Organizing Tips!

I would HIGHLY recommend contacting Lorraine Brock at Get Organized! She is amazing! And she has a great group of organizers that work with her! She can get you straightened out! :-) And she also has great tips on her website too!

http://getorganized.ws/
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Tell her E. sent you!
Thanks,
E. Herman
Cornerstone Chem-Dry
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I don't remember where I heard this but one thing I do for my own closet is this - on my birthday, I put all the clothes in my closet on the hangers with the hangers backwards on the rack so that the hook is facing forward. As I wear the clothes, they go back in the closet on the hanger facing normally. When my birthday comes around again, all the clothes that are on the hangers backwards get donated - since I haven't worn them in a year. Best of luck!

Check out www.flylady.net!

I use one of these on top of our desk for our bills http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/153280/Christopher-... - they go in the numbered slot for the day they are due. My mom uses one also, hers is on her kitchen counter, by her phone. Going paperless and paying as many of them online ( they e-mail you a reminder) and doing some by automatic debit alwo helps reduce clutter and is good for the environment!

Here is a different space saving style - a shutter to hang on the wall: http://www.expressionscatalog.com/itemdy00.asp?c=03&s...
Better Homes and gardens suggestst this too: http://www.bhg.com/videos/m/22489375/use-a-shutter-for-so...

As for photo albums, i am no help - most of my pictures remain digital - less clutter - and I do online/digital scrapbooking, or make photo books with them on www.shutterfly.com and then have them print and send them.

As for closets, garage, bathrooms, I would start with the areas you use MOST, and just throw out or donate the THINGS you DON'T use....if you haven't used it (worn it) in 2 years, get rid of it. I would say 2 sets of sheets for each bed in the house, 2 sets of towel/washcloth for each person. Put like things together, and try to keep things in or near the area they are USED.

Good Luck, it is a process, but once you get there, it is much easier to maintain.

I would love to echo, www.flylady.com is a great system to follow if you have no idea where to start, she will tell you.

Jessie

Start small. One drawer at a time. If you are not a naturally organized person, too big a project will just get frustrating and overwhelming. And Don't be hard on yourself when it doesn't transform over night.
I will try to list more tips later. (morning rush time :) ) I work as a professional organizer. Meaning people hire me to organize just about anything!

Good luck.

Dear Mother of 3,
I am cracking up at your post! You sound like me! I just bought a "letter sorter" with 15 trays and I have it inside a media cabinet (so it is unseen!) I used my "label maker" and labeled each bin/tray for bills, tax receipts and info, envelopes and stamps, each childs "to do" pile for homework and permission slips and each childs "save" pile for art work and papers. When the save pile is too big, I go through it again and decide which things I really want to keep (sometimes you change your mind and decide you really don't need to keep so much!) My husband and I each have a bin for things that need to be filed. That way we don't lose important "stuff" while it's on it's way to the final resting place!
I am a procrastinator/piler by nature and this has really helped me!
I have watched shows like "Clean House" and "Neat" to get ideas on how to organize and declutter. Also, magazines like "Ladies Home Journal" and "Family Circle" usually have monthly features on getting organized.
One of the other places that I started was the linen closet and the bathrooms. These are small area's to get you started and into the swing of things and are alos area's that we use frequently. The label maker will make it easier for others in the house to keep things put where you want them so all of the work you have done to organize doesn't get "un-done"!
I think the biggest thing I have learned in my process is to purge. Get rid of things that are not really needed. It's hard especially if you are a collector or are sentimental at all.
As for the photos...I had tons of photos all piled in a box...pictures from gradeschool til now and I am 41! I went to the hobby store, bought the picture boxes (they look like large shoe boxes) and they come in just about every color and pattern you would want so they can go with your decor. Each child got their own box and an album and I bought my husband a box for before marriage memories and I have a box for grade school/high school, college/single life and then we have started family photo boxes. This will help you get your pictures sorted and in the right direction so you can put them into albums. I like to scrapbook but discovered it is best to just get the photos sorted and then into albums so you can look at them...and when you have extra time...then you can scrap a special page into their album or baby books. Don't forget dates...put dates on the pics or even on the folder they come in so you don't forget and have to try to come up with the closest date later.
I hope some of this helps you and I am really anxious to hear what other advice you get so I can use it too!!! My response is getting too long but I do have some organizing ideas for the kitchen also...it helps so much to just pare down, then there is not so much to organize! Less is more! Good luck and email me privately if you want to trade or share any other organizing ideas! I have a few more!

It sounds like you know what you want to do to get organized. You just don't know how to organize the organization! lol I have heard 2 schools of thought here. 1) Start in the smallest rooms/areas in the house. You'll get a sense of satisfaction from completing a small room and it will motivate you to go on to the next. 2) Start in the biggest, most cluttered room 1st. Tackle the hard one and the rest will seem easy and you wont have that big room looming over you.
The most important thing is just to start. Prepare your supplies. Pick one area. Focus on that area. We have a tendancy to be skitsy about this. We start in the bathroom and realize we need windex for the mirror. Go to the kitchen to get the windex and realize, man, I need to organize the cleaning supplies and wow, I'm almost out of comet, I better run to the store! :) Keep a pad a and paper with you. Every time you start to get sidetracked, just write it down and stay on task. You will get a lot more accomplished.

