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.

The post February 2025 – Organizing your Home Office appeared first on Logical Placement.

The post Gloria Coles Flint Public Library Presentation on “How to Lose 20lbs of Clutter” appeared first on Logical Placement.

The post What Papers to Keep appeared first on Logical Placement.

The post How to Lose 20lbs of Clutter appeared first on Logical Placement.

Hello, Friends!

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

January 2025 – What have you been putting off?

Happy New Year!

Like most of us, life is moving at a faster pace than ever. Have you had items on your to-do list that are important, but you just haven’t gotten around to doing them? January is GO Month – Getting Organized Month, in my industry and now that most of the kids are back into school and things are getting back into a routine what better time to deal with your lists!

Here are a few things that you should think about doing this year:
Trust or Will – I’m sure this is on a lot of to-do lists, but for one reason or another, you just haven’t gotten around this. This is an item of extreme importance and you need to commit to doing it. Many years ago when my husband and I were working on our trust, it was a great way of getting things organized. For instance, do you know all your 401k accounts or know where the deed to your house is? By working with a lawyer and getting everything into your trust/will, it will force you to get organized.

If you are one of the lucky ones and got a recent bonus or perhaps you are expecting to get some money back on your federal tax return later this year, you should use some of your funds for this particular project and then you can remove it off your list!

Life Insurance – Do you have a life insurance policy for you or your loved ones? What would happen to your family if the main breadwinner died? Could you live the way you are accustomed to living? Are you able to send your kids to college? Talk to an agent and then you can find out what you have room in your budget for. Maybe you just need to get a term insurance to get you through the years that your kids are in college. But you need to spend some time investigating your options and making an educated choice.

Backing up your computer – I have had a few clients over the years lose all their data because they never backed up their personal computer. How would your life be impacted if you lost your whole computer? Many people are backing up their computers not only to an external hard drive, but also via an online backup storage area. I have used Carbonite for several years. Plus if you have an off-site storage, you can set it up automatically and then you never have to worry about doing it again.

Backing up your pictures – If you are backing up your computer, you may want to make sure your picture folder is also being included in the backup. If you don’t want to back it up to the internet/cloud, then I would suggest that you store a copy of your pictures on a thumb drive and place a copy in your fireproof safe or safety deposit box.

If you have to break these projects down by one per month, that may make it a little more manageable.

I hope you and your family all the best in 2025!

Two Upcoming Presentation in January 2025:
Troy Public Library on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 from 6:30-7:30. Please visit www.troypl.org to register.

Gloria Coles Flint Public Library on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025 from 6:30-7:30pm. Their website is https://www.fpl.info 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

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.

The post January 2025 – What have you been putting off? appeared first on Logical Placement.

Hello, Friends!

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

December 2024 – Organizing Your Fridge and Freezer

This is a great topic for December because many of you will be doing some entertaining over the next few weeks. Let’s start with your fridge:

1. Remove all the items and clean the shelves and drawers. Now it’s time for a trick I learned from my Mom, place paper towel sheets in the refrigerator’s drawers. Then, every couple of weeks, replace them — and the drawers seem to stay cleaner, longer.
2. Now place your items into categories when you put them back into the fridge: salad dressing, sauces, condiments, left-overs, etc.
3. Several years ago, I took my label maker out and labeled some of my refrigerator’s shelves so everyone using them would place items back where they belong. They saw the salad dressing actually had a home on the inside shelf. Then, when I’m off to the grocery store, it’s easy for me to see what items are running low.
4. Look at your expiration dates and write down any items that need replacing.
5. Did you find any “forgotten projects” deep in the fridge? That’s what we call them at our house. Maybe it’s a forgotten left-over from last week, or something else that slipped your mind. Throw them out and move on.
6. Are there any items you want to use sooner rather than later? If so, put together a meal menu to help remind you what needs to be used up.

Now let’s move to organizing the freezer:

1. If you have a fridge freezer, remove all the items to remind yourself of what you have, and what you need to use up — especially if you are planning a holiday get-together. You may need to use up some things to provide more room in the freezer.
2. If you have a chest freezer, use baskets to help you categorize your frozen items.
3. When you are placing items into the freezer, label the content and date it. Then there is no guess work involved. I like to use Ziploc freezer bags. This simple idea has saved me important time. Place the older bags on top as well.
4. Place a whiteboard on the outside to keep track of what’s inside? This can be a simple yet great tool to help you remember the contents. I label the contents on the left side and then use checkmarks so if I have 4 packages of chicken, I would have 4 checkmarks beside the chicken. As I remove a package, I remove (wipe off) one of the checkmarks.

