Organize Your Bookmarks

I've been using Delicious now for about a year now I guess and I really like it. I like that I can save a bookmark from any computer. I like the tags. I like that the firefox addon/extension i have has a Delicious bar so I can see my most recently saved bookmarks quickly.

But, sometimes I'm not so on top of tagging. So today's goal is to go through 20 bookmarks and double check the tags.

Tomorrow's goal is the same. This may take a while. Current bookmark count: 886. See what I've bookmarked.

Organizing the Pantry

Does anything feel better than an organized pantry? Okay, some things... but an organized pantry is high on my list. Here are a few tips & pics from my recent organizing adventure. And what an adventure it was. Let's just say that the pantry had gotten a little... full.

And the trash can isn't even in there!

The most frustrating thing about organizing a pantry? All the expired food that you've forgotten about. The next most frustrating thing? When you have boxes that are 3/4 empty!



But that's all part of the organizing process. I grabbed my trusty organizing tote (yes, I have a tote dedicated to helping me stay organized. I use one of those plastic totes with a handle and have 3 old "camping" mugs inside it to help the organizing tote, well, stay organized. You can't have an unorganized Organizational Tote, now can you? The mugs are plastic and therefore lightweight. Inside the tote I have have labels, lots and lots of 'em. Hanger thingy-ma-jigs from Post-it. Velcro ties, twist ties, pens, markers, tape, and ziplock baggies (in two sizes). Oh, and post its and my label maker... which seem to have crawled out of the tote in this pic:



...so I grabbed my tote and got to work. I tossed out at least a dozen boxes. For that half bag of croutons I simply ripped the top off the box, folded the bag down several times and then put the box top over the folds and used a clothspin or two to hold everything shut. These bundles (yes, there were more than just croutons!) were then placed in a plastic basket, labels facing out! Ahh, organized as last.

But wait... what about that half empty box of rice that has no bag... and no hope of staying fresh without some help? Suction containers to the rescue.



I simply cut the back of the box off and taped it to the container. (Great package design, btw. i was able to cut the type and cooking instructions all at one time and it fit perfectly.)

Now...if I could just see everything in the back. It's not that I'm short, it's just that too many items are the same height and I only have one of those two shelf can organizer things. So until I can get more, I recycled the empty boxes. Yeah, remember the twelve from the trashcan? I also grabbed my stash of grocery bags. We keep these around for scooping kitty poo. So the empty box turned into this:



I taped it shut. And then it went to boost the back row:



See it there below the oatmeal, raw sugar packets and kosher salt? Another thing that I did was lay all unopened boxes on their side, label out. See them laying there on the left? That way I can see at a glance what is open and needs to be used and what is unopened...like those two boxes of cake mix. *sigh*

The next level down is items we use most often...cans, oils, vinegars, etc.



I use those slim plastic tray/boxes to keep smaller like items together. This makes it super easy to grab items from the front of the shelf and see what's going on in the back.

Now you see them, now you don't:



On the next shelf down we have a plastic tub for snacks, breads, and chips. There's also a container for pasta.

On the shelf below that, oh boy, all my baking supplies. I organized those after the holiday baking frenzy.

And on the floor I have a cute basket for onions and potatoes.

So... now I need to take pictures of the back of the door, where I keep all my spices, but here's the after picture. A little tidier I think. It feels tidier!

An Ahah Moment

I love Ahah moments... if I were in a cartoon, the lightbulb above my head would be burning bright right now.

It seems like I'm always needing a pen downstairs, and yet they never stay downstairs. They get shuffled to the bedroom or office or pocket book or, well, who knows where those critters run off to. Becuase they don't have a "home." But the point is, I have a plan. Well, I've had it for a while but the implementation wasn't so... there. The plan? To label food with a date as it comes into the house. You know how on baking soda boxes there's a spot where you can write down what date you need to change the box?

Pure brilliance!

So I thought, why don't I write the buy it date on boxes and cans and things that way I know when I got it, in case there's no expiration date. My problem has always been keeping a sharpie handy for the labeling. I was always faithful to those Baking Soda boxes though.

So my solution? My lightbulb moment?

