Organize Your Office And Reduce Clutter In Your Home

By Sasha Jenkins 

If your home, particularly your office, has become too cluttered it may be time to eliminate some of that clutter and get more organized. There are a few basic and simple things you can do to organize your home and your office.

Organizing Your Office And Paperwork

The office is an area that can get particularly cluttered with mail and paperwork. Get a document organizer to help organize your paperwork. You can find document organizers for both digital and paper files, so you can scan documents and keep them online or get a file cabinet where you can store them. Sometimes a combination of the two is the best fit.

If your desk is buried under a pile of paperwork you may benefit from a desktop document organizer. This type of organizer can help you keep your paperwork neatly sorted and safe. There are a few types of organizers that fit into this category, so shop around until you find one that fits your desk and your style of work. Everyone works a little differently; if you don't take this into consideration when buying a desktop organizer it may not work for you the way you had intended.

There are stacking organizers that allow you to easily access and store paperwork in different levels so you can sort your documents and neatly store both the organizer and the documents right on your desk. There are also desktop organizers that allow you to sort and divide your documents horizontally instead of vertically. It's just a matter of preference.

Organizing Other Areas Of Your Home

If you have other areas of your home that need to be better organized, but they look particularly daunting, just start small. Start cleaning and organizing one section at a time so it isn't such an overwhelming project. Those little things add up quickly to make a big difference over time.

Another thing that can help you keep your home organized is to put things away when you are finished using them. This includes things like recycling. Read your mail, paper or magazines and recycle them as soon as you are finished. Clip articles you want to keep and store them in a designated space. Don't be afraid to get rid of things. Really think about how much you need some of the items in your home. If you truly never use them maybe you don't need to keep them.

Little changes in your habits will make a difference. Making the effort to get more organized will help you save time, reduce frustration and create a better feel in your home.

Use Sasha's online guide to learn more about the different types of document organizers available and discover how they can help you organize your home office: Document Organizers

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Simple Tips To Help Organize Your Life

By Sasha Jenkins 

Has your life become stressed and a mess? By utilizing a few simple organizing tips you could reduce your stress and get your life back on the right track.

Get A Calendar

Keeping a family calendar out where everyone can see it and has access to it can help reduce your stress and keeps everyone in the know about what is going on this week. If you find that you often have a lot going on each week and usually forget one or more task or event you really need to use a family calendar. The best ones are ones that are large enough to fit every ones schedule on the same calendar. That way when something comes up and you go to check your calendar you have a clear picture of what is happening and when so you can better schedule yourself and the rest of your family. You can even take it a step further and color code your calendar by importance of event or by person.

Write Things Down

A lot of times we forget important things until the last minute. One way to improve your memory and better organize your life is to write down important things like grocery lists, errands that you need to run or appointments that you need to keep. The act of taking time out of your day to actually write down what you need to remember makes you far more likely to remember it.

Clean Your Refrigerator

You may not know it, but there is likely something going to waste in your refrigerator right now. When is the last time you cleaned out your refrigerator or pantry? If you take the time to do a quick clean of your refrigerator, no more than 15 minutes each week, you will waste less of your groceries and have an easier time deciding what to have for dinner. By regularly tossing the things that are expired you keep a mental inventory of what is on hand and what is not. This may be one of the most important organizing tips for your kitchen.

Lay Things Out The Night Before

Often times when people wake up in the morning they are running late. To make your life a little easier lay your things out for the next day the night before. Choose your outfit and set it out so that you can easily get dressed without wasting time standing in front of your closet for half an hour. Have the kids gather their home work and books and put their back packs by the door so they are ready in the morning and nothing important gets left behind. This one simple change in routine can save you lots of stress in the morning so you can start your day off on a positive note.

Using these simple tips to help organize your life can help save you time on a regular basis.

Another great thing you can do to better organize your life is to use document organizers for your paperwork. Read Sasha's guide on organizing documents to discover how things like a travel organizer can make your life a little easier: Travel Document Organizer

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Home Organization Tips That Can Make Life Easier

By Sasha Jenkins

Everyone wants their lives and their homes to be more organized and easier to manage. In today's society there are dozens of reasons why we all get sidetracked, disorganized and stressed out. By keeping up with a few simple tasks each day you can get your home back on track and minimize your stress due to a cluttered and un-organized home.

