Adults aren’t the only ones who could use a little organization.

Many of my busy families tell me that they’re lives were calm and organized before they had kids, and one child was ok to keep up with, but when they had their 2nd, the chaos grew exponentially. Their biggest pain point was the explosion of kid’s toys. This happens because:

• Even just a slight age difference when kids are young means that they can’t share the same toys so there’s an entire set of toys per child
• They “inherited” toys from others whose children are now too old to play with them
• Toys are relatively inexpensive and make kids happy for a little while, so every time they’re out or see one on sale they buy a new one
• They have toys that are too old for their kids now but are “saving” them for when they get older

What my busy families want is a way to contain the toys they have to keep the rooms neat, and to store the toys in such a way that it’s easy enough for their toddlers to help pick up. So here’s how:

1. Sort:
   • Pull everything out and group like items together. If you have toy sets for various ages, separate items into piles first by who they belong to.
   • Then group their toys into subcategories based on what type of toy they are, or where they play with them. Put all cars together, dolls together, blocks together, games together, etc.
   • Move outdoor toys outside or to a garage, and put any bath toys in the bathroom.
2. Purge:
   • Now that you can see what you have, decide what can be eliminated. Let it go if they don’t love it, don’t play with it, have outgrown it, or it’s more than 6 months until they grow into it. No use keeping toys around to take up real estate when they’re so readily available when you finally would need them.
   • And parents, be sure the toys you keep are because your child likes them, not because you spent money on them or have a fond memory of them playing with something.
   • Also, if your child likes cars, it’s not neccessary to keep ALL the cars; pick the faves and let the rest go.
   • Kids will play with whatever you put in front of them so not all toys need to be available to them at all times. Set up a “rotating” toy bin and store in another room or an attic so when your kids get bored, you can surprise them with fresh toys — just put the old ones in the rotating bin and store those instead. This will also help reduce the amount of toys they can dump on the floor when they play.
3. Choose the right Storage Systems:
   • Now that you’ve streamlined your “keep” piles, it’s time to build the right system so everyone can help maintain it. First, it has to be accessible, so small children’s toys should be in reach for their height. Use the lowest closet shelves or baskets on the floor for toddlers so they can reach, and older children can have the upper shelves.
   • Whether you keep toys in a closet or toy chest, create “zones” for each child so they have their own area to maintain and know exactly where to look for their own toys. This will prevent them from dumping out EVERYONE’S toys to find the one they want.
   • When choosing storage containers, think safety first; toys with small parts should be stored out of reach of tiny hands, and toy chests with heavy lids can crush tiny fingers.
   • Get bins or baskets without lids because kids will never take the time to open or close them and they do better with open storage they can dig through or toss things into.
   • Ask your child if they want to see all their toys, or if they associate a color with certain toys. If they like to see them, use clear bins to store toys, and if they prefer color, get colored baskets and associate a color for a type of toy. For example, yellow for games, red for cars, blue for blocks, green for dolls, etc.
4. Organize:
   • Now that you’ve sorted, purged, and determined your storage zones and containers, it’s time to put everything back. Arrange bins with like items in the same area. All car bins on the same shelf, all games on the same shelf, etc.
   • Label the containers for each type of toy with both large letters and pictures of what belongs there. That way no matter what age, every child will know exactly what goes where. Try these – I made them to fit the 2″ area on canvas baskets.
   • Involve your children by asking them where they want cars to live or dolls to live — they’re more likely to maintain it if they feel ownership.


5. Maintain:
   • Show your kids where you put their things. If they’ve helped you, they’ll already know, but if you’ve done it for them, they can’t be expected to read your mind.
   • Teach your kids a “clean up” song so they know when Mommy or Daddy sings, it’s time to clean.
   • Make it fun, like a treasure hunt for certain toys and then ask the children to put it in the right “treasure chest,” aka, the appropriate bin.
   • Celebrate how well they did when they pick up their own toys so they can be proud of themselves, and stay motivated to clean up next time.
   • Don’t overpurchase; think of your space as valuable real estate and only buy what you need when you need it.
   • When a new toy comes home, an old toy should leave. If that’s too overwhelming, make it a point to sort and purge every 6 months or after birthdays & holidays so old toys get purged as new favorites come in.

And remember that your kids are growing so fast that the systems need to evolve as they do. Each time you review their toys to see if they’re still age-appropriate, review your organizing system to be sure it still suits your child’s needs.

