Organization Quest

6-Month Progress Report

When I first started the Quest back in July, I thought I'd do a monthly progress report. That seemed a little excessive, so I thought maybe a quarterly report would do the trick.  And then I sort of forgot all about it.

Why bother with a report at all?  Because the story--the progress gained or the relapse into chaos--doesn't stop with the post.  Think of Cinderella or her modern-day, reality-TV equivalents:  they may find true love or lose the weight or otherwise win the competition, which is the last we see of them, but that isn't the end of the story. Really, it's the beginning.

This is also true with the Quest--both mine and yours.  The pig-factor is assigned, pictures are posted, and progress is made, but . . . does it stay that way?  And if so, for how long?  If not, why not? 

These are crucial questions, whether your goal pertains to organizing or to losing weight, taking up an exercise program, learning a language, advancing your skills, or stopping smoking.  Rarely is the road to success a straight one.  Rather, there are the proverbial hills and valleys, the dips in the road, the hair-pin turns.  A little back-tracking in any journey is to be expected.

I've noticed in my email and in conversations about organizing, the question always seems to be "how long does it take to get organized?"  the presumption being once-organized-always-organized.  A more applicable question might be: "what does it take to stay organzied?"  Because like losing weight or taking up an exercise program, being organized--at least for the previously disorganized--is a lifestyle change.

So I thought it would be useful for those of you starting out if I reviewed a few of the biggest projects undertaken in the last six months and provide an update on the current status of each.

The Craft Closet

By far the most popular project on the Quest as measured by lifetime page views, the Craft Closet was a pandora's box of a project, in that the longer I worked at it, the more I realized just what a mess it was in.  What I thought would be a 1-2 hour project ended up taking 14 hours.  But few projects have given me such a sense of accomplishment when completed.

Update:

Still in good shape. Two of the drawers have flat files that need to be re-positioned and both wrapping paper drawers need to straightened after the flurry of holiday wrapping, but it should take less than a half hour to get it back to picture-perfect shape.

My Study, or The Supreme Paper Mess

Probably the second most popular project, and also, for me, the most daunting, taming the Supreme Paper Mess meant making my study truly usable for the first time in a very long time. Interestingly, it took less time to  sort, toss, and file all that mess away than it did to organize the craft closet.

Update:

Progress has been maintained, but not without effort:  almost every week I spend at least 1/2 hour--often several hours--puttting things away, going through paper work new and old, shredding and filing.  The ongoing effort is absolutely necessary, as the entire room seems to attract clutter of every type, due to it's multi-purpose function.

Mount Laundry

it took 7 and 1/2 hours to dig out from under  Mount Laundry, a stack of (clean) laundry as big as an Old English Sheepdog.  Afterwards, I promised myself I would never-ever-ever let my laundry get so bad ever again.

Update:

Gazing at the picture of the enormous pile of laundry in the post, I can't believe I ever let my laundry get that bad.  Again.

Yes, letting the laundry slide is perhaps my biggest failure so far on the Quest.  This would be reasonable, or at least explainable, if I didn't like doing the laundry, but in fact it's one of my favorite chores, so go figure.  Maybe it's a case of "saving" the best for last.  Maybe it's the elaborate process involved: things need to be ironed before they are put away.  This isn't perfectionism but a concrete fact, as everyone knows that People Who Put Laundry Away Without Ironing First Go to Straight To Hell. Keeping unironed clothes on the bedside chair, however, at least earns a pass into purgatory, where you still have half a chance. 

Think Like A Project Manager

Don't you just love Fridays?  It's the perfect time to curl up with a notebook and plan the weekend ahead. When it comes to organizing or even just regular old cleaning and maintenance, planning out what you want to accomplish turns boring old chores into projects. Better yet, you get to play Project Manager, which is sort of a cross between a busybody and a task-master.  Even if you're heading up a team of one, you can adapt Project Management (PM) techniques to gain some traction with your Organization Quest.  Here's a short list of considerations to get you started:

Identify the #1 priority

If you're just getting started or have let things slip, it may seem like everything's a priority. Sometimes it helps if you can identify the one thing that will make the greatest impact in how you feel about your place.  For some people, this may mean clearing pathways; for others, it means alphabetizing their spices.  Most of the time, it's something in-between, which brings us to . . .

Define the scope

Let's say your priority is "work on the living room".  Does this mean basic maintenance along the lines of picking up, or does it involve heavy-duty cleaning like steam-cleaning the carpet, getting the drapes cleaned, and washing the windows or the walls? Or maybe the "work" that needs to be done involves organizing the bookcase?  Or painting the walls?  

What you can accomplish when is impacted on another PM consideration:

Do you have a deadline?  

If so, what is it "internal" (expectations or preferences unrelated to outside events) or "external," in that it's tied in some way to something happening outside of yourself: maybe you're hosting the  Superbowl get-together this year and want the place presentable, or maybe you want to prepare nowfor what you know is going to be a crazy time at work when you won't have time for much around-the-house maintenance.  

