Got Clutter? Get Organized Today!

Day 69 - Organizing Computer Files

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 11:57:00 +0000

It seems unfair that computer files should get as messy and complicated as paper files but it's a common thing. Way back on Days 10, 11 and 12 we setup filing systems for paper in the home and now it's time to attack the filing system on your computer.

If you're like most people, you make some effort to put documents and other computer files in a folder on the computer. However, if you can't retrieve the right file in fewer than two minutes or if your files are taking up 90% of your hard drive space then you need to work on the filing system.

You can sort through the files in one of two ways: Opening up the application and then opening up each file or using the file manager system on your computer which is probably the faster method. If, while using the file manager, you wish to open a document to be sure what it is, double-clicking the file name will open it in the proper application. It's also easier to create folders and drag files in the file manager.

Note: If you're not sure how to use the file manager system on your computer, it's generally Programs/Computer/C: drive/My Documents from the Start Menu. If that's not easy to find, consult your computer's Help File.

So, open up the file manager and let's begin! Let's start by looking at all the files that are not in folders. Decide if you need the file and if so, in what Folder will you store the document. If you have a folder for that topic, drag the file in. If you need a new Folder, create one and drag the file in. Don't worry about the contents of the folders right now, that comes next. Right now you just want to sort all the electronic files into the proper folders and purge any unnecessary loose documents. You may end up with a few miscellaneous files that do not really fit a category. You can create a Miscellaneous folder for them but you could also just leave them unassigned to a folder. In my experience "Misc" folders are not very helpful as storage spots as the items in them tend to be forgotten. You're better off creating folders just for each individual file or leaving them as "loose" in the My Documents folder.

Once you've assigned all the files, it's time to go through the folders. You've saved this step because it allows you to look at ALL the documents in a category at the same time. If you'd done this step first, you might not have noticed that you have TWO "Christmas Card lists" documents because one was in the Christmas folder and another was out of the folder.

Using the file manager, sort through all the files and delete any unnecessary or duplicate items. Open documents to compare them if they're similar or use the save date to keep the newest version of a document. If necessary, use the Rename function to create a more descriptive name for the file. If you have 97 documents in a Taxes folder, create subfolders for each year and move the documents. If you find files that belong in a different folder, drag them out to the proper spot. The more specific the folders, the faster you will find the proper document. The Organizing folder on my computer has about 15 separate subfolders including one just for the Logo so I can quickly find the logo when I need it.

If you come across electronic files that you may never need again but wish to keep, consider saving them to read/writable CD or DVD for future retrieval. Your computer files should also be backed up to a separate hard drive, online site or CD/DVD at least once a week to avoid a major disaster if a hard drive crashes.

To keep things organized, make an effort to save files in the correct folder the first time, creating new folders as needed. Also, make a note in your Tickler file to go through paper and electronic files at least once a year and purge the unnecessary files. Be sure to name files with enough description to make them easily distinguishable and therefore retrievable.

Darcy

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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

Day 70 - Organizing Bookmarks and Favorites

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 10:49:00 +0000

A recent computer crash lost all of my saved Internet bookmarks. I was devastated as I'd been accumulating them for several years and had a HUGE list. As I began to recreate them, however, I realized that I hadn't often used the bookmarks but rather had redone the searches each time. I'm not sure why that is but I suspect it was because they were not organized properly.

Now that I have a smaller list, I have the chance to set up a more useful bookmark system. Since I have a really effective paper filing system (i.e. I can find something in less than 2 minutes) I'll setup the Bookmark filing system the same way.

Taking a look at the bookmarks, I see I have some for the local auto shops where we have oil changes done, tires rotated, etc. They often have coupons on the site so I have them bookmarked. That seems like a Household thing to me so I'll create a Household folder and drag those sites to that folder.

I like to decorate cakes so have a few sites bookmarked for reference. I'll create a Cake Decorating folder and in they go.

The 4H sites get their own folder as do the Thyroid management sites. The Games sites also get a folder as well as the Gardening sites.

I find a few bookmarks that I no longer care about so delete those listings. What's left are a bunch of school/education sites and organizing sites. I see that the organizing sites really fall into two categories - business related and reference. The business sites are places where my company is listed, State of MN Small Business site, SCORE, etc so they all move to an Organizing Business folder. The other sites are places that carry good products, have interesting ideas, etc so they will go to an Organizing Ideas folder.