My recent blog post on exactly how to sort & purge got some interest, and the question I was asked most was, “So now that I know how to purge, how do I know what to purge?”

Here are my tips for prioritizing what to keep:

1. If you LOVE it, USE it, or NEED it, then KEEP it.
   The key here is to be real about those feelings. “Love it” means it’s one of your very favorite top 10 things and if your house caught on fire you’d grab it. “Use it” means it’s served it’s purpose in the last 6 months. “Need it” means it helps you with a routine action, or you can think of at least 3 things you’re realistically going to do with it in the next 6 months. Let go of things that don’t meet these criteria. Period.
2. Be careful not to cling to the idea that more storage is the only solution to clutter. Clutter happens for several reasons including holding on to things you don’t use/need, or buying new things that you don’t use/want/need. Read this list of questions to help you decide what to keep.
3. Identify your top 3 priorities for a space and eliminate anything that doesn’t meet those goals.
4. Remember that the people using a space are more important than the things cluttering it. If the clutter is negatively affecting how you or others feel on a daily basis, or if you realize you’re treating your things better than you treat the people around you, it’s time to do a “gut check” on your priorities and get rid of some stuff.
5. Set up boundaries for the space. The room you’re in should only contain items used for that room’s purpose, otherwise it will end up stuffed to the gills, will lose its focus, and you’ll have to start the organizing process all over again.
6. Part of the organizing process is the “shuffle” of stuff from one space to another temporarily, so designate a staging area that can be used to store items for the short term until they have a home in the room where they really belong.
7. Enlist help. If you get stuck, call in a neutral party to help. A friend, a neighbor, or your friendly neighborhood professional organizer (*wink*) can provide a fresh set of eyes on your things, and they can be very effective in keeping you focused and motivated.

Truth is, organizing is all about prioritizing and setting boundaries. This should get you started on identifying yours.

Organizing is a process. This article will touch on the 4 steps, but I really want to focus on Step 2, the “Sort & Purge.” Not only is it a great way to clean up a space, but by doing the labor yourself as “homework,” it’s a great way to stretch your budget if you decide to hire an organizer to consult with you on more heavy hitting topics.

1. Identify your goals. Do you need more storage space? Does a room need to serve multiple purposes? Do you want to get rid of stuff?
2. “Sort & Purge.” This is the process where you’ll make decisions on items in a space as to whether they support your goals or detract from them.
3. Organize. Organizing requires some soul searching to realistically identify which systems work for you and which ones don’t, then putting in place the most effective ones.
4. Adapt, Evolve, & Maintain. Practice makes perfect in this phase. Staying organized means adapting to your new systems, evolving them as needed, and maintaining them on a regularly scheduled basis.

So here’s a list of supplies you’ll need to accomplish the Sort & Purge, and exactly how to get it done:

1. Set up your supplies before you get started. You’ll need:
   • Boxes: pick up 10-20 empty boxes from the liquor store to contain the items you’re sorting. (They’re free, already put together, and a perfect size to fill up and still be light enough to carry and small enough to store!)
   • Packing tape: to seal the donation boxes
   • Sharpie: to label the boxes. (TIP: The boxes can sometimes have a slick coating on them which makes it hard to write on, so if you have mailing labels or painter’s tape to write on first then stick on the boxes, it’s easier.)
   • Trash bags: to use for real trash, for clothing to giveaway.
2. Create “zones” with the following categories, either in the room in which you’re working, or an adjacent room or hallway. Then label several empty boxes and place in each zone to contain your items as your sort. This will keep the piles organized and the room decluttered while you work. Start with these categories:
   • DONATE
   • SELL
   • OTHER ROOM (for things that you’re keeping but don’t belong in this room)
   • FAMILY MEMBERS (create a box for each person in your family for their things)
   • MEMORIBILIA
   • PAPERS
   • SHRED
   • Then create boxes specific to what the room will be used for, like CRAFTS, BABY STUFF, OFFICE SUPPLIES, ELECTRONICS, UTENSILS, TOILETRIES, etc.
3. Start in the corner closest to the door and work your way clockwise around the room putting items in their appropriate zone/box, or in the trash. If you’re not sure what to keep or get rid of, refer to this list of questions. This process will take a few hours, and if you get tired or overwhelmed, allow yourself to take breaks and come back to it later.