Two Upcoming Presentation in January 2025:
Troy Public Library on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 from 6:30-7:30. Please visit www.troypl.org to register.

Gloria Coles Flint Public Library on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025 from 6:30-7:30pm. Their website is https://www.fpl.info to register.

Happy Organizing and Happy Holiday!

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.

The post December 2024 – Organizing Your Freezer and Fridge appeared first on Logical Placement.

Hello, Friends!

The post November 2024 – Getting Ready for Guests! appeared first on Logical Placement.

The post Christmas Presentation: Survive the Holidays 2024 appeared first on Logical Placement.

Hello, Friends!

It’s time to change over your closet and what do you want to do with your off-season clothing? Well, here are a few things to consider (I referenced a Real Simple magazine April 2019):

• Is it time to purchase an extra wardrobe closet that you can zip up?
• Empty the coat pockets and zipper everything up so it retains its shape.
• It’s a great time to go thru your closet and really evaluate your clothing? Have you worn it in the past 2 years, does it go with a lot of items in your closet? Does it need to be drycleaned or mended? Do it now so it’ll be ready when you want to wear it.
• Invest in some plastic containers and label the boxes accordingly. Sometimes I put a label on each side – Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter, then I turn the container accordingly to what is being stored. It might be a good idea to pack things away together if you plan to go somewhere warm during the cold winter months so that when it comes times to packing for that trip, you don’t have to pull everything out.
• If you choose to store some of your bulky sweaters, you can always put them into vacuum sealed bags so that you can pack more into the container.
• I have put a few fabric beads into a sachet to keep things smelling fresh.
• If you are storing your winter boots, clean the salt stains and dirt and put everything away clean.
• Consider where you are storing your items. You might invest in a shelving unit. Think about humidity and temperature swings and could that possibly damage any of your precious items.

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 email list, have them send me an email.

The post October 2024 – Off Season Storage appeared first on Logical Placement.

Hello, Friends!

Has this ever come out of your mouth? Have you ever found yourself searching for the manual for your
surround sound system, especially when you’ve moved into a new house or are setting up a new TV?

I have had a lot of success using a simple technique, a 3-ring binder, sheet protectors, and tabs.

Don’t get me wrong, I started my file folders, like most people and filed them away in the filing cabinet. I had 2 file folders – “Purchases > $500” and “Purchases < $500”. This process worked for many years, but like most couples, the longer we stayed married, the more we acquired, right? I found myself having to replace these file folders every year, because the file folders would break because the glue wasn’t supporting 5lbs of paper.

When we moved into our house 20 years ago, the owner handed me a binder with sheet protectors, with all the warranty manuals that were remaining with the house. That was a godsend! We have referred to that binder on many occasions. I liked how it was arranged and loved having the items at my fingertips. When we sold our home, I did the same and left the manual for the house we sold with the home.

I also took it a step further. I decided to organize all my manuals. I use one binder for large items, such as
furniture, and then I have another binder which helps us organize smaller items like our electronic equipment, stereo system, camera, kitchen appliances etc… (That’s where the tabs come in handy, breaking the binder into categories.) When I go to file something now, I put the manual with the receipt (if your receipt is starting to fade, make a photocopy of it) and any extra warranty purchased. This way everything is together, in one place.

Organizing Home Improvements

Now that we have been in our house several years, the home improvement receipts were starting to get a little out of hand so just this summer, I organized my home improvement file folder. I used an accordion file folder and organized items into categories and then placed the appropriate receipt behind the tab.

I also created a sheet with a list of names of businesses/resources that we have used in the past, so we know who to call the next time something goes wrong.

If you have had any major work done, you should also take pictures along the way. (This may come in handy if there is a dispute).

I hope this prevents you from searching your house for manuals and receipts. Let me know what organizing tips have helped you along the way.

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 email list, have them send me an email.

The post September 2024 – “Where’s the manual?” appeared first on Logical Placement.