"Picture Yourself Organized!"

 Details By Shelly Fletcher - Organizing e-News
TopIssue: #17 June 2009
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In This Issue
PERSONAL CHALLENGES - 2009 CALENDAR - JUNE - Organizing Kids and Spouses
GOOD TIPS, READS & LEADS - Controlling Random Clutter in the Home
LEARN TO GET ORGANIZED - Learn Tips for Controlling Paper
ORGANIZING EVENTS - Summer Break from Events
Summer Greetings ,  
 
Early June is a great time to get organized.  The weather is not too hot, it's a transition time of year, and the days are long.  June will take me to Houston to help my daughter pack up for a move home.  It's also turning out to be a good time to finish the "garage project" started last fall.  (Remember the garage project?)  Which leads me to this month's topic - organizing kids and spouses.  Not an easy thing to do, even for an organizer! 
Garage Project
 
 
 
Want to read how we organized the garage and still managed to stay married?
 
You'll love this story; click here to read on... 
 
 
Shelly  

PERSONAL CHALLENGE - Get Organized in 2009
 
NEW - ORGANIZING CALENDAR FOR 2009
 
Each month I will share three things to do that will help you get organized in 2009.  You can choose to do one or more of my suggestions, or come up with your own.
 
JUNE 2009
Teaching Children (or Spouses) to be Organized
 
1.  Develop a family plan for clearing a cluttered area
  • At the beginning of summer, talk about the impact of clutter on each person in the family.  Find ways to help each other clear the clutter.  Develop a plan and plan a reward when done.
  • Evaluate how the family message center (April) is working.  Make changes if needed.
  • Landing PadCreate a "landing pad" for each family member.  As summer progresses more time is spent outdoors and not inside clearing clutter.  Designate an inside place (landing pad) where each person sets or picks up their personal items.  All misplaced items go here.
 
2.  Discuss family clutter options
  • Prepare to sell, donate or toss your unwanted clutter. 
  • Decide if you will hold a yard sale, and set a date (see July).  Set aside an area to collect items for sale.  Prepare items for sale by sorting, cleaning, and pricing.
  • Decide on what will be done with the sale proceeds. 
  • If you have things to donate or give away, keep like items together (men's, women's, children's, household, etc.)  If you itemize tax deductions, keep a record of what goes into each donation bag.  To see my donation tax deduction form, click here.
  • Be a role model: sort, purge and put away on a regular basis.
 
3.  Purge clothes for storage, donation or toss
  • As you put away seasonal clothing, select items that you can donate or toss.  Clean and repair the rest before storing in dust-free containers. 
  • Keep like things together and label the containers for easy retrieval next fall.
  • Ask children or spouse to decide what should be donated - choose to give away 10% of what you have.
 
You can print this out as a full calendar page and put it in a binder for future reference.  Go to my website for the download version:  
 
 
Picture Yourself Organized Calendar
 
Want to buy the complete version of this calendar now?  Click here to go to my store on LuLu.com to order it there.  
  

GOOD TIPS, READS & LEADS
 
The Lost and Found Basket
 
Occasionally I run across a website that has great ideas.  This tip form Debbie Kravitz of Virtually Organized is a perfect way of controlling the random stuff kids leave all over the house.  I particularly like the idea of retaining possession of lost valuables for a week.  Click here to read how to corral the clutter.

LEARN TO GET ORGANIZED
 

IKEA DayIKEA "Back to School" Day in August 
 
The Moms Like Me "Organize Your Life" day at IKEA was a huge success.  There were moms of all ages touring the store leaning about controlling papers, organizing the kitchen and craft storage from professional organizers. 
 
IKEA plans on having a back-to-school day in early August.  More on that in later issues.  
 
In the meantime, take a look at my tips for organizing papers in the home.  This special page on my website was created for the Sacramento Moms Like Me participants.
 
 
  
 
ORGANIZING EVENTS
 
Summer Break!
No scheduled seminars for June, however if you are interested in having me speak to your organization or group, contact me about available dates.
 
