You were soooo excited to have a walk in pantry when you moved in. Finally, more space for your dry foods, cans, appliances and even those H-U-G-E chocolate fountain and fondue makers the kids made you buy!

You thought everything would be so organized. Then reality happened. And now, here’s a few challenges which are so obvious:

• Your boxes and spices are falling over those aggravating wire shelves. And you hate when spice packets fall through…

The holiday season (and especially Thanksgiving) is the best. We’ve been hosting Turkey-day 23 years and running with our “weird family.” The reason I say weird is all 20 of us get actually get along. No judgmental family members chiming (‘er butting) into your life telling you what you “should” do. Fantastic food including my sister in laws “Greek stuffing.” My sister Venera brings her famous cheesecake. Rose makes cranberry…

You decided to host the big holiday gathering. Now you’ve come to your senses and the reality of this big-time commitment is slapping you in the face! You’re saying to yourself, “Oh crap (OK – you’re using some ‘choice’ swear words, but this is a family-friendly blog, so I cleaned it up) my house is a cluttered disaster!”

Your mind wanders to the ‘state’ of your guest bedroom, your pantry and your mudroom entryway (areas your guests will…

After you dropped Jack off to start his freshman year at Ohio State it finally hits you. Unless his older brother Jim or sister Stephanie ‘boomerang’ back you’re finally an empty nester. And since Stephanie is due in a few short months, living in Chicago, and game fully employed (Thank God) the boomeranging child effect is unlikely to happen – at least with her.   

Somehow you thought being transformed into an empty nester would feel more…

If you think a shelf is just a shelf think about how frustrating it is when these things happen:

• Your towels and sweaters are a pain to put away because they hang over the edge of your too-shallow 12” deep closet shelving.

• Last year your 3-year-old son yanked the shelf right out of the wall. Fortunately, he didn’t get hurt – this time.

• You throw your high heels in a jumbled mess on the floors because there are “holes” in the cheap wire…

Are you as fascinated by the tiny home shows on TV as I am? Doesn’t it look like a ton of fun (and less stress) to lead a simpler life with less bills to pay and rooms to clean? Like most realities tiny home living isn’t the end all/be all.  Even if you’re not adventuresome enough to discard most of your belongings or live “off the grid” you can learn a lot about organizing from these homes.

Recently one of the divisions of our parent company…