I'm not a shopper.  I don't like going to the grocery store, and on the rare occasion that I need to make a trip to the galleria, I'm in and out as fast as I can weave around the mall walkers.  Fortunately, a lot of things I need I have stored in our shed, but that brings us to an even less-appealing alternative: shopping in the House of Cotthoff.

I don't save everything, and I've certainly seen homes, garages, and storage spaces more cluttered than my own, but with the warmer climate lately, we were able to put some effort into organizing our storage.  Taking a cue from an article I read in Beazer Home's SmartLiving magazine ("Get the Garage in Gear" by Kacey Cloues, Fall 2007, Volume 12), my husband, Steve, and I were able to get our shed back in shape.

The magazine suggests sorting through everything to determine exactly what you need to keep and what you need to get rid of.  So we packed up everything we could live without and hauled it off to Goodwill.  Less headache than a garage sale, and the tax deduction still puts a little money in my pocket.  The article then suggested to group the rest of your paraphenilia by category or family, such as putting all holiday decorations in one area and all of little Johnny's sports equipment somewhere else, making sure that most frequently-used items are more accessible while the dangerous items are not.  I'm telling you, we already had a good system of shelves, hooks, bins, etc., but it was quite a chore moving our anthrax to the top shelf.  Sacrifices.

Beazer's Monica Ricci was the organizational expert providing information in the article.  She mentioned how important it is to get the whole family on board, making sure everyone takes responsibility for items they want to keep as well as new items they want to add to their area.  Being a new empty-nester, I fortunately don't have to worry much about that anymore!  Ricci says that if it seems overwhelming, take baby steps.  Work on one corner at a time.  At the very least, ponder on it (I'm good about that part!).  Visualize how you want your storage areas to look, and think about where you would put your belongings.  And when you're finished, make sure you stick with it.  It's kind of like an exercise plan.  If you're going to invest the time and energy, might as well let the effects last as long as they can!

Good luck with your spring cleaning!  Hopefully it will be easier to "shop" in your home!