Spring Organizing: Garage Sale Savvy!
Thinking of a garage sale this month? Check out my blog post on Organize to Revitalize!
http://dallisonlee.com/blog/2013/04/01/5-steps-to-organize-a-family-garage-sale/
Spring Organizing: Its the Little Things: Junk Drawer
Get started on your spring organizing with the little things! Your junk drawer may be out of control! Spend just 5 minutes getting it back to organized!
Click and see this junk drawer!
How’s your junk drawer?
Start Your Spring Organizing with Dollar Store Organizing Products
Organizing products can be durable, effective and inexpensive.
At a recent trip to several dollar stores in our area, here is what I found. Some of these same items are available at Target, WalMart and the Container Store, but cost only a $1 here!
- Set of 3 small white cubes. Use these in your vanity for makeup or hair products or in your desk for clips and post-it notes.
- Sterilite DVD or CD holder. Use these for media containment, one for each type of media.
- CD notebook for your car. Or at home and eliminate case chaos.
- Set of 3 toiletry bottles for travel. Get your travel bag together and keep it organized with these bottles.
- Cord or holiday light holder to wind your cords around. Nothing worse what cords tangled and in a knot.
- Plate holder for your dishes. Double stack and add extra storage in your kitchen.
- Ice cube trays for jewelry or office supplies. Easy way to get access to accessories.
- Cupcake carrier. And you know, I am bonkers for cupcakes!
Visit your local dollar store and share what did you find!
Reflections of a Chief Junker
I am thrilled to have my friend Tiffany Eckhardt share some reflections as owner of Flown the Coop. What you think of her perspective on her stuff?
Everything in my home has a price tag. Seriously, there is a tag on just about everything.
I once asked my Flown The Coop Facebook friends if keeping inventory tags on treasures at home was normal. I was feeling a bit awkward when visitors came to my home until friends in the industry confirmed that I was not alone.
As chief junker at Flown The Coop, I have the privilege of buying and selling unique pieces of furniture, reclaimed industrial pieces for home use and kitschy vintage items.
I love acquiring and enjoying my treasures for a time, then setting them free to be enjoyed by another family. For example, I recently decided to let go of a huge letter E that served as a unique focal point in our living room. The letter came from a discarded Office Depot sign and sat behind our couch on a table as a conversation piece. Honestly, as much as I loved it, I took just as much pleasure in knowing the gentleman who bought the E was thrilled with his new treasure.
I try not to get attached to my treasures, except priceless family heirlooms or treasures that I bought traveling with my husband. I’ve learned that I can eventually find replacements for pieces that I let go. For that reason, I rarely take my Flown The Coop inventory tags off pieces I use in my home. Eventually the piece will return to inventory and be replaced by another equally unique treasure.
I imagine keeping the tags on furniture or pieces of art would be embarrassing for most people. I don’t encourage it. What I am proposing is to keep an open mind about items that create clutter. Letting go of items in your home that no longer serve a purpose can be freeing and can make room for a new decor. I guarantee someone will consider your junk as treasure.
Enjoy your treasures, but when it’s time feel free to let them go!
Tiffany Eckhardt and her family recently moved from Ohio to their new home in the Houston Heights. She is chief junker at Flown The Coop, a business that reclaims and repurpose furniture, industrial pieces and kitschy vintage items. You can find Flown The Coop at Chippendale Eastlake Antiques and at Urban Market Houston, Warrenton Antique Week and the Dallas Market. Follow her flight pattern on her Facebook page. Learn more about Tiffany at http://www.chippendaleon19th.com/ and http://2flownthecoop.com/
Work at Home: Transitioning your stuff
Working at home requires a transition between spaces. Bringing home papers and more can be the hardest part of this transition.
- Use a designated slot for each type of paper you bring home. Slots can be created with accordion files, expanding pocket files, or clear acrylic files. Label each with the name of that category. In this way you will always know what you have, where it goes, and where to place it.
- Tie up your cords and use ziploc bags to keep them easily stored in your briefcase. Or duplicate your cords at each location. Be sure you are never without a way to connect.
- Wheels are the answer to heavy loads! A wheeled business case can make your efforts easier.
- Create your own closing ceremony 15 minutes before quitting time. Giving yourself time to transition and pack up means that nothing will get lost or overlooked.
Image courtesy of Office Candy (file tote).
