Have you ever been out shopping for gifts, braving the holiday crowds, when you spied the perfect plaid scarf for Aunt Betty, made your way to the checkout counter with your prize in hand, only to stop yourself and wonder in puzzlement, “Uh-oh. Wait. Did I give her a plaid scarf last year? Or was that Aunt Dot?” Since you can’t remember and don’t want to risk giving the same gift twice, you get out of the checkout line and go back to the gift drawing board. Ugh!

Solution: Keep an ongoing gift list. 

As I clicked open my own gift list spreadsheet last week to jot down some Christmas ideas, I looked at the tabs along the bottom and realized that I have been keeping a gift spreadsheet since 2005!

[My teenage daughter’s reaction to this news was to sigh, “Of course you have a gift spreadsheet,” accompanied a roll of the eyes.]

But really, it’s an easy thing to do and a great tool for holiday and birthday planning and budgeting, especially if you buy gifts for lots of different people: immediate family, extended family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, teachers, service providers, etc.

If you’re like me, making a spreadsheet helps you organize your thoughts and ideas into tidy rows and columns. However, if the mere mention of the word “spreadsheet” sends you into panic, fear not! You can keep an ongoing gift list with whatever tool you prefer.
Whether you use a spreadsheet, a notes app, or good old-fashioned paper, a gift list will keep you organized and ready for holidays, birthdays, and any-occasion
gift giving.

Last weekend, while in Manchester, NH, for my daughter's robotics tournament, I took some time in the middle of the day to visit the Currier Museum of Art.
When I walked through the glass doors into their special exhibit by artist Ethan Murrow, I gasped and stoped in my tracks. In front of me, larger than life, was this incredible, mural sized Sharpie drawing.

"That's how my clients feel before they call me,"
I said to my husband.

They feel overwhelmed, overloaded with stuff (physical things, paperwork, digital stuff, or even memories), and they just don't know where to begin unraveling it. When we feel that way, it can seem as if we're hauling the full weight our possessions on our shoulders, and even then we can't fit it all and have to drag the rest behind us!

Does the poor woman get any help? The child looks less like he's trying to prop up the ball of stuff and more like he's just trying to avoid having it fall on him. The full burden is on her!

And yet, there's beauty in this work of art. I admire the exquisite detail in the variety of items, the flowing quality of the Sharpie-drawn lines, and the woman's strong, even elegant, pose.

We can find beauty in confronting our possessions. Do we need to labor under such a heavy burden? No! We can enlist the help of our family (That child is definitely old enough to help!), our friends, and professional organizers (This is what we love to do!). Take a look at that ball of things and discover the legacy of your life that it contains.

We can begin, piece by piece, to untangle the blob of accumulated possessions.

• What does this piece say to you?
• If this is what your "before" picture feels like, what would your "after" feel like?
• How amazing would it feel to untangle your blob of stuff?

Do you love books?
I do too! Let's tackle the dilemma of how to love books and pass along a love of reading to those around you while avoiding becoming buried by book avalanches in your home.

While many of us love to read, books can become a clutter problem. It sounds lovely to live with a house full of books, but realistically many of us do not have enough shelves, much less a dedicated library, to house a full collection of all that we’ve read.

Inspired by a recent client whose need to pare down her book collection due to space constraints conflicts with her love of reading and desire to instill that love in her children, here’s my:

Top 10 Ways to Show Your Love of Reading Without Burying Your Home in Books

10. Keep a list of books you’ve read (I do an annual list.) so you don’t have to use your shelves as your booklist.

9. Set strict criteria for what books you keep, e.g. classics, all-time favorites, work-related or reference books that won’t become outdated, favorite series, books that you will reread (Be honest!).

8. Commit to passing along 90% of the books you buy after you read them. Books want to be read, so give them wings to fly to other readers!

7. Swap books among friends or coworkers.

6. Always have a book with you so you can digest a page or two during down time.

5. Use a Little Free Library in your neighborhood.

4. Start your own Little Free Library at your house.

3. Read on an e-reader (Kindle, Nook, your phone, etc.).

2. Get familiar with your local library, including downloadable e-books and audiobooks.

​1. Be seen frequently with your nose in a book!


