Table of Contents

Title Page

Introduction

Thoughts on Clutter

Entry Area

Home/Professional Office

Kitchen Counter or Desk

Clothes Closets

Pantry

Spices, Three Ways

Toys

Seasonal Storage

Craft Rooms

Conclusion

Connect with Me

Kindle Edition – 2016

Whipsaw Press
www.frankmorin.org

www.efficientspacesco.com

ISBN: 978-0-9970233-5-0

Copyright © 2016 Jennifer Morin

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Cover artwork images by Adobe Stock Images

Book design by Kathryn Morin

Get Organized Quick!
15 Minutes a Day to Organize Your Life

Are you frustrated with your living space? Do you ever wonder how some people manage to stay organized, even with busy lives? Is it even realistic to aspire to this?

Yes! A more organized home or office is possible. With these practical tips and a consistent effort, you can transform any area into an open, attractive place that will be a pleasure to come home to every day!

Because you have a busy life, these tips are quick—15 minutes each.

To show that change is possible with the right tools, I’d like to share a before and after story from one client I’ll call Betty:

“I have struggled with organization my entire life. I have tried my hardest to find low-cost, practical solutions but I always seem to fall short.

“I am a single mother of 4 boys. I have more space and junk than I know what to do with. I need space for office, crafts and kids. My kids need help with organizing. Everything I’ve tried has not worked for longer than a week. I’m stressed out, tired of the fight and ready to give up. Help!”

Betty’s boys liked toys. Like many, they had too many toys. So that’s where we started. We used tips like those I’ll share with you along with my expertise to systematically organize every room in her home. By the time we finished, Betty’s house was transformed. She had a home she loved coming back to. It became a restful place for her to be, and she hosted a party with some girlfriends to show off the results!

Thoughts on Clutter:

If you have clutter, you have delayed the decisions you needed to make in order to put it away or discard it.* So, in order to have less clutter, you MUST decide on what you are going to do with an item while you are holding it. Otherwise, you will set it down and it becomes clutter. By the time you are ready to deal with it, you are so frustrated with the piles of clutter that you impulsively discard the entire stack without going through it. This action is called being reckless.

Be Ruthless, not Reckless!

Here is the difference: Being ruthless is tossing all your old newspapers; being reckless is dumping an entire box of papers and mail without first quickly sorting through it to find anything important enough to keep. I once found a $250 check for a hoarding client in a stack of newspapers and back issues of hot rod magazines. He had convinced himself that he had already deposited it. I know of other organizers who have found thousands of dollars in one home, carelessly mixed in with random clutter! So, have caution and be ruthless, not reckless.

*Barbara Hemphill, former NAPO president, coined the phrase “clutter represents delayed decisions.”

Tips to banish clutter:

1. Make a decision on each item as you are holding it.

2. Be Ruthless, not Reckless.

3. Avoid thinking "I'll deal with that later" or "I'll put it here for now." This is dangerous; it leads to precarious piles.

4. Give everything a home. If you put something in the same place every time, you will be able to find it. Car keys, eyeglasses, and the remote control are some things that “disappear” frequently. Think of all the time you waste daily looking for these items. On the plus side, think of all the time you’ll save by habitually putting each item away!

5. Deal with mail daily. (More specifics on this follow.) If you are tempted to procrastinate, remind yourself: it only takes a few minutes to sort the mail. Really!

6. Each day after you’ve read the newspaper, put it in a box in the garage or closet. When the box is full, dump it in the recycle bin. Newspapers are today's news, tomorrow's trash. If you are keeping them to 'catch up,' you will end up with stacks. Remember you will see this information again. Most newspapers and magazines run on a 3 year cycle, then they start repeating article information. In a way, they actually recycle their stories!

7. Stand over a trash and recycle bin as you sort the mail so you can recycle junk mail right away.

Entry Area:

The first area visitors see in your home, it needs to be inviting, not cluttered. What is the secret to an organized, presentable entryway? How do you prevent it from becoming a dumping-ground for mail, shopping, gym bags, backpacks, purses, shoes? As I write this, I think about my own entryway where my husband’s gym bag had taken permanent residence on the floor. My solution? Instead of nagging him to put it upstairs, I just put an attractive basket there so at least it looks contained. Because it’s easier to add a container than change the man. Wink!

1. minute tips:

1. Have a designated “Home” for everything.

2. Deal with your mail daily and have a way to sort bills, school papers, etc.

1. Purge the things you never use, and put out-of-season clothing and shoes away (in respective bedrooms, garage, basement).