4. Clean up when you’re done sorting and purging and take action on your piles.
   • Tape “DONATE” boxes closed and move them out of the room and place near an entry/exit door or into your car to be dropped off to charity.
   • Move “SELL” boxes out to your car if you have to drop them off somewhere, or leave set them near your computer if you need to take pictures and sell them online.
   • Put trash in outside garbage cans.
   • Carry “OTHER ROOM” boxes around the house and put the items in the rooms where they belong.
   • Shred the papers in the shred box.

The goal is to have the floor and all surfaces clear, and only leave the “keep” items that will stay in that room and suit your goals for that room.

Follow these steps, and you’ll have a cleared out space that’s on its way to being organized (and probably a tax deduction for charitable donations!)

The quickest way to prevent clutter is to stop it at the door. Junk mail services like DMAchoice.org can help, and stopping at the recycling bin on your way in to toss any unwanted mail are a good start.

But once you step foot in the door, here are a few tips to create a “Drop Zone” to help keep items corralled so they don’t get strewn throughout your home as you walk in:

Before:

After:

1. Put a table, rolling cart, shelf or bench near the main door with baskets for: “Incoming” and “Outgoing.”
2. Create “Action Files” with an attractive file box and folders to pre-sort incoming mail into categories: Bills to Pay, To Do, To File, To Read, Contacts, and Coupons.
3. Look for multitaskers like a mirror with hooks on it to “check your look” and hang your keys and sunglasses.
4. Hang large hooks for purses, jackets, umbrellas, book bags, and dog leashes.
5. Shoes can get stored in large baskets, under a bench, or on stackable shoe shelves or cubbies.
6. Add a corkboard, whiteboard, calendar, or notepad by the door so family members can leave messages for each other. Have limited space for hanging? Try Idea Paint — it turns any surface into a whiteboard.
7. Install a purse rack or cap rack for multiple items.

Want help setting up your own “Drop Zone?” Contact us to set one up for you.

We all have our own ways to track our passwords, whether it’s by memory, on post-its, in a password book, or electronic password file. For some, it’s not to track them at all.

Well what happens to all those passwords when you or someone you love dies? All those email, bank, insurance & billpay accounts become inaccessible and companies won’t unlock those online accounts for anyone, even if you can prove you’re a relative.

One man was so frustrated after his Grandmother’s passing that he created Legacy Locker. It’s a website where people can securely store their usernames & passwords for a $300 one-time fee or small annual fee of $30/yr, then identify beneficiaries to essentially “will” the info to someone else in the event of their death. Users can also write letters they want passed on, and they describe their service as an “online safety deposit box”. Brilliant!

This would be great for estate planning, married couples, aging parents, and really anyone who wants to make sure their assests are taken care of.

Here’s a video clip from a news station in Boston if you’d like to learn more.

Great article on MSN about recycling batteries.

And here’s a quick summary from the Environmental Health & Safety Online about how to dispose of specific batteries:

Heard about this cool little gadget? The Eye-Fi Wireless memory card for digital cameras eliminates the need for cables to download images to your computer! Retails between $60-80. No more cables to lose or clutter your desk! Pass it on!

What does a cartoon fish movie have in common with organizing? Dory.

Those of you with kids know what I’m talking about — Ellen Degeneres’ blue fish character in “Finding Nemo” who suffers from severe memory loss. I had a client once compare her ADD to “feeling like Dori everyday” and it got me thinking about how I could apply that movie to her continuing organizing success. I asked her to repeat the phrase “Just keep swimming! Just keep swimming!” every time she felt like she was losing steam. She said it worked for her, and even went a step further — she brilliantly personalized this mantra by asking her 4 year old to draw her a picture of Dory she could put on her desk to remind her of her son, her goals, and how exactly to get there. Just keep swimming.

"Just keep swimming!"

That phrase has since become my own mantra in difficult times, and I feel that I find new ways to employ it each day. But to put it in the context of organizing, I can apply it to each phase of the organizing process: the sort & purge, implementing and evolving new systems, and maintenance.

The organizing process begins with the “sort and purge” and it can feel overwhelming to finally go through years worth of belongings and the emotional baggage attached to them. It gets easier as you learn to disassociate “you” from “your things” and it takes practice and introspection. But just keep swimming and you’ll get through it all.

