Go Organize: Conquer Clutter in 3 Simple Steps (7 page)

Wrap Up

Inside, the front entryway is now clutter-free and visually appealing. In the family entrance, there are places for keys, everyday coats, books, shoes, newspapers and other miscellaneous items, or you have designated other places for these items. The entryways are no longer clutter magnets or dumping areas as there is a place for everything, and everything will be in its place.

Your entryways will always be welcoming as you continue to:

 


• Keep the porch clean and free of debris.
  

 


• Keep only beautiful things on the porch.
  

 


• Pick up newspapers and flyers on a daily basis.
  

 


• Use the places designated for coats, keys, books, shoes, newspapers, and other miscellaneous items.
  

 


• Keep flat surfaces free of clutter.
  

Your home has a welcoming and warm feeling when stepping into your entry. What is your wattage rating now? Take another photo. Look back at the before photo and feel good about your progress. Way to go. I am proud of you. I knew you could do it!

The living room is also known as the front room because it is often the first room people walk into when they enter your home. It is a place where people can sit, talk, and relax. It is usually a room used for entertaining guests, reading, and other activities. This makes it an important room as it gives people an impression of what kind of person you are, so you want it to reflect positively on you and your family. This chapter doesn't cover organizing an entertainment center. If you have an entertainment center in you living room, see Chapter 10, Family Room, for advice on organizing areas dealing with a television, DVDs, and CDs.

The living room has replaced the old-fashioned parlor. In the nineteenth century, the parlor was the room in the house where the recently deceased were laid out before their funeral. In the twentieth century the term “living room” was made popular by architects and builders to change from the parlor's mourning associations. (Aren't we glad?)

SEARCHLIGHT

Take the Searchlight and look for things that are working and things that aren't working. Write each of these down in your notebook. What is keeping you from a wattage that lights you up when you walk in your living room? Now is a good time to take a picture while you are assessing your room. Ask yourself:

 


1. What do you like about this room?
   

 


2. What don't you like about this room? Identify needs by asking yourself the following questions:
   

    
   

   1. What is the function or purpose of this room? Is this a room with a piano? Are other musical instruments played here? Do children play with toys here?
      

    
   

   2. Are you embarrassed when visitors come to your home? Do you always apologize because of the clutter, and do visitors have to stand while you remove it from the chairs and couch so they will have a place to sit?
      

    
   

   3. Do you display any collections here, perhaps fragile figurines? How does the display look? Can you see everything and enjoy it, or does it look cluttered and over-flowing?
      

    
   

   4. Are there too many pieces of furniture in the room for its size?
      

    
   

   5. Is the space orderly? Do the items in this room each have a “home”?
      

    
   

   6. Are there things you can get rid of?
      

    
   

   7. Are the children's toys organized/contained?
      

    
   

   8. Do the flat surfaces (tabletops, piano, mantel, fireplace hearth) have clutter on them? (This could be mail, sheet music, keys, bags, purses, newspaper and magazines, musical instruments, etc.) Is this a catchall room for things that belong in other rooms such as dishes, books, coats, backpacks, or clothing?
      

    
   

   9. Does each item you have in this room light you up to a 7 or above?
      

    
   

   10. How did your living room get in this shape?
       

    
   
 


3. Now that you have taken a good look at this room, rate your wattage (see page 15). When you are in this room, are you lit up at a 7 or above?
   

Once you have answered these questions and written your answers in your notebook, move on to using the Spotlight to set goals.

Tip:
When decorating for the holidays, remove objects that are out year-round. For short-term storage, place them in the holiday boxes as you take out the holiday decorations. Then, when you take down the holiday decorations, you can place the year-round objects back out on display.

SPOTLIGHT

You did a really great job analyzing your living room and identifying problem areas. Now with the Spotlight, focus on setting goals to make this room what you want it to be. You wrote down the problem areas; now write down your goals. As you accomplish each one, you can check it off. Here are some examples of goals you could set for this room:

When Paula used her Searchlight in her living room, she was surprised at what she saw. She usually avoided this room. There were newspapers scattered on the couch and floor. The fabric was stained from the newspapers and spilled drinks. Magazines were piled on tables and catalogs were in several places. She wondered why she even subscribed to so many magazines. She never had time to read them. Children's toys were all over the floor, chairs, and fireplace hearth. Her children's piano and clarinet sheet music overflowed from the piano bench and was left lying on the floor and on top of the piano. She took an objective look at the room and realized she had too much furniture for the space. It made the room look cluttered, even though they were nice pieces of furniture. Books were not put back in the bookcase, and their paper covers were ripped and shoddy looking.

