Marilyn Bohn | Creative Organizer

Bookcases are wonderful pieces of furniture that can be used for more than books. This bookcase is used for:

•Nick knacks
•To hold homemade quilts
•Photo Albums
•Books

Be creative, think outside the box and load up your bookcase with anything you want. A few simple ‘rules’:

•Make it attractive
•Don’t stuff or clutter the shelves
•Line books up by height within categories

What do you use your bookcases for besides books? What is your favorite thing you put on your bookshelves?

Do you sometimes think if everything is not lined up perfectly then it isn’t organized? Do you get a perfectionist complex? Not that that is bad if that is what makes you peaceful and happy. I just wanted to show you this as an idea.

The DVD’s and VHS movies are all contained in this piece of furniture. There are also several cases holding DVD’s and CD’s. At first glance it isn’t what you would find in a magazine showing what organization looks like, but look again it is very organized.

Things do not have to be perfect to be organized. Just having all like things together so when you want them is being organized. As I work with people as a professional home organizer some people not only want to have everything lined up but we go one step further and separate by type of movie (comedy, drama, family etc). We put colored circle stickers to designate what type of movie it is so they can all be put back together by subject.

No matter which way you chose to organize, do it according to your own style, which is perfect for you as it is your way.

What way have you found successful to organize your DVD’s, CD’s and other movies?

Some bathrooms are so small there isn’t room to store extra paper. If there are no cupboards or under the sink storage here are a few ideas of how to keep extra paper handy in the bathroom.

•Use a basket, with or without a lid.
•Hang an over the door shoe organizer and keep some paper in the pockets. The pockets can also hold other things used in the bathroom.
•Use a free standing ‘cupboard’ like the one shown here. This one was purchased at Fred Myer. It holds five rolls of paper and fits into tight corners even in a small bathroom.

Susie Orman, the financial guru has only one pair of earring. She said that is all she needs. (Look at her photos; sure enough she is always wearing the same ones). Now that is a minimalist, I personally need more than one pair.

I have pierced ears and have used several options for keeping them stored for years. I have tried a jewelry box, I tried the ‘tower’ that sits on a dresser, and I tried putting them on a bulletin board like thing. But when I was in a hurry to find a pair, well, frankly it was not always possible. And earrings like to tangle with each other.

Now I have found another way of storing them that I like the best for right now.

•I put each pair of earrings on a button.
•Larger earrings go on a button that is about one inch in diameter.
•Even dangly ones fit on buttons.
•I put them in a little heart box and it is easy to ‘dig’ through to find the pair I want to wear.

Do you have a favorite way of keeping your earrings tangle free? Leave a comment and I will share with everyone.

What do you think of Halloween? I didn’t used to ‘celebrate’ Halloween, the kids would come, I would give out chocolate candy bars, and I made my children’s costumes out of things around the house as I don’t believe in spending money on costumes. I didn’t have any decorations for Halloween.

Things have changed a lot. I no longer have children at home, last year we only had 11 trick or treat-ers. (I have a lot of puzzles left over I was giving out). We used to have 80 trick or treat-ers. And I now have two plastic bins and a canister of Halloween decorations.

Things have changed for two reasons: I used to have a friend who hated Halloween and then I met a new friend, Edna, who loves Halloween. Edna would give me wonderful Halloween decorations so little by little with my treasures multiplying I warmed to Halloween. My daughters wondered what had happened to their mother when they came for a visit because I had all of these cute decorations. They would say, “but you don’t like Halloween”, not true, I just never had any decorations.

Now as I get out my decorations I think of my two friends and I feel my life is enriched by each one of them. My tip to enjoy getting out the decorations is to have storage bins to put them in so they are all organized together. They make color coded containers now which are great. Orange and black (of course) for Halloween. Or the clear plastic ones, labeled on the outside. To me as a professional home and office organizer it is as important to store in a logical way things we only use once a year as it is to keep our closets and drawers organized on an ongoing basis.

Happy month of October to all you ghouls and guys.

We went to Jackson Hole Wyoming a week ago and had some great times. We saw a large heard of buffalo, a female moose standing in the small river eating, later a huge male moose thrashing about eating, trumpeter swans, and a bear.

It is the bear I want to talk about. I didn’t know Grand Teton National Park is bear country. And I mean that literally. We tent camp and we had to move everything from our camp site to our car if we were to ever leave it. We put up with that cheerfully but it was a few other events that drove us away.

On the second night we laid awake as the rain pelted our tarps, I didn’t realize how loud that could be. I counted the seconds between the thunder and lightening to see how many miles away the lightening was. It got as close as 10 miles. In the morning it was still raining hard so we went into Jackson Hole and had a delightful day.

When we got back to our camp there was a note from a ranger telling us a bear had gone through a container we had left (all perfectly legal) that had rope, a hatchet and toilet paper. As we were reading this a loud crash led my daughter to run down to the car and there not far from us was a black bear going from camp to camp. A man across the road came to tell us lightening had struck 200 yards from our camp. (That is why the firemen’s pickup was still there). That was it; we broke camp in the pouring rain and had to go 110 miles to get a motel as all the tent campers it seems were seeking shelter in Jackson.

