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What'sbehindyour closet door? Orderly rows of shoes, neat stacks of folded T- shirts and clothes ar- ranged by color and season? Or could your closet be declared a national di- saster? If it's the latter, you could ask the president for federal disaster relief funds. But, knowing that you would most likely feel guilty taking funds from hurricane victims, here are simple steps to find calm in all that chaos. By the way, you can ap- ply these tips to linen and utility closets, too. Stepone Remove everything. This lets you see exactly how much space you have to work with. Prepare to be shocked by the amount of stuff that comes out of that closet. Step two Now that you can see the light of day, give that closet a good cleaning from top to bottom. Fol- low with a fresh coat of white paint. Step three Separate the items you removed. Most people hate this step, because it means getting get rid of everything you do not wear or use. But there's no way you can get all of this back into the closet, so let's buck up and get the job done. Label three containers: —KEEP Only put items that you have worn or used at least twice in the past year into this bin. Be brutally harsh. If it doesn't fit today, it's not likely to fit any time soon. Get rid of it. If you're in doubt, do not put the item into this bin. —SELL OR DONATE Clothes and other items that are not right for you (as evidenced by the fact that you never wear them) but can still be useful for someone else should go into this bin. What you consider ugly may be perfectly accept- able to someone else. Take this bin to a con- signment store or hold a yard sale. Consider donat- ing the items to The Sal- vation Army or Goodwill. You may get a tax break, but more importantly you will feel good. You can store all of these items in the garage or in the trunk of your car. —THROW AWAY Clothes and shoes that are worn out, hopelessly stained, broken or in some other state of calamity go into this bin. Work quickly to ease the pain. Empty this bin often to keep the pro- cess moving. Step four Divide the items you're going to keep by season, clothing article and use. If possible, store out-of- season items in another place in your home. Next, separate your profes- sional clothes from your casual attire. Divide each pile further into items you wear frequently and infrequently, putting the items you wear most of- ten on the top. Step five Use closet organizers (found on my website). You need, at the mini- mum, a sturdy shoe rack, good hangers and shelves and a standard hanging rod. Investing in a few good-quality organiza- tional pieces will make organizing your closet — and keeping it that way — a snap! And now it is time for me, your humble colum- nist, to step into the con- fessional booth. For the past few weeks I have been dealing with the heartbreak of a com- pletely unorganized and disheveled mess of a closet. Make that nine months, since the day we moved into our new home in Colorado. When we moved in, I did the dump-and-run move with my closet. About three weeks ago I came to the end of my mental rope. Enough. This has to change. For those of you think- ing that these five steps sound good but are to- tally unrealistic: trust me, I'm living them. Right now. And they're working. I'll be posting pictures and going into more de- tail in a coming issue of my Debt-Proof Living Weekly Newsletter. That's one more reason to be- come a DPL member. Wouldyouliketosend a tip to Mary? You can email her at mary@ everydaycheapskate.com, or write to Everyday Cheapskate, 12340 Seal Beach Blvd., Ste. B-416, Seal Beach, CA 90740. EVERYDAY CHEAPSKATE 5 easy steps to take your closet from chaos to calm Staff Reports The Tehama County cat- tle industry has four amaz- ing Beef Ambassadors to represent it for 2016, se- lected at a contest staged by the Tehama County Cat- tleWomen on March 20 at the Tehama County Farm Bureau office. Senior Beef Ambassador is Danielle Mueller. This will be Mueller's fourth year as a Beef Ambassador. Emyli Palmer, Kayla Mc- Giffin and Emma Peterson will team up as Junior Beef Ambassadors. Palmer and McGiffin are returning ju- nior ambassadors and will help show the ropes to new- comer Peterson. The ambassadors will be the youth spokespersons for the local cattle industry throughout the next year. They will be available to speak to schools, clubs and other organizations and will represent the industry at nu- merous cattle related events. Mueller is the 18-year-old daughter of Charlie and Lori Mueller of Red Bluff. She is a freshman at Shasta College where she is