Home Organizing Consultant Mary Wallace

Originally published in MONTANA WOMAN – July 2007

by Mary Wallace, Home Organizing Consultant

Chaos getting you down?  No time to clear the clutter?   Here are some quick easy tricks that will make a difference, along with some longer term ideas that will make you feel like you are at least halfway to the Zen garden . . .

If you find yourself cringing when you walk in the door, start by straightening up the first room you see when you come in the house.   Just a quick tidying up before you leave for the day (hang coats on hooks, line shoes up along one wall, put the mail all in one stack) will give you a brief moment of peace when you walk in at the end of the day.   Since the mere presence of plants tends to reduce anxiety, add some fresh or silk flowers to brighten up the entryway; feel the welcome in your own house!  

When you have a little more time and money, find a pretty basket to catch the incoming and outgoing mail, invest in a lidded bench so you have a place to sit and remove your shoes, as well as a place to store all the things that tend to accumulate near the front door (hats, gloves, umbrellas, schoolwork, sports equipment).   Hang a mirror that has hooks to hold your keys so they will be easy to find.

Nightime clutter may not be visible, but is sure is risky!  If you’ve ever stepped on Lego blocks in the dark, you know the wisdom of a bedtime pickup session!   What we used to do was shout out to the kids, “The BLITZ!” and set the timer for 60 seconds.  Everyone would run around like crazy trying to put away as many things as they could before going to bed.    Sometimes we had a prize for the one who picked up the most things, sometimes not.   At least this usually resulted in a clear path from everyone’s bedroom to the bathroom.   

When you have a little more time, sort the toys in the toybox.  Purge any with broken or missing pieces and store like items in tubs or baskets (all the doll clothes in one, all the Hot Wheels cars in another).   Make separate storage for art, craft, and homework supplies.  Encourage family members to use these new storage systems during the “blitz” rather than tossing everything willy-nilly into the toy box.

One day every week, take a minute to purge the leftovers and nearly empty mustard bottles from your fridge.  This will keep most of the surprise science projects at bay, and makes finding that delicious container of lasagna you saved for your lunch so much easier while trying to get out the door the next morning.  

When you have a little more time, get some of the new semi-disposable food containers that have the lids that snap together.  No more lost lids!   They also stack very easily in the cupboard and the fridge, and since they are see-through, you can find just what you are looking for.   They are pretty affordable, so you can use them a few times, and then just toss them out.

If you find that you have stacks and stacks of papers, mail, and magazines lying around, get one basket to corral it all.   The nice thing about using only one basket for all the paper, is that it makes it so much easier to look for that missing insurance card or phone bill.  Somehow, I ended up using the basket that was supposed to hold a 9x13 cake pan for my In/Out basket.   Because it is only about 3 ½” high, it forces me to clear it out when the paper gets stacked too high.   Because everyone always seems to put all the mail and notes on the kitchen table, that is where the basket resides most of the time (easier to go with the flow on this one, rather than try to train everyone to put the mail somewhere else).    When we get ready to eat dinner, we just move the whole basket and then put it back again when we are done.

When you have a little more time, clear out the basket.  Throw away all the junk mail, put the bills to pay in a safe place until payday, file any documents that you must keep, and take the magazines and catalogs to share with co-workers, rather than just tossing them out.     

Now that you’ve made all this headway, take a 60 second vacation!   Treat yourself to an in-home spa activity (facial mask, mini pedicure, etc), play a song on the piano, sip a cup of tea, hug your child, call a friend, make a wish list, write a love note.   These things are just as important (if not more important) than having an immaculate home.   You deserve it!

I always get great organizing ideas from my readers and customers!   If you have a clutter problem or organizing tip, please email it to marywallace57@bresnan.net.   If used in a future column, you will receive a certificate for free home organizing products!