There's a lot of school and education sites left so I can either put them all into one "School" folder or separate them out into small sub-folders by topic or some other type of designation. I don't have the mass amount I've had in the past so decide to just separate them into School - Teaching and School - For Kids. If there gets to be too many in the School - For Kids folder, I'll separate them into sub-folders by subject.

A handful of miscellaneous bookmarks are still left in the list but mostly they are in folders. I'd rather have a few bookmarks in the list than create a Miscellaneous folder which is too easy to ignore. If I really wanted all the bookmarks in a folder, I'd create a folder for each bookmark rather than put them into a Misc. folder.

Going forward, I'll make an effort to put the new bookmarked links into the proper folder and create new folders as needed.

Darcy
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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

Day 65 - Scan your stuff

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 11:29:00 +0000

Every so often you run across a product that you know was created just to make YOUR life a little more organized. This is one of them - a hand-held scanner.

Let's think of a few ways this product would make your life more organized:

1. Scan all your pictures for organizing into albums or simply for safekeeping
2. Student use for libraries, etc when books cannot be checked out
3. Go (mostly) paperless! Scan necessary papers, receipts, invoices, etc. Store the images and recycle the paper.
4. Scan and store business cards, brochures and other business contact information
5. Scan recipes from magazines and organize digitally
6. Scan credit cards, passports, social security cards and other important documents in case they are lost or destroyed. Keep the scan in a secure online location or in a physical safe or fireproof box.
7. Land a big sale? Send business contracts and other paperwork directly to the office for processing
8. Store client paperwork for online retrieval from your web-enabled phone

There's lots of applications for this great gadget and many types of handheld scanners on the market. Check out prices, styles, sizes, etc before you buy. Amazon carries a price-competitive, highly rated model which you can see here.

Happy scanning!

Darcy

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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

Day 64 - Catch up and Review Day

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 10:48:00 +0000

Missed a day? Search back through the posts and catch up on any organizing steps you may have missed. Add them to your To Do list and get organizing!

Darcy

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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

Day 63 - Break a Plate = Get Jewelry!

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 11:58:00 +0000

You gotta love a website whose address is www.ibreakplates.com but the Broken Plate Pendant Company is more than just a great name - it's a great place to send your broken china to be fashioned into lovely jewelry. Don't have any pieces to send? No problem, the jewelry is sold on etsy.com

Darcy

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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

Day 62 - Batteries

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 09:34:00 +0000

Your junk drawer probably contains more than one battery for which you can't tell if it's charged or not. SO you hang on to it until you need a battery and then you don't remember it's in the junk drawer so you don't use it.

Whether you use regular or rechargeable batteries, it causes a lot less stress if they are all kept in the same spot so they can be found when needed. You can get a battery organizer like this one which comes with a tester but these organizers can be rather limiting if you have more batteries than will fit or if you're not disciplined enough to actually unpackage the batteries and put them in the organizer or have other sizes of batteries such as watch batteries for which there is no spot. The benefit of these is that if you actually keep it full you can tell when you're low or out of a particular size battery.

The easiest way to store batteries is to keep all in a covered bin - shoe box size works for most people - so all batteries of all sizes are in the same spot. You won't need to unpackage them but you'll have to be diligent about putting them on a shopping list if you use the last of one type.

Darcy

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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

Day 61 - Scrapbooking and Craft Organization

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 07:36:00 +0000

Scrapbooking and similar crafts can be a great hobby and creative outlet but if the supplies get out of control, it can feel more like a burden and less like fun.

Like other types of crafts, scrapbooking has lots and lots and lots of supplies so the first step is to sort through all your supplies and put like items together. You'll probably find things you don't remember purchasing but it will also give you a good idea of how many of each item you own. Sort the paper by size and color, toss any paper, pens, etc that are unusable or for which you no longer have a use.

Once you have all supplies sorted, it's time to think about how to store them. Because of the large amount of supplies, it's ideal to have a room or part of a room available for storage. At the very least, a wall of pegboard in an out of the way room can store all supplies for use on the dining room table. Many craft, organizing and specialty scrapbooking stores sell organizing products designed just for organizing scrapbooking and similar crafty type supplies but plastic bins, paper filing trays and accordion files work just as well. Additionally, generic shelf organization can be used for scrapbooking supplies such as this system:

Setting up a pegboard system has the advantage of using underused wall space as storage for supplies while giving the flexibility of taking the supplies to another location for a crafting session. Pegboard can be found at home improvement stores and comes in a variety of sizes, colors and finishes. Pick one that fits your decor and purchase a package of pegboard hooks.

