Thursday, April 07, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

TIME TO GET ORGANIZED: Spring into Action

Professionals offer tips on getting rid of clutter without throwing anything away

Click image for enlargement. Kimberlee Sine stands in her closet at her home in Henderson. Photo by John Locher. Joe Ferraro shows the display room for Finished Garage inside the Carpets-N-More store at 3185 E. Tropicana Ave. Photo by Craig L. Moran.

It's time for spring cleaning and you want to de-clutter your home without throwing a single item away.

The key to pulling that off is organization, say three Southern Nevadans who make a living helping people get their homes organized.

The three rhapsodize about the value of being organized. The benefits are emotional and monetary, they say.

One client of Finished Garage was able to cancel her storage unit rental after organizing her garage with overhead storage racks. It used to cost her $129 a month for a 10-by-20-foot storage unit. It cost her less than $700 to have three racks installed in her garage to handle the contents of the storage unit. The numbers come from Joe Ferraro, the owner of Finished Garage, which is inside Carpets-N-More at 3185 E. Tropicana Ave.

There's intangible satisfaction to being neat and organized, according to Kimberlee Sines, owner of Henderson-based Order at Last. "It saves you time and money. It increases your productivity. It reduces your frustration, anxiety, depression. It enhances your self-esteem and gives you a sense of control."

Gina Dreyer, owner of Clutter-Busters, another local organizing service, is used to getting calls from desperate people who have never used an organizer before.

"Sometimes it's (federal income) taxes" that spurs new clients to phone, says Dreyer, who especially likes to organize home offices. She became adapt at managing large amounts of paperwork in an earlier career as a probation officer.

Having too much stuff is directly related to being disorganized, both organizers say.

Dreyer and Sines regularly encounter clients who claim to not have enough storage space. But the root of the problem, according to the organizers, is that people's file cabinets, kitchen cupboards, linen closets or bedroom dressers are already crammed full with items that are broken, mismatched, outgrown or otherwise unusable.

The key is to throw out, pass along or donate items that are never used -- and then evaluate whether to buy more storage furniture or storage containers.

The latest, greatest storage system is never more important to remaining clutter-free than "watching what you buy and (regularly) getting rid of clutter," Dreyer says.

Both organizers use the homeowner's priorities to set the sequence of their tasks. Sines says most clients ask her to tackle their disorganization in the following order: kitchen and pantries first, followed by family room or great room, then home office or master bedroom/bath.

The garage is often the last part of a home to be organized because it usually gets messier, temporarily, during the organizing process. That's because it often serves as a holding tank for items removed from the house, which will eventually be sorted and cleared out.

As a general principle, store like items together, whether they be cans of food or board games or bed linens.

Here are specific tips on strategy and products for home organizing, listed by living space. The organizers did not endorse specific brands or product lines, but said a variety of good organizing equipment is available at such stores as Home Depot, Lowe's, Organized Living and Target or Wal-Mart.

Kitchen

A common problem with pantries is the shelves are too deep, causing items in the back to get overlooked. Little "stair-stepping" shelves are available to raise items in the back of a shelf, so they're more visible.

If pantry shelves are too far apart and can't be reconfigured, use baskets that hang below a shelf to store items in otherwise dead, unused space.

Label pantry shelves, Dreyer advises. "That's so everybody knows where to put things. That way you don't have to put all the food away" yourself.

Use the highest kitchen cabinets to store kitchen items that are rarely used, such as large party platters, holiday dishes or specialized counter equipment.

Avoid clutter where pots and pans are stowed by buying a holder for pan lids.

Similarly, avoid confusion with plastic food storage containers by standing all lids upright in a big rectangle storage box, with the lidless containers nested nearby.

Don't overload a kitchen drawer with hand utensils. "When they're overloaded, the drawer just gets stuck, you can't find anything. You're always fumbling in there," Sines says. "Normally we have a favorite spatula, but we (keep) 10 spatulas. You need to go and take out eight, and leave two."

Entry into house from garage

A small table, bookcase, shelf or rack is handy to collect keys, purses and other small miscellanea. "The first thing we do when we come in the house is dump," Sines says.

Family room or great room

The typical challenge for most families is that the room is where "they have video games, kids' toys, blankets, pillows that they use in the room," but the room's primary furniture is just seating, not usually storage.

Since a family room often houses a TV, Sines recommends putting it in an entertainment center with hidden storage compartments.

"Decorative baskets are really big," too, Sines says. The baskets can hold blankets, pillow or toys when not in use.

