Organize Your Board Games

November days are short and rainy in the PNW. Fall sports seasons wrap up and we spend more time indoors with our families. Cozy weekend afternoons make a perfect time to play board games. This is also a great time to organize the board games you own. It’s as easy as tic-tac-toe.

Step One:

Board games need a central location where everyone can find them. Whether it’s a closet or a cupboard, the space just needs to be accessible and known to all the family members. Some families keep games in the children’s rooms. Board games for adults or older kids can go in a family room or another shared location.

Step Two:

You can’t play a game that doesn’t have all the pieces. Locate all the bits and make sure they are in the correct game box. Secure flimsy boxes with a large rubber band or a thin strip of Velcro. Toss any games with missing pieces. Donate unpopular games.

Step Three:

Sort the games. Group games played mostly by adults in one area, perhaps on a high shelf. Children’s games should be easily accessible to them. Utilize lower shelves unless it’s dangerous for very young children or toddlers. Use a lidded bin to store children’s wooden puzzles. Only bring out a couple of small puzzles out at a time and store the rest – that way clean-up is a cinch – you won’t spend precious time looking for lost puzzle pieces.

So, don’t fret the rainy afternoons or dark evenings, instead rally the family around the table for an exciting game of Exploding Kittens (no cats are harmed – I promise!) or an old favorite like Chess or Settlers of Catan. Thinking ahead to the holidays, if you would like to expand your collection with a new favorite board game checkout this list of the most popular board games of all times.

Some of us have a closet full of board games, but honestly, most of the gaming happens online. If you find that the only time you access the game closet is during a power outage, then consider really downsizing the volume of games. Be authentic to how your family spends time and consider whether the space being taken up by board games could be used for something else. Perhaps you have some craft supplies that need a home? Let us know if you’d like help figuring out how to best use the space in your home. We do love (excuse the pun) this kind of puzzle.

board games, downsizing, Exploding Kittens, game night, Settlers of Catan

A Tale of a Frightful House

On Halloween night…

Creepy skeletons, fuzzy black spiders and foam gravestones in your front-yard graveyard spooked the young trick-or-treaters aplenty, but only you knew that the truly frightful and terrifying was inside your house, hidden and unseen – because no visitors had been welcomed inside for a long time. Only on Halloween did anyone approach your porch.

Inside the house, no one opened closets for fear of what might come tumbling out. Everywhere were dusty piles of stuff

declutter and thrive, denise allan, halloween, Professional Organizer

The Instant Pot: Best Small Appliance Ever?

One of the most widely purchased kitchen products of recent times has been the Instant Pot. This new rendition of your mother’s pressure cooker has been heralded as the newest work-reducing, time-saving, must-have device. Now, I am not one to jump on trends, so I asked my girlfriends on Facebook whether the Instant Pot is something I should buy, what they liked about it, whether they used it frequently and what recipes they’ve tried.

Instant Pot, recipes, simplify experts

5 Ways to Fall in Love with Your Home Again

After you’ve lived in your home for a few years, it’s easy for the décor to start to feel a tad stale. In other words, it’s totally normal to hate your home sometimes. The good news is there are easy ways to change that and have you never wanting to leave the house again. These are the top five easiest ways to transform your home into one you love again.

artwork, declutter, decor, get organized, organize

Style Guide: Prepare Your Home for Baby’s Arrival

If you have a baby on the way, you should start preparing your house for the new family member in advance. In just a few months, you won’t have time to deal with your house, so it’s better to get this out of your way as soon as possible. Not only will you be able to prepare your home for your baby stress-free, but you’ll also be able to create a stylish, safe and healthy environment for your family.

baby care, decluttering, nursery

Professional Organizer’s Guide to Writing Thank You Notes

A Professional Organizer’s Guide to Writing More Thank You Notes

I am a big fan of appreciation and thanking someone warmly for a gift or a kind act. I love receiving handwritten thank you notes (I don’t knock email notes either) because it means someone took the time to let me know they both received the gift and are favorably acknowledging the efforts made on their behalf. A personal piece of correspondence is the best kind of mail to get. It’s a treasure in the sea of junk mail, catalogs, and bills. I especially adore a thank you note that points out something spot-on about the item and/or something special about your relationship with that person – bonus points!

Apparently, I am not alone. An article in the New York Times, “You Should Send That Thank You Note You’ve Been Meaning to Write” from July 20, 2018, agreed that people like getting thank you notes. Seriously, who would not like getting a thank you?

gratitude, Professional Organizer, thank you notes

Declutter Your Desk in Just 5 Minutes

In our recently published book: Declutter and Thrive: Overcoming 6 Common Disorganization Types to Reveal Your Best You, one of the types we described is The Overburdened Employee – for whom clutter and disorganization at work is a daily struggle, negatively impacting their career.