Determine the time line

Once you know when something needs to be accomplished, you can backtrack and decide how much can be done and when. In the absence of any event/deadline, your time line might be simply be a timecommitment, as in "three hours on basement."  But in any case, you'll need to: 

List the tasks

Make it as simple or detailed as you need to keep  on track and motivated.  My own lists have a strange tendency:  I can reduce a multi-task maintenance project ("clean kitchen") to a couple words, but if I'm avoiding something, I find it helpful to write out specific tasks, even if they are simple.  There's something about this I that I find reassuring; it also helps keep me focused.  So last week when I returned a book to Amazon something I did not feel like figuring out, my list looked something like, "find book; find box to pack book in; find tape for box; pack box; read instructions on Amazon" etc. 

Allocate resources

Do you have help around the house or for your project?  Will you be asking the kids to pitch in, or maybe your spouse or roommate will lend a hand?  Perhaps you've decided to hire a professional to tackle a few home repairs?  Whatever the case, decide who does what.  

Communicate deliverables

Remind anyone who's helping of their specific task/role, along with applicable time line or deadline information.  This can be as simple as saying, "let's spend an hour going through the boxes in the basement before lunch tomorrow".  I've had friends with kids who swear the family white board, complete with different colors for each family member.  Kids love crossing off their chores!

Visualize the goal

Oftentimes, things will look much, much worse before it gets better.  Your job as PM is to keep yourself and anyone on your team on task and motivated.  Keep your goal in mind and keep moving forward.

Celebrate success

When you meet your goal, do something fun to celebrate and reward everyone who has helped.  This can be as simple as making popcorn or getting ice-cream in several different flavors and an evening of board games for those with kids,  a special home-cooked dinner for couples, or a book and a bubble bath for yourself.  Whatever the case, it's especially nice to enjoy the space you cleaned or organized.  Doing so re-enforces why the effort was worth it!

Special Thank You to My Readers

Today marks the Quest's 6-month anniversary. In a coincidence, today we also topped 10,000 lifetime views.  A hearty "thank you" is in order to everyone who has visited the site and read a post or two; to anyone who has ever posted a comment, participated in a poll (it's been a while since we've had one of those!) or subscribed to get the Quest by email or by RSS feed.  I am grateful to each and everyone of you, and take your comments, suggestions, and preferences to heart, in an effort to realize my own Quest and to communicate to all the other Questers out there. 

I'm constantly looking for new ways to engage readers, to excite, incite, and motivate.  Is there anything that you are hoping to see on the Quest?  Are you interested in daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance routines, are are you more interested in tackling big projects?  Do you need help getting started, or are you at the stage of fine-tuning the details?  If you have a minute and are so inclined, I'd love to hear what interests you when it comes to organizing.  In the meantime, congrats on whatever progress you've made in your own Quest.  Keep up the good work!

Shopping Lists With A Twist

Once upon a time, I loved shopping, which I saw not as an errand or even a past-time, but a responsibility to use my God-given talent not unlike that of Van Gogh or Mozart, although perhaps more practical.  I was one of those people who kept tabs on when a certain item would go on sale, all the while factoring in the liklihood that my size and preferred color would be available.  Keeping up in this way required nearly daily trips to the mall, a habit that, while time-consuming, I didn't begrudge, any more than Van Gogh would begrudge time before his canvas, or Mozart at the piano.  Greatness requires diligence, and I was nothing if not a Great Shopper.  

And then something happened--I'm not exactly sure what or when--but I stopped seeing shopping as a Great Adventure and started seeing it as a Great Pain in the you-know-what.  Nowadays, given the choice to go to the mall or scrub out the toilet, I'd almost always opt for the latter, which is done and over with in a few minutes, costs nothing, and doesn't involve parking or waiting in lines.  

That said, I've come up with a couple techniques that make the inevitable shopping trip at least a little more bearable:

The On-Going Shopping List

While there's nothing particularly new about writing a list before shopping, a twist I've found to be particularly helpful is to keep a running list of items, according to the specific store or type of store (i.e. "hardware store"). This is to say, I don't sit down and write out a list before I shop as much as note the items I need as I run out of them or as the thought occurs. When I find myself in the vicinity of the given store, my list is ready (in my Circa organizer) to pull out and use.

The Aisle-by-Aisle Grocery List

I've recently taken to grouping my grocery store items by the aisle of the store I usually go to, which makes for much faster trips.  

The Circle-the-Item, Printed Grocery List

I've also seen printed lists; Levenger, for one, offers such a product, but I have my doubts about how useful it would be.  For one, it won't be in the order of your local store, and for two, it would be filled with items you don't need, while missing items you do.  If you like the idea of just circling the items rather than making a list out fresh, consider making your own list, which you type out in Word or another word processing program in whatever order seems to make sense to you. Leave a few blank lines at the end of every category to add any items not included on your list. Alter saved lists to include or delete items as your taste and shopping habits change.

