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Basements are mixed blessings. On one hand, they can provide additional living area and storage. On the other hand, they can be clutter magnets, attracting those “I don’t know where to put it” items, those unfinished projects, and those “I might need it someday” objects.

Because of the assortment of items that can be found in basements, basements can be overwhelming. This week, you are challenged to identify and complete one goal for your basement. Here are some suggestions: (Read on …)

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With the hot weather gone, now is a great time to regain control of your garage before the winter cold hits.

If you park in your garage, this may not be a difficult space to organize in a week. However, if your garage has essentially become a shed, use this week to come up with a better plan for your garage and challenge yourself to see how much you can accomplish. (If you don’t own a garage, take this week to organize the areas of you home where you store items like gardening supplies, tools, outdoor toys, camping gear, or sports equipment. Or assess your storage areas and work on the biggest problem area.)

• Tasks
  • QUICK PURGE: Set a timer for 15 minutes and do a quick purge. Remove anything from the are that is trash, can be donated, or can be relocated to another area/person.
  • CATEGORIZE: Organize your belongings into categories. Pretend your garage is a department store. Where would the item be found? In the gardening department? In the tool area? With sports equipment? Use a discerning eye. Toss or donate anything you don’t need, don’t expect to use, don’t like, or have duplicates of.
  • ASSESS STORAGE: If you have piles of belongings on the floor and nothing on the walls, invest in vertical storage. Consider sturdy shelves or peg boards. Use bins to hold like items. (See if your dollar store has plastic dishpans or shoe boxes- they work well!)
  • LABEL: Once you assign everything a home, label your bins and shelves. Labeling ensures that all the members of your household can maintain your now organized garage

Completely overwhelmed?

• Decrease the clutter over-stimulation by covering up your disorganized areas with sheets or dropcloths. Work on one area at a time.
• Enlist the help of a friend or a professional organizer. Two can get the job done faster and more efficiently!

Check out these great organizing products for garages or click here for other organizing products:

• garage organizer
  
• tool organizer
• overhead storage
• magnetic tool organizer

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We’re concluding this month by completing the finishing touches in our bedrooms. When it comes to organizing bedrooms, this is the “fun stuff”. Here are some suggestions:

1. Make your bed. Clear off the surfaces of your furniture and place the contents on your bed. Dust your furniture. Now decorate these surfaces with only the items you really like, trying minimize your knick-knacks. Donate what is left over or try to use them in another room.

2. Dedicate a small drawer or basket for dumping the contents of your pockets each day. (This is an especially great idea for men). When the drawer or basket starts to fill, it’s time to go through it!

3. Go through your jewelry. Keep only what you like. Make any necessary repairs. Consider storing your jewelry in a shallow drawer. Use jewelry organizers like this or make your own using ice cube trays and drawer dividers from the dollar store. If you’re short on drawer space, then hang it up! I love hanging my jewelry in a hanging organizer like this one.

4. Consider rearranging your furniture or adding some decorative touches such as updating photo frames, getting some accent pillows, or using some scented relaxation candles to help you enjoy your new space!

5. Finally, if you have any other special projects that you’ve been meaning to get to in any of your bedrooms, go ahead and get them started!

Don’t forget to try to complete the finishing touches on as many of your bedrooms that your time allows!

Overwhelmed by this project? Set Me Free! offers hands-on help.

Are you motivated by this mission or have a great organizing idea that works for you? Leave a comment to inspire others!

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Does your bedroom furniture look pretty—only if the drawers are closed? Or maybe when you open your drawers they look okay, but you still just can’t seem to find what you are looking for? This week we’re going to stop using our drawers to “hide” our belongings and start using them to “find” them.

Here’s the plan:

1. Start by making your bed so you have a clear surface.
2. Starting with your clothing drawers, empty one drawer at a time and sort the items into piles (i.e. pants, shirts, work-out clothes, pajamas, underwear, etc). As yourself: “Do I like this?” , “Do I wear this?” , “Do I need this?” . If the answer is “No”, it is time to say “goodbye” to the item.
3. After sorting through your clothing, ask yourself if the item has a better home than inside your dresser. Perhaps the item is seasonal and could be stored in long term storage, or the item would be better off hung up in your closet.
4. Now assess your drawer space. Place the items you use most frequently into the drawers that are the most accessible. Use awkward spaces to store less used items, such as purses.
5. Consider using drawer organizers to eliminate “digging”. Try this sock organizer or make your own by using the bottle divider insert from beer/liquor boxes. Use what you have! Grab a shoe box to hold all your pantyhose, freeing up the remainder of your drawer for other items.
6. Think outside the box. Just because you’ve kept your underwear in the same drawer for 15 years doesn’t mean that it has to stay in the same drawer. Store it in the drawer that make sense according to the size and location of the drawer. You can always temporarily label your drawers until you remember where everything goes!
7. After you finish with your clothing, move on to any junk drawers, bookcases and other storage areas in your room. Sort & purge.
8. Repeat this process in as many bedrooms in your home as your time allows.

Overwhelmed by this project? Set Me Free! offers hands-on help.

Are you motivated by this mission or have a great organizing idea that works for you? Leave a comment to inspire others!

The back to school season has had me reflecting on my college days.  As I browse all the dorm room essentials in store circulars, I’m reminded of a time when all of my prized possessions somehow fit into one car and I somehow squeezed them all into a small room, shared with a roommate who also filled the space with her prized possessions.

Sure, I had storage space at my parents where I housed the rest of my “stuff” and my seasonal clothing.  But everything I needed fit into the back of a mini-van.  These days it is a challenge to fit the kids and supplies in the mini-van for just one week at the shore.

But fitting everything into the car to go off to school was a challenge too.  The bare essentials were packed first, then each additional item had to be assessed as to whether it was “worthy” of the space it would consume.  My items were essentially assigned into “A-list” and “B-list” categories.  The end result was that I was surrounded by only things I needed and loved.

These days, keeping only the “A-list” items can be a challenge.  Having more space invites more stuff.  And without limited space you’re not forced to go through it all.  Before you know it your house is not a home, it’s a big storage unit.
When I organize my own home today, I strive to live by the principal of only surrounding myself with things I need and love.  I organize rooms first by placing the essentials in the space, and then assessing each additional item, asking “Do I love it?”.  I try to assess the feeling I have to each object.  If the item evokes negative feelings (guilt, regret, denial) I do not keep it.  Those “skinny” jeans remind me that 3 kids later, my waist has gotten bigger.  That gift from the office party reminds me of negative memories of a former boss.  A pretty picture frame from an old friend, is a reminder of an ended friendship.    They’re all gone, not making the cut.

When I look around my home, I want to only see only things that I love and treasure, and smile at the memories they trigger.  Life isn’t as carefree as my college days, but less stuff I own, the more carefree I feel.