Start With A Clean Sink

The best advice anyone ever gave me to keep my home organized and keep my stress levels down, was to clean my sink. Every night before bed I make sure that my sink is clean. You might think this is a small silly task that has no real value to you but I assure you that you will feel better when you wake up to a kitchen that doesn't have dishes hanging out in the sink to be cleaned or put away. It's a small task, it never takes more than 15 minutes and it is an incredible stress reliever. So for the sake of your sanity, go clean your sink!

A Little At A Time

Another tip you can use in any room in the house is to organize one drawer or shelf each day. Really this shouldn't take long. Clear the clutter, toss the trash, donate the things you not longer use and place things neatly back in their place. I always use a timer for tasks like this. I set it for 15 minutes and then I get to work. I never takes longer than 15 minutes.

15 minutes is all you need to get your home organized. You read that right, just 15 minutes of work on a regular basis can get your home organized and clean. Take a timer and set it for 15 minutes and then start in an area of your home that needs help. Once the timer goes off, stop. Don't worry if it isn't perfect yet, just stop and move on with your day. You can come back later for another 15 minutes when you have time.

Out With The Old

If you are like many other people your kitchen and your closets are probably the areas that needs the most help. These areas accumulate a lot of stuff. One way to help organize your kitchen, closet or other problem area is to go in and toss something once a day. Most people have something that can go, things you don't use, broken things, old food. Just pick up something that doesn't need to be there and get it out of your house either with the trash or by donating it to someone who could use it.

By doing these few simple things you will find your house to be a more peaceful, organized, inviting environment in no time.

Paperwork and offices are another common problem area for people. Using the right tools, like an effective document organizer, can greatly help in this area. Get information about the different types organizers available, from paper to electronic, and tips on how to use them effectively using Sasha's online guide: Document Organizer.

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10 Clutter Habits To Break

By Elvie Look 

Even though I am a bit (just a tich) of a neat freak and love being organized, you may be shocked to know that I do not get up in the morning and wonder "hmm, what can I organize today?" I really don't think about it at all because organizing has become a "habit," and a habit is when you do something without even realizing or thinking about it.

Getting organized is really about developing good habits. I've shared about some of those habits in my articles 10 Baby Steps To Getting And Staying Organized and Best And Worst Habits Of An Organizing Junkie. For example, a good habit is to never walk by garbage or dirty dishes without picking it up.

But there is more needed to be successful in keeping an organized and clean home.

Let me illustrate it this way:
How successful would you be at losing weight if you ate healthy food ALONG with junk food? If you enjoyed a wonderful spring salad and herbal tea along with a greasy burger and fries?

Or, while teaching your children the good habit of saying "Please" and "Thank you," would you disregard their bad habit of belching at the table, or interrupting you when you are talking to someone?

You get my point. You need to develop good habits ALONG with "unlearning" or "breaking" some bad habits. You won't be successful unless you work on BOTH.

Bad Habits To Break:

1. Eating anywhere in the house and leaving your tracks
2. Not putting away tools after using them
3. Ignoring the mail
4. Leaving dishes in the sink or on the counter
5. Dropping clothes on the floor
6. Not making your bed
7. Taking the last and not replenishing
8. Keeping something that is broken or you no longer use "just in case"
9. Leaving projects unfinished
10. Procrastinating

Ok, so we know change is necessary, but that is easier said than done. Habits don't change overnight, so let's look as some practical ways to make this doable.