Shredding Services
I'm taking a break from shredding this summer....lots of traveling and not so much purging.  Watch for this service to resume in the fall. 
 
 

NEED A SPEAKER  -  for your group or conference?

 
Auburn Library NOON Program
 
Speaking at the NOON  Program - Auburn Main Library
 
If you are ready to start on an organizing project, give me a call to discuss a plan that might work for you. 
 
Call me at (530) 613-2968, or you can email me at detailsbyshelly@yahoo.com
 
Sharing ideas and creating solutions for you,
Shelly Fletcher
Details by Shelly Fletcher
 
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 GarageProjectThe Fletcher Garage Project
 
 My story of getting the husband's garage in order....and staying married!
 

WorkbenchWe started the garage project in August 2008.   We set up two lawn chairs in the garage and talked about what this space would look like when it was all organized.  The plan was written down and set aside. Then it was "too hot" to work outside.  Soon the football/basketball season rolled around, hunting season was just around the corner, we took a trip to North Carolina, and pretty soon it was "too cold" to work outside.  I did spend one nice day in the drill bit drawer looking for a project tool.  (See my October 2008 newsletter).  
 
In February my husband had knee replacement surgery and couldn't go up and down the stairs to the garage. In May our daughter made the decision to move home in June and my husband decided to retire.  Now we had to make room in the garage for her storage boxes and create a retirement "man cave".  Last week the weather was beautiful so we once again sat in two lawn chairs and talked about what this space would look like when it was all organized (didn't we do this in August?)  Then we set to work.
 
Workbench OrganizedWe started in one corner and went clockwise around the garage, sorting out the tools and tossing the junk.  At the end of two days we were amazed at how much room we now had.  The possibilities were endless!  We created work zones and stored the appropriate tools in that area. Metal shelves were set up to create a "hardware store"; a place where all the things-we-never-use-but-might-need-someday are placed.  We shop our "store" first before making another trip to Home Depot. 
 
ToolchestDrill Bits ContainedFasteners ContainedWe labeled the Craftsman tool chest to facilitate finding the appropriate tool.
 
 
The drill bits were set back into the drawers and stored in plastic food containers.  Nuts, bolts, screws and nails were sorted and contained.  There is plenty of room for our daughter's storage and the "man cave" will take evolve when the storage boxes move to a new location.
 
Organizing another person's space is tricky business (it's what I do).  Organizing your spouse's space brings on a whole other dimension.  Remember who's space it is and how they use it, work within their time frame and tolerance for change, create a goal that encourages something worth working for.  These are all good guidelines when working with your spouse or children. 
 
 
 
Lost_and_Found_BasketThe Lost and Found Basket
by Debbie Kravitz
"Virtually Organized"

One great way I have found to keep the kid's random stuff from taking over every square inch of living space is to establish a "Lost-and-Found" basket.
 
In the evening, as the kids head up stairs for the night, I ask them to "sweep" the first level of the house for stuff they have left behind (the library book on the kitchen counter, an iPod left on the couch, school supplies strewn across the kitchen table. I could go on and on, but if you have kids, you know the drill!).
 
This "sweep" gives them one last chance to be responsible for both their belongings and the neatness of our common areas.  However, if the sweep is not complete, and things are left behind, Mom does a sweep of her own!
 
All of the miscellaneous and misplaced items I find go directly to the "Lost and Found" basket, discreetly housed on the center shelf of a Family Room end table.  The basket is not TOO large, resulting in a bottomless pit of "stuff," but big enough to prove useful. 
 
Every Sunday night I remind the girls that I will be going through the Lost-and-Found basket that evening, and all of the unclaimed items will meet with their demise:   either tossed, donated, or (for more expensive items like the iPod) kept in MY POSSESSION for one additional week.  (How do you think I learned the words to all the songs on the latest Ashley Tisdale album AND the High School Musical 2 Soundtrack?!)

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