When a room is cluttered and untidy, the best thing is: start with the floor. An empty, tidy floor emidiately looks much more organised, even if there is still a lot of chaos left in the room. The Quakers – a religious and social group in America- made it their mission to have an empty floor and created lovely furniture for that. They basicly hung everything on the wall: Form brooms on hooks to kitchen appliences – even chairs hung from the wall.

That was one of the first thing when we moved into the house we have now been in for 11 years. We bought a dinner table with six chairs but didn’t need 4 of them in the beginning (two adults one child in a highchair) so we hung the spare chairs above the door in the office. Easy enough to grab if people come around, but out of the way for normal days.

When I started my computer this morning I found a mail from a journalist asking me to comment about food wastage.
According to her 5.2 billion $ a year are wasted in Australia on food that’s bought but doesn’t get eaten.
I think everybody is guilty of throwing some food out – but it should be the exception, not the rule.
Here is what I have to say about this topic:

• People have a very high standard when going shopping and all good intention to “home cook this week”. And then never get around to it.

• Lack of planning ahead and impulse buying.

• People can cook and would love to do it, but are so overwhelmed with the clutter on bench top and dinner table that they rather feed the kids baked beans in front of the TV.

• Sometimes it is the second generation eating like this. A lot of my clients tell me, that they never learned.

And here are a couple of ideas to get started to not contribute to this 5.2 billion $ price tag:

• meal plan

• Shop with a shopping list.

• Organise your pantry – every half year!!!!

• Ask for help and learn

• Always unpack the dishwasher – this one sounds a bit out of line, but if you treat the dishwasher as a cupboard for dirty dishes rather than clean ones – you are not going to have to clean away mountains of dirty plates before starting to cook.

Never walk through your house empty
handed

Stop long sleeved business shirts getting tangled up in the washing machine by buttoning the cuffs to the buttons on front of the shirt

I spent my day with the quickest sorting and chucking client since becoming a Professional Organiser. The amount we got done was absolutely amazing. We even had a tip waiting outside to happily take everything we decided doesn’t need keeping any more. And my van was full of things to be donated to my Charity of choice, The Salvation Army. It made my weekend – I  love my job!!!

Last weekend I did participate in the 3rd annual Gear Up Girl bike ride from Cronulla to Homebush.
Like more than 800 other women – and a couple of girls- we all enjoyed the day without our usual responsibilities. What a great way to recharge your batteries and get fit at the same time.

And yes, I do ride in a skirt – to make a point because in Australia, riding seems to be such a male dominated sport

Finally- my first Blog post:
And although I have been collecting ideas for quite some time now, I am a bit nervous. I obviously want it to be a great start, worthwhile to read. And in putting this pressure on me, I make it all that harder to get started.
Maybe I should take my own advice and start little. Don’t fret over it, just get it out and done.
This is a common conversation I have with my clients. “It all looks so big and overwhelming.” You want to have it all done by tomorrow, including the garage? But let’s face it, if it took you 10 years (or 20,30,40…) to accumulate all that stuff, it will take some time to get it organised. So don’t be overwhelmed, give yourself permission to start with the easiest and start small. Because it is not important where you start, it is important that you start.

So that is it, my first ever blog post!!