Clutter can happen anywhere in your home, especially when you are dealing with dirty clothes. In an article written by Arianne Cohen in the current issue (February 17, 2010) of Women’s Day I share some of my favoriate products for organizing. Along with my colleagues Barry Izsak, Heidi Karpa, and Lorie Marrero, we discuss products for keeping clutter at bay throughout the home.
In the interview I suggested using a three compartment hamper in the laundry room. This is certainly not a new organizing item, but it is often overlooked when setting up a home. Hampers can help to manage clothes while waiting to go to the washer. Pre-sorting laundry by whites, colors, towels etc. makes laundry time much more efficient.
Another useful item, when there is wall space, is the Beadboard Drying Rack with Hanger Rail available from Ballard Designs. Hand washed sedicates will dry quicker on this rack and when not in use the dowels close against the wall.
Remember organizing tools and products do not get you organized, but are intended to be an aide in the process. It is the actions we make that keep us organized.
Never buy items without knowing if their function looks like something that will work for you. Be sure there is room for the items before they are purchased. Containers will not empty themselves. Finally, use items that will also make your space a place where you want to work.
Since organizing my first closet, I have always encouraged using uniform hangers. Using the same style of hanger allows your wardrobe to hang at the same height. Once clothes are sorted by ”like with like” it is much easier to find the outfit you need each morning.
But you may be reluctant to make the hanger change because you do not want to have to re-hang the clean clothes upon returning from the cleaners. Ask if they would use your hangers instead of the wire ones. More and more I like to use the Huggable Hangers from Joy Mangano. They are super thin, attractive, and the flocking keeps items from slipping off the hanger.
Many dry cleaners would be happy to save the cost of wire hangers and the ultra thin ones are easy for them to use. Just offer to take the same amount of hangers into your cleaners with your dirty clothes. If your dry cleaner is not able to accomodate, then try to return the wire hangers as you re-hang your clothes. This will allow them to recycle, which is always a good thing to do.
Remember, it is Get Organized Month. So see where clutter is keeping you from getting organized and tackle it one project at a time.
It’s January and that means it is Get Organized Month. To celebrate, Los Angeles is playing host to the 5th annual Los Angeles Organizing Awards on January 30th. Professional organizers from around the country, and beyond, are heading to the historic Raleigh Studios for the Red Carpet event featuring host Kim Coles, presenters Peter Walsh, President Laura Leist of the National Association of Professional organizers (NAPO), Lorie Marreo of The Clutter Diet blog, Barry Izsak, and many other celebrities of the organizing industry will be on hand. Dorothy Brenninger and Standolyn Robertson of the hit A&E show HOARDERS will accept the Special Recognition Award for this new and enlightening program.
As one of the creators of this event I am also on the program. Get It Together LA! is nominated for Best Closet Design Firm for the 4th year in a row.
The lights, cameras, people, songs, food and laughs make this evening an event for not just professional organizers but also those who love to stay organized. See who – and what products – will be recognized for being the best in the business. To see all the finalist, click here.
The event is sponsored by Avery and presented by the Los Angeles Chapter of NAPO. Ticket information can be found at www.napola.org.
While being thankful for family and friends, enjoying yams and stuffing and making the pumpkin pie disappear on Thanksgiving day, get a jump on the next holiday. Before everyone leaves the table make shopping a little more organized by creating a fun activity for your guests.
Create a 5.5″ x 8.5″ printed sheets with a few questions for everyone to complete while you have the family together.
What size shirt do you wear?
Who is your favorite designer?
What is your favorite musical group?
What is your favorite charity? (should your family make donations instead of gifts)
Be creative. Include questions you want answered. You might even make a game of letting everyone try and guess who belongs to each answer. But you keep the cards and use the information to prepare your shopping list before you head to The Grove or Beverly Hills. Download a Gift Tracker straight to your phone or Blackberry to keep the information with you while you shop.
