Archives for October 2010

A year ago on Unclutterer

2009

2008

2007

Posted by PJ on Oct 20, 2010 | 5 Comments | Tweet This

Nurturing: Erin’s fourth quarter 2010 resolutions

My fourth and final set of 2010 resolutions started the first of October, but have been delayed a bit as I’ve been trying to wrap up my third quarter “Finish It!” goals. My son’s baby book is almost finished, and then I’ll have worked through a page and a half of previously unfinished tasks.

In the third quarter, I’ve had my house’s electrical box rewired, the clothes dryer fixed, the garbage disposal repaired, I sold my spinning wheel and roving, went through a home re-uncluttering effort, and finished my next book proposal (though I haven’t had the courage to send it on to my agent yet). I also passed along all of my son’s baby clothes to my nephew and dozens of other small tasks that had been hanging out on my to-do list for far too long (some unfinished items had been there for a few years). For those who are new to Unclutterer, so far this year I’ve also worked on increasing my energy levels during the first quarter of 2010 and embarking on new adventures during the second quarter.

My fourth quarter resolutions for 2010 are all about nurturing the things that matter to me most.

Like most of you, my friends and family are at the top of my list of what is most important in life. I’ve cleared the clutter so I can spend more time with those I love and laugh with them and let them know how much I appreciate them — but I still don’t feel like I’m doing enough. Actually, I know I’m not doing enough.

I have nine things on my list of what truly matters to me in this world. Over the next two and a half months, I’m going to focus all of my energy on nurturing these nine things. I have very specific goals related to my nurturing theme, but since most of them are extremely specific (naming friends and family members outright), I’ll post just a few here to give you a general idea of my actions:

  • Make a care package for my mother-in-law for her to enjoy after her surgery in November. (Nurturing family.)
  • Acquire a treadmill so I can continue to run four times a week even when the weather is nasty cold. (Nurturing my health.)
  • Take a music class with my son. (Nurturing my son.)

After clearing the clutter, have you invested in the things that matter most to you? Or, are you still letting not-so-important matters clutter up your time? During the fourth quarter, consider creating resolutions that are focused on nurturing the things that really matter and enjoying the benefits of an uncluttered life.

Posted by Erin on Oct 20, 2010 | 6 Comments | Tweet This

Planning and executing a productive work schedule

Each morning when you sit down at your desk, before turning on your monitor or checking your voice mail, take a second to mentally prepare yourself for the day’s work. Briefly close your eyes, inhale, exhale, and settle into your chair.

Once you’re comfortable and relaxed, pull out your to-do list and calendar. Read through every item and decide:

  1. What has to get done by the end of the day?
  2. What would I like to get done by the end of the day, but won’t lose my job if I don’t?

The answer to your first question will decide your flow of work for the day. Look at your calendar, and schedule blocks of time when you will work without interruption to get those must-do items completed. During these times, you’ll hit the Do Not Disturb button on your phone (or disable the ringer), turn off the notification light on your e-mail, close all instant messaging programs, and hang an “If it can wait, please talk to me after 11:00 a.m. — I’m working on the [X] project” sign on your office door or at the entrance to your cubicle. If you work in an open office, stick ear phones in your ears, even if you’re not listening to music, as a signal to others not to disturb you. When it’s time to work on your most important projects for the day, set a timer to help pace your work. If you finish your task before the timer sounds, tackle a few of the non-essential items on your list while you have the time.

Be careful not to schedule your dedicated project time during your low-processing points of the day. Even if you eat to maintain consistent energy throughout your day, you will still have mental highs and lows. Our brains simply can’t stay focused for multiple hours consistently — and you’re actually more productive if you vary the type of work you do. It’s best to alternate your schedule between mindful and mindless work to produce your best work product.

