clear the clutter and give back this holiday season

Check out these organizations that are doing great things this holiday season!

Container Store’s One Warm Coat Drive
Collect coats to give to those in need, free of charge.

This holiday season, The Container Store is partnering with One Warm Coat — a national organization dedicated to meeting local needs by supporting coat drives.  During November and December, customers can drop off a gently used coat at any location. Find out which local organization your donated one warm coat will benefit.

http://standfor.containerstore.com/one-warm-coat/

Second Chance Toys
Rescuing and Recycling Plastic Toys for Children in Need

Second Chance Toys rescues unwanted plastic toys that are gently used and distributes them to children in need through local community organizations, while at the same time, helping the environment.

http://www.secondchancetoys.org/

Marine Toys for Tots Foundation
The mission of the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program is to collect new, unwrapped toys during October, November and December each year, and distribute those toys as Christmas gifts to needy children in the community in which the campaign is conducted.

Sell your unwanted items on eBay and donate 10-100% of the final sale price to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. You’ll get a tax deduction and a credit on your basic eBay selling fees.

http://www.toysfortots.org/donate/ebay-instructions.asp

great garage

It is not uncommon for garages to become a catchall for miscellaneous items. Make the most of the space in your garage with these tips.

1) Clear the clutter. Keep the floor and stairway clear. Keep only the things you need and use.

2) Utilize wall space by installing adjustable shelves and hooks.

3) Create zones dedicated to different tasks such as gardening, car care and tools.

don’t let time fly by

Do you find that there is not enough time in the day to get everything done? Even if you make the time to do important tasks, if you are not properly managing your time, you will find that as time passes you are actually getting little work done. Here are three tips to better manage your time.

1)   Make appointments with yourself to do those important items on your to do list.

2)   Don’t allow any interruptions-that means no checking email and no answering the phone.

3)   Use a time management tool. My favorite is the Time Timer. Slide the red timer wheel to the number of minutes you want to measure. As time passes the red wheel will become less visible until it totally disappears, meaning your time is up. The red wheel allows you to visually see how much time is left, rather than just looking at the minutes remaining.

paper, paper & more paper

Are you holding on to too much paper? If you find yourself surrounded by piles of papers, check out these guidelines on what to keep and what to toss.

 

well-organized makeup

If you are constantly searching for your favorite lipstick or eye shadow in your overflowing stash of cosmetics, it’s time to make over your makeup collection. Here are four steps to getting your cosmetics organized.

1) Get rid of old cosmetics. If you can’t remember purchasing it or don’t remember that last time you wore it, it’s time for it to go.

2) Sort remaining items into two piles: items you use every day and special occasion makeup.

3) Keep the makeup you wear every day easily accessible and store special occasion makeup separately.

4) Store everyday  makeup in a clear cosmetics organizer, clear plastic drawers or even a cutlery tray, so you can see what you have and store special occasion makeup in a clear container.

imagine an organized garage

When organizing garages I often see them used as storage, rather than as a place to park cars. It is very easy to just throw things in the garage and let them pile up. Below are six tips on how to tackle organizing your garage.

1)   Declutter. Go through your garage and immediately get rid of anything you do not need or use. Any broken or expired items should be discarded.

2)   What do you want your garage to be used for?  Often garages contain bulk foods and beverages, household items, cleaning supplies, sporting goods, gardening items, tools, paint, holiday decorations and just extra stuff.  This is the time to figure out what you want to keep in your garage and what you want to store elsewhere.

3)   Decide what goes where. Now that you know what you are going to keep in your garage, set up zones so that like items are stored together.

4)   Chances are you are going to need to purchase some organizing products to truly maximize the space in your garage.  The idea is to keep things from piling up on the floor. Here are a few items to consider:

Cable-lifted Storage Rack

Tall Gear Locker
Bin Warehouse and Plastic Totes

Store n’ Slide Tool Rack

If you want to invest in a complete garage makeover, check out Monkey Bars.

5)   Label bins and shelves so the whole family knows where everything goes.

6)   Every six months reevaluate what is in your garage and keep only what you are using and get rid of those items you are not.

an organized office

I am often asked how my services can help businesses. Below are a few ways a professional organizer can help you run a more efficient business.

Time Management

Does it seem that there is never enough time in the day to get everything done? A professional organizer can work with you to select the best way to track your to do list and calendar, analyze your current processes, structure your day better, improve delegation and better manage email, interruptions and meetings.

Filing

Keeps your files up to date and makes sure you are keeping only what you need by implementing a simple and easy to maintain filing system.

Paperless

More and more companies are choosing to go paperless. A professional organizer can set up a system to efficiently organize and manage files electronically.

Assistants

Not all bosses know how to best utilize their assistants. By performing an assessment with both the boss and assistant a professional organizer can create a detailed job description for the assistant and provide training.

Space Design

Makes sense of your work area ensuring that you are using your space as efficiently as possible.

Save Money!

Chances are if your office is a mess, you don’t know what you actually own and end up buying things you already have. By organizing your inventory, you’ll know exactly what you have at all times.

for dad

One of the biggest sources of clutter is items that you didn’t even bring into your home. They are items that people have given you. How many times have you received a gift that you have no intention of ever using, but feel guilty getting rid of? Instead of ties and tools give dad an experiential gift  this Father’s Day.

Gifts.com offers a variety of unforgettable experiential gifts.  Here are just a few…

Ride-Along in a NASCAR Stockcar

Tandem Hang Gliding

Golf Lessons with a PGA Pro

say no to email clutter

Do you dread turning on your computer every morning because of the number of emails that take over your inbox. Here are three tips on tackling email clutter.

1)   Unsubscribe to email newsletters you don’t read. It may seem tedious to unsubscribe to each e-newsletter one by one, but it will cut down on a lot of the clutter in your inbox.  You can also unsubscribe to  several e-newsletters at one time using Easy Unsubscriber.

2)   Create rules.  In virtually any email program you can create a rule so that messages are automatically moved to a particular folder based on who sent them.

3)   If you don’t need it, delete it! Get rid of messages that do not need your attention.

bath time

Organize your bathroom in 3 easy steps!

1)   Get rid of expired items and items you no longer use.

2)   Place items not used frequently in the guest bath if you are short on space.

3)   Place items you use daily at eye level.