The Last Big Project for Organizing Season

So, I confessed the details of this project to my sister and she burst out laughing at me.  Then she told me I was "special" and I'm not certain she meant it as a compliment, but still, on the off chance some of you are "special", I decided to share with you the last "big" thing I did this Organizing Season.

Our closet.  Exciting, isn't it?

(How is that for an introduction?  I'm hoping you'll be so disarmed by my candor that you won't laugh too hard at me.  Besides, by sharing it this way, Superman will have time to digest it before his next leave!)



Of course, this is the "after"!  Who thinks of taking a before
of their closet?

Are you an early adopter of things like technology or "time-saving" gadgets or "new, improved" old things?  I'm not.  I have to be convinced that the new widget will improve the quality of our lives.  I really think long and hard about whether "new and shiny" will actually do anything to enhance my life.  Will it just be a thrill to get something new or will it really be a help?  Will it only work because I'm paying attention to its newness or is it really an improvement? This is the line of questioning I ask myself when considering bringing new things into our home.  Still, I do adopt cool things:  We have an iPad, I have a smart phone (albeit with Virgin Mobile because I'm anti-contract), we have wireless internet, and we have laptops.  Heck, I even have a Blendtec (but it took me 18 months to decide I'd really, really use it...and I do.)




Were these really going to be better than the cheap-o tube hangers?  What
about the heavier plastic hangers that swiveled?

So, don't laugh when I tell you it took me more than a year to decide to upgrade our...hangers.  Yep, I said hangers.  You know those fuzzy hangers?  They tempted me from the get go.  No tank tops falling off the hangers?  No paper thin t-shirts sliding right off the hangers?  No slippery workout jackets needing to be zipped to stay where I put them?  Buttercup's strappy little summer dresses would actually stay put?  No misshapen cardigans that slipped but didn't fall, so now they have a weird lump?  I didn't believe it.  I held back.  Its just a hanger.   Would they even be strong enough for coats?  They look small.   How much difference could they possibly make?  Still, I continued to be frustrated by trying to keep our clothes on the hangers and looking nice.  Maybe it is because my shoulders are so broad, but my clothes were constantly falling off the hangers...it drove me crazy.    I was so tempted to get those fuzzy hangers, but I just wasn't sure.



Oh, yes!  They were much better!  (See my old hangers in the first box?)

Finally, though, I'd had enough.  I'd been pricing the hangers and really was having trouble justifying them, no matter how frustrated I was. ($5 for five hangers?  Really?!  Um, no thank you!)   Then, the stars aligned and I walked into my local Costco and saw packs of 35 hangers for $9.99.  I pulled the trigger and bought three boxes.  (I suspect strongly that my tipping point arrived when inexpensive hangers arrived at my Costco.  The correlation between the price going down and my purchasing the hangers caan't be understated!)  

See Superman's shirts?  Look how nice they look!

 I enthusiastically threw myself into the project of rehanging every item in my closet.  I touched every article of clothing in there.  Everything came out, but not everything went back in.  (Changing out your hangers is an amazing way to go through your closet.  You miss nothing!)  It was amazing...everything stayed where I put it.  I was hooked.  I went back and bought more hangers (yes, Superman, I did...I needed to do your side!) and finished the job.  And when I was done, I was happy.  It looked so, well, organized.

Can you tell I have a mom uniform?  I hate shopping, so if I like something, I buy
a few of it...coral t-shirts, grey t-shirts, white t-shirts...notice a trend?

But, here is the real test.  Its been three weeks.  Am I still happy?  Oh my gosh, yes!  I cannot believe how wonderful it is to have my clothes stay put (they stay put even when you're pulling out something next to something else and they used to both slip off -- not any more), to have all my clothes hanging at the same height, and to know everything in my closet is something I wear. 

There you have it, my last big project for Organizing Season.  It was a big "little" project, but it was so worthwhile.   Commence laughing!  (It is okay...it won't hurt my feelings.)

