Marilyn Bohn | Creative Organizer

Do you do things out of habit even if the end result isn’t getting you what you want? I am sure we all do this. My daughter shared with me the following experiences which all occurred to her within the last three weeks.

She has a favorite chain restaurant where she likes to eat. The food is good, the service is tops and it has a fun atmosphere. Things have been happening to cause her to evaluate her decision to keep eating at this restaurant.

The first problem was a long black hair sticking out from the bun of her chicken sandwich. The next week it was a curly black hair in her rice bowl and the third week it was salmon in her cheese in her chicken sandwich.

She starts thinking, “This is not working for me, this is three times in the same restaurant that something has been wrong with my meal”. She either needs to stop going to this particular place, eat at home or eat at a different place.

How many times in our lives do we do the same thing over and over and expect different results while not changing what we are doing?

It is no different with organizing. If you have made up your mind that your drawers and closets are going to be organized and stay that way but you don’t change anything chances are they won’t be organized. Perhaps something as simple as getting rid of the extras that are never used or using a container is all it would take to accomplish your goal.

Time management may be a struggle as you race around in the morning looking for keys, shoes and the children’s backpacks. Adding a hook inside the cupboard for keys, putting shoes back on the shoe rack (buying a shoe rack) every night, having a designated place for the kids to toss or hang their back packs could make all the difference from having a stressful morning to turning it into a peaceful one.

Office organization may mean changing your filing system to a color coded system, alphabetized files or a vertical filing system to get you where you want to be.
If something isn’t working for you, then change it, get others to support you and encourage you in your decision to get what you want with just a few simple adjustments.

What have you changed in your life to get different and better results as you have worked towards an organized life?

As I was unloading the dishwasher this morning I got a bee in my bonnet to organize the silverware drawer. As you may know one of my specialties is organizing small spaces. As you can see by this picture it is a small space. The one other drawer I have in my kitchen is only four inches wide.

I took out all the silverware and washed the tray. I would like one of those nice mesh trays but I have never found one small enough to fit this drawer. I got rid of a few extra things I never use that were living in the back of the drawer. Everything fits better now. The divider part in the back I kept things I use often, measuring spoons, grapefruit knife, and can openers. (I allow myself two because I lost one once and I only had one at that time. It was awful trying to open a can of evaporated milk without an opener). Behind the tray is the scoop I use for cookies, a garlic press, and grater along with a few other miscellaneous items.
The knives are at the side and I know it is a bad place, but it is my only place for them and it works for us. Someday I will buy a nice set of knives and have them in a block on my small kitchen counter. And they will even be sharp. Ahh, what a day that will be.

Next week I will be doing a series of blogs on office organizing. What is your biggest challenge in your office, I will be answering questions.

Oh, today is the last day to enter the drawing to win the scrapbook-book. (Read all about it on my June 2 blog).

I came back from Washington last week with a head full of memories, my trip journal and a camera full of photos of my family including the parents of the cute grandkids and photos of the beautiful tulips at the tulip festival in Skagit County.

Now what to do with them? I want to remember the trip, the fun and the beauty so I immediately set to work on sending my photos to Costco to have them developed. I like to crop my photos and take out the red eye and sometimes change the color to black and white or sepia. All of this takes time but I keep my eye on my goal and forge ahead. I believe in keeping photos in photo books so they can be looked at and keep the memories alive. By doing one trip at a time it doesn’t become overwhelming.

When I get my photos back in only one hour I slip them in a photo album behind plastic sleeves. I keep the book near my computer to remind me to journal them. I don’t like my hand writing so I type a page of what all the photos are about—where we went and what we did and the dates. Then I type up short blurbs that I insert by the photos. This is very easy and fast. Well fast is a relative word, but it is faster than scrapbooking.

I have to confess this part sometimes doesn’t get done for a few months. Life is just so busy. I have three albums I need to journal. Now I have confessed. Ahhh I will report back to you on my progress—this will give me a goal to work on and soon.

Speaking of scrapbooking I have a friend whose website is Organize 101 and she is passionate about scrapbooking. She has written a book with beautiful pictures and tons of information about scrapbooking. She has given me one of her books to give away free to one lucky reader of my blog. You know how writers foreshadow things that are going to happen in their books, this is what I am doing. Next week I will announce and open up a contest you can enter to win this book.

How do you store your photos and what tips and tricks do you use to keep your photos organized?

Did you know every 3 seconds a baby is born? My daughter had their baby girl April 16. We were glad she wasn’t born on tax day. Congratulations!! It wasn’t until the next day they decided on a name. It was hard for them to choose a girl name. Her name is now Addison Debbie and she weighed almost nine pounds. Mother, baby and father are doing well. In fact she has slept longer at one time than her two year old brother was doing at seven months.

To get ready for this new baby they borrowed a bassinette, bought a new dresser and added a bookshelf in the baby’s room. On the top shelf are her books, the other one holds toys. Their two year old was not ready to move to a less restricted bed. That is to say the parents aren’t ready for him to be in a regular bed as he is a ‘go getter’ and he would have too much freedom if he wasn’t in a crib at night and nap time. There is no rule about how long a child is allowed to sleep in a crib—relax, it is up to you.

The changing table has baskets which hold diapers, changing pads, burp bibs and other incidentals babies need. On the bottom shelf there are larger toys she will want as she gets older.

One tip is to keep the size of clothes the baby is wearing in the most convenient drawer or place in the closet. As they grow out of them rotate them out and put in the size they are wearing now. Label the containers with the size of the clothes in them so you don’t have to separate them again.

A friend of mine said “If I would have known grandchildren were so wonderful I would have had them first”.

