Filed under: Clutter
One thing I just ADORE about Get Organized Now! Readers is the enthusiastic, helpful information they submit about getting organized, and their willingness to share!
A recent newsletter issue I published resulted in LOTS of wonderful ideas related to receipts and magazine clutter. I couldn’t keep them to myself, of course, so I’m including them below. Enjoy!
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RECEIPTS
I cut a large hole in the top of one side of an old bleach jug. Receipts come out of my purse or my husband’s pocket and right into the jug. When I get a credit card bill, they are waiting to be checked off. If I have a little extra time, I enter them into Quicken on my computer where I have an account for each credit card. Then I can check them off from there and the receipts are all recycled (shredded if the credit card number is on them.)
Alisa Aiken, age 73 and still trying to get more organized.
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MAGAZINES
Regarding the reader submitted question about magazines, another option is to switch to a digital subscription. It’s much cheaper than a paper subscription (example – a year of Cosmopolitan is $60 at newsstand prices…but $19.95 digitally) and can be read on a wide variety of devices.
You don’t even need a tablet, eReader or Smartphone. Apps such as Zinio can be downloaded for free to the computer.
Cuts down on magazine cost, saves all the paper (clutter, recycling, etc) and is portable. Interesting articles can be snipped, copied or printed.
Pauline Staples
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I really enjoy your newsletters and only wish I followed your advice more. Ref. article on magazines and recycling. What I do with our ‘read’ magazines is take them to our local library. They have a section where one can pick up and take home any of the magazines brought in (as long as they aren’t over one year old). I hate throwing out/recycling if I think someone else would like to read it.
Our library also has a magazine section with subscriptions purchased by the library. Other than the current issue, magazines can be checked out (like a book) and returned. So we have a great supply of print magazines to either check out or take home–and hopefully bring back for someone else to read.
Have a great day,
Paul Matlock
Pagosa Springs, Colorado
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On the magazine situation, I take my magazines to my hair dresser. He gets free magazines and I give them away instead of destroying them in the recycling plant. I also cut down on the number of subscriptions a few years ago. That makes a difference, too!
Mary Hair Graham
Lawrenceville, GA
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Regarding the recycling of magazines…..I have recently gone through treatments for breast cancer, and have spent many hours in waiting rooms over the past 9 months. I noticed that there weren’t many magazines of interest to me in some of those waiting rooms, so I started packing up 4 or 5 and took them with me when I had an appointment. I had a chance to peruse them again, and then leave them there. (I did ask if they were welcome and the response was a big, smiling ‘yes!’). I think most hospitals would welcome them.
Lisa
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Hi There -
Just FYI – libraries will also take magazines for re-distribution.
-Jodi S.
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In response to your suggestions for the magazine clutter problem, in our area several McDonald’s (fast food restaurant) has recycle bins for magazines with glossy pages only. They use the funds received from recycling for the Ronald McDonald house near the Hershey Medical Center.
Maybe if people are interested in this, they could check McDonald’s website to see if there are any Ronald McDonald Houses in their vicinity. Or possibly, a non-profit organization or church in their area would be interested in starting a collection project as a fund raiser. Just a thought.
I enjoy your hints on decluttering, something I am trying to find time to do, but it seems to collect faster than I have time to get rid of it!
Have a great day,
Darlene
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Thank you for your magazine-clutter advice, in your latest email.
I would like to share my personal tip about magazines.
I used to like having a lot of women’s magazines, just to turn the glossy pages when I can relax for a few minutes.. I like looking at the nice fashion pictures, browsing the articles, taking inspiration from the recipes. This meant I always had a huge pile of already-read magazines (when I consolidated them) or magazines scattered around (most of the time). I began hating the clutter image they gave to my small living room. I live alone in a small flat.
So I took my decision. One in – one out. Or better the contrary: one out.. then one in.
I don’t buy a new issue until I browse through one of the old ones. When I relax, I cut the pages that I think are worth keeping, and then I throw the rest of the issue in my paper recycling box.
Now I always have 3 magazines ready for my relaxing times curled up on the sofa. Not a pile–’only’ 3. But 3 are enough since I never have the time to leaf through more that half of a magazine. And there is no more magazine clutter!
Moreover, when I throw an old issue in the recycle bin now, I don’t feel sorry anymore. I’m excited by the idea of buying the current issue the day after!
Sorry for my mistakes, I am not a native speaker of English.
