Organizing Products I Use - Under-the-Sink Drawers

  
I had so much fun maximizing the space in our new home! One product that has been especially efficient is a set of under-the-sink drawers for my bathroom. Our cabinets are tall and the space under the sink would have been wasted without some organizing help.

I found the perfect solution: the Bronze Mini Stackable Cabinet Organizer from Seville Classics. I bought four, two for each cabinet under our double sinks. I measured under both sinks, but didn't realize that the plumbing was placed in a slightly different place under my husband's sink - a little more forward from the wall, making it impossible for the drawers to fit depthwise. My mistake! So disappointed, but I found some other organizing solutions for under his sink which make him happy.

I knew it was going to be a very tight fit under my sink. In fact, for the last step of building the drawers, I had to twist them diagonally, and insert them into the space before adding the top shelf and inserting the drawers. But they fit!

The drawers are adjustable so you can create heights that work for the products you use. I chose one drawer for the things I use frequently - skin and hair products.

Another drawer contains first aid supplies and over-the-counter meds. My blow drier rests on one of the shelves, and so on. Plastic liners come with the unit so small things don't fall through the wires.

So what to do with the other two shelves? They didn't fit under the guest bathroom sink or the kitchen sink. But there was a perfect spot in my pantry - a little corner between the steel shelves and the wall where I could place the drawers at a diagonal.

I stacked the units (there's a connector included to make them sturdy), and store potatoes, onions and garlic in one large drawer, snacks in the other drawers, and large plastic bowls on top. I'm so pleased to be able to use that small space so efficiently!

I can't wait to show you some of the other products I'm using in my new house to get the most out of my storage space!

More on organizing products:
A No-Cost Organizing Solution for Your Pantry
Entry Closet Door Organizer
Repurposing My Shoe Organizers in the Pantry

Organizing Products I Use - Steel Shelving

     
We moved over the weekend, downsizing from 2200 square feet to 1550 square feet in what we are calling our retirement cottage. So I am trying to maximize every square inch of storage space! We are excited to live efficiently and simply in our new home.

We lost a lot of garage space, which we are mourning! It's a tight squeeze to get both our cars into our garage, but there are 18 inches between the wall and the garage door, which allows for some steel storage shelves along the walls where they don't interfere with the opening of car doors.

With the expense of a move, we didn't really want to spend the money on an expensive garage organizing system. So this was our solution.

I told you about these steel shelves from Lowe's in a previous blog post. They are 48 w x 74 h x 18 d with adjustable shelves and must be put together. They come in other sizes as well. The units we bought cost about $70 each and come in black or silver.

Here they are in operation, holding seasonal items. We have chosen clear storage boxes to contain those things we know we are going to keep for a long time but don't use often. The containers are less than 18 inches wide so two of them fit on each shelf lengthwise without sticking out more than the 18-inch clearance.

Each shelf holds up to 350 pounds, so I can get a lot of mileage out of these shelves! We have four shelving units in our garage to house keepsakes, seasonal decorations, etc.

My husband cut down another one of these shelving units to fit into the closet in our laundry room, turning it into a pantry. This created an amazing space to store food, appliances and cookware. The appliances (bread maker, food processor, slow cooker, and waffle iron) are on the floor , and the food is organized according to categories on the upper shelves.

This unit allows me to see everything and reach everything easily without having to create stack-upon-stack storage. I placed mesh shelf lining on the wire shelves so things don't fall through the wires.

These five shelving units were set up before moving day, and as we brought things over during the week, we had a place to put them! They expanded our storage greatly while using only 18 inches of depth. And they're economical and strong. We had used some cheaper but sturdy-looking plastic shelving in our other garage, but the shelves started sagging over time. Springing for the steel shelving was definitely worth it to us.

More on organizing products:
Organize Toys Using a Wire Garden Hanger
A No-Cost Organizing Solution for Your Pantry
Repurposing My Shoe Organizers in the Pantry

Organizing for a Move - What to Move First

 
We close today on our new house! We are so excited! We have both cars packed and will go directly to the house after closing.

We thought very carefully what we wanted to move first. We are planning to move our furniture and big stuff next Saturday, a week away. We decided to pay an extra month's rent so we could move gradually. I realize not everyone has that luxury, but if you can do it, it takes a lot of stress out of moving day. We will be able to place the large items and won't be faced with stacks and stacks of boxes to unpack.

So what are we going to move first? Items that will help us get organized:

- Shelves for the garage. We purchased 48 x 18 x 74 steel shelves that will line one wall of our garage. One will go in the front of the garage for tools, etc. One will in the laundry room closet to create a pantry. We found these at Lowe's on sale last week, saving us $50! Each shelf holds up to 350 pounds and is adjustable. We felt like this was an inexpensive and relatively easy way to create garage storage. When we start bringing our boxes over, we'll already have a place for those things that will live in the garage.

