Tuesday, October 6, 2015

At the Raymond Village Library - By Sally Holt


I am not organized at home. I like to think and talk about organizing, read magazine articles about it and study online, various items to purchase, to accomplish getting things in order and for storage ideas. Even with the best intentions. I tend to lose focus quickly on the organizing task at hand more often than not.  My biggest problem is that I get overwhelmed.
 
Our home in Norway has a long storage building that we call the Tin House. It was the first home of the Schiavi family of Schiavi Homes. You may have heard of them. Before they opened Schiavi Homes they used it to store refrigerators, stoves and other items for the Western Auto Store in downtown Norway.  It currently stores lots of things and until last fall, that included 40 plus Tupperware bins of my “stuff.”   

Last fall, the time had come to call my friend, Toni for help. Toni could easily start her own business as professional organizer. Now retired, Toni had been a fourth grade teacher for years and we also attended library school together. I also knew that Toni would be able to frame questions about my “stuff” to decide whether to keep or let go. If it was up to me alone I know I would keep a lot more than I should and maybe get down to 30 Tupperware containers. For the next several months, through early summer, Toni came to my house twice a month and not only got the Tupperware containers down to four but also helped me organize my entire house. The biggest reward was when my husband said, recently, “This house feels like a new house.” The challenge now is to “stay organized.”

Join us on Wednesday, November 4, at 6:30 p.m. and meet Lisa Luken who is a professional organizer and Simple Living mentor and learn how to use six simple steps that will help you get focused, take action, and find freedom from your stuff, which will allow you to live life and do what you love. She will also share how to use this process to get organized and simplify for the holidays. Free and open to the public.

Another neat way to organize is to repurpose items to use in other ways.

Gather round for an up-cycling challenge with old books as we gather to a make Christmas ornaments out of old books. Local artisan, Bridget Cavage, will be at the library to show you how on November 19th at 6:30 p.m. The pretty cream and white theme using old book pages will become your favorite addition to the riotous colors that come with Christmas Decorating. The cost is $5 for a materials fee.  Open to the public. 

Call 655-4283 or email sally.holt@raymondvillagelibrary.org to reserve your spot.



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