A productive workday for a desk job might look like the following:

7:30 Arrive at work, hang up coat, get coffee
7:45 Plan the day
8:00 Project meeting in conference room A
9:30 Check and process e-mail, voice mail; Admin work
10:00 Dedicated work time on project X
11:30 Check and process e-mail, voice mail; Admin work
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Dedicated work time on project Y
3:00 Check and process e-mail, voice mail; Admin work
3:30 New client meeting in interview room
5:00 Check and process e-mail, voice mail; Admin work
5:30 Complete all must-do work on projects X and Y
6:15 Power down equipment, prepare workstation for next day
6:30 Head home

If you’re already into your workday, you can plan the rest of your day now. Do what you need to do to make sure that the most essential work is completed on schedule. Even if your plan isn’t 100 percent successful — you get pulled into a meeting you hadn’t expected or an emergency arises — you will experience less stress because you will know exactly how to adjust your schedule for the remainder of the workday to accomplish what you have to do before leaving work.

Posted by Erin on Oct 19, 2010 | 28 Comments | Tweet This

Donate your unwanted shoes to people in need

Do you have shoes you’ve never really worn taking up space in your closet? Are there tennis shoes that are too small for your son’s feet but with life still in them lingering under his bed? Would you be willing to donate these shoes to charity so someone who can’t afford shoes or who has lost all in a natural disaster can have a pair to wear to school or to work or to safely walk down the street?

Soles4Souls is a charity that collects shoes that are cluttering up your closet and distributes them to people in need throughout the world. Search through your shoe collection, and then drop off your and your family’s unwanted shoes at a Soles4Souls collection site near you.

This organization came across my path when my friend and professional organizer Scott Roewer started collecting shoes for the victims of the Haitian earthquake. More than two million people remain homeless in Haiti, and Scott is traveling with Soles4Souls to help deliver the shoes he collects — and thousands more — in an upcoming shipment to the country.

As you put away your summer shoes and shine up your winter boots, check to see if there are any lightly worn shoes cluttering up your closet that could make a difference in the life of someone in need. You can get rid of clutter and help someone at the same time.

Posted by Erin on Oct 18, 2010 | 18 Comments | Tweet This

Assorted links for October 18, 2010

Interesting articles and services relating to uncluttering, organizing, and simple living:

  • Patrick at Minimal Mac asks “A Most Important Question.” If you don’t know where something belongs, it may “… not have a place in your home, in your relationships, in your job, or or in your life,” and, “perhaps it should not be there.”
  • Alton Brown, the celebrity chef who is the inspiration behind our Unitasker Wednesday posts, wrote a diary about his (bizarre?) minimalist eating practices when he travels in last week’s New York magazine: “Alton Brown Makes His Own Avocado Ice Cream, Does Shots With John Hodgman.”
  • Learning Express Library is an online resource for practice tests on hundreds of topics. The free and digital tests range from the U.S. Citizenship exam to college entrance tests. Save your money and some trees with these helpful resources.
  • Lose the equipment and your gym membership, and get an uncluttered workout using only your body weight. From Nerd Fitness, “Beginner Body Weight Workout.”
  • The Art of Manliness has a tribute to all things minimalist in “Go Small Or Go Home: In Praise of Minimalism.”
  • Clean up your iTunes digital music collection with Tagalicious — a simple and easy to use application that gets rid of all of those “Track 01″ files you have in your directory.
  • Are you on Twitter? Does it bother you when someone attends a conference and floods your stream with messages that don’t interest you in the least? Use DeClutter to remove specific keywords from your timeline. (via Swiss-Miss)

Posted by Erin on Oct 18, 2010 | 2 Comments | Tweet This

Pack rats illustrated in comic books

The website Comics Alliance, as its name suggests, covers comic books and all things related to the comic book industry. Reader Haley called our attention to the site to check out the post “Super-Hero Hoarders. The 7 Biggest Pack-Rats In Comics.”

Art often mimics life, so it’s not surprising that fictional characters struggle with clutter the same as everyone else. I really liked #4, Rick Jones’ illustrated mess. From the article:

At first glance, it’s pretty easy to call Rick Jones out for hoarding super-hero contacts. Over the course of his existence in the Marvel Universe, he’s sidekicked for the Hulk, Captain Marvel, Captain America, ROM: Spaceknight and the entire Avengers team, and been singled out as the bearer of the Destiny Force, which was so complicated that even Curt and Chris won’t touch it.

