Location: Texas USA Posts: 6102 Joined: 2008-05-25
10/21/09
Yes, it's me starting this Thread. I almost put it under "Other Disabilities and Disorders", but decided against this,... as that would require that I acknowledge the severity of my Disorder. ;-)
I've done something 'fun' today. It made me 'feel good'. So, I decided to start this as a 'feel good' Thread where we can put ideas that will improve our immediate surroundings. Whenever possilble, please tell me things here that you've tried yourself and that actually 'work'. I own several books about 'organizing', but they seem to 'drag me down' rather than 'pick me up'.
Here's what I did. I used some 3/4" round sticky labels to mark a bunch of cans of Tuna Fish as being 'new'. With a 'medium fat' black marker, I wrote "OCT 09" on the red sticky dots. Then I stuck one in the middle of the top of each can of Tuna.
I'm about to put the same red dot on some boxes of 'hamburger helper' type products that I also bought recently. (Okay, I admit it. The grocery store was having a 'close-out' and I 'bit'.)
Here's my other 'fun' invention. On my Word Documents, I've made a document entitiled HOUSEWORK. I put a Mission Statement for what should go in my document. And, I've listed that I put these sticky dots on cans today.
I bought the package of 3/4" sticky dots that came with four colors in the package (red, green, yellow, and blue). They were a little 'pricey', but they gave my spirits a boost. I love playing with any kind of 'colored paper' and 'stickies'.
Go for it. How do you handle an 'organization' problem in your home? - jus'
Edited by justfoundout on October 22 2009 12:19 AM
wow, I applaud your organization! I tend the be the organizer and filer in the house, but we REALLY are lacking in storage space.
Originally, dog's stuff was in a closet in family room, this was some years ago. Then we got rid of most of the furniture in the formal dining/living room area cuz we just aren't formal and almost never used the room for that purpose. Then my new girlie's crate got placed in that <dining> room, and then the dog's freezer, then another chest of drawers for more dog stuff, then a plastic laundry tub for frequently used dog toys, then a set of 12 Weave Poles....:
you seem very determined with your system, tho. We have mostly file cabinets for paperwork which I do all filing. Food goes kinda wherever it can fit - we really need pantry because we do lotta bulk things and also store and recycle or re-used bags - plastic, paper, baggies. I pretty much just try to keep the kitchen counter area and the dog spaces organized and that's about it
Location: Texas USA Posts: 6102 Joined: 2008-05-25
10/21/09
Dear RottieWoman,
I'll accept your applause for this one good thing that I've done. But, my space is limited like yours, and although I don't have the 'doggie' projects that you have, I do have far too many interests for my limited space. One thing that you mentioned, though, does remind me of a problem that we have 'in common'. I also keep plastic bags, in my case, so that I can re-use them as trash bags. People who are less environmentally conscious would just throw away the 'grocery store' variety plastic bags and buy some neatly packaged ones to use for their trash. The neatly packaged ones take up less room. And this is just one of the ways that I find myself hanging on to things that most people would say should be thrown away. So, how to organize items that I 'save' is another problem that I need to solve. - jus'
Location: United States Posts: 1860 Joined: 2008-11-14
Jus and Rottie - I keep all of my plastic bags from the grocery store too and reuse them as trash bags in the small trashcans in my bedroom and bathroom. I don't care if they look ghetto, they're a lot cheaper (read: free) than the cute mini-sized white trash bags that Glad sells... and since they're going in the trash anyway, who cares if they look trashy?
Lately I have been using my reusable grocery bags when I go shopping though, to try and cut down on my environmental footprint, so sometimes I find myself at a shortage of plastic bags and I have to make a shopping trip and leave my reusable bags at home so I can get some plastic bags.
As for organization, I would consider myself a moderately organized person. I have a place for everything, and almost everything is in its place, haha. I keep a filing folder for all of my papers, and I am the queen of 16 and 20 gallon plastic tubs for storage. My labels get a little creative, though... for example right now I have "Blankets", "Childhood Art", and "Random Crap" labeled boxes stacked at the bottom of my bedroom closet. I also have two "random crap" drawers in my desk. So technically my organization isn't perfect, but hey, at least all of the random crap stays in the random crap boxes/drawers!
