Peace of Mind Organizing

Guest post on craft organizing on Meori blog

3 May 2021

I was tickled to be asked by Meori, the maker of a variety of organizing containers and bags, to contribute to their blog. My post about craft organization, which they named, The 6 Most Helpful Craft Room Organization Ideas, went live last week.

Meori asked for a lengthy post, so that gave me some space to go through the decluttering and organizing process for a craft space. I love a organizing craft room, but it can definitely feel overwhelming when it’s your own space. I’m hoping that my post’s six-step process will help anyone who is struggling with that feeling of overwhelm and frustration!

Meori offers a number containers that can help with craft organizing. They sent me a few to try out and I immediately adopted the Mini Box with Insert (pictured here) to create a little kit for my lettering pens that’s easy to move from room to room.

Sign up for discounts on my genealogy guides

29 April 2021

I’m really excited because this weekend I’m launching a new Orderly Roots Guide. These guides are modeled after the Organizing Guides that I’ve written for the public and my Insider’s Guides for New Organizers. All three series of guides offer concise, cut-to-the-chase information on topics I find to be of interest. They’re a low-cost way to tap into my expertise.

The new Orderly Roots Guide, which might of interest to you if you’re one of the millions of people who count genealogy among their hobbies, is called How I Do It: A Professional Organizer’s Genealogy Workflow. (That page will be live on Sunday, May 2.) I’ve also created The Orderly Roots Bundle, which has special pricing on all four guides when purchased together.

The reason I’m writing about it today, before the new guide is available, is to give you the opportunity to sign up for the Organize Your Family History Mailing List. Starting on Sunday, I’ll be sending out a series of emails with helpful information and limited-time promo codes for How I Do It and The Orderly Roots Bundle.

If you click on over and sign up for the mailing list, you’ll save a few dollars on these resources. You’ll also be signing up to receive an email on the last day of every month with links to the previous month’s posts.

If you’re a genealogy fan and don’t already read Organize Your Family History, I encourage you to check it out, especially if you are challenged by organizing your findings.

10 things you can throw away right now

26 April 2021

I led an organizing team in a basement last week and enjoyed watching the clients experience the freedom of letting go of three carloads of unneeded belongings. It made it so easy to organize what they decided to keep.

Is there stuff in your home you could part with? I see the same sorts of items in people’s homes, so I created a quick list of items that tend to clutter up basements (and other parts of the house). Sometimes these can be easy to let go of.

Are any of these items cluttering up your home?

1. Empty boxes for items you’ve had over three months (possible exception: the box your giant TV came in)
2. Packing peanuts and air pillows if you haven’t used any in six months or more
3. Paid bills (non-tax-related) that are more than a year or two old (if that)
4. Supporting paperwork for taxes filed more than seven years ago
5. Clothing that doesn’t fit you or you don’t feel fabulous in
6. Supplies for pets you no longer live with
7. Outgrown games and toys
8. DVDs or VHS tapes
9. Supplies for hobbies or crafts you no longer do (or never actually did)
10. Expired over-the-counter medications or beauty/personal hygiene products
11. Leftover holiday cards you never used from years gone by—especially dated ones
12. Holiday cards you received from others

I suggest you do a quick sweep of your house this week. If you spot any of the above items, consider letting them go!

Here are some ideas for disposing of these items:

• Take the old paperwork to a commercial shredding service (the big-box office supplies stores offer this service as well)
• Donate clothing, toys and craft supplies.
• Sell DVDs or CDs to a used-record store
• Give your unneeded pet supplies to a local animal shelter
• Take the unwanted packing material to a UPS Store (or similar establishment) for reuse

The longer I do this work, the more I believe that less stuff = more happiness. A good place to start is with these no-brainers!

Photo by alan.stoddard via flickr.

Letting go of sentimental items

19 April 2021

I published this article in last week’s monthly newsletter. I got some good feedback, so I thought I’d share here as well.

During last week’s Declutter Happy Hour class, we discussed the challenge of decluttering sentimental items. They can be so hard to let go of, even when you’re motivated to downsize.

