When storing paint, carefully clean the groove around the top of the can. Lay a piece of plastic wrap about an inch larger than the top of the can before putting the lid on to ensure an airtight seal. Be careful not to damage the lid. Place a block of wood over the lid and tap it with a hammer.
Store paint cans upside down on a shelf. Do not store directly on a concrete floor, as moisture may cause cans to rust. Avoid extremes in temperature. Freezing and thawing latex paint will cause it to separate and spoil; subjecting oil-based paint to extreme heat is a fire hazard.
Paint does have a shelf life. However, if you open a can and mix it well and it looks good, it probably is good. Discard old paint and empty paint cans as household hazardous waste.
(see Clothing: Pajamas)
Store canned and packaged foods in a cool (below 70°F/21°C), dry area, away from light. Avoid storing these foods in cabinets near the oven, on shelves near the ceiling, or near a radiator or baseboard heater.
Maximize storage space with freestanding shelves, under-shelf baskets, stepped organizers, two-tiered turntables, and stacking containers to keep items such as chips, dried fruit, nuts, and sugars fresh and to corral seasoning packets, tea bags, and other small items. Label the container fronts. Shelves also may be labeled.
Sliding baskets make it easy to access items at the back of a cabinet. If you need extra storage space in a pantry, consider installing a rack on the back of the door for easy access to frequently used items such as olive oil, peanut butter, honey, salt boxes, and bread crumbs.
Stay organized by using these tips:
Designate shelves or sections of shelves for certain categories of foods such as grains (pastas and rices), canned meat and fish, vegetables, fruit, beans, baking supplies, and snack foods.
Arrange cans, bottles, and boxes on shelves with the labels facing out.
Store older items at the front of your food cabinets and newer items at the back.
Consider marking the item farthest back with a colored sticky flag to let you know it’s the last of its kind.
(see also Storage Solutions, pages 60, 224)
(see Clothing: Pants and jeans)
(see Clothing: Socks and panty hose)
What? You’ve got piles of paper in your home? I’d be surprised if you didn’t! Here’s a great way to get it all sorted out and organized so you can store it away — and find it again if you need it.
Quickly (and I mean quickly!) sort all the paper piles into three categories: TO DO, TO FILE, and To Toss. Your To Do pile might include bills to pay, forms to fill out, a card or letter to respond to, news letters and magazines to read, directions to an upcoming party, or event tickets. Your TO FILE pile will include tax records, insurance policies, manuals, and receipts.
Before putting items into this pile, however, ask yourself: Is this something I will need to look at again? Do I need to save it for tax or legal purposes? Is this information difficult to retrieve if I should need it someday?
If the answer to all three questions is no, toss it. Also trash expired coupons, outdated flyers, and old shopping lists and notes. Do be sure to shred any paper with your Social Security number or account numbers before trashing.
After this initial sort, store the To Do papers in a tickler file or folders labeled for action categories such as TO PAY, TO CALL, and TO READ. Pull out the most important documents, such as tax records, and file them immediately. Keep current documents in your home office workspace; store archival documents such as tax records in a more out-of-the-way location. Store important legal and financial documents in a fire- and burglar-resistant safe or bank safe-deposit box.
Transforming Common Items into Storage Solutions
Fill each cube with a fine chain necklace or pairs of earrings and stack them in a drawer.
Use in the sewing room to separate safety pins, buttons, hooks and eyes, snaps, and so on.
Ice cube trays can also be used for storing paper clips, and other small items in a desk drawer.
Avoid storing paper in cardboard boxes in the attic, basement, garage, or off-site unit. Flooding may destroy them, and insects and rodents are always on the lookout for a nice paper snack or bedding material.
(see also Storage Solutions, pages 15, 32, 80, 160, 188, 196)
Pack a small amount of decorations in a labeled container (clear plastic boxes with lids are perfect).
A larger collection of decorations may require several containers, organized and labeled by theme or type of party such as VALENTINE’S DAY or OVER THE HILL birthday. Choose containers large enough to hold every thing, including tablecloths, serving platters, napkins, paper plates, candles, and so on. Store containers on the upper shelf of a kitchen cabinet or closet, or in your garage, basement, or attic.
(see also Decorations, Seasonal)
Store at home in a fire- and burglar-resistant safe. You could store passports in a bank safe-deposit box, but keep in mind that if you ever need immediate access to your passport during non-banking hours, you will not be able to obtain it.
Avoid excessive bending and keep away from water, solvents, and other liquids. Shred outdated passports.
Storing passwords in a file — any file — on your computer is not recommended because computer files are not secure. Convenient as it is, having your computer remember or store user names and passwords associated with various accounts could be risky. If an unscrupulous individual gains physical access to your computer, it’s a bit like leaving the key to the house under the front-door mat.
Using a single password to log into all of your accounts is equally risky, especially for your financial and e-mail accounts. If that password becomes known through a breach of security at one site, the hacker may attempt to gain access to other sites where your personal and financial information are exposed.
