A clothing swap is easy to organize and can be a lot of fun. First get a bunch of your closest friends together. Have each person bring their old, gently used clothes. At the party you can try on and swap clothes.

At the end of the evening, gather up the unwanted clothes and donate them to a local shelter or to an organization like Dress for Success (Dress for Success provides workplace clothing for disadvantaged women).

Don’t limit yourself to just clothing swaps. Here are a few other ideas of items you could organize a swap for:

- Toys
- Furniture
- Kitchenware
- Books

For even more fun, have a theme night and have your guest bring food and wine. Get a babysitter and make an evening of it!

One person’s junk is another person’s new wardrobe!

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Online you can find numerous videos and instructions on how to “properly” fold your t-shirts. Martha Stewart has her own instructions. View her instructions and video on How to Fold a T-shirt.

With your shirts neatly folded you can store more of them in one drawer, and spend less time looking for an appropriate shirt because you won’t have to unfold and refold until to find the one you want.

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Here are 6 ways to get some good use out of cloth shopping bags:
1. For Groceries: This was is obvious. Keep a few in your car, just in case you pick up a few items on your way home.

2. For Picnics or Potlucks: It may be a bit too cold now for a picnic, but you can definitely carry your potluck goodies in a cloth shopping bag, that way they are separate from your non-food goodies and you don’t accidentally spill potato salad all over your photo album that you brought to share.

3. For Work/School Lunches: If the traditional lunch bags are not big enough, consider bringing your lunch in the cloth bags. They are easy to carry, and can handle larger lunch containers than some lunch bags can.

4. One For the Car: Consider having one on the floor in the back of your car. Use it to store items like car chargers, emergency snacks, or anything else you normally keep in your car. They’re great as snack holders for road-trips too! It’ll help keep your car a little more organized!

5. For the Kid’s Toys: Use these bags for your child’s toys or books. This way they can be easily transported to another room, or to another house when visiting friends and family. That way you’re kids always have their favourite toys with them, and a easy/portable way to store them.

6. For Storing Other Cloth Bags: If you have TONS of cloth bags, consider carefully folding the smaller ones and storing them inside the largest one. The next time you need a bag as your running out the door, you just have to grab and go.

Halloween is coming up in less than a month, you could also use the bags for their Halloween candy (make sure they don’t get too heavy and break if they bring home too much candy).

What do you use cloth shopping bags for?

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There are many reasons to keep an up-to-date inventory of items in your home. No matter what your reason, give Know Your Stuff a try.

In this site, you can create a free online database (aka list) of all your posessions, and access this list from anywhere, anytime. Some great features of Know Your Stuff include:

1. organizing and viewing your possessions by room or category
2. viewing reports that you can easily export to Excel or print directly, and
3. creating an inventory calendar so you can schedule maintenance and organizational tasks.

This site is a great tool to help you create an inventory of items in your home. Set aside some time and create your inventory. You may not need it now, but when you do, you’ll save so much time and stress.

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Each day, Martha will give you a new, simple way to organize. It may be a simple craft project, a tip to organize your clutter, or even instructions to properly fold a t-shirt!

Once you have finished your organization tasks for the day, why not bake some cookies? For those of you with a sweet tooth, check out Martha Stewart’s Cookie of the Day for your daily cookie fix. You may even discover something new! (Just make sure you have your cookie jars organized cause you might just be baking cookies every day)!

Do you have a favourite Martha Stewart Organization Tip? Share your favourites below…

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1. Have a Family Calendar: Whether you choose a wall calendar or an electronic one (like Google Calendar) keep all your family’s activities and events in one place.
2. Use Labels and Colour Codes: Assign a colours or labels for each person or type of activity. On the family calendar, each person will be able to quickly identify the different events.
3. School Agenda Books: Most kids will get an agenda book from their school. Encourage your kids to write each assignment in their book. They can highlight or write the subject name, what the assignment is, and the due date. Consider using paperclips, or folded pages to mark the current week in the agenda.

Have you considered a Family Game night? Choose a specific night each week when your entire family is home and you play a game or spend time together. Put this in your calendar!

