There are many organization solutions in the marketplace today that can help keep closet clutter under control without spending a fortune on high-end custom closets.  Outfitting your child’s closet with a custom solution may not always be the best idea when they still  have a lot of growing to do.  It might make more sense to use less expensive organization products that can be changed and adjusted as the child grows.

Here are a few ideas that can be incorporated into your child’s existing closet, assuming you do not already have built-in shelving installed:

Hanging organizer shelves for clothing
Storage cubes to corral small toys
Hanging shoe organizer to keep shoes off the floor
Shoe stands, also to keep shoes off the floor
Quality hangers to take better care of clothing

Closet hanging shelf organizer

Magic toy pop-up cube

Closet hanging shoe organizer shelves

Stackable shoe shelf organizer

Childrens' wood hangers

Folding canvas bins

Rolling bins or carts to hold folded clothing or toys can also be helpful.  Find more closet organizers at Home Storage Warehouse.

Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer, speaker and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), NAPO-Baltimore Chapter, and Maryland Association of Professional Organizers, she shows homeowners how to reclaim their time and space, and offers organizing and time management workshops and group presentations. Jacquie is also the author of Take Control of Your Clutter Before it Takes Control of You: 101 Tips to Success.  Visit CastAway the Clutter to get a free organizing goals worksheet when you sign up for her organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com

It’s nearing the end of Get Organized Month (SM). Have you started any of your decluttering and organizing projects yet?  Feeling overwhelmed?  Break the task down into smaller chunks and work on one chunk at a time. 

Let’s assume you need to go through several weeks of mail that you’ve been procrastinating.  Normally, when the mail hasn’t been sorted in a while, it may be found in many different areas of the home.  So before you start, spend some time going through your home searching for piles of unopened mail.  When you’re sure you have it all, schedule some time to begin processing it.  Here are a few easy mail sorting and organizing tips:

1. Have the necessary tools on hand before you begin.  Examples of what you mind need include: A shredder (or a container to store paper to shred later), letter opener, files, file box or filing cabinet, recycle or trash bin, pen, sticky notes, paper clips and a stapler and staple remover. 

2. Sort the mail by type.  You can usually tell from the outside of the envelope what type of mail it is, e.g. bill, statement, catalog, junk mail, magazine subscription, etc.

3. Open the easy action items first, e.g. place your magazines either in a magazine basket or give it to the person in the household who holds the magazine subscription.  Discard the junk mail and trash.

4. Open the bills and make decisions.  Pay now or later?  Set up reminder systems in your day planner or PDA for bills that need to be paid later.  Discard trash and file statements.

5. Schedule time to do the mail daily or every other day.  If you have a particularly crazy schedule, you can do it once a week, but no less than that!

Here are some paper and mail organizing products and tools that you may find helpful from Home Storage Warehouse.

Desktop organizer

Newspaper and Magazine Rack

File/Letter Desk Organizer

Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer, speaker and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007 and is presently the “Ask the Organizer” expert. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), NAPO-Baltimore Chapter, and Maryland Association of Professional Organizers, she shows homeowners how to reclaim their time and space, and offers organizing and time management workshops and group presentations. Jacquie also writes a column at the Baltimore Examiner, called Organized Families and is the author of Take Control of Your Clutter Before it Takes Control of You: 101 Tips to Success.  Click here to learn more. Contact Jacquie by clicking here. Visit CastAway the Clutter to sign up for her free organizing tips and learn more about her presentations at www.castawaytheclutter.com

A long time ago, the baker’s rack was used in bakeries to cool batches of pies and other baked goods.  The baked goods were placed on metal shelving allowing them to cool.  

Nowadays the baker’s rack is a stylish piece of furniture used to store and organize all types of kitchen and dining items.  Some baker’s racks are also used in other rooms of the home for storage or display purposes and may showcase the homeowner’s decorative items and collectibles.  Either way, the baker’s rack can be used as an extension of your kitchen countertop, additional storage in your dining room, or storage in any room of the home.  Here are some ideas of how you can take advantage of the storage space in a baker’s rack:

Kitchen: microwave, small kitchen appliances, kitchen canisters, cookbooks and cookware.

