End Of The Week Tip!

Here is a tip for the weekend:

Today, schedule ONE HOUR sometime this weekend and vow to clean, sort, or organize something or someplace in your house!*




*We place restrictions on ourselves. We always say we are TOO busy. In reality we DO have time. You have to WANT to eliminate something or change a piece of behavior to make change happen.

Thursday's One Sentence Tip!

Today's tip is:

When weeding out a junk drawer, collection, bring it all out to a large space (a table, area of floor, bed) to make it easier to make piles for keep, giveaway, donate, trash. 

Today's One Sentence Organizing Tip

Today's one sentence tip is:

Go thru your house, the whole house, and gather all pieces of jewelry (earrings, bracelets, necklaces, broaches, etc) and put them all in one place and if you don't have a case, grab a box/basket/big hat/something to put them all together.*


*And then vow to at some point get jewelry organizing box or hanging products and organize your jewelry. And keep them all together in one place!

The Week of One Sentence Tips!

Everyday this week , I will present a tip in ONE sentence. I am doing this in honor of our fast paced world of short attention spans and "cut to the chase" conversations. People want easy answers, quick solutions, short soundbites. So here we go.

Today One Sentence tip is :

Be truthful to yourself about your messy, unorganized, cluttered situation, it will set you free and can create the beginning of change.

I can start organizing___________.

I invited you to think about why you organize or want to get organized. I asked to think about your goals of organization, both big picture and small immediate plans. For me it was: I'm organizing to enjoy my life to the fullest. My goals are to have my office, home and yard organized. My immediate goal is to organize my home office and closets. Okay. That's settled. NOW when can I start???

Getting started is the biggest hurdle! I give tips on this blog and my other blog TheSuperOrganzerUniverse.com on how to start and different techniques and way to start. What I am asking now is WHEN to start? We ALL have busy lives and its easy to say, "I don't have time to organize" or "I'm too tired these days". There is ALWAYS time to organize! You don't have to schedule LARGE chunks of time. I want you to be REALISTIC and HONEST with yourself. When you are those two things, then you can begin to begin.

Start in the summer months? In the Spring for Spring Cleaning? Start of the school year because the kids will be out of the house for 8 hrs a day? Right before a big family holiday like Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas? Maybe during part of your vacation? You take 2 weeks off. One week organize, the other GO on vacation.

Or maybe its THIS weekend? Or TOMORROW? or TODAY????

When can you start organizing??

My Organizing goals are___________.

Yesterday I asked you to think about WHY you organize or want to get organized. Today i am asking you to think about your objectives and goals for organization. If you have nailed down why you want to get organized (For me its to enjoy life to the fullest.), then the next step is to figure out what the goal is! Think of the BIG goals first. Do you want to have an organized office? home? garage? car? Then I suggest thinking of short term goals first  because you don't want to overwhelm yourself. And break it down even smaller but immediate: I would like to have an organized dining  room so that we can eat together as a family. OR I want to organize my garden on the side of the house so that I can sit outside and read my books and enjoy the sun. So you compile a few smaller goals that you can immediate tackle and start. What you may find is that as you handle one goal at a time and finish,  a domino effect will happen and you'll get a lot done.

So what are your organizing goals? Do they fit into your reason to organize?

Repurposing Food

I didn't grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth, it was more like a plastic spork! So I am a fan of leftovers! It can be leftovers from food I made at home or the "doggy bags" from eating out. Sometimes I reheat them as they are and eat. Other times I have taken components from the leftovers and made a whole new meal! Either way its saves money on your food budget!

One problem for me was that sometimes I'd forget one of my leftovers and would find it when it was too late! Dang it!! So I decided to designate a shelf in the refrigerator for all leftovers and its the 2nd shelf for me. I can see most everything and my brain is now programmed to look there. Plus it also keep me in check for how much I can store on that shelf, so the leftovers get rotated out and eaten. Try it!