- Shelf and cupboard organizers and expanders. As you can imagine, I have all kinds of organizing units that expand storage capacity in kitchen cabinets, under the kitchen and bathroom sinks and that hang on the wall. (I'll do a blog post or two on these - I got some new ones to maximize our storage in our little retirement cottage and I LOVE them!.) By setting these up first, we'll only have to unpack once because they'll be in place when we put away dishes, toiletries, and other items.

- Shower rods and shower curtains. Since our house is new, we didn't have shower rods in our bathrooms. It will be nice to have the shower ready so we can use it the first day we actually move in, without a lot of hassle.

- Tools. To put all these things together, we'll need screwdrivers, drills, and more. One of our shelving units will need to be cut down with a hack saw to fit into our pantry closet.

- Miscellaneous essentials - disposable cups/plates/silverware, paper towels and toilet paper, and some food so we don't have to stop unpacking to go get food. I've doubled a couple of recipes the last two days and will take those over for easy meals.

Once we get these organizational items in place, we'll be ready to start bringing over boxes to unpack! The process should go smoothly with all this prep already done. Hopefully, we'll have all the small stuff unpacked and put away by next Saturday. Can't wait!

More on organizing for a move:
Getting Organized for a Move - Measure, Measure, Measure!
Ruthless Closet Purging - Getting Organized for a Move ... Or Not
Three Steps to Downsizing to a Smaller Residence

Getting Organized for a Move - Measure, Measure, Measure!

As you may remember, my husband and I bought a house a couple of weeks ago. While waiting for closing, we are organizing ourselves so our move goes smoothly. A key to making this happen is to measure, measure, measure.

- We initially measured the rooms so we could determine what would fit in our new house. With those measurements at hand, we have been able to mentally place our furniture in each room. We didn't have to do it this time, but in the past, we have made floor plans on graph paper and scale models of furniture on graph paper. It's a lot easier to move graph-paper furniture than the real stuff! And sometimes you come up with configurations you would never have discovered otherwise.

- We measured windows to see if our current curtains and window treatments will work.

- We measured the garage.   

• There are 18 inches between the garage door and the wall - just enough room to put in shelves to store some of our seasonal items.
 
• There are 4 feet between the door from the garage into the house and the door to the water heater closet. We hope to find a bench to house shoes and to sit on while taking off and putting on shoes.
 
• To complete our little mud room area, there are 19 inches from the other side of the door to the house and the garage wall where we hope to put up hooks to hang coats.
  
• On the other side of the water heater closet, there are 5 feet, where we hope to put in a workbench for my husband's tools.

- We measured the closet in the laundry room off the kitchen, which we plan to turn into a pantry. By knowing the dimensions of that closet, we were able to choose storage options that fit perfectly!

- We measured under the sinks so we can improve storage there.

By measuring, we can plan ahead and purchase now some of the items we will need - like those shelves for the garage and pantry. When we get the keys to our house, we'll be able to put several things into place to streamline our move. Can't wait!

More on organizing for a move:
Ruthless Closet Purging - Getting Organized for a Move ... Or Not
Organized Home Buying - Know What You Want
Getting Organized for a Move - Clearing Out Your Kids' Stuff

Organizinge Your Garage Sale

    

It's getting to be garage sale time again! According to a recent Ebay, Inc. survey, the average household has $3000 worth of clutter! Now that the weather is turning nice, you may want to cash in on that clutter with a garage sale or selling on Ebay.

From personal experience, unless you have some furniture or large items, it may not be worth your time to have a garage sale. Take a tax deduction instead, and donate it to your local charity.

If you are up for a garage sale, start collecting clutter! Put an ad in the paper, listing any special items that may draw buyers. Make sure to register your garage sale if your local officials require it. Your local newspaper ad section usually has the info you need to register.

Put up signs on busy intersections near your house. You can find signs already on a stand at your local Home Depot. You just fill in the pertinent details. Make sure you take them down afterward.

If you have large items or lots of stuff, arrange with a local charity to stop by the afternoon of your sale to take your unsold items off your hands.

Make it easy for your potential buyers to see your stuff. If they can see it as they are driving by, they are more likely to stop. Use card tables and other raised surfaces for display rather than placing things on the ground.

Arrange items attractively to entice buyers. My mom even puts jewelry on the hanger with an outfit she's trying to sell, with shoes below.

