An organized swim

I love to swim for exercise. Luckily, southern California weather being what it is, I can swim year round outdoors. Here's how I keep my gear straight so I can spend the minimum in time and fuss getting into and out of the water.

The key is my dedicated pool tote bag. Not only is the bag only used for this purpose, but the supplies inside are just for the pool, too. In it are my Master Lock for the locker room, mini bottles of shampoo and body wash, a brush and sunscreen. Inside I keep my flip flops, goggles and a sun hat. I add my towel, bathing suit and clean clothes to the main pocket. I also bring a bottle of water and a bag of almonds in my purse for afterward.

When I get home, the wet stuff either goes in the wash or gets rinsed and put on the drying rack. The bag with everything else returns to my closet -- already packed and ready to go for next time!

Top 5 packing tips

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According to Inc. Magazine (June 2012), the amount airline passengers were charged in baggage fees in 2010 was an astounding $3.4 billion. Obviously, what makes economic sense to the airlines does not make economic sense to many of its passengers. Checking bags is now a luxury we may not be able to afford. Therefore, packing light has never been more attractive. Aside from the time and money saved by not checking bags, it can be liberating to travel light and have less stuff to worry about when in transit. Here are my top packing tips:

1. Pack clothes in easily washable and quick drying fabrics like nylon or polyester, or at least cotton blends containing such materials. Hand wash as needed.
2. Wear one set of all-purpose jewelry on the plane and skip packing alternates.
3. Take some of your savings from not checking a bag, invest in an e-reader and forgo heavy paper books and magazines.
4. Use packing cubes - they really work to pack the most amount of stuff into a small space.
5. Remember - wherever you're going, they probably have stores that sell toothpaste, underwear and batteries, so don't panic if you forget something or run out of supplies.

For more packing advice check out my previous post - Preparing for travel: packing

Stockpiling pros and cons

Tuesday I wrote about planning ahead and freezing meals in anticipation of my baby's arrival. In addition, I've tried to stock up on essential items, so that if my husband or I can't get to the store, we won't be in danger of running out of basics like soap, toothpaste, beans and oatmeal. But getting stocked up is harder than it sounds. For one thing, I tend to be an under-buyer, or at least ride the line between under-buyer and enough-buyer. (For more on under-buyers and over-buyers, check out The Happiness Project's post on this).

I hate buying something just in case I might need it later, but because I don't know exactly what I'll need once the baby arrives, and I won't want to be in a position where I have to go out to get something urgently, I'm trying to let go of my worry that I won't use the thing. For instance, medicine is one thing I hate buying without knowing if I'll need it, because it will expire, but it's also something you want to immediately available if you need it!

The pros of stockpiling are definitely the niceness of having what you need when you need it, as well as a feeling of preparedness. And for items I know will get used, such as chicken broth and toilet paper, I'm happy to have as much on hand as I have room for.

In my house, you can't have too much peanut butter on hand!

The cons are finding room for the extra amounts of things, keeping the items organized enough that you can find what you need, and actually using up the items before they go bad. That's why I generally don't recommend to clients that they shop at warehouse-style stores. They usually don't have enough space to comfortably fit all the paper products and toiletries they want to buy. The savings in money isn't worth dealing with the clutter of too much on a day-to-day basis.

Post-natal meal planning

My first baby is due in just a few weeks, and one thing I've heard over and over from people who've done this before is to make sure to have plenty of meals and food on hand, and to get people to bring you food whenever they come visit. Since eating has always been one of my top priorities, and I know that energy and time for cooking will be in short supply once the baby is here, I've made a point to make up several batches of nutritious and hearty meals and have completely filled my freezer to the brim with them. I've also stocked up on staples, which I'll be posting about in a couple of days.

I have a small freezer, and I've had to make some choices about what to keep in there. I pared down my ice pack collection, and have been using up the ends of bags of lima beans and blueberries, which is good to do once in a while anyway.

