That Ahhh Feeling

Since it is my business to do so, I read nearly every article on organizing I come across. You never know when you'll find some wonderful pearl of a tip three-quarters of the way through a re-hash of tried and true techniques. In fact, I keep a file of article clippings in which I found some great new piece of information to do my job more effectively. (My favorite so far: Using the space above a doorway for more storage by installing a shelf there. Genius.)

It was during my usual perusing of articles that I ran across something that sums up why I started my business in the first place : the ahhhh factor.

When I walk into a room where everything is in its "home" and I know I'm not going to have to move something to be able to sit down or that I can go to any item instantly, I just want to sigh a nice, long ahhhhh....

It makes me feel good whether it's my own home or someone else's, and it makes me feel twice as good to know that I can give someone else that ahhhh feeling. In fact, nothing makes me feel so good as to have someone tell me that they feel serene when they walk into an area after I've worked with it.

The nice thing is, you can get this ahhhh feeling without organizing an entire room. Try cleaning out one of your junk drawers and organizing the items you decide to keep. Then every time you open that drawer, even if the rest of that room is not to your liking you feel that little ahhhh...

Leave me a comment and tell me about your ahhhh feelings.

Being Organized Does Not Equal Pretty

After a recent experience it occurred to me that many of you think being organized has to look like this:

While it would be nice if all of your things fit neatly in their own see-through bins and shelves, I feel it is important to point out that you can be organized without a house that looks like this.

In my mind, if someone can name any object and you can go quickly to its place to retrieve it and put it back just as easily then you're probably already well organized. Think to yourself, can you find:

scissors?

veterinary records for your pets?

your birth certificate?

a muffin tin?

your car keys?

If you answered yes to all of the above, congratulations are in order -- you are already organized despite your house not looking like the latest organization column in Woman's Day or Family Circle.

Sometimes organizing looks like this:

and you just go with it.

Check Out This Blog

I'm an avid reader of The Happy Housewife blog. The author is a military spouse and stay-at-home mom to seven children ranging from infant to teenager, so she knows a thing or two about de-cluttering and being organized. She is running a series this summer called Itch to Pitch detailing her battle to de-clutter her home, and she has some great ideas. She also encourages others to participate in the challenge and link to their blog posts. Be sure to go check her out.

Another Way Being Organized Saves Money

I know that all of you have your own reasons for wanting to be more organized, but one of the best reasons to be organized is the money you save that you can spend on other things, be it something necessary or something you want.

Every year after school starts, stores begin to mark down their excess school supplies. During this time you can pick up bottles of glue for 10 cents, crayons for 15 cents, and many other great deals in that same vein. I wanted to take advantage of these deals for the following school year, but I knew that if I brought these items into the house they would get misplaced or taken for other projects, so I needed a plan.

So, I brought home a copy paper box from work, dumped the school supplies in it and put it on a shelf in the laudry room where no one could (or would want) to get to it like this:

Organizing doesn't have to be pretty.

I made sure that I bought only items that my kids needed for school year after year, things like spiral notebooks, folders, pencils, red pens, glue and glue sticks.

At the end of last school year I also scavenged through the supplies they brought home and took the ones still in good shape: an unopened package of notebook paper, a ruler that looked as if it hadn't been used, and various unsharpened pencils. I put these in the box along with overflow from the pen and pencil drawer we have in the kitchen and any other pencils we picked up as swag at various places.

When the school supply lists were released this year, I was able to pull half of the required supplies out of the box:

For my oldest daughter.

For my youngest daughter.

Not only did I get these school supplies at clearance prices (we paid 5 cents each for those spiral notebooks), I'm already halfway done with my school supply shopping!

This system worked so great for me last year that I can't wait for school supplies to go on clearance this fall.

Tell me how organizing saves you money.

Let's Be Friends

In case you didn't know, we're on Facebook and MySpace. Come check us out!

www.facebook.com/alohaproorganizing

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Seasons Change

As you are probably well aware from reading this blog, I am a big proponent of reusing or repurposing the items you have tucked away somewhere taking up space.

If you aren't the crafty type to turn your old gems into new treasures, I have the place for you -- Seasons Change Designs.

Season Neucere moved to San Angelo after Hurricane Katrina destroyed her hometown of New Orleans. Not only does she scour local garage sales and use the vintage clothing and fabric she finds to make new items - clothes, purses, and other amazing treasures -- she will also take your old clothing and fabric in whatever form and make new treasures for you to enjoy. She has partnered with The House of Fifi Dubois on Chadbourne Street to have some of her creations for sale in their showroom and gives free consultations on Saturdays by appointment to look over your items, so pull those old concert t-shirts, baby blankets, school band uniforms or whatever else is lurking in your attic or closet and give her a call: 214.404.7782.

Encouragement

I was lucky enough this week to attend a seminar given by the Angelo State University Small Business Development Center. While the advice I received was fantastic and has given me a lot of ideas, the real benefit was the encouragement I received from the other participants. It seemed no matter who I was speaking to they told me they could use Aloha Pro Organizing's services, and that many people telling me we had a useful service to offer San Angelo was incredibly encouraging.

So thank you to ASU's Small Business Development Center and the participants I met. If you happen to be lurking on this blog, post a comment and let us know you're here.