Group like-priced items together. Have a $1 table, a $3 table, etc. This eliminates having to put stickers/prices on each item. Make a list for yourself of items on each table. Sadly, people will switch stickers or lie about the price. This will give you a reference point should this happen or should things get placed back on the wrong table.

Display jewelry on plastic mesh canvas you get at the craft store. It's easily seen and less likely to be stolen. For pierced earrings, attach the backs through the holes in the mesh. Use twist ties to attach bracelets or necklaces.

Have your garage sale items organized so all you have to do is set it up in the morning. Be prepared for diehard garage salers to arrive early. Be prepared to haggle. Make sure you have plenty of change and plastic bags.

After your sale, make a list of all the items that didn't sell and immediately load it into your car and take it to a charity if you didn't arrange for it to be picked up. Don't let it go back into your house!

More on disposing of clutter:
Where to Donate Business Clothing for Job Interviews
Three  Steps to Decluttering
Three  Steps to Downsizing to a Smaller Residence
 

Following My Own Organizing Advice - Getting My House in Order

  
Yesterday, my husband and I spent the holiday organizing our tax information. It was not too taxing (haha), as my husband had kept up with the filing of receipts. Aren’t I blessed?
 
It was a logical time to sort through our fire-proof safe and condense our important papers, too, as we usually keep our current year’s tax info in the safe. We also have a file for each of us which holds our birth certificates, degrees, Social Security cards, passports, and other information we would not want to lose.

We have a file of important documents for each of our children and for each set of parents. Another file holds our will and marriage license. And I have a file for important documents relating to my business – trademarks, licenses, certificates, etc.

We also copied pertinent credit cards, insurance cards, driver’s licenses, and other cards in our wallets. We each lined our cards on our copier and copied front and back, and placed those copies in each of our files. So now, if our wallets get lost or stolen, we have a copy of each card. A good time to declutter that wallet, too, and get rid of outdated cards.

Even though we had organized our important documents before, we found some items that could be removed, and some that had been removed, used, and needed to be returned. It was helpful just to look over what we had and know where it was.

So if we need to evacuate quickly, we can scoop up those files and know we have the most important information in our hands. We’ve also given our children the code to our safe in the event they need to get to our important data.

Next on my list: putting my password list in my file.

Can your family members find your important information easily? Would you be able to evacuate quickly if necessary? If not, take a little time to consolidate your important documents. It gives such peace of mind!

More on important documents:
Getting Your Affairs in Order
National Preparedness Month – Emergency Kit #8 – Emergency Documents
Get Your House in Order – A Great Wintertime Project

5 Reasons to Declutter Before You List Your Home for Sale

Are you thinking about selling your house this spring? Start now to declutter so you're ready to list when the time comes. Why? Here are some reasons from RealtyPin.

"If you think you can go through and get rid of all that clutter when it comes time to pack up and move out of your home, think again.  Before you list your home for sale, you've got to make de-cluttering a priority.

Here's why:

1.  You need to show off your home's natural beauty

Your house has its own character, personality, and beautiful features.  If you want to sell your home sooner rather than later, the home selling experts at Realtypin.com can help. You have to make sure that potential buyers get to see all of them.

If, for example, you've got an awesome wooden fireplace in your living room that really adds a unique character to the entire house, show it off!  But if you've got a ton of family pictures sitting on the mantle or a ton of knick-knacks around it, potential buyers are going to be distracted -- and that's the last thing you want!

2.  Clutter makes your home look smaller

If your master bedroom has random stuff shoved into every nook and cranny, it's going to create a major optical illusion.  By covering up all of that floor and wall space, you're making the room look a whole lot smaller than it really is -- and that's a big problem.

Remember, American homebuyers don't have as much money as they did a few years ago.  In fact, recent studies show that the average American has lost 40% of his net worth since the recession began.  As a result, many homebuyers are trying to do more with less.  Instead of buying that giant (expensive) house, they're looking at more affordable (smaller) options.  As a result, they want to make the most out of every single inch.

Bottom line -- you're doing your home a real disservice if you make it look smaller than it really is.  In the end, you'll wind up with a lot of people passing on it!

3.  People want to see storage space

As excited as potential buyers might be about your great backyard, your updated master bathroom, or your gourmet kitchen, they also want to know that your home offers a ton of space for all their stuff.  Prepare for them to dig around in closets, in your basement, in your garage, and in your attic.

Unfortunately, if all those places are jammed full of stuff, potential buyers may not be able to tell how much storage space your home really has to offer.  If they think there's any possibility they're going to be cramped if they move in, they're never going to buy.