Securely install the pegboard on the wall and use the hooks to hang small pails which can hold scissors, pencils, markers and more. Hang ribbon spools on ribbon organizer that can be attached to the pegboard.

Mesh baskets and bins can be used to store paper and other supplies:

Darcy
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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

Day 60 - Sports Equipment

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 19:32:00 +0000

Sports gear is a fact of life for many adults and families. Even if it's just backyard toys or the family basketball, it all needs to be corralled.

* Create a spot in the garage or backyard to store all sports equipment. Lots of rally useful organizers exist just for storing sports equipment but even sturdy plastic bins will work. If not purchasing an organizer for equipment, get tall, heavy bins for storing hockey and lacrosse sticks so the bin will not tip over. Equipment can also be stored in plastic bins - just put all equipment for the same sport in the same spot.

* Make a habit of immediately cleaning out sports bags. Special drying racks are available for different types of sports equipment such as this one for hockey gear.

* Create a place for bike and scooter storage with bike racks and scooter racks.

* Keep locks in each sports bag

* Purchase duplicates of any items that would need frequent laundering such as head or wrist bands, shorts, etc

* Create an equipment bag for any sport, even if it uses a small amount of equipment.

* Keep sports bags packed and in the garage, mudroom or similar launch area so they're easily found for repacking and can be grabbed on the go.

Darcy

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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

Day 59 - Books

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 14:44:00 +0000

It's book blasphemy to say, but sometimes you can own too many books. A good way to tell is if your kitchen cupboards contain Dickens' novels instead of cereal. If you find yourself a bit overwhelmed by the books in your home, it's a good time to take a serious look at them.

Grab some bags and boxes and let's Declutter! Easier said than done, I know, but if you seriously look at each book and think about why you keep it, you may be able to make some choices.

Kids' books: These are reasonably easy to purge if your children are in high school and you still have board books from when they were toddlers. There may be some books which have such special memories for you that you can't part with them. I, for one, kept all my children's

Tacky the Penguin

books and

Click Clack, Moo

. I think they're hilarious and am looking forward to reading them to my grandchildren. Those books are packed away in a special box of stuff I'd like to save for my grandchildren. My sons are in middle and elementary school so it will be a while, but that stuff is worth saving.

Sometimes your children decide they're done with a particular series so feel free to ask if they've outgrown Diary of a Wimpy Kid or the Magic Treehouse books.

Adult Books: These are no easier to part with than children's books but as they're bigger, it's all the more important to make sure you're only keeping what's important. I love Agatha Christie's books. I happened upon a whole stack of them at our library's used book sale so bought them all. I read them and really enjoyed having them in my bookshelf. Several years later I was sorting through the bookshelf and realized those little paperbacks were taking up more than half of the shelf space and it had been several years since I'd read any of them. I looked at each title in turn and two of them jumped out as ones I'd particularly enjoyed. I pulled the rest off the shelf, popped them into the library book bag and donated them back to the library book sale. Of that whole stack, I would have been willing to wait for a visit to the library for all but two titles so, much as I liked them, they were taking up space that I filled with other books I loved.

Books are difficult to part with but you probably only have so much space in your home to house them. Either let this be your guide for how many books you keep or put up more bookshelves and bins to house your collection. Your guide really should be "Are these books read and loved and useful?" If so, bookshelves will be a good investment but books that no longer have meaning are simply taking up space that you could fill with other wonderful books.

My website has a bunch of links of places you can donate or resell books.

