So you’ve rented a self storage unit. You can easily figure out the basics of self storage — how to pack and label boxes and arrange things you need most often closest to the door — but having seen some super creative people maximize their storage units, I’ve realized that this simple investment can aid in productivity and stress relief by streamlining some of your most chaotic tasks:

• Organize your personal belongings with a logbook. I saw a tenant doing this one day and was amazed. She said that when she puts items into her self storage unit, or removes them, she enters it in her logbook. She kept the logbook in the self storage unit, near the door, so she could quickly assess the contents of her unit. The logbook was a three-ring binder, with categorized lists: seasonal clothing, yard work equipment, family photos and documents, financial files, personal files, and books. Some tenants use a similar strategy but with electronic organizers, and others use online photo accounts to hold pictures of all the items they keep in storage.
• Use rolling carts. I am a huge fan of rolling carts. (Personally, I think every piece of furniture should come with wheels!) Rolling carts work especially well in a storage unit because you can move everything around while simultaneously keeping it all organized. There are some tenants who use rolling carts with many small drawers to hold craft supplies, school supplies, and office supplies. Larger, heavy duty tool carts work well for holding heavy items, such as tools and appliances, but they are pricey, so you’ll want to use the lightweight rolling carts for whatever you can.
• Store presents for family members until their birthdays, holidays, or graduation. Another place rolling carts could also come in handy! One of my tenants is a single mom with three children. She had a large rolling cart with three huge plastic drawers each of which was labeled with the name of one of her children. During the year, she bought gifts she intended to save for a birthday or for Christmas — and then stored those in that child’s drawer, eliminating the chance that they might find it at home. She also kept wrapping paper, greeting cards, tape, ribbons, and scissors in the storage unit, so she could do her wrapping there. In fact, this particular mom moved on from storing presents for her own children, to storing extra presents for their friends, so when the kids were invited to birthday parties, all she had to do was stop in at the storage unit on the way to the party, quickly wrap a present, have her child sign a card, and be on her way!
• Store seasonal yard tools, such as snow blowers and lawn mowers, on a utility trailer. I am amazed to see how many of our tenants streamline the process of converting their garages from winter use to summer use — and vice versa. They do it by investing in a utility trailer, and loading it with all the heavy, bulky yard tools that they will not use for the duration of the season. Sometimes they have room left on the trailer to add the seasonal clothes or decorations that they want to put in storage as well. Then they simply roll the entire trailer into the storage unit and leave it there. When they bring it home at the beginning of the next season, they roll the snow blower and other equipment off the trailer, roll the lawnmower or other items on, and then drive the trailer back to the storage unit. With good planning, the whole changeover for the seasons can take an hour or less.
• Use metal utility shelves to store extra bulk purchases when you are stocking up from discount warehouse like Costco or Sam’s. I am always surprised when my tenants tell me how much money they save by buying in bulk. But buying in bulk means having a lot of bulk to store, and everyone seems to have their own system for keeping track of it. Some tenants use their self storage units as if they were their own personal commissary, keeping every household item there that you can imagine: toilet paper, diapers, baby wipes, paper towels, cleaning supplies, school and office supplies. Most of my tenants who do this invest in some utility shelving to keep in their storage units. Then they organize the bulk purchases on the utility shelves in much the same way that they were organized in the discount warehouse. In fact, discount warehouses will happily let you take their leftover boxes, which are often just the right size for organizing objects on utility shelves. Keep a few empty boxes on an upper shelf, so that you have a box ready to carry things home in whenever you go “shopping” at your storage unit.
• Stop in at your self storage facility on the way home from picking up a child at college. If you can convince your college student to pack his or her things in two batches — one batch to go home, and one batch to go into storage until fall — then you can make the process of moving back in for the summer much less painless. Stop at the self storage unit on the way, and unload the loft beds, computer desks, boxes of textbooks, and anything else that they can live without until fall. If you place all these items in the same corner of the unit, and leave them packed, then in the fall, all you will have to do is stop by the storage unit on the way back to college, and pick everything up again. This should save you a lot of time on both ends of the journey!

Do you have any tips for managing a self storage unit? Share below!

Art Decker is a division manager with Self Storage Company, which operates a group of websites, including a California self storage locator. Art leads a busy life and often travels between sites, like from Texas to the Illinois self storage site. As a result, Art has had the opportunity to witness many people’s excellent storage strategies.