Then I made beef stew, minestrone soup and whole wheat spinach lasagne (and put them in labeled, meal-portion containers). Which just about taps me out space-wise. But that's still at least 9 solid meals worth, and it gives me a little peace of mind knowing that my family and I won't be entirely dependent on the kindness of visitors or the prepared foods section of Whole Foods!

The importance of an alarm clock

One of the last things I always ask my husband before we fall asleep is, "Is your alarm set?" It's probably an unnecessary question...after years of my asking it only a handful of times has he said no, and gotten up to set it. But I like to think that those few times saved him from starting off the next day poorly. While alarms might be unpleasant for some of us to wake up to, the consequences of not getting up on time are usually much worse.

I'm not a fan of the sleep function on alarm clocks. I think alarm clocks are most effective when they are set for the time that you must get up, or perhaps ten minutes earlier, so you can at least lie in bed for a minute and collect your thoughts if you like. If you tend to fall asleep again immediately after shutting your alarm off, placing it out of arm's reach so you have to get up in order to turn it off really does work.

I'm also not a fan of using one's cellphone as an alarm clock. This works for a lot of people, but it means that psychically we're dependent on our phones, even as we sleep, and that doesn't seem healthy. Personally, I like an alarm that wakes me up by gradually increasing the volume of preselected music...it's gentle and effective. I consider myself a morning person and when I'm in a routine, I often don't even need to have an alarm set in order to wake up at a predetermined time. But I set one anyway.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by Alan Cleaver.

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How to make grocery shopping less of a chore

I used to love grocery shopping. It was one of my favorite errands, making a list, checking things off, shopping smart with coupons and bringing my reusable bags. I used to live about a quarter of a mile from a big, shiny supermarket and a five minute drive from a Trader Joe's.

Now I live about an eighth of a mile from a medium-sized supermarket, five minutes from Trader Joe's, with a Whole Foods smack in between, and shopping threatens to become more of a chore than it should be. I still live by my list, but the problem is that I often have to go to at least two of those stores on any given trip in order to cross everything off. So I've tweaked my shopping style and have a few tips to help make the process more enjoyable:

• I keep a running list of items needed, then before I plan to go to the store, I check all the recipes I intend to make in the coming week and fill the list with needed items. I do a quick walkthrough of the house to make sure I'm not forgetting something like toothpaste. This cuts down on forgetting anything and decreases the frequency I need to shop.
• I've pretty much given up on coupons, unless I happen to come across one that is for something I already buy and use. I find that if it is for something I use, but a different brand, then the savings the coupon represents still don't make up for the price difference against the brand I usually buy, so I'm not really saving money. I also don't have to worry about remembering to take them with me or pull them out at checkout.
• Of course, I always bring my own bags. Remembering to do this every time is a point of pride with me, and I prefer my own sturdy and pretty bags to disposable ones anyway.
• I bring a bottle of water and stay hydrated. Especially if I'm going from store to store, I always get thirsty walking around with a cart, and drinking water helps me feel better and cuts down on impulse buys like expensive smoothie-type drinks.
• I try to time my shopping so when I arrive home laden with bags, my husband is home and available to help me unload. We live up two steep flights of stairs, and while the exercise is good, it's also nice to share the load.
• I stock up on dry staples wherever I can, so sometimes I can get away with a short, light shopping trip one week (fruits, veggies, milk) alternated with a staple-heavy trip the next.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by simiezzz

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: 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 

A year ago: preparing for every day, storing recipes and keeping it together

Here's a recap of what I think are my best posts from around this time last year:

An exhortation to follow one of the primary rules of organizing: keep like items together.

My three-part series on how to organize recipes, from cookbooks to individual loose recipes to digital ones. I still think these are the best ways to go about managing what for my cooks is a losing battle with new recipes coming in all the time. My loose recipes have over time moved from file folders to clear sleeves in a binder, but both work.

Lastly, in the first installment of my preparing for everyday series, I write about what every prepared person should have in their desk drawer.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by cleverclevergirl
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

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

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 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

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