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| Organizing solutions for your work, home and life! |
| Copyright © 2006-2007 Organized Visions. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy |
| 10 Projects to Get You Organized This Year |
Here are 10 projects to help get you organized that you can start and finish this year.
Some are quick and will give you a nice sense of accomplishment. Others may take a
little more time, but are certainly worth it. So go ahead, take challenge yourself to Get
Organized!
1. Your Purse or Wallet:
2. Your Car Trunk:
3. Your Medicine Cabinet:
4. Your Kitchen & Pantry:
5. Your Closets and Clothing Draws:
Oh the dreaded closets! Clothes on the floor, things just pushed away. It’s time to gain control. The good
news, you don’t have to re-build from scratch, although you may need to restructure things a bit using
closet organizers. Your goal is to have the things that you use often easily accessible. (Think between your
shoulder and knee). You don’t want to have to climb up to get it everyday, nor do you want to have to go
down on hands and knees. A few ways to put things in order:
6. Your Entertainment Center:
CDs, Videos, cables and controls….do you even remember what they belong to? Yup you guessed it, start
by taking everything out.
7. Your Photos and Cards
Like a lot of other people you probably have a few boxes of photos in one form or another. Getting them
sorted out doesn’t have to be a major pain. Start simple.
8. Your Work Space and Office
There is huge value to having an organized office. It makes it easier to: a) stay on top of important papers, b)
better manage your schedule (or everyone else's) and c) direct the flow of key projects.
9. Tackle Your Paper Files
If you spend a lot of time shuffling through papers, looking for that important file, you’re losing valuable
time---and your time is money. Tackling your paperwork will ease the stress and save you time.
10. Tame Your Computer Files:
The same principles that apply to your paper files can be applied to your electronic files.
So are you ready to take the challenge and take on these projects?. Feel like you want to tackle them all or
need a bit of help for the larger projects? Help is just a phone call or email away!
Contact us at nchamblin@organizedvisions.com or call 917-747-8408.
Some are quick and will give you a nice sense of accomplishment. Others may take a
little more time, but are certainly worth it. So go ahead, take challenge yourself to Get
Organized!
1. Your Purse or Wallet:
- Remove everything out of your purse or wallet, and put like items together. (Credits cards to one
side, identification and health cards to another, etc.) - Discard or put away any items that should not be in your wallet/purse. Take out old receipts and
review the odd pieces of paper to see if there are addresses or notes that are needed. - Check the structure of your wallet or purse. Make sure it’s sturdy and still works for your lifestyle.
Does it have enough storage compartments for your needs? - Assign a place for each group. Credit Cards, Identification, Money, Receipts, etc. Having a set place
where items belong is important and will help you be aware of your contents in case a card goes
missing or if you’re searching for a receipt. - Put everything in its new place.
- Clean your wallet/purse out at least once per week to keep things neat and orderly.
2. Your Car Trunk:
- Pick a nice sunny day and drag everything out of your trunk.
- Throw away the junk (wrappers, empty bags, etc.)
- Sort out the emergency items and make sure they are still functional. Check to make sure the items
are seasonally appropriate (snow shovel for cold weather, etc.) - Consider using a car trunk organizer (Recommend product) to keep everything neat and tidy
- Put everything back neatly.
- Try to clean your trunk out at least once a month….more frequently if things get out of control.
3. Your Medicine Cabinet:
- Take out every bottle and box.
- Check the expiration dates and toss everything that’s past its prime.
- Since you’ve got everything out, give the cabinet a good cleaning.
- Now you can put back your remaining toiletries and medicines. (Remember to put like things
together: First Aid, Headache, Eye Care, etc.).
4. Your Kitchen & Pantry:
- You guessed it, empty out your cabinets and pantry.
- Check your cans and bags expiration dates.
- Put it all together. Create stations for the activities that take place: Baking, Meal Prep, etc. Keeping
the items together will help you cut down on time and make your work areas more efficient. - Consider using under the sink organizers, pot racks or Lazy Susans to help ease access and keep
things neatly. These can be added on to existing cabinetry. - Using step shelves for your cans and spice makes it easier to get to them and to see when you’re
running out.
5. Your Closets and Clothing Draws:
Oh the dreaded closets! Clothes on the floor, things just pushed away. It’s time to gain control. The good
news, you don’t have to re-build from scratch, although you may need to restructure things a bit using
closet organizers. Your goal is to have the things that you use often easily accessible. (Think between your
shoulder and knee). You don’t want to have to climb up to get it everyday, nor do you want to have to go
down on hands and knees. A few ways to put things in order:
- Like goes with like: shirts together, pants, together, etc. Then you can break it down by color. Blue
shirts together, black pants, together (you get the picture). - Take advantage of your available space by using shelves, drawers or hanging storage to put things
away.
