.phoenixhomeorganizing.com for more information about my services! Did this article help you? Be sure to share it with your friends!

De-cluttering Kitchen Utensils

It’s time to evaluate kitchen utensils!  (Yaaaaaaaaay!!!)

Recently my husband Devon and I were making some black bean salad and I pulled one of the small knives from our knife drawer to start cutting up the Roma tomatoes and I got a little frustrated that the knife didn’t cut very well.   I told Devon this, and he informed me I was using a steak knife. 

What!?  I had not realized they were steak knives!  (I can be a little slow on these things..)  Yes, Devon said, they don’t really have very good edges for cutting things besides steak.  I certainly agreed with him. 

I thought about how often we had steak… which was not very often.  Hardly ever, in fact.  It became clear to me that with our low steak-eating frequency, there really wasn’t much reason for us to have those steak knives.  They didn’t work very well for cutting foods besides steak.  And guess what, we had other steak knives that we both liked to use better, so when we had steak we didn’t use them anyway.   

You know what that means?   It is time to put those annoying steak knives in the give-away box in the garage!  GOODBYE and GOOD RIDDANCE! 

Every once in a while, it is good to take a good hard look at your kitchen utensils and think about

·      whether you use them,

·      what you use them on,

·      and whether you even like to use them. 

Do you use them?

Usually when we set up house for the first time, whether it is going out on our own or getting married, or whatever, there will be times when people give us kitchen utensils as gifts.   Some are useful, some are not.   We may get knife sets, mixing bowl sets, measuring cups and spoons sets, dishtowels, spatulas, and all manner of gadgets.  Every few years it is good to reexamine the kitchen drawers and think about whether you really use the avocado seed remover tool.   If someone gives you an egg slicer—you know, that thing that has a lid that looks like a tiny harp)—feel free to let it go if you never need to slice boiled eggs.  (They’re also handy for slicing strawberries, so I found an excuse to keep mine.)   I had an over-abundance of dishtowels, so I went through and picked out the ones that I wasn’t two excited about using.   Two drawers of dishtowels and dishcloths was too much.

What do you use them on?

What you don’t want is a bunch of single-function utensils you hardly ever use.   For instance, I am tired of the pumpkin carving saws.  Next Halloween, I’m just going to use my drill instead.  I’ve heard that is faster anyway. 

Do you stuff olives often enough that you need a stainless steel olive stuffer?  Or do you prefer to buy your olives pre-stuffed?   Do you often need a lemon reamer or an apple corer?   Do you actually cut onions often enough (or slow enough) that you need onion goggles?   Are you really in such a hurry that you need a banana slicer instead of a knife?

If you only stuff the olives or pit the cherries once a year, you really don’t need to get the olive stuffer or the cherry pitter, Williams-Sonoma advertisements notwithstanding.

Do you like using them?

If you find yourself always using one spatula and carefully avoiding another spatula because you don’t like to use it, that’s a pretty good sign that maligned spatula shouldn’t be in your kitchen.  If you don’t like using certain knives or certain bowls or certain cups, that is also a good sign that they don’t belong in your kitchen.  Just because some of those things were gifts does not mean that they are going to be perfect for you. 

One of my clients had five pizza cutters.  I laid them all out for her and she pointed to one that she really loved.  She had two others because her son kept threatening to steal her favorite and she kept hoping he would fixate on one of those.  And two others she easily parted with.  Later, when she had an occasion to test one of the two extra she kept, she decided she hated how it worked and she let go of that one too.   Brave woman. 

So, what are you waiting for!  Ready, set, DE-CLUTTER!

Do you need extra help with organizing and de-cluttering? Hire me! Go to www.phoenixhomeorganizing.com for more information about my services! Did this article help you? Be sure to share it with your friends!

How to organize your voting materials for election time

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  It’s getting close to election time, which means your mailbox will be deluged with election ads and you may get some booklets with candidate statements and proposition arguments.  What do you do with this stuff?

First, I recommend that you toss any ads you get that have significant mudslinging and accusations on them.  We don’t want to encourage that kind of political discourse. 

Next, make a politics/election file and put all campaign ads and election booklets and ballots in it.  Keep it near the front of your filing drawer during election season so it's out of the way but accessible.  Continue to add to it as you get election mail.  A few days before the election, start pulling these materials out and look through them.  Prepare a sample ballot so you'll know who to vote for at the polls.

