When in doubt, label it!

Many organizing freaks, professional or not, have a love affair with their label maker. In one of the books I read, How to Start a Home-Based Professional Organizing Business, the author mentions her label maker at least a dozen times. And I've owned one for quite a few years now, long before labeling things would become part of my profession. That's because they are beyond useful -- they help you categorize items and keep an organizing system going.

I've used mine to indicate where things go on shelves and on the outside of bins, for labeling school projects, for craft projects like making our own word magnets (like the Magnetic Poetry sets you see in stores), and even labeled a bathroom light switch that had four options, so that guests wouldn't mistakenly turn on the fan or the "night light" instead. And once I even tried labeling our cat...as you can imagine, this was not appreciated by the cat even if the label said, "cute!"

My label maker of choice currently is the Dymo LetraTag because it's small and easy to handle. It has several basic font choices and the label tape is fairly inexpensive (and there are many choices of colors and finishes for the tape). That said, I will be upgrading to one with a QWERTY keyboard and more font choices very soon! When I do, I'll share my new obsession with you all :)

Happy Labeling!
-amy

Checking out the National Assoc. of Pro. Organizers

Last week I attended a meeting for the Oregon chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers. Of course organizers would have an organization that has the very organized meetings! The meeting was held at Closets To Go in Tigard, which has a stunning showroom of closets, pantries, and garage organizing systems that are as stylish as they are functional. We got a full tour, including the manufacturing facility. If you're in the market to do a full make-over on your closet or pantry, this is the place to go for ideas. "Wow" was the most common word said that evening!

Closets To Go shared some stats from a recent customer survey they did (they do a large % of business online, plus local Oregon customers) which I found interesting - and encouraging. About 5 years ago when they conducted the same survey, most participants responded they were planning to live in their home for 3-5 years. This time around, people responded with "10+ years" - which means many of us are trying to make our current space work for much longer. And the key to that will be multi-functional spaces and organization! I'm hoping that means "job security" for me and the other organizers out there (which yes, even in this economy, most organizers are still doing quite well!).

Even though it's expensive compared to other groups out there, I'm most likely joining NAPO for the education and networking opportunities; plus, as I learned last week, it's a great group of people! What fun to be in a room of people that all get excited about drawer organizers, wall-beds, and recycling centers built into pantries - it's nice to know I'm not the only one :-)

Thanks for reading,
-amy

Time for better time management

Many of us feel pulled in many directions at once with our busy schedules, but I've always managed to stay pretty on top of things. Or so I thought! After missing my self-imposed deadline for reorganizing our kitchen, I had to rethink that perception. I do tend to miss deadlines at times, especially those I assign to myself. And I seem to excel at procrastination, especially of unsavory tasks... So, I've decided that it's time for better time management!

I'm looking forward to improving my skills in this area, which will benefit me and my future clients. As I started looking for resources, I turned to my "social network" for book recommendations. Turns out I have quite a few friends that are just as geeky as I am about organizing and self-improvement! :)

Here are the books I've now added to my reading list, which can all be found on Amazon:

• The 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management by Hyrum W. Smith
• The Luck Factor by Brian Tracy
• 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
• Managing Your Goals by Alec MacKenzie (audio book)
• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen

I'll share my thoughts on these books in future posts. In the meantime, do have any time management or productivity books you've found inspiring? Please share!

Thanks for reading,

-amy

Conquering My Kitchen

Well, better late than never! I'd originally set a goal of re-organizing my kitchen cupboards and emptying the "final box" by the end of August. Unfortunately other life priorities got in the way - but I did manage to complete the task yesterday (only 2 days behind schedule!). I've now identified "time management" as an area I can improve and have made a list of books to read on the topic! More on that in a later post...now back to our regularly scheduled programming: the kitchen.

To start, I pulled everything out of the problem cabinets and the box. I strongly believe in the organizing philosophy that you have to see everything before you can start making decisions about eliminating items or assigning a space. As you can see, I made quite a mess! Every surface was covered, but it was very helpful.

I then made groups of "like with like" and found that I had a several lids that didn't go with anything and some duplicate dishes, which are now in the garage sale and/or donation box.

The next step: install small hooks near my baking center to hang flour sifters (which look cool as accessories). I then pulled out my nice glass canisters to display on a shelf - they look great with their matching labels and "decorative" contents (almonds, chocolate chips, raisins). And this freed up much-needed space in the cupboards.

Next, I chose a spot for our leftover container system. About a year ago we purchased a system where every size container uses the same lid - talk about a time and sanity saver! I highly recommend something like this. I used UHU tac to secure it to the shelf, which is temporary but holds really well.

Then I started putting things away, beginning with items we rarely use like serving bowls and trays. I located these in the cupboard above the refrigerator since it takes a stool or chair to reach them. I grouped all of my baking supplies together, using a plate shelf to create more space since many of these items are not very tall.

Our appliances are grouped together on half-moon shelves my husband installed (similar to this), making use of a deep corner cupboard near the stove. And finally, I put away all of the Corningware (hasn't had a home since we moved in, unless you count the box!), baking pans, etc. in a cupboard easily accessible from the baking center and stove, stashing the unwieldy cookie sheets in the drawer below the oven.

TA-DA! In less than three hours I have a more usable kitchen and everything has a home. I'm happy with the results, but expect to tweak and improve as time goes along.

Do you have any tips on organizing a kitchen? Found any cool products for making more space?