100 Ways to Get Organized

100 Ways to Get Organized- As seen in Women's Day

The meals, the kids, the housework, the job…the only way to stay sane is to get organized. Fat chance, you say? Remember, the goal of organizing isn’t to make your house pristine; it’s to make your life more functional. So don’t straighten for neatness sake—create an organized foundation for all the roles you play.

The Housekeeper
1. Assign specific living quarters to everything you own.

2. Put things where they work for you: vitamins by the juice glasses, coat hooks in the garage next to the car.

3. A small, open basket on the coffee table keeps remote controls from slipping between sofa cushions, says professional organizer Kathy Waddill, author of The Organizing Sourcebook: Nine Strategies for Simplifying Your Life.

4. Move all your CDs to a storage wallet. Say bye-bye to jewel boxes and CD stands!

5. Put wastebaskets in every room, suggests Waddill.

6. Whenever you run across anything empty, ripped, the wrong size or never used, immediately toss it in the trash or a charity box.

7. To stay on track, jot your cleaning routine on index cards and post them, says Debbie Williams, founder of organizedtimes.com .

8. Use a plastic caddy, not valuable shelf space, to store cleaning supplies for surfaces and floors. Keep it on the broom and mop closet floor (locked, if you have small children) and tote it from room to room.

9. Store sheet sets in the same room as the bed, between the mattress and box spring or tucked into an under-bed box.

10. Keep a cedar chest (or a light-weight wicker basket if you have young children to avoid accidents) at the foot of your bed to hide blankets and extra pillows.

11. Tuck a whisk broom and dustpan in each bathroom for a daily dust-up.

12. Put a different color toilet paper than usual behind your stash of regular rolls. When a colored roll ends up on the spool, it’s time to buy more.

13. Keep real cleaning cloths next to your cleaning products, and ditch the box of ripped underwear you keep in the basement.

14. Just accept it: Place a tall, narrow basket for his magazines next to the toilet.

The Mom
15. Give kids their own alarm clocks and post morning checklists for them. (It’ll be less for you to organize.)

16. Move kids’ cereal boxes, bowls and cups to an “I can reach it!” lower cabinet. Also, put juice boxes, milk and other snacks in an accessible place in the refrigerator.

17. Leave a shoe basket by the front door (or the kids’ bedroom doors) to avoid those excruciatingly long searches through the house.

18. Have a two-compartment hamper in the kids’ rooms so they can sort lights from darks as they undress.

19. When switching kids’ summer/winter clothes, mark boxes with the date and sizes so you don’t have to paw through them to know if they’ll fit.

20. No room for a dresser? One or two sets of plastic or canvas hanging shelves in the closet make choosing clothes easier.

21. Leave a weatherproof, bench-style storage box outside for the kids’ outdoor toys.

22. Gather all balls into a large, mesh drawstring bag.

23. Keep some toys undercover in the living room with decorative, lidded baskets.

24. Stand kids’ paperback books in rectangular plastic or wicker baskets so they’re easy to sift through.

25. Photograph your child’s 3-D creations and save the pictures instead, says momcentral.com founder Stacy DeBroff, author of The Mom Book.

The Chef
26. Post several weekly dinner menus on the fridge and alternate among them for easier grocery shopping and meal planning.

27. Don’t keep space-hogging cookbooks. Photocopy favorite recipes and slip them into plastic sheet protectors inside a binder.

28. Tape an envelope for pizza and other takeout food coupons inside the cabinet door nearest the phone.

29. Use a mini flowerpot with drip tray near the sink to stash sponges, steel wool and food scrapers.

30. A crock with a wide mouth keeps favorite stove-side utensils from tangling.

31. Put countertop flour and sugar canisters on a lower slide-out cabinet shelf. Or use a sturdy baking sheet or plastic tray as a slide-out.

32. Double cabinet space with two-tiered turntables.

33. Trade round storage containers for more efficient square and rectangular ones, says DeBroff.

34. To free up kitchen space borrow, don’t buy, things you rarely use such as juicers, waffle irons, melon ballers and rolling pins. Already have them? Sell them.

35. A second freezer makes you walk farther for the ice cream.

The Personal Assistant
36. Use a morning checklist; kids aren’t the only ones who forget things when they’re in a rush.

37. Create other essential checklists: what goes in your gym bag, what joint-custody kids need to take back and forth between houses, what to pack for trips, information for babysitters, etc. Keep them on your computer for updating and put copies in a folder near the kitchen phone.

38. Set your computer calendar’s alarm for the week before dates you need to remember, from an anniversary to the day you change the furnace filter. That will give you enough time to buy what you need.

39. Organize future events with a monthly accordion file. Put birthday cards, directions to a baby shower, a note to check on furniture deliveries, even vacation brochures in the appropriate months.

40. Put a clock in every single bathroom.

41. Always have backups: a spare set of car/house keys, a second deodorant, another way to get kids to school.

42. Make a standing monthly hair appointment.

43. Designate every Friday or Saturday as date night with your husband, and book a sitter for several weekends at a time.