Dining room: china, collectibles, table linens, servers, wine bottles (choose one with a built-in wine rack).

Living room: As an étagère to display collectibles.

Bathroom: towels, decorative items, toiletries (use baskets for smaller items), extra paper supplies.

Hall/Entry: As an entryway organizer for backpacks, bags, hats, gloves, scarves (use baskets), keys (some baker’s racks have built-in hooks).

Covered Patio or Outdoor Shed: As a potting station for small garden tools, gloves, apron, seeds, potting soil etc.

Baker's Rack with wine storage

Linen white baker's rack with wine storage

Baker's rack with drawers

Green baker's rack with wine storage

                   

There are many other “out of the box” organizing ideas that you can use Baker’s racks for.  Take advantage of the vertical space in your home and organize your stuff in style!  Click here to shop for these baker’s racks and other organization products!

 

Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer, speaker and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007 and is presently the “Ask the Organizer” expert. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), NAPO-Baltimore Chapter, and Maryland Association of Professional Organizers, she shows homeowners how to reclaim their time and space, and offers organizing and time management workshops and group presentations. Jacquie also writes a column at the Baltimore Examiner, called Organized Families.  Contact Jacquie by clicking here. Visit CastAway the Clutter to sign up for her free organizing tips and learn more about her presentations at www.castawaytheclutter.com

 

Most avid readers probably feel like they can never have too many books. The problem arises when they have so many books, bookshelves are overflowing and stacks of books are placed on surfaces in random places throughout the home, creating clutter. At this point, it is not only time to purge, it is also time to arrange all of the books in a system that results in easy retrieval. Purging is practically a swear word for book hoarders, but it must be done in order to break free of the clutter!

If you have too many books, and don’t know where to begin, start by scanning your bookshelves and selecting your least favorites. Then keep going until you’ve at least parted with enough books to have them all placed on book shelves. It’s okay to have a few in a basket or bin by the bed or couch, but don’t use baskets and bins because you’ve run out of space on your bookshelves.

Consider donating your books. There are so many places that would love to have your books. Check with the following places in your town: Hospitals, daycare centers, homeless shelters, public libraries, used book stores, etc.

After purging enough books to clear some space on your bookshelves, it will be time to organize them in a way that makes sense to you. There are so many different ways to organize books. The most common way is to arrange by either author (a-z), genre or in alphabetical order by title. However, you can also arrange by room location, color, size and style.

Not everyone is fortunate to have built-in bookcases, but you can get a similar look by purchasing two or more bookshelves and placing them close together. Remember to anchor them to the wall after they have been put into place. The following bookcases could be purchased in multiples to achieve this look.

For a more modern and relaxed look, see the following bookcases. These are perfect in a room where the wall is painted in a dramatic color, because there is no backing to hide the wall.

Finally, the following shelves are for displaying decorative items. However, with a pair of heavy weight bookends, you could place 3-4 small books on the Black Curved Shelf Case for a decorative look. I wouldn’t recommend you use these shelves purely for books, unless you only have a few on each shelf.

How you organize your books is all up to you. The question you’ll need to ask is “will I know where to look for a book when I need it?” If you presently have no system at all, then any new system you set up will take some time to remember, so you may have to map out your system on paper so that you can refer to it from time to time, until you get the hang of it.

To see all the different bookcases and shelves available today, visit Home Storage Warehouse.

Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer, speaker and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007 and is presently the “Ask the Organizer” expert. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), NAPO-Baltimore Chapter, and Maryland Association of Professional Organizers, she shows homeowners how to reclaim their time and space, and offers organizing and time management workshops and group presentations. Jacquie can be reached at jacquie@castawaytheclutter.com. Visit CastAway the Clutter to sign up for her free organizing tips and learn more about her presentations at www.castawaytheclutter.com

They say that practice makes perfect, meaning the more you practice a new skill or habit, the better you become. Learning how to be organized from an early age is a valuable and necessary skill that can be learned over time and taken into adulthood.  When a new college student begins dorm life, it will most likely be their first time living away from home.  It is also the perfect opportunity to practice being independent as they embark towards adulthood.

