Dear Subscriber,

Hello from a hot and humid New York City. I hope your summer has been going well, and that perhaps you’ve been able to use a bit of downtime to get yourself organized!

I’ve been picking up recently on a challenge that faces many people who are trying to get organized, and which may be familiar to you. In past attempts to pull things together, they’ve acquired furniture and other items to contain and organize their belongings, but ironically, the very furnishings they’ve bought have turned out to aggravate, rather than relieve, their clutter problems!

They have unwittingly issued an Invitation to Clutter.

How can this be? Let’s take a detailed look at a frequent culprit -- bookshelves. The most common bookshelves on the market are 10-12” deep. But a typical paperback is only 4 ½” deep, an oversized paperback 5” or so, and a hardcover book just 6 ½” deep. When you place these books on a 12” bookshelf, there’s plenty of room left for things to collect in the remaining 5-7” of shelf space. It’s simply begging to be filled!

A second layer of books will fit, for example, but so will things like photos, clocks, mementos, you name it. Keeping two layers of anything on a single shelf is the definition of clutter, and on top of that your books are hard to get at – or you may forget about them completely. And since the shelves are unnecessarily deep, they take up more room than they need to.

Finally, deep bookshelves with shallow books on them causes a phenomenon which Feng Shui calls “cutting chi”. The edges of the shelves protrude into the room like the sharp edges of knives, causing psychic discomfort, which causes you to want to fill the shelves with something, just to make that uncomfortable feeling go away.

You have a few options for dealing with oversized shelves. If you can’t replace them right away, pull the books or other objects you keep on them out to within an inch or two of the shelf edge. And leave the space that’s in back empty!! Yes, dust will collect, but that’s easily dealt with and is a much better option than filling the space with something you’ll inevitably forget about.

Or consider the problem strategically: could the shelves be used better as a place for your eye to rest on a piece of art, a beautiful vase, or another much-loved item in your possession? Or perhaps be made to work harder, holding items that really fit the space? Art books, photo albums and other oversized items need a home, for which deeper shelves are perfect, and you may be able to shift undersized items to a more appropriately-sized spot.

But the best option is to be discerning when you buy shelves in the first place. Measure the typical items you plan to store on them before you go shopping, and bring a ruler or tape measure when you go. Shallower shelving does exist, but requires a bit of a hunt.

Excessive shelf height can also cause clutter to accumulate. Make the most of the adjustable height shelves by adapting them to the things you’re putting on the shelves. First, organize the items by height. Then place taller items on the bottom-most shelves; items get shorter as the shelves rise. Strive to allow the least amount of space -- 2-3”-- between the top of the objects and the bottom of the next shelf up, to discourage clutter from collecting there.

Invitations to Clutter are subtle, pervasive, and come in many forms. For example, today I noticed 24” deep floor-to-ceiling shelves built into a home office. The only rationale for such deep shelves is technical equipment like a printer or fax machine. But once these shelves rise much higher than desk height, such depth becomes virtually unusable – except as a place for clutter to accumulate.

The point is to stop issuing those Invitations to Clutter. Instead, invite your space to become serene, comfortable and functional by finding ways to eliminate it altogether.

Until next time, Happy Organizing!

Sincerely,

Ann Bingley Gallops
The Organized Life



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ORGANIZING DISCOVERY OF THE MONTH

I’ve finally discovered a foolproof method for keeping track of phone messages. Sometimes I need a number or other information from a message that is days or weeks old. In the past, there was a very slim chance that I’d find it, because I used to jot messages on any scrap of paper that happened to be handy.

At the same time, I knew that I had amassed quite a collection of small notebooks that I’d bought when I was away from home and desperate for something to write on.

In my never-ending quest to use things I already own, I finally put two and two together and placed one of these small notebooks next to the phone for messages. I write whatever I need from a message in the notebook, dating each page to make things easier to keep track of. Now there’s a very good chance that I’ll find the information I need, even months after the fact.

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Contacting me I’d love to hear from you. Please drop me a line with comments, questions, or suggestions for future newsletters.


The Organized Life
Ann Bingley Gallops
ann@theorganizedlife.net
www.theorganizedlife.net
646-382-3878
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Copyright 2005, Ann Bingley Gallops