Video: Really Useful Boxes

I'm not devoted to very many organizing products. In general, I think organizing products are overrated and overpriced. But I do love Really Useful Boxes. Watch the video to find out why!



P.S. I've never been paid or asked to do a review of Really Useful Boxes by anyone!

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

Your filing system won't work if you keep everything

In my home office, I have three file boxes, one for personal business, one for my professional organizing business and one for my creative writing projects. Yesterday I blasted through the first two, letting go of a bunch of papers I no longer need to hang on to. I hadn't done it in a while, and it took about an hour, but I felt confident when I was done that the items I had left behind were essential to my life right now and will be easy to find when I need them.

I'm not going to go into a big post about the best way to organize papers or set up filing systems, as that is different for almost everyone. I will say, though, that there is no filing system in the world that will work if you keep every piece of paper you come across. No filing system can support all the paper that comes into our lives.

The vast majority of the paper we come across is not essential. Most information we can track down if necessary. Haven't you ever wanted to just pitch all the piles of paper that are on your desk into the trash and be done with it? I don't advocate doing that, unless you are sure there are no checks or birth certificates in the pile, but if you constantly recycle and shred superfluous paper (remember Always Be De-cluttering?), your filing system will be able to function and you will be happier.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by BLW Photography

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

My reading list: Summer 2010

I talk about books a lot on this blog, books I'm reading, book reviews, how to organize books. Forgive me, I like to read.

I'm in the middle of a fascinating book on change called Switch: How to change things when change is hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. I first heard about this book from Lorie Marrero at The Clutter Diet blog. Anyone who has every failed at breaking a bad habit, gotten discouraged over some huge problem like world poverty, or simply wanted to change something in their life and didn't know how to go about it should read this book. I'm only on the third chapter and I have about ten a-ha moments every page.

My family knows me well, and I received two early birthday presents in the form of cookbooks. One is The French Laundry by Thomas Keller. The book is stunning, and the recipes are so unique and interesting. The only problem is it makes one want to eat at the French Laundry all the time, not an option for most of us. The second is The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters. The book is chock full of good cooking techniques and elegantly simple takes on common dishes like onion tart (five ingredients) and roast duck (one ingredient: the duck).

Finally, for fiction lovers, this month in my book club we read Memoirs of a Geisha, which was a lovely story full of beautiful details. I wasn't terribly excited about reading it, but in the end I really liked it and it made me think about visiting Japan, which is a country I've never been particularly interested in traveling to. August's pick is The Time Traveler's Wife, which I read last year and thought was amazing. Audrey Niffenegger's follow up, Her Fearful Symmetry, was really enjoyable as well.

Got any recommendations for me? What have you been reading this summer?


Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com
Note: The links on the book titles will take you to Amazon.com; if you buy something, I will receive a small percentage in affiliate fees.

Count and de-clutter

Sometimes when we accumulate a lot of stuff we get so used to seeing it that it doesn't seem like a lot anymore. We only notice our things when they start really getting in the way. Give yourself a wake-up call with this simple exercise. Let's say you're getting tired of having no place to put your books because your shelves are all filled, or the jar of kitchen utensils near the stove is jam packed. Take a moment and count how many you have of the item. Just count them. Do you have five wooden spoons? 12? 19? 30? How many can you use at one time? Maybe three if you're cooking something complicated. Pick your three favorites and let go of the rest.

Counting something like books takes longer, but it's an eye opener to realize you have hundreds, perhaps thousands of volumes. Are they all really serving your life?

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by cogdogblog

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

A year ago: creativity and organization

A year ago I was blogging about the idea that creativity can be enhanced by working in an organized environment. It's common sense that it's easier to be creative when your workspace isn't a giant mess.

In the past year, I've worked with photographers, visual artists and graphic artists who require an organized space in order to do the creative work that is their livelihood and their passion. I was able to help them by identifying what items in their spaces weren't essential to their creative process and figuring out ways to use storage efficiently, since artists tend to have lots of materials associated with current, future and past projects. One important thing I could give these clients was a sense of control over their space, so that they could shape it the way they wanted, rather than feeling overwhelmed by the stuff they'd accumulated, stuff that they thought would be a creative outlet but in a disorganized state caused them more paralysis than freedom.

Here are my posts on creativity and organization, the three elements of workplace organization and a specific case study applying my theories to organizing a writer's workspace.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by gordonplant

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

Tips and Tools: Car organization

We spend so much time in our cars! In the August issue of Real Simple magazine, they turn their attention to cleaning out a car to make it almost like new. Cleaning your car is as necessary as an oil change from time to time, but the best way to keep your car organized is extremely simple:

Don't leave stuff in your car. 