4.  You may not even see it -- but potential buyers will

If you've had that pile of shoes and umbrellas sitting by your front door for the past five years, you probably don't even notice them anymore.  However, everyone who walks in to tour your house will!  Something as minor as a cluttered foyer can make a poor first impression.  And once potential buyers have even a remotely bad feeling about your home, it's tough to get them back!

5.  Clutter makes the house yours -- not theirs

Remember, your goal is to make potential buyers feel like they can call your house "home".  But if you've got clutter all over the place -- like magazines, personal trinkets, and even messy computer or TV wires -- it makes the home feel distinctly yours.  Potential buyers will feel like they're walking through your personal space, instead of envisioning themselves living there."

More on preparing your home for sale:
Three  Steps to Downsizing to a Smaller Residence
Bev Shares Downsizing Tips with "Smart Moves" Columnist Ellen James Martin
Want to Sell Your House? Get Organized Now!

Managing Paper, Part 1

I gave a seminar over the weekend on Decluttering and Managing Paper, and promised I'd write a blog post on managing paper for those who weren't able to attend. The decluttering part of the seminar can be found in my Three Steps to Decluttering book (see below). Since there is quite a bit of material, I'll break it up into two blog posts.

Paper multiplies faster than rabbits, doesn't it? If we're not intentional about how we manage paper, it can quickly inundate our homes. So let's look at some ways to control our paper clutter:

Mail

Mail is just so much clutter! While you are walking back from the mailbox, sort your mail: 

 - Separate out the junk mail and immediately toss it into a recycling box. I keep a paper recycling container in my garage so the junk mail doesn't even need to enter my house. 
 - Shred what needs to be shredded. 
- Place your bills in the place where you keep unpaid bills. 
- Place other mail that needs attention in your area for action items. 
- And file or place in a "To Be Filed" container those pieces that must be filed. 

Deal with mail the day you receive it so it doesn't develop into a large stack. It takes a few minutes, but it's so less daunting than a big pile of mail. Have you heard the expression "touch it only once?" If you touch each paper that comes into your house or office only once, you are eliminating deferred decisions, lost bills, and clutter.

An ideal situation would be to have your shredder and recycling containers near where you put your bills and action items, and your file cabinet. I've only had this ideal situation once in recent years, so do the best you can with what you have. The key: don't let your mail pile up!

Reduce the Paper Coming and/or Staying in your Home or Office

If we can prevent paper from coming into our homes and offices, we don't have to deal with it! Here are a few suggestions for eliminating the avalanche: 

Whenever possible, do your bill-paying and banking online, reducing time and paper clutter. Once you have paid your bills, it is not necessary to keep those bills if they are not needed for taxes. Make sure you have a list of your account numbers in case you have issues. For example, if your electricity goes out, you'll need to know your account number when you call to report the outage. 

When you receive a new catalog or magazine, recycle or give away the old one. If you haven't read the old one by now, you probably won't. 

Unsubscribe to magazines or newspapers you don’t have time to read. 

If there is an article you want to keep, tear it out and slip it into a page protector in a binder rather than keep an entire magazine. 

Ask to be removed from mailing lists, and don't sign up for contests to win a new car or something similar. When you sign up for a contest, you are placing yourself on a mailing list that will be sold. 

If you are inundated with junk mail, the following websites can help reduce your unwanted mail:  

Catalog Choice allows you to choose the catalogs you want and don't want to receive.  

Yellow Pages Goes Green allows you to opt out of receiving phone books at your door.  

Opt Out Prescreen allows you to opt out of receiving credit card and insurance offers. 

 Lifelock not only prevents you from receiving unwanted offers and mail, but notifies you if someone is trying to steal your identify. There is a fee for this service. 

What Documents to Keep

Once you have reconciled your ATM, debit and credit card receipts, you don't need to keep them. Shred them. 

Car or real estate receipts - keep records of improvements and repairs for seven years after it's sold. 

Monthly credit card, banking statements, paid bills - save anything that is tax-deductible for seven years. 

 IRS Documents - retain annual returns forever. Discard supporting papers after seven years. 

Pay stubs - shred when you have reconciled them with your W-2 (once a year). 

I hope you are feeling leaner already! It's a big job to deal with paper as it comes into our homes and offices. But it's even bigger job if we let it pile up! 

More on the decluttering part of my seminar:
Three Steps to Decluttering (print and ebook) - the print book is half-price during January
Three Steps to Decluttering (Kindle)
Declutter Any Room in Three Weeks
 

Efficient and Clothes-Lean

    
For some reason, I'm in the mood to clean out my closet. Maybe it's because I've come to the point of having enough clothes I really like. That creates a glaring contrast to those clothes I have in my closet that I don't really like or like how they look on me. That keep hanging in my closet unworn.

So why am I keeping the latter? Good question! 

