Archive for Organizing Strategies

faded and yellowed black and white photographs in photo album.

Organizing Family History

Posted by Carolyn on
 May 10, 2023

The Challenge of Organizing Family Historyfaded and yellowed black and white photographs in photo album.

Like many people, organizing family history is proving to be a challenge. My father recently passed way and my sister and I are now sorting through generations of material. There are photographs, 8 mm film, VHS tapes and documents galore.   We are attempting to identify people and are struggling with how to preserve information. We fret over loosing something that we didn’t know was relevant and we wonder what we might have missed that would honour our ancestors. Meanwhile we are challenged to empty a storage unit that none of us want to pay for anymore.

Sound familiar? Is organizing the family history a challenge in your family?

Organizing Family History – The Bookold book with feather pen and old coin money on top

My great grandfather is affectionately known in our family as JY.  It stands for John Young Caldwell although we never call him that. Once upon a time, JY and his brothers determined that there was evidence of a family fortune in far away lands.  They made an attempt to find the fortune.  The brothers conducted meetings, kept minutes, contributed funds, hired lawyers in Ireland and waited for the results.  Their activities were beautifully documented in a black, hard cover note book ~ the Book ~ with elegant cursive penmanship.  The Book also documented  all the family members that were involved.

The Book, surfaced many decades ago and came into my hands for safe keeping.  I kept track of it at my parents’ home for years.  When I had my own home it was given a special place. Then my father sold the family farm and the family house. There was a storage unit involved. Shortly after I moved. When we unpacked I realized I couldn’t find JY’s Book. I was devastated that the Book may have been lost and all the beautiful and important history it contained.

Organizing Family History – Establish Guidelines

When my sister and I realized the magnitude of the task we faced, we realized we were going to have to make key decisions along the way. We created some guidelines to help establish our priorities and help with repetitive decisions.  Your priorities may be different than ours and therefore your guidelines could look quite different. Here are the ones we are using.

  1. End Goal: have as much material as possible scanned, digitized and converted into a book that can be given to family members.
  2. Discard photographs of landscapes that don’t appear to be significant.
  3. Focus on people and their accomplishments and only places as they are relevant. An example might be to locate where a family was living in order to track their immigration to Canada (where we live) or migration across Canada.
  4. Scan as many documents as possible. Almost all documents had already been removed from frames.   Digitized documents (and photos) can also be uploaded into the Ancestry.ca platform as well as online book creation platforms.
  5. Store family archival material all in one place. My sister and I have both created boxes to store things in our homes so that when items are found or sorted, they can immediately be relocated to this home. Having a home for items helps to prevent them from becoming clutter and makes them easier to find. This strategy also follows the basic organizing principle to keep like items together.

Organizing Family History – The Photographspile of black and white photographs in no apparent order

The Book did eventually show up as my sister and I fastidiously worked through clearing the storage unit. By now, life and family history had moved online and I had enlisted my ancestry.ca account to help with preserving information.

The family had kept dozens of photos in frames. We made the decision to scan the photos and discard the originals unless any family member wanted them. Scanning with our home based printer/scanners, in the frames, proved almost impossible for the larger photos. We identified that Staples, a North American office and computer supply company, had the facilities to scan oversized photos and documents. We still have outstanding questions such as cost, time and whether the photos have to be removed from the frames and if they could be damaged in the process.

Then there are the photo albums. We sorted older photos and took out landscapes that couldn’t be identified or weren’t interesting. We decided that we were interested in people more than places. Also, we will sort by date.  Some people prefer to sort by person, subject or location. Most important is how to preserve the relevance of the photo to your family. For us, chronologically made sense. Still, some photos were in albums and may be damaged if they were removed. And finally, we found negatives of photos for which we haven’t found positives. A quick review proved the subject was worth keeping.  A call to a specialty shop Digital Treasures confirmed they could likely print.

Organizing Family History –  Managing the Volume

Organizing is about making timely decisions and developing habits that avoid clutter and unnecessary accumulation.  As we wade through boxes and bins, the volume of material is almost overwhelming. In fact, the biggest challenge my sister and I are facing is how to manage the volume of material in a way that future generations can enjoy it without having to store it.

Organizing family history is a real challenge. It can be fun but it can also be overwhelming and daunting. Having some guidelines to start can help with decision making along the way.

 

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colourful food bowls stacked on two shelves.