Darcy
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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

Day 58 - Organizing for Home Schooling - Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 14:19:00 +0000

Organizing a homeschool wouldn't be complete without finding places for everything and establishing some systems for keeping everything organized:

A Place for Everything
● Store the books you're currently using for studying a topic in or near your school area and keep the inactive/reference book area somewhere else. That way the World War II books are handy because that's what you're studying but the Inca books are also accessible for when your child gets a sudden desire to learn about Mexico
● Use 3-Ring binders for storing file folder games, printouts, reference sheets, etc
● Store workbooks, curriculum books and loose papers in magazine holders (by topic or child)
● Use stacking filing trays: one for construction paper, one for white paper, one for sketch pads, etc
● Consolidate! (all flash cards in one bin, all math manipulatives in one bin, all paint supplies together)
● Organize reference books by topic instead of by child or grade
● Create a library book box or shelf – one for each room where books are used, including bedrooms. That's the only spot where library books live so there's only a few spots to search when books are due
● Create a Project Area for ongoing activities. This keeps the volcanoes from permanently living on the dining room table.
● Utilize large flat bins for storing rolls of paper or finished projects like timelines and maps as they store nicely under beds
● Store supplie (pencils, glue, etc) in labeled bins so children can help themselves & put away
● Create reference files for miscellaneous pieces of topical paper. If you have a bunch of great worksheets and lesson plans on Africa, put them all in a file and pull it out when needed.
● Store large posters and bulletin board sets behind or next to bookshelves or under the bed
● Hang paper library pockets on bulletin boards to store writing prompts, memorization cards, vocabulary words

And...Keep it Organized
● Write out assignments yearly/weekly/daily and post where children can see
● Create a school schedule (M-Th and Fri off) or (9-11 a.m. and 3-4 p.m.) or (3 weeks on, 1 week off), etc
● Get yourself ready in the morning before the kids get up - Shoes on!
● When possible, purchase items with multi-year use such as pattern blocks or art history book. You'll spend less money and take up less space in bins and bookshelves
● Take out the next day's supplies and workbooks the night before
● Create a bin or list of activities for a younger sibling for when the older children are “doing school”
● Have a list of activities for a child if they need you but you’re busy with another child
● Use a timer to guide computer use, free time, breaks and similar activities
● Color code each child's notebooks, folders, bins
● Have frequent “pickup and put away times” during the day – set the timer, make it a race
● Institute a “quiet time” portion of your school day. Kids read or do puzzles while you make phone calls or do housework
● Enlist older children to read or play games with younger children while you work with another child

Pictures of some of these ideas can be found on my website.

Darcy
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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

Day 57 - Organizing for Home Schooling - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 20:43:00 +0000

Homeschoolers have a special organizing challenge as they try to fit a whole educational system for one or more children into a household that probably does not have a lot of extra space. It's therefore critical that homeschoolers learn some organizing lessons:

First, decluttering is a must. Sort through all the homeschool books, curriculum, workbooks, reading books, art supplies, science supplies, etc and really decide if it's worth keeping. If you have younger children who may use the materials that older children have outgrown, it's worth keeping the items but otherwise they must go.

Some common clutter areas to start the decluttering include:
Paper = use the AFT system: take Action, File or Toss. If you're keeping the paper as a school record, create a School Box for each child and empty it each August into the Memorabilia Box or the Permanent Record Box. If it's your paperwork, create some files for Reporting, Grades, etc and file paperwork there.

Children’s Artwork = take pictures and recycle or mail to grandparents or call your local nursing home to see if they have residents who'd appreciate some artwork

Old curriculum/books/manipulatives: sell, donate or store for younger children. Resources for reselling curriculum abound locally and online so you can recoup at least some of your investment. Don't keep it just because you paid for it. It's a waste of space and money. Donate for the tax break or re-sell.

Art Supplies: Check all pens, markers, etc to make sure they work. Check the supply of paintbrushes, paint, clay and anything else your children use for art. Toss everything that's broken or unusable and make a note to purchase any needed replacements.

Manipulatives/Flash Cards, etc: Make sure everything is current for your children's learning phase. Donate or resell items that have been outgrown.

Books: Again sort with your children in mind. If they're all at a 4th grade reading level or higher, you can probably donate the board books or Level 1 Readers. If you have books to save for several years until the next child will be ready for them, box them up and put them in storage or in an out of the way book shelf.

Darcy
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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

Day 56 - Diaper Bag Disasters

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 00:55:00 +0000

Living with small children means living with a diaper bag permanently attached to your arm. They come in lots of great styles and colors but they can be just as messy as the children who need them.

Here's a few ideas to keep diaper bag disasters at bay:

1. Keep a small emergency diaper bag in the car. A few extra diapers with accessories, an extra set of clothes and wipes. If you forget your big bag, you'll have the necessities.

2. Make use of the pockets. Designate one pocket for each type of small item such as pacifiers so you can easily find what you're looking for.

