The B Spot

In just a few weeks, school will be done for the summer! Along with big changes to your daily routine, you can expect to see a lot of artwork and other projects your child has created over the past few months.

These are some of the products for dealing with the constant stream of masterpieces coming into the house throughout the school year:

From Staples: Clear hanging file box

You can sort the art by kid, by school grade, or by quarters of the year. This is great for things that are not bigger than a legal sized piece of paper.

From Canadian Tire: Omni art boxes

These are great because they can accommodate bigger pieces.

From Solutions : Art portfolio

This is a very nice way to highlight the pieces that are most important to you and your kid.

What do you do with your kids’ artwork? Do you keep everything, or just select some favourites?

Is your child’s bedroom cluttered with crayons and other assorted art supplies? Why not turn that spare bedroom or empty space in your basement into a craft room?

You can’t really beat IKEA when it comes to basic bookcases. The classic “Billy” bookcases are perfect for books, but when you’re storing other things, like arts and crafts supplies, you might want a bit more depth than the 11 inches the Billy gives you. In this case, the Besta bookcase is a great alternative because it is 15 and 3/4 inches deep and also fully adjustable, which is key for organizing. People will often buy a unit with very limited options in terms of where you can put the shelves, only to find that they can’t make it work perfectly for their needs. Billys and Bestas both have holes up and down the full length of the unit so you can custom-make almost any size of shelf you need.

Especially when it comes to kids and their craft and play areas, cheap and cheerful is the way to go. Vika Amon tables and legs from Ikea are great. They’re cheap, with lots of depths and lengths to choose from, different legs, and adjustable heights.

A simple and usable way to set up any craft room is with desks along one side of the room for the crafting to be done at, and bookcases housing supplies along the other side. Clear jars are best to hold smaller art supplies like pencil crayons, markers, pens, pencils, and erasers. Put up a big magnetic bulletin board at one end of the room, and mount a bunch of picture ledges along the walls so kids can display all of their favourite art pieces without having to frame or hang them on the wall. (Don’t miss my next post, when I’ll talk about some other ways to store your children’s artwork!)

As well having as a tidier home, I’m sure you won’t miss hearing that question:

“Mom, where’s my ___________?”

What’s your favourite way to keep arts and craft supplies under control?

Becky, an artist I’m working with, paints all the time. When I first saw the “art corner” where she did her painting, she had baskets and boxes and containers all over the place, each filled randomly with her different art supplies. Getting her stuff into efficient, usable shape was all about gathering, sorting, categorizing, and containing.

We gathered all of Becky’s scattered brushes, tubes of paint, and tools, and put like with like. We then organized them accordingly in a really funky and colourful drawer unit.

The tools that she uses most often went in the top drawer.

Becky has all kinds of brushes: thin, thick, angled… We sorted and labelled these so that they’re easy to find when she’s in the middle of creating a new piece.

A Billy bookcase from Ikea was perfect to store her tubes of paint.

We sorted the tubes of paint by colour, and put them in plastic bins that fit nicely on the Billy. We made sure to use all square containers that are stackable and very space efficient. This works better than trying to fit lots of different shapes and sizes of containers together.

Are you a creative person? I’d love to hear about your biggest challenge to getting organized!

I’m working with an artist, Becky, who needed to get her papers in order. She is what I call a “piler” not a “filer” (most people are). This means that she likes to have things out in plain view in order to remember to deal with them. Becky needs everything visible so that it’s really clear, as soon as she comes into her office with a piece of paper, where it belongs. She has a lot of different interests and many things on the go at the same time, so her organizational system needs to be easy and intuitive.

What we needed to do was take Becky’s horizontal piles and turn them vertical. To achieve this, we set up magazine holders on shelves in her office. Each magazine holder was designated for one of the following categories: To Pay, To File, To Read (time-sensitive as well as general interest), To Submit (e.g. reimbursement for health expenses),  Current Travel (anything related to the next trip she would be taking), and To Do (includes To Call, To Email, To Mail, etc.).

Whether you have a broad To Do file or a magazine holder, even if you’ve broken it down into categories, it’s often very helpful to also have a notebook that holds a running list of the things you need to do. Keep track of “To Do” items as they come in, and write them chronologically in your notebook. The first word you write should always be the action itself (e.g. Call, Email, Research) followed by the details (… Mom to say happy birthday,  … Julie for cake recipe, … flights to Mexico). That way you can simply glance at your list, run your finger down the margin, and see that you have X number of calls, or emails, or whatever else. You can quickly estimate the time needed to do various groups of tasks, and decide when best to fit them into your life.

Come back next week for more news about my organizing work with Becky. In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you!

How do you stay on top of your To Do’s?

Please check out this 5 part daily blog post series about one writer’s experience of working with a Professional Organizer (Spot On).

I’d love to hear what you think.  What was your experience like working with an organizer (if you have)?  Do you have similar clutter challenges?

If you’re a busy family -  working parents, kids, toys, stuff, no time…well, you’re not alone.

Want to make paper pile-up, missed events, and time wasted searching for things part of your past? Follow my tips for organizing your kitchen hub and you’ll get a lot more than that!

1. Set yourself up an Info Zone.

Outfit it with the following: A telephone, a recycle bin, a paper shredder, a magnetic board for notices, a chalk board to write notes to family members, and small office supplies like pens, sticky notes, small tape measure, and “bulldog” paper clips. Maybe you need a basket to drop keys or small things that mysteriously appear in your pockets. Personalize it as needed.

