Pegboard Turned Organizer

Good morning, HLA land! I am back after a long hiatus from making a post! This past week I have been getting acquainted here at UT Arlington and have been without access to the Internet. I'm back now, though- have no fear!

The weekends for me usually include a bit of cleaning and re-organizing from the whirlwind of the previous week. For that reason, I'm going to share with you all an organization idea that a friend of mine shared with me a few months ago. It involves jewelry, though I think you could stretch it to include any number of things.

My friend from college, Ashley, has a lot of jewelry (like many of us) and was looking for a way to organize it so she could walk in first thing in the morning and just grab the pieces she wanted to wear that day. I know for me, with my jewelry box, I spend half of my time trying to find a matching pair of earrings or pulling apart necklaces to get at the one that I want. Well, with her solution of a pegboard, that problem is solved! Easy access= saved time each morning! With the discussion of budgets in mind yesterday, this organization solution is also cheap and budget-friendly!


Here's what you will need. Simply make a short trip to Home Depot to pick up a 2x4 sheet of pegboard (less than $5). If it's more than you need or if you want to fit a limited space, just ask them to cut it to size. This is a service that they will provide for you, free of charge! You can buy the pegboard in white instead of the industrial color, but you could also consider painting it to match or accent the walls of the room in which you will hang the board. The other supplies you will need include 1/2 inch boards or 1 inch by 1 inch boards on the sides to stick the pegboard out from the wall. If you screw the pegboard directly to the wall, you won't be able to put the hooks through the holes in the pegboard. You will also need hardware to hang the board, a screwdriver, and the hooks to hang the jewelry.

The hooks come in a variety of sizes, so you can buy exactly what you need to fit the space in a way that makes sense for you and your jewelry! For some people, they have a lot of long necklaces, so they need more hanging space so the necklaces don't get tangled. For others (like Ashley), they have more earrings and Ashley created a solution for storage with an ice cube tray!

What about the rest of you? Do you have a way to store your jewelry that you want to share with all of us? Any other organization tips for the day? (Kat, I am sharing this organization idea with you in mind! Happy Fish-food!)

Have a great Memorial Day weekend, everyone!

Signing off until Monday with the song of the weekend...

Free For All Friday: Closet Makeover

T.G.I.F.  everyone.  

It feels good to return to the familiarity of our Free For All Friday routine - especially after what feels like a busy week. Polling, voting, celebrating, blogging, gossiping, and today... problem solving.  

For those of you new to the scene, we use Free For All Fridays to talk about, and brainstorm, whatever is on the mind of our readers.  Earlier this week I got a Free For All Friday request from one of our readers.  I'm excited, because it's a dilemma that's RIGHT up our alley.  Today we will talk organization.

Let me set the stage.

This reader is planning a renovation on a fairly large closet space, so that it will accommodate her craft supplies and work records.  Essentially, she hopes to turn it into an office nook.  She has supplied us with a before picture and with the essentials for what the space must provide.  It is our job to share with her our collective wisdom. 

Items she must accommodate in her nook include:

• wrapping paper
• ribbon
  
• gift sacks
  
• tissue paper
  
• greeting cards
  
• supplies to make greeting cards
  
• rubber stamps 
  
• ink pads
  
• Work related items such as files, bills, customer contact information, etc... 

Is this right up our alley or what?!?!?!?!

So, the question... If you had the luxury of renovating a space, specifically designed for your craft supplies and paperwork, what would you do?  What are some of the best, most creative storage solutions you have seen to accommodate such items?  Dream BIG.  She can take the best, most cost effective, suggestions and leave the re

st.

Before I share the picture... two more Free For All Friday points of business and then, I'll let her rip.  Normally we would be brainstorming a Secret Ingredient in preparation for next weekend's Super Bowl Snack Food Throw Down.  But, as gently pointed out last week by one of our competitors, I got ahead of myself and had you vote last week.  So the secret ingredient for next week is Peanuts.

The second item of business before I turn it over to Operation Organization is in preparation for next week's topic.  I need blog readers to identify five numbers between 2 and 63.  Everybody can post one and I'll draw five from all those suggested.

Now for the before picture of our reader's closet.

The back wall is 87" and both side wall are 49"

Some of my favorites...

