Quick Ways to Organize Memories

Have you started a baby book for your child, but never finished it? Or wanted to write a daily diary or journal, but only kept it up for a month?

Last week I gave an organizing talk to a Parents of Multiples group: all the moms in the room had twins, and many had additional kids. We started discussing how to preserve memories and several moms talked about how they had piles of notes and photos for baby books that were never done (and probably never would be done).

This lead to several moms sharing how they keep track of memories. Here are some great ideas:

• My husband and I keep a shared Google doc of “Funny things” our daughter says. We both have added to the document over the years, and love to go back and read it. (We started this when our daughter was little, before the era of apps!)
• Another mom said that instead of creating a baby book, she notes milestones and fun things on her wall calendar. She keeps the calendars and can quickly scan through to see the memories.
• As an alternative to a traditional journal, try a one-sentence journal. It’s much less daunting to write one sentence a day than a whole entry.

What creative high or low tech ideas do you have to preserve memories?

Cool Closet Idea: Recycle a Record

At a flea market I noticed that a vendor had used an old 45rpm record as a way to divide garments for sale on a rack. I love how it was recycled into a divider!

I have a few 45s (yes, still in my attic) but don’t have any way to play them. I’m thinking of using them as dividers in my daughter’s new closet to separate out her dressy outfits from school clothes.

Would you try this?

Organizing Maps & Travel Brochures

Do you still keep paper maps and travel brochures? I have to admit that I do. I keep a few for sentimental reasons (Paris restaurants, Geneva map) but also keep selected maps and brochures from places that I plan to visit again.

During one of our many snow storms last month I was looking for something in the attic and found a box half-full of travel maps and brochures. I decided this would be a good blizzard organizing project. (I could also dream of warm summer vacations ahead…)

Here’s what I did:

• First I dumped all the brochures our on my dining room table. A few were sorted by place so I kept those together.
• I reviewed all the maps and brochures and recycled a good amount.
• Then I sorted what I wanted to keep by location.
• I was hoping to put the maps/brochures into a blue accordion file I had (see corner of photo) but there were too many for the file.
• Next I the thought of keeping everything together by rubber bands, but some piles were too large.
• Finally I decided to use one of my favorite organizing tools: gallon size plastic bags. Easy, and the bags had a spot for a label.
• All the bags were “filed” into a plastic bin back into the attic, waiting until the next trip is planned.

What’s great about this system is that for our next trip to VT, I just have to pull out the bag labeled VT and enjoy looking at all our favorite places.

AFTER: Organized into bags and ready to go!

2 Favorite Travel Tools

A friend recently gave me the gift of two of my favorite travel tools: a zippered bag and a list.

She found this blue zippered pouch by Walker, and knew I would love it. It’s great because it has color, so it stands out in my black purse or black suitcase. It’s mesh so you can see what’s inside, and it is sturdy. I used it on a trip to Florida to hold running gear: my headphones, headband, and my armband cell phone holder.

She also gave me a fun book of packing lists. This thorough list covers everything you might need on a trip, from chewing gum to your tuxedo. It includes helpful reminders for key electronic items such as cell phone, headphones, and chargers.

What’s your favorite tool for an organized trip?

Designating Donation Bags

I was helping a client gather things going out of her house, and noticed her neat idea for keep track of what bags were going where: she labeled the paper bag handle.

It’s hard to see on the photo but this bag is labeled “donations,”

I often write on the side of the bag, but hadn’t thought of writing on the handle.

It was very convenient to quickly look down and read the handle as I dropped items going different places in different bags.

Clever idea!

Organizing Pick-Me-Ups

Snow: that’s been the focus of the past few weeks here in the Boston area. Blogging has taken a backseat to shoveling, re-scheduling, more shoveling, and snow days at home with my family.

If the weather has been keeping you inside lately you may be feeling frustrated by some of those trouble spots in your home.

Here are 7 ideas for an organizing pick-me-up to help you move from chaos to calm:

• Organize your pantry
• Organize your fridge
• Organize your bedside table
• Organize your kid’s craft space
• Organize your laundry room
• Organize your kid’s toys
• Organize your financial paperwork

If you are feeling overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, don’t worry. Give me a call at 617.905.7762 to schedule a session or create a customized action plan for you.