Finally, when the election is over, you can empty your politics/election file and put it at the back of the drawer until.. the next election season arrives!

Do you need extra help with organizing and de-cluttering? Hire me! Go to www.phoenixhomeorganizing.com for more information about my services! Did this article help you? Be sure to share it with your friends!

The Science and Discipline of Putting Things Away

A big part of disorganization happens when things don’t get put away when they should. 

·      Unrinsed dishes piled in the sink

·      Food sitting on the counters

·      Papers stacked in piles instead of filed

·      Backpacks and coats thrown on the couch or the floor

·      Shoes and socks under the desk

·      Magazines and books scattered about

·      CDs and DVDs without their covers piled next to their players

·      Toys spread over the floor

·      Tools scattered on the garage floor

·      Laundry still in the dryer, sitting in baskets, or scattered around the floor

·      Towels draped over the bed or lying on the bathroom floor

·      Couch pillows scattered around the living room

When I read through the above list, I can see the chaos in my mind’s eye.  If this chaos is your reality, it may help to learn about the science and discipline of putting things away.

The Science of putting things away

Putting things away is partially a science.  This means there are principles to learn about and ways to set up your space so that you can do it efficiently and painlessly.  Putting things away creates optimal conditions for efficient, joyous living—clear space to work in and clear mental space to think in.  If you hate to put things away, the solution is not to leave everything out, but to find easy ways of putting things away so that everything seems instantly accessible. 

Principle #1--There has to be a home for everything.  Having a home for everything makes it so that you know instantly where to look for it, instead of having to check 15 places it could be.  Checking 15 places takes a lot of time and frustration.  If you knew your keys belonged in your purse, then you would only have to check your purse instead of checking the desk, your coat pocket, your pants pocket, the kitchen table, the kitchen counter, under the living room chairs, under cushions, etc.

 If you don’t have enough homes for things, you have to either get rid of some of your things so it fits in the space you have, or you have to spend money to buy storage for it.  Don’t be too cheap to spend money on appropriate storage containers if that’s what you really need; you’ll do yourself a favor in the long run.

Principle #2--Make homes for your stuff so it is fast and easy to put things away.  If it really does take 15 minutes to put away everything, then there is something wrong with how and where the storage is.  You make it hard for yourself to put things away if:

·      You have to use a stepladder

·      You have to put things away at the bottom of a stack

·      You have to walk back and forth several times between your work site and the storage site

·      You have to put things away in a container inside a container inside a container…

·      You have to move things out of the way first

The more often something is used, the faster and easier it should be to put away. Try to make it easier to put away than it was to get it out.

Here are some examples of this principle:

·      My dishes are kept in a cupboard that is right next to the dishwasher so I don’t have to walk across the kitchen with every armload of clean dishes. 

·      I position my clothes dresser near my closet so I don’t have to walk too much back and forth between them when getting dressed. 

·      Our movies are stored near our TV. 

·      Our office supplies are in our desk and nearby are our filing cabinets and shredder. 

·      Our computer cords and supplies are near our computers, which are also on our desk. 

·      I have piano music stored next to my piano. 

·      This also goes for supplies and tools we use for our talents and hobbies. 

If you make it fast and easy to clean up, then switching between tasks will also become fast and easy.  You’ll spend less time preparing or cleaning up and more time doing what you love.

The discipline of putting things away

Just like you go home from work or school at the end of the day, your stuff should be put back in its home after you have used it.  The fewer exceptions are made to this rule, the more organized your house will be.  It’s that simple.  Now, while the principle of putting things away after you are done using them is simple, the discipline comes as you put things away over and over again, day in and day out. 

How do you get over feeling like putting things away is a bother?  Time yourself to see how long it takes to clean up after yourself.  You may find that it doesn’t take as long as you fear it will.  You may find it takes 45 seconds when you expected it to take 10 minutes!  

What if you have a project that takes a number of days to complete?   Put everything away at the end of each day.  Give yourself a "clean slate" to start with tomorrow.  If this seems to take too long, then you need to rework what “home” is for those things so it is easier. 