• In Kentucky I had all of my spools of ribbon organized in gutters (like those attached to your roof).  I screwed the gutters to the wall and then placed the spools down in the gutters with a length of each color hanging down.  It was perfect.  They took up no counter or shelf space.  They were easily accessible, AND all the colors (I probably had upwards of 20+ colors) made my space look brighter.  Eventually, I'll get to doing it here too.
  
• Second.  I store my rolls of wrapping paper, packaging paper, and celophane in a big metal garbage can.  Ideally it would fit under the counter in my work space, but it doesn't.  Instead I keep it close at hand in the garage.  Mind you, my Christmas wrapping paper is stored separately in covered plastic containers, because I only pull them out once a year.
  
• Finally, my storage space has lots of Lazy Susan's built in and I love them.  It means that I don't have things tucked away deep in the back of a cabinet.  Everything is easy to access, simply by spinning the Lazy Susan.
  
• One thought... I would take the doors off and either try to get a pocket sliding door or come up with some other decorative solution.  The door frame in the middle seems like it will make everything more difficult to access.

How about all of you?  Share your most ingenious ideas or something great you've seen in a magazine, at a friend's house, or even in a store.  We'll all benefit from this!

Signing off until tomorrow, where I'll be reporting from New York and preparing to have dinner with our good friend, Maureen (maybe she'll wear her purple boots!).

Behind Every Great Woman is a Planner

Good Monday morning! I flipped my calendar open this morning and staring at me was the re-order form for my next year’s calendar. It was only a matter of time before I delved into the importance of planners and organizers and so I will use this as a sign that today should be the day. After all, many of us wake up on Monday morning’s thinking about what the week ahead will entail. Additionally, much of what I suggest over the course of the year will require some kind of planning on your part and so discussion of a calendar was inevitable.

I have had calendar of sorts for as long as I could remember. I’ve tried everything from the fancy Stephen Covey systems to going exclusively electronic. But, I always return to what I consider to be the ultimate, tried and true organizer… The Planner Pad. I should work on commission for this company, because since 1991, I personally have converted upwards of 50 – 60 students, friends, and colleagues to this simple paper and pen method of organizing.

What makes this calendar terrific is it is organized into four sections. It begins with the most general and works its way to the most specific tasks you hope to accomplish in a week. The very top of the calendar provides a space for you to write your Major Goal of the Week. Next it provides space for you to brainstorm Weekly Lists of Activities by Categories. I love this section the most. Regardless of whether we are stay at home moms or VPs of major corporations, our lives are divided into buckets of responsibility. The buckets could be classroom mom, household chores, staff meeting preparation, friends, family, fitness goals, etc…. This section of the calendar allows us to ‘brain dump” all the things we need/want to accomplish in those buckets for the week. Sections three and four get even more specific, requiring you to schedule your weekly lists of activities (buckets) into particular days of the week and finally hours of those specific days. It is, if you could imagine, an inverted pyramid beginning with the most general goal of the week and ultimately moves toward the specificity of the day and time will you make that happen. I left my professional position one year ago and still each morning I open my calendar (centrally located in my kitchen) and use it as a tool for planning and organizing the life of my family.

If you aren’t wed to a calendar, you might consider checking out a Planner Pad at www.plannerpads.com. I swear by mine.

Now for a quick planning tip I learned years ago and still use to this day – actually especially use now that I am running a household and all the paper that goes along with it. Last week we received an invitation to an event hosted by my husband’s alma mater. The event is not until the last week of March, but included a campus map we will need to find the function. Two weeks ago my son received an invitation to a birthday party next weekend. The party will be at Pump It Up, a local indoor recreation facility with inflatables. There is a consent form that must accompany him on the day of the party. Yesterday I made a reservation for a flight to Chicago. I printed off the itinerary, but won’t need it until mid-April. This is the kind of paper clutter that could easily create mini stacks of paper all over your home and on counter space if you are not careful. Instead, I use the power of the ‘H”.” The letter “H” stands for Hold. I have a manilla folder filed in our home office and inside the “H” folder goes any piece of paper I must hold onto for an upcoming event or commitment. I simply store the paper in the folder and then note an “H” in my calendar on the date I will need the map, consent form, flight itinerary, or whatever the item may be. This keeps papers from getting lost and, at the same time, doesn’t have them sitting out or stuck to the refrigerator for weeks on end.

Tomorrow we’ll start planning for St. Patrick’s Day, so grab (or order) your calendar and meet me back here.

Signing off for now…