Fortuna Major...

Passwords have been around for a long time.  Every kid who has a "box fort", tree house or other such secret meeting space, knows that you needed a password to enter.  Even the boy wizard at Hogwarts needed a password to get passed the "fat lady" portraits in the house of Gryffindor.

Last week I wrote about my dear friend Beverly, who passed away unexpectedly.  While Beverly and I had her paper files in order, her computer files were totally under her control.  Sure enough, no one has been able to figure out the passwords to her most important financial documents kept on line.  This means a headache for her children, more work for the attorneys, and a longer time before her estate will be settled.

Of course, if they can find a 12 year old who knows how to hack the system, they'll be in business. For most of us, that 12 year is busy doing other things.  So, it's important that someone know your computer passwords, or know how to find them in case of an emergency.

I thought I had devised an ingenious system for keeping the 47 (yes, that number is correct) different accounts I have with passwords.  Then I discovered quite accidentally one day that using the word "password" in my secret password locator, meant that anyone could find the data by entering "password" into finder on my computer.  Not what I had in mind.

There are whole companies devoted to assigning and keeping passwords and there are password books, similar to address books, and I am sure many other methods devised for keeping passwords - I am open to suggestions here.  Just find some method of giving that information to the most important people in your life.

With a heavy heart...

As a professional organizer, I've had the privilege of working with many, many wonderful people through the years.  But every so often a client comes along who becomes a good and trusted friend.  Such was the case with Beverly Wunderlich, a fantastic woman I moved into a senior community a number of years ago.  Beverly has just left us, and I will dearly miss her.

Beverly had a "thing" about paper.  Once a piece of paper crossed the threshold of her door, it was nearly impossible to get it out.  Our monthly sessions were often an arm wrestling match over some bit of paper or another.  No matter what system I devised for organizing her paper, she would find a way around it.  Though interestingly enough, she felt that she was making progress with her paper addiction, and I have many an email from her describing how helpful she felt working with me was for her.

Beverly lived at the beautiful Cardinal Point, in Alameda.  She would always schedule our sessions so that we ended with lunch in their beautiful dining room.  We would hash over the goings on at CP, discuss politics, and she would often give me excellent business advice.  She introduced me to her children and would include me at celebratory events.

Beverly and I shared a love of good chocolate and ice cream.  I will think of her whenever I order a hot fudge sundae!  Thank you, Beverly, for being my friend.

Life on the balcony...

My little condo has a little balcony, which I love.  Sitting outside on a Sunday afternoon, with a cookbook, and a cat on my lap is my idea of a good day.

Recently, I decided it was time to upgrade my balcony decor. I have a nice small set of teak chairs and table, and a baker's stand that I keep my plants on.  As you know, all my plants are fakes, so this stand is actually full of artificial grape ivies and a garland of fake leaves draped over the top.  It all looked great for the first couple of years, but now it's tired.

A trip to Pottery Barn during their summer sale, and voila, instant beautiful balcony...again, all these plants are fakes.  Everything is washable and indestructible to squirrels.

Now, if it EVER stops raining, we'll be able to sit out and enjoy it!

Moving...with or without you

Earlier this month, All Things Home Organizing™ had the assignment of moving a family in the east bay.  What was special about this move, was that the clients handed us the keys to their old house AND their new house, and then they left town for 10 days.  ATH handled the entire project from planning the move, supervising the packing, moving and then doing the unpacking, all on our own.

I chose to have one of my favorite moving companies, Moovers, pack and move from the old house into the new.  This was not an easy move - 45 steps from the street to the truck.

First, I prepped the entire house, taking note of all the contents, putting like things together and making sure boxes would be labeled correctly for easy unpacking. Then the guys from Moovers, Inc. packed according to my instructions...

Schlepping all those boxes, and all that furniture down 45 stairs...then coming back up the stairs for the next load.

Arriving at the new house, no stairs!

Empty house - living room to dining room to beautiful deck and view...

The new family room off the kitchen...

The new upstairs office...

And now the unpacking in progress...Michelle unpacking the bar and checking all the paper to be sure nothing is lost.

Tiffany cleaning the furniture...

 Charlotte unpacking the kitchen...

Teri working on the dining room...

The new built in bookcase being unpacked...

I supervised the installation of the new phones, cable TV, water and washer/dryer hookups.
After unpacking, I went room by room and completed the organizing and decorating.

And the final results, the new living room...

Dining room...

The completely organized kitchen...

