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Hello, Friends!

810.348.1772
betty@logicalplacement.com • www.LogicalPlacement.com

June 2025 – Where are the matching pillowcases?

Are you ready to dig into your linen closet? I know when mine is organized, I feel so much better. I hate it when I try to pull out one towel and three come tumbling out with it. Has that ever happened to you?

Here are some great tips for taming the tangle of sheets in your linen closet:
The first thing I do is delegate the shelves to certain things. For instance, I find it easier to put the king linens on a separate shelf than the queen linens. Then, I group together the beach towels, guest towels and then the extra towels our family uses.

You have to ask yourself “How many linens do I need for each bed?” If you are tight on space, I would have one or two sets available in the linen closet. If you have to keep a few more you can place them in a clear tub, label it and store it with the other blankets and pillows. (I know a few families who have large gatherings during holiday times or even in the summer and may need their extra linens at that time.) I’ve learned in working with many clients over the years that people keep linens from 20 years ago, with tears, stains, mismatched pillow cases etc… Then they wonder why they don’t have room for their new linens/towels. If you’re not going to use it, clear it out. You will be amazed at the space you will create.

Here is a great video to help you fold sheets, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVu1nBNKnWY. Some families will use a pillow case and place the fitted and flat sheet and the other pillowcase into it, so everything stays together. I’ve started to do this with my own linens and I like how it keeps the sets together.

You also have to consider space for towels, hand towels, and facecloths. What amount do you have room for and how often do people change towels and do laundry? That will help you determine the amount of towels that you need to keep. If you train your family into hanging their towels once they’ve used them, they could easily use the same towel the next day. That could cut your laundry in half!

If you have a larger linen closet, you may also choose to keep your extra medication, candles, batteries, light bulbs in this area too. Again, it depends on the closet and how many shelves you have. I use old shoe boxes to group like things together. In my linen closet, I have wired shelving, so the shoeboxes and small containers work well in the space making it easy to remove a box and not 30 individual items.

In next month’s newsletter we will deal with the laundry room. Send me your questions for dealing with laundry rooms and I will try to answer them in the newsletter.

Here are some upcoming Household Hazardous Waste days in the surrounding counties. Most of them require an appointment so call or visit their website to learn more:
For Genesee County – https://gcmpc.org/recycle-day
For Livingston County – https://milivcounty.gov/dpw/household-hazardous-waste
For Washtenaw County – https://www.washtenaw.org/287/Household-Hazardous-Waste-Disposal
For Wayne County – https://www.waynecounty.com/departments/environmental/landresources/household-hazardous-waste.aspx
For Oakland County-https://www.oakgov.com/community/health/health-a-z/information-a-z/hazardous-materials-and-household-waste .

Follow me at https://www.facebook.com/logicalplacementorganizing for weekly organizing tips or on Instagram @logical_placement.

Your local professional organizer,

Betty Huotari

P.S. If you would like to share this email with a friend, please pass it along and if they would like to be added to my list, have them send me an email. If you would like to unsubscribe to the monthly newsletter, please send an email to betty@logicalplacement.com.

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Hello, Friends!

810.348.1772
betty@logicalplacement.com • www.LogicalPlacement.com

May 2025 – “Who’s coming over? Yikes, get the baskets!”

Has this come out of your mouth? Do you want to have a space ready to entertain or have available so if a friend calls, you can pick up a few items and feel good about your house?

Here are a few questions to ask about your space:

How do you want to use the great room/living room – for entertaining, playing video games, or just to relax?

The important thing to remember is what space has what function.

Grab a few boxes. The first thing is we need to de-clutter. A room looks better with fewer items in it. I keep my knickknacks on my bookshelves where there is some storage, but then I can exchange items out, according to the season. If I have bought something new, I try to donate or ask myself “do I still love the item and can I find a home for it elsewhere?”. We also are entering the season of garage sales and church bazaars. We may be able to donate our items there. It’s a win/win for everyone.

The second step is to assess the furniture. Do you have too many pieces? You may want to start with the largest piece of furniture and use that as an anchor. So if you have a couch and are planning on using the great room to watch TV, you would want to center the couch across the front of the TV.

If you plan to do a lot of entertaining, keep your eyes out for portable card or banquet tables that you can place around the space to allow your guests to place their drink/plate.

If you are having a large gathering, you can have guests use wine charms to distinguish their glasses from one another. Or, some people love going to garage sales and purposely buying mismatched glasses so that makes it easier. When we entertain groups, I will even pull out the plastic cups and place a few sharpies nearby so guests can label their glasses however they wish.

If you are going to be using the great room to play video games, I would suggest getting some bookshelves or cabinets for storing your games and peripheral products. I’ve seen many people use baskets and place the different categories of games in the baskets along with the different instruments it needs.

