 I had just come home with a bag full of new yarn, excited to start knitting the sweater my daughter had asked me to make for her. All I wanted to do was cast on and start knitting. But — any knitters out there will know this — the skeins of yarn have to be wound into usable balls first. Otherwise, they’ll turn into tangled messes. I should have just paid the fee to have the store wind them for me! But, cheapskate that I am, I couldn’t do that after having spent oodles on the yarn itself. If you’re not a knitter, let me enlighten you about the tedium of the winding process. For me, it entails sitting cross-legged with a loosely-bound hank of yarn stretched across my knees, going round and round, winding the strand into a neat ball, while trying to avoid hand cramps and yarn tangles. It probably takes 15-20 minutes per skein, meaning I was looking at a few hours of winding before I could even get to the fun knitting part! Well, maybe I could just buy a winding machine. Down the rabbit hole of an online search I went. Of course, winding yarn involves not just one but two mechanisms: a yarn swift and a ball winder. The swift resembles a clothes drying rack and holds the yarn, while the winder — naturally — winds it. I was looking at upwards of $50 just to be able to start my project. Nope. My inner tightwad had to find another way. Lightbulb moment: Why not ask my online Buy Nothing group?! I had never needed to own these machines in the past, even though I’ve been a knitter for decades, so why would I commit to buying them now? It’s rare that I buy large quantities of yarn at a time — I wind as I go. So, instead of asking if someone had these items to give away, I posted on the Buy Nothing group that I was merely looking to borrow them for a couple of days. Success! I received a near-instantaneous response! One person had the swift, and another the winder. And, because Buy Nothing groups are hyper-local, they were right in my neighborhood. Within a matter of minutes, I had coordinated with the generous lenders, and picked the items up from their front porches. I spent a blissful hour setting up the machines and winding the yarn for my sweater into tidy, manageable balls. I even dug through my yarn stash for any unwound skeins and wound them too. Then, instead of having to find a spot in my craft room for large new tools, I just dropped the winder and swift back off to their respective porches. BENEFIT OF BORROWING OVER BUYING
Now I was all set to spend my cozy, winter evenings knitting to my heart’s content! Here’s how you can try borrowing instead of buying for your next project:
What will you borrow next? 
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 Life is busy and maintaining an organized space can feel like an uphill battle. Whether due to a lack of time, a significant life change, or simply an overwhelming accumulation of clutter, it’s easy to feel like you just don’t know where to start. You don’t have to muscle through it on your own. Bringing in a Certified Professional Organizer® can save your sanity and be a game-changer.
Here’s when you need to call in the experts. Chaos & Clutter What’s bugging you? Is it your jumbled kitchen drawers, overstuffed closets and bureaus, messy entryway, chaotic playroom, or piled-up home office?  I once read a book about a man whose wife divorced him because he was a total slob. He wanted to clean up his act, but he wasn’t going to spend longer than absolutely necessary on any chore. So he timed himself doing various household tasks to find the most efficient method.
With dishes, he assumed it was better to let them pile up in the sink and soak, then wash the whole load at once. To his surprise, rinsing and putting them into the dishwasher right after eating was much quicker. If you’re familiar with productivity expert David Allen’s 2-Minute Rule, this won’t surprise you. The 2-Minute Rule states that if you can do something in two minutes or less, do it now instead of putting it off for later. It’s more efficient to get little tasks out of your way than it is to let them build up into mountains of work. My client Meredith* knows this first hand. We had cleared, sorted, and organized several rooms in her home, but Meredith struggled to keep it up. The mail piled up in front of the door, dishes overflowed the sink, and hills of laundry littered the bedroom floor. While we cleared the backlog, I had Meredith time herself doing routine tasks so she’d have a realistic sense of how long things take. Meredith found that she liked the challenge of timing herself and how it turned chores into games. If it took her 18 minutes to fold laundry one time, she’d try to beat the clock and do it in 17 minutes the next time. Now she knows that putting off chores only makes them grow, so she’s more motivated to get them out of the way. Here are some tasks that you can start timing yourself doing chores. Work a few of them into your daily and weekly routines and you’ll find it’s easier to maintain your home and you’ll be less stressed  It’s gift-giving season! I’ll bet you’ve already put in a lot of effort: making your gift list, budgeting for the gifts, planning the gifts, comparison-price shopping for the gifts, buying the gifts, and squirreling the gifts away in a hidden corner of your home.