Parents are often dismayed at the total lack of organization in their child’s dorm room when they visit their new college student after they have settled into dorm life.  They often wonder where they went wrong!  However, it’s never too late to learn how to be more organized.

Planning ahead before your child goes off to college is key.  As you shop for products for your child’s dorm room, think of items that will make it easy for them to be more organized.  Dorm rooms have the additional challenge of being a small space, sometimes shared with one or more students, so multi-purpose furniture and space saving organizers will help to control the clutter.  When your student is organized and able to find what he needs, he will most likely be more successful later in life. 

Take a look at the many spaces saving organizers that can control the clutter in your child’s dorm room. You can find organizing products for toiletries, make-up, bath products, shoes, clothing, magazines, laundry and more, that fit over the door, in the closet and under the bed.

Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer, speaker and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), NAPO-Baltimore Chapter, and Maryland Association of Professional Organizers, she shows homeowners how to reclaim their time and space, and offers organizing and time management workshops and group presentations. Jacquie can be reached at jacquie@castawaytheclutter.com. Visit CastAway the Clutter to sign up for her free organizing tips and learn more about her presentations at www.castawaytheclutter.com  

Are you sometimes frustrated with always having to pick up your clothing  accessories off the floor due to not having a proper accessory organizer to house them? Getting dressed in the mornings can become quite stressful if you can’t find the right shoes, tie, belt or scarf due to a lack of organization.  When your accessories are hung on random hangers or folded on a shelf, you may find yourself constantly tripping over them when they fall on the floor, leaving your closet in a big mess.

With new organizational products appearing on the marketplace, it’s easier than ever to find suitable organizers made specifically to organize your clothing accessories.  Belt hangers, swivel tie racks and scarf hangers come in a variety of styles, sizes and price points. 

As for your shoes, depending on the amount of space you have, you can purchase a shoe stand, over-the-door shoe organizer or hanging shoe pockets that hang on the same clothing rod as the rest of your clothes.  Get those accessories off the floor and on organizers today!

Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), NAPO-Baltimore Chapter, and Maryland Association of Professional Organizers, she shows homeowners how to reclaim their time and space, and offers organizing and time management workshops.  Jacquie can be reached at jacquie@castawaytheclutter.com. Visit CastAway the Clutter to sign up for her free organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com and register for an organizing workshop.

Homeowners who are blessed with large closets often have the same problems as homeowners with only a few square feet of closet space! This reminds us that having more space isn’t always the answer to being more organized. However, for those of us with small closets, we would love the opportunity to remodel ours to the closet of our dreams!  What we can all do, whether we have a small space or large walk-in, is improve it with the many closet organizing solutions available, without breaking the bank.  Simply updating your garment hangers can make all the difference in how your closet appears. 

If you’re ready to make a change, with a small investment, start with updating your clothes hangers.  Get rid of the dry cleaning hangers that sag your clothes and replace them with wood, cedar, vinyl, metal or friction non slip clothes hangers.  Your clothes will thank you by keeping their shape and lasting much longer.

Then, move on to better storage solutions for your folded sweaters and tops that may currently be falling all over the place on the shelf above the hanging rod!  You can pick up canvas, cedar and natural woven baskets, boxes, bins and containers.  If you have room for a small chest of drawers, you can add a 3-5 drawer chest that would sit below your short hanging clothes, providing a more “custom closet” feel. 

So whether you have a large walk-in or a small reach-in, you can still have an organized closet by selecting the right hangers, purging occasionally and storing your sweaters and tops neatly in containers or drawers that won’t create a big mess!

Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), NAPO-Baltimore Chapter, and Maryland Association of Professional Organizers, she shows homeowners how to reclaim their time and space, and offers organizing and time management workshops.  Jacquie can be reached at jacquie@castawaytheclutter.com. Visit CastAway the Clutter to sign up for her free organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com and register for an organizing workshop.

