Organizing Solutions "Clear the Clutter"

Best Tip Ever!!

2010-10-25T08:50:00.001-07:00

I was asked to give a presentation last week. I was so excited and to my surprise there were 75 people attending! It was one of the worst presentations I have ever given!!! There were two people that went ahead of me that gave a five minute commercial about their businesses and both were having difficulties with the microphone. You couldn’t hear a word they were saying or it would be this loud static noise. I know you are wondering where am I going with this, hold on…I promise it gets worse before it gets better!

Now its my turn, remember there are a ton of people with several round tables and everyone is spread out. The microphone does not work at all now! I keep trying to get it to work and it kept falling off my jacket. It was a disaster! I completely lost my train of thought, I was rambling much like I do on my blogs and on top of that I was screaming so people could hear my ramblings!!! I was all over the page and no one really had any questions, I think they were just scared for me or scared of me…I’m not really sure but either way it wasn’t pretty!

So here is the great part…someone asked my how to organize their linen closet. Their sheets were always falling over and didn’t look nice in the closet. They said their fitted sheets were always in a big clump. My answer was…”Fold your fitted sheet as best as you can, fold the top sheet and fold your pillow case, than place those items inside the other pillow case and fold over the extra material so you have a square pillow case with “its belongings” inside of it.” They loved it!!! They even clapped and smiled!!!! As any good speaker would do I wrapped it up and ended on a good note!!

As I was leaving several people said they loved the idea about putting the sheets inside the pillow case that they hadn’t thought of doing that. I realized I had never told any of you this great idea. It helps keep your sheets organized and it allows you to “fold good enough” because no one will see it in the pillow case and your linen closet will look organized!

If you ever need a speaker for your meeting, I promise I will do better, call me I would love to come speak at your gathering. Please just make sure the microphone works or people are close together so I don’t have to scream!!!

Organizing Your Computer Before School Starts...

2010-08-06T11:41:00.000-07:00

I don’t know about you about I am not ready for the boys to go back to school. I’m NOT ready for summer to be over!!

Before you start setting all the alarms in the house for 6:00 a.m. let’s get everyone’s computer organized and ready for school. Let’s clean out your Mail Folders and start new folders, let’s purge your hard drive so that your computers run faster and last but no least lets get rid of some of those old documents or temporary files so you child can make new documents for school.

Purging your hard drive:

Every time you surf the net you add “cookies” these can pileup and slow down your web browser and other programs. Nothing is worse than trying to look up a subject that you child brought home for homework and it takes 15 minutes to download the page…sure they would be patient and you would stay calm.

Here are a couple of options to delete your cookies:

Internet Explorer
1. Once your browser is open, select the Tools menu and click Internet Options and select the General tab.
2. To delete all cookies, in the Temporary Internet Files section, click Delete Cookies and press OK.
3. Multiple cookies can be selected by holding down the CTRL key while clicking.
4. Press the Delete key.
5. Press OK on any dialog boxes that appear.

Safari
1. Go to the menu labeled "Safari"
2. Select the sub-menu "Preferences..."
3. Select “Security”
4. Select the "Show Cookies"
5. Select all the remaining cookies showing in the window and click "Remove All"

I like to do a “Disk Clean Up”

1.Go to “Programs”
2.Select “Accessories”
3.Select “System Tools”
4.Select “Disk Clean Up”
5.Select “from all files”

A good way to get your programs running faster on your computer is to do a “Disk Defragmenter”

1.Go to “Programs”
2.Select “Accessories”
3.Select “System Tools”
4.Select “Disk Defragmenter” this process will take some time but you will notice a HUGE difference.

Mailbox…How much mail do you have in your inbox?!?!

The first thing I would suggest is delete all of your mail you no longer need! I like to set up folders for each of the boys. In the folder I have sub-folders: School, Sports and Extra Cur.
If you have folders all ready set up from last year delete all of the mail you no longer need. You may want to save one email from a past sport incase you want to try and get the same team together for this school year.

Any time you receive an email about your child’s classroom or information you might want to look at as a reference move the mail to your child’s file folder. This will help to keep you inbox under control and easy to find email addresses or time of events if they are kept in their own folder.

These are just a couple of ideas to help you get you started if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them!!

Sending Your Child to College in an Organized Manner!

2010-07-27T07:15:00.000-07:00

I can’t believe school is literally right around the corner! I thought I would write my next two articles about getting your high school graduate off to college organized and ready to take on the new world.

Have your him/her make a list of what is most important to them to bring with them to college. This will help you have a grasp as to how much they have and what you have left at home to make room for you new craft room!

From the list you can see how much they want to bring and this will give you an idea visually how creative you need to be to get everything to fit in their dorm room. If it is possible make sure they resist the urge to over pack and keep out of season clothes at home until they are needed. I found a great list to start get the process started so that everything is not so last minute.

http://www.webreader.com/download/moving-checklist.pdf

Separate your list into what you will be bringing from home, what you can purchase in your new town. Some of your new items may even be ordered online and shipped directly to their dorm. This may help if your child is going to college out of state. Keep in mind whether you are ordering something new or bringing something from home that they are easily disassembled and easy to take down at the end of the school year.

My next article, I will show you some great ideas to help organize your their dorm room and utilize every little bit of space!

Too Much Vacation "Extras"?!?!?

2010-06-24T13:02:00.000-07:00

Have you noticed when you get back from vacation you somehow bring back more stuff than what you took on vacation? I swear we needed an extra suitcase to hold all the brochures our youngest son wanted to bring home so that he could play “Disney World Worker”!

Sometimes even before we go on vacation we start accumulating brochures, after brochure, after brochure because were just not sure where we want to go and we might as well hold onto it just in case we decide to go there ‘someday’… I understand that sometimes it’s nice to hold onto a brochure or two to remind us of trips we might want to take but if your drawer is exploding from vacation brochures or travel magazines, now might be a great time to “clear the clutter” and just save the most important one or two brochures for that trip someday.

As with any vacation you take you always manage to pick up a few momentos along the way. I know my purse was stuffed with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck…MOUSE…can you hear the song!?!!? So anyhow…

As soon as you got home from your vacation, start your laundry or for a special treat to yourself take it to a laundry service this one time so that you are not so overwhelemd. To clean out your purse from the trip, turn it upside down on your kitchen counter and start tossing out brochures, candy wrappers, tickets, food, or maps from a local area and other signs of a vacation.

When you get home its best to completely empty out your bags, suitcases, toiletry bags and wallet. If you purchased small travel bottles of shampoo or soap wash them out so that are ready to be filled again. Keep the toiletry bags stocked for your next trip. Stick a note in your suitcase if you ran out of something or if you wanted to remember to bring Qtips or whatever for next time.

Now what do we do with all those hundreds of photos you took on vacation!?!?! I feel another blog coming on!

Organizing the Play Room

2010-06-03T14:03:00.000-07:00

Whether you call it a playroom, gameroom or toy room it is all the same to a child, its an area to play and run around! It is where they go to get out ALL of their toys and leave them ALL over the floor for us to pick up. If this rings true in your home, I might have a couple of suggestions to help keep the some of the toys at bay.

When a client calls me to organize their playroom my heart races, I LOVE, LOVE organizing playrooms or kids rooms. The main goal of organizing your children’s toys is understanding “how they play”. I know that sounds strange but work with me for a moment.

If you have a girl that have Barbies, Bratz Dolls and Polly Pockets…you automatically think…keep all of them together or close to each other because they probably play with them together, right? Well what if Polly Pockets are the only ones who takes care of Little Pet Shop and the Little Pet Shop is all the way across to the other side of the room? And what if Bratz Dolls don’t even play with Barbie because their head is bigger than Barbie and Bratz Girls play with all the horses that you have in you son’s bin mixed in with the farm animals? See where I am going with this?

If you understand how your children play and what they play with together, you can set up zones so that the toys aren’t scattered across the room. If she is going to play with the Bratz Dolls and horses…she is going to have to dig through the Barbie Dolls and the farm animals to get to what she wants. Which means the farm animals and Barbies are going to be all over the floor.

Here are some zone or bin suggestions for you playroom or child’s room:
Kitchen and baby doll area
Dress Up Girls including wands, jewelry and shoes
Dress Up Boys, including swords, construction gear and spy gear
Books, games and puzzles
Actions figures (if you have boys ask if Power Rangers and Star Wars can be mixed or have two separate bins)
Barbies, Bratz and Polly Pockets (again ask if they can be together if they should have separate bins)
Blocks, Legos, Connects
Animals
Cars

What you are trying to create in your playroom is an easy way for your children to find what they are looking for and an easy way to PUT THE TOYS AWAY when they are finished playing with them. If the cars are scattered across the room to get to the car track then put a bin of cars next to the track.

I love the fabric bins from Target. ($6.99 each) They work perfect on bookshelves, cubbies or even next to a car track or a doll house. I know this sounds strange but sometimes we “over organize” in the play room. We keep jewelry in separate bins of bracelets, necklaces, or rings instead of one bin of jewelry. What four year old is going to want to separate all the jewelry to put it away? She would rather scoop it all up and dump it in one bin! If you have a son that plays with G.I. Joes but doesn’t play with the swords, guns or helmets that they come with, then put the accessories in a Ziploc bag on a shelf in a closet out of his way. Why stick them in the bin to have them all over the floor waiting for you step on them if no one is going to play with them?

To keep your playroom fresh and fun rearrange the toys and zones twice a year. I like to do this right before summer break and right after they go back to school in January. This allows my to “sift” through the junk without them noticing some of the broken happy meal toys are missing.

If you want to really live on the edge you could start to sing the “Pick Up Song” after they are finished playing…pick up, pick up, everybody, everywhere do your share!!! Just a thought….

Organizing Games and Puzzles

2010-06-03T14:00:00.000-07:00

Our family loves Pizza and Game Night! Nothing is worse than sitting down to a little pizza and setting up a game just to realize that you are missing a ”few” pieces to the game…kind of takes the fun out of it!

So let’s get these games under control and while we are at it get the cards and puzzles organized as well.

If you have a huge storage closet for games, you are so lucky!! All I would say to you is categorize your games by age group, such as pre-school, teen or adult games. Make sure you keep adult games on the top shelf so small little hands don’t accidently open the game and use the pieces in her Barbie House never to be found again. Keep the pre-school games at their reach so they can play with them even if the family isn’t playing a game. Many times my youngest son will just make things up with the games and play by himself.

Now onto the rest of us that make due with what storage we have or should I say don’t have! Start by simply stacking the game boards (only) together on one shelf. You could label the boards if you don’t want to turn them game side out. With the small pieces and instructions to the games place them in labeled Ziploc bags. Here is where I would buy the easy close Ziploc bag and spend a little extra so it will be easy for everyone to open and close the bags. Now place the storage bags in a storage tote or box to keep them falling all over the shelf. This will take up so little space, you will be shocked! If you have games that need to stay in their original box because it is part of the game no big deal you will have room left to spare!!!

Tips for everyone no matter how much room you have for games:
- Reinforce the original box with tape to keep it lasting longer
- Put all the small pieces from the board game in a Ziploc bag to avoid the scattering of these pieces if the box is accidently dropped.
- Place the board game box side by side on a shelf like books so that can easily access them and they won’t smash other games.

Puzzles:
If you have more puzzles than space, cut out the picture of the puzzle and place the picture and puzzle pieces in a Ziploc bag. Store all the puzzle bags in a tote or shoe box.

Cards:
Our card games get used all the time and the card box becomes well…let’s just say it is no longer a box. I cut out the picture of the card game, take out the instructions and place the cards in a…c’mon you know what’s coming…yes a Ziploc bag!!! Again I put them in a storage tote (shoe box size) or you can use a shoe box whatever is handy!

These are just some simple ideas to help keep all your games, cards and puzzle together and all in one place. Have fun playing….Maybe you can start a Pizza and Game Night in your house too!!!

Shoes and More Shoes!!

2010-05-10T10:44:00.001-07:00

Shoes, shoes, glorious shoes, who doesn’t love shoes!??!? I don’t know if you remember the movie “Overboard” or something like that with Goldie Hawn in it but she had the best shoe closet ever built on that boat that I have ever seen!!! Now unless you have live in a mansion or have a separate shoe closet away from your clothes you are like everyone else out there trying to make more room for more shoes without getting rid of any shoes!!!

I know you….I am exactly the same way!! I keep hoping somehow my shoes will fit on the shelves and shoe racks I have without it being too obvious that I have WAY too many shoes. But can we really ever have too many shoes…NO!!! That would be ridiculous, we just need to find a better storage solution! We are definitely NOT clearing the clutter this time!!

So lets make this simple, find all of your shoes…check under the bed, behind the sofa, in the garage, in your children’s closets, and don’t forget your husband’s side of the closet. Make sure you have all matches, sometimes but not every time we have a lonely shoe because the dog ate the other shoe. If that is the case, please have a proper burial service for the remaining shoe. He cannot go on with out his partner.

I realize we LOVE, LOVE all of our shoes but if there are some shoes that might be a little out of style…you know which ones I am talking about. The 1980’s are calling they want their shoes back!! And if you have those ugly mud kicking boots still around that you haven’t worn since you were on your uncle’s farm twenty years ago, now would be the time to retire them as well.

Now you have all the “real” love, love shoes left!!!!

Try to determine which shoes are obviously seasonal shoes. Take the shoes that are not going to be used for this season, and place each pair in a shoe box or a tote for storing. Now if you really want to get fancy, you can take a picture of the shoe and tape it to the front of the box so you know what is in the box or we can safely assume you know what you have and where it is at all times, right?

I have tried several shoe organizers and all work well but you have to find what works best for you and your closet. I like over the door shoe hangers for flip flops or flats, nothing heavy or bulky. LIf you have shelves place the shoes on them toe, heel…this give you an extra pair per shelf!!! When placing your shoes in the organizer, place the shoes you use most frequently at the most accessible spot. Place the shoes you use less frequently at the least convenient spot.
Some people like to sort by type of shoe: flip flops, tennis shoes, heels, wedges you get the picture…others by color.

You need to figure out which one works best for you. If you wear a lot of black shoes or if you wear heels almost everyday to work then I would sort by heels. You want the shoes you wear the most to be the most handy. Leave your Cinderella Slippers towards the back of the closet unless you plan on going to the ball soon.

When the current season ends, exchange your seasonal shoes for the ones stored away. Place your current season’s shoes in their own shoe box for storage. Arrange your new season’s shoes in the shoe organizer using the same system as you did before.

Don’t you just love shoes!!! Now you can just sit in the closet and admire all your glorious shoes!!

Author Michelle Lehman of Organizing Solutions "Clear the Clutter" Michelle is a Professional Organizer in the Tulsa area. Her articles have been featured in the Tulsa World, The Oklahoman, and The Chicago Post-Tribune & Chicago Sun-Times. Michelle appears on Newson6 KOTV and Fox23 News This Morning giving organizing tips and recommendations.

Please Help This Family in Tulsa!

2010-05-07T10:43:00.000-07:00

To those who are concerned about the future of Darla and her son Dustin.
They are both blind. Darla was recently unexpectedly widowed. She was left with financial burdens and she and Dustin will soon be without shelter. Darla is a fantastic massage therapist, she is awesome. She really knows how to work out the tension and knots. You can reach her at Hands of Health currently located just north of Spirit Bank at 48th & S. Harvard. The office number is 832-4705
If you know of anyone needing a therapeutic massage, please send them to her.
C & J School Uniforms is sponsoring a “fund-raising” Garage Sale on Sat. May 8th to help them.
All donations of items for the garage sale can be dropped off at C & J in the Fontana Shopping Center at 51st & S. Memorial by the fountain. Any financial donations of $1, $2, or more can also be dropped off at C & J or mailed to Tulsa Federal Credit Union, P.O. Box 267, Tulsa, OK 74101-0267. Please be sure it is noted on the envelope or check for Darla M. If you have any question please call Joyce at 610-7470.
The garage sale will be held in the north parking lot of Fontana from 8am – 1pm.
Darla will be available during the garage sale for 5, 10, and 15 minute chair massages; SPECIAL RATES
5 min for $3, 10 min for $6, and 15 min for $9, cash only.

Everyone probably has at least 5 “treasurers” in their home they could donate. NO items are too small or too large. Please consider helping this family.

To those who are concerned about the future of Darla and her son Dustin.

They are both blind. Darla was recently unexpectedly widowed. She was left with financial burdens and she and Dustin will soon be without shelter. Darla is a fantastic massage therapist, she is awesome. She really knows how to work out the tension and knots. You can reach her at Hands of Health currently located just north of Spirit Bank at 48th & S. Harvard. The office number is 832-4705

If you know of anyone needing a therapeutic massage, please send them to her.
C & J School Uniforms is sponsoring a “fund-raising” Garage Sale on Sat. May 8th to help them.
All donations of items for the garage sale can be dropped off at C & J in the Fontana Shopping Center at 51st & S. Memorial by the fountain. Any financial donations of $1, $2, or more can also be dropped off at C & J or mailed to Tulsa Federal Credit Union, P.O. Box 267, Tulsa, OK 74101-0267. Please be sure it is noted on the envelope or check for Darla M. If you have any question please call Joyce at 610-7470.

The garage sale will be held in the north parking lot of Fontana from 8am – 1pm.
Darla will be available during the garage sale for 5, 10, and 15 minute chair massages; SPECIAL RATES
5 min for $3, 10 min for $6, and 15 min for $9, cash only.

Everyone probably has at least 5 “treasurers” in their home they could donate. NO items are too small or too large. Please consider helping this family.

Organizing School Supplies...in May?!?

2010-05-03T14:42:00.000-07:00

I know you are asking yourself if I have lost my ever loving mind? I haven’t, I have an idea to help save a little money for school supplies for next year. Your children are getting ready to get out of school soon. Before you start dumping their school supplies in with their artwork supplies, find out what they might need for next year and put the supplies in a safe area away from little hands that might dump the new markers in with the old ones.

So many times our children will bring home unused notebooks, folders and pencils from the last day of school. Recycle this years supplies for next year. You may still end up buying a few school supplies in the fall for next year but at least you are a little bit ahead of the game and you saved a little money!!!

