A Place For Everything

Professionals can find it, even in your cluttered home

Posted: Dec. 27, 2003

While New Year's resolutions abound and even become repetitious, the mainstays never lose their appeal. This year, perhaps, things really will be different.

The resolve to get one's possessions in order is a popular goal.

It rises to the surface every time the jumbled contents of a closet spill out into the hallway, or when that beautiful serving dish has to be hunted down from who-knows-where for one of its rare sorties during the holidays.
The yearning to become more organized and to streamline household effects tends to take on increased urgency as accumulated possessions are stacked higher and higher with the passing years.

While some might willingly tackle their organizational problems with the help of a good manual and some sound advice, others are overwhelmed at the prospect.

Some would rather hire out the really daunting jobs to a professional organizer.

Consulting and service companies that provide organizational advice and actual hands-on de-cluttering exist throughout the country.

Maria Gracia, head of Get Organized Now in Watertown and author of several self-published books on organizing, emphasizes that the goals of getting organized are primarily twofold: to be able to find something when it's needed and to get everything accomplished that needs to be done in order to have more time to enjoy life.

"Everyone is looking to get more out of their 24 hours in a day," says Gracia. "Organizing is a universal subject. Everybody could use a little clutter control. The end results are that the home is more presentable, if you're looking for something you can find it, and there's more time in the day."

Before settling in Wisconsin, Gracia worked for 10 years with Dun & Bradstreet's Nielsen Media Research in New York as an organizing and management specialist.

Her book, "Finally Organized, Finally Free," provides more than 1,000 useful tips to help people organize their homes and businesses.

Where to begin?
Does the problem of clutter begin with too much stuff, not enough space to store the stuff we have, or a lack of thoughtful planning about how to properly organize one's possessions?

There might indeed be too much stuff.

Organizational experts say the first step is to take stock of what one owns and hold each item up to scrutiny.

Then it's time to purge.

Dina Taylor, owner of Easily Organized, based in Sarasota, Fla., says the first thing she does with her clients is determine the area that's giving the most difficulty. Then she consults with the person about what to keep and what to donate or throw away.

Taylor notes that people are often more willing to part with something if they know that it's going to be used and enjoyed by someone else.

When making donations, the usual sources such as Goodwill, St. Vincent de Paul, Purple Heart and the Salvation Army are excellent choices.

Some will even make house calls to pick up larger donations. But there are many non-profit organizations and shelters who have standing wish lists for items they desperately need. Popular items include clothing, toys, linens, and other household items.

A great tip for regular purging is to keep a couple of large shopping bags in the trunk of the car and fill them up as things surface in the home that are no longer wanted or needed. When the bags are full, just drop them off.

On second thought . . .

Before moving on to the next step in getting the house in order, it might be worth backing up a moment - all the way to the shopping trip.

Before any purchase is made and brought home, you should ask if it fits in the house.

Buying another chair, albeit a lovely and unique one, to add to an overflowing house is worth a second thought.

Where will it go? Does something else have to move out in order to make a place for the new acquisition? Does the proposed purchase work with other possessions and the overall decor? If an item requires that an entire room be redecorated or rearranged around it, perhaps it's not worth it.

On the other hand, if it is a perfect addition to an ongoing collection and there is room in the house and budget, then why not make the purchase?

Being a collector does not exclude being organized.

I can't throw THAT away!

The criteria for what to keep and what to give away or throw away are not always simple. Children's art projects, family pieces, mementos and more are important for their sentimental value.

"Some people think they need to keep everything from an event," Gracia says. She suggests just keeping enough to save the memory, not every related item.

Collections can be purely frivolous and of no inherent monetary value, but one would sooner give away the microwave oven than part with that shelf full of crockery pitchers.

How to render the useful easily accessible, store the sentimental and display the beautiful so that all can be enjoyed becomes the challenge.

Gracia suggests putting a little bit out on display at a time.

"I like the whole rotational system myself," she says, "as long as you have nice storage space. You can put a few things out at a time and things looks spare yet beautiful."

While "getting organized" has become a topic for hours-long seminars, the simple application of some common sense advice goes a long way toward setting one's house in order in the consumer age.

Out go the items pushed to the back of the pantry shelf because they didn't sell at the last two garage sales, as well as the clothes that don't fit any more. Any items in the pockets and cubbyholes of deepest storage with a thick layer of dust should be dealt with mercilessly.

As for the undecided stuff, a Wisconsin mother of three living in a not-so-big home recalls a piece of great advice.

"Put all those things in a box and seal the box but don't label what's inside. If you come back in a few months or a year and can't remember what's in it, give it away," she says.

Where to put it?
Once the purging has been done, it's time to find places for everything.

"We look at what people have left and how they are going to use it," Taylor says. "Here I typically start by making categories and then determine the sort of space that's required to best store and access the thing being organized."

If clothes and linens are being sorted, for example, and there is limited closet space, then under-the-bed containers can make useful and easily accessible storage for bulky sweaters and extra blankets.

Organize-Everything.com has such a cheerful assortment of storage containers - rope, willow and sea grass baskets; brightly colored plastic holders; and artful canvas and fabric wrapped boxes - that it makes one want to dig right in and start sorting if only to show off the resulting neat stacks of pretty organizers.

Target stores have entire aisles of storage elements from the most utilitarian plastic to dainty boxes that would be perfect for those precious loose snapshots that have yet to find a permanent home.

Labeling counts

A red flag must be raised here.

The containers should be labeled with specific contents and contain what the label says. Avoid any designations as the murky and mischievous "Miscellaneous." It's as good as not being labeled at all.

A few tips from the company A to Z Organizing Pros® also dba Daughter4Rent, based in Phoenix, Ariz.:

Discard magazines you can do without.

Record all notes and messages in one place, such as a day planner or electronic organizer.

Schedule your priorities and prioritize your schedule. A "to do" list will help accomplish this.

In a closet, put the things you use often within your reach. Why reach over things you never wear to get to the items you use most?

Gain space by stacking. Don't just store your luggage, for example. Put smaller bags inside larger bags.

Keep clothes that need mending or ironing in a basket in the closet.

Have only one junk drawer.

Ode to the junk drawer

There will probably always be a junk drawer in every home.

Its collection of household flotsam might be the first place people look for something or the last place to park a random object.

Its handy availability and easy acceptance of anything you want to toss into it is something that a home is always grateful to have, especially now that everything else is in its proper place.

From the Dec. 28, 2003 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel By ELIZABETH ANN HULICK