Divide and Conquer

I'm certain we've already used this title because it's so true throughout life, especially when it comes to organization. Even more so for closet organization. I've just attacked my folks' front hall closet as we ready ourselves for winter in Cleveland and cohabitating with two retirees and a young family (as I continue to recover my health after major surgery earlier this year.)

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No. More. Mismatched. Hangers!

Ah Mommy Dearest and her hatred of wire hangers. We don't hate wire hangers. They're matching at least, and unless you have a ladies' maid or valet, then who is going to swap out those wire drycleaning hangers for more solid stuff? Yeah, not me either. But we're often asked for universal advice that holds true for all types and top of our list is: Matching Hangers. We can't tell you how revolutionary this advice is because you really have to see it to believe it. Especially you frugal types. But if you only listen to one piece of advice we give, this is the advice to take.

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Saying Goodbye Is Hard!

Fall is the best time to do “Organizational Spring Cleaning.” Why? Because Spring already has a lock on getting rid of Winter’s cobwebs and dust. Fall is about battening down the hatches and getting ready for the cold to come. So whenever the cold season is upon you, take the time to go through the abyss that is often known as the front hall closet before it threatens to topple down upon you in a sea of scarves and mittens from the 70s.

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Shanah Tovah!

Happy New Year to our Jewish readers!

One of the perks of being part of a multi-cultural family as well as professional organizers is that we both have subscriptions in our e-calendars for Jewish, Christian, Chinese and Cleveland Browns calendars and therefore know about all sorts of holidays. Boxing Day, anyone? But the real reason there's no PixieTip today is that my kids had the first day of Rosh Hashanah off yesterday, so I didn’t have my usual "me" time that school and the baby’s nap provides. But next Thursday I will have my "me" time and will be writing about Fall Cleaning. That’s right, Pixies like to shake things up and that means “Spring” cleaning in the Fall.

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Mister Roger's Entranceway

Everything I needed to know about organization I learned from Mister Rogers. Well not everything, but it still took me four decades to figure out that the way Mister Rogers took off his jacket and replaced it with a cardigan at the beginning of the show (ditto for his work shoes for sneakers) was exactly the kind of routine I needed to have to get and then keep my front hall organized.

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