Excuses for Disorganization

Posted by Carolyn on
 April 24, 2023

Have you got Excuses for YOUR Disorganization?

disorganization around woman holding telephone in an office with piles of files and crumpled paper around

Always needing excuses for your disorganization can be exhausting. Maybe this isn’t you, but perhaps someone you know.  Are you chronically disorganized, overwhelmed and frustrated? Realizing that you are forever holding everyone else up.  You know you cause deadlines to be missed and you shrug off offers to help. You work hard to ignore complaints from colleagues but then go home discouraged yet again. Some people suggested you work with a professional organizer .  But this is just too scary. Chronic disorganization in an office is no laughing matter and no one knows it like you.

Whether your work is virtual or you are physically present in an office setting, being on time, on task and on target is key. Here are the most common excuses I’ve heard over the past 18 years and some solutions to help get beyond the chaos. My hope is there is a solution in here that speaks to your most common excuse so you can banish the overwhelm and exhaustion once and for all.

5 Most Common Excuses

1 “I don’t have time to worry about tidy piles of paper“.

Maybe it feels that way but meanwhile you don’t mind asking everyone else to wait while to try and find the report, letter or document that is now past due. In most business environments, and in the personal world, timing is important if not critical. So being on time is essential. 

Solution

In today’s world, most documents are digital. As a result our clutter tends to be on our computers. Computers file either by number of by letter. They don’t know any other way. Try to keep projects together in a file with the project name. It will be easy to find that report when you need it.

2 “I don’t need to be more organized; I can find anything I want in my office“.

Except that it takes you half an hour to find a file while everyone else is left waiting. Can you REALLY find anything in less than 30 seconds? If not, you need to find a solution. 

Solution

If it is digital, try filing by project as identified in #1 above. Another solution is to file by date. People think in different contexts. If you think by date, start each file name with the date you wrote it or the date it is due or the date of the event. If its paper and you need to see your paper out and about, try just labelling your piles.  Some people are pilers, some are filers.

3 “I’m not disorganized, I just like to keep things in case I might need them, someday“.Piles of paper and filed on a desk top.

Meanwhile you keep insisting you need twice as much filing space as everyone else, your office is a stack of boxes covered in dust, untouched in 5 years. Regular purging is an important part of being organized. try spending 15 minutes each day, at the beginning of the day while your mind is fresh, to purge and recycle or share unnecessary documents. Significant progress can be made in just 15 minutes and when done consistently every day for several weeks, magic can happen. Make it a habit and your world will transform. Literally.

Solution

4.”I am actually very organized. I know exactly where everything is“.

Have you noticed you are chronically late for meetings, supper dates, meeting the guys for pickup hockey? Do you find yourself rushing for completion of tasks at the last minute. You think you’re organized? Have you asked your friends and colleagues recently? 

Solution

You may think you are organized but the reality is that your friends and colleagues may think differently. Ever noticed that the time they give you to be together is half an hour earlier than everyone else? Time can not be managed. However, we can manage ourselves. Try using a timer or time-specific  playlist to keep yourself on task. Give yourself a false deadline – before the REAL deadline – and then play a game to see how close you can get to it.  Reward yourself as you get closer and closer to the deadline you set.

5 “I have my own style of organization. No one else would understand it“.

Keep your small business organized with these 5 key strategies.

You are absolutely correct that everyone has their own organizing personality. However, if you didn’t show up for work tomorrow no one else would be able to find any of your relevant work and your contributions to the company may be dismissed as meaningless. Still, your friends are frustrated waiting for you and partner is tired of the clutter hanging around.

Solution

Check out my blog post on organizing personality and see if you can figure out what your unique personality is.  Matching your organizing personality to specific strategies, tools and processes can make a world of difference.  Your boss and your friends will thank you. When we work for someone else, the work they pay us to do generally belongs to that company: files, paper, reports etc. Show them how important you are by creating organizing systems, processes and strategies that support you and your contributions to the world.

The world needs your unique talents. Find an organizing system that works for you and show us what you can do.  No more need for excuses for disorganization!

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garden shed with clear glass ceiling, a table, pots and potting supplies

Organize the Garden Shed

Posted by Carolyn on
 April 17, 2023

It’s Spring – A great time to Organize the Garden Shed

With the warmer weather comes a great chance to head outside and enjoy then garden. With the snow gone and tulips and daffodils popping up from the once frozen earth, this is a great time to organize the garden shed and get ready for some digging, planting and blooming oil your garden. An organized shed avoids wasted time looking for trowels and gloves. You will also save money as you get organized; you won’t be repurchasing items that you can’t find.