Spring Cleaning...it's that time of year

2010-04-20T19:06:00.000-07:00

I don’t know about you but besides changing the sheets on the bed every week…spring cleaning is about one of the last things I want to do! Oh yeah..and washing windows!!!

Since spring cleaning is not on my top ten list, I like to tackle it in small does. I believe if you repeat your movement over and over, you could do it in your sleep. Kind of like driving you just turn on your auto pilot, so that is how I tackle spring cleaning. I try to be on auto pilot while cleaning. For instance, if your baseboards need cleaning, clean all the baseboards in your house instead of cleaning one room at a time. Anything that can be completed over and over in each room or close to is what I would start with before tackling individual tasks in each room.

No matter which room you’re in, keep in mind you need to do these five steps.
1. “Clear the Clutter”
2. Dust from top to bottom
3. Wipe everything down
4. Vacuum or wash the floor

Here are some “repeat” things that can be completed in each room or close to it.
1. Washing the baseboards, door jams, window sills, doors, and walls
2. Cleaning windows (I personally would hire a service!! YUCK!)
3. Dusting the corners and ceilings for cob webs

After you have taken care of the spring cleaning basics for each room, take a note pad and write down the things that need to be done in each room of your home. Take one room at a time, this does not have to be done overnight! It can go into summer, no one is going to come into your home and double check your spring cleaning status and write you a ticket if you haven’t finished it by the end of May.

Here are some ideas for individual rooms in your home.
1. Scrubbing the kitchen cabinets, appliances, and the backsplash behind the stove
2. Wipe out the refrigerator and freezer
3. Scrub the entire bathroom from floor to ceiling. If you saw the movie “Daddy DayCare” you know why I included the ceiling!!!
4. Flip mattresses on your beds.
5. Change air vents and clean the ceiling fans.

These are all just a few ideas, you need to do what you think is best for your home and heck your windows may not even need cleaning…by the way if you want to clean extra windows…call me…mine are begging for a good cleaning!!!
Happy Spring Cleaning…remember to pace your self.

Author Michelle Lehman of Organizing Solutions "Clear the Clutter" Michelle is a Professional Organizer in the Tulsa area. Her articles have been featured in the Tulsa World, The Oklahoman, Chicago Sun-Times and The Chicago Post-Tribune. Michelle appears on Fox23 News This Morning and The News On 6 KOTV giving organizing tips and recommendations.

Getting Your House Ready To Sell

2010-03-30T18:03:00.000-07:00

First Step….”Clear the Clutter”!!! We have been looking for a house for over a year and a half and in this time I cant tell you how many homes I have looked at on the internet and in person that have so much “stuff” that you can barley tell if they have wood floors or carpet. I can look past the “stuff” but most people can not see past the clutter and turn around and leave. You want people to look at your house as though they could see themselves living in your home. Speaking of which, it is no longer your home…it is a piece of property you are selling. Now is the time to stop thinking of it as a home and stop treating it like home…you are trying to sell it in a timely manner. The sooner you realize this, the sooner you will sell it!

On our search to find a home in any school district with a pool at a reasonable price (hint, hint if you are getting ready to sell one, email me!). We love our house, love everything about it but to put a pool in our fairly big backyard would be too expensive because we have a slight hill so that is why we are on our home search. Whether you are looking to down size, up grade or just change your back yard, selling your home can be over whelming.

I have been in homes with a litter box in the pantry, trash cans filled with so much garbage it was falling out, dirty clothes on the floor, one of my favorite is a plug in air freshener in every room and closet…just wondering what smell were trying to cover up!?!?!?! I am so glad that we don’t have to move by a certain time and I can look at my own leisure or I would be in a huge amount of trouble! Most people only have a few weeks so you have to make a huge impression on them as they enter your house.

If you want to make the most out of selling your house, here are some simple steps I would suggest before you put it on the market. If you have time or energy for a garage sale before you put it on the market now would be a great time to gather all your things for the sale. Take one room at a time and go through every drawer, shelf and with in the perimeter of the room to remove garbage, put things you would sell or donate in a large trash bag or box, move from room to room. Ask yourself, “do I want this in my new house, do I even want to pack it!?!?!” Don’t make the garage sale a big deal, just sell it to get rid of it!! Don’t price the little stuff just make tables of “everything on this table $1 or 6 for $5” and so on…only price big ticket items. The purpose is to get rid of the stuff not to make a million dollars.

After you have cleared out all your rooms of wanted stuff, now take a good look at each room and ask yourself, do I have too much furniture in here, too many family pictures, are my cabinets stuffed? If you have an attic, or family member who has an attic or if you can afford a storage unit for a short time, store some of your extra furniture somewhere else while you are selling your house.

Take a quick look at closets, cabinets, pantry and your laundry room. Take a moment to spruce up your cabinets, straighten them up, label a few things. If you have a small pantry try to eat your pantry down so that it doesn’t look like it is over stuffed and too small. In your laundry room, make sure you counters are cleared, dirty laundry is in the washer or dryer for hiding purposes. One more thing, check is to make sure your lights are all working and are bright, nothing worse than opening the master closet to a small dingy closet, but if it is small and organized with a bright light…well you get the picture. They say don’t judge a book by its cover but in this case people are judging your house and remembering it…do you want them to say to their husband or wife “remember the stinky house, the litter box house, or the house that was so clean and bright”?!?!?!?

By the way after you have gone through your house from top to bottom (of course I am assuming you have already fixed obvious mechanical things) now give it a good thorough cleaning and I mean a good cleaning. Wash doors, door jams, dust (should be a lot easier with less stuff!), vacuum, clean windows (or hire someone to clean them, like me).

I don’t know if your house will sell quickly but I can guarantee you it will sell faster than if you had just thrown a sign up in the front yard! Next week I will help you pack up your house so that when you move in…it will be a breeze!!!

By Michelle Lehman with Organizing Solutions “Clear the Clutter”

Organizing the Garage

2010-03-25T11:48:00.000-07:00

Are you one of those people that can not fit a car in the garage? Do you close the garage door so quickly hoping that no one sees all the “stuff” in the garage? If you answered yes to any of these questions or if you just need to get your garage organized this blog may interest you. I think it is time to “Clear the Clutter”!

I realize if you can’t find a home for some of your “stuff” it is going to end up in the garage. And if you are like me, I don’t have attic space in my home to hide some of that stuff. So let’s see if we can’t organize the things you have in your garage so you can at least get one car in the garage and maybe even have a little space left to walk around.

Take everything out of your garage and move it out on the front lawn. (make sure rain is not in the forecast) By removing everything you are organizing your garage it will allow you to take really good look at the space. You will be shocked how much bigger it looks.

Take out the trash, recycling and donations Decide what items are no longer useful, damaged, or missing pieces, etc. and fill up garbage bags. Recycle all the things you can like newspapers, magazines, glass, aluminum, or paint need to be recycled or disposed of properly. If you take off the lid of a paint can and let it dry out completely you can throw it in the trash. Look around for a few items that are in good shape but you just don’t use anymore.

Clean your garage from top to bottom. Wash the walls, scrub the floors, and if you have windows…pull out the Windex! Sort items by categories think of your garage as would inside your home. These are categories I would start with, sports and equipment, lawn and garden, automotive supplies, tools, recycling, tote for shoes (on the go shoes I call them or outside shoes: old sneakers, flip flops, taking dog for walk shoes etc.)

Time to figure out where things go in your garage. If you have the budget and the room to buy shelves or hooks for some of your things to help organize everything, that would be great, If not, grab some totes from inside your house and some extra garbage cans and some nails. I have used totes to keep the boys basketballs, footballs, and other sport stuff in to keep it separate. Another idea is to use an old laundry bin that has three sections. You could have one for balls, one for bats and the other for accessories. I had an old entertainment center that I couldn’t give away with a “free” sign attached to it as part of my organizing solution. It hold my husband’s fishing supplies, lanterns, baseball gloves, chalk, and a bunch of other things…all while looking very attractive! LOL! Use an extra garbage can to hold rakes, shovels, and other lawn equipment. If you can hang any squirt bottle on the lip of the can that are used to kill weeds or fertilize flowers. It doesn’t have to be pretty it just has to work for you and the fact that the lawn equipment and supplies are together that is all that matters. If you like tools hanging on the wall and now is not the time to go out and buy something, use nails as a holder. Nail two nails into the wall to hold hammers, one nail to hold wrenches, two nails close to hold screwdrivers (you get the picture).

Organizing your garage gives you a great feeling of accomplishment. In most cases it’s the first thing you see when you get home and the last thing you see before you leave. Who wants that kind of memory or “hello” when you get home!?!?!?!?

2010-03-08T11:39:00.000-08:00

It seems as though our kids have more crayons, markers, coloring books, and stickers than they can possibly use in one life time. I thought I would give you a couple of ideas as to how to keep all of their artwork “stuff” organized or at the very least accessible to them without making it a huge burden on you.

I am have been very blessed with a large laundry room. I keep a three drawer Sterilite from Wal-Mart. Here is a link as to what I am talking about but mine is not the wide one, I have the narrow one. They are about $15 at Wal-Mart.

Here is what I keep in mine:

Top Drawer: I empty all of their crayons and put them in a large Ziploc bag. I use a large bag (gallon) so that they don’t have to be careful to squeeze them all into the bag, they can just toss in and pick up quickly. If you use a smaller bag, they have to make sure they get them in a certain way, this will waste time picking up and frustrate your children. I do the same thing (large Ziploc bag for each) large markers, skinny markers, colored pencils + sharpener, pens & pencils in one + sharpener, and a bag to hold glue sticks, tape, scissors. All of the gallon Ziploc bags on in our top drawer. I have a big bowl on our kitchen table so that if they come across a dried out marker they throw it in the big bowl rather than putting it back in the bag, this way I know when they need new markers.

Middle Drawer: I fill this will a large Ziploc bag holding all of their “loosey goosey” stickers. I put all of their coloring books, sticker books, and activity books in this drawer.

Bottom Drawer: I fill this with white paper, construction paper, and notebooks.

I love the rolling cart because they can zip it out by the kitchen table, take out what they need to do their artwork. After they are finished they can put everything away really easy and roll the cart back into the laundry room.

So let’s say you not as lucky to have a big laundry room to have the cart. I have put these carts for clients in the coat closet or kitchen pantry. Still no room? Here is another idea…Use my same organizing ideas but instead of a three drawer rolling cart. Use one plastic bin to hold all of the things in the top drawer. Since space is limited I would suggest using magazine holders to hold the middle drawer and the bottom drawer. You may want two magazine holders per drawer (one for coloring books the other for stickers & activity books) one for white paper/notebooks & the other for construction paper. Here is what I mean by a magazine holder from the Container Store on sale!

Organizing Your Bed Linens

2010-02-28T16:04:00.000-08:00

• Before placing linens, be sure to dust and wipe shelves. I stick a dryer sheet in my linen closet to keep it fresh smelling (and my coat closet).

• Divide linens into categories. For example, place bed linens arranged by size. Or organize them on a separate shelf for each of your bedrooms. I keep two sets of sheets for the boys. Two sets for us and then I keep two extra for guests or sleepover friends.

• Keep sheets and pillow covers sets together.

• Rotate sheets for even wear by putting freshly washed linens at the bottom of the stack and using sheets from the top of the stack.

• If space allows, store extra or out-of-season comforters, blankets, and coverlets on lower shelves.

• To help organize smaller items, consider using baskets, bins, and boxes to sort items as well as keep them contained.

• Keep a basket of fresh toiletry supplies for each bathroom in one central location. That way you can see at a glance what needs replenishing, and products won’t take up precious space in each bathroom.

Keep in mind, if you replaced your comforter because you no longer liked it, holding onto it will not make you like it later. If you are not going to use it for a soft bed for someone who is going to stay over, now would be the time to sell it or donate it. Don’t forget the matching pillow shams, curtains, and bed-skirt!
By Michelle Lehman with Organizing Solutions “Clear the Clutter” www.organizingsolutions.info

Let’s Make Some $$$$ Selling Your Clothes

2010-02-07T16:28:00.000-08:00

It’s that time of year again….time to clean out those clothes closets. I bet each of you have at least $100-$200 or more worth of clothes you could make from consigning your clothes or selling them at JBF Sale (February 28-March 6, 2010).

Two great consigning stores that I like is Bearlee New in Broken Arrow (93rd and Aspen/145th) and The Children’s Closet in Tulsa (32nd and Harvard). Bearlee New sells women’s, men’s and children’s clothing so that’s why I go there plus I have always been happy with the money results. They are always have customers. A good friend of mine loves the Children’s Closet for selling children’s clothing. If you know of some great consignment stores, please let us know!

The easiest way to find clothes to consign is to go through all of your closets when most of your dirty clothes are in the hamper. Why you ask, because if your dirty clothes are in the hamper, that means you are currently wearing them! Hopefully you closets are still packed with clothes…right…you don’t have too many clothes do you? You know we only wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time.

Here is what you need: grab a bunch of dry cleaning hangers and go from closet to closet. Start with the kids closets first. Here is what I do, I start with my oldest son’s closet first because if any of his clothes are too small, I let my youngest son decide whether or not he wants them. More times than not he doesn’t want any of his clothes but you never know!

With the first child’s closet & dresser drawers quickly scan the clothes that are in the closet and dresser drawers. Don’t forget to go through everyone’s swimsuits and shoes!! Sort into three piles:
1. Too small (hand me down or consign)
2. Not sure if he still likes, hardly ever wears
3. Donate or use them as park clothes (we have a huge park with a creek that runs through it so we use old clothes to play in the creek, hence the term park clothes)

Now take your too small clothes to your next child’s room that you want them to see if they would like to keep. Put the donation clothes in a box or bag. Leave the “not sure” clothes on your child’s bed for them to give you a yes or no to after school. Use the same procedure for this child but instead add the clothes from older child as part of the 2nd pile of not sure clothes after you go through his closet. This way he can say yes or no to the hardly ever wear clothes from his closet and the older child’s hand me down clothes.

All clothes that your are going to consign place onto dry cleaning hangers and keep your good hangers. Presentation is everything, your clothes will look nicer hanging than pulling them out of a trash bag to consign. Any clothes that your consignment store is not interested in, take to a donation store…no need to bring them back into your house…NO ONE is going to wear them!

Your closet…be honest with yourself. If you haven’t worn in it in the past year more than likely you are not going to wear it. I know sometimes you think, you just never know, but I am telling you, you will make more money selling your clothes when they are in style than waiting three years to sell them later. Plus you not going to wear it, so it is just going to sit in your closet for three years and collect dust, choose $money$... not dust!!!

With your husband’s closet be kind, don’t get rid of all of his ugly golf shirts…leave some in his closet so you can make fun him!!! LOL! Just kidding, use the same principals as you did for your children, three piles and let him make the decision with a little guidance from you of course!!

Now go make some extra money!!!

In Case of an Emergency

2010-01-11T07:03:00.000-08:00

I hope and pray that none of you will need to have this information handy but I thought to be on the safe side I would share I tip that I got from someone or some show, probably Law and Order SVU! Love that show!!!

One of my friends got a new iPhone for Christmas this year. She had to manually enter all of her phone numbers because her sim card was old and was not compatible for the iPhone. I told her that I didn’t know where I had heard this but instead of putting your husband’s name in your contact list to actually use the word “husband cell” and “husband work”. So many times we have an enormous amount of contacts and if you were ever in an accident and were not able to tell the police officers your husbands name this is a quick and easy way for them to find the information to contact someone for you. I know this sounds so simple simon but I had never thought about that, how would they know if Tom, Dick or Harry is your husband’s name?

Another suggestion would be to enter “emergency contact” if you are a single parent. If you have children with a cell phone, make sure they enter “mom” or “dad” into their contacts.

I hope this tip helps and maybe it worth sharing with your friends and family, you just never know…

How to Start Getting Organized

2010-01-03T17:23:00.000-08:00

If your New Year's resolution was to get organized, now is the time to “Clear the Clutter”! Getting things organized won’t happen overnight but with small changes you can start creating habits that will help to keep the clutter away.

• Create structure in your day. If you are always spinning your wheels and feeling as though you are getting nowhere, try managing your time with a plan. Don't over-schedule your day.

• Change your morning routine to help you get ahead of the game. Whether that means unloading the dishwasher, doing a load of laundry, getting meat out of the freezer for tonight’s dinner or getting up earlier to improve your morning routine. Doing an extra thing in the morning can make a huge difference in the evening.

• Get a calendar or planner. Whether you prefer digital or paper having a calendar is a must for everyone. Start and end each day checking your calendar for today and planning for tomorrow.

• Sunday’s . I have mentioned this before, Sunday is a great time to write out your calendar, make meals ahead of time, wash lettuce or fruit for the week ahead. You will be amazed how much better Monday morning will feel when you take a few extra steps on Sunday.

• Controlling the mail. Try using online banking, set up automatic payments for your utilities or add payees to your online checking account. Make sure to mark “paperless statements” so your mail can be reduced. Not only will you find you are paying your bills on time, you will have less paper clutter around your home.

• In with one new, out with one old. Try to be aware of what you have at home and what you really need. So many times you have just replaced something that is lost amongst the clutter and if you knew where it was you wouldn’t need to replace it. Having a place for everything is essential to being organized.

• Start a “donation box/bag” in your garage. Donate household items you don't use, clothes, games, and toys. This will help “Clear the Clutter” while helping someone else in need. Regularly go through your things and weed out the excess. When the box or bag is full drop it off at your nearest donation center.
Creating some of these small changes above can not only improve the way you feel, it can help you become more organized. Take 15-20 minutes to straighten up your home at the end of the day. Remember to only touch things once, if the doll doesn’t belong in your bedroom ask your child to take it to her room. If you have brought bills in from the mailbox and you pay your bills in the office, take them to the office not the kitchen counter. If you put away and finish up what you're doing this will help maintain order in your home.

So many people want to "get organized," but that can feel overwhelmed. If you start with small and simple habits you will find these can make significant changes in your home.

In With the New, Out With the Old...