Work with a professional organizer to reset your office or desk space. Then use the tasks listed in the infographic below

declutter and thrive, paper clutter, productivity, the overburdened employee

Better Mornings Begin With an Organized Kitchen

Looking to get a jump start on your productivity or make your mornings less of a struggle? There’s no better place to start than the kitchen. A well-organized kitchen can have a lasting effect on your health and happiness. There are ample opportunities to streamline your morning routine. From your first cup of coffee to grabbing a coat and rushing out the door. Use these organizing tricks to put frustrating mornings to rest and start celebrating the sunrise on your terms.

Clear Out the Clutter

Before you add anything to the kitchen, take stock of what you have. You’ll be surprised at how much space you can create

clear out the clutter, get organized, kitchen organizing

7 Reasons You Might Need to Hire a Professional Organizer

When it comes to organizing your home and your possessions, it can be hard for anybody to know where to start and the best way to go about making your house work for you. With all the various stresses of life, like moving home and having children (or anything that requires deep forward planning with time), it can be hard to even find the time to begin the process of organizing your home.

Professional Organizers are a great option for people who need a little bit of extra help with the process of organizing their things. Whether those things be a reorganization of the interior of your home entirely or having assistance organizing stacks of important paperwork, professional organizers can make the process much easier.

Here are seven reasons you might want to hire a professional organizer, and some ideas of what they can do for you.

1. You Want To Declutter, But Don’t Know Where to Start

Without even getting into situational specifics, if you feel that you are having a hard time even starting the organization process, a simple and short meeting with a professional organizer can help you to plan out your moves and come up with ideas for decluttering efficiently. A professional organizer can still help with the process itself, but they’re available for advising on organization projects as well!

2. Reorganizing the Whole Home

When changing around the interior layout of your home, you should probably be thinking

decluttering, moving, new baby, paperwork, Professional Organizer

Upgrade Your Master Closet to a Great Built-in Closet System

When you decide to remodel or make updates to your home, you might prioritize the kitchen and bathrooms. I completely get it, we spend a lot of our time in those two spaces. But I am here to tell you that you should also consider upgrading your master closet to a good quality built in system, such as the one sold by The Container Store. I’ve just witnessed a client’s amazing master closet transformation, and it is clear just how much easier her day-to-day life will be. Don’t you deserve your day to be as easy as possible? Yes, you do.

The Problem With Wire Closet Systems

When you move into a new home, you might think the basic wire shelf and rod system is perfectly fine. And it might be, for a short while. Then stacks of your clothes will tip over, looking messy. You’ll find that your clothes are hard to reach making it difficult to find what you need and to put away laundry. Since your closet has no designated place for shoes or accessories such a purses, scarves, or belts – your shoes will be messy on the floor, and you’ll have to find alternate place for the other stuff. Your closet may not have a separate spot for long vs. short hanging clothes, the space is inefficient. The laundry hamper has nowhere to live. In addition, your closet is poorly lit.

Together, all these factors contribute to daily frustration and a cluttered mess – and no one needs that!

Our client had been frustrated with her closet for years before she reached out to The Container Store to inquire about their closet solutions. She was surprised when she got a phone call from one of Simplify Experts professional home organizers – Amy Nelson. She called me and said, wait – you guys do closets?

A Better Solution

Technically we don’t. But two our most senior home organizers, Amy Nelson and Alicia Lott are certified closet designers for The Container Store’s – The Contained Home program. This means that they can design the most efficient closet system for your space AND once it is installed, organize it beautifully!

Back to our client: Amy went to the client’s home, walked through the space with her and evaluated what closet system elements best fit the space. The client was able to touch and feel samples of door/drawer materials as well as select from several hardware options.

Once the client approved a detailed design plan, Amy Nelson placed the order and installation was scheduled. At last, the really fun part – placing all the clothing items in the new closet space.
The reveal was amazing!

The new closet design features a his and hers section with plenty of space for everything!

This custom closet uses every inch of available space – very well! No dead corners. No dusty, hard to reach shelves where items go missing.

Closets need good, easily accessible shelves. This new closet has many shelves, for clothes as well as shoes. Closets need drawers, not just for shorts and t-shirts but for jewelry, delicates, accessories, and handbags. The top drawers here have built in jewelry trays.

The LED lights are just the right color – not glaring white, not drearily dark. Just to the left of the long-hang area for dresses is a pull-out full-length mirror – it doesn’t take up any space!

Don’t settle for a wire shelf system in your closet. Make getting ready a joyful experience with a beautiful, well-planned custom closet from The Container Store. You won’t be sorry!

Photo by Artem Bali on Unsplash

Alicia Lott, Amy Nelson, closet, The Container Store

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