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A place for everything

. . . and everything in its place

By Jennifer Biggs
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November 13, 2004

It's not an invitation that just anyone can issue, but Maryanne Macdonald isn't just anyone when it comes to keeping house.

Here's the deal: She says you can go to her house any time and open any drawer, any closet, any cabinet. And you'll never find anything out of place.

OK, so she lives in a gated community and she's not going to open her doors for just anyone, anyway.

But it's the "never find anything out of place" part that's important. And she walks the walk.

At the end of some of the organization workshops Macdonald teaches, she invites her students in for a home tour. Last month's group included Darci Caesar of Memphis, who was ready with a standard exclamation, usually whispered under her breath, in nearly every room: "Get out of here."

That's what she thought about Macdonald's notebook organization method, about her candle drawer, and about her impeccably organized walk-in attic.

"She even has a doormat for her attic," Caesar said. "Get out of here."

The candles are a good example of one of the keys to organizing -- grouping like with like.
"If you want a candle in my house, this is where you find it," Macdonald said. "You don't find them in the kitchen, you don't find them in a cabinet. You find them in the candle drawer." It's the same with everything. In the master bedroom, Macdonald has a health drawer where she keeps a notebook of the family's prescriptions, a heating pad for her neck and similar items. A gift drawer keeps year-round finds handy for birthdays and Christmas. There's even a drawer for stationery. ("In case I get inspired to write a letter," she said.)

In fact, there's a drawer for nearly everything. One of Macdonald's key tips is to buy furniture with drawers or other storage. She has several armoires in her home and chests, cabinets or trunks are in every room.

There are many empty drawers -- just because you have the space doesn't mean you have to fill it, Macdonald said as she opened an empty drawer.

Caesar laughed as she paraphrased Macdonald.

"She thinks none of us have ever seen an empty drawer."

Macdonald also has built-ins --some empty -- and a lot of storage room in a spacious home.

"One of the first things people say is 'Yeah, Maryanne, you have all that space,'" Macdonald said. "But that doesn't mean it has to be organized. You can have a lot of space and it can be cluttered or a little bit of space that's organized. It doesn't matter."

She realizes that organization doesn't come naturally for many people and equates the early stages of organizing your home with learning to drive.

"It was something you really wanted, so you kept at it," she said. Julie Staton, 44, of Collierville is keeping with it. She has taken three of Macdonald's classes at the University of Memphis, where they're offered through the Continuing Education department.

"I do it because she's such an inspiration, she's such a motivator," Staton said.

She said she's saved money following Macdonald's rule about taking something out of the house when you bring something in, and even her 11-year-old daughter picked up tips when she attended one of Macdonald's classes with her.

The Macdonald boys are grown and gone, so it's two adults living in the house and that helps.

Macdonald acknowledges that when her son, who is in Iraq, comes home for the holidays, his room won't be as neat as it is now.

But the rest of the house will be -- although Macdonald does make a distinction between a clean house and an uncluttered one when she talks about her open-drawer invitation.

"We live in our house just like everyone else does, I get dust just like everyone else, but things are still in their place," she said.

Caesar, 25, recently became a stay-at-home mom and took the class so she could learn how to manage a household.

"I just need to get the hang of running a house," she said. "I want to learn the right way."

Besides keeping an uncluttered home, Macdonald teaches how to live an organized life. She stresses the importance of keeping a calendar (in pencil, so if you have to change things it won't get messy), and she is big on binders.

"This will change your life," Macdonald said. "I'm very passionate about it."

She keeps a three-ring address binder that she updates once a year. Whenever she receives a letter from someone, she drops the return address in the binder pocket so she'll be able to find it when she updates.

Among others, she has a binder for household appliance warranties, one for information about work performed in the house, one for house plans and decorating, and one for the garden that includes a plan and the information tags that come with the plants.

She keeps a key locker in the entry closet, and clear storage bins in her attic are labeled 1 to 28; there's a laminated inventory list hanging on the wall next to them. Organizing principles are also applied here: When storing items, like goes with like. Christmas ornaments in one box, lights in another. One family member's memorabilia in one container, another's in another. Macdonald uses wall space to hang out-of-season wreaths (covered in plastic to keep out any dust that would dare accumulate).

There are cabinets in the laundry room to conceal detergent, light bulbs and other typical supplies, and the garage is clean and clear of everything except the car.

And it's there for a reason.

"Remember, there's a place for everything," Macdonald joked with her students. "That's where it's supposed to be."

-- Jennifer Biggs: 529-5223