2. Make sure to label each box of clothing you put away. Use masking tape and a permanent marker, or a labeler if you prefer.

3. Put shoes away in a closet or get a shoe shelf to contain them.

4. Wait for a messy day, when lots of stuff is lying around, then count how many coats and bags are piling up and install hooks for them.

5. Before going out to buy storage, large or small, decide whether open storage (like open shelves) or closed storage (like a cabinet with doors) works best for your family dynamic.

6. Measure the space you have before buying bins or baskets for your gear. Otherwise, you may buy baskets that hang out over your shelves, or buy too many.

7. Remember to use the back of the coat closet door! (See real life closet solution below.)

8. Give your family a "tour" of where everything goes.

9. Repeat tips 3-5 at the end of each season.

Real life coat closet solution: When we moved into our home, I noted the closet had a lot of wasted space. Though it measured 7 feet by 38 inches, only one 38-inch closet rod had been installed for storage—woefully inadequate for my family of 6. So, I had the brilliant (ahem) idea to install a rod along one long side and angle the hangers. Then we installed upper and lower rows of hooks for kids’ coats and backpacks. I had moved 2 large sliding wire basket drawers from our home in Vermont, which happened to be a perfect fit, so we installed them on the back wall of the closet for hats, scarves and gloves. We installed 2 long melamine boards for shoe shelves, plus another long shelf above the coat rod. Lastly, I hung a linen over-door shoe organizer on the back of the closet door for frequently-used gloves, hats, etc. Everyone has their own clear row of pockets, labeled with their name. Now it is a super-storing closet!

Home/Professional Office:

The key to an organized office is having a place for everything. It makes work much easier when you have a clear desk surface. You need SPACE to think and breathe. Creativity and problem solving become easier without clutter to distract you. If this is the place you earn your living, finding information and tools quickly is especially important. Having this well-oiled office machine will lead to a productive workday, giving you the framework to provide well for yourself and loved ones.

1. Purge papers and projects that are no longer necessary or outdated.

2. Make it easy to file by having a filing cabinet within arm’s reach of your desk chair.

3. Have a place for bills that need to be paid and file or scan paid bills promptly.

4. Use a letter sorter if you need bills to be visible in order to remember to pay them.

5. For credit card bills, only save page(s) listing your purchases (eliminates 50% of paper) and shred the rest.

6. If you're saving something like a magazine to read 'later,' set a deadline. If you haven't read it by then, recycle it. (See tip 6 in the Kitchen Counter section.)

7. If it takes only 5 minutes to do, do it NOW instead of adding it to a pile or a to-do list.

Put away everything you can and “containerize” everything else.

Kitchen Counter or Desk:

For clear kitchen counters, regular maintenance is the best recipe. Here are the key ingredients!

1. Remember, have a place for everything! Items that need a “Home” are the ones that pile up.

2. Establish a place for children to put their homework, events info and papers that need signing.

3. Keep 1 binder or large file box for each child. Store pictures, writing, perfect spelling tests, etc. When old enough, they can be the manager of their own memories.

4. Stand up the papers that pile up in a file sorter or magazine sorter.

5. For urgent notes and notices, keep them “in your face” on a cork board or clipped to front of a file box.

6. As a best practice, when a new magazine comes in, recycle last month’s. If you must save an article from last month, cut it out and file it or scan it. It takes up much less room than an entire magazine!

My real-life solution: I love this idea and I copied it from Real Simple magazine. Get a binder to collect magazine articles, and create headings named after the magazine subjects listed in the contents. You can even pre-load it with clear plastic sheet protectors ahead of time. If you make it easy to do, you will do it.

1. Corral vitamins into an attractive container, or keep 1 bottle out as a reminder and stow the rest in a drawer or cupboard. Purge bottles you don’t use or are expired.

2. Place a decoration that draws the eye, like a vase with bright silk flowers or a house plant on the counter. It will inspire you to keep the it clear.

3. At kitchen desk, have a mail sorter, one for each person in your family. I purchased a spring green 6 pocket fabric one, and gave each family member one pocket. I used a black label to make it look classy. (Smile!)

4. Maintain, maintain, maintain. Pick a daily (or weekly) time to put things back in your system.

Real life solution: For the ever-accumulating school papers, I buy a plastic tote for each child. Then I put in school papers, drawings, pictures and keepsakes. When the box gets full, or once a year, perhaps before the start of school, I go through it with each child, purge what he/she does not want, then contain it in a Priority mail box. We then label it with their name and grade(s) or years, and put the box away in a dry storage area.