Organized shopping is no different from organizing any other part of your life. With a plan in place you can be more efficient and have more fun. It will also help to keep you from just giving gifts that quickly turn into clutter for those you love.
Thanksgiving is around the corner. It is time to think about what tasty recipes will be served to family and friends. Thanks to a client I discovered that social networking is now in the kitchen and making this process so easy.
If you have mastered Facebook and love to cook you have to check out www.KeyIngredient.com. Registration is free and you can organize your recipes for private use, share with only family and friends, or open up to the world-wide web. It only takes a minute to register and then start entering your favorite meals.
The program even creates shopping lists from the recipes you plan to cook. When you search for recipes others have shared, there is even a place for comments to be posted that could save the trouble of cooking a mediocre recipe.
While this program is free, a Digital Recipe Reader is available from Neiman Marcus. This hand-held device will keep your kitchen green and truly make your recipes paperless. Of course if you have a computer in the kitchen; even better.
Check this out and when your guests leave and ask for the recipe, just share your Key Ingredient screen name.
The Los Angeles Organizing Expo is the only expo in Los Angeles dedicated to the productivity industry happens this Monday, September 21. The fifth annual NAPO-LA event will showcase time saving products, organizing solutions, tools and services held at the Olympic Collection in West Los Angeles from 5:30-8:30 pm.
We invite you to come and visit our booth at the expo which will showcase our closet, office and garage design services. We will also share information on our Residential Inventory and Home Procedures Manual, Clutter Control and Relocation Services.
Before the Expo at 4 pm…
Organziing secrets will be revealed at the annual “Ask the Organizer” Panel, which will precede The Organizing Expo. The 90 minute interactive discussion is open tot the public and will feature accomplished professional organizers from NAPO-LA’s Golden Circle. These are experts in the field of personal productivity, office systems, relocations, storage design, special needs training, media and coaching.
This year’s panel will feature Chris McKenry of Get It Together LA!, Dolores Kaytes, of Highly Organized, Donna McMillan of McMillan & Company, and Barbara Ricketts , aka The Mess Doctor. The Panel will be facilitated by Lynne Gilberg of Lynne Gilberg Organizing.
For Ask the Organizer Panel and Los Angeles Organizing Expo ticket information visit www.napola.org.
How organized were you as the new school year was approaching? When you were getting ready for the new school year did you think about the principles of organization?
Besides learning geography, mathmatices and other subjects to prepare your children for life, don’t forget to give these future doctors, politicians, policemen and and even professional organizers the tools needed for filing and finding their school work. Start out by making organizing seem fun by asking your kids if they would like to have more time with their favorite activities. Begin by organizing toys, sports equipments, even electronic games. As items are reviewed help your kids make decisions what is not used and just in the way. Explaining all the time that once these obstacles are out of the way, it will take less time to find what is wanted allowing more time for play.
Now you can help them go from papers stuffed into a backpack to notebooks with categories that make sense to your students. Once one area is mastered, it will be easy to keep other areas organzied. School lockers, tests, assignments, special projects and even packed lunches have best results when they are organzied.
When you go shopping for “back to school” let the students make lists of needed items before heading to the store. There are always find great tools at The Container Store. But remember, if purchases are really not needed – and end up not being used - they will add to your clutter.
Make this year the first year of a productive lifetime where goals are achieved for your students.
Several thousand poured onto the Paramount Studio back lot last Saturday for the Concern Foundation’s annual Block Party. This year’s Block Party honored one of LA’s top interior designers Donna Livingston. Donna Livingston Design was establish in 1980 and her spectacular projects are found around the world. She is on the list of “Top 100 Interior Designers” named by Architectural Digest and is a supporter of the American Cancer Society. Cancer Research is a cause dear to her heart.
Also honored were Mary Moebius, M.D. a Child and Adult Psychiatrist in private practice in Tarzana since 1997 and Susan Inwood, CIMA a Senior Investment Management Consultant with Smith Barney.
The Concern Foundation has raised over $41 million dollars to fund cancer research since 1968. Only 5% of funding goes toward administrative cost which means 95% of funds go directly toward cancer research.