How To Change Your Habits:

• Pick and admit one bad habit you have that is contributing to your situation. Recognition and admission is half the battle. And notice I suggested only "one." If you try to work on all of your bad habits, it may be too much and you will give up. That's not what we want, so let's just work on one at a time.
• Make things convenient to help break that habit. For example, if you always drop your clothes on the floor, then do two things - install a clothes hook right where you are dropping them, on behind the door, and put a clothes hamper for dirty clothes there. Now you have no excuse for them being on the floor, if you are wearing them again, they go on the hook, if they are dirty, they go into the hamper.
• Enlist help from your family. If you leave dirty dishes on the counter, then get the family to all help. You can even set the timer for 15 minutes, and get everyone involved to help do the dishes for just 15 minutes. Having the timer makes it seem like a short time, they can spare 15 minutes, plus you are teaching them some good habits.
• Reward yourself. If you are struggling with making your bed every day, then allow yourself one day a week when you don't have to make it. Give yourself a "cheat" day or a "day off." Now you can play that day, and not feel guilty, but back on track the next day.
• Put your Tasks into bite-sized pieces. If you have the bad habit of procrastinating, then perhaps the tasks need to be broken down into smaller ones. For example: if you want to organize your garage but just can't get started, then break it down into small chunks. Such as - clear out all the garbage in the garage. Now that task isn't so overwhelming and makes it doable. When the garbage is cleaned out, then move onto another small task such as take all the recyclables to the depot. Then you can purge tools you are not using. Just look at ways to break it into smaller tasks.
• Put it in writing. To help you with dropping your bad habits - put up a message to remind you, either on your fridge, your bulletin board, your screen saver on your computer. Just a little visual to keep you on track.
• Remember your goal. Think about getting to where you want to be in life. You don't want to be stuck in the same rut you are now, you want to move forward, you want to be more organized, on top of things, you don't want to feel overwhelmed or like a failure anymore. Visualize your new life, and you will get there.

The Wrap Up

One key way to breaking a bad habit is to replace it them with a good habit, a specific task. One little task each day. You don't need to do this on your own. Let me help you, let me inspire you each day with one little organizing tip. Just doing one thing a day makes a world of difference. Don't wait, one tip a day into your inbox will help you get organized even if you failed in the past. Start The Journey NOW! Go to http://elviesessentials.com/oneaday

Elvie Look: Your Professional Organizing Coach who is helping people get organized with her easy tips and suggestions. These systems help the busy mom, businessman or woman,  entrepreneur or student learn the keys to organizing in simple, actionable and manageable steps. She teaches how to get organized and maintain your organized space while carrying on your normal busy life. She is the author of "21 Steps From Chaos To Calm and "One-A-Day" Tips "http://elviesessentials.com

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Feeling Stressed? Here Are Three Reasons Why Organization For the Home Can Reduce Stress

By Wendy Mitchell 

With the current state of the economy, odds are you are at least somewhat stressed about the current state of your job. Add in the cost of everything going up in price, and you are probably feeling stressed all the time and just need a safe and comfortable place to relax at the end of the day. If you are like the rest of us, your home may not be full of clutter and not as well organized as you would hope it could be. This clutter can actually add to your stress levels without you even knowing it. Whether it be the frustration because you can not find a specific item when you need it, or yet another late fee on one of your bills because it got lost in the pile of stuff on the counter only to be found after the due date had passed. While organizing your home may be the last thing on your list of things you want to do, here are three reasons why organizing your home can actually help reduce your stress levels, allowing you to live a healthier, stress free life.

First, you actually have time to relax. Do you actually remember the last time you were able to sit down and actually not have to think or do anything for at least a short amount of time? When your home is a disorganized mess, you never seem to get a chance to relax until its time to go to bed. Whether you are on a quest for one of your kid's lost items of clothing, or the important warranty paperwork you knew you had when something major breaks, odds are you never really get a chance to sit down and relax. When everything has its place in your home, you have time to relax and regenerate your mood so you are ready to tackle the next day's task full of energy.

Second, organization can reduce you bill paying stress. Once you are organized you will know exactly what bills are due and when. This reduces your fears that your credit score will suffer due to another late payment or more fees because you were not able to get your payment in on time. When your bills are organized, it is impossible for anything to slip through the cracks and this organization actually puts you in control of your finances. Since money is the most common stressor in everyone's life, organizing your finances really can help reduce your stress levels because it puts you in control, which eliminates the stress that can be caused by the fear of the unknown.