Organizing Season: Tackling Visual Distractions

Have you ever heard of the concept of visual distractions as it applies to the home?  You might well have heard about it if you've dealt with a child who has ADD/ADHD or if you've been involved in getting a classroom ready for 30 students.  They even talk about it in the workplace. As for me,  I had never heard the phrase before a friend mentioned it in relation to her child's ADD and her need to combat visual distraction in his homework zone.    When I heard that phrase, a lightbulb went on in my head.  Finally, an explanation for why I work so hard to keep my house organized.

Visual (n):  Seen or able to be seen by the eye.

Distraction (n.):  something that diverts attention; something that interferes with concentration or takes attention away from something else. 

So, a visual distraction is anything you see that diverts your attention away from something else.  In your home, that can be too much stuff, stuff in the wrong place, stuff that isn't finished, and even not enough stuff or not the right stuff.  Think about it.  A visual distraction is a discordant note for your eyes.  You "see" it all the time, to the point that you can be blinded to everything else.  Alternatively, you can stop "seeing" it to the point that you don't notice it at all...no matter how big and distracting it really should be.

Think of it like this: Driving down a country road, you see trees and greenery. The occasional cow or horse brings a smile to your face. You notice more...you actually see more of what you're looking at. Looking around is actually calming. Driving in the city, on the other hand, you're bombarded by billboards, street signs, speeding cars, and storefronts. You literally can't take it all in, so you start shutting it out. You deliberately "don't see" what you're looking at because it is all too much...you simply can't process it all, so you don't. Definitely not relaxing.

The same thing happens in our homes. In our hurry-up lifestyles, clutter-filled surfaces become distractions so great we don't allow ourselves to see them out of self-preservation. The flyer from the kids' school, permission slips, homework to be looked over, the newspaper, the magazines, the stack of bills, yesterday's dishes, the overflowing trashcan, the pile of clean clothes, the pile of dirty clothes, the toys on the floor, the carpets that need to be vacuumed, the dust on the shelves, the smudges on the mirror, the cluttered bathroom counters, the dirty toilets...it all feels like too much, so we stop looking. We have to in order to go about our business with any sanity. The only problem is that eventually, as we avoid dealing with the visual distraction, the space we can still "see" becomes so small, we don't fit in it.  So we head out...we shop in nice big clean stores...we eat in clean restaurants...and suddenly, are homes aren't homes anymore.  They're way stations...

Now, I'm truly not OCD and no one in my family has been diagnosed ADD/ADHD (I'm not swearing that no one suffers, though.).  Through trial and error, though, I have discovered that I simply cannot function in a house with a lot of visual distractions.   It takes very little messiness to throw me for a loop...so, I try not to let that happen.   Even more importantly, I've discovered my children function far better with orderliness...clean lines, empty surfaces, etc.  For example,  I can't watch a movie with my family if the room we're to sit in is messy.   I can't sit down to read in a room that needs attention.   I simply can't relax.  I can't sit down to study in a room that is untidy.  (Man, oh, man, was my house clean when I went back to school to finish my degree!)  I have trouble writing blog posts if my desk is messy, even if it is messy for a good cause.  (Hey, it can happen!) 

For me, a harmonious home is all about minimizing visual distractions for all of us.  I like to decorate with clean lines (no ruffles, please), simple patterns, and colors that flow.   Let me be perfectly clear:  IT IS NOT ABOUT PERFECTION.  It is all about making a home that truly works for you, not one that you work around.   The macaroni and cheese room was fun for the kids, but it got very tiresome very quickly.   Suddenly, I realized I was working around it...I wasn't enjoying it at all...time for the orange to go.  Now the room works again.   Have you ever wondered why you feel so good after tackling a big clean-up project?  Being productive feels good, but looking around and seeing everything in place actually calms your mind.  Think about it...you know I'm right.

So, what does this have to do with Organizing Season in my house this year?    Let's face it, we all have weird situations we face when attempting to organize our own homes.  Each family is unique.   In my case, 



I find myself amused to see hamster supplies next to cat supplies...I don't know why.