Photo by jurvetson

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A few years ago I had a very different approach to cooking. I would normally only cook on weekends, using leftovers to see us through the week — however, the leftovers were never getting eaten, and any meal that required effort on my part after work was not getting made.

This led to either eating out frequently, or my standing in the kitchen wondering what we were going to do for dinner. I found myself without the energy or drive to cook and clean up. It puzzled me, because I thought I had successfully conquered this monster a few years ago with a system of menu planning, helped out by products from the Saving Dinner website.

Looking for an item to pad out an Amazon order for free shipping, I came across the book The Weeknight Survival Cookbook: How to Make Healthy Meals in 10 Minutes.

Review

When the book arrived, I found that it contained not only what looked like easy recipes with easily-acquirable ingredients, but also complete healthy and balanced menu plans with simple instructions. There are 12 weeks of menus in here, plus bonus recipes for crock pot, pasta, and quick desserts.

I am impressed with this book. With this book, I am doing the majority of the cooking on Sundays, and then preparing very quick meals through Friday. I have been taking the leftovers for lunch.

The first week, for example, called for cooking two meals worth of chicken breasts on the grill, while making boiled potatoes for Wednesday, two meals worth of roasted veggies in the oven, two meals worth of rice and a tabbouleh salad. Total time: about 30 minutes. The meals on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday have taken less than 10 minutes to prepare, and all have been very tasty.

Rating

This cookbook as a must-have for working moms. It’s a no-brain guide to healthy eating.

One note: these recipes make a ton of food. Even taking lunches out of them, we are still inundated with food.

Buy the book here: The Weeknight Survival Cookbook: How to Make Healthy Meals in 10 Minutes.

Photo by Amazon.

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I saw an article on a craft blog the other day about a magnetic meal planner: a place to keep grocery lists, meal plans and recipes all together. I looked at the craft and was disappointed in it because it was limited in scope and storage. But then I wondered why I couldn’t make one of my own. So here is my Meal Planning Folder.

Materials

For this project to make a two-week meal planner you will need:

• 1 plastic folder with brads in the middle to hold 3-punched items
• 10 plastic sheet protectors
• 1 pocket folder without tabs
• Tape, preferably packing tape
• 7 pieces of paper
• Inventory forms
• Menu planning forms
• A magnetic bulldog clip

Assembly

I assembled the inner pages of the folder first: 7 sheet protectors, followed by the pocket, followed by two more sheet protectors. I attached these to the three-hole section of the folder.

The front 7 protectors will hold recipes, the pocket will hold blank forms and notes, and the back two sheet protectors will hold my freezer and pantry inventories.

Next I filled the front sheet protectors with one sheet of paper in each. This is to keep the recipes for the days separate. I labeled each side of the paper with the day.

As a last step, I cut the three-hole strip from the remaining sheet protector and taped that to the front of the folder. Regular desk tape didn’t hold very well, so I ended up using packing tape. I slipped the current menu planning sheet in there.

All set to hang on the fridge!

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I don’t know if it was inspired by my reading of Unclutter Your Life in One Week
, or by the impending deadline of visiting relatives, but last weekend I took it into my head to clean out the craft room, also known as the guest bedroom.

Since we don’t have many overnight guests, this room has a tendency to fill up with clutter. Quickly.

Bits and pieces of anything craft-related get dumped here, along with UFOs (UnFinished Objects). So I went through the room, processing the items as I went. It isn’t so much how I decluttered this space, but how I finished the decluttering that is of interest.

Letting Go

Of course the first step in this process was to go through everything and split it up. There was too much of everything. I sorted through all the craft items and made piles, putting back only those things I intended to work on, or could remember what they were for (don’t laugh – I often buy yarn with a project in mind, and then forget what project I intended it for). Same with my daughter’s craft supplies: anything she didn’t care for, or intend to finish, was removed.

This has been a stumbling block in the past; after all, investing time in something grows my attachment to it, even if I hate the sight of it now. I gave myself (and my daughter) permission to let the stuff go.

Donate

For the items we were not going to use, we pulled aside a bag to take down to our church. The bits and pieces are used for Sunday School activities. Knowing that the materials were going to this location made it easier for my daughter to give things up. She even split up some of her things, giving half to the church and keeping half for future projects.

