Hasta La Ideas

I am a wine enthusiast (oh my, that sounds dorky). I subscribe to three wine magazines and listen to multiple wine podcasts per week (feel welcome to laugh). Some people like fixing up old cars or knitting or woodworking — I happen to like pairing the perfect bottle of wine with a well-crafted meal.

I’m not a wine collector, nor am I an alcoholic, I’m simply a wine consumer. I have never purchased a bottle of wine in a store that cost more than $50, and most of the wines I buy are under $20. I like to try new wines, and am interested in the background of a wine almost as much as the flavor.

A few years ago, my husband and I started keeping logs of the wines we tried. If we’re up for the task, we’ll steam the label off the bottle and rubber cement it to the page with our review. If we’re being lazy, we’ll just write the information down and sketch a picture of the label. Each wine gets its own page, and each page contains notes from both of us on flavor, vintage, and pairing. Our system is low-tech, but has been fun to put together. (We also have a separate notebook that I carry in my purse of wines we want to try and the notes we’ve collected about those wines.)

To make a low-tech wine notebook, I recommend hopping onto etsy and checking out their handmade notebooks. The one we are currently using is a laser etched notebook from Modofly (their store should be back up in the very near future).

Bay County Liquors in Maryland has an impressive roundup and review of online and computer software programs that are on the market for tracking the same information that we use in our low-tech notebooks. “Wine Log” and “Wine Snob” are two iPhone applications that track similar information. A benefit of using a digital program is that you can search the data much more easily than you can with a low-tech notebook.

If you’re also a wine enthusiast, check out the list of online and software programs that might suit your needs, download one of the iPhone applications, or consider starting a wine notebook. Any of the three systems will make sure that you never reorder a wine you dislike again!

Domino magazine’s February 2009 issue has a fun article with tips from interior designer Ryan Korban on cheating with your clutter control, aptly named “A cheater’s guide to a tidy home.”

In the article, he provides six tips for tidying up in a hurry. Two of my favorite are the following:

make stacks purposeful

Topped with an object, orderly piles of orphaned books and magazines look deliberate even when resting against the wall — and not like you desperately need shelves. Korban likes to dress his with plants or figurines.

realize the power of trays

Instead of crowding your sink with creams, put your products on display. Korban creates a back-of-toilet tableau by grouping his on Venetian glass, arranging jars up front and tall bottles in the rear for easy access — and decorates them with a framed photo and fresh flowers.

The whole February issue is dedicated to the organized home, so be sure to check it out. Unfortunately, we got word on Wednesday that Domino is closing its doors. So, unfortunately, this may be my last fun post about the great magazine. Domino, you’ll be missed.

Photos for this article from Domino magazine

I still remember my first electric guitar. I’d plug that shiny black Strat knockoff into my little red single-channel amp, crank that sucker to eleven, and let her rip. Jamming along with songs on the radio or my favorite tapes and CDs was fun, but it wasn’t long before I was disappointed with the sounds I got out of that amp.

For the next decade, I battled an affliction that plagues many hobbyists known as G.A.S. — Gear Acquisition Syndrome — a compulsive pursuit of the shiny brand new. Amps, guitars, pedals, effects boards, speaker cabinets. I wanted anything that I thought might help me find that perfect tone to let me rip like Slash or groove like Stone. I don’t even dare to think about how much time and money I must have spent buying all that stuff, lugging it around and storing it over all those years.

Thankfully, most of that stuff is gone now. When I record at home, I use Apple’s Logic Studio which does a reasonable job of replacing all of that equipment I bought, sold, and lost over the years. It’s a pro software bundle at an amateur price, though there’s definitely a learning curve. Logic Studio may be for the advanced user, but Apple hasn’t forgotten about the beginners.

By now, most Mac users know about GarageBand. Apple has included it as standard software on every new Mac since 2004, and each year it gets better. The new iLife ‘09 suite updates GarageBand with several exciting new features that will help beginner, and even advanced, guitarists keep their hobby clutter-free.

Apple added more guitar sounds and effects, and an intuitive new interface that lets you visually tweak your “rig” without the cost and clutter of buying tons of equipment. Add pedals or switch out entire amps with a click of the mouse.

“Basic Lessons” help you learn new songs at your own pace, complete with a backing band, while “Artist Lessons” let you learn your favorites from the original artist. Pretty cool.

My father, a photographer, put a camera in my hands at a very early age. I have taken hundreds, often thousands, of pictures a year for most of my life. And, as a result, I have boxes and boxes of print photographs taking up space in my closet.

One of my goals for 2009 is to have all of my old photographs scanned so that I can have digital copies of these pictures. We’ve talked previously about services that will scan your photographs (in addition to ScanMyPhotos, commenters also recommend ScanCafe and LifePreserver), and having my photos scanned is the first item on my to-do list for this project.

While I’m trying to decide which scanning service to use, I’m also deciding what to do with the photographs once they’re scanned. First up, I’ll be sure to backup the images; I’ll put copies of the digital image DVDs in my safety deposit box at the bank and I’ll upload the image files to my online storage system. I value these images enough to pay to have them scanned, so I should also pay to have them protected from fire and natural disaster.