She also recommends using decorative pieces such as old trunks or ottomans that have lids, in which magazines, toys or games can be stored out of sight.

As a low-cost solution to storing small objects, Sines sometimes takes "one of those (large) popcorn tins you get at Christmas" and fills it, for convenient but hidden storage. "Put a nice handkerchief over it, then use it as a plant stand."

People with extensive collections of DVDs, CDs or game-system cartridges may need specialized shelving or storage racks. Be sure to buy enough storage to allow the collection to grow, Dreyer says. Otherwise you may end up with mismatched storage.

If an entertainment center has open shelves or shelves behind glass doors, put collectibles in there. "Don't space it (pieces in a collection) throughout your house. That's when you get clutter," Sines says. When objects in a collection are displayed together, "there's more meaning, it's easier on the eyes."

Master bedroom

First, resist the temptation to use the master bedroom as a dumping ground for folded clean laundry, children's toys, shopping bags of fresh purchases, documents brought home from work or other unsorted possessions. "It's a no-brainer. Everything has to have its place," Sines says.

When bedroom dressers get full, consider under-bed storage for bulky sweaters or off-season clothing. Garments can go in low tubs with lids that fit underneath. Or recycle drawers from a dresser you're discarding, Sines suggests, by using them under the bed as uncovered storage tubs.

To save steps to the linen closet, Sines sometimes stores bed linens for each bed right underneath. She puts the sheets and one pillow case into the set's remaining pillowcase, then stows the set below.

Closets

To increase hanging space without much cost or effort, install a lower hanger rod wherever possible. "We don't have that many long clothes," Dreyer explains. "That'll double your space right there."

To manage a shoe collection of Imelda Marcos proportions, store boxes on a high closet shelf. To retrieve shoes easily, either invest in clear boxes so the contents are visible, Dreyer says, or take digital photographs of each pair, then tape the right picture to the visible end of each box.

Many homes have a oversize closet under the stairs. Use the back of that space for things you want to keep indoors but don't need to access often.

Examples might be a Christmas tree or luggage. "Get creative. Store smaller suitcases in bigger suitcases. Any place there's a `hole,' fill it up," Sines says. Or, keep off-season clothing inside luggage.

Bathroom

The space under a bathroom sink is useful real estate that often is underused. Small shelves, stackable baskets or stackable boxes can corral a mishmash of products into organized subsets: his products, her products, shampoos/conditioners, first aid, whatever.

Be sure to throw away under-sink products that you're not using. Sines can't figure out why people hang on to low-cost items such as shampoos or soap bars or cosmetics once they have decided they don't like the brand.

To gain counter space in a tight bathroom, buy a shoe organizer with pouches that hangs over a door, and put it on the inside of a bathroom door.

Children's bedroom

The same sort of hangable shoe organizer works well in a baby's bedroom or child's room for small toys, socks, lotions and other paraphernalia.

Avoid toy chests when trying to organize toys, Dreyer says. "They're going to dump out that toy box to find that small ball on the bottom. ... Bins are better than big toy boxes." She also likes stackable modular units for toy storage.

Dreyer offers two clever ways to display children's artwork in a bedroom. Hang a drooping clothesline along a wall from one ceiling corner to the next, then use decorative clothespins to attach art to the rope.

Or buy magnetic paint and coat a wall with it. Then put a layer of conventional paint in the color you desire on top. Use magnets to hang art anywhere on that wall.

Home office

The main shortcoming Dreyer has observed in disheveled home offices is not the lack of a good place to store papers, but the lack of a filing system to organize them.

She doesn't dictate an arbitrary filing system, but develops file headings that make sense to the owner. She urges clients to buy hanging folder systems for file cabinet drawers, and then put manila files into the hanging folders. Before filing paper, don't let them lie around loose; designate an "in" tray or box for them.

Make sure to put the filing cabinet near the office's desk. "I'm more likely to do my filing if it's close to my desk," she explains.

If a home office has a closet, you may want to put filing cabinets or supply shelves inside the closet.

Garage

Finished Garage's Joe Ferraro believes strongly in overhead storage because it frees up floor space, which allows clients to park their vehicles inside.

Overhead storage comes in various types. Some are fixed, requiring a ladder to access the stored goods. One new system has platforms that can be lowered using a hand winch.

A low-tech way to organize belongings for garage storage is to put them in large, plastic tubs with lids that snap shut. The tubs can stack. Make sure to label the contents of each tub, the organizers say.

A higher-tech way to organize in the garage is to install shelving, cupboards and drawers. Numerous product lines exist for this.