If this method of donation is not an option for you, consider donating extra supplies to a day care center, school or scouting organization. These organizations always need supplies.

Consolidate

One shocking thing was that I had the same types of materials in various places. Yarn stored everywhere, sewing fabric in three places. By putting the bits I wanted to keep together, I was able to see more of what I had and let even more material go.

I grouped the fabric together by types (fuzzy and non-fuzzy), yarn by material (cotton and other), and put all my embroidery floss in the same container. I also put together the sewing projects in progress and the projects that needed finishing.

Hide In Plain Sight

Before I started the purge, the closet in the room was stuffed. Yet there were things in the room not being used to advantage. Case and point were two wicker boxes that were turned upside down into a mini-display area. By turning these boxes so that the open side faced the wall, I was able to put the scrap yarn in there and hide it from sight.

Creative Storage

Other things in my room need to be stored to preserve them in between uses. My self-healing cutting mats need to be stored flat, yet there is no surface available to do this. So I slipped the mats in between the mattress and box spring on the bed. It’s out of the way, yet being kept flat for future use.

Use as Decorations

Even after stashing most of my yarn in the bins, I had two groups of skeins left: one for a coat I will make this winter, and my collection of cotton for making dishcloths. The coat wool has an interesting texture, so I stuffed it into a clear glass vase for an interesting “decoration”. The cotton was put in a shallow basket with a pair of knitting needles sticking out of it, and placed on top of the wicker boxes.

Complete (or Make Plans To)

In the midst of the clean-out, I found three projects that need to be completed. Instead of putting these back into the space (and into the forgotten throes of my project list), I took the items and put them in my in box. All three will be dealt with this weekend. These projects have been on the list, and none will take that long to finish; but they have been languishing on the Someday list for years.

With two hours of work, my guest room is ready for the coming guests and much more usable for my purposes.

Photo by evelynishere

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I took some time this past week to tackle my pantry. Over the past months it has grown to be a mass of cluttered foodstuffs, making it almost impossible for me to find anything or even know what is in there. While I thought it would be a huge job, it turned out only take about two hours, and now I can find everything I have in the closet.

Reorganizing a pantry can seem like a daunting job, but with a few simple steps, it will go very easily.

Getting Set Up

To clean the pantry, I pulled out the trash can and put in a new bag. I also put the compost bucket nearby, and a pan of soapy water. I also had a bin to put recycleable items.

The trash can is to hold things that need to be thrown away. The compost bucket will hold vegetables that need to go, and the soapy water is to swish out the recycleable containers before I put the containers in the recycling bin.

Approach methodically

One of the worst ways to approach what is essentially decluttering is to start pulling things out willy-nilly. By breaking the pantry down into small sections, cleaning and reorganizing will seem less overwhelming.

I work from the top down, for the simple reason that as I clean, dust will fall to the lower areas via gravity. That means I am not re-dirtying things I have already cleaned.

Clean out expired, weird ingredients

I often buy ingredients I wouldn’t normally use because they are called for in a recipe. And either I don’t make the recipe, or I decide to skip the ingredients because I realize I have no chance of sneaking them by my family.

Other times food will expire. I found this to be particularly true of my “emergency” shelf, because I had not rotated the food into common usage on time.

For these two situations, I pull the food out. If the food is expired, I will toss it in the trash (or compost heap if it is veggies) and swish and recycle the container. If the food is not expired, I put it aside for the food pantry.

Sort

I like to keep my pantry sorted by like items. For instance, the short arm of the L of my pantry, top shelf, is where I keep the disposables. Paper plates, paper napkins, paper towels and disposable silverware. The next shelf down holds the condiments: wines, vinegars, oils and the backup items for ketchup, mustard and relish.

Some groupings from my pantry:

• Rices
• Pasta and sauces
• Baking mixes and baking ingredients (nuts, chips, etc)
• Cereals
• Spices and seasonings
• Dressings and mixes
• Breads
• Snacks
• Canned goods
• PB & J , nut butters, jams and preserves
• Sundae bar (for make-your-own sundaes)

Replace Like Items Together As They Make Sense

Since my pantry is pretty much set up as groups and I was only doing a cleaning/purge, I put misplaced items with their fellows as I went.