The Right To-Do List

I like lists! I like to list things out. I like to SEE what needs to be done. But I know that for some people, it would be too much for them to handle. Seeing that looooong list make them tired and Unmotivated! So here’s my tip: Keep To-Do Lists short! List 4 or 5 items only. Looking at a shorter list helps me not feel overwhelmed. You're more likely to accomplish the tasks! And it LOOKS manageable. 

First... Unclutter

To begin the organizing process, you must unclutter first. You cannot organize until you sift through and get rid of things that are not useful to your purpose. Its easier to get organized with less stuff. As you begin to ready yourself to organize, take 15 to 20 minutes out of your day to unclutter. Eventually you'll get down to the stuff that stays in that area or room and then you can organize.

Certain Bills You Don't Need To Keep For Tax Reasons

As you are gathering materials for your tax filing, if you don't need your utility bills ( water, gas, electric) or phone bills, then save only the current months bill. It saves on clutter and its good for reference if you need contact or account numbers.

I Need Room For That Jacket

Do you have a hard time fitting your newly bought clothes in your closet? Maybe its time to thin out.

One suggestion is to take time out of a day and go through and take out the old clothes and/or clothes you don't wear anymore. There might be things that could be folded instead of hung. Take those out. The plan is to have a less than full closet so that when you do need to hang something up, it will be easier.

Write It Down and See.

I'm a writer AND I'm very visual. I actually have a day planner that i write into as well as the computer calendar. I REALLY use my day planner as well as post it notes, etc. It helps me stay on task and focused. There are sooooo many products out there and many of them are inexpensive. Find a calendar or day planner! Maybe one that fits your personality or likes. You are into football, maybe your favorite team has a calendar. You are a Taurus. There could be a day planner that gives you a daily horoscope while giving you space to organize your daily routines.

The Revolving Door

Many professional organizers suggest the ONE IN/ONE OUT RULE. I'm okay with this. Its another small way to help in the fight against clutter. The rule is at the time of purchasing a new item (shirt, book,CD, toy) think of something to take out of the house. So every item you bring in, you take an item out! And you'll never run out of room!

Bringing More Than Your Lunch To Work.

We bring ALL kinds of things to work. Sometimes its a book to show a co-worker or a CD to play in your computer. Some of us even have that junk drawer at work full of knickknacks, soy sauce packets from Panda Express, the earrings you took off, etc. Take 5 minutes and a tote bag and go through all the things that don't belong there and put them in the bag and take them home or wherever they belong.

Untangled

You can store your hanging necklaces and charm bracelets in the wall of a cabinet. Take small nails and nail along the interior of the wall about half inch to one inch apart from each other. It displays nice. Its doesn't take up any additional space anywhere IN your room  or ON a table or dresser.  Its easy access and you can see what you have.

Make Your Bed

I like coming home to a made bed! Its makes me feel good! Having a made bed in my room even helps the room look neater, even if parts of the room aren't. I make my bed in the morning before I leave for my day. If you don't already, try it! It usually takes only a minute to do.

One Safe Space

Consider making ONE room in your home at clutter-free zone. That room is free of disorganization and mess. If you bring something in,then it has to leave with you. If you use something in that room , then you have to put it back where you found it.

Rome Wasn't Built In A Day

You can't unclutter or fully organize overnight!! So what CAN you do? Be truthful and honest about it! Maybe you need to start small. A counter top? A corner on the floor? 
The sink? 







See related Super Tip Tuesday blog at thesuperorganizeruniverse.com.

Turn Off The TV/Keep The TV On!

Need more time to organize?! Tip ONE- Leave the TV off for at least 30 minutes to an hour!
Tip TWO- Leave the TV on! Its a good time to organize/clean out those drawers. Bring a drawer out to where you watch TV and work on it WHILE you watch Scandal or The Big Bang Theory!

With A Little Help From My....

Trying to find a way to motivate a family member or roommate to get more organized? Change the way you are asking. Try to negotiate not demand. Create a partnership in this and be willing to compromise.