2009-12-27T11:23:00.000-08:00

Something new you may want to try this year is a “things to remember list” for next Christmas that you can place in with your decorations. Basically it is a list of things like desserts everyone loved/hated, buy a bigger turkey for next year, don’t invite so and so again unless you are mentally up for it!! This list will help you take the guess work out of next Christmas. Don’t forget to add to this list, “make sure there are enough batteries on hand”, nothing is worse than getting a new toy for Christmas that needs batteries and you only have one of the two batteries it needs.

As you know, one of my constant rants along with every other organizer in the world is “in with one new, out with one old”. Take a look around at the gifts you and your family received and before you start cramming the new blouse in your closet, is there an old blouse that is tired that it could replace? Did your children receive extra action figures or dolls that maybe could replace some broken toys or toys they rarely play with? Bottom line, it is all about excess no matter if it is Tupperware, toys, clothes or make-up there is always “extra” things around that people don’t use, play with, or wear. Do you have some of those things cluttering up your home?

New Years is this week and maybe instead of writing the typical New Years resolutions, try something new and write down new habits you could start. Instead of losing weight, try writing eating healthier or eliminating afternoon snacks. In place of getting organized you could write, spend ten minutes a day clearing the clutter. Sometimes we tend to take on more than we can accomplish and if your goal is too high, it can be hard to attain it and you end up feeling as though you have failed. Who wants to feel like that?!?!? Not me!

So this year, start with “little positive improvements”. Who knows, you may end up losing the weight you want and wouldn’t it be nice to live in an organized home! Happy New Years!

By Michelle Lehman Organizing Solutions “Clear the Clutter”

Exchanges, Returns...When Will it Ever End?

2009-12-23T06:46:00.001-08:00

Any time I feel stressed I hear that old commercial from Calgon Bath Soaps…”Calgon Take Me Away”, do you hear it?

I don’t know about you but I already have two returns and one exchange. I have to do the exchange before Christmas. I bought my husband a history book and you would think out of the 1000’s of history books out there I could find one he didn’t already have, NOT! Maybe he has too many!!!

I personally would not run out the door first thing on Saturday to do any exchanges or returns unless you absolutely have to for financial reasons. The lines will be out the door. My suggestion would be to look at the receipt and see what your time limit is for the exchange/return. Is it 30 days after the purchase, is it January 31st or is it three months? If you have some wiggle room, I would save your returns to do after the kids are back in school and everyone is back into their weekly routine. The lines will be shorter, trust me!

If you have saved your returns to do after things “go back to normal” put all of your returns in your car with the receipt in their designated bag/box. Map out your returns according to their location, try to make a full circle rather than zig zagging all over town. If you need to go grocery shopping as well and have return at a super center have your return map end at the super center so you can come straight home with your groceries. Time management is of the essence here!

If you are exchanging a sweater for a smaller size (notice I said smaller, trying to be positive here) I would go into the store and buy the sweater that you want in a smaller size. More times than not, the sweater will be marked down drastically for the after Christmas sales. Return your other sweater later for a store credit that you could use to buy a new swimsuit or just return it for cash back if that is an option. The check out lines will still be long but you will not have to stand in two different lines and you will have a chance to get what you want if you postpone the return line for a couple of weeks.

Your time is valuable and if you really enjoy shopping the after Christmas sales, take your time shop and don’t worry about returning until later. Who knows you may find a sweater you like better and maybe it’s marked down to $9.99 with an extra 20% off if you can stand on your head! Happy Holidays and have a great time shopping!

By Michelle Lehman Organizing Solutions “Clear the Clutter”

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...But

2009-12-23T06:44:00.000-08:00

Everyone is so stressed out, including me. I have now started wrapping gifts like an assembly line. I put names on all of my tags first (stickers so they adhere quickly) and as soon as I finish wrapping the present the label is ready and off it goes under the tree.

I have even gone one step further, I grab all presents that are like sizes measure the largest one on the wrapping paper and cut different wrapping paper designs in the same general size so I can wrap faster. I feel like the Engergizer Bunny who just keeps going and going!

It’s not that we spent a lot of money on so many presents instead we are wrapping several books, art supplies and other things. Sometimes quantity is better than quality. Besides Santa brings all the cool gifts and we’re stuck with the socks and underwear!!!

The point to all of this is that it’s okay if you take some short cuts to get things done faster so you can enjoy this wonderful time of year!!!

Christmas Break is Almost Here!

2009-12-09T19:41:00.001-08:00

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but next week is the last week you have before the kids are out of school. YIKES! I realize you have 100+ things left to do on your to-do list but maybe we could rearrange some items to take advantage of children being at school.

Try to get as much done next week that is secretive such as; wrapping their Christmas presents, making sure Santa has gotten everything on their list, stocking stuffers and even if you have a return or two to make because you decided on something else for your children. Nothing would be worse than a PlayStation game or Barbie doll falling out of the bag with your children in the car wondering why it is going back to the store! Good luck explaining that one!

It is difficult to finish these secret things when they are at home. If you can try to get most of it out of the way next week, that would be great! Leave making fudge bars, cookies, buying Aunt Judy’s gift for when they can come with you or help you in the kitchen. Hey…why not buy some extra aprons while you are out next week and put them to work in the kitchen. Now we are talking!!!!

Take a couple of minutes to “reprioritize” your list for next week for secret “stuff” and leave the rest for later, when you have extra help…

By Michelle Lehman Organizing Solutions “Clear the Clutter”

Scratch the Christmas Cards off the List!!!

2009-12-06T18:30:00.000-08:00

At this point of the season I just want to scratch everything off of my list! This weekend I decided to tackle or attack our Christmas cards. My husband loves for us to send out a card with a picture of the boys. By the time you figure out who to send them to and you sent you one last year that wasn’t on your list, before you know it you are sending out a ton of cards.

Here I am Saturday evening stuffing the picture into each card one after another. Now I am signing all of them with all of the members of our family. Where is my family during all of this, are you thinking? I am thinking the same thing! My oldest one is watching the football game (Texas vs. Nebraska), my youngest one is playing (Texas vs. Nebraska on PlayStation) and my husband is in and out listening to the game on the radio.

I decide to enlist in some help. I called a family timeout, TV time out and asked my husband to grab his radio. I had my oldest putting the cards in the envelope and my youngest putting stamps and return address labels on the envelopes (crooked and diagonal but they are on) while my husband and I addressed the envelopes. It was quite a production. Sure I would have loved to have Christmas songs playing on the stereo and yes we could have all been sitting in front of the fire place…enjoying the Christmas spirit. Instead we are on a roll, knocking them out!!

I know you are wondering where I am going with this? As we were finishing our task as fast as we can, my husband notices that one of the envelopes is not staying shut. He looks to see who it is addressed to and notices it is for one of his friends he likes to tease and joke with all the time. My “three boys”, yes “three boys” decide they are going to tape it, put Ninja Turtle stickers all over it, put a band-aid on it to keep it closed. They wrote on the envelope “warning contents may be hot”!

Never in my life have I heard the three of them laugh so hard, they thought they were so funny! We started off by attacking my Christmas cards as fast as we could so we could all go back to what we were doing and ended up having the time of our life. Our new tradition is to pick one card every year and “decorate” it Lehman style. Who would have known that it would have turned out to be a great Christmas memory and isn’t that what it is all about?!?!?

By Michelle Lehman Organizing Solutions “Clear the Clutter”

Organizing Your Spending

2009-12-02T19:52:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am going to try and organize your spending. I know, I know I have gone over the line this time but if someone doesn’t cross it you maybe wondering how to organize your budget after the first of the year.

First of all, find all of your available balances on your credit cards and your interest rate. If you don’t have to use them great, but just in case, let’s try use the credit cards wisely. I would use the card with the lowest interest rate and leave the rest of your cards at home so it will be easier to calculate your holiday spending. This will help you from accidently grabbing the wrong card at the checkout. Not only with this protect your budget it will protect your wallet. Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of shopping for all those gifts we loose our wallet or worse yet it is stolen. Can you imagine trying to cancel ALL of your credit cards and losing your personal information?

Speaking of which if you have not already made copies of all of your credit cards front and back of the card (account number is on the front and the toll free number for the credit card company is on the back along with a three digit security code number). If you don’t have a copier PLEASE take the time to write all the information down. I promise this will give you peace of mind knowing you have all of your information at your finger tips and you don’t have to guess or scramble to find all the account numbers.

Quick reminder, don’t over organize your holiday receipts. Keep it simple…one envelope or shoe box…all receipts no matter who the gifts are for, including you and your husband. Just fold the receipt into an a tiny square if you think he might take a peak and smudge some lipstick on a corner to make sure it hasn’t been opened.

Happy shopping and I promise I am not trying to drive you crazy, I will save that until after the first of the year!

By Michelle Lehman with Organizing Solutions “Clear the Clutter”

Decorating in an Organized Style

2009-11-30T08:31:00.000-08:00

Can you believe Christmas is going to be here in a few weeks? I swear I can still smell turkey in my house! Not only did I not go shopping on Black Friday, I didn’t finish decorating our house for Christmas. Football won my vote on Friday!

I love decorating our house for Christmas. With that being said, I like to decorate in a organized style. I am not artsy fartsy, shocking I know…I am very methodical about how I do things and I like to accomplish my tasks in a timely manner.

To save time and effort for me, I take pictures of my Christmas decorations in each room so that when I pull out my decorations I don’t have to try and remember how I did it last year or worse yet try to come up with some fantastic new decorating idea. Besides balance and having everything symmetrical is very important to me. Who would of guessed, uh!?!? I have found taking pictures really saves time and there is no guess work involved.

As you put up your Christmas decorations take some of your current decorations down so you home does feel so cluttered or dare I say it…like a “blue light special” going on in your family room. Enjoy the simplicity of your Christmas decorations.

If there are a few items left over in you holiday supply that didn’t get used this year and they are not a “special” ornament, we have a beady eyed Santa that my husband had as a child that scares me so he stays protected and never comes out! If you happen to have extra Christmas ornaments or decorations now would be a great time to donate them. Sadly there are many families this year that are struggling and would love to have your Christmas decorations. Just a thought…

Don't Worry, It's Not the End of the World

2009-11-23T09:49:00.000-08:00

It’s Thanksgiving week and the house does not need to be organized in order to eat turkey. As a matter of fact, the closet can be stuffed and so can the turkey. I know you would love everything to be perfect but it doesn’t have to be. Let it go, focus and what really matters and enjoy the preparation of Thanksgiving.

You have invited family and friends into your home to celebrate Thanksgiving and you have so many things to be thankful for this year. I say if any of your friends or family start snooping through your closets or even mention that you have a little clutter…no pumpkin pie for them!!!

I am asking you to relax, let it go, enjoy and put a smile of your face…company is coming and your house doesn’t need to be perfect! Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers!

Organize Toys Now, to Make Room for More Toys?!?!?

2009-11-18T17:15:00.000-08:00

No, I am not kidding…have you looked around your house? The toys are taking over your entire home and Christmas is right around the corner. How will all the new toys fit into their bedroom or playroom? They start out in a bedroom or playroom and before you know it, they've spread to every room in the house. It's almost as though they multiply or come to life at night like Toy Story and invite friends to come for a sleepover!

If you take the time to organize the toys now, this will help give you some gifts ideas for Christmas and at the same time make room for all the new presents. The key to organizing toys is finding a “home” for all the toys. Children can learn to put toys away if the method is simple and easy.

Start by clearing the clutter. Gather all the toys together in the room you choose to have their toys instead of the whole house. Sort the good toys from the junk and either donate the things that are in good. If you happen to find new toys, now would be a great time to donate them for Toys for Tots. Repair any toys that are meaningful to them and throw away things that are trash.

Sort toys into appropriate bins and storage. Toys that are alike should go into the same bin. Power Rangers in one bin, cars in another…if you have girls Barbies in one, Little Pet Shop in another, you get the idea. One little addition I would like to add is make sure if that you keep toys close to each other if your child plays with them together. For instance if your daughter always has Barbie take care of the pets from Little Pet Shop, keep the bins side by sides so that clean up is quick and easy.

If you feel that you need to a label your bins and your child is not reading, print pictures from the toy stores; laminate the picture and velcroe it to the bin.
If space is a problem in their room. Try hanging toy organization tools on doors. Over-the-door shoe hangers are perfect for organizing small toys, stuffed animals, Barbies or even Match Box Cars.

I use Ziploc Bags to store “accessories” from Barbie, G.I Joes, for organizing the pieces they don’t play with very often. Not only is less of a mess to clean up but hopefully your feet won’t get anymore on those small pieces. Boy does that hurt, I swear Legos are the worst on your feet! I would suggest you place the bags in a bin on a top shelf and get them down when the child asks for them. So many times, they just want to play with the person and really don’t want to change out guns or shoes.

Rotating toys is a great way to keep children entertained and interested in playing with their toys. Every month or so, rotate the bins so that your child has something new to play with.
Designate a time once a week for room cleaning. Everyday, your child should put their toys away, but once a week they could make sure that all of their toys are in the rights spot to prevent a future mess. "A place for everything and everything in its place."

By Michelle Lehman, Organizing Solutions “Clear the Clutter” www.organizingsolutions.info

Recyling Your Tennis Shoes!

2009-11-16T07:01:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness, this is the coolest thing ever! I just learned about this very cool program by Nike ReUSE A SHOE that recycles athletic/tennis shoes in any condition, or any other brand and turns them into sports surfaces! They collect shoes from partnering retail stores and other shoe recycling centers.

The shoes are taken apart in three sections. The rubber on the bottom, the sole of the shoe and the fabric of the shoe and they place them onto three different conveyer belts to get ground up. After it has been through the “Nike Grind” they use the material to make running tracks, tennis court's, basketball courts and play grounds. How cool is that?!?!?

This is from their website to give you better details of the Nike Grind process….

“No matter how your shoes are processed, the end result is the same – three high-quality Nike Grind materials ready to be put back in the game:

Nike Grind Rubber, made from the shoe's outsole, is used in track surfaces, interlocking gym flooring tiles, playground surfacing and even new Nike products, such as the outsoles of the Nike Pegasus or the Jordan XX3. It’s also used in trim items like buttons and zipper pulls.

Nike Grind Foam, made from the shoe's midsole, is used as a cushion for outdoor basketball and tennis courts, as well as futsal fields.

Nike Grind Fiber, made from the shoe's fabric upper, is used in the creation of cushioning pads for facilities like indoor synthetic courts and wood courts. “

Maybe now would be a great time to organize your shoes!

Organizing Your Gift List

2009-11-11T17:31:00.000-08:00

I don’t know about you but we don’t have any trees with money growing on them. I keep looking out our back door but still no money trees. I know several of you will be attending the 918CouponQueens Black Friday Workshop tonight and will get great tips on how to save money this holiday season. I would like to back up a bit to make sure that you purchase things that you need and not just because it was a great deal.

So many people have a gift closet or gift tote of over bought presents. I will tell you I am probably the worst offender when it comes to my boys. We will make a list, I will check it off and then I keep seeing “extra things” that I think the NEED to have, I ended over buying every year.

I realize if we all had the financial opportunity we would buy gifts for everyone down to the school crossing guard. Sometimes we have to make choices and maybe this year we need to cut back a little so that we are not overwhelmed with the credit card bills in January. This is going to require some planning and budgeting so you are not scrambling the week before Christmas and just buying something to buy it.

Take some time to sit down to make a gift list of everyone you might possibly want to give a gift too. I would suggest if you don’t have a money tree in your backyard, you put a $ amount by the person’s name so you can have a budget for your gifts. If you have budget of $1000 for everyone and your $ amount by each person is adding up to $1300, you need to do some trimming and I don’t mean the Christmas tree.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by your list and budget, go ahead and choose the people that are most important to buy a gift for. Maybe this year you could bake cookies for some people on your list instead of buying a gift. You could ask your siblings if they would like to draw a names in place of everyone buying something for everyone to help save money. We used to buy for our sisters and brothers and found out that all we were doing was exchanging gift cards, now we just buy for our nieces and nephews.

Once you have your list written out and your budget in place, now is the time to put the 918CouponQueen's suggestions into action. Look for deals, coupons and rebates to save money. Save all of you receipts in one envelope marked Christmas gifts. Nothing is worse searching high and low for a receipt to find you have lost it and can not return the gift.

Do you enjoy gift buying Christmas gifts, or do you find it stressful? How do you make sure you stay in your budget?

Get Your Refrigerator Ready for Thanksgiving

2009-11-08T17:31:00.000-08:00

I mentioned last week that now would be a good time to get your menu started for Thanksgiving. I would like to take it one step further and let’s make sure your refrigerator/freezer is ready for Thanksgiving as well.

If you are going out of town for the Thanksgiving holiday or even if you are hosting Thanksgiving, now would be a great time to do some refrigerator organizing. Try not to buy to a lot of food that will not get used in the next couple of weeks or that will rot in your refrigerator while you are away.

Maybe the next two weeks you could have a “clean out” the refrigerator and pantry menu. Make meals out of what you already have at home to allow room for the turkey that will be in the refrigerator. Just buy perishable groceries that you need such as milk, fruit and vegetables and use of what have already have in your pantry and frig. Not only will you being using saving time at the grocery store you will be saving some money and I think we could all use a little extra money these days.

Before you head out of town, make sure to check your refrigerator. If you have any extra food that you know will not get eaten and it has not been open, take it to your local food pantry.

Tips for an Organized Thanksgiving

2009-11-08T17:28:00.000-08:00

I realize Halloween just got over but why not get ahead of the game this Thanksgiving? If Thanksgiving dinner is one of your responsibilities for friends and family now is a great time to plan ahead. If you are one of the lucky ones that gets to go visit family and have Thanksgiving dinner severed to you than there is no need to read this blog, unless of course you just love my tips!

Here are a some tips to help with Thanksgiving Dinner:

Start off by making a menu of what you would like to serve for dinner and deserts. After you finish making the menu, make a grocery list that coincides with what you plan to make dinner. I am sure the 918CouponQueen would suggest that we keep our eyes open for sales and coupons from your grocery list to help save money! I would also suggest that you do not wait until the last minute to buy your turkey, nothing worse than going to the grocery store and finding out they are out of turkey! I know this from a past experience I had when we were first married…Cornish Hen anyone?!?!?

