Organizing for a Road Trip

So you are taking a road trip? Visions of the Griswalds come to mind? Road trips are so much fun, but only if you are organized.

As with any trip, pack lightly. Really, unless you are travelling to the deep center of the jungle, you can buy anything wherever you are going. I have driven cross country many times and I can attest to the fact that there is a Target or Wal Mart pretty much anywhere now. So don’t pack your entire house and keep in mind that if you forgot something, you can most likely pick it up along the way.

To help with packing, plan out your clothes by making a stack for each day. Think about what you might be doing that day and make sure you have everything you need in the stack. You can even pack each stack in a small bag (like the bags you use to bring home groceries for example) for easy transport in and out of hotels. This way you don’t have to lug your big bags in and out. You can grab one bag of clothes and a toiletries bag and off you go.

Also, when getting dressed the morning you leave, make sure that as you use each toiletry, you pack it (or a travel sized version) right away. This way, you are sure to have all your essentials. Keep your pjs in this bag too as you will need them each night.

I suggest bringing along a cooler and some groceries too. You can save money and eat better if you bring along some staples from home such as water bottles, fruit, a loaf of bread, peanut butter and jelly, etc. Save room in the car for the cooler so you don’t have to pull over for snacks or drinks.

Traveling with kids? Pack each child a plastic box or bag with paper, crayons, silly putty, cards, electronics, etc. Let them pick. Keep each child’s own box/bag next to them in the car so they can entertain themselves on the road.

Speaking of electronics, those cords and chargers can get out of control. Prepare a Ziploc baggie for each electronic device. Use a sharpie to write what each bag is for and then keep all chargers, plugs, extra batteries, ear plugs, etc in the appropriate bag.

Most of all, have a great time and enjoy the scenery!! And if you have any other great trip ideas, please share them!


Meagan Farrell, professional organizer, is the owner of Clear the Clutter organizing services. She can be reached at (360) 631-7268 or at clear_theclutter@yahoo.com. Check out her blog at http://cleartheclutterprofessionalorganizing.blogspot.com/

Getting Organized for Summer

Summer can be an unstructured and relaxing time, but that can also lead to more disorganization. Here are some tips for keeping things running smoothly:

• Keep travel-sized sunscreen and bug sprays in your car. That way you never are without it.
• Buy a mesh laundry bag at the dollar store. This is a great bag to tote beach gear/toys around in. Not only will it keep all your beach toys in one place, it is easy for transport and the mesh material allows sand to be shaken out at the beach (not inside your car).
• If you are out of school and at home with the kids for the summer, keep a schedule anyway. Pick a certain time each week for cleaning, one for errands, etc. Let the kids know that despite the laid back feel of summer, things still need to get done and post your schedule.
• Another idea is to post a list of jobs that need to be done and assign prices to them. Allow the kids to earn extra money throughout the week and then make time for a trip to the store to spend their earnings. This is a great thing to send the kids to when they whine about being bored.
• Right now is a great time to do a check of all summer equipment. Take a half hour to check all your equipment to make sure it is in good, safe, operating order. If it is not, get it fixed right away so that when you are ready for fun, your stuff is ready to go too.
• Set up a box in your garage or extra space. Make this your “donate/sell” box. As you go through summer, put anything that no longer fits, works or is used in that box. At the end of the season, take any summer items not used and include them in the box. If you didn’t use it this year, you most likely won’t next summer either. Lighten your load.


Meagan Farrell, professional organizer, is the owner of Clear the Clutter organizing services. She can be reached at (360) 631-7268 or at clear_theclutter@yahoo.com. Check out her blog at http://cleartheclutterprofessionalorganizing.blogspot.com/

Processing Mail

One thing that consistently comes up is how to deal with mail. It tends to get thrown on the counter and pile up quickly. Mail needs to be processed immediately. On your way back from the mailbox, make a stop at the trash can. Throw away/recycle anything that you don’t need or aren’t interested in. For example, those grocery store ads that come every Wednesday never make it past my recycle bin. Next stop should be your office, bill paying area or whatever space you have for dealing with household operations. Your mail should be immediately opened and put into its proper home. You should have a shredder located in this area as well.

Every household should have some kind of filing system and bill paying folder system. I prefer the tickler file (see my article on tickler files) but that doesn’t work for all. Open and file your mail. Shred anything that has personal information on it.

