Sherry Smith says:

I need help figuring out a home for things.

I look at something, don’t have a clue where it should go, so I end up leaving it where it sat and in my best Scarlett O’Hara say “I will worry about that tomorrow.”.

Sherry, I love your question!

My good friend, Suzanne, used to say something I love, love, LOVE.

“Don’t put it down; put it away”

I have another saying which is indecision = clutter.

I honestly believe it takes about 10 seconds longer to put something away than to just dump it but the benefits are immeasurable.

These are my ideas for you:

For things you don’t yet have in your home, first think about where you will put them before you even allow them access.

Yes, things need to earn the privilege of remaining in your home.

In the store or if someone wants to pass on things to you, if you can’t think of a place where they will go, don’t buy or accept those things.

It’s hard the first couple of times but then becomes easier as you realise that there’s less to clean and organise

For current things, I like to store them where I use them.

• children’s toys in our sun room – that’s where they play
• children’s books in their bedroom – that’s where they read
• phone chargers in a container in the kitchen – I charge phones while cooking
• and so on

Of course ALL of this “finding a home” business is a lot easier if you don’t have an overflow of stuff to start off with.

So if you feel overwhelmed, then step one is to declutter.

Readers, do you agree? Disagree? Any other suggestions for Sherry?

I saw this idea on Pinterest and loved it.

I don’t have a glass spaghetti jar that would work so I made do with two smaller jars, one glass and one plastic.

I love it – pretty and functional.

How do you store your cupcake and muffin cases?

Our kids don’t have a lot of toys by most people’s standards but there was still too much by our standards.

We noticed that they weren’t playing with a lot of their things, I think because they couldn’t even see them.

We used to have some things in the sunroom and others in the lounge but I reclaimed my lounge and moved all their stuff to the sunroom, so it is now decorated in primary colour craziness.

Dion and I got a bee in our bonnets and took away almost all their toys on Sunday.

It got better but like with any organising, the first round is just to warm up.

Once you see how good it looks and feels, you get inspired to do more.

I did a bit more last night after seeing untidiness in the toy area one too many times and cleared out everything except:

• blocks (they love the blocks)
• balls (regular and ones that come apart into about 6 rings)
• tools
• a wooden drum set
• paper and crayons
• books
• trailers
• motorbikes
• Connor’s lawnmower (he loves that thing and so does every kid who visits )

Let’s see if this makes even more of a difference.

If it does, we’ll rotate some toys after a month to keep things fresh.

How do you handle toys at your house? Do you keep them all out or rotate them?

Do your kids play with everything or only the things they can see?

I thought I’d share a quick tip with you that will help you to keep your organised space…well, organised.

Boundaries.

For me, this is one of the best ways to keep things under control.

I have one lever arch file folder for my household filing (phone, bond, water and electricity, insurance, credit card, etc.).

When things get too much, I need to declutter as I’m not prepared to create any more space than just that one file.

As for magazines, this is the container I use.

I allow myself just this one basket for any reading material. Ignore the tangled phone extension cord.

If this basket ever becomes too full, I have to go through and declutter it.

Two questions for you:

Do you have organising boundaries like these in your home?

How many magazines do you allow to flow in before they have to flow out?

This is just a sample of the tips you’ll receive on the virtual Spring into Organising workshop.

First, a confession.

If there is one thing that sends me over the edge, it’s having a jumble of tangled cables/ cords.

Cell phone charger, kindle charger, camera cords, etc.

I used to fold my cords neatly and wrap with an elastic band which works beautifully but takes a couple of seconds longer.

Until I figured this out.

Do you hear the birds chirping? The world is a happy place once again.

This is my Kindle cord and I currently use these binder/ bulldog clips for everything in sight.

I simply use smaller ones for thinner cords and bigger ones for the thicker ones.

I love cheap, easy organising solutions. Don’t you?

How do you keep your cables and cords neat and tidy? Do the messy ones bother you too?

P.S. Don’t forget to add your organising question to the list.

I love to organise using shoe bags.

I do use these shoe bags for my shoes and the babies’ shoes but this is what I did in my study with cords, chargers and battery rechargers.