I just have to say I go all agog when I go to The Container Store. (We don’t have one here in Utah). I know, it’s sad but true. I use containers all the time in every room. Maybe I could go so far as to say I love containers. They are great to store things in, contain things in, make things get magically organized and stay that way.

Having said all of that here are two containers I suggest not buying:

This type of shoe rack—-

The reason is: the shoes just won’t stay on, I finally figured out by putting them on backwards they will stay. Even then they have to be placed gingerly on the rod for them to stay on. Everyone in my home finds that to be a bother. They just want to slap them down and be done. Don’t get me wrong—I like shoe racks of all kinds. I just found one in The Container Store catalog that holds 30 pair of shoes and fits on the back of a door. There are other over the door racks that hold fewer, there are free standing ones that work great as well as some that hang from the rod inside the closet.

Here is my other container I say not to waste your money on:

Now these look wonderful and you can sort and file by month, date and alphabetically but they are a pain. Why? Because they take two hands and the chin and shoulder to get anything in or out of them. Knowwhatimean? It is a waste of time to me and I don’t like wrestling my containers. If I need a wrestling fix I will turn on the T.V..

In the February/March 20089 issue of Shop Smart magazine they list four NOT SO HOT organizing tools that just add to the clutter.
1.Accordion files. (enough said)
2.Space bags. (I agree)
3.Cardboard Boxes. (not good in humid climates)
4.Plastic containers with rims (can take up valuable space)
5.There are a plethora of containers for all of our wants and needs. Buy what you need and what you like, don’t just buy to buy as then it becomes clutter rather than containers.

Do you have a container you would recommend NOT buying and why? We would love to hear from you.

I was looking in the linen closet downstairs thinking I wanted to get in there and organize some things. What I really want to do is get rid of some of the sheets as I have too many and someone else might as well be using them.

On the top shelf was a checkered blue bag. I took it down and looked inside. There were doll clothes and a really old orange (ugly) apron my aunt had made eons ago. (I’m not even sure it was my aunt). I had no attachment to it.

At first I thought I ‘should’ keep the apron and then realized I didn’t want to so it went into the donation bag. (Always keep a donation bag going). And then the doll clothes from the bag I was folding neatly —I have no idea if the doll they belong to even exists any more. I stopped, realizing those could be donated too. Yeah for me! I did it.

The last thing in the bag were these cute little salt dough ‘dolls’. For years I have held on to them because my daughter who is now in her 30’s made it when she was in pre-school and I just had to keep it. You will be proud of me—I took my own advice and took a picture and threw them away. The next day I remembered I needed to send the photo via email to Costco so I could put it in my photo album. I didn’t do it!

I hadn’t remembered I even had the dolls and it doesn’t matter if I have that memory. There are so many more things worth remembering in the last 30 plus years of her life. I feel such freedom that I let it go. What do you have in your closets you can just let go of? Tell all please.

This is a Fun Find kitchen gadget I found when I was in Seattle. I was so excited to be in the container store called Storeables. (We don’t have one in my state). I was looking at every little thing and these jumped out at me.

They are cute, colorful, friendly, convenient, with a magnet on the back and oh so useable.
Of course they are traditionally used to close bags–like chips and such….but they can also be used for marking your place on a quilt binding. Clip it over the needle where you end and when you pick it up again you will know where you are.

When you are not using them they clip to each other which makes it easier to keep together. I put mine in a little glass jar in my resource drawer but not clipped together.

If you are a quilter they can also be used to mark where you end when binding a quilt. And it prevents the needle from poking you when you pick the quilt back up to work on it.

What is your favorite kitchen gadget and how do you use it?

My daughter bought these great organizing containers at IKEA and let me organizer her sock drawer. I was in my element, you know me I love to organize anything and everything in homes and offices.

Before: What a mess, a jumbled mess I must say. (She said I could say that). Not only do the socks need to find their mates but the old ones that are too thin or have holes in the toes or heels are tossed.

Containers used: Aren’t these nifty? They are collapsible too. Now I am not sure why that is a bonus unless it is because there is no bulk when bringing them home from the store. Because as soon as you get home you zip them up and start using them. They only cost for all of these $10.00.

After: I used the containers and divided the socks into sections. On the right are her everyday socks. The other two containers hold exercise socks and fun socks that she wears but not as often. She has quite a collection of fun toe socks for every season. The space on the far left is a place for the socks that don’t have mates but are here somewhere. If their mate hasn’t come home after three wash times it will be tossed.

As a professional home organizer I have found just a few little containers can make a big difference in any drawer in the home. They go a long way to keeping things organized.

I was out walking this morning in a different neighborhood as I am in Washington State helping my daughter organize from their move from one house to another house. I was struck by how many homes are strictly organized. They have large windows and their curtains were open. The spices in the racks were perfect, the photos lined up on the cork board, the hot pads hung perfectly and the outside landscape I think have been manicured. I thought, WOW.

Then one house jumped out at me as there were four bouquets of very old looking plastic flower arrangements by the sink. They looked out of place. I wonder if these are a joy to the woman living there or has she had them so long they have just become part of the background and her surroundings.

I was thinking; is this like it is in our own homes–we have things we have just held on to for no good reason and it is time to let go? Old pillows for instance, nick knacks that no longer bring us pleasure, books we will never read, dishes we don’t like that are just cluttering our cupboards, or old towels that need to be torn up and used for rags.

The list could go on and on. When I get home I am going to take a look and see if I am saving clutter just because I have had it so long it has become part of the woodwork surrounding me in my home. (I do this every time I return home from a trip; I dig into something to organize).

I challenge you to do the same to your home—lighten up and get rid of clutter. As a professional home and office organizer I know this is worth your time and creates a great new feeling in your home. Tell me what you have been saving that was part of the woodwork in your home and what you did to let go of it.