Faux Organizing

What do you do when you have just recovered from a bout of illness, clutter has gotten out of hand, AND you are expecting guests for dinner? How about some faux organizing accompanied by some light topical cleaning?

Faux organizing is the term we use for making a defined space look like it is not cluttered, even though there may be lots of chaos under the surface. The way to achieve it is to contain, cover and stow.

Contain those things that are scattered all over the place. For instance, mail my have accumulated on a counter and can be put in a basket on a shelf until after the party. Kids’ toys can be put in a plastic bin in the corner of the family room. Wayward plants can be grouped on a tray.

Cover by shutting all cabinet doors; place other loose items like cosmetics, jewelry, and other miscellaneous items in attractive stackable boxes.

Stow larger items in a closet or room that will not be seen by the guests. I have never met anyone who did not have a secret space they occasionally used for this purpose.

Then, do some basic cleaning. Make sure to dust surfaces and, if necessary, vacuum floors in the rooms that will be used for the gathering. Invest some time in thoroughly cleaning surfaces in the kitchen and bathroom. Sanitize the sinks and toilet bowls.

This routine takes about an hour to complete in an average house. The real trick is to recognize it for what it is—an emergency measure. When the guests leave and your energy returns, take the time to do it right, and find the right system to manage the mail, the toys and whatever else you had to hide.

A space that stays really organized is always easier to put back in order after brief lapses.

Beverly and Kristen
www.KeyTransitions.net

Make Room for Love

“I moved out of my parent’s house so I could meet people and find a guy, but I am ashamed to bring anybody into this mess,” the young professional woman lamented as her eyes swept around her cluttered living room. After six months in her condominium, it was littered with a load of work papers, magazines and an assortment of shoes. Mail was stacked up on the table in the entryway and the view of the kitchen revealed dishes stacked in the sink and cartons on the counter. A tour of the bathroom and bedroom revealed they were in similar disarray. The spare bedroom had turned into storage space for everything that had not yet been put away. There were still unpacked boxes from her move-in.

“ I work hard and when I get home, I just crash,” she told me.

The first step for this client was finding a balance between work and personal life-a hard thing to do when she is trying to impress her boss and hang on to her job. She was able to identify four hours a week she could devote to gaining control of her environment without affecting work performance. She also identified four hours a week to devote to herself and fun things. Now she was ready to tackle the task of getting her home in shape.


The first step was to determine what was really important to her. She decided that she wanted to be able to invite some friends over for an informal gathering. She set a goal for two months to have her space in shape in order to send the invitations. That meant she had to organize the entryway, the living room and the bathroom. She also had to clean up the kitchen which could be viewed from the living area.

For the entryway we set up a mail station using attractive baskets with lids that allowed for the sorting of mail on the spot. One basket was for bills and other mail that needed immediate attention. The other was for mail that could be handled at her leisure. If that basket got full, it needed to be dealt with immediately to make room for the next bunch of mail. This system allowed bills to get paid on time and put a physical limit on how much mail could pile up.

The clutter culprits in the living room were paper, magazines and shoes. She confessed to taking off her shoes at the door and neglecting to tote them upstairs to the bedroom for several days, or weeks. To deal with the shoe problem she bought a hall bench that contained a hidden shoe rack in the base. She put her favorite shoes here so she could pick them up and put them away on her way in and out of the house. She also purchased a step basket that fit on the stairs and allowed her to drop off things that she wanted to carry upstairs on her next trip.

She already had a magazine rack that she didn’t use. It was too small and was not near the sofa where she usually did her reading. A large flat basket on the bottom shelf of the coffee table helped corral the periodicals and gave the appearance of order.

She did her paperwork all over the house, an apt metaphor for work taking over her life. We identified a corner of the room for work purposes and organized all work materials in an attractive trunk that had been in the storage room since her move. She could still review projects sitting on her couch or at the dining table, but they went in her briefcase or in the trunk after review.

The kitchen was a matter of cleanup and adopting new habits of washing dishes at least once a day, since she had no dishwasher. Moving utensil and dish storage nearer to the sink made the job a little easier. A larger trash can with a lid helped minimize used containers on the counter and kept garbage out of sight.