In reality, though — or at least, in one reality — Rick’s a straight up legitimate hoarder: In the alternate universe of “Future Imperfect,” the Hulk ends up killing all of the other super-heroes and super-villains, leaving Rick to amass a pretty hefty collection of memorabilia

Check out the full article to learn who took the top spot.

Posted by Erin on Oct 16, 2010 | 6 Comments | Tweet This

Ask Unclutterer: Nowhere for new purchases

Reader Megan submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

I spent months cleaning out and organizing my space; everything had a place and it looked beautiful. The problem is that every time something new comes in, I don’t necessarily have a place for it, so it sits on the floor or in a chair mocking my organization system. Logic says I should donate the old to make way for the new, but I’ve already pared down my belongings and the new items are not direct replacements for old items and are not just clutter. How can I stay organized, but have the flexibility to handle incoming items without constantly reworking the space?

A good organizing system — regardless of if it’s for filing papers or storing dishes — has the following seven qualities: 1. Able to find items quickly, 2. Items are organized by categories (like items are stored with like items), 3. Easily understandable by someone who doesn’t regularly use it (your mom would be able to find your shoes in the closet and cutlery in the kitchen), 4. You maintain the system and it’s simple to maintain, 5. Items are categorized consistently (address book lists people by last names), 6. You can identify broader relationships among the items (you can look at a skirt and quickly see that it matches three of your tops), and 7. The system is able to accept new entries easily.

Your current system isn’t working for you because it doesn’t accept new entries easily. In your system, you don’t have anywhere for new things to find a home.

You have two options for how to proceed — reorganize your home so you always have empty space in it (an empty shelf in the cupboard, empty hangers in your closet, a few empty drawers) to accept new entries, or move to a larger space if you cannot get rid of more items (your definition of an uncluttered life might be larger than your current home). You said that you already lead a pared-down lifestyle, so my guess is that it will be easier for you to reorganize, create a good system this time, and find empty space for your life to grow — you have wonderful habits already, so it will just be a minor adjustment.

One final thing, you shouldn’t buy anything if you don’t know exactly where it is going to live in your home. Before making a purchase, ask yourself, “Where am I going to store this?” If you don’t have an answer, now is not the time to make that purchase. You might be able to afford the item, but you can’t afford the storage space for it. When you figure out where the item will live, reconsider making the purchase at that time.

Thank you, Megan, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. Good luck to you!

Do you have a question relating to organizing, cleaning, home and office projects, productivity, or any problems you think the Unclutterer team could help you solve? To submit your questions to Ask Unclutterer, go to our contact page and type your question in the content field. Please list the subject of your e-mail as “Ask Unclutterer.” If you feel comfortable sharing images of the spaces that trouble you, let us know about them. The more information we have about your specific issue, the better.

Posted by Erin on Oct 15, 2010 | 14 Comments | Tweet This

Workspace of the Week: No-mayhem mudroom

This week’s Workspace of the Week is Michelle Smyth’s hallway mudroom:

Now that it’s fall, I’ve set near our front door the plastic tray we put snowy, wet, and muddy shoes on during the colder months. Our home doesn’t have a mudroom, but that doesn’t alleviate our need for one. As a result, I was inspired when I came across Michelle Smyth’s solution. In her photograph’s description:

This is a narrow hallway in our cottage that we’ve turned into a mudroom of sorts. The shoe racks are from Ikea and the baskets from Home Outfitters. Really inexpensive way to make the most of what would otherwise have been kind of useless space.

Michelle also shared a picture of the wall that faces the coat and shoe racks:

It’s her family’s wall of fame, which is certainly a fun way to decide where to put diplomas and awards.

And, I know this isn’t a traditional workspace, but it’s still an inspiring space … so this time I made an exception. Thank you, Michelle, for sharing your space with us.

