Answers To Go: Fight pack rat tendencies with ‘Stylish Storage’ book

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Stylish storage

September 5, 2010

By Susan Smith San Marcos Public Library The San Marcos Record Sun Sep 05, 2010, 05:57 AM CDT

— Each week hundreds of people call or visit the San Marcos Public Library to find information. "Answers•To•Go" highlights recently received questions. Please visit the library at 625 East Hopkins, call 393-8200 for information over the phone, or e-mail us through our web-page at www.ci.san-marcos.tx.us/library.htm.

Q. When the kids go back to school, I always seem to get in the mood for clearing things out and starting a fresh year in my home. Do you have library books that will help me fight my pack rat tendencies? Could you suggest something?

A. Most of our books on this topic fall into one of two categories: storage or clutter.

“Stylish Storage: Simple Ways to Contain Your Clutter” offers interesting decorating/storage solutions with lovely photos. You’ll find that you can use containers you already have in new ways.

This lovely book also offers directions on building shelves, assembling cubbies, and putting together galvanized plumbing pipes for hanging storage in kitchens, etc. If you’ve got a sewing machine, you’ll see useful advice on making a wide variety of pocket organizers.

You’ll also see a spectrum of ordinary items used in imaginative ways for hanging all sorts of things all over the house. To find similar books, I’d recommend a ‘storage’ keyword search in our catalog.

The other type of book is for those who need encouragement to sort through their stuff and get rid of things they will never use. Let’s pull out “The Clutter Cure: Three Steps to Letting Go of Stuff, Organizing Your Space, & Creating the Home of Your Dreams” by Judi Culbertson.

Culbertson tells how her outlook on clutter changed: “My own wake-up call came in 1976 when my extended family rented a vacation house at the beach. I was floored by the simplicity of the house.

“I came home that August determined to have that ‘vacation house feeling’ for the rest of my life. I had no clue where to start. After getting rid of the obvious junk and giving away the excess, I started making lists.

On the top of one column, I wrote ‘Item,’ and at the top of the next, ‘Why I’m Keeping It.’ Somehow, writing an item down clarified how I felt about it. If I wrote ‘Bridesmaid’s dress’ and ‘No reason good enough to save,’ I was able to give it away.”

This is just a sample of one step in Culbertson’s prescription for banishing your inner pack rat.

Q. I’m confused. Since I don’t live in the city limits or Hays County, I thought that I had to pay a fee to get a library card. Then my neighbor said she’d gotten a free library card for her son.

A. Your neighbor is right. If the children in your neighborhood attend San Marcos public schools, you can get a free card for your child. Years ago, our City Council decided that all children in the SMCISD schools should have equal access to public library books and services.

This mainly benefits children in Martindale, Maxwell and Redwood. So… come on in with your child. All you’ll need is your driver’s license if it has your current address.

We urge all parents to be sure their children have free library cards as the very most important school supply. There’s nothing like reading lots of library books to build reading skills, and those first school reports aren’t far away.

For those of you who don’t yet have a library card, I hope you’ll join the two-thirds of Americans who carry a library card. Cards are free for residents of San Marcos and/or Hays County. Cards are available at a reasonable fee for others who do not pay property taxes to support the library.

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