#5-The Urge to Purge

Number 5 on the 30 Things list is an opportunity to purge that comes in the form of 5 simple kitchen questions.  Just because the questions are simple does not the mean the answers are easy, but they are certainly worth thinking about.

How many plastic shopping bags can you possibly use?  Even if you are a professional dog walker and are daily faced with the task of picking up 10 piles of poo as you saunter down the city streets.  Seriously.  Can you let some of them go?

Do you regularly serve 10 people coffee in the morning?  No?  Then why do you need 10 mugs in the cabinet?  Could you cut it down to 4?  6?

Why do you have so many spatulas when you always reach for the same one?  Be honest, you know you have passed over a clean one you don't like and taken the time to wash the dirty one that works better?  Can you let go of the ones you don't use.

Do you have cookbooks you don't open?  Do you hold on to one book because it has a single recipe in it that you use?  Who told you it was wrong to rip out that single page and let the rest of the book go?  It's your book!  Rip it out!  Put it in a binder and move on with all of your newly found shelf space.

How many free plastic cups can you possibly fit in your dishwasher?  Can you keep that many and let the rest of them go?

My point.  Sometimes we keep stuff just because its always been there without really thinking about why its there or if we even use it.  Be mindful about your choices in the kitchen and you'll instantly find yourself with a bit more space.

#4 Justin Case

#4-Take a quick look around your bathroom counter, the ledges in your shower or tub and the contents of your medicine cabinet.  All that stuff you see there...those bottles, and tubes, and tubs, and pots, and boxes.  Is it there for you or for Justin Case?  You know Justin right?  "Justin Case I might need this special cream."  Or "Justin Case I might completely change my coloring and this red lipstick I got for free in my Clinique bonus suddenly starts looking good on me."  Or "Justin Case I remember to bring the scissors in here and cut open this bottle of lotion/shampoo/toothpaste so I can get at the tiny little bit left in the bottom."

NewsFlash!!!  Unless your name is Justin Case, stop saving that stuff.  If you haven't used it yet, you probably won't.  If you didn't like it then, you probably won't ever.  Lipstick that didn't look good once will continue to not look good on you.  That last drip of lotion in the bottom of the bottle will continue to be impossible to reach.  Give yourself permission to let some of that stuff go.  Keep what you use daily out on the counter.  Keep what you're sure you'll use often stashed under the counters.  And the stuff that's for Justin Case, donate the unused stuff or toss it out.

My point.  Bathroom real estate is very valuable.  If you're littering yours with junk that isn't yours, the value of your property will go way down.  Use what you love.  Keep what you use.  Love where you live...or at least where you bathe. 

#3 Get Hooked

#3-Since we're already in the bathroom with this list of 30 things in 30 days I thought I'd drop one more gem on you about towels because if you're anything like me you've picked up a few dropped towels in your lifetime.  I might even go so far as to say that picking up wet bath towels from the floor is on the short list of things that drive me the craziest.  If you do a little investigating in your house, I'm betting you'll discover that one of the reasons the towels end up on the floor is because dropping them is simply easier than hanging them up.  Duh.  So what's a girl to do?  Make it easy to hang up the towel.  Stuffing a large, damp towel into a tiny space behind a bar, spreading it out across the bar and pulling it through is not a simple task.  It is one that a motivated adult can reasonably be expected to perform most of the time, but then again, not always.  No child is going to do this.  Skip the bars for the towels that get heavy use in your home and go for hooks.

But where, oh where should a busy mom hook?  My three small children share a very tiny bathroom with almost no wall space for towel bars.  I wanted to give them hooks for their towels and since anytime I mention holes in the paint job, drywall anchors and cordless drills to the Father, he has an apoplectic fit I knew I needed to get creative.  In order to make space for 3 bath towels and a hand towel I had to look for hidden space in the bathroom.  I used removable adhesive hooks on the inside walls of the tub.  Up high, out of the way of most of the splashing, this works well for us because nobody showers in this bathroom.  We have only short little bathers.  We'll have to reexamine this placement of hooks when Marge starts to shower but for now its a way to make use of unused wall space.  And, the hooks are removable so they can be repositioned without needing to plaster and paint...Happy Father!