In spite of it all we had fun in Jackson and at the Scottish Festival.

I was grateful we were well organized. We had put everything in plastic bins and had organized each meal into areas in the bins and cooler. This made it easier to transport from the car to the camp and back constantly. Organizing homes and offices are one thing, but if you are going to camp whether it is in a tent, tent trailer, motor home or trailer being organized makes the experience more fun and pleasant.

Do you ever think you need to thin your house down? My friend the other night said she thinks her house needs to go on a diet.

In the kitchen there is probably a table, but it hasn’t been seen for awhile because of all the mail and other paper work that is just left here. She is sure a kitchen counter came with the house. But with all the clutter and stuff it too has been buried.

The bedroom is the catch-all of the entire place. Before going to bed either the clean laundry has to be thrown on the floor or it has to be folded right then. Socks are living under the bed. Dirty clothes are in every corner.

She is embarrassed whenever anyone comes over because there is no place to sit down in the living room. Things and clutter are everywhere. I recommend as a professional home and office organizer that steps be taken to put that house on a diet and get rid of the unnecessary clutter, find homes for what needs to stay and get rid of the rest. It will be hard as diets are hard, but what great rewards await us who put our homes on a well needed diet. The feeling of peace, light and order out weigh any other feeling we may have about de cluttering. Good luck to you and your house.

As I was walking one morning, I noticed a neighbor had a beautiful apricot tree heavily laden with fruit. Later I asked her if I could come and pick some. She said she would be happy for me to come and pick. I remember when my mother would bottle apricots every summer. And I did for a few years until I realized no one in my family would eat them. Canning seems to be a dieing art. Another friend who used to bottle fruit and jam said she gave away all her bottles in case she would ever be tempted to bottle fruit again.

Do you have things in your home that you have inherited and you have no place to put them and no intention to display them or have any use for the items? As a professional home and office organizer I see this all the time. Sometimes people take a photo and then get rid of the item. It is always nice when there is someone else in the family or who the person was close to they can give things to. Of if they have no sentimental value, they can be sold. If it is just too hard to get rid of the inherited things, then put them in sturdy plastic boxes, label them and store out of the closets and other places that are always being used for your own things.

There are things we just can’t get rid of and that is O.K., they just don’t have to be taking up space where we work, live and play. Keep them safe and sound, just not in the middle of your current living space. Find a home for them and let them live there. They will be happy and so will you. (Actually the things won’t care, but you do).

Preparation for the Model T’s production brought Ford so close to bankruptcy that he had to borrow $100 from a colleague’s sister to pay for the car’s launch. That $100 was eventually worth $260,000 to the generous donor. The first “Lizzie” rolled of the line in 1908, with a four-cylinder, 20 horse-power engine capable of speeds of 40 miles per hour. It cost $850.

Mass production innovations continued to lower the price of the Lizzie. In 1916, a new Model T sold for just $360. Each vehicle finished its turn around the assembly line in just 980 minutes, compared to the earlier day and a half assembly line run.

Wow, can you imagine cars going down in price now days? It happens all the time with new products, when DVD players first came out they were in the hundreds’, now they can be purchased for under $100. The same goes for microwaves, computers and hundreds of other products.

When I work in homes or offices as a professional home and office organizer I look for ways to cut costs and improve productivity with those I am working with. These can be easy techniques or perhaps doing something totally radical that works and makes that person happier and more centered and focused. It can be as simple as tossing pens that don’t work, sharpening pencils or organizing work spaces to be more convenient and accessible to those using the space. Always consider what is best for the person using that space and how will this help them in their lives whether at work or at home.

I got a bee in my bonnet to organize our storage/utility room. I thought it would take about six hours. It took more like ten hours, but it was sure worth it. My daughter and I had gone to a local cannery and had canned tomatoes and jam. I carried the boxes around in my trunk for over four weeks. I always cringed when I was at a store and wanted to put something in the trunk. I also thought “this does not look good for a professional home organizer to have a trunk full of boxes”.

Before After

I don’t even have to be in the room to have a feeling of accomplishment, relief and a feeling of well being. Now I know where everything is in that room and it is clean and organized. I got carried away buying jam and we have enough jam for five years so that might be this years Christmas gifts to the neighbors with a loaf of bread. The jams are wonderful flavors and having helped to can them (in jars) I don’t know if I want to give them away. We have black berry, loganberry, and raspberry. While organizing the shelves I also found a case of canned chicken. It pays to know what we have no matter what room it is in our homes.

If you have a big job you have been dreading, I send you encouragement, dig in, get it done and then you can crow about what a wonderful room you have and how everything has a home and it is living there. Also, it will be off your mind and will free you from guilt and dread. What large project are you going to work on next?