There are a number of online password safes and password manager programs available, some free of charge. Some are desktop applications that are stored on your hard drive and some of these allow you to “carry” passwords and other data with you on your PDA or a USB flash drive, giving you portable access. Others store your information online, in which case you need an Internet connection to access your passwords. Before you choose one of these options, do the research to make sure you understand exactly how your passwords are stored.
Scanners allow you to convert paper documents, such as bank and investment statements, to electronic files that you can organize and store on your computer. Scanned papers can be shredded after you back up the files.
There are several types of scanners available, including some designed specifically for scanning business cards or receipts. Do some research, including reading online forums for user reviews, to determine which type of scanner is best for your needs.
The best (albeit priciest) in my book is a document scanner. Much faster than flatbed scanners (8–10 pages per minute), document scanners let you load multiple pages into the feeder. They scan double-sided paper and include software that allows you categorize, label, find, and retrieve documents by searching for any word in the document.
(see also Storage Solution, page 196)
The safest place to store passwords is in your head. But how is that possible? you ask. Simple. Create a personal password template. For example, you might combine the first and last three letters of an account or Web site name with numbers that represent the birthday of your spouse or firstborn child. Thus, if you are creating a password for online banking at Bank of America and your spouse was born on May 24, your password might be Ban524icA. Using upper- and lowercase letters makes your password stronger.
Another option is to have one base password with a combination of six letters and numbers and then add on the first and last letters of the account or Web site name. If you create passwords by applying the same pattern to all, you will be able to remember an unlimited number of passwords for use with Webbased e-mail, online banking, credit card transactions, and all other Web sites where personal information is stored.
If you’d like, you can then choose a single, simple password for use with all nonsecured Web sites. Even then, never use an obvious password such as your birth date, mother’s maiden name, or the last four digits of your Social Security number. And don’t use the base password you use for secure sites.
You may opt to store passwords in a paper-based address directory under the first letter of the account or Web site name or write them in a list. Although a paper list cannot be hacked, you still need to keep it safe from physical theft. One way to do that is always to add an extra letter or number or two to the beginning and end of every password in your paper directory. For security, store your password list in a fire- and burglar-resistant safe. And let another family member know where to find it in the event that you are unable to tell him or her.
If you’re not overly concerned about theft but want to keep your list handy while still playing it safe, you could always tape a file folder under your desk and then store your password directory there. Or file it in a folder with a bland or unappealing label such as MAPS or STOMACH SURGERY.
Store in a locked filing cabinet or bank safe-deposit box.
Store dry pet food in a tightly sealed container to keep freshness in, pesky rodents and insects out. A large plastic food container might be just right for storing pet food or treats in a pantry or near food bowls. An empty, lidded cat litter bucket can be recycled to hold the contents of a small bag of dog or cat food. A small metal trash can serves the purpose for larger bags. It’s a good idea to label containers, especially recycled containers.
Transforming Common Items into Storage Solutions
Tackle boxes are a neat way to organize and store tools and other hardware in the garage or you can use one as a traveling house repair kit. The sections are perfect for separating screws, picture hangers, and nails by size. A hammer and screwdrivers fit easily in the bottom.
Store batteries and electronic parts in the top trays; stash battery chargers, extra headphones, and other electronic equipment in the larger compartment.
They offer a great way to sort and store arts and crafts supplies for beading, jewelry-making, sewing, watercolors — anything you can think of!
Turn one into a traveling Barbie suitcase! The hook and bait sections hold those tiny high heels and other accessories, while the other compartments keep outfits organized. Barbie herself fits in the bottom with any larger items.
Turn a small one into a first-aid kit for car or camping.
Gather and sort all the pet stuff into categories such as grooming tools and products, food and bowls, toys, sweaters and raincoats, leashes and collars, and waste disposal items.
Store food and bowls near your pet feeding area; cat litter and litter disposal tools near the litter box. If you have multiple cats and therefore multiple boxes, having a container of litter and a scooper by each box makes it much quicker and easier to clean them out.
Hang leashes, harnesses, and waste-disposal bags near the door. Store other items in baskets or storage containers on shelves.
Create a folder for each pet with its medical history, vaccination records, rabies certificates, and license documents. File with other family records.
If you only have digital images, you may prefer to store them on your computer and use a program to organize them into albums that you can share with others, and then print only selected photos. You also can display digital images in portable digital frames and albums. You might also consider creating a unique slide show or screensaver for your computer using stored photos or scanned memorabilia.
Store prints in the main area of your home, away from light, heat, and humidity. Store negatives in a safe-deposit box in archival envelopes labeled by date. To preserve photographs longer, use archival-quality photo boxes or photo album pages.
Organize a backlog of photographs by sorting them into three to five broad categories. Categories might be friends, family, children, grandchildren, places you’ve lived, places you’ve visited. Or you can categorize by events (graduations) or by time frames (college days) or by family members. As you sort, toss photos into labeled boxes or paper bags.
Next, starting with one box or bag, sort photographs into subcategories. For example, if your main category is VACATIONS, sort photographs into separate vacations you’ve taken. A labeled shoe box works well for organizing; use durable sticky tabs to create subcategory labels. I use the kind of photo sorter that scrapbookers use. It’s a big lidded box with a dozen smaller, removable boxes that can be labeled.
