Wrapping paper leftovers

I love wrapping paper. I think beautifully wrapped gifts are one of life's great pleasures. But I feel wasteful when I buy expensive paper that just gets torn off and discarded. So most of my paper gets used over and over again. My family doesn't mind when I harvest the best scraps of leftover paper and save them for the next occasion. I tend to keep bits of ribbon, too, and am able to use them again and again. The paper can take on new and more beautiful forms after being wrinkled and folded and combined with different types of paper for different gifts. And when I use up a lot of paper all at once and need more, I turn to paper bags and other found wrapping papers. It makes me doubly happy to see a gift beautifully wrapped with reused and reusable paper!

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by Katherine

Need to get a handle on your own wrapping paper collection?

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Gift idea: handmade, but not by you

Sometimes the best gifts are handmade, but they don't have to be handmade by you. If you have an artist, writer or crafty person in your family, support them by purchasing (or trading for) their wares and giving them to others on your gift list. They might even give you a family discount!

A taste of Six Sapphires.

I'm lucky to have a wealth of talented, productive people in my family. My sister-in-law is a hugely talented jewelry designer, and everyone in the family delights in receiving something she's made. My mother-in-law is a photographer, writer and all-around talented person, and I've already earmarked one of her pieces for someone on my Christmas list. My brother works with plants and makes succulent wreaths and pots plants for wonderfully colorful, living gifts. Who in your family has a talent for creation?

Giving items made by someone you and the person you are giving to both love makes the gift doubly special.

Get help organizing your holiday gift list.

Call Lelah at 818.269.6671

or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

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News fasting

I spend a lot of time reading newspaper articles online and listening to the news on the radio. I like to know what is going on in the world, and I have some particular interests that I enjoy following in the news (movie news and box office returns, politics to some extent, Los Angeles arts and culture, etc.).

I spend a lot of time in the car, travelling to clients and I usually turn in to public radio shows like The Madeleine Brand Show, The World, Marketplace and All Things Considered whenever I'm in the car. I also just got an iPad, and the LA Times iPad app makes it super easy to read article after article with the flick of your finger.

It's gotten to a point where I check the LA Times website at least three or four times a day, just to make sure I'm not missing something important.

The time I spend on consuming news is probably not more than an hour a day...but that hour a day really adds up. It feels like I spend much more time and energy thinking about the stuff that I hear about and read about, and it doesn't always seem like time or energy well spent. There's so much negative news, and I'm a very action-oriented person. I don't like to feel like I can't do anything about an issue; I know I can't do something about every issue.

I'm going to try out a news fast. I don't know if I can give up my car radio news connection--at least not cold-turkey. But I'm going to skip the news websites for a while, and see what else I find to fill up that time. I have a feeling I'm already gaining some time and energy to spend creating something positive in my life (my fiction writing, cooking healthy meals) rather than just consuming information that I ultimately can do very little with.

Have you ever tried a news fast? What worked for you and what didn't?

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Clearing the decks

My mother-in-law is an artist and she recently sent me photos to illustrate her newly organized studio space. Previously, she had a work space that had a lot of tools and other items always stored on top of it. With the addition of shelves within arm's reach, the stuff has been removed, clearing the surface for her to work. She writes, "Now that the surface is clear, I have so much more energy (and workspace!)."

Before.

After. Shelves in place, work space totally clear!

This is a wonderful achievement, and I'm grateful for her permission to share her experience, and happy that some of her inspiration came from me and this blog.

For many of us, having a clear space on which to work is vital, no matter what type of work it may be. Empty spaces like desk tops, dining room tables, and counters are wonderful places to attack all sorts of projects, but they are also magnets for the detritus from the day to be dumped upon.

Having a regular (small) dump spot that you frequently sort through and clear off is sensible. Keeping a large open space always clear and ready for you to begin to use is imperative to creativity and effectiveness when at work.

Do you have a work space that's currently home to odds, ends and whatnots? Take a few minutes to clear it off, and resist the urge to put anything on there other than your current project. Feel the energy flow through the space and into your mind and hand.