I am also big into labeling food, mostly because I have an extreme fear of food poisoning so I am constantly checking dates and smelling food carefully before I eat it to make sure it's okay. I keep a Sharpie on hand in the kitchen and always label food I've made with the date that it was made, and I keep a sheet posted on the side of my fridge that lists a bunch of types of food (dry pasta, flour, frozen beef, frozen chicken, fresh chicken, fresh vegetables, etc... basically a list of everything you could eat or keep around) and how long they stay fresh or frozen. That way I can pull something out, look at the date on the label, then reference my cheat sheet and decide whether or not it's still good to eat.
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer
Food goes kinda wherever it can fit - we really need pantry because we do lotta bulk things and also store and recycle or re-used bags - plastic, paper, baggies. I pretty much just try to keep the kitchen counter area and the dog spaces organized and that's about it
LOL same here; the pets' stuff is organized with military precision and my stuff is all higgledy-piggledy. But I did have success with scheduling my time by getting one of those week-at-a-glance date books (with cat pictures, of course) and carefully writing down each appointment or transport or event as SOON as I find out about it, then checking it each morning. Big help, that!
Blessed are the PURR in heart!
Location: United States Posts: 1860 Joined: 2008-11-14
Jus - With magnets. I would lose my mind without magnets, I keep a ton of things on the front/sides of my fridge with them. Also most of my chip clips are magnetized on the back so they will stick to the front of the fridge, otherwise I'd lose them in the "kitchen junk" drawer.
Another organizational tool that I capitalize on (and that I have mentioned several times on other threads) is calendars. I am the calendar queen. I have a day planner, a calendar on the wall in my bedroom, an erasable monthly white-board calendar in my kitchen, a day-by-day calendar in my bathroom, and I use the ReminderFox calendar on my browser. Between the five of them I am usually able to keep everything in order!
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer
Location: United States Posts: 1860 Joined: 2008-11-14
Haha, oh the kitchen junk drawer... mostly it's random things like measuring cups and spoons, little Pepto Bismol shot cups (the kind that come on the cap), twist ties, a melon baller that I don't even know why I have because I've never once in my life balled melons, a whisk or two, packages of batteries, cover lids for opened aluminum cans, etc. The list goes on and on!
My kitchen is extremely small so organizing it is next to impossible. I can't wait until I move somewhere with a better set-up. The cabinets in this kitchen are only 3/4 size so most things like pots, cooking sheets, etc. don't fit right, so everything in the cupboards is a mess and a lot of clean pots and pans usually end up just sitting on the back burners of the oven because they just don't fit in the cupboards. It drives me absolutely insane (it totally goes against my "a place for everything and everything in its place" desires) but what can you do? I can't twiddle my nose and Bewitch my cabinets bigger.
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer
Location: Texas USA Posts: 6102 Joined: 2008-05-25
10/21/09
I feel your pain. I have pots sitting on top of the exhaust hood above my stove. They aren't very heavy, so, so far so good, but I'm sure that I've never seen this 'decor' idea in any House Beautiful.
Do you hang any pots by the hole in the handle (or the metal loop)? - jus'
Edited by justfoundout on October 22 2009 02:49 AM
Location: Yorkshire, UK Posts: 29 Joined: 2009-10-21
my kitchen hosts an 8 seater solid oak table and the 'pooch' with bags to spare, I think its (look away now Justfoundout) HUGE X HUGE, lol, erm if I can remember 17' x 14'. I had to re-plumb my entire kitchen to make sure I had my washing machine and dishwasher. I'd never done it before but it was very easy in the end.
Im hoping to move soon so I guess I'll have to do it over again lol x
The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings. ~Eric Hoffer, Reflections On The Human Condition
Location: Texas USA Posts: 6102 Joined: 2008-05-25
10/21/09
Dear Bev,
Congratulations on that solid oak table. I'm sure that it's beautiful, as well as indestructible. However, be advised that your posts are necesitating quite a bit of 'translation work'. This time, I copied "and the 'pooch' with bags to spare" and pasted it into Google, trying to figure out 'what on earth' you were telling us. Well,... lol, you don't want to know what Google 'told me' you'd said. I'm sure that it was wrong, and I don't want to sulley my Thread with any 'non-dinnertime' worthy vocabulary.
