As we wrap up Zones 1 – 4 and and move to – the last! – Zone 5, I thought I’d share a few things I’ve done in my own home – easy ways to add more order.
But first, I wanted to WELCOME you if you’re new to my design your { HOME + WORK + FAMILY + OWN } life blog. For those of you who’ve been receiving my Angela Harris Design {formerly The DearBook Company} newsletter, the new program I’m using allows me to send both my blog posts {about 1 / week} and newsletters {seasonally – about 5 / year} to those in my address book. Please let me know if you wish to receive just one or the other – or you can change email preference – should be able to do at bottom. {And if you prefer to be taken off (will understand but will miss you!), click the unsubscribe button.}
My goal for doing this Zone Plan is to have my home running smoother before the crazy-ness of the school year kicks starts. {BTW, look for the back-to-school survey at the end!} In today’s post, I’ll include a couple of helpful links at the bottom to bring you up to speed if you’d like to follow along. You can jump in at any time and it really is a wonderful – and underwhelming – way to infuse new habits into your home.
This past week was ZONE 4: Master Bed + Bath + Closet
Since the plan {from Marla “FlyLady Cilley – her book link is at bottom of post} says to take care of the clutter before the deep cleaning, that’s what I spent my time on. Even though I’m an organizer by profession, I still have my clutter from time to time! Some of our problem areas & how I fixed:
Hot Spots: Marla defines these as, “Any area, but usually one that’s clean. Yet, as soon as you lay one piece of paper on it, the paper will begin to multiply and before you know it, the surface will be covered.” {A bench – hidden from those passing by but in plain view when I’m in bed – is no longer hot.}
{my husband’s} Baseball Hats: At one point I even sorted his hats by category so he could easily purge. That took out about half but still there are soooo many. Solution: Cap Rack {like the one}. It only holds 36 but that’s actually a good thing. We {he} can choose his favorite 36 and the rest can go into “storage.”
Coat Hangers: Joan Crawford-ish I know but I have quite an abhorrence for wire hangers. Last year, I bought real ones for my closet – love love love love!!!! Worth every penny.
- {fabulous} huggable hangers – like these from Joy Mangano {I purchased at HSN} {slimmer than wooden ones}
- wooden hangers – good prices at Hangers Direct {no business license required!}
Tip: Buy hangers with the bar across bottom – more versatile {can use for pants, too} for just a tiny bit more $.
And for those wire hangers we still have hanging around {they aren’t allowed in my closet but my husband has them and sees absolutely nothing wrong with them-uggh!} our dry cleaner gave us this hanger caddy:
- Manage those not-so-friendly wire hangers: most dry cleaners have these and will gladly provide – in hopes you’ll bring it back filled up {an eco-friendly win-win, I must say!}
Baskets: Love using for organizing because they are easy and look good – great combo. Just added labels to the baskets in my closet. Even when things are pretty easy to find – having labels eliminates that split second, “Is it this or that container?” BTW, there are lots of ways you can label:
- Label Maker: consider purchasing if you have yet to experience. Can’t believe I waited until two years ago to get mine. LOVE it.
- Tags: You can easily hand-make – or purchase already-made:
- Baskets beautifully works with most decors. Even though I’m pretty much the only one spending time in my closet, I want it to look and work nicely.
- Post Its: When helping my clients {including myself, I’ll “hire” myself at least once a month!} organize, Post-Its are a necessity. Pay a few extra $’s for the ones that won’t fall off 5 minutes after you stick them on. Or go for the removable multi-use labels.
- Pictures: Great for smaller kids. I made pic labels for my youngest {see pic, below}.
Under the Sink: Like our master sink vanities but the counter + storage space is pretty much non-existent. So, I had to {again} make optimum use of the itsy-bitsy under-the-sink space {which had become filled with things I didn’t use on daily basis}.
The one big {deeper} cleaning I plan to do for Zone 4: STEAM-ing! While it surely won’t be as enjoyable as an actual spa steam, I bet I’ll love the results. Know that Zone 5 started today and master bath was a Zone 4 but I’m going to do it anyway. {There are worse rules to break.} I’ve never used the attachments for my steam mop so – for those of you in suspense – will share how it goes on my Facebook page later this week.
For more bedroom reading, here’s a post I did: What I love in the bedroom + Order makeover: a before & after
CHILDREN’S ROOMS {Zone 3}
For most containers I use my label maker, but for these colorful bins in my 7-year old’s room, I made picture labels:
- Picture labels work well for younger kids – I just drew these on mailing labels.
- These bins are so darn practical! They’ve been through years of “play” – and are still going strong. These easy-to-read/see labels make training your little ones easier … and excuses for them harder.
KITCHEN {Zone 2}
Our pantry is really a very shallow cabinet. {I seriously would be up for turning our kitchen bathroom into a real pantry.} For now, this is how I’m making it work better:
- Like the one I got for our fridge {which I recently shared on Facebook}, these simple bins are great for corralling those smaller items.
- I took out breads / crackers / chips {those bulky items} that I somehow thought could fit {cram} into our “pantry.” Can’t believe it took me FIVE years to put elsewhere. Again, I love baskets!
- We had one shallow basket for my husband’s mail / etc. I bought this deeper one for him {much neater looking} + a matching one for me.
Will see you in Zone 5 shortly – the last of the zones and the last in this series!
{BTW, if you have school-age children, would LOVE for you to take this 2-minute survey – CLICK HERE – on what brings about the most stress when school starts back. I’ll share overall results with you in August – plus will gear my back-to-school August series around what you need most. Thank you, thank you!}
For those that are new: I’m trying out Marla Cilley {aka, FlyLady}’s plan which appealed to me as an all-inclusive but easy to handle way to build habits into our household. Check out these links to catch up:
- PART 1: The philosophy behind the plan
- PART 2: Zone & plan specifics
- ZONE 1: Entrance, Dining Room & Front Porch
- ZONE 2: Kitchen: 6 ways to make it optimally work
- ZONE 3:Kids’ Rooms / Laundry Room / Office / Bathrooms {my least favorite zone!!}
That’s way the bsteest answer so far!
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I was curious if you ever thought of changing the structure of your website?
Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better.
Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one
or two pictures. Maybe you could space it out
better?