My point.  Anything that can be hung on a bar, or a hanger for that matter, can also be put on a hook.  A nice low hook where short people can reach it or a nice high hook where short people can't get to it.  Just try it in one room.  You'll be hooked.

#2 Please Throw in the Towel

#2-While I'm on the subject of bathrooms, here's another great tip that I stole from another organizer many moons ago.  When you need to replace your bath towels, now may not be the time, but the day will come when that fluffy bamboo thing drying your clean little self becomes worthy of only wiping dog feet or wax off the car, consider buying all one color bath towel for your entire house.  I can appreciate that you may have different decor in each bathroom, but most times you can single out one unifying color that will allow you to interchange towels from one room to the next without worrying about which color is clean for which bathroom.  You can also do them all in one load.  I learned this the hard way when as a young bride I registered for 8 sets of towels; 2 red sets, 2 navy blue sets, 2 yellow sets and 2 white sets.  Due to the generosity of my friends and neighbors upon receiving all of these towels I succeeded in guaranteeing myself at least 2 loads of towels each week, where having all one color would have allowed me to throw them all in at once.  We now have all white towels in our house.  I can easily add a few new towels when some of ours get a little worn and they instantly match the current sets.  We can mix and match sets in each bathroom and they still have a cohesive look and when I need fresh towels for a busy bathroom I can easily borrow a few from another's stash.  How many towels is a reasonable number to store?  Usually, two sets of towels for each person who lives in the home and one set for guests (two sets if you have a lot of company.)  That allows for one set to be in use and one set to be in the laundry.

My point.  Here's a place where having fewer choices can make your life easier.  When it's time to start replacing those towels, pick one color for your whole house.

I Have Just Returned From the Edge

It is very cold in The Middle at this time of year.  As I write this the temperature outside is 20 degrees below zero.  Sometimes a vacation to Gramma and Grampa's house on The Edge is just what you need to thaw out your toes and warm up your heart.  Don't get me wrong!  Packing up a family of 5 for a nine day vacation over the holiday is a monumental task that involved packing out the company that was with us for 3 days prior to our departure, arranging a ride to and from the airport, finding a non-traveling teenager to care for the dog who was being left at home, finding someone to cover work while I was away, getting out the boxes of warm weather clothing and determining which sizes of what things fit which kid and would fit into the suitcases that we were going to have to pay to fill with clothing and gifts that we would have to pay to bring home with us, and many other things that did not have me reveling in warm holiday feelings as we prepared for our journey to The Edge.  But the preparation for the trip is never why you go anywhere.  The fun of being there has to be worth the pain of getting there.  For us.  This time.  That was totally true.  It was a wonderful trip.

I have many souvenirs from my Christmas vacation on The Edge; wonderful holiday memories of my children and their grandparents that I will keep forever, 5.2 pounds that I will NOT keep forever, precious videos of Marge visiting the princesses and The Mouse, of Mona taking her first ride in a convertible in December with the top down (people who live on The Edge forget what a novelty this is for us Middle dwellers!) and of Minnie laughing and splashing in a whirlpool bathtub with bubbles so high they nearly covered her little head.  I have a mountain of laundry that might take all of 2010 to climb, a miniature replica of the Parthenon, a battery operated turkey that sings the "Chicken Dance" song, a thawed out soul that will dig into the cold winter that's left of 2010 with a renewed spirit, and so many more things that I can't even name.