Uninvited Guests

If your garden is anything like mine, there is a pretty good chance that you have had a few critters decide to bunk in for the winter. Despite our repeated attempts to keep them out, wildlife finds a way in. We’ve had squirrels, skunks, mice and rats over the years. Keep this in mind as you open the latch and get started.

Here are ten tips to help with your project to organize the garden shed.

1 Plan for critters.brown squirrel sitting on post.

Unless you know with absolute certainty there isn’t a critter in the place, assume that there is. Keep yourself safe. Keep the young children away until the critters are gone. Wear gloves and possibly a mask while you figure out if you have had winter guests bunked in.

2 Empty the entire shed.

If at all possible start start by emptying the entire shed. Use a mask and gloves to protect from animal scat, dust and mold. With the shed empty, you will be able to check pots, bins and barrels for those unwelcome guests and plan eviction.

3 Sweep and inspect up and down.

This is a great way to check out the status of the building. Check the floor, corner and side supports while sweeping the floor. Overhead sweep out the cobwebs and check the roof.

4 Review all your tools, shovels, rakes and hoes.

Are there any that are broken, rusted or beyond repair? Throw out the unrepairable and fix what’s needed.

5 Store vertically.shovels, spades, rakes hanging on side of shed

Think vertical and you will find fresh storage space that you may not have realized existed. The rakes, hoes, shovels can be stored on hooks or nails on the walls. Then they will be out of the way and readily available when you are ready to rake. Most hardware stores carry a wide selection of hooks that will suit the purpose. Nails are also good.

6 Contain small tools.

Hang one shopping bag on another hook or nail to hold your digging and planting tools and a separate one for your garden gloves. The cloth recycled plastic bags readily available in stores are a great storage tool. Label with a permanent marker.

7 Store seeds in a rodent safe box.

Store seeds in a plastic or metal box so they are unavailable to rodents. For example, grass and bird seed are major attractions for mice. 

8 Check bottles of liquids for leaks.

Review your solution bottles and know your pesticide by-laws. Many jurisdictions have outlawed the use of pesticides. Check with your municipality to see where you can take the pesticides for disposal. Find an environmentally friendly alternative at your local garden centre.

9 Review pots for breakscolourful ceramic flower pots

Older pots may not have withstood the cold as well as others. Check through your collection for breaks and damage and discard any you don’t use, don’t like or just don’t want. Break damaged clay pots into pieces for use in the bottom of containers and pots. This helps with drainage and avoids water pooling in plant roots.

10 Set up a potting bench.

Now the shed is decluttered and organized, set up a potting bench at one end or side of the shed. You can repot and replant containers even on a rainy spring day. And you and the soil stay dry.

An hour or two spent organizing the garden shed can save time and money later in the spring and summer. Your gardening will be more effective and efficient. All of which adds up to more time to enjoy your blooms and greenery and less time frustrated with garden shed clutter.

 

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Spring Organizing

Posted by Carolyn on
 April 12, 2023

Time for Spring Organizingmany colourful tulips bunched together in a bouquet

The tulips or budding, the birds are singing, the snow has melted and spring has arrived.  Here’s to warm weather and bright colourful flowers and a chance for some spring organizing.

Cleaning vs. Organizing

Many people welcome spring with a fresh and vigorous intention to spring clean their home.  How about some spring organizing instead? Cleaning is for getting rid of dirt. Organizing is about managing space, time and stuff so that you can find what you want, when you want and use it to enjoy your life.

Here are 5 tips to help you get started with a spring organizing project and guarantee success.

1. Pick one small area to tackle on at a time

Also limit the time you commit to a spring organizing project. Unless you have help and a whole weekend, start with an hour or two. Organizing requires decision making and decision fatigue can hijack a project.  Start all to avoid feelings of overwhelm.  If you end up interrupted, you won’t have a big project left unfinished. Try a drawer, closet, cupboard and maybe one or two of those boxes in the corner of your basement.

dishes

2. Focus on reducing volume

Getting rid of things that we don’t need, like, want or use is a good goal for spring organizing. Shedding doesn’t have to mean throwing into the garbage. Shedding it about giving items a life beyond your front door.  Worn towels and other linen can go to an animal shelter. Books can be donated to a Little Free Library. Clothes can be sold or donated to charity. By decreasing volume, you will have less items to manage and more free space in which to live.

