I'm Not Dead Yet.

Well, it's been over a year since I last blogged.
And boy what a year it has been.

It encompassed a new job, two moves and a wedding. And if you think I didn't spend a good deal of that time organizing, you're sorely mistaken.

I am happy to relate that my office space is now (and very quickly became, the moment I inherited it) neat and clean, both dwellings to which I moved were categorized and tidy and my wedding was almost entirely perfectly planned and executed.

And I'm even happier to relate that my new husband shares my love of clean, clear and clutter-free spaces. I knew the moment he had me help him organize all of the cords behind the TV with zip ties that it was a match made in Heaven.

The dear boy even hangs up *most* of his clothes after he's done wearing them. It brings a tear to my eye.. He even humors my compulsive need to recycle plastic bags and junk mailers.
What a catch.

In other news, I'm just as obsessed with organization as ever before! (in case you didn't pick up on that small fact) And though my free time is limited, I am still determined to organize the world.

Hopefully someday I'll fulfill my ambition to become a certified professional organizer, but until that day comes, I'm content organizing my new little life: husband and all.

Sometimes people comment that I'm 'anal', a 'perfectionist' or a 'neat freak. I think they really mean 'detail oriented', 'over achiever' and 'neat enthusiast'.

Organize.com

I have had two organizational epiphanies this month.

The first was when I decided to find out what the 'Pinterest' bug was all about and became completely and utterly addicted to browsing its virtual photo boards. It wasn't long before I knew that I must create an organizational 'board' to save all of the many amazing ideas crafty people of the web were posting. (To view said board, click the 'Follow Me on Pinterest' button under my profile information and select the 'For the Love of Organization' board.)

The second was when I stumbled upon Organize.com.
This fantastically amazing site provides home organization consumer products for kitchens, closets, bath, laundry rooms, offices, dorm and garages amongst other things.

It states:

"Organize.com is a one-stop shop for all of your home organization and storage needs. The first big step to organizing your house is to do an inventory of each room. Clear out the clutter, put everything away or donate items that you don't need. Organizing your clutter will allow you to start with a clean slate. Once you do that, the organizational maintenance will be easy.

A good way to stay motivated is to start your home organizational overhaul with your master bedroom. Waking up every morning in a clean, well-organized room will put you in the right state of mind and will get you motivated to organize the rest of your house as well. Utilize the storage and organizational products on Organize.com, like our closet organizers or kitchen storage products, to continue your organizational overhaul to the remaining rooms in your house.

Don't forget to organize the garage! Once your home organization is complete it's time to move on to the garage. The garage tends to be a catch all for things that should be thrown away or given away but didn't quite make it to the proper location. Use storage racks, containers and bins to free up space in the garage for your cars and other valuables that should be stored in the garage. You can even use our closet organizers to maintain your garage's tidiness. Keep seasonal storage organized and out of the way when not in use with holiday storage containers and bins.

Creating and maintaining an organizational routine will save you time. If you stay on target and don't allow your home to return to unorganized chaos, then you can leave your weekends free for having fun and not organizing! There are many home organization and kitchen storage products available through Organize.com that can make organizing easy and fun."

I couldn't have put it better myself.

FlyLady.net

Ever heard of FlyLady?
If you're a Mormon housewife, you probably have.

Upon visiting her site, the first words you see are these:

"You can't organize clutter; you can only get rid of it! I want your home to be filled with things that make you smile. Our lives are too short to continually deal with that pink elephant in the living room." ~FlyLady

Now if that ain't wisdom, I don't know what is.

But FlyLady can offer more than just wisdom.
Her site offers help for the hopeless when it comes to personal and home organization.

Her 'basic routines' (posted under FLYing Lessons) offer a step-by-step guide for beginners. This is a perfectly practical way to motivate readers to take control of their clutter one step at a time.

Additionally, she divides the home into five 'zones' or manageable pieces which she then instructs readers to maintain on a monthly basis through an inspired emailing system. Motivation for more organization is simply a click away with FlyLady.

But I have only begun to scratch the surface of helpful hints FlyLady provides. From the '5 Minute Room Rescue' to the '27 Fling Boogie', she offers an assortment of fun and innovative ways to stay on top of your clutter.

