Organization Place

If you are a mother, have ever had a mother, or if you even know a mother, then you have most likely heard the following phrases on a fairly regular basis: "Clean your room," "Put that where it belongs," and "Who made this mess?" Whether you learned something from mom's persistent prompts to keep a clean house or not, having an organized life is essential to living healthy and low-stress. I decided to create a list of the top ten reasons (besides 'because mom said so') to keep your house, garage and office neat and tidy.

10. Being organized frees up space. Dealing with piles of clutter can be incredibly frustrating and eat up a lot of time. Clutter is also the chieftain of the space eaters and the enemy of organization.

9. Being organized improves your mental health. Lets face it people, clutter creates craziness. I think my Mom literally lost hair over my clutter. Calm those nerves and give that hair a chance to grow back by staying clutter free.

8. Being organized saves money. Yes ladies and gentlemen, it's all about the Benjamin's. Taking the initiative to put everything away gives you the chance to stop saying, "I think I have one of those somewhere," so you can start saying, "Oh! I just put that away over here" Save some cash by not buying more crap you don't need! Being organized also helps you avoid having to hire someone from pest control on a regular basis to come spray for critters living in the confines of your clutter.

7. Being organized makes you a role model (and probably puts you on Santa's 'Nice List'). It does no good to try to teach your children to be clean and tidy if you have a cluttered office or a messy home. Nobody likes a hypocrite. Not even hypocrites like hypocrites.

6. Being organized is praiseworthy. You will become the most popular person in your office or neighborhood by being organized. Your friends will gush compliments about your clean and tidy surroundings, and your coworkers will complain to your boss about how your desk always looks like you never have any work to do (do you have work to do?). Organization is one of the keys to becoming super popular.

5. Being organized saves you time. In a busy world filled with soccer practices, piano lessons, corporate deadlines, PTA meetings, board meetings, church meetings and any other kind of meeting you can think of, you'd think it would help to have things organized at home and at work. Being organized will spare you a couple extra minutes in these busy days to pull your head out of the chaotic ocean of busy-ness, take a deep breath and appreciate life. It also helps keep Mt. Everest's altitude the highest point on earth, rather than your pile of accumulated clutter.

4. Being organized helps promote other good habits. With a little time and dedication, your awesome organizational habits will ooze into other aspects of your life. Once you realize how wonderful it is to have one aspect of your life organized, you will be an unstoppable organizing machine. You will want to organize your finances, your future, and even your relationships. Don't believe me? Well you'd better! You can have an organized LIFE... not just an organized filing cabinet.

3. Being organized would make your mother proud. I had to say it. You can't expect me to write an article on organization and not include Mom. Plus, you know that there are few things more satisfying in life than hearing the words, "I'm so proud of you" come out of your mother's mouth. I'm not guaranteeing that she'll say these exact words if you get organized, but just know that she is thinking them. If you do, however, have an overwhelming need for some verbal praise, drop me a line and I'll pretend to be your mom. Hey, take what you can get!

2. Being organized increases productivity. Study after study done by efficient and organized people has shown that people work more efficiently when they are in an organized and clean environment (how else do you think they got those studies done?). The actual act of getting organized proves this statement to be true, because getting organized is a productive thing to do just like brushing your teeth.

1. Being organized plain old makes you feel better. Imagine going home (or turning around) to a neatly organized house, or showing up to a pristine office. Bask, if you will, in the goodness of that mental image. Does it give you the chills? It should. No more piles of toys, no more dog food ingrained into the carpet, nor more wondering where the toilet paper went... just plain old clean smelling goodness. Mmmmmmm.

Now honestly, tell me it wouldn't feel good to be organized. You can't! You know you want it! Take that initiative, throw on your work clothes and bust out that game face. Take control of your life and organize it!

The hardest part of most aspects of our lives, especially regarding making changes that are worthwhile is the part that requires starting. The main reason why things like new diets, budgets and exercise programs hard to start and stick to is that they require change a change of lifestyle, and if meant to be successful, they require a permanent change of attitude as well. Most of us don't cope well with change. The rest of this post will attempt to give you ideas recommended by various different professional organizers to help you initiate that change to get organized, and to feel good about it.

Chris Evatt and Connie Cox offer some great tips regarding getting organized in their book 30 Days to a Simpler Life. The most simplistic of these methods is a 3 pile process that tackles the clutter problems in your home. The list is very simple and very logical. The idea is this. You take some time and clear out everything in the problem area (in this instance, we'll pretend it's your garage). You then put each item into one of 3 piles, the "Love and Use" pile, the "Recycle" pile and the "Ambivalence" pile.

It's pretty apparent that the "Love and Use" pile can go right back into the garage, because it is everything that you use on a regular basis (ie: lawnmower, your favorite sporting equipment or garden hose). Basically, if an item gets fairly regular use, it should go in the "Love and Use" pile.

