What's an Advance Health Care Directive?

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My Grandpa Jack.

Last fall my grandfather passed away. He was 86 and had been in fairly good health before a stroke occurred from which he was unable to recover. He had suffered from Alzheimer's in the last years of his life, and I was able to visit with him often since I moving back to California six years ago. I miss him dearly.

Though his final years weren’t always easy for him with his memory loss, his quality of life was good. My family members and I were able to provide him with a level of care that kept him in his home until the end, and we knew when the time came what his wishes regarding his end-of-life transition were. We knew these even though he couldn’t communicate with us because he had them set down in writing via an Advance Health Care Directive. The eleven-page document set down his wishes regarding everything from who had his power of attorney for health care and the use of artificial life-sustaining procedures, to his desire to live independently for as long as possible at home and his views on organ donation.

I can’t stress enough how vital it was that my family and I had this document, in addition to the rest of his estate planning documents (trust, power of attorney, etc.) at the ready when we needed it. It was a tremendous gift not to have to guess what my grandfather wanted in the last weeks of his life, and to be able to provide for him a dignified and pain-free transition. The amazing hospice we worked with had a large part to do with that, but it was having the legal power and the knowledge in writing that we were doing what my grandfather wanted that made that very difficult time easier.

It can be stressful to think about end-of-life decisions, no matter what stage of life you are in. But the benefits to yourself and your family members far outweigh the discomfort of answering the questions about what your wishes are or the cost of getting them set down in writing.

If you don’t have your estate documents prepared and current, please don’t wait. Make it happen. You will be glad you did.

Organized people are lazy

Laziness is underrated as a motivating factor. I'm a hard worker, but I'm lazy in the sense that I don't want to spend extra energy doing something that can be done more simply, more easily or more quickly. I think a lot of organized people are also lazy people in this same way. They know that if they have the elements of their lives as ordered and streamlined as they like, they can spend less time on the minutiae of life and more time doing the things that are important to them. I particularly think that organized people have an advantage over disorganized people in that they are not constantly reacting, not constantly bombarded by "emergencies" of their own making and are not caught up in a feeling that everything is urgent, because everything is behind where it needs to be.

When an emergency really does crop up, then an organized person has the flexibility to put other things in their life on hold and deal with it, without causing too much damage. This results in less clean-up, less work. For me, I don't want that extra work, so I get organized at the front end to avoid it. And it works most of the time. When I do get overwhelmed with stuff, the laziness factors in when I stop taking on new responsibilities for a little while in order to get back to my natural equilibrium. Once I'm back in my comfort zone, then life can speed up as it is bound to do. An outside person might call that laziness in a pejorative manner. I think it's common sense, being true to yourself and knowing what makes you comfortable and happy. If that's laziness, so be it.

Need a professional to help you get to your natural equilibrium?

Call Lelah at 818.269.6671

or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

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National Preparedness Month

September is National Preparedness Month. It seems that there is always something going on somewhere around the world to make us think about our own level of readiness for a disaster or unforeseeable event. Take the time to go one step further. Reflect, then act, and make sure you have a few vital items in place, like extra water, food, flashlights, batteries, sturdy shoes, medications and first aid equipment. A lot of these are items we take with us when we go camping, so my husband and I just make sure our camping equipment is up to date and stored in a secure and accessible location.

For more disaster preparedness checklists, visit the Ready.gov website.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by yoppy

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.

Halloween prep

Halloween is a fun holiday. Candy, dressing up and fake blood always make for a good time. I like to get into the Halloween spirit by doing a few simple, low stress things.

• Decorate by taping a skeleton cutout on my front door. I use the same one every year - it was originally a Halloween card my mom sent me.
• Watch The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the 1950s Disney cartoon version narrated by Bing Crosby that's scarier than you'd expect.
• Get a pumpkin and carve a jack-o-lantern, saving the seeds to roast. My trick: boil the seeds in heavily salted water for a few minutes before roasting them tossed with some olive oil and a tad more salt. 
• Buy one (1) bag of Halloween candy. I usually don't get many trick-or-treaters, but it's always good to be prepared. 

