Your Oasis

What we hate most about clutter is usually how it looks.  Right now I'm not concerned about how it looks to neighbors unless they burst into tears when dropping over for coffee.   I just mean how it looks to us.  Our over-stuff can be distracting and nagging us when we're supposed to be ordering ornamental chard by mail.  Or getting some sleep.

When the whole of my stuff in my room is just to much to "fix" right now, I've come up with something that helps.  My tiny oasis. 

Since I'm a drop-it, I come back to the house and drop my sun glasses and keys on the chest of drawers.  But now I pick them back up and put them in the set of clear plastic pockets on the back of the door. 

I need my oasis, and the top of that chest of drawers is it right now.  I need it to be orderly and pretty because my eyes go right there when I enter or even glance into this room.  There's a little lamp there, and my beautiful green frosted glass box from my best decorating boss.  There are two little flowering plants, and my clock and water glass.  Of course, one sand dollar from my wonderful years at the beach. Best of all, a get-well drawing my pal Tom made and gave me at the first hospital last year.  Last but not least, a perfectly unobtrusive small set of 3 tiny notepads.

What keeps the surface honest (almost always) is that the top drawer of the chest absorbs all the little bottles and tubes from the medical world, and more grooming stuff, and the renegade sox, so I don't have to look at them. 

In my old apartment in the hills, a coffee table and two chairs were my oasis - no pills, no lotions, no abandoned cola bottles.  Just a peaceful surface and a place to get comfortable.

If you're about to go into a big, dramatic clear-out, toss-out, dump-out for whatever reason, PLEASE make your oasis first.  Piles of boxes and bags may grow in other rooms or other corners, but you'll need your calm corner to withdraw and regroup after all that carrying and all that deciding.

This oasis is doubly important if you work at home.  I can't give you a sure fire remedy to keep the rest of the household out of it, but keep insisting, bribe them if you must.   Keeping it uncluttered is for you even if you have to evict some lunch they left behind.

What's your favorite oasis?  Or where do you want one?

More on this soon.

What Does Your Closet Say?

Somebody won't like this, but here's what I've noticed through the years in closet design and reading shelter magazines. . .

If the closet belongs to an entertainer who is seen as well as heard, there will be a lot of clothes.

If I'm touring an old landmark home that may no longer be occupied, the closets will likely be surprisingly small, even if the lady's closet is in a dressing room/private sitting room where a friend might come to talk fashion and have tea.

In an upscale magazine closet ad, we will see very few clothes.  The "rich" signal is fine cabinet work, even if the plan seems inconvenient to us.  It will be clear that the fictitious "home" has  a lot of room for closets.   The clothes in the ad photo are never crowded--there is empty space.  I wish I'd had a couple of those pictures in my real estate days, to show to people who wanted a great price for their houses.

Conversely, the most jam-packed closets I ever saw were in very modest homes where the budget didn't allow me to make extensive changes.  And these were often the very customers who refused to lay out their clothes and consider thinning them out to get more room.

I'd love to hear your ideas on what this may mean.  Are the rich more likely to thin out their wardrobes?  Can they say goodbye to clothes more easily?  Do they feel secure because they expect to afford more clothes next season?  Or do they feel insecure if they don't make room to shop often?  Or were most of their clothes at the cleaners?    

There are exceptions, of course.  But the contrast makes me think. 

The Secret Life of Closets

My favorite thing I think I ever did in a closet was for a young girl's closet.  The mom had a tight budget and just wanted everything done with shelves.  But there was a younger child in the family also, who certainly knew how to get things off other people's shelves.

I convinced the mother that we should put in a little drawer with a lock and key, so the big sister could have one small nest of secure privacy for her favorite tiny treasures.  I don't think I ever had anything like that when I was a girl. 

Closets, in short, can be whatever we need.

Today . . . a five-minute closet quickie?

Is there something you can do today in five minutes?