Don’t forget to take a look at what you’ve got displayed on your walls. According to Google, a common mistake about hanging pictures is that we hang them too high. “As a general rule, hang art at eye level, which is 58″ to 60″ off the ground to center of image. Don’t hang pictures at different heights in the room. Keep them at the same level so your eye is not bouncing from picture to picture. When hanging a picture over a piece of furniture, leave 6″ to 8″ above the sofa, table, chest, sideboard or mantel.”

I wish you luck on tackling your great room.

Follow me at https://www.facebook.com/logicalplacementorganizing for weekly organizing tips or on Instagram @logical_placement.

Your local professional organizer,
Betty Huotari
P.S. If you would like to share this email with a friend, please pass it along and if they would like to be added to my list, have them send me an email. If you would like to unsubscribe to the monthly newsletter, please send an email to betty@logicalplacement.com.

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Hello, Friends!

810.348.1772
betty@logicalplacement.com • www.LogicalPlacement.com

April 2025 – Organizing Your Bedroom

Having an organized bedroom, I think, is very important. Who wants to go to bed and wake up surrounded by clutter? I don’t, and many experts agree that if your bedroom is a calm surrounding, you will get a better night’s sleep. In this issue, we’re going to find new ways to organize your bedroom and closets.

When it comes to keeping you on task, get 4 boxes and a glass of water to help you keep focus.

Here is what you do with the 4 boxes. First of all label them: Garbage, Remove, Donate, Clothes to Keep.

Garbage – This is self-explanatory. Sometimes garbage ends up on our floor or dressers so just pitch it.

Remove – Ask yourself; Are there any items that do not belong in the bedroom? Have you placed something in this room temporarily because you were expecting company and then never took the time to move that item to its home? Now’s your time to place it in the box, and then you can place it where it really belongs.

Donate – Donate your clothes to your favorite charity or sell at a local consignment store?

Clothes to Keep – You are determined to fit into your clothes, but the majority of clothes that don’t fit, should be placed elsewhere. You may want to move these clothes downstairs in containers that are labeled by size or into a wardrobe closet.

Organizing Your Closets
Create a plan first. What do you want the closet to be used for?
Install a second rod and extra shelves if your budget and space permits it.
Get into the habit that if you bring something new in, you must let go of something.

Shoe racks are a great investment. If you have a lot of shoes in the master closet, clearly label the shoebox to remind you of what is inside, or you can even take a Polaroid of the shoes and tape it to the outside of the box.

It is a good idea to split your suits. This makes it easier to mix and match with other outfits.

Arrange your items so things are in groups – skirts, pants, blouses, dress shirts and blazers.

Buy hangers that you can hang multiple pants or skirts on.

Use a pegboard for scarves, hats, belts and purses. Sometimes by buying an organizer for that category, it should limit your category. Notice I said “should.”

Don’t put clothes back into your closets if they need mending. If you don’t care to mend them, bring them to the drycleaners.

The last thing to mention is make your bed daily. It’s the largest piece of furniture and if your bed isn’t made, it really gives your whole room a very messy look.

I hope you will enjoy sleeping the calm oasis you have now created. Sweet dreams!

Follow me at https://www.facebook.com/logicalplacementorganizing for weekly organizing tips or on Instagram @logical_placement.

Your local professional organizer,

Betty Huotari

P.S. If you would like to share this email with a friend, please pass it along and if they would like to be added to my list, have them send me an email. If you would like to unsubscribe to the monthly newsletter,
please send an email to betty@logicalplacement.com.

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Hello, Friends!

810.348.1772
betty@logicalplacement.com • www.LogicalPlacement.com

March 2025 – Where is that matching lid?

The kitchen is probably the most important room to organize because, like it or not, we probably spend the most of our waking hours in our kitchens. In my many years of being a professional organizer, I don’t think I have come across a house where my client’s Tupperware cupboard was organized and it was easy to find the matching lid.

Let’s break down the kitchen into smaller segments:

