Tuesday, January 19, 2010

January is Organizing Month!

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Organizing Tip: Simple Kitchen Organizing Tips

I'll be at a friend's house tomorrow for a popular kitchen product home party, and I've put together some simple kitchen organizing tips to enhance the party, and get everyone's organizing juices flowing! While the guests drool over the latest greatest cooking gadgets, I'll be helping everyone figure out how to best store all those wonderful items.

Will you be hosting some kind of product home party soon? Call me... I can add value to your party by offering tips and expert advice related to whatever the home-party's them is! (Free of charge!)

So, in honor of kitchens, cooking, and family meal prep, I offer you the following tips. Enjoy!

Create a central “Command Center” with a calendar to manage the family schedules, and a file system, in/out boxes to manage all the incoming and outgoing mail and family paperwork.
Create a standard grocery list and post it on your fridge or inside a cabinet door, then you can just check-off items as you need them.
Put a phone message pad or small notepad near the central family phone so messages will get written down!
Create a weekly meal plan so there’s never the 6:00 question: ‘What’s for dinner?’
Store ‘like’ items together and create zones for categories like a grocery store, such as baking, spices, entertaining, small utensils, servingware, etc…
PURGE! Keep only what you love and use, and donate the rest.
While preparing meals, keep a bowl handy for tossing waste.
Install pull-out shelves to make it a breeze to access items stored in the back.
Use cupboard shelves or under-shelf baskets to double your shelf space.
Think VERTICAL: Store large cooking trays vertically in a cabinet instead of stacking them in piles that topple over. Use vertical dividers to maintain order.
Find a happy home for every item in your kitchen, not just ‘where it fits’. Catch yourself when you say “I don’t know where to put this, so I’ll just put it here FOR NOW.’ That statement is the #1 cause of clutter.
Store frequently used items in places most easily accessible, and less-used items a little higher or lower. Rarely used items should be stored furthest away.
LABEL, LABEL, LABEL! There will never be the question: ‘Where does this go?’
Periodically declutter and refine your system to keep your kitchen running smoothly!
Linda English
Organizing With EASE, LLC
201-638-9593 http://www.orgwithease.com/ orgwithease@aol.com

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Storing Holiday Decor

www.thecustomcloset recommends these tips


Organizing Tip: Tips for Storing Holiday Decor

Well, the holidays are almost over, and in the next week or so, it will be time to take down all our holiday decorations and store them for next year. A fundamental ORGANIZING TECHNIQUE is to store things based on how you will use them in the future. This technique works well for holiday decor. Store your holiday decor in such a way that will make it easiest for you to use it next year.

Here's how:

1. PURGE: Purge any broken items, such as broken ornaments (beyond repair), strings of lights that do not work and that you will not repair, or old decorations that never seem to make it out of the decorations box anymore. Space is precious in all homes, so only store what you will definitely use in the future.

2. Determine your decorating style, then store your items based on your style. Select a style below:
a. You like to decorate each room pretty much the same way each year, then I recommend storing your holiday decor in separate containers by room. ie: have a container for the Family Room, one for the outside decor, a gift-wrap container, holiday kitchen-ware, etc... By storing your items in separate containers by room, it will make it so simple for you to decorate next year. If a room's decor isn't enough to have it's own container, then simply divide the container in layers by using a piece of old gift-wrap or cardboard

b. You like to mix-it-up each year and decorate differently: then store your items by the kind of item it is: ie: all the lights together, all the candles together, all the little items together, all the big items together, all hanging items together, etc.... Then, next year, you can easily see your kinds of items, and can 'shop' from your containers to decorate your home any way you want.

c. You like to decorate with all NEW items each year: Then donate or sell your holiday decor. There's no need to store items you will no longer use in the future.

NOTE: I recommend using clear Rubbermaid/Sterilite style plastic containers for storing your holiday decor.
3. LABEL! Clearly label your containers!! You can use envelope labels, or a piece of masking tape with a sharpie, or this great product: http://shop.nackit.com/

4. STORE! Put away your containers. Put them in a very out of reach location, like the attic or on a high shelf in the garage or out of the way place in your basement. Just be aware of keeping them away from any location with water/dampness problems.

When the 2010 holiday time comes, you'll be so thankful that you took the time to organize and properly store your decorations!!
Linda English
Organizing With EASE, LLC
201-638-9593 www.orgwithease.com orgwithease@aol.com

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