3. Give items a home

Everything you own needs a home. A common complaint I hear from clients is that their belongings don’t have a home. As a result, they never put them away. Items used frequently and consistently need a home that is easy for you to both take the item out and put it back in.  We call that storage and retrieval. Items are more likely to end up back in their homes when storage and retrieval are easy. Items that are used seasonally or only occasionally can be stored in less accessible locations.

4. Take away, right away

Take shed items out of your home as quickly as possible. You will see the impact of your hard work and tough decisions. Less items means you can enjoy the clear space. A stack of donations and recycling at the front or back door can be discouraging. It can also tempt you to second guess your decisions. Take those items away, right away.

5. Have fun and reward yourself

Organizing takes emotional and physical energy. Make it fun to make it easier. Play your favourite music. Invite a friend who might like some of the clothes you are shedding. Involve the children and make a game out of sorting old toys.

Spring organizing will also be more successful if you have decided on a reward for yourself when you are finished.  This is a great self-coaching technique for reinforcing the value of your work. It also makes the organizing work seem less onerous which means you are more likely to do it again. Maybe some fresh flowers for a table? Take yourself out to a movie? Arrange to meet a friend for an expensive and fun coffee? An ice cream for you and the kids? You get the picture.

Spring is a time of renewal and fresh starts. It is a great time for spring organizing to make space, out with the old, unused or unneeded. Good luck and remember to have fun.

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Stepping stones illustrating a pathway

Mastering Clutterfree Living Step 2: Create a Strategy

Posted by Carolyn on
 April 1, 2022

Create a Strategy and Find your Stepping Stones

After getting really clear on your goals, mastering clutterfree living step 2 is to create a strategy.  A strategy gives you a set of stepping stones to success.  It’s like using a map; once you know where you want to end up, finding the road to take is easier. The Waze app can’t find you a route until to say where you are going.

Here are some simple guidelines to creating the strategy for your clutterfree living goals:

  1. Break it down, break it down, break it down.  And then break it down again.  The most common reason clients don’t succeed at their decluttering projects is that they make the steps too big.  They end up frustrated and discourage.  Want to declutter the garage?  Start with getting the clutter out of your car.  Want to declutter your kitchen? Take it one shelf, one drawer or one utensil tray at a time.  Success is more likely and you will feel better.
  2. Look for the next best step.  Make it easy. Starting the kitchen with the pantry? Take it one shelf at a time.  With that complete, try using that dry-goods success to tackle another cupboard.
  3. Stick with each step until its complete.  Starting with the pantry? Finish each shelf before you move to the food container drawer. That way you can enjoy your accomplishment as each section is complete.
  4. dishesPurge before you splurge!Before you head to the basket/bin/box store to buy the best container to replace open bags of pasta, clear out the old pasta hiding at the back of that pantry shelf.  Find out exactly how many containers you need based on the END of the purging exercise.  That way you will know the size, shape, volume, type and number of containers you need for only the items you are keeping.

 

Declutter Organizing Strategies
scrabble pieces spell order and chaos

Mastering Clutter-Free Living: Step 1 – Achieve Clarity

Posted by Carolyn on
 March 9, 2022

Following up last week’s blog post on Mastering Clutter-Free Living, today we are going to look a little deeper at how to achieve clarity.  You may be thinking “what does it mean to be clear on clutter-free?” or “why do I need clarity to just get rid of stuff?”

What does it mean to Achieve Clarity?

orderly clothes closet

chastity-cortijo-oOfuQYniREA-unsplash

Getting rid of stuff and staying clutter-free can be a real challenge for some people.  For those affected by chronic disorganization, getting rid of stuff can be a huge block to moving forward with the personal or professional goals. Achieving clarity includes identifying what you want to do and why you want to do it.

  • What it is exactly you mean by clutter-free? For some people this is an almost empty closet with homogenous hangers.  Others are happy if the closet has nothing on the floor.  Some people would feel they had a clutter-free home if they are able to open the closet door because the floor around the closet is finally clear. Get a clear picture in your mind. Get committed to the outcome you want. This will be helpful when you are trying to figure out what to do next.
  • Why is being clutter-free important to you?  Why now?  What could you do if you could achieve this goal? Getting clear on your why will help when the going is tougher.  When you are faced with your favourite sweater that is now 2 sized too big, remember you wanted a clutter-free closet to make room for the new clothes.