I want my closet to house only my "feel fabulous" clothes. As a result, I'm removing those that don't fit this category. Even if they are in good shape. Even if they fit. Even if I've only worn them a few times. Painful, huh?

But what good is it to keep them? It just makes it harder to get dressed in the morning because I have to weed through my unfavorites to find my favorites. 

I've started making a pile of giveaways/donations - I love it! 

If there are some pieces of clothing you can't part with or wear only once or twice a year, put them in another closet or in a storage container or in a hard-to-get part of your closet. Don't let them take up valuable real estate in the most usable part of your closet! 

Then, when you get dressed in the morning, you have only fabulous clothing to choose from! Start your fall feeling fabulous and clothing-lean! 

More on being clothes-lean and efficient: 

Another Way to Streamline Your Morning Routine

Vinegar - 10 Ways to Save Your Clothes!

Three Steps to Organizing Your Closet (Kindle)

 

 

Declutter As If You Were Staging Your House

       
I found the following article by Pat Jeffries to be inspiring. How fun to pretend you're putting your house on the market and stage it accordingly! See what you think: 

"When you're preparing to put a house or condo on the market, you can find a slew of advice on how to make your home look its best for potential buyers. Most of the recommendations can be boiled down into a single word: Declutter. The idea is not just to make the home seem more spacious and inviting -- though streamlining certainly has that effect -- but also to clear out all the distractions and off-putting elements so that home shoppers can more easily picture themselves and their own possessions there.

Often, when a house is ready for sale, the owners realize it feels more beautiful and spacious than it's felt  for years. In fact, at least one couple in that situation (according to their home stager's account at MercuryNews.com) decided to pull their house off the market, just because it now looked so much more appealing.

 'When the job was done, they couldn't believe it was the same home they had been in for 20 years,' Toni Berry writes. 'They liked it so much that they backed out of the deal on the new place and decided to stay put.'

This suggests that one good way to approach decluttering is to look at your home as if you're staging it for sale. True, you'll want to keep it looking more personal than if it were really for sale, and there's a sharp line between serene and sterile (though any two of us may disagree on where that line runs). Still, when dealing with stuff, a change of perspective can help. And when you've finished staging, you can breathe a big sigh of relief that you're not really moving after all."
 
More on staging:

Tips for Staging Your Home for Sale

Realtor: Key to Selling Your Home

Three Steps to Decluttering (print or Kindle)

Interviewed for an Article in More Living Magazine - Boomers and Downsizing

        
Just finished being interviewed on the subject of Boomers downsizing their homes and schedules. Look for the article by Sandy Smith in a new magazine for Boomers, More Living Magazine, which is launching in September. Sandy's article on downsizing will be in the November issue. The above link takes you to their Facebook page.

Three Steps to Downsizing to a Smaller Residence

3 Tips to Staying Motivated While Downsizing or Decluttering

You Can't Downsize Memories

Reduce Your Carbon Footprint with Snapgoods

   
Do you find that you need something a couple of times a year, but don't really want to buy it and have it clutter up your home? 

Or do you only use something a few times a year and would like to earn a little extra money by lending it out?

Snapgoods helps us make the world a little greener by allowing people to lend or borrow goods. You can browse ads. You can create your own ad. You can place a want ad if you're looking for something specific and don't see it on other ads. 

Makes sense to me! A creative way to solve our clutter problem.

Watch their video and look over the frequently asked questions to learn more. 

Thanks Peter Shankman at HARO (Help a Reporter Out) for the tip on Snapgoods!


More on decluttering/downsizing:
Three Steps to Decluttering (on Kindle)
Three Steps to Decluttering
Three Steps to Downsizing to a Smaller Residence (on Kindle)
Three Steps to Downsizing to a Smaller Residence

Some of My Favorite Organizing Products - The Epson 1500 Scanner

      
We are moving to Montana! We have felt for several months that it was time to move on from being houseparents for teenage girls. So we decided to move near our daughter and son-in-law who live in Bozeman, MT. 

The day after we made our decision, they told us they were expecting our first grandchild! Icing on the cake. Our other daughter who will be relocating to Kazakhstan in the spring, will finally have all her family in one place when she is back in the States.

I will be continuing my online and organizing businesses plus I'll do some coaching as well. My husband has a couple of job possibilities. And we have found a lovely home. So things are falling into place. As you can imagine we have been crazy busy getting ready!

In light of our move, we have been downsizing our files, something we have been wanting to do for a long time. The Epson Workforce GT-1500 Document Scanner has made it so simple!

You can load a stack of documents onto the tray and it does the rest! We have thrown away boxes and boxes of files. The only downside I see is that you cannot edit the documents once you scan them. Maybe it would be a possibility with sophisticated software, but I don't know. 