Reduce Unwanted Mail and Phone Calls: Get off the Lists

I noticed that this past December I got a ton of catalogs, many more than I had ever ordered from. I also seemed to be getting a lot of unsolicited phone calls to my home phone. 

Time to get off the lists, and sign up (again) for the national “do not call” and “do not mail” registries. These lists are only good for 5 years so if you find yourself getting a lot of unwanted mail or calls, it’s probably time to re-register your information.

Here are my favorite resources:

• National Do Not Mail List
• National Do Not Call List
• Catalog Choice

And here's one to try for unwanted email subscriptions:

unroll.me

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7 Tips & Tricks to Organize your Gift Wrap Supplies

1. Want to get your gift wrap supplies in order?  The first step is to gather all the wrapping paper, bags, cards and other supplies you have in one place.  Once you have it all together, reduce it to at least half. Yes, half! In most cases you aren't going to need all those gift bags you've saved. And if you love gift bags, you probably don't need all those rolls of paper. 

2. Store the supplies you are keeping in one place. Here are some different ideas:

• I use the Rubbermaid Wrap-n-Craft that fits into my closet
• Stand up rolls in a wine crate or wire wastepaper basket
• Store wrapping paper rolls in a hanging garment bag; I haven't tried this but it's a creative idea to get supplies off the floor
• Try pantry shelving designed for the back of a door

3. Recycle the gift wrapping supplies you aren't using, pass them on to a friend, or even donate the wrapping paper. Goodwill may take it, as will some thrift stores or charities that wrap gifts to give at the holidays. (Here is one Boston charity that can use wrapping supplies.)

4. Simplify the whole gift wrapping process with a "signature" gift wrap: use just one kind of paper or gift bag for all gifts. You can personalize with fun cards or ribbon.

5. Reuse. Turn old maps into gift wrap. A client recently told me she saves maps of certain places, like London, Paris or Harvard Square, to use as wrapping paper. It's especially fun for graduation gifts. You probably don't navigate with your paper maps too often, so consider reusing some as gift wrap.

6. Get into the zone. If you are wrapping a lot of gifts at one time, set up a wrapping zone in your office or dining room.

7. Party; throw a gift-wrapping party that is. Each December a friend invites a group over to eat, drink and wrap. Everyone shares wrapping supplies. It's a fun way to get that chore done.

This article first appeared in the November / December 2014 edition of my newsletter, The Neat Sheet.

How Do I Get Rid of: Books

Books, books and more books! Clients ask me all the time how to get rid of books, so for my last installment of this blog series, I’m sharing my favorite resources.

Donate:

• More Than Words – Donate and help at risk youth
• Boomerangs – Supports AIDS Action programs
• Salvation Army
• Goodwill – A client told me that if you bring books to a Goodwill store they will pay you a $1/book
• Check with your local library as many hold books sales as fundraisers

Sell:

• Bookscouter – Website to sell your books, including textbooks

De-Clutter & Donate: Coats and Winter Gear

It’s that time again, time to de-clutter your closets and pass on your unwanted winter gear. Here are two great resources where your coats will help families in need:

• Anton Cleaner’s Coats for Kids is accepting coats through January 10, 2015
• One Warm Coat has locations nationwide, and locally is accepting winter items at The Container Store in Natick and Chestnut Hill through December 31st

5 Kitchen Tips for the Holidays

Getting ready to cook a feast for Thanksgiving? Throw a New Year’s Eve dinner?

Here are 5 kitchen tips to help you get ready for the holidays.

• 30 Minute Makeover: Organize your Fridge
• 30 Minute Makeover: Organize your Pantry
• Organize your Food Storage Containers
• Rein in your Recipes
• Sort your Spices

Happy organized kitchen!

How Do I Get Rid of: Trophies

Soccer trophies. First place medals. Work recognition plaques. These tokens may be wonderful at the time we receive them, but years later they tend to be big dust collectors (aka clutter), sitting on shelves or packed away in boxes.

If you aren’t displaying them, then it may be time for them to go! (If you do want to display some, use a shadow box, hooks, clear case, or check out Pinterest for more creative ideas.)

First sort through all the awards. You may want to keep one or two, and that’s fine. You may want to toss them all, and that’s fine too.