What do you do to prepare for Halloween?

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

Organized eating, or simplified salads

I have three main places where I do the business of being a professional organizer: at the home or office of a client, in my car getting to and from my client, and in my home office. On days when I am mostly working at home, I take time out of my day to make a healthy lunch. Access to my fridge and kitchen during the work day is one of the definite perks of operating a business from home. I really like to eat salads, because they are a lot of food but also good for you. The kinds of salads I like have lots of ingredients that require chopping. And even though I do take the time to make a salad and sit down and eat it, I don't want to be prepping for half an hour every day. So, on Sundays, I set aside some time for chopping, fill up several plastic storage containers with veggies, and then when I'm putting together lunch during the week my refrigerator becomes an in-home salad bar.

Things I like to chop and eat:

• Cucumbers
• Black olives
• Green onions
• Bell peppers
• Mushrooms
• Tomatoes (though I never do these in advance, as they don't keep well in the fridge)
• Lettuce

Things I like to prep and eat:

• Garbanzo beans or black beans
• Homemade salad dressing (oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, some fresh herbs if I have any)

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by Rene Ehrhardt

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

NaNoWriMo preview

NaNoWriMo, aka, National Novel Writing Month, isn't until November. However, it isn't too early to start getting excited about it! I love NaNoWriMo. The challenge of writing 50,000 words of a novel in 30 days is just the right amount of scary and doable and useful for a fiction writer with self-discipline issues. Last year, I accomplished the goal and three months after that, I finished the novel I started. I'm in the (hopefully) last stages of revising that novel, and I'll be ready to begin again on November 1 with a clean slate and a new story.

I strongly encourage you to consider joining in the fun this year if you are any kind of writer, or even if you had a passing thought one day that you'd like to write a book. You can do it. I think the collective energy of 200,000 people all attempting the same thing really makes it easier. Or if not easier, less lonely, which is kind of the same thing.

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

Preparing for reunion weekend

This weekend is Wesleyan University's Reunion and Commencement weekend. My husband will be enjoying his 5-year reunion, while I am tagging along for my 6th. We've been looking forward to this event for months, as it will give us both an opportunity to see the changes to the Wesleyan campus, see friends we might not have seen in years, and visit with our favorite professors.

The trip is going to be a quick one - a red eye to get to the East Coast, and then two nights in Connecticut, followed by an afternoon flight home on the third day. In order to get the most out of our time there, and to make the airplane and car portions more enjoyable,  we've done quite a bit of preparation beforehand, including:

• Assembled and printed copies of our flight itinerary, rental car information, maps to and from the airport and Middletown.
• We looked over the reunion weekend schedule and decided which events we want to attend and mapped out our days to make sure we can fit them all in.
• Figured out a place to have breakfast when we arrive in New York  before driving to Connecticut.
• Contacted various friends also attending to make sure we get to see them amidst the whirlwind.
• I bought myself a travel neck pillow to make the red-eye more comfortable.
• We had our dry cleaning done.
• I set aside some books I'd been looking forward to reading for the flights.
• We'll tidy the house, including tossing food that's going to go bad, taking out all the trash and recycling and closing up the windows and blinds.
• Made sure we have some cash on hand for incidental purchases.
• Charged my camera battery.
• Charged my iPods and loaded music, videos and pictures I'll want to have for the trip.
• Packed only carry-on luggage according to my own packing guidelines.

We're looking forward to a smooth and memorable trip!

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 

Preparing for every day: Illness

Late last night I found myself driving the two blocks to my local supermarket, navigating around men restocking the shelves from huge pallets (I don’t think I’d ever been to the store that late before, it was interesting) in order to obtain some cough medicine for my fiancé, who has been sick for over a week.

I didn’t mind getting out of bed to do this because I wanted him to a get a good night’s sleep (and I wanted one as well), but even though illnesses are thankfully a rare occurrence in my household, I could have been more prepared and avoided that late night trip.

