- Christina uses a bread box on her kitchen counter to store things that need to be charged, such as cell phones, ipods, etc. She drilled a hole in the back of the bread box and plugged a power strip into the wall, which is stored inside the bread box. This way, her items can be charged without cluttering up the counter.
- Kristy uses an expandable folder to organize her recipes that she clips out of magazines or prints from online.
- Jennifer tears out specific pages of catalogues that contain items she may one day want to purchase. She staples the page to the back page of the catalogue which has her customer number on it. She then places these pages into a filing system of home items, pet items, gifts, clothing, etc.
- When Maria sees a good gift or craft idea online, she right-clicks on the photo, then saves it to a file on her computer. This saves on paper and also provides a quick, easy, and organized way to look at past ideas.
- Tara uses a filing system where she has a file folder for each date of the month (1-31). She places anything she needs for a specific day into the date that she will need that item. For example, if she has a party to go to on March 15, she will place the invitation in the "15" folder for quick and easy retrieval. Our organizing lady pointed out that you can purchase a filing system similar to this called a Daily/Monthly Planner.
- Melanie uses a filing system to store and retrieve parenting articles from her many parenting magazines. She does this so that she does not need to keep the entire magazine, just the things she is interested in or articles that will pertain to her daughter in the future.
Our speaker, Debi Weinsten, who is the owner of "I've Gotta Get Organized, Inc." was very helpful in giving us information and tips on how to get organized...
- How do you know you need to get organized? You buy things you already have, you pay late fees because you forgot to pay your bills on time, you are constantly searching for misplaced items, you are late for or you miss appointments, your productivity is affected, you can't sleep well
- When starting to get organized, tackle something small first, such a junk drawer in your kitchen.
- The common mistakes people make when organizing are:
1. They ZIG-ZAG, meaning they go from organizing one thing to another, without finishing the first place. When organizing, it is helpful to get a laundry basket to place items in that belong elsewhere. When the area is finished being organized, then take the laundry basket items and put them away. This will help prevent zigzagging. Do not leave the area you are working on. Set a time limit (3 hours is an optimal time- longer is too exhausting.) And, of course, have garbage bags near so that you can THROW STUFF AWAY!
2. People buy EXPENSIVE CONTAINERS. Often times, this is unnecessary. The first thing to do is throw stuff away, then see what type of space you have to work with and how much stuff you actually need to store. Most times, you will already have the necessary containers in your basement. If not, buy clear plastic bins that you have carefully measured for to store items in.
3. People LIBRARY items. Do you have old maps, tour books, ticket stubs, magazines, unlabeled CD's, bags, makeup, old linens, mismatched socks, newsletters, free things, address labels, old invitations or greeting cards laying around? THROW THEM AWAY!
- When buying garbage bags, make sure they are opaque (can't see through them) and buy ones with the handles you can tie. Tie a KNOT for GARBAGE and a BOW for DONATIONS. This will help you quickly and easily see which bags need to go out to the curb and which ones need to be taken to a donation site.
- Never organize with someone you share a BED or a LAST NAME with! This can be a disaster!
- Buy a labeler machine. They are inexpensive and they force people to be honest about where they are placing items.
- If you have small or non-reading children, label areas with both a word and a picture so that the kids can learn to organize at a young age.
- Donate unused personal care products (Clinique bonus items, unused lotions, shaving creams, etc.) to a place that will actually use them.
- Keep a strip of free address labels in your purse to use to fill out return slips when you return an item to the store.
- Donate old greeting cards to St.Judes Children's Research Hospital- the kids there use them in productive ways.
- Rip off fronts of Christmas cards and use them as gift tags next year (as long as you have a good spot to store them, of course!)
- Good times to clean out old files are right before taxes and over winter break.
- Donate old books to the library or sell them on http://www.half.com/
- Use what is called, "Friends, Acquaintances, and Strangers" when sorting through stuff. If an item is a "friend", it is perfect for you and you should keep it. If it is an acquaintance, it can stay for a while but then it needs to leave and should be donated. If it is not good for you, THROW IT AWAY!
- Ask yourself these questions: Do I use it? Do I love it? Do I need it? Can it be replaced? Where can I put it?
Dealing with Paperwork and Filing:
- Use colored file folders- manila folders blend into the paper too easily.
- Think of filing as a place to RETRIEVEinformation from, not as a place to STORE.
- Color code your files- Ex. use green folders for anything having to do with money, red for anything having to do with kids, etc.
- Use a BOX BOTTOM HANGING FILE FOLDER. These hold much more than the typical hanging file folders.
- Use a CURRENT MEMORIES folder for each of your kids. When the folder becomes full, transfer the items to a 3 Gallon Ziploc bag in a bin in the basement. Keep one ziploc bag per kid per year of really good memories.
- Use the file folder GUSSET- the lines at the bottom crease of a file folder. These increase the storage capabilities of each folder.
- Each person in your house needs a memory bin, not just your kids.
- Make a Christmas tree ornament of some memories. For example, turn the birthday candle from your daughter's first birthday into a Christmas tree ornament. This way, it can be displayed in a non-cluttering way around your house.
- "The Keeping Quilt"- Have a quilt made of memorable clothing items to preserve them in a non-cluttering, useful way.
- Roll your children's shirts instead of fold them so that they are all easily accessible, instead of having to pull a shirt out from the bottom of the pile.
If you are interested in contacting Debi, her website is http://www.ivegottagetorganized.com/ She was very informative and we learned a lot from her.