1. The Drawers – plan them according to where you use the utensils and where the dishwasher is located. For instance, it is a good idea to put your silverware closest to the dishwasher and in the top drawer. I would encourage everyone to buy silverware dividers, which I think most people have done already. Next, take out all your kitchen gadgets and cooking utensils. Why do you have five spatulas? Decide which you use most and keep them. Place the rest into a shoe box (with a label “Extra Kitchen Utensils) and place that shoe box in the basement or laundry room. See if you have to go to the box within the next year to pull something out. After the year has passed, you can donate the box. Try not to look in it.
2. Glassware – Over the years has your glassware expanded? Do you have too many coffee mugs? Too many souvenir cups? Remove all the glassware and place them into categories; tall glasses together, juice glasses together, etc. Once you have them gathered, you can take a look and see how big that category is and then decide if 6 or 8 glasses are enough. Put the drinking glasses close to the plates because when you set the table, you need access to both items. The glasses you use the most, should be the most accessible.
3. Dinnerware – the same goes for this cupboard. Sometimes you have to look and see if your shelves are bowing. That means there is too much weight on that shelf, so you should divide the categories a little more. Again, the dishes you use the most have to be the most accessible. Also, if you have three sets of dinnerware in the kitchen and are running out of room in the cupboards, you really need to ask yourself if you should house the dishes in this room 365 days/year if you only pull them out for 1 week/year.
4. Plasticware – Be brave now! Pull them all out and try matching up lids with bottoms and then ask yourself, what sizes are the most used and how many of those do you really need to keep? Then recycle or donate the extras.
5. Message Center – I have a whiteboard on my refrigerator that has become our message center. It helps to remind my family about upcoming appointments, chores, or errands to run. I also have a notebook that I have lying out on the counter and the kids know if they want me to buy something for them, they better write it in that book. It has kept the arguments down when they asked why I didn’t buy something. I just ask them, “did you write it down on the list?”. I incorporated this notebook about 2 years ago, and I love it. Sometimes I use it as a to-do list so it keeps me on task and helps me see what I can do if I only have 30 minutes of free time.
6. Spices – I don’t think I’ve been to a home that didn’t have an issue with spices. There are spice organizers out there that fit under our kitchen cabinets or the tiered kind that many people use. In our previous home, my husband made a spice rack that fit over our stove. I loved having our spices available and in alphabetical order (I don’t think that is too OCD.) Of course, the chefs would say that the heat coming off the stove is going to deter the flavor of the spices, and my answer to that is “just put a little more in then.” In our current home, we have a microwave in that space, so I had to come up with another solution. I went to the dollar store and bought a few small baskets and now have the baskets separated by categories, such as these spices I use mainly for baking, (which if any of you knew me, that doesn’t happen too often) and these are used more regularly. Then I have them alphabetically. It makes it quicker to find a particular spice.

Let me know what has worked well for you and your family.

I hope this newsletter has given you a few suggestions on helping organize your kitchen. Next month’s newsletter will focus on tackling your bedroom.

I’m presenting at the Chesterfield Township Library on Tuesday, March 11, 2025 from 6:30-7:30pm. Their website is https://www.chelibrary.org/to register.

Follow me at https://www.facebook.com/logicalplacementorganizing for weekly organizing tips or on Instagram @logical_placement.

Your local professional organizer,

Betty Huotari

P.S. If you would like to share this email with a friend, please pass it along and if they would like to be added to my list, have them send me an email. If you would like to unsubscribe to the monthly news-letter, please send an email to betty@logicalplacement.com.

A lot of my clients have a messy junk drawer, right.

If you buy a drawer organizer, take all your items out of the drawer and then insert the drawer organizer and before you put something into the drawer, ask yourself does it belong in the kitchen? Do you use it regularly? Should this drawer be its home?

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Hello, Friends!

810.348.1772
betty@logicalplacement.com • www.LogicalPlacement.com

February 2025 – Organizing your Home Office

Sometimes organizing your Home Office can be overwhelming. Let’s break it down into 3 categories:

• Desk
  • When you are organizing your desk, you can divide into zones.
    • A Zone – objects you use all the time and therefore should be closest to you
    • B Zone – you may use objects weekly, such as your shredder
    • C Zone – this is usually your storage closet. Put your extra supplies into a storage closet or cabinet
• Office Supplies
  • Take inventory of what you have at home. When you start to bring the supplies together, you will be able to see what you have too much of and other supplies that are running low. Ask yourself how many binders do you need? How many pads of papers and post-it notes?
  • Place the supplies that you need the most, in the critical zone, which is at your fingertips. This may include: stapler, scissors, pens, pencils, highlighter, sharpie marker. It would also be helpful if you had your shredder and recycle container within arm’s reach.
• Filing Cabinet
  • You may choose to file your files in your cabinet from A-Z or by categories and then alphabetically within the categories. For example, you can organize your folder into the Utility/Bills category and then you can file A-Z within the category, so your Consumer Energy goes before your Verizon bill.
  • It is also important to purge your filing cabinet on an annual basis. A good time to do this would be in January or February so as you are purging, you might find some receipts for your upcoming taxes.

Two Upcoming Presentation in 2025:

• Brighton Public Library on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2025 from 6:30-7:30. Please visit www.brightonlibrary.info to register.
• Chesterfield Township Library on Tuesday, March 11, 2025 from 6:30-7:30pm. Their website is https://www.chelibrary.org/to register.

Happy Organizing,

Follow me at https://www.facebook.com/logicalplacementorganizing for weekly organizing tips or on Instagram @logical_placement.

Your local professional organizer,

Betty Huotari

PS If you would like to share this email with a friend, please pass it along and if they would like to be added to my newsletter list, have them send me an email.

Walking into this home office is a peaceful setting.

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