Are you too busy to organize your home, office or life? Want some tips or inspiration? Being and staying organized takes time and thought. Space, physical or mental, is invaluable and healthy. Recycle, Reuse, Reinvent are keywords and actions. Physical space can bring calm, confidence, and a general sense of well-being. Not everyone has attitude and/or aptitude for organization. Fine, let’s deal with that.

First, a couple typical examples of people being overwhelmed by their lack of time and focus for organization. Next, my FIVE TOP TIPS to get started organizing your space.

I’m helping my overwhelmed neighbor. Despite having boxes, cupboards, storage and space, she cannot organize her possessions. She sees TV programs with people yelling at hoarders. Or discarding and re-organizing without the inhabitant’s participation. She finally overcame her fears because of my sunny attitude. I kept saying “Let me show you. It will be fun!” She’s relieved, but concerned she cannot stay organized.

Her roommate never “thought about how or where she put things.” Her cupboards don’t close because she throws things in haphazardly. Noodles all over a kitchen cupboard because opened bag was upside down. I put the open bag into a rice cooker. I suggested plastic zip bags for now. Health advisers warning us about toxins in plastic food containers. She could pick up glass or acrylic jars or a tall metal tin. I use a liqueur metal box to hold various wooden and bamboo utensils.

FIVE TOP TIPS:

1. IF you do not have time, nor inclination, hire or ask an organized friend to help you. That person MUST involve YOU. You need to keep organized. Or bring someone in, once a month or so, if you cannot stay organized. Do not feel like you are lesser or someone is punishing you for having too much or not being organized. Accept it and deal.
   
2. Easier to sort and discard when someone helping. Can’t sit down and get lost in pile of books or magazines. Working with someone dedicated to clearing your space is important! Not just any friend. Must keep focused.
3. Find someone who is naturally organized on a budget. Organization is cheap! Find boxes, trays, shelves, etc at many discount stores, hardware stores, thrift and yard sales. Use discarded wicker baskets. A pretty red thrift store basket holds my drilling supplies: drill, key, bits, extension cord. Baskets are great for movable items.
4. Do not be impressed by expensive filing or storage system. Fancy color-coordinated expensive storage items don’t ensure successful organization. Will the person help you create, understand and USE whatever system you both devise? Will that person listen and offer suggestions which work with your personality and lifestyle?
   
5. ARE YOU ready and willing to commit to MINDFUL organization of your space and material possessions?

For more tips, pls refer to my ongoing series on Organize Your Space and Your Life will Follow.  More info: pls WRITE me!

Plus these relevant articles:

1. Kari Henley’s Reinvent Your Space and Feel Renewed! Many comments involved a lot of money. I bought floral wire baskets at local non-profit thrift store. Now holding hats. I spent less on hats and baskets than new baskets alone.
2. Greenwala’s Alyssa Dove’s Designing Your Eco-Friendly Home Office utilizes painting, fabrics. Requires more time and money, but useful. Move everything to paint, but think before keeping everything.
3. Live minimally: read Leo Babuta’s A Guide to Creating a Minimalist Home and related posts. Read his The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential…in Business and in Life. I agree w/him in theory. Who is to say the more appealing table is empty but for one book? Don’t think he reads as much as I do, on many topics. My various bookshelves and boxes: always by theme.

POINT: organization comes in many flavors!

Find your comfort level. As the Bauhaus movement taught us: “Less is More.” My art education in action again. Being an artist also helps my being organized. “Create order out of chaos.” I love helping others become more organized. WRITE ME for more info!

Delicious and Nutritious Vegetables, vegetables, tomatoes, carrots, onion, parsley, cauliflower, cabbage, pepper, zuccini

Think eating more raw foods unappetizing or not warming enough? I’ve lost 55 pounds, kept it off 9 years, at an age when women (men too) gain weight. I eat so much volume and variety. Never worry about weight. I ONLY gain weight when I eat cooked food. I don’t measure food, nor pay attention to how many grams of this or that. Work for you? How to do when weather gets cold and damp?

Do you crave thick, hot stews, soups, or a lighter broth with lots of veggies, plus some warmed bread, maybe baked potato … How to cope? Raw foodies know eating heated food isn’t necessarily as soothing and nourishing as raw foods.

Tips for damp and increasingly colder times:

Beverages:
Drink warm, herbal teas. Don’t drink liquids straight from fridge! Let sit on counter to warm up. Don’t drink with meals. Raw fresh foods have a high moisture content.

Warming Food:
First, eat fruit at room temp, year round. Tastes better, more easily digested! Eat fruit first and not usually with other food.

Raw dishes can be warmed two ways: open oven door, set to 200 degrees. Or buy a dehydrator. I use the Excalibur, which has removable trays and adjustable thermostat, no more than 108 degrees. Use CorningWare, (not the plastic lids), glass or metal pie tins. Never ever use microwave! Enough research to indicate we don’t know effects of microwaves on our food and bodies.