6. Your Entertainment Center:
CDs, Videos, cables and controls….do you even remember what they belong to? Yup you guessed it, start
by taking everything out.
- Put all the CDs together, Videos together, etc. Make sure you have the CDs and Videos matched to
the jackets. (Space Saver Tip: Consider having your Videos converted to CDs or DVDs. You’ll
preserve the image and condense your collection!) - Check out the cables. What do they belong to? If you have loose cables, you can use a small
container like a plastic shoe box to store them in. Try your best to match your cables to an
appliance. If you can’t, get rid of them or store them away neatly. - Gather all your controls. Change the batteries if necessary. Make sure that the control still has all its
buttons and still works. Don’t forget to check to see if you still have the appliance the control
belongs to. (Efficiency Tip: Consider getting a Universal or all in one remote to control all the items in
your entertainment center). - Now on to your entertainment center. Are all its parts still functional? Are the shelves buckling or
will the still withstand the weight of your TV, stereo system, games and accessories? If the
structure of you entertainment center is no longer safe and sound, it’s time for an upgrade. - If all is in working order, assign each item a home. Designate a space where the remote control(s)
will go when not in use. That way you won’t keep losing it. Use a media organizer to hold your CDs
and Videos…take it one step further and catalogue your CDs and Videos so you know what you
have in your collection.
7. Your Photos and Cards
Like a lot of other people you probably have a few boxes of photos in one form or another. Getting them
sorted out doesn’t have to be a major pain. Start simple.
- Decide how you’ll organize them: 1) by subject/event (i.e. a wedding or family vacation) 2) by people
(i.e. family, co-worker, friends) 3) by time period (i.e. 1998-1999, the 90’s) - Choose your storage method: 1) a photo box 2) a photo album or 3) frames. You may decide to go
with a variety of the three options, just make sure you select a simple and easy way to store the
photos to preserve them and that it will be easy for you to access them.
8. Your Work Space and Office
There is huge value to having an organized office. It makes it easier to: a) stay on top of important papers, b)
better manage your schedule (or everyone else's) and c) direct the flow of key projects.
- Begin by sorting through the piles of paper into piles to Discard, Handle or to Hold. Discard
unnecessary documents. Handle those that need to be paid or responded to. Hold or file those that
need to be kept. - Keep like Items together and organize the supplies you need to perform routine tasks together.
(Mail supplies in one corner. Computer discs in another.) - Make your space work for you. The flow of your office should match the flow of your work. If you find
yourself criss-crossing your paths to get simple tasks your office space is making you work harder
than you have to. Rearrange your space to make things more efficient.
9. Tackle Your Paper Files
If you spend a lot of time shuffling through papers, looking for that important file, you’re losing valuable
time---and your time is money. Tackling your paperwork will ease the stress and save you time.
- Active, Reference or Archive: If your files all live in one space, you need to separate the Active files
for projects you work on daily from the Reference files that you only look at once in a while, from the
Archive files that you need to keep for legal purposes or as keepsakes. - Sort Your Mail & Papers: Designate a place to hold those papers or mail items that require action.
That could include bills or items requiring follow up. Designate a place for items waiting to be filed.
Set up a filing system for the documents you need to keep for reference and those files that you
need for archive - Use Categories: We tend to think in groups, so place in groups. Sorting your files into categories
and then breaking them down into sub-folders/categories can make it easier to find things. For
example, at home you could have a major category for House Management and then sub folders for
each of your house bills (light, electric, phone), Manuals for appliance, etc. - Set a Schedule: Set aside administrative time at least once a week when you go through your
pending papers and bills to pay them. Stick to this day and make sure that you go through your bills
to avoid late fees.
10. Tame Your Computer Files:
The same principles that apply to your paper files can be applied to your electronic files.
- Separate your Active files from your Reference File and Archive files not in use with a back up
software or simply burn them off onto CDs. - Sort your email diligently and keep your Inbox as clear as you can. Set up filters to catch Junk mail
and use folders to sort those emails that you want to keep. Remember to archive old messages
frequently to save mailbox space. - The ability to create main folders and sub -folders on your computer make it easy to use categories
to save your files.
So are you ready to take the challenge and take on these projects?. Feel like you want to tackle them all or
need a bit of help for the larger projects? Help is just a phone call or email away!
Contact us at nchamblin@organizedvisions.com or call 917-747-8408.