Closets come in all sizes and can create frustration or delight.  It’s all in how you manage and organize your clothes!  If closet space is minimal, you can store your off-season or rarely worn items in another area of the home.  However, it’s important that you store them correctly, ideally in a dry and cool spot.  I keep my holiday party and dressier items in a zippered garment bag in a cool and dark area of my home and I’ve included small cedar hanging blocks. Since I only need these items once or twice a year, it’s out of the way, but still easy to access.  More importantly, I can find them when I need them!

Garment storage bags are ideal to store clothing that you only need access a couple of times a year, or to store during the off-season.  They are also fine for permanent storage if you have no closets at all – just be sure to select a breathable fabric. Some garment storage bags even include cedar inserts!

Garment storage bags, also known as closet organizers, come in a variety of styles, fabrics and price points and can be used to store all types of clothing. 

Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), NAPO-Baltimore Chapter, and Maryland Association of Professional Organizers, she shows homeowners how to reclaim their time and space, and offers organizing and time management workshops.  Jacquie can be reached at jacquie@castawaytheclutter.com. Visit CastAway the Clutter to sign up for her free organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com and register for an organizing workshop.

Wishing for the look of a gourmet kitchen without the gourmet price tag? Well, by adding practical, but beautiful organizers on your countertop you can enhance the look of your kitchen without breaking the bank. Begin by putting away the small appliances you use only occasionally, purging the items you never use and displaying the items you use everyday.

Here are a few decorating tips that will keep your countertops attractive and organized:

- Display your fruit in a beautiful fruit chrome bowl.

- Store your coffee, sugar etc in beautiful canisters instead of plastic containers.

- Store your paper towel holder in a decorative paper towel stand

- Display your favorite coffee or tea mugs on an elegant mug tree.

- Display your paper napkins in an attractive napkin holder on your kitchen table.

If you prefer to keep your kitchen countertops completely clear, there are many inexpensive over-the-door organizers for your kitchen sponge and hand soap, recyclable plastic bags and kitchen towels.  There is even an over-the-door paper towel holder – no tools necessary!  Have some fun decluttering your countertops with innovative organizing tools!

President’s Day sale going on now at www.HomeStorageWarehouse.com!

Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), NAPO-Baltimore Chapter, and Maryland Association of Professional Organizers, she shows homeowners how to reclaim their time and space, and offers organizing and time management workshops.  Jacquie can be reached at jacquie@castawaytheclutter.com. Visit CastAway the Clutter to sign up for her free organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com and register for her upcoming organizing workshops.

Do you struggle to find what you need in your kitchen cabinets?  If you have a small space, it can be even more challenging to keep the interior of your cabinets organized, particularly in lower cabinets. Then, there’s the additional challenge of very deep low cabinets. Homeowners with deep cabinets may find themselves spending a lot of time hunting for items in the back of the cabinet, which is usually dark and difficult to access.  

Lower cabinets typically store pots and pans, cleaning products, plasticware, serveware and many other miscellaneous items.  If you do not have a separate pantry in your kitchen you are most likely also using your cabinets to store dry and canned food, taking up additional prime storage space. 

However, you needn’t remodel your kitchen! You can now find wonderful sliding and roll-out cabinet organizers designed specifically for organizing hard to reach areas inside your kitchen cabinets. Sliding cabinet organizers are perfect to store many items, including pots and pans and cleaning products under the sink, allowing easy and convenient access.  Sliding organizers also come in a variety of styles and sizes and you can even find one for a small trash can!

Declutter and reorganize your cabinets with any of the following sliding organizers and never be frustrated again!

Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers and Maryland Association of Professional Organizers, she teaches homeowners how to reclaim their time and space, and offers Time Management workshops to businesses to maximize productivity.  Jacquie can be reached at jacquie@castawaytheclutter.com. Visit CastAway the Clutter to sign up for her free organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com and register for her upcoming organizing workshops.