Get yourself organized

Heck, I am so organized, I did my tips LAST YEAR and they can be found by clicking HERE.
~~You're welcome.
At least three of the voices in my head are complete freaking hypocrites because my house presently appears to have several lady hoarders residing there and one might wonder where the other 40 cats are.
A wreck.
Why?
Procrastination.
A leaking water heater and the mess it created when I cleared everything from the nearby closet.
A master bedroom cleared for ceiling "cottage cheese" scraping and removal.
Laziness.
When my sister asked where to move the mattress, my reply was the dining room. Her sarcastic comment? "Yeah, of course, the dining room is where everyone places their mattress, leaning against the wall."
But just you wait, my friends. I am making progress. Water heater replaced, ceiling scraped, ceiling primed, shopping for light fixture now.
Now, go read my (wh)organizing posts and throw away something, ya freak.

Covered in cat hair
and
breathing in possibly horrendous dust,

I am,

Skitzo Leezra

Organize your earrings

First, pair the earrings and attach to each other.

Here's how:

Hoops - open one hoop. Slip the other closed hoop inside. Close hoop.

Posts - remove back from one post. Slip post through the back of the other post and slide back onto post.

Even if you take it no further, this is a sure way to keep the pairs together and it is much easier to find an attached pair than a single earring.

Next, find yourself an antique tin-type tray and place on shelf in your closet. You might find one at an antique store or flea market. Alternately, you can use shallow drawer space with dividers.

Arrange earrings by ascending size of hoops, stone earrings, pearl earrings, whatever makes sense to you. Silver on one side, gold on the other. Cover silver side with tarnish-free flannel cloth. Charms and chains behind the earrings. See an empty compartment? You should be able to guess which earrings are missing. (If you were really anal, you could label the compartment.)

Click here to organize necklaces.

Organize that closet!

If I don't see my long sleeve pink cardigan sweater, the only place to look is in the dirty clothes basket or laundry room because my clothing is arranged by color within the following categories:

• sleeveless and tanks and camisoles


• short sleeved shirts


• long sleeved shirts and sweaters


• pants


• skirts


• coats are in hall closet

Organize your closet like this and be amazed at how quickly you can find things AND how easy it is to put things away.

A place for everything

and everything in its place.

As it should be.

Gift wrap center

One easy to assemble unfinished pine hutch from Lowe's that perfectly fits in a standard depth closet. I would insert a link but the Lowe's website sucks. Walk down the storage and shelf aisle and look for ideas. Measure your closet depth!

Boxes and baskets store tinsel bows, tape, small paper bags and gift enclosure cards.

The Coca~Cola 6-bottle carrier contains paper remants for small gifts.

Vintage paper collater sorts the tissue paper stash. You can buy one HERE or look at garage sales and such.

Small gifts are on third shelf. I have wiped out a few things over the last year so need to replenish. Usually I keep nice soaps, candles, journals, stationery and tea towels on hand along with other things I pick up when on sale ~OR~ Re-Gifts.

That's right. I am not above passing on something that I don't dig but someone else will. Do yourself a favor and attach a Post It note to the potential gift with the original giver's name. Not good to give the gift to the person that gave it to you. Not good at all.

Gift bags are sorted by size and color then tied onto rod with ribbon.

(I actually purchased large curtain rings with metal clips to fit the rod but cannot remove rod without another pair of very strong hands. It is jammed, I tell ya, stuck!)

Empty gift boxes stacked on wire shelf.

Purchased a mongo pack of tissue and though I am anal retentive, I was too lazy to fold all those sheets and jam into the collator so did the quick fix with a men's pant clamp hanger.

Gift wrap stash. I purchase paper everywhere but usually opt for seasonless designs. I don't
purchase Christmas themed paper. No matter the age or gender, most of my paper choices will work. Bought a big roll of dark brown paper and there is not one ribbon that doesn't look good with it. Bright green, white, pink, blue - it all looks fab. Bright green is another good year 'round gift wrap color. One choice of paper that looks good with everything is a space saver.

Note: I have plenty of space for multiple rolls of paper and lots of boxes so have acquired quite a stash. You will need to adjust to your prescribed space.

(Wh)organizing January motivation

E is for Edit!!

January brings a New Year, Christmas gifts that need a new home, stores filled with big plastic storage boxes and reruns of the Hoarder television series on A&E.
Ready to start organizing and purging? Good!

Here is your cheerleading moment: hoarders didn't fill those godforsaken houses with crap overnight or one weekend nor should you shouldn't expect to complete a full house reorganization overnight. That only happens on HGTV's Clean House through the magic of television.

Tips:

• Start in one space or room.


• Divide into mini-spaces: one wall, one drawer, one shelf.


• Completely finish the room before moving on.


• Dust, sweep, vacuum and mop when complete.


• Stand in the room and admire your good work.


• Move on to the next space.


• When feeling stalled, go look at your first space for motivation.


• Get back to work.


• Best way to complete the project is to do a little each day. If you attempt to finish in one weekend and become overwhelmed, you'll give up and the mess gets worse.


