Apr 22

Apr 22 Life Hack: The Electric Toothbrush Water Drip Wrap

If you are an electric toothbrush user like I am, don’t you hate it when your toothbrush charging base gets covered in gross, grimy, water stains and old toothbrush water (and let’s admit it) saliva drippings?! I brainstormed for years on a simple way to keep the charger clean. Until finally one day I came up with a great hack: using a fabric elastic pony-tail holder! It is perfect. They fit well and are absorbent. And they are also very affordable, so I can switch out the dirty ones for clean ones every few months. I was motivated to find this solution because, quite honestly, I got tired of having to clean the toothbrush charging base every few nights. There are already enough chores on my to-do list every day. I thought to myself, “There has to be an efficient and effective way to solve this annoying life problem” After-all, isn’t that the gold-standard for what makes a winning life hack?!

Apr 19

Apr 19 Using SmugMug to Store and Share My Photos

Jody Yarborough

My Organizing Journey

I’ve tried to remember when I was growing up, how many pictures were on display in my home. What I recall is that we didn’t have that many. Not compared to what I saw in other people’s houses, or the fictional homes that I would see on TV. It felt like the few photos we did have on display were put there more by obligation than desire. My mom (who has passed away) would have been the one responsible for such things, and I never thought to ask her about

Apr 1

Apr 1 DIY Step-Stool Gift Wrap Organizing Solution

Jody Yarborough

My Organizing Journey

Several years ago I came upon an organizing idea I found on Pinterest for how to store your wrapping supplies. Because it involved wheels (and I love anything on wheels) I decided to give it I a try. With my own “spin” of course :)

The basics of the organizer that I made are this: I bought a wood step stool from Target for around $20. Then I went to Home Depot and bought six rubber caster wheels. I wanted rubber so they wouldn’t scratch our wood floors. And they have a full turning radius. For all the side pockets I just scavenged around my house for various solutions: a plastic IKEA plastic bag holder, a paper towel holder for holding spools of ribbon, I cut up an old mesh shoe bag I wasn’t using for individual pockets, and lastly, hooks to hold a bag of gift bags. Talk about being meta :)

This has been the best organizing solution for my wrapping supplies. I love it because

Mar 25

Mar 25 In Organizing: Try "An Heir and a Spare"

Jody Yarborough

My Organizing Journey

Call it a cute quark of our relationship, but occasionally Drew and I like to come up with names for stuff. It can be a nickname for an actual object (like when we had a GPS and we named her Rosie) or a phrase like “I’m a slow waker-upper) which translates to mean, I’m not a morning person. We have one other phrase we love and use a lot and it is called “heir and a spare.” We co-opted this somewhat crude British colloquialism (that refers to the Queen giving birth to a second child to secure the royal succession) to mean: buy an extra, when you can.

And that is the relative part, right? When you can. Affordability and practicality definitely impact this idea. This suggestion applies more to groceries and household staples than more expensive things like computers or cars. Also to be considered is the utility of the item. For example, just because a blanket is on sale, doesn’t mean needing to buy two of them because ideally, just the one blanket should last a while.

In our home, “Heir and a spare” comes in the most handy for things like a jar of mayonnaise, a box of ziplock bags, or a tube of toothpaste. We tend to buy our paper products like toilet paper and paper towels in the largest single quantity available so we don’t buy two of those at a time, simply because we don’t have the room to store it all.

Feb 18

Feb 18 Inexpensive Storage Solutions

Jody Yarborough

My Organizing Journey

People think that organizing storage solutions have to cost a lot of money. And if you walk through a Container Store, indeed, you might have some sticker shock. But real-life, practical solutions don’t have to come out of a glossy catalogue. Even tidying guru Marie Kondo advocates for using simple and inexpensive materials to help organize your home and all of your belongings. She is a self-confessed box enthusiast.

I think the following are some of the most under-utilized and under-appreciated, easily accessible and affordable organizing solutions. I know, because I use many of them myself. Here are some of top recommendations, in no particular order.

Cardboard: Obviously, you think of cardboard and you think of boxes. Cardboard can also make for a really cheap organizing structure, especially if is a thick cardboard. For example, cut off the top panels and tip the box on it’s side. Or, just flip it over and start stacking. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box ;)

Ziplock bags: They come in a lot of sizes and can be useful storage for practically anything.

Rubber bands: Can bind together stuff that needs to stay together. I’ve been loving the extra large rubber bands lately to help keep stacks of papers together.

Velcro: Similar concept to rubber bands only can be a little more sturdy. Velcro is also great for binding together electrical and computer cords.

Jan 28

Jan 28 What I'm Loving About Marie Kondo

Jody Yarborough

My Organizing Journey

Oh, Marie Kondo, where do I begin? It seems like so much has been written about this Japanese organizing juggernaut since she first introduced the idea of how to “spark joy” back in 2014 in her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying-Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. I read her book shortly after it came out and really liked parts of it. I liked how Kondo wrote of her own organizing journey. She wrote about growing up in a family that didn’t like tidying quite as much as she did, and how she evolved her organizing techniques over the years.

The essence of the Kondo-credo is that your belongings have a “life of their own” so to speak. That they are in service to you, and you should use and appreciate them while you own them. And when your use for them is over, “thank” them and then pass them on to someone, or somewhere, else. She says that you should only keep things that “spark joy.” Of course that is a highly subjective description. What one person finds “joyful,” another may not. I heard her giving an example of describing the “sparking of joy” as the feeling of holding a new puppy for the first time. As a dog-lover this immediately resonated with me. I think her intention is for an emotional connection to be made to an object that ascribes it a high enough value to be kept, used and cherished.