3. Carry a small wallet that can transfer from your purse to the diaper bag.

4. Containerize the contents. Avoid masses of loose items inside the bag with simple plastic zipper bags or cool organizers.

This purse organizer comes in a huge variety of colors and can easily fit in a diaper bag to organize diapers, wipes, sippy cups and more.

5. Switch to a bag that has more compartments. The selections from So Young Mother look great and are tops for organization!

6. Keep a few clean zipper bags in the diaper bag for wet things.

7. Create one bag of rash creme, pain medication and similar items.

8. Restock and clean items daily.

Darcy

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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

I'm Back - Posts to Resume Daily

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 13:26:00 +0000

Sorry, all. Pneumonia had the best of me for the last couple of weeks but I'll catch up on postings today and they'll run daily going forward!

Darcy

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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

Day 55 - Organize your Purse

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 13:23:00 +0000

It's no wonder purses get disorganized as they are our constant companion and catch-all for our stuff, our children's stuff and more. If you have small children, I wouldn't be surprised if you were toting toy cars, small dolls or similar items along with your wallet and keys. Add in scraps of paper, pens, paper clips, coins, sunglasses and wallet and you have a recipe for organizational disaster.

Are purses just a lost cause? No! You CAN take control of your purse and here's some ideas:

1. Carry a smaller purse. It's Murphy's Law or something but the larger the bag, the more stuff will go into it. Find a purse that will only fit your wallet, keys, sunglasses, phone, pen and small pad of paper and one or two other small items. If need be, find a smaller wallet as well.

2. Purchase a purse organizer. There's a lot of these products around and their awesomeness results from the ability to keep all the important stuff in one spot, even in a large bag. Another benefit to these organizers is that you can quickly switch purses simply by lifting out the organizer and placing it into another bag. Prices and styles vary widely but here's two examples:

3. Contain the loose papers you keep in your purse. If you keep store coupons or other types of paper in your purse, purchase a small zipped bag or soft sided pencil case to hold them. It will keep the loose stuff from floating around in your purse and allow you to easily move the items to another bag.

4. Clean out your purse - daily or weekly. Toss the garbage, file receipts, etc.

5. Keep a pen and paper in your purse. How many times have you written a note on a piece of scrap paper or the back of a check deposit slip only to toss them as trash? Buy a small notebook and keep it and a pen in your purse.

6. Everything in it's place: Just like at home, there should be a place for everything and everything in it's place. Always put your keys in the same pocket of the bag which keeps you from searching frantically in the bottom of the bag in the pouring rain.

Darcy

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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

Day 54 - Catch Up and Review Day

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 02:39:00 +0000

Take today to sort your photos or clean out your linen closets!

Wear your shoes!

D.

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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

Day 53 - Photo Organization Products

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 13:38:00 +0000

There's a million organizing products on the market and most of them are for organizing photos. No, really. These products are widely available from craft and organization stores
as well as from your local scrapbooking store or consultant.

Basically they fall into two categories - albums and containers. The containers can vary from simple boxes that are sized for 4x6 photos to elaborate multi-piece storage systems. What you use is largely a matter of taste, functionality and time. If you wish your photos to be preserved in pristine condition, you'll want to ensure they are housed in archival boxes or in archival albums which use acid-free paper to prevent yellowing. This method is best for any really precious or fragile photos.

If, however, you just want them in a container and want to find the ones you're looking for when you want them, you have more choices. If you have shelf space, albums can be fun to look through although they require more work up front to insert the pictures. If you would like to conserve shelf space, stackable photo boxes are a good choice. Many photo boxes come with dividers and a spot to label the box.

An easy way to store photos in a stackable box is a photo organizer which stores up to 100 photos in each case and six cases fit into the box. In this case, you can have a Vacations box with photos from six separate vacations each in their own case.

Take some time to look online and at photo organizers in local stores. Think about how much time you want to devote to organizing the photos, how you'll use the photos after they're organized (do you care if they're in albums or not?) and how easy it will be to expand your organizing system as you get more photos.

Photo storage for digital photos is a lot easier. They can be stored on DVD, stored online or stored on a hard drive. If you store the pictures on your computer, be sure you have a good backup system running so you don't lose all the photos in a hard drive crash.

If you'd like albums of your digital photos, many online companies such as Flickr sell inexpensive small albums of your photos that are mailed to you.

