Out in plain sight

As nice as it is to have things put away behind cupboard doors and inside convenient drawers, sometimes it's much more sensible to store things in plain sight. For many visual-oriented people, having things visible is necessary in order to remember and find things. Keeping the jar of vitamins front and center on the kitchen counter is how one might remember to take them, or taping the permission slip that has to be returned to the school on the front door might ensure it actual makes the return trip. But sometimes, whether we need them out to remember them or not, front and center is the best place for certain things.

The kitchen is a perfect example. I do a lot of cooking. Within arm's reach of the stove I have pot holders, hanging on the side of the refrigerator on a Command hook. I also have salt, pepper, olive oil and a jar that holds my garlic. I don't put those items there because I'm afraid I won't remember to use them, but because if I had to visit the pantry every time I needed salt, or had to open a drawer every time I wanted pot holders, getting dinner on the table would be a more time-absorbing chore than it already is. My cook's tools aren't in matching containers, but they are functional and easy to clean and refill. Are you making certain tasks more difficult by not storing items out to be easily accessed?

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 multi-tasking toy

As a Christmas gift, my husband and I received a Playstation 3. We'd had our eye on the video game system for months, having decided it was the best way to solve two problems that we'd been having. First, it would replace our 12-year old DVD player that had trouble playing any DVD that wasn't perfectly spotless and new, and second, it would allow us to watch Netflix Instant on the nice TV in our living room instead of only on the computer in my office.

We opened the present with glee. Once home, the most difficult thing about setting it up was deciding on our username for our Playstation Store account, which we needed in order to install the Netflix driver. Within minutes, we were watching Gosford Park (for the dozenth time - I usually get it from the library and it skips terribly). It was like a miracle.

All in all, the Playstation 3 has performed admirably as a DVD player and a Netflix player. We don't have any games for it, and only one controller, so that can be something we add on down the road if we feel like it. The most surprising thing has been trying out Blu-ray discs. We weren't terribly interested in the format, but figured it wouldn't hurt to have the capability. Well, now, having seen a side by side comparison of the same movie in standard definition and Blu-ray, I've upgraded my Neflix account so we can get Blu-ray versions of films when they have them. It looks really nice. Still, there's no need to go out and replace our modest DVD collection with Blu-ray versions. It's all going streaming anyway, and from a clutter-control point of view, I couldn't be happier.

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

Favorite organizing tools

I'm a big believer that you don't need anything more than time and a little inspiration to get organized, but there are a few items that can really help you get and stay organized. Here are some of my favorites:

• Sharpies: It only takes seconds to make a label with a Sharpie and a piece of painter's tape. I prefer black Sharpies and white removable labels.
• Binder clips: Better than paper clips, and the various sizes hold papers and more together with ease.
• Apron: Stick your Sharpies, labels, tape and a pair of scissors in the pocket and you are ready for any organizing job.
• Ziploc bags: Cheap and effective way of corralling everything from crayons to tea bags. Easily labeled with your trusty Sharpie!
• Clear plastic boxes with snapping lids, preferably from Really Useful Boxes, in a variety of sizes. Get more than once of each size so you can stack them in places like closets and garages.
• Libraries, or anywhere you can rent or borrow something you only need temporarily.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by MinivanNinja

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

Birds of a feather should be stored together

One of the most fundamental organizing rules (and there aren't very many of these) is keep like items together. I cannot stress enough how important this is, and how much easier it is to find things if you keep everything that is similar together in one place (provided you are able to remember where that one place is, of course). 

If you are not already doing this, start small and see what a difference it makes. Put all of your hair ties in one dish in your bathroom or bedroom. Nest all of your mixing bowls and keep them on one shelf. Find all the places you have batteries stashed around your house and put them together in one bag or box in a closet or drawer. The next time your reading lamp burns out its bulb, you'll know exactly where to find the appropriate replacement, since it has been stored along with the rest of the back-up bulbs. (I keep mine in an upright bag under the kitchen sink.) 

Keeping like items together makes finding things easier and saves you time, since if there is only one place to look for spatulas, if there aren't any in that spot, it means you need to do some dishes, not that you need to keep looking in every drawer until you stumble across one. It also saves time when you are putting things away, since the decision of where to put things has already been made. It takes the guess work out of cleaning up, since there is only one place CDs belong and only one home for loose change. 

There are only a couple of exceptions to the keep like things together rule. Scissors, I find, come in handy in nearly every room of the house, so I keep a pair in my kitchen, one on my desk top and one in my top desk drawer, a pair in the bathroom drawer and another in my bedside table. Tissue boxes and trash cans should have homes in nearly every room as well. I like to keep an emory board in my bathroom drawer, purse, desk drawer and bedside table drawer.

Creative Commons photo posted to flickr by visulogik

Tips and Tools: To do list

The to do list is one of the most elementary organizing tools. My family and friends will tell you that I’ve been making them practically since I learned how to write! My brain loves that if I can write something down that I need or want to do or think about later, then that means I don’t have to use up valuable brain power remembering it.

The content of my to do lists has evolved over the years, but I still use the same system: take a piece of scrap paper, get a pen, write stuff down, cross it off when I’m done.

I now also use the Stickies program on my iMac. Stickies are great because they automatically save, so you can’t lose your work if the power goes out, and you don’t have to take the time to press command-s every five minutes or after something changes. I also like the program because you can keep it open all the time and visually see the notes you have on your desktop. You can choose different colors and minimize them or expand them at will.

I keep a revolving list of medium- to long-term things at the top of my Stickies note, then a daily list below. Often I’ll have two or three days on there, so I can plan ahead to do smaller tasks. The electronic to do list makes it easy for me to add repetitive tasks with a simple copy and paste, it also makes it easy to add more information, such as a link to a map I might need to get to an appointment, that I can simply delete later.

When I’m not at my computer, though, I stick to the old standby, a piece of scratch paper or an index card that I can slip in my purse and take with me. 

The to do list is free, simple and works. 

Creative Commons to do list photo posted to flickr by tracitodd