Looking Around

Welcome to Laurel Plum Online! Thank you for stopping by.

So very often our houses own us instead of us owning our houses. The Laurel Plum Online website is all about reclaiming our freedom and our time. It is about turning our houses into our Homes. It is about having the time to start branching out and doing more of the things we want to do guilt free because we have already taken care of the things we have to do.

This website is dedicated to sharing things that we can do to declutter and organize our entire house. You CAN reclaim ownership of your house and of your time. “Home Sweet Home” will become your reality instead of an old fashioned cliche.

But I want you to remember that the reason we are taking on this process is to be able to live more fully. So, together, we can find ways of making this fun.

I will be building the website as we go. So check back often. It will have articles, events, reviews, games or challenges. I will eventually have a place on the website to post our before and after pictures. We will also take a look at some of the things we can do with our free time and other ways to explore making our lives more fulfilling.

If you are new to Laurel Plum Online

You probably came here looking for something specific or because you have decided to reclaim your house, but do not know where to start.

First, slow down and take time to actually read the articles. I know some of them can be long. It will be worth your time. Some of the best hints are hidden in the meat of paragraphs instead of as bold headings. In addition to giving hints, I try to explain my reasoning behind them. A lot of the time it is the reasoning that will help you come up with a solution of your own if the hint doesn’t quite work for you. Each of us are unique, have unique styles, and inclinations. Somewhere out there is a solution that will work very well for YOU in each situation. By following the reasoning and learning about the specific individual features of systems you will ask yourself the questions that will help you avoid wasting time, energy, and cash on another solution that also won’t work for you.

Now – Let me help you figure out some ways to find your way around the site.

Categories

I have tried to categorize each article by stages in the organizing Process. The categories are listed in the sidebar of each page and you can review the articles by title within each category by selecting the sidebar links.

If you are just starting, you are probably working on getting rid of clutter. I suggest you look in the Getting Started category. You will find several motivational articles and suggestions for basic tools and systems. Also make sure to check out the Laurel Plum Scavenger Hunt for quick things you can do right now that will start making a difference. Then jump to the Series page which I will describe in a minute.

When you have gotten the general clutter out of the way, move on to Organizing Basics. The articles in this category are beginner steps for dealing with specific spaces or problems.

When you become more organized than the average person, take a look at things in the Second Steps category. Second Steps is all about refining what you already have organized and taking your home to the next level overall.

Series

Then there is the Series page which will usually include all of the above stages. Each series page will have all of the links (so far) on a particular topic. This is where you will be able to find a room by room organizing map or a list of articles that focus on typical organizing problem areas. At this point in the development of the site, there are just a small sampling of the things we will eventually cover as series, so check back from time to time to see what is new.

Random Articles

There are several ways to explore articles randomly.

There is a tab at the top of the site labeled “Sitemap” that works somewhat like a table of contents. The more the site grows, the less effective it will become, but for now it is still manageable.

You can always explore the Archives to see the articles as they have come up over time. This could be particularly handy if you are looking for seasonal articles. You could look under all of the November archives when searching for anything related to Thanksgiving, August/September for back to school, etc.

On the right hand side of most pages, just under the ‘Recommended Stuff’ boxes, there is a set of indexes that look similar to tabbed index cards. You can click on any of the tabs to look at a small sampling of  articles for each topic.

Then there is a neat little button in the sidebar that will pick a random article for you. It is under the Contact Me button, and just under the search box for the site. It is labeled “To explore, click on me” . It is a third party application that I added to the site. I’m not sure how it selects the articles. They are usually ones that are far from popular (in fact some are ones I felt were duds) and it seems to have a limit on the number of articles it will show before going to a blank page (hit the back button on your browser if you get that far). I like the idea behind the application and hope it will learn or have a great upgrade in the future, so I am willing to keep it as a feature for a time.

For Fun

The For Fun category is just what it sounds like. Life is not all about work. There are many ways getting your hobbies organized can allow you to find more enjoyment from them. If you are traveling or planning an event you will be able to find ways to help out with that too.

But above all, I want to encourage you to find balance. So from time to time, the article will have nothing to do with getting organized. It will be about ways to pamper yourself and relax with the family. Occasionally we will have guest articles telling us all about their hobby. Who knows, maybe you might want to give it a try.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER

You can contact me with questions or comments any time. I mean it. There is a comment section on each of the regular articles and a big “Contact Me” button in the sidebar that will take you to a simple form that will send me an e-mail.