Lickity Split Ponders One of Life's Mysteries

4-Room Cleaning Guide

I love to troll the Internet and share really good articles when I find them.  Surfing this evening, I came across an old favorite article from Real Simple that I'd forgotten about:  the name of the article, "Quick Cleaning Solutions for Every Room," is a bit of a misnomer, in that some of the solutions take half-a day, which is none too quick in my book. Nonetheless, thearticle is eminently helpful and provides a fairly comprehensive task list for The Big Four:  kitchen, living room, bathroom, and bedroom.  The real stroke of genius, though, is the way the tasks for each room are organized according to how much time you have to clean: 15 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour, or a half a day. I found the lists to be the most logical yet in terms of what it takes to pull a room together, and the time-estimates seem about right, too.  (The one exception: I've never needed to spend a half a daycleaning any bathroom I've owned--even if I did everything on the list.) Another nice touch: Room-specific product suggestions are given for each room. 

 

The Missing Sock Basket

Everyone knows socks go AWOL; where, exactly, they go between washer and dryer is one of the Great Mysteries of Life, alongside what happens when we die and why what other people order at restaurants always looks better than what's on your own plate, nevermind that you don't like and won't eat what they ordered, it's still looks more appealing, which is the mystery part.  Anyway.  Socks go missing; this is a fact.  Where or why is not ours to question.  The problem is, what do you do with the good, reliable, conscientious sock who reports to duty while you wait for the slacker sock to show up?

Some time ago, I developed the habit of tossing my unmatched socks into a basket, the idea being that eventually the erstwhile partner will be tossed into the same basket and the two will be paired up when I conduct my Sock Audit, in theory once a month.  By and large, the system works well enough, although I've never been able to match all the socks up at any given time, and have come to suspect that some of the sock-basket socks have been, alas, permanently abandoned.  Still, it takes a lot for me to toss out the surviving sock; it almost seems a little cruel, not to mention unjust.  Who really deserves my wrath is the sock that went missing in the first place.  But I digress.

Earlier this week I sat down with Snapdragon and together we matched up socks for the first time since September. I figured it was time since we kept running out of socks, but there were never many socks in the hampers.  Indeed, the missing sock basket had become a de facto hamper, housing an enormous pile of clean socks.  It took an hour to sort through them all, but by the time I was done, I'd successfully matched up thirty-eight pairs of socks, and got to cross yet another thing off my put-off list.

 

 

Auditing the Missing Sock Basket

 

 

Buy From Amazon.com In November or December? It's Not Too Late for Returns

Several times in recent months, I've written about how being organize saves money. I've also been keeping loose track of how much money I've been able to save just by comparison shopping, utilizing membership programs to buy things I'd buy anyway, reviewing my benefits and insurance selections, and taking advantage of store policies like rain checks, free shipping, or refunds for items that go on sale shortly after being purchased.

Occasionally, though, I still drop the ball.  I'd ordered a book from Amazon in early December which arrived in curiously bad shape, and so I asked for an exchange.  With all of the cookie insanity followed by the holidays and new year, I lost track of that first book.  Thirty days had passed, and I thought for sure I'd have to forfeit the $23.99 for the book I still hadn't returned. 

But this is where to-do lists come in, and making the time to fit in a phone call or an email or to look something up on the web.  Between tasks the other day, I went to Amazon's website to double check their return policy, because who knows, maybe I had it wrong:  maybe it was 60 days and not 30.  And so I went to the site, clicked through to "returns" and saw that nope, it was 30 days all right.  But wait!  When I clicked on "Read our complete returns policy" I got a page with this announcement:

Items sold by Amazon.com and shipped between November 1 and December 31, 2008, may be returned until January 31, 2009 for a full refund, subject to our other returns restrictions listed below.

Well!  Maybe that $23.99 isn't lost afterall.  And unlike many other vendors, Amazon actually pays for the return shipping.

The bigger lesson learned here:  this was the third time in the last month when I thought for sure an opportunity had passed--that I'd missed a deadline of some type--but thankfully was wrong.  Sometimes I had to get on the phone and make an inquiry; sometimes it's more a matter of double checking a receipt or a store policy.  In any case, the effort-to-return ratio is almost always in one's  favor.  Is there something you've been putting off that could save you money? Why not follow-through this weekend?  What will you do with the money that you save? 

The Face Behind the Quest

When I first started this blog in July, I imagined it would be important to maintain anonymity.  I'm sure I had a reason, but I just don't remember it.  Maybe I was afraid people would point to me in my favorite pizzeria and say:  "Look!  The woman with Supreme Paper Mess!" And my identity would forever be linked to my inability to file promptly.

This is before I realized the only people who read my blog were Stacy, the Designated Work Place Neatnik, her mother, my sister in-law, her sister, and my own sister.  Which is to say I've been able to eat my pineapple-and-onion extra thin crust pretty much undisturbed, even on 1/2-off pizza Wednesdays.

As I continued on my Quest and with my blog, I began, in turn, reading more blogs and I always found myself searching for the About Me page, without any thought of heckling the blogger or disrupting their dinner.  The great writer Joan Didion once wrote that people don't trust the tale until they know the teller, and I suppose that was what was behind my desire to see who was writing what blog.  It's just nice to be able to put the face with the words.  