What are your unique organizing challenges? Let's talk about them!
Give me a call or send an email and we'll start finding solutions.
katebosch@me.com
401-699-4878





Copyright © 2018 Kate Bosch Professional Organizing, All rights reserved. 

Eggs are one of the great products that come to us already nestled into perfectly organized, sturdy-yet-gentle, recyclable, reusable containers.*

So why do refrigerator companies and stores that sell organizing supplies try to convince us that we need to buy rigid plastic (non-recyclable) "egg organizer" containers into which we must transfer our already-contained eggs?

So, you get home from the grocery store and then have to transfer each little egg into a hard plastic container (careful not to break it!) just to put them into your fridge? What if you still had a few eggs left so the new dozen doesn't completely fit? Do you have to buy a second plastic egg bin?

If you do happen to crack an egg, now you have to take all the eggs out and wash the container instead of just leaving it and tossing it into the recycling bin when you're done with the other eggs.

And what about the sell-by date from the original carton? When you transfer the eggs into the fancy bin, you have no idea which eggs are the freshest and when they'll go bad. So maybe you have to take out a pencil and individually mark each egg with its freshness date.

What a waste of time!

One rule of thumb I have for organizing anything is: make it easy to maintain. Organizing should be simple and should follow your natural habits so it'll be easier for you to keep up with it.

Ok, so are we all in agreement that we don't need to transfer eggs from their cardboard supermarket containers into fancy plastic ones?

Now what do you do with that fancy egg bin you bought or that came with your refrigerator? Here are a few ideas:

• Donate it to your child's (or a nursery school's) play kitchen.
• Create a sorting toy for a child from it by setting out a variety of small items (buttons, coins, seeds, hardware bits, rubber bands, tiny toys). Have the child learn to sort by different criteria: size, shape, color, material, etc.
• Use it as a snack tray to get children to try little bits of new foods.
• Use it as a paint palette.
• Store extra buttons in it, sorted by color or size.
• Use it to sort hardware when putting together a piece of DIY furniture. (I use a cardboard egg carton when putting together Ikea furniture.)
• [Insert your idea here.] Feel free to comment on this blog to share your ideas.

Even if you didn't succumb to the shopping pressure and buy a fancy egg bin, you can repurpose a plain plastic or cardboard egg carton for any of these uses.

When my children were little, I had them paint a different color in each well of a cardboard egg carton. We took the carton with us when we went for walks and hunted for little treasures along the way to match the colors they had painted. Every young child seems to go through a phase of interrupting walks by stopping to examine every single blade of grass or pebble, so this collecting activity made the walk more purposeful and enjoyable for grown-ups and children alike.

The moral of this story? Release yourself from the make-work of over-organizing things that area already perfectly well organized!


*To be fair, eggs can come in a variety of containers, not all of which are great: cardboard, styrofoam, or light plastic containers. Styrofoam is the worst as it's not recyclable and it cushions the eggs but isn't rigid enough to withstand being stacked, so you'll often find broken or cracked eggs. Light plastic is OK, but these usually have double lids (one domed to nestle the eggs, one flat to form the top) which are a pain to open. Plain old cardboard containers are my favorite for ease of recycling and ease of use.

It's nearly back-to-school time, so be sure to check out some of my previous posts about that (like this one, this one, and this one).

In the meantime, don't forget to enjoy the last gasp of summer with fun tips like this one!

Here’s a quick and organized way to serve lunch to your kids.

When my kids were little (and occasionally even now that they’re bigger), they loved the surprise of a muffin-tin lunch. The novelty of having several different foods in separate little compartments got them to try new things and to eat a more balanced meal.

After all, who doesn't like cute, tiny food and meals that give you a taste of everything? We grownups just call it tapas!

You can put all kinds of things in the tins, but it works best for two kids (or as a snack for 3-4, dividing the holes by row) with each child getting 6 muffin holes-worth of food.

