Sorting and purging is an important step in getting control and decluttering a kitchen. This can be done as one big full day project or you can take your time and work drawer by drawer.  The idea is to take out everything in your kitchen and decide if it is useful for the function of this space.

The ‘keep’ pile will have stuff you NEED, USE or LOVE.  If it is broken, you have no need for it, if you don’t use it and it does not make you feel great when you see it and use it (that would be love) then it should go. 

I know there will be things that are hard to part with that someone gave you, you bought on your honeymoon or it was your grandmothers.  If you are holding onto things that do not make you feel good or are not being used ask yourself if you are honoring these memories if it sits in the back of your cupboard neglected and unused. Or do you think it would go to better use by giving it to someone who would use it.  There are plenty of women’s shelters, and less fortunate people who would love to have this stuff. 
Spread the wealth and let go of these items.

Lots of people set up filing systems in their home office or computer area but is it logical to set up a system away from where the paper is piling up? What are the chances that you will immediately bring the mail  there? Slim to none is my experience, so logically it would make sense to set up a location on or near the counter so that when you enter the house with the mail it is EASY to place it where it belongs.

Forming the habit of opening the mail over the garbage as soon as it enters the house works great. This way you can eliminate the junk and bulky envelops right away, leaving only the mail that requires action or filing.

Get yourself a portable file holder

There are some nice looking ones that will be visually pleasing and tame all that mail that is coming in.  By having a portable system you can transport it easily when it is time to pay those bills of file things away permanently.
Here are some examples of nice counter top file containers that are available:

	The Home Box by Sinden Home
	Desk Top Files by Resource International
	See Jane Work is an excellent place to find some beautiful organizing products…here are some examples of what is available in portable file containers but check out their website for lots more to choose from.  We Love them!http://www.seejanework.com/

Setting up a portable filing system to capture incoming mail can work wonders to keep the piles of paper from scattering around your counter, helping to keep incoming bills from getting misplaced so they can be dealt with on time to reduce the amount of late fees you could get charged.

Creating an organized space where clutter naturally occurs makes it easier to maintain and use.

Happy Organizing!

This is a project that can be completed in one day. But before you plunge right in here are some steps that can help make the process more efficient.

1.      First have a plan as to what you want the closet to function like when it is finished. Keeping in mind the size of the closet and the amount of items to be stored and containerized.

2. Pick up the tools you need to complete the job. For a closet organization you will need bags for the donation items and the garbage, baskets or containers for the similar items as you are organizing and hanging clothing rack, this will make the job at hand much easier.

3.      It always gets really messy before it gets neat. You will need to empty the closet completely so you have a clean slate to work from. This is a good time to either give the walls a good washing or it may be time for a fresh coat of paint. You will also want to get out your measuring tape and size up the area for a new closet organization system(if it is in the budget).

4.      Next it is on to the challenging part; the sort and the purge. Here are a few questions to ask yourself as you are struggling through this part. Do I love this item? Does this item make me look awesome?

For more tips and purge questions you can download the Bedroom Organizing worksheets and an instructional Video on How-to organize the bedroom you can download it all now for only $9.99

May is traditionally the unofficial start to summer. The time when we can get out into the garden and nurture relationships with plants we have not seen for months. When lazy days on the golf course and backyard bonfires become more than just a distant dream.

For most of us the end of the school year is a busy time with wrap up activities – dance performances, NB Music Festival, recitals…. How can you even think of the lazy days of summer when you are on a schedule like this? You really have to; once the spring activities are over the summer activities are right there in front of you. Summer is a special time of year and our Eastern Canadian ones are so short. You don’t want to miss out on all the fun things that you can do and see because you didn’t get organized and plan ahead of time.

Here are some helpful tips to get a jump start on organizing and planning your summer activities;

• Start with the big picture. Grab your June – September calendar and determine what time you have available to enjoy 2010 summer.

• Next you need to time block. What weeks have you booked for vacations? What weeks are the children booked for summer camps? Oops, have I opened a can of worms. If you haven’t booked the summer camps yet you need to do this sooner rather than later. The popular camps fill up early and you don’t want to be looking at last minute alternatives.

• Have a family meeting and ask the important question. What do you want to do this summer? What if Sara wants to play soccer and Brad wants to play baseball, but they both practice on Tuesday night—at different ends of town. Do you want to be running all over town all summer? Is car pooling a possibility? Make a plan.

• What about the actual summer vacation? Was there something that you wanted to do last year and just didn’t get around to it? Plan as a family, do some research online and make this a real family event from start to finish.

• Have you thought about summer childcare for when the wee ones are not in school? Are they under 12 and need all day supervision or are you going to be dealing with bored teenagers? There are many options from day camps to volunteer activities and summer jobs that can be investigated.