Part One:  The Garage - I know, it sounds weird, so let me explain.   Pulling into the garage everyday, I was always frustrated by how much disorganized clutter I had to walk through to get into the house.   We have seven mammals that need to be cared for, which means I'm always struggling to deal with pet supplies.  (I looked for "before" pictures, but, for obvious reasons, I don't have a lot of pictures of our garage...I mean, it is the garage.)  We had trash cans and recycle bins and dog food bins and cat food bins and bins for the cat litter and bins for the hamster bedding and none of the bins went together.   Some rolled, some didn't.  Some were big, some were little.  It was really inefficient, too.   In order for the kids to get to them, they were always pulled out of place and left in the way.  (Translation:  left out for me to deal with!)  With Superman overseas, I have been dealing with the garage more than ever before and it was making me crazy.   When Superman is home, I don't "see" the garage.  It is his domain.  These days, however, I'd want to head out to do a quick project and I'd be so visually distracted that I couldn't focus on my intended project that I'd spend two hours cleaning, organizing, reshuffling, whatever, in a vain attempt to make it all work and it didn't. 

Clearly labeled.

I finally conceded defeat and got rid of all the mismatched bins.  I liked our recycle bins (lids keep the animals out), so I kept those.  But I invested in new pet supply containers.  Then I labeled everything with vinyl from my Silhouette (still love that machine!) and set it all out. 

Cutter free...and definitely usable.

Now when I pull into the garage, this is what I see.  I feel happier when I walk through the door into the house because I didn't have to walk the gauntlet of "stuff I should be dealing with".  I've dealt with it...it is done...and I like it.   My solutions were simple and sustainable, even for teenagers.   Best of all, I'm pretty certain Superman will approve!

To be continued...

Part Two:  My Closet!

Organizing Season Always Involves Decluttering

The best part of Organizing Season is how the act of decluttering helps me align the real me with the "vision of me" I have.  Have you ever thought about it like that?  All that stuff we hold on to represents the vision of ourselves we have, but doesn't necessarily mesh with our reality.  We can go two ways.  We can change our reality to match our vision of ourselves or we can change our vision of ourselves to match our reality.  In my case, it seems that this time of years is all about changing my vision to match reality, which means I shed those things that just aren't "real".  Does that make sense?  Think about it for awhile.  Let it bounce around.  You hold onto stuff that you don't use because it is part of an unrealistic vision you have of yourself.  

Enough serious stuff.  You'll be thinking about that idea all day, I promise.  So, let's move on to the nitty gritty of my Organizing Season week.

Getting organized just wouldn't be complete without a hefty bout of decluttering.  Especially after the holidays, it always feels like we're surrounded with too much stuff.  From holiday decorations to layers of clothing to undone projects, it all just starts to feel like too much.  I feel weighed down by my own expectations for myself.  I just start to feel like my stuff owns me.   Do you feel that way, too? 

Fortunately for me, last week a local charity called to let me know they'd have a truck in our neighborhood Tuesday and offered to pick up anything I'd have for them.  Woot!  Now I had a deadline--just what I needed!  They're wonderful motivators.

The first thing I tackled was 13 years worth of scrapbooking materials, of which I'd used none in the last six and half years.  Yep, you read that correctly.  I have not done any scrapbooking since we moved to Eastern Washington.  Without my friends in California, I didn't enjoy doing it anymore.   Still, I held onto the materials and equipment for "someday".  Well, this year, I finally accepted that my vision of myself as a person who made amazing scrapbooks for my children was not ever going to become reality.   Paper is just not a medium I am creative working in.  (Hopefully, my children won't be scarred for life.) 



The scissors were actually dusty!

The scrapbooking stuff had to leave.  I didn't need the guilt anymore.  Three Trader Joe's bags of stuff had to leave, to be exact.  This was after I'd sent two boxes of paper to my sister last year.  Rewriting your vision of yourself takes time.   For me, it has been a process of letting go of that "ideal" vision...it takes some honesty to say to yourself, "I'm just not going to do that...ever."