The piece of advice I always share about sentimental stuff is that the more you keep of it, the less special any of it is. For example, instead of keeping all your kids’ art projects, which can be hard to store in a way that allows you to enjoy them, keep just the meaningful ones. Another example: Instead of hanging onto your grandmother’s collection of a dozen tea cups, keep one or two and display them. Then release the rest to cousins who might appreciate them or tea cup collectors who might buy them on eBay or in a resale shop.

I also always urge clients to think what will happen to these sentimental items after they pass away. The best way to see that they’re respected and appreciated is to disperse them while you’re still able. That will not only help you downsize, it will make it easier for the person who is responsible for going through all your stuff after you pass.

Getting in touch with why you’re decluttering can help in these difficult decisions. Remember, it’s not an all-or-nothing proposition. You can choose just to keep one or two items that represent a particular person or time in your life and let go of the rest.

Photo by Lydia Matzal on Unsplash

Decluttering dog toys

15 April 2021

Earlier this week, I repeated a post I’d written four years ago about the love my standard poodle, Bix, has for his toys. He gets two new toys every month from BarkBox and he’s also given extra toys by a friend whose dog gets BarkBox for the treats and doesn’t love the toys.

Bix enjoys destuffing and desqueaking some of the toys and then playing with the carcasses. So we rarely threw any toys away. His toys were stored in an overflowing containers.

Here’s a photo. (I have no shame.)

In December 2020, Barry and I bought a new bed, upgrading to a king-sized bed. That started a cascade of events that included carpet cleaning. While the carpet cleaner was there, we decided to clean the carpet of the room where Bix’s toys were stored. So we had to clear them out. I figured it was a perfect opportunity to declutter his toys.

It was a surprisingly fun and easy process. The toys had been moved into the living room, so I just started sorting them there. (I thought Bix would want to help, but it turned out he wasn’t very interested in my efforts.)

I sorted the toys into four categories:

• Those we wanted to keep
• Those we didn’t want to keep (because they weren’t popular with him) but were in pristine shape. Those we set aside to give to friends or save for puppy gifts.
• Those we didn’t want to keep but that had some wear. This category was good enough to donate.
• Those that had been played with so much no one would want them (primarily toy carcasses)

I set aside the gift toys and was delighted to have no problem finding takers. I threw away the trash toys and moved the rest of the toys to a donate area.

Here’s a photo of the abundance of toys we set aside to give to friends:

Bix’s favorite toys are small plush balls. He has peanuts, peas and apples from BarkBox (along with the plush peanut shells, pea pods and apple bushels they came in). In the sorting process we discovered, inside the covered basket pictured above that we rarely opened, a bunch of small plush balls that must have been purchased for one of Bix’s poodle predecessors. Honestly, we had no idea we had them.

Bix was ecstatic about these balls. He squeaked and squeaked and squeaked them. He lolled about on the living room rug with them. Finding them was definitely the highlight of the process.

Once all the sorting was done, I had the pleasure of organizing the toys we decided to keep. I used two containers. One was a plastic laundry basket from IKEA. The other was a Rubbermaid Bento Storage Box that has interior dividers that pop out from each corner. I used two of the divided areas to hold the plush balls, with the rest of the toys in the open area behind, as well as in the laundry basket.

Here’s an after photo.

It’s such a relief to have the big mess of toys gone. And, like most decluttering projects, the best part is that everything is more accessible. Bix now has easy access to his favorite plush balls, which previously would get lost in the pile of toys. And it’s very easy for us to put them away in their designated spot.

I realize that this still looks like a lot of toys. But it feels like the right amount for us!

Worth repeating: Bix's favorite thing, BarkBox

12 April 2021

I wrote this post four years ago, and Bix’s love for BarkBox has only grown. It’s caused quite a toy clutter problem, one that I worked on a couple of months ago. Later this week, I’ll write a post on how I decluttered Bix’s toys but today you can read about his beloved BarkBox, the reason his toys turned into an organizational challenge.

My standard poodle, Bix, who is 18 months old, is a big-time player. He loves his toys with a fiery passion. Every night he instigates a game of fetch in the house and throughout the day he plays with his toys on his own. His very favorite fetch toy is an unassuming plush peanut.

