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January 1, 2009
Posted by: Joan at 1:29 pm
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HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
January brings the start of a new year. A time for fresh beginnings. It seems appropriate that the National Association of Professional Organizers chose this month as the official month to Get Organized!! So, I’ll be sharing some simple organizing tips this month and please feel free to ask me about any organizational challenges you may be having. Let’s start with one of the cardinal rules of home organization: “A place for EVERYTHING and EVERYTHING in it’s place.”
Last month I resumed an old hobby, knitting. I printed off patterns, I purchased skeins of yarn, I dug out my old needles, I had projects in progress and it all created a lovely amount of clutter in our living room. I hate clutter. I love knitting. What to do??
The solution was simple. My new hobby needed a home. I found this lovely fabric container at HomeGoods. There are no sharp edges where my yarn might get caught. It’s big enough to hold all my accessories plus current projects. It fits right next to the sofa which is where I sit and knit while watching TV and it is also portable so I can move it anywhere else I plan to work. And, the colors blend in with our living room beautifully. For just a few dollars my new hobby is beautifully contained which means no more clutter.
Take a look around your rooms and check for good clutter. Good clutter is simply anything that you need/want/use that doesn’t have an assigned place in your home, or is not currently in its assigned place. Make a new home for your good clutter or return it to it’s rightful place.
What neat solutions have you found for storing your good clutter?
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1. HI Joan,
I think my entire home office is in “good clutter” status right now! Thanks for the motivational boost…I’ll get right on it! Happy New Year!
Susan
by Susan — 1/2/09 at 10:52 am #
2. GO, Susan, GO!
by Joan — 1/2/09 at 12:02 pm #
3. Hi Joan,
Necklaces in my jewelry box seem to “intermingle” and I need a creative solution for sorting them out and keeping them separated..I would welcome your suggestions.
Thanks, Marsha
by Marsha — 1/13/09 at 7:22 pm #
4. Hi Marsha:
I’m so glad you asked. I’m not too keen on keeping necklaces in jewelry boxes because of the way they tend to get all snarled as you’ve seen. An inexpensive solution is to purchase a vanity-top towel holder — you know the kind that have two (or more) straight arms sticking out for towels? Except you can hang your necklaces on the arms instead of towels. HG’s has lots of decorative ones that would make awesome necklace holders. If you like your necklaces hidden, put some small hooks on the inside of an armoire door and you can hang your necklaces on those. Depending on the size of your door, you may get 2 or three rows. An old tie rack can sometimes work for hanging necklaces as well.
You can purchase hanging jewellry boxes — love the ones that come with a mirror you can see what I mean by checking at -http://www.improvementscatalog.com/home//improvements
If you are crafty and have an old medicine wall cabinet sitting around you can turn it into a hanging jewellry organizer by removing the shelves and mounting rows of small hooks.
As you can see, there’s lots of ways to do it but the main idea is to hang your necklaces — keeps them from getting tangled and makes it so easy for you to find the one you are looking for at a glance and so simple to hang up at the end of the day. Just make sure that you keep in mind how many necklaces you need to hang and choose a solution that will house all of them plus give you a little room to grow. Hope that helps.
by Joan — 1/14/09 at 4:05 pm #
5. Marsha: If you are really set on keeping your necklaces in your jewellry box, store them “closed” in small felt jewellry pouches, or if you have space to lay them out full length, place a row of small push pins at either end and lay your necklaces over those so they stay separated from one another and hold their position.
by Joan — 1/15/09 at 12:04 pm #
6. Hi! My husband is in the process of building me a custom wood closet and is building cubes to put baskets in. We liked best the Crate & Barrel baskets:
but I need long rectangular similar baskets, any hints where I can buy them?
thx!
by Cherie — 2/18/09 at 11:14 pm #
7. Hi Cherie: Have you checked at Homegoods? They have a lot of baskets for great prices. Also, depending what you are planning to store, you may find canvas baskets to be more friendly to your clothes. Also check at the Container store or on-line storage/organizing sites like Spacesavers.com
Lucky you to have such a handy husband to create your custom closet. Send pictures when it’s all done.
by Joan — 2/19/09 at 12:39 pm #