Want to have your own workspace featured in Workspace of the Week? Submit a picture to the Unclutterer flickr pool. Check it out because we have a nice little community brewing there. Also, don’t forget that workspaces aren’t just desks. If you’re a cook, it’s a kitchen; if you’re a carpenter, it’s your workbench.

Posted by Erin on Oct 15, 2010 | 11 Comments | Tweet This

Simple, utilitarian, uncluttered cooking ideas

I have two sides to my cooking repertoire. You probably do, too. I refer to one side as Chef and the other side as Cook.

Chef needs time and preparation and a bit of skill. Chef appears for dinner parties and special occasions and on nights when I have time to dally in the kitchen. Chef is adventurous and interested in trying new things. Chef makes food better than what my family could get in most restaurants.

Cook is utilitarian. Cook appears when the family needs to be nourished and I have barely enough time to make that happen. Cook relies on family-favorite recipes that are made repeatedly over the course of a year. Sometimes Cook throws in the towel and calls in a “guest Chef” known as Chinese Delivery.

In a given week, I’m Chef a third of the time and Cook for the rest. Almost all of our meals we eat at home, which means I’m constantly on the lookout for simple, healthy, uncluttered recipes the Cook side of me can use for the 14 meals she is not incredibly excited about getting on the table. Unless you’re a professional chef or have super powers, your cooking routines are likely similar to mine; you’re interested in finding meals you can make when you’re wearing your proverbial Cook’s hair net instead of your Chef’s hat.

NPR recently reviewed Perfect One-Dish Dinners by Pam Anderson, which got me thinking about how often I use my crock pot, rice cooker, and Dutch oven when cooking utilitarian meals. (There are three recipes from the book in the NPR piece, so be sure to check it out.) I toss steel oats, water, and sliced up bananas in my rice cooker for simple warm breakfasts on chilly mornings, and a brined chicken in the Dutch oven with baby carrots, red potatoes, and onions makes an incredibly simple dinner.

Want to add more simple, utilitarian meals to your Cook repertoire? Try these free recipes from trusted online resources:

What are your favorite simple recipes? Add your suggestions to the comments.

Posted by Erin on Oct 14, 2010 | 39 Comments | Tweet This

On the Forums: Justifying purchases, staircase storage, and survivalists

Some great discussions are currently underway on the Unclutterer Forums:

Be sure to check it out and add your thoughts to the mix. Remember, you can start your own thread (which our system calls a “topic”) by clicking the “Add New” link under Latest Discussions on the Forum homepage.

If you use an RSS reader to follow your favorite blogs, you can easily keep track of what’s going on in our new forums. Add the feed for latest topics or all the latest posts. You can even follow specific topics using the RSS link just below each topic’s title, or create an RSS feed of your own by adding topics as favorites.

Posted by PJ on Oct 14, 2010 | 1 Comment | Tweet This

Unitasker Wednesday: MySneezee

All Unitasker Wednesday posts are jokes — we don’t want you to buy these items, we want you to laugh at their ridiculousness. Enjoy!

When I hear the phrase “sneeze guard,” I think of the glass shield that sits above the food on a buffet line:

Thanks to dozens of our readers, I am now aware I am mistaken. A “sneeze guard” is NOT a piece of glass, it is an overpriced decorative sock with its toe cut out of it — MySneezee!

If you go to the MySneezee site, you’ll see in the video that instead of spreading germs with your hands, you can now spread germs with your arm, just like Jimmy!

Notice how Jimmy is touching his sneeze guard to the teddy bear immediately after he sneezed? Not cool, Jimmy. Not cool.