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. Sign up for Lelah's News, a once-monthly newsletter.

Word of the day

I always loved the part of the television show Sesame Street right at the end when they'd say "Sesame Street has been brought to you today by the letters C and L and the number 7," or whatever letters and numbers they'd been focusing on in that day's show. It made me feel like the show had a larger sense of purpose that I really liked as a kid. 

Nowadays, I sometimes get the feeling that a certain idea or word is accidently sponsoring my day. People call this attraction or synchronicity or whatever. I think it's just being present enough to see patterns in our every day lives. Sometimes it is helpful to let an idea or word guide your day. You can put a word out there, and see what you get, or you can tune in to what's around you and listen to what the universe has to say.

Some of the words that have been my words of the day (accidental or planned) are abundance, intention, calm, fearlessness, creativity, doing and being. Energy is another good one. Chocolate might be a good fit once in a while. What is your word of the day?

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. Sign up for Lelah's News, a once-monthly newsletter.

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

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

My resolutions

The two biggest keys to making and accomplishing one's resolutions are specificity and accountability. The more specific you are about what you want to do, the easier it will be to name the steps needed to fulfill the resolution and the easier it will be to see if you've succeeded. Accountability speaks for itself. If you tell other people your resolution (such as writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days), you'll have a support system encouraging you to keep on the path to your goal, and you'll have the satisfaction of being able to show those people that you did it! So, in the interest of accountability, here is a recap of my 2009 resolutions and how I did with them, and a partial list of 2010 ones.

My 2009 resolutions were:

• Go camping
• Seek alternate headache treatments
• Sell a piece of writing
• Visit Griffith Park, Griffith Observatory and the LA Zoo

How did I do?

• I did not go camping, mainly because I don’t have a tent. But I realize that’s not a great reason, as I could have bought or borrowed one. I think I’m going to have to go with Gretchen Rubin and take this one off of my list, since this is the second consecutive year on there. As soon as I take it off, perhaps a way to do it will appear.
• I suffer from biweekly migraines. They have lessened in intensity this year because of some alternate treatments, mainly strong doses of black tea. The caffeine seems to help, but they haven’t gone away completely. I think that counts, though.
•  I did not sell a piece of writing. At the beginning of the year I thought I might start making my living from writing. Instead, I started my professional organizing business and have been writing as a creative project. Both choices have been great for my life. So I’m content with not having achieved this one as my priorites shifted and I accomplished so much more.
• I did go to Griffith Park and Griffith Observatory and while I didn’t go into the zoo, I parked in the parking lot there to do the LADWP Festival of Lights, so that counts, sort of.

My 2010 resolutions are:

• Refresh my apartment by de-cluttering and rearranging the space (even professionals have to make a point to do this once in while)
• Learn about and use more of the features of my digital camera and look into editing the images in some kind of effects program
• Revise a piece of writing to a point where I'd let other people besides my sister read it
• Buy more produce from the farmer's market and less from Ralphs

Of course, I've got a ton of other little and big things on my 2010 to do list, at this point mostly things I want to do to promote and expand my business and things involving my upcoming wedding. The beauty of ushering out an old year and beginning a new one is that it truly feels like anything is possible. Even if we plan out the year and what we want to get done in it, there are still surprises along the way, and we may end up in a place in December that we couldn't have imagined in January. What are some of your resolutions?

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

Clutter-free gifts: Education

Next in the clutter-free gift idea series: gifts of education. If your friend or family member likes to learn new things or is the kind of person who seemingly "already has everything," break them out of their rut with the offer of a class. You could get a second spots in the class for you and make it a productive way to spend quality time together, but don’t choose a topic that only you are interested in. And before you sign your friend up for a sixteen week intensive art class when she barely has time to do grocery shopping, ask yourself if there’s a more useful gift you get get her. You might want to start with a single lesson or class before committing to a long program.

