Small Improvements Add Up

In addition to my husband’s home office setup and my daughter’s exercise bike, both of which I wrote about recently, I’ve been making a lot of small changes to my home since the pandemic started. Some of them were as a result of the pandemic while others resulted from my having more time available to research them.

Everything but the Kitchen Sink

My new sink grid and dish drainer

We’ve been living in this apartment for over 18 years, and until recently I never had a sink grid that fits my kitchen sink. When we first moved in, I searched online for one that would fit the shape of my sink. I even searched the website of the sink manufacturer, but to no avail. So I bought a small one at the local housewares store and we lived with it for many years, even though was not a good fit.

Last year I admired the sink grid at a client’s home and made a mental note to finally find one for my kitchen. When the pandemic hit, I had plenty of time to sit at home and look all over the internet for the perfect sink grid. I bought one from Wayfair that was made by my sink manufacturer. It was a good fit lengthwise but could have been wider. I spent even more time on the Wayfair website looking at every sink grid that was in the right shape (sort of oval at the top) and with the drain hole in the right place. I ended up in communication with the excellent customer service people at Wayfair, who found me the perfect sink grid. It makes me so happy when I walk in the kitchen and see it!

Then it was time to turn my attention to the dish drainer, since the one we had was no longer meeting our needs. Again, having a slower schedule allowed me to spend a lot of time searching for the right combination of size and features. Then I had to search for a tray to go under it. Until the items arrived from Amazon, I really had no idea if they would work. But they do, and we love how much more functional it is than our old one.

Simple Human garbage can and recycling bin

The last improvement I made in my kitchen was inspired by a client. We worked a lot on his kitchen via Virtual Organizing during the pandemic. When we at last resumed on-site sessions, I suggested that he get a two-compartment garbage/recycling bin, made by Simple Human, for his small kitchen. He did, and I loved it so much that I bought one for my kitchen, too. We use both of the compartments for recycling (plastic in one, paper in the other). It makes a wonderful complement to my garbage can, also from Simple Human.

Hanging Around

Command™ Clothes Hanger hooks in action

When nearly everything in New York City shut down and I stopped going to see clients, I often didn’t go out of the house except to walk my dog or visit the supermarket around the corner. As a result, I found myself wearing the same outfit for several days in a row. For convenience, I added two Command™ hooks on the outside of my closet door so that I could hang the outfit overnight. I have different size Command™ hooks all over my house, but for this I chose the Command™ Clothes Hanger hooks. They are designed to each hold 7 metal hangers and up to 7.5 pounds, so when I stop using them for this purpose, their versatility will enable me to get other uses out of them.

I made another discovery while doing Virtual Organizing. When working with a client via FaceTime on my iPhone, it worked well to stand my iPhone on my desk leaning against my monitor stand, and to use my wireless AirPods. However, if the session went on for a long time, my AirPods would lose their juice and I would have to use my wired headphones. Since the headphone jack is at the bottom of the iPhone, that made it hard to stand up the phone. I could flip it upside down or sideways, but the result was awkward.

So I purchased an iPhone stand that had a space underneath the phone cradle and would enable me to plug in headphones or a power cord. The stand rotates so that I can adjust the angle of the phone, and it also telescopes to a longer length if I need the phone to be higher. I leave it in the stand even if I’m not on FaceTime because it’s so handy.

All of these small changes add up to a big improvement in utility and convenience in my home.

 

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