Efficient Landscaping

Planning and proper preparation can make all the difference in the success of a project. Admittedly, I can get caught in the trap of over-planning (some may call that procrastination). But I'd like to share an example where I embarked on a project without doing enough preparation and paid a price for it.

About ten years ago, I discovered a love of gardening and began landscaping my backyard. Because it was so shady back there, the lawn was nothing more than a big patch of red clay with an occasional grass sprig or weed.

To cover up some of the bare spots, I created mulch paths surrounded by shrubs and plant beds. After digging up many wheelbarrows of dirt and laying down almost as many loads of pine bark, the paths were done....or so I thought.

What I failed to do back then was lay down a weed barrier or edging. Over the years this oversight has led to many hours of weeding the paths, pulling up grass that encroached into my neatly laid lines (after losing some trees, the grass magically began growing), and trying to control the path mulch from washing into the yard when it rained.

Fast forward ten year later and I'm finally investing some sweat equity and planning into fixing my former mistakes. After waiting until the most recent batch of old mulch had broken down. I weeded the paths AGAIN, installed new path edging, laid weed fabric, and filled the paths back up with countless loads of mulch that I had left over from a tree removal. Now I can rest assured that I won't be weeding or re-mulching my paths for the next couple of seasons.

And to simplify my yard maintenance even further, when THIS batch of mulch eventually disintegrates, I'm investing in rubber mulch made from ground up recycled tires. That stuff won't need to be replaced for years. By doing the prep work that I should have done a decade ago, I'll be saving myself hours of back breaking weeding. Now if I can just figure out a way to keep those oak trees from shedding so many leaves in the fall.

What type of prep work do you do to make your gardening projects more efficient long term?

Using Kijiji.com to Make Room for Baby

I am excited to announce that I have recently partnered with Kijiji.com, the free local classified web site, to promote their Baby On Board campaign where we're helping expectant parents get their homes organized in anticipation of their new baby.

Kijiji, which means "village" in Swahili, is a family friendly , safe, and easy to use classified site that does not contain explicit adult content as some other classified sites do. This makes Kijiji.com a great site for expectant parents to use to buy and sell items as they stock up on baby gear.

Go to http://atlanta.kijiji.com and at the top of the page you'll find the link to my tips for making room for baby while saving money.

To kick off the campaign, I'll be appearing Monday, June 1 at 8:38on FamilyNet TV's Mornings with Lorri & Larry. FamilyNet TV is on Comcast channel 265 in the Atlanta market. We'll be discussing how new parents can affordably transform a spare bedroom or home office into a cozy, fun baby's room. Here are a few of my helpful tips in case you miss the show or don't get FamilyNet TV in your market:

• To transform a home office or spare bedroom into a new baby's room, it is necessary to first purge the old furniture from the space. Kijiji.com is an easy solution for this as it only takes a few clicks to create an ad for that old desk, computer, or spare bedroom set. Selling unused furniture, electronics, and appliances from the home is a great way to offset the average $2,500 that new parents spend on baby-related items.
  

• To furnish the baby's room, consider buying gently used baby items on kijiji.com. According to eBay market data as reported by ItsDeductible, a used crib averages $37 and a rocker or glider averages just $41! That's a substantial savings from what new parents would pay retail.

• Rather than purchase a new changing table, convert an gently-used or antique wooden dresser to a changing table by adding a changing pad to the top. They average for around $31 on Atlanta.kijiji.com. Paint the dresser to match the baby's room, update the hardware and drawer liners and you'll have a great piece that can be re-purposed in the child's room as they grow older.
  

• Keep a tall bookshelf near the changing table as another storage option. You can place memorabilia on the upper shelves, extra clothing and bedding on the lower shelves, and use the easy-to-reach middle shelves for necessary changing supplies.

• To maximize storage options, don't forget about all that space under the baby's crib! Plastic drawers and under-bed storage boxes are great solutions for clothing that the baby has not yet grown into.
  

Tune in on Monday for even more tips for getting ready for that little ray of sunshine!

Freshening Up the Home Office

I believe that it's a good idea to occasionally do something new in a space just to enliven its energy. Maybe paint a room a new color, add a new piece of furniture, or rearrange the furnishings already there.

Today I jazzed up my home office space by adding elfa shelving over my desk. The photo posted was taken just after I put everything back in place. Let's take a tour of the new workspace.

* On the very top shelf, I keep items that I sometimes reference but rarely need. These include colored hanging file folders, CDs from classes I've taken, and transcripts from a Success Circle Mastermind that I recently belonged to. Rather than give these items the valuable real estate that is reachable from my desk chair, I've put them up on the top shelf. I keep a stepladder close by to help me reach these items when necessary.

* On the next shelf down we have items that I use a little more often such as copy paper, writing tablets, thank you cards, manila folders, labels, and sheet protectors. These are easily reachable just by standing up from my desk chair.

* Further down and closer to the desk top is my reference material such as organizing and coaching books, notebooks from annual NAPO conferences, my binders from my Coach for Life training, and the notebook where I keep resource material for a book I'm planning to write.

* Moving down closer to the desk top, we're getting into pricier real estate. In order to live on the shelf right about the desk, an item has to be something that I use all the time. This is where I keep my dictionary and thesaurus, tissues, desk lamp, and a 3-tiered paper sorter.

Speaking of my 3-tiered paper sorter, I use the middle shelf of the paper sorter for papers that need to be filed. Once the pile reaches the top shelf of the paper sorter, that's my visual alert that it's time for me to do some personal filing. The other shelves on this paper sorter include ACTION at the top (high-priority projects I'm in the middle of right now) and PROJECTS on the bottom for things I plan on working on in the future.