The bar...

The family room...

The deck...

The built in bookcase...

The new home office...

Master bath...

Master closet...

Our family arrived home and they were thrilled with the results - nothing to do, but unpack their luggage, and watch cable TV.  We even did the grocery shopping, so they had dinner ready to eat.  How easy could a move be???

In the kitchen...

We're moving a wonderful family in the east bay, and during the pre-move preparations, I went through their kitchen cabinets to see what would be packed and what would be tossed.  In the toss pile went a half dozen bottles of various oils that have gone rancid, along with dozens of bottles of herbs and spices that are several years (if not decades) old.  And bags of opened crackers, chips  cookies and cereals that have gone stale.

All cooking and salad oils go rancid.  Some faster than others.  Nut oils turn the fastest, but olive oil and seed oils also turn fast if not properly stored.

Store nut and seed oils, especially walnut, avocado and sesame seed, in the refrigerator.  They will thicken and sometimes turn cloudy, but that does not affect the flavor in use.  Otherwise, store oils in a cool and dark space.

Buy the smallest sized bottles, not the giant ones, of oils you do not use every day.

Bottled or boxed herbs and spices lose their flavor in about 3 - 6 months.  Store ALL nuts and seeds in the freezer - especially sesame seeds.  Buy these items in the smallest quantities you need and store in airtight containers, preferably in a drawer.

Have you noticed that your family will open a bag of chips, eat some and then toss them in a cabinet, only to then open ANOTHER bag of the same thing, rather than finish off the previous one?  Snack foods, crackers, cookies and cereals need to be sealed and put in airtight containers after use to keep them crisp.  I use these clips from IKEA to close up bags before putting them in my airtights.

Sending your stuff off to Purgatory...

I just did an organizing consultation with a wonderful woman here in the East Bay.  While the upstairs portion of her house, what I call the "public" spaces - the living room, dining room, kitchen, etc. - are neat, tidy and very attractively arranged, it's another story in the downstairs area of the house.  "Downstairs" is where things she no longer wants, but can't seem to bear to get rid of, go to suffer and await their eventual fate of final disposition.

Many of us have this place in our house or garage, the place where objects go to gather dust - we feel that because someone gave us that vase, or someone made us that pillow or something cost us X number of dollars or something belonged to another member of our family - we just can't send it on its way, it just has to sit and wait...

This client collected some of those things in her garage.  Somewhere there's a silver tea set that belonged to a relative that's been banished...

Finally, found the tea set...how useful is this?

And finally...tossed into a donate box...hopefully someone can clean this up and still use it.

What things have you banished and why?  Couldn't someone else use those items before they are too dirty or rusty or outdated?

Look around you, choose ONE thing to send off to someone else...I know you can do it!

Liquidation...

What do you do with a house or apartment full of furniture, collections of things, kitchen items, bedding, books, art and a garage full of tools?  The family has taken out those items that they want, and now there are rooms full of the left overs.  Some things are valuable, most things are not, and a lot of it is just plain junk...


In the bay area, I suggest my clients call a Rick Hudson, of Hudson's Estate Service and Liquidation. 
Hudson's is a family that has been in the antique and estate liquidation business in the Bay Area since the 1960's.  They conduct on-site estate sales and warehouse (consignment) sales to maximize the value of estate contents while minimizing the efforts of the family, executor or beneficiary.  Their approach to estate liquidation leaves the residence ready for sale or rent in a timely manner after generating maximum revenue for the beneficiaries.

One great advantage of using a liquidator, like Hudson's, is that they take EVERYTHING away.  It means you do not have to deal with scheduling charity pick ups or pay for a junk hauler.  This works extremely well if you are on a tight schedule or you are managing an estate from a distance. 


Using a liquidator is not just for clearing out estates.  If you are moving to a smaller home or apartment, a liquidator can take those items that no longer serve or fit into your new lifestyle.


Here's my advice for getting ready to close out a home or estate:


1.  Distribute items to family and friends according to everyone's wishes.   Distribute to charity anything you want them to have.

2.  Discard useless, broken or unsellable items, like paper or the broken toaster that has been in the back of the garage for years.

3.  Check EBAY or with an appraiser to get an idea of the value of art and antiques.

4.  Make sure you have the proper agreements from all beneficiaries before giving anything away.


Planning and managing the distribution of an estate, or downsizing a home, can be time consuming and stressful, so being as ORGANIZED as possible can be a life saver.