• Do you have a summer budget? This time of year can be a very costly yet with proper planning you will be able to manage your money as well as the expectations of your family. Take into account the cost of entertaining, special gatherings, summer camps and the overall cost of the Family Vacation.

Lastly, remember that Organizing Today Saves Time Tomorrow...it could also save you some money and add peace of mind this summer.

Paper Paper everywhere…oh what do I do with all the paper?

Is the paper in your home localized to the kitchen counter or has it managed to spread itself throughout the house. Is it perhaps hiding in one of these spots?

• Bedroom closet, night stands, dresser drawers and floor.
• Family room cupboards, end tables and floor.
• Living room coffee table, chairs and under furniture.
• Dining room table is a great big flat surface that is most times used for paper storage.
• Mudroom cupboards.

Why does it do this? Because paper isn’t just one thing – it’s bills, it’s flyers, it’s magazines, permission slips, information sheets, calendars… And when something has so many possible storage places, unless you’re ruthless in maintaining it, paper ends up homeless and therefore shoved out of the way when company comes.

Tackling this issue is as simple as grabbing a simple laundry basket and collecting all loose paper; including magazines, newspapers, manuals, warrantees, homework, and all other individual pieces of paper. This may take some time but is quite necessary for the new system that you are going to create for the storage and organization of the paper.

As you sort the paper that you have gathered use the 4 D’s of paper management to help with the purge.

Deal

• Open all mail as soon as you receive it, or at least batch it and do it once a week
• If the piece of paper has an action associated with it, do the action right away if you can
• If you can’t do it immediately, schedule when you’ll deal with it and store the piece of paper in a “Waiting Action” file

Decide

• Sort all paper (including the mail) as it comes into the home.
• To be dealt with
• Information only
• Pleasure
• Or whatever categories you’ve come up with

Deposit

• Is it recycling, something that you need to keep for income tax or legal reasons and just needs to be filed or do you need to do something with it?
• As you deal with each item, store it where it belongs
• Remember that some active papers (like magazines and school information) will be active but stored in the “Waiting Action” file

Destroy

• Recycle junk mail and magazines
• Shred anything that contains financial or address information that is not needed.
• Whenever possible, use a one-in/one-out rule for your files, reducing the need for larger periodic purges. Things like old phone bills that you will have the last 12 months of.

For more paper wrangling tips visit OrganizingConnection.com

As GO (get organized) Month comes to a close there are several goodies to share this week that will help you with your goals of getting and staying organized in 2010.

As we head around the globe let’s visit…

Watercooler

You do What for a Living?

I love how Wendy Davie, our Australian organizing pal, explained what Professional Organizers do and I shared her animated video on my blog this week, see it here.

Great Organizing Giveaway

Are you looking for FREE resources to get you organized….well holy smokes you have hit the jackpot. The Great Organizing Giveaway was launched this week. Kim and I are uber excited because we were asked to participate in this Global event with over 120 of our Professional Organizer friends from around the world. We are offering a free download of our Home Organizing Basics, which includes the video, worksheets and e-book. Our friends are offering everything from Home Office Organizing Tips to Feng Shui Tips and everything in between. To get all these awesome offers FREE, you just need to sign up here with your name and e-mail and all 126 offers are there for you….enjoy.

How do I get my children and husband to help around the house?

This week I received this question on my youtube channel and Kim and I immediately sprung into action.  We got our trusty video camera and I got out my SoapBox…yes I needed it for this one. I would not call myself opinionated…but I do have opinions.  Enjoy and I hope this inspires you to empower your family…you can see more of our videos on our Organizing Connection Youtube Channel

That was the week in organizing.

Don’t forget, you can follow Organizing Connection, Elaine and Kim on twitter and we also have a Facebook Fan page that you can join.

Have a good one….Elaine

Yes, you can follow Organizing Connection, Elaine and Kim on twitter and we also have a Facebook Fan page that you can join.

The Watercooler has been all abuzz this week this is what we have heard.

January is GO(Get Organized) Month for our friends in the USA and the whole country is buzzing with activities. Here are some of the highlights for the last week of this event.

LA Organizing Awards…
It is award show season, forget the Golden Globe’s roll out the red carpet for the best of the best in the professional organizing industry. In the next few days many of our friends will be descending on one of the most amazing cites I have been to….LA. Bright lights, Rodeo Drive…a chance encounter with Simon Cowell in 2004 makes this one of my favorite places….ps…that is my reflection in Simon’s shiny Bentley…and it was not me if you are asking!