Vacationing on The Edge has also apparently affected my ability to think clearly and post blogs with the correct date and time stamp, so the first 2 posts in a series that will continue for the month of January were up on the blog but posted under 2009 which it is obviously NOT and so I have unceremoniously removed them and will repost them tomorrow with some thoughts about the new year, the new decade, the new couch I'm looking for to help me get comfortable in 2010, and the new plan for what I will resolve to DO differently in the coming year.

Check back for the first 3 posts in my January series of how you might DO something differently to BE a more organized person this year.  Because what you DO is who you BE.  Happy New Year!  It's good to be back from The Edge!

30 Things in 30 Days

Welcome to January's series on organizing your stuff to make space for your life.  Do I have any expectation that every single thing on this list will be a novel idea?  Nope.  Would it be reasonable to attempt to complete all of the things on this list in 30 days?  Not a chance.  Will doing the things I'm suggesting change your life?  Maybe, but probably not.  I'm just putting them out there as a suggestion for how to make things a little easier, and a little simpler.  These are not pie in the sky, Martha Stewart budget, Extreme Home Makeover sized, twelve step process ideas.  They are little things.  Small changes.  Do I do them?  Most of them.  And I promise to admit it when I suggest one I'm just thinking about and have not actually done in my own home.  So here goes...Happy New Year!

#1-Decide which supplies you need to clean your bathroom from top to bottom and keep a complete set of these items in every bathroom in your home.  Everybody's list is a little different.  Mine includes a roll of paper towels, a microfiber cloth, a bottle of glass cleaner, a bottle of  tub/tile cleaner, disinfectant and an old toothbrush.  Maybe you are one of those vinegar and water kind of girls...good for you!  Then the space you'll need to store your stuff is much smaller.  Not me.  I keep one of each of my cleaning items in every bathroom so when I get 5 minutes to slick up the bathrooms I don't have to spend the first 3 minutes of my time running through the house looking for the stuff I'll need to start my job.  Oh, and about the toilets.  I don't do toilets.  Period.  I think in 11 years of marriage I can count on one hand the number of times that I wiped out the inside of a toilet bowl.  And when I did it, I did a bad job.  I wipe butts, both human and canine.  I wipe floors.  I wipe dirty windows, sticky fingers and snotty noses. But not toilets.  That is the Father's job in our house and I have no idea what kind of miracle product he uses to complete this task and keep our bowls sparkly and fresh or any earthly idea of where he keeps these said products, but I digress.  Put your supplies in a bucket, a basket or just stuff them under the sink.  The vessel that contains them is not important.  

My point.  Sometimes having multiples of something actually cuts down on the amount of effort it takes to get the job done.  Keep the cleaning supplies in every single bathroom.

What You DO Is Who You BE

For me?  What's my plan of actions for this year?  What are my resolutions?  They all revolve around getting comfortable.  Making some changes.  Because that's why anyone makes a change.  When you decide what you are is uncomfortable you shift, or move, or get up, get out and get on with it.  There are a few things in my life that make me uncomfortable.  The kind of uncomfortable that ranges from the casual pins and needles annoying that makes you shake out your sleeping foot to the sharp pain of someone's stiletto in your palm that makes you knock them off their Manolos.  And since I have no plans to let any part of my being, including my foot, sleep through 2010 and should I ever encounter someone deluded enough to wear Manolos in this ecomony I certainly would not bow down to them and let them step on my hand I plan do something differently this year so I can be comfortable.  I'll keep you posted...literally.  

For you?  First, make resolutions about doing something differently this year and NOT about being something different. It's backwards to think that people do certain things because of who or what they are.  What's really true is that people become what and who they are because of what they do.  If you want to be a healthier person, start acting like one and you will be.  If you want to be a thinner person, start acting like one and you will become one.  If you want to be an organized person, this is your lucky month because among many other things that most notably include wife and mother, I am also a professional organizer and you can come back  to TheMiddleBit everyday for the entire month of January for a new suggestion on how to do something in your home a bit differently to become more organized.

Your doing makes your being.  What will you do?  What will you be?  Happy New Year!