But for our purposes, it is perfect! At the risk of sounding like I am being paid by Epson to promote their scanner (I'm not), here are the features they list:

• Achieve superior clarity and detail with remarkable 1200 x 2400 dpi resolution
• Take on any project with easy, one-touch scanning to PDF, email and more
• Enjoy greater productivity with scans up to 20 ppm
• Quickly scan stacks of documents with the high-capacity Automatic Document Feeder — holds up to 40 pages at one time, for quick and efficient scanning
• Organize scanned documents with the easy-to-use document management software included
• Scan originals in a variety of sizes — from 5.9 x 5.9 to 8.5 x 14
• Enjoy more efficient operation with exclusive ReadyScan LED technology — no warmup time and fast scanning speeds
• Rest easy with earth-friendly LED technology — no mercury included and lower power consumption. 

We bought ours directly from Epson on sale for about $249. We're saving much more, though, since movers charge by the pound. And paper weighs a lot! We also have the satisfaction of lightening our possessions. Plus our files are on our computers when we need them. I'd say our Epson scanner is one of the best purchases we have made lately.

 

More on downsizing:

Three Steps to Downsizing to a Smaller Residence

Three Steps to Becoming a Downsizing Professional

You Can't Downsize Memories

3 Tips to Staying Motivated While Downsizing or Decluttering

        
Today we took the first load of possessions belonging to our recent high school graduate over to her new place. We measured her room, planned where furniture would go, and unpacked what we brought. We'll continue to make trips each day until she is moved in. Now for today's topic:

In speaking with a client today, we discussed motivation. My suggestions: 

- Start in an area in which you want to work. Go with your urges! If you have the urge to declutter your pantry, go with that - motivation is a key to your success.

- Start where you can make quick progress: a drawer, a closet, a shelf. Your progress will motivate you to tackle another spot.

- Save paper, photos and such for last. This is the slowest, most tedious aspect of decluttering. If you start with paper, you'll easily become bogged down. If possible, do spurts of paper decluttering while watching a movie, on the phone, or riding in the car on a trip. 


More on motivation:

Clutter Statistics - Motivation for Spring Cleaning

Five Ways to Prevent Procrastination from Zapping Your Energy and Productivity

Organizing Drawers

Bev Shares Downsizing Tips with "Smart Moves" Columnist Ellen James Martin

        

"Smart Moves" columnist Ellen James Martin wrote "Tips on Moving to a Much Smaller Habitat." I'm honored to be used as a resource for her column. Here's a copy:

It's not only empty nesters who are selling large homes and buying smaller domains. Many younger people facing reduced income and higher expenses are trimming living space to reduce costs.

"People are frightened economically so they're cutting down, often voluntarily. There's a major trend toward minimization," says Beverly Coggins, author of "Three Steps to Downsizing to a Smaller Residence."

Even some who can afford to live big are downscaling their living space to simplify their lives and focus on other priorities, says Sid Davis, a real estate broker and author of "A Survival Guide to Selling a Home."

Davis tells how his son recently downsized from a detached house with 1,800-square-feet of living space and a large plot of land to a 1,300-square-foot condo-townhouse with no yard. His motivation for moving wasn't money. He simply wanted more time for friends and hobbies.

Though he'd lived in the larger house for only three years before putting it on the market, Davis' son had to cull through many accumulations, including tools and excess furniture, before moving. 

Indeed, those moving to a living space with much less square footage and storage capacity must make tough choices. In many cases they must decide among items they truly want to keep but can't accommodate in the new space, like mementos from family vacations and overseas trips.

"When you're going to a smaller house, you must decide which things have the most meaning for you," says Coggins, who runs her own professional organizing company.

A professional organizer since 1995, she says she's learned it's best for those downsizing to break the work into chunks rather than to attempt marathon sessions.

Here are several tips for those planning to move to a smaller domain: 

Free yourself of extra furniture early in your transition.

For most people, one major step toward downsizing involves dispensing with large pieces of furniture. Beyond precious antiques and family heirlooms, many find this process relatively easy because they don't have sentimental attachments to most furniture.

Davis suggests one way to clear space and furniture quickly is to put it up for sale. He tells how, using classified ads in local newspapers, his son quickly dispensed with several oversized pieces that wouldn't have worked in his townhouse.

If you have valuable antiques to sell, however, you'll probably want to find a reputable dealer. But more routine items of furniture as well as household belongings can be effectively sold through an informal sale.

"People are surprised at how much money they can make through a local garage sale," says Davis, who recommends that downsizers work with neighbors to attract more interest to their event.