Great recipes and ideas from Warming Up to Living Foods, by Elysa Markowitz, a long-time raw foods chef. I prefer my dishes KISS: keep it simple and stupid. Stupid because you don’t have to be a raw gourmet or rich to make delicious dishes. Don’t have to follow every step. Be creative! Have fun!

Eat seasonally and locally:
See Go Seasonal This Fall: The Why & How. Not all available now. When in doubt, check out farmer’s markets or ask your grocers where produce grown.

Mother Nature provides foods we need when we need. During summer, plentiful melons and grapes provide needed liquid. Winter citrus abundant in Vitamin C to ward off colds and flu. Now hardy greens and denser veggies. How do we eat winter squash, potatoes, root veggies, etc? The same way we eat during warmer weather.

Juice, blend, warm using dehydrator, cut up or … food processor!

I am addicted to my inexpensive food processor. I mix root veggies (kohlrabi, celery root, parsnips, beets, jicama, potatoes, etc), smooth skinned squash (larger with ridges are harder to peel), plus assortment of greens. Romaine lettuce has more calcium and protein than equivalent weight of beef. People rave about wheat grass, but readily available and inexpensive parsley and cilantro are healing and nutritious, with cleansing chlorophyll. Onions and garlic add a heat. More heat, add turnips, radishes and peppers. The darker the greens, the more nutritious. Ask for greens of root veggies, beet, turnips, sweet fennel, or if juicing, carrot tops.

Vary textures of processed salads: almost like nut butter or more like a salsa or combo. GREAT way to eat LOTS of greens and veggies. Who eats one-third head of Romaine, plus raw broccoli florets or cauliflower? Why throw out thick broccoli or kale stems? Juicing or food processing utilizes more food, so you consume your money’s worth!

Include larger bite-sized pieces. Tomatoes, baby lettuces, raisins, apples or pears. Raw foodies say not to combine fruit and greens, but if it helps you eat your greens, a SMALL amount of fruit won’t hurt.

Oils for taste and texture:
My fave is a small, ripe avocado. Olive oil on salads much healthier than cooking with oil. Try flax or hemp oils for your Omega EFAs.

Seasonings:
Sprinkle kelp granules, dulse flakes and other sea veggie seasonings in containers or bulk at many health stores, or order online. Great flavor due to natural sea salt and minerals. Squeeze fresh lemon into a small bowl, remove seeds, stir into salad. Fresh lime, maybe some dried hot pepper seeds. I use a marble mortar and pestle to grind seeds, cumin, black pepper, etc. Smells so good as I’m grinding.

Dry fresh herbs in dehydrator, a rack on kitchen table, or hanging. Grow yourself, farmer’s market, grocery store or find while walking. Buy salt-free organic herbs. Use ONLY sea salt. Spicely.com sells using small, recycled paper when possible. When in Santa Monica, check out Farmer’s Choice, an indie green grocery store with a huge rack of Spicely’s offerings. Few herb/spice mixes contain sea salt. Be VERY conservative adding sea salt. I use to make fermented foods, like raw pickles during the summer or raw sauerkraut / kimchee.

Purists say to eat everything right away. My processed salads last a day or two. Eat as meals and snacks. Yummy, nourishing, filling, plus full of fiber, low calorie. More protein and vitamins/minerals than most foods. Warm via dehydrator or on counter, but covered.

I haven’t touched upon soups yet. I never knew I could be so addicted to salads. Helping me keep off 55 pounds and lose more. What say you? What have you got to lose (weight) or gain (health, energy, focus)?

More about Jenny Lens at JennyLens.com, a small sampling of many classic, rare, beloved punk and straight rock photos and stories. Both sites need updating. Post ton of links, articles and thoughts at Facebook.com/jennylens. Doing what I can. First, focusing on personal health and spreading the word!

Fave books. KEEP IT SIMPLE and FUN!

Raw Secrets by Frederic Patenaude.

Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko.

The Blending Book: Maximizing Nature’s Nutrients: How to Blend Fruits and Vegetables for Better Health by Ann Wigmore, the MOTHER of Raw Foods.

Rapid Raw (fast live food recipes) by Mark Johnson. His website is whacked, lots of broken links, but you can get the book from this link. I just purchased at my local health store. It’s really cool! Small, but packed full of GREAT raw recipes!

At some point, you will need to purchase a powerful blender. I spent less than half of the most highly recommended blender. I also use a tiny little food processor, costing about $12-15 from a hardware store. It’s great for a salad dressing, hummus, but I use it to blend things with a small avocado. Add raw cacao or raw carob, some sweetener (some use agave, but I use stevia) and you’ve got the healthiest chocolate pudding on earth!

Plus I have a big food processor, $50, nothing fancy, no-name from Target when they sold lower-end goods. I only use it when I’m fermenting foods, like sauerkraut.

Blenders:
Blendtec Home TB-621-20 1,560-Watt Total Blender.

OR
Vitamix Turbo Blend 4500 Countertop Blender with 2+ HP Motor.

Good review comparing/contrasting the blenders.