Perhaps her greatest advice comes in the form of a strange request: "shine your sink". I'm sure you're wondering what this has to do with anything, but I've been practicing this principal for years and wholeheartedly agree with her. She says:

"Many of you can't understand why I want you to empty your sink of your dirty dishes and clean and shine it, when there is so much more to do. It is so simple. I want you to have a sense of accomplishment. You have struggled for years with a cluttered home and you are so beaten down. I just want to put a smile on your face. When you get up the next morning, your sink will greet you and a smile will come across your lovely face. I can't be there to give you a big hug, but I know how good it feels to see yourself in your kitchen sink. So each morning this is my gift to you. Even though I can't be there to pat you on the back, I want you to know that I am very proud of you. Go Shine your Sink."

I believe this concept can be applied towards any area of your home. Keeping things in a constant state of readiness is possible and, I might add, preferable.

It all comes back to my 'everything has a home' principle. Would you spend hours sorting and cleaning piles of clothing on your bedroom floor if you had simply either put them away or tossed them in the dirty hamper as soon as you were done wearing them?

Would you need to be arm deep in sudsy water, scrubbing a sink full of crusty dishes if you had instead rinsed and loaded them into the dishwasher immediately after using them? No, I say!

Maintaining a household is a continuous work in progress. Insisting on doing nothing consistently and everything sporadically will only leave you exhausted and discouraged.

So take a hint from FlyLady and get rid of the CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) in your life.

A Word on NAPO.

I'm sure many of you aren't familiar with the term 'professional organizer'. Heavens knows, I get a lot of blank stares when I mention the name.

Perhaps the easiest way to explain what a professional organizer is/does is to start at the top of the hierarchy. Ever heard of the popular TV show 'Hoarders'? It features people who obsessively collect 'things' until they are literally digging tunnels through their piles of stuff in order to access limited areas of their home. Many times, this clutter causes health issues as well as emotional and spacial problems.

Cue a professional organizer.

This being the most extreme, and probably complex, of scenarios, a professional organizer would come in to the home to both sort through the massive amounts of clutter and to help the hoarder sift through their emotional attachment to it. They help with cleanup/organization of both the home and mind.

However, professional organizing does not need to be so dramatic.
Many professional organizers choose to deal with small home or business clients in need of simple storage and/or filing solutions without becoming involved in the emotional aspects that surround the human need for 'things'. They simply contact the client, discuss their wants/needs and complete the set arrangement.

Although becoming a professional organizer does not require earning a degree, many are certified through the National Association of Professional Organizers. Surveys have also shown that professional organizers tend to hold degrees in a wide range of other fields but, for some reason or another, have decided to focus their efforts on helping the world and its inhabitants become more organized.

Believe it or not, NAPO has been around for quite some time: more than twenty years to be exact. This may come as a surprise to some, considering that the general population is in ignorance of its mere existence.

Now you are well versed in the rapidly growing field that is professional organization. Be proud. Very proud.

A Bit O' Inspiration

Upon moving out of my parent's house and into my own apartment, I discovered a new and exciting aspect of adult life: limitless access to cable TV.

And, more importantly, a wide assortment of potential channel choices. So far my favorites have been Food Network, TLC, HGTV and Style.

These days, I am completely and utterly fascinated with the Reality TV show, Clean House. So much so that I'm even willing to put up with large doses of Niecy Nash.

The show revolves around clutter-happy families who have accumulated massive piles of 'stuff' to the point of insanity in every crevice of their homes.

Enter the Clean House team.

Throughout the course of the episode, the family members are asked to remove everything from their home and keep only what is absolutely essential to their everyday living. If they haven't used the 'thing' in over a year or only hold onto it for sentimental reasons, they are bribed into letting it go in exchange for new furniture.

Eventually, a yard sale is held and the proceeds of which are doubled (up to $1,000) and applied towards the new home's interior.

So as I sit, wide-eyed, marveling at the amazing transformation every time, I can't help but wonder: why do you have to be on TV to take such initiative?

Really.

I'm issuing a little challenge.
Go home and look around. Do you like what you see?
Maybe you haven't even really noticed before, but are your 'things' taking over?

If so, have your own personal episode of 'Clean House'.
If you can't sell it, chuck it.

And when you're all done, sit down and enjoy the result of your labors with a little HGTV.

Rule Number Three.

I must once again put in a good word for the handy (and I might add CHEAP!) organizational supplies found at IKEA. They offer small storage solutions for laundry & cleaning, waste sorting, boxes & baskets, paper & media organizers, bins & bags, clothes & shoes organizers, hooks & hangers, kitchen organizers and (of course) bathroom accessories.