44. Don’t assume he’ll keep those Honey-Do projects in his head. Post them on the bathroom mirror.

45. Keep a wish list of intriguing activities on hand so you don’t waste precious weekend time figuring out what to do.

46. File copies of important documents (birth certificates, car title, passports, proof of immunizations, insurance information, etc.) in a three-ring binder with zippered plastic pockets. If disaster strikes, you can grab it and go.

47. Add address book pages sorted by category: kids’ friends, gourmet food club, tennis friends, etc., DeBroff suggests.

48. Avoid a last-minute scramble to find rental videos by leaving unwatched and just-watched movies in a bag by your door.

49. Stock your nightstand drawer with pencils, notepads, a phone book and a flashlight.

50. Corral an unwieldy bedroom reading pile with a small bookshelf next to your nightstand.

The Fashion Designer
51. Allow only one outfit—tomorrow’s—on the hook outside your closet door.

52. Buy a closet organizer instead of just dreaming about it.

53. Start each season by arranging clothes hangers so the hooks face out, toward the room, says Kim Cosentino, owner of the De-Clutter Box, Inc. in Westmont, Illinois. When you wear something, turn the hanger in. At the end of the season, get rid of anything that hasn’t been turned.

54. Vacuum-sealed storage bags. Enough said.

55. Free up drawer space by stacking jeans, sweaters and gym clothes on closet shelves. Slip-on shelf dividers keep them from falling over.

56. Keep a stepstool in or next to your closet.

57. To free up your dresser, put plastic stacking bins with drawers inside your closet for socks, underpants and bras.

58. Bring order to scarves and belts with an “accessory ladder,” a chain of shower curtain rings—one for each item—trailing down from the top of a hanger, says Donna Smallin, author of Organizing Plain and Simple. Clip purses to a second ladder.

59. Keep ponytail holders on shower curtain rings, too.

60. Hang a flat jewelry organizer with transparent pockets inside your closet door.

61. Pare down your cosmetics to fit in one portable bag.

62. Make a Just for Me pampering kit so lotions, scented candles, nail polish, etc., aren’t scattered in three different rooms.

The Chauffeur
63. End key confusion with new, decorative keys: Use stars-and-stripes for the house, flowers for the garden shed, psychedelic for your office at work.

64. Removable key rings let you leave work keys at home on weekends, the car key with the valet and the house key with your pet sitter.

65. Line car-door map compartments with shallow, narrow organizing pockets to keep pens, notepads, hand lotion and lip/eye pencil from sliding around.

66. Use a clothespin to clip to your purse strap those “Can’t Forget” notes: Get allergy shot. Pick up kids early. Tell mechanic about squeaking brakes.

67. To avoid “senior moments” with the dry cleaning, library books, videos or packages to mail, put outgoing items on the passenger seat, not on the kitchen counter.

68. Slide a local phone book under the front seat.

69. Pens with fuzzy animal heads are easier to find in the car.

70. Get a key chain–size Swiss Army knife with pullout pen.

71. Free up glove compartment space: Stow owner’s manuals in the passenger seat’s back pocket.

72. Stock glove compartment with takeout menus, napkins, nail file, car registration, tire gauge, first-aid kit and a roll of quarters.

73. Create a “just in case” box for the car trunk: umbrella, cheap rain ponchos, scissors, big black marker, tape, paper towels, plastic bags, extra kids’ socks and a one-size-fits-all T-shirt, sweatshirt and pair of sweatpants for adults, another for kids.

74. Keep the charity box in your trunk, not your closet. When it’s full, drop it off.

The Employee
75. Keep an extra pair of glasses or contact lenses, pantyhose and other emergency gear in your desk.

76. Sort your day by activity, not project. Check the stack of phone messages only twice a day.
Tackle the correspondence pile right after lunch, and head to the copy machine just once.

77. Use your datebook to keep projects on track. Block out times to tackle each bite-size segment.

78. If you don’t need it every day, get it off your desk.

79. Don’t just shift remaining papers around your desk. Flip the stack—oldest papers now on top—for a fresh perspective and quicker action, DeBroff suggests.

80. Tame the file frenzy with broader file names, such as one for “Employees” rather than two for “Personnel” and “Evaluations,” Waddill recommends.

81. Use desktop or wall-mounted vertical file racks for an instant cleanup of your tornado-zone desk, Smallin says.

82. When you have a project with a lot of paperwork, stay organized by using a three-ring binder instead of flimsy file folders. List everyone involved and their contact information on the first page.

83. For smaller projects, write contact details on the front of the file folder.

84. Move finished project folders from your office into storage.

The Accountant
85. One credit card per grownup. Period.

86. Create a Receipt Depot: a folder near the door that everyone drops receipts into as they come home.

87. Bite the bullet: Computerize your finances.

88. Stick to a budget. Then you’ll never have trouble covering those unexpected expenses.

89. Slip incoming bills, a pen and a thin calculator into a three-ring binder’s inside pockets. Make a list of all your usual bills and expenses, and print out a fresh copy each month for your binder. Then mark the bills off monthly as you pay them. If a creditor isn’t crossed off, call for a duplicate statement to avoid late fees.