* Finally, we have the desk top. I use a laptop computer for its portability. To keep it from overheating, I have it sitting on a plastic stand that was originally meant to be an under-cabinet glass holder. The pile of papers to the right of the computer is my ACTION pile for the day. On the far left corner of the desk is a tray that holds the little things one might have in desk drawer, only I don't have a desk drawer. So I have my sticky notes, stapler, paperclips, etc. in this tray. The tray was once the lid to the striped box on the very top shelf over the desk. I love to repurpose items!

Next to the office supply tray on a separate but flush shelf is a staggered file holder. In this, I keep those files and reference materials that I access ALL the time as my assessment forms, my Waiting For file, my Someday/Maybe file, and my current year's tax file.

So you see, I keep my desktop relatively open because it helps my creativity when I can spread my work out a bit and am not too distracted by visual clutter. Close by, I keep those items that I use quite often. And a little further away, I store supplies that I need but don't want junking up my work space.

And the best part is that it only took me about 30 mintues to install the elfa and restock the whole thing! I *heart* the ease of installation, flexibility, and durability of elfa shelving. My husband is also pretty excited to have inherited the Skandia hutch I was using before today. What do you use to store items in your home office?

Daily Candy Kids

Look for me in the April 27th Atlanta edition of Daily Candy Kids where I discuss ways to tame kids toys and artwork. With overzealous grandparents and well-meaning aunts and uncles, toys just seem to multiply overnight.

On Daily Candy Kids, I offer tips for using overlooked spaces such as the backs of doors and underneath beds to stow toys and children's artwork.

Here's a bonus tip just for my Better Organized blog readers: You can place stackable drawers side by side under many children's beds. They make great containers for tiny little parts and pieces, doll clothes, and Legos. Plus the drawers can be pulled completely out in case the toys need to be played with in another part of the house.

Measure the space from the floor to the bedframe and head out to The Container Store, Target, Big Lots, or even The Dollar Store for the plastic stackable drawers. Or if you're looking for a bed with built-in drawers, check out IKEA's selection.

Decatur Electronics Recycling Day Postponed

The City of Decatur announced the cancellation and rescheduling of the March 28, 2009 Electronics Recycling Day due to heavy rains and lightening over the weekend. Because the event is held outdoors , the severe weather made it a safety hazard for the workers and volunteers.

Electronics Recycling Day has been rescheduled for Saturday, April 25 from 9:00 a.m. - 1 p.m. in the Decatur High School parking lot. Visit www.decaturga.com for a complete list of electronic items that may be recycled and for more details about the event. You may also call (404) 377-5571 for information.

Recyclng Electronics

When I am organizing my clients, they'll often have old televisions, computers, monitors and other electronics that they've never gotten rid of because they aren't sure of the best, most environmentally friendly disposal options.

Here are a few suggestions for folks in the Atlanta area:

• The City of Decatur hosts its Electronics Recycling event in the spring and the fall of each year. This year's spring event is coming up next weekend on March 28. Bring your old televisions, computers, fax machines, telephones, stereo equipment, electric lawn equipment, etc. to the Decatur High School parking lot from 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. They are even recycling clean Styrofoam and old batteries. Note that there is a charge of $10 (exact change requested) for television donations. For a more detailed list of acceptable donations, go to http://www.decaturga.com/cgs_citysvcs_sfm_electronics.aspx.

• Keep Atlanta Beautiful has partnered with Atlanta Public Schools to provide e-waste recycling drop-off centers in the City of Atlanta. They have kicked off a program at Grady High School which gives students and local neighbors a permanent location to recycle old electronics every third Saturday of the month. The drop-off location is currently at the 8th Street parking lot across from Grady. For more information and a detailed list of acceptable donations, click here.
  

• A company that my husband has used for computer repair, HM Solutions Incorporated, recently sent us an email saying, "If you have any computer equipment you do not use, please contact us. We will take your old equipment, recondition it, and donate it to a worthy cause, whether it be an underprivileged individual or to a family who cannot afford a computer." For more information about this program, please contact Bobby Sahij at bobby@hmsolutionsinc.com.

These are just a few of the electronics recycling opportunities available. Google "Electronics Recycling" and include your city or county name, and you'll find even more convenient options.

Elfa Sale Extended

One of my favorite closet systems, elfa, rarely goes on sale. But I'm happy to report that The Container Store has put it on sale for 30% off until May 10, 2009.

According to a recent email from Melissa Reiff, President of The Container Store, they have too much inventory of elfa, their most popular closet system. There's even some elfa product on sale for as much as 50% off.

If you already have elfa in any of your closets, you know how easy it is to install and how flexible it is to change as the needs of the space change. I love to use it in childrens' closets because the shelves and bars can be installed very low when the kids are preschool age and then gradually raised as the kids grow.

Heck, it's so durable that, when the kids move out, your elfa will still be holding up and you can transform that closet for use in your new home office or guest room.

The Container Store offers complimentary elfa design in the stores, online, and by phone. Often my clients will have me or one of my Lead Organizers look at their space (closet, pantry, garage) and discuss the best layout of the space based on their organizing plan. Then the client takes their measurements to The Container Store and has TCS it design on their computerized design system. TCS pulls all the pieces for the client and then the client calls Creative Order in to handle the installation of the system. Finally, we work with the client to appropriately fill the shelves of their new system.

If you've been thinking about organizing or re-designing a closet, pantry, or garage, contact me at suellen at creativeorder dot com and I'll walk you through it step by step.