Do you have a big reusable grocery tote that's too nice for groceries?  You might take five minutes to put in the MAYBE clothes that probably should go to the Dry Cleaners.  Maybe they've just been hanging there unworn for months.  Maybe you never looked at the side where you brushed up against a car after a rain.  Maybe that zipper really did open all by itself and does need to be replaced by the really good alterations guy at the cleaners.  Just stuff them in the bag.  If you have to, put it near the outside door so you'll take some action and get them back like new.

And don't do what I did--forgot my once-a-year long black dress at the cleaners until too late.

YOU LOVE QUIZZES? Truth or Clutter. . .

Truth or Clutter:  Got a pencil?   

How many of my clutter problems started in a shopping cart?
10% __   25%  __  50%  __  75%  __   Even the FBI can't make me tell__

I've noticed in upscale shopping areas that there are shopping bags instead of shopping carts.   There is no need for carts in a couple of LA/Beverly Hills shops, since they are boutiques with only an armload of clothes in the whole shop.

How willing am I to go into a big-box store or big -box company in a mall with only a shopping bag instead of using a cart?

I'll try it  __ How big a bag? ___  Maybe___  Get serious! No cart? ___

I get a cart "only" to put the toddler in, but I know I'll put more than one item to buy in with Bitsy.

True __   Probably true___Who?  Me? I might not buy a thing in here__

There are no scores here.  Only you know if your regular answer is an answer to the excess stuff at home.

My confession:  I think it's ridiculous to wait in line at checkout with only one thing in that cart--so I once added a belt and sash that I never once used so it would seem worth waiting in line.  Recently, I went home without the belt I think I needed, rather than wait in line with one thing.

The New Thing in the Bathroom

Hanging on the door (actually, its flat hooks hang over the top of the door) to the tub compartment here is something I had not seen:  a vertical organizer made of cloth, with pockets wide enough for a yellow legal tablet.  And the smart designer added a little pocket full of pens! 

I usually don't need to write on a big pad in the shower area, but this gadget now contains a couple of books.   So maybe it would hold a very small hair dryer?

Maybe it would be a blessing in the bedroom for slippers or bulky running socks. . .?  Bras?

Maybe by my minuscule desk? 

Got any ideas for your place? 

The tag says Reisenthel , and some things from them can be bought from Amazon.
  Maybe those flat over-door hooks can be bought somewhere?

PURSE CLUTTER progress but . . .

I have this "flight attendant" bag, black with 4 zippers.  I wanted the last compartment to be personal, you know, tissues, lipstick, dental, cough drops, and such.  So of course, the car key snap thing (a fingernail breaker)  is in that compartment. 

So here's my question:  this purse is for females.  It has slots for pens.  So why can't the personal section have a slot for lipstick, a pocket for throat drops, and so on.  Or why can't it have a pull-up thing with slots for everything?  And where's my magic water bottle?  I need both hands for hands free shopping.

The next compartment has the pencil slots, and pockets for biz cards and basic phone.  So with pencil slots, it's the business compartment.  My purse calendar with shopping list clipped on, is in here.  Also a lifesaving map of my new area.  Said map is getting shredded by pulling out the calendar and such.

Now the third, smaller, compartment is used for my multifold wallet, which makes the slim-line purse look like a badger is hiding in here.

Finally, down at the bottom is the smallest compartment.  I could complain about how hard it is to use, but . . .

My real question is this:  why do other women I see (including actual flight attendants) and others manage to keep this style purse looking virtually empty?  They wear lipstick.  If they look good enough I guess they can borrow a pen from a guy. So they don't have the umpteen insurance cards and money cards?  And other cards that have to be shown, not just looked up on their phone?   And a comb?  And a driver's license?

If you have any idea on this, do let me know.  Meantime I may have to bite the bullet, so to speak, and look for a very flat wallet that still lets me find my library card (for my Michael Connolly fix) and my coffee shop card.  In a hurry.