As the host of this great festivity decide who should bring a dish to help decrease some of your responsibilities. My boys always like to make homemade Pumpkin Pie but my mother will bring her famous Apple Pie from Minnesota. Since she is traveling and loves to help I ask that she brings dinner rolls, her pie and of course her homemade recipe for stuffing. If anyone else is coming add them to the “dish list”, you could have them bring salads or sweet potatoes. In the end, your menu should be filled with things you feel you could tackle without feeling overwhelmed and at the same time giving you time to enjoy the day!

A couple of days ahead of the Thanksgiving, go over your menu and see if there is some prep work you can do to help save time in the kitchen on Thanksgiving Day. Even just chopping onions, parsley or washing potatoes will help you get ahead of the game. One thing I do as I am preparing Thanksgiving Dinner is I run my dishwasher after I have finished making everything and everything is baking. This helps me get ahead of washing dishes after dinner. I like to get the big mixing bowls and pans out of the way so that all that is left to wash after dinner is the dishware. Hey, I want to watch football too!!!!

If you have a tip or even a great Thanksgiving recipe…we would love to know! Gobble, Gobble…

Let’s Put the Halloween Decorations Away…

2009-11-01T17:39:00.000-08:00

I know, I know it’s only November 2nd, but I hate to be the bearer of bad news…Thanksgiving is right around the corner! Start by gathering all of your Halloween decorations, books, CD’s and DVD’s into one room of your home. If you don’t have a storage tote, grab a box or large trash bag to store your items.

Now would be a great time to double check all the decorations or books to see if any repairs need to be made before the next holiday season. My poor Jack-O’-Lantern needed a dentist this morning….nothing a little hot glue couldn’t fix. I can not begin to tell you how much I love my hot glue gun!

As you go through your Halloween things decide whether or not it is worth saving for next year. Is the item tired and has seen better days or are you so sick of picking up the sticky tongue off the wall? Now would be a great time for it to mysteriously drop in the trash can ever to be seen again….just a thought!

This may not interest you, but when the boys were younger I would preserve some of their holiday artwork. I wouldn’t save every piece but I would grab one from each of them and use laminating sheets to keep them safe. I display the artwork on our garage door entering our house from the garage. They laugh every time I get them out and display them prominently for the entire world to see.

Speaking of this, I just pulled out our Thanksgiving books and a couple of hand print turkeys made from the boys when they were in pre-school. One says, “I am thankful for paint” the other one said, “I am thankful for Power Rangers”. Boy do they grow up fast!

Organizing Children’s Books

2009-10-28T17:43:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine was asking me today what I do to keep the boys books organized because she felt like the books were always falling off the shelves in her house. So I thought maybe you would be interested in what I suggested. If not, please hold your comments to yourself! LOL

First of all a little tidbit about my boys…the older one is very much like me! Love that and his wife will love that too someday! He likes things in order and he likes it to stay that way. My youngest likes things to be organized but does not like to do the work himself, so he will keep the organizing profession going. Bless his wife!!

Both of my kids love books and they have a ton of books between the two of them. My ten year old keeps his books in a bookcase. This does not always work for all kids. In most cases, for children that are younger, the books are stuffed onto a shelf or half are falling off the shelf. What I like to suggest is big rectangular baskets to hold books. I like to put the book baskets by the bed, it makes the room look cozy and is handy when they are picking out a book to read at night.

In each of their rooms we keep chapter books, sports books, world record books, and books for night time stories before bed. In our family room we keep a basket of books that I change out from their rooms and have other books that I don’t necessarily want them reading before bed. Such as; G.I. Joe, Power Rangers, Scooby Doo and so on. I don’t want them dreaming about zombies or bad guys before bed. Call me crazy but when they go to bed I want them to sleep through the night without bad dreams!

I keep all of my holiday books with my decorations. I also keep holiday movies with them as well. For instance, when I pulled out my Halloween decorations, I had about 15 Halloween books that I placed next to our book basket in our family room. At our school the kids are encouraged to read for ten minutes everyday and these are the books they will grab to read. I try to keep the books in the basket rotated so the books are fresh and when I add the holiday books they really enjoy seeing them again from last year.

Another tip would be to put your child’s library books from school next to the book basket as well. This way they are out of the basket and not confused with the books you have at home.

One thing to remember is if your child is a toddler, keep the books they will read when they are older up on a closet shelf in their room. You will find just trying to get all of the picture books in their basket will be tough enough without adding books they might accidently tear.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to email me at cleartheclutter@cox.net

2009-10-25T13:58:00.000-07:00

I know I have mentioned short cuts in the kitchen before but I read this statistic and thought this is a good time to mention them again.

According to the National Restaurant Association, “Americans currently spend 43 percent of their food dollar on food prepared away from home, compared to 36 percent in 1981. And that percentage is considered likely to increase in the future. National Restaurant Association statistics show that, even in the depths of the recession, customers have maintained their frequency of eating and ordering out. True, they are probably spending fewer dollars on each occasion (one reason why restaurateurs may feel things are worse than they are) but their obvious reluctance to "brown bag it" or stay at home, even in the face of declining real disposable income. On top of that the National Restaurant Association has projected foodservice industry sales to reach $262 billion this year, an increase of 5.6 percent over 1991, or 1.8 percent when adjusted for inflation.”

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have that kind of money to spend on eating out everyday. I know the 918CouponQueen would agree with me that you will save more money by shopping smarter and if you are really itching to go out to eat she has several great deals to save you money at restaurants. To learn more ways to save money on groceries and eating out read her blog at http://www.918couponqueen.com/

In the mean time let’s find some short cuts in the kitchen. Taking a few steps can save you a lot of time to make dinners at home if you know a few secret tips. We are all busy, busy and don’t have enough time in the day to make dinner from scratch or spend an hour trying to make dinner after you get home from soccer games.

I know Sunday is suppose to be a day of rest, but Sunday afternoon is the day I like to get ahead of the game. I brown all of my ground beef and put it into a few freezer bags. I don’t measure anything out…scary I know, but I scoop the browned hamburger into a freezer bag for what I think is enough for several dishes. In our house we make taco’s, hotdishes (Minnesota talk) or casseroles for you Oklahoman’s. I make a small freezer bag for spaghetti, BBQ’s, and so on. The point I am trying to make is if your hamburger already done it takes no time at all to make a casserole, spaghetti, or tacos. Not only are you saving money by not going out but you are able to be at home and this will give your kids some extra time to do their homework! It’s a win/win!!

The next time you are grilling out chicken make a little extra to freeze for chicken quesadillas or put chicken in your pasta sauce for something new.

Another extra thing I like to do on Sunday afternoon is wash all of my lettuce and put it into a Ziploc bag. Nothing drives me more crazy then wanting a salad for dinner and having to clean all of the lettuce. I just want to be able to throw it in a bowl and start adding lots of toppings. I also cut up my fruit and put it into storage containers so that it is ready to go as well.

None of this is rocket science and some Sunday’s you may not have time to do any of this. All I am trying to do is give you some ideas/tips on some very useful shortcuts to make your busy day less busy. I wonder what you could do with the money you will saving from eating out less for dinner?

Organizing Your Photos

2009-10-21T15:19:00.000-07:00

You are going to have to be strong here, no going down memory lane...I mean business…let’s organize those photos.
First gather all of your “loosy goosy” photos and spread them out wherever you may have room. A dining room table, card table or even a spare bedroom bed will work to help organize your photos. I like to sort my photos by dates, but I have four categories: Child 1, Child 2, Vacations, and Christmas. I have a photo album for each child, one for family vacations and I make a Christmas album every year. The boys love to look at them at Christmas and stroll down memory lane.

I would suggest you set a time limit for sorting and purging. You really, really need to stay focused (again, we don’t want any oo’s and ah’s) just down to business: organizing photos. Try setting your microwave time for 30 minutes or live on the edge and set it for 60 minutes! Think how many photos you could go through!

As you sort your photos into your categories, toss any that are blurry, off center, or that you can’t remember where or who in the world those people are on the photo! I tend to take 25 shots of the same thing hoping to get one good picture if you are like me please discard the other 24 shots of your child sitting by the dog sort of smiling and keep the one good one of him smiling.
If you are not a photo album person or scrapbook person place your categorized photos into a photo box and label it’s contents. Try displaying a few pictures meaningful to you or that will put a smile on your kids faces when they see them. We pulled out old videos this past weekend and my boys laughed and laughed at how silly they thought they were when they were young. Kids love to see old pictures of themselves as long as it is not too embarrassing!

I try to update my photos in frames with new ones as much as possible. The one thing my husband likes that I do, is that I leave the old photo in the frame from previous displays. Every time we get a new school picture I put the new one in and look at years past. Boy do they grow up quickly! It is a quick “snap shot” of their lives and every time I can’t believe how big they are getting.

If you are technically inclined, and you have digital pictures try creating new galleries or have your screen saver change out your picture files to keep things new and fresh. My parents love their Kodak Easy Share digital frame and they download new pictures I email to them all the time. Don’t forget to back-up your pictures or save them on an external hard drive or through a service. Nothing would be worse than loosing all of your memories. I put the boys birthday pictures on a CD and put the CD in our safety deposit box so I know they have each year of their life in a safe place.

After you are done organizing your photos, you can go back and “oo and ah” . As always if you need anything please don’t hesitate to email me at cleartheclutter@cox.net

All Those Buttons

2009-10-16T13:41:00.000-07:00

Everytime I buy a new outfit it comes with an extra button or two. Sometimes it even comes with extra thread. The funny thing is that I don’t sew but I need to know which button goes to a shirt or a pair of pants just in case I HAVE to sew it back on myself or like this weekend my parents are coming from Minnesota and my Step Mother loves to sew!

Here’s a quick tip on keeping those loose buttons together so you know what you have and giving them a home so when you need to sew it on or your Step Mother is coming you can find them quickly.

Most of the buttons and thread usually come inside a small plastic ziplock bag. I cut off the tag and label which sweater, blouse or pants it belongs too. With the misc. buttons I put them into snack size ziplocks by color or for old buttons that used to belong to clothing that I no longer have. My Step Mother uses old buttons to make my current clothes look new again, she jazzes things up a little!

Try to keep all of your buttons and extra thread in a box, sewing kit, or tote. I keep mine in our laundry room but you can keep yours in a closet or another place that works best for you.
I would write more but I have to get my “need to be fixed clothes” together! My guest are arriving soon!

What To Do With Warranities and Manuals

2009-10-11T18:41:00.000-07:00

So many of my clients ask me what they should do with their warranties and manuals. How many times has an item stopped working right after the manufacturer’s warranty expired? You go to your file and after you have sifted through 210 warranties you realize you don’t have the proper documentation or worse yet, it has expired!

If you purchased the item on a credit card sometimes that credit card company will have a free extended warranty program. You can either get the item repaired at the warranty company’s expense or receive a check for the original purchase price if the item is not repairable. If you are not sure if your credit card company offers this program call the toll-free customer service number on the back of your credit card and ask to speak to a customer service representative to find out.

I was in a car accident with our youngest son several years ago. The police officer told me that his car seat would no longer be safe since it was in an auto accident and I needed to replace it. I didn’t have the receipt but I had the warranty and I called BOK to asked them if they could go back to July 2001 and send my a copy of my transactions to show I purchased a large $ amount at Babies R Us. Sure enough they found it and I mailed it in to the manufacture with our warranty. They sent us a check nearly 80% of what I had spent on the original car seat to purchase I new one!

In most cases you will need to have your original sales receipt (photocopy it in case it fades) in order to have an item covered under an extended warranty program.

Now let’s tackle manuals. Isn’t funny how big manuals are for even a simple thing such as a toaster (BTW you can recycle the toaster manual)? My view on manuals is that once you understand how the product works (under $100) you don’t necessarily need to keep the manual. Even if you need a small part for your product you can go online input your serial number and it will pull up all the parts available for purchasing parts. I have found most manuals are posted online and let’s be honest if your LCD TV goes on the fritz do you really feel comfortable trying to fix it yourself? On the other hand if you were going to sell that same LCD TV it is a nice selling point to have the manual.

Less paper, less clutter!!! Visit www.organizingsolutions.info if you need further assistance.

Is Homework a Scary Word in Your House?

2009-10-08T07:03:00.000-07:00

In our house we start our homework at 4:00 p.m., no not at 4:15 p.m., 4:00 rain or shine! Generally speaking I have our home on a routine, schedule if you must...gasp…I know you are thinking…no not, Michelle! I like the boys to be able to have their snack first, play or watch TV. I have friends who insist that the children do their homework before they do anything else. I feel you need a break, to chill and relax before you jump back into your school work again.

Homework can be a huge battle for families and it is extremely difficult on families that have both parents working full-time. It is a lot of pressure to do it all; make dinner, wash clothes, pick up the house and let’s not forget try to help with homework.

I had several clients that like to set up an area in their office for the children’s homework. I like this idea for kids that are older and are more independent. In our house I would be running up and down the stairs a 100 times, but maybe that would be a good thing for my bum but that’s another blog.

Our homework area is the kitchen table. One child at one end and the other one at the other end. I am such a mean mommy that when my youngest son didn’t even have homework, I would have him sit in his spot at the table and look at books just to get him used to the idea of homework while my other son did his homework. How crazy is that?!?!? One of things I like about having them here is that they have so many questions about their homework in elementary school. This allows me to be near them to answer their questions and at the same time I can be starting dinner or folding clothes.

Some suggestions I would try at your home would be to make sure you homework area is neat an organized. Try to have any extra supplies you may need (lined paper, colored pencils, rulers, etc.) handy so that you aren’t running all over the house.

Keep your children focused and help them understand that the sooner they finish the closer they are to being able to play. Remind them that we all have work to do, commitments and as a child this is their responsibility.

I try to make up little games or silly sayings that may help them to remember things for their test at school. Last week I used John Cena from WWE to help him remember that Boston is the capital of Massachusetts. If your boys aren’t into wrestling, John Cena is from Boston! I tape their spelling words to the pantry door every week so they can see them. I doubt they at look at them but it makes me feel better!

What are some things you do around your house to make homework more fun and less stressful?

Packing School Lunches & Snacks

2009-10-04T17:40:00.000-07:00

I don’t know about your house but it seems that the boys never can agree on the same thing. Every once in awhile they can agree on what to watch on TV. but usually I think my youngest just concedes. So it goes without saying the one of them prefers the school cafeteria lunch and the other one wants to bring his lunch to school!

Now that we have been in school for almost two months, you have probably found some things that work and some that don’t work. I have found that packing my son’s lunch isn’t really that hard and to be honest if you pack it rather than buying prepackaged lunches you can save a little money. It is a lot easier to buy the Lunchables and the little bags of chips along with a juice boxe but unless you find them on sale and have a coupon they can be expensive and often not very nutritious. I take a big bag of chips, crackers or pretzels and split it up in snack bags to save money. If the juice boxes are not on sale, I fill our reusable bottles with Kool-Aid.

To keep your lunch items handy start by dedicating a drawer or cupboard space to hold your items. This will allow you to quickly and easily pack lunches. I grab crackers everyday after school to refill my son’s morning snack and put it in his backpack for the following morning. This way I don’t forget and he is not without his morning snack. I have forgotten before and boy did I feel bad, trust me I will not make the same mistake again! I even pack his Monday morning snack (usually the prepackaged Whales from Wal-Mart so they don’t sit in a plastic bag over the weekend) Friday after school.

For a stress-free morning, pack lunches the night before. Be sure to ask for some input from your child. When your children have a say in what goes into their lunch box, they’re more likely to eat it. Remember most schools allow only 15 or 20 minutes to eat lunch so make sure the foods you pack are easy to open. I have a friend who makes sandwiches for the week and freezes them to save time. Another friend of mine buys Arby’s Roast Beef Sandwiches 5 for $5 and freezes them for her son’s lunch. If your child is tired of bread try crackers, bagels, pita pockets or tortillas to create a new sandwich. Who knows, you may find a new favorite for your child. My son eats the same thing day after day, I wish I could jazz up his lunch!

I hope you find when everything is organized and handy you can literally pack a lunch in seconds!

To-Do Lists

2009-10-01T06:39:00.000-07:00

We all make them and remake them again and again only to notice the same things are listed from one day to the next. I realize that sometimes making a To-Do List makes you feel overwhelmed by the amount of work you have to do. I am sure you have felt that all you do is make lists and lists yet nothing ever gets accomplished. Believe it or not, there are better ways to make a list than just writing things down.

To-Do Lists should be prioritized by all things you need to accomplish that day. They list everything that you have to do, with the most important tasks at the top of the list, and the least important tasks at the bottom. Do you remember that old saying of putting them in ABC order?
A proven simple technique is ABC rating of your priorities. Mark the tasks on your To-Do List with “A’s” for the most important task. “B’s” are less urgent but still important things that you should start right after you are done with “A’s”. “C’s” are “would love to do” things that you could do if you have any time left after “A’s” and “B’s”. Those to-do’s can be moved to another day. By prioritizing your list, you plan the order in which you’ll do things and stay focused.
While this sounds like a simple thing to do, it’s when people start to use To-Do Lists correctly you will feel as though you are in more control of your day to accomplish things and you may even find yourself with some extra time at the end of the day! With To-Do Lists, you’ll be more organized and in control of your day.

Here are some tips to help you get started making To-Do Lists.
Start by writing down all of the tasks that you need to complete the night before. Make sure you have not overloaded yourself with too many things to do. Keep your list small and write with pencil so you can easily erase or add to your list. No one likes to look at a list with a bunch of scribbles and scratched out words.

Make your lists clear. For example write clearly and if you need to make a doctors appointment write who is to have the appointment and with which doctor. Sometimes if your list is to vague you might forget what you meant to do, if that makes sense. Another example would be if you wrote “car”…is that an oil change, fill gas, rotate tires.. you get the point. “Car-Oil change”
Don’t forget to prioritize your list using the ABC method. If too many things are at a high priority you will never get it all accomplished. Look at your list again and see if you can make some less important ones or move them to later in the week.

