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JUDY STARKIt's the perfect time to make a plan to keep your home and life organized year-round. What are you waiting for? Start crossing things off the list.
As a new year approaches, it's time to get our homes and our lives in order.
To inspire you and get you off to an organized start, we present our occasional list of chores, tasks and things to do.
Versions of this list published in 1996, 1998 and 2000 were among the most popular features ever to appear in this section. Today we offer an updated list of more than 100 finite, doable ideas. Some will take a matter of minutes, and you can feel good about crossing them off. Others are projects to work away at during the year.
In the kitchen
+ Clean the top of the refrigerator.
+ Clean the plant shelves, tops of cabinets and knickknack shelves around the sink.
+ Go through your pantry and get rid of the canned goods you'll never eat. Donate them to a food bank.
+ Clean out the refrigerator and freezer. If something doesn't look good enough to eat, or you can't identify it, out it goes.
+ Take a good look at your spice rack and get rid of the items you never use, or those that have been around for years. They've lost their punch. Replenish items you're low on.
+ Survey your pots and pans. Are there items you seldom or never use? If the turkey roaster made its twice-a-year appearance at Thanksgiving and Christmas, you can retire it to an out-of-the-way place until next November. If you never use the second soup kettle, or the pastamaker, give it away.
+ Inventory your storage ware. Get rid of topless bottoms and bottomless tops. If there's a particular piece or size that would make your work easier, get it.
+ Replenish your holiday-depleted supply of zip-top plastic bags, plastic wrap and aluminum foil.
+ Buy a roll of masking tape and a marking pen to label freezer bags and refrigerator storage containers.
+ Take a hard look at your supply of dishes and glassware. If you routinely cook for only two or four people, store the rest of your service for 12 in a remote location, freeing up cabinet space for items you need every day.
+ Throw out every chipped or cracked mug.
+ Clean your cutting board with a solution of bleach and water.
+ Sharpen the knives.
+ Review the holiday entertaining you've done. Are there serving pieces, cookware, barware or utensils that would have made things easier? Get them.
+ Create a master grocery list that corresponds to the layout of the grocery store where you shop. List the items you typically buy. Make copies and use them throughout the year to plan your shopping trips and save time.
+ Investigate the area under the sink. Consider moving infrequently used cleaning products to a remote location to free up space.
+ Clean the fronts of your kitchen cabinets.
+ Lift up the range top and clean underneath; clean the range top and burner bowls.
+ Greasy buildup around the range's exhaust vent? Clean it.
Bed and bath
+ Go through the linen closet. Throw out or give away what's worn and frayed. Make a list of what you need and watch for January white sales. (You are allowed to buy sheets more often than once every 20 years.)
+ Reorganize the linen closet: Set aside one shelf or area for each size of sheet so you're not constantly unfolding and refolding to figure out which is the single and which the king size.
+ When was the last time you replaced the bed pillows? Are they soiled, crushed, lumpy or limp? The industry recommends replacing them every two to three years. If yours are overdue, plan to buy one or two new ones each month until every bed in the house has new pillows.
+ Turn the mattresses periodically.
+ Clean out the medicine cabinet. Get rid of old or unused medicines. (Flush them down the toilet so a pet or child can't fish them out of the wastebasket.)
+ Buy a new shower curtain.
+ Would a brighter light or a magazine rack make your bathroom more functional? Add them.
+ Bath mat looking faded and frowsy? Time for a new one.
+ Scrub the soap scum from the shower and soap dishes.
+ Organize bathroom cleaning supplies in plastic baskets or dishpans under the sink. Replace what's needed; get rid of what you don't use.
All around the house
+ Oil the squeaky hinges.
+ Clean your ceiling light fixtures: Dust off the cobwebs, clean glass shades and reassemble.
+ Dust the fan blades.
+ Polish the silver. If it's a burden rather than a blessing, it's okay to sell it or give it away.
+ Frame and hang the artwork you've been gathering.
+ Take down the art that has been hanging in the same place for years. You've stopped seeing it. Move it elsewhere in the house or store it; buy a new piece or two.
+ Put the kids' annual school photos in a scrapbook or album. The only one you need to have out is the current one.
+ Spot-clean the rugs, or, if they're that bad, call in a professional.
+ Throw out keys whose locks you cannot identify.
+ Have that needed spare key made.
+ Move the lamps around. Swap the chandelier in one room for the ceiling fixture in another. Replace the lampshades.
+ Visit the light bulb department at a home center or store that specializes in light bulbs. Learn about new kinds of bulbs and replace the old with the new: halogen, energy-efficient, self-dimming, motion-sensitive, etc.