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Preparation in the evening

1. Prepare lunches: One of the biggest time savers, is to prepare the lunches the evening before. This way you just grab and go in the morning.
2. Pack Backpacks: Help your kids put their homework and supplies in their backpack the night before. Have them put their backpacks on their hook by the front door.
3. Any Notices from the Teacher?: Start a routine with your kids so that they show you any school newsletters or notes from the teacher right when they get home from school. This way, you’re not driving them to school and they say “oh Mom, I forgot to show you…”

You can also save some time by pre-making dinners and other meals. Consider spending a few hours once a week to make dinners that re-heat or freeze easily. That way you can quickly pop them in the oven for dinner and spend more quality time in the evening with your family.

Next week, we’ve got some tips on organizing your family calendar and kid’s school agenda books.

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1. Purchase a hook for each kid: Give each kid a hook for their jacket and backpack. If you have more than one kid, label each hook and let them decorate that label so they know which one is theirs.
2. Cubbies for shoes and books: Consider making little cubbies for their shoes, books and other school supplies.
3. Shoe Rack: You could also purchase a wire or wooden shoe rack for their shoes. Choose 2 pairs of shoes (school shoes and play shoes) to keep in this rack and store the rest in a closes.
4. Mommy and Daddy’s keys: Even mom and dad should have some organization in the front hall. Have a special dish or hangers for your keys. Always keep your keys in this spot, so it’s easier to grab them on the way out the door.

Encourage them to always put their backpack, jacket, shoes, and lunch box away when they first enter the house.

Next week, we’ll have some tips to ease the stress of getting your kids ready for school each day.

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Here are some tips to make back-to-school shopping less stressful:

1. Get only what they NEED: Check your child’s school supply list and see what supplies you have left over from last year. You may have many items left over. Also keep in mind that you don’t need to buy everything at once. Buy just what they need (pens, paper..etc) now, and get the more specialized supplies (calculators, pencil crayons, rulers…etc) later, when the stores are less busy.
2. Think “Organized”: What school supplies can you buy your kids to help them stay organized? Consider coloured binders, dividers, special pencil cases with lots of extra pockets.
3. Give them a clothing budget: You don’t need to buy a complete new wardrobe for the first day back! Give your child a budget and let them choose a few items that they like. This will teach them money management at the same time!
4. Look for sales, buy in bulk: There will be many back-to-school sales. Search your local flyers and look for the best deals. Consider buying things like pens and paper in bulk because you know you’ll need them for future grades.

Have you found any great back-to-school deals or have a back-to-school shopping tip to share? Share them by commenting below…

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1. Purchase lots of storage: Your baby will have lots of clothes, diapers, and accessories. Have all your changing table items in a dresser right next to the changing table so you don’t have to leave your baby unattended while grabbing the baby wipes from across the room. Organize your baby’s different clothing items and accessories in separate drawers so you always know where to find them.
2. Special Baby Furniture: There are so many new and exciting furniture and baby accessories available today. While it may be tempting to all of them, try to stick to the necessities: a crib, changing table, baby swing, rocking chair and a dresser or storage solution for their clothes and accessories. Don’t forget a diaper disposal bin near the changing table.
3. Storage under the Crib: Under the baby’s crib is a perfect place to put bins of old clothes, new clothes they have yet to grow into, toys, and extra baby items.
4. Stuff for Mommy & Daddy: Have a book and a table light next to your rocking chair in the baby’s bedroom. Once your baby falls asleep, if you haven’t already too, you’ll have a book ready for you.
5. Closet shelving: You and your baby will appreciate a clutter-free baby room. Instead of cluttering the floors with bins of baby stuff, consider purchasing a closet organization system so you can store things like shoes, clothes, and extra supplies so they’re easy to access, but clear out of sight!

A few other tips to stay organized:

- Label boxes and bins so you know at a glance what’s in each box
- If you want to reuse storage bins and furniture for potential new brothers and sisters, choose a style and colour that is neutral so it can be used in other spaces when your enfant grows out of them.
- When decorating the baby’s room, keep in mind that it will probably change as the kid grows up, so don’t go too crazy with decorations unless they can be easily taken down and replaced as the baby grows up.
- As your child grows out of clothes and accessories, pack them up and store them in another room to make room for new clothes and accessories. Doing this on a regular basis, instead of letting them pile up can save you time in the long run.

Have you just welcomed a new baby into your family? What else do you do to stay organized?

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