However, if this is the first time you are doing your pantry, you might want to group like items together outside of the area before putting them back in.

Use Helpers

I’m not talking about Hamburger Helper here. I’m talking about things that make it easier to group like items together.

My canned goods are stored on a large turntable that makes an inaccessible corner accessible. My spices are stored on a double-level turntable to make it easy to access all the bottles. I use old shoe boxes and dollar store baskets to hold like items, like chips and snacks.

With a bit of sorting, tossing, and cleaning dust bunnies, I was able to simplify the pantry and get it into shape so I can find everything very quickly and easily.

Photo by lu_lu

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Product Description

The Daysteps planner is a spiral bound 8.5″ x 11″ planner with different sections. Its goal is to allow you to actually plan out what you want to do, keeping balance in mind.

Company Background

Daysteps is a small company out of St. Louis MO which produces a planner aimed at life balance. The women founders of the company all lead busy lives, balancing family, work and personal needs.

What Makes This Planner Different

I was attracted to this planner because of the focus on balance. Too many planners turn into a blob of rushing to get too much done, without really giving you any room to figure out what direction you need to be going in. Daysteps aims to do life planning, and includes daily ways to make sure you are caring for yourself.

The Details

Month Page/Intentions

Click on the pictures for PDF examples of the three types of pages. All PDFs and Photos are from the Daysteps site.

For each month, you are given a two page spread. One page holds a month-at-a-glance calendar. The facing page asks you to pick intentions for the month, as well as set goals for fitness and nutrition. There are also two areas for you to note household maintenance tasks for the month as well as personal enrichment goals.

Week Page with Health Tracking

Each week has a two page spread. The top half is devoted to a calendar-like grid, but without numbers. The bottom of each day has grids and circles to track health, fitness and nutrition. There is a small task list area on the left side of the page.

Mind Dump and Review Space

At the end of each week there is another two page spread. The left side is dedicated to getting stuff out of your head. The right side is for recording events and reflections.

Overall Impressions

I liked the Daysteps planner from the standpoint that it really does stand apart in the area of actually planning. Too many planners are just calendars and task lists without any space (or reminders) to help you decide what your time should look like. In other words, Daysteps is a proactive rather than reactive planner.

The paper is thick and of high-quality. The covers are a bit flimsy for six month use without a cover, but it will fit into notebook covers from your local office supply store. Each of the pages has a tear-off corner to make it easy to find your current spot.

I was disappointed to find the daily calendar, but realizing there were no times in place allowed me to see that this could be used as a free-form appointment and task list.

I really liked the nutrition and fitness tracker, because for me out of sight really is out of mind.

The Guarantee

Daysteps offers a 30 day guarantee for unused planners. I have never run across a planner that does that (although admittedly I am out of the loop with planners these days).

Disclosure: I was sent a free copy of the Daysteps planner from which to write this review. I initiated the contact with Daysteps, and receive no part of their sales.

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This past Memorial Day saw us camping, and I ended up having to clean out the box completely because of the damp and ticks. I took the opportunity to put together a list of what is in my box, and to take some pictures (click on any picture to zoom in):

The Box

The box itself is a big plastic tote with a locking lid. It’s big enough to hold everything, and the locking lid makes it unlikely critters or dirt will get into it.

The Contents

The basic contents of the box are as follows:

• A big pot with a cover
• A griddle
• A nesting cookware set
• Paper plate holders
• Two sharp knives with sharpener covers
• Silverware in a tray
• Two cutting boards
• A coffee press and insulated mugs
• A set of dishes (bowls, plates, small mugs)
• An egg case
• A pop up toaster
• Dish soap
• Matches

And not pictured:

• A tablecloth
• A first aid kit
• A clothesline
• Towels and dishcloths
• Extensible toasting forks
• Scissors

Packing the Box

I nest the cooking pots inside the big pot.

This is followed by a bag containing the clothesline, scissors, matches and first aid kit .

The pot then goes into the big box first, and I start packing things around it.

The griddle goes in the back of the box, and leaning against it are the cutting boards, followed by the paper plate holders and the toaster.

On the other side of the box, next to the pots, I lean up the plates and bowls. This leaves room for the mugs, coffee pot and dish soap. I also tuck in a few paper plates.

You’ll notice most things are in zipper bags. There are two reasons for this: they keep things clean, and I can use them if I need to.