So here's a photo Alpay took of me this summer; I'd include a more recent one but it's hard to smile when the weather's -17.  I'm pretty much the same now as I was then, only then I had Summer Hair, which is fake and lighter, and now I have Winter Hair, which is also fake but deeper.  I'm a big believer in season-appropriate fake hair color.  

I've added the picture and an "About Me" page on the navigation bar, in which I assert my qualification for writing a organization blog, even though I'm not particularly organized.  Other recent changes include a better search engine--type in any word in the bar near the top of the right-hand column, and it will find every post in which the word occurs, unlike the previous search bar.  There's also a super-cool new comment feature that allows you to post your picture or "avatar" when you post a comment; see the latest comment exchange here on the Quest for a look-see.  

When I first started this blog, I didn't publicize my email address--not so much because I was afraid people would email me and write, "I can't believe you have such a stupid system for organizing receipts" (although this did, in fact, worry me), but because  I was hoping to encourage the exchange of comments on the Quest, the better to build a sense of community.  Having emailed other bloggers privately, however, I can understand how there are times you want to keep an exchange private.  So I got busy and secured an email address everyone can remember:  organizationquest@gmail dot com.  Just exchange a period for the word "dot," get rid of any spaces and there you go.  Readers may not be lining up to email me, but automatic spammers may very well be, and so it pays to be careful.  

Am I the Only Person in the Whole World that Thinks Making the Bed is Just Too Hard?

This morning was one of those mornings that you get up and think: Presumably there's a reason people get out of bed, but it's slipped my mind just now.

After years of extensive research, I've discovered that if I keep both feet simultaneously on the floor, I can do everything I'm required to do in the morning, nevermind I look like an extra on Night of the Living Dead; the only one who sees is Alpay and he got used to the Scary Morning Shuffle years ago.  

That said, my latest obsession is with morning routines, and the fact that people actually have them. Last week, after I confessed my inability to make my bed, two friends wrote with suggestions, ranging from pulling the sheets up and straightening the covers while still in the bed to bed-making  "the European way." "You gently waft the comforter over the fitted sheet and Voila! Instant Made Bed!" my friend wrote.  

Thus encouraged, I decided I would try the make-your-bed-while-in-bed technique.  But then morning came, and  . . . . let's see . . .  there was something I was supposed to remember but . . .

And I was up and doing the Scary Morning Shuffle before I remembered I was supposed to have made the bed while I was still in it.  I considered the European Method but rejected it, having already fit in my morning aerobics by doing the Shuffle, and my morning weight lifting was covered from brushing my teeth. 

Well, heck.  Maybe I'll try again tomorrow.  Or then again:  maybe not.  

Tuesday is the Great Cosmetics Give-Away--No Receipt Required

Yes, the inauguration is less than 24 hours away and I'm thrilled!  But first things first:  part of being organized is taking advantage of opportunities to save money.  If you live or work near a shopping area, why not consider swinging by on your lunch hour or after work to pick up a luxury freebie?

Starting tomorrow, while supplies last, you can pick your choice from 20 luxury perfumes and cosmetics that are being offered to consumers for free in order to settle a price-fixing lawsuit.  The choices include such products as J'Adore perfume from Dior, Very Irresistible eau de toilette, Advanced Night Repair from Estee Lauder, and Moisture Surge from Clinique, \and can be picked up from Nordstrom, Saks, Bloomingdales, Macy's, and Neiman Marcus, among other stores. The give-away is intended for consumers who bought products from the defending manufacturers between 1994 and 2003, but no receipt or proof of purchase from that time is required.  For more details on the stores that are participating and the free products offered, go to  cosmeticssettlement.com .

The Quest Has A New Look!

The next week or so will mark the 6 month anniversary of the Quest.  As such, a little re-org is in order.  Along with a cleaner design and new banner featuring the Organization Quest icons, a number of changes have been made with the aim of improving your visit to the Quest:

• The size of the text is bigger for greater legibility.
• The three-column format with wider margins is designed so you can find what you're looking for, faster.
• The links have been re-configured to distinguish those you've visited from those you haven't:  green is for unvisited links and gray is for those you've visited.  Not sure if something is a link or not? Take your cursor and "hover" over a particular word.  If it's a link, the text will change to yellow-orange. When clicked, the text will turn bright (O-Quest pig icon) pink.

Other changes are in the works; I'll be rolling them out this week, along with a report on my own Quest in terms of progress made, what's worked and what hasn't, what's been done and what's left to do.

Organizing Your Garage or Basement: Five Fun Products

I know, I know: one of the main goals here on the Quest is to get rid of things, rather than accumulate more stuff.  But let's be honest:  isn't it kind of fun to get new stuff sometimes, especially if that stuff holds the promise of helping you get organized?  And let's face it:  basements and garages are just not all that fun to organize, so if you can get a little motivation mileage out of $7.00 ladder rack, while not go for it?

