“I am not sure how it happens, but I have roughly 100 chargers in my home, none of which work on my phone, which is dead right now.” Sound familiar?

Here is a hint on how to keep up with only the ones that you need. As soon as a charger makes it way into the home, get out your white labels. They can be file folder labels, or the kind that come from those nifty p-touch machines. Visually split the label in half across the width, and write the name of the person and the equipment the charger belongs to. For example, a label for my phone might look like this:

Lori
LG Cell

Repeat the information on the opposite half of the label. Now fold the label around one end of the cord. Now you can easily find the one you need. I recommend you store all your chargers in one central place in the home. Corral them in a basket or other container, and give your family one stop shopping for power when needed.

As electronics are phased out, or old phones are returned, be sure to find the matching charger and get it out of the house along with whatever you are done with.

I am a professional home organizer working in the Winston-Salem area. If you would like help in getting your clutter out and order back into your home, please contact me at 336-978-6211 or at ducksinarownc@earthlink.net.

Question: I know latching onto back issues of magazines is a problem in itself and someday I hope to address that!  Meantime, I want to store them, but also have access to them.  I’d like to have some system that saves space (i.e. goes up instead of out) as I live in a studio apartment with minimal closet/storage space.  The best solution would keep the old mags out of sight, though decorative containers are fine for view.  Any ideas?

Answer:  I think it is safe to say that most people who have a magazine subscription also have a problem letting go of their back issues.  But don’t assume it’s a problem you have to solve.  It doesn’t become clutter unless it either doesn’t have a place in your home or it doesn’t make you happy.  I’m not sure how many back issues you have, but if you’re like me, it’s a lot.  I have issues I keep for gardening, cooking, crafts, etc. At one point, I started tearing out articles and recipes I wanted to keep but soon realized I was keeping most of them and was just mutilating the magazines with the whole process. Continue Reading »

One of my favorite holiday activities is gift wrapping. If you enjoy collecting Christmas wrapping materials, but don’t necessarily like having to work around them the other 11 months of the year, consider getting dedicated storage for your Christmas rolls of wrapping and gift bags. I really like Continue Reading »