Marilyn Bohn | Creative Organizer

My son-in-law saw my video on five tips to organizing a freezer and he said I can go one better. I can organizer a freezer with two tips.

His tips are:
•Throw everything away that is in the freezer—chances are the stuff is too old to eat anyway.
•Replace all the food with fresh food.

After a good laugh I said, “no,no,no–just like my two year old grandson would say. I recommend looking at the food one by one and reading the expiration dates. Do throw away expired food. Organize the rest by type. That is; all the meats in one place all the vegetables in another, ice cream and various other treats in another.

If the freezer is large enough plastic baskets can be used to contain the food by type. Whether you chose a man’s way or a professional home organizers way—make it your way which is to do whatever works for you.

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.

Okay, absolutely everyone needs a pair of scissors or shears in their kitchen. I like kitchen shears as they are a little more heavy duty and tend not to migrate to other rooms in the house. No matter what you are doing right now, go out and buy a pair. Oh, you are reading my blog—well okay, when you are finished either go out and buy a pair or designate a pair you have in your home right now as kitchen scissors I am serious; they have so many uses in the kitchen.

•They can cut open the plastic on top of the pizza.
•If the plastic sacks from the store were tied in a knot rather than trying to undo the knot, reach for your handy dandy scissors.
•Cut the loose skin off poultry.
•Cut open the plastic in a box of cereal—I remember the day when opening a box of cereal wasn’t so complicated.
•Cut wrapping paper.
•Cut the packing tape off packages as that tape is always stronger than you.
•Cut flowers from the garden or the ends off the roses your sweetie sends you.
•Cut open a bag of M&M’s so they don’t go all over the floor.

Speaking of M&M’s here is a recipe I sort of copied from the peanut butter M&M’s wrapper (Ingredients are the same, method of making them is a little different):

Speckled Egg Pretzel Nests
•2 bags DOVE Brand Milk Chocolate Eggs (I have used chocolate chips before and they work just fine)
•4 cups pretzel sticks
•1 bag M&M Brand Peanut Butter Eggs

What to do:

1. Their recipe says to melt the chocolate over simmering water. I prefer the microwave method. Put the unwrapped chocolate in a microwavable bowl. On medium to high power (depending on your microwave) melt for 2 minutes, stir. If it is not completely melted repeat for 30 seconds to 1 minute more until the chocolate is melted. Do not burn it, burnt chocolate tastes bad and is icky.
2. Add 1 cup of pretzel sticks to the melted chocolate and stir carefully until the sticks are completely covered with melted chocolate. Add more sticks if there is too much chocolate per the amount of sticks.
3. Form small nests and place on waxed paper.
4. Repeat process until all the mixture is used.
5. Place in the refrigerator for approximately one hour, and then fill with M&M eggs.

So, now you have your scissors and a fun edible craft to make for Spring or Easter you are all set. Oh, you can tie a small ribbon or piece of fabric on the handle of your scissors so everyone will know they are to stay in the kitchen at all times.

My grandson just turned two and he is so much fun to go for a walk with. He likes to walk on the rocks in front of the yards and always says, “rocks, rocks”. We stop to look at a fountain while he jabbers and talks about the water. He spots the cars and trucks, the bushes, flowers and bees. He is so excited about everything he sees and looks up to point at the airplanes flying overhead.

He can teach me a lesson about what I see in my home everyday. Has clutter become so common place that I don’t notice it anymore? Do I need to ‘take a walk’ from room to room with new and excited eyes and look at things in a new way that will rejuvenate my life?

In the living room are their coats on the floor or on the furniture that need a home? They have a designated place called the hall closet and it is just as easy to hang them up when coming home as it is to throw them on the floor. If your home doesn’t have a coat closet a coat rack placed in a corner can be used. The magazines lying around can either be thrown away (and after three months either recycle, donate or toss) or can be contained in a basket until there is time to read them. If there is am article you really want to read, tear it out and put it with your other reading material and it will get read—just make sure you get the last page and it is so frustrating and disappointing to read an entire article and then missing out on the end.

The children’s toys can go back to their spaces. A toy box, shelves or baskets are great places to keep toys so they can be easily accessed.

Used food dishes need to be in the kitchen. If this is a big problem with family members not carrying dishes back to the kitchen then a rule could be no eating in the living room.

The living room is often the first room people see when they come to our homes and as a professional home organizer this is the room almost everyone wants help with on how to organize so when people drop by they don’t have to clear a space for their guest to sit down.

I hope today will be your best day ever.

Recently my daughter applied for a home loan and to her dismay there were four errors on her credit report. Credit card companies and one bank she had never had accounts with were listed with thousands of dollars owing on the accounts. It took several weeks and a lot of time and effort, not to mention frustration to get these inaccuracies off her report.

My friend who requested her credit report found a loan showing up as 90 days past due which she had actually paid off early. It took her 30 days to get this cleared off her record.