System for staying organized: Create a photo management system that is easy for you to keep up with your photos. When possible, use technology to easily manage your photos.

Darcy
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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

Day 52 - Sorting Through Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 13:13:00 +0000

Raise your hand if all your photographs are neatly sorted and organized. If you actually raised your hand, I'm impressed. And, you're probably a scrapbooker. :)

For the rest of us, photos are a wonderful way to remind us of our past and our children and special events but they're also a pain in the rear. They fall out of albums that they probably shouldn't be in anyway, they pile up in cardboard boxes, they stick together and what do you do with all those old negatives, anyway?

In an effort to break down photo organization into reasonably manageable pieces, we'll spend a few days on the process.

Step 1 is sorting through the photos. This doesn't have to be as awful of a process as it sounds and the nice thing is that it can be done while you're catching up on last night's Glee episode.

Gather a few supplies like pencils, a trash bin, sticky notes, your To Do list, envelopes and a handful of small boxes or bins with lids.

Decide on some general categories for your photos. You can sort by immediate family, extended family, ancestor pictures, by year, by vacation, by event, etc. Don't get too specific at this time - you're just trying to get some system to the photos. Use your sticky notes to label each box with the category. Will you have some cross-over photos that could go in multiple categories? Yes, but you'll get more specific later if you wish. Right now it's just to get the photos contained and sorted.

Now grab a handful of photos and get sorting. Toss blurry and otherwise unrecognizable pictures. Toss duplicate photos unless you'd like to give one of each to the people in the photo. Place photos into the boxes according to the categories you've created.

Find some photos you'd really like to frame? Place them in a separate envelope, mark it "Pics to Frame" and write it down on your To Do list. If you need to enlarge the photos first, that's also a To Do as well as "Purchase frame for new picture."

If you unearth a photo that you think someone else should have, place it in an envelope with that person's name on it and write "Give pics to Susie" on the To Do list.

If you come across a picture that doesn't have a date and that would be helpful, write it in pencil or special photo paper pen on the back. You can also do this with any other info such as your great, great-aunt's name.

Chip away at this process until you have all the photos sorted. Having lids on the containers allows you to put away the project, stacking the containers, until you have another chance to work on it.

If all your pictures are stored electronically, the same sorting system applies. Delete blurry, unrecognizable and duplicate photos. Move the remaining photos into electronic folders by year, event, etc. Email photos to people who should have them, print photos you'd like to frame or find a good online source such as Shutterfly to print/enlarge photos to frame. Add these tasks to your To Do list. Rename photo images to indicate who is in photo if necessary.

Once you have the photos sorted into categories you have two choices: Separate them further into more specific categories or leave them in the general categories. Which of these you do is entirely up to you. If you don't have many photos it may be just as easy to leave the large categories. If you have many vacation photos, it might be worth your time to separate them out. Tomorrow's post will deal with different ways and products for storing photos.

System for staying organized: Immediately toss or delete unwanted photos.

Darcy
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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

Day 51 - Apps that Keep you Organized

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 02:27:00 +0000

For those who love, love their phones and are never without them, they can serve as an organizational tool as well as a phone, movie player, etc. Here's a few fun apps that work hard to keep you organized:

Photo-Sort : Organize your photos!

Files on the Go : Fax and manage documents!

Organize : That's just what it does.

HomeRoutines : Get those household routine lists on your phone!

Closet - Clothing Organized : Scan your wardrobe - build new outfits!

Remember the Milk : Self explanatory!

Car Minder : Keep track of car maintenance!

Med Minder : Silent alarm when it's time for your pills!

Gift List Manager : Never forget which necklace your sister said she wanted!

Grocery IQ : Search products and make lists!

System for staying organized: If you replace an app with a newer version or one that does close to the same job, delete the first one. The fewer apps you have to manage, the easier it is.

Darcy

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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

Day 50 - Video Games

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 01:54:00 +0000

If you have video games, you have clutter. Games cases, controllers of various shapes and sizes and cords, cords everywhere can be a nightmare for organization in the family room.

The key is to contain the items and this can mean anything from simple bins to specialized video game storage. For our system, I purchased two attractive wicker baskets, one to hold the game cases and a larger one to hold the all the controllers. The game basket is the correct size to hold the games so they can face forward so my sons can see which game they are choosing. The controller basket is large enough so all controllers and cords are hidden in the basket. Here's a picture of it. I've pulled out some of the cords of the controller bin on the right and the video game basket on the left to show what's in them.