How to get them out of your house:

• Take a few photos of the awards as a keepsake; you can even create an online photo book
• Consider calling a trophy shop near you to see if they could recycle or use the award
• Mail them off to an organization that will re-use or recycle them - Awards Mall or Trophy Recycler are two choices
• Goodwill and The Salvation Army may take them too

If you can’t give your awards away, see if you can break apart the materials to recycle the pieces. You also have my permission to toss them out!

How Do I Get Rid of: TVs & Computer Monitors

Older TVs and computer monitors can be heavy and bulky, and because they have cathode ray tubes, or CRTs, with toxic chemicals they can’t just go out with your trash. This means they end up in the corners of our homes gathering dust. I find often find them tucked under a chair or table in the family room, the office, or even the basement.

So how do you get these out of your house?

• If you are getting a new TV delivered, many companies (like Best Buy) will remove and recycle the old one for you.
• If you can’t take advantage of a take-away service, then check with your town to see if they offer a CRT recycling program. In my town you can bring your TV or monitor to the Department of Public Works and for a small fee, they will dispose of it for you. For a larger fee, the DPW will pick up the TV curbside in front of our homes, a few times a year.
• Want to donate your old TV (especially if it still works) or computer monitor? The Salvation Army also accepts electronics/appliances, including TVs and computers, and many Goodwill locations are now taking computers.

You’ve got no excuses now to get your TVs and old computer monitors out of your house.

Product Review: Command Picture Strips – Display what you love!

I’m a big proponent of displaying kids artwork and family photos. A few months ago my hallway was painted and now my husband and I had to hang back up all our family photos.

Hanging anything in our old home is a challenge because nothing is straight or level, but we tried a new product that helped: Command™ Picture Strips. Like Command™ Hooks, you measure and adhere the strips to the wall first, and then put the other side of the strip on the frame.

The Picture Strips worked so well, and the best part is that they won’t ruin our beautifully-painted walls if we decide to take the frames down.

How Do I Get Rid of: Cell phones

While working with clients to de-clutter, we inevitably come across old cell phones that are no longer used but are just sitting around. How to get rid of them?

My husband and I tackled this question recently. As we continue to clean out our basement, we found four ancient cell phones (see photo!) that were ready to go. These phones had been hanging around for years, so we finally decided to get rid of them.

First we made sure any data and personal information were erased from the phones. We knew that the photos and contacts were backed up, and were able to set the phones back to their factory settings, getting rid of the data (a quick online search helped us figure out how to do the re-sets, especially on the ancient Nokia phones, but it worked). Don’t forget to take out the SIM card if your phone has one. Good information about cleaning data off your phone is here.

Then when I was doing a bunch of errands, I dropped off the phones at our local Sprint store. So easy.

There are many options to get rid of your unwanted phones. If your phone is a newer model, you can:

• Trade it in – check with your phone carrier.
• Sell it, through a service like Gazelle.
• Pass it on to a friend.
• Donateit to an organization like Cell Phones for Soldiers or find a drop-off location near you that supports a local charity through this website.
• Many schools and non-profits offer an “electronics recycling day” where you  drop off your phone (and other electronics) for free.  My town has a recycling day every spring and fall, so check with your local city or town.

Usually I see cell phones (like mine) that are just too old to sell or trade it, so they really have to go. Check with your cellular company about their recycling programs. Other places to recycle phones include Staples, Best Buy and even Target.

Getting those Nagging Projects off the To Do List

I love lists, so of course I have a To Do list. But some projects just seem to sit on the list forever, mocking me to get them done.

I’d read a Real Simple article years ago about an editor’s “Un-procrastination” day where she and a friend set aside a full day and got all their nagging to do projects done. It pops into my head from time to time as I review my list.  So last week I decided that I’d set aside at least a half a day to take care of a few projects I had been putting off. I didn’t have a friend help me out, but did treat my self to an iced chai when everything was done.

Here’s what I got off my list:

• Washed winter duvet cover at the Laundromat (too big for my washer).
• Bought a protective cover for my phone from the Sprint store, and recycled four old cell phones.
• Took a 10 year old video cassette recorder tape to get made into a DVD at Everpresent, since we don’t have the right cable to use the recorder anymore. While cleaning out the basement my husband found the recorder with the tape inside; the tape turned out to be the only video we had of the first days after my daughter was born. I’m thrilled we found and will get to keep these memories. 
• Started to research options for getting shades made for my kitchen. This project isn’t done, but I did stop by my local fabric store to find out about their pricing for custom window treatments, something I had been putting off for about two years.