90. Make sure your list includes automatic withdrawals for utilities and bills you pay online so you don’t pay a bill twice or lose track of your checking account balance.

91. Ask creditors to shift your due dates to lump them all together or to split them between the two pay periods of each month.

The Handywoman
92. Keep a Phillips and flathead screwdriver in a kitchen drawer to avoid a trek to the toolbox.

93. Affix baby food jar lids to the bottom of your workroom shelf. Sort nails, screws and bolts into the jars, and twist them onto the lids.

94. When you adjust your clocks each spring and fall, also weed out expired medicine, sunscreen, food, coupons and smoke detector batteries.

95. Hang a spray-painted Peg-Board for tools, coats, baseball caps; use wall hooks for blow dryers.

96. Store all car wash products in a bucket in the garage.

97. Keep a large, sturdy garbage can on wheels next to your car to toss candy wrappers or other trash, says Waddill.

98. Aim for easy access, not neat storage, for lawn equipment. Shift your tools the way you
shift your clothes: In the winter, put the snow shovel in front and the rake in the back.

99. Save space on rarely used equipment by coordinating a borrowing system: You’ll have the fertilizer spreader, one neighbor will have the extension ladder, another will have a chainsaw, etc.

100. Install a hook above the kitchen sink where just-watered hanging plants can drip.

Organizing Your Child's Artwork

Make and Takes had a wonderful post on how to Organize Your Child's Artwork. This ties in nicely with our March topic of organizing!

Heidi of Budget Wise Home is the author of the great article. Be sure to check out both of the blogs for some fabulous ideas!

Operation Organization

Operation Organization - taken from Moms of Faith

Can you barely find your kitchen counter under the stack of bills and magazines that pour in through the mail every day? If this sounds familiar than it is time to set up operation organize. Being organized is key to my sanity. As a single mom who takes care of all the cleaning, bills, grocery shopping and finances, I found early on that being organized would not only make my life easier, it would give me more time to spend with my daughter and do the things that matter most. Here are a few essential organizing tips.

Kitchen Organizing
Keep the kitchen tidy by not allowing mail to build up on counters. Purchase a basket or a three bin organizer you can hang on the wall. Label each bin. For example, label the first bin bills, the second, coupons, the third in could be appointments or to do lists, this could include permission slips, invitations, announcements, etc. A cork board is also a great way to post important reminders for the day. Don’t forget to hang your keys somewhere that you won’t forget them

The space under the sink can get messy if you keep cleaning products there. Find some inexpensive organizing bins. I found long oval tin containers at my local drug store for about $1.00-$1.50 and they hold my cleaning supplies, sponges, and trash bags perfectly.

Living Room Organizing
If the living room is your family’s gathering space it is most likely the most cluttered room of the house. If you read magazines or books, and watch movies there, make sure you have an appropriate place to put everything once your family is finished using it. Make sure you have enough magazine and bookshelves. A big basket or CD holder works great for DVDs.

Mudroom or Entry Organizing
You know the drill, the coats get thrown on the floor, the shoes are piled up, and wet umbrellas are lying around. Your entryway sets the tone for your home, it should be welcoming and clean. If you don’t have a hall closet, hang a rack that you could hang coats and hats on or purchase a coat rack. Get an old rain boot and put your umbrellas in it. A bench that opens up is another great way to utilize storage space.

Bedroom Organizing
If your closet is filled with shoes and your drawers are overflowing then it is time to take inventory and rearrange. First sort through your clothes, give away anything you aren’t going to wear. Then sort into seasons, get all your winter clothes and place them in plastic containers or even suitcases and store them in the attic, basement, or anywhere you have room. Don’t forget to label them by season. A shoe rack can be an inexpensive investment that you can either hang in your closet or on your door.

A laundry hamper for each person’s bedroom will also help to eliminate clothes all over the floor. Then make each family member responsible for bringing their own hamper to the laundry room on laundry day.

Linen Closet Organizing
A great space saver for towels is rolling and stacking them. I use wicker baskets to store my hair dryer, brushes, combs, etc. If I have extra lotions, perfume, or toothpaste, I place them in plastic storage containers that are the size of a shoebox and stack them.

Office Organizing
It is essential to keep your finances in order. When bills are scattered you are in danger of missing or making a late payment. In the current economic climate it is important that we stay on top of our finances. I suggest placing your bills in a binder with various folders. Label the folders according to your bills, for example, credit cards, donations, utilities, taxes, mortgage, car payments, education, credit reports, etc.

You can also have two separate bins, one for bills that you have to pay immediately, or that you want to pay within the next week or two, and the other bin for bills you don’t have to pay until later. Get in the habit of opening your mail on the day it arrives and filing it in the appropriate place.

There are so many ways to simplify your life. The idea is to find creative ways to organize that fit your lifestyle. So get those creative juices flowing and get organized. Become the captain of your ship and get everyone aboard.

Copyright © Chere Williams, Moms of Faith, All Rights Reserved