Greetings from Italy
Elisa
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Another good place to leave magazines and reading materials is at a senior citizen facility–daycare, nursing home, a senior living apartment complex. I give all my magazines to my mother, a senior citizen, and she then leaves them in her Laundromat.
Dot Lewis, Graebel Houston Commercial Services
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Magazines can also be donated to Salvation Army, Goodwill or other thrift stores if they are in good condition. Check locally. Some will accept them, some won’t. Find out what the guidelines are in your area. My DIL was delighted to receive a bundle of scrapbooking magazines I purchased for her at Salvation Army.
Sell back issues at your annual yard sale.
Depending on the magazine and even the specific issue, sell them on ebay. Some back issues sell for more than the original purchase price. I spent nearly $100 for back issues of ICF builder magazine through the publisher. Icfmag.com. Plus shipping! These were not ‘old’ issues. Six were from the preceding 12 months and the remainder were less than 5 years old.
Determine a resale value for your magazines to help you determine your plan of action.
Best regards,
Rebecca
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Just an addition to the recycling of magazines. Library often take them as donations.
Thank you,
Tracy Parker
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FYI – to recycle magazines, they might want to try ‘freecycle’, in their area.
Konnie Anderson
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With regard to magazines, my community library has a book nook and they sell the magazines for a dime each. I donate them to the library as a tax deduction, and many others buy them to get the most recent, or sometimes older, magazines to read or use for crafts, etc.
Tracy Klement
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Another way we recycle magazines is to send them to retirement and nursing homes. Not only do we get to read them, but many other do as well.
Alice Lutrey
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Don’t forget jails and prisons when recycling books and magazines; also veterans, and other places. Who knows whether someone might even change his/her life by reading an inspiring essay or provide laughter for the ‘forgotten; members of our society.
Frances in Northern California
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Regarding your article about magazines, I gather up my older ones and take them to a senior living home. They love having something new to read.
Thank You,
Sharon Mitton
Your Longaberger Consultant
June 16, 2012
Television shows like Clean House and Hoarders showcase just how disorganized and cluttered houses can become. Few of us fall into the category of hoarders, but many of us do need to simplify our living space and get rid of what we don’t need. As consumers, we have the propensity to overcrowd our homes with things. Every year or so, it’s a good idea to discard some stuff. If we wait too long to do so, cleaning out our homes can become a nearly impossible project to finish. We may have to enlist the help of a professional organizer or evaluate cheap storage options.
It’s important to target certain areas of your house at a time. Below are some suggestions about how to clean out specific areas.
Closets are an ideal place to start. They should be scrupulously organized at least every two years. Begin with your bedroom closet and then work your way to the other ones. Carefully examine every single thing you have in every single closet. If you have not used or worn it in the last two years, it needs to go in a pile of stuff you are going to dispose of. Once you’ve finished going through all your closets, you can take the throwaway pile to Goodwill or another second-hand store that accepts donations. If you lack sufficient shelving or racks in your closet, you should consider installing some to aid in organization.
Address your biggest problem area, the garage. The garage is where we tend to store just about everything there’s no room for in the house. You should clean this area out every single year. You should also make an effort not to put all of your excess things in the garage. You can clean out the garage in the same way you cleaned out your closets. Make a pile of the stuff you have not used in a year and donate it. Shelves and racks can be particularly beneficial. Put them up yourself or hire someone to help you do it. Get tools and gardening equipment off the ground and on a shelf. Try to clear out enough room to park at least one of your cars in the garage, if possible.
Organize everything else. Go from room to room in your house. Pay special attention to old books, hobby supplies, CDs, and movies. See-through, clear bins from companies like the Container Store can be used to store household items you frequently make use of. If you have more than fifty CDs in your house, think about converting them to MP3s on your computer and discarding them. If you have a Kindle, Nook, or other eReader, you can get rid of some of your book collection. Similarly, if you have a Netflix account, it may be time to evaluate what movies you can sell or donate.
Donate, sell, or throw out what you can. Efficiently organize the rest. If you still lack the space you truly need, locate a self storage facility that will be able to house some of your stuff.
Resource: Margot McClelland is a guest post writer on the subjects of homes and lifestyles.
March 30, 2012
It arose one morning from the bowels of my desk, a formless mass that spread and covered itself over anything I was looking for.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I am Clutter,” the mass answered, “and I am here to confound your life. I am the things you refuse to throw out though you haven’t used them in six years, the miscellaneous papers, phone numbers, business cards, and chatckas you accumulate and don’t put away. I am the inevitable manifestation of your sloppiness. I am Clutter.”