Why is Achieving Clarity important?

woman looking at map

nick-seagrave-1tpLdmxki-c-unsplash

  1. With clarity creating a strategy is easy. Get clear on your goals and what you want to achieve so you can create a pathway for yourself.  When you have a clear destination in mind, finding the map to get there is easy.  It is very hard to find a pathway to someone when you don’t know where or what that somewhere is.
  2. Achieving clarity also sets intention and helps you develop a “can do” mindset. When you have a clear vision of what you want the outcome of decluttering, or a lifestyle of clutter-free living, to look like, you are telling your brain to head in the direction of that outcome.  You are setting the intention for yourself to make that outcome a reality. Give your brain the direction and cheerleading it needs to believe you can accomplish clutter-free living. You can.
  3. Clarity will keep you stay focussed. When other obligations and distractions start to get in the way, being clear on the lifestyle and outcome you want for your clutter-free living will help you stay on task and on track. Having a really clear pathway increase the chances you will succeed.
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3 Steps to Mastering Clutter-Free Living

Posted by Carolyn on
 March 2, 2022

3 Steps to Mastering Clutter-Free Living

In my experience, there are only 3 steps to mastering clutter-free living.  With the consistent application of these three steps, applied to any decluttering project on a regular basis, clutter-free living can easily be achieved.

During March I will explore all three of these steps in more detail.  I’ll give you an understanding of how easy they can be attained and tips to apply right away.

Clutter-Free Living, A Modern Issue

books

Dear Books, What am I going to do with you…?

Mastering clutter-free living is the subject of much literature.  A quick scan at the local newspaper stand, revealed multiple publications with the words declutter, clutter free or organizer on the title page.  With the Covid 19 pandemic keeping many of us very close to home the last two years, we have become even more aware of the clutter and many have become more bothered by it.

Sure, you can spend the weekend decluttering the garage, the family room or your home office.  But then what happens the next week? Does the office become cluttered and full of papers yet again?

Step 1: Achieve ClarityLooking for focus and productivity?

If you want to know how to get somewhere, you have to know where you are going.  Get really clear on what you want to achieve with your clutter-free project.  This is probably the most important step of the three. Here are some tips to help:

  • Get clear with yourself on what you mean by declutter. What are your expectations of yourself? An empty closet or just nothing on the floor? Not everyone has the same understanding.
  • Create a picture in your mind of the decluttered space. Have a vision for what you actually want to achieve.  What does your decluttered kitchen look like?
  • Find some pictures (digital to avoid more paper clutter) of what you want your clutter-free space to look like.

Step 2. Create a Strategy

Coaching can support productivity

Coaching can support get clear on priorities, goals and increasing productivity.

With a clear vision of where you want to end up, finding a path is much easier.  Keep that vision in mind and identify the steps you need to get there. Make a plan. It does not have to be complicated.

  • Break your project into bite size pieces that you can manage in the time you have available. Is this something that you can only give a few hours? Pick a series of decluttering tasks that will fit into that time frame and end with the vision you have in mind. Here are some 10 minute ideas.
  • Think of clutter-free living as a process and include in your project daily tasks that will keep the area/room or space clutter-free moving forward.
  • Keep the plan simple. Think, one step at a time e.g one box, one drawer, one closet.

Step 3. Take Action

Figure out the first step to take that will start you toward you vision.  Is it a box to empty a table to clear or a cupboard to sort.  Do you need to start just with one drawer in the kitchen in the 30 minutes you have available.  Find the first step.

Here’s the thing about taking action, it creates energy.  Once you start on your path, you will find it easier to keep going.  Once you have achieve a little success, even one old box worth, you can celebrate the achievement and use that energy to get to the next box.  Or the next drawer.

Clarity, strategy and action, together, form a simple 3 step process for mastering clutter-free living.  It doesn’t have to be complicated.  The simpler the better.

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notebook on desk with clover leaf

Planning and Luck Meet Each Other

Posted by Carolyn on
 March 17, 2021

notebook on desk with clover leafI had a feeling this would be quite a week. Last week was National Procrastination Week. The daylight savings switcheroo always creates a hiccup. St. Patrick’s Day and Small Business Development Day are both March 17. March 20 brings in the first day of spring. Meanwhile, Twitter Day is March 21 and Passover and Easter are right behind. So naturally, it was time to write about planning and luck and their relationship.

