Holiday Organizing Tip of the Day

If you have to go to the mall, go on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings when stores are the least crowded. It's worth taking the morning off of work for your sanity.

Holiday Organizing Tip of the Day

Save time and money by doing Secret Santa or a Yankee Swap with your friends or family.

Holiday Organizing Tip of The Day:

Schedule realistically. You don't have to say "yes" to every invitation. Leave time for yourself and stick to the routines that keep you stress-free, like going to the gym and getting a good nights' sleep.

Fun Paper Organizing Stories!

Wondering if you should bother organizing your paperwork? Here are a few true stories…and some tips to keep this from happening to you.
Getting organized could save your house
I was sorting through a (huge) pile of unopened mail on a client’s kitchen counter and found a notice of a lien on their property due to unpaid real estate taxes. The real estate tax bills were also in the unopened pile of mail. Tip: Open your mail.
Found money
I found a check for $13,600 in a box of unopened mail that had been shoved in my client’s basement. I showed it to him and he told me he had been waiting for that check for over a year, had accused the sender of never sending it, and was in the process of taking legal action over it. Tip: Deal with paperwork as it comes in. It can save you time, money, and embarrassment.
1951 was a good year…
So good, that in 2007, I came across a client’s tax returns from that year, and every year in between. You wouldn’t believe how simple the form was back then…and all done in pencil. Tip: You only need to keep personal tax records for seven years.
The desk drawer
In 1994 my uncle took over my grandfather’s company. On his first day there he sat down at my grandfather’s desk and opened the top, right drawer to find invoices dated 1955. Tip: Purge regularly (definitely more often than once every 50 years).

How to Catch up on Paperwork

We all slack off a little in the summer. I am guilty of it myself. It’s nice outside; we go on vacation and ignore the mail. Yet, it still keeps coming! The most common call I get this time of year is for help in the home office. The papers have piled up all summer and now it’s time to tackle them!
Start with a quick sort
Grab a pile of papers and quickly sort it into four piles: To Do, To Pay, To Read, To File. I know that some organizers urge you to “only handle it once”, but I find this approach to be more effective.
Deal with the paper
First, pay your bills.
Second, do your To Dos. Go through each piece of paper and take action on it. Is there a call to be made? Make it. Is there an address to be entered? Enter it. This is the most time consuming part of the process, so if you are limited on time, you may want to do a quick sort through and pick the most immediate items to do first. However, don’t let the rest of the pile remain for long. Put time in your calendar to tackle it all.
Third, file. This won’t take long if you have a simple and effective filing system (see below).
Finally, prepare your reading. Create a folder for your To Read pile and put it in your bag or car. This way, you can pull them out and read through them whenever you have a few moments to spare.

Recycling Single-Use Batteries

I was cleaning out my kitchen drawer today when I came across a few single-use batteries. I can't remember the last time I used a device that required a single-use battery. My camera, cell phone, I-pod, etc., all have rechargeable batteries. I didn't know what to do with these, so I went to my favorite recycling site: http://earth911.com/ and searched for battery recycling in my area. Turns out, there are lots of places to recycle batteries. If you have a few you don't know what to do with, please don't throw them away...look up battery recycling in your area.

Stop Clutter Before it Makes it Home

The less you bring into your home the less opportunity of collecting clutter. When you’re out shopping ask yourself THREE QUESTIONS: do you LOVE it, do you NEED it, and will you USE it... before purchasing.
Also, consider how the item is packaged... can you recycle the majority of it?
Don’t take plastic bags from every store you shop at. Bring your own!

REduce and then REthink Storage Options

Before you start purchasing organizing containers you need to REDUCE and possibly even REUSE your items. Once you reduce, take a quick inventory of the empty containers you already have before you run off to the store to buy new ones.

SAVE some GREEN. Use household items for storage... shoeboxes, wooden crates, berry baskets, and empty jars can store anything from memorabilia to old paperwork to office supplies to doggie treats.

Keep, Donate, Toss and RECYCLE

When you are conquering the clutter separate your items into keep, donate, toss and recycle. Your goal is to reduce your toss pile by increasing your donate and recycle piles. It is amazing that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. Tap into your local resources to see what items can be reused or recycled. EARTH911.org is a great search engine to find your local recycling resource.

A Simple Way to Stop Junk Mail

41pounds.org is a non-profit organization designed to help stops your junk mail and catalogs — protecting the environment. Junk mail wastes an incredible amount of natural resources and contributes to global warming. Our nonprofit service covers your entire household for five years, saving...

Time — No credit card offers to shred or unwanted catalogs.
Trees — Keep 100+ million trees in forests, cooling the planet.
Water — Protect 28 billion gallons of clean water.
Climate — Junk mail produces more C02 than 9 million cars.
Planet — We donate to your favorite charity when you sign up.

Go to http://www.41pounds.org/ and stop getting junk mail today!

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog. My name is Sarah Buckwalter and I have been a Professional Organizer for over 10 years. I've created this blog to share some great tips and ideas to help you organize all areas of your life! Happy Organizing!