Workspace inspiration

I love the blog Unclutterer, and they have a weekly feature called Workspace of the Week that highlights unique or exceptionally well-organized workspaces, usually home offices. I love looking at how real people have organized their workspaces, as opposed to the ultra-perfect spaces you tend to see in magazines. If you are looking for some inspiration for your own workspace, I encourage you to check out their archives.

Screenshot from unclutterer.com

The E-Myth and organizing

The E-Myth Enterprise by Michael E. Gerber is one of several business books in the E-Myth series. Gerber is a business and entrepreneurship guru and The E-Myth is a classic book in this genre. I liked The E-Myth Enterprise, as it talks about the various traits and practices needed by a company in order to become a truly amazing one. Here's a quote that I found thought provoking:

There are three things that can be so organized: time, space, and work.

The organization of time prevents the over utilization of energy to achieve one's objectives; just enough time--and no more--within which the right action can be efficiently performed.

The organization of space produces the right tools in the right place in the right quantity to support the right action with an economy of effort.

The organization of work identifies the natural way to take action, the relationships between functions, and the coordination between the two.

When employed with skill, organization always produces a sense of great ease.

When employed unwisely, organization always produces resistance.

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.

How to fold a fitted sheet

One of the most clutter-heavy and messy parts of many people's homes is their linen closet. I avoid this clutter-trap in my own home by only having one set of sheets for each bed. You really need no more than two, so if you have more than that, consider donating some. You can save room by folding your sheets neatly and if you have no linen closet, you can store them between the mattress and box spring, just put your fitted sheet on one side and your top sheet and pillow cases on the other. I could never understand how to fold fitted sheets until I saw a demonstration of it. Here's a really good video that shows you how.



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

Empty space

One of the basic organizing principles that I really enjoy sharing with my clients in the concept that just because a space is empty, a shelf, a drawer, a section of a room, what have you, it doesn't have to be filled. I've blogged about this before, and lately I've really come to believe that it's a fundamental thing to understand about the spaces we inhabit.

Remember when you moved into your apartment or house, and there was nothing there when you walked in the door the first time? Remember how good it felt to see the new space as an clean slate, with nothing but hope and possibilities for the future inside?

Why do we promptly take all that nice, empty space, and fill it chock full with furniture, books, electronic equipment, clothing, knick knacks and art? Well, we need some of it to live our lives, earn our livings, be comfortable. I like to lie on my couch and read a book. We need pots and pans to feed ourselves. We have to wear clothes. Paintings and photographs make us think and remember. But so often the sense of hope and possibility fades as we move layer upon layer of stuff into the space and is replaced with feelings of oppression and anxiety.

We can do something about it. We can have less stuff. We can even have less furniture. I'm not advocating that a pallet and basin of water is all you need or the best way to live. But what about saving some room in your rooms for just empty space? That space is a monument to the idea that things don't rule your life, you do.

If you think it's impossible, just get up right now and walk to your front door. Go outside and come back in. Pretend you've never been there before. What do you see that strikes you as out of place, useless, or just plain ugly? Why is there a broken printer in the corner of the living room? Why are there three copies of the same book on the bookshelf above the TV? These are easy things to let go of. Start with those, and then keep going.

Creative Commons photo posted to flickr by aforero
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: Space and storage

When looking for the perfect container for a category of things, whether it be a glass jar to hold your seashell collection, a magazine holder to contain your subscription to National Geographic, or a linen closet that will hold all of your sheets, blankets and towels, too often people look for a container that will hold those items "just right." Just right means it is the perfect size to hold however much of something you have--a jar in which your seashells go right up to the brim, a linen closet in which every shelf is full of linens.

This is a cardinal organizing mistake. Do not think that by finding the perfect sized container you are getting organized. Rather, you are shooting yourself in the metaphorical foot. What happens when you go to the beach and pick up a beautiful shell and want to add it to your collection, or your next National Geographic arrives and you suddenly have no place to put it because the magazine holder is full? You're carefully selected system is suddenly useless, and you either have to find another container for your new possession, spend time taking everything out of the old container and finding a new, larger one that will fit everything, or just shove the new item on top of the old items, which is how most linen closets end up looking like disaster areas.

Save yourself the trouble by selecting a container that is actually big enough to allow room to add to it. It is the nature of life that we tend to accumulate more of the same kinds of things. Leave space in that glass jar and leave room at the top of your plastic boxes. Don't fill everything up to the brim and you'll be surprised at how easy it is to stay organized.

Of course, sometimes you have a finite amount of room, such as with a linen closet. In that case, culling the linens that you no longer use or are damaged and donating them is the best way to make room for new stuff. You can also consider the one-in-one-out rule, which works well for clothes as well.

Eventually you may fill up a container to the brim, even after careful culling of no longer loved, needed, or used items, and that's okay. Organization goes hand in hand with flexibility.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by yeowatzup

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