Great Christmas products

Here are some of my favorite items and products that are sure to make Christmas time easier! 


Square Storage Box and Ornament Storage Trays

Storage Box Link

Large and Small Ornament Trays Link

You don’t need a fancy storage box for ornaments.  I love this clear bin because the contents are visible.  You don’t need to label the box!  I also like these storage trays because they have sides to prevent the ornaments from falling off the tray when you remove a layer from the storage bin!

Ribbon Box

Ribbon Box Link

No more fighting with roles of gift wrap ribbon!  This little box both stores and dispenses the ribbon so it does not get tangled or crushed.  


Foam Ornament Packing Envelopes

Ornament Envelope Link

I am one of those people who reuses the tissue paper an ornament came in to store it.  After a couple years the paper gets torn and the labels get crushed.  These packing envelopes are a great idea!  Keep your ornaments safe and organized.

Holiday Dinnerware Storage

Dinnerware Storage Link

The peek-a-boo window in these storage boxes sold me.  You do not have to label the box or even remove the lid to see the contents!  You can see the pattern and the inside through the large clear window.

How to create more space in your kitchen

-Designate an area in your house to act as secondary storage for your kitchen.  A shelving unit at the bottom of the basement stairs, a shelving unit in the garage, shelves in your pantry or even an extra closet are great options.

-Determine what items you rarely use but still need for certain occasions.  Bread machines, lobster pots, large roasting pans, Christmas molds and special serving dishes and utensils are only a few of the candidates for the secondary storage area.  Anything you use about once a month or perhaps every couple of weeks could go in this area.

-This space is perfect for bulk food purchases that need to be stored until you are ready to bring the food into the pantry or kitchen cabinets for use.  If possible buy some shallow baskets to store small, similar food items to help categorize and organize the food shelf.  If you have a lot of canned goods small stacking shelves on your existing shelves can take advantage of the vertical space often wasted by a row of canned goods.

It is important to assess the items in your kitchen and make sure they are active and used regularly.  Anything else should move to another storage area.  This practice will create more useful space on your counters and also prevent your cabinets from being stuffed with non-essential kitchen items. 

Make an impromptu display stand

This week I discovered another use for small, self-adhesive rubber bumpers one normally finds on the inside of a cabinet door.  They make fantastic barriers for plates you want to display.  Because they are so small and often transparent these bumpers don’t take away from the item you are trying to show off.

Take the plate you want to display and hold it on the shelf to see where it looks best.  Once you have determined that spot just place a rubber bumper in front of the plate’s spot and let it adhere fully.   If the item is large add two bumpers next to one another.  Within a matter of seconds you have a low profile and easy solution to make a plate or picture stand up securely!  

Moving one household to multiple destinations

Working with individuals who are downsizing for a move means I run into more and more people moving items to multiple destinations.  Recently I spoke to someone who needed to transport items to new homes in both Boston and California as well as a storage unit in the area.  The packing company had to know exactly what to pack and ship to each destination and we needed an easy system for accomplishing this goal. 

We decided to take different colored masking tape and assign each location a color.  Every item in the house would get a strip of tape based upon where it needed to go.  Then the packers would know exactly which items to pack up for each house or the storage unit. Brilliant!

How to purge food without throwing it away

When my pantry gets a little too full I look at what I have and make a meal plan based upon the contents before buying more food.  Often times I get almost a week’s worth of dinners from the food.  This prevents my pantry and refrigerator from becoming too full.  When either space gets packed it is hard to see what is on hand and duplicates are bought by mistake.  I like to “shop and cook” from my cabinets and fridge about once per month instead of buying ingredients according to a menu I have already created. 

This habit helps me cut down on waste and really use what I own!  Sunday as I prepped my shopping list I noticed I had leftover veggies that would only be alright for a few more days.  I needed to buy more but didn’t want to waste what I had.  So I made soup out of the older vegetables and made room for the fresher ones.  It was a tasty solution to my space problem.

Don't bring it home

When we are away from home and the clutter it is easy to buy something and think it will fit right in at the house.  But our homes are so often filled with these types of items, the impulse purchases we make because we couldn’t resist acquiring them.  A huge part of clutter management involves being brutally stringent about what comes through the door.   

When you are out and about and something catches your eye ask yourself these questions before you walk away with a new trinket…

“Do I truly need this?  Can I live without it?  Is this thing necessary for me to live my life?”