Since it's been ten years since I've had either basement or garage, I haven't tried out any of the products below.  I just thought they looked kind of cool and might serve to give you some ideas as you plan your garage or basement makeover:

#1: Ladder Hook
Price:  $6.99
Where: Container Store

Remember: if you don't have a lot of space, you have to think vertical.  While ladders need to be accessible, there's no reason why they have to take up floor space. 

#2: 22-Drawer Storage Cabinet
Price:  $16.96
Where:  The Home Depot

Nails, screws shims, washers, bolts, cup hooks, drywall anchors: where do you put all this stuff?  Well, here's one possible answer.  22 drawers ensure a place for everything and everything in its place.

   #3: Suncast Hose Reel with Guide
Price: $29.99
Where:  Sears

When I had a house with a garage and garden, I would pile my hoses in the wheelbarrow for storage.  Low tech, but it worked well enough.  This is a cool alternative; I especially like the wheels for easy carting.

 #4: Craftsman Heavy-Duty Steel Storage Board
Price: $179.99
Where:  Sears
Or
PegBoard HB
Price: $9.00
Where:  DiamondLife

Couldn't resist the picture, right, but can't help but wonder about the price.   I was able to find tempered hardboard panels, below, at diamondlifegear.com starting at just $9 for a 24" x 48" panel. 

 

 #5: Garagemaid Easy Wall Slat Kit with Hooks
Price: $64.99
Where:  Kmart

Same concept as a pegboard, only for garden tools.  Utilizes that vertical space, keeps things off the floor, and looks cool, too.

Great, Inexpensive Shelving for Your Basement or Garage

Yesterday I wrote that I haven't missed a thing since giving or throwing away 10+ dumpsters worth of stuff when we moved into our condo 10 years ago.  Upon further reflection, I decided that's not exactly true.  I do miss the pine shelving units I got at IKEA that I first used in the spooky basement and subsequently used in the storage unit.  When we got rid of the storage unit, we moved the pine shelves to the condo, where they acted as a bookcase/open storage in my study and provided storage in the closets until I replaced them  during renovation a few years ago. At that point, I gave them away to a friend who now uses them as storage in his workshop.  That's the beauty of such shelving:  it's nothing if not versatile. And moreover, it's cheap.  While the model I had ("Sten") appears to no longer be available, a similar product--"Gorm"-- is just $41.00 for a basic unit of four, 30" x 20" shelves. Extra shelves are just $7.00 each.  Smaller shelves, such as the 20" x 12" size (perfect for a bookshelf) are just $3.00 each. 

      
The many faces of IKEA's flexible shelving.  Left: in the storage unit before getting loaded; right: in my study as a bookcase/open storage.

I found the 30" x 20" size fit perfectly in most standard-sized closets.  If you have lots of boxes to store, you can rig the 30" x 20" shelves so that two rows of three photocopy boxes can fit on each shelf (see the photo, at left). This provides storage for 24 boxes per storage unit.  The great thing about this solution is that access to any given box requires at most one box to be moved, i.e. if you need to get to a box on a shelf's bottom row, you would have to move the box on top of it--but that's all.  If you've ever dug through columns of boxes shoved in a pile, the idea of being able to get to anything by only moving at most one box is a revelation.  The 30" x 20" size is also great for large storage boxes that can hold everything from sports equipment to camping gear, while the 20" x 12" size is great for pots and gardening equipment as well as craft or cleaning supplies.

Along with two widths--30" or 20"--and two depths--20" or 12"--Gorm comes in two heights: 43" or 68", and there is also an extender pack available to add an additional 23" of height.  Pre-drilled holes at approximately 5" intervals allow for flexible shelf configuration.  In addition to shelves, there are clip-on baskets, bottle racks, and corner shelves available.  Ikea also offers combination configurations.  I especially like the three section configuration with bottle rack, right.  

While it would take about 5 basic units to line a 15' wall in the garage, craft room, or basement, even one unit can provide storage relief.  In these economic times, it may be hard to imagine spending money on a basement or garage makeover, but if you're able to put away just $10 a week, you could get a basic Gorm unit in a month.  It would make a nice reward for first going through and getting rid of things you don't need in your Quest for an organized basement or garage.

Basement Horror Story

Yesterday, we posted a "before" pix of Gina in her basement, so I thought today I'd come clean with my own basement pix that I promised back in July:

Mind you, this was ten years ago, when we were renting what is quite possibly the Ugliest House in the World.   And, it turned out, one of the spookiest.  I never felt good in that house;   at the time, put it down to the tiny rooms and awful green siding.  But oftentimes--in the kitchen, the living room, in the  dreaded basement-- I felt as if someone was standing directly behind me.  Of course, no one ever was, and over time I trained myself not to look.  One day I was by the window, petting our Maine Coon cat, Mau-Mau Kitty who was standing on a nearby desk,  when I felt the familiar presence behind me. I ignored the feeling and turned my attention back to the cat, whose fur was now standing on end.  His eyes had turned from half-closed slits to enormous orbs, fully dilated and worse, Mau-Mau was looking past me, over my shoulder.  And then, still looking over my shoulder,  he bared his teeth and hissed. 