Simon Cowell on Rodeo Dr

While we are in sunny California I would like to introduce you to Josh Zerkel. I am very fond of Josh and even fonder of his love of productivity….birds of a feather stick together.If you are free on January 27th I invite you as my guest to an event that you will not want to miss.

Joshua is going to be hosting a FREE teleclass on January 27^th dedicated to showing you “The 7 Essentials for a Profitable and Productive 2010,” and he’s arranged FREE access for anyone I send along. register now!

Our Friend Josh

Now over to Georgia and the ZING list. That is Allison Carter’s vision of The Zing List.

What if there was a Craig’s List just for the organizing community?
What if we had a neighborhood market where we could all share what we are doing, creating, teaching… and you could go there to find interesting classes and books and products.

Haiti still needs our help and for our Canadians readers here is another way to give….and give …and give

Soft Moc Canada National Shoe Drive: Help Survivors of the Haitian Earthquake Disaster!

The following are a few tips for Un-Decorating this year:
• Take the time this year to put decorations away carefully. A few extra minutes this year can save you hours next year.
• Take pictures before you un-decorate and keep them in your Christmas journal for reference next year.
• Decide on a location to store seasonal decorations, large Rubbermaid containers store lots of decorations and can be stacked to use vertical space.
• Store decorations by room/category- e.g. living room décor, living room tree; Kitchen décor, Christmas baking supplies; Christmas entertaining; Outdoor décor, Outdoor lights.
• LABEL all your boxes, the more detailed the label the better.
• Store individual light sets in plastic bags to keep them from tangling together. This works well for beads and garland as well.
• Store candles in socks or nylons to prevent scratching
• When putting tree ornaments away ensure they are carefully wrapped to prevent breakage. They can be layered in boxes with heavier ones on bottom. If they are very fragile consider storing them in the boxes they came in or invest in Christmas ornament boxes, they are little more money but will safeguard those antique ornaments of your grandmothers that are priceless.
• Store Christmas music with your seasonal stuff, I always make sure the music is on top and easy to access as it is the first thing that come out (Kenny and Dolly are always the first CD to be played while decorating).

Happy Un-Decorating and if you have any suggestions or tips that help you stay organized while Un-Deocrating please leave a comment and share with us.

Kim

Hope this helps,

5  Weeks till Christmas (Sample Planner)

Week 1 (November 21-27)
• Make master gift list and holiday budget.
• Take inventory of gift closet and match gifts with giving list.
• Set up Calendar- include events, entertaining, house guests, travel, babysitters needed.
• Set up Christmas planner.
• Quick de-cluttering of toys and clothes that are out of date.
• Make master list of card recipients and purchase cards/stamps.
• Make any online or catalogue purchases.
• Decorate outdoors.

Week 2 (November 28-December 4)
• Prepare menu for holiday entertaining.
• Start Christmas baking if you do any.
• Prepare one group of cards (ones that will be sent farthest away).
• Purchase gifts for recipients farthest away.
• Wrap and post gifts that are being sent by mail.
• Purchase major gift items.
• Decorate main living area.
• Send out invitations for entertaining plans.
• Make menu for holiday week.

Week 3 (December 5-11)
• Finalize any entertaining plans
• Pre-purchase any supplies for entertaining.
• Precook items that can be frozen and continue Christmas baking.
• Shop for teachers, paperboy, co-workers, hostess gift etc.
• Prepare another set of cards.

Week 4 (December 12-18)
• Purchase stocking stuffers and any other gift left on list.
• Wrap major gift items.
• Purchase non perishables items needed for holiday menu.
• Prepare for drop in visitors
• Prepare rest of card, for people that are local.

Week 5 (December 19-24)
• Last minute plans for entertaining.
• Wrap remaining gifts
• Shop for Perishables

Week 6 HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Week 7 Un-Decorating week- stay tuned for info on one of the most important parts of having an organized Christmas- the Un-decorating plan.

Happy Planning,

Kim

Christmas Baking

But you can’t get to the Closet?

Do you find yourself saying…“I’ll just move this ‘stuff’ so I can get to that ‘stuff ‘…and then I will put it back later.

Are you tired of playing this game of ‘Find the Closet – Lose the Floor’ ?

Can’t find anything to wear in the morning…kids can’t find anything?

Are you Ready to embark on a new mission in life – one we like to call “sweet dreams”

Today we are launching our ‘Organizing Your Bedroom’ set and to celebrate we are sharing with you the #1 SECRET to Organizing your closet…and that SECRET can be used in the whole bedroom…even the whole house.

It is a Secret that Professional Organizers use everyday with their clients. We are going to Reveal it to you Today!

Are you ready to make a change? Do you want to know the #1 SECRET TO ORGANIZING YOUR CLOSET…