Struggling with this blog post, I headed out for a mind-clearing, fat-burning, sunshine-worshipping walk. Then I saw the hawk. He soared high overhead then swooped in so close that I thought I might be breakfast. His graceful dive was awe-inspiring. He reminded me of Lori, my university residence door-mate. We would dress up in white coveralls and she would swoop around, arms spread wide in wing formation, reminding me to soar, to be as free as an eagle. Suddenly, I was transposed to those heady university days and I knew exactly how to write this blog.

In early August 1985, Lori offered me a trip to Vancouver. I was just three months home from living more than two years in Papua New Guinea—and floundering. I said that I would accompany her as far as Edmonton, then called the Director of the Master’s Program to which I had just applied and told him I needed an interview with him. He thought I was crazy to TELL him I wanted an interview, so he agreed. Five days later, I was sitting in his office following an adventure that only Lori could have arranged: station wagon arranged; sleeping in tents in fields; cassette tape playlist created specially for the trip; seeds, sprouts and bagels in the cooler.

I was sitting in his office having announced that I needed to be in his program. He asked me if I planned to hang around until he decided to accept me, IF he decided to accept me. Then he announced that I was completely crazy when I said that I was bussing back to Toronto and needed just 24 hours of banking time and I would be on a flight back for the first day of school. I only had two hours between that interview and the bus departure in which to check out two potential places to live that were miraculously still available two weeks before school started in the busy university/government town.

Within a week, I had received his phone call telling me to book my flight. I landed at 6 am for class at 8:30 and rolled in with my suitcase in tow. As Director, he was first on the agenda of the first day of first year. And he told the entire class how crazy I was. The program was on the 13th floor of the building. I had sat in seat 13 on the flight. I’d committed to renting a room in a house with 13 in the address. Planning and luck?

Even St. Patrick might have applauded my crazy luck.

Before you, too, jump to the conclusion that “She’s just plain lucky,” consider another option—one you can use so that when your own call comes in, people will claim you are just as lucky. Only you will know the planning and action that you put in place behind that luck.

You see, when I got wind of the fact that there might be a spot in that Master’s Program, from an astute and very clever Admin Assistant, Sarah, who answered my first phone call, I made sure that I would be ready. If there was going to be a lottery draw for who got it, I would have a ticket. I hustled around the province (this was before the internet, cell phones and Zoom remember) and arranged my transcripts, wrote the GMAT test hundreds of miles away, and assembled letters of recommendation and all the other items the school required. All the requirement were sent off to the Director within two weeks of my phone call to super helpful Sarah.

I worked hard, but mostly I stayed on top of implementation. Focussed on action, I created a task list and I knew that I just had to tick off every item on the list. If I could get the package to him within two  weeks, it would be on his desk when the intake committee had to decide how to handle a slightly higher than average decline of admission rate. That’s when Lori called. So off I went to Edmonton.

I completed my Master’s in Health Services Administration and convocated in November 1987.  Only a handful of us did. Perhaps there was an element of luck, but I maintain that the secret of my success was that I stayed focussed on implementation and action. Ruminating on problems wasn’t going to get me that spot on the dais in front of the Dean as he held my hood and my certificate of completion in his hand.

I offer you the same strategy. Where planning meets opportunity is where luck shows up.

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organizing the living room

4 Steps to Organize the Living Room and Reclaim Some Adult Space

Posted by Carolyn on
 May 15, 2018

Wish you could organize the living room for adult space?

organize the living

Boxes and ottomans are great toy hiding spots that children can easily access.

Are you looking to organize the living room and reclaim  a little of the adult space  again?  Have you stepped on Barbie’s shoes one too many times and wish you could organize the living room into a adult rest and relax space for just one evening?

Reclaiming adult space is a common theme for many parents.  No matter how much they love their children, at there comes a time when many parents crave a lego-free zone, even for just a short period.

Organizing the living room by banning Barbie, her shoes and the lego altogether may not be possible, or even desirable, for your family and home.  The living room frequently serves as a multi-purpose space.  In the absence of a large recreation or family room, the living room is sometimes adult relax space, Barbie’s house and lego creation central all at the same time.