Thus scared out of my wits, I suggested to Alpay that a little house hunting might be in order, nevermind the fact we'd just renewed the lease for another year.  A week or so later, we ran into our neighbor, a wary, quiet man who kept to himself.  I told him the story about the cat and he nodded.  The place had been empty for more than a year, he'd said.  "You ever go down to the basement?" he said then.

It turns out that something very bad had indeed happened in that basement.  I pretty much stopped going down there, which in turn explains why there's no "after" pictures of my basement makeover project.  The only thing close are the pictures of our storage unit, which we got in short order in preparation of moving.

When house hunting, we'd considered a stately old Georgian with two full stories, a big backyard, a garage and, yes, a basement.  I'd always thought a basement was a must-have for any home we'd consider buying:  where else would we store the roof-top car shell we'd used once and never again used?  What about odds and ends of furniture I didn't particularly like but somehow might need some day?  Or the boxes upon boxes of . . . what?  What was in those boxes?  Could I even say?

The convenient thing about a garage, a basement, an attic or a shed--or a storage unit, for that matter--is that you can store things without thinking much about them, and that is what I had wanted.  That is why a basement was on my must-have list for a house.  But standing in the Georgian's basement, I kept thinking about the basement in the ugly house.  And suddenly I wasn't so sure I wanted a basement after all.

It's been a big adjustment to live in a condo.  That's what we chose:  1200 square feet with a bird's eye view of the city.  Parking spaces but no garage, and no basement either.  It's forced us to make decisions; it forced us to be choosy.  That first winter, I estimate we gave or threw away 10 dumpsters worth of stuff.  Over the following two years, we got rid of enough stuff to get rid of the storage unit, too.  Perhaps the biggest surprise is that I don't miss any of it.  Nothing.  Not a thing.  Not the stuff.  Not the space.  I've found that  I actually like compact living:  I like having everything just steps away.  It's easier to clean.  It's easier on the knees--no trudging up and down stairs.  And I like the selectivity that a small space enforces, how I've developed the attitude to "keep the best and toss the rest".  My closets can get a little scary at times, but nothing like the basement in the ugly house.  And believe me, that's a good thing.

Cleaning the Basement: Gina's Back and on the Quest, with a "Before" Picture!

If you've been following the Quest for a while, you may remember Gina from the series I ran in September on pack rats.  For those of you new to the Quest, Gina isn't a pack rat; it's her husband, Matt, who's got a bit of the P-R thing going on, not that I'm one to throw stones here.  Anyway. In the original post, I mentioned Matt was adorable, and this is what I mean:  he actually arranged for a professional organizer to help Gina purge-and-organize the home office!  "Matt doesn't  get the organizing thing," Gina wrote me, "but he loves me enough to let me go for it!"  

In the meantime, Gina sent me this "before" picture of her basement.  Maybe the mask threw me off, but at first I thought she was wearing a hazardous-waste jacket.  I've since realized the bright stripes are from the camera flash. As for the mask, I'm not sure if it was needed for health reasons or if its purpose was to protect the innocent. In any case, I can't wait for the "after" photos, as well as the before-and-after pix of the home office makeover.  Rock on, Gina! 

Minimal Effort for Maximum Effect

I had a PE teacher in jr. high who was fond of saying: results equal effort.  Then I grew up and found out that's not necessarily true.  But that's a story for another day.

When it comes to organizing, some results come a little easier than others.  You can dust to your heart's content, but dirty socks on the floor will upstage polished bric-a-brac every time.  So here's a short list of things you can do, in short order, for maximum effect:

Close kitchen cabinet doors. One of my friends told me that when it came to quick clean-up strategies, she was a one-trick pony and shutting doors was her trick: it takes seconds and really does make the place look better, fast.  Same with closet doors, doors of medicine cabinets, etc.  A solid door is almost always tidier than whatever is inside.

Make tidy piles.  My natural inclination is to be a spread-it-out kind of girl.  It was only after working on a project with my friend Cassie that I realized that even though we had virtually the same quantity of stuff, Cassie's work area looked a lot more organized than mine.  How could that be, I asked her.  "Tidy piles," she answered, and showed me how much an impact you can make by taking less than a minute to gather things up. The less area consumed by clutter, the neater the appearance.

Create clear traffic ways. It may sound obvious, but when stuff is underfoot, if you have to turn or twist to get around something, it's not only a nuisance but a hazard.  While I'm not a fan of pushing things into corners, it's better than tripping over something.

Hang up coats, put away shoes.  Nothing clutters up a living room faster than coats and shoes everywhere, and how long can it possibly take to put away?  A minute?  If that?

Dirty laundry into hampers.  Okay, I admit:  I used to hang ambiguously-clean clothes--things I'd worn but hadn't decided if they were actually dirty--on the back of the bathroom door.  Imagine my surprise when Alpay informed me that the hooks I was using were intended for robes instead!  "Where do I put  my pantyhose?" I complained.  This was before wearing pantyhose was synonymous with the phrase unspeakably tacky.  Dirty laundry goes into hampers, Alpay explained.  "What if I only wore it once?" I wailed, but Alpay was adamant.  Thus weaned from a lifelong habit, I can finally say: what was I thinking? 