I’m not a health care professional, but from an organization perspective, here are some suggestions for things to keep on hand to be prepared for mild sicknesses:

• Electronic thermometer: Having a thermometer on hand is essential to knowing for sure if someone has a fever, which can aid in diagnosis and deciding whether or not you should stay home from work.
• Cough drops: The menthol ones are very popular in our household.
• Mild cough suppressant: I like the non-non-drowsy kind for nighttime rest. (Dimetapp, even though it is advertised for kids, does the trick.)
• Tissues: When you’re sick, blowing your nose into falling apart toilet paper doesn’t make it better.
• Canned soup: Broth-based soups just have something about them that makes you feel like you are treating your cold or flu, not just getting nourishment. Plus, they are easy to prepare and eat.
• Soft, cold foods like popsicles and applesauce are a nice treat.
• The phone number of your doctor. Even if you don’t get sick often, it is a good idea to have the name and number of someone you can call if you do happen to have something that requires antibiotics for instance. You don’t want to be doing research into local practitioners while you are sick; you want to do that beforehand, when you are healthy and up to that task.

Of course, avoiding getting sick in the first place is really the key, but even the most diligent of us will get run down and exposed to germs and get a cold. Being prepared can make it slightly more comfortable to sit in bed and recover. Also, when you stay home sick you can actually turn the down time into something semi-productive, by catching up on your reading and movies you haven’t gotten around to seeing. I don’t recommend being on a computer while trying to get better—even in bed. Take a break from the screen and get better!


Creative Commons cough medicine photo posted to flickr by whiskeyandtears
Creative Commons tissue box photo posted to flickr by vieux bandit

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

Organizer's blog digest: Christmas

Okay, two weeks until Christmas and I'm not sick of it yet. That's a good thing. I've been trying to do Christmas in small doses this year, as my love for the season and the holiday can make me go overboard with the cookies, gingerbread houses, tree decoration and Christmas music too early. This year I've had a more measured approach. I don't even have a tree this year because I won't be home on Christmas day. I haven't missed it, and a string of Christmas lights around my windows and a pine-scented candle is enough to get me in the spirit. This is Southern California, after all. We've always had to use our imaginations at this time of year, when people in other parts of the country are actually able to expect a snowy, picture-perfect holiday.

I've been inspired to enact more simple season by my fellow professional organizers and organizing-minded blog friends. Here are some of their best holiday preparation posts, many of which are part of a series, because having a successful, organized Christmas usually takes some guidance.

One of my favorite new blogs is D.E.C.I.D.E. to be Organized by professional organizer Lisa Montanaro. She always has really well-written, thoughtful posts. Here's one called Managing the Chaos of the Busy Holiday Season: A Survival Guide. In it she talks about setting goals and dealing with an overloaded schedule. She also advocates re-gifting, a controversial policy, but one that I agree with, if the item is new, or almost new, and is something the person you are giving it to really wants. Chaos to Order blog also think re-gifting is fine, and posts some guidelines here.

SimpleMom has an entire series of posts on Christmas called 12 Weeks to a Peaceful Christmas. While you could probably get away with less than 12 weeks of preparation for a single day, the posts contain really useful information. This one on food gifts has tons of links to great consumable gift ideas and recipes for a healthy dose of holiday gifting inspiration.

Paula Constable at Organizing Tips and Thoughts for Moms blog has a Countdown to Christmas series chock-full of good ideas and useful tips. I love her tips for getting your holiday cards and packages ready to send and dealing with shipping them. I've spent my share of time in lines at the post office this month, so it pays to think ahead.

Finally, Aby at Creative Organizing Blog, whose posts are always inspirational, has a lovely post about getting into the holiday mood, putting the holidays in perspective, and the joys of drinking hot chocolate.