This sounds like a lot of work when you have other things to attend to, but giving your mail 5 minutes of dedicated time a day will save you lots of paper piles, stress and possibly late fees later.




Meagan Farrell, professional organizer, is the owner of Clear the Clutter organizing services. She can be reached at (360) 631-7268 or at clear_theclutter@yahoo.com. Check out her blog at http://cleartheclutterprofessionalorganizing.blogspot.com/

Spring Organizing Challenge - Final Week

Welcome to week 4 of the Spring Organizing Challenge!! How did last week’s challenge go?? I would love to hear from you. This is the last week. I hope you have been keeping up.

This week you are challenged to focus on your hobbies. Whether active hobbies or well intentioned starts, hobby supplies can take over any space.

1. The very first thing I want you to do is sit down with your spouse, partner or roommate and talk about what goals you have for the space that your hobby materials and supplies currently occupy. Do your best to come up with an agreed upon goal. Keep your goal in mind as you proceed.
2. Now answer this honestly – is this a hobby you are actively pursuing? By actively, I mean, you work on it on a regular basis. If so, great – follow my basic organizing steps to weed out what you really need to keep (can be found on my blog). If not, you need to be very honest with yourself about whether you will ever get around to it. Honestly, if you haven’t worked on it in 6 months or more, it probably will never happen.
3. Having a hard time giving up the $500 in scrapbooking materials or model airplane pieces? Consider the price of your peace of mind. Is the initial cost for a hobby never pursued worth the loss of living space and moving forward in life?
4. Here is another option – sell it. Put a post on Craigs List or Ebay and try to recover some of that cost. Many hobby materials fetch top dollar on sites like that.
5. Don’t want to sell it? How about donating it to a retirement home or a place for kids like the Boys and Girls Club. How great would it be for someone else to benefit from all this?

Here are the benefits:

• You will reduce clutter in your home or garage and open up more living space.
• You could save money if you are actively doing your hobby because you will have it all organized, thus knowing what you have and don’t have. Your hobby will also be more enjoyable in an organized environment.
• You will be environmentally-friendly because you are using what you already have rather than consuming more. Or if you are passing on your hobby materials, you are recycling, which is great!
• Should you decide to donate your excess, you will be helping out someone in need which is good for your soul.

Remember – share your thoughts!!! We all want to hear what you did, how it went, challenges you faced, etc. Good luck and have fun!!

Meagan Farrell, professional organizer, is the owner of Clear the Clutter organizing services. She can be reached at (360) 631-7268 or at clear_theclutter@yahoo.com. Check out her blog at http://cleartheclutterprofessionalorganizing.blogspot.com/

Spring Organizing Challenge - Week 3

Welcome to week 3 of the Spring Organizing Challenge!! How did last week’s challenge go?? Comments? Questions? Issues??

This week you are challenged to focus on your bathroom. Yes, bathrooms need to be organized too.

1. Pick one drawer, cabinet or corner and start there.
2. Pull everything out and start sorting.
a. Check expiration dates on medicines and make-up – throw away anything that has expired
b. Group duplicates together. For example, if you have three extra bottles of shampoo, put them together.
3. Once it is all sorted, take another honest look at everything. Is there make-up that you really won’t wear again? Is there lotion that you just don’t like the smell of? Or do you have enough shampoo samples from the Marriott to provide for an entire small nation? If so, how about purging some of it. Pass the unused cosmetics and toiletries to a women’s shelter. Or, vow not to buy another bottle of shampoo (no matter how good the sale) until you have used up all those sample bottles.
4. When you are putting everything back, keep like items together. Also, consider using the shelf stands that are sold in almost any store like Wal-Mart or Target. Follow this link to see what I mean - http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=8832618. These allow you to utilize the vertical space in your cabinets and make it easier to see everything you have. When you know what you have, it is simpler to keep inventory.

Here are the benefits:

• You will reduce clutter in your bathroom.
• You will save money because you will be using up what you already have, rather than buying more of things that you just couldn’t find.
• You will be environmentally-friendly because you are using what you already have rather than consuming more.
• You will save yourself the stress of running out of products because it will be simple to keep inventory of what you have.
• Should you decide to donate your excess, you will be helping out someone in need which is good for your soul.