Anyway, I'm glad that your 'kitchen design' turned out just as you'd hoped. Will you be moving to another 'fixer upper'? - jus'
Edited by justfoundout on October 22 2009 03:45 AM
Location: United States Posts: 1860 Joined: 2008-11-14
Bev - I am insanely jealous of your kitchen. Mine is about 5x6, maybe. I know that if I sit with my back against the oven and stretch out my legs, they are only about two feet shy of the cabinets on the other side. And if I lay flat with my arms stretched over my head, I reach from the entrance into the kitchen all the way to the opposite counter. You literally can't even have two people in my kitchen because it's too crowded, I trip over my dog and cat all the time when they insist on hanging out while I prepare food.
Edited by CheshireKat on October 22 2009 05:24 AM
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer
Location: Texas USA Posts: 6102 Joined: 2008-05-25
10/21/09
"Kat", said jus', snapping her fingers to get Kat's attention, "Do you hang any pots by the hole in the handle (or the metal loop)?" - jus'
Edited by justfoundout on October 22 2009 08:30 PM
Location: United States Posts: 1860 Joined: 2008-11-14
Haha sorry Jus, I completely missed your question. No, I don't hang my pots by the holes or loops at the end, because I have nowhere to hang them. The ceiling is a drop ceiling and is covered with fluorescent lights, and the hood is built up into the cabinets/wall so there is nowhere to hang the pots over the grill. So they just sit on the back burner, or in a cabinet if I can manage to make them fit, or they sit in the drainer next to the sink until I need them.
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer
many organizing strategies here on the forum....we have a few pots and pans I use all time and then a few inherited from MIL that I don't use, just not in habit of it. I like those cabinets with the sliding drawers of different depths. MIL had one her husband had made for her before he died - the couple was extremely involved in woodworking and had built their own home together. I do wish we space to stick garbage can in, too <cabinet or something>. Generally it just sits out, with cover <dogs>; both dogs are beyond point of messing with it and little miss is not left out when I'm not home. With puppies, tho, I take the entire garbage out of the room altogether and it goes into the large double-room which has her crate and dog freezer, etc. as I mentioned before. Entry to that room is gated off on both side of kitchen by wooden gates that are part of the house - those, I like. Vi likes to help so she can assist in my organization by opening and closing drawers for me and I'm also teaching her to pick up her toys and retrieve fallen things - semblance of service dog skills-
we don't have kitchen table, but one of those islands with stools, comes out from wall. At first I really liked it but after some years I think I'd prefer an "eat-in" kitchen.
I end up storing plastic bags to return to plastic drop-off location, in grocery store, on top of freezer for dogs, along with paper bags and boxes. Some of the boxes are for mailing and some are in relation to dog training.
Location: Texas USA Posts: 6102 Joined: 2008-05-25
10/24/09
Dear RottieWoman,
I love custom-made cabinets, and I admire people who can make them. You said, "... have not clue what 17x14 is -". Okay, here goes. We will estimate. If your hubby is almost 6 feet tall, then 17' (seventeen feet) is like the length of your hubby lying down three times in a row. Actually, 6'x3 would be 18', not 17', but we are estimating, just to get an idea of what 17' means. (I'll write that out in 'words' here. Six feet (times) three would be eighteen feet, not seventeen feet.) And that next part says 14'. 14' means fourteen feet. So, that would be your hubby lying down twice (the second time he puts his feet where the top of his head was the first time,... which comes out to about 12'), plus add to that the strech of your arm, from the fingertips of your right hand to your right shoulder, (because that's about 2'). The first time (three times your husband's length) is how long Bev's room is. And the second time (two times your husband's length, plus the length of your right arm) is how wide Bev's room is. In other words, just Bev's dining room is almost the size of my whole living/dining room!
When I was a kid, I once watched my father 'pace off' the size of a site that he was about to buy (or lease) where he was going to put a barber shop. By knowing the size of the site, he knew how many 'barber shop chairs' he could put there, and hence, how many barbers he could employ there. That's when I found out that, if we know that a man taking big steps covers three feet in one step, then we can know approximately how many feet it is from one spot to another. Later, in sewing class, my teacher told us teenagers that, to estimate fabric, you can find approximately a "yard" (three feet) by stretching it from your fingertips to your nose. That's about a 'yard' (three feet) of fabric. This is good for knowing if, for example, you know that you have two lengths of the same fabric, but one is 6 feet long and the other is only 4 feet long. By using your own body as a 'unit of measure', you don't need a table and a tape measure. 6 feet would be from your fingertips to your nose twice. But 4 feet would only be from your fingertips to your nose once, with about a foot left over (probably a little piece the length of your wrist to your elbow.) I've done a lot of art. Some paintings were to be used as a 'stage background', so those were the size of the length of Bev's dining room. It was very helpful when doing these to know how to 'estimate size' using my own body as a measuring unit.
