Get Organized Today!

Happy 2011! If you're like many people, 'Get Organized' might be on your priority list for the new year. January is the perfect time for a fresh start and it also happens to be the official Get Organized (GO) Month. So what better time to get started on your organizing goals than now?! If you're not sure where or how to get started, here are some tips:

1. Start Small! Don't look at your whole house, or office, or life as a hopeless organizational disaster - you will be instantly overwhelmed and probably won't make any progress. Instead, pick a room, or a closet, or even a drawer to start with. And ditch the all or nothing attitude - small victories lead to big success!
2. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be good enough. Organizing does not necessarily mean ending up with a house that looks like it could be in a magazine. It means having systems and storage that make your life easier and contribute to the vision you have for your space. It's often a good idea to test out a new system using containers/storage you already have - if it works well and you want to upgrade to something that looks better, go for it.
3. When in doubt, label it. If you are boxing items in a storage place like the basement, attic or even closets, don't pretend you will remember what you put in there when you need to get it back out. Do yourself a favor and label it! Clear containers also help, but even those should be labeled. If you share your space with others, labeling can help keep everyone on the same page even with day-to-day items. Just think, you won't have to answer "Where's the____?" ten times a day.
4. If you're overwhelmed, get help. Staying organized is a huge challenge with the busy schedules and over-stuffed spaces we live with today. That's why there are professional organizers to help you dig out and get to the life you want to live. And it's not just a one-time fix - we can teach you the skills to keep your space organized for good!
   

Bottom Line: Take advantage of the January fresh-start spirit and take a step toward a more organized life today!

Ring in a More Organized New Year

We hope you're all enjoying the holiday season. Things have been busy around here and we've taken a bit of a break from blogging until next year (which means next week!). But we wanted to leave you with some helpful year-end advice, once again from Kate Altieri, one of our expert organizers. Here's Kate's annual New Year's Day ritual that starts her off on the right foot for the New Year...and the upcoming tax season.


New Year's Day is a good time to get paperwork in order for taxes and the upcoming year.  My annual clean-out and organization takes place every New Year's afternoon - here's what I do: 

• Pull out all of my receipts for the year, set aside the ones for taxes and keep those that were for large purchases or electronics. The rest get shredded.  
• Start new files for all of my regular and monthly bills; take out the previous year and include the necessary ones in the tax file. 
• Sort through my ideas file and the one marked "items of interest" to see which still apply and determine what to keep or give up.  
• Discard/shred any files that no longer need to exist and replace and label-well worn folders to keep everything looking neat.
• Investment statements go into a binder and stored in archival files in storage areas.  

By purging this way, my current files only take up one half of a drawer and there is plenty of room for the upcoming year's paperwork. Performing this annual ritual on New Year's Day makes me feel remarkably organized and prepared for the new year ahead. I actually look forward to this project and the fresh start!!

Bottom Line: A little year-end organization can go a long way toward a fresh start for the New Year. So grab yourself a cup of hot cocoa and give Kate's simple steps a try for yourself!

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Organized Holiday Decorating

It's that time of year - holidays lights, lawn decorations, and festive trees have popped up all around us. But all those holiday decorations can be a bit of a nightmare to keep organized if you don't have good systems and storage in place. 

I'm not an expert decorator myself and in fact don't have a very large stash, so I turned to our Organizing Boston resident expert, Kate Altieri, for some organized holiday decorating tips. Kate loves to decorate for the holidays and has a self-proclaimed rather large festive supply. Here's what she suggests to keep holiday decorating fun and spirited rather than cluttered and chaotic: 

• As you unpack, take note of what needs better or new containers; purchase these as you do your holiday shopping.
• Donate or throw away unused or broken items. Gather unused holiday cards from previous years; make a complete set for donation.
• Take inventory of gift wrap, tags, ribbon, etc. before you purchase more. Be sure to have paper and gift boxes the size to fit odd shaped or large items.
• If you have space, save some boxes from catalog/on-line shopping for shipping gifts or storing your decorations.
• Before shopping for decorations, make a list of areas indoors and outdoors that you want to include. Choose a theme to keep you on track.
• Remember to have proper hooks, ties and mounting tape on hand for attaching decorations inside and outside. This will reduce damage to walls and woodwork after they are taken down. 
• Consider how you will store certain items off-season (i.e. large and delicate items) so that they will last from year to year. 
• Take pictures of the current decorations while they are up so that you can repeat or change things for next year; especially outdoor window boxes, containers, and lights. 
• As you put things away, be sure they are clearly labeled to eliminate blind searching next year.