Creative Common photo posted to Flickr by tedmurphy, part of a set called Christmas Lights

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

Preparing for every day: Gift wrap station

Even though we don't wrap gifts literally every day, the same way we use our purses, freezers, desks and glove compartments nearly every day, many of us still have occasion to wrap something in pretty paper and put a ribbon on it a few times a year, if not more often. To make those times more pleasant, it pays to keep a gift wrapping kit assembled and stocked at all times, so you aren't scrambling around to find tape and scissors half an hour before you are supposed to be at a baby shower or your child's friend's birthday party armed with a gift.

I hardly ever actually buy ribbon or wrapping paper, instead I save the good stuff that I receive from birthdays and holidays. I find the recycled stuff looks just as good as new, and I've saved myself the expense. Ribbons, in particular, if well-made, can be reused over and over again. My recommendation is to keep one box worth of wrapping paper and one box of ribbons, bows and tags. To make large wrapping projects easier, look into getting a box long enough to hold tubes of wrapping paper. Vertical tube holders don't work well in my experience. I recommend long, flat, clear plastic boxes to hold the following items.

The 9 things that should be in every gift wrapping kit:

• Transparent tape, the kind that comes in an open, weighted dispenser rather than a disposable dispenser as it is easier to use with one hand.
• Good quality, large scissors.
• Tissue paper in various colors.
• Wrapping paper in various colors.
• Ribbon in various colors.
• Gift tags or card stock for creating tags.
• Single hole punch for threading ribbons through tags.
• Sharpies, of course! I recommend at least black, but silver Sharpies add a festive touch at holiday time.
• Post-its. I like to use Post-its to remind me what is inside a wrapped package and who the recipient is if I am wrapping several items at once and might mix them up, or if they are awaiting tags or cards.

It's also a good idea to keep your gift wrapping boxes near your greeting card stash, as you often need one with the other. I find wrapping a bunch of gifts at once is made more enjoyable by putting on a good movie to play while I do it. Also, the most important thing to remember is to label everything! You don't want to end up at the end of the day with a bunch of beautifully wrapped packages and no idea what's inside them or who they are for!

Creative Commons tape dispenser photo posted to Flickr by House of Sims

Creative Commons gifts photo posted to Flickr by mrskyce

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

Tips and Tools: Holiday gift getting

Right about now is a good time to think about gifts that you would like to receive for the winter holiday of your choice. Even if you tell them not to get you anything, you will still likely receive some presents from friends and family. Brainstorm some ideas…stuff you need, stuff you think it would be cool to have that you would never buy for yourself, stuff that won't clutter up your home (think consumables and gifts of experiences). Then, drop some hints to those people who typically get you presents in conversation by first asking them what they want (also good to know for planning purposes), and following up with a few things you want.

I love getting handmade soap as a gift.

The best way to get what you want is to give a clear idea of what you’d like, and most people will be grateful for any hints of what to get you. It’s tough to come up with brilliant gift ideas at least twice a year (birthday, Christmas) for the same people over and over. So help them out, and maybe get something you really want this year.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by soapylovedeb

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

Preparing for every day: Glove compartment

Our cars are an extension of our homes and we spend a ton of time in our cars every week. A glove box or glove compartment is not a place to store empty candy wrappers and take out packets of soy sauce (or, usually, actual gloves). To the contrary, a neat and orderly glove box with a few necessary items can make stressful times like traffic accidents and being pulled over a little bit less intense.

The 7 things that should be in every glove box:

• current registration for your car (not the registration for every year since you’ve owned the car)
• current insurance information (again, not every insurance period is necessary. Just what is valid now)
• pad of paper
• 2 pens
• area map (even if you have GPS)
• extra sunglasses
• travel pack of tissues

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

National Preparedness Month

September is National Preparedness Month. I think this specifically means that this month a spotlight is put on disaster and emergency preparedness by federal agencies. But preparedness is always a good policy, so I think this is a great opportunity to talk about all kinds of preparedness.