Our Credit report determines our credit score. Our credit score is very important as it affects our lives in every way from renting or buying a house, getting lower car insurance rates, or applying for loans of all kinds. A credit score is used by a lender to help determine whether a person qualifies for a particular credit card, loan, or service

There are many sites that say free credit reports but then they require you to give a credit card number and will charge you money every month unless you cancel before 30 days.

The site set up by the big three credit reporting agencies in the United States, to furnish free annual credit reports, as required by federal law is www.annualcreditreport.com. This site does not require a credit card number. This central site allows you to request a free credit file disclosure, commonly called a credit report, once ever 12 months from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

You can request a report from each of these companies once a year or you can order one from a different one quarterly. (I hope that made sense). The advantage of ordering one now and others later is that you can keep track of any changes or new information that may appear on your credit report. Remember, you are entitled to receive one free credit report through the Central Source every 12 months from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies.

Fight identity theft by monitoring and reviewing your credit report. By using this site it is truly free to get your report.

YogaToes—The perfect way to healthy, beautiful feet. Your feet need routine exercise to stay healthy and in shape. Improving your feet is as easy as wearing YogaToes while you relax!

•They relieve stress after a long day in shoes, they rejuvenate your feet.
•They help treat & prevent bunions, hammertoes, fatigue, poor circulation, and varicose veins
•Remarkable results shape, stretch, condition, align, strengthen, and stimulate.

YogaToes are made from a soft, flexible, hypo-allergenic, medical grade gel. Our friend who is a nurse saw ours and bought some for her toes. She thought the principle was sound that they do what they say they do.

I think they are fun to wear while watching a movie (at home) or doing something else relaxing. My feet do feel rejuvenated after I wear them for about 25 minutes. I forget they are even on.

If you want more information on them go to www.yogapro.com Let me know what you think.

My friend gave me an amaryllis for Valentine’s Day and I can’t wait to see it bloom. I hope it is red because that is my favorite color for that flower. But any bloom will be wonderful.

A few years ago I planted paperwhites to bloom in the house. Oh, was that ever a big mistake. They smelled so bad I actually thought something had died up in the fireplace chimney until I realized the smell was coming from the flowers.

But there are a lot of other bulbs that can be planted inside to bring a hint of spring into our lives. “To create a little flower is the labour of ages.”—William Blake

To coax bulbs into flowering inside:

• Choose your container—you can use just about anything. Glass will make checking the water level easier.
• Add a little soil or pebbles, aquarium charcoal (to keep it from smelling) water and that’s it.
• Paperwhites, (you know what I think of those), grape hyacinth, amaryllis, purple shamrock and others—check with your local nursery–will sprout vibrant blossoms in just a few weeks.
• Once a bulb has been forced, discard it. Getting it to bloom again can be difficult.

You will have a little spring magic—no matter what the calendar says. This morning when I was out walking before the chickens were up the moon was full and a deep gorgeous orange, Spring is getting closer.

I decided to clean out my piano bench. I knew it was totally organized so it was an easy thing to do. HA, was I ever surprised! Along with sheet music and a couple of music books I found two beautiful prints my daughter brought back from Turkey, a book bag, a magazine, some cards, and a couple of other things that did not belong in the piano bench. Only sheet music, piano books and maybe the metronome belong there.

When you have too much music (lucky you) a couple of ways to organize it is to:

•Put the music on a shelf and between the different kinds put a folder labeled with what kind of music it is—classical, or label by composer etc.
•If you have a small amount of music place it in a plastic container and with file folders separate the same way, by the type of music or composer. This can be stored in a near by closet where it can be readily accessed.

To point is to be able to find the music selection when you want it and to keep the papers free of dust and dirt. How have you stored your piano or voice music?

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.

If you want a home office that’s out of site, a computer armoire is just the thing. It is perfect for those who have limited space in their homes. My daughter had one in her condo and now I am using it. It houses the computer, keyboard, a cork board on one door and a magnetic board on the other. There is plenty of room underneath where a printer could fit, or notebooks as I chose to use it.

A few weeks ago I organized all the lose papers I had around the monitor and it looked good. Well last night I got serious and I took everything off the ‘desk top’ and I found treasures. I found the camera disk that has been missing for over a year, mints that weren’t mine but my daughter wanted, a computer cord (nicely wrapped up with a cord keeper around it) but which had been missing since December. And some old disks that I thought were my daughters and she thought were mine. Those were tossed. And I found more space. What an uplifting feeling to find those things and be absolutely clutter free.

To set up a desk in a computer armoire:

•Make sure there is enough wall space to give the doors clearance.
•To protect a computer tower or a printer from over heating, allow six inches of breathing room behind it.
•Place decorative objects or plants on top to create visual appeal when the doors are closed.

I like my little space and when I’m done working I just shut the doors and walk away. For tips on how to organize work tools, go to www.realsimple.com/homeoffice.