I will want to organize the digital image files on my computer, but I haven’t yet decided which program to use. I currently use iPhoto, but with a hundred thousand more photographs, it will be overloaded. With the new version coming out in a couple weeks, I’m going to wait to see if it’s more capable and robust. If it won’t meet my needs, I’m considering the iPhoto Library Manager by Fat Cat Software for $20 as one option for improving my current system’s functionality. But, I expect I’m going to spend the $200 to buy Aperture 2 and revel in its powerful system. (If you’re on a PC, I hear that Google’s Picasa continues to be the most convenient photo manager.)

Finally, I plan to use Blurb to create a handful of albums that I want to store on the bookshelf for guests to peruse. I used Blurb in December to create four photo albums and was very impressed with their service. I’ve used the Apple system in the past, but the quality of the Blurb book is leaps and bounds ahead of Apple’s product.

The books I ordered from Blurb were hardcovers with glossy jackets, full color interior, and 100-pound silk-finish paper. With shipping, I paid less than $150 total for the four albums. It may sound like a lot, but their quality appropriately matches the price. Alternatively, if you decided to go with a paperback cover, no book jacket, and non-premium paper would significantly reduce the price per album.

(Off-topic tip: I’ve often thought that digital photo albums would be great for sentimental clutter photographs. Take images of sentimental items, ditch the actual item, and then create a photo album of all your sentimental things. Instead of a basement full of clutter, you can have a single book on your bookshelf taking up just inches of space.)

I will add that I do have one complaint about Blurb and that is if you use their templates you can’t move any elements around on the page or resize any objects. This isn’t an issue just with Blurb, though, a handful of other album printing companies have the same restrictions. You can import full pages from programs like InDesign (Mac and PC), but then you’re not able to use the templates. Inside sources have told me that there are some improvements coming down the pipeline, and I hope altering templates is one of them.

For those of you who have already gone through the process of scanning all of your old photographs, what have you done to manage the files? Please let us know your plan of action in the comments.

Since January is the National Association of Professional Organizer’s Get Organized Month, I’ve asked Geralin Thomas of Metropolitan Organizing in Cary, North Carolina, to share her insights with us on how to hire a professional organizer. For many of us, having someone coach us through the uncluttering process can be very beneficial.

If you decide to hire a professional organizer, start by looking for someone who is diplomatic, empathetic, willing to listen, non-judgmental, creative, patient, and trustworthy. Also, to ensure that the professional organizer follows ethical business practices, check your local Better Business Bureau reports and look for someone who is involved a professional organization like the National Association of Professional Organizers in the US, the Professional Organizers in Canada, or the Australian Association of Professional Organizers in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

It is okay to interview different organizers to get a feel for who matches best with your personality. Below is a menu of questions you might consider asking when hiring an organizer:

1. What are your areas of expertise? (Some possible answers may include: garages, clients with ADHD, time management, wardrobes and closets, financial matters, computer-related challenges, speaking, coaching, writing, estates, downsizing for seniors, home staging, relocation, etc.)
2. Are you certified? Insured? (Certification is optional and not required. NAPO has many well-qualified organizers that are not certified for a variety of reasons.)
3. Do you attend conferences or tele-classes to stay abreast of current organizing trends and techniques?
4. Do you have local references?
5. Do you belong to any professional organizations? (I would not hire a professional organizer who is not involved in some type of professional group or organization. To me, a professional affiliation demonstrates not only a commitment to her field but an additional way to check her/him out among other business-minded individuals.)
6. How long have you been in business? How many clients / hours have you worked?
7. What hours do you work? What days of the week are you available? (Make sure that this person’s availability is a good match for your availability.)
8. Do you bring the necessary supplies, or do I purchase them separately?
9. If you purchase supplies or materials at a discount, do you charge an “up charge” or an hourly shopping fee?
10. Do you make arrangements to take away donations, consignments, and trash? If so, do you charge a fee for this service?
11. Do you work alone or do you have a team of employees or subcontractors, if necessary?
12. Do you have advertising on your car? (Ask this only if you do not want co-workers or neighbors to know you are hiring a professional organizer.)
13. Do you take photographs? Will they be on your website?
14. What is your cancellation policy?
15. How do you charge? Of course, I don’t need to tell you to inquire about fees but there are many options available, including hourly, by the project, or bulk rates. There may be a minimum number of hours required per booking, too, so ask about that.

Remember that professional organizers are not housekeepers, therapists, decorators, or nurses unless they specifically tell you that their credentials include these jobs. According to NAPO, a professional organizer:

… enhances the lives of clients by designing systems and processes using organizing principles and through transferring organizing skills. A professional organizer also educates the public on organizing solutions and the resulting benefits. Professional organizers help individuals and businesses take control of their surroundings, their time, their paper, and their systems for life.

If you have ADHD or any other type of chronic organizing challenge, the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization is the place to find a qualified organizer.

Finally, check out Erin’s article on RealSimple.com “Should You Hire a Professional Organizer?” to learn more about the process.