The "Recycle" pile is fairly simple to understand as well. This pile is dedicated to all of those items that upon seeing them, the following thought enters your head: "Why in the world do I still have this?" Items like random pieces of wood, old spare tires from past cars and things you have been meaning to fix for the last decade, but still haven't gotten around to are all examples of things that go in the "Recycle" pile. Often times, the items in the "Recycle" pile can be donated to good will, or a second-hand store. This is where the name "Recycle" comes from. More often than not, however, you can just throw the contents of the pile into the garbage, and nobody will know the difference. Plus you gain the satisfaction of knowing you never EVER have to deal with that junk again.

The "Ambivalence" pile is the pile that causes most stress and confusion among most people. This is the pile of things that you just don't know how to deal with. Often times they are little treasures that you found on sale and couldn't pass up, but never ended up using. They can be items that hold sentimental value, like an old bike you got for your birthday or a tool that was handed down by a relative. These items are hard to throw out, because you don't want to kill a memory, offend someone important to you or you think you just might use one of those spare bike tires in the future. Deep down inside you know you don't have the space to keep them and are sick of stepping over them every time you get out of your car.

In this circumstance, Evatt and Cox recommend a simple solution. Put these items in storage containers, out of the way and let them sit for a predetermined amount of time (whether it be 6 months or a year). The purpose behind this is to teach yourself to live without these items. If find yourself needing something from the "Ambivalence" pile within that pre-allotted amount of time, you know exactly where it is stored. After the year (or 6 months) expires, you should feel comfortable throwing everything from your "Ambivalence" pile out. You have, after all, learned to live without it for an extended period of time and have survived without dying or going bonkers.

Another great tip comes from Peter Walsh, professional organizer, and author of the book It's All Too Much. His tactic is probably the most simple and immediately effective approach to getting organized and it can be a lot of fun.

Hand out a large plastic garbage bag to all of the members in your family. Give them ten minutes to go through cluttered places, (whether it be a toy room, a closet or the garage) and have them put items in their bags that they no longer use, have outgrown, or items that are simply cluttery. In 10 minutes you can have multiple garbage bags full of unwanted clutter that you really don't need! That clutter is just taking up valuable space in your home. Kids will love doing this, and you will love the feeling of a cleaner, more spacious and less clutter-filled home after it is over.

Now you have no excuses. Grab a bag and start organizing. You won't regret it.

One of the dirtiest places in the majority of houses is the pantry. We can attribute this to the fact that it's easy to forget what you've got sitting back there, or how recently everything was purchased. Most times you find out that it's time to through something out because of the curious smell or an unusual increase in the fly population within your household. By then, it's normally too late, and you're bound to be gagging over some rancid mess.

Nobody wants to have to deal with a sticky, or stinky situation like the one mentioned above. One new innovative product that can help prevent pantry disasters in the future is the Cansolidaor. The Cansolidator helps to maximize the way you use your space by allowing you to store over 40 cans in a small space in your pantry. It will also keep the older food at your fingertips by rotating your cans for you. No more reaching to the back of your shelves to check expiration dates. No longer do you have to stack your cans only to have them end up looking like a mock up Leaning Tower of Pisa made entirely out of creamed corn. You can check out this new product here or see it in action here.

As most of you probably don't know, The National Organization of Professional Organizers (NAPO) has declared the month of January "National Get Organized Month!" The purpose of the event, according to the NAPO site is "dedicated to raising awareness of the benefits of getting organized and of hiring a professional organizer."

Getting organized, whether it be in your home, at your desk in the office, will provide incredible benefits in your life. According to an article in the Daily Herald written by Harvey Mackay, the author of the New York Times Best Seller "Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive," nearly 80% of people who have ventured on an organization project find money, both cash and/or checks. Roughly 25% find over $1,000. If that isn't inspiration to get organized, I don't know what is!

Organizing also saves money for businesses. Multiple hours a week are wasted by employees searching for documents and tools that have been poorly organized. If you add up the wages wasted by employees searching for these missing items the sum of wasted money can easily surpass $1 Million. Do I have your attention yet?

Not only will being organized save you money, but it will save you your mental health. A cluttered life will only add stress and worry to your already full agenda. One of the greatest assets to having a happy and successful year by knowing that it will be an orderly one. Once you're organized, maintain it!

Don't feel embarrassed asking for help. There is a large community of professional organizers who have dedicated their careers to showing people how to get their lives in order. Like anything, the hardest part of getting organized is knowing how and where to start. The task and troubles that come along with it are very comparable to eating an elephant. In the long run, you just have to do it. Most times, asking for help ends up being worth it.

Start your year off right by getting organized! Look for professionals in your area who can be of help. Enjoy taking control of your life and Happy organizing!

I love it when a new product is released that isn't just more of the same. So often we are flooded with new gadgets, toys and inventions that seem to be knock-offs or clones of something we've already seen. The Sleekstor Collapsible Measuring Cups are a great breath of fresh air from the monotony. Sleekstor has taken the cumbersome measuring cup of yesterday and improved upon it.

The Sleekstor Collapsible Measuring Cups fit together snugly for convenient and easy storage. They are made of durable LMBG grade silicone which means that they will withstand extreme temperatures and long-term use. With a variety of colors, and unique design, Sleekstor has put some fun back into cooking and baking.

Get rid of those cluttery measuring cups that just take up extra space in your kitchen, and replace them with the sleek and fun Sleekstor measuring cups.