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Thursday, January 01, 2004

Now is the time to get rid of clutter

BY CINDY POTTERS
For the Star-Ledger

Now that the holiday parties are over and the guests have gone home, it's a good time to open up those closets and private spaces where you stashed things to make the house presentable.

Winter provides the perfect opportunity to organize your home. The size of a house does not matter when it comes to organizing, says Jamie Novak, professional organizer and owner of Life U Love (www.lifeulove.com), in Scotch Plains.

"People always say if only I had more space I could clear away all this clutter, but that's not true. If they had more space they'd have more clutter and it would take even longer to find things," says Novak, a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (www.napo.net).

Novak and other professional organizers offer clients solutions to organize homes or offices, with fees for their services ranging from $40 to $200 an hour.

In her new book, the "Busy Person's Guide to a Life you Love," Novak offers a five-step plan to organization:

1- Sort -- see what you have;

2- Purge -- keep only what you use and love;

3- Find a home for items -- store them where you use them;

4- Buy containers -- store items separately and creatively; and

5- Maintain -- keep up the system

One of the best ways to reduce clutter is by changing habits, she said. Learn to say no: cancel catalogs and unread magazine subscriptions, decline unwanted family heirlooms, avoid free handouts and curb impulse buying.

"There is a lot of guilt associated with throwing things away, especially when they are items that have never been used or worn," she said. "Ask yourself, am I going to use this? Is this going to improve my life? If the answer is no, either toss it or donate and move on."

Fifteen minutes each day, she says, is all that's needed to get organized. The project may not be finished in a day but results will show quickly.

For those with young children, organizer Stacey Agin Murray of Organized Artistry (www.organizedartistry.com) in Fair Lawn suggests a family calendar. As the notices and invitations roll in, mark the calendar and toss the paperwork. Cumbersome art projects will take up less space if captured as a photograph and then saved in a memory box.

When it comes to the kitchen, Murray says, take inventory of your cupboards, decide what is most used and move those items to an easy to reach location. Xerox copies of your staple grocery list and jot down extras each week before shopping. Assign a color to each family member and color code vitamins and medicine bottles for easy identification. And, for those mini samples taking up valuable drawer space -- use or donate them to a local shelter.

Finding the right place to store your things is half the battle. Now more than ever, there are many ingenious, good looking storage alternatives. Compartmentalized drawer organizers are a terrific way to separate and sort. Deep cupboards are more friendly when furnished with pull out baskets or shelf extenders. And the chaos below the sink can turn to order with shelving.

Interior designer Donna Sirianni of La Jolie Maison in Summit, (www.lajolie.com) suggests looking up for more space. The area above windows can be an ideal area for shelving books and other items, and brightly colored mesh bags -- perfect for toys -- can hang from the ceiling.

Window seats, stools and coffee tables can serve double duty when they store magazines and blankets. "Everything needs a place," says Sirianni.

A small closet or a space under the stairs can also convert easily to a workstation, says West Caldwell architect Julie Anne Cecere (cecerej@comcast.net). There an antique table, desk or cupboard can be a resourceful use of space. She urges clients to look at their home with new eyes, "Living in a home day after day, it's easy to overlook what may be a great find."

Copyright 2004 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with permission.