Everyone uses different methods for different kinds of lists. Here are some ideas for a To-Do List. Keep a notebook with you, use your iPhone or Blackberry, or a digital recorder. I leave myself messages at home on our answering machine if I need to put something on my To-Do List. Some people use a magnetic pad for the refrigerator. Try a few different ways to see what works best for you to make your lists. You may need different kinds of lists for different things. For example I use the magnet pad on my refrigerator for my running grocery list and I use a sticky note for my To-Do List for that day and carry it with me. I stick it to my dash board of my car (not over anything important!). I can still see that I am going a little too fast and need to slow down.

Keep in mind, you may need an additional list at home. Try keeping an ongoing list of projects that you need to accomplish, but haven’t penciled into your daily list . This list may include things to fix around the house, pay bills, send birthday cards or run to the mall for a dress you need for a wedding later in the month. Update this list once a week.

If you have any questions about time management or To-Do Lists, please feel free to email me at cleartheclutter@cox.net . If you need further assistance and would like me to come to your home please go to my website www.organizingsolutions.info for more information about my services.

Do You Know How Much Time You Have?

2009-09-27T20:19:00.000-07:00

September 16th 2009, does that date mean anything to anyone? Anyone? September 16th is exactly 100 days before Christmas. Oh my! That means there are presents to buy, gifts to wrap, cards to send, parties to plan, and a family meals to be prepared! Do you realize there all sorts of websites set up to email you a “to-do” for each of the 100 days prior to Christmas?!?!?

If you don’t know me by now, you know I am always tooting my horn about getting ahead of the game. Do this, do that and your life will run so much smoother. With that being said, I am here to tell you, that I think we as a society (you and me) have gone overboard every year at Christmas.

Have you looked in the stores lately? It isn’t even October 1st and the Halloween decorations are on sale. Why you ask… to add more room for the Christmas decorations that already are out! Yes, you can buy Santa and his reindeer today! I am shocked at how early the stores start filling the shelves with Christmas items every year. I swear it starts earlier and earlier, could be that I am just getting old and losing my mind.

I have helped clients over the past years organize their attics, garages and closets to help make more room for Christmas decorations. What I find most interesting is that no matter how organized it is or how much room you have to store all the totes or boxes no one wants to unpack ALL of that stuff. I have had clients that have even purchased all new things to avoid unpacking all the decorations.

I am not suggesting that you hire me to organize or that I that I am telling you go out and spend hundreds of dollars to decorate your home to avoid unpacking your decorations. Instead I would like to give you a gift a “get out of jail free card” if you must. I am suggesting you give yourself PERMISSION, yes permission, to relax…to step back and listen to the Christmas songs…breath in the cool fresh air….to make things simple…to make it real. Enjoy Halloween, enjoy Thanksgiving and above all realize that it doesn’t matter if your house looks like a Macy’s Christmas room, it doesn’t matter how many gifts are under the tree, it doesn’t matter how many fudge balls or cookies you make…what MATTERS is that you and your family enjoy the holiday season and are free from stress.

Happy 88 days of a new holiday tradition of keeping things effortless and not being overwhelmed! Who knows you may thank me for this someday…

Organizing Your Freezer...

2009-09-24T06:56:00.000-07:00

I know you don’t want to do this, but when was the last time you saw what was at the bottom of your freezer? I bet some of us could give that “unexplained meat” to our children’s science teacher for an experiment! Why not organize your freezer today?

The first step I suggest is taking everything out of your freezer and putting it on your kitchen counter top. As you are doing this I would like you to check expiration dates and start to put the food into categories.

For example:

Breakfast Items
Desserts, ice cream and popsicles (BTW the creamy, rubbery stuff on top of the ice cream is not a topping it is old!)
Cheeses or Deli Meats
Pizza, pizza rolls, left over Mazzio’s, Papa Johns and Hideaway Pizza (Do you see a theme here…we love pizza at our house!)
Vegetables
Fruits and so on.

Here is a guideline by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration for safe storage. Frozen foods can be stored indefinitely, but the flavor can change when food is stored past the time limits below.

Raw Beef Roast and Steaks: 6 to 12 months
Raw Pork Roast and Chops: 4 to 6 months
Raw Veal Roast and Chops: 4 to 6 months
Cooked Meat: 2 to 3 months
Soup: 2 to 3 months
Raw Chicken Pieces: 9 months
Cooked Chicken Pieces: 4 months
Pizza: 1 to 2 months (In our house it doesn’t last more than a week!)
Luncheon Meats: 1 to 2 months
Raw Fatty Fish (Salmon, Tuna, etc.): 2 to 3 months
Raw Lean Fish (Cod, Flounder, etc.): 6 months
Cooked Fish: 4 to 6 months

Now that we have everything categorized and checked for expiration dates, let’s go ahead and clean your freezer with warm soapy water and a cloth. As we are putting your food back into your freezer, keep your like items categorized together on the same shelf or in the same drawer. I like to put my frequently used frozen items within easy reach inside the freezer door, such as breakfast items and my coffee.

Remember to record the date of purchase or write the expiration date on the outside of the freezer bag before putting the new food into the freezer. This will help you stay organized in your freezer.

If you have any further questions about your freezer please feel free to email me at cleartheclutter@cox.net.

Is It A Mom Thing, Or Am I Just Crazy?

2009-09-20T18:11:00.000-07:00

We took off to St. Louis Friday morning to catch a Cubs vs. Cardinals game Friday night and go to the St. Louis Arch Saturday morning before heading home. I am telling you our itinerary because my husband accused me of being crazy and of course extremely anal Friday afternoon. Not to say he didn’t accuse me of this Thursday or Tuesday but my point of all of this is Friday.

After a nice six hour drive in the rain until three hours outside of Tulsa we arrived in St. Louis. After we zig zagged through downtown to our hotel we parked and checked in. Thank goodness we got there at 2:30 because the check-in line wasn’t bad, but after 3:00 the line was outside the door!! I will tell you we were on the road in good time because I am organized and once I have it in my head we are leaving at a certain time by goodness we are leaving on time! Did anyone thank me or mention that had we left a little later that we would have been standing in line for an hour!?!? No…but they did mention it later that they were glad we didn’t have to stand in that long line. I’ll take what I can get!

So here is where my husband and my dear children suggest I am crazy. As soon as we entered our room, first things first, I ALWAYS, ALWAYS check to make sure it is clean. If the bathroom tub is dirty…I will guarantee you the rest of the room is even worse. If the tub is sparkling (i.e. no hair, no grime, no slime) the rest of the room will be great. All is good so I start unpacking…I put the HBA suitcase in the bathroom. Unwrapped the soap, took the toothbrushes and toothpaste out and put them into a cup. Took my shampoo and conditioner out of the suitcase and put it in the shower. I moved onto the clothes in the suitcase, took our Cubs and Cardinals shirts out to hang (yes we are family that is divided). My oldest son and husband are Cubs fans and my youngest son is a Cardinals fan, I on the other hand could care less but I must keep things even so to keep things symmetrical I am a Cardinals fan. I would rather be watching a football game or hockey game but sometimes we mothers just need to go along for the ride.

As I am semi unpacking our clothes, my husband asked, “What are you doing, we are just staying over night, are you crazy?” I look at him as though I have no idea who he is talking too, it’s not like we just got married. In December we will have been married 13 years. I am thinking to myself, are you out of your mind??!?!? What do you mean, “what am I doing?” I respond, “Getting things in order, dah…what do you think I am doing”!?!?!?! He reminds me again we are just staying over night and let’s get going. I told him all moms do this, we like things to be in order and ready. I reminded him of the Berenstain Bears episode where Brother and Sister hurried to get their suits on and swim while they were on vacation. Mama insisted on getting the summer house “clean and ready” and in the end Brother and Sister helped and said it was much better to have things unpacked so they could “all relax and enjoy the vacation”. I got nothing, but a look as though I am crazy! Am I crazy or do you unpack and get things in order too? BTW the Cardinals beat the Cubs, in the end I got the last laugh!

Keeping a Calendar

2009-09-16T17:14:00.000-07:00

All of us seem busier than ever these days and with so many commitments whether it is work, a dentist appointment or a PTA meeting we need to make sure we try to keep track of these commitments. Time management is essential otherwise you will feel like your are running in circles and getting nothing accomplished.

I still use a day planner from Franklin Covey. You would think that of all people that would not like to have paper around I would use my phone or Outlook but I am still stuck in the 80’s. I love my paper calendar!! There is something about it to me if I write it down, I feel more committed to my calendar. I will suggest if you use a paper calendar please use a PENCIL to write your appointments rather than a pen! I can not tell you how many times I see calendars with blue and black ink scribbles all over their calendars. How can you read it after so many scribbles?!?!?

After you decide what type of calendar you want to use make sure it is in format you that can hold all of your family’s appointments. I prefer the Week at a Glance calendar, this way I see what is going on at school, my work appointments, doctor appointments and soccer games all for this week. I check my calendar every night and I always look it over on Sunday afternoon just to get an idea of how busy our week is going to be. If you really want to live on the edge you could always put a menu plan on your calendar too! I know, I know now I am talking CRAZY!!!

Try to fill in monthly/yearly appointments that you already have committed to. Add birthdays to your calendar, school activities, practices, games and any other activities your family is committed to. This will help you be prepared in advance, instead of writing it in every week.

I place our family calendar on a plate holder so that my family can check the calendar regularly. I try to highlight school activities so the boys see it more quickly and I highlight their games. If you start to remind your children to check the calendar this will help them to understand scheduling and time management. Say they each have a game scheduled at the same time, this will help them to understand that both parents can not possibly be at both games. They are going to have to realize that sometimes you have to make a decisions to split up and cover two games. Sometimes it is easier to “see” the problem instead of hearing it. I don’t know about your children but my boys just hear whawhawhawhawha or is it that they don’t listen... That is for another blog!

Life is much easier when you have you are ahead of the game and know what is on your calendar for tomorrow.

Cleaning Your Washer and Your Dishwasher...

2009-09-13T19:11:00.000-07:00

The boys both had soccer games Saturday morning in the mud! After we hosed off as much mud as we could outside I threw the clothes into the washer. I don’t know if you remember this show or not but there were these two ladies that would go around to people’s homes and show them how dirty their homes were according to their testing. I remember one of the homes they were in the tested the toilet seat and it was cleaner than her washing machine!!! YIKES!!! Apparently there are a ton of germs, mold and grime that live in our washers, who would have known? Since that show I try to “clean” my washer at least once a month by either washing it on hot (nothing in the washer) with two cups of bleach. I start the washing cycle for a minute or so to mix the bleach around the washer tub and then let it sit for 30 minutes before I finish out the cycle. After I washed the filthy soccer clothes I thought I would clean my washer but I didn’t have enough bleach so I used 2 cups of vinegar and a half of box of baking soda. To my surprise it worked pretty good, so if you are not a fan of bleach, try the vinegar and baking soda. Now your clothes can be washed in a clean washer, think of the fun your clothes are going to have!

Another machine that we use to clean our dishes that can look dirty is our dishwasher. Sometimes you can see lime deposits and iron stains inside the dishwasher. I pour a packet of lemonade Kool-Aid (the only flavor that works) into the detergent cup and run the (empty) dishwasher. The citric acid in mix wipes out stains and your dishwasher will look brand new!

Oh just think of the fun you could have today cleaning your washer and your dishwasher!!! What else are you going to do on a rainy day!??!

Too Many Possessions?

2009-09-10T10:11:00.000-07:00

One of the many perks of being a NAPO Member (National Association of Professional Organizers) is that I can be a part of a chat forum which includes Professional Organizers throughout the United States. The other day C. Lee Cawley with SimplifyYou from Virginia sent this statistic regarding people and their possessions.

“A lot of it just comes down to the great American propensity toward accumulating stuff,” Litton explained. Between 1970 and 2008, real disposable personal income per capita doubled, and by 2008 we were spending nearly all of it — all but 2.7 percent — each year. Meanwhile, the price of much of what we were buying plunged. Even by the early ’90s, American families had, on average, twice as many possessions as they did 25 years earlier.

By 2005, according to the Boston College sociologist Juliet B. Schor, the average consumer purchased one new piece of clothing every five and a half days."

I must have read and re-read that statement a 100 times. Are you kidding me?!?! We purchase a new piece of clothing every five and a half days? I don’t know about you but if I did that my husband would have me locked in a room for weeks! What I do think is interesting is that there are consumers out there that are still spending more than they are making. I worry that some people have the mentality that, “it’s not going to happen to me.” “I am not going to lose my job, my car and my house, that will happen to someone else but not me”

Unfortunately nothing is guaranteed anymore for any of us at any given time. I hope that most people take a look at what they have and how much they have and are grateful. I know in my family we have cut back on going out to eat, less movies, less shopping and trying to save more money. I would love to tell you we are minimalists but that is not the case. I truly believe in most areas of our home I only keep the things we are using and replace as needed. I will honestly tell you I do not practice what I preach with my boys. On their clothes I do, but as for their toys, games and everything else I tend to keep a blind eye. It is very hard for me to not give them everything they want. One of my son’s never wants anything, he will always put it on a list for his birthday or Christmas. On the other hand my other son wants everything “NOW, NOW, BAD, BAD”!!! It is rather entertaining…hahahaha! It wasn’t so funny when he was three but now that he is eight he has a little more patience, not much but it’s a start.

Do any of you find this statistic alarming? Have any of you cut back on your possessions and really just kept the things you use? Do you feel people have changed and live more within their means?

Organizing Your Medicine

2009-09-07T06:50:00.001-07:00

The boys came down for breakfast Friday morning and looked horrible…fall allergies. I usually give them Nasonex everyday but this was scratchy throat, stopped up full blown allergies. So I go to grab the Claritin to give to them. Now keep in mind the last time I used it was in the spring for my youngest son. We are out, I don’t have enough to give to both of them just one of them!!! Here I am running to Wal-Mart in the pouring rain at 6:15 on a Friday morning before school. YIKES!! I don’t want you to experience the same morning trip I had to make so let’s take a moment today and go through your medicine cabinets.

Gather all of your medicine and place them on the kitchen counter so you can spread everything out and really see what you have and need. Start first by making sure all of the dates are good and nothing has expired. Grab a paper and pen to have handy incase you may need to purchase something that has expired or that you have noticed you are out of.

From here start by sorting into children’s medicine and adult medicine. An idea to keep them separate might be keep your medicines in your bathroom and theirs in their bathroom. If your not comfortable doing that, maybe put all of your children’s medicine in storage bin, so you can just grab the whole container when they someone is not feeling well. Try to keep all of your cold/flu medicine together, stomach medicine, ointments, headache and so on. I am not suggesting you have a ton of medicine but I do try to keep things on hand that I may need in the middle of the night for the boys. I really, really don’t want to be running to Wal-Mart in the middle of the night!!!!

Making Your Life Easier So You Don’t Have to Iron

2009-09-03T06:22:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last blog, I hate to iron. To make your life easier and let you cut back on ironing I thought I would give you a quick tip on organizing your laundry. As your laundry comes out of the washer quickly sort your clothes into hanging and a pile for the dryer. I put all of my hanging clothes into the dryer for a few minutes to get the wrinkles out from the washer. As they are drying a short moment I get my hangers ready to hang them up as right out of the dryer. I take a couple at a time and keep the dryer going until all of my hanging clothes are finished being hung. This way you don’t have to fold it and you will get less wrinkles, which means less ironing! Now I put the rest of the clothes that don’t need to be perfect into the dryer to and fold them later when I have time.

Don’t forget Stylish Stepmom suggested Downy’s Wrinkle Releaser, she said “This is a HUGE style secret that I, believe it or not, stole from my husband. When I met him, he had a regular "stash" of this wonderful product at his house, and to this day, we STILL have a regular "stash" of this product at our house. It is Downy's Wrinkle Releaser and it is AWESOME!” I have never tried it before but I am definitely going to give it a shot, who knows maybe I will be able to donate my iron…a girl can dream, can’t she???

Organizing Your Cleaning Supplies

2009-08-31T04:29:00.000-07:00

With flu season fast approaching, I thought it might be nice to make sure that your cleaning supplies are organized and handy for you. When was the last time you took all of your cleaning supplies out from under the sink? How long have you had some of those products? Are they so old that Mr. Clean has hair?!?!?!? There's a cleaner for everything and if you bought them all your cupboard would be overflowing. The truth is that a lot of cleaners are multi-purpose and you can tackle two things at one time. Clean the counter and clean the mirror with the same product. If you really want to save on your household budget, pick all-purpose and multi-purpose cleaners. You can even mix vinegar and water as a dual purpose cleaner and use baking soda to clean your sinks and showers/tubs. Save specialty cleaners for really tough jobs, and only if your others don't work well. You may be surprised by how little you really need to keep your home clean.

After you have sifted through all of your cleaners and decided to on which ones to keep place them back under your sink in categories. For example: carpet cleaning products, dish detergents, all purpose cleaners and furniture polish.

Have you ever cleaned your vacuum or when was the last time you changed the filter in your vacuum? There are so my cleaning tools we assume are keeping our home clean but you might want to take a closer look and see if you need to clean the cleaner...

How about those brushes or sponges? I always keep two sponges in all the bathrooms and in the kitchen. To keep from wondering if one sponge was used on the counter or on the floor I choose a color for my counter tops and another for my floors. I use the same colors throughout the bathrooms and the kitchen, this way I don’t have to think each time I move onto a new room to clean. Who wants to use their brain when they are cleaning, if your like me you just want to get done and move onto something else....like ironing! Oh how I hate to iron!!!

Interesting Organizing Article...

2009-08-27T04:41:00.000-07:00

As all of you know I am a Professional Organizer and mother of two great boys. As part of being a Professional Organizer I am a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers. Now I realize you are thinking, holy cow, how cool is that?!?! Very cool!! I know you are going to find this very funny…we have a “chat group”! What this means is that we email the group questions about organizing certain areas, organizing ideas, neat products we have seen or used and interesting tidbits or articles.