If you'd rather get some specially designed organization tools, choices abound. Here's a few:

System for staying organized: Make it easy for the gamers in your home to put away the system and accessories.

Darcy

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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

Day 49 - Linen Closet

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 01:26:00 +0000

Ever have a day when you open the linen closet and realize you have 27 pillowcases for the four beds in your home? Or that you have 9 fitted sheets and 4 flat sheets and they're all for a king size water bed that you had in your last home?

Linen closets can easily get out of hand but getting them back under control is fairly simple.

First, collect all the sheets, pillowcases and towels in the house and bring them to a central location along with a bag for trash and a bag for donations and a box for any other items you might find under the towels.

Next, check over everything for rips, stains or other damage and place all damaged items in one bag for recycling.

Bed Linens
Now sort out sheets and pillowcases into sets. Make sure all sets fit at least one bed in your home. If not, those linens go into the donation bag.

If you have mismatched sheet sets you can still use them by placing a fitted sheet with a flat sheet to make a set. If you prefer not to have mismatched sets, donate these sheets.

Now sort the pillowcases, placing matching cases with the existing sheet sets. Donate or recycle worn or faded pillowcases as well as those that no longer fit existing pillows. For example, you used to have king sized pillows but now only have standard size. Again, you may have mismatched or an odd number of pillowcases. You can either keep them for the mismatched sheet sets or donate/recycle them.

At this point you should have all bed linens sorted into "sets" of some type. Now take a look at the number of sheets you have for each bed. A good rule of thumb is to have one or two extra sheet sets for each bed. If you have children, two extra sets is recommended for each child's bed. If you have more than two sets for each bed, choose the sets you'd like to keep and donate the rest.

Bed linens can be stacked together as sets, all pieces of the set can be placed in one pillowcase and stacked or the set can be tied together with attractive ribbon a la Martha Stewart.

The bed linens should be located in or very near the bedroom to which they belong. Hall closets, bathroom closets, storage chests or clothing closet shelves are all good places to keep a set or two of linens. Where ever they are located, the bed linens should be the only thing on that shelf and the limited number of sets will keep the shelf organized.

If you need to purchase additional sheets to replace any damaged items, put that on your To Do List.

Towels
As with the sheets, sort all the towels into sets. Place all mismatched towels in one stack.

Now look at the number of towel sets. Keep one for guests - put that set aside. You should have 2-3 bath towels per person and 1-2 hand towels and washcloths per person. If you don't have enough towels to make up sets, make a note on your To Do list to purchase additional towels in matching or complementary colors. If you don't care about having the towels in sets, just make sure you have enough of each type of towel. Also keep 1-2 beach towels per person and any other specialty towels such as fingertip towels as needed.

Some towels should be in each bathroom but they can be organized by color (one or two colors in each bathroom) or by person (parents have one color towel, children have another color or each child has a color). There's no necessity for this but it helps ensure there's towels in each bathroom for the person who uses that bathroom. (It's also helpful for parents to know which child left his wet towel on the bathroom floor.)

Place the specialty towels in the back of the towel shelf or in a similar out of the way spot. Place frequently used bath linens in the front and stack all bath towels in one spot, all hand towels in another stack and washcloths in a separate pile. This allows you to pull the correct item from the shelf without disturbing the other towels on the shelf.

The mismatched towel pile can still be useful. Keep a handful of these towels in your laundry room for gardening or pet cleaning or other messy jobs.

System for keeping organized: When towels wear out, purchase towels in similar or complementary colors.

Darcy

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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

Day 48 - Checklists

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 19:15:00 +0000

I love checklists. Love, love, LOVE them! I understand not everyone's a fan but moving through a project in an orderly, checklist-y way makes a lot of sense to me and keeps me from forgetting steps.

For those who are checklist people and even for those you who are not, the Internet abounds with printable, downloadable lists to keep you organized. There's literally thousands of checklists available so I'd browse to find ones that appear complete and helpful and print them out to put in my Household Book.

Here's a sample of websites that offer checklists:

Organized Today Love this site. :) Free printable forms and lists with new ones to come.

Real Simple Lots of checklists (174 at last count) for everything from pantry staples to speed-cleaning the bathroom.