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling inspired already. Thanks, Kate! 

Bottom Line: Being organized for the holidays doesn't mean shunning all decorations and festive traditions; it just means having systems in place and some annual maintenance so you can keep things festive, not frustrating!

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Stay Organized During Holiday Shopping Season

Are you headed out to do some holiday shopping this weekend? If you are, or even if you're still making your list, we've got a few tips to help keep you organized as you hit the stores. So here's to happy shopping...


1) Start with a clean bag, wallet, and car. Do yourself a favor and empty out the contents of your bag or purse, toss the trash, return rogue items to their rightful homes, and put what you do need back in an organized manner. This might mean adding a pouch or toiletry case to contain loose items. Do the same with your wallet...and your car too. This process not only clears the clutter for an improved shopping experience, but also allows you to see what important items you don't have with you yet. To avoid crowding my wallet, I use a small coin purse to house store credit cards and rewards cards that I don't need on a daily basis. I keep it in my bag so it's there when I need it, but the items aren't cluttering my frequently used wallet.


2) Keep your gift cards and coupons at the ready! There is nothing worse than ending up at a store, ready to buy and realizing you have a coupon or gift card you could've used...at home. I prevent this problem by keeping coupons and gift cards for stores I frequent in a simple mesh envelope in my bag. It is comforting to know they're there when I need them and this slim, but durable way of storing them means they take up almost no room.


3) Get receipt ready. With shopping comes receipts, gift receipts, and returns. The only thing worse than not having a coupon or gift card with you, is not having a receipt when you need to return something. With holiday shopping, your wallet could get quickly overwhelmed with receipts, so I would recommend keeping a separate envelope (which could be similar to the one above) to house all holiday shopping receipts while you're out an about. Whether you use your wallet or a separate container, take a few minutes after each shopping outing to organize what you have. If you have a particularly long list, you may want to separate receipts by person, family, or store so it's easy to find something if you need it. You can even write the recipient's name(s) at the top. My mother-in-law uses a simple strategy for gift receipts - she tapes an envelope labeled 'gift receipt' to the box or item - you could do this right away so there are no mix-ups and no lost receipts.


4) Designate a gift zone. Before you head out, figure out where you're going to store your newly acquired gifts while they're waiting to be wrapped and delivered. This is ideally some place that's safe from pets, peeping eyes, and day to day activity. This will prevent gifts from being misplaced or damaged and they'll be ready to go when you're ready to wrap!


Bottom Line: Having a few simple systems in place and starting out with a clutter-free bag, wallet and car will help make holiday shopping a simple and stress-free endeavor this year. So turn on that holiday music and let the fun begin!


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Get Organized to Get In Shape

When you think about health and wellness, an organized home may not be the first thing that comes to mind. But it turns out that there is a strong connection between the two. The truth is, it is difficult for most people to achieve their health and wellness goals if their homes, offices and lives are a mess.

What’s the Connection?

As a relatively new area of interest in both the wellness and organizing fields, this often-observed connection can likely be boiled down to a couple of basic issues – physical and mental clutter. It just makes sense – if you can’t find your gym shoes, you’re just not going to make it to the gym after work. Likewise, if your kitchen and refrigerator are a jumbled mess, the chances of you packing a healthy lunch are slim to none.