• Dance classes
• Art classes
• Sports camp
• Yoga classes
• Cooking classes
• Exercise classes
• Flying lessons
• Language classes
• Art appreciation
• Music lessons
• Magic lessons
• Juggling
• Trapeze lessons
• Cake decorating class
• Tumbling, gymnastics or acrobatics class
• Bridge class
• Poker lessons
• Personal trainer sessions
• Self defense class
• Taekwondo classes
• Computer classes
• Golf lessons
• Acting classes
• Singing lessons

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by Carrington Vanston

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 

Clutter-free gifts: Meaningful memories

Today in the clutter-free gifts series: meaningful memories. Not every gift needs to be 100% functional, and not every gift needs to cost the giver more than a bit of time and energy. I like to use the holidays as a way to share with my family members how much they mean to me by recalling times gone by and underlining how much I appreciate their support and love in the present. That way we celebrate the past and make new memories. Here are some ideas for tangible things that can help communicate that to the people in your life: 

This personalized photo gift was much appreciated by the receiver.

• Framed photo of you and the receiver of the gift. This means a lot especially in today's digital age where photos often never make it off a computer screen. (Think ahead and try to create some photo ops during the year so you'll have some good shots to choose from.)
• Poem, either written by you or selected by you special for the occasion. Hand write it on pretty paper or frame a copy. (Don't forget to give attribution if you use someone else's.)
• Use your creative talents to write a story, draw or paint a picture or write a song that says something about your relationship with the person you're giving the gift to.
• Take a weekend day and actually edit the footage of the last birthday party or Christmas that you took video at. Make it a record of the memory you can all share again when viewing.
• Go with the times and create a digital photo album  or slideshow that can be given on a CD or flashdrive. Track down and scan photos from a specific annual event (Christmas Eve, the trip to Great Aunt Nancy's) you spend with your loved ones and make it a themed album.
• Simply find or make a card that tells the person things you love and appreciate about them. Simple statements often mean the most.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by Randy Son Of Robert
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

On NaNoWriMo and time management

Let me start this post on time management by saying I haven’t posted in almost two weeks, but not due to poor time management (exactly), but to a temporary shift in priorities. Not only have I been thankfully busy with client work, I took a long weekend out of town and got engaged (!)—two things that both kept me away from my computer and also started me rolling down the steep slope of wedding planning. (You can expect more than one wedding planning inspired posts over the next six months or so.) Anyway, excuses aside, I have another big project looming that puts time management in the spotlight—NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, is an annual challenge to writers worldwide. The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Yes, one of the days happens to be Thanksgiving. You “win” if you actually write that many words. If you’re participating, I’d love to connect with you, so add me as a buddy.

I’m letting you all know that I’m participating because in addition to all other other things going on in life, work, family, eating, sleeping, exercising, Twittering and yes, now wedding planning, I’ll be writing an average of nearly 2000 words a day. Every day. For 30 days. That not only takes a little bit of crazy gumption, but it takes time. Even though the point is just to write a lot, not caring if it’s polished (it won’t be), writing that much still takes me a couple of hours a day.

So how does one manage to find the time? My solution is simple, if perhaps unexpected. I’m not going to tell you that you can multitask your way through the month, doing laundry, writing a blog post and listening to your kids tell you about their day all at once (especially if you do that already, it isn’t going to save you enough time to write a novel in a month). I’m not even going to preach about productivity. Trying to squeeze an hour’s worth of work into half an hour isn’t really feasible unless you already spend half an hour of every hour surfing the Internet for cat videos instead of working.

Rather, the way to make enough time for an ambitious but fairly short-term project is to decide not to do things you would normally do. I’m not talking about washing your hair or feeding your dog, or even going to work. You still have to do all those things. I mean things like watching Netflix, going out to dinner with friends, getting your car washed. I’m choosing writing a novel over socializing, just for 30 days. I’m also going to put my Netflix subscription on hold for a month, which can be done easily. I’m going to make big batches of soup so dinners can be reheated easily and eaten in front of the computer. I’m basically trading some of the things I like to do as part of my normal routine for the ability to intensely focus on one project that has a start date and end date and promises to be richly rewarding to me. You can make the conscious decision to put a few things on hold while you reprioritize and work on a dream at any time. This kind of time management means realizing that you can’t do it all, and you have to be willing to make decisions about what is most important to you, otherwise in these times of intense focus you risk not having enough time to do even the basics.