majoring in ag- ricultural business. She was a Junior Beef Ambassador for 2 years, serving as team leader in 2014 and Senior Beef Ambassador in 2015. She started raising steers at the age of 12 and enjoys teaching others about the beef industry. She says her favorite beef recipe is tri tip barbecued by her father. McGiffinisthe15-year-old daughter of Brett and Molly McGiffinofRedBluff.Sheat- tends Red Bluff High School where she is a sophomore. She was an FFA Greenhand officer, a member of the An- telope 4-H club and shows cattle. Her favorite beef rec- ipe is tacos. She says she had a blast being a Beef Ambas- sador and decided to return again to educate the people of Tehama County about the beef industry. Palmer's parents are Clint and Jeana Palmer of Gerber. She is a 15-year- old sophomore at Red Bluff High. She has held numer- ous offices in the El Camino 4-H club and is a mem- ber of FFA. She has raised and shown beef cattle for 7 years. Emyli also like beef tacos. She enjoys promot- ing the beef and clearing up any misconceptions about the industry Peterson is the 14-year- old daughter of Chris and Natalie Peterson. She is a freshman at Red Bluff High School. She entered the beef ambassador con- test because the beef indus- try is important to her. She grew up on a ranch and has been in 4H and FFA for 8 years and raises show cat- tle. Her favorite beef recipe is chicken fried steak. During the public part of the contest, contestants an- swered questions from Cat- tleWomen members Jean Barton and Kelly Mouton, who played the role of con- sumers. Each contestant skillfully answered ques- tions about the Farm to Fork process. They gave safety tips about preparing beef and talked about the positive health benefits of eating beef. They described the differences between grass fed beef and natural beef and told why they pre- fer beef to chicken or pork. They even discussed the im- pact wolves coming to Cal- ifornia might have on the cattle industry. Earlier in the day, the con- testants wrote a response to a question about the beef in- dustry and participated in a media interview. Judg- ing the event were Bailey Brownfield, who is a past beef ambassador, and Cat- tleWomen members Tammy Chrisler and Kendra Bar- ton. Kim Clawson, Red Bluff High School librarian, judged the written portion of the contest. Kari Dodd is chair- woman for the Beef Am- bassadors project. She is assisted by Kelly Mouton who presented each ambas- sador for 2015 with schol- arships for their hard work. She said that they all were professional and performed above and beyond what was required. The 2015 ambas- sadors agreed that they gained much confidence and learned public speak- ing skills during their time as beef ambassadors. The ambassadors will travel to San Jose in April to compete at the California Northern Region Beef Am- bassador contest. TEHAMA COUNTY COURTESYPHOTO Tehama County Beef Ambassadors for 2016, from le , are Senior Beef Ambassador Danielle Mueller and Junior Ambassadors Emma Peterson, Kayla McGiffin and Emyli Palmer. BEEF AMBASSADORS SELECTED FOR 2016 A red, white and blue salute to Tehama County law enforcement is the theme of this year's an- nual Tehama County Re- publican Party's Dinner on Saturday, April 2 at the Red Bluff Elks Lodge, 355 Gilmore Road. No host cocktails begin at 5:30 p.m. and dinner at 6:30 p.m. This year's guest speak- ers are Red Bluff Police Chief Kyle Sanders and Corning Police Chief Jere- miah Fears. Also featured will be K-9 unit demon- strations. Invited guests include Rep. Doug LaMalfa, State Sen. Jim Nielsen and As- semblyman James Gal- lagher as well as county, civic and local government leaders. Patriotic music and a program honoring law en- forcement will be featured. Tehama County GOP will honor its Republi- can of the Year. A silent auction for a wide assort- ment of valuable prizes will be held to support the committee's annual high school scholarship and the work of the com- mittee. Dinner includes a choice of New York steak and prawns or pork tenderloin, both served with roasted red potatoes, green beans, fresh chopped green salad and rolls. Individual tickets are $45. To host a table of four is $180 and a table of 8 is $360. Ticket information is available at 529-1226, tehamagop.org. REPUBLICAN Local law enforcement to be honored at dinner The ambassadors will be the youth spokespersons for the local cattle industry throughout the next year. Mary Hunt For those of you thinking that these five steps sound good but are totally unrealistic: trust me, I'm living them. Right now. 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