Toys into storage bins.  It's all the tiny, multi-colored pieces that make an otherwise clean floor look like a nightmare, but with a few convenient, open-topped mesh boxes or bins, toys are a breeze to put away.

Make the bed.  Because it's usually the largest piece of furniture in a bedroom, making the bed has an instant impact, packing a wallop of tidiness for very little effort.  Still, this is one thing I rarely manage to do myself.  But it's definitely on my list of resolutions for another year!

To-Do List Ruminations

Just so you know:  I haven't quite got this one figured out yet, thus the designation "rumination" rather than, say, "revelation". Some systems take a little longer than others to get going, and that's okay.  Experimenting and searching for answers is just part of the Quest. 

As always, I'd love to hear about your experiences in this regard, if you've found something that works particularly well--or not--and why.  I have a feeling that to-do lists are the most idiosyncratic of the four classic organizer modules, and thus, the more the merrier in terms of tips, tricks, techniques and strategies.  What doesn't work for one person for a particular reason may be the exact reason why it works for somebody else.  The important thing is to keep trying and experimenting until something clicks.  

That said, here are a few considerations:

Format: Blank or Pre-Printed Pages, and Does it Matter?

I used to write my lists on blank typing paper, finding most pre-printed to-do lists too constrictive for my handwriting and for my list-making style.  I've since turned to Levenger's letter-sized Things To Do page, which allots two lines per entry and a has nice big box for checking items off.  The separate column to note an item's "Priority" is all the structure I need, and the classy white-and-French gray color scheme has transformed list-making--something I used to dread--into a joy.

To Schedule or Not To Schedule?

Should you put To-Do's unrelated to a particular time, day, or date on your calendar?  Productivity guru David Allen says no; celebrity organizer Regina Leeds says yes.  Allen's argument is that it's pointless to schedule things that can be done any time and that it just junks up your calendar.  Leeds' argument is that if things don't get scheduled they don't get done.  I can see both points.  I've decided to adapt the priority approach: while I'll save most of my calendar entries for date-specific events, occasionally I'll decide on The One Thing That Needs To Happen Today and put it on my calendar, even though the task is not date-specific,  technically speaking.  This keeps my calendar relatively clear while helping ensure priorities get done.

Minimal Approach or Everything-But-The-Kitchen-Sink?

Allen prescribes the Everything-But-The-Kitchen-Sink approach to task lists, in which you write down every single thing you can think you might possibly ever need to do.  In this approach, sixty, seventy tasks are the minimal norm; hundreds of tasks are not unheard of.  I'm more a minimalist here; I do okay with a single side of a page's worth of tasks--about 18 or 19 items using Levenger's Things To Do page.  Anything more tends to overwhelm me.  

One List or Multiple Lists?

I'd never considered keeping multiple to-do lists until I read Allen's Getting Things Done.  Allen keeps lists by what he calls  the "contexts"  in which they occur, i.e. "at computer" for things that can be done online, "at home," "at office," "calls," "errands," etc.  

In the past, I structured my to-do's by using category headings not unlike Allen's contexts.  I've since developed separate to-do pages for "Projects," "Friends/Family,"  and "Blog."  

The road has been bumpy on this one; while such lists are indeed useful for identifying topic-specific to-do's, I find I don't like writing the initial lists in this way.  This is where digital organizers come in handy: you can write out your day's list and just assign a tag, a label, or a category for each of your to-do's, which are then automatically associated with the lists you designate.  Old fashioned pen-and-paper users have to work a little harder here to figure out their system.  I find I like to start with a fresh list each day--what I call my "active list"  rather than add to an on-going list from the get-go. Theoretically, any items that aren't finished by the end of the day get transferred to the appropriate category-specific list, but I still have problems capturing everything on those specific lists.  I also find that once relegated to a specific list, tasks tend to stagnate.  

Using Notes To Maximize Your Organizer's Functionality

Out of the four classic Organizer modules--task or to-do lists, notes, the address book, and the calendar--the most underutilized or misunderstood function is the notes module, perhaps because everything else seems more self-explanatory--just fill out the form, and you're set.  In fact, the conventional use of the other modules is often exactly what makes them less functional, but at least there's the appearance of being easier.  With the notes function, you're pretty much on your own.

As I've been experimenting with my new organizer for the past few months, I've discovered that the one of the biggest benefits to keeping a paper organizer versus a digital one is writing notes on the fly.  It's much easier to open a notebook while on the phone and jot down information than it is to type everything into the computer, even if you type fast. 

The kind of notes that I've found to be the most helpful are those that represent a transient project or complex task, but may or may not need to claim a permanent place in my organizer.  Earlier this week was a perfect example:  I recently saw a new doctor, whose name and number I wrote down on a note page in my organizer.  I called him up for a referral.  He gave me three names and their accompanying numbers.  I called all three, and made notes about their practices--availability, location, affiliation, exact specialty--that sort of thing.  During my calls, I was given further names and numbers for specific schedulers or a satellite office that was closer to me.  I made an appointment, got the address and directions. 

