Winter’s the perfect time to make a clean-break with kitchen grime.

Now that we’ve made it through the big cooking seasons of Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve and Superbowl Sunday, our kitchens probably all need a good “going over” as my mother used to say.

Yes, this is sometimes called spring cleaning but when it finally turns spring, do you want to be stuck indoors? Get an organized start on kitchen cleaning by checking out my article, Four Steps to an Organized Clean on Whats Cooking America.

Happy Organizing!

Disclosure: http://www.cmp.ly/0

Millie came to visit.

What was great was how organized “her people” were. She had them trained great.

Along with Millie, came a stocked tote bag with the essentials. There were dog toys, eye wipes, shampoo, carpet cleaner (she’s a puppy!) a Zip-lock of food and a measuring cup.

Millie’s arrival and departure prompted me to think about some of the things that we need to organize for pets.

As a professional organizer, I’ve found lots of pet goodies at my client’s homes. Since your pet is with you for years and years, not just a visitor like Mil, then get organized for the long haul.

Here are some tips for organizing pet care:

• Note on your calendar when to give heart worm meds and flea protection.
• Note on your calendar when the next annual exam and shots are due.
• Add a hook by the door for the leash.
• Organize a spot in your pantry for dog treats.
• Buy a tightly closing container for dog kibble. Because it is a grain, I’ve seen mealy bugs get in it, roaches and mice. If the dog likes to eat it, the pests you don’t want like it too. For my dog, Max, I’ve a tub in the garage large enough to hold 20 pounds of food with a lid that snaps down. I scoop an amount for a week into a cannister in the kitchen. A cannister on wheels is handy too.  Here is the IRIS Airtight Pet Food Storage Container. Be sure to measure your storage spot before buying a tub or container.
• Get a basket or tub for dog toys. My dog, Max, knows where his toys are kept. I wish he could put them back! But, it is great that there is a home for them so that I can tidy up and know that he can still find them to play.

Finally, make sure to organize time to spend with your pet. If you feel guilty about not having time to visit the dog park, throw the ball or take a long walk, then look at your calendar and make an appointment with yourself. After all, who can resist that face!

Disclosure: http://www.cmp.ly/0

You can’t get organized until you figure out what is clutter.

We hear that word daily.  

Declutter this.

Clear the clutter from that.

My life is full of clutter.

But, what exactly is clutter?

What is your clutter?

It took me awhile, even though I am a professional organizer, to be able to verbalize the answer to “what is clutter.” It gets confusing when you realize it is different things to different people.

But, no matter the clutter and no matter the person, there is one thing in common with all situations.

Clutter is anything and everything that gets in the way of what you really want to be doing. It’s simple enough when you think of it that way!

Here are a few examples:

• Kitchen counter clutter keeps you from preparing dinner so you run through the drive-thru, yet again, even though you swore to eat healthy this year.
• Paperwork clutter kept you from finding and paying the Am Ex bill on time and now you’ve got a big penalty on top of the bill.
• The bookclub’s been to everyone’s house but yours…and you feel really bad about that but there isn’t anywhere for them to sit.
• You’ve so many thing spinning in your mind to-do that you have started several things and finished none of them. This is brain clutter.
• You open your inbox to check your email to find something important. Now you will be late as you hunt through 200 emails for the one you need.

There is physical clutter, brain clutter, electronic clutter and time clutter. Things that keep you from doing what your really want to be doing. They stress you out. They make you worry. They are no fun at all.

You can get organized by first figuring out what you really want to be doing.  Next, figure out what is the clutter that keeps you from doing it – or doing it the way you wish to do it. Now you know your clutter. Now you can eliminate the clutter and move forward.

Photo credit: Astonished business woman with hands on head copyright Andres Rodriguez-fotolia.com

If you are like me, you’ve probably wondered if buying grocery totes was really going to help your wallet and the environment. Sure it is better than plastic bags, but aren’t you just buying one more thing?

One way to reduce your clutter is to use your T-shirts to make great grocery tote bags. They are strong. They wash well and can be bleached to sanitize them. Best of all, you’ve probably got a bunch that you don’t wear. Dig down to the bottom of that dresser drawer to find the ones that you used to love but no longer use.