Here he is with his peanut. (You can see the peanut shell in a shot further down.)

I tend to be sort of minimalist in my life, but I have a confession. Bix has an abundant collection of amazing toys. (Some might call it overabundant.) And he gets more every month. But here’s the thing: he plays with almost all of them. We keep the toys in a laundry basket from IKEA and he frequently digs around in it looking for a specific toy. So it’s hard to declutter them (though I think I could probably safely remove a few).

Why does he have so many? Because of BarkBox. It’s a subscription service for dogs that delivers a themed box of toys, treats and chews every month. The themes are so darned clever. They make the humans smile. And they make the poodle ecstatic.

This was the December BarkBox, which had a winter theme.

Bix seems to recognize the BarkBox box (or, more likely, he recognizes our reaction to the BarkBox box) and he sits down politely and waits for us to open it. Then he goes nuts playing with his new toys. It’s truly a joyous thing.

Here he is on BarkBox day with his new zombie cat. I think that was October.

One of the things I love about BarkBox is that almost all of the toys are made for them and therefore unique. And they are are so clever and cute (and funny!). They’re pretty durable. Bix enjoys de-squeakering toys and pulling out the stuffing (thankfully, he doesn’t eat the squeakers or the stuffing) and then he enjoys playing with the toy carcass. We have thrown away very few toys.

Here’s Bix surrounded by the toys he selected to play with that day.

Bix likes to take favorite toys to the windowsill where he watches the world from the back of the couch. Here are his rucksack and his Polaroid camera, from the travel-themed BarkBox, and (of course!) his peanut.

When you subscribe to BarkBox for at least three months, you can get a free extra month by using my subscription link. (And Bix gets a free month too!) I found that after my three-month subscription was up I could go month to month. You tell them the size of dog you have and whether there are any food allergies (for the treats). Bix has been a subscriber since he was eight weeks old, so he went from Medium (“Just Right” to a Large (“Big & Bold”) as he grew up. He’s now 60 pounds.

The declutterer in my wants to stop Bix’s subscription. But the dog mom in me doesn’t. It brings such joy to Bix. And the toys don’t take up that much room, right?

Again, if you have a dog and want to give it a try, you can use this link and you’ll get an extra month added to your subscription. And Bix will too!

Inching toward normal

9 April 2021

Today, April 9, all Missourians 16 years and older are eligible for a vaccination. Earlier this week, I became fully vaccinated when I hit the two-week mark after my second Pfizer shot. I lucked into a leftover dose back in February and was absolutely thrilled I didn’t have to wait until all Missourians were eligible, since I didn’t qualify in any other tier.

To celebrate being fully vaccinated I planned several fun things this week. It felt so good to do some once-normal things that I haven’t done for over a year. Here’s a look at my special week (and the special plan I have for next month):

• I went to my favorite resale shop and bought some accessories to go with my two Wool& dresses. (I’m still wearing the Rowena I wore for 100 days and I’m alternating it (and sometimes combining it) with my reward dress, the Sierra.) And then I went to DSW and bought three pairs of summer shoes. I am all set for shoes.
• I got a facial and a brow shaping at Ginger Bay Salon and Spa.
• I floated in flotation tank at FLOAT STL (it was sooooo relaxing).
• Tomorrow I’m doing an in-person consult with a favorite client.
• Sunday I’m going to a birthday party(!) for dear friends. Our whole little group is fully vaccinated and we can’t wait to see one another again.
• In May, I’m flying to Walla Walla, Washington, to see my dad and will spend some time with my friend and podcast co-host Shannon Wilkinson in Portland, Oregon.

I know that COVID is still far too prevalent. I’m wearing a mask and maintaining social distance in public. But I am so delighted to be past the fear of contracting or spreading the virus.

As larger numbers of people are vaccinated and things get back to how they were, I will still embrace some of the new pandemic habits that have proven beneficial, like:

• daily Yoga with Adriene
• daily handling of my finances with YNAB
• frequent Zoom calls with distant friends

I think it’s probably good that in 2020 we didn’t know how long this was going to stretch out. But today, with blooming flowers and some restored freedoms I’m feeling like 2021 might just turn out okay.