Posted by Erin on Oct 13, 2010 | 27 Comments | Tweet This

A year ago on Unclutterer

2009

  • Keep notes close with a pocket briefcase
    Instead of carrying around a wallet and a stack of note cards, I’m able to carry just a Pocket Briefcase wallet, because the cards fit inside.
  • Celebrity decluttering: Barbra Streisand
    Singer-actress extraordinaire Barbra Streisand will be auctioning off more than 500 of her belongings October 17-18 and the proceeds of the auction will be going to charity.
  • Lunch skins reduce waste and save lunch
    One green solution that a friend recently brought to my attention is Lunch Skins. They’re reusable sandwich and snack bags.
  • Organize your closet like a pro
    Scott Roewer, a certified professional organizer based in DC, recently created a how-to series for the video site MonkeySee. His topic, organizing your closet like a professional, takes viewers step-by-step through the uncluttering and organizing process. The series is terrific and it’s worth a view if you’re looking to get your closet in order.

Posted by PJ on Oct 13, 2010 | Comments Off | Tweet This

How to recycle (almost) everything

Reader Helen tipped us off to a valuable resource on RealSimple.com for how to recycle or reuse anything. The section has a number of articles in it, my favorite being their A-to-Z Guide.

If you don’t know if an item you’re uncluttering from your home or office can be reused or recycled, check out the A-to-Z Guide before throwing it in the trash. Honestly, I had no idea that crayons were an item to recycle:

Crayons: Send them to the National Crayon Recycle Program (crazycrayons.com), which melts down crayons and reforms them into new ones.

Or Elmer’s Glue:

Glue: Many schools have recycling programs for empty containers of Elmer’s glue and glue sticks. Students and teachers rinse out the bottles, which are then sent to Wal-Mart for recycling. Find out more at elmersgluecrew.com.

Or even old skis:

… send them to skichair.com, 4 Abbott Place, Millbury MA 01527; they’ll be turned into Adirondack-style beach chairs.

Check out the full section to learn even more about ideas for recycling unwanted items from your home.

(Image by James Baigrie for Real Simple.)

Posted by Erin on Oct 13, 2010 | 12 Comments | Tweet This

Organize your writing, J.K. Rowling style

The website /Film reported on Friday about author J.K. Rowling’s method for organizing her books. Using pen, notebook paper, and a simple grid, she plotted out the direction of her stories. Pictured here is the chart for chapters 13-24 of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix:

(Note: /Film includes a larger version on their site for detailed reading.)

The grid outlines the chapter, month, chapter title, explanation of how that chapter relates to the over-arching plot of the book, and then columns for each of the book’s six subplots (prophecies, Harry’s romantic interests, Dumbledore’s Army, Order of the Phoenix, Snape and crew, and Hagrid and Grawp). Like the /Film post’s author, I believe that Rowling likely used more organizing tools in her story preparation. However, I think it’s wonderful to see how an author planned out her story before writing it.

When constructing memos, documents, short stories, novels, or whatever it is you’re writing, do you map out where you’re going and all that you want to include? Could adopting a method like Rowling’s help you to be a better organized writer? I’m certainly taking a few tips from her method and applying it to my own work. I’m thoroughly impressed.

Posted by Erin on Oct 12, 2010 | 22 Comments | Tweet This

Sleek and streamlined diaper bags

Diaper bags — like purses and wallets — can be magnets for clutter. I speak from personal experience when I say that things go into them and rarely, if ever, come out. The smaller the bag, usually the easier it is to keep it clutter free and stuffed only with essentials.

I’m quite fond of the Pronto! Changing Station because it comes in fun, modern prints and it has a wrist strap for easy portability:

Small bags like this also can be slid into a larger bag, if you need food or blankets for a longer trip.

Fisher-Price makes a very similar product for about half the price, but without the wristlet and it is adorned with cartoon animals:

Both options are great for reducing the bulk and the clutter that plagues so many traditional diaper bags on the market.