To make a tote, it is as simple as cutting off the sleeves and neck, then seaming up the bottom. The folks at Instructables did a great job of explaining it in 6 easy steps.

You can also…

• watch a demo on YouTube
• see a cute one on MarthaStewart
• see 35 different free patterns for other tote bags you can make and be green at TipNut

Disclosure: www.cmp.ly/0

Normally, one would ask “Who left a darn basket right in the middle of the doorway?” Followed by, “Someone could trip over this!”

Exactly. See my plan worked.

The problem with organizing is that there are so many spots to organize. You are going to organize…say, your desk. Next thing you know, you’ve headed to a spot where you stash photos with one that was on your desk. You return a magazine to your nightstand and place book by your keys to go to the library. Then you head to the mailbox with an envelope and come back in with the mail. Next thing you know, you are paying bills.

What happened to the desk organizing?

You left the room, that is what happened.

No matter what “spot” you try to organize, stick to it. Don’t walk off. Don’t leave even for a good reason.

• Stick a basket in the doorway so that you can’t get out without being reminded not to leave.
• Place items that need to leave the room in the basket. Take it out with you when you are finished with your “spot.”
• Keep a pad of paper and pen handy while you organize. Jot down things you remember you need to do instead of leaving your “spot” to go do them.

You can get organized. It is just sometimes you have to organize the organizing!

Welcome to a look at the issue of mom-blogger Mommy Has to Work.

Mommy has to Work asked me if I’d write a guest blog post for her blog in honor of January, Get Organized Month.

“Sure,” I said, “But, you’ve got to give me some idea of what you need organized.” As the author of Growing-Up Organized, (Amazon.com, $14) I’ve written whole chapters on organizing issues with kiddies. To condense it to a blog post, we need to pick one topic.

Let’s just say I was surprised when her mom-child organizing topic was garages. I just don’t get asked much about garages. On the other hand, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Last spring and summer, I helped a friend as she fretted over her garage. Waiting for a baby she was adopting, she knew she wanted to be able to pull that car into the garage to keep the baby dry or keep the seat from being burning hot. Too-much-stuff was the issue that kept the car from going into the garage.

Mommy has to Work says “I’m one of those people that do a little here and little there and it never seems like I accomplish much.”

Doing a bit here and there is actually a fine way to organize a garage. You can divide it up into smaller jobs- lawn equipment one day, kids toys another, tools yet another day. I gave Mommy has to Work ten great tips for the garage. Check them out at her site.

While you are there, join the contest! She’s giving away a copy of Growing-Up Organized.

Disclaimer: A review copy of the book was provided to Mommy has to Work for review purposes. No compensation was received for this blog post or the guest blog post.

You think you know but time flies!

Yesterday, my husband held up a plastic bag with bagged ham as he asked “Is this still good?”  Noticing my dubious look, he said “When did we bake a ham anyway?”

Let’s see….that was a Christmas ham so it was…YIKES….a month ago.  With answer in hand, the ham went in the trash instead of in his lunch.

We should have checked in with the website Still Tasty. This is a great resource for organizing your fridge or freezer and keeping your stomach safe!

This morning, I checked in with Still Tasty. I clicked on meat and then found “Ham- Cooked at Home- Leftovers” and clicked on it.  What I learned was that I was right…and wrong.  I was right that the ham needed to go. I was wrong about WHEN it needed to go. According to Still Tasty, ham leftovers are good for 3-4 days in the fridge and 3-4 months in the freezer. I thought baked ham could keep for a few weeks. (Yikes!)

I love that Still Tasty begins with “Keep it or toss it?” That is the dream question for everyone organizing anything. Just goes to prove it works for fridges and freezers too.

Did you know…

Pecans should be refrigerated and keep 9 months?

Or that homemade duck fat drippings can be kept for 6 months in the fridge?

Who knew? Not I.

Yes, there’s an ap  for that.

Disclosure Statement: www.cmp.ly/0

Well, what are you waiting for?

The question refers to your resolution to get organized in 2010!

I’ve often found people are waiting for something…for some magical moment when organizing seems just right.

