Monthly Archives: June 2017

It’s summer and if you are in the desert it’s hot.  Too hot to turn on the oven.  Too hot to run outside.  Too hot to run the clothes dryer in the middle of the day.  Too hot to do, well much of anything!  I find energy in the fresh morning and a few minutes a day of tidying in the morning  starts your day off on a happy note.

Set aside 20 minutes each morning to do one small tidying task.  Maybe it’s a gadget drawer in the kitchen, or your loungewear drawer in your closet.  How about under the kitchen or bathroom sink?  Check your medicine cabinets for expired items, especially sunscreen.  Straighten the towels in your linen closet.  Sort just one pile of paperwork.  

These aren’t huge tasks and usually don’t generate larger projects.  You will feel energized all day, so kick up your heels as you walk out the door and have a very “neat” day.

Maximize storage by using walls with mounted shelving – especially in garages.

A hanging magnetic knife rack keeps sharp instruments orderly and within safe reach.  Clears out drawer space as well.

Open shelves are accessible but force you to edit.  When you see it, you know what you’ve got.  You forget what’s behind closed doors.

Go vertical.  Hang it up.  Keep floor space open.

Empty is ok.  You don’t have to fill every nook and cranny.  Free space is nice.

I love opening a linen closet where stacks of clean fresh laundry are piled neatly with only folded edges showing.  There are several space saving ways to fold towels and sheet sets can be folded into neat little packages.  Cleaning out a linen closet is a great way to turn old towels into rags or car washing towels.  You’d be surprised what a little organization can do for a small narrow closet.   A spritz of linen spray will freshen the closet and you will breathe a sigh of comfort when you pillow your head at night.  

Novels, self-help, recipe, business, non-fiction, magazines!  Is it beginning to look like a well worn library in your home?  Are bookshelves crammed tight with old hardcovers or torn and worn paperbacks? 

Pay it forward!  You can donate these treasures to your local library and if they can’t be shelved they will sell them at book sales benefitting the library for new books. 

You may read it again?  Seriously?  How many books have you re-read?  Let’s talk minimal – as in e-books.  Books are meant to be read and convey information to you, the reader.  That’s the special meaning behind a book… not sitting on your shelf.  When you touch the book does it bring you pleasure?  Perhaps it’s a limited edition or a classic.  That’s fine! Keep it! 

Someday means never.  If you say, “someday I will read this…” you won’t.  If you’ve read it, move on.  If it’s truly a treasure, keep it.

There is one fun way to display nice art books… stack them in a colorful tower in a corner of the room.  Just hope the one you want to read isn’t at the bottom!