The Dog Days of Summer & Kids

Too Hot To Do Anything

About mid July the fun of summer has worn off.  The weather is hot, the days are long and it gets harder and harder to keep the kids entertained without spending $$.  What’s a frazzled Mom to do? 

Lucky Lunch Day – Pick a day each week and let the kids make their own lunch.  This project is especially fun for 3 to 7 year olds.  Provide several sandwich ingredients such as tortillas, rolls, bread, lunch meat, peanut butter, jelly, tuna and condiments.  Let them  be creative.  Who knows what culinary treat your little chefs might make!  The only rule is they must eat what they make.

Organize The Toys –  Organize toys by category and then place them in bins.  Bins can be placed on shelves in the closet or play area.  Make sure the bins are labeled.  Use digital photos and/or labels for each bin.   Let the kids take their own photos and make their own labels by hand, on the computer or with a label maker.  Its great fun.   Use colored bins with a specific color for each child in the family.  Della gets orange, Carson gets white and Chase gets green.  Color coded, labeled bins make toy cleanup easy and quick.

Thirsty Thursdays – each Thursday pick a new drink recipe to make at home.  Lemonade and root beer floats are sure to be a hit.  Smoothies, slushies,  milkshakes and even chocolate milk are delicious treats.  Check out the Rachel Ray Yum-o website to learn more about childhood nutrition, try out recipes and even play games.

Accountable Kids – This is a great little program to teach your children how to be accountable and responsible.  It also teaches your kids time management and organization of themselves and their possessions.  I met Traci Heaton, the Brain behind this program, at the NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers) conference three years ago.  I was so impressed with the program & Traci, I promptly bought a kit and gave it to a relative with small children.  I was amazed at how quickly it brought a calmness to the home and how much the kids loved doing the activities.  If you are looking for a way to help your kids get organized this summer, check out Accountable Kids.

I hope some of these ideas will energize your “Dog Days Of  Summer”!

4th of July Challenge

Happy 4th of July!   

In honor of our nation’s Independence Day,  plan to complete   4   organizing projects in the next  7   days.   The projects can be big or small.  They need to be something that will improve your space, add some free time to your day or just make you feel better. 

 Your challenge for the each project is to organize things or a space  that are red, white or blue.  Everything in the project doesn’t have to be one of these colors but must include at least 4-7 items that are. 

Here is an example of one of my projects. 

Cobalt Blue Glass on Window Sill

 

I love cobalt blue glass and usually have several pieces on my kitchen window sill.    Kitchen sills tend to collect dust and grime.  (Yuck!!!)  I took everything off the sill and  washed  it all in hot, soapy water.  The sill and glass are clean, shiny and even more enjoyable to see.  The best part of this project is that it took less than 10 minutes. 

 

 

  Project #1 completed and only three more to go.

 

 

 

 

 

When you finish your projects post what you did here.  The deadline for submitting posts is Sunday July 11, 2010.    I will draw a winner from  all the posts.   The prize is a copy of  “The Persimmon Hill Farm Berry Cookbook“.  This cookbook is full of delicious recipes for blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries.   If you want tempting new recipes for summer enjoyment, this is the contest to enter.

 

 

  What a way to celebrate the 4th of July, Summer and a bit more organization in your life!

Back Again!

 

 

I took a brief vacation with family and it extended itself for about a month.   Any way,  I’m back and ready for organizing and blogging.  

 

  My time away was filled with some great adventures.  I organized a kitchen with several new Rev-a-Shelf  products and then was able to cook in the kitchen for a week and fine tune the setup.  (An organizer’s dream)   I will be blogging about the products I used. 

 

 

A Trunk-load Of Donations

You may remember that in April and May I held four successful Kitchen Organizing Workshops.  As part of the workshops the participants purged their kitchens and brought the excess kitchen items to me.  I was so impressed and proud of these ladies. We were able to donate  224 pounds  of excess kitchen utensils, accessories and small appliances to the local women’s shelter, Harbor House (Committee Against Domestic Violence -CADV) .     The number of pounds donated equates to the weight of  one woman and two children.  What a great feeling to realize we are helping other women in need and losing weight at the same time (even if it is weight loss from purging our kitchens – weight loss is weight loss). 

The Backseat Is Full, Too!

    Kudos to all of you who are bravely organizing your homes or small businesses . . .  one drawer and one day at a time!

What About Those Kitchen Drawers?

Kitchen drawers just come with the kitchen.  As a preschool teacher friend of mine says “You get what you get and you don’t throw a fit“.  (I really don’t think she was talking about the kitchen but it sure does apply.)

 It doesn’t matter where you live, or how old or new your kitchen is if you didn’t design the kitchen you will have some drawer challenges.  Some drawers are too shallow, others are too wide, others are in the wrong place and most just don’t work for all the utensils/gadgets that need a home.

Recently, I decided to do some reorganizing of two drawers in my kitchen.  The drawers had divider trays and all should have been well, but it wasn’t.  The sides of each divider were too short so the items in one tray spilled over into other trays.  Utensils and gadgets were hard to find and the drawers looked very messy.  

I was sure I could do something about this pesky mess.  I emptied everything out of both drawers.  Next I sorted like items together and purged several things I no longer used or wanted.  Once I determined what should go together, I measured the items  and the drawers and came up with a plan for each drawer and its contents.

