Category Archives: Home: Organization

May 15 2012

It’s National Clean Out Your Purse Day!

National Clean Out Your Purse DayToday’s the big day! It’s National Clean Out Your Purse Day, brought to us by Kathi Lipp and The Get Yourself Organized Project: 21 Steps to Less Mess and Stress

Unless you are a super-organized neat freak, you could probably use some help getting your life organized. Kathi’s book is aimed at helping you do just that, with practical solutions for home, family and personal life.

Kathi has a fun and encouraging writing style that will get you ready to get things in order. She doesn’t claim to have all the answers, but shares what has worked for her family. The book is packed with a variety of ideas that you can put into practice right away.

Today I’m sharing my purse organizing project. Here’s what you need to do:

Dump it out. Yep, just dump it all out on the table.

 

Sort the mess into three piles: Put Back (in the purse), Put Away and Trash

 

Add some organization by using zippered pouches. Here’s the finished product:

Now, it’s your turn.  Dump, sort and organize. If you want detailed instructions go to Kathi’s blog for a list of ideas for what to keep in the pouches.

Now, how about that giveaway?

  1. Clean out your purse and then go to Kathi Lipp’s blog and let her know you did it. And share the strangest thing you found!
  2. Go to Kathi’s Facebook Author page to post about it.

Do both on May 18th and you will be entered to win some fabulous prizes! One person will receive a Vera Bradley tote (left) filled with Kathi’s books, and 5 more will win a “My Husband is a Hottie” tote filled with all five of Kathi’s books.

 

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May 14 2012

It’s Time to Get Organized!

I mentioned to you all awhile back that I had a chance to review another one of Kathi Lipp’s awesome books: The Get Yourself Organized Project: 21 Steps to Less Mess and Stress. I’ve nearly finished the book and I’ve already picked up several practical ideas for keeping our home more organized.

The book tackles organization from a results oriented point of view – it’s not about having perfectly aligned, matching and labeled containers that look like a magazine spread. It’s about creating a life that is organized in a way to help you get things done and feel less stressed. In other words, it’s for real people!

The book covers strategies for organizing every room of your home with practical tips for each. And words of wisdom that you will ring in your head as you go through your day, “The laundry is not finished until it’s put away.” So true, yet so difficult sometimes! This advice comes to mind every time I take a basket of clean laundry to the bedroom. I know I need to overcome my procrastinating ways and just put it away right then. Otherwise, it will get dumped onto the bed to be sorted “later” and forgotten until I want to go to bed and there is a mountain of clean laundry staring at me. The laundry might be cleaned, but it isn’t really done until it’s hanging up or in drawers!

In addition to practical strategies for organizing a home, The Get Yourself Organized Project covers projects for your family and your personal life. Things like getting out of the door in the morning, meal planning and travel are not subjects I expected to find in a book about organization. However, living an organized life is more than a clean house – it’s about running your home and schedule in a way that lets you focus on the results – achieving your goals (personal, family, spiritual), having free time and some energy left to use it!

If you are looking for a little help, a nudge and a plan for getting your life running smoothly this is a great book. And I’d love for you to have a copy! I have one copy to give away to a lucky Lesser Homes & Gardens reader.

Leave a comment about what area of your home or life needs organizing the most. I will pick a winner at random on Friday. AND come back tomorrow for the National Clean Purse Day! You’ll see my before and after photos, instructions to clean out your own purse and ways to win fabulous prizes from Kathi Lipp.

 

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Apr 22 2012

Look what came in the mail!

This is Kathi Lipp’s latest book. I’m about half way through it. I’ll be writing a review and challenging all of you to join me on May 15th for National Clean Out Your Purse Day!

I’ll also have a copy of the book to share with one lucky commenter. There will be additional prizes available on Kathi’s site as part of the book launch and blog tour!

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Mar 7 2012

Home Organization: Controlling Paper

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I’m very excited to be starting the paper clutter portion of the organization challenge. I’ll admit it, I’m a pile maker.  I partially sort though and stack the “for later” pieces into piles and that’s where it stops, until I need something in a pile… I know I have it somewhere…no, not there…oh, where did I put that?

This week’s task is to set up a system to manage mail coming into your home.  Since we moved in three months ago patterns of life have started to develop so I can actually begin organizing in the new house.  Our mail gets dropped on the kitchen counter by myself or my husband.  Then it sits there until I decide to deal with it.

I started a good habit a couple of years ago reduce paper clutter. First off I sort as much of the mail as I can right when it comes into the house. I toss anything I don’t need into the recycling bin right away.  That goes for things like clothing catalogs and grocery ads.  If I’m not in the market to make a certain purchase I throw it out right away.  Why have the temptation of browsing the Lands End catalog when I really don’t need to buy anything, even if it’s on sale?

To help take action on incoming mail I purchased a small desk organizer to keep in the kitchen.  It’s Real Simple brand (LOVE that magazine) and it was on clearance for $10, down from $24 originally. In it I have placed stamps, paperclips, rubberbands, scissors, pens and highlighters.  It has two slots for papers, so I will put the incoming mail there, in an “action” group and “to file” group.

The instructions in the challenge suggested to set up a time and place to deal with action items and filing each week. For me, that will be downstairs in my office.  That’s where I have the rest of my desk items and files.  Now I just have to get into the habit of actually processing the paper every week.

 

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Feb 27 2012

Organized Home: What’s the number?

This week’s challenge is to set up an organization system for contact information. That sounds easy enough, I already have the majority of it in electronic format in my phone. Done, right? Well not so fast.

As I read through the instructions for this week’s challenge I came across a few things that I still need to address (pun intended).

  1. Setting up a list of emergency numbers. In times of crisis I don’t want to be scrolling though my hundreds of contacts on my cell phone, or grabbing the yellow pages. My solution is going to be a list printed on regular letter size paper that contains numbers for Poison Control, Doctors, Dentists, Immediate Family, Sheriff, PG&E and neighbors. I will also implement a great space-saving tip I learned at MOPS – tape this information on the inside of a cabinet door.  I’m thinking the cupboard nearest to the kitchen phone.  That way the information is easily accessible for us or a babysitter, but not visually distracting.
  2. Separate service provider numbers with a business card organizer.  I have a card organizer from the past (when I had my own small business) so I’ve just got to find it. The idea here is to keep numbers for companies you use handy, again like the emergency numbers, you don’t want to be hunting around when you’re not sure how it’s listed.  This will be a great place to keep numbers like plumbers, auto shops, hair salons, tree trimmers, pool service etc. I will also have the information stored in my phone, but it’s nice to have a place to put those business cards.

I’m looking forward to getting another thing done with this challenge. Just one item a week – I can do it, and you can too!

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