The Clutter Diet Blog

Clutter Video Tip: How to Organize Linen Closets

Does your linen closet make you wish you were three sheets to the wind? Are you drowning in a pit of terrycloth despair? Don't throw in the towel just yet. Watch this video for strategies to organize your linens and linen closet. You make your bed, and then you have to lay in it. So, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater- get your linens organized and sleep like a baby.

(Click here to watch on YouTube if you can't see the embedded player. Or watch the video at http://bit.ly/TCDLinen.)

PLEASE HELP: "LIKE"-ing, sharing, and commenting on these Clutter Video Tip videos on YouTube really helps me a lot to get the word out about the information we have to offer. If you like it, please go to YouTube and take only a few seconds to Like, Share, and/or Comment. (Tweeps can use #ClutterVideoTip hashtag for tweeting). Here is the direct link on YouTube if you'd like to comment there: Clutter Video Tip: How to Organize Linen Closets. Thank you in advance!

 

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Clutter Video Tip: How to Organize Any Room (with 4 "F-Words")

When you are setting up or rearranging a room, there are a lot of "F-words" that come to mind. While it may feel satisfying to shout those words, it's not very productive. Watch this video for four "F-words" that will assist you in starting any organizing project. And, you won't have to wash your mouth out with soap.

(Click here to watch on YouTube if you can't see the embedded player. Or watch the video at http://bit.ly/TCDFWords.)

PLEASE HELP: "LIKE"-ing, sharing, and commenting on these Clutter Video Tip videos on YouTube really helps me a lot to get the word out about the information we have to offer. If you like it, please go to YouTube and take only a few seconds to Like, Share, and/or Comment. (Tweeps can use #ClutterVideoTip hashtag for tweeting). Here is the direct link on YouTube if you'd like to comment there: Clutter Video Tip: How to Organize Any Room (with 4 "F-Words"). Thank you in advance!

 

Follow me on Twitter for my Daily #ClutterTweetTip, "Like" us on Facebook, and see our weekly #ClutterVideoTip on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/clutterdiet

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Is Your House Ready for Guests?

Does the sound of the doorbell fill you with dread? Holidays are coming up! You may be hosting family holiday meals, dinner parties, gift openings, or even (gasp)... overnight guests! Click here for your checklist for making sure you're ready on the Good Housekeeping Home Style Blog.

Flickr image courtesy roblisameehan

 

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Organize Your Bathroom for Cold and Flu Season

Achoo! Uh-oh, it's time again to get organized for cold and flu season! Click here for some tips on what medications to keep, where to keep them, and how to find and manage them efficiently on the Good Housekeeping Home Style Blog.

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What's Happening In Your Bedroom?

You want your bedroom to be a retreat space that makes you feel relaxed and rested, so let's consider for a moment everything that is possibly going on (well, not everything!), in this week's Good Housekeeping Home Style blog.

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How to Fix Clutter Trouble Spots for Good!

Do you have a clutter trouble spot in your home? Of course you do. Even the best-kept home will always have one or two trouble spots... Even being a professional organizer like me does not mean that you won't have something that always bothers you to some degree! The good news is that the majority of these trouble spots can be fixed or at least improved.

 

The Good Housekeeping Home Style blog this week will explain how to embrace and improve your clutter trouble spots.

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Find Hidden Storage!

When you think you’ve run out of storage space, think again! A treasure trove of storage is found on the backs of doors.

 

This post I wrote for Good Housekeeping's Home Style blog gives you some ideas of how to organize like a pro!

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Never Do Laundry Again

Yes, you heard me... never do laundry again! I just figured out how to make that happen.

Recently I was doing some journaling on the question my friend Wendy Lipton-Dibner poses in her book, Shatter Your Speed Limits: "If I woke up tomorrow morning and magically found I had everything I truly wanted, how would my life be different?" One of the first things I wrote down was that I would never do laundry anymore. How could this happen? Would I need to hire a full time housekeeper like Alice in the Brady Bunch? Would I start wearing disposable clothes?

The solution is about OWNERSHIP. I have written a post before about the concept of ownership of tasks ("I Thought YOU Were Going to Do It!"), and how that is often what prevents regular maintenance tasks from getting done. If ownership of a task is unclear, nobody ends up doing it.

For 20+ years, my husband and I have shared laundry duties and we always seem to get it done just fine, but what I recently noticed is that he doesn't seem to mind doing it as much as I do. I also noticed that my husband really doesn't like to cook or help plan meals, which we also have always done together. I offered that I would completely take over all of the cooking and meal planning duties, entirely, if he would take over all of the laundry.

NO PROBLEM.

Yippee! All I have to worry about now is my own personal delicate wash load, which I would strongly prefer to do myself. My boys do a lot of their own laundry as well, and my husband is coordinating that and making sure it's all flowing smoothly.

I have gone for a few weeks now with only my "unmentionables" to concern myself with, and I am in heaven! I love doing the cooking and meal planning, especially if I know it means no more laundry. I just pop on my iPod and catch up on podcasts and audiobooks, learning and laughing while I chop and clean.