“Do I have a place for this item to reside?”

You must be honest from the beginning.  If you answered “no” to any of the questions above the item should not find a home with you!  If you absolutely need to bring something back and space is limited decide before you leave the store what item at home can go to make room for the new purchase.  

Procrastination and how to beat it

So what exactly is procrastination and how does it affect us?  Procrastination is the postponement of action.  As a result we get caught taking action at the last possible moment.  This practice leads to tyranny of the urgent instead of what is of long term benefit or importance.  Tasks that should have been fulfilled at an earlier time are addressed at that very moment, pushing other tasks out of the way.

Procrastination can make you scurry around at the last minute.  This frenzy takes time away from other important tasks, activities or even your time to relax. You always lose your buffer when you push things off and a time buffer can be a great way to plan for the unexpected. 

The urge to procrastinate can stem from fear, forgetfulness and disorganization.  First, the fear of doing the task or what the outcome may be (one task has now become five new tasks) can delay the start of a task.  Second, simply forgetting to do it because the task was not recorded can be an indirect problem, or not having what you need when you need it (disorganization) can make the task too hard to start. 

So how do we stop procrastinating?  Do not put tasks off until the last minute.  This creates unnecessary stress.  Always build in a buffer time to complete things or get places.  Break bigger things down into smaller steps if they feel overwhelming and the temptation is there to put stuff off. 

This next practice can be hard especially with small kids or a busy job, but try to limit distractions that can make it easier to procrastinate.  Stay away from the computer, tv and phone if you have something important to work on!  We sometimes enable ourselves in bad habits so we can put things off.  

Finally, set realistic expectations of yourself and what your schedule will allow.  More time to complete a task means you are not pressured by the deadline and can actually plan milestones and steps for completing the tasks in a timely manner.  

How to help your child clean their room

One of a parent’s big challenges is helping a child into the consistent habit of cleaning up his/her room.  This can be especially daunting when the child is young and easily distractible.  Many parents will tell a child to clean a room, only to come up 30 minutes later and find that not only is the room no better than before, but the child is playing with all the toys.  Giving your child a step by step process for cleaning a room when they are young is key to helping them maintain the habit as they get older.

Children are just as overwhelmed by clutter as adults, and the problem is multiplied when there is not a home for anything.  They are told to clean up yet they do not know where to start and they don’t know where anything should go.  Before a routine is set up the room should be (ideally) purged of unnecessary toys and a system of storage put in place.  Make sure to label all containers!  You have now set your child up for success by assigning everything a home.

Second, create a checklist for them to follow.  When you say, “Go clean your room”, there should be a process they can follow and replicate easily without your presence.  You may need to be there the first few times to keep them on track, but eventually your child should be able to execute the plan without you.

The checklist can have pictures if your child is not of reading age and the list should be short.  The most effective ones I have seen direct children to groups of toys and go something like this:

1. Put away all your books
2. Put away GI Joes
3. Put legos in bins
4. Spend 5 minutes putting clothes in drawers
5. etc

Remember to keep it simple and make the number of steps appropriate to the age of the child.  The younger the child the simpler the list and steps should be.  Make the checklist fun and decorate it.  You can laminate it and hang it on the door knob or just put it on the wall.  The bottom line is to give your child a structure so cleaning a bedroom won’t be as daunting anymore!

Tax preparation made easy

At this time of year when taxes are due it always makes sense to review what changes we can implement to make the process easier for the upcoming year.  With the 2011 tax season drawing to a close you may want to review your paper system for 2012.  Were there documents you searched for?  Did you spend extra time compiling numbers you needed?  Even though a few of these tips are repeats from previous blogs they are worth looking at again:

-Whether you use a hanging file with interior folders, a divided tote or a binder with pockets, you should have one place where all your tax related paperwork goes throughout the year.  Keep the paperwork somewhat accessible so you can add documents as they arrive.  Leaving tax-related paper out to be filed at a later time can result in the documents never making it to the storage area. 

-While this list is not exhaustive, here are some sub-categories you could have and the documents within them.  If you run across another sub-category make a folder for it: “Charity” for any non profit donations you make, “Medical Expenses” for any health expenses you can claim, “Tax Documents”  for all end of the year statements (financial statements, 1099-HCs, 1099s, W2s, etc), “Income” for paystubs, rental income, prizes etc.

