My 5 Key Organizing Tips

Photo courtesy of Walmart.

Since moving to Manhattan where space is at a premium, I've become super organized. Life is simpler when all your things have a home and you can easily fetch them. You spend less time searching for possessions and don't re-buy something you already own. I like to say I'm too lazy and cheap to be unorganized. Once a friend, Dru, on a visit to my apartment with her husband, A.J., asked if she could show him my closets. I was so flattered she had noticed my tidiness on her previous visits. She made my day!

While I'm always open to perfecting my system, here are 5 Organizing Tips I can share:

1) In my clothes closets - I group alike-garments together: First by seasons -- warm weather versus cold weather -- then within the seasons, coats; sweaters; vests; blouses and tops; trousers; and dresses, etc. 

Although for Manhattan I have 2 good-sized wardrobe closets I still must shift my spring/summer and winter/fall clothes to the front or back of the closets as the seasons change. I don't have the luxury of a 3rd wardrobe closet to avoid moving my clothes each season. Rats!!! I envy people with more than 2 closets. From time to time I also purge my clothes of what I no longer wear so I can always fit everything I own in my 2 closets, never overflowing them. In New York City, our lack of spacious apartments is just too unforgiving to keep things we never grab. I donate my still in good condition clothes to Housing Works or Goodwill. 

2) Outside my bathroom I have a personal care shelf - Here again I like to group similar items together - I gather the skincare products together; the shampoos and hair conditioners together; the toothpaste and mouthwash together, the pain relievers - aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, acetaminophen together; wound treatments together and hair tools, etc. Since these items are stationary on a shelf, I simply stack them up so I can easily grab them. At times baskets and such help organize, at other times they just hog more space so you can't stack items. When bars of soap or boxes of toothpaste stay put, you don't need containers that become just another takedown before you can reach your articles. What I do find helpful in organizing small personal care stuff like extra dental floss, hairpins, or cotton balls is storing them inside a repurposed plastic sheet set protector. It has structure, transparency, a zipper, and a slim body that sides in against the wall -- perfect for the job! And, you already own it. In fact, save a couple of sheet protectors to protect other goods too. Great for separating, or keeping categories of things together!

3) Shoes and odds and ends - The shoes I slip into most often are on the floor of my wardrobe closet. The shoes I wear occasionally, I stack up in clear plastic shoebox-shaped containers. 

Additionally, I use one of the plastic shoeboxes to keep receipts ... a 2nd to store extra makeup I have for when I run out of what I'm presently using ... and a 3rd plastic shoebox for extra lightbulbs along with extra vacuum cleaner bags. These clear plastic shoeboxes are terrific for organizing all kinds of things. I even have a collection of photos in a 4th plastic shoebox. They only cost $1 - $2 apiece (depending on the retailer), are compact, strong, see-through, and hold lots of stuff. You can't go wrong buying them for storage. (The above image shows belts inside one box, but I think belts are best grouped hanging on a clothes hanger.)

4) Other odds and ends only needed at certain times (for example wool clothing, or a pump for an air mattress) get kept inside clear plastic 13-gallon trash bags before going on a shelf. The 13-gallon size is ideal, not too big or small a size to keep similar things together, as well as, dust-free, and since you can see through the bags, you don't waste time labeling or opening them to remember what's inside.

5) Ziploc bags of various sizes fit the smaller items you need to keep together, Q-tips, nails, whatever. Easy to see what's inside and open.

Believe it or not, you don't want to spend hours of time organizing. Aim to reduce your steps to keep organizing simple and efficient. Moreover, try not to spend too much money on the supplies you use to keep your things together and in good condition ... just a few bucks for the containers you need. The right organizing system should save you time, money, and work. Starting with these 5 tips, join me in being too lazy and cheap to be unorganized!

Happy upcoming Earth Day on April 22nd! A perfect time to get organized.🌍🌎🌏

Do you have brilliant organizing tips of your own to share?

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Speaking Of Christmas

All images: Macy's.

The majority of the people on earth, about 69%, are not Christians. Christianity is followed by only 31% of the world's population, therefore, far from a majority. Can we not accept the world as it is? While we humans have different responses, in life we all ask the same ultimate questions* and try to arrive at the same place.

 

First aiming to live a life of greater purpose, followed by a hope for the best outcome that life doesn't end in death, but we find some ultimate good or meaning in our struggles and beyond our finite lives. Theologians spend years studying the human condition and its connection to the divine -- the world of concrete vs the world of ideas, the infinite vs finite. Believing requires a leap of faith, and for certain, time will tell. It's that simple and complicated.

We have all heard the catchphrase: Let's put Christ back into Christmas, but I like to focus on putting Christ back into Christians. As we move into the Christmas season, is it possible for us to worry less about cookie-cutter conformity and more about understanding and having a tolerance of others? Might we even leap to celebrating our cultural differences, as well as, showing generosity and hospitality to everyone as we embrace our own traditions?

I'm always honored when another culture or religion shows me warmth and goodwill. An invitation to fellowship can be an attempt to connect and share, not usually to convert. What's more, I think savvy modern people can tell the difference and navigate accordingly.

Moreover, when a clerk in a department store wishes me a "Happy Holiday" in lieu of a "Merry Christmas," it's an effort to be gracious from a stranger in society who doesn't know what tradition I practice and nothing more. Why should tolerance and good wishes from friendly strangers upset us? It's misplaced animosity perhaps based on fear and insecurity in a changing world. 

If a history buff like me, you realize the world simultaneously changes and stays the same. Everything we experience has been experienced before in another century or millennium. Times can change, but humans react the same. Life on earth is cyclical. Everything new becomes old and everything old is new again ... this time around "new" to us. Furthermore, when the world is ripe for change, it moves forward. You can't stop change forever.

I hope with the supply chain down this holiday season all people -- especially Christians -- worry less about exchanging material gifts and put their energies into showing more people benevolence, support, compassion, and collaboration. After a challenging pandemic apart, wouldn't it be a meaningful, awesome way to celebrate Christmas?! Let's dole out gifts of human acceptance and kindness beginning today!

The Nativity Scene Christmas decorations are available from Macy's the only major New York department store that seems to still sell them. {You won't find them at Saks or Bloomingdales.} I'm only a customer, and my blog isn't sponsored by the retailer. I do love Macy's however ... a must-stop for tourists and New Yorkers alike during the Christmas season! Starting on November 26th, the North Pole with SantaLand opens. Located on the 9th floor for in-person visits as well as online.

✯𐫰✯𐫰✯𐫰✯𐫰✯𐫰✯𐫰✯𐫰✯𐫰✯𐫰✯𐫰

*The Ultimate Questions in every religion are: Where do we come from? Is human life random or created by an all-powerful God? What is the meaning and purpose of life? What happens after we die? 

In examining the human condition, all religions have a diagnosis ... what went wrong; and a prescription ... here's how to fix it to get back on the right path. All religions offer hope that life, good, bad, or ugly, has intrinsic worth and meaning.

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