I grabbed Clutter and moved it from one end of the desk to the other.
Clutter chortled. “That’s my favorite pastime. Moving from one end of the desk to the other.”
“What do you want?” I asked.
“To frustrate you. I will resist all attempts to remove me, reduce me, or otherwise eliminate me. It’s my purpose to hide whatever important piece of paper you need, whichever phone number you must call.”
“I’m throwing you out,” I stormed.
Clutter shook his untidy mass sadly, as in pity. “Not without looking through me to see if there’s anything you really need,” Clutter answered. “The odds are slim, but you won’t take that chance. And while you’re sorting through me, I’ll re-form in another pile.”
“But you’ll be smaller, more manageable.”
“Not really. You’ll decide to keep 90% of me, as you always do. And soon, new papers, numbers, documents will gather, making me more obstructive than ever.”
“You won’t ruin my life, Clutter! I’ll start a filing system! Put a bit of you where you belong.”
Clutter gazed at me contemptuously. “The last time you tried that, you created my cousins, Chaos and Disorder. It’ll never work.”
Clutter had me and I knew it. Attempts in the past to file things alphabetically had only created 26 piles of mess instead of one. I was desperate, so I decided to bluff. “I’ll take a time management course,” I threatened. Clutter quite rightly ignored my remark. I wasn’t dealing with an idiot, after all.
“Then I’ll buy a computer and store you on my floppy disks!”
“And within a month your disk-filing system will be in total disarray, plus you’ll have another pile of papers waiting to be entered onto disks. Face it, you can’t win.”
Exasperated, I ran to the closet. “I’m getting some air.”
Clutter had been to the closet before me. Shoes were scattered, shirts were unhung, clumps of pants and underwear lay strewn next to towels and a lawn chair. Socks congealed in small piles, looking like the waste product of some nylon-eating monster. Cliff notes from A Tale of Two Cities lay atop the heater.
“Clutter,” I yelled. “You have crippled my productivity for the last time. No longer will I be late, no more will I miss appointments, Never again shall I be overwhelmed by your size and withdraw into reading old magazines. I am going out to the store to buy a paper shredder.”
I looked around for a long moment. “Now where did I leave my keys?”
Clutter burped.
(Author unknown)
February 20, 2012
Yesterday, I chaperoned a school field trip to the Schlitz Audobon Center in Milwaukee, WI. What fun the kids had learning about owls, squirrels, groundhogs, raccoons, fox and other animals. With the incredibly mild weather, they even got to walk on the trails AND play in the sand on the beach (Lake Michigan) in their snowpants. It was a great learning experience and the kids had a blast!
Among all the interesting things I myself learned, the facts about the gray squirrel were particularly interesting.
Of course, every fall, the gray squirrel spends its day gathering nuts and seeds. It then hides them so it will have enough food to last through the cold weather. However, the gray squirrel doesn’t hide its nuts in any one place. Instead, its hiding pattern is called scatter hoarding. The squirrel will bury its food in HUNDREDS of different locations. So if another squirrel or animal finds one of the hiding spots, it’s not a huge problem. There will be plenty more where that came from. So, my next question was, is the squirrel able to remember all of these hiding places? Apparently, most of the time! It cleans each nut or seed before it is hidden, which leaves a scent that the squirrel can find later in the winter.
While this system is great for the gray squirrel, it is definitely NOT great for humans. Hiding bags of chips, for example, in 7 different cabinets, is only going to result in you thinking you’re out of chips, which will snowball into you buying yet MORE chips. If the butter which is normally stored on the top shelf of your fridge gets moved to the bottom shelf, you’re likely not going to be able to locate it as quickly as the gray squirrel would, which again may result in you buying more butter when you still have some left.
Final Word: Don’t scatter hoard! Consolidate like-items in one place so you know exactly how many you have, and if you’re really running out of that item.
February 10, 2012
How to Make Your Home Halfway Presentable
So far, I’ve written 2 articles in this 3-part article series. The first article I wrote under this title was ideas for those days when you get a phone call from someone who plans to stop by in the next few minutes. The second was ideas for those days when you need to get things together for dinner guests. Today’s article, the final in this series, is for those days when you need to get things together for overnight guests. Here goes . . .