Free storage: Priority mail boxes are free and are big enough for most oversized children’s art.

Clothes Closets:

Our clothes, shoes and bags have a way of multiplying, don’t they? If only our bank account shared the same phenomenon!

Follow these guidelines if your closet is getting full and you realize you only wear 1/3 of your clothes (like most people in the USA):

1. Buy one, toss one.

Or:

1. Buy one, toss two if your clothes are already squashed. This may make you think twice before you bring home a new top or bag.

2. Put like items together. For example, I group all my casual tops together and all of my professional blouses together. It makes getting ready much faster!

3. Color-sort your clothes. All white tops, all black tops hanging together, and so on.

4. Have a few hooks for frequently-worn items like your favorite sweatshirt or gym clothes (helps them air out too!). I use an over-door hanger with 8 hooks.

5. Create “zones” for travel, gym and sporting clothes, hats, off-season items, etc.

6. Stand up purses using wire sweater dividers.** They clip neatly to a shelf.

7. Scarves can easily be corralled using a scarf organizer, which looks like a regular hanger and has 6-18 large loops.

8. Use a pool noodle cut to size for tall leather boots. It works great! Or, purchase a boot stand,** which stores them upside down.
** These items (shelf dividers, boot stands) are available at stores that specialize in organizing products. Or, just use your search engine and find them online.

Warning: The following actions take longer than 15 minutes:

1. Take 30 minutes on the weekend and put together five outfits for the coming week. It will save you a surprising amount of time getting ready each morning!

2. Have a friend over, put on some music, and get advice on which outfits flatter you. Give away the ones that don’t fit or flatter you. Life’s too short, girlfriend!

3. If you love an item but don’t wear it because it needs repair, take it to a tailor.

4. The benefit of this gradual weeding out of your closet is straightforward. It will be easier for you to see what you have, so putting together an ensemble will be a snap. Your morning prep time will be whittled down and you will look FABULOUS in all your outfits.

5. If you are loath to get rid of something, try this: Write an expiration date on a post-it and attach it to the hanger. If you haven’t worn it by the time the date comes, discard it or sell it. Limit yourself to a few items (3 or 4) and use the same expiration date.

6. Here’s a good experiment to try if you like a certain piece of clothing but aren’t sure how much you wear it: turn the hanger backward on the closet rod. Then, if you wear it, turn it the correct way. If you haven’t worn it by the end of the season, let it go.

Real life results: (from blogger Courtney Carver, who downsized her wardrobe to 33 items) “At first I thought my coworkers would notice my limited repertoire. Instead, I got positive feedback. Interestingly there were fewer ‘I love your shoes’ types of comments and more ‘You look great’ ones. A capsule wardrobe helps you hone your personal style. I feel confident in what I’m wearing, and people pick up on that.” Real Simple, Jan. 2016, 56.

Need more info?

www.efficientspacesco.com/2016/06/secrets-organized-closet/

www.pinterest.com/jennyrossomorin/organizing-your-closet/

Pantry:

1. Rotate food. Whenever you buy a new can of kidney beans, put it in the back and bring the older cans to the front.

2. Label shelves. So valuable when you have young helpers, and to realize you are out of an item! Use a labeler or yellow painter’s tape and a permanent marker.

3. Create zones. Example: Keep baking items together, and put fresh vegetables like potatoes and onions together. I use open, ventilated stacking baskets for potatoes and onions.

4. To save yourself trips to the store, when you need one, buy two. This has application in other areas of your life, too.

5. Make a shelf within a shelf: use a “cabinet shelf:” A freestanding wire shelf is especially useful for holding twice as many soup cans, etc.

6. For hard-to-reach corner areas in pantry, use a lazy Suzan and put round items on it. Ideas: Sauces or canned items fit exceptionally well on the round surface.

7. Don’t forget the back of the pantry door! Organizing supply stores have excellent canned food units and other systems that can be installed to maximize your space.

Spices, Three Ways:

1. Mount spice racks on the inside of upper cabinet doors.

2. Use a counter-top spinning spice unit.

3. Out of sight: in a drawer, use a spice organizer, or label lids of baby food jars with the spice’s name and sort alphabetically.

Real life results: The most extreme pantry I ever worked on happened to belong to a 90-year-old couple. The husband suffered from age-onset hoarding. They had puddings, cake mixes and canned food that had been expired for 10 years or more. As the wife assisted me (with me doing all the lifting), we culled out the old food and items she didn’t think they’d use.

