organization ideas

I would like to say I came up with these all on my own, and i probably could have, but i didn't =) i get e-mails from Maria Garcia at www.getorganizednow.com and thought these were super ideas to share. you can sign up for maria's emails as well, by going to her site. getting organized (at least in my home office) will be my goal for february. i will need at least that much time =) thanks maria!

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10 Ideas to Help You Get Motivated to Organize

1. Look through some home decorating magazines. Tear out pages that contain room layouts, storage solutions, or decorating arrangements you like. Use them for inspiration and to help you shop for creative storage solutions.

2. Get 10 index cards and write 10 ten-minute tasks on each of them (e.g. clean out the medicine cabinet, clear off the surface of the refrigerator, recycle old newspapers, etc.) Get 10 more index cards and write 10 ten-minute rewards. As you complete each task card, enjoy one reward card!

3. Let in some light. There's nothing more depressing than organizing in a dark room. Open the window shades wide or turn on the lights. Bring in extra lamps if necessary to make the room you're working in bright and cheery.

4. Turn on the tunes. What rocks your world? Beethoven? Blondie? The Beach Boys? Get your MP3 or CD player on and dance the clutter away.

5. Beat the clock. Set your timer for 10 minutes and see how many pounds of clutter you can toss. Your house will have that 'lighter' than air feeling when you're done.

6. Declutter with the intention of helping others. Things you're not using now could make another person's day. Bring gently used appliances, clothing, toys and more to a charitable organization, and give yourself a pat on the back for your kindness.

7. Invite a friend over to help you give your clutter the heave-ho--preferably a friend who has a good eye for things that are keepers and things that are clutter. When you're both done, order in some lunch and enjoy each other's company.

8. Work in 10-minute spurts. Feeling overwhelmed? The best thing to do is start somewhere--anywhere--for 10 minutes. Just keep tossing things you no longer need. When the 10 minutes are up, take a 10-minute break and pick up where you left off. Decide ahead of time whether you're going to have 3, 5, etc. 10-minute organizing sessions that day, so you feel a sense of accomplishment and closure when you're done.

9. Write down your accomplishments. Whenever you finish an organizing task, write it down. By the end of the day, you just might be able to announce at dinnertime that you put all your books in alphabetical order, you cleaned out the junk drawer and you finished writing out a bunch of thank you cards. Do this in a pretty journal for an added dose of inspiration.

10. Major organizing job? Have a major celebration. If you decided to go all out and do something big, like organize your entire clothes closet or declutter a basement that hasn't been touched in years, that deserves a special celebration. Take a photo of the finished project, post it on Facebook if you wish for the world to see, then go out for a spa treatment or a nice dinner with someone you love.

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(c) Copyright 2011 by Maria Gracia, Get Organized Now!

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I LOVE these colors!  

Pick up some of these for your valentine, or have the easter bunny drop some off on his way by... just hop on over to my ETSY shop!

cute frames

I've been making these for a while, and realized that I need to post them! The frames come in any color (brown & red being my favorite) and I've put many different sayings in them. They are also darling with photos. I have a two-some of black ones in my main bathroom...super cute!

This is one I made for a co-worker who lost her brother last week. Very sweet quote...wish I knew who said it first. These will be appearing in my new Etsy shop "Come home with ME" very soon.

Organization!

so, i've been wanting my whole life to be organized, and i've finally taken a BIG step... i've actually organized something!  i've organized lots of little somethings, but never something this large.  to most, this will seem small, but for me it was huge!  i've had a cupboard in my kitchen that over the years has become more of a crap cupboard.  it's an eyesore, and i'm positive my mother in law has sworn at it and rolled her eyes at how un-organized i can be. so when i finished my Christmas prep a little early, and was needing a project to keep myself busy... i knew right where to go!


i have dreams of being organized, seriously, i do, but i have a hard time GETTING organized.  i've always said that if someone would just organize things for me, i could keep them organized... it was just the "getting" that i couldn't handle.  here's my cupboard...

phone books (waaaayyy too many...), vitamins, batteries, pills, old checkbooks, cookbooks, etc...

it was a mess!  you can tell (can't you?) that at one point i was "organized..." see the drawers behind the pill bottles?? =)  anyway, i cleared EVERYTHING out of the cupboard and started over.  i shredded all the old check books...

this is not an exaggeration! there were a few shredded papers in the bottom when i started, but this is all the paper hooey from the cupboard.  yikes!  (we have oodles of new years confetti now)


i rummaged around the house for a basket or two, and brought the medicine bins down from upstairs.  i had two of them up in my bathroom that i wasn't really using.  after i properly disposed of all the expired medicine, there was room for most of the items from the cupboard.

can you finally see my little drawers?  =)  the top drawer holds scotch tape and postage stamps, middle drawer has address labels, and the bottom drawer is holding smaller batteries (aa and aaa.) i still need to label the totes, the bottom one is filled with medications, the middle bin with first aid items, and the top tote has emergency items like candles and larger batteries.  i recycled all the phone books except one, and put the recipe books i wanted to keep into a metal basket i had laying around.  my coupon book (when i get IT cleaned out) will live on the top shelf with the phone book. it's not perfect, but it's SO much better than what we had before!  i'm feeling pretty accomplished!  yay me!

I NEED one!

This darling necklace is beyond the "want" on my Christmas list... it has become the NEED!  =)

Isn't this the most darling necklace ever??

get yours here!  (only available until the 8th of December...)

I think I need this...

Every year I set the goal to become more organized... and each year I don't get nearly as far in my organization as I would like.  It's a slow process =)  about the time all my children grow up and leave home I will have my goal accomplished!  This year, I'm game to get into the coupon "game."  Here's what I'm using to get me going!  I actually excited about this chapter in my organizational goals...

Join me and grab one of these while they are still available!  HERE! 

newest additions to my etsy shop!