The bathroom suffered from a lack of storage space for toiletries and makeup so these items ended up on the limited counter space. Under sink storage shelves and shower shelves helped provide additional space for toiletries. Makeup was sorted and outdated and unused items were discarded. What was left was stored in the medicine cabinet using plastic and magnetic containers.

She had a successful gathering for her friends and has now started working on upstairs space. Her goal is to have that done in two more months. It seems there is a special guy in the picture and she needs to make room for love.

Beverly & Kristen
www.KeyTransitions.net

READY FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Ready or not, here they come! The Holidays are here. Chanukah has begun, Christmas arrives in a few days and the New Year will be here right after that. If you are one of the lucky ones who have everything done and you are just hanging around waiting to welcome guests and attend the gatherings, good for you! If you are like most of the rest of us, and still have a few things left to do, take a deep breath and decide what is important.

Priority setting is a fundamental tool for getting organized and staying organized. Knowing what is essential to accomplish keeps us focused and on task. To use this tool to maintain calm during the holidays, get a piece of paper or index card and write down the five most important things for you to accomplish. It might be prepare dinner, pick up Aunt Tilly at the airport, help Santa build a toy. At the top of that list put “Enjoy the festivities.” Once you have established these priorities avoid the traps that will keep you from accomplishing them.

Don’t get distracted by other urgent tasks. They might be important, but they are not the MOST important. Take care of the priorities first.

Don’t let others change your priorities to meet their own goals. You want to be helpful, but not at the risk of not getting done what you need to get done.

Don’t be afraid to change your priorities as you evaluate new things that develop. The difference is that YOU are the one deciding what is important to you.

Don’t pick up the slack for other’s responsibilities. It is a sure way to end up harried and resentful that you shortchanged your own priorities.

Refer back often to priority number one, “Enjoy the festivities.” Everything doesn’t have to be perfect. The ultimate goal is to experience the love and joy that the season brings.

Happy holidays!

Beverly & Kristen
www.KeyTransitions.net

Organizing the “Guest Room”

Now that we have had time to recuperate from the holidays, many of us are looking forward to spending quality time with friends and family. Sometimes that involves having a guest in our home and that can be a pain or a pleasure. Take a look at you “guest space” and think of ways you can organize it to be more comfortable for your guest-and you.

Whether you have a master suite with bath, a foldout sofa in your home office or a blow up mattress in the den, there are amenities that will make your guest’s stay more pleasant for him and easier on you.

Just think about those times when you have been a guest in another’s home and consider what would have provided comfort and convenience during your stay. Here are our suggestions.

The first item of business is to make sure the space is clean and uncluttered. Dust vacuum, change the linens and clear surfaces of extraneous items.

Make sure you have space for your guest to store clothes on hangers in the closet or on a wrack and space to fold things in drawers. If that is not possible, have a sturdy surface on which to place a suitcase.

Gather clean towels and washcloths for your guest and place them in a basket or decorative box with some nice toiletry items. Milled soaps, lotion, mouthwash or aftershave are some ideas to consider.

Give guests an opportunity to take care of midnight munchies by providing a container of snacks and a bottle of water. Fresh flowers and some candy, fruit or cookies in the room are ways to let the guest know how special he is.

A comfortable place to sit, stationery and writing implements, an alarm clock, adequate lighting and a radio or television are nice to have available.

If the guest is going to be keeping a schedule that is different than yours, think about providing a house key, security codes, public transportation schedules and a list of taxi and limousine companies. A local map is also a helpful item for guests who are not familiar with the city.

When your guest arrives, give him a tour of the house paying special attention to location of the bathroom you expect him to use, the kitchen and location of the iron and ironing board. Explain methods of entry and any security issues as well as any house rules. Point out any computer connection he might use if he travels with his laptop.

Taking time to do the tour saves time in the long run and allows the guest to feel better able to take care of himself.

Hosting guests is supposed to be fun. So organize the space for their comfort and convenience, then sit back and enjoy the visit.