Here are 4 steps that you can use to organize the living room to help keep Barbie, the lego and any other toys in check so that when needed, the living room can be the rest and refresh space the adults in your household are looking for.

Step 1 – Identify Easily Accessible Storage Space

Look around and study where you might find storage for toys and other children’s items in the living room.  Storage space, which children can access, doesn’t have to be complicated.  Look for space under tables, a shelf on a book shelf, a shelf in an entertainment unit, storage in an ottoman.

organizing the living room

Here is an example of re-purposing a bureau in the living as a table. The drawers make for great toy storage.

Step 2 – Contain the Chaos

Gather up the toys and see what can be parked where.  Identify a new home for the items.  Larger items can go under tables.  Smaller items can be stowed in containers on shelves, under the coffee table or on a book shelf.

Step 3 – Source out Storage Containers Complimentary to your Living Room Decor

Sure, toy storage can be bright and cheerful and kid friendly.  It can also be adult and decor friendly.  While lego may need to be stored in some form of sorting container, the finished products can be displayed with pride on the bookshelves an entertainment unit.  Consider using a glass coffee table with a shelf and the finished lego items become decorations themselves.

Step 4 – Build tidy up time into play time

organize the living room.

Open containers that match the colour scheme of this living room make for perfect toy storage on the bottom of the book shel

Once each item has a home, and the home has been put into place, the next step is to teach the children to use those containers and return their toys, books and lego to their homes.  In my experience, children understand that they go home after playtime so the toys and books also need to go home after play time.  When we teach them that the toys need to go home to after playtime, clean up is done by the kids, not the adults.

Home Organizing Organizing Strategies
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Letters to Clutter

Letters to Clutter: Tell it how you Really Feel!

Posted by Carolyn on
 February 5, 2017

The Clutter LettersSend me your letters to clutter.  Does this sound like you?

You’re standing in front of your desk, staring at the stacks of paper, frustrated and overwhelmed.  “Why are you still here?  Why can’t you find a file to climb into and make yourself available when I need you?  Somewhere in there is the invoice I’m trying to get paid for – how will I ever get paid if I can’t even find the invoice?”

You open the closet door and glare at the contents.  “I hate you and I love you.  Ugh, how am I ever supposed to make this closet work when a bunch of you don’t fit, some of you I don’t even like and I don’t even know what’s at the back?!”

Your youngster is finally in bed and hopefully soon asleep.  You return to the family room and flop into the chair realizing you can’t even walk on the floor any longer because of the piles and piles of toys.  “Just put yourselves away, why don’t you! [bctt tweet=”Can’t you find a nice basket or box and do the Mary Poppins thing – jumping right into them?” username=”@wellrich”]  And while you are at it, sort yourselves out and take the toys that no one has played with for the past 6 months to the donation centre.  I’m going to bed.”

If you’ve ever talked to your clutter, or think you might like to say something to it, I’d like to hear from you.  Consider writing a letter or letters to clutter and tell it how you really feel.

Why Letters to Clutter?

You letter or letters to clutter will be considered for inclusion in a project being published later this year.  Your letter doesn’t need to be long, 200 – 400 words is perfect although longer or shorter is also welcome.  Start your letter off with “Dear ________ (item or items of clutter i.e. Paper, Baby Clothes, Garden Tools), What am I going to do with you?” and tell the clutter what you are really thinking.

Types of Clutter

Your clutter might include one of the following items or you might have your own version of clutter.:

  • Costume jewelry
  • Inherited jewelry
  • Inherited dishes, flatware, glass/crystal
  • Paper
  • Sports equipment
  • Particular sports equipment e.g. A bag of balls, an old croquet set, a bag of hockey equipment
  • Clothes that don’t fit
  • Clothes that aren’t liked
  • Clothes in general
  • Childhood books
  • Memorabilia
  • Photographs
  • Someone else’s items e.g. a spouse’s sports gear, clothes or other items
  • Tools
  • Leftover renovation material e.g. tiles, paint, fabric
  • Craft goods

How and Where to Send you Letters to Clutter

Identify yourself only by your initials and your town of residence.  Individuals will not be identified in their submissions and any particular identifying information will be removed.

Send letters to me, Carolyn Caldwell at [email protected].

Looking forward to receiving your letter or letters to clutter and seeing what you have to say to those trinkets collecting dust on the shelf.

Organizing Challenges Organizing Resources Organizing Strategies Uncategorized
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