We all have been, or will be, effected by cancer. My sister-in-law has survived breast cancer, but unfortunately I lost my brother this past year to bladder cancer. If you have not known someone with this horrible disease, chances are you will. Even if you missed the 2009 Block Party, you can still contribute to this worthy organization. Thank you 2009 honorees for raising awareness and funding to help win the battle against cancer.
It’s summer and vacation time. On a recent business trip to Philadelphia, I enjoyed a day to myself sight seeing the historic area of the city. The week before I was working in the picturesque beach community of Newport Beach in California featuring scenic views reminiscent of the Italian coast. Now I was back in time at Elfreth’s Alley. This neighborhood has the distinction of being the oldest residential community in our nation. The homes have been occupied since the early 18th century.
As someone who appreciates colonial architecture, loves history, and is a professional organizer I can’t help but apprecite how our ancestors lived 250 years ago. Then beauty was appreciated along with simplicity. Walk-in closets, let alone most any closets, were not even in these homes. It’s a good thing Costco was not around in 1776.
A few organizing tips for your next business/pleasure trip:
Plan your time off.
Research the city’s website before the trip.
Keep travels to a limited area.
Walk and take in the city.
During lunch ask the wait staff what is not to be missed in the area.
Don’t forget to use a Travel Checklist to keep from forgetting power chargers, reservation information, and other essential needs. For a complimentary checklist from Get It Together LA!click here and write Travel Checklist in the subject line.
This weekend I enjoyed going to the movies and seeing Star Trek. It seems others thought it would be a good place to send text messages and check e-mails. Even the week before the person next to me was continually using his Blackberry during the first act of a play.
During the ”Time Management at the Age of Speed” session at the NAPO Conference in Orlando last month, Harlod Taylor shared that the fast devours the slow. Think about it, we have more information to manage than ever before. Not so long ago, we became overwhelmed by the fax machine. Now we are averaging over 190 message a day because of the phone, email, Facebook, Twitter and more.
Need to See Time?
Time is essential to staying organized. Do you find it is difficult to see time as it passes each hour? Are you constantly running in circles to meet deadlines?
Visit TimeTimer.com and check out their products available to actually show time as it passes. This especially helpful to those with ADD.
If we don’t respond to an inquiry quickly we stand the chance of loosing an opportunity. But how is clutter effecting your schedule by multitasking throughout the day? As the saying goes, “stop and smell the roses”. The same can be said for enjoying the movie or texting your friends. Don’t dilute your activies and productivity by not focusing on one project at a time.
Check out our latest “O-Tips” for more information to make your life easy.
Chris McKenry started Get It Togehter LA! with the desire to help people overcome their clutter and benefit from a more organized life. This blog fulfills this mission by providing information on techniques, products and events that will help keep you organized.
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TO BE ORGANIZED
BY CHRIS McKENRY
Getting organized does not have to be a laborious task. Whether you are too busy, too embarrassed, or just uncertain it is really possible Chris McKenry and his team will guide you through the process.
Get It Together LA! is the place to turn to for clutter control, managing your move, and custom closet and garage design. Turn to the same organizing firm Los Angeles’ most successful clientele trust. Get It Together LA! provides unique solutions in a confidential manner.
Clutter can happen anywhere in your home, especially when you are dealing with dirty clothes. In an article written by Arianne Cohen in the current issue (February 17, 2010) of Women’s Day I share some of my favoriate products for organizing. Along with my colleagues Barry Izsak, Heidi Karpa, and Lorie Marrero, we discuss products for keeping clutter at bay throughout the home.
Thanksgiving is around the corner. It is time to think about what tasty recipes will be served to family and friends. Thanks to a client I discovered that social networking is now in the kitchen and making this process so easy.
The Los Angeles Organizing Expo is the only expo in Los Angeles dedicated to the productivity industry happens this Monday, September 21. The fifth annual 
The Concern Foundation 