When we were done, she marveled at the difference! She could see all the food she had on hand, with everything neatly organized into categories. She no longer feared something would fall on her from an upper shelf. Since we cleared the clutter from the pantry floor, she could walk right up to her shelves without fear of tripping. Another benefit: at a glance, she could see if she was low on certain foods, which made it much easier for my 90-year-old friend to write her grocery list.

Toys:

1. Go through the toys without your child and purge the toys s(he) doesn’t play with.

2. Think like a cowboy. Corral those toys. They can be a problem because they are all different shapes and sizes. The good thing is: you can find practically any container you need in stores or online!

3. One of my personal favorites for organizing small/medium-sized toys is a wooden framework 3 “stories” high with colored plastic bins.

4. Think outside the toybox: use organizing tools that are meant for other items. Example: wrapping paper storage works for light sabers, swords and bows/arrows.

5. Games: They can be such a problem because the boxes are all different sizes. Keep them on shelves or re-container them into Clear same-size storage bins with lids. Use game label cut from box (or a picture of it).

6. For children who cannot read yet, put a picture of what is in the basket, like a car, along with the word “cars.” It helps them learn reading and organizing at the same time!

7. Collections: Kids love rocks. So treat it like a scientist would: use a box with dividers to categorize rocks or other small items, or try a tackle box. An egg carton will also work for small things like marbles or rocks. If you are stuck, look on my Pinterest page for ideas. Chances are someone out there has already found a great solution!

Blog link: http://www.efficientspacesco.com/2016/03/toys/

Pinterest page: www.pinterest.com/jennyrossomorin/organized-kids-toys/

Real life results: Remember Betty? She said, “I have more space and junk than I know what to do with. My kids need help with organizing. Everything I’ve tried has not worked for longer than a week. I’m stressed out, tired of the fight and ready to give up. Help!”

When I arrived, I noticed her kids’ toys were overflowing and taking over her bonus room. She had plenty of enclosed storage space, so we quickly went through and discarded the toys her children didn’t use any more, expanded some of her storage, and rearranged placement for other toys. We even labeled all the drawers to leave no doubt where each type of toy belonged. This room took less than 3 hours from start to finish, allowing us to start a different room in her home when I came back for our second organizing session. Betty was so motivated by the space we had freed up, because that meant she could have a creativity corner to do crafts and sewing!

Seasonal Storage:

Generally, I recommend having 1 box per holiday, unless you really go to town with decorating.

Materials needed for this section: clear plastic totes with tight fitting lids, labeler or tape and marker, packing paper and empty wrapping paper rolls.

Regardless of what else you do, the most important things to remember about storage are:

1. Label every box with the top 3 items it contains. Example: Wreath, garlands, mini tree.

2. Put like items together in the boxes. All ornaments together, or all plastic eggs in one place, for instance.

3. Winter holidays like Christmas or Hanukkah generally require more than one box of decorations. In this case, I recommend an ‘Open First’ box that has the wreath, advent calendar and other greenery enclosed. This avoids the frantic search through multiple boxes for the first round of decorating.

4. Put delicate ornaments together, and use bubble wrap or packing paper to keep them safe (newsprint is not recommended as the ink may rub off on some items). Use fabric decorations like the tree skirt or wall hangings to protect large breakables.

5. If you have glass bulbs, invest in a nifty bulb case. Fabric and craft stores carry these, and they can be found on clearance after the holidays. I finally invested in one 2 years ago and it’s much easier than my old system with the original bulb boxes.

6. For Christmas lights, wrap around old wrapping paper tubes. Fun fact: When I moved across the country, I used hockey sticks instead! This trick prevents the cords from getting tangled, which takes away much of the frustration with decorating the tree. (If the lights slide around, secure them with masking tape.) Now if we could only find a faster way to get bulbs all working . . . .

7. For outside lights, having 3M hooks in place really makes decorating every year a snap. OR you can do what Vermonters do-- just leave the lights on the house year-round!

8. I recommend an extendable pole with an L-shaped end for hanging lights outside in high places. It limits the need for climbing up and down a ladder countless times; it’s much safer.

Now, tips for purging decorations that stay in the box every year and just end up taking up space:

1. Notice what you didn’t put up this year; what stayed in the boxes?

2. Ask yourself, did I run out of time to put all my decorations up, or am I simply tired of these decorations?

3. If you are tired of them, it is time to discard them. Remember, be ruthless! Sure, they’ve served you well for years, but that doesn’t mean you need to hold onto them. Let them go.