Avoid storage unit costs by eliminating superfluous items.

Many downsizers succumb to the temptation to place their belongings in a storage unit before they move. But Coggins strongly advises against this course if you can avoid it.

"Storage units are expensive. And for most people, they're just an excuse to postpone making decisions on stuff they need to eliminate," she says.

When working with downsizers, Coggins encourages them to dispense with many items, including clothing that's too small or large, especially if they haven't used it for a year or longer. The same applies to many other household items.

She says many people feel especially anxious about letting go of things given to them as gifts from relatives or close friends. But she says such guilt feelings are needless.

But while you may not be able to take everything you love to your new, smaller place, Coggins suggests you take photos of the treasured items, like a grand piano passed down in the family. These can be framed and hung up in your new domain.

Consider using pickup services offered by charitable groups.

Many downsizers find it easier to let go of extra belongings if they know they'll go to good use. That's why Coggins and other professional organizers often advocate contacting charitable organizations interested in collecting serviceable items.

Very often charity groups will pick up items from your home, a convenient way to free yourself of clutter. Also, with a pickup appointment, you'll have a definite deadline for your work, which can serve as a motivating factor.

The Salvation Army, for example, offers pickup services in many areas. To learn more or schedule a pickup, visit the organization's website, www.salvationarmyusa.org.

Seek to stay oriented to the positives in your future.

Nowadays the reality is that many are downsizing because they have to cut expenses. Yet many who must move to a smaller home find that doing so has its favorable points, including less financial stress.

Coggins also notes another benefit of downsizing: With fewer home upkeep demands, you'll have more time to focus on the people most important to you.

"When they downsize, many people realize more fully that it's relationships, not stuff, that brings happiness," she says.

More on downsizing:
Three Steps to Downsizing to a Smaller Residence

You Can't Downsize Memories

Downsizing - Factors to Consider when Choosing a New Residence

Portable Storage Units

        
Are you moving, and want to use portable storage units (like Pods)? Or just need an easy storage option? You have a lot of options:
 
Pods
 
1800packrat   

Units Portable Storage 

 ABF 

U-Haul 

SmartBoxUSA 

Portable Storage Units


More on moving: 

Short-Term and Long-Term Moving

Finding Charities that Will Pick Up Your Clutter

Moving Tips 

Simplifying Holiday Decorations

   
Over the weekend I got caught up on some organizing projects for myself. One that has been bothering me is holiday decorations - not Christmas, but holidays since then. I try to change centerpieces and placemats each month to fit with holidays or themes. 

I consolidated winter and spring decorating items into one large plastic container - snowflakes for January, Valentine's, St. Patrick's Day, and Easter. Since I reorganized it, I put Easter on the bottom, since I'll need that later than the others. I donated everything but the things I really love.

We will not be foster parents forever, and by downsizing and simplifying a little at a time, it will be a little easier when we move on. We have no plans to move, but moving is such a big job, anything we can do now will help!

I stack my placemats in the order of when I'll use them. I'm using Spring placemats now. So Flag Day/July 4th are now on top of the stack, then watermelons, then sunshine placemats, etc. When I get ready to use them, I just need to pick the ones off the top. 

Changing the theme every month is as much for me as it is for the girls - it's an easy way for me to be creative, and it creates an pleasant atmosphere for the girls. Most of them don't come from environments where there is much beauty. And beauty is therapeutic, and I need all the therapy I can get!! LOL!

I'm in a constant mode of simplifying, reducing, and downsizing. A little at a time is bearable!


More on downsizing:

You Can't Downsize Memories

The Advantages of Downsizing

Three Steps to Downsizing to a Smaller Residence

Short-Term and Long-Term Moving

     
Sometimes our moves are not nice and neat and involve some interim moves. This is true for one of our daughters.

 As I mentioned yesterday, we spent the weekend with one of our daughters who will be moving to Kazakhstan next year. In the meantime, she'll take a four-month trip over to Kazakhstan and return for training for several months in a different state.

We helped her pack up her house, packing for short-term and long-term. We divided her stuff into 
- what she is going to use before her trip and take with her this summer
- what she is going to store here permanently
- what she may want to take with her to Kazakhstan when she goes permanently.

She numbered every container and listed the enclosed items on a spread sheet so she can locate what she needs when she needs it. It took a little extra time to do this, but it will save time in the future. We also tried to pack like things together as much as possible.  

If you have such a move looming, take the extra time to catalog your belongings. Then if you need to find a particular item in the future, you won't have to go through all your containers to find it.