The mental clutter connection is a little less clear cut, but may be an important piece of the puzzle. For most people, a cluttered home (or office or schedule) causes feelings of stress, chaos and lack of control. Thoughts about how to manage the mess can feel overwhelming and may consume any extra mental energy. Exercise and healthy meals just may not make it to the top of the priority list. In addition, healthy habits are just that - habits – they require practice and having the right systems in place, which is tough to do when you don’t feel in control of your life. 

On an even deeper level, there are many things that clutter and extra weight have in common. 

1. People often hold onto clutter for emotional reasons, just like extra weight. Addressing the emotional background may be key to making progress on either front.
2. You have to decide that you are ready to free yourself from your excess stuff, just like you have to be ready to lose the weight. Professionals or family and friends can help support you, but it has to come from within.
3. Drastic approaches to de-cluttering often fail in the long term, just like weight loss. Slow and steady changes definitely win the race.

The great thing is that just as clutter and weight often go together, the reverse is also true. People who have an ‘ah ha’ moment and start clearing the clutter from their homes, offices and schedules often lose weight as an excellent side benefit. This is likely due to the ‘high’ that comes along with taking back control and working toward the life you want.

Organizational Sabotage

But even if you or someone you know are not overwhelmed by clutter, chances are you have some piles and messes in your home or office.  Think about whether any of them are getting in the way of a healthier you. According to organizational expert Julie Morgenstern, one of the most common causes of clutter is what she terms a ‘technical error.’ In the organizing sense, technical errors are simple, mechanical mistakes that physically get in the way (i.e. you cannot get your bike out of the garage to go for a ride because it is stuck behind three bins of Christmas decorations). Technical errors can occur for several reasons including inconvenient storage, not having a specific home for each item, too much stuff for the space you have, or creating systems that are too complicated. 

Shape Up Your Home, Shape Up Your Life

Walk through your home and make a list of the organizing errors you find. You can even get your family involved in this investigative task. Likewise, involving the whole family in fixing the issues will help ensure that your new systems succeed so you can focus on bigger and better things like making healthy meals and enjoying healthy holiday fun!

If you are overwhelmed by clutter, enlist the help of a trusted family member, friend, or better yet, a trained professional. If you want to make some changes on your own, there are plenty of books and on-line tips to help you improve your systems and change the way you think about your stuff. 

Bottom Line: You may be surprised at what a little organizational improvement can do to kick-start your health and wellness routine. Good organizational habits, healthy eating and plenty of exercise may just be the winning combination you need!

Recommended Reading: Organizing From the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern, It’s All Too Much by Peter Walsh

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What to Do With Your Kids' Creations

Knowing how to manage all the wonderful artwork your kids create is certainly a challenge for any parent. You want to treat the art and the artist as special, but the new creations just keep coming in on a daily basis. Most families come to the conclusion that it's just not possible or practical to save it all. Some rely on refrigerator or wall space to give each piece its moment in the spotlight, but then what do you do with it all?! The key is to set up a system for saving a select number of pieces to treasure for the long-term. The pieces may be chosen to represent an age, a subject or a type of art, or simply the favorites. If the concept of a rotating gallery or special selections book is introduced early, it will become part of the natural routine. Here are some different approaches to displaying and preserving treasured works of art.

1) Hanging Art Gallery - Using a curtain rod with clips or a simple wire/cord attached to the wall, you can create a gallery space where favorites are displayed and then switched out for newer works periodically. The selection and easy switch process can be done by or with your children, allowing them to take ownership of the gallery. And if you still want to save one or all of the pieces that come down, you can keep a special box for this or follow up with the binder or photo book ideas below. Here are some great examples of galleries from Ohdeedoh.com and MakesandTakes.com. If you don't have a curtain rod with clips, you can simply use ribbon or string to tie clips or clothes pins to the rod. You can see my friend Melissa's simple and cute creation for her daughter's room in the picture above. 

2) Framed Gallery - Along the same lines as the hanging art gallery, you can use frames that are easy to switch pieces in and out of, such as those shown by MakesandTakes.com or Unclutterer.com. You can also use simple acrylic frames from an office supply store - either free-standing or magnetic. And speaking of magnetic, another great idea for a gallery pictured in the Makes and Takes post is to paint a wall section with magnetic paint - I love this one too because it would be super easy to switch and rearrange differently-sized works of art. 