1. Absolute Basics – You have 5 minutes to straighten up!
A. Get rid of toothpaste and soap stains in the guest bathroom. Clean hair out of shower drains.
B. Make the beds, especially the one in the guest room!
C. Be sure your guests have space in the guest room closet and guest room dresser. Empty your stored clothing out of it if necessary and put in your bedroom closet, or a suitcase, until your guests leave.
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2. Slightly More Ambitious – Your guests will arrive in an hour!
A. Launder bath towels and bath mats. Then, be sure you put enough in the guest bathroom for when everyone arrives. Add some special soaps and lotions to the bathroom countertop, and they’ll be really impressed!
B. Give the guest room a quick dusting and vacuuming. Put pretty, fresh linens on the bed, and spritz some lavendar spray around the room.
C. Get your spouse to take the kids outside to play, so you can focus on clearing the clutter–without your kids putting it right back. Wow, imagine what you can do in a whole hour, without the kids (or your spouse) destroying your efforts!
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3. Catalog Worthy (These tasks don’t take much time, but will impress the heck out of your guests.)
A. Place a small basket or dish on your guests’ bedroom nightstands. Add some wrapped chocolate, a sleep mask and a packet of fancy tissues for their evening comfort.
B. Bake some cookies or bread–it could be the simple boxed stuff that you mix and bake. Your house will smell delicious!
C. Pick up some fresh flowers and add them to the guest room, along with some fresh fruit and an ice bucket filled with ice, bottled water and some fancy fruit juices or iced teas.
October 29, 2011
The last article I wrote under this title was ideas for those days when you get a phone call from someone who plans to stop by in the next few minutes. Today’s article is for those days when you need to get things together for dinner guests. Here goes . . .
1. Absolute Basics – You have 5 minutes to straighten up!
A. Remove cob webs from wall corners. You woudn’t want your guests to think they’re eating in a Haunted House!
B. Pick up any dirty laundry and put it in the laundry room.
C. Make dinner reservations and get everyone out of your house as quickly as possible. If your house is chaotic, your guests will appreciate you leading them outside.
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2. Slightly More Ambitious – Your guests will arrive in an hour!
A. Forget your house–look at yourself! Fix your hair and makeup. Put on a pretty outfit. Let’s face it–you have kids. Your guests won’t expect your house to be perfect.
B. Clear off all surfaces, like coffee tables and side tables. They’re likely filled with magazines you can recycle and mail you haven’t plowed through yet. Put these in a spot in which they won’t be seen.
C. Empty the dishwasher and put the clean contents back into the cabinets. As you have dirty dishes this evening, you’ll have a place to stash them.
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3. Catalog Worthy (These tasks don’t take much time, but will impress the heck out of your guests.)
A. Add a table cloth or pretty placemats to the dining table. Put cloth napkins in napkin rings. Wow–cloth napkins–what a concept!
B. Fluff up the pillows in the living room, put out some pretty coasters and clear any clutter off the sofa and chairs. At least your guests will have someplace to sit and relax after your meal.
C. Call a babysitter to watch your kids for a few hours. Your guests can see the kids when they first arrive, but will not have to speak baby-talk for the entire evening!
October 20, 2011
How to Make Your Home Halfway Presentable
I recently was interviewed by a magazine reporter who wanted some ideas for those days when you get a phone call from someone who plans to stop by in the next few minutes. Before freaking out that everything is a mess, here are a few things you can do…
1. Absolute Basics – You have 5 minutes to straighten up!
A. Keep a large, empty Rubbermaid box on hand for moments like these. You can quickly toss all toys and stuffed animals into it, and then put the lid on–instantly clutter free, and all together when you need to put everything back in its proper place later.
B. Get some glass cleaner and wipe down the faucets in the kitchen and guest bathroom, to give them the illusion of ‘clean.’ Your guests will wonder how you ever have the time to keep these two rooms this sparkly!
C. Close bedroom doors, bathroom doors, etc., blocking off the view of these rooms. Your guests won’t have a chance to see you haven’t even had time to make the bed today!
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2. Slightly More Ambitious – Your guests will arrive in an hour!
A. Give your kitchen a quick once over. Wipe down the table and counter, removing all food stains–so your guests can actually sit down and have a cup of coffee.
B. Focus only on those areas your guests will be in–likely the living room, kitchen and guest bathroom. Wipe down the counters, run a Swiffer mop across the floors to pick up stray hair and dirt and clean the mirrors.