Printable Checklists The name says it all. A virtual cornucopia of printable checklists. Some are free and some are available for sale in the Premium area.

Simply Checklists Again, the name says it all. These checklists are all available for free.

Checklist Another checklist site in which you create a free account to access the checklists. This one appears to have a mobile access feature which could be very handy.

Create your Own Printable Checklist Yes, you can create your own checklists in Microsoft Word and similar products but if you're looking for a super easy way to create a printable checklist, this is the site for you.

Darcy
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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

Day 47 - Organizing your Pet

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 02:55:00 +0000

Like children, pets are messy. Unlike children, pets can't learn to pick up after themselves.

We have two cats (Puppy and Princess), a dog (Porkchop), two hermit crabs (Mario and Luigi) and a fish (Fin, Jr.) Additionally, it's not unusual for us to have tadpoles, butterflies and other temporary pets. With so many animal friends, it's really important that we have good organization and good systems to make sure they are fed and well-cared for.

Food
Locating the food close to the animal or where the animal is fed is really helpful. Our fish's tank is on a corner table and his food is in a drawer in that table for easy access. The cats are fed in the laundry room so their food is in a plastic drawer like this one
which is physically located on the bottom shelf of the storage shelves next to where the food bowls are located. In the drawer is a 1/3 cup measuring cup so the proper amount of food is placed in each food bowl.

The dog's food is in a container such as this and it also has a proper measuring container.

There's many food containers on the market - generally you'll want an airtight one to keep the food as fresh as possible. Check pet food supply stores, discount retailers and more. You'll pay more for one marketed as a "pet food container" so keep an open mind.

Our sons are responsible for feeding the pets and they take turns using the family chore chart.

Toys
Just like children, pets need to keep their toys in bins. Our dog has a basket on each level of our home in which his toys are kept. These are attractive open baskets which allows us to pick up and put away his toys easily but also allows him to pull out his toys. He also has an outside bin for his two thousand tennis balls.

The cat toys are likewise in small baskets on the main floor although they're just as happy pouncing on shoelaces.

Grooming
All pet grooming supplies are kept in a bin in the hall closet. This includes nail trimmers, brushes and the like. This bin also holds the fish tank cleaning supplies which are in a plastic bag.

Other
The dog has a bin in the garage which holds his leash, walking halter and another brush. We also keep one short leash in the van. His main leash has one of these cool bags on it so we can easily carry bags, keys, etc on walks.

Darcy
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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

Day 46 - Party Supplies

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 02:29:00 +0000

My oldest son recently celebrated a birthday which meant I had to find the birthday banners, candles, paper plates and everything else for the big day. Generally this is not a big deal as I keep all party supplies in one plastic bin but upon opening the bin, it appeared I'd gotten into a bad habit of tossing items into the bin and it was a HUGE mess.

Time to organize.

I found all the candles and put them into a small ziploc bag. I made a stack of the plastic tablecovers, realized one was ripped and discarded it. All the crumpled paper plates and napkins were also discarded.

I made stacks of the remaining small paper plates and placed them in a gallon ziploc bag. The remaining paper napkins went into their own plastic ziploc bag. I realized I was nearly out of the small paper plates so made a note in my To Do book.

Plastic forks went into one plastic ziploc, plastic knives and spoons went into their own ziploc. Two unopened packages of pink plastic silverware went into the donation box.

I'm also nearly out of plastic cups so that note also went into the To Do Book. Streamers were rolled up, secured with a rubber band and placed in their own plastic bag.

At this point the bin is empty and every item is sorted into a category and neatly secured in a bag.

I replaced all the items bag into the big with the flat items on the bottom, large items on top of them and so on. Now I can easily grab the bag I need and everything stays neat and clean.

I placed the lid on the bin and replaced the bin in the closet.

And then I pulled it out again to get the items for my son's birthday party.

Darcy

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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

Cool Product Picks - Link has been fixed

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 13:03:00 +0000

I've updated my website with a page of Cool Product Picks. I think these products are good organizing tools and some are just plain cool so check them out!

Darcy

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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.

Day 45 - Catch up and Review Day

noreply@blogger.com (Darcy Schatz) — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 10:21:00 +0000

Take today to implement some new organizing steps!

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Can't wait for more organizing tips? Want some personalized, on-site help? Visit the all new Organized Today website for free downloads and info on hiring Darcy to help you organize your home or office.