I thought I could purchase ready-made dividers and have the job done in no time.  Wrong!   None of the utensils and gadgets seemed to fit the options that were available to me locally. 

I made dividers from 1/4 inch wood boards that were 3 or 4 inches wide.  I wanted a home for each group of like items and was able to make divided compartments in each drawer to meet my needs.

 

I am very pleased with this custom arrangement.  Taller sides on the dividers ensure that utensils and gadgets remain in the proper places.  I can easily find what I want when I want it.  Best of all it is such a pleasure to open these two orderly drawers.

If your kitchen drawers are driving you crazy, try purging unwanted items and sorting utensils and gadgets into groups by use.  Make or purchase dividers.  Tall spring-loaded dividers are available online and can be placed in various configurations to make the most of those pesky kitchen drawers. 

Organize your kitchen drawers now so that . . .  

Cluttered places (kitchen drawers) become Unique Spaces where you can find what you need and the drawers open easily.

The First Kitchen Organizing Workshop

This past Tuesday was the first in a series of kitchen organizing workshops at Cucina Fresca in downtown Elko.  Cucina Fresca is one fine kitchen store.  If you can’t visit the store in person, check out the website.

The workshop was an enjoyable one!   The evening was filled with lots of questions, lots of laughter,  lots of great stories and solid organizing information.

 We learned how to zone our kitchens.  If you haven’t heard of  “zoning”  it is the process of determining specific areas in the kitchen where you do specific activities.  Examples of kitchen zones are the cooking zone, the food storage zone, the food prep zone, the clean-up zone.  Generally, there are 4-5 zones but you can have as many zones as meet your needs.   The secret to zones is to keep all the things you need for an activity in the same area.  For example, the cooking zone should be near the stove with pots, pans and cooking utensils stored in the same area.  This enables you to cook without searching for what you need.  It also saves time and reduces irritation.  I am all for anything that saves time and makes the kitchen a welcoming place.

Next we learned about the organizing process and how to do each step of the process.

The evening ended with several give-away items.  Participants left with new motivation to organize at least one drawer or cabinet in their own kitchens.

The workshop was a great success.  I hope you will join us next Tuesday for Workshop #2 on organizing the pantry and cabinets.

What About The Kitchen?

 

If you’re like me, the kitchen is the “command center and gathering place” in your home.  It’s the place where I cook, keep the family organized, meal plan, read the mail, enjoy a glass of wine with my guy and visit with family and friends.  No matter the event, everyone always ends up in the kitchen.  I love it that way! 

Sometimes though, the kitchen runs amuck.  The cabinets are a mess.  Drawers are overloaded.  I have tons of herbs and spices but none of what I need for dinner.  When it reaches that point, the kitchen drives me crazy and I really don’t want to be there (for any reason).  After too many  “let’s have a sandwich or let’s pick up something  for dinner” options I just have to whip my kitchen into shape. 

Does your kitchen make you crazy?  Would you like some new ideas about kitchen organizing?  Join us at Cucina Fresca in downtown Elko for four free kitchen organizing  workshops.  We’ll be talking about the organizing process and how to do it, zoning your kitchen, new organizing products, and much,much more.

 During the last class we will collect excess kitchen items to be donated to the Committee Against Domestic Violence (CADV).  If you have items you would like to donate but are unable to attend the workshops, call Unique Spaces Organizing @ 744-2503 and I will gladly pick them up.

The workshops begin Tuesday, April 13 from 6:30 – 7:30 at Cucina Fresca on Idaho St. in downtown Elko.  Each Tuesday in April and the first week in May we’ll talk about a different aspect of kitchen organizing.  Join us for one or all of the workshops.  Sign up for our drawings at each class.

For more information contact UniquesSpacesOrganizing@gmail.com or call    744-2503. 

 Hope to see you there!

Too Much Stuff

 

As odd as it may sound,  people develop relationships with their stuff.

  Your favorite  Aunty Sue gave you that worn out coffee maker 10 years ago and it reminds you of her. You bought those shoes  in the 90’s and loved them.  Now you never wear them but you keep them because they cost a lot.  It doesn’t  matter what the stuff is, it takes up space and creates clutter.  The more stuff we keep and the more stuff we add to the collection the less we can enjoy.   Stuff weighs on our minds and stuff  literally weighs on the space we live in.  Stuff is in our way and can hold us back.  But . . . it is ours and we love our stuff.  We think we have good reasons for keeping it.

Getting rid of stuff is scary and hard to do.  Lots of people want to gain control of their spaces but don’t know where to begin.   I often get calls from prospective clients who need help but are afraid I will make them throw everything away.  They think this is what professional organizers do.

Major Misconception #1

I absolutely will not force you to throw anything away.  I will lead you through the process of deciding what to keep and what to discard.  As we work together you will learn to apply the decision-making process yourself.  It will make it easier for you to let go of things you no longer need.  The decision-making process will also help you decide what to do with discarded items.  Some items can be sold, some can be donated or recycled and some just need to be trashed.  YOU make the decision.

As a professional organizer, my job is to help you learn how to change your space.  By changing  your space you reduce stress,  increase productivity and enjoy the people and things in your life.