+ Come to grips with an irritating daily problem. If another laundry basket or another phone or a coat hook or a shelf in a certain location or 10 minutes' work with sandpaper, WD-40 or a screwdriver would make life easier, do it.
+ Clean the phone.
+ Walk around the house with a rag and a spray bottle of cleaner and wipe away the fingerprints around switch plates and on the doors and door frames. If you have pets, check the doors at animal level for streaks and dirt.
+ Clean the porch lamps or the lights by the front door.
+ Attack your entryway with a broom and hose. Clear away the spiderwebs, dead insects, the dried leaves.
+ Polish the doorknob. Wash the windows in the front door.
+ Replace or repair the doorbell that won't ring.
+ Buy a new doormat.
+ Give the front of the house a fresh look with stylish new house numerals or a yard sign with your house number. If you don't have numbers on the front and back of your house, add them.
+ Move the heavy furniture and appliances (refrigerator, dressers, beds) and vacuum or mop behind them.
+ Buy doubles or triples of items that you use frequently or that always seem to be at the other end of the house: another screwdriver, another set of measuring spoons, another pair of scissors.
+ Wash the windows.
+ Check the family's shoes. Take to the shoemaker those that need repair; polish the others; replace shoelaces.
+ Sew on the button, mend the tear, fix the hem - or get rid of the item.
+ What needs rethinking so it works better? If you've ended your love affair with romance novels, move them off that prominent shelf to make way for the books you're reading now. If you've taken up a new hobby, clear a work space, rearrange lighting or create storage.
+ When friends stop by, what are you always short of, or what don't you have? Cocktail napkins, beer glasses, coasters, a decent ice bucket, a pizza cutter, serving platters? Treat yourself to what you need.
+ Buy an over-the-door rack or a basket where the family's hats and caps can be deposited.
+ Throw out expired coupons and those for products you'll never buy.
+ Where's the remote? Apply a strip of hook-and-loop fastener to the side of the television set, the other side to the remote. Then stick 'em together.
+ Clean the stereo unit. Take out the electronics, spray with electronic cleaner, replace, then label the cords with masking tape or special tags designed for this purpose.
+ Learn a new skill: how to change a tire, hang a picture, fix a leaky faucet, a running toilet or a backed-up drain, use a power drill/driver for simple home repairs. If your spouse is the one who usually handles these chores, don't be helpless when he or she isn't around.
+ Don't hesitate to hire help to tackle major chores: a cleaning service, someone to help haul away trash, painters who will get the job done quickly.
Safe and secure
+ Get carbon monoxide and smoke detectors for your home, upstairs and down.
+ Test the batteries of existing detectors. Flashlights, too. If they're fading, replace them.
+ Get fire extinguishers for the kitchen, family room and bedrooms.
+ Where would it be convenient to have a flashlight: bedrooms, bathroom, garage? Stock up.
+ Install plug-in night lights in bathrooms, halls, bedrooms and other dark areas.
+ Check the family first-aid kit. If you don't have one, this is a good time to create one. Replenish the supply of plastic bandages, antiseptic, antibacterial cream, burn ointment, indigestion remedies.
+ Don't wait until the next hurricane scare. Videotape your home, inside and out, narrating as you photograph the interior furnishings and items of special monetary value. Use your recorder's date-stamping feature; otherwise, place a copy of the front page of that day's newspaper on a desk or table and videotape that first. Put this tape in a safe-deposit box.
+ While you're at it, photocopy the relevant insurance policies and agents' names and phone numbers (including emergency numbers). Place these and other important papers (or copies thereof) in a box or other container you can grab in a hurry if you have to evacuate.
+ List your credit card numbers and the phone numbers to call if the cards are lost or stolen. Put this information in a safe place.
+ Use these dry winter months to assess your home's hurricane-worthiness. Now, during the slow season, is the time to get bids from vendors on window protection. Don't wait until next September, when the Weather Channel is broadcasting from Clearwater Beach and a hurricane is looming off the coast, to start thinking about shutters or window film.
Taming the clutter
+ Cancel subscriptions to publications you no longer have time or inclination to read.
+ Stack up all those back copies of magazines. Bundle them up and take them to your doctor's office, your hairstylist or a retirement center. Or swap with a friend who subscribes to a magazine you'd like to read.
+ Buy plastic or cardboard magazine holders to keep the magazines you do want in order.
+ Take yourself off mailing lists. Write to Mail Preference Service, Attn: Department 12562815, Direct Mail Marketing Assn., P.O. Box 282, Carmel, NY 10512. Or visit www.the-dma.org It's free to register by mail, $5 if you do it online.