They say it takes 21 days to build a habit, and there are plenty of chances to practice putting things away.  When putting things away becomes a habit, it will feel easier to do and you won’t have to think about it and struggle so much.

Do you need extra help with organizing and de-cluttering? Hire me! Go to www.phoenixhomeorganizing.com for more information about my services! Did this article help you? Be sure to share it with your friends!

What the gathering of Israel can teach us about home organization

Behold, it is my will, that all they who call on my name, and worship me according to mine everlasting gospel, should gather together, and stand in holy places. (D&C 101:22)

One of the great teachings of the restored gospel is that of the gathering of Israel.  We Israel are gathered to keep us safe and to support us among a world of temptation.

Gathering is also an important principle of home organization and aids in the process of de-cluttering.  Gathering (or consolidation, as I like to call it) brings together all the tools for certain activities together.  

The advantages of consolidation are:

--Time is saved finding and inventorying needed supplies,

--Time saved when putting supplies away.  Put them in one place and you’re done!

--Money saved.  (You won’t waste money buying duplicates.)

--Memory saved.  (You won’t need to wrack your brain trying to think of where else you put cleaning supplies.)

--Space saved.  (You’ll only need space for one location of supplies.)

Here are some types of tools and supplies that can be gathered or consolidated and places they are best gathered to:

• Food (kitchen cupboards, pantry)
• Clothing (closet and/or clothes dresser in bedroom)
• Laundry supplies (put near the washer and dryer)
• Hair care supplies (put where hair is coiffed, which is usually the bathroom)
• Makeup supplies (put where makeup is done, usually the bathroom)
• Toiletries (put in or near the bathroom)
• Jewelry (put in bathroom or near where you get dressed)
• Office supplies (put in or near desk)
• Electronic and computer supplies (put near computer)
• Videos and music (put near TV or sound system)
• Outdoor play equipment (put in garage or on back porch)
• Car tools (in garage)
• Coats, hats, gloves, boots, and other outerwear (put in front hall closet)
• Cleaning supplies  (commonly under kitchen sink or on a shelf over washer and dryer)
• Craft supplies (near dining table)
• Board games (near dining table or living room)
• Camping equipment (garage or storage shed)

When I help people get organized, one of the first things I try to do is consolidate all their supplies together.  This can be a very big job because frequently just about everything on the above list needs consolidation. One of my clients couldn’t believe how many hotel shampoos and bars of soap she had saved up.  She kept putting them away in different places so she had no idea how much she really had.  By consolidating, she could see how much she had and then make a decision about how much she wanted to keep.   She also learned how much sewing notions she had when it was all gathered together. 

Why might supplies become scattered?:

--There isn’t enough room for them all in one place.  (Either the place is too small or we are unwilling to buy appropriate-sized boxes and so we make do with what we have.)

--We use the supplies so rarely that we forget where we keep them, so we get more and then we make up a new place to keep them.

--We neglect to put things away where they should go. (Or someone else neglects to put them away.)

Some might think that you should wait until all your supplies of a particular type are consolidated before you start de-cluttering them.  This is not so.  You can begin de-cluttering as soon as it becomes evident that you have more than enough.  For instance, as soon as you see that you have more than enough first aid supplies, you can start making another kit to give to someone else.   As soon as you see you have more than enough art supplies, you can start picking out what’s still good and your favorites to keep and let go of the rest.  Then, when you find more, you can evaluate it according to the standards you have previously set and you will know pretty quickly whether it is something to keep or get rid of.  

 


Do you need extra help with organizing and de-cluttering? Hire me! Go to www.phoenixhomeorganizing.com for more information about my services! Did this article help you? Be sure to share it with your friends!

De-cluttering gifts from other people

You may be one of those people who can’t bear to get rid of anything that was given to you.  You might be afraid that the gift-giver would be mad if they found out that you got rid of their gift.   How can you deal with this fear?

First of all, it helps to realize a fundamental principle of ownership--once someone has given you something, it no longer belongs to them.  It now belongs to you and you can do whatever you want with it without reference to them.    That big-eyed Precious Moments figurine Aunt Martha gave you is now yours to do whatever you want with.  You are within your rights to throw it at the wall or light it on fire or bury it in the back yard or tie it to your dog’s collar or put it on your mantel or give it away. 

