Put on your Hints from Heloise hats. I'm so stressed because I have ten billion things to do, and my coping strategy is to stop everything and "organize."

What are your best organizing/getting-your-life-back-under-control ideas?

-- Anonymous, January 19, 2001

Answers

My first urge, when organizing, is to purge. Get rid of stuff you don't need (be it papers, household items, clothes, whatever). If it's been sitting for 6 months, it goes out the door. Once you've done this, the remaining items should be easier to handle.

Oh, and invest in some nice baskets/bins to store things that are unsightly but necessary. Ikea has some cool storage ideas, including roller drawers that fit nicely under beds/couches. Outa sight, outa mind.

-- Anonymous, January 19, 2001

I suck at multi-tasking so my best strategy is to separate things into blocks or rooms and just focus on that part. For example, instead of looking at my hovel/apartment and wondering whether I should just torch it or hire a maid, I just clean the bathroom or kitchen. As long as I have one really clean room in my place, I'm okay. Eventually, it all balances out.

I do this with everything. I can be late on bills, 2 years behind on taxes and trying to balance my checkbook. I just pick one of the 3 and focus on fixing that.

-- Anonymous, January 19, 2001

I'm a list maker. I write down everything I want/need to do then establish my priorities in getting them done. Not surprisingly, I usually decide which ones I can get done the FASTEST and do those first. It feels like you'e gotten so much more accomplished that way and boy does it feel good to check those items off the list. And if that doesn't work I take a nap until it goes away............

-- Anonymous, January 19, 2001

I hired an organizer (Peggy) who gabbed about her life story and then mine and then charged me an exorbadent amout of $ for 30 minutes of actual ideas. I have the joy of combining all of my life and my daughter's into one bedroom. I got rid of *everything* I didn't need or use or like. If it had a smig'n of sentimental value I saved it. But I have a lot less clothes and papers now. Put everything you can up the walls and on the doors. Peggy said some people buy those door shoe holders and even cut them and put grommets in them and use them for other stuff. I was proud of this original idea. My daughter and I have accumulated quite a few TaeKnowDo belts. They were laying all over so I bought an over-the-door towel rack and they fit on there great. It worked out so that the highest rung will hold our advanced belts (almost there!) The belts fit snug, so to keep the rack from pulling apart, I bungied it together. With the belts on there you can't see the bungie cord. The only valuable suggestions Peggy had for me was to raise my bed so I could get *clear* containers and store stuff underthere. There are two ways (besides piling concret blocks under the frame) to raise it. One is to by a frame with long legs. The other is to buy these extender things that each leg sits into, the cheaper option I think. She told me to buy a hanging basket to put my bananas and stuff in rather than a banana tree to help clear counter space. And my cupboard has these stupid, short white wire racks that don't cover all the space towards the front, so she said to measure the space and get chip board (the same stuff that clip boards are made of) and lay them in there. I think I'll cover the board with contact paper. There were other things I couldn't do because I don't own my place and don't have a garage. Like these new racks that hang from a garage ceiling if you don't have rafters. God, I'm really not this domestic.

-- Anonymous, January 19, 2001

I agree with Kate - the key is PURGING. When I owned a house (and had a driveway) I actually ordered an empty dumpster for a week... I was ruthless and tossed away tons of CRAP. The "good" stuff was IMMEDIATELY hauled to Goodwill whenever I had a full carload (about 8 times in one day). This strategy kept me from rearranging piles of stuff AND allowed me to be fueled on by the immense difference in space and pure action. Loud music helps the energy level. Allow yourself a few potent whiffs of PineSol and you are set. It helps to have some sort of carrot to urge yourself on... some sort of reward for a job well done.

-- Anonymous, January 20, 2001

I have tons of stuff to do at work, and it really helps me to get things done if I write each task on a PostIt note -- including the date the task first comes to my attention -- and stick the PostIt somewhere on my desk. This way I never forget to do things, and being able to rip the individual PostIt notes off my desk and bin them fills me with incredible satisfaction. (Plus, when people see how many PostIt notes are covering my desk, they are a little less apt to bother me with less important things.)

-- Anonymous, January 21, 2001

I'm a big list maker, when it comes to keeping things I have to do in order. I feel very overwhelmed by all the frickin' errands and things I have to run and do sometimes, and being able to tick them off and look at them in print really helps.

When I'm cleaning out my apt. and closets (which I do at least twice a year, because the place is just too small for all the stuff I seem to accumulate) I use my mother as the final arbiter. She's usually got a much better grip on what's worth keeping and what I should toss than I do (although I still doubt I will ever want my graduation gown and her insistence that my children will someday want to play with it, apart from that she's pretty reliable).

-- Anonymous, January 22, 2001

I must have inspiration, either from an Alexandra Stoddard book, the Ikea catalog, or a neat friend's house. List making helps, and I've found that if I can figure out a list of things I must purchase to complete my projects, shopping is the best first step for me. When I have shiny new packages to open, I'm much more likely to do the job I have to do. Once again, shopping is the answer.

-- Anonymous, January 22, 2001

These aren't "rocket science" ideas but it put a dent in my clutter. I got shelves for the kids rooms. I have no idea why it took me SO long to realize that shelves were a great way to utilize space but it did. Also great place to put toys you only want the kids to use with direct supervision. My other one is I have TONS of 8x10's of the kids pictures but hardly buy frames, ect. I requested one of those mini partition looking things that holds 15 photos 8x10's or 5x7's. Works great to hide coloring on walls as well. =oD My only other one is we get alot of toys that my kids don't necessarily really play with. So now when people ask me what the kids want for holiday gifts. I tell them a book or some form of art supply. Much more likey to fet used and easy to store. Theresa

-- Anonymous, January 22, 2001

Right on, Robyn. Shopping holds the key to just about everything. :-)

I don't really have an overall strategic plan to keep my place uncluttered, but there are some habits that help. My wife likes to stack papers and books, magazines, etc., into piles all over the place, so I've generally got her to keep them in only two rooms of the house and in return I don't even breathe on them, much less move them or change them. I throw things away left and right and as soon as I can. That helps a ton. I don't remember where I learned this next tactic, but it's good: don't go from one room in your house or apartment to another without taking at least one item with you that either needs to be put away or thrown away. Just that one little thing alone can make a huge difference in maintaining that clutter-free zone you've carved out. Finally, don't start to clean up and organize unless you have someplace to put the stuff you wish to keep. For instance, if you have cluttered piles of belongings or papers you need to hang onto, don't start organizing or cleaning up unless you know where it's all going to go. I've fallen into that trap a million times and I just recently figured it out. Make a place for your things otherwise you're just moving them around and causing an endless cycle of hope and despair. :-)

-- Anonymous, January 22, 2001