More on moving:

Moving Tips

1-2-3...Get Organized: The Advantages of Downsizing 

Helping Your Kids Prepare for a Move

 

You Can't Downsize Memories

    
When my parents-in-law were downsizing to a retirement community several years ago, people kept asking if it was hard giving up the home they had lived in for 40 years. 

My father-in-law had a great response: even if they had to get rid of some "things," the memories will remain. Isn't that a great outlook? We can treasure all the memories created in our homes - moving doesn't take those away.

If downsizing requires parting with beloved possessions, take pictures or give them to special people so you can visit them occasionally. But your memories surrounding those possessions will be with you forever!

More on downsizing:
10 Signs That Your Parent Shouldn't Be Living Alone
Downsizing - Factors to Consider when Choosing a New Residence
Three Steps to Downsizing to a Smaller Residence

If Elton John's Mom Can Downsize, So Can We!

  
Having trouble downsizing or decluttering? Get some inspiration from Elton John's mom! The following article by Jayne Dawson is a fun read: 

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"GETTING RID: Elton John’s mum Sheila Farebrother pictured with Elton as he receives an Honorary Doctorate from the Royal Academy of Music in 2002

Should you ever meet Sheila Farebrother – please show her proper respect. 

 

She might be a woman who prefers a quiet life, she might be downsizing to a little place on the south coast, and these might not normally be the hallmarks of a fearless pioneer, but clearly Sheila is the exception. 

 

Because Sheila is stepping bravely into territory in which all other parents fear to tread – she is ridding herself of the possessions of one of her children, left in her safekeeping for decades.

Children do that, don't they? They desert you, they move on, they leave you bereft and they leave you jubilant, all at one and the same time.

They go to many different places, they do many different things, but one factor is constant – they always leave boxes of their possessions behind, with you, for safekeeping.

These are not possessions they want, or will ever need again, or, indeed, will ever look at again.

Attached

If your children were to articulate their thoughts on these items, those thoughts would be: "I am emotionally attached to all these leftovers of my younger life, but not emotionally attached enough to give them room in my home, so I want to solve the problem by leaving them at your house forever, because you are my mum and it is your job to solve my problems, and also to be the keeper of my past life, which I am going to pretend embarrasses me."

This is what your children would say to you, if that conversation were ever to take place. But it doesn't.

Instead what happens is this: your children move out, leaving behind their boxes full of their childhood.

They know, and you know, that at some stage you will call them and say: "Do you want this box full of your old dolls/ horror films you made when you were aged 14/ Spice Girls books?"

And they know, and you know, that they will reply: "I haven't got room for it, will you keep it?"

All over the nation there are bedrooms full of cardboard boxes, all stuffed with teenage leftovers. And these leftovers are not, repeat not, precious mementoes kept by parents who mourn the passing of the time when their children were young. No, they are boxes of junk kept resentfully by a mother and father who would much rather clear out the lot and embrace some empty space. Only their children won't let them

So parents dutifully do what is expected, and store the required items, stacked next to the boxes of blankets, and old ornaments, and bits of ancient cutlery similarly bequeathed to them, but this time by their own parents, an older generation determined to declutter without throwing away. This is yet another instance of "the squeezed middle"

But Sheila Farebrother has decided to have none of that, she has decided to get rid. And since Sheila is the mother of Elton John, she was able to do a bit better than leave the stuff outside in charity bags, or take it to the tip.

Sheila has unloaded her son's unwanted gear at a special auction where the goods for sale included all manner of starry items, like his platinum award for the first million sales of the 1973 album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and a disc commemorating 11 million sales of Candle In The Wind.

Tour jackets and VIP passes used by her for backstage access at his concerts were also among the lots, as were four silk Versace stage suits and a diamond studded crucifix.

Personally I would have been tempted to keep these items, because it is my belief you can get away with wearing more or less anything at the Women's Institute these days.

As to what prompted Sheila to take such an intrepid step, a spokesman for the auction house gave it away. Sheila, he said, used to have a large games room with shelf upon shelf to keep all the things Elton had given her, but since moving she didn't have the room any more.

So, there you have it. Elton used his mum's games room to store all the stuff he couldn't be bothered to keep in his own house(s).

Proof

Some of the items were even autographed, which must have been odd, and yet more proof that Elton was doing what all sons do and using his mum to store his cast-offs, since he surely can't have believed she needed his autograph.

But we should be grateful to Sheila, for she has empowered us. Where Elton John's mum leads, the rest of us can follow.

With us, it might be old train sets rather than gold and platinum discs but the principle is the same. Thank you Sheila, you are standing up for the rest of us. You are a mum in a million."

More on downsizing: 
Three Steps to Downsizing to a Smaller Residence
Three Steps to Decluttering 
 The Advantages of Downsizing