Pictured here is a lunch of salami, tortilla chips and salsa, Kalamata olives, cheddar cheese, and watermelon spears. Other cute ideas are mini-salads, trail mix, crackers and cheese, nuts, beans, dried fruit, baby pickles, sandwich bites, whatever will fit. Even small servings of soup, pudding, or mac & cheese will work.

Let your creative juices flow and see how excited your kids will be to eat lunch!

Here's a fun idea to help you part with some of your excess stuff:
​a good old-fashioned swap.

The general idea is that you get together with a bunch of friends and/or neighbors and everyone brings things they don't want anymore but that are in good, usable condition. Then you all go "shopping" for each other's stuff!.

You can host your own -- make it a party! -- or sign up for the August 18th event at East Providence's wonderful Fuller Creative Learning Center.

If you decide to host a swap party, you can do it indoors or out, setting up tables or picnic blankets to display the wares.

It can be a pure swap ("I'll give you this coat for two of your books.") or you can assign items a value or rating. Give each item a star rating and trade based on how many stars items "cost." For example, you could trade three one-star items for one 3-star piece.

Your goal should be to end up going home with less than you brought, so choose to swap for smaller items or swap multiple items for one of something else.

At the end of the swap, offer to load up your car and drive ALL the leftovers to a donation center. Bring items to the closest one (Search for "donation center near me.") or your favorite charity.

Whatever you do, don't let that stuff back into your house! If you already decided you were ready to part with it, trust your instincts and stick with your decision.

From now through June 30th, you can save 25% off of Smead products in their first-ever summer sale!

Smead has excellent, high-quality products with innovative designs.

Some of my favorites are:

• The Life Documents Organizer Kit to organize all of your most important documents.
• The All-in-One line of various important document organizers (tax, medical, financial planning)
• Hanging file folders with built-in tabs
• The awesome cascading wall organizer which easily folds up to be portable then extends to hang on a wall hook. Great for people who need to see all of their projects at a glance and need to take files on the go.
• Daily and monthly file sorters, also called "tickler" files, so you never forget time-sensitive tasks and bills.
• The innovative line of Justick Display Boards which are bulletin boards that don't require pushpins, magnets, or tape. Paper just magically sticks to them!

Head to Smead's site, www.myorganized.life and see all the great products they have for making paper organizing fun!

Don't forget to use coupon code HOT25 to at checkout to save 25%!

For full disclosure, I don't get any kickback from Smead to advertise this sale. I just really like their products and resources and wanted to pass the sale info on to you.

1-2-3: Now's the time to air out your kitchen and do a deep cleaning! You can either do this all at once in a one-day marathon cleaning session, or do it in pieces: fridge, freezer, pantry, and a few cabinets or drawers at a time.

1. Kitchen Cabinets and Drawers

• Use a microfiber cloth with a mix of water and white vinegar to clean surfaces. Vinegar helps cut grease, which can build up on kitchen surfaces.
• Wipe down the outside of the cabinets and don't forget the handles.
• Take everything out of your cabinets and drawers and sort into categories: frequently used, sometimes used, rarely used, donate/discard.
• While the cabinets are empty, give them a good cleaning with the microfiber cloth.
• While the drawers are empty, use a hand vacuum to get out the crumbs and dust, then wipe them with the microfiber cloth.

2. Refrigerator and Freezer

• Go through your refrigerator, checking foods (especially condiments) for expiration dates. Toss anything that is expired!
• Check the freezer for foods that have expired or look like they have freezer burn. It's generally safe to eat foods with freezer burn, but they taste awful.
• Wash refrigerator and freezer shelves and bins, either by hand or by running them through the dishwasher if they are removable.
• Grab an empty plastic water bottle and use it as a "sentinel" to tell you that the food in your freezer is still safe to eat: Fill the water bottle half-way and set it on its side in the freezer until it freezes solid. Once frozen, set the bottle upright in the freezer. Check the bottle periodically to ensure that the water is still frozen vertically. If the water is down at the bottom of the bottle, you'll know that your freezer lost power and the water melted and refroze. If that's the case, then your frozen food did the same and is no longer safe to eat. This is great if you're in an area that loses power and you go on vacation and want to know if your freezer stayed frozen.