Mom’s Favorite Stuff, a pretty cool mom website of resources for moms, did a review of my book, Growing-Up Organized., (Amazon.com, $14) It was unique because it was the first time that someone mentioned that they recognized themselves in the words I wrote about waiting.

Here are some of the “reasons-I’m-not-organized” that I’ve heard over the years.

I’m waiting for

• the baby to be potty trained.
• the kids to be in school all day.
• to be a stay at home mom.
• to go back to work.
• spring break.
• Christmas break.
• summer vacation.
• the kids to be older.
• the kids to be out of the house.
• for my nephew to visit and help.
• retirement.
• the day I go into assisted living.
• my grown kids to get their stuff.
• my husband to work back at work and not from home.
• the day I have more time.
• the day I have a bigger space.
• the day I downsize.
• when I get more money.
• the kids to be big enough to do it.
• company to come…then I’ll have to do it.
• the basement to flood. That’s the only thing that will get me down there.
•  it to get warmer out.
•  it to not be so darn hot out.
• a chance to buy more of those rubber tubs.
• my spouse to go through (his/her) boxes of college things.
• us to get a vacation home and use the stuff there.
• time to have a garage sale.
• a chance to check the prices of things on Ebay.

Well, maybe you’ll win the lottery. Maybe, you’ll hire someone. Maybe, your nephew will come and do it for you.

Most likely, you’ll have to finally do it yourself.

Check out what Mom’s Favorite Stuff had to say about Growing-Up Organized. If you need motivation, you need a copy today.

What’s holding you back from organizing?

Disclaimer: A review copy of the book was provided to Mom’s Favorite Stuff.

These pictures above represent something from my to-do list that is finally done. Note the word “finally.”

A few years ago, I noticed that my Christmas ornaments were sad. Some were coming unglued. Others were held on the tree by paperclips. Still others were missing the cap to the glass ball and were unusable. For several years, I’d add “fix ornaments” to my to-do list.

When exactly is the right time to do such a thing? Simply too busy at Christmas and simply too uninterested at Easter, the task remained undone. Each year, the collection looked sadder.

This year, I finally made it happen.

You may not have a “fix the ornament” project but I bet you have one. It could be the 2005 to 2010 stack of photos. It might be the kitchen drawer jammed with recipe clippings. It might be the box of doo-dads on the work bench.

Here’s how to actually do the put-off item on your to-do list.

1) Stop making excuses…such as saying you have no time or space.

2) Make an appointment with yourself. If we wait until we have nothing better to do or when we get “around to it,” then it won’t happen. Grab your calendar and write it down. I blocked off a Saturday afternoon.

3) Get the supplies. This way you can’t make an excuse that you don’t have what you need.

4) Set up a place to work. If your project takes more than a few hours, set up a card table where you can keep coming back to your project.

5) If you just can’t bear to get started on the item on your to-do list, then you have to other choices – either decide it doesn’t need doing or find someone to do it for you…and good luck with that!

Recently, I was asked to write a guest blog on some simple tips for organizing kids based on my book Growing-Up Organized, (Amazon.com $14). I told city-living mom blogger Kelly Tirman that I’m often asked how to store toys or get a child to clean their room. I hadn’t been asked to sum up the book in ten tips so that was quite a challenge, but a good one!

   When you want to organize your child, I know that you’ve been down what I call the Aisle of Hope. Every store has one.

   On the Aisle of Hope, you find plastic tubs with matching lids, carts on wheels and padded hangers. You find cute little totes with chalkboard labels. There are desk organizers, closet organizers, car organizers and caddies of all kinds.

   Surely, you think, if I can just figure out the right thing to buy, I can get my child organized. That is why I call it the Aisle of Hope.

   In reality, any new product will yield the same old results unless how you think about organizing your child changes. Getting your child organized isn’t at all about what is going on in that closet. It is about what is going on inside you.

   To organize your child, you first need to organize the right mind set.

 1. Know  being organized is a learned trait. Children are not born organized but every child can learn to be organized. Just ask any three-year old to show you’re their pre-school cubbie. They were taught to put their things away properly.

Kelly’s got a great blog. Visit it to find the other 9 tips for raising an organized child.

Disclosure: Kelly Tirman was provided with an Ecopy of the book for review purposes.