4. If they are still in good shape, donate them (for another family to enjoy).

Benefits: I don’t know about you, but I get a warm fuzzy feeling when I donate useful items to thrift stores, knowing another person will save money and use them. And, when you keep only what you use for decorating, you won’t have to sift through so many boxes to find the decorations you actually put up. It saves time and frustration at this busy time of year! And aren’t we always wishing for more time with loved ones, especially at the holidays?

Wrapping Station ideas:

1. This doesn’t need to be a huge area. You can repurpose the back of a closet door to hold most of your wrapping supplies.

2. The main thing is to find a tall, narrow container to contain the wrapping paper. See my Pinterest page for ideas. www.pinterest.com/jennyrossomorin/organized-wrapping/

3. Separate your tools into categories like tape, bows, ribbon, etc.

4. Now, actually measure the volume of each type of tool. The tape may only need a small box, while the bows will need a larger one.

5. Look around your house for matching containers that have the sizes you need and use them. Or, for a more unified look, buy clear boxes online. I recommend boxes with lids to keep out dust.

Craft Rooms:

1. Resist the temptation to go out and buy storage containers until you know what you have!

2. Go through your craft supplies to inventory them

3. What to purge:

1. Any supplies you haven’t used in over a year

2. Any projects you won’t finish—be honest with yourself and be RUTHLESS! The golden rule of purging: it doesn’t matter how much time you spent on a project, if you have lost interest in it and won’t finish it, don’t let it take up prime real estate in your craft room or your life. Remember, clutter represents delayed decisions. Don’t delay! Decide today!

3. Tools or supplies for categories you aren’t interested in any more. Example: if you’ve given up knitting or making stained glass, give away or sell your yarn, needles, glass, leading, etc. You can keep a reasonable amount of yarn in colors like white or black for other projects. That means 1 skein of each, in case you are wondering.

What I’ve noticed with my clients as we are going through craft rooms: the longer you have to think about whether to keep a project, the less likely you are to keep it. There’s usually an internal struggle going on as she tries to talk herself into keeping that unfinished knitting project she hasn’t worked on in 5 years. One of my favorite craft room projects was with Terry. She was ready to change. We sped through her cluttered craft room and she easily let go of old knitting projects, unfinished quilting projects, etc. I was so proud of her.

The key to our speedy purge and sort? Quick decisions.

Don’t delay! Decide today!

1. Use jars for small items like buttons, ribbon or fabric scraps

2. Put ribbons on a roll, or on a string for ease of use.

3. Store paper in magazine holders, oversized files or lying flat on a shelf.

4. Store stamps and thread in small clear containers, grouped by color (thread) or theme/holiday (stamps).

5. Label everything!

6. If you need more space, look up! Install shallow shelves on your wall to hold jars, or hang pegboards up as handy tool holders.

7. When selecting containers for supplies, make sure to leave extra space for your collection to grow, because it will.

8. Take time once a year to go through your craft supplies again and purge things that have accumulated. Donate them to a local school or preschool.

See my Pinterest Page: www.pinterest.com/jennyrossomorin/organized-craft-or-sewing-room/

Conclusion:

Now that you’ve applied some of these tips in different rooms, you can see the benefit of tackling organizing projects in small chunks of time. We are busy: we have family, schedules and frequent distractions. I believe a 15-minute time set aside each day is doable. If you miss a day or two—or more—because life gets in the way, don’t chastise yourself. Instead, encourage yourself the way you would a friend who is trying to make a life change. There will be bumps in the road, but you can and will do it when you put your mind to it and really commit. I firmly believe that small changes in habits over time lead to big results.

Remember Betty? (From page 1 of this ebook…) Through the changes we made by purging clutter and reorganizing all of the rooms, her home was transformed into a haven where she and her boys were comfortable and free to play, do hobbies and cook with ease. Instead of feeling stress because of all the clutter, she now feels a sense of calm when she walks in the front door each afternoon. She now has what I call the Ahhh factor. What a difference!

To have that feeling in your life, use these tips to purge clutter, get surfaces clear and establish a place for everything—in other words a system for your home.

And, as with any system, the key to continued success is: Maintain, maintain, maintain! Make maintenance a habit and you will be free of clutter forever.

Happy organizing!

Connect with Me:

Join my Blog and get emails every month! I promise not to flood your inbox: www.efficientspacesco.com/blog/

On Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/jennyrossomorin/

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