“Chunking” errands or projects can be an effective way to get things off your To Do list, as Julie Morgenstern points out in her book Time Management from the Inside Out. This strategy really can work for some people, as a client reminded me last month. I had been helping this client move, and we had made piles for items to go to her storage unit, get donated, go to her office, and get dropped off at neighbors and friends homes. After a week or so the piles were still there, but she assured me they would get done—and they did, all in one day!

What’s your strategy for working on those nagging projects?

How Do I Get Rid of: Paint

My husband and I have been working to clean out and better organize our basement this summer. In the process we found many cans of paint that we wouldn’t use again (old colors), or were nearly used up and didn’t need to be saved.

Many people think that latex and acrylic paint is considered to be a hazardous material, but in my town like many communities, you can toss dried up paint right in the regular trash. Sounds easy…but how to dry out the paint? I had heard that cat litter would do the trick, but could take a while.

I investigated options at our local hardware store and found that we could simply get a paint hardener to add to each can of paint. This is the one we used, but the hardeners are also available (and probably cheaper) in bigger containers. This was super easy and we cleaned out shelves of old paint from our basement.

Note: oil-based paints (and paint solvents) should be disposed of as hazardous waste. Check with your local town hall for more information for hazardous waste collection in your area.

What’s in your Freezer?

Do you know what’s in your freezer? August is the time to get it cleaned out and organized. If you’ve been travelling a lot this summer, or just out having fun, you may have forgotten what’s sitting way in the back. And as an added bonus, when it’s hot outside you’ll appreciate a few minutes in the cold!

To get started, read my blog post on organizing your freezer.

If you have a second fridge or freezer in the basement, a professional organizer friend had a simple way to keep track of what’s inside: she uses a magnetic white board on the outside of the freezer and keeps a running list. You don’t even have to open the freezer to know that you have chicken and sausages inside.

Here’s another option from my cousin Janna (organizer/photo stylist/maker-of-amazing linens): she keeps a freezer inventory in a three ring binder. Read more in her previous blog post here.

Since I often get freebie magnetic boards I’m going to try out that idea and see how it works.

How Do I Get Rid of: Bicycles

Last year my daughter outgrew her bicycle. As I started to stash it away, I realized that we had 3 bicycles – all too small for her - taking up much-needed space in our basement. I had been hanging on to her first “real” bicycle for purely sentimental reasons, but it was finally time to let them all go.

If you have old bikes that could use a new home, here are a few ways to pass them on:

• Donate: The local organization, Bikes Not Bombs, comes to my town’s annual Community Collection Day and was very happy to receive our bicycles. Bikes Not Bombs collects used bikes and bike parts, and then sends them to countries overseas as part of economic development projects. If you are in the Boston area, this is a great way to feel good about passing on your bicycle.
• Another organization to try is Bicycles for Humanity, which has a chapter in Boston and other chapters across the US. Also check out this website with organizations that may take used bikes.
• Of course, you might know of a friend, neighbor or relative that could use your old bike.
• Bike Swap: Recently a bike shop in my town held a bike swap event; the money raised went to support our local education foundation. I think “sellers” donated their used bikes for sale, and the funds from the purchase went to the foundation. It’s not exactly a bike swap, but is a creative idea. Check with your local bike shop to see if they have any programs to help sell or pass on used bicycles.
• Sell: If your used bicycle is in good condition, consider selling it on Craigslist. Check out the Bicycle Blue Book website for their database of bicycle values.

How Do I Get Rid Of: American Flags

Do you have a torn or worn out American flag that’s been in your basement or garage for ages? In honor of Flag Day this month (June 14th), I’m sharing ideas for the proper disposal of the American flag.

US Flag Code states that unserviceable American flags should be “burned in a dignified manner.” I’m not sure how often this is feasible (or allowed by local law), so here are several places to bring your unusable flag for appropriate disposal:

• Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post
• American Legion post
• Your local post office or police station
• Boy Scout or Girl Scout troops may be able to help
• This flag company will take your flag for proper disposal, and will give you 10% off the purchase of a new flag

And for more American flag etiquette, check out this site from the VFW.