As new organizing systems are put in place, you come face-to-face with a lifetime of unorganized habits that can be difficult to change. But you can adapt to new systems with time and practice. No system is perfect the first time around and requires “tweaking” so that it fits how you live. If you are committed to becoming organized, your systems will evolve over time and become easier. Just keep swimming and you’ll evolve into a more “organized you.”

And finally, maintenance. There is no secret here. It’s just a phase where you continue to tailor your systems, and allocate time each day to the organizing process. I think most people forget about this phase and that’s where clutter can begin to pile up again, but it’s the most important phase in organizing because it’s where you continue to practice the skills you learned along the way to keep your space thinned out from clutter, adapt systems as your life changes, and commit time to staying organized. Just keep swimming and life gets better.

Thanks, Dory. You’re my hero!

In an effort to declutter your home and keep harmful items out of our landfills, Fox 50 is sponsoring an “E-cycling” event this Saturday June 27th from 10am-2pm in 3 locations around the triangle. And best of all…it’s totally FREE!!!

According to their website, they’ll be there rain or shine—in the parking lots of three Best Buy locations:

Durham – Renaissance Center
(7001 Fayetteville Rd, Durham, NC 27713)

North Raleigh – Capital Blvd.
(6101 Capital Blvd, Raleigh, NC 27616)

Cary – Crossroads Plaza
(237 Crossroads Blvd, Cary, NC 27518)

You won’t even have to get out of your car! Volunteers will unload your electronic items including the following:

• Computer Monitors – CRTs
• Tape Players
• Printed Circuit Boards
• Computer Monitors – Flat Panel
• CD Players
• UPS (personal & network)
• Televisions – CRTs
• Telephones
• Routers
• Televisions – Flat Screen
• Cell Phones
• Resistors Capacitors
• Desktop Computers
• Fax Machines
• Diodes
• Laptop Computers
• Electronic Games
• Terminals
• Keyboards
• Power & Network Cables
• Rechargeable Batteries
• Mice
• Network Hubs
• Peripherals
• Printers
• Switching boxes
• Military Equipment
• Scanners
• Controllers
• Medical Equipment
• Copy Machines
• Modems
• Telecommunications
• VCRs
• Docking Stations
• Commercial Equipment
• Stereos
• CD Roms
• Office Equipment
• Radios
• Hard Drives
• Banking Equipment
• Mainframes

They will not accept washers, dryers, refrigerators, car batteries, light bulbs, AC units, manifested hazardous waste, radioactive waste and/or biohazardous waste.
Visit their website for more info.

Or see my other blog posts for Where to Recycle Old Gadets and Where to Donate Strange Items.

Procrastination is a nasty beast that can suck all our time away, and fill us with guilt and shame, and even prevent us from doing things we enjoy because we feel that unless we “finish our chores first” we can’t go play.

So here’s the good news: Procrastination is something totally under our control, and can do a lot about to see immediate results. Here are four things you can do right now to get you on the road to conquering procrastination:

1. Use the “2 minute rule.” If it takes less than 2 minutes to complete….do it now!
2. Use a timer. Here are 3 great ways to use it:
• Time yourself as you do a task and to see how long it actually takes (usually a lot less than you think, so it won’t be so overwhelming next time!)
• Set it for 15-20 minutes and stop when it dings. This will keep your “chores” to a manageable limit and prevent burnout.
• Race yourself. If a task seems daunting, set a timer for 15 minutes and “speed organize.” Basically race yourself to get through it quickly.
3. Enlist help:
• Get a “body double.” Call one of your friends and ask if they’ll sit with you while you sort mail, go through a box, etc. It makes the time go faster and you’ll feel like there’s someone holding you accountable. And if they bring over a craft or organzing project also, you’ll both get stuff done!
• Ask. This one can be difficult to get used to, but ask friends or family to help out with chores, or pitch in on a big project. My mom always said, “Many hands make light work.”
• Delegate. Sometimes it’s necessary to hand out chores to your family members, or ask a friend to pick something up for you if they’re already headed that way, or hire someone who specializes in it. Just because something needs to get done doesn’t mean YOU have to be the one to do it. Especially if it’s something you really don’t enjoy.

4. Reward yourself. After every task, do something small to celebrate (take a quick walk, call a friend, have some tea, watch your favorite TV show, hang a picture in your newly organized room, etc.) It’ll keep you movtivated for the next time!

Try these out and I’d love to hear which ones worked best for you!