C. Do a quick dusting. Then, using Murphy’s Oil Soap, clean the woodwork. Everything will smell fresh.
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3. Catalog Worthy (These tasks don’t take much time, but will impress the heck out of your guests.)
A. Dim the lights. The dimmer it is, the less the dust will be seen. Light a scented candle for ambiance–up high of course, so the kids can’t get into it.
B. Roll the baby swing and anything else on wheels to another room where your guests won’t be, and close the door. Just freeing up some space in the room will help your guests feel more at ease.
C. Tidy open bookcases and CD/DVD/VHS cabinets. Align the books in a straight line towards the front of each of the shelves.
October 16, 2011
A friend once asked me how I keep up with all my favorite magazines, without generating piles of clutter. She revealed that she has about 12 magazine subscriptions, many of which have been piling up for months–unread.
My first secret is pretty simple. 12 magazine subscriptions is way too many for most people. I’m subscribed to these 6, and that may even be too many for some:
1. Martha Stewart Living
2. National Geographic
3. Simple Scrapbooks
4. Cuisine at Home
5. Life Magazine
6. Woman’s Day
For the most part, I read my magazines during waiting times–while I’m waiting for my daughter’s dance class to end, while I’m waiting for an appointment to begin, while I’m riding on mass transportation, or while I’m waiting in my car for my exercise class to commence.
There’s always an issue in my ‘traveling tote bag.’
Otherwise, over the weekend, I like sitting down with a cup of coffee and reading through my favorite magazines for about 30 minutes or so.
You can actually get a ton of reading done in 30 minutes, especially if you’re only reading those articles that are especially interesting to you–I rarely read a magazine word-for-word from cover to cover. I simply find the articles that I know I’ll enjoy and read those.
I quickly flip through magazines, sticky-note the pages I’m interested in, and then I go back and only read those articles. If I come across an article I wish to save for reference, I scan those pages with my scanner and store them in ‘virtual’ folders on my computer. No paper clutter generated! I index all the articles in an Excel spreadsheet, indicating what folder they’re being stored in, so they’re easy to find when I need them.
If there comes a time when I feel I can’t get through my magazines for a month or two in a row, that will definitely be the time to consider letting one or more subscriptions go.
But for now, I’m thoroughly enjoying each one and there hasn’t been a month yet when I’ve received the new issue in the mail before getting through the previous one.
October 5, 2011
I was weeding out old blog posts this week, and came across this one I ran a few years ago. It’s a great story. I just had to share it again for readers who joined my newsletter list after this story was published on my blog. Enjoy!
IRVINE, Calif. The box of Annie’s Sour Cream and Onion Cheddar Bunny crackers that Debra Rogoff bought at the grocery store included something extra–an envelope stuffed with $10,000.
Yet the Irvine woman was more curious than ecstatic. After all, who would leave money in such a place?
‘We just thought, `This is someone’s money,’ she said. ‘We would never feel good about spending it.’
The family called police and was initially told the money could be part of a drug drop.
But police later heard from store managers at Whole Foods in Tustin that an elderly woman had come in a few days earlier, hysterical because she had mistakenly returned a box of crackers with her life savings inside. In a mix- up, the store restocked the box. The woman, whose identity wasn’t released, had lost faith in her bank and decided the box would be a safer place for the money.
Luckily for her, the box of crackers were bought by the Rogoffs, who found the crisp $100 bills in an unmarked white envelope.
The Rogoffs never heard from the woman and didn’t receive a reward, but Rogoff did return to Whole Foods a couple weeks later.
‘I asked them if I could have another box of crackers,’ she said with a laugh. The store obliged.
Moral of this story…
It’s never a good or organized idea to stick your life savings in a box of crackers!
Source: Associated Press
September 16, 2011
One of my pet peeves is trying to retrieve a sheet of paper from an overstuffed-to-the-max file drawer. That’s why I weed out my filing system on a daily basis.
I simply choose just 5 file folders a day and spend a few seconds flipping through each. Papers that are outdated and/or I no longer need, are immediately recycled (papers containing any personal information are shredded first.)
This takes me all of 2 minutes to accomplish and it ensures that the filing system is truly being maintained for maximum organization. It also helps me avoid hours of work at one time. Give it a try. Your filing cabinet will always be HAPPY and you will too!
August 27, 2011
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