June Press

Check me out:

• Closet Control--in Triangle Home Improvement, a regional magazine. Some of the tips are from yours truly.
  

• It's Late Spring--Your Last Chance to Fling (stuff out)!--in Southern Neighbor, a local newspaper. This was the article I mentioned earlier this month.
  

That is all.
;]

How to Find a Husband

There's a retired couple that I've been working with for a couple years, who I frequently describe to people as "my favorite client", while maintaining their confidentiality, of course.

He has hearing aids but still may not hear you if you call him from across their apartment. Or maybe he is selectively hearing his wife calling him (there was a period of time recently when his old hearing aids had died, but his wife didn't know it yet, and I think he may have been intentionally blissfully unavailable when called).

At the end of our session yesterday, she pointed out the blue fob dangling from her husband's belt loop. She's an avid catalog shopper and had implemented a new system, courtesy of the Sharper Image, who I usually find to be purveyors of expensive crappy junk that you don't need. In addition to being able to find her TV remote and adjustable bed remote (which has gotten lost in the sheets and been found again after it had gone through the washer and dryer), she can now locate her husband by clicking the blue button on her "Electronic Locator".I never cease to be amazed by the clever solutions my clients come up with.

Organizing Cables

Last weekend we decided to fix some audio-visual problems--a few months ago the power to our surround sound and the subwoofer died. We've been listening to TV and movies through the speakers on the TV. Blechh! We're not audio freaks but had gotten used to our pretty decent surround sound setup.

One of the biggest challenges in this project that took all weekend, was keeping the cables in back neat. We introduced a new component into the mix, a receiver, that would be a central hub for the Media Center PC, satellite box, Xbox 360 and Wii. This is not very many components.

We systematically hooked everything up, grouping related cables together and coiling them so they didn't touch the floor, for vacuuming purposes, and to make sure you couldn't see the cables underneath the entertainment center. And yet, it still looked like this:
I've thought for a while that it might actually be impossible to make something like this look neat. If all cables were going from one general area to another general area, it could be neat. But this is never the case unless you're in some server room where things are daisy-chained together.

One improvement over previous similar projects included the use of little girls' hair beads, the figure-8 shaped rubberbands with two beads on them. These are perfect for holding coiled cables, better than twist-ties or unmodifiable rip-ties or expensive Velcro ties. I must give credit for this idea to Geralin Thomas, a colleague.

I guess I'm just glad that I rarely have to really see the back. The front looks like this:There are decorative trays on both sides of the center speaker to hold remotes and game controllers. The very few components are at the bottom. DVDs and games are in the chest on the left. Subwoofer's under the table on the right. And the umbrella at the top hides our HD antenna. We can close the doors to hide it all when people come over, since we don't tie our self-worth to the quantity of technology and media we can show off (heh, heh, we tie our self-worth to how well we can hide our technology and media).

Matching Up Socks

I work in a world of mismatched socks. It seems that a lot of people find it easier to buy new socks than match up their old ones after they come out of the laundry. This practice, of course, adds to the accumulation of mismatched socks.

There are these sock rings out there that you can use to clip your socks together when you take them off. As they go from laundry basket to washer to dryer to drawer, they remain together.

Or you could fix the problem much earlier in the cycle. My husband and I both have chosen a primary type of sock we wear. We buy twelve pairs all at once. It is expensive (they're not cheap socks), but the whole collection lasts several years and since they are all identical you don't have to match them up. Just grab two out of the drawer. They all wear out at the same time.

Of course you may have multiple major categories of socks, but this will still work because all your sport socks will be clearly distinguishable from your dress socks, or whatever type of socks support your lifestyle.

Is the Mailman the Devil?

It occurred to me, driving home tonight, that 100% of what the mailman brings to our homes is evil (when looking at things through the lens of an anti-clutter specialist). And why haven't we chopped down our mailboxes and replaced them with crucifixes? Here's what he brings:

• Junk mail that may never get opened, is unnecessary, killed a tree, etc.
• Magazines that pile up, that you'll never have enough time to read, and are so pretty that they begged to be kept eternally.
• Catalogs that you must look at, otherwise it feels wasteful to just recycle it and you don't want to cancel it because one day you'll be in shopping mode.
• Boxes of stuff from shopping channels that you didn't need in the first place and if the stuff doesn't work or fit, won't ever get returned.
• Bank statements that remind you of how much money you don't have.
• Bills--enough said.
• Solicitations from charities who bribe you with free address labels.
• Gifts that you don't like and feel guilty getting rid of.
  
• Greeting cards and personal letters--yes, this is how the devil tricks you. These are the bait that keep you going to check the mailbox every day.

Spring Cleaning

I'm writing an article about spring cleaning (my first article for pay). What does spring cleaning mean to you? What do you clean specifically in the spring?

Clutter and Dentistry

I just got back from the dentist for my 6-month cleaning. I told the hygienist, Christie, that I couldn't imagine doing her job of looking in people's mouths. That would gross me out. But then I started thinking, she probably would have no interest in looking in people's homes and scraping away the clutter that had built up over the past 6 months. Many people need clutter tune-ups on an ongoing and regular basis. But hopefully my tools are not as sharp as hers--at least clients tell me that I'm not too harsh.

Daily brushing/flossing and daily clutter maintenance get 90% of the job done. Special tools are required for the other 10% every 6 months.

I also told Christie that my childhood dentist had a treasure chest that I could pillage after I was sufficiently tortured. She said their office had one too. And I thought my old dentist was so clever--there is probably a dental supply catalog that offers such chests, with prizes included. But now, my take on the treasure chest is different--it's training children to fill their space with useless stuff. It's using material rewards instead of conveying that having your choppers when you're 70 is it's own reward (fingers crossed).

I do enjoy getting the adult bonus prizes. I use the toothbrushes for guests and can put the mini-toothpaste and mini-floss in my travel supply section, to be used on a future trip.