-If you do not have Quicken or Quickbooks it can be helpful to maintain a spreadsheet throughout the year.  As you incur an expense it can go on the spreadsheet in a specific category.  At the end of the year you will have the total number for each area and not wasted time reconciling receipts.  Examples of good expenses to track would be medical, education, mileage and travel etc. 

Of course all of the above are just guidelines and a basic structure.  Take some time to properly set up for 2012 and make it your own!

Keeping appliances dust free

Do you remember those plastic zippered bags that comforters and sheets often come in from the manufacturer?  I have never liked them much, mostly because in many clients’ houses I run across extensive collections of these bags!  People are always keeping them hoping they will come in handy during some organizing project.  The occasion almost never arrives and we end up recycling the bags.  However, a couple weeks ago I can honestly say that a client and I discovered a great use for these bags. 

She had a small fan we wanted to store in the basement but we did not want it to accumulate dust.  So we popped it into one of the old comforter bags.  The bag zipped up easily, the fan is in a transparent “container” and the fan will not be covered in dust when she is ready to use it again.  These bags can also be used to store small appliances or other items in a dusty area so they are clean and ready to use.  Try this super easy and inexpensive idea at home!

A creative method for storing electrical cords

While organizing solo in a client's spare room a couple weeks ago I ran across a trash bag full of empty toilet paper rolls.  Upon my client's arrival home later that day she would look through a pile of suggested trash so I quickly added this bag to the pile.  About an hour later I came across a gathering of electronics and cords and had to laugh when I saw her creative and simple method for keeping small extension cords under control...

She had bundled a long cord up and slipped it inside a toilet paper roll.  What a great idea!  This solution costs no money and it is so easy.  I absolutely loved her creativity.  I went back to the bag of toilet paper rolls and pulled a couple out for her...

Never forget the food you have again

Many of us, myself included, have a limited number of narrow yet deep kitchen cabinets in combination with no pantry!  I understand first hand how hard it can be to keep track of food buried in small cupboards.  It becomes difficult to use food before it expires and keep track of the cabinet contents.  So I came up with a quick solution that works great for my needs and I want to share it. 

I posted a small (8x11) dry erase board on my fridge.  I created two columns, one for the cabinets and one for my freezer, yet another area that food can get buried in.  In one column I listed all the food items I had stashed in the deepest recesses of my cabinets such as mustard, jellies, bulk coffee purchases etc.  I only wrote down the items I cannot see if I open the cabinet door.

In the other column I recorded the foods I have in my freezer, the steaks, chicken etc that I keep individually wrapped but can never see.  Now with a quick glance at my white board I can know exactly what I have, where it is and how much!  No more guessing and digging when I create my shopping list.

Making sense of memorabilia

It's usually on the very top shelf of your closet or buried in the basement.  It's usually in a cardboard box, sometimes beaten up and ripped by multiple moves, or sometimes clean and crisp because it has never been opened.  When I come across this little treasure with a client I usually hear, “Oh I know what this is...Wow it has been a long time!”  Have you guessed?  It is a collection of childhood, school and special memories known to most of us as personal memorabilia.

We often keep these items because they are associated with a special or significant time in history and our lives.  We have the best of intentions and clients are often reluctant to let any of these items go.  But they are perfectly content to pack the everything back up to be stashed away, often times where the box will remain untouched for many more years.  This has always perplexed me.  How can something be so important to us but not fit into our lives now?  If we are not going to enjoy it in some manner why are we keeping it?

If you have things that you simply cannot bear to part with consider making it a part of your everyday surroundings.  This solves two issues: boxes of items you never use will not be creating clutter and you can now enjoy the things you consider so dear!  Here are a few ideas I have suggested to people for the various memorabilia I have run into:

Newspapers from important events – Get them matted and framed for display.

Collections or heirloom decorations – Display only a few at a time in your house or office and rotate the items frequently so you can enjoy them without cluttering the house.

Old kids clothes/blankets – Have the clothes made into a quilt or blanket that can be enjoyed now or given as a gift.

Old toys – Be realistic.  Are you ever going to use it or will your kids use it?  Probably not.  Keep only a the most precious in a safe place, and take pictures of the rest before giving them away. 

Trading cards – If you choose not to sell or give away the collection put the cards in an archival album so they can be viewed and enjoyed.

The bottom line is if you are not going to make room for these types of items in your life it makes little sense to keep it all hidden away.  Why keep something in a box if you cannot enjoy it?