Now it’s time to wrap the gifts! Does this seem like an insurmountable hurdle? Let me make it easier on you with a few key strategies. THE EASY WAY OUT You really hate wrapping presents. And you have no time for it. Here are your two options.
 I’ve organized so many kitchens that I’ve lost count. From the perspective of a Certified Professional Organizer®, it doesn’t much matter whether a kitchen is old or new, super high-end or very basic. What matters is how functional it is.
I’ve seen remarkably well-planned kitchens in small condos and apartments. And some surprisingly inefficient kitchens in recently-renovated high-end homes. I organized two different converted-mill apartment kitchens which each had only a single, 7”-wide drawer. In the entire kitchen. One drawer. Try finding a 7”-wide drawer organizer. Where are we going to put the silverware?! Then there was the beautiful, modern kitchen with a barista-worthy built-in coffee station occupying an entire end wall. But no pantry. No plan for storing food in the kitchen. And the homeowner doesn’t even drink coffee! More than once, a client has lamented that they should have consulted with me before doing the renovations. Yes! Definitely consult with a professional organizer prior to undertaking major renovations. An organizer can help you pare down what you have, understand and communicate your habits and preferences to your architect, designer, and contractor, and go over plans with an eye toward functionality and ease of use. But in case you don’t bring me in as a consultant for your kitchen renovation, just use this handy list.  “Is it normal to be really nervous?” asked Rebecca* as she greeted me at the door. “I don’t know what to expect!”
Yes, it’s common to feel anxious the first time you have an Organizing Session with a Certified Professional Organizer.® Maybe you’re worried I’ll judge you because of your mess. Definitely not! Far from being judgmental, I’m impressed when someone takes the step of hiring a professional to help them get organized. Nerves also stem from being unsure of what exactly we’ll be doing. Will I be directing or doing the work with you? How exactly will we tackle your project? Let me demystify the Organizing Session by telling you exactly how it works.  A common question I get when helping clients organize their closets is, “What kind of hangers are the best?”
My answer? The best hangers are the ones that work for your closet and your clothes. There’s no one universal hanger. Instead, match the hanger to the job. That said, there are some guidelines for selecting the right hanger.  Does your family have students heading back to school in the next few weeks? Have I got you covered with Back-to-School tips for making an organized transition from summer to school! What's your Back-to-School challenge?If TIME MANAGEMENT is what trips you up, don't miss my blog and interview with the fabulous Leslie Josel, inventor of the award-winning Academic Planner: A Tool for Time Management®  Are you worried about how to TRANSITION FROM SUMMER mode to school? Use this blog to make a plan.  Do you have a student HEADING TO COLLEGE? Here are my tips and tricks for an organized start.  If you're getting my newsletter, then you already have access to my top 3 Back-to-School blogs and more. If you're not yet subscribed, what are you waiting for?
 Here’s the problem: Your kid is a prolific artist. The artist part is great, but the volume is an issue. How many crayon drawings of your family, poster-paint apple trees, and construction-paper collages are you supposed to be able to manage? If you’ve been following my advice, you’ve Set Up a System to Deal with School Papers: A temporary display space to show off this week’s latest greatest creations and a bin or portfolio for long-term storage. But you’ll notice a secondary problem. You’ve saved all of your child’s wonderful creations, but they’re stored away where no one looks at them. Why keep a precious memento stored in a bin, |
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