I have a pen organizer with a magnet on it. I've had it forever! It's the kind you stick in your locker in highschool. And right now it's organizing markers on my desk. Not very handily, I might add. So I thought, why not actually stick it to the fridge and use it again! Yeah, such a dumb lightbulb moment. But I'm pleased b/c I'm reusing something I already have, using something for it's intended purpose, and solving a problem I've been having.

Now I can store a sharpie, pens, and even a letter opener on the far side of the fridge. (That way it's not visible unless you're deep in the kitchen.

Video: 16 more quick tips for Home Office Organization

Here are 16 more quick tips for organizing a home office, especiallyy if you're short on space.

Video: Organizing Home Office Supplies

I don't know which I love more: office supplies or organization. This clip reminds us to stock office supplies and keep them organized and handy.

Go ahead and test those pens, pencils (sharpen if needed) and highlighters. Get rid of any that don't work.

Purge the trash, old to do lists, and paperwork you don't need. Start with one cubbie or just a square foot of desk space. That'll be your starting point.

Organizing Tip: Earrings

A few years ago my mom gave me a big jewelry box. We're talking one with lots of drawers, a mirror, wings, and legs. It's pretty tall. And I love it. I love having all my jewelry organized.

But I have a bad habit of taking of my earrings wherever my ears start to hurt. Which is usually in bed while I'm reading, after I've gotta all snuggled in. Yes, I usually forget to take my jewelry off before getting into bed. And you know, once I'm all snuggled into a warm bed, only a fire or a sick pet could get me out.

So I take the earrings out and put them in my nightstand so they don't get lost. I've learned to embrace my quirks.

Which is why when I was organizing the other day and found an old, small jewelry box, I stuck it in my night stand to hold the jewelry that I tuck away in there. I've found that once it's full I can just take it back to the big box and put things away.

Lazy? Yes. Organized? Yes. Work for me? Yep.

Email Management: A Necessary Evil

Today is a great day to organize your email. Seriously. Tackling this before the new year will let you start 2009 on the right foot, free and clear of email clutter.

In my quest to organize my accounts (yes, accounts...plural) I came across this blog post: The Monster Blog: Trying to Organize Your Email? Keep it Simple. I really, really like the idea of having only three folders to organize. Currently I have a dozen or more including to do, follow-up, saved, etc.

Yearly Folders

One thing that I've done for the last three years that I like is to have yearly folders. Sometimes I just need to clear out the ol inbox and stare at a clear blank box for a while...something about that sooths my mind, even if I have 10 items in my to do box. I really do try to keep clutter to a minimum though.

What is email clutter?

Subscriptions to magazines, ezines, catalogs, yahoogroups or anything that you get on a regular basis that you've read or haven't read or just don't intend to read. This is different from spam because you may have read the last issue, but just don't have time or interest to read this one.

Email clutter also comes in the forms of auto responses. Some services like PayPpal send autoresponses (though they're cutting down in 2009).

When you see email clutter just delete. But if you're not sure if you'll need it again, consider leaving/archiving/saving it.

More Tips

Here's an article with 10 more tips for conquering your inbox.

4 Tips from Microsoft about email organization

Five more tips including make decisions quickly and pick up the phone.

More to come

Obviously there are lots of other things you can do to be more efficient via email: using your email client to its full potential, plugins and extras that make life easier, an organized address book, signatures, etc. I'll talk about those more in 2009.

To Do TODAY

Today, concentrate on deleting the old, organizing and archiving and respondng to the new. Then clean out the inbox (by archiving or using a 2008 folder) and take a moment to breath easy. You're ready (at least until that next email comes in) for the New Year.

Green Wrapping

I'm still thinking of ways to be green in the coming year, especially next Christmas.

Instead of wrapping paper, I'm thinking of using newspaper. Black and white, with a minimum of pictures would look really lovely with a big red bow and some special little pick (both of which are reusable again the next year.)

Or craft paper, which would go into a compost pile. Again, big bow and perhaps a sprig of greenery or berries.

Or consider not wrapping at all. There are a variety of beautiful, sturdy boxes available these days that you can use year after year. Some simple need a lovely ribbon, others have ribbons built in. And best of all, these sturdy boxes make great storage during the rest of the year. Cherished ornaments, breakables, and ribbons will be well protected.