Well today a fellow organizer, Stacey Anderson with Organized Innovations, LLC sent all of us an email about this article from TransWorldNews Home Organization Product Demand to Reach $8.9 Billion in 2013 . Here is a quote from the article “The sharp downturn in the housing market in 2007 and 2008 also caused many homeowners to adjust the way that they spend money on their homes, leading many to invest in built-in organization systems either to upgrade homes they plan to stay in or to differentiate homes that are being sold.” If you get a free moment read the article or email it to yourself and put the article into that great Reading Folder I suggested a few weeks ago! Yeah, I went there!!!!

Toys, Toys and More Toys

2009-08-24T04:36:00.000-07:00

I have mentioned before that going through your kid’s toys twice a year sometimes sparks new interest in lost toys. Doing this allows parents to “clear the clutter” of broken toys and fast food toys.

I am not suggesting you start throwing out all the toys or donating all of them. As a matter of fact my boys kept Power Rangers with broken arms to be the “bad guy” or looks like a good guy! I remember when McDonalds came out with their Master of the Universe action figure toy in their Happy Meals. OMG I called every McDonalds in Broken Arrow, West, East, South and North Tulsa asking which toy they had this week and schlepping all over to get two Happy Meals, sometimes three just incase one of them broke. These guys meant the world to the boys and after they played with them all over the house we made them into what we call “tub toys” and once a toy is a tub toy it is always a tub toy.

When the boys were littler we had toys in our family room and their rooms. So to keep things fresh, fun and exciting I would switch the toys around. I would take up all the Rescue Heroes, all the cars and the platform we had with them upstairs and bring down Little People. I brought down the car station, bus, garbage truck and all the people. The toys became intriguing now that they were downstairs instead of upstairs. Don’t ask me why, they just did. Give it a try!

Now that the boys are older and have other tastes I try to switch things up a little now too. We seem to be going through a WWE (wrestling, for you mom’s that have girls) phase and this past winter it was Nascar. We have a train table in each of their rooms. We bought them from Target during Christmas when you can find them on sale. I really recommend them for both boys and girls. Have you ever tried to play Pet Shop on the carpet? The dogs keep falling over! Anyhow I put whatever the boys are into onto the train table so that when they play in their room they are ready to go. Not only does it keep their toys fresh but sometimes just a little change peaks new interest and reminds them how much they do like to play in their room and use their imagination! Why not try, if you would like help you can always email at cleartheclutter@cox.net

Organizing Your Refrigerator

2009-08-17T07:11:00.000-07:00

One of the last places to get organized in the kitchen is the refrigerator. Now that the kids are at eating at school, maybe now is a great time to go through your refrigerator. I realize cleaning and organizing your refrigerator may not be at the top of your list of fun things to do but it gets a lot of use and could you so much attention.

A simple way to start is to get all of your leftovers out unless of your course they are just from last night. I think we can safely say the Kung Pao Chicken from last week is not going to get eaten for lunch anytime soon. Next I would check all the expirations dates on salad dressings, mayo, mustard (yes mustard has an expiration date!!) and sour cream. After you have checked all of your foods with expirations dates move onto the fruit and vegetable drawer. From here move onto the meat and cheese drawer, don’t forget to look at the expirations dates. Here is a great resource for you from 3-A-Day ( http://www.3aday.org ) about organizing your refrigerator.

Now that your refrigerator cleaned out lets take a warm soapy washcloth and clean all the shelves. While you are doing this make sure to group things together that are similar. Just like when we organize closets we put short sleeves together we are going to put dressings together, mustard and ketchup and mayo. Have a section for your meat and cheeses, an area for yogurts, fruits and vegetables and drinks. This will also help you when are making grocery list. It will give you a quick inventory without having to move 100 things or just guessing what you need and getting home to find there are six containers of sour cream behind the orange juice you already had purchased last week. Happy Organizing….

Email Folders Are A Must

2009-08-13T06:52:00.000-07:00

I know I have mentioned the importance of organizing your emails into folders before but now that school has started this is really important to keep your family organized.

Most schools are emailing school calendars, special events, teacher notes and PTA updates. With our busy schedules and our inbox on over load we really need to be ahead of the game. My suggestion would be to have a folder for each child. If your child has an extremely busy schedule I would have sub-folders under their name one for school, another for sports and the last one for activities. More times than not, we receive information early and we don’t need to respond or even look at it until a later date. Instead of leaving in your inbox to clutter up your email, move it to the child’s folder for a reference.

If you are really diligent about checking a Pending Folder I would start a folder for things that you need to make a decision about at a later date or if you waiting on an shipment you purchased. An example would be if your ordered jeans from Old Navy and instead of leaving the shipment notification in your inbox move it to the Pending Folder. When your jeans arrive delete the shipment notification from the Pending Folder. An example of a later date decision would be if you were thinking about enrolling in tennis or golf and you received emails from the places you thinking of taking lessons.

An email folder I really like to use is my Reading Folder. When I am surfing the internet and find articles or information I really would like to read in more detail I email myself the link to the article. From my inbox, I move it to my Reading Folder. If you have friends who love to send you jokes or long emails about their trip to the grocery store I would move their emails to that folder as well and when you have time to read for a few minutes you are ready to go!

School Supplies…Why Not Check To See What You Already Have at Home?!?!?!?

2009-08-10T06:04:00.000-07:00

It seems like just yesterday I was singing “Schools out, schools out who let the monkeys out?” and now we are starting back to school this week. YIKES!

Most schools have a required school supply list as long as your arm. Here is a novel idea…why not look to see what you already have at home? So many times we end up buying more supplies than what our children actually use at school. Often times they end up bringing home the unused items the last day of school. I realize that we need to keep some “extra” supplies at home but do you really need 15 folders, 11 glue bottles and 101 #2 pencils? Who knows maybe after your done shopping at home first you will cleared out a whole drawer or shelf!?!?? Just think of the fun!

The PTA at our school sells pre-packaged school supplies for each grade. This obviously makes it very easy on most mothers so that they don’t have to run around to several stores trying to find the 4x8 pencil box that is not to exceed two inches in height. I don’t know about your children but sometimes my boys like to “switch out” the pre-packaged folders or notebooks they received in the box and buy the color of folders they would prefer to have over the 20 yellow ones they got in their box.

I realize money is tight in everyone’s home but I was thinking after you went through your school supplies at home and bought the school supplies you need if you had extra or if you had a Power Ranger lunch box or Spiderman backpack that no one is going to use, why not donate them to Tulsa Teach Credit Union ( www.ttcu.com ) or Project Elf ( www.projectelf.org )? TTCU prefers to have new items to distribute to children but Project Elf helps all children throughout the Tulsa area from school supplies to socks and shoes. Both of them have great programs and I am sure if you checked with your school counselor you will find they would love to have whatever extras you have to give to children less fortunate as you and I. If you know of some other great places to donate school supplies please leave a comment for all of us.

Great Product for Organizing School Papers!

2009-08-06T05:32:00.000-07:00

I was looking searching the web for some great organizing products for school and came across this great filing product for organizing school papers from my friends at “Buttoned Up” www.getbuttonedup.com I thought this might be nice to keep in your kitchen/command center so that you have your children’s school papers readily available and organized.

Can you believe school is just about to start? The boys and I are still in Minnesota and my brother is taking his kids on a trip after we leave because school doesn’t start until after Labor Day and still gets out Memorial Day Weekend!!! How does that work with all of their snow days?!?! This is just one more reason the boys want to move to Minnesota!

Here is some more information about School.files from Buttoned Up. If you are interested you may go to their website and purchase it for $19.95.

School.files™Homework, class trips, extracurricular activities- staying on top of all the things your children participate in at school is a big job. Get some help with the School.files™ from Buttoned Up. It is the perfect container for keeping all the information about their scholastic life at your fingertips. By Buttoned Up™.

Key Functional Features:

Durable file folder with compartments for three children
Each compartment contains five folders: stuff to do, stuff to keep, stuff to return, fun stuff, and calendars

Lightweight construction and notebook size make it ultra-portable

Have Your Children Pick Out Their Clothes the Night Before…

2009-08-03T04:30:00.000-07:00

With school starting right around the corner isn’t now a good time to start letting your little ones become more self sufficient? Time is never on our side on a school morning so why not let your children pick out their clothes the night before and hang it on the doorknob of their closet door along with their underwear and socks?

You will be surprised how much time is saved if their clothes are already picked out and hanging. If their clothes are not on hangers just fold them up and put them in front of the closet door. Not only have you allowed yourself a few extra minutes in the morning you no longer have to listen to “what should I wear?” This will also help your children become more self sufficient and start learning a little time management! One thing we have done in our house is put a pair of jeans and a pair of shorts out the night before just in case the weather has changed from the forecast from the night before. This is really helpful during the spring and fall when the weather changes every 10 minutes.

You could even take this one step further and pick out your own clothes the night before. I promise with the morning rush, rush, rush having one less decision to make will help get you out the door much faster!

Start Simple Habits

2009-07-30T05:02:00.000-07:00

I am in Minnesota with the boys visiting my family wishing I had brought more jeans!!! The forecast for today is rainy and a high of 67 degrees?!?!?!? Allegedly this is a very cold summer but I swear I don’t ever remember it being this cold at the end of July. To think my boys want to live in Minnesota....I would have to wear a sweater 24/7 365 days a year. And yes I only brought one sweater for the trip and I have worn it everyday! Enough about me, let me grab some hot chocolate here and then give you some ideas on how to start simple habits in your home so you feel a little more organized.

I realize that getting organized is not always a priority on top of that, you don’t always have extra time and when you do have the little bit of extra time organizing is not at the top of the list. What about starting with a few simple habits so that you feel a little more organized and in the process your children are learning some good organizing habits?

More times than not everyone tends to leave their dirty clothes on the floor of their bedroom or their bathroom. Why not implement a rule that everyone needs/must pick up their dirty clothes and put them into the hamper? If getting the clothes downstairs to the hamper seems to be a huge problem it can be easily fixed by buying an additional hamper for upstairs. You could even go so far as to buy a three compartment hamper so that they sort the clothes for you by lights, darks and towels. Oh the fun they could have by sorting!

I know the mailman brings too much mail and it seems to pile up on your counters all over the kitchen. Maybe you could stand next to your trashcan and recycling bin before you even walk into your house and sort the mail so that you only bring one fifth of it into your home. Not only are you eliminating some of the huge piles but now the mail that is in the house is mail that needs attention.

At night the two things that I like to start in our house is the dishwasher and the washer. I like to throw a load of dark clothes in at night and the first thing in the morning right after a hit the start button of my coffee machine I put the dark clothes into the dryer. We start the dishwasher at night to help us go to sleep, the noise of the dishwasher blocks out any barking dogs or kids who are outside playing still at 9:30 at night! Just kidding sometimes on the weekend we make it to 10:15, I know we are crazy!

These are just some simple ideas to help you and your family get into good habits and at the same time help you get a little more organized. I hope all of you are staying warm, I have to go find my big warm fuzzy slippers.

Organizing A Sewing Room

2009-07-27T05:13:00.000-07:00

I can barely sew on a button let alone hem a pair of pants. So what makes me think I can organize a sewing room? Organizing is about finding a solution to a problem. Whether you like things in alphabetical order, light to dark or by category it is all a form of being organized. The same will follow through for a sewing room. I have seen several sewing machines covered with a pile of material, patterns, and clothes to be mended. More times than not this is not how sewers like to work. Most would rather work in a neat, organized sewing room where everything is in its place and you have room to work.
Looking at this from an organizing perspective rather than a sewer, my first question would be, would you look for your patterns alphabetically or by project? If you use a lot of patterns, you will need a file box with file folders. If you choose to organize by project instead of alphabetically you will have to categorize your patterns. For example: quilts, dresses, skirts, tops, dolls, pants, curtains and so on. As you are categorizing your patterns or putting them in alphabetical order make sure they are patterns you intend to sew. If you do not plan to use that pattern, try trading it with a friend or sell it on http://www.illooklocal.com/ or even eBay.

Material is another problem for most sewing rooms. You buy it because you love it, and then it sits. There are a couple of ways to organize material. One way is the filing box or cabinet by color or by fabric types. For your odds and ends pieces I would keep them together by color then put them into large Ziploc bags.

Buttons, snaps, zippers and ribbons can usually be found in all the corners of a sewing room. A couple of ideas for snaps and buttons would be tackle box containers, ice cube trays or little jars with lids. I have seen one person use a tie rack from her husband to hang her ribbons and use safety bins to hang her zippers from another tie rack. Sometimes using what you have makes the best organized storage unit and on top of that it will save you money!

What’s For Dinner Tonight?

2009-07-23T05:56:00.000-07:00

Do you find yourself asking that question on a daily basis? The average American eats out 3-4 times per week on average. I don’t know about you, but our family could not afford to do that week after week. Not only would money be tight but so would my jeans!

I like to plan my meals out for the week and I write our menu plan at the bottom of each day of our family calendar. I start by opening up my pantry and then going to my freezer. If I have an abundance of chicken...can you hear the song...”I feel like chicken tonight, like chicken tonight” sorry couldn’t resist. Back to the chicken, I look in my pantry to see if I have rice or pasta. If I do, I could make all sort of chicken recipes. When I need a new idea from our typically Chicken and Rice I go to www.kraftfoods.com, www.campbellskitchen.com and www.rachelraymag.com for some quick and easy recipes. Continue to go through your panty and freezer to make complete dinners, you will be surprised if you start making a menu plan from what you already have at home you will save more money at the grocery store!

Getting your meals organized means finding simpler ways to do things so that you can get more things done. Give it a try and see if you don’t save a little extra money, have a little more time at night to play with the kids and top of that feeding your family healthy homemade meals.

Recycling Your Computer and Phone Can “Pay” Off

2009-07-16T05:51:00.001-07:00

So many times in homes I find old computers, monitors and cell phones. Sometimes people hold onto them just incase their new phone is not as great as thought it would be, sometimes there is someone in the family that THINKS they can use some of the old parts from the computer. I am not pointing any fingers to anyone’s husband specifically but you know who they are. If you could get money back on your phone and computer why not give it a try?

Greenphone will pay you for your used phone or phones. Go to their website at www.greenphone.com and check the list for your old phone. If its on the list it will also tell you how much money you can expect for selling it to them. You can send your phone free of charge and they will check to make sure it is in working condition. If all is good with your phone, they will send you a payment. If your phone is not working they will recycle it safely for you. It is a” win/win” for your electronics drawer or junk drawer.

Now let’s tackle that upstairs closet or that “area” in the corner that is commonly referred to as Dad’s stuff. Check out www.myboneyard.com an electronics recycling company where they recycle old electronics. All you have to do is go to their website and follow of a few steps by entering your computer information. Within minutes you will find out how much your computer is worth. You can also send in your computer free of charge and keep track of it online. Who knows, maybe out of this whole deal you will end up with some extra money, space and less things to dust!

Finding Time to Read Your Magazines

2009-07-13T05:43:00.001-07:00

I can’t tell you how many homes I have been into to help people control the paper clutter. Always located at the bottom of pile are magazines. We order magazines with good intentions, hoping to find that little bit of time to just sit and read while soaking in the tub. Reality check, you will never have that much time!

First let’s look at which magazines you are ordering. If you subscribe to Bon Appetit or Everyday With Rachel Ray you should do one of two things. If you are really set on keeping the magazine in tact, place it with your other cookbooks. Instead of standing them up so they constantly fall, try laying them down and stacking them with the binder facing out so you know which magazine it is. Another idea if you like standing them up is to place them in between two large cookbooks, essentially they become bookends. One more idea is to purchase magazine holders. This one is from Amazon.com and is priced at $13.99 used and $18.99 new If you are willing to tear out the recipe you want from the magazine to save space then cut the recipe out and file it in your recipe holder. That could be a binder or a recipe box.

Now for the “fun” magazines…People, Vogue, Oprah and all the other magazines we buy hoping to find time to read. I have never had the opportunity to read at the pool until two years ago and let me tell it is a whole new world now for me! I keep a magazine in our swimming bag at all times. Another couple of spots I like to keep magazines to read whenever I have an extra couple of minutes is in the car and the wagon I take down to our park. I keep a couple of magazines on the side of the front car seats to read while I am waiting to pick the boys up from school, practice or even if I am early to pick them up from a party. It is amazing how much of your magazine you can read in five to ten minutes. As for the wagon, our park across the street from our house is huge and has a creek, sand area and so on. In our wagon I keep shovels, nets, pails and a magazine to read! If you have a neighborhood park and your children are safely playing on their own in plain sight, this is a great opportunity to read a little.

Now that I have given you all this extra time to read magazines…start grabbing them and putting them in spots where you think you might have an extra five to ten minutes. Happy Reading…

I’m Organized and Structured But I’m Still Fun!

2009-07-09T05:39:00.000-07:00

This is not going to be my typical blog on how to organize this or that. I am not going to tell you about some great organizing product I came across the other day either. Instead you are going to read about me and my day today.

I guess it started Tuesday night when I friend of mine called to catch up. She is one of those friends I love to banter with back and forth. As we are talking on the phone they are heading into Wal-Mart when all of a sudden she says to me, “Oh my goodness I have found the perfect gift for you!” She starts laughing showing her children and I can hear them laughing! She is trying to tell me what they are laughing about but she can hardly speak because she is laughing so hard she is crying! She is picturing me wearing the “Slipper Dusters” and they cant stop laughing! From what she tried to say is you slip them on your feet and dust your floors. Funny thing is, I think I would like them!

I looked up “organized” on www.dictionary.com and found the definition to be “having a formal organization or structure, esp. to coordinate or carry out for widespread activities”

Yesterday we had planned to go to Tenkiller State Park to go swimming. Planned to me means that I have scheduled when we were going to leave, what I was packing for a picnic lunch and when I planned to be home all in my head. Of course the boys knew of the plan to go swimming at the lake and they were excited to go.

As you all know, it was raining yesterday morning but I am optimistic and I want to stick to the plan…I think the rain will move out besides in Oklahoma wait ten minutes and the weather will change. An hour and half later it is still raining and doesn’t look like it is going to clear up. I move to Plan B, except I don’t have Plan B planned, the weather man said it was suppose to be nice today so I didn’t plan a Plan B.