Now, you already know Rule Number One ('Everything Needs a Home') but what if  the 'home' you give something is a 'full-house'.

What if you have so many spices or so many pens/pencils or so many anything really that you can't easily access any of it? What if you're dutiful to return everything to its proper place but things still don't seem to be going your way organizationally?

That's where Rule Number Three comes in: Accessibility is the Key.

Many times, storage systems purchased at stores such as IKEA can offer the perfect solution. I hope my sister won't mind if I use her bathroom as the perfect example.

What you must know: my sister has four, count em', FOUR girls. And as many can relate, four girls all sharing one bathroom can equal disaster at times. Happily, my sister has it under control. She purchased three BYGEL rails for $1.99 a piece and six BYGEL containers for $.99 each. To add some variety, she also invested in two BYGEL wire baskets for $1.99 a piece.

The end product looks AMAZING.

Now, instead of piling things of top of each other and cramming hair products onto a shelf too deep to be humanly reached, everything is logically ordered for accessibility. Her girls love having their own space and the removable containers make finding the perfect hair accessory easy-peasy. She even added a fun plastic plant for a burst of color and freshness. (Excuse the poor photo quality.)



Other times, necessity is the mother of invention.

Take a look at the clever way in which she organized her daughter's flower hair clips. By tacking a fun, wide ribbon to the wall and clipping each barrette along its length, she not only created a beautiful wall decoration but an ingenious solution to the 'messy bin of hair things' that no one ever uses because it's so cluttered.

Learn to tell the difference between 'organization' and 'compilation'. Are you organizing logically to allow for easy accessibility? Or are you simply making cluttered piles?

Assess your surroundings and make them work for you.

Take it from Oprah.

I'll have you know that organization is on the mind of one of the world's most powerful women. That's right.

Oprah has announced her 'Ultimate Favorite Things' of 2010.

Coming in at 28 of 44, you will find:

Elfa Customizable Closet System from

the Container Store

Oprah says one of the most exciting dates she's ever been on was when Stedman took her to the Container Store. "I get excited by all those containers," she says.

While Stedman isn't available to take everyone to the Container Store, the Container Store can come to you!

Not only is the elfa closet system completely customizable, but the Container Store also has designers ready online, in-store or by phone to help you design the closet of your dreams.



Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?...
All my hopes and dreams combine to form the wonder that is this majestic closet. *sigh*

Refrigerator Organization

Remember how everything has a home?
Well, this little snippet of knowledge can be applied to practically every part of your dwelling, including the dreaded refrigerator.

First thing's first.
There is absolutely no reason whatsoever to have moldy food items. After all. You won't have worry about rancid food if you have taken a daily inventory of the inhabitants of your fridge.

Proper refrigeration etiquette requires constant maintenance.
This can include:

• Wiping up spills as soon as they appear.
• Throwing out leftovers after seven days.
• Getting rid of items you don't easily recognize. (Though this can be applied to that fuzzy, green Tupperware you believe may have contained cooked rotini in a former life, I am more specifically referring to those items that were purchased and never/rarely used.)
• Combining two opened containers of the same product. (No need for two ketchups people.)
• Storing similar items together.

This last step is by FAR the most important when it comes to staying organized.

Now, the clever refrigerator engineers of the world have devised a very ingenious solution to this dilemma. It's a little thing I like to call compartmentalizing.

Ever noticed how certain areas of the fridge are often labeled? I'm sure many of you were simply stupefied to learn that there is such a thing as a 'crisper' drawer or a 'dairy' shelf. Don't even get me started on the eighth wonder of the world that is the cooler door.

Beyond strange. I know.

So here's the thing. After hauling all the groceries in from the car, divide them into piles of a similar nature. Dairy with dairy. Produce with produce. Meat with meat. You get the idea.

Then, group on/in the appropriate refrigerator shelf/drawer as needed. No problem, right?

When you become a true pro, you'll start to do this without even realizing it. No joke!

And then, one day, you'll be putting the cheese away and (without even thinking) it will end up back with its dairy buddies.

I shed a glistening tear for the glory that is that moment.

It's a thing of beauty, I tell ya. A thing of beauty.

Rule Number Two.

Here's the thing.
Organization doesn't have to be all time consuming.