You can THEN read reviews on Amazon for other books.

I purchased Ann Wigmore’s Recipes for Life around the time she published it, 1978. I thought she was crazy and threw it out. In 2001, I re-purchased it (although I DO NOT recommend it!). I bought as many raw books I could find at my local health store. There were far fewer raw websites, few online tips or recipes then. Now every time I turn around, I find dozens more, and books published almost weekly.

These are by far the easiest, most compelling books WHY we humans do better eating mostly veggies, fruit, some grains, the more raw, the better. Plus they discuss HOW to eat it.

BUT you can find TONS of great recipes, either in text, podcasts or vids online. There’s DVDs too, but that’s for another time. IN FACT, I’m in a DVD! Another post. What say you all?

I got so much food for $24!! Would cost me twice as much at farmer’s markets and THREE or FOUR times more at Whole Foods!

Hawaiian Papayas or Pineapples, $1.99 each!! Cilantro 33 cents, Parsley 50 cents, FIVE corn for A BUCK! SWEET too!

BEST Cherries in my life, $1.99 POUND! CHECK THEM OUT!! Peaches, nectarines (white and yellow), apricots, all for $1.29/lb and ripe! Sweet!

Mangos: ripe, yummy yellow TWO for a buck, bigger red ones: THREE for a buck!! WOWSA!

Breakfast: ripe avocado, ripe tomato, cilantro leaves and stems. Wanted to add fresh corn, but too busy on computer to deal (ate two cobs yesterday, couldn’t deal with knife) YUMMY!! I LOVE SUMMER VEGGIES and FRUIT! What about you?

ALSO bagged greens, wraps, soups, salsa, hummus, tabuli … tons of greens and more fruit.

(Avocados and tomatoes are technically fruit, cos they are seed-bearing, as are squash, summer, fall, pumpkins, etc. Seriously!)

Belinda of the Go-Go’s wrote a new book, with several of MY photos. I’m prepping some which might be on a MAJOR TV show, won’t know til it airs.  Prepping those pix.

Looking for PEOPLE MAG with one of my live Belinda (when in Go-Go’s). Plus MUST rebuild my site to post those and more Belinda/Go-Go’s shots.

Forgot a MAJOR mag wants DEVO pix. Yikes, either no one wants anything, or I get hit with a lot of requests at once. So it goes, and still working on my other sites.

Plus re-post pages of Joan Jett pix, also in her new bio, plus Runaways 1977 live shots, although movie gone.

Plus build a FB fan page for a new client, and work on her WordPress blog to go live ASAP.

Kirtan tonight in Venice, CA. Plus yoga, walk, and always, lots of raw vegs/fruit. Love raw corn on the cob.

Just a nice, quiet week-end/week, as usual.

BUT I’ve waited OVER THIRTY YEARS for these photos to be seen in MAJOR publications. In addition to my book, PUNK PIONEERS.

Drag my site was hacked. But needed to be re-built anyway. Artist’s work is never done! Namaste.

How cool is that! GREAT blog, esp this post!! Read it and learn. Let’s help each other stay on track! How’s that for a cool idea! What say you? Namaste.

Question: Annoying coworker, why must I hear your whole life story when you talk so loudly on your phone all the time at work?

My reply: Wow, that’s serious. Is the phone discussion work-related? Is there anyone you can discretely discuss this with? I don’t care how “advanced” or “detached” one is, that’s gotta be more than annoying.

If it’s interfering with work, you might want to check personnel guidelines about such behavior. I talk loudly, bad nervous habit. So maybe the person doesn’t realize it or needs to be reined in?

I know some people would say to talk directly to the person. I say let someone with more power make the move. IF the loud person is buddy buddy with top peeps, that’s an issue. But even then, supervisor, top brass might want/need to know that behavior is causing problems at work.

Hang in there. But you are in the right, so it’s worth investigating. I know you are very discrete and quiet.

I’ve also found when I ask for help works wonders. People want to help. They appreciate finding out there’s a situation which might become a bigger problem. Then they are the hero fixing it. Even if it’s work, or upsets someone.

But some workplaces are not good for actually getting work done. Some bosses don’t like confrontation, or fixing things. All you can do is reach out to those in power, ask for help, feel out their take. And pray for the best.

When I’m on the bus, and people are loud on the phone, I talk loudly, just nonsense, or become part of their conversation. I answer them back.

Hmm, they and others on the bus glare at me. I don’t care. I don’t want to hear them. Sometimes they get up and move. Good!

(they are ALWAYS young women. I don’t do that to men — I do fear they might beat me up when I get off the bus. But men aren’t the problem. Women talk the loudest and longest on the buses. Go figure.)

PS I know I need to deal with bus noise better. My iPod is sick, cos that helped! But hey, you can take me outta Punk, but you’ll NEVER take the PUNK outta ME!! If you need verification of my PUNK legacy, check out my book, PUNK PIONEERS.
But I DO TRY to negotiate with people more effectively, hence sharing this post.