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Author: Sue Anderson

Food for thought

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If you hold on to the beautiful dish sets your mother collected after she dies, but they are wrapped up in boxes in the basement, are they really there as a memory of her? Wouldn’t it make more sense to save one of the dishes and display it? Or take a picture of the set and then pass them on to someone in need, or sell them? If someone gave you a gift that you have no intention of ever using, and it is cluttering up your life, is there really a reason to keep it? Would the person that… read more »

Category: Decluttering Tips

Organization does not look perfect

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So many people ask me if my home looks perfect because I am a professional organizer. The answer is a resounding no. Being organized, and functioning efficiently, does not have to look perfect, it just has to work. The bottom line is that you take the time to assign a place for everything to live. That way you know where it goes when it comes in, and you know where to find it when you need it. Eventually it becomes second nature and you don’t have to even give it a thought. Getting organized reduces your stress, increases your productivity… read more »

Category: Home Organization | Tags:

Making it work

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Since there was enough stuff in my spice cabinet to really fill two spaces, I separated the spices from the flour, sugar, etc. After raising a couple of the shelves in the cabinet so that the larger spaces were on the bottom two shelves, rather than the top two like it had been before, I began returning items to the cabinet. I placed the items in the cabinet based on their usage, with the most frequently used or larger items on the bottom shelves. And the less used or smaller items on the top shelves. I was also able to… read more »

Category: Home Organization | Tags: ,

The Home

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After determining your vision, sorting and then tossing your items, it’s time to determine where they should live based on their usage. I had an empty drawer in my kitchen that I hadn’t realized before. I shifted other items in my kitchen around so that the right size drawer was empty. I wanted to put my spices in a drawer so that I could make my vision for the spices a reality. I would be able to see the spices easily. I would be able to get anything out of the drawer I needed very quickly. And return the item… read more »

Category: Home Organization | Tags: ,

The Toss

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After establishing my vision for the spice cabinet and sorting the items, it was time to toss or consolidate items. Check expiration dates and toss expired items. Consolidate duplicate and triplicate items. Determine if you still need the items. Once I followed the simple steps above for the items in the spice cabinet, I was able to pull in some of the same items from other cabinets and consolidate them. I found more sugar, flour, brown sugar, baking powder and Pam in another cabinet. Of course those items were 1/2 or 1/3 full as well, so I was able to… read more »

Category: Home Organization | Tags: , ,

The Sort

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Once I figured out what wasn’t working with the spice cabinet, and what my vision was for it, I took everything out of the cabinet. Needless to say, there were many duplicate items and even more triplicates of items than I want to admit. After grouping like items with like items, this is what I found: 2 bags of sugar – one 1/2 full, one 1/8 full 2 bottles of virgin olive oil – both pretty full 3 bottles of vanilla – two full, one missing about 4 tablespoons 3 jars of chicken bouillon cubes – two missing about 6… read more »

Category: Home Organization | Tags: ,

The Vision

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This spice cabinet in my home has not been working for a long time. It is crammed full of things, I can’t see what’s in there, and it’s a nightmare to get anything out of it. I’ve been putting off re-organizing this cabinet for so long because I didn’t want to stop and take time out of my busy schedule to do it. Saturday I tackled and conquered it. I took pictures along the way in the hopes that it will help you to know how to re-organize different areas of your home or office. We’ll go through it step… read more »

Category: Home Organization | Tags: ,

Keep it simple

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Being organized really is as simple as finding a home for everything, and then setting up systems to maintain it. An important part of getting, and staying organized is to keep your systems simple. Here are some examples of how to keep it simple: Too many files will slow you down. Rather than setting up individual files for each bill you pay, set up a file for bills you pay by month. Storing paperwork in hanging files is more effective than storing them in a binder. All you have to do is drop them into hanging files. With a binder,… read more »

Category: Paper Management | Tags: ,

Declutter your kitchen

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Go through your spices and foods, and combine duplicates. Check expiration dates on the foods in your fridge and pantries. Toss those that are expired. Put all holiday dishes and large bulky items you seldom use in the hardest to reach place in your kitchen. How many glasses and mugs do you really need?

Category: Decluttering Tips | Tags:

The Tree

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When I bought my house 10 years ago, I noticed there were two trees in the front yard that had been growing very haphazardly. They looked very messy and unkempt. I tackled the trees and trimmed out all of the branches that were growing between other branches, going in the wrong direction or were too low. When I was finished, both trees looked like they had taken on a new life and a new direction. Finally free of the cluttered branches that weren’t serving them, and were actually harming them, they will now be able to grow stronger and more healthy.… read more »

Category: Random Musings | Tags:
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