If you were to spend 10 minutes a day deep cleaning a particular area of your home, there would be no need for major Spring cleanings or stressful Saturdays, elbow deep in sudsy water.

So here's the second important thing to remember: KISS.

Now... little do you know, this can be interpreted two ways.
#1 is pretty self explanatory. Feel free to participate in said activity as much as you want.
#2 is more specifically the issue at hand. Keep It Simple Stupid!

You don't need to be super-mom or anal-girl to keep things under control. Follow these few simple steps and you'll be fancy-free:

1) Constantly pick up after yourself.
Messes can't pile up if you take care of them right away. Just like when you were little and your mom said, "You have to put away the blocks before you can take out the Barbies." Now, this may seem a little juvenile but, if you need to limit yourself in this way, heck, it's a place to start.

2) Make sure your SCHED-ule will allow it.
Life is all about priorities. Decide today that you want to make your home a haven from a world of chaos and clutter. Though most people don't relish mopping the floor or scrubbing the toilet, it will not get done if you do not do it! Buckle down and get to work.

3) Organize yourselves.
I don't know how to state it more simply. Straighten out. Straighten up. I'm always willing to help.

4) Make home feel like 'you'.
This can be the most self-gratifying step of all. I am telling you to go out and find objects, colors, forms, etc. that scream 'you' then incorporate them into your space. You will feel ever so happy with the house you have now transformed into a home.

Moral:
Follow these simple steps on you'll be well on your way to becoming the organized goddess that you've always known you could be.

Organizing Kitchen Utensils

The kitchen can be one of the most hazardous areas of the home if not properly organized and kitchen utensils can make or break the deal when it comes to keeping things under control.

Now, it is no secret that college students live highly economical and often times dis-organized lives. I can personally attest to the 'all-hours' schedule and resulting havoc that a young single life can emit.

So, if the average college student were to come home to garbage strewn counters, a sink overflowing with dirty dishes, three bags of garbage blocking entry to the pantry door and a veritable smorgasbord of other such clutter horrors, they'd probably think nothing of it.

I, however, would go into convulsions.

Therefore, as I present a few examples from my own apartment, please be aware that you are in the presence of one of the select few college students who do obsess over an tidy kitchen.

Exhibit A:

This turntable container was, at first, sufficient when it came to containing my kitchen utensils. But all too soon my love for cooking and propensity towards buying every imaginable tool for doing so evolved into a mass of objects that would no longer happily fit.

And thus, the dilemma.

Would I have to:
A) Teach my roommates how to pack them more efficiently into their proper place?
B) Avert my eyes and try to forget the mess entirely when entering the kitchen?
-OR-, heaven forbid,
C) Prune down my collection?

Of course, option C is just silly.
So I took a different approach.

Exhibit B:

I found these little beauties at my local Deseret Industries (commonly known as the DI to Utahns) which is a local donation based thrift store. I recognized them immediately as a product I have often seen in IKEA catalogs from time to time. I bought all five on the spot for $.75 a piece.

When I got home, I did a little research and found that the exact same pails sold for over $4.00 online. WIN.
I made a quick trip to buy the accompanying wall mounted rod for $1.50 and WAH-LAH.

Instant difference.

I absolutely LOVE the extra counter space I can now utilize. Not to mention that my kitchen utensils are pleasantly spaced along the wall for convenient placement and easy access.

I deem this an organizational success.

Rule Number One.

Everything has a home.
I repeat.
Everything MUST have a home.

Here's what I mean:
Just as you and I have homes that we return to each day, the objects we allow into our lives must also be given somewhere to 'live'.

I'll give you some quick examples:
A) Milk cartons go in the fridge.
B) Dirty clothes go in a hamper.
C) Garbage goes in the trash can.

See what I mean? Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.

Granted, just as humans move from time to time, objects may also find themselves re-located to a new home occasionally.

But by no means am I endorsing homeless, vagabond junk. Left strewn across every surface.

So here's what you need to do:
Go home, find items that are 'home'sick and then, well...

You know what to do.

Salutations

Welcome to the beginnings of my small business blog:

'Corinner-Elly: Clean, Clear & Clutter-Free'.

As I draw closer to my imminent graduation from Brigham Young University in April 2011, I have come to the conclusion that I was born to do one thing and one thing only: I will organize the world!

And the good news is: I start today!

Here I will post photos of my most recent projects while documenting my journey in the process of becoming a Professional Organizer.

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.