Ding...Ding...Ding...We Have A Winner!

Hello Friends,

Last time you were here, there was a little contest going on.  There were many guesses but only one came close.  

Val Lundgren, you guessed it!  
The teacher I blogged about teaches Science; Earth Science to be exact.

Congratulations!  I'll make sure you get your Caribou drink card.

Thanks for entering everyone!  

Back to School for Teachers

Hello Teachers!

Can you relate to this?  Boxes upon boxes waiting to be unpacked into a new classroom?

My brave teacher friend asked for help from her tribe of girlfriends and we were only too happy to oblige.  Asking for help when faced with this much work is a good idea...Always.

I am so proud of my friend for asking...and receiving.

We got right to work.  School is starting in a few days people!

There were 2 rows of cabinets like these and unfortunately, partially filled with a lot of unorganized stuff that belonged to the school, including 6 cabinets filled with old textbooks.

Now, I found that ironic.  Many schools today have students using chromebooks and smartboards. Who uses textbooks anymore?  But I digress...we had to keep them.

There was some cleaning to be done; wiping out drawers and shelves.  We used old socks - BRILLIANT.

Discoveries were made, like this box full of goggles that aren't being used anymore.

Sorting rocks.  I.Kid.You.Not.  There were egg cartons like these, FILLED with hundreds of assorted rocks.

We all had jobs to do.

And problem-solving.  

There were posters.  A lot of posters!  They were in a very large laundry hamper, but that wasn't very attractive or appropriate for a classroom.

Since they were organized into plastic garbage bags by category, it made sense to keep them that way. There was one cabinet tall enough...and these 2 boxes just fit to hold most of them.  

I have some nice clear bags I intend to gift her because...who wants their beautiful posters kept in trash bags?

The coat closet!  The rest fit on top in a large box.  Phew! 

It was like a treasure trove unpacking the boxes.  

The samples this teacher friend has for the students are marvelous!

I just wanted to touch everything!  
So I did!

And I got to label!  Eeek, my favorite!  

Hmmm...my labels aren't very straight.  And what the heck is a psychrometer?  

Done is better than perfect in most organizing situations.

I love these metal label holders, they were on every cabinet door and drawer.  Get your own here.  I am imagining that these students will be able to put things away as well as my teacher friend being able to locate things easily and quickly.

We were done a few hours later, this is all that was left!  A couple of boxes of binders to be placed on a shelf.

And at the end, we found homes for everything in the boxes and all the things that the school said she had to keep.  AND there was empty storage leftover. When does that ever happen in a classroom?

The only thing left to do is to put away the socks when they're dry.

There is a tendency when moving into a new classroom, to just shove everything in drawers and cabinets and call it done in the hopes of getting organized someday.  Teachers will tell you from experience (there were 3 helping on this project), that someday never comes.

If you need help organizing your classroom, get in touch with me to set up a consultation and get a plan.  I promise I'll stick your labels on straight.

Leave a comment and guess what subject my teacher friend teaches.  

The winner gets a drink gift card from Caribou Coffee!

Bathroom Tidy

Hello Friends,

Today we are focusing on what is for most people, the smallest room in the house.  Bathrooms can attract clutter like no other room because we humans love our personal care products.  We love trying out what's new and different often before we've used up what's old and not working.  This list includes:  shampoo, conditioner, soap, skin care products, make up, nail polish, manicure items, bath items, first aid supplies, and cleaning supplies (for the bathroom).  Add in a heap of bath towels, beach towels, hand towels and washcloths and times everything by the number of family members and there is a lot of storage happening here.

There are some rules to follow when organizing a bathroom.  

Rule #1 Everything off the floor.  So much easier to clean!

A laundry hamper would be handy here as well as hooks for towels to be hung up.  Follow your natural inclination. If you are continually dumping towels on the floor in a particular place, install a hook and see what happens!

This rule includes all the miscellaneous storage and items that are stored on the floor too!  The wastebasket can stay.

The challenge was to create space in the existing cabinet for these items previously stored in the plastic storage drawers.

Drawer 1: Hair care items & make up 

Drawer 2:  Travel make up bags and assorted items 

Drawer 3:  Flat irons/curling irons

Here's what this bathroom had for existing storage.

A long cubby filled with items used everyday and these two cabinets that are stuffed full.

Rule #2  Decide what to keep.  This means discarding old, stained towels, holey washcloths, expired skin care products, old make-up, hair care products that didn't work as expected and on and on.  




We all have this bathroom clutter.  Get out a trash bag and get to work!

Rule #3  Storage.  Everything kept has a home.

The long cubby was easy.  Toothcare on the top shelf, make up in the middle shelf and hair styling aids on the bottom shelf.  These are items that are used each day and need to be kept handy.

We used existing storage containers and decided to label the containers by category and also by name of the family member that the contents belong to.  

Some containers still look cluttered...why you might ask?  It's because...

Rule #4  Never organize someone else's stuff.  Unless permission is granted.

Towels on one shelf, pillowcases/sheets  along with tissue and toilet paper on another with cleaning supplies on the bottom.  Simple and easy for everyone in the family to find.

The after pictures look so clean and bright.  It's amazing how decluttering can make a space feel more open.  We did throw out an entire black garbage bag and another box of items to donate too!

Everything off the floor and that's a plunger in that cute basket we found.

There is this full length mirror to contend with.  It needs to be hung up properly on the wall.

But when I went over to investigate, lo and behold there was a FIRE EXTINGUISHER hung up behind it!