• Set a timer and work 30 minutes every day.


• Have more than 30 minutes? Work for an hour.


• Ready for a television break? Pull a drawer out of the kitchen cabinet or furniture, set it on your lap or ottoman while you watch and organize it. You won't believe how quickly you can plow through. You might even replace the drawer and get another during a commercial break.


• Keep on keepin' on! It feels so good to open a neat and organized drawer or closet that it becomes addictive.

Let me know how it is going!

Would love to know your thoughts and progress.

Where's that crap gonna go?

Okay, organizing can be a bitch because you gotta pull out all the crap and make a big mess before it gets better.

Prepare by taking it space by space. Don't think about the entire house. Think 1 closet. 1 drawer. 1 shelf.

Where is that crap gonna go?

First, get yourself a pack of Post-It notes, a pen or pencil and 3 boxes.

Box 1: Line with trash bag and place a few more underneath. This is the TOSS box. Stuff that is worthless, things that cannot be passed down the line, paper, and trash. Fill it up. Throw it away. Replace trash bag.

Box 2: Place items for CHARITY in this box. Be it Goodwill, Salvation Army or your local thrift store. This box gets the items you don't need but are still in good shape.

Box 3: This is the dangerous box. The KEEP box. You should place items in here if they should moved elsewhere. Place a Post-It note on item with new destination so when you complete the organization, you can pick up the box and play "mailman" and deliver the items to their new home. OR, write a friend or family member's name on the Post-It note and place aside for their approval or drop-off. OR, sell the item on eBay!

Now is a good time for some tough love. Giving items to others means completely relinquishing it. My mom used to give me items that she no longer wanted but would hand it over and say, "This was great grandmother's such and such, it is antique but I don't want it and am giving it to you but don't get rid of this."

"Well, are you sure you want me to have it? Do you want to keep it?"

"No, but I don't want you to get rid of it."

"Are you going to want it back at a later date?"

"No."

Finally, I learned that storing other people's items is the easiest and fastest way to accumulate stuff. Ask any parent with grown children and a house full of crap the kids won't take. They are basically an unpaid climate controlled storage unit.

Back to Mom. After attending a few feng shui classes, I realized taking on items with conditions doesn't ever make it yours so now I make no promises to anyone about keeping an item "in the family". I'll offer said item to siblings but if no takers, it moves down the line. Mom is okay with the new plan.

Offer the items to friends or family but don't you dare guilt them into taking it. For shame.

Make some money by selling on eBay or get a tax credit by donating to charity thrift store but get rid of the junk.

Here are my two rules:

1. 
   
   Hold the item in your hand and truly look at it. Remember how it came to you. Think of how you've used it. Think about the space you just pulled it from. Be really truthful and answer: Does it bring you joy? This a tough question. Does it bring you joy? Are you keeping it out of guilt? Fear of hurting someone's feelings? Did it bring you joy at one time but not so much now?


2. 
   
   If you've owned an item for 2 years, never used said item AND you can buy another at WalMart for less than $20, TOSS it.

Does it bring you joy?

Say you were 13 years old when you purchased a ceramic frog on a field trip. It was cute and reminded you of a fun time. Your friends noticed and bought more frogs for your birthdays. Your parents bestowed more ceramic frogs plus added a frog themed Christmas ornament every year. Someone gave you a frog pendant made of precious metal. Grandmother began annual gifts of porcelain frog themed Limoges boxes. Frog motif gifts every time you turned around. Now you are older and you've got frogs coming out the ass and to realize it all started with one ceramic frog you selected. Every frog since then has been selected by others.

So here's the question: Do all of those frogs bring you joy? Did they ever? Get real and get honest.

Is the original frog the only one you want to keep? Or maybe just the Christmas ornaments? Or should the entire collection go away? You are not obligated to keep something that you liked before. You are not obligated to keep a collection you didn't want. You can keep the memory. You can take photographs of you favorites. Or add a frog charm to your charm bracelet to represent that entire collection.

You can pass that collection to someone that would LOVE it. Maybe your niece comments about one particular frog each time she visits. Set it aside for her but don't perpetuate the problem by giving her all the frog stuff.

Inform your friends and family that you are no longer collecting frogs. I guarantee they'll ask what you are collecting now. Be careful with your answer. Tell them your new desired item only if you want to start the process all over again but here's what I say and it has stopped the flow of crap: I collect Waterford crystal (not little figurines and dust catchers) AND crisp $100 bills. Go for quality.

Gonna drop a deep thought on you now. Think about it before you react.

If you keep something that doesn't bring you joy,

you are being selfish.

That's right, selfish, my friends.

But it's yours, right? How is that selfish?

Well, think of it this way: you no longer enjoy the frog collection, you keep most of it in a closet, it never sees the light of day and no one else can enjoy it. Give it away, sell it, whatever - let those frogs bring someone else joy. Doesn't that make you happy to imagine someone's eyes will light up when they spy the perfect frog? Doesn't someone else's joy make it easier to give up?