I borrow some books from the public library about the subject (borrow, not buy!). There are good tips such as taking pictures of things that you care about but no longer use (baby stuff, kids' art works) then donate or toss them.

Good luck!

Hello ...

You can go to our website at www.GetOrganized.ws and sign up for our monthly newsletter which is packed with tons of short quick products or ideas on how to organizing something. Last month we had tons of advice and products for organizing photos.

I also do in-home consultations giving women ideas for their own space. We talk about time management, paper clutter systems and so much more.

Check out the site and let me know if you have any other questions.

L. B.
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One of my friends is a neat freak so I'll give you the tips she gives us. She tells us to start with 15 minute projects so you don't get overwhelmed. For example, start with one desk drawer, or one closet, and stop after 15 minutes. If you have a couple hours to do a whole room - start in the top left corner and work your way across. It sounds silly but it really helps. I used to spend 10 minutes staring at a messy room, just feeling overwhelmed & not knowing where to begin, so these methods actually work for me!

Well, for bills, I have a little rack, it may be for your desk, but I've also used a napkin holder in the past and I put the bills in there with the date they are do on the corner and I put them in order of what is due next so that I can look at the holder/rack and see what bill is due next. When I pay bills, I pay a few at a time (about 2 weeks worth) and write what I paid, when I paid it and how. For example, I'd write $100.00 paid online 6/10/10 effective 6/12/10 and the confirmation number. Then, I put it in an accordian style small folder in my desk drawer. At the end of the year, I toss what I don't need, but during the year it's easy to see what I paid and when. A great tip I heard a while back was to make a list of what you want to organize and put the things to do in 15-30 minute chuncks. For instance. You said you want to organize your photo albums. Well, instead of saying "organize photo albums" you might say "1. gather all pictures, 2. put in groups of year (2009, 2010, etc.), 3. organize each year chronologicaly (or by person, or event, however you are going to put your pictures into albums), 4. make list of papers needed for X event/person - do that for each thing. etc., etc. If you break it down into manageable tasks, you may say to yourself, "I have 15 minutes, and I think I'll just gather all the pictures and put them in one spot." then, that task is done, you didn't spend all day doing it, and you've gotten something accomplished. Same trick works with closets and drawers in the bathroom. Tackel one at a time in small chunks, or if you are really ambitious, then take a day to do one big thing like clean out the closet. Try everything on, if you don't love it, give it away, if you haven't worn it in a year, give it away, if it is pilled, has stains, etc., give it away. Make a list of things you need to replace...if you can't get rid of your black pants even though they are a little snug, then put on the list "get black pants" and as soon as you buy the replacement pair, get rid of the other one. Another trick is to turn all of your hangers backwards at the beginning of the year. As you wear and rehang up things, hang them the right way. At the end of the year whatever hangers are still backwards are things you didn't wear. It does two things - encourages you to wear the things you haven't worn in a while, and points out what you really don't wear.

Good luck!

I need help too so I will be reading all your advice. I just recently started the purging- ugh. I have to start in a small area. And since I never seem to find the time, I started doing something similar to this thing I read that talked about 5 minute purges. For my closet, I brought in a bag, and every time I walked in there, I made myself pull a couple items off the hangers. Less decision making at one time. By the time I got to the stage where I had to try stuff on or really think about it, I was half done and had the motivation to keep going. Then I would only make myself try things on for X amount of minutes at a time before I could go do something else. Now I am doing my bathroom the same way. A couple pieces at a time every time I go in there. When I am not trying to decide whether to keep every single piece of makeup or jewelry at a time, it is much easier to part with things.

One thing (be it a drawer, shelf, or cabinet) at a time. It didn't get unorganized overnight and you won't get it all organized overnight. It will take time -- just keep at it.

I asked this question a few years ago and everyone told me about flylady.net. I've been "flying" ever since.

Great answers so far! In addition to starting small (which lots of people recommend), I would recommend starting with bills and important documents. I have a friend who is a professional organizer (she is very reasonably priced and charges by the hour, not the project) and she says that oftentimes when people have their financial information organized they are less stressed and organizing other things comes easier.
Private message me if you want any more information.
Good luck!!!
Oh, and I would look for organizations that you want to donate items to. When you want to organize and see results fast, do NOT have a garage sale. Take it somewhere, get the receipt, and enjoy the new space in your home!

Peace,
M.

Sherry I LOVE this idea :)

Denise is right Check out Flylady!!!

Several years ago, I discovered this great book:
Organizing from the inside Out: The Foolproof System for Organizing Your Home, Your Office and Your Life by Julie Morgenstern (I'm sure you can get it at the library now.). Some of her ideas really made sense to me. Here's an example: I used to put all the wraps and ziploc bags in one location in the kitchen. She said to put all the lunch making supplies near the lunch foods (that way, you're not criss-crossing the kitchen back and forth to get supplies). Just made good sense and seems so obvious, but I didn't think of it!

You've received many tips; here's another one: when you are on the phone, clean an area (sort a drawer, shelf, etc.). I find that working in snippets is more doable than trying to tackle a huge project. I also agree -- www.flylady.net is a GREAT free service! She tells you exactly what to do, so there's no decision-making involved. It's so helpful to have someone tell you where to start.

Best of luck!
W. in Carrollton
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