When you get home, take everything inside (and put it away).

Right now I know exactly what's in my car: the essential stuff in my glove compartment, my Thomas Guide, quarters for meters and some CDs. There are also emergency supplies stowed away with the spare tire under the trunk. There are no empty water bottles, trash, food, hairbrushes, sweaters or even grocery bags. If I bring that stuff into my car, I take it out after the return trip.

This is a little bit harder to manage with kids, I know, but it's a worthy goal. Much easier to keep your valuable car interior clean and serene with no stuff in it.

Make it your new rule, and feel the lightness of a perpetually clean car.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by krisandapril

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

Video: Recipe binders

Recently I changed the way I organize my loose recipes from a file folder system to three-ring binders. Binders are great for lots of organizing projects, and the following video shows how I put together ones to contain all my loose recipes.

You may also be interested in my three part series on how to organize recipes: cookbooks, individual loose recipes and digital recipes.



Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

Tips and Tools: Sharpies

Sharpies are quite possibly my favorite organizing tool. And by Sharpies, I mean any sturdy permanent marker, I just happen to like and use the Sharpie brand, made by Sanford. I keep at least two in my purse at all times - a fine point and an ultra fine point. What can you do with a Sharpie?

• Label the leftover chili you're sticking in the freezer with the name and date you put it in there - no more wondering if your leftovers are still good.
• Write people's initials on their water bottles during car trips, cuts down on squabbles.
• Instantly make file folder labels that are easy to read - no label maker necessary.
• Silver Sharpies are great for labeling black cords and electronics accessories.
• They're best way to make readable name tags at functions.
• Quickly put your name and/or phone number on property that might get mixed up with others' or lost, like coolers, sports equipment, camping gear.
• There's also quite a bit of Sharpie art out there.

What do you use your Sharpies for?

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by JonDissed

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

A year ago: storage units, photo organization and Google Reader

Last July I was returning from a lengthy trip to the east coast, where I had undergone a large project of slimming down the contents of a large storage unit. The following posts were reactions to that project. The longer I organize people professionally, the more convinced I am that storage, particularly long-term, paid storage, is not a good option for dealing with your stuff. I believe the possessions we have should be used, displayed and if they are no longer good fits for our lives, should be passed on to someone who can use them better. There are very few reasons that storage should be an imperative for anyone.

Anyway...

On the joys of the "Mark All As Read" button in Google Reader.

Of yard sales and storage units and on the problem with storage.

And on a different topic: photos, my organizing kryptonite.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

ABDC

ABDC.

Always Be De-Cluttering.

A shirt falls off a hanger and when you pick it up you realize you haven't worn it in ages and it has a stain. Turn it into rags, or toss it. Now.

You get frustrated because you can't close the gadget drawer in your kitchen easily. Find three duplicate tools and put them on Freecycle. Now.

Your birthday comes and you get a stack of great new books. Make room for them on the shelf by taking a few you are done with to the used bookstore. Now.

It's simple. It's constant. You don't have to think about it very hard.

Always Be De-Cluttering.

ABDC.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by Emily Carlin

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

Goal setting: 30 minutes to greatness

Okay, I don't have a problem with goal setting, list making, calendaring or crossing things off my to do list. But I am the kind of person who likes to do all the little things on the list before tackling the larger ones. Also, as much as I value routine, I love variety. Lately, I've been looking at my large projects and goals in a different way. Of course, I know that breaking a large task into several smaller ones is a good approach and keep things from being overwhelming, but I didn't realize how much assigning a very low time limit to those smaller tasks would help me visualize getting them accomplished and motivate me. What do I mean by low time limit?

Here's an example. I have three large projects going on right now - one is related to the maintenance of my apartment, one is a creative project and one is related to my business. I want to make progress in all of these areas every day, on top of my client work, etc. I know from experience that doing a little bit every day adds up to something massive more quickly than you think, so I wasn't concerned about making giant progress in a single day. Instead, on each day I include the following on my to do list:

• do one thing on my apartment list
• work on creative project for 30 minutes
• either do one thing on my business project list or spend 30 minutes on one aspect of an item

The very low time commitment is enough to stop me from being overwhelmed by my task list. Also, one can do practically anything for 30 minutes. The bite size pieces keep me engaged in the projects because every day I'm doing something new - to a point where I've actually been looking forward to putting in my time on each and every one, each and every day. I don't even have to put on a timer for 30 minutes because I can sort of gauge my progress and often find myself motivated to work even longer. Now that I've been taking this approach for a while, I can see the work adding up, which is satisfying. 