Now, let’s say Aunt Martha says, “I will let you borrow my Precious Moments figurine for a while,” then the case is completely different.  When you borrow something from somebody you are not allowed to do things to it that might destroy it and you are not allowed to give it away.  You have the duty to keep that figurine safe for your Aunt Martha (and hope to heaven that she relieves you of it soon ;-) ).   If you were to give away to someone else the thing you borrowed, you can definitely expect Aunt Martha (or whoever you borrowed from) to be extremely ticked and demand restitution. 

Don’t confuse the duties of borrowing as part of ownership.  If Aunt Martha has previously gotten mad at you for disposing of the gifts she has given you, realize that Aunt Martha needs a reminder of the difference between expectations of borrowing and actual possession. 

 


Do you need extra help with organizing and de-cluttering? Hire me! Go to www.phoenixhomeorganizing.com for more information about my services! Did this article help you? Be sure to share it with your friends!

Queen Victoria's problem with hoarding

I’ve just been reading Queen Victoria: The Definitive Biography of England’s Famous Ruler by Lytton Strachey, and I found some interesting details about Queen Victoria in her later life.  It seems that she became somewhat of a hoarder.  I quote:

…Victoria was a woman not only of vast property but of innumerable possessions.  She had inherited an immense quantity of furniture, of ornaments, of china, of plate, of valuable objects of every kind; her purchases, throughout a long life, made a formidable addition to these stores; and there flowed in upon her, besides, from every quarter of the globe, a constant stream of gifts.  Over this enormous mass she exercised an unceasing and minute supervision, and the arrangement and the contemplation of it, in all its details, filled her with an intimate satisfaction.  The collecting instinct has its roots in the very depths of human nature; and, in the case of Victoria, it seemed to owe its force to two of her dominating impulses—the intense sense, which had always been hers, of her own personality, and the craving which, growing with the years, had become in her old age almost an obsession, for fixity, for solidity, for the setting up of palpable barriers against the outrages of change and time.  When she considered the multitudinous objects which belonged to her, or, better still, when, choosing out some section of them as the fancy took her, she actually savoured the vivid richness of their individual qualities, she saw herself deliciously reflected from a million facets, felt herself magnified miraculously over a boundless area, and was well pleased.  That was just as it should be; but then came the dismaying thought—everything slips away, crumbles, vanishes; Sevres dinner-services get broken; even golden basins go unaccountably astray; even one’s self, with all the recollections and experiences that make up one’s being, fluctuates, perishes, dissolves…But no!  It could not, should not be so!  There should be no changes and no losses!  Nothing should ever move—neither the past nor the present—and she herself least of all!  And so the tenacious woman, hoarding her valuables, decreed their immortality with all the resolution of her soul.  She would not lose one memory or one pin.

She gave orders that nothing should be thrown away—and nothing was. There, in drawer after drawer, in wardrobe after wardrobe, reposed the dresses of seventy years.  But not only dresses—the furs and the mantles and subsidiary frills and the muffs and the parasols and the bonnets—all were ranged in chronological order, dated and complete.  A great cupboard was devoted to the dolls; in the china room at Windsor a special table held the mugs of her childhood, and her children’s mugs as well.  Mementos of the past surrounded her in serried accumulations.  In every room the tables were powdered thick with the photographs of relatives; their portraits, revealing them at all ages, covered the walls; their figures, in solid marble, rose up from pedestals, or gleamed from brackets in the form of gold and silver statuettes.  The dead, in every shape—in miniatures, in porcelain, in enormous life-size oil-paintings—were perpetually about her.  John Brown stood upon her writing table in solid gold.  Her favorite horses and dogs, endowed with a new durability, crowded round her footsteps.  Sharp in silver gilt, dominated the dinner table; Boy and Boz lay together among unfading flowers, in bronze. And it was not enough that each particle of the past should be given the stability of metal or of marble: the whole collection, in its arrangement, no less than its entity, should be immutably fixed. There might be additions, but there might never be alterations.  No chintz might change, no carpet, no curtain, be replaced by another; or, if long use at last made it necessary, the stuffs and the patterns must be so identically reproduced that the keenest eye might not detect the difference.  No new picture could be hung upon the walls of Windsor, for those already there had been put in their places by Albert, whose decisions were eternal.  So, indeed, were Victoria’s.  To ensure that they should be the aid of the camera was called in.  Every single article in the Queen’s possession was photographed from several points of view.  These photographs were submitted to Her Majesty, and when, after careful inspection, she had approved of them, they were placed in a series of albums, richly bound.  Then, opposite each photograph, an entry was made, indicating the number of the article, the number of the room in which it was kept, its exact position in the room and all its principal characteristics.  The fate of every object which had undergone this process was henceforth irrevocably sealed.  The whole multitude, once and for all, took up its steadfast station.  And Victoria, with a gigantic volume or two of the endless catalogue always beside her, to look through, to ponder upon, to expatiate over, could feel, with a double contentment, that the transitoriness of this world had been arrested by the amplitude of her might.