I’ve already written about preparing for every day, as well as a bit about preparing for emergencies. Preparedness means being physically and mentally ready for something that is coming down the road. In this sense, organized people are almost always preparing for something. Brushing our teeth and flossing in the morning means we’re preparing to get good marks from our dentist at our check up in three months, as well as preparing to show off our smile to our significant other and to have a successful day at work not worried about our breath. Preparation takes forethought and a bit of effort, but much less effort than it takes to scramble to get something done that could have been done ahead of time.

Preparedness comes in many forms. It can mean preparing for your child to be ready for the school year by stocking up on school supplies, new shoes and getting them a haircut. It can mean preparing for an earthquake by making sure you have adequate earthquake insurance in addition to food, water, cash, battery powered lights, etc. located in your home, office and car. Preparedness can also mean being ready for a flash of inspiration by keeping pen and paper in your purse. You can write down ideas for your blog, phone numbers and email address and a reminder that you need an oil change—something you might remember in the car, but forget by the time you get into your house.

So, in honor of National Preparedness Month, take a moment to think about your life. Are you prepared for dinner tonight (meal prep, clean dishes)? How about for work tomorrow (clean clothes, lunch, presentation materials)? What about for the possibility of getting in a fender bender on the freeway (insurance and registration, paper and pen to exchange details in your glove box) or having your hard drive fail (external back up hard drive or remote storage via the Internet)? Pick one thing you’ve been putting off getting prepared for (making a will, figuring out Thanksgiving plans) and decide to do it this month!

Screenshot from National Preparedness Month website.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by Seattle Municipal Archives

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

Preparing for moving to college

Though I haven’t had to get ready for back school season in a while, the memories of packing and moving to college are much fresher in my mind. Going away to school for the first time is thrilling, and if you don’t have older siblings or friends to guide you, it can be a bit disorienting to find yourself in a new place, having to bring all the possessions you think you’ll need and want with you. Here are some tips to make that initial transition easier, and more organized:

What to bring:

• Flip flops, shower caddy
• Laundry bag. Baskets are nicer, but they take up too much room.
• Healthy snacks. Skip the candy, ramen and chips and go for dried fruit, nuts and low-fat microwave popcorn (The popcorn smell will be sure to attract some of your hall mates and is a great ice breaker-provided you share).
• Climate-appropriate clothing. Whether you are moving from southern California to northern, or all the way from Florida to Maine or New York to Hawaii, you’re definitely going to need different outerwear. Don’t be caught sweltering or freezing, research the climate and order clothes online if you can’t get appropriate clothes near you.
• Fan or white noise machine. A fan will give you an alternative to the background noise of your neighbor's GTA4 marathon and also get some air circulation into your room, avoiding stale smells.
• Checking account. Well before you leave, set up a checking account at a bank that has branches near your school, if you don’t already have one.
• Walking shoes. College life invariably involves a lot of walking, especially when you don’t have a car. Be nice to your feet and don’t wear flip flops everywhere.

What to leave:

• Flats of bottled water, food. You’ll be able to get those things on campus or nearby. You’re going to college, not to a bomb shelter.
• Expensive electronic equipment. It invites thieves and is usually unnecessary.
• Formal clothes and shoes. Maybe bring one nice dress or blazer. Otherwise, college tends to be pretty casual. You might want to invest in pajamas that could double as streetwear, though.
• Any heavy, bulky items or pieces of furniture. Your dorm room will come furnished with the basics, and you probably won’t have room for anything else. Plus, you’ll be moving again, either back home or to a transitional space or new room in four to nine months, and you won’t want to haul or store anything major.

Not a breakfast of champions

These tips will help, but remember, there’s no way to fully prepare for college life before you experience it for yourself, and you're going to make lots of mistakes as well as have the time of your life. So good luck and be safe!

Livable Solutions has more great tips, as does Unclutterer's college life tag.

Creative Commons shower caddy photo posted to Flickr by Noricum

Creative Commons Easy Mac photo posted to Flickr by bucklava

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

Preparing for every day: Freezer

Being prepared is not just about being ready for emergencies, it is also about being able to face the more mundane challenges of day to day living. I've written about getting your desk drawers, purses, and now freezers prepared for every day.