I found a blog that indicates it's okay to compost your wrapping paper, so that sounds like a good idea to me. Read it here. Don't forget to remove tape and any plastic ribbons and bows.

Speaking of ribbons and bows, it's raffia biodegradable? That'd be a great "garnish" for your gifts next year. Or any paper ribbon. Otherwise, recycle plastic, satin, or wired ribbons by using them again the following year.

The Fine Art of Letter Writing

I inherited a new piece of furniture this weekend. I'll post a picture later this week.

It's a secretary style desk and I've put it in our library. I'm so happy to finally a) have a "letter writing desk" and b) have a desk in the library. And the best part is, I can close it up so all my "stuff" is out of sight.

That said, I decided to see what online resources there are for letter writing and organizing your letter writing supplies. I have great intentions to write more snail mail. Not just birthdays and Christmas, but thank yous, thinking of yous, sympathy, and just because.

All too often I wait until the last minute and an ecard gets sent.

The sad truth is I have a card & special occasion organizer that I made to solve this very problem. I have a sheet protector for each month and a page printed with the numbers of that month. Anniversaries and Birthdays are written out. If I find a card for that person I put it in the sleeve with a Post it attached with a note of who the card is for.

Simple, huh? Yeah... not so much. Remembering to fill the card out, and actually sending seems to be a problem too.

So I'm working on another method to cure this madness. Write out all cards for that month on the first day of the month. If the card gets there a little early, well it's better than not at all...

This article explains how to create a letter writing "kit."

This post talks about keeping in touch and having a place for your stationary.

And this one discusses writing the perfect Christmas Letter. We've done it before and every year I think we should. So get an early start on it this year. I'm planning to start jotting down notes about important events from this year soon.

Pre-weekend Organizing

I thought I'd show off my entry closet since I was so taken with this one over here.

On the top shelf I have two "bushel baskets" that store hats & gloves. They have a touch of Autumn decoration. :) And now they just need cute labels.



Below that are jackets, a hanging shoe rack for my nicer shoes, and below that a shoe rack (from walmart, it's gorgeous dark wood) for everyday shoes.





And on the closet door I have another shoe hangy thing, but this one stores scarves, doggy leashes, flashlights, etc. You can see more Autumn peeking out behind the door. :)

Organizing Challenge

I know the holidays are almost here, and I should be sending my Christmas cards. But my desktop is filled with icons which drives me nuts. So today's organizing challenge is to tidy your computer's desktop. Get rid of unused icons. Organize the rest. And maybe even add a festive background.

Hard to Organize Spaces...

I have a confession. I collect straws in my glove compartment. There, I've said it. The first part is admission right?

How do I collect straws? If we go in somewhere to eat, the waitress usually hands us two straws... my husband doesn't use one, so I stuff the extra in my purse and the stow it in the glove compartment later? There's nothing I hate worse than needing a straw and not having one... okay, maybe it's not the thing I absolutely hate worse, but you get the idea.

Today I got to thinking about how my glove compartment is seeming a little unorganized lately... so now I'm looking for tips on how to organize a glove compartment. And yes, I actually keep gloves in there too. And napkins, b/c I collect those too.

Any ideas?

An organized family

How organized is your family? How handy are your emergency phone numbers? Are sending cards & thank yous a chore?

I'm looking for a way to be more organized about contact information. My mom has an adress book that lets just say has seen better days. There are some pages with long lists of scratched out phone numbers, new address after new address for the nomads in our family that are always on the move. And while I like the idea of being able to grab my important numbers quickly, I think I'd settled for having a central location to store all that as easily as possible. So I'm on the hunt. I'd love to know how you do it.

But for now, I like the software over at highrisehq.com. Makes it easy to keep all your contacts in one easy to use place. Plus, I can never lose my address book under a mountain of phone books and piles of papers.

2 Minute Organizing Challenge

Sometimes the smallest things make me feel better. Like having a small space be organized. As we use things, the tend to get a little disheveled. So it's good to take a few minutes every day to tidy things back up.

For instance, I have a cleaning tote that I carry around with me while I'm cleaning. Inevitably it gets disorganized b/c while I'm cleaning, I don't bother to put things back in an orderly fashion. I probably should. But why? I'm just going to pull out the Comet again in the next bathroom.