EXCLUSIVE
Black Faux Leather File Tote
Organizing Solutions for Your Struggling Student
Check out my blog post at Organize to Revitalize ~
http://dallisonlee.com/blog/2013/03/04/3-simple-organizing-solutions-for-your-struggling-student/
Work at Home: Apps and More
Our world is filled with organizing automation and technology. Work at home requires effectiveness and efficiency. These apps can help you make a difference.
Below are a few of my favorite apps for making life easier and more organized.
Evernote~ Use this app to consolidate ideas, makes notes to remember things like books or websites, and help keep infomation easy to access.
CardStar~ Use this app to keep up with all those store loyalty cards.
MomMaps~ Families want to know places to go and activities to do and this app finds them for you.
OurGroceries~ The nightmare of grocery shopping made easier with a list that multiple people can access and shop.
ScanBizCards~ This app is a great way to eliminate all those biz cards floating around your house and keeps them in your phone.
Shoeboxed~ This app is an easy way to keep up with receipts, either for your home or office.
Mint.com~ This app and computer accessed program helps you gather data for budgeting, keep a record of what you are spending your money on and even suggests improvements.
Aboutone.com~Consolidate your calendar, contacts, health information and home inventory in one spot!
List type apps including Ziplist, Wunderlist, Things, Toodledo. No need for a paper list to lose! These apps help you stay up on what you need to do, buy, and more!
What apps are your favorites?
Work at Home: Organizing your technology
Working from home is what we do! Whether it is a part time second income or an extension of what you do every day, we add on worktime through out the day. Being organized to work at home makes a difference in productivity and efficiency. To do both, we need great technology tools! Here are a few suggestions to make your work more successful.
- Log Me In. This is a service that logs you in to your base computer. Easy to use and free, you can do your work remotely on your base computer.
- Dropbox. This is a service that permits file sharing. You create an account and save your files to Dropbox to use remotely, share with others while working on a project, or save as a backup for files in the cloud.
- GoogleDrive. This is one of the many free google products for you to use saving and sharing files. It can be accessed by logging into google from anywhere.
- Skype. This free service is for free phone and video services between users. Download it on your computer and choose the skype phone number to call and see others.
- Task list. There are many to choose from, including ziplist, toodle doo, wunderlist, and remember the milk. A task list helps you prioritize and keep all your lists in one spot!
- Evernote. This free app for computer and smart phone allows you to capture and organize notes, audio clips, photos, and more.
What tech tools help you be more organized to work at home?
Work at Home: Organizing Your Home Office
Working at home requires setting up a space that will work for you! It can be a challenge to carve out a spot to get your work done, just because there are lots of distractions.
- Decide on what works best for you! Some families relinquish the dining room to become an office, some families work well in the midst of the media area. Decide if you need quiet or not, paper management and printing capability, and what tools you will use to work. You are ready to set up your space after thinking this through.
- Set up office hours. With a start and end time, your time will be most productive.
- Paper and work go hand in hand. For portability from the office, there are products suited just for this! You can also set up a command center for work at home and work at the office with the same tabs keeping paperwork consistently. A file cart is a great option to slot papers in, keep them close by, and keep them organized.
- Decide on a time you will shut down for the evening. Working at home can interfere with a good night’s sleep. Sleep is the best way to work efficiently and effectively!
Check out my Work At Home pinterest board! http://pinterest.com/EllenDelap/work-at-home/
Send One Suit and Make a Difference!
Join me in participating in this year’s Dress For Success Houston’s S.O.S. (Send One Suit) Drive. The effort, formerly known as Clean Out Your Closet Week, provides interview suits, confidence boosts and career development to more than 45,000 women in over 75 cities each year. Dress for Success is a not-for-profit organization that helps low-income women make tailored transitions into the workforce. Each Dress for Success client receives one suit when she has a job interview and a second suit when she gets the job.
If you would like to contribute, please bring your interview appropriate suit in excellent condition, cleaned, pressed and on a hanger to Kingwood Country Club on March 6, 2013 from 5:00 – 6:30 p.m. Matching jacket and pants or skirt are excellent donations. Don’t have suit to donate? Dress For Success Houston suggests donating $75 toward the cost of a suit for clients over size 14. Receipts for donations will be sent directly by Dress For Success Houston. For more information call 281-360-3928 or email edelap@professional-organizer.com.
Want to find a local donation location? Visit Dress for Success! Many donation drives will be held March 4 – 8, 2013.
We specialize in working with ADD/ADHD clients. Whether in your home or your office, we motivate, empower and affirm our clients in their quest for organizing and productivity! 
