To DC or Not to DC...That Is The Question!

When is clutter, clutter? Clutter is relative; my perception of clutter is probably unlike many other's perception of clutter.

When should you DC(De-Clutter, get it?)? That is the question....below I have some simple suggestions as to when DC should/could take place.

You should DC when:

• When you have a physical reaction to a mess, such as my toy closet (which, by the way, has NOT been done yet!)
• You open your cabinets and stuff falls out
• Can't ever find what you are looking for
• Can no longer park your car in your garage
• Your garage is a fire hazard
• Mold is growing on food in your fridge
• The potatoes in your pantry are sprouting
• You have magazines in plastic that are dated July, 2001
• Your child gets food poisoning from an outdated frozen Go-Gurt that you had in the freezer for 2 years (No joke, I know someone this happened to, and NO, it didn't happen at my house....but it did happen in this neighborhood!)

I DC constantly. I have children who grow a size or more each season. So, I keep a "no longer fits" bag in my daughter's closet. When she puts on something that no longer fits her, she throws it in that bag. When the bag is full, we give it to a friend or donate to a charity.

I also DC my fridge each Thursday or Friday night. I do this for a couple of reasons. One, I have a side by side fridge. (Not my first choice, but it LOOKS nice!) Two, the garbage gets picked up on Saturday morning. Even though I can manipulate the shelves in the fridge, I still don't seem to have enough room. So, any leftovers that are in the fridge come Friday night get tossed. Any fruit or veggies that are in there for more than a week also are thrown out.

Besides the "too small bag" in my children's closet, cleaning out the fridge on a weekly basis, I DC my home office. This is my "command central" for all the paper that passes through the house. Not only do I go through the mail, bills and kids school projects I run a speaker management business. I house all kinds of speaker materials, projects, books and files. I keep a file on each speaker and their projects, I maintain an electronic and paper file for each. Why, do you ask that I still keep paper copies in 2009? Perhaps, it might have something to do with my (self-diagnosed) OCD, but my intent is to always have back up in the event my computer crashes or my files mysteriously burn. So, every Sunday night after the kids are in bed, I sneak down into my office and DC my little heart away. This is my way of getting myself organized for the week. I create my work to-do list, my personal to-do list pay bills online and file away items that I need to keep.

I feel that I almost always have a DC project going on. The next project that I have planned is to DC my closet. I recently got rid of all the clothes I no longer wear but I have since accumulated more "stuff." I am going to add another rod to hang clothes on (my closet is more tall than wide so the only way is to go up) and that will give me some storage space below for shoes...which by the way, is the bulk of my "stuff" that I have recently accumulated! I don't have pix yet of this project but I will post them when I get this project done.

Until then, keep reading for Simply Amazing Organizing Secrets and Cost Effective Organizing Tricks!

***NEW FEATURE: You Tell Me!***
I have one challenge that kind of has me stumped. My mother-in-law recently asked me if there was a way to store seasonings/spices that made using them more convienent yet kept the flavor locked in. She often buys seasonings/spices in bulk (think of buying seasonings from Costco) and doesn't like to pull the large bulk sized container out each time she needs it.

What type of containers do you store your seasonings/spices in? (I believe she is looking beyond Zip Loc bags as a solution!)

Please send me your ideas...I am at a loss with this one!

Simple and Affordable-Kooi Garage Re-Organize Project

BEFORE

AFTER

I am so happy to show you the before and after photos of our garage. Jeff put up shelves and the kids and I de-cluttered!

Some of you have asked if Jeff was on board with the re-org and he was. He actually started the project, put up the shelves, bought matching bins!

We donated over 7 bags of toys & clothes and 3 car seats to Maggie's Place. They were thrilled and we were even more thrilled to see our gently used items go to a place that could really use them!

Total Cost of Project: under $500 for shelves, brackets (more expensive then the wood used for shelves!) and bins.

Total Investment of Time: 14 hours tops...Jeff spent more time waiting at Home Depot to get the wood cut and running to Lowe's to get the brackets. You would think one place would have all that he needed, but no such luck.

Special Note: I would love to hear from you. Please email me or comment on my blog with your organization challenges and obstacles! If you would like to show the world your organizational celebration, send me your before and after photos and I will post them on my blog!

Home organization projects shouldn't break your bank. Keep reading for cost effective tips and tricks to keep your space Simply Amazing.

Zip Locs- Who Doesn't Love 'Em?

Before I begin today's featured blog, let me share this great comment a reader sent in to me:

"Hey Camille, I have to let you know that your blog has motivated me to get organized! I organized my pantry and now I'm actually getting rid of Cooking Light magazines from 2007 and 2008 that I keep thinking I will read! This is just the first step, but it feels soo good:)" --*Mia, May 2009

Please let me know what blog posts have inspired you to simply organize anything! Feel free to email me your organizational achievements or challenges to cjkooi@cox.net or leave a comment on my blog post!