After the first layer, I lay in the cutlery tray and the egg container. The egg container doesn’t actually “deploy” in the box: I put it in the cooler. But for storage it goes in there. In its place during deployment are the two knives with covers, which I use in my normal kitchen work.

On top of that I put the dish towels, dish cloths and vinyl tablecloth. I lay the extensible toasting forks across the top.

I hope this has helped explain what is in the box and how I pack it.

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We all enjoy having a well-organized kitchen – it makes cooking a pleasure, rather than a chore. But if your kitchen is overcrowded and messy, what can you do? Well, it might be time for you to clear out those gadgets, tools, and appliances you don’t use. But where do you start?

Start by thinking about how you actually cook. Not about how you’d like to cook, or about how you’d cook if you had the time (this is my biggest weak spot), but how you actually cook. Your goal is to keep only those items that you use on a regular basis, or that you use for “special projects” often enough to make them worth keeping (my 20 quart stockpot, food mill, and cookie cutters all fall in this category).

Now go through the kitchen and start tossing! First, get rid of duplicates. You don’t need three garlic presses, two mixers (I’m talking to you, Mom), or four zesters. And speaking of that garlic press, you can reclaim a lot of your kitchen real estate by eliminating single-use tools. Garlic can easily be chopped by hand (or even simply smashed with the side of a knife blade), and no one needs a strawberry slicer, a cherry pitter, or an apple corer. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule. Keep a tool, gadget, or appliance if:

• The task it performs is one you do a LOT of, and which would take you considerable time if you had to do it yourself (or is a skill you simply can’t seem to master). For example, if you make several gallons of lemonade each month in the summer (like I do), it might be worth having a professional juice presser (like I do). But if you only juice a few lemons a year, think about getting rid of it and replacing it with a simple hand juicer.
• It allows you to cook or bake an item you’d never have time to make any other way. For example, if you have a breadmaker, I’d recommend getting rid of it and learning to bake bread by hand. Making bread by hand is an experience that is, in my opinion, superior to doing it by machine. But if there simply isn’t any time for you to make bread any other way, then I’d tell you to keep your machine and keep baking homemade bread, because the quality is so much better than store-bought.

This applies to pots and plates as well as gadgets and kitchen appliances. A family of four does not, generally speaking, need 30 plates. If you need extras for holiday entertaining, remove those from the kitchen and store them in the dining room or your attic with the rest of your holiday items. Of course, if storage is a premium, you might have to keep them in your kitchen. But if that’s the case, designate one cabinet or area for holiday supplies, and keep your cake plate, holiday serving pieces, special tablecloths, etc. in that area. That keeps them out of the “everyday” areas of your kitchen, and makes day-to-day cooking easier.

Once you’ve gone through this process, you’ll be amazed at how much more room you have – and how much easier it is to cook and bake now that you don’t need to wade through things you don’t use.

Have you tried de-cluttering your kitchen? How did it go? We’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Trish Smith brings you information each week that can help you make better food choices – from how to find locally-produced food, to how to prepare that food in a way that’s easy, simple, tasty, and healthy.

Photo by army.arch

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As a professional organizer for the past 10 years, I have been sharing lots of tips, tricks and tools with my clients to help them get and stay more streamlined. I want them to feel empowered to focus on the things that matter most to them – their passions, their projects, and the people they want to spend time with.

What I’ve learned over the last decade of personal experience is that the best tool for staying organized and focused is not a product – it’s not a basket, shelf, or a caddy. It’s not a PDA or a day planner. It’s silence and its counterparts of stillness and quiet reflection. It’s the decision to regularly stop what we’re doing to look out the window or stare at the ceiling or just close our eyes and breathe a bit more deeply than usual.

In the age of the IPhone, BlackBerry, cell phone and hundreds of other devices and their accompanying applications, it has become ever more challenging – and crucial – to regularly walk away from the 24/7 barrage of information that streams into our inboxes and heaps new “to-dos” onto our already unending list of tasks. It’s simply unhuman to be always perched waiting for the next call, email, or Facebook update to roll in and demand our attention.