Posted by Erin on Oct 12, 2010 | 28 Comments | Tweet This

Simple strategies for marking items

After Saturday’s simple tape suggestion, PJ and I have been talking about our favorite tricks for marking items. Here are a handful more tips for identifying items in your home and workspace:

  • Separate new and used sponges by cutting off corners — straight from the package is good for dishes, one corner missing is good for counters and the table, two corners off and it’s perfect for cleaning spills off the floor.
  • Reader CatServant recommended in the comments section to Saturday’s post something similar to the sponge method, but for other cleaning supplies: “I put a band of duct tape around the handle of any cleaning object that has been ‘demoted’ to ickier jobs: old toothbrushes now used to scrub the bathroom, old dish brushes now used for scrubbing out plant containers, etc.”
  • After folding the top and bottom bed sheet and one of the pillow cases, many people will then use the second pillow case as a sack to hold the other three pieces. It makes storage simple, and it’s easy to grab the sack from the linen closet when it’s time to make the bed.
  • We continue to love Alex’s suggestion of putting removable dots on small kitchen appliances to track which items you use over a six month period, and which ones you don’t. Label all small appliances and then only remove the dots when you use an item. At the end of six months, take to charity any appliance that still has a dot on it.
  • Reader DG e-mailed recently to suggest using strips of blue painter’s tape to label fabric items. Great for labeling sets of sheets so everyone knows which set works with which bed, great for putting reminders on backpacks, and great for marking clothes to identify which ones you haven’t worn (like the kitchen dot suggestion). Since the painter’s tape can be pulled off the item, stuck to the lip of a shelf, and reused for many months, it’s an extremely low-cost marking system. One roll of tape can last for many years.
  • If neighbors, co-workers, and/or friends have a tendency to borrow tools and not return them, scratch your initials into the metal with the tip of a screwdriver.
  • Large families often benefit by using colors for each child — a simple dot on an item’s label made with a brightly colored Sharpie instantly says whose item is whose. Older children should be lighter colors (yellow, orange) so if an item is passed down to a younger child, the dot can easily be colored over with the next child’s color (red, blue).

What simple marking strategies do you use in your home? Share your marking methods in the comments.

Posted by Erin on Oct 11, 2010 | 44 Comments | Tweet This

A year ago on Unclutterer

2009

  • How I keep project clutter under control
    I’m a project guy. It’s rare that I don’t have four or five small projects going on at once, and since I’m not a neat person by nature, it’s very easy for me to let clutter get out of control. About six months ago, I replaced the shelf that I was storing my printers on with Elfa drawers. This created the opportunity for a whole new project organization system.
  • Unitasker Wednesday: Microwave Popcorn Storage Dispenser
    For just $15, you can own the Microwave Popcorn Storage Dispenser and have a container to hold your unpopped bags of popcorn — just like the box the popcorn bags are sold in!
  • Organizing a party pantry
    I was recently given a copy of the book Simple Stunning Parties at Home by its author Karen Bussen. In the book, Karen suggests organizing a “party pantry” so that “when it’s time to throw a dinner party or a wine and cheese night on the spur of the moment, I look [to it] for design inspiration, and I pull together all the elements I need.” She lives in a small New York City apartment, so her party pantry isn’t large or cluttered. She recommends a “small closet, a cupboard in the kitchen, or an antique hutch — whatever works for you.”
  • DIY everyday camera bag
    How to create a DSLR camera bag that is easy to carry and simple to use.

Posted by PJ on Oct 10, 2010 | 1 Comment | Tweet This

Easily identify metric and SAE tools with red electrical tape

Red Electrical TapeI was in a friend’s garage recently helping him with a home-improvement project when I noticed that many of the wrenches and sockets in his tool cabinet were wrapped in red electrical tape. On closer inspection, I noticed that the colored tape was only wrapped around his metric-sized tools.

By having an easy way to differentiate his metric tools from their SAE counterparts, he found he was more likely to put both types back in their correct places when he was done using them.

Do you have any tricks for labeling things to keep them grouped with similar items? Please share them in the comments.