Idea books, pages, etc...

Fortunately, my bff Andi loves to scrapbook, make cards, and generally create beautiful things with paper, so I gave it all to her.  (She was thrilled, I promise!  I wasn't just dumping stuff on her.)



Paper trimmer, punches, stickers, the works!

She said I had tons of good stuff, we didn't have as many duplicates as she had expected and she'll pass the books and some duplicate supplies onto other ladies who have interest.  All my unused stuff will finally get used.  That is a fabulous feeling.

Still, none of this got me any closer to stuff for the charity truck.  Next up was my fabric stash.  Yes, I've been sewing a lot (for me!) lately, but there is still a ton of stuff I will never use.  Tastes change, kids grow-up, etc.  I don't have babies...I won't use some of this fabric for anything and someone else might...but, not if I leave it in my stash.

Tastes change...

All this fabric just got added to the pile.

A huge bag of fabric leaves the house...

Pretty cool, right?  I hope people get to make wonderful stuff out of this fabric.

Three bins that were too full were culled into one bin that isn't full.

Three bins of holiday decorations was cut down to one and one of the bins ended up get donated.  Holiday decorations?  Really.  I don't know about you, but my holiday decorating changes as my household decor changes.  Things I loved when my kids were little don't seem to "fit" in my house these days.  After a few years of not using them, I realized it was time to cull the decorations.  I also got rid of a ton of gift bags.  (Hey, Tricia, some of them were yours from 12 years ago!  That is how long I held on this stuff!)

Anyone need a punching bag?

I was on a roll.  I got onto Skype and said, "Hey, Honey, may I get rid of your punching bag?"  He said to check with Valiant, so I checked with Valiant.  "Hey, Valiant, you know that punching bag you NEVER use?  May I get rid of it?"  As you can imagine, he didn't care, so the charity truck is going to be picking up a punching bag, too.  (Boxing gloves included!)  A sewing machine carrying case, curtains panels, a bowling ball, picture frames, and a cork board are just some of the things in the pile.

That is a lot of stuff that is no longer in my house!

I don't want to bore you, so I'll stop for now.  I thought you'd get a kick out of seeing just how much the charity truck is picking up in the morning.  It goes all the way up the stairs to my front door.  What do you think?   All that stuff is leaving my house for good!  How cool is that?

P.S.  Oh, do you see the big bag of hangers?  Wait til you see what we did!  Did I mention I love Organizing Season?



It might a month late, but Organzing Season has arrived in the Nagle5 household!

Typically Organizing Season coincides with the de-Santa-fication process and runs right along with the New Year.  This year, however, Organizing Season was delayed by Superman's departure, a bad case of the flu, some broken bones, and a small car accident.  Still, it arrived and I've been busy embracing all that Organizing Season entails.  Rethinking projects, rethinking belongings, rethinking processes.  The goal?  A smoothly running home, a clear mind, and a simpler flow overall.  My posts this week will be sharing the progress I've made in the past ten days or so.  I hope you find a little inspiration to tackle those niggling projects that are always right there in the back of your mind...waiting for you to get them done.

Let's get started with Superman's Christmas present.  I couldn't show them to you before the holidays and I couldn't tell you about them.  It was the most difficult secret to keep.  Why?  a)  I'm just not a good secret keeper and b) this was a fantastic secret.  Let me show you:

Before November of 2011, this was the most recent official picture of our three children together.  Notice that Buttercup still has all her baby teeth!  That would be because she was four!  Yes, I've been remiss in having pictures of the kids taken period, let alone taken together.  So, this year I decided to surprise Superman by having an updated picture of the kids taken, as well as having individual pictures of each of them taken.  (We're home schoolers, so we don't have "picture day" every year...I'm a slacker that way.)

Cute kids, aren't they? 

So, imagine his surprise when he opened this at Christmas!

Not such little kids any more, are they?  The baby in this picture is almost the same age as the big kids was in the first picture...

