We are a few weeks into the new year. It’s a great time for fresh starts. I encourage my clients to begin the year by getting their financial papers in order.
I usually get groans as a response to this suggestion.
I have good news. Contrary to popular opinion, the job doesn’t have to be hard or boring. In fact, the task can be quite simple. Just think of how amazing it would feel to have everything you need at your fingertips to prepare your income tax returns this spring—well before Tax Day!
The landscaping project began two summers ago. My project plan was complete including a scaled drawing. We took advantage of a great Memorial Day sale and bought thirty-two landscape timbers at half price.
Last summer, I cringed every time I pulled into my driveway. My failure to complete the project had me feeling frustrated.
My view when I pulled into the driveway was disheartening. I could see the black landscape fabric spread over the area to the right of my front porch. Twenty or so large creek stones scattered about were holding the material in place. I put the fabric there to keep the weeds from taking over the bare soil while I worked on the area to the left of the porch.
We had the holly tree stump ground down but it only grazed the surface of the massive root system.
The left side had stalled.
We had cut down a forty-year-old American Holly tree and we had the stump ground out. That was part of the plan.
I didn’t realize the invasiveness of the holly tree’s root system. That root was a beast. Continue reading →
I have a confession. I am not an early Christmas shopper. When people learn that I am a Professional Organizer, they assume that I have an organized system for Christmas shopping. They also think I have all my decorating, shopping, and gift wrapping done before Thanksgiving.
I do have a system, but I rarely do anything related to Christmas until early December. In fact, sometimes I even wait until December 14th to do my shopping. I kick into hyper-drive, get organized and get it done.
I haven’t always used a system. In the past, I got caught up in the spirit of the season and blew my budget. It happened year after year. Continue reading →
I spent my adolescence and teen years in a 1950’s ranch style home. My husband and I have owned a 1940’s bungalow, a 1960’s ranch and currently live in a 1970’s bi-level home.
All these homes had one thing in common.
The closets contained only a single shelf and rod that stretched along the back wall.
That was it. A shelf and a rod.
The shelves were about six feet from the floor. A few homes built in the 1960’s and 1970’s had small walk-in closets. These walk-ins usually had a shelf and a rod along two side walls.
A rod positioned sixty-eight to seventy-two inches from the floor was and still is the optimal height for dresses and overcoats. Today, our needs are a lot different. We have a more complicated array of garments to store. There are short tops, jackets, skirts and pants in every length.
Hanging these clothes on that single rod results in wasted space below the clothes.
Pete, the delivery man called. He was on his way to deliver my new stove. I opened the bottom drawer to my old stove and began taking out the contents. I removed the pot and pan lids and piled them on the adjacent counter. There were eight of them. I put the two sauté pans and the two heavy iron skillets next to them. I took out the stack of mixing bowls and placed them on another counter. Last to come out of the drawer were two loaf pans and several round cake and pie pans.
The drawer was empty, and the contents now cluttered my kitchen counters. How did all this stuff fit in that one drawer?
Pete arrived and began the process by removing my sixteen-year-old white stove with the lopsided coil elements. Then he brought in my shiny new stainless steel stove with the ceramic top. Pete was in and out in fifteen minutes. I was excited!
I opened the stove drawer and saw that the actual drawer was tiny. Continue reading →