Going Paperless in the Kitchen…Guest Post on Faithful Provisions

My last post about going green mentioned going paperless in the kitchen. There are some simple steps you can take to do this yourself. Our household hasn’t bought paper towels in over 8 months. Saved us a bunch of money, and it really wasn’t that hard to do. One of my favorite websites for frugal living & coupons, Faithful Provisions, has the answer for you: my guest post about going paperless.

Read it HERE!

Organizing lessons From The Nashville Flood of 2010

my town May 2010

Many of you may have heard of the “great Nashville flood” we had in our area recently.  While I was personally very lucky (only lost some plants and had some water in the crawl space), there were hundreds, if not thousands, of people in Middle Tennessee that lost possessions, houses, and in some cases, their lives.

This community came out in force to help those affected by the flood – it shows what a great area this is and how good people really are.

Out of this tragedy, though, come a few lessons on organizing .  I’ve been thinking about this for a while, even before this happened, but this really clarified it.  I realized that if we had lost everything – would I be able to recreate my life fairly easily or would it be extremely difficult?  And the answer was, somewhere in between.  So in the interest of being able to recover from this sort of disastrous event, here’s some thoughts:

• Back up everything digital in an offsite/cloud format.  I recommend using Carbonite for a full backup of your computer(s).  Carbonite regularly backs up to a secure location so if you lost your computer, you could recreate all of your data quickly and easily.  Another great way to store data is Dropbox.  This is a cloud storage as well that you can put pictures, documents and any other information out there so not only can you have it secure but you can access it at any time from any internet connection.
• Secure your passwords to everything.  If all of your passwords are written down on a piece of paper and you have a flood or fire – how are you going to virtually access your bank accounts, online payments, etc?   Keep your passwords in a digital format and be able to access them through Evernote,  Dropbox or Carbonite or some other method.  If you need to keep things in a paper format, use a waterproof, fire safe or an off site safety deposit box.
• Make sure your wills, power of attorney, social security cards, living wills, home inventory, etc. are up to date and secure.  Scan all of your documents and make them available digitally to those who need to have them or keep them in the secure off site storage.  For home inventory (all your physical stuff), consider Collectify (that’s what I use).  It also can’t hurt to have valuable items appraised.  In the Nashville area, contact Connie Sue Davenport, my favorite antiques and collectibles appraiser.  For scanning, I use Neat Company’s Neat Receipts Mobile Scanner.  Stores all of your information and will convert it to PDF.  Don’t forget about your credit cards, passports and keeping a list of important contacts somewhere you can access them if you lose your phone.
• Consider having your photos scanned by Scan Digital.  Not only will they scan them for you, they will send them to you in a CD or DVD format and keep them on a server for you.  While most of our current photos are digital these days, it’s the older ones that worry me.  I realized that I have wedding photos, pictures of my early childhood and family that would have been destroyed if we had been flooded.  I have all of my photos packed up right now to send to Scan Digital this week.
• If you had to leave your house in a hurry (think 5 minutes or under), could you easily grab the important stuff?  Do you know where it is – and do you know what is important?  Give this some thought and make a plan.  If I had to leave the house, here’s what I could take in under 5 minutes: 1 child, 3 cats, 1 dog, 4 chickens, my purse (wallet, iphone, camera, notepad & other misc. items) and my laptop.  All of my documents are backed up on my laptop and with Carbonite & Dropbox so even if I don’t have the originals, I can recreate with the backups.  If I had a few more minutes, I would grab all of the original artwork and family heirlooms we have and maybe my favorite boots.
• On that note, take a serious look around your home at your possessions.  Could you actually determine what was the “good stuff”?  The stuff that would truly be worth saving.  Consider using that as a guide when deciding what to keep and what can be “de-cluttered”.  There’s always the stuff you need, like toilet paper and ziploc bags – but these are easily replaced.  It’s the baggage you’ve been carrying around for years that doesn’t enhance your life – just weighs you down.  When you look around your home – what are the things in it that really MAKE it a home – and what are the things that just fill it up?

Nashville flood May 2010

Having a plan is key but if you don’t prepare for an emergency, then you will be caught flat out when one happens.  The flood here taught me a good lesson – even though we were lucky this time – we may not be next time.  I’m spending this summer preparing – just in case.  Contact me if you have any questions about the services I reference OR if you have any other great ones to share.  This is not a definitive list by any means – but take the time to do what you need to so you can recover your life.

Organizing & 2 Hours . . .

Hiring anyone to come in and do a project in your home or business can sometimes be a difficult decision.  You ask yourself if it’s worth it, how long will it take and especially, how much it will cost.  Everyone wants to feel that they are getting their money’s worth.

Well, based on testimonials from my clients, having a Professional Organizer come in and work with you on your pantry, office, computer, whatever, is usually the best money they’ve ever spent because any Organizer worth their salt will not only get you organized but will teach you the skills you need to stay organized.

But since I bill by the hour (as many Organizers do) and I have a 2 hour minimum (again, as many Organizers do), the question comes up, “well, how long will Project X  take?”.  Really what you want to know is, for my 2 hours – what am I getting.  So with some fabulous input from Professional Organizers around the country (thanks Twitter!) and from my own NAPO Chapter here in Nashville, I’ve created a list of typical organizing projects that can be accomplished in 2 hours!