The kids were so touched because Superman got tears in his eyes when he opened the package...it made keeping the secret worthwhile.  Did I mention I had individual shots taken of each of the children, too?

Our beloved Prince Charming...so clearly a man now.

Our spirited Prince Valiant...growing up so quickly.

Our beautiful Princess Buttercup...a baby no more.

(To those of you who know us in real life, I couldn't even send him a copy of the Christmas card/photo you all received via snail mail...it would have spoiled the surprise.  I'm telling you, it nearly killed me!)

So, what does this all have to do with Organizing Season?  Having the pictures taken was only the beginning. I needed to get these picture framed and hung. Superman knew the surprise...I had no good reason to not finish the job, so last week I got right to itl.  I ushered in Organizing Season by getting these gorgeous photos framed and hung on the walls.  I love how they look in our bedroom...Superman just had to trust me, as he won't be home on leave for a while.   

A win-win, don't you think?

Taming the Beast

All during the holidays, my desk was the dumping ground for anything I couldn't deal with right when it came up.  "Mom, where do you want me to put this widget?"  Just put it on my desk, Honey.  "Mom, what should I do with the mail?"  Just put it on my desk, please.  Why? My desk is in the basement and I can keep the rest of the house presentable when my desk has become a beast.  Sending anything to my desk gets it out of the main level of the home and allowed me to continue to bake or cook or wrap or entertain without stopping.

 

After Christmas, however, it was time to tame the beast.  Oh, and I really mean "beast".  Look at the picture I took AFTER I'd already started to put stuff away in its proper home.  (Yes, that means the desk was worse than this before I thought to pull out my camera.) 

The problem with a messy desk (at least for me) is that it is a mirror of a messy mind.  Yes, the stuff was out of sight, but it was not out of mind...it lay there, weighing on me.  Waiting for me and taking my mental attention from other things.  Taming this desk was important for my organizing season fresh start.

Now look at my desk.  Looks good, doesn't it?  More than that, it feels good.

When my desk is in order, everything seems to fall into place with ease and my minds feels as uncluttered as the desk appears. 

Doesn't it looks good?  I'm pretty pleased with how it looks, if I do say so myself.  (Now I just need to finish painting down here!)

I Love Christmas, but I'm so ready for "Organizing Season"

No, really, I do.  I love everything about the holidays and, yet, when we're done with them, I heave a sigh of relief.  When it is all said and done, I'm ready for the chaos of the holidays to give way to the sanity of the post-Christmas calm.   I'm the lady who would take the Christmas tree down on the 26th if my family wouldn't mutiny.  Seriously...the Christmas decorations begin to disappear right after the Christmas dinner dishes are done.  With Superman away for the holidays this year, the chaos that is part and parcel of the holidays seemed magnified this year.   Don't get me wrong...it was still fun and Santa was very good to my family, but...I was ready to be done and my fingers itched to put the holiday decorations once the kids had retreated to their Christmas corners to play with their new belongings.  It turns out, though, that this year was one of my "better" years because the "de-Santa-fication" process did begin on the 26th and was finished on the 27th...I even got the tree down on the 27th!  Can you believe it?  Superman protested, but really couldn't stay my hand.  Most interesting of all?   I did it all with nary a protest from my children.  I think we were all ready to be done and get back to normal.  It is so freeing to put the stuff back in the storage boxes to come out next year.  Don't you feel so much lighter after you've reclaimed your home from the festivities?

The best part?  The "de-Santa-fication" process ushers in one of my absolute favorite times of year:  Organizing Season!!  I love Organizing Season.  I think it is no big mystery why the chaos of the holidays leads us all in to desperation as we approach reclaiming our homes and our routines and strive to improve on both.  Evidently, it is not just me!  Target, Home Depot, and the like are all advertising storage bins and organizing solutions...apparently lots of people feel the urge to organize after the holidays.