This is all pretty common sense, but it really showed me that even if you are pretty good at getting stuff done - from the tiny to the massive - your systems always have room for improvement.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by R Stanek
Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

Twitter favorites

Here are some organizing-related gems from the past week or so that encapsulate what's useful and fun about Twitter.

@UncluttererTips With perspective, it’s normal to feel an emotional attachment to your possessions http://bit.ly/9DGGL0

@organizenow 

  

Keep a pen and paper next to your bed. If you have ideas as you are drifting off, you can jot them down.#organize

@clutterdiet 

  

#ClutterTweetTip #CTT: What can your kids do? Plenty! Set the table, empty the dishwasher, dry dishes, take out trash & recycling. Try it.

@DrDeClutter 

  

What makes you happy? Are you doing it today? When's the last time you did what makes you happy? Do it!

@annfengshui A tip for better bedroom #fengshui: Get your dirty laundry out of the bedroom and out of sight:http://ow.ly/29b3v

and

@j_organize 

  

I'm making pancakes because people think I'm rude if I drink maple syrup directly from the bottle.

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

Video: Entryway organization

Here's another quick video I made to show off my entryway table and how I keep myself organized there. Please note - all the corner clutter has gone!



Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

When cleaning contributes to clutter

One of the best reasons to get your home organized is that it makes it easier to clean. Without piles of stuff on the floor and on your surfaces, it's simply easier to do routine maintenance and keep a clean home.

Some people hire help to clean their living space. Whether you have a one bedroom apartment or a five bedroom house, if you have a regular (or not so regular) cleaning person or cleaning team in your home, they may get the floors, windows and surfaces clean, but they often contribute to disorganization and clutter. How can this be? Well, unless they live with you and are intimately acquainted with all your drawers, cupboards and storage spaces, they aren't going to know where things live. They are going to see a pile of objects on your dining room table and instead of finding the specific home for each item (assuming you actually have a designated home for each item), they'll sweep them all up and stick them in the nearest cabinet for you to sort out later. Your dining room table will gleam, but you'll be frustrated when you are trying to find the scissors and they are not in the pencil box by the phone but somewhere your cleaning person stashed them.

 

I see this all the time in clients' homes. They will often have specific spaces for their things, but if they haven't communicated those spaces to the person putting the things away, they inevitably end up someplace else. This doesn't apply just to cleaning people. It's all well and good if you know where to find things and put them away, but what if your spouse needs the label maker and you aren't around? Plus, you don't want to be a position of having to tell people where things are all the time, or worse yet, getting things for them. Speaking of label makers, the solution to both the cleaning person problem and making it easier for everyone in the family to coexist with an organizational system is labels.

If you label where things go, it makes it much simpler for everyone to find things and put them away. Your cleaning person will thank you, and your time can be spent on other things beside locating items for your family members.


Creative Commons Old Hi-8 Tapes by bredgur, on Flickr.

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com 

A year ago: purse organization, book review and packing tips

I'm catching up on my "a year ago" posts. Here are three entries from June 2009:

Recommendations for the eight things everyone should have in their purse in order to be organized for every day. Another good one that I didn't mention: reusable bag for those quick trips to the drug store or grocery store. You will avoid picking up extra disposable ones and sometimes they give you a discount.

I reviewed the book Organized to be Your Best! by Susan Silver. This book has very detailed and specific instructions for creating organization in your home and work life and is recommended for people who want  to get a bit deeper into their systems than with a book like Organizing Outside the Box, for instance.

Last year before my summer trip, I was still in checked-bag mode and hadn't made the switch to quasi-minimalist carry-on only packing. Here are my tips for smooth packing.

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com 

Videos: My corner clutter

Even professional organizers have stuff they don't need in their homes. I went through my bookshelves a while back and have been steadily adding to a pile near the door other items that are no longer useful to me. Unfortunately, the pile is still there after several weeks.



Solution: Today, I'm taking the books to my local used bookstore and turning them in for credit. Any that they don't want, I will take to my nearest Goodwill drop of location along with the clothes and household items. I'll be sure to get a receipt that I can use if I decide to deduct to my donations on my taxes next year. That's it - two stops and I'll have my corner back, some books credit and a tax write-off. If I can do it, you can, too!

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com