Organized A to Z Products and Newsletter

M. Colleen Klimczak, Certified Professional Organizer

Organizing for Your Peace Of Mind

Save up to 10% or more on this month's Featured Products!

In honor of our 3rd birthday, we're featuring some our most favorite products. Of course, it's hard to pick only 9 since we carry over 1,300! So, be sure to visit Organized A to Z to find YOUR favorites and then spread the word to all of your clients, family, and friends.

· Organizing is like wedding the garden: stuff that serves no purpose is like crabgrass that chokes out your flowers-removing it helps the good stuff flourish. -- Liz Jenkins, http://www.afreshspace.com

· Use a shoe hanging bag with clear pockets over the back of children's door for toys such as Barbie dolls, hot wheels, and figurines. -- Julie Riber, www.transformare.net

· Use a black sharpie marker and a roll of masking tape to label every leftover that goes into the frig. If it's not eaten by the 3rd day, toss it! Also label all ketchup, mayo, pickle jars. -- Joann Guariglia, www.helpyoutoorganize.com

· Set par levels for various items and don't exceed them. You can use this rule in every room of the house from clothes, to groceries, to beauty products. For example, allow yourself 5 pairs of black shoes, 3 white shirts, 2 boxes of cereal, 5 cans of soup, 6 lipsticks etc. One in one out. Once your par levels are set, pass on one old item for every new one brought in. -- Kelly Deering, www.chaosmanagement.org

· Sort through toys before Birthdays and Christmas and decrease. -- Sandy Jenney, www.organizewithsandy.com

· Set aside just fifteen (15) minutes a day to clean / straighten up / organize one area in your home. It may not seem like a lot of time but if you do it every day you will see a dramatic change in your life. Set a timer so that you don’t need to be checking your watch every few minutes. -- Karin E. Fried, www.organizationalconsultingservices.com

· Quit sorting your bills into separate folders. It’s generally a waste of time. In fact, unless you are itemizing deductions, you don’t need to keep bills for more than a few months anyway. If you’re reluctant to get rid of them, file them in chronological order in one big folder. For most people, the time saved by not filing each one separately is more than the time it takes to find a specific one in a larger folder. -- Claire Tompkins, www.cluttercoach.net

· Electronics: Bag seldom used adapters and small parts into labeled snack-sized bags and adapters used often in small open containers, then devote a kitchen drawer or covered container for them. -- Rita McGhee, www.sortmyspace.com

· Always losing socks? Use a lingerie bag. Give each family member a lingerie bag with their own “colored” colored ribbon tied to the pull. As socks are taken off, then can be placed in the bag. On laundry day, toss the bag in the washer and dryer and return to the appropriate owner to fold and put away clean socks. -- Dawn McCloskey, www.ultraorganized.com

· Add bill due dates to your calendar. When your bills come in post the due date and amount, preferably in red, on your calendar. -- Kemi Quinn, www.homemakingorganized.com

· Treat shelves and cabinets that have hard to reach spots like a drawer. Use containers inside the cabinet to easily get to the hard to reach spaces. You pull out the container to get what you need and then put it back. Think like the pull out shelves, without the pullout shelf expense. -- Gail Gray, www.afreshstartorganizing.net

· As you go about your shopping for birthdays, anniversaries, and the holiday season, keep in mind: Are you adding to someone else's clutter? Buying a future garage sale item? How about giving 'consumables' – gift certificates, library memberships, experiences, project coupons? -- Rhonda McNett, http://sosbyrhonda.com

· Work with your kids not against them. Don’t ambush your child’s room why they are out and toss things, it will only make them fearful and cling to items. Instead, include them in the process, help them set limits and allow them to make decisions for themselves. -- Stacey Anderson, www.organizedinnovations.com

· For families who have several people taking medications each morning, take a cloth place mat, fold it in half length-ways, and sew around the edges. With a permanent marker trace around a cup and label each circle with a member of the family's name. Whoever gets up first in the morning can place everyone's medication in the appropriate circle. Because the surface is cloth, the medications do not roll together and everyone remembers because it's right there for them as they begin their day. -- Michele Rivard, www.conquertheclutter.net

· Art Treasures: Each school year fold a poster board in half taping the sides shut creating a HUGE “envelope.” As papers and art projects come home put them in the “envelope” for safe keeping. Keep it handy so you can toss papers in easily. Over summer vacation go thru the envelope with your kids keeping just the really treasured items. --Kara DeBord. www.organizewithhope.com

· Use your coat hooks at the back door for coats during the winter and to hang your pool towels to dry during the summer. No more having towels drying on the fence! -- Sandra Forbes, www.ForbesOrganizing.com

· Remember the value of storage containers, even outdoors. Deck boxes are ideal for the pool area to house goggles, flippers, kickboards and the like. You may even want a second deck box somewhere on the side of the house near the hose to easily access your car cleaning accessories while keeping them out of sight. -- Heather Lambie, www.YourHomeEditor.com

· The five second rule – the five second rule says “do it now.” It takes less time to just do it now than to let it, and the stress, pile up. “Do it now” reminds us to take a moment now to put the shoes away and hang up our coat. -- Kelli Wilson, www.asimpleplanconsulting.com

· Let go of perfectionism. You can’t spend infinite time on every activity to make it perfect. Accept the best you can do within a reasonable time limit. -- Renee Ursem, www.get-it-together-llc.com