So wish me luck on finishing NaNoWriMo this year, and I’ll see you on the other side!

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

The story of the rubber cement

One of my favorite creative projects is to make collages out of photos and words found in magazines and newspapers. They make great cards since you can personalize them or make them themed. They are also a nice way to reuse reading materials you’ve finished with and give them new life, as well as are easy to make and inexpensive. All you need is some cardboard or paper and glue.

I like to use rubber cement to affix the pieces of my collages because it is fast drying and doesn’t make a big mess. The last time I made a collage, I thought I put the pot of rubber cement in the upper left hand drawer of my desk, where always keep it, but when I went to glue something a few weeks later, it wasn’t there. I spent several minutes looking in each of my desk drawers, then in the art supplies, then in the kitchen drawers. I couldn’t figure out where the rubber cement had gone. I asked the other person who lives in my house. He told me he hadn’t used it or put it anywhere else. I believed him...really! I was frustrated, because I ended up having to tape the thing I wanted to glue.

I didn’t want to buy a new bottle, not so much because of the $1.59 expense, but because I knew I had a bottle and did not want to clutter up my house with a duplicate, since I was sure the one I had misplaced would turn up. I held strong, didn’t buy a replacement, and sure enough, one day I opened the top desk drawer for a paper clip. The orange lettering on the back of the rubber cement bottle suddenly caught my eye. The rubber cement had been put back in the wrong drawer, and I hadn’t ever seen it when I opened up that drawer to look for it. I was relieved, to say the least, and immediately glued the thing I had taped. Much better. But I recalled the lost minutes of my life looking for the thing in the first place. If only I had been present in the moment of putting away the glue and put in its regular drawer, just a few inches to the left of where I tossed it in a hurry to clean up my project mess.

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

Creativity and organization in the workplace: creative writing

I’ve been writing about how every work place is made up of three basic elements:

1. Work space: consisting of surfaces, fixtures, furniture and walls
2. Storage space: consisting of flexible elements that hold all the necessary tools needed to do the work
3. Stimulating space: consisting of non-functional items that foster creativity and inspiration

Let’s apply this concept to a specific work place, that of a creative writer. In addition to my professional organizing business I also write fiction, so my desk and work area have to do double duty. It is a place where I accomplish the dozens of different kinds of tasks involved in running a home-based business, as well as where I sit to create stories out of my imagination. Here's how I’ve approached the second half of that equation by addressing the three elements of my work space, and how I would begin to advise someone else doing the same type of creative work with their space:

Work Space: Being comfortable and functional is key. You probably don’t need tons of clear table space, but an ergonomic computer set up is essential. So, the basic fixtures will be a table or desk with computer, keyboard and mouse (all-in-one-printer and back up hard drive are also useful). If you have a desktop computer, get one with a large screen (I have a 24 incher). If you have a laptop, invest in a separate fully functional keyboard and two-button mouse with a scroll wheel, which are faster and easier to use than a small laptop keyboard and track pad. A comfortable, ergonomic chair is possibly the most important thing. Get one that is highly adjustable and sturdy. I recommend desk chairs without arms, as they tend to get broken and in the way. Easy access bookshelves are useful for elements two and three. Good lighting cannot be overemphasized. You should have overhead lighting as well as localized desk lighting to provide softer light. Think about your computer screen, windows and glare when planning your lighting scheme. Noise canceling headphones are a great way to seal out the sounds of the world when you want to immerse yourself in your work.

Lots of dictionaries

Storage Space: Writers tend to have a lot of reading material, paper, and writing implements, so places to store loose paper as well as binders and notepads are necessary. Books go on bookshelves. Enclosed desk drawers are a great place to keep empty notebooks and office supplies. File cabinets for drafts, articles, story ideas, interviews, contracts, PR, etc. are essential, though if you like to have notes within your reach or line of sight, then a bulletin board or desktop stacking trays are a good additional option. Dictionary, thesaurus, other reference materials also go in the bookcase. Depending on the amount of research for each book or story a separate box for reference material may be needed. You want to keep your current projects closest to your work area. You will likely have tons of information, bookmarks etc. on your computer as well that should be labeled according to project and backed up frequently on an external hard drive.