Remember – share your thoughts!!! We all want to hear what you did, how it went, challenges you faced, etc. Good luck and have fun!!

Meagan Farrell, professional organizer, is the owner of Clear the Clutter organizing services. She can be reached at (360) 631-7268 or at clear_theclutter@yahoo.com. Check out her blog at http://cleartheclutterprofessionalorganizing.blogspot.com/

Organizing Challenge - Week 2

Welcome to week 2 of the Spring Organizing Challenge!! How did last week’s challenge go?? Comments? Questions? Issues??

This week you are challenged to focus on your gift stockpile. You know, the bags of or piles or gifts that you purchased for someone else? If you don’t have one, read on, you might want to start one. I work with so many clients who, as we organize their homes, find items they purchased for loved ones, but then lost in the chaos. This seems to be a common issue as people don’t have a storage plan for this type of item. If this sounds familiar, read on:

1. Designate a space in your house for gift storage. Use a shelf in your closet, a section or your garage of a part of your basement.
2. Make a list of all the people you buy gifts for throughout the year.
3. Measure your space and divide that by the number of people you buy for. You can use paper bags, plastic containers or whatever works for your space. Label each bag/box with the name of one of your recipients. Don’t forget to leave an extra box/bag for miscellaneous gifts. These would be random hostess gifts, children’s birthday gifts, etc.
4. Walk around your house and garage and collect all the gifts that you have purchased for others. 99% of my clients have these scattered around. You know, the great book you found on sale that you know your mother will love for her birthday? Or the cute toy you found on clearance that you can use for someone’s special day.
5. Now put the gifts in the appropriate bags. If you have items left over that you no longer see as appropriate, make a pile for donating.
6. Get yourself in the habit of putting any items purchased in their bag/box immediately. When the holidays or birthdays roll around, all you have to do is go to that person’s box and wrap up what you have for them.

Here are the benefits:

• You will reduce clutter around your house by keeping all these items in one, organized area.
• You will save money because you will not forget that you already had something for Aunt Mildred and buy a second gift. You will also not overbuy for an individual because you will know exactly what you have for them.
• You will be environmentally-friendly because you are using what you already have rather than consuming more.
• You will save yourself a lot of last minute stress when holidays and birthdays come up because you will know exactly where all the gifts you purchased are.

Remember – share your thoughts!!! We all want to hear what you did, how it went, challenges you faced, etc. Good luck and have fun!!

Meagan Farrell, professional organizer, is the owner of Clear the Clutter organizing services. She can be reached at (360) 631-7268 or at clear_theclutter@yahoo.com. Check out her blog at http://cleartheclutterprofessionalorganizing.blogspot.com/

Spring Organizing Challenge - Week 1

Welcome to week 1 of the May Spring Organizing Challenge!! This week you are challenged to focus on your pantry and food stock. This is what I want you to do:

1. Gather your family, roommate, partner or whomever you share meals with.
2. Open up your cupboards, pantry, freezer, or refrigerator – wherever you store food.
3. Take inventory.
4. Now take a piece of paper and write out the days of the month (you can even print a blank calendar off your computer).
5. You and your committee are going to plan meals for the month using up the items that you have in your pantry or fridge.
6. Once your menu is complete, make a list of the ingredients that you do not already have in stock. Put those on a list and shop for them.
7. Now post the menu on the fridge or on a cupboard door.
8. Did you stumble across ingredients that you have no idea how to use? Either look up recipes you can use on www.epicurious.com or donate them to the local food bank.

Here are the benefits:

• You will have less excess food in your cupboards, making them less messy and making it easier to keep tabs on your inventory.
• You will save money on groceries because you are using what you already have.
• You will not be wasting food that will expire if not used in a timely manner.
• You will be environmentally-friendly because you are consuming what you already have.
• You will save money and be healthier because you should eat out less. Having meals planned out and having the ingredients on hand make it easier to cook at home.

Remember – share your thoughts!!! We all want to hear what you did, how it went, challenges you faced, etc. Feel free to email me photos of your newly organized pantries as well. Good luck and have fun!!

Meagan Farrell, professional organizer, is the owner of Clear the Clutter organizing services. She can be reached at (360) 631-7268 or at clear_theclutter@yahoo.com. Check out her blog at http://cleartheclutterprofessionalorganizing.blogspot.com/