*This list is based on the assumptions that a. You as a client are motivated and can make decisions relatively easily AND b. Your clutter in the project area is “normal” (meaning this isn’t a hoarding situation or an area stuffed full of teeny tiny objects or papers that each need to be evaluated).

So here we go – 2 hours can . . .

• create a Family Command Center
• spiff up a desk
• clean up & organize an entry way/foyer
• organize a small clothes or storage closet
• clean out and organize a pantry
• organize a small bathroom
• organize a hall coat closet or a linen closet
• organize a kids toy area
• organize junk drawers
• clean out and organize a car (yes, you can organize in a car!)
• clean out and organize purses & luggage
• create a “landing area” at an entry point
• install under cabinet shelving/slide-out baskets in a kitchen or bathroom
• organize a mudroom
• organize drawers and/or cabinets in a kitchen (depends on size of kitchen!)
• organize a refrigerator
• purge & organize a bookshelf
• set up a basic filing system for home or business
• create a paper management system in a home office
• set up a kids homework station/desk
• purge & organize bedroom nightstands and dressers
• create a recipe binder

I sincerely thank all the organizers that contributed to this list:  Debbie Jordan Kravitz, Paige McClain-Ramsey, Susanna Starr, Deb Lee, Anne Bryant, Jeri Dansky (see her before & after pics), Ellen Zucker, Christie Love, Matt Baier, Allison Carter & Kelly Spalding.

So, if you are a Professional Organizer, what could YOU do in 2 hours?

And if you want to be organized – contact a Professional Organizer today and get going!  You’ll be amazed at the difference 2 hours can make.

Like with like … that’s all I’m sayin’

I’ve been organizing for such a while now that I sometimes worry that what I’m harping on explaining to my clients is too simplistic or should be obvious.  Then I realize, usually from either the glazed look in their eyes or the look of awe and wonder, that yes, I need to explain that we group items together that are alike.

Here’s what I find a lot when I start a project:

• lots of stuff packed in boxes or on shelves
• random items strewn around that were never put away (mostly because there wasn’t a place to put them)
• drawers crammed full of things
• comments of “oh, I wondered where that was!” or “I forgot we even had that!”

Here’s what you do:

• empty out the areas full of stuff
• group items together that have a common theme
• discard any items you don’t need or want
• contain the items in a bin or basket or on a shelf or in some manner where they are together

The key here is LIKE WITH LIKE.  This means put the pens with the pens, the sweaters with the sweaters, the serving platters with the serving platters.

Now it’s ok to mix pens and pencils (both writing instruments) or have a bin with office supplies such as tape, scissors and post it notes.  But the key is usage.  If you use items for a similar purpose – then group them together and store them together.

Being organized is about finding what you need when you need it.  Grouping like with like and storing them in logical places (read: where you use it) makes this happen.

Book Review: The Organized Mom by Stacey Crew

As an organizer, I love organizing books and as a mom, I love organizing books.  Stacey Crew’s new book, The Organized Mom, combines the best of both worlds.

When I had my daughter, I was in my late 30’s and had absolutely no idea what I was getting into.  Oh, I went to the classes, and read the popular books but while those were great for the big picture – I was still amazed at how much I didn’t know and even though I was pretty organized, there was a lot of things I bought that I really didn’t need, and things that didn’t make sense until after I was in the midst of it all.

What I really like about Stacey’s book is that it has a great mix of the warm & fuzzy part of being a mom, and the practical side of what you need to know AND how to do it.  So much of being a mom is being organized and having a book like this at your side can be invaluable.

The book is broken into two parts:  Organizing Your Home & Organizing For The Baby’s Arrival.

Organizing Your Home encompasses the definitions of organizing, Stacey’s GOPACK method for organizing, and organizing room by room.  This is helpful for just about anyone – and as well done as any organizing book I’ve read (and I’ve read a lot!).

Organizing For The Baby’s Arrival spans going to the hospital and coming home to babyproofing to baby’s firsts.  This is the part I wish I had when I was pregnant!

Some of my favorite things:

• defining of terms like ‘binky’ and ‘nesting’
• real life stories of how people solved common issues
• super practical and detailed recommendations and ideas
• checklists of what you need (including notations to indicate things that are nice but not necessary)
• diagrams for nursery set up and zones for rooms of the house
• an obvious understanding of what it is to be a mom, and a person with a life before parenthood
• the Appendix that has Worksheets and the one that has Resources

Plus the general philosophy that swirls through the book about having a vision for your life and about being mindful.

A few minor quibbles:

• I may have missed it but the book uses “mom” and “dad” which doesn’t necessarily encompass various permutations of couples such as same sex couples or single parents.  However, I suspect this was done for ease of writing and not a deliberate omission.
• The book also appears to make the assumption that someone will have a support system which is not always the case.

The best thing about this book is its logical, step by step approach to getting things done in ways that are achievable and, dare I say, even fun.  Plus, learning the skills as an expectant mom will allow mom to teach the skills to her child which may end up being even more valuable.  Being organized isn’t natural for all people, and learning the skills during childhood can only make later life better.

Stacey and I share a philosophy that less is more, and that life is so much simpler when there is not so much ’stuff’ in your way.  Bringing a baby into a family doesn’t have to cause chaos.  The planning ahead that this book lays out for readers makes it, in my opinion, an absolute must as a baby shower present for any mom-to-be.

You can find Stacey on her blog “The Organizing Mama” and on twitter @staceycrew ———>