Nov 19

Nov 19 Live More Organized by Using the "One In One Out Rule"

Jody Yarborough

My Organizing Journey

I don’t care if you are a professional organizer or a homemaker simply enthusiastic about keeping a tidy house-- living an organized life requires consistent strategies. One of my favorite and most effective strategies is what I call the “One In One Out” rule. It’s purpose is to help keep from accumulating too much stuff.

The “One In One Out” rule goes like this: say you have a drawer full of pants. Once you reach capacity for how many pants that drawer will hold, when you buy a new pair of pants, one pair has to be gotten rid of.

Yes, it is really that simple.

Oct 29

Oct 29 Use Google and Online Manuals To Reduce Paper Clutter

Jody Yarborough

My Organizing Journey

I don't know if you have noticed the trend of the last few years, but less and less things come with instruction manuals. And if they do include some kind of instruction, most often it is just a link to an online manual or company website. Environmental conservation and corporate cost-cutting measures have helped forge this new path, but what does it mean for also reducing paper clutter in our lives?

While companies might be helping set the trend for less paper clutter in our homes and offices now and in the future, they can’t do much about the stock-piles of manuals we already own. For those, I think digital solutions are plentiful, and for that, I strongly suggest that you be willing to part with your manuals. Just be sure that you keep any warranty information. As well as any identifying model or serial numbers that you can’t locate on the device itself.

For anyone who thinks this sounds like a drastic clutter-busting task, I suggest the five following re-assurances to help put your mind at ease and reach for your recycle bin.

Oct 22

Oct 22 The Key To Keeping My Garage Clean and Tidy

Jody Yarborough

My Organizing Journey

Who would have thought that by cleaning the outside of my washer and dryer that it would help me keep my garage clean? Certainly not me. Certainly not my husband who wondered if my OCD had kicked into a totally new gear when he watched me clean them. Fact is, if I had known that the magic formula to keeping my garage tidy starts with two glowing white appliances, I would have picked up my bottle of Simple Green many messy garages ago.

But I didn't. And that was then, and this is now. And as is with my general philosophy in life, learn better, do better.

You might remember a few months back I wrote about how I finally managed to clean my garage after many months of defeat, and the victory felt soooo good. I knew I had won the battle, but I also knew that it would take several weeks, and even months to pass before I would know if I had really won the war. Well I am happy (and proud) to report that my garage is still clean!!! Nothing has managed to get piled up, all the tools are in their proper places, and the whole space fills me with a sense of serenity and not stress-- for as much as a garage can really be serene.

Oct 15

Oct 15 Applying the 80/20 Rule to Organization and Decluttering

Jody Yarborough

My Organizing Journey

Have you ever heard of the 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle? I learned of it years ago, and I think it really can apply to the process of getting your home and/or office more organized, and also, re-examining your schedule to be more productive. In essence, the 80/20 rule says that 80 percent of results will come from 20 percent of action.

Applying this principle to all of your “stuff” works like this: many people only use 20 percent of the things they own on a daily or even semi-daily basis. For example, owning 10 pairs of shoes but reliably only wearing two. 20 cookbooks sit on a shelf but only 4 show quality kitchen love.

Back in terms of time productivity, I flip this explanation a bit and approach it from one other perspective as well. Oftentimes, when I am working on something, the last 20 percent of the work, takes 80 percent of the time! Many times I will think “oh, it’s only going to take me 10 minutes to finish the last of this project.” Only to realize that is actually going to take twice as long, or more. Some how what should be the easiest “finishing” part always turns out to be the longest last mile.

And when it comes to a big organizing or tidying project, inevitably, only in the last 20 percent of the project will 80 percent of the result be realized. That is why it is so hard for people who don’t truly have a passion for organizing (like me or Marie Kondo who says herself, she “loves messes”) have such a hard time staying motivated at the beginning—or even middle— stages of an organizing task. It’s because it looks like no progress is being made.

Oct 1

Oct 1 The Importance of Organizational "Zoning" Method

Jody Yarborough

My Organizing Journey

A gold-standard practice of good organizing involves the practice of zoning. Zoning is where you group and store things together based on what they are or how they are used. For example, in your kitchen you can create a "baking zone" where you keep all of your baking supplies. Or, in the context of your entire home, you can have a "reading zone," a "crafting zone," or, if you have kids, a "toy zone."

I think zoning is highly effective because it is fairly simple and straight forward. And better than that, it doesn't cost a thing. But that doesn't make it necessarily easy. What makes zoning the most successful and efficient is a good strong sense of intention. You really need to take the time to think through how you use your "stuff" and where you use it most naturally.

For example, say you like to knit as a hobby. And you find that you do most of your knitting at night while watching the tv. Well, then I think a good idea would be to set up a small knitting "zone" with at least your most frequently needed knitting supplies within easy reach.

Sep 24

Sep 24 The Importance of Leaving "Room To Grow" When Organizing

Jody Yarborough

My Organizing Journey

One mistake I see people make who want to get more organized is, not thinking about tomorrow. Meaning, they look at the amount of stuff they have, they look at the amount of space they have to store said "stuff," and they take a freeze frame of time. They think that if it all fits now, that is enough. They don't leave room to grow. They don't think about tomorrow. But then time passes, life happens, and they are suddenly looking at some very pricey organizational tools that are now buried under a lot more stuff that tomorrow has brought, because they didn't thinking about leaving room to grow.

It's a rookie mistake, but also very much a part of human nature, focusing on the present and not thinking about tomorrow, especially when it comes to all our stuff. But it is an important over site. A key to being organizing is having enough room not only for everything you have now, but everything you will acquire in the future.

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