3. Pantry

• Check the expiration dates on the foods in your pantry and toss anything that has expired.* Dry goods can become stale and oils can go rancid - yuck.
• For foods that are close to their expiration date, place them near the edge of the shelf so you remember to eat those soon.
• Vacuum and wipe pantry shelves just as you did the cabinets and drawers.
• If you are at a loss for what to do with some of your pantry items, check recipe sites that let you search by ingredient to find ways to use up odd items.
• If you find foods in your pantry that you're really never going to use, donate them to a local food pantry.* For me, it's usually fava beans. Every few years, I trick myself into thinking that I like fava beans so I buy them but I never seem to want to eat them!

Now enjoy cooking in your nice clean kitchen!

*Please do not attempt to donate expired food to your local shelter or food pantry as they cannot accept foods that are past the expiration date.

If your basement is used primarily for storage, one big issue to keep in mind is combatting moisture.

Store items in plastic bins so they are impervious to surface moisture on the floor. Raise the bins on garage-style shelving or pallets. Label the bins so the contents are easily recognizable.

A dehumidifier is a key appliance. If possible, run a hose from the dehumidifier to the utility sink so they unit can drain constantly and you won't have to empty the tank every day. Check with your local utility company for rebates on new, energy efficient models.

Keep the area around the boiler, hot water tank, water meter, fuse box, etc. free of clutter so they can be accessed easily when they need to be worked on.

The main factor in keeping things organized is to create zones for the different types of items you store in the basement, rather than storing everything in one big area with no distinction. For example, you might have different zones for laundry, rarely used or seasonal kitchen items, holiday decorations, outdoor furniture storage, tools and household repair items. Distinctions between zones could be as simple as using different shelves or using painter's tape to mark off areas of the floor. Labeling everything helps the whole family know what goes where. If you don't have a label maker, just use painter's tape and a permanent marker.

Now is a great time to air out your basement and get it organized!

When the weather gets warmer, it's time to head to the garage and get it cleaned out for the season!

Of course, you might want to park your car in the garage, but aside from that the garage is a convenient place to store outdoor gear. That means making space for both lawn and garden tools and sports gear.

The first thing to do is actually clean the garage. It doesn't need to be pristine like the interior of your house, but it's a good idea to work from top to bottom (ceiling to floor) and banish the cobwebs, dust, leaves, and other debris that accumulates. A good wool duster works well and an extendable one will help you reach to the top of the ceiling.

Use cleaning wipes or a microfiber cloth to get the dust off of boxes and bins. Sweep the floor to evict the leaves and whatever dust that fell off the bins you just cleaned. Finally, open the doors and give the space a good airing out.

Now that the cleaning is done, let the organizing begin!

The goal with organizing the garage is accessibility. To take advantage of the few months of good weather, you'll want to be able to grab what you need and go.

• Make the snowblower trade spaces with the lawnmower.
• Hang items such as rakes and shovels on the side walls of the garage. Put the rakes closer to the garage doors now and the shovels toward the back. Next season, swap this positioning so you'll be ready for snow.
• Put bicycles within easy reach. If you want to hang them on hooks, make sure you can get them down easily. Otherwise, just park them near the garage door.
• Hang bike helmets on their matching bike so they're easily identified and not forgotten.
• Use large plastic bins (preferably clear and weather proof) to create kits of sporting gear: beach kit, soccer kit, camping kit, fishing kit, etc.
• Store the bins on sturdy garage shelving that fits the bins for easy accessibility without much wasted space. Shelves make it so that bins don't have to be stacked on top of each other, which makes them difficult to access.
• Use more bins to make kits for gardening, lawn care, and general household maintenance (i.e. tools).
• Hang beach chairs and beach umbrellas on hooks along the wall.

After you've finished spring cleaning the garage, be sure to reward yourself: ride the bikes, take a walk, or plant some lovely flowers!