Stimulating Space: While people vary in terms of how much busyness they want in their line of sight when they write, I think a pleasant color on the walls, some art and a few favorite books within arm’s length is a good start. If you want to get crazy, you can put some inspiring quotes on a bulletin board, put up some photos of loved ones or yourself doing writerly things like going to conferences, book fairs, signings, and with other authors. I like the idea of drawing or finding a picture that represents to you what your project will look like when it’s done—whether it’s a drawing of you accepting an award, selling your book or an idea for what it looks like when it comes off the press, putting your visualizing into tangible, pictorial form can be very powerful.

Over time, we’ll continue exploring how breaking down the three elements of any work space can help give us a lens through which to improve organization and inspire creativity.

Creative commons photo posted to Flickr by General Wesc

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

Creativity and organization in the workplace: work space

In my view, every work place is made up of three basic elements:

1. Work space: consisting of surfaces, fixtures, furniture and walls
2. Storage space: consisting of flexible elements that hold all the necessary tools needed to do the work, from paper to zip drive
3. Stimulating space: consisting of non-functional items that foster creativity and inspiration, such as art on the walls or one’s favorite coffee mug

Whether the workplace is meant for a creative writer or a CPA, the elements are the same. Each element will be different depending on the person who works in that space. They must be designed to flow together and work for the occupant of the space in order for the occupant to get the most value out of the space in terms of productivity, quality of work and efficiency.

This work area needs an overhaul in all three areas!

When it comes to organizing a work space, the actual work space/empty space part is probably the most overlooked of the three areas, since organizing and storing tools are the usually the primary focus, and decorating is usually considered the fun part. But the bones of the space allow you to create the best storage solutions, so they must be addressed first. If your desk is the size of a postage stamp or your chair is so uncomfortable you get neck pain after ten minutes at your computer, then how can you be expected to produce your best work?

Look around your space right now. Do you have open, clear space on which to spread out and use your hands to make something new? Is your computer hardware arranged in a way that makes sense for your body, eyes and ears? Do you have a distracting window view or a depressing water-stained wall to look at? Do you have adequate lighting or does its harshness give you a headache? Become aware of the tangible aspects of your work place from floor to ceiling, disregarding for a moment the actual stuff in the space. Think about what's working and what isn't, and how you can make changes to the physical layout that will provide more comfort, storage space and support for your work style.

I'll continue writing about these three elements of the workplace and apply them to specific forms of creative work in the next few posts, so stay tuned.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by aliwest44

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

Creativity and organization

One of my favorite books about organization is Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern. In it, she talks about how simple changes and solutions add up to big organizational payoff. I love the part of the book where she talks about what holds people back from organization. One of these is "Fear of Losing Creativity."

Morgenstern argues that instead of choking creativity with structure and order, "Being organized releases rather than restricts creativity." This is something I wholeheartedly believe. It is impossible to be as effective in any area of one's life, including creative work, when one is disorganized. As she says, "[organization] gives you immediate access to all the materials you need to do your work more effectively."

I think a lot of the same mental blocks that prevent people from being organized are the same as those that keep people from expressing themselves creatively. A person afraid of being creative might say, "I don't have the right environment to be creative. My desk is too organized/too messy/too small/too precious." A person afraid of being organized might say, "I need chaos and mess in order to create. My work space can't be rigid/clean/compartmentalized." Neither of these people has an attitude that will enable them to create to the fullest of their potential. Creativity can happen in any setting. Setting limits on what you must have in order to create is an artificial barrier protecting you from your fear of failing at your creative endeavors. However, as a professional organizer (and a creative person), I think being organized can only help, not hinder, the creative process.

Concrete examples of creative work spaces that can benefit from organization to follow.

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