Did you know that freezers work more efficiently when they are filled up? Mark Bittman a.k.a. The Minimalist writes eloquently about freezer use in this fantastic NY Times article. It is a must-read! The following items are great to have on hand for last minute dinners, guests and to supplement your pantry. Freezing is a time saver--next time, make twice as much pizza dough as you normally would, and freeze the rest for a few weeks from now when you're too tired to make dough from scratch. It feels good to know that even if your fridge is empty, you'll have something edible in the freezer.

The 12 things that should be in every freezer:

• ice cube trays (some filled up with water, some available to be used for leftover coffee, juice, or to save herbs, citrus, etc.)
• vodka (great for spur of the moment cocktails, pie crust and other cooking)
• frozen peas (makes a good ice pack in a pinch)
• ground meat frozen in meal-sized portions
• leftover pancakes (can be microwaved or re-heated in oven)
• frozen juice concentrate
• homemade chicken stock in single-recipe portions
• homemade pizza dough (I like Bittman's recipe)
• store-bought puff pastry (a little expensive, but highly useful)
• pie crust (store bought or homemade)
• over-ripe bananas (peeled, to be used for banana bread)
• ice packs for on-the-go food chilling and minor injuries

And around every freezer, you should keep:

• Sharpie for labeling (name and date each item that goes in there!)
• Good quality freezer bags
• Good quality plastic or glass storage containers

Mark Bittman's website

Creative Commons freezer photo posted to Flickr by sporkist

Creative Commons freezer door photo posted to Flickr by L. Marie

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

Preparing for travel: Packing

Confession: I love packing. I love packing for trips and I love unpacking at my destination. I like the idea of anticipating my needs, choosing my favorite things, and figuring out how to live on less stuff for a few days. In this case, I'm getting ready to be gone for almost three weeks. I'll be on six planes and spending time in four states, and I have to pack for snow, rain, heat and swimming. Luckily, no formal attire will be required and I'll be able to do laundry when I need to.

My packed toiletries for a 20 day trip. The small bag contains my makeup.

I hate feeling stressed, and packing for a trip at the last minute is guaranteed to cause stress. Therefore, I look at packing as a multi-day event. First, I compile an initial list of what I need to bring, or at least think about bringing. (I'm usually so excited about the trip/the prospect of packing that I do this a couple of weeks in advance.) Then, I check the weather at my destinations. I start a pile of things I want to bring in my carry-on as they occur to me. Right now on my coffee table are an odd assortment of thing not all of which will end up in the bag, but I like being able to see them all together. Two days before I go I make sure I launder all of the must-bring items. Then, a day in advance, I get out the suitcase, and start making piles of clothes and shoes. Approaching packing gradually like this means I'm less likely to forget something, because I have given myself plenty of time to remember it. Also, I'm able to think about outfit combinations and options more clearheadedly than if I'm in a rush and must pick five shirts-any five shirts.

As with everything in life, packing for a trip involves a balancing act between packing more than you need and enough to get by without excessive clothes washing or having to buy something new. A few rules of thumb that I go by:

• Pack at least one sweater or jacket that is warmer than you think you'll need.
• Pack your nicest sleepwear, socks and underwear. In situations where you might be waking up in the vicinity of family member or strangers, you'll be glad you left your ragged stuff at home.
• Don't bring jewelry you couldn't stand to lose, and don't pack anything delicate that will get tangled if you aren't wearing it.
• Pack only clothes that are in the same color family so you don't have to bring extra shoes or accessories.
• If you can help it, make your carry on as light as possible, especially if you have connecting flights. Try to find lighter books, and leave items you might normally keep in your purse like an address book at home, unless you are traveling for business. If you are planning to write postcards, enter your addresses in your cell phone or PDA, or type up a quick list of those people you know you want to write to and bring a single sheet instead of an entire book.
• Don't put anything in your checked bag that you absolutely would hate never to see again. Obviously, you'll have to check your favorite jeans, but those are replaceable. Anything truly precious to you should be left at home. You just never know.
• Don't bring anything on your carry-on that is forbidden by TSA. They have a lot of rules, so to pays to pay attention, especially when it comes to medications.