Thus the collection, ever multiplying, ever encroaching upon new fields of consciousness, ever rooting itself more firmly in the depths of instinct, became one of the dominating influences of that strange existence.  It was a collection not merely of things and of thoughts, but of states of mind and ways of living as well.”  (Lytton Strachey.  Queen Victoria: The Definitive Biography of England’s famous ruler.  Harcourt Brace & Co.  New York.  1921.  p298-301)

With plenty of servants and money, Queen Victoria certainly could afford to keep whatever she wanted.  She didn’t have to care for any of it.  But in spite of that, her stuff still became a “dominating influence.”  In short, even Queen Victoria became enslaved by her stuff.  This is quite ironic because her biography shows in other places how determined Victoria was not to be dominated by anybody. 

“When she considered the multitudinous objects which belonged to her, or, better still, when, choosing out some section of them as the fancy took her, she actually savoured the vivid richness of their individual qualities, she saw herself deliciously reflected from a million facets, felt herself magnified miraculously over a boundless area, and was well pleased”  -- Queen Victoria seems to have adopted the idea that the vast amount of her possessions symbolized her power, and that all the different characteristics of them symbolized her personality.   This is not a good perspective to have because any loss of possessions would then symbolize to her a loss of her power and a loss of her personality.   But really, she wouldn’t have been any less powerful or have less personality if all her possessions were to go up in flames. 

“No chintz might change, no carpet, no curtain, be replaced by another; or, if long use at last made it necessary, the stuffs and the patterns must be so identically reproduced that the keenest eye might not detect the difference.” – How boring!  Getting something different when the old wears out is what makes it not so sad to have things wear out!  It’s like a lack of faith that something different can ever be as wonderful as the familiar.

I have written before about how journaling is a helpful method for de-cluttering.  Elsewhere in her biography it was pointed out how careful a journaler Queen Victoria was.  And yet, she didn’t realize how journaling could keep her memories fresh without having to actually keep the objects that triggered those memories.  One technique that professional organizers recommend is for people to take pictures of their sentimental objects and then let those objects go.  Queen Victoria had pictures taken of all her gifts and possessions and still kept them, which defeated the purpose of taking the pictures in the first place. 

When I think about Queen Victoria’s situation, I can’t help but see how hard it would have been for her to escape the slavery to her possessions.  First of all, she was the queen, and it would be difficult for anyone in awe of royalty to tell a queen that she needed to de-clutter.  Second, she was a very determined and stubborn woman.  Third, with all her resources, it would be difficult to make a clear case that she was being hurt by all her accumulation, as she had servants to clean or store or move or catalog her stuff and she had the money to make more places to store it.  Fourth, with all the valuable gifts that poured in and all the objects triggering memories, the task of making decisions about what was most important and most valuable to her would be made harder.  (I don’t think it would be impossible, but I think it would be harder.)  I really pity the next in line to the throne who had to deal with all that stuff.

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Strategy to avoid materialism: Stop shopping for excitement and fun

http://www.everydayminimalist.com/?p=1811

I can remember a time when I was in college and I noticed that every Saturday I went to stores to shop.  (I didn’t necessarily buy; I just liked to look.)  I asked myself why I always went shopping like this.  I admitted to myself that I was doing it because I thought shopping was fun.  I asked myself, “Self, what would you do for fun if you could not go shopping?”  

I had a really hard time thinking of a good answer to that question.  My sheer poverty of recreational ideas was enough to demonstrate to me that I needed to find additional hobbies and resurrect old ones.