Lastly, you will actually save money. When your home is organized, you know everything that is in it and can create a list of only the things you need to buy. Odds are at least once in the recent future you have purchased an item at the grocery store that you thought you were out of and needed, only to get home and find out that you actually had three in the closet. You most likely did not know you had those items already on hand because they were put away in a different location that you did not think to check before you left the house. When your home is organized, everything has its place and you will always know what you have and what you need. This eliminates the purchasing of duplicates which can actually end up saving you tons of money in the long run.

For More On Organization For The Home and How It Could Reduce Your Stress CLICK HERE!

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Cleaning Clutter in the Garage So it Can Be Used As it Was Intended

By Wendy Mitchell 

If you are having a hard time remembering the last time you were actually able to park your car in the garage you may have come to the realization that you need to implement some form of organization for the home. Whether your garage has become the dumping ground for useless junk or your husband just has too many tools and toys that he just can not live without, there are some key tips that can help you organize your garage so it can be used for what it was intended.

Do an analysis of the clutter. Before you even think about purchasing any items to help store all the stuff in your garage, you will need to determine what needs to be kept and what has to go. In reality this should be a family affair since the pile that has formed in the garage was not created by one person alone. Take a weekend and start going through everything and determine what will be kept, tossed or donated. Once that is done you will have a better idea of what you need to make a home for.

Assess your storage needed. Now that you have purged everything that your family no longer needs, you now need to make an assessment of the best way to store all the remaining stuff. Depending on the type of stuff you need to store you may either need to purchase cabinets for all your husband's tools, or maybe plastic containers for other stuff. Either way you should determine what your storage needs are before you go to the store. Going in with a game plan will help you purchase only what you need and not waste money on stuff that you do not.

Do not let the family return to old habits. Since you have spent a fair amount of time organizing your garage so you can actually park your car in it again, you will want to make sure it stays organized. While old habits can be hard to break, you will want to make sure your family does not fall into the old routine of using the garage as a dumping ground. If something new needs to be added, make an assessment of the best way to store it and make sure you take care of it as soon as you can. This eliminates the chance of an organized space turning into a disorganized mess.

These are just a few of the key tips that can help you transform your garage from major clutter, to organized success. Make sure to be honest with yourself and only keep what you need and you will be back to using your garage as it was intended.

Get Started Today Cleaning Clutter Around Your House With These Simple Tips at ORGANIZATION-FOR-THE-HOME

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Easy Organization Steps to Cleaning Clutter in Your Basement

By Wendy Mitchell 

If you have plans on utilizing your basement for more than just the dumping ground for all the stuff that you could not seem to find a home for, then you are probably contemplating organizing your basement. Whether you are looking to finish part of it for family use, or just need to bring some order to your basement, odds are you are considering some form of organization for the home. While organizing the ever growing pile of stuff in your basement may seem like a daunting task, there are three key tips that can help you make sure everything has its place.

First, take the time to sort through what you need to organize. Since your basement has become the dumping ground for a variety of items, you will need to make a thorough analysis of what you need to keep and what you can do without. Like any process that requires the possibility of throwing things away, you need to be honest with yourself with the stuff you plan to keep. Is it something that you may possibly use in the next few months or does it hold some sort of sentimental value to a member of your family. Once you know specifically what items you need to find storage for, organizing those items in the proper location becomes so much easier.

Second, analyze your storage needs. Now that you know what you need to store, you need to determine the best way to store them. If you have a lot of small items that need to be found quickly than clear plastic containers may be your best bet, or maybe free standing cabinets will work better for you. Either way you need to have some type of idea as to what type of storage will work best for you before you visit your local home improvement store. With so many different options, you want to make sure you have an idea in mind, otherwise you can end up spending hundreds on tools that you may never need or may not have the room for in your home.

Lastly, keep on top of it. Since you have more than likely spent at least a few weekends organizing your basement, odds are you would like to keep it that way. Whenever you have something new that needs to be stored in the basement, make a quick analysis of the best way to store it and go out and purchase the right organization tool that can handle it. If you are vigilant about your storage needs your basement will always stay neat and organized no matter what you need to store in it.

Get Started Today With Great Tips On Tackling Cleaning Clutter In Your Home at Organization for the Home

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