Thursday, October 16, 2003

By Jane Miller

But I might need it someday! n Those words are a kitchen mantra for many. It's the No. 1 reason people tell professional organizer Patty Kreamer for which they hold on to things, and it's the title of a book by the Green Tree City organizer, speaker and author.

	Patty Kreamer practices what she preaches in her own kitchen. "Everything needs a home, or it can become clutter," she says. Being organized doesn't necessarily mean being neat but "knowing where to find something."(Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette) Pattyisms to help you organize Hot recipes for reining in your cooking clutter Designers offer tips for better kitchen organization

About 20 self-described desperate souls went to Crate kitchen store and school in Scott last month to get ideas on how to clean up the clutter in their kitchen lives. Kreamer teamed up with Special Occasion Party Rental's Cindy Scott -- a self-professed unorganized cook -- to share her clutter-free recipes while Scott prepared four recipes for chicken.

"A lot of us are more like Cindy than Patty," says Linda Wernikoff, owner of Crate. "Patty's really a life organizer. She's absolutely wonderful. She helped us so much when we set up our kitchens. What she has to offer can be applied to any room in the house and also a business."

Kreamer's services range from lectures and seminars to in-your-home or -business help, as well as supplies. She also organized the Pittsburgh Professional Organizers, which claims a baker's dozen of the area's 30 or more professional organizers among its membership. There is also a National Association of Professional Organizers.

Kreamer didn't always view her abilities to organize as a gift.

"I thought I was lazy all of my life. I like to get things done the easiest way," she says with a laugh.

After 18 years of organizing offices for various corporations, she set up her own business.

Shortly after she set up shop as Kreamer Connect in 1999, one of her first speaking engagements was at Crate. Wernikoff was host of a seminar for cooking school owners from several states.

Kreamer starts out by asking clients, readers and lecture attendees, "If you invited me to your house, could you find me a spoon?"

The answer is obvious.

"Of course. Spoons have a specific place in every house. Everything needs a home, or it can become clutter," says Kreamer.

Don't confuse being organized with being neat.

"Being organized means knowing where to find something," says Kreamer.

Her motto: "Connecting people with what matters most." Interpret that as more time for the people you care about, because you spend less time searching for something that's lost. Do the math. If you spend five minutes of every eight-hour "work" day looking for something, that translates into more than four weeks a year.

Her mantra could be: "Get rid of it." The alternative? Putting up with clutter.

Kreamer helps people examine why they keep items and asks her "Big Three" questions:

Can you find it when you want it?

Can you borrow it or get it somewhere else?

What's the worst that can happen if you throw it away?

Kitchens are especially hard to organize because they are often connected to family memories.

"The kitchen, for many of us, is the heart of our home, and that means sentimentality," says Kreamer. "I tell people that the object is not the memory -- the memory is the memory. It sometimes helps people to take pictures or videotapes of themselves using the object -- and then let it go."

But her advice is presented with flexibility.

"I don't try to change people's habits. We try to work around and with, rather than against. If you always do your baking here, try to put your stuff here. If you are left-handed, put the spices to the left of the stove," she says.

A big question that came up at Crate was what to do with the glossy cooking magazines, such as Cooking Light.

"Many people won't cut them up, and keep every issue. Ideally, you'd get rid of the magazine when the next issue arrives," she says.

Magazine files, an office solution for clutter, work in the kitchen, too.

Keeping a space organized is also essential.

"People buy too much stuff. You have to ask yourself, 'When I get this home, where will this live?' " (Her answer is to eliminate one or more items for every new one added.)

Suppose you do get organized and greatly reduce your inventory. Next week it happens. You really do need something that you just deleted from your life.

"That's likely to happen," Kreamer says with a laugh. "Tell yourself that usually happens because you are thinking about that item because you just threw it out. Tell yourself that you are bright, resourceful, and a lot of times you will find a creative way to work around even that."

"... But I Might Need it Someday" can be purchased in bookstores, by calling 412-344-3252, or through the Web site www.kreamerconnect.com.

Jane Miller is a freelance writer living in Avalon.

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