+ Get on the national Do Not Call list to reduce unwanted calls from telemarketers. Register online at www.donotcall.gov or call toll-free 1-888-382-1222 TTY 1-866-290-4236 from the number you wish to register. Registration is free.
+ If your desk is a sea of unsorted papers, spend 15 minutes a day wading through it, organizing and throwing out.
+ Once you get a sense of what you need to keep your paperwork in order, visit an office supply store and buy what you need: file folders, stacking baskets, sticky notes, envelopes.
+ Always out of scratch paper, greeting cards, stationery, stamps? Stock up at the office-supply store, discount store, card shop, post office.
+ Mark birthdays, anniversaries and other special days on your 2004 calendar.
+ Address greeting cards and have them ready to send for the next couple of months.
+ When you clean out your closet, don't keep a pile of stuff waiting for the next yard or rummage sale. Give it away now to those who need it, and be done with it (even if it's a $100 dress you never wore).
+ Set aside time, in the cooler winter weather, for that one great chore: cleaning out the garage or carport, establishing a garden, painting a room, building a deck or patio.
+ Inspect garage doors for broken springs and other obvious problems. Schedule routine service.
+ Sort through books, appliances, old tapes, records, CDs, clothing, doodads. Invite friends over for takeout or pizza and offer them first dibs on what you're discarding. Unload the rest at a yard sale or take it all to a charity donation center.
+ Particularly for older people, look around the house at the objects you've collected over the years. If you'd like to make sure a particular item ends up in the hands of a specific person, make a gift of that item now. You'll have the peace of mind of knowing it got where you intended, and the pleasure of seeing the recipient's enjoyment.
+ Know when to say when to collections. It's okay to decide you're not going to amass any more napkin rings or butter knives or items with a butterfly motif.
+ Take all the magnets, notes, artwork and other stuff off the front of the refrigerator.
+ Get a big artist's portfolio or a large flat box or a scrapbook and use it to store your child's artwork. Everything doesn't have to be on permanent display.
+ Go through the kids' drawers and closets. Weed out old clothes, books, toys and games. Pass on wearable clothes to smaller kids or donate to charity.
+ Transfer photographs to discs so you can store them on the family computer, use them to create greeting cards, e-mail them to friends and family.
+ Tame that stack of bulging shoe boxes full of family photos. Take one night a month for a family get-together. Spend an hour or so around the dining room table identifying the people in those pictures, dating them, and placing them in albums. Don't be afraid to throw out duplicates or bad shots.
+ Add hooks, brackets or shelves to make your closet or other storage space more efficient.
+ Buy additional clothes hangers if you're always running short. Treat yourself to specialized skirt or pants hangers.
+ Throw out (recycle!) those dozens of spaghetti-sauce bottles, jelly jars and yogurt containers you've carefully saved but never use.
Family business
+ Start planning for retirement, no matter what your age. It's never too late or too early.
+ Have an honest talk with yourself and family members about end-of-life issues. If you are unable to make medical decisions for yourself, whom do you want to do so? Do you want to be kept alive on a feeding tube or by mechanical means? Prepare advance directives about medical care. Name someone to be your health care proxy to make decisions for you and talk to that person about what you want. To obtain a free living will form, call the Florida Registry of Living Wills toll-free at 1-800-624-5498.
+ Make out your will. Review the one you have to be sure it's current.
+ Remaster the old art of letter writing, even if it's through e-mail.
+ Update your address book.
Behind the wheel
+ Create a car emergency kit: change for phone calls, pad and pencil, a couple of envelopes, first-aid supplies, needle and thread, spot-remover pads in foil packets, premoistened towelettes for cleaning hands and faces, paper towels, flashlight, oil, emergency flat-tire fixer, duct tape, window-cleaning solution, umbrella.
+ Wash the car, vacuum the inside, clean out the glove box and the trunk.
+ Get a good mug holder and a trash container.
+ Replace your tattered, coffee-stained and outdated street maps with up-to-date ones.
In the garden
+ Repot, fertilize and trim back the houseplants.
+ Give away or throw away plants that need more care than you can offer.
+ Transplant the houseplants into the yard.
+ Give your home an exterior makeover. Hire a landscaper to offer designs on perking up the place.
+ Take notice of the trees on your property. Do they need significant pruning, especially limbs that arch over your roof or your neighbor's? Would the trees look better if lower branches were trimmed? It may be time to plant trees. You can refer to them henceforth as "the 2004 crop."
+ Walk the fence lines. Do your fences need painting or repair? Have the corners of your yard where you never go become overgrown or crowded with stuff?
In pet world
+ Does your pet have all its shots and a valid license? If not, schedule an appointment with the vet.
+ Check your pet's collar and leash and replace worn gear.
- Compiled with the assistance of many Times staff writers.