I don't buy more storage solutions, however.  I end up feeling so "light" after I've put away the Christmas decorations that I want to get rid of MORE stuff.  So I do.  During my much-needed technology break, I cleaned out my kitchen and got rid of old pantry items, and equipment I haven't used in years.  How many cookie cutters does one family need?  Anyone? (Superman, we really don't need a "Cocoa-motion"...I'm sorry.)   I went to the buffet and cleaned out the old, wrinkled paper napkins that have collected there over the past year...organized the cloth napkins and few paper plates I have and made everything in there much more deliberate and less haphazard.

Then I headed upstairs to my linen closets...old towels are on their way to the animal shelter (did you know they're desperate for towels?), old sheets are donated to thrift stores, and clothes that haven't been worn in years are gone. 

I scrubbed under the bathroom sinks and got rid of cleaning supplies that are gathering dust.  Do you do that?  buy something and end up NOT liking it, but keep it in your cupboard for some unknown reason?  If you do, bite the bullet and get rid of it all.  I got rid of lotions, hair products, and other weird stuff that was unused under my sink.  (How do I get all that stuff?)  I cleaned out my make-up drawer and got rid of tons of stuff that I haven't used and won't.  (Oh, this is so hard for me.  I love, love, love make-up.  The only problem?  I don't really wear much of it anymore.  So, why am I holding on to it all?  Weird.)

Finally, I headed to my desk/sewing area.  We went from three printers to one wireless printer that serves all of us. (I was able to give our two printers to a family with a boy away at college with no printer and the family had no printer, so both needs were met.  I'll admit I felt good about it.)   I got rid of craft supplies that I'll never use.  I organized my notions and patterns.  I cleaned out my desk and got rid of old pens and pencils and other miscellaneous office supplies.  Went through our homeschooling books - yes, the same ones I went through in September - and got rid of a bunch more...if I haven't used them by now, I'm not going to used them.  I cleaned off my magnet board.  Went through my collection of JoAnn's and Hancock ad's and made sure I only had the most current ones.  I even switched out some of my old storage boxes for new sleek ones, making the room a little calmer...we need calmer.  All that is left is the top of my desk...I'll be working on that this week.

After all, that, I felt terrific...until I read Almost Organized's post about her junk drawer.  (She's another lady who likes to reclaim her house after the holidays...we're like twins.)   She decided to join a meme hosted by Bowl of Lemons and the first task for January was to tackle the junk drawer.  The junk drawer!  I hate it, but I've been ignoring it.  It is my nemesis.   No more.  I finally cleaned out my junk drawer...I feel great!

Here is all the stuff that was in the tiny drawer (I forgot to take a picture of it inside the drawer). 

Here is all that is in the drawer now.  (Yes, I need those lighters in my kitchen...my stove doesn't light without one.)

Isn't it amazing how one little change can make you feel so much more in control of things?  I just love it when that happens!

It is Organizing Season...

I read that tag line at Jane's Apron and loved it (and told her so). The Christmas tree is down, the decorations are put away, and I am feeling light and free.

So, here it is New Year's Eve. I don't make resolutions, but the airy feel that comes from rediscovering all the space my home really has inspires me to keep going. I get our files in order, shredding the old, cleaning out drawers that have gotten disorganized with the lack of attention I've given them over the past few months. After feeling almost disconnected to my home by the change the holidays bring, I feel rooted again. I'm ready to get us all back on track, keep to our routines, and get things back to normal. Obviously, I'm not the only one, because people are writing about the same thing all over the blogosphere.

Like Jane, I signed up for Martha Stewart's Organizing Tip of the Day. (Do I think I want to be Martha Stewart? No, no, no...but I do like help staying on track.) Melissa, at the Inspired Room, posted her 4 Best Tips for Creating Order Every Day at Blissfully Domestic and I agreed with them all. Now that the holidays are over, I'll be back to my morning laundry routine, which sets the whole day on the right track. Pretty Organized Palace has 5 Quick things to organize right now to help us get started feeling light and in control as we go into 2009.

I'm ready to clean out closets, get back to sewing, and start planning our spring garden. The post-Christmas doldrums have passed and I'm ready to go.

Do you like to start fresh after the holidays? What do you do?