Today's Featured Blog:
One of life's simplest pleasures is Zip Loc Bags, don't you agree? The uses are almost endless. Let me give you some great ways to utitlize these handy bags! You can label the bags with a Sharpie pen and see their contents--a very nice cost effective way to organize junk drawers, bathroom drawers, pantries, laundry rooms and car consoles, loose change and even your suitcase--all with the goal of keeping your life simply organized with little to no investment.

Small sandwich or quart size bags are great for:
1. Hair ties, elastic bands, hair clips, banana clips (tell me you don't still have these!) and bobby pins all in their own bags. Then place all bags in one container perhaps a hat box.

2. Junk drawers-place all like items in one Zip Loc such as paper and binder clips, rubberbands, pencil erasers and loose change.

3. Prepare your snacks a head of time. Place your chips, cookies, sweets, veggies, fresh fruit in handy snack size (pre-portion your high calorie items in packs). The benefits of doing this are endless. One, it will save you calories if you tend to be a "snacker." Two, you will grab what is prepared when you are hungry. If you have fresh strawberries already cleaned, sliced and ready to eat, then your kids have the freedom to grab a bag of their favorite snack on their own. So simple--one less you have to do for them as you are walking out the door to soccer practice.

4. Batteries! Who doesn't have miscellaneous sizes and types of batteries floating around your junk drawer? Save your piece of mind by placing all batteries in one spot. Batteries are sold in packets of 4 and you normally need 2 on any one item. So, that leaves you with 2 batteries that will fall out of the carton and disappear into the junk drawer abiss. Get used to throwing the extras in a Zip Loc right away and you will save yourself a few bucks on batteries each year!

5. In your pantry, put your ready mixed seasoning packets in one bag. For example, throw all of your Mexican Seasonings (such as Fajita and Taco seasoning) in one bag. I always seem to have more than I need at any given time, so I keep them all together in one bin next to my seasoning bottles.


Large Gallon sized bags:
1. If you have a lot of combs and hair brushes, you can place them in larger bags in your bathroom drawers

2. When traveling, take your shower bottles and everything you use in the shower and put in one large Zip Loc. Label it shower stuff with a Sharpie. This will keep your shower stuff all in one place and in the event something spills, it will spill inside the zip loc and not on your other items you have packed.

Likewise, do this for all of your personal items. I have a bag that I use for my morning and night routine (cleanser and moisturizers), another bag for what I need to style my hair including shampoo, conditioner and styling products. I found it handy to put all toothbrushes and toothpastes, floss and mouthwash in one bag. Additionally, you can also place your jewerly, medication, vitamins all in seperate bags.

If you are the main suitcase-packer for the family such as I am, this will make your packing (and unpacking for that matter) mindless! Once your family understand your simple system they can look for those items without too much thought. I don't know about you but if something doesn't jump up and bite my kids on the hand (ahem, and husband) they can't find it! It's all about making it easy for them to find on their own!

3. Large sized bags are great for storing crayons, colored pencils, markers and craft items that you may have in your pantry or toy closet. When I am vaccuming I find miscellaneous puzzle pieces and keep them in a bag in my junk drawer. This is the first place I look when the kids are missing that last piece of their puzzle.

4. In the diaper bag, I used to put new diapers in one large bag with the wipes. That way when I went to change the baby, I could just pull that bag out of the diaper bag and have all that I need in one spot for a fast change. Now, I still use zip locs to put an extra change of clothes in my toddler's bag. I almost never carry a diaper bag with me from errand to errand but have my "back up" back in the trunk of the car at all times!

Likewise, you can also put formula, bottles, bottled water (or spoon, baby food and bib) all in the same Zip Loc so at feeding time you can hurry and feed your starving baby!

5. If you buy items in bulk such as fruit, chips or cereal, take a portion out of the bigger box and place them in a bag and re-fill that bag as you need more. I do this in my pantry when I buy big boxes of cereal from Costco. This saves on valuable pantry real estate--if you have a large pantry--consider yourself lucky!

Let me know what your favorite use for Zip Loc's are! I look forward to your comments!

BTW...my husband and I are working on a garage makeover, finally! We are transforming a very unorganized space to a very functional and organized area all the while keeping our costs very minimal.

Organized and cost-effective...makes for one happy Kooi couple! As soon as the transformation is completed, I will post the before and after photos!

Check out this great comment one of the readers sent in to me:

"Hey Camille, I have to let you know that your blog has motivated me to get organized! I organized my pantry and now I'm actually getting rid of Cooking Light magazines from 2007 and 2008 that I keep thinking I will read! This is just the first step, but it feels soo good:)" --*Mia, May 2009

*Mia is not her real name!