So I wonder....do you think there are a lot of candles around that bathtub some nights?  Ooh la la.  You never know what you'll find when you organize!

What is the strangest item you keep in your bathroom?

Want to guess how long it took to declutter this room?

Got Powercords?

Hello Friends,

Recently we were looking for a powercord to a techy device in a client's home.  After a cursory search of a kitchen drawer or two, she yelled, "Be right back!" and disappeared into the black hole most of us commonly refer to as...the basement.

In a few minutes, she reappeared with this armful.

Luckily, the powercord we needed WAS IN THERE!  
Ah-mazing.  I love when things work out.

But, the real question is not "where is the powercord?"  It is how to keep powercords organized.

Get ready, it's really simple.  

Whenever a new techy device comes into your home such as a phone, a laptop, a camera, an ipod, a TV etc., simply label the powercords with the name of the device before you use it.  Make this a habit.

IT'S THAT EASY!

Now if you have a pile of cords and you're not sure what they go to, schedule a date night with your spouse and do your best to match them all up to the existing devices in your home.  What if you can't identify them all, you ask?  Then throw them all out and free up your brain and your space.

If you find in the future that you're missing a cord, it's Amazon to the rescue!  Seriously everything you need can be found on the internet.

But back to labeling....

You can use masking tape or  white address labels, but my favorite way is by using a label maker such as this one.  Be sure to buy the extra tape cartridges too!

There are many label makers on the market today, and clients often ask me to recommend one.  I say, simple is better, read the reviews, price out the tape cartridges and be sure to buy the label cartridges that have the split back.  

It can be quite frustrating not to mention time consuming to peel off the label backing from the end of the tape.  Must have long fingernails!  With split back label tape, you simply fold the label horizontally and the tape peels off from the center.  Easy peasy.  Labeling can become addictive, so buy a few cartridges.

Labeling ideas for you:  Labels come in different colored tape and print too!   Yes, I know I'm a geek, but I have to label my cords with my name or a family member may abscond with one.

If you're frustrated by which side of your itty bitty metal phone charger goes into your phone, label it with IN so you'll easily always put it in right side up.  Because who can see the little symbol when it's black on black?

After you're done labeling the cord, then wrap it in a coil and use a binder clip to secure it.  These come in different colors and different sizes too!  Use the extra large size for the largest cords in your home.

Next on my list is to label this mess of stereo cords.  I want to be able to unhook my stereo and hook it back up without any help from my techy oldest.

 I'm thinking of using the alphabet so I can match up the corresponding letters on the cord and the back of the stereo components.  Hmmmm...

Where do you keep your powercords?

Have you ever thrown one out by mistake and regretted it?  I didn't think so.

Cleaning Up Arizona - Part II

Hello Friends,

Remember Part I from last year?  Let's begin where we left off.

I went back to Arizona in February to help my mom get "unstuck" as she put it.  

The huge storage trailer was still sitting on her land and while the contents had been sorted and stored in there, she was anxious to take the next steps to get rid of it all.

But first we worked on the inside of her house, by decluttering her living room.  She lives in a tiny house - 467 square feet!  To say space is at a premium is an understatement.

BEFORE

 AFTER

Little details made a BIG difference, like covering up the fuse box with a beloved print that we framed and using one of her drums for a table.  Everything in this space brings her JOY!

We had a lot of fun shopping to finish off the details of the space.  The shopping is always what clients want to do first, but it's actually the last step in the organizing process - and the most fun!

Inside the wicker basket is all sorts of musical instruments that are brought out to a campfire gathering from time to time.  The instruments were stored in dusty grocery bags, shoved under furniture before.  Not anymore!  They are now in this cute and practical wicker basket with a lid.

We gathered a collection of small pottery bowls that were displayed in every room and put them on the windowsill.  Collections are sometimes best displayed together.  

The tiles were found stored in a shed on her property, leftover from a project.  They fit perfectly on the windowsill, end table and TV stand!  Shopping from your own home is the BEST!

Don't you love how clean it all looks?  A lot of stuff went out to that storage trailer!

We also made some other little changes in how things were stored in other parts of the house.  These were in a heap behind the door on the floor.  So much easier to clean when the tools are easy to grab and go.

And we found this cute tiled tray to hang up on her house.  It looks so welcoming.

While we worked together we had many conversations about the other trailer on the property...the one we sorted out the last time I visited.

The conversations centered around having a yard sale/not having a yard sale, getting a dumpster/not getting a dumpster, giving everything away/selling everything, and having the trailer hauled away or dismantling it and hauling it to the dump.  There were a lot of decisions to make!

So I left to go back home with nothing decided, but her living room sure looked great!

Then this happened!

I simply LOVE when my clients make a BIG life-changing decision and take ACTION!

It was a 3 day yard sale and she got rid of it all.  Just.Like.That.

AND best of all, she had help!  I LOVE when clients ask for HELP!  

Her BFFs rallied with her and they had a really good time.

Then I held my breath...what about that trailer?  I can hear you asking, Yeah, what about it?

Next thing you know...

The tires had to be dug out of the desert.

The pop-outs couldn't be popped in, so they had to be dismantled.

There were some late nights and there may have been a broken axle involved.

Teddy Roosevelt once said, 

“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty…"

But OH was this worthwhile!  Look at all that clear space!

I'm proud of you Mom, well done getting yourself and your trailer, unstuck!

What's big decision surrounding organizing that you've been putting off?

What needs to happen for you to get "unstuck"?

*I may be able to help, contact me to set up a free phone consultation.*