There is one more measurement that I want to share, which I learned in art class. The span of a persons arms outstretched is, fingertips of the right hand across to fingertips of the left hand, approximately the same as that person's height. So, if I am 5'3" (five foot, three inches) tall, then i can touch, fingertips of the left hand to fingertips of the right hand, 5'3". This is great for measuring things like 'chain', 'cord', or 'carpet' at hardware stores. Even though it's just an estimate, it would allow me to quickly check to see if the employee gave me 'ten feet' instead of 'fifteen feet'. - jus'
Edited by justfoundout on October 24 2009 06:26 PM
Location: Texas USA Posts: 6102 Joined: 2008-05-25
10/24/09
I'm doing some very fun 'organizing', but it isn't for my 'home, garage, office, or kitchen'. Still, I'll put it here. I bought a new purse, just vinyl, but comfortable and larger than my usual purses have been. I want to 'take my time' with filling it up, and I want to be able to use if for 'taking a trip'. I don't want to carry it just now, but I wanted to get started collecting the 'best objects' for it. [Fellow male forum member, you probably won't 'get' this, so please just 'tolerate' this post.] I'm using some clean, new, sandwich baggies to 'organize' the new purse contents. I've labeled 6 baggies with stickies. Here are my 'categories' and what they contain 'so far': Office Supply - a pencil and two rubberbands; Make-up: a lipstick and a rouge; Keys - a key fob which is a nail-clipper with file in a little vinyl snapped case; Health - a small bottle of asprin; Hair - a comb and two small, black rubber bands; and Communication - a flashlight with a clip for reading a book (yeah, I know,... why is this 'communication'? Signaling for help?) So, now I'll put these in my new purse, and whenever I find something else, I'll either put it in the right sandwich bag, or I'll make a new category. You'd think that I was 12 years old, wouldn't you? - jus'
Edited by justfoundout on October 25 2009 05:13 PM
Location: United States Posts: 1860 Joined: 2008-11-14
Jus - You are cracking me up with all the sandwich bags because one of my best friends from high school used to organize her backpack the EXACT same way. We called her the Bag Lady because she had bags for bags for bags. She would put her pencils in a bag, pens in a bag, highlighters in another, colored pencils in another, etc. then put all of those bags into a gallon sized bag labeled "writing utensils." She did this for everything from medicine/hygiene products (baggie of ibuprofen, baggie of Midol, baggie of tampons, etc. all within a larger bag) to her random assorted items (paperclips, rubber bands, erasers, etc.) She even had a baggie for scrap papers.
My purse is a disaster area, to put it lightly. I have a tendency of cramming everything in there with no regard to organization, then just rummaging around in it until I find what I'm looking for. Right now I know off the top of my head that I have an extra set of keys, a headband, two hair ties, about 17 receipts, an extra prescription from my doctor, a Swiss army knife, chap stick, alcohol swabs, etc. Usually trying to find something in my purse ends with me dumping half of it out onto the counter, LOL.
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer
thank you, jus', for all kind help w/the measurements I have no idea how tall my husband or me are.Those are really excellent examples and visualizations!
I had to take Home Ec in 7th grade and did horrible because am not crafty at all and had no concept of any measurements; also found the coordination w/the sewing machines and directions for them very difficult to understand, and we had to take turns as there was more students than machines. Seventh and eighth grade were when the verbal and physical assaults were very bad, so I was actually very nervous, knowing that other kids knew I had no clue AND they were waiting for the machines. 8th grade was the same scenario with required shop.
But anyway, sounds like your dad provided you with a nice example, too. How did he get into barbering? My dad really likes to spend time shmoozing with his barber, who gives retired men and boys great discounts and loves to talk, too < but no, my dad's not retired; he works 3rd shift security, Lt>
I have never carried a purse; in school of course, I had backpacks and bookbags; since we've had dogs I have bait bags/fanny packs. There's not much room in there to need organization. When I was in school I did used to enjoy organizing my locker or my dorm room study area.