So.  If you are feeling blah, what do you do to give yourself a pick-me-up if you couldn’t indulge in “retail therapy”?   If you want some fun, what would do you do without shopping’s thrill of the hunt?   If you can’t give a good answer, you should probably put the kibosh on shopping for a good while.  (Instead, you could have a de-cluttering party!!  Woo-hoo!)

 

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Quotes about organization

“Life is too complicated not to be orderly.”  (Entrepreneur Martha Stewart, Harper's Bazaar)

"Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up."   (A. A. Milne)

"Successful organizing is based on the recognition that people get organized because they, too, have a vision."   (Paul Wellstone)

"There comes a point of gluttony that I can't accept. When that happens, I feel like I have to clean out and give stuff to my sister, mom, and friends.”  (Actress Katherine Heigl, US Weekly)

"It's unbelievable how much time you can waste on the water and off if your tackle's not organized. In 2003 I had my worst season. Then during the off-season, I went to work on my tackle, got it organized, and I was back in 2004. I finished second in the Classic and was Angler of the Year the next year. Now that I'm organized, I'm five times more efficient."  (Bassmaster Elite Pro Aaron Martens reveals 'secrets' of success, Source: ESPN)

"You also might have noticed I'm extremely organized. All right, I love lists. I am devoted to careful planning. If you plan right, you'll eat right. You might also have guessed that I'm a total type-A personality and, to be honest, a bit of a control freak. My freezer is stacked with "banked" meals I've made in advance. My fridge is lined with containers of prepped veggies—all washed, chopped and ready to go when I need to toss them into a salad or soup."  (Robin Miller, Host of Quick Fix Meals on the Food Network, Guideposts Magazine Online)

"I can go clean out my drawers, my closets. I can organize my office at home. Something about it is incredibly pleasing to me. I like getting rid of things. I really do. I like it when things are where they're supposed to be. If I buy something new -- a piece of clothing, a tie, a shirt, a suit -- something old has to go. That's the way I avoid clutter, crammed closets and drawers. It keeps things in balance, and it really works." (Today Show Co-Anchor Matt Lauer, USA Weekend)

"[On Sundays] I pull everything out [of the fridge] and then I start ordering things like top shelf. It's very anal, but top shelf is all the stuff that needs to be eaten first. Next shelf, and then it works its way into the drawers. And I'm really proud of how beautiful the refrigerator looks. That's Sunday. Come Friday, or even Wednesday … somebody messes it all up."  (Actress Alicia Silverstone, Source: www.celebrityweek.com)

“Exactness and neatness in moderation is a virtue, but carried to extremes narrows the mind.” (French Theologian Francois Fénelon, Source: www.worldofquotes.com)

"The trouble with organizing a thing is that pretty soon folks get to paying more attention to the organization than to what they're organized for."   (Laura Ingalls Wilder)

Do you need extra help with organizing and de-cluttering? Hire me! Go to www.phoenixhomeorganizing.com for more information about my services! Did this article help you? Be sure to share it with your friends!

How to choose a good desk

  I’m going to get really opinionated in this post, so brace yourself.

I am of the opinion that a lot of desks sold today are crap.   They give the impression that they will help with organization, but in practice only do half the job. 

If you go to Google and do an image search on the term “desk,” you will see

• desks that are all work surface with no storage
• desks that are all storage, but very little work surface
• desks with too little storage
• desks with storage that is the wrong shape
• desks designed to organize, but which have no work surface

Try that Google search.  Right now.  I'll still be here.

There is no denying that most of the desks you’ll see on a Google search are Beautiful Specimens.  The problems happen when Beautiful Desk collides with Reality--the day-to-day demands of work and creativity.   Just to get an idea, try Googling “desk organization” images and you’ll get more of a sense of this reality.  (Or you might take a good look at your own desk at home.  After all, you are reality too!)