2. Get yourself a “More time Mom’s” Wall Calendar.

The big visuals help both you and the kids remember and record important dates. Stickers help kids learn to stay connected to their own schedules. The magnetic shopping list is genius, and the pocket in the back will hold all your tickets, notices, any short term papers, and more. Learn more about it, and other products to assist busy families here: http://www.moretimemoms.ca

3. Create a simple system to manage papers.

Get a 3 tiered wall file,

a unit of small drawers that fit on a desktop,

or even some simple magazine holders.

This will act as the first holding tank for papers on their way somewhere else, such as a large file box, office, special drawer, etc. Label them: To Pay, To File, School Related, Meal Ideas, and Hold File. The Hold file is for time sensitive things like voting registration, tickets to an event, and the like.

Small changes make a big difference. Take some time this week and organize your Kitchen Hub. You’ll begin to find what you need when you need it, keep track and maintain control of papers and information, and never misplace tickets or important dates again. Oh, and did I mention sanity returning?

Perhaps you think you need a bigger kitchen because your cabinets are bursting at the seams?  Nothing a few simple organizing products won’t fix…

To utilize your cupboard space better, you can get extra shelves cut at any home improvement store. Spread your dishes around and give everything the space it needs, so you don’t have to move a pile of bowls out of the way to get to your plates.

or try shelf risers…

For easy access to condiments and other non-perishable items, install a turntable or “Lazy Susan”

For canned foods, shelf steps are a great way to see what you have.

I’d love to hear from you.  Please share your comments if you find these tips helpful.

My client, Sarah, had piles and piles of plastic containers on two shelves of a cabinet in her kitchen. She could never find the right size of container that she needed, or the lid that matched the bottom she wanted to use.  Sound familiar?

The first step to getting this mess under control was to take everything out of the cabinet. Lids and bottoms were matched, and the rest was discarded. A quick check in Sarah’s freezer and fridge ensured that everything was accounted for. We separated the containers that were not used often and put them in a big plastic bin in a cupboard. This left room in her current space to reflect what she was using daily and weekly.

By lowering one shelf in the cupboard, we were able to make room for an additional shelf in the middle which wasperfect for long, thin containers and lids. On the bottom shelf, we placed the containers that she used the most. The top shelf, which was easily reachable after we lowered it, was reserved for larger and slightly less frequently used containers. A clear plastic bin from Canadian Tire was the perfect thing to house loose lids.

Tips

• Lock & Lock is a great brand to use. They have a collection of glass containers, which are more health-conscious and durable than plastic. They have airtight snap lids and are safe to go in the microwave, so you can heat up food right in the container without dirtying an extra dish.
•  Stop saving things like yogurt containers to reuse! Since they’re not clear, you can’t see what you have stored in them, and when you glance in the fridge, it’s hard to remember that it’s not yogurt in there, but some other kind of leftover. It gets forgotten about and goes bad before you can eat it.
•  Square and rectangle shaped containers are more space efficient in the cupboard, fridge, and freezer than round containers.

I’d love to hear from you. How do you keep your plastic containers organized?

If you can relate to the following organizing dilemmas…

Ask your significant other for a gift certificate from Spot On…

1. Your rooms lack purpose, don’t function properly and frustrate you.

2. Being disorganized is costing you time and money.

3. You avoid entertaining due to embarrassing clutter or chaos, or, feel smothered by “stuff.”

4. You’re tired of thinking about the problem and want to be living with the solution!

Use your gift certificate for one of these packages…

The Closet Makeover –

In 3 hours we can: organize shelves, maximize space, create visibility and accessibility. Plus, we’ll develop an easy to maintain system. Problems solved, beautifully.

OR

The Office ‘n’ Desk De-stress –

You’ll be amazed by what we do in 3 hours! We’ll sort, purge, file, and set up easy-to-maintain systems. Problems solved, efficiently.

OR

Please, just help me –

We can come in and get you started on your way to organizing any space in the house.

Any one of the above 3 hour packages, normally priced at $225, may be purchased for only $195.  Offer expires soon so tell your loved one to call today!

Spot On Organizing transforms cluttered spaces of busy families and professionals into functioning, organized and maintainable spaces, and we offer gift certificates for all budgets. Do you know someone who could benefit from one of these services?

Most people have a wide assortment of electronics and all the ‘stuff’ that goes with them. And then there’s all the packaging!  It’s a concern to remember which cable goes with which device, or where to find that warranty when your item breaks down. People usually keep the box that their new device came in because it has all the other stuff in it that they need: adaptors, extra cables, manuals, warranties, etc. But what’s really taking up the most space is the box and all the packaging.

If you think there’s a chance that you might return your new electronic device, keep the box for a few months. Once you’ve been using your device for a while and you’re comfortable with keeping it, take everything out of the box that you need to keep (other than manuals and warranties) and put it into a clear Ziploc baggie. Do this for each device and its accessories. To contain all of the bags, I recommend this box from IKEA (they come in different colours and look great on an open shelf)

or a clear bin from Canadian Tire that we reference a lot on this blog.

People often start systems for organizing their manuals and warranties that are hard to maintain. For example, I often see them put in a binder with plastic page inserts.  This can become a hassle as the binder quickly gets heavy. Sometimes people will have a few hanging files in with bills and other paperwork, but this also gets too bulky. I suggest using magazine boxes for the easiest access. Divide them into categories; most common are: Electronics (e.g. computer, cell phone, camera, tv), Small Kitchen Appliances and Large Household Appliances.

Being organized is mainly about retrieval. When you’re scrambling to figure out how to use your new iPod, you don’t want to have to sift through a million other manuals to get the information you need. Having them stored in easily accessible, properly labelled boxes means you don’t even have to think about it. And be sure to review your manuals and warranties once a year. Electronics change so often, you don’t want to be holding onto manuals for things you no longer have.