Only keep items that bring you joy.
And understand that joy can change over time.

(Wh)Organizing deep thought

I sometimes perform freelance organization jobs on the side. For an hourly rate, I help folks organize their closets, garages and homes. It brings me joy to root through "stuff" and leave it in better shape than I found it. They're happy, I'm happy plus I earned money doing what I enjoy.

Anywho, a few years ago, I helped to organize a friend's home. She is a lady with a great heart, wealthy means and cool stuff so the work was fun. We pulled everything out of her "gift closet" to ascertain the keepers and tossers. She was quite embarrassed to find 5 very nice personalized gift Bibles with the intended recipient's name in gold leaf. The Bibles were to be high school graduation gifts. 5 years ago. She couldn't bring herself to give the 5 year old gifts to the intended recipients so donated them to my church's outreach program.

A few days later I read a church sign with the following message:

A small gesture

is more powerful

than a great intention.

It perfectly summed up the misplaced Bible experience and it became my New Year's resolution. Because the real reason we do nice things for others is because it feels good. Your recipient receives the gift of your generosity and you gain the warm and fuzzy feeling of sharing but it doesn't work if you cannot find the gift and the moment (day/week/month/year) passes.

Later, I spoke to my friend Dori. She sounded horrible. Dori felt sick and miserable. She had everything she needed so I asked if she would like some fresh satsumas my co-worker brought from his tree just that morning.

"Would love it!"

Well, how to carry them to her? I found a small plain paper bag in my desk drawer. Filled bag with satsumas. Folded over top of bag and creased. Punched 2 holes at top. Poked a satsuma twig through the holes to secure the closed flap. Left bag on friend's front porch.

Fast forward a day or two later when I received the nicest thank you note: she squeezed the satsumas into juice and felt the healing properties of citrus but she raved about the "presentation" of the simple bag with twig closure.

It was simple gesture that made her feel good.
Made me feel good.
AND my co-worker was happy that someone enjoyed the fruits of his labors.

Win. Win. Win.

Holiday gift wrap (wh)organization

If your gift wrap station* is a bit cramped, consider storing the holiday wrap, bags and such with the holiday decorations. You won't need them until later in the year so buy yourself some space in the meantime.
If you are a big recycler of gift bags but also very picky, include your rejects in the charity or thrift store box.
*How to set up a gift wrap station

(Wh)Organizing the holidays

Okay, okay.
Maybe I did sleep all day and drove to Dillard's at the last minute to purchase 2 new pair of shoes at half price before the six o'clock closing time but you should've been putting away your holiday decorations today. (The agnostics and atheists should have less crap but let's not assume.)
You will hear me preach the mantra of "like goes with like" over and over again but sometime ya gotta know the rules to break the rules. One approach is to store all decorative ornaments together, then all lights together, all garlands together. IF you switch it up every year, that approach would work but if you tend to decorate by color or tone or room, organize your holiday decorations thusly. I have boxes labeled SILVER STUFF, FRONT DOOR GARLAND, GOLD STUFF, PINK & GREEN STUFF, etc. Each box contains items for one location or one theme so if I get lazy (like this year), I can pull one box and find everything I need for one room.
THINK about your stuff before storing. Cull before storing. I have way too much Christmas stuff so cleared some seldom used decor items and sold them in a garage sale this year. Someone out there is enjoying my fish themed garland and ornaments this holiday and it makes me happy.
Get your labels and mark those boxes and bins because if you don't have an inventory on the outside, what's the use? While we're talking labels, let's cut the bullshit about the fancy shmancy label makers. I have one, like it but don't use it for Christmas decorations because the contents change. Use large adhesive backed shipping labels and write in your most legible handwriting.
If you asked me to retrieve a specific seasonal ornament or item, I could hand it to you in less than 5 minutes. Can you say the same?

(Wh)Organizing kick off

Alright, bitches, enjoy your New Year's Eve fun because tomorrow is the first day of a month of organizing tips. As I warned ya, a couple weeks ago, more brand new tote boxes are not the solution. NOOOooooo more boxes until you get rid of the crap.

Straight talk and action are my methods so if you are looking for hand holding and quiet voices for hoarders, click on www.losersandtheirshit.com

I'm gonna hit ya with a mixture of common sense, feng shui and anal retentiveness and I'll make ya like it. You heard me, you'll love the results and then you'll start wanting the boss of everybody, just like me.

Invite your friends to join in on the fun and maybe I'll come with a giveaway.

Heads up for (wh)organizing

Keep on with your slovenly selves for the remainder of the month because next month is (Wh)organizing January.
I'm gonna highlight organizing ideas and hopefully prevent us all to sliding into hoarder oblivion.
Until then, don't you dare purchase one single box, tub or container. Retailers push those bins the day after Christmas but don't you fall for it. Okay okay, if you cannot resist the gathering impulse, just promise to keep the freakin' receipt, y'hear? Because organizing is not putting things into nice new containers. Organizing begins by getting rid of CRAP!

Your job between now and January 1st: gather trash bags, cardboard boxes and markers

You're welcome.