 Smart Kitchen Organizing for the Holidays
With Thanksgiving coming up, keeping your kitchen organized is a must! On top of looking nicer, an organized kitchen makes everything easier to find when you get down to cooking. Here are a few tips that can help you reorganize your kitchen for Thanksgiving Day and all the upcoming holidays. Tip 1: Know Your Essential Cooking Items My first tip is to know what needs to be in your kitchen to cook a delicious meal! With all of the interesting gadgets available for your kitchen, it’s important to understand that sometimes less is more. Downsizing can make your life easier because no one wants to be sifting through a pile of junk to get to the knife you use all the time anyway. I like to follow Jamie Oliver’s (from The Naked Chef) recommendations in his book Cook with Jaimie: My Guide to Making You a Better Cook (p. 14). One of the basic essentials Oliver recommends is nesting mixing bowls in various sizes. I use them all the time. Here are additional sources for more ideas:
Tip 2: Group Similar Items My next tip is to group kitchen tools by their uses and to place them near each other. These groupings can be sorted in any way that makes sense to you, but some examples of what I like to do is to group all of my knives together or to group my wooden spoons together. If you’re looking for more ideas, check out these websites for more:
Tip 3: Keep the Items in Easy-to-Use Areas My final tip is to keep those grouped items in easy-to-use spots. Doing this will eliminate the time of searching for what you need when you need it! When I was organizing my daughter Jessica’s kitchen in June, a couple of ideas I used were to put all of the coffee mugs and supplies near the coffee maker (there’s nothing worse than looking for a coffee filter before your first cup!) and organized all of her pots and pans in the lower cabinets near her stove. Items you don’t use often can be stored up high. You probably have some holiday dishes and platters to get down from up high or maybe they are stored in a basement closet. Go ahead and donate holiday dishes that you are not fond of anymore. Don’t save them for another year or more. That’s it for my November Tip! Hopefully you find them useful and until next time. An Organized kitchen is a smart kitchen. Adele Gross Simple Solutions Organizing LLC Adele@simplesolutionsorganizing.com 706-714-1314
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 Do you consider your stuff to be more important than you are? I hope not! That is how many Hoarders feel. I am often asked about Hoarders and hoarding. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), Hoarding is a Psychological Disorder. APA describes Hoarding as people who excessively save items that others may view as worthless. They have persistent difficulty getting rid of are parting with possessions, leading to clutter that disrupts their ability to use their space to live and work in.
The APA lists these symptoms: Specific symptoms for a hoarding diagnosis include:
The Institute for Challenging Disorganization is another good resource to educate yourself about Hoarding. Check out or download their Clutter-Hoarding Scale. Simple Solution Organizing works with chronically disorganized clients. We do not work with Hoarders. There are Professional Organizers that specialize in this discipline. There is a big difference between being disorganized, chronic disorganization, being a Collector and being a Hoarder. Many people casually say, “I’m a Hoarder” and they definitely are not. See below a couple of photos that I pulled off the internet. 1 is a photo of a Hoarding situation and 1 is a photo of a Collector. I am a Podcast Junkie and recently listened to a Savvy PSYCHOLOGIST episode: How to Help Someone with Hoarding Disorder. Podcast #269. It has a lot of helpful information that can help Hoarders and families of Hoarders. Elaine Birchall with Birchall Consulting, is the Expert on the episode listed above. There are a lot of great resources to help people who are struggling with Hoarding. Finding a Psychologist who specializes in Hoarding is highly recommended. Adele Gross Simple Solution Organizing LLC Adele@simplesolutionorganizing.com 706-714-1314 Downsizing and Professional Organizing Here are some photos of some Simple Solution Organizing LLC most recent project to motivate you to let go. When we let go of stuff we don't need anymore and items we rarely use we open our space for items we do need. It's also nice to have open spaces without anything on them. Cutter free shelves with just a few items are peaceful shelves.
Call us when you are ready to get rid of stuff...we can help. Adele Tusson-Gross 706-714-1314 Adele@simplesolutionorganizing.com Downsizing Client: Before photo has my Assistant Dorothy. The garage/storage room had shelving units in the center which made it very difficult to maneuver. After an open space with items stored on the perimeter. Her house is going on the market this week. She is very happy to have gone through all of her items BEFORE moving them to her new home. She donated a lot and Simple Solution Organizing is having a MaxSold online Auction to sell the rest. We make things happen. We say yes! It is possible to downsize from a 4 bedroom 2.5 bath to a 2 bedroom 1 bath. If that is your goal and your dream then Simple Solution Organizing LLC will help you get there.  I hope you and your family are safe. We are all living with the risk of potentially catching this horrific virus. This is a very sad reality for everyone living on our planet. Many people have lost their jobs and lost loved ones, due to the virus and some have committed suicide. Many young people are depressed because they have limited social interactions. No school, no work, no visiting with friends. I am glad my son’s job at Rush, a Trampoline Park, re-opened yesterday, May 28, 2020. I’m nervous about it but I think the risk of mental illness for many of our youth is worth re-opening with strict protections. It is a risk…everything is a risk!
My husband, Karl, is a Professional Golfer/Manager. Hard Labor Creek Golf Course did not close during the shut-down. Who would have guessed that a Golf Course would be considered a necessary business….not me. It did provide a welcome retreat for many people stuck at home. The Golf Course had record revenue. They closed the Golf Shop and people had to check-in through a window. Simple Solution Organizing is working with clients again. We were only working remotely in March and April. Our clients have the Downsizing bug; another side effect of quarantine. People want to live in spaces with less clutter…less meaningless stuff. We can live with less, we can thrive with less. This quarantine has taught many of us valuable lessons. My truth: I can get by with a pair of good tennis shoes, work-out clothing, sunblock, robust coffee, computer, internet, and take-out. I would love to hear your truth and how things have changed for you. What have you learned during this time? Please shoot me an email or comment on my Social Media post. Organizing Tip: I finished going through card memorabilia. I had 4 cute photo boxes of cards and letters that people sent me through my lifetime. I now have 3 cute photo boxes. I highly recommend going through old memorabilia. It was so much fun! I have not laughed that hard in a long time. I read some of the funnies letters and cards. The most hilarious cards were the ones that my sister had given me that my mom had saved that I sent her. My mom died when she was just 51 years old. I’m so glad I have these meaningful…priceless, memories of my past. This is why we keep them, to read them and enjoy them. This is why we should keep anything. Be Safe & Stay Well, Adele Gross Chief Executive Organizer Simple Solution Organizing LLC simplesolutionorganizing.com adele@simplesolutionorganizing.com 706-714-1314  RedFin.com recently asked Adele Tusson-Gross, Chief Executive Organizer at Simple Solution Organizing, to contribute to their article, Small House Space Saving Solutions.
The article included 22 best tips from recognized organizing professionals regarding how to make the most of living in small spaces by making it look and feel more spacious, The tips from these professionals emphasized maximizing space while making your home more conducive to your lifestyle. While most of us are homebound due to Covid-19 stay-at-home and shelter-in-place orders, many are finding themselves up close and personal with the short-comings of their living space. Living with your family or roommates on a 24/7 basis for an extended time in shared space in these circumstances can reveal the desire and need to purge and organize your home, home office or study area for students to make it more comfortable, enjoyable and efficient now and in the future, Please see if any of the 22 tips in the article inspire you to make the most of your time at home right now to tackle these projects. Tip 23: If you need help or inspiration for making your space more functional and enjoyable, Adele is available for Virtual Office Organizing Sessions via Zoom, or FaceTime. Simple Solution Organizing https://www.simplesolutionorganizing.com Call 706-714-1314 or email. |
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