by Anne Lucas | Jan 28, 2015 | Big Projects, Clutter, mudroom, Organizing, winter
And for most of us, this can be a clean and organized home’s worst enemy. Slushy snow gets tracked over hardwood floors and carpets, while boots, jackets, and all kinds of snow paraphernalia pile up next to the front door. Having a dedicated (and organized!) mudroom space can be simpler than you think, and can save you from the messy headaches winter can bring to the indoors. Having an open storage space, whether this be in a designated mudroom or the entryway to your home, is crucial for wet winter jackets. Air circulation helps them dry faster and the open concept look makes everyone’s coats and snowpants easier to spot. This type of space can easily be achieved with plenty of hooks. For the more ambitious, cubbies are a great option too and can be found at most furniture stores. Make sure to stock up on baskets and bins. These look great on shelves or can easily be stacked or slid underneath a bench. Grouping similar items together makes finding what you need later simpler and quick! Stop the snow before it makes its way inside! Keep a rough mat outside your door and a tray for wet boots inside to help catch melting snow and stop it from spreading. As always, remember to declutter! Do you really need that winter jacket you haven’t worn in three years? How about those ratty and torn gloves? Donate what you can and throw away the rest, and you will be shocked at the amount of free space you have for the items you actually use. Kid-friendly tip: Make kids excited to...
by Anne Lucas | Sep 15, 2014 | Big Projects, Clutter, Organizing
More often than not, what keeps us from starting big projects isn’t that we just can’t do it—it’s that they are so intimidating! Follow these steps to get your morale up and keep “avoidance mode” at bay. That next big project will be done before you know it, and you’ll feel great, too! Mark a date on the calendar! Maybe a day when the kids are at school, or if weekdays are too hectic, choose a Saturday morning to get started. Getting started is the hardest part, but if you make room in your schedule any project will feel less daunting. Before you touch anything or make any decisions, just spend 5 to 10 minutes looking at the situation. Familiarizing yourself with what is there and envisioning how you want the space to look when you are done can help desensitize you to an overwhelming situation. Take some pictures of the project before your start—you’ll want them later! Start with a 15 minute de-cluttering spree. Set a timer and grab two boxes or bags: one for trash, and the other for donations. Look for items you no longer use or need. You know better than anyone what’s just taking up space and what needs to stay! Working in 15 minute cycles helps compartmentalize the process. Commit to spending 15 minutes a day on this de-cluttering phase until you are done. Focus on small areas at a time to keep from feeling overwhelmed or pressured. Once the de-cluttering is done and you have successfully sorted into piles of trash and donations, create a task list. Write down a check-list of...
by Anne Lucas | Oct 30, 2013 | Clutter, Organizing
We all do it, we check our email over and over again throughout the day. Resist the urge to continually check email or voicemail. Instead, set specific times – perhaps once in the morning, once after lunch, and once before you end the day – to do this. You can set the sender’s expectation in your signature line, saying “I check email 3 times daily. I’ll respond to your request as soon I am able.” Find what works for you and your schedule. Find your desk covered in stacks of paper, sticky notes, and coffee mugs? Reduce waste at the office. Try to generate less paper by printing less and saving more to electronic storage, such as to your computer or a flash drive. Think before you hit “print” and you’ll have less paper to deal with on your desk. Do you end each day stressed about your next days activities, jobs, or things to do? Plan for tomorrow at the end of the day. Take 15 minutes at the end of every day to create tomorrow’s to-do list. This habit of planning will give you the gift of focus, allowing you to get a jump-start the next morning. In a sense, you’re creating a map for the following day! I hope these tips help you make it through your day organized and successful!...
by Anne Lucas | Sep 12, 2013 | Back To School, Clutter, Organizing
With school starting, it’s a great time to help kids with their organizational skills. Here is a wonderful book filled with tips to help you and your children as they go back to school! “Organizing the Disorganized Child” by Martin L. Kutscher and Marcella Moran is packed with helpful, straight-forward strategies for getting the correct work home from school, planning the work, and getting it back to where it belongs. It also includes tips that will help every child – disorganized or not – improve reading, note taking, studying and test taking. Find more tips on Facebook from Organizing the Disorganized Child!...
by Anne Lucas | Jul 29, 2013 | Clutter
Great garage tips and tricks! The best way start this organizing a space is to empty out the space. Don’t try to move things around in the space, you will just end up moving things around too much. Empty everything out and make piles that make sense to you and your families needs. Sweep up and then put things back. Old latex paint can be thrown in the trash if it’s dried out. So if we’re expecting a few days of heat and no rain open the cans and leave them in the yard to dry. Most towns have specific policies on hazardous waste, in Winchester, MA we have a day in the spring when you can bring your hazardous material to the Department of Waste yard. Check with your town or city for their rules. When putting stuff back in the garage, hang as much as possible. I’ve attached a picture of how we have our bikes hung. Hang the yard tools, you don’t need anything fancy. Hooks, nails, etc. are great to hang things you need easy access to – some frequently used tools, sports equipment, brooms, etc. Try and keep like things together as much as possible. Gardening with gardening, sports equipment with sports equipment etc. If shelving will fit, the plastic ones are sturdy and inexpensive. I feel very confident that this is going to make a huge difference in how you use your garage space. Perhaps will find plenty of room to pull your car into the garage now. It will be so nice just to have space! Maybe you feel stuck right now...
by Anne Lucas | May 13, 2013 | Clutter, Donate Resources, Products
Donation Resource of the Month: Each year, about 100 million households receive 16.6 billion catalogs. You can reduce the amount in your mailbox by opting out of paper catalogs you no longer want. Stop unwanted mail! Visit www.catalogchoice.org, set up a free account, and enter the names of the catalogs, coupons, credit card offers, phone books, circulars, and more you want stopped. One-stop “stopping!” Start reducing clutter, protect your privacy and help the environment today! ...