Do you use shoebags for purposes other than shoes? How?

I read a post some time ago about a lady who had just returned from her holidays.

She said that’s the first thing she does – download pics from her camera and do a holiday (vacation) post on her blog.

Which got me thinking – what are the things that I do first when I’ve been travelling?

My to-do list goes like this:

1. laundry (I pack a separate bag for dirty laundry so I can toss that in the machine immediately)
2. unpack kitchen stuff and make tea
3. proper unpacking of clothes, etc.
4. kids fed and in bed
5. download and process emails
6. blog
7. photos about 3 months later

What are the things you do first when you get back home after a holiday?

P.S. The giveaway is still open for the Clutter Rehab book.

This giveaway is now closed! Winner will be announced later today.

It’s an honour for me to feature my friend, Laura’s book on my blog.

We actually go way back – we both started our blogs in 2006 but of course, hers is a TRILLION times more popular than mine – and we both hear baskets calling out to us

Actually, when she blogged about how the baskets call her name, that’s when I knew we were kindred spirits!

Of course I’m talking about the Organizing Junkie, Laura Wittman, and her book, Clutter Rehab.

I finished this book in just *two days because of the following:

1. it is small (only 128 pages so you won’t get overwhelmed)
2. it was so easy to read because this is a real person using her own tips, not just theorising about organising
3. it has big, bright numbers to the tips and is a visually appealing book with great pictures
4. those 101 tips are really simple and doable – anybody can use them

* Confession – I could have finished it the same day but unfortunately, I had to get up and go to work

Laura and I have very similar viewpoints, like you don’t need to spend a lot of money to get organised and it’s not about having a perfect home, but a comfortable home for you and your family.

So…. I have good news.

I’m giving away a copy of Clutter Rehab on my blog.

They will post it to wherever you are so this giveaway is open to EVERYONE, anywhere in the world.

There are three ways to enter the giveaway:

1. Leave a comment on this post and tell me either your favourite organising “tool” (mine is the common spiral-bound notebook and pen) or your biggest organising question.
2. Tweet this giveaway (and come back to tell me you tweeted)
3. Share this giveaway on Facebook (and come back to tell me you did it)

The giveaway will be open for ONE WEEK until Thursday 28th 12 pm EST (6 pm South African time). I’ll choose a winner through random.org, announce it on the blog and you have one week to send me your email address, so make sure you’re reading.

And…. go comment!

PS I’ll be giving my own copy away at my Inspired workshop in Johannesburg next month. I know someone else would love it and my copy is as new (I’m a book freak).

I’ve got to take a moment here to give a shout-out to Kierste (don’t you love her name?)

Her blog is one of the most organised blogs out there and has such a fresh, uncluttered feel.

I sigh with pleasure when I go visit.

And this is the makeover version – the previous one was just as organised and gorgeous.

I saw this post on Kierste’s blog a few weeks ago and I so, so love it.

Why?

• Everything is labelled.
• The labels are big and clear so no squinting to read.
• Those storage boxes happen to be some of my favourites (I store my baking pans in one of them) and I love how uniform everything looks. (you don’t need cute to be organised but it does help keep it that way)

Have a look at another pic

Click to see even more pictures of all the labelling goodness.

As an aside which is not really an aside, Kierste has TWO sets of twins plus a singleton, AND she has a pre-school at home!

Being organised has freed her up to do all that and add in some crafty goodness too.

Kierste, here’s a button for your blog!

Copy and paste code

<a href=”http://takechargesolutions.org/blog/” target=”_blank”><img border=”0″ src=”http://takechargesolutions.org/blogjjd/Organising%20Queen%20Button4.png” /></a>

What do you most love about Kierste’s space?

I love corralling things – it just looks neater and feels more organised to me.

This is my bedside table with a little tray I got from Home, Etc (for the South Africans).

As you can see, it houses my spectacle case, one of my watches and my rings when I go to bed.

I love simple and easy organising!

Do you use anything to corral your bedside table goodies?

P.S. If you haven’t yet taken the survey, please go here and at the end you can download a special freebie.