3) Special Selections Book - Another idea especially good for 8.5 x 11 or smaller works of art is a simple binder with sheet protectors. You can use a fun, decorative binder, such as those available at Target, rather than an office-supply version. This is an easy way to preserve items for each child and can also be combined with special school projects for a year-long memory book. 

4) Photo Book - Another great way to preserve more in less space and with a "professional" look and feel is to take photographs of the works of art and create a photo book using any of the online photo sites (i.e. Shutterfly, Snapfish, Kodak Gallery). This is especially good for 3-dimensional works that are harder to display on a wall. Talk about a great way to make an artist feel special! This could be your first step or a follow up step from the gallery ideas above. Simply take photos of your rotating gallery art (to be included in a photo book) before it's taken down to make room for the next round.

Bottom Line: Don't let your child's artwork become a source of clutter and stress. Try out the above ideas for enjoying and treasuring their creations - a win-win situation for you, your artist and your home!

Photo Credit: Thanks to Melissa for sharing her art gallery inspiration!

NBC's Back to Basics Series

A couple weeks ago, we highlighted an evening news story on CBS about simplifying and downsizing your life. Well, it turns out that everyone is talking about this hot topic. In fact, NBC Nightly News recently aired an entire series on this topic, which they called Back to Basics. They provided insight on different ways and reasons why people are choosing to do more with less. While believers practice this culture of 'less is more' to varying degrees, the common theme in all of these stories seems to be fighting back against the culture of 'more is better.'

One of my favorite points covered in the series is that the more you have, the more you have to take care of. Think about it, if you have more clothes and shoes, you have more things to store, dry clean, and switch over when the seasons change. The more gadgets you have, the more cords, instruction manuals and passwords you have to keep track of. The more vehicles and big 'toys' you have, the more things you have to insure, maintain, and yes, use! That is, unless you don't use them, which is quite common. Just like you wear 20% of the clothes in your closet 80% of the time, the same is likely true for the rest of the stuff we own. So does it make sense to hang on to the other 80% for the rare occasion we decide to use it?

While the answer to this question is very individual and depends on a variety of factors, there are a couple of guiding questions you can use to help determine if it makes sense (for you) to keep something:

1) Have I used it in that last 12 months? This is a good guide because many of the bulky items we tend to store are seasonal or associated with special events. If a whole set of seasons passed by and you didn't use an item, that's a pretty good indication that it's passed its 'use by' date in your home.

2) Do I have the space to store it? Having a place for everything is a must for an organized home. While you can get creative about where you store things, you can't change the laws of physics and create more space. Rental storage may be an option, but it can easily turn into a black hole of underutilized items, as well as a monthly drain on your bank account. If you have more stuff than can fit in your space, something's got to give. For example, if you live in a small city apartment and go skiing once or twice a year, it might make sense for you to rent skis at your destination rather than find space to store them all year.

3) Could someone else use it more than I can? Giving items to family or friends or donating them to a wide variety of charities is a great way to give your unused things new life. They're not doing anybody any good sitting in your closets while they could be enjoyed by someone else. Simply 'Google' charities or donation sites in your area to find out what they will take. Some will even pick up items! If you have items of higher value, you can also consider consignment or selling them yourself. 

4) If I decide to keep this, will I put it to good use and am I willing to store and maintain it? This is the key question. If the answer is 'no' or even 'maybe', then there's no point in keeping it. This doesn't mean you shouldn't keep any items for sentimental value that you don't 'use' in the traditional sense - these items in particular should be cared for and stored in a way that allows you to enjoy them when you want to. 

Bottom Line: If you have had it up to here with too much stuff, take some time to downsize and find the items in your home that you truly use and treasure. Chances are, you will enjoy what you own more once there is less of it to manage. 

To view the stories that were part of the Back to Basics series, check out the NBC Nightly News Facebook page - scroll down and look for the Back to Basics logo. 

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