Part of my trip is going to be spent helping my relatives plan and pull off a three-family yard sale in rural Maine. Expect photos and reporting on how it goes upon my return. In the meantime, have a fantastic Father's Day/Summer Solstice and Independence 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

Organizer’s blog digest 3

Lots of great stuff going on in organizing land this week. Everyone's excited for summer weather, vacations and some of the larger organizing projects you can tackle when you've got longer days, warmer nights and extra hands around the house. Here's the best of this week's posts from around the Web:

Unclutterer posts this week about outfitting a kitchen with the essentials. This post is a wonderful companion to the posts I've been doing on "preparing for every day." If you are wondering what essential kitchen tools you might be missing, these are great suggestions, and the comments have valuable information as well.

One of my newest favorite blogs, Organizing-Life, has seven tips for less stress today. Stress is often caused by putting things off that we know we need to do. Actually doing the things is almost never as hard as the mental and emotional strain of thinking about doing it!

The always helpful Lorie at The Clutter-Diet Blog gives us Ten Essential Closet Maintenance Habits. When it comes to closets, maintenance really is the name of the game.

This week several other professional organizers and myself participated in a "Blog Carnival" put on by Your Organizing Business blog. I chose to share my post about emergency preparedness, and you can catch more awesome posts from other organizers and business people there.

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

Preparing for every day: Purse

Yesterday, I wrote about preparedness and the goal of being prepared the exact right amount. Here are some suggestions of what to keep on hand to have a prepared purse (or satchel).

(It doesn't count as prepared if you can't find what you are looking for!)

The 8 things that should be in every purse:

• lip balm
• Emery board
• tissues
• ONE place that keys always go
• ONE place that a cell phone always goes
• id/wallet/billfold that has a stash of emergency cash for parking etc.
• “feminine products” (even if you don’t need them, you’ll be able to come to a friend’s rescue once in a while)
• chocolate (or something else to nibble on when stuck in traffic. I like Tootsie Rolls because they don't melt)

That is my no means all I have in my purse, but these eight things we use all the time, need almost every day, and are real time savers when we have them at our fingertips. However, a purse (or briefcase or satchel or man-bag) is practically a sacred space and I’m sure there are things you must have in yours that wouldn’t occur to me to have in mine. What must-have preparedness item do you have in your bag? Matches? Band-aids? Share in the comments.

Creative Commons purse photo 1 posted to flickr by eyesogreen

Creative Commons purse photo 2 posted to flickr by all of olive

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

Preparing for every day: Desk drawer

Part of leading an organized life is being prepared for life. Having what you need means not having to spend extra time and money scrambling to be ready for some event—whether the event is planned or unforeseen. The trick here is to be prepared appropriately, trying not to be overprepared (which can cause overspending, clutter and stress) or underprepared (which can cause overspending, clutter and stress). Of course, since, we can never know exactly what the future holds, we just have do our best to hit that sweet spot of preparedness. I’ve written about the things you should do to prepare for an emergency. Here’s a slightly smaller list, the first in series, of things that will help you be better prepared for the eventualities of every day.

This drawer is pretty organized and has a bunch of the recommended items.

The 12 things that should be in every top desk drawer:

• lip balm
• Emery board
• scissors
• binder clips
• pencil sharpener
• ruler
• staples and stapler
• tape and tape dispenser
• scrap paper and Post Its
• glue stick
• calculator
• permanent marker

These are the things we use all the time, need almost every day, and are real time savers when we have them at our fingertips. Trying to keep only those items we use every day will make it easier to find things . I’m sure there are other tools you swear by in your desk drawers. Feel free to add more in the comments.

Creative Commons desk drawer photo posted to flickr by Mickelodeon

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