Here are some questions to consider:

• What household maintenance tasks would you be happy to never do again?
• What tasks do you enjoy or not mind as much?
• What tasks does your spouse or partner seem to enjoy doing? 
• What could you negotiate to help everyone be happier with the ownership they have?
• If you are single and don't have a person to negotiate with, have you ever investigated the actual cost of outsourcing your dreaded tasks? If you don't know how much it costs, it is hard to set a goal to pay for it. Consider the value of your time as well. If it takes you 3-5 hours a week to manage and you can outsource it for $20, is that worth it to you?  Here is a well-crafted answer I found online of one person's experience, which amounts to around $20 per week for 2 people. (NOTE: Added this bullet after publishing initially, because I didn't mean to leave out the single folks!)
• How will you ever get "everything you truly wanted" if you never write it down and ponder how to make it come true?  (It worked for me.)

We have a 26-page Household Systems Workbook that lists all of the tasks involved in maintaining a household, with workspace to decide ownership and frequency of them and help you create a customized maintenance plan for your own home. This workbook could be a great way for you to figure out how to never do laundry again! The members of our innovative online program not only get expert consulting on their own organizing projects-- they also get this workbook as a bonus for joining. Our first month has a low introductory price of $4.95 a month-- one Abe Lincoln (UPDATE July 2011: We now offer the FREE 7-Day Quickstart which includes seven days of focused guidance from me plus an additional 7 days of full access and support!)-- to get the workbook and get unlimited help from our team too. Click here to read more about it.

What are your dreaded tasks? Do you have any big household negotiating wins? Share in the comments!

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How to Make Something Better by Ripping It Up!

Quick weekend tip for you...When organizing or when unloading groceries and other purchases and putting them away, I am always annoyed at how packages are designed well for shipping and selling and store display, but not for dispensing and everyday use and storage. Sometimes things are hard to open, too. Are you listening, package designers?

When organizing pantries and bathrooms for clients (and myself), I often rip or cut off the box flaps to make the packaging work for dispensing the items inside. Here are two examples from the kitchen-- plastic bags and oatmeal packets from Costco (click the images for a larger version):

 

Make it easier for yourself every single day when you reach into that drawer or box! Why scrape your knuckles against the box flaps and struggle to pull things out? It's a simple, quick fix that streamlines your storage, adds visibility, and lessens your frustration.

It's the little things in life, right?  :)  Doing this may seem obvious to some of you, but if you think that, you'd be surprised that most people don't. What are the little things you like to do? Share in the comments!

Cheers,

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Are You "High Maintenance"? Streamline Your Grooming Time

As the only female in a male household of two teenage boys and a husband (even the dog and the parakeet are male), I am frequently criticized and am the subject of exasperated sighs due to the waiting around for me to “get ready” when we are going out.

I have tried to explain to them how very low-maintenance I actually am, but they don’t seem to appreciate it because they have no basis for comparison. They don't know women who have long hair that requires elaborate conditioning, drying, curling and/or straightening with irons and other various medieval implements. And, they have no appreciation that we just went on a 2-week vacation overseas and all I packed was a carry-on!

I want to encourage my female readers to take a look at their grooming rituals and the time and storage needs that are involved. Here are some factors to consider:

• Your hairstyle. Are you fighting nature every day, straightening curly hair or curling straight hair? A simpler hairstyle could save some women up to 30 minutes a day and reduce their hairstyling tools and products storage needs by half. Personally I have a short haircut that requires only a hair dryer and some hairspray, and I can do my hair in as little as five minutes. Have a discussion with your hairdresser about how to reduce the complexity for yourself. One small tradeoff—with shorter hair you may need to get a haircut more often.
• Your makeup. Do you have one of those giant fishing tackle boxes, full of all colors of makeup for all occasions? Or maybe your makeup is not organized into a tackle box but thrown willy-nilly into a drawer instead. When is the last time you actually strayed from the 2-3 favorites you use 90% of the time? Most people have a regular daily routine and something else they reliably do for special occasions, and everything else perpetually sits there “just in case.” Get your “A”-level daily supplies together and simply them into an easily accessible drawer, pouch, caddy, or tray. The rest can either be discarded (it’s often expired anyway in terms of safety and effectiveness) or put away in a less-accessible location as back-stock. Get real about what you use and need and resist buying more until you’re clear on what you already have.
• Your nails. If you’ve been going to a nail salon for years, your stock of polishes probably is separated and old and needs to be thrown out. If you are someone who likes painting your nails regularly, consider the low-maintenance option of acrylic nails. I wish I had done that years ago. (Thanks to my friend Monica for the encouragement to try it!) I can be rough and tough with them and I don’t have to be fussing around worrying about broken nails and ruining my manicure—I just do what I need to do. They look good every day with only minimal monthly attention.
• Your wardrobe. An organized closet helps you pick out jewelry and clothing more easily and quickly, saving time every single day. Are you saving clothing that is too big or too small, because you’re in continuous transitions of weight gain or loss? Our Simple Division® Garment Organizers create sections of clothing to help you get them segregated from your everyday clothes that fit. You can also make sections for capri pants vs. regular pants, long sleeve, short sleeve, things that need ironing... It's kind of like filing your clothes-- everything has a place.

So, are you high maintenance? What could you do to streamline your "getting ready" routine? Share in the comments!

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