As you sort photographs, throw away ones that didn’t come out right or are similar to better photographs. Throw out duplicates or, if you can’t bring yourself to do that, put them into a separate box labeled DUPLICATES and share with family members.
Transforming Common Items into Storage Solutions
Screw hooks into a wall and attach bungee cords to either end so that the bungee cords are drawn tight to the wall. Measure the cords first so you know how far apart to space the hooks. They need to be snug enough to hold items in place. Use the bungee cords to:
Transform the interior walls or inside door of a hall closet into a storage space for mittens, gloves, hats and scarves.
Line a mudroom wall with several rows of bungee cords and use them to keep the floor clear of shoes.
Store shoes or purses on the back of a bedroom closet door.
String cords in the garage to secure tennis racquets, hockey and lacrosse sticks, baseball bats, and other tall sports gear.
Install hooks in your laundry room or bathroom and attach bungee cords to serve as a clothesline for hanging drip-dry items when you need to. Store the bungee cord and clothespins in a bag from one hook when not in use.
Using your computer to store and manage contacts, to-do lists, documents, personal information such as genealogies, photographs, receipts, and data is one way to reduce paper. Don’t store all of your important documents on your computer desktop, though: That’s like leaving all your papers out on your desk, which makes it difficult to find anything.
Instead, create folders by subject to store related documents in the same way you would if you were filing the physical pieces of paper in a filing cabinet. Similarly, instead of saving all incoming e-mails in your inbox, save them to your subject folders.
Do be sure to perform frequent backups of your hard drive. When backing up to disks was the only option, I found it too time consuming. Backing up to an external hard drive backup is faster and easier, but if your home or office is burglarized and your computer is stolen, chances are the thief will take the external hard drive, too.
Thumb-drive backup is a good option for backing up your laptop while away from home, but I prefer online backup because it’s automatic, which means one less thing I have to remember. For about $50 a year, all your documents are backed up within minutes of creating or modifying them.
(see also Addresses; Business Cards; Passwords, Electronic; Storage Solution, page 188)
If you never get any further than this step, at least all your photographs will be sorted instead of stored in a jumbled mess. Store photo albums on shelves as you would books.
(see also Books; Storage Solution, page 196)
Store extra pillows in a guest room, on a closet shelf or in a dresser drawer. Keep them dust-free by placing them in their original plastic packaging or wrapped in a dry cleaning bag. But do not store down pillows in plastic; cover with a pillowcase or other breathable fabric instead.
(see also Linens)
You know what I mean … keys, coins, wallet, cell phone, receipts, gum, mints, whatever. Keep a pretty bowl or basket on your dresser or near the front entryway for those items that you will load back into your pockets tomorrow.
Here’s a suggestion: Get in the habit of putting all loose change in a piggybank to save for a rainy day or give to your favorite charity. A dollar in change each day adds up to $365 in a year.
You could store every lid on top of the pot it belongs to, but that would take up too much room. You could just toss them all into a cabinet, but that’s not very organized. What you need are pot lid organizers. They come in a variety of sizes and styles from inexpensive, freestanding racks to pricier (but worth every penny) pullout racks. A dish-drying rack will also do the trick.
Put turntables in corner cabinets to make it easy to access everything. They come in all different sizes. I use large turntables in our bathroom linen closet to store extra supplies of toiletries on one shelf and first-aid supplies on another.
You can use turntables in your refrigerator, too, to prevent leftovers from getting lost and forgotten. Smaller, two-tiered turntables are good for storing medicine bottles, spice jars, or canned goods in cabinets or on pantry shelves.
Make it easy to retrieve and put away the ones you use most frequently — store them in the cabinet closest to the stove or hang them overhead from a pot rack.
Stack pots and pans to save space. Place a layer of paper toweling or a terry washcloth between nonstick pans to prevent scratching. Consider installing roll-out drawers for pots and pans. Create extra storage space in a cabinet by removing roasting pans, lobster pots, and other large, infrequently used pots and pans to a shelf in the garage or up high in a coat closet.
(see also Storage Solution, page 60)
Store a copy in a fire- and burglar-resistant safe or bank safe-deposit box. Also give a copy to a close family member. Have your attorney keep the original. Shred papers that have been revised.
(see Medications)
Store with current-year tax records in a filing cabinet.
My favorite purse storage solutions are organizers that hang on the wall or on the back of a closet or bedroom door. This type of display makes it quick and easy to see what you have and to put purses away. You can also find special purse organizers that hang from a clothes rod or you can use a hanging sweater shelf organizer.
The only downside to leaving all of your purses on display is that the ones you don’t use often collect dust. Store infrequently used purses in clear plastic bins that you can stack and store on a shelf.
You also might use clear plastic zippered bags like the ones that are used to package new linens. Underbed storage containers are a good spot for evening bags, as well as fancy hosiery and lingerie that don’t get used much.
(see Games/Puzzles)