Her doll collection took up a lot of space in the room, but she couldn't see most of it because the dolls were crammed close together and behind each other in curio cabinets. She didn't enjoy the way they looked, and they made the room look cluttered.

Dirty dishes were on the tables and floor. How many times, she wondered, had she told her family that if they were going to eat in the living room, they would have to take the dishes back to the kitchen.

The holidays were coming. She wanted to display her beautiful decorations, but the decorations only added to the cluttered look. There was nowhere to put them.

On the wattage scale, she felt the room rated a 3. There were things she liked in the room, and she liked what the room was used for, but she was ready to make changes.

 


1. Guests will feel welcome, and you won't be embarrassed to have visitors.
   

 


2. Remove extra furniture. Quality is more important than quantity. Arrange furniture in an orderly way, giving the room a feeling of space and comfort. Keep folding chairs handy for extra seating or purchase an ottoman that can serve as seating, as well as a table and a storage container.
   

 


3. Look at each item in the room and get rid of or replace everything that doesn't have a wattage of 7 or above. You can replace items over a period of time.
   

 


4. Keep all flat surfaces clutter-free. To do this: use containers; give everything a home within the room; and place items that don't belong in the room in a proper home in another room.
   

 


5. Contain children's toys in a basket.
   

 


6. Place convenient containers for magazines, newspapers, and music in the room.
   

 


7. Organize books on the bookshelf; make room for the books that need to be kept in this room. Remove paper dustcovers from the books.
   

 


8. Remove part of the collections in the room and store the items in semi-storage (see page 24). Purchase proper storage containers if needed. Know where you will store these items before you pack them up.
   

 


9. Hang pictures to brighten and beautify the room.
   

 


10. Educate family members on what can and cannot be left in the living room. Show them the new places for all of the objects that have been removed from the room. Your family probably won't say, “Oh goodie, we'll never leave our socks, shoes, and other stuff here again.” It will take some training and maybe consequences to see lasting results.
    

    Be sure to write down a target date to complete these goals.
    

GREEN LIGHT

Your goals are set; you now have the Green Light to take action. Have a good time and take it as slow as you need to. To stay focused wear comfortable clothes, have your tool kit (see page 22), and use the four containers method (see page 35). Get a drink and a snack. You are ready to turn up the wattage in your living room.

Schedule a time to start working. Set your timer for a specific amount of time. If you are the type of person who has to get it all done right now, set your timer for one hour. If twenty minutes is all you can do, set your timer for twenty minutes, and so on. Getting started and making a dent is better than never starting. When the timer dings, if you are in a comfortable rhythm and have time to continue working, set your timer again and keep going. When you need to take a break, set your timer for five minutes so you'll remember to come back.

As always, start working from the inside out. Remember, things will look worse before they look better.

Places to start:

 


1. curio cabinets
   

 


2. bookshelves
   

 


3. piano bench
   

 


4. storage containers, such as toy boxes, ottomans and baskets
   

 


5. built-in storage shelves or armoires
   

 


6. flat surfaces such as:
   

    
   

   1. tabletops (e.g., coffee tables and end tables)
      

    
   

   2. fireplace mantel and hearth
      

    
   

   3. top of the piano
      

    
   
 


7. furniture
   

 


8. pillows and blankets
   

Use your four containers to quickly manage the things you aren't going to keep in this room.

If you subscribe to magazines you don't read, cancel your subscriptions. Many articles from magazines can be found online. If there are articles from magazines you have that you want to save, create a resource book. Tear out the article, slip it into a plastic sleeve and place it in a three-ring binder. Separate each section by using page dividers. These can be separated alphabetically or by subject. Keep current magazines contained in a magazine rack or basket. Every three months, throw the old ones away, and do the same with catalogs. If the entire magazine is a resource (like business or craft magazines) keep them in a magazine holder you can place in a book case. Be sure to label the holders with magazine names and year.