Part of the trouble is that our desks have to do more for us than ever before, and furniture design has not quite figured this out.   A good desk needs room for:

·      Surface area workspace

·      A computer (which often takes up the prime workspace area front and center on the desk with a monitor and keyboard at least, and a tower if you have a desktop)

·      A printer/scanner/copier  (takes up more surface area)

·      Networking equipment

·      Power strips and cords (preferably out of sight, but not too inaccessible because sometimes you have to add to them)

·      Places to dock mobile gadgets

·      Filing cabinets nearby for papers

·      Drawers for office supplies

Unfortunately, most desk design seems fixated on style to the detriment of actual utility.  Personally, I can't blame these desk-makers too much; they understand that making their product appealing will do a lot for sales, but it behooves us as savy consumers to make a wise decision based upon what we really need our desk to do and do everything we can to keep from getting snookered by advertising tactics that can cloud the issue of productivity and organization.

Critical thinking is the name of the game, people!  So, sharpen up your reasoning skills; we're going to look at some desk designs and pick them apart to see what is good and bad about them.

http://uncrate.com/stuff/milk-desk/

Beautiful, huh?  Probably its best feature is that it can be raised and lowered so that you can sit or stand at it.  But where's the power strip?  Where are you going to put all your office supplies and your printer?  If you get this desk, you'll need to get another desk to hold the stuff this one can't store.

http://myofficeideas.com/corner-computer-desk-for-effective-space

 Very nice, if you only work on the computer and if you only have a desktop computer.  But where do you put your printer?  Where do you put your office supplies?  And where do you spread out your paperwork?  If you got this desk, you'd have to get another desk for a work surface and for storage. 

http://myofficeideas.com/corner-computer-desk-for-effective-space

This desk looks kind of heavy with all that wood and the way it starts to spread out. (Somehow it is fashionable right now for desk to look light instead of weighty, and that trend gets in the way of good desk design.) However, you'll notice that this desk has some drawers for office supplies.  That open space on the right side could hold a computer tower nicely.  However, I still wonder where I would put a printer.  Perhaps on the side, but that would use up available work surface fast.  And what are those shelves doing in the middle under the work surface?  Could a printer go there?  (But would I want a printer to go there even if it would fit?  It would be hard to get to.)  This is a better desk than the ones above, but it still isn't as good as it could be.

http://www.jml1014ilatheblackfriday.com/2012/sauder-computer-desk-a-scrittorio-of-the-calculating-of-sauder-the-perfect-solution-for-your-house-or-office/  (total spam blog site; do not follow)

  This desk clearly has room for a printer, room for a computer, and file drawers.  Having a keyboard drawer under the desk surface frees up workspace, if you don't mind that kind of thing.  It has cubby-holes for books and cds, but where would we put our office supplies?  You might be able to make it work if you put the printer on the very top of the hutch and put some kind of organizer in its place.  Or you'd have to try to find organizers that fit in the cubby-spaces.

http://thewellorganizedwoman.com/2011/10/09/work-it-how-to-stay-organized-at-the-office/

Love that color coordination!  I for one am a sucker for lime green, which means I have to be very careful when I see images like this.  It seems to me that the desk and the wall unit are meant to go together.  (If they are not, then this would be misleading advertising.)
If we look at the desk itself, it has no drawer storage for office supplies, and computer equipment would take up much of the work surface.  Also, placing it so it faces out into the room would make computer cords pretty obvious.   However, if it were placed closer to the wall unit (perhaps in an L or butting up against it, this desk would become more useful.  It would still lack storage space, but computer equipment (printer, routers, power supplies) could be transferred to the shelves.  The shelves actually add a lot of flexibility, since the shelf space is not confined by vertical divisions like a wooden hutch.  There is more potential for creative desk setups that also help you be productive.  Office supplies could be put in drawer caddies on the shelves.  If the wall unit were raised a bit, the desk could fit underneath it.
Overall, this desk setup is flawed, but flexible.

I wish I could show you a picture of a good desk, but I couldn't find one.  Maybe they don't exist and we just have to jury-rig them with accessories.  If you're curious, the desk set-up my husband and I have right now is a combination between a big metal teacher's desk with drawers and a shelf system somewhat like the last picture above.  The shelf system is high enough on the wall that the desk can fit snugly under it.  We put our computer equipment (laptop, printer, scanner, router, back-up server, and surge protectors) on the shelves, and we put office supplies in the desk drawers.

If you have to buy a desk, make sure to take into account all the things you will need it to do.  Check it for computing space, work space, storage space, and whatever else you need for your special talents.  If you can find a desk or a configuration that matches your needs, you're more likely to be able to stay organized long-term.


