OrganizingLA Blog

John's Spring Organization Tips Featured in May 2014 Real Simple Magazine

 

Real Simple Magazine features John Trosko of OrganizingLA in the May 2014 issue, available on newstands now.

 

The Editors at Real Simple Magazine contacted John last January to work on a fun decluttering story for their May 2014 issue. They asked him to imagine that if he was given $500 for an average home—and tell them the must-haves he would buy to declutter, and how would he use each.

For the story, John used a mix of organizational products from different stores including Muji, CB2, Better Office, Uline and Bed, Bath and Beyond. Along with our expertise in "31 Days To Get Organized Now" we worked alongside professional organizing colleagues Beth Zeigler (Bneato, Los Angeles), Stacey Platt (Dwell Well, New York City) and Barbara Reich (Resourceful Consultants, New York City).

 

Here's an Instrgram snapshot of John's article in Real Simple Magazine. He loves the gray felt box from cb2, $60

 

The May issue of Real Simple Magazine full of "must-haves and ingenious ideas for every room in the house" is available on newsstands now. We're not able to link to the article online at this time.

 

Your Turn to Comment

 

What are your favorite budget organizing products? How do you prioritize what gets organized first? If you purchased the article, let us know what you think here in the comment section or you can tweet us @johntrosko on Twitter. You can also check us out on Instagram (@johntrosko).

 

Like this Topic?

 

Want to learn smart and practical organizing tips for your home, office and life? Save time by signing up for free topic updates and receive them as soon as they're published. Plus, as a gift receive our exclusive Martha Stewart Living Radio recorded radio interview and transcript, chock full of strategies, tips and resources direct from John.

Enter your Email Address


Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

Carolyne Roehm Sure Knows How To Organize An Office

One of the more notable contributors to our new book, The Experts' Guide to Doing Things Faster:  100 Ways to Make Life More Efficient, is Carolyne Roehm.

Carolyne Roehm is a celebrated American hostess, designer, and author of numerous books ranging from fashion to flowers.  She is quite notable for her garden "notebooks."  Answers.com has a wonderful bio you can read here.  Her newest book, A Passion for Blue and White, will be in bookstores the same day the Experts' Guide comes out, October 28th.

Roehm has an unusual website where she not only shares her tips for better living, but offers wedding ideas, gifts, favors, beautiful papers, luxury ribbons and more-- all for sale.  Her CRStyle Magazine from this past summer offers a glimpse into her unique style.  We discovered an office organizing piece she wrote in 2006.  We feel like we're on organizing crack.  Just beautiful.  Take a look:

Carolyne calls this "order in the house."  She's organizing her office here, including scrap-booking supplies, ribbons, wrapping paper and stationery.  We call it incredible.

"Every office space should be good-looking and functional. You will be more likely to keep it orderly."  What do you think of these red folders?  Is this something you can do in your own home?

We adore these navy boxes (clients know we're suckers for anything nautical blue.)  Not sure where the boxes are from.  Do you know?  They may be from the now defunt Hold Everything or West Elm.  Notice how Carolyne balances beauty with functionality.  This shot may be staged, but can't you picture yourself reaching for a photo box and getting the scent of those orchids?

You can check out these pictures, and about two dozen stylish workspace organizing tips on her site by clicking here.  You can also sign up for her mailings, which reminded us to write this piece.

Carolyne will be providing her expertise to The Experts' Guide to Doing Things Faster with a chapter on making the process of writing thank you notes more efficient.

Buy:

A Passion for Blue and White, by Carolyne Roehm

Related Posts:

Contributing authors to our book

 

If you've enjoyed this post and want to see more, please subscribe to our daily emails (Feedblitz) or through the RSS Feed (click here).  Options are now available for Twitter (Feedblitz) and your mobi through FEEDM8, too.

Personality Not Included - How Will The New Marketing Affect Your Purchasing Habits?

Ogilvy Vice President and PR Guru Rohit Bhargava first mentioned our blog about two years ago (click here to read the mention).

That may be a shameless plug.  But what is not shameless is that since that mention, Rohit has become a social networking expert, and he's penned his first book, Personality Not Included.  The books arrives in bookstores right about *now* and we're excited to share an exclusive interview with our readers.

What makes the book so special is that Rohit is introducing companies to the importance of transparent marketing, which is designed to encourage companies to connect with customers in a more interactive, authentic way.  Brands are able to use their personalities, have employees that talk like real people, and manage to have a real conversation with those that love their brand.

Below are our 5 exclusive questions as they pertain to the world of professional organizing, along with Rohit’s very thoughtful responses.  You can also read some other interviews by visiting his website.  Rohit's answers shed some light on how your purchasing habits may be influenced in the future, in a good way.

1.) Retail Stores like The Container Store seem to know how to connect with their customers in-store. Their employees are encouraged to engage with their clientele and "hear" their story. Why are the customers shopping there? What clues are they giving to the employee for their next project and how can the employee encourage the customer to return for the next solution? Sometimes the conversations turn into counseling or therapy. How do you explain that and what value does this conversation provide to retail personalities like The Container Store?

"I think this is a great example of the power of personality. Essentially, what The Container Store manages to do is have their employees sharing their real voices and all adding to the public perception of the brand. There are some other great examples in the book of brands that manage to do this, from Trader Joe's to Zappos.com. All have realized similar lessons in the power of giving your employees the chance to have a real voice."