Now in the old days, I would have scribbled all this on a napkin or on the back of an envelope and be left scrambling to find it on the fateful day.  Alternatively, I would have scribbled it all on the calendar, encroaching on other day's spaces, or the mess of names, numbers, and information would have forever marred my address book.  Or maybe I would have scribbled it all on a to-do page.  Weeks later, I'd be flipping furiously through the organizer to remember what I did with it. 

Instead, I have all the related information on a single note page. If after my appointment I want a second opinion, I already have the information for two alternate MDs already written down.  The appointment itself went on my calendar.  Depending on if I like the doctor or not, his information will be added to an address page under the "Health" tab in my organizer and I'll get rid of the page full of  what will become in short order meaningless scribbles.   In the meantime, I just put the page under the "Health" tab.  One of the advantages of subject tabs rather than A-Z tabs is that I don't have to remember the list of names my doctor provided--they all just go under "Health".

I used the same process when looking into various makes, models, vendors, and warranty services  for my oven.  When I made my selection, the delivery date got added to my calendar, the warranty service was added to my address book, and the messy page of my scribbles got thrown away this week as I cleaned out my organizer. 

Address Books: They're Not Just For A-Z Anymore

My address books have always been fairly functional, the emphasis here on "fairly".  On the one hand, out of the four classic organizer modules--calendar, address book, to-do list, and notes--the address book appears to be the most straightforward: how hard can it be to write down a name, a number, a street address and city-state-zip?  Moreover, you don't have to do much to make an address book serve its purpose. Unlike with a to-do list, an address book entry is not a call for action.  Unlike a like a note, you don't have to file it at some point.  There's nothing particularly time-sensitive about it, as a calendar is. Basically, once you've written the information down, you're pretty much done with your address book. Until, that is, you need to look something up.  And that's where my system tended to disintegrate.

Let's say I need to look up Susan Johnson, a realtor with Urban Reality Group.  The name and company are made up here--we're just using this as an example.  In this scenario, I'm thinking: did I file the info under "Susan" or "Johnson"?  "Realty" or "Realtor" or "Urban Reality Group"?  Alpay likes to file personal contacts under first names, and business contacts under last names, which seems logical until you find all of his or my family numbers grouped under the last name.  And what about Nick, the building's handyman, whose last name I don't know?  He's not a "friend," but how can I file him under his last name if how I know him is by his first?

Back this fall, when I first got my Levenger Circa to act as my organizer, I got the A-Z tabs. This bulked up my organizer by  26 pages and for what?  Have I ever even used an "Q" tab?  Like, ever?  What about "X" or "Z"?  And what was the point of using alphabetical order, anyway?

I decided to take matters into my own hands and demoted my A-Z tabs to my mammoth, all-inclusive address book I'd printed using my old Palm software. I deemed about 100 numbers as necessary to go into my new organizer, which I separated into piles, classifying as I went.  I came up with the following 10 categories: 

Acquaintances, for people I know, usually in a specific context, but to whom I'm not particularly close.  Classmates with whom I exchanged assignment information, a woman in my building who offers yoga lessons, fellow students in my watercolor class, a friend-of-a-friend who is interested in practicing French--these are all examples of "acquaintances". I usually jot down a quick  note next to their name  to remind me of who they are (as sometimes the name itself may not ring a bell) and what our connection is.

The Boys, for anything having to do with our kittens:  our vet, the shelter we adopted them from, the cat sitter, the poison control number and emergency services numbers, etc.

Chicago Friends, for our friends in the area.  I find it useful to separate out our "Chicago Friends" from our "Friends" in the rest of the country (indeed, the world), as it's useful to have a local list when brainstorming things to do or finding a companion for a particular local event.

Chicago Resources, for theaters, restaurants, museums, and attractions.  I like to note the hours of operation, directions or cross streets, or any special information like lunch specials or reduced-rate days.

Family, for all members, including cousins, in-laws, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, and includes email, im information, website URL,  cell and home numbers, as well as birthdays, anniversaries and notes on preferences/gift ideas and information. 

Friends, for all our friends that aren't in the area.  I grouped friends together in this way with an eye to making it easier to contact people in terms of invitations, announcements, and holiday card lists.

Health Care, for all doctors, dentists, specialists, chiropractors, physical therapists, and pharmacists we deal with, in addition to insurance numbers and information.

Home, for carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and other contractors, as well as information about products I regularly use.  I also have all of our information on accounts and memberships under this tab, partially written in code for security purposes. 

Service Providers.  This can be tricky, as it would be easy to overlap the "Service Providers" and the "Home" category. I try to keep anything "home" based--like insurance agents or warranty service providers--in the "Home" category, and other professionals--like our accountant and our new travel agent--in the "Service Providers" category.

Work, for certain management and co-workers' numbers and information.

While finding names and numbers are not as difficult with digital organizers, I've found I really like the old paper-and-pen method--what's sometimes now referred to "analog" style of keeping an address book.  Organizing contacts by category rather than by name is what has finally made my old-fashioned, analog-style address book functional.