Mabel’s Labels BlogHer ’10 Contest

jenbshaw — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:06:04 +0000

The following is my entry into Mabel’s Labels BlogHer ’10 contest. We were asked to write a post on our blog in response to the following hypothetical situation:

Electrical storms are going to wipe out the Internet (perhaps forever). You have one day left to write about your passions: what do you want to say to the blogosphere in 300 words or less?

Enjoy!

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I enjoy scrapbooking, I could spend hours buried in a good book, I think I’m even becoming a decent writer. All of those hobbies pale in comparison to my true passion, organizing.

I’ve only just begun to share this passion with my “blogosphere” friends. My long time friends are well accustomed to my OCD ways.

I remember the very first organizational tool I ever used, an opaque purple caboodle with a glitter finish that only a little girl could truly appreciate. I spent hours carefully arranging all of my make-up only to decide later that it was much better suited to my massive hoard of Barbie accessories. It gave me an incredible thrill to be able to instantly show my mom that I didn’t in fact have a hundred pairs of Barbie shoes.

In my college years I used my organizing skills to squirrel away more than double the amount of clothes and trinkets into my dorm room than any of the other girls on my floor.

My love of organizing kicked into full gear when I finally moved out on my own. Having an entire apartment that I could arrange any way I liked was for me the equivalent of letting a 7 year-old loose in a candy store. I had a kitchen, bathroom, living room and closets all to myself. The only downside to this new found freedom was that organizing supplies can be COSTLY.

These days I get my “thrills” helping my friends and family get their lives organized. Whether it is helping a friend get her clothes in order or helping her get a handle on her overflowing inbox. My goal is to someday be the person that people seek out to help them get organized.

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Post tags: Mabel’s Labels BlogHer ‘10 Contest, organizing

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My Chaos is Organized

jenbshaw — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 03:45:00 +0000

My name is Jen, and I’m an obsessive organizer.

(crowd mumbles…hi Jen)

It’s true, I love to organize, I live to organize things. After poking a little fun at me people usually start to ask me how I organize certain areas of my home. It is my firm belief that you can have a perfectly organized home WITHOUT being Martha Stewart, WITHOUT having your house look like it was ripped from the pages of Good Housekeeping and WITHOUT spending a fortune. A good friend of mine told me that I should turn it into a blog series wherein I share my best organizing tips. So without further ado….

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It’s a proven fact that nearly all women love jewelry. From the time we are little girls we are drawn to things that sparkle and shine. Problems can occur however when it starts to accumulate. Earrings get lost, necklaces get into knotted tangles, favorite pieces are stashed away and forgotten. I have devised a solution that works for me based on ideas I gathered from various magazines and websites.

Here is a photo of my “jewelry corner”

I know, I know, I have a lot of necklaces. The only way I would ever be able to keep them all in rotation is to see them all. I made this board myself for about $15. It is just a bulletin board covered with fabric that matches my bedroom decor. I have my necklaces sorted by like kind, all the long strands together, all the pendants together, all the short beaded ones together, you get the idea. Other variations of this idea include painted cork board or using decorative doorknobs as hangers.

Moving on to the jewelry boxes.

As you can see I have two, and yes, one is in fact a Tinkerbell music box. I keep my rather tiny collection of rings in it. The other jewelry box is actually a hand carved piece that was brought back from Afghanistan by my cousin. I keep my vast collection of watches in the top section and my earrings in the bottom drawer.

This is the earring drawer.

Confession time. I have a total of 6 holes between my two ears and I hardly ever wear earrings. On the off chance that I decide to trouble with them I like to be able to find the exact pair I’m looking for in a hurry. I keep them all separated by type in the lids of jewelry boxes. It makes it easy to find matches when there are only several pairs in each lid.

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I want to know what your organizing questions are! Send me your problem areas and I will help you organize them without trying to Martha Stewart you. Also I will send a prize of some sort to the person who comes up with the best name for this feature. Help me out here people. Email me at jen (at) sarcasminaskirt (dot) com.

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Sarcasm in a Skirt » Organized It!

Mabel’s Labels BlogHer ’10 Contest

My Chaos is Organized