Living an Organized Life

Lowes Organizing Clinics

Lowes Helps Individuals Get Organized for 2006

In a recent press release from Lowes (Jan. 19, 2006), it stated that 86% of U.S. adults have indictated that some space in their home needs organization for the new year -- per their recent survey.

The company resolves to help homeowners get organized this year and have launched a nationwide free How-to Clinics every Saturday starting in January. For information about this, click here (or type / paste www.lowes.com/clinics).

New Organizing Show

Real Simple Comes to TV

Some of you may have missed the premiere of this new TV show, but you don't have to miss future episodes ...

Gwinnet Daily Post article by Shelley Mann, 1/5/06:

TV Show Brings Real Simple to Life

Lessons from the pages of Real Simple, the magazine devoted to simplifying meals, homes and lives, are never more relevant than at the start of a new year.

So there’s no better time for PBS to debut a new television show inspired by the magazine. The show is scheduled to premiere at 4 p.m. Jan. 14. It’s not the last we’ll see of “Real Simple,” either — its creators are trying to brand their simplified approach to life this year with a product line and a collection of books.

The show is meant to help make life easier, whether it’s finding a quick alternative to cooking a complicated dish or tackling an overstuffed closet.

Read whole article

Super Bowl

Organize a Super Bowl Party
The Super Bowl game is the sports event of the year and many people bring friends together at home to watch it.

If you're planning a Super Bowl party, I found some tips on the Internet to help you with planning that. About.com has party tips with links at the bottom with more Super Bowl related articles.

At AskMen.com, there is a great article about organizing a Super Bowl party. I, myself, am going to use the advice in this article for my party!

Organize with Style

Decorative Style Solutions

Walk into most any store now and you'll find some type of storage container product of various sizes, shapes, and purposes. Plastic storage containers are the most useful and popular among storage solutions and, while these are great for storage areas and inside cabinets, they may not be the most attractive for room decor.

That's where decorative baskets, artful boxes, stylish box luggage, and many other types of items that contain and store things. Even furniture manufacturers are making furniture that serves dual purposes: like end tables with a magazine rack;, bench seats with storage; foot stools with storage...and so on.

When I wanted my home office to get away from the "office look," nice wicker stacking baskets fit better than plastic. A wrought-iron wall rack was much nicer-looking than a plastic file holder, too. An d, on my wall shelves, a decorative piece of luggage holding some greeting cards served as a much better storage solution than plastic boxes, too.

Take a look around our site for products that might help you add style to your organizing project!

Dangerous Piles

Tradegy for Hoarder

I couldn't believe the story I came across and, as a concerned organization consultant, this is as bad as it gets: a woman fell and suffocated under her piles of clutter at home. When husband reported her missing, it took two searches for them to find her under the clutter (estimated at several tons piled in the house). It's true.

Click here for the story.

Professional Organizers

Professional Organizers Can Help

Professional Organizers can assist individuals in getting organized with many areas of organization: home and business, managing paper, managing time, implementing filing systems, helping with a move, organizing finances, organizing an event, designing and organizing closets, garages and storage areas.

A professional organizer will:

Assess your needs
Offer tailored solutions
Provide encouragement and support
Do the physical work (in most cases)

The Organized-Living.com site is sponsored by HandyGirl Organizers who serves the L.A. County and surrounding areas. To find a professional organizer near you, visit the National Association of Professional Organizers.

Cyndi's Bet

How To Lose Your Clutter in 10 Days

Inspired by the movie concept “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” professional organizer Cyndi Seidler got the idea of using an analogy of the principles from the movie that addresses the classic mistakes people make in relationships to the classic mistakes people make keeping stuff that clutters their life.

For the New Year, Cyndi decided to make a bet with those suffering with too much stuff. And, to get people to tackle their clutter in a light-hearted and fun way, Cyndi is placing a bet to see if people can loose their clutter in 10 days.

The clutter challenge is to extend through the month of January, deemed Get Organized Month by the National Association of Professional Organizers.

Here's what you to do participate:

The bet begins from the time a person joins the bet to ten days following it. To join the bet, go to the Organized-Living.com web site and submit the entry form.

Those who win the bet will be awarded a special prize that rewards them for their efforts (although not a gift that adds more stuff). Losers will be asked to write an essay on “How to Keep Clutter for Years” and turn it in to Cyndi Seidler for study purposes.

Organized Storage

Cathy's Way ...

(click on image above to see larger size)

Get Organized Month

It's a New Year

Well, it's here ... it's 2006, and we have 12 new months to reach new goals, to accomplish new heights, to do new things.

To start the new year off with those dreams and resolutions, the National Association of Professional Organizers designated January as Get Organized Month. The more organized you are, the more you'll get done. And, that's no small thing.

So, make a list and check it twice ... this could be the start of something wonderful!

Happy new year!

Recycling

How Often We Recycle Gifts

According to a survey by the Opinion Research for DHL, about 26% of consumers say they have recycled holiday gifts they do not want.

74% Never
23% Occassionally
3% Frequently

I'm all for it, however if you keep the gift around a little while, it may be wise to label who the gift was from so it doesn't get regifted back to them! This may sound silly to say, but it's happened! My own sister got her gift back one year later!