Instead of staying home and renting a movie, here is where the fun part of me comes into play…we took a road trip to Pops on Route 66 by Arcadia! We took an hour and half road trip to buy some unique flavors of pop and go out for lunch. While we were there we visited the one and only Round Barn in Oklahoma! See I’m fun, I live on the edge not everything in my life needs to be scheduled I can go left instead of right.

So I am feeling pretty good about being a Mom who gets out and about even though it wasn’t on my calendar. I live on the edge, I am not completely black and white not only do I have some shades of gray sometimes I have some pops of yellow! As we were driving home there is an area on I-44 that I do not get cell phone reception so when we got home I saw I had a voicemail.

I am listening to the voicemail in complete astonishment…I am thinking…what…a casting agent from “World’s Strictest Parents”? He goes on to say he loves to start with Organizers because they have found they have most rules and structure and make great Strict Parents! My mind is racing thinking who sent me this prank, I’m not that crazy…it was my friend, there she goes again trying to make fun of me. Nope couldn’t be that easy, I get an email from them right there in my inbox “World’s Strictest Parents”. I was so proud of myself how I live on the edge yesterday wiped away in one phone call and email!

Surprisingly enough I don’t qualify for the show because I don’t have a teenager still living at home. If any of the 918moms have a teenager and would be interested in trying out for the show, give me a call or send me an email so I can hook you with the casting agent. My number is 918-740-1215 and my email is cleartheclutter@cox.net If you need some pointers on how to be organized, structured and a little OCD I can give some pointers!!!

Stay Organized Away From Home!

2009-07-06T04:54:00.000-07:00

We went out for lunch today and happened to notice a family sitting across from us with a new baby. After my husband and I strolled down memory lane we noticed how organized she was and ready for anything that might occur in the restaurant. With this in mind, I thought I would give some a few ideas to make your life more efficient on the road. As a new mom, it's important for you to be organized so you can focus your attention on the never ending list of things to do. For some, this comes easier than it does for others. You may be used to making a list and getting things done, but when you have a little one, lots of unexpected “surprises” arise that make it difficult to even finish one thing on your list.
Here are some ideas to have ready in the car and your diaper bag. You will feel more organized if you are armed and ready for what ever life throws at you or baby spits up at you!
Diaper Bag: The Diaper Bag is great to haul things for you baby but you don’t necessarily need to bring it into every store or restaurant you visit. I used to just throw a diaper, wipes, extra passey and a toy into my purse so that I didn’t have drag to bags and the infant carrier. I kept the diaper bag in the car for when I need to pull out the heavy artillery. If there was a “blow out” I would rather go out to the car to take care of matters then drag everything into the bathroom, but that is just me.
· Diaper Wipes/Toddler Wipes – They should be in every room of your house. I use them to clean the carpet, counter tops, bathrooms and for the obvious dirty little hands and faces.
· Diapers & Diaper Rash Ointment – You never know when it will flare up again.
· Extra Outfit – Just incase clothes, you can never be too safe!
· Toys – A couple of toys that just stay in the diaper bag so they seem new to the baby.
Car: Your car is not only a means of getting to and from but is a house on wheels. You need to make sure you have everything you may need while on the road without over loading it with unnecessary things. You'll want to have an extra Ziploc bags for dirty diapers.
· Diaper Wipes – Did I mention I love wipes?!?
· First Aid Kit – Band-Aids, Neosporin, Hydrocortisone & Cortaid for bug bites
· Books – I keep books in the back seat pockets for the boys to read/look at while we are driving. I try to switch them out periodically and hit the library to have a new choices.
· Snacks – You never know when they might need some crackers to help hold them over until lunch or keep them busy while you finish running your errands.
· Formula – I kept a single serving dry formula packet along with a bottle of water and an extra baby bottle for an emergency.
· Clothes – I found having two boys you just never know what kind of trouble you can find when you are out and about! I always kept a change of clothes, jackets and swimsuits in the car. They were clothes I bought at garage sales, nothing fancy just something to throw on in case we ran into a splash pad or a muddy creek. I know this won’t surprise you but I kept an extra outfit for me too, you never know when some of that mud may get on you!
· Take Out Menus – Sometimes it is impossible to make dinner that night even with the best of intentions. Instead of driving to a fast food restaurant I have found that many restaurants with “To Go Doors” do not cost that much more and if you can combine it with a coupon it is the same price as fast food but healthier for your family, that is if you didn’t order the cheese fries.
At the end of the day, empty the trash from your diaper bag and car. Replenish any items that were used and above all don’t forget to have fun this summer!

Utilizing Dorm Room Space

2009-07-02T05:54:00.000-07:00

One of the most important things to remember when you live in a small space or even a cubical at work is to build vertically. Utilize your space from floor to ceiling. If height is not on their side invest in a step stool that collapses, so that they may utilize all of their space.

I love to use rolling carts (use with or without wheels) to organize dorm rooms. I have used several to stack on top of each other to make a dresser, a make shift kitchen area to store silver ware, paper plates, pantry items and dishes. Here is an example:

One of the most practical, but least utilized, spaces in the bedroom is under the bed. By using under-bed storage bags or bins, you can easily store out-of-season clothing if your child is out of state or has an abundance of clothing they insist on brining. Remind them they only wear 20% of their clothing most of the time! Another great space is closets. Most closets are poorly planned, so install extra rods or here is that great space for the rolling cart dresser. Don’t forget to use the over the door shoe hanger for extra space to store jewelry, cd’s, HBA items and so much more. Use every closet that has space to add a over the door shelf or shoe hanger for extra storage.

Obviously they will want to bring their stereo and if they are really lucky a flat screen TV. Instead of buying an entertainment center for their dorm room build shelving for equipment, books and cd’s. Buy ottomans with storage inside, instead of chairs for extra seating and this will give them even more storage space!

Getting Prepared for College

2009-06-29T04:51:00.000-07:00

I realize 4th of July isn’t until next weekend but I thought I would write my next two blogs about getting your high school graduate off to college organized and ready to take on the new world.

Have your him/her make a list of what is most important to them to bring with them to college. This will help you have a grasp as to how much they have and what you have left at home to make room for you new craft room! From the list you can see how much they want to bring and this will give you an idea visually how creative you need to be to get everything to fit in their dorm room. If it is possible make sure they resist the urge to over pack and keep out of season clothes at home until they are needed. I found a great list to start get the process started so that everything is not so last minute.

http://www.webreader.com/download/moving-checklist.pdf

Separate your list into what you will be bringing from home, what you can purchase in your new town. Some of your new items may even be ordered online and shipped directly to their dorm. This may help if your child is going to college out of state. Keep in mind whether you are ordering something new or bringing something from home that they are easily disassembled and easy to take down at the end of the school year.

On Thursday I will show you some great ideas to help organize your their dorm room and utilize every little bit of space!

Organizing for a Vacation

2009-06-25T05:28:00.000-07:00

Before your vacation:

Don’t you hate it when you forget to pack something or worse yet you packed too much? We often take our favorite or most comfortable clothes that we feel great in and fifteen pairs of shoes to match these great outfits. Have you ever thought of packing three pairs of shoes (walking, dressy and casual) and coordinating your outfits around the shoes rather than matching several different pairs of shoes to the outfits? This will help eliminate the amount of luggage you need and help you pack with less pieces that will allow you to make more outfits! Just a thought J
I would start with a what to pack list for each member of the family, clothing, HBA, medicine and anything they want for the car or airplane ride.
Next I would ask a friend of neighbor to help out with mail and newspaper. If you have a pet, I would set up a reservation for boarding. Anything that has to be taken care of while you are gone make your arrangements ahead of time.
Don’t forget to pack emergency numbers, your insurance agents number and the family doctor’s number.
After your vacation:

When you get home its best to completely empty out your bags, suitcases, backpacks and purses. Toss out the trash and vacation brochures, ticket stubs unless of course you are a scrap booker then place those items in your photo area so they are ready to use after your pictures are printed.

Keep any traveling toiletries you have left so you are ready for your next trip and even write a quick note to replenish items you may need before next trip. When you pick up your mail and newspapers if you have kept up with current events, place the newspapers in the recycling bin. As for your mail, sort it into four piles, recycling, bills to be paid, to read and trash. Go through you mail right away rather than putting it off otherwise the pile will grow into a huge mountain. As you put all your bags away, start the laundry and down load your pictures on to your computer so you can enjoy looking at them while you are catching up from your vacation.

Too Many Books

2009-06-22T05:39:00.000-07:00

Many people are love books and collect stacks and stacks of them. But sometimes there are just too many books. Here's a plan to conquer that growing library. Divide all your books into "to read" and "already read." For the "already read" category, decide if you would like to display them. Do you really want your friends seeing your Managing Money for Dummies?

Ask yourself, am I likely that I will refer to that book again or have the time to reread it with so many new books coming out? Trust me, if you like reading…you will buy more books. If you decide you can part with the books you’ve read, you can sell them (www.half.com ), trade them or give them to so many wonderful organizations in Tulsa Your local library or schools may want your donated books. Start a book exchange with your friends, not only will this help save money but you will be able to read new books.
Now let’s take a look at the "to be read" pile. Will you really read it, or have you changed your mind? Perhaps it was a gift, and you know you will never read it. Add those books to the pile of other books you are deciding what to do with.
You should now have the books left that you love, use for reference or going to read. Let’s divide them into categories – Reference, Self-Help, History, Romance, etc. Now you can tackle the storage challenge. Good-looking reference books and hardcover’s can be attractively displayed on shelves in the living room, family room or your bedroom under pictures that you are displaying. You can even put books in a basket or put a book in your swimming bag, in the car or I used to keep one in the wagon I took down to the park everyday with the boys.

After you finish your books, why not go through your children’s books? Use the same technique as we did above but maybe instead of getting rid of them you can pass them down to the next child. I love putting baskets of books at the end of the bed in children’s rooms so that they can easily access them and put them away.

A Great Organizing Product is Command Strips by 3M

2009-06-18T06:42:00.000-07:00

I absolutely loves these hooks, by 3M. You can mount them to any wall surface, glass, ceramic tile, wood and even plaster! What I like about them is that they come off easily without tearing up your wall or trying to scrape of that yellow sticky tack.

They have an assortment of decorative hooks, racks, clips and picture hangers. They offer a coupons on their website http://www.commandstrips.com/ and you can plug in your zip code to show you the numerous stores that sell these great little gadgets.

I use ours to hang the boys, masks (power rangers and scary masks!) on the door of our storage closet. I have used a couple of picture hangers and I use them to hold the boys lunch boxes and backpacks in our coat closet. The options are endless and your walls will be hole free!

DVD/CD Cases… To Keep or Not To Keep

2009-06-15T04:32:00.000-07:00

We bought a new entertainment stand today. It is much smaller and has only one cabinet door. Our old, I mean 20+ years, cabinet was huge and had plenty of room to store all of our movies and games in their cases. We have always kept our DVD/CD and game cases.
Today I bought a two DVD cases that holds 72 items. I am using one for movies and the other one for games.

We had just gone through all of our games and movies two weeks ago for our neighborhood garage sale so I knew they were all “keepers”. We had always kept our cases because of resale value and the fact we had room to store them. Now we have less room and my question was, why keep them? If these are the movies we love and will always want to keep, what is the point? I think it would be silly to store a tote filled of empty movie cases.

Now on the other hand, I did keep the game cases for to help with the resale value. I called GameStop and he said there is very little difference on the amount that you will get if you have the case or not. If you intend to sell your games on EBay or Half.com I would recommend you keep your cases, there is a price difference on their websites.

So what can you do you with all of your old cases? You can donate them to your local library, their cases get tattered and torn with use over time. You can donate them to your school, sometimes kids make a project on a CD and they can use the case to decorate about their theme on the cover. I have even had a client use them as a CD photo holder. She printed two pictures to decorate the outside of the case with photos were on the CD inside.

All of our movies, games and CD’s fit into our cabinet even though we only have a fourth of what we had. It sure is a good thing I know a professional organizer!!!

Do you keep your cases, if so why? If not, what do you do with your cases?

Keeping a Schedule for the Kids this Summer

2009-06-11T04:54:00.000-07:00

Schedule@#!? I know, school just got out but let’s face it some of us are already hearing “I’m bored, now what should I do?”! I will probably win the “Mean Mommy Award” this summer as I have won it the past several summers.

In our house, the boys still get up at 6:30 a.m. no matter what time they go to bed the night before. If we are really lucky they might sleep until 7:00 a.m. but those days are few and far between. After they have their breakfast, shower and play for a while, it’s usually not later than 9:00 a.m. before I hear the “I’M BORED”….I pull out workbooks. They each do a math page and then they each read for 15 minutes.

Oh it gets better, I delegate more responsibilities to them during the summer. I don’t know about your house, but summertime at mine means a lot more mess. We have more laundry, more dishes and so on. I try to impress upon them that we all need to pitch in and help since we are all at home making the mess together and if we keep things under control we can stay ahead of the game.

I try to make a game plan at the beginning of each week of fun things we can do that we don’t normally do each day. The boys love to go swimming so you can always find us at a pool in the afternoon. Nothing tires kids out more than swimming, exercise and exhaustion it’s a win/win! This week we had haircuts, Driller’s game and an invitation to a friends house to play for the day. I try to plan out fun things around the scheduled activities already planned. Maybe ride our bikes to the pool, water balloon fight on the trampoline, go to a park, go to the library or go exploring at a State Park. I realize the things we do are not necessarily exciting but I have found if I have a game plan for the day, it gives my family a focus for the day and they stay occupied.

Our boys are not big fans of running errands so I try to run just an errand or two each day to spread out the fun! I have found if we run them on the way to whatever it is we are planning that afternoon they don’t seem to mind as much. In my car for the summer I keep library books for them to read. The books help them stay entertained while we are driving around and it something new for them to read or look at.

Bedtime at our house…is 6:30 to early?!?!? We let them stay up later in the summer but we really try to keep things pretty normal, not to say we wont stay up for an occasional movie or a play off game but we really try to keep thinks consistent and stick to a routine. Shoot, I am ready for bed by 9:30!!

What do you think, does a routine work better in your house or do you find that a routine suffocates your family?

Using the Back of the Door to Organize!

2009-06-08T04:24:00.000-07:00

Some of my favorite organizing products are ones that hang on the back of doors. I have used over-the-door shoe organizers for several different organizing ideas to help find unused space for storing things. They are easy to install and can be purchased for under $15 at Bed Bath & Beyond, Target and Wal-Mart. I prefer the clear pockets so that you can see what is inside the pocket. Here are some examples I have used the over-the-door shoe organizers to organize some of my client’s homes:

Bathroom Door - Styling Products, deodorants, hair brushes and pony tail holders. This helps clear the clutter of your counter tops if you have limited storage space.

Girls Bedroom Closet Door - Barbie’s, Webkinz, and dress-up accessories.

Boys Bedroom Closet Door - Power Ranger morphers and any other weapon accessory.

Men’s Closet Door – Loose change, iPod, wallet, and everything else that falls out of his pockets that he puts on top of the dresser!

Craft/Gift Closet Door - Ribbons, bows, cutting tools, pens, markers, tags and tape.

Panty Door - Jell-O boxes, puddings, snack bars, seasoning packets, noodle or rice side dishes and vitamins.

While we are at it, I found this great Over-the-door Purse Organizer at Stacksandstacks.com for under $13. If you are one of those people who like to switch out your purse on a daily basis to match an outfit, this will be so much easier than digging through drawers or stretching out your arms to pull it off the top shelf of your closet.Now go find some doors and have fun organizing! If you have any questions you may reach me at http://www.organizingsolutions.info/

Less is More...

2009-06-04T04:32:00.000-07:00

The “Phrase Finder” states the meaning as “The notion that simplicity and clarity lead to good design.”
A basic rule in organizing any home, closet, or drawer is purging unused items. In order to gain space we do need to let go of the things we no longer need our use. I realize you have paid for these items and with the economy the way it is I am sure you are wondering why I am suggesting you let go of some of your things.

Sometimes having “less is more”. Is it more important to you to have your home, closet or drawer full of stuff or would a home that is less cluttered and organized be more relaxing? I realize that having things sometimes makes us believe we will feel better but in the end sometimes those things suffocate us. Do you have a closet that is stuffed with clothes that don’t hang straight and everything is wrinkled or a drawer you have to shove a couple of times before it will shut?

A quick tip for purging items in your closet is keep a small bag in your closet for items that you are sure you will no longer wear. Hang a shopping bag on a hanger or place it on the floor. Wherever you have an item in your hands that you know you will no longer wear put it in the bag. Tackle a drawer during a commercials. Purge the items that you no longer need, save the organizing for later...let’s just get some breathing room for you home and for your mind. Get rid of it once and for all. As soon as a bag is full donate it or offer it to friends or family.

Do you think having less is more?

Organizing School Papers

2009-06-01T05:07:00.001-07:00

Schools out, schools out…teacher let the monkey’s out! Now what!?!? I know there are some of you out there that have been collecting school papers and artwork all year long and your bin or bag is overflowing from this past school year. Next school year we are not going to let it get this out of control. I know you want to keep things and everything is so cute but you just don’t have the space or the time to go through all of it at the end of the year.

I use these folders (Office Depot $2.59 each) for each of the boys for the school year. On the front of the flap, I write their name, school, teachers name and grade. Inside the pocket folder I have pictures of them holding their artwork (I just print the picture on 8 1/2 x 11 copy paper), any papers they want to save and I couple I want for them, class picture, notes from teachers or other children in their class and that’s it. The pocket folder only expands 2 inches so you have to choose wisely what you want to keep.

Let’s be honest if your parents handed you boxes and boxes of your school work, do you really want to go through it? If you had a pocket file for each grade that fit conveniently into a tote and you could pull out each grade year with your children to share, wouldn’t you be more apt to show them that than a box full of “stuff”?
So let’s get started and this fall start off with a good system in place so you don’t have to go through everything at the beginning of summer.