So I take 2 minutes (usually less) to reorganize the tote, line up the bottles, straighten the sponges... and a small piece of my world has righted itself.

What else can you organize in two minutes?

Make sure it's something that's supposed to be organized (as in, you've gone through a purge, sort, organize phase already).

* nightstand
* kitchen drawer
* utility / junk drawer
* cleaning supplies
* laundry room
* a drawer or basket in an entry table or living room
* DVD or CD collection
* your desk or maybe a portion of it
* your bathtub / shower (remember to combine & toss to keep your bottles to a minimum)


What else can you tidy in 2 minutes or less?

Letting Go...

I come from a long line of folks who "keep stuff" and "buy stuff." Attics and basements fill up quickly. As do closets. Sometimes it's just hard to let stuff go. You might need it some day, you say. You like the memories that object embodies.

I hate the feeling of clutter. I hate the look of clutter. Visual clutter is what I call it.

I hate it so much that I went with the simplest centerpiece possible for the tables at my wedding. Roses. That's it. Just roses. No filler. No leafy towering fluff balls. Just spherical glass vases filled to the brim with a single color of roses. It was gorgeous.

Now I'm trying to decide on a centerpiece for thanksgiving. I see plenty I like. But I keep coming back to something really simple. So simple it's elegant. And dressy while being casual. What's the idea? A pedestal of apples.

We'll see if that's what I decide on ultimately.

How do you let go of things?

Here's one tip that I've discovered.

Start with the trash. There's probably something in your room, wherever you are, that qualifies. Maybe it's a gum wrapper you just opened, or a box you just emptied. Perhaps it's an item surrounded by packaging. Maybe it's a leaf on the floor. Start with the trash. Get it out of your space. Throw things away.

It's cleansing. I promise.

Once you've gotten rid of trash, look for things to donate.

Lists of Lists

It's amazing how many list makers are out there. I'm one of them. My dh laughs b/c I have these journals of lists. He wonders how I ever find anything. Truth is, if I write it down, I remember it.

For those of you who are fellow list makers, let me introduce you to Ta-Da list. A free online service that lets you make all sorts of nifty lists to keep yourself organized. If you need a little more doodling space, meet it's older brother BackPack. I'm also a big fan of the free spreadsheet service that google offers. Simple. Easy.t

Home Office

My main project for the day (aside from finishing the laundry) is to organize/tidy/decorate my home office. We recently reorganized the furniture, but there are still a few boxes that need to be unpacked, get the floor tidied and vacuumed. So, today's challenge for everyone is to:

reduce visual clutter

My husband and I both have shelves next to our desks that are full of visual clutter and its time for it to get put away. It's things we do use from time to time... like CDs, notebooks, extra post-its, markers, extra pens and supplies.

So we bought a small unit with doors on the front to hide clutter. It also can hold the printer.

So I took everything off the shelves (and from anywhere else in the room) that a) wasn't used every day or b) wasn't decorative. Then I packed it neatly in the storage unit.

I'm hoping that by reducing visual clutter the room will look more streamlined and appealing and will increase productivity and reduce distractions. We'll see.

If you'd like to take the challenge, simply leave a comment and tell us where you're reducing visual clutter.

An organized closet

I've been touring the blogosphere looking for good organizing tips and I came across a post about organizing your closet. I totally agree that it's a necessity. I spent most of last year hardly able to step foot in my closet (no, I don't have any before shots, thank God. It's embarassing enough just admitting it.). So, after the irritation mounted, DH and I cleaned out. Completely reorganized everything. It's going much better. I'll post pics soon.

My number one piece of advice is take everything out of your closet.

Then only put stuff back in that you have worn in the last 6 months to a year. Formal were doesn't count.

Don't wait to lose weight. Chances are, by the time you do the clothes you saved will be out of fashion or you'll be older and should you really be wearing short shorts? :\ And yes, when you drop the weight you do deserve new clothes. Go shopping!

Donate, donate, donate! You'll be amazed how good it feels to bag stuff up and take it to Good Will (or wherever.) We donated about 15 bags of clothes and stuff. Crazy, huh?