Posted by PJ on Oct 9, 2010 | 27 Comments | Tweet This

Ask Unclutterer: Design ideas for odd space above kitchen cabinets

Reader Bonnie submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

I’m facing a bit of a dilemma. I have about a foot, maybe a foot-and-a-half of space between my kitchen cabinet tops and the ceiling. It’s a space that accumulates dust, dog hair, dead bugs, and who knows what, in addition to the random (unsightly) bits and pieces that get shoved up there when we don’t have space for them elsewhere. Well, I finally cleaned and reorganized my kitchen, but I’m now at a loss for what to do with that space. Because I’m fairly short and that space is a magnet for dust and crud, I don’t want to use it for storage or anything that would involve me having to clean it more than once a year (like fake plants, which I’ve seen in a LOT of places). Do you know of any (hopefully attractive) way to use, decorate, or close off this space? Help!

My friend Scott recently collected more than 600 pairs of jeans to be recycled into insulation for a Habitat for Humanity home, and he used that space above his cabinets to store the first couple hundred pairs he collected. When I saw the pictures of his jeans-clad kitchen, I honestly thought to myself, “That’s the best use of that weird space I’ve ever seen.”

The awkward open space usually exists above kitchen cabinets because the cabinets aren’t custom made for your kitchen. The pre-fabricated cabinets you have don’t consider your room’s ceiling height, and were installed to be convenient to reach (resulting in the gap between the top of the cabinet and the ceiling). The cabinets you have were likely thousands of dollars less expensive than custom cabinets, though, which is why you see this problem so often in homes across the U.S. The gap saved your home’s builder a few grand in building costs.

If money grows on trees on your property and you own your home, I recommend paying to have new cabinets installed. Remodel your kitchen using custom cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling (and get yourself a stylish step stool so you can reach the high storage easily.

If you’re a renter or not swimming in dough (like me!), you’re probably searching for less expensive and less permanent options. Here are some ideas:

  • Dry wall. If you own your place, consider creating a false bolster. Install the dry wall, mud it, sand it, paint it, and make it look like your cabinets simply go as far up the wall as they can.
  • Glass blocks. If you rent, stack glass blocks to create a false wall up there. You won’t have to dust or clean the space behind the glass blocks until you move out, and you can easily clean the blocks once a year with window cleaner.
  • Other building materials. If glass blocks don’t match your kitchen’s decor, find another building material that does and install it instead. Bead board, fake bricks, and wood paneling come to mind as options — just be sure to attach a small wood strip to your ceiling so the new wall material has something to attach to for warping prevention.
  • Nothing. Just resolve that crud is going to collect up there all year, and clean it off every spring. As long as you’re not storing anything up there, you don’t have to worry so much about whatever is collecting. Find a way to be at peace with this space.

Check the comments for even more ideas from our readers. I wish you luck on your home-improvement journey, and be sure to e-mail me with before and after pictures so I can see what you decided to do. Thank you, Bonnie, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column.

Do you have a question relating to organizing, cleaning, home and office projects, productivity, or any problems you think the Unclutterer team could help you solve? To submit your questions to Ask Unclutterer, go to our contact page and type your question in the content field. Please list the subject of your e-mail as “Ask Unclutterer.” If you feel comfortable sharing images of the spaces that trouble you, let us know about them. The more information we have about your specific issue, the better.

Posted by Erin on Oct 8, 2010 | 75 Comments | Tweet This

Workspace of the Week: A room where kids can get things done

This week’s Workspace of the Week is GkCake’s homework room:

I am really impressed by GkCake’s School and Craft Room. The wonderful work surface for her children, the beautifully organized storage shelves, the amazing gift wrap station, and the parent home office in the corner make this room superbly useful. GkCake also explains in the comments that all of the furniture is from Ikea and that this extremely well-lit room is in the basement! Thank you, GkCake, for sharing this uncluttered and inspiring space with us.

Want to have your own workspace featured in Workspace of the Week? Submit a picture to the Unclutterer flickr pool. Check it out because we have a nice little community brewing there. Also, don’t forget that workspaces aren’t just desks. If you’re a cook, it’s a kitchen; if you’re a carpenter, it’s your workbench.

Posted by Erin on Oct 8, 2010 | 8 Comments | Tweet This