Organizing Tips

Guest Blogger Deborah Adams of Dry Creek Farm

The other day I had something happen that reminded me how we can be "visually blind' to our surroundings. My daughter asked me where the mini blender was, so I looked where I thought it was and didn’t see it, and then looked in several other cabinets I don’t use a lot. When I found it, it was in a cabinet I am in all the time and it was sitting right out front.

This same situation can happen with clutter. We get so used to seeing it we don’t see it.
I remember years ago when my children were growing up, one day I looked at a flower arrangement on a table – really looked at it.

Ever wished that a strong autumn wind would blow all your clutter away? Let's take a few minutes and see what we can learn from falling leaves. It will help you change your thinking.
 
Trees shed leaves. Is it time for you to shed your clutter? Winter is a time for trees to rest. Would you rest better with reduced items in your space?

When the leaves are shed the lovely graceful shapes of the branches stand out. Would your favorite items stand out if the clutter surrounding them was reduced? Leaves become mulch that helps protect plant roots.

I just saw a picture of a gardening organizer in Martha Stewart’s magazine and it reminded me of a built-in closet organizer. Now don’t get me wrong – it’s great to put in systems for closets and gardening tools, but let’s get real.

The gardening tools in the magazine were brand new; mine look like they have been left out in the mud for a few weeks.  The picture showed one rake and just a couple of other tools. It looked lovely but….it showed just a fraction of the tools we gardeners own. As for the organized closet pictures, let’s get real there too.

Here is an easy and fun project that is quick, inexpensive. People tell me this is so fun and that it motivates them to do other projects.

1. Dump the contents of your junk drawer onto a cleared space covered with
newspaper.
2. Assemble all the different size zippy bags you have - snack, sandwich, quart, etc.
3. Pick out all the items from the drawer that need to be returned to other areas of the house.  Then return them.
4. Sort items you want to stay in the junk drawer and put them in the appropriate size clear zippy bag.
5.