Treasure it and Set Limits
The first step is to ask your child if they want to keep it, is it special to them? Did they study a long time and then received a 100% on a test they thought they were going to fail? Second step is to have a system in place, have a designated spot (bin or drawer) for your child to keep his papers/artwork. You could really get a head of the game by having their pocket folder labeled and ready for them to place their papers in! Wouldn’t that be fun?

Depending on the age of your child, work together to figure out what papers and projects will be kept, displayed or recycled. Typically, younger children will want to save everything! Consider setting up a time for your child to have show and tell so he feels as that everyone pays attention to his accomplishments. More times than not, they just want to share and show you everything.
If you find it hard for you and your child to make a decision right away; that's okay. Keep it for now, and then if the pocket folder is over flowing maybe go back over some of the saved treasures.

Organize It
There are many ways you can organize and store your children's papers and artwork so it can be enjoyed and at the same time not take up a lot of space. If you are not sold on the pocket folder, a three ring binder is great for containing papers. Add page protectors so artwork can be stored as well.

Please take the time to label the containers with the child's name, the contents, and the school year of the child. That way when you do want to pull something out, you can locate the items without having to search and dig through one big container.

Artwork and Special Projects
Here are some creative ideas to save artwork without having to take up a lot of space.

•Take a picture of your child with an oversized art project.

•Scan artwork

•Use digital pictures for a screen saver on the family computer. That way the artwork can be continued to be displayed.

•Use large sized artwork on paper for gift wrapping.

Above all, be selective about what you save. Do you really need every math and spelling test? And, some of those arts and craft projects just don't hold up over the years. This is a good opportunity to teach your children that it is OK not to keep everything. Getting your children involved in the process will help them to learn the skills they need to help themselves as they get older. If you need any further help go to my website www.organizingsolutions.info to contact me.

Organizing Kids Closets & Clothes

2009-05-28T05:20:00.000-07:00

Make it easy to keep clothes organized and neat. In their closet hang pants together, short sleeves, long sleeves and if they are in a private school hang all uniforms attire together. Try not to over organize here, simple simon works. For their shoes, I have used milk crates to separate shoes by church shoes, school shoes and sports/tennis shoes. Kids like to kick their shoes off, so why not kick them off into a crate rather then the floor?

Help your children get their drawers to a state where they can easily fit their clothes and other belongings into them without pushing or shoving. Put shoe boxes without lids in drawers to help keep clothes from getting jumbled. Maybe socks in one shoe box, underwear in another.
Let your children help label the containers so that they feel a since of pride in the organizing project. They can be as creative as they want with the labels. Let them write the label or draw pictures for the label anything that will engage them. Have fun with this, and your child will be more open to making the system work.

Put a clothes hamper or baskets in each child's room or the bathroom they share if there is enough room. To simplify and help your children start to learn how to wash clothes have them separate them into lights in one basket; darks in the other basket. I put my children’s clean clothes on the stairs for them to take up to their room. I put each child’s clothes on a separate stair with their hanging clothes on the staircase by their stair. It is their responsibility to take their clothes and put them away in a timely manner. If one of them is not in the mood to put his clothes away, I only charge a dollar to put them away myself! Who knows…maybe you will make an extra $50 this summer!

Drawer Organizers

2009-05-11T04:50:00.000-07:00

I was browsing my favorite online store for an undergarment divider for one of my clients this week and came across this great drawer divider from the Container Store called Dream Drawer Organizers. I wish The Container Store would come to Tulsa! They are spring loaded drawer dividers that expand 12"-18". You can place them anywhere inside the drawer and they stand upright and secure. They are perfect for socks, underwear and lingerie. They would be perfect in the kitchen as well, to separate utensils, silverware, etc. Dream Drawer Organizers are on sale right now at The Container Store for $12.99 for a package of two.

2009-05-04T06:36:00.000-07:00

Making Garage Sales Easy and Less Stressful

It is that time year when you drive into your neighborhood and you see the inevitable sign “Neighborhood Garage Sale This Saturday”. A part of you is excited about getting rid of things but let’s be honest you dread getting your items ready for the garage sale.

Here are some simple, quick easy tips to make any garage sale a success without having to spend hours preparing for the garage sale.

First of all grab a box of large trash bags and an empty tote or laundry basket. Pick a room to start and place soft items in one bag, clothes in another bag and breakables in the tote. Go from room to room through out your house adding to your bags and hopefully getting new bags. Isn’t it amazing how much stuff you have that you don’t use or wear?

Now let’s gather all of our items and get them ready to sell. If you are going to be selling clothes put them into two categories: everyday clothes, the other nicer clothes. I hang the nicer clothes and place the everyday clothes on a table. From looking at your clothes determine the average price you want for them. For instance, everyday clothes $2 a piece, nicer clothes $5 a piece. Do not price every item, make it simple. Gather same price items in one area with a sign, others in another area with a sign. If you really want to get crazy $2 each or 3 for $5…you get rid of more faster!

Household items, toys, movies, books, games and everything in between can be placed on a $5 table, $3 table, $1 table and .25 cent bin. I realize things might get mixed up a tiny or someone might say they found this lamp on the $1 table rather then the $5 table. If you are uncomfortable saying you are sorry it was on the wrong table, “LET IT GO” it is on its way out of your house!

For items that don’t fit into the dollar allotment tables, price them individually. More often than not, there shouldn’t be that many items left to price. The less you have to price individually the easier it is to prepare for your garage sale. I know this is a crazy concept to get used to, but I promise once you do it and see how easy it is to get stuff together for the garage sale you will no longer feel anxious when you see that sign posted in your neighborhood next time! Have a trouble-free Garage Sale!

Coolest Tees Designed by a 918mom!!!

2009-04-30T04:46:00.000-07:00

Have I been living under a rock? I had no idea that the latest must-have item of the moment in Tulsa can’t be found at Saks or Miss Jackson’s. I just discovered Debbie Vinyard with Happy First right here in Tulsa! Debbie called me last week to assist her with inventory, who better to call then an organizer…who worked in retail?!?
Debbie is a 918mom who designs and sells the super cutest and works of art tees that are flying off the shelf as I write this blog. Now you have more reason than ever to add to you ever-expanding collection of cute tees.
On top of that she offers yoga wear as well. Happy First yoga wear with a stylish twist. First of all, there's the Dream Pant Fitness pants that are long enough! These pants are super comfortable to work out in or just run around in. Very flattering at the waist and hips. Then there are the tops, these tanks are the best and it's long enough to stay in place. But, if that's not your style, there are tons of cute tanks and hoodies to complete a really put-together, layered look. All I have to say is thank goodness my boys are seven and nine or I would have ended up buying most darling baby and toddler clothes!How did Happy First come about? In her own words “Thus, Happy First was created to ask the question, “What is happiness to you?” – and to help you discover the answer. Whether that means taking new action, adjusting an outlook, or simply finding a way to wear happiness on your sleeve, Happy First is your catalyst for identifying that first step. Because the best thing you can do for yourself is to become happy above all things. Happy with your circumstances. Happy with your talents. Happy with the life you lead. So rise up. Take control. Find something to celebrate. Be Happy First. Then make it last.”
Since dressing up your cool tees has already emerged as a prominent spring trend, those looking to layer with some individuality should make Happy First your first stop for spring/summer shopping, trust me, you will love her clothes and what better then to help a fellow 918mom? I know you're going to love Happy First just as much I do!

2009-04-28T15:08:00.000-07:00

The Family Binder

A family binder will save time, cuts stress, and enhances communication in any-sized family or household. It is basically a reference book for busy families. The binder holds a lot of different information your family needs on a regular basis that often ends up being scattered around the house. The Family Binder makes it easy to keep everything together, in one reference book.

Putting one together is easy: Just get any kind of three-ring binder, and a bunch of plastic sheet protectors or I use index dividers with two-sided pockets. Then just print out forms you need, put calendars from school or summer camp and continue to fill in as you it fits your family.

Here are some ideas (including some that I use) but customize it to fit your family.
The BOLD words are the labels for the tabs.

Mom
· Family Calendar: Birthday invitations, upcoming events, family vacations.
· Activities: Anything outside of the home, tennis, luncheons, scheduled coffee with friends.

Dad
· Work Related Information: meetings outside of work, upcoming work related trips.
· Activities: golf schedule, tennis, fishing trip, anything outside of work.

Extra
· Your Choice: information of everyone, birthday and anniversary list, children’s chore list, car maintenance schedule, cleaning schedule…

Child One
· School Stuff: School Calendars, newsletters, any other papers that come in.
· Activities: Sports calendar, Sunday school calendar, music lessons. Any extracurricular activity.

Child Two
· School Stuff: School Calendars, newsletters, any other papers that come in.
· Activities: Sports calendar, Sunday school calendar, music lessons. Any extracurricular activity.

Documents
· Documents: Grocery List www.grocerylists.org
· Documents: Medical records (copies of shots records) and Babysitter information’s sheets. (www.theparentsite.com/parenting/babysitter.asp)

Food
· Take Out Menus: When you don’t have time for your weekly dinners! Place an envelope in here with coupons of your favorite restaurants to help save you money.
· Weekly Menu: Plan out your weekly dinners.

Finances
· Finances: Receipts that you need to keep. Jeans you are not sure about, shoes you may not keep after all or any product you are not sure it is going to work out.
· Finances: Your budget, bills to pay, etc.

Place in the sleeve of the back of the binder so you can access it quickly!
· Emergency info & Important Phone Numbers: Phone numbers for your doctor and pediatrician, emergency numbers for fire and police and hospital and poison control, other important numbers. Mom’s cell phone & work number, Dad’s cell phone & work number, grandparents, everyone’s best friend, vet number and any number that you call frequently.

2009-04-23T04:28:00.000-07:00

When Does Make-Up Get Bad?

Okay…since we exposed ourselves about styling products now would be a perfect time to go over our make-up. We all have a pile of makeup in our drawer that we 'sometimes' use, just like the styling products!
Cosmetics do have a shelf life, however, and chances are that blue eye shadow you bought in the 80’s has long expired. Here is a quick guide on the shelf lives of typical beauty products. Keep in mind if you bought any cosmetics with an SPF in them please read the expiration date on the bottom of the bottle.
· Cream & gel cleansers 1 year.
· Foundation Check the ingredients: A water-based foundation will last up to 12 months, oil-based will last up to 18 months.
· Concealer Up to 12 months.
· Powder 2 years.
· Pencil eye liner Should be sharpened regularly. Will last up to 3 years.
· Eye shadow Will also last up to 3 years.
· Mascara This product expires the fastest: Throw out after 4 months.
· Brushes Wash every 2-3 months in a mild detergent
· Lipstick Some experts say 1-2 years. Others say up to 4 years.
· Lip liner Up to 3 years.
· Nail Polish Up to 12 months

Remember, if you didn’t like the color when you bought it, you are not going to like it later. Sephora, Ulta and Target will refund your money, with a receipt, if you don’t like the color on you after you have worn it for a few days. Please don’t keep anything that you don’t like it will just clutter up your bathroom!

2009-04-16T04:43:00.000-07:00

Organizing Your Jewelry

How many times do your sort through your jewelry box hoping to find your black drop earrings that go perfect with your blouse but can only find one? You don’t even try to wear the matching necklace because you already know it is in a knot waiting to be fixed when you have a spare moment. Here are some great and easy tips for the organizing your jewelry.
First let’s go through all of your jewelry and categorize by type or style such silver, gold, beaded and pearls. Take a moment and make sure that everything in front of you is what you love and if something is broke or needs to be cleaned place in Ziploc baggie to be fixed the next time you are out and about running errands.
If you have an empty drawer, I have found that tackle boxes are very good for storing and organizing your jewelry. They normally have ample room in their many little compartments for storing anything from rings to watches. They come with dividers that can easily be arranged to the size you need on top of that they are inexpensive. I bet if you look in the garage there may even be a couple that no one is using!

Necklaces should be hung if it is at all possible, so they do not turn up in a knotted mess. If hanging them is not an option, use Ziploc snack bags to separate and keep them from getting tangled up with other necklaces. Another idea for bracelets or necklaces is a tie rack from your husband’s side of the closet that he is not currently using.

Rings can be organized and stored on ring trees or I have used ice cub trays depending on how many rings someone may have. Watches also work well in ice cube trays for easy storing. Ice cube trays are stackable and fit into most drawers.

Another idea for organizing jewelry is to use the roll up type of make up bag; they usually have several different pockets, some with a zipper closure as well as some with velcro closures. These come in handy when you travel with your jewelry.

I like to keep a tea cup of my “daily jewelry” in my bathroom drawer. These are the four to five pairs of earrings I wear often, my watch and my wedding ring. I keep my other jewelry stored in my closet. These are all just ideas and if you have questions please feel free to email me at cleartheclutter@cox.net

2009-04-13T04:46:00.000-07:00

Any Change Is Good Change

I know all of you have change laying around the house. If you look in your closet, ash tray of your cars, the bottom of your purses and of course the top of your husband’s dresser you will find pennies, dimes, nickels and quarters. It's amazing how much change you can accumulate in a single day.

Try this tip for keeping your change in one place. Find a container, jar or even a piggy bank to hold all of your change. We use an old popcorn can from when the Boy Scouts sold their chocolate caramel covered popcorn. Oh so yummy but that is for a different blog! We keep ours in the master bedroom closet. Two reasons; my husband dumps out his change from his pocket everyday and our youngest son loves to play banker and deposit money from my billfold into the can.

Periodically go around the house and gather up all the change and drop into the container. When it is full take the container to the bank or Coinstar and cash it in! I like to cash in every year in the month of May to have fun money to use through out the summer for treats, bowling or just a rainy day fund. We usually cash in around $250 a year. May is right around the corner, can you hear the ice cream truck coming? Change is good!

2009-04-08T19:55:00.000-07:00

Organizing Your Medicine Cabinet

Spring is in the air along with allergens, sun burns, insect bites and scraped up knees! Now is a great time to for you add a few necessary supplies to your medicine cabinet for spring’s medical needs. “Clearing the Clutter” in this one aspect of you of your home will get rid of outdated medicines so you are prepared for what ever comes your way this spring.

Let’s start by gathering all the medicine in your house to one location so that you can go through all of it together. As you are checking expiration dates on the bottles or boxes start categorizing your medicine. Example: Children’s medicine and adult medicine, from there make sub-categories; allergies, cold, flu, upset stomach, antibacterial ointment and so on. Keep in mind that expired medicines lose their effectiveness and nearly empty bottles create clutter and may not even have enough medicine left for a full dose.

As for the disposal of your medicine, some people like to throw it into the trash others prefer to flush it down the toilet. We now know that medicine can actually get into our soil, creating an environmental hazard. Another option is to contact your local pharmacy. Many pharmacies now have drug recycling programs in place. Some take it back at any time, others hold periodic drives to collect expired medicine.

Now that all of your medicine is thoroughly checked and categorized look to see what duplicates of items you may have that you can store in two places. I would suggest keeping adult medicine in your master bathroom, including any prescriptions that you have currently. In your kitchen you might want to keep vitamins, children’s Motrin or Tylenol, or any medicine that you need to administer daily/frequently (allergy medicine, current antibiotic or cold medicine). You may want to consider having some medicine in your upstairs bathroom. If your child wakes up in the middle of the night coughing or crying from an ear infection, it is nice to have their medicine handy rather then running back downstairs to get the medicine. I also like to keep a Ziploc bag of Neosporin, antiseptic foam wash, band-aids, sunscreen and children’s chewable Motrin tablets in the glove box of my car for any collusions the boys may have while playing at the park.
Some things you may want to make sure to add to your medicine cabinet this spring are sunscreen with the right amount of SPF protection, Aloe Vera to threat burns, insect repellant, insect bite relief and make sure you have a heating or cooling pack for sprains.

If storage is an issue in your bathroom, these little three-drawer units are great for organizing your medicine. Again you can categorize each drawer. One for pain reliever, cough and cold, and bandage drawer. They are around $20 at Target or Wal-Mart and are deep enough to hold a full-size bottle of pain reliever, cough syrup, or an bandage box. Each drawer can be fully removed so you can take the entire "cold" drawer to your child’s bed to take their temperature and administer medicine or take the "bandage" drawer to the child with the scraped up knee.

Once you have organized your medicine cabinet you will be surprised how much faster you can find what you are looking and not have to worry weather it is still “good” to use.

2009-04-07T11:07:00.000-07:00

Do You Do Your Best Thinking in the Shower?

I know when I am just standing there relaxing and going over my day in my head I remember all the things I am suppose to do but as soon as I step out and blow dry my hair, I have forgot half of them. I was reading one of my colleague’s blog (Tanna Clark, Complete Organizing Solutions) when I saw this picture. Obviously from the picture I had to read all about it! Waterproof notepads, oh my, has the world gone crazy or is this about the coolest thing invented?!?!?

My Aqua Notes came up with this waterproof notepad and can be ordered online http://www.myaquanotes.com/ for $8.99. The only down side I can see is if I were to put it in the boys shower my youngest son would not come out of the shower because he would be doing artwork in the shower. He just passed by me as I was doing this blog and said “Wow that is so cool!” See what I mean?!?! He would never get out of the shower!

2009-04-06T08:48:00.000-07:00

Where was this when my boys were young? I can not begin to tell you how many times I would stuff my pockets with keys, cell phone, fruit snacks and a passy hoping none of it would fall out when I chased the boys around the park or when I sat down to rest! Now Stacks and Stacks came out with this great new product to hold everything including your coffee and juice boxes! They come in two colors; black or red for $29.99. Happy strolling—-Michelle

Welcome!

2009-04-06T08:26:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! My name is Michelle Lehman and my business is Organizing Solutions "Clear the Clutter".

I teaches others how to identify priorities and create a significant change in personal organizational habits. Instead of simply showing clients how to organize their spaces, I work with clients to help identify behavior patterns that create inefficiency and clutter. I help establish new habits that work for my clients – and get them organized in style, while making the organizing process fun.

I have been quoted and featured in many publications including Online-Organizing, Tulsa World, The Oklahoman and appears on FOX23 News This Morning. I am also a frequent blogger for 918Moms.com.