In the Age of Never-Ending Information, what I’ve found helpful is not to ask “How can I fit the most to-dos into my daily to-do list?” but rather “How can I be in the best position to decide and act on what is truly meaningful and enjoyable to me?” The answer is: to regularly set aside quiet time. Nothing about quiet time has to be fancy, but engaging in this practice regularly requires thought and intention. The key is to first set aside a time – could be first thing in the morning, could be last thing at night, or perhaps during your lunch break. Then find a place – a garden, a library, a favorite chair by a window. Repeat often and watch the quality of your decisions and your peace of mind bloom and flourish.

I find that by setting aside quiet time each day, or even every other day, I gain clarity about how I want to spend the next 60 minutes, the next several days, or even the entire year. My real priorities and desires come into much sharper focus – not because I forced myself into making yet another to-do list, but because I created space for deep-seated wishes to swirl and softly bubble to the surface where I can see and hear them more clearly than when I am madly scrolling through my emails or surfing the Internet.

Let’s face it: we’ll always have things on our to-do list. Doesn’t it make sense that a good portion of those entries reflect the people and projects that are truly important to us? The ones that we’ll remember throughout our lives?

Let silence be the gift that we let ourselves open daily. For it is truly the gift that keeps on giving.

Eleanor Traubman is a professional organizer and the Editor-In-Chief of Creative Times: A Blog for Artists and Entrepreneurs. Her passion is helping parents bring fun and play into their lives and the lives of their families.

Photo by Rob Inh00d

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There is no doubt about it: using coupons can save a lot of money. Yet many people give up on coupons because they are so hard to manage. And if you aren’t careful, coupons can also turn into clutter.

A reader was kind enough to ask if I could tackle this subject, so here it is: my take on organizing coupons.

Deal with the Backlog

If you’ve never clipped coupons, go ahead and skip this section. If you have a pile somewhere, you will need to start with a purge. Sit down with your pile of coupons, a highlighter and a recycle bin. Go through each one, and if it is expired, toss it. If not, highlight the expiration date.

Next you will sort the coupons into areas that make sense to you. Canned goods, cereals, paper products, dairy case, dry goods are some possible categories. The goal is to make it easy to find the coupons you want to use. So there is no right way – just find the way that makes sense to you.

You will want to store the coupons. It can be whatever you prefer, from a card file box to a binder to an envelope. I found that having dividers in the coupons according to the grouping helped me find things quickly. I used a card file, and inside each category, I kept a brightly colored index card. I stored my no-expiration date coupons behind there as a means to keep them from getting mixed in with the coupons that would expire.

Effective Coupon Clipping

Coupons can pile up quickly and turn into an awful pile of clutter. Using a few rules will help keep this at bay.

• Don’t clip what you won’t use. If you don’t normally use the product, don’t clip the coupon. This can only lead to spending extra on products you wouldn’t normally buy.
• Skip coupons if you’re brand-loyal. If you are brand loyal on a type of product, don’t bother clipping coupons for a competitor. This can lead to wasted purchases.
• Pay attention to quantities. If your coupon requires you to buy more than you can possibly use, pass on it.
• Don’t cut out things that will expire before you can use them. If you shop every two weeks and the coupon will expire before then, skip it. Don’t bog down the system with wasted material and effort.
• File as soon as you clip. Don’t leave a pile of coupons waiting to be filed. It won’t happen.

Coupon Alternatives

I’ll be honest: I haven’t used newspaper coupons in a couple of years. I got out of the habit when I had a personal shopper, and I find that it causes me more frustration than it is worth to keep up with them.

Sales and Flyers

That’s not to say that I pay full price, though. I regularly buy things that are on sale, and I keep an eye on the grocery flyer to see what can be stocked up on any given week. My grocery store also has a “shoppers card” where I can get even deeper discounts on items.

Coupons on My Store Card

There are a couple of other things I have found for using coupons that does not require me to clip and sort. The first is coupons on my shoppers card. I found this service through Cellfire.com (no affiliation). I entered my store card number, then I choose my coupons. When my card is accessed, the coupons are automatically available for use. No paper and no hassle wondering if I have bought the right size in the right quantity.

Printable Coupons

The second way is printable coupons. CouponMom.com (no affiliation) allows you to select printable coupons and then print them out for use at the store. I like this because I can always print just what I need and not have to hunt around.

Coupons are a great way of saving money, but they only work well if they’re used. A few simple organizational methods or alternate coupon methods, and you can save money too!

Photo by MissMessie

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