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Sorting, testing, and storing your office supplies

Once all your office supplies are gathered together, you have to sort through them, test them, and find a good way to store them all together.

Sorting

 Put similar items together.  Paper goes with paper, pens and pencils go together.  Since this is only temporary, you can use ziplock bags and Tupperware containers to separate the little stuff and use boxes to sort the notebooks, folders, and files. 

Testing

Once you have sorted your supplies, test the supplies that you have.  You’ll want to make sure they are still good; there is no point in keeping office supplies that don’t work well.

·      Test the pens to make sure they work.  If you don’t get a nice thick line immediately after trying to draw little corkscrew squiggles, then a pen is bad and should be tossed.  Also, if you don’t like the way a pen writes, get rid of it.  If you are like me, you probably will never use a pen you don’t like if a pen you do like is available. 

·      Make sure the mechanical pencils have lead and the erasers aren’t used up.  Toss ‘em if they are missing either lead or erasers or both.  (It might seem wasteful, but you are working on organizing now.  Work on saving the planet later.)

·      Test the markers.  If you don’t get a nice good stroke of color as if they were new, toss ‘em.

·      If you have a gluestick, you’ll want to test it too; glue sticks tend to dry up after a few years.  Toss out dry gluesticks.

·      If you have a 3-hole punch, empty all the little paper holes out of the bottom reservoir over the garbage can. 

·      If you’re down to the last three sticky notes of a pad, recycle them. People usually gravitate to the thicker pads of sticky notes when presented with a choice between a thick pad and a thin one with only a few sticky notes left.

·      If any of your paper is stained or dog-eared or bent, recycle it.  You’ll want to print on nice clean, pristine paper.

·      Any notebooks that only have a few sheets of paper left in them can be recycled.  You’ll enjoy a new notebook more.

·      Sharpen your wooden pencils to a fine point.  If they are missing an eraser, don’t bother; just trash them.  (Some might argue that they can always use a detachable eraser with eraser-less pencils, but if you have a choice between a pencil with an eraser and one without, you will choose to write with the one with an eraser every time.)

·      Recycle any bent or torn folders.  You will enjoy using nice ones much more.

·      Make sure your binders have rings that close snugly.  If they don’t, trash them because they will be more irritating than they are worth if you have to readjust papers in them all the time.

·      Make sure your calculator has batteries that work.

Store your supplies

Once you have sorted and tested your office supplies, you need to find a home for them as close to your workspace as possible so that you can have easy access to all it.  Having them out all at once will get in the way and look cluttered, so the best place for them will be in your desk drawers.  If you don’t have desk drawers*, you need some kind of box with drawers to put them in so you can keep them near your workspace. 

This is when you can go shopping for organizing containers.  As you look, keep in mind the amount of supplies you will need to store.

Some supplies office supplies are best stored flat, such as printer paper, notebook paper, and graphing paper.  Paper trays work well for paper.  Alternatively, you can stack them on top of each other, keeping the most frequently-used type of paper on top.

Some paper supplies can be stored standing on their side, such as manila folders, hanging folders, notebooks, two-pocked folders, binder page dividers, and binders, especially if they are all stored together.  The stiffer stuff (like binders) will keep the limper stuff (like hanging folders and binder page dividers) from sagging if you put some sort of bookend in to keep them upright.

Laminating sheets, page protector sheets, envelope labels, letterhead paper, and envelopes are best stored in the boxes they are sold in because they will stay nice and pristine and they’ll stand upright.

Organizing trays are helpful for small things like tacks, paper clips, binder clips, scissors, sticky notes, extra staples (in their box), stamps, glue, tape, extra pencil lead, etc.

Markers and colored pencils are best stored upright in a cup or deep bowl where you can see and grab what you need.

If you have desk drawers that are taken up by something other than office supplies, it is time to be tough and move that stuff.   Drawers are important organizing tools for your workspace and they should not be taken up by things that don’t help you with your office tasks.

*The annoying tendency for stores to sell computer desks with no drawer space is a topic for another post.  (One of these days I’m going to have to write a blog post critiquing the different kinds of desks out there.)

Do you need extra help with organizing and de-cluttering? Hire me! Go to www.phoenixhomeorganizing.com for more information about my services! Did this article help you? Be sure to share it with your friends!