Travel Time Organized

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travel time organized

 

Summer is when we hit the road by air, land and even sea! When you are organized and ready for your travel, it’s less stressful and more memorable.

Your destination information

  • Keep up with your travel papers with clear pocket folder.  Place information in the pocket folder asap so it you always have access to it. 
  • Set your sights on apps that help you with destination information.  Kayak.com and Hipmonk.com can help you get flights, hotels and more.
  • Get started with your packing with a list! Whether its a paper one from Container Store or online with TravelSmith.com, lists are the best way to be sure you have all you need.

Get packing

  • As busy as we are, we often leave packing to the last minute. Start well in advance of your trip just with the suitcase out. Drop in items throughout the week. A day before you travel, assess what you are taking and eliminate a little.  
  • Packing cubes make travel organizing easy. Place floppy bathing suits and cover ups in one, underwear in another, and even pants or dresses in a large one. Having your suitcase divided into units makes finding something much easier.
  • Create a travel medication kit for your holiday.  Include every day items like band aids, creams, aloe and other over the counter meds just in case.
  • Pack your kids clothes in Ziploc bags, set up by day.  It’s easy for them to get ready on the trip.
  • My favorite pre-packed item is my toiletry case. It has all my every day face and hair products in small size containers, always ready to go.

Hit the road

  • Healthy snacks are a must for travel.  Make it fun with small size containers or individually wrapped snacks for you and your family.   If you are travelling by car be sure to include a cooler with water and plenty of ice. 
  • Small crazy Dollar Store items keep everyone entertained.  Add to the fun with these on the trip.
  • My favorite souvenir is a photo at the destination with my family.  Help your kids make good souvenir choices by allowing a dollar amount or a single souvenir.
  • Double check that you have all electronic devices, cords and other accessories needed for everyone’s happiness. A Grid-It case makes it easy to keep it all together.

Getting back in the groove

  • Sadly all vacations end! Give yourself a extra time to sort mail, buy groceries and do laundry before getting back to work. You will be glad you did!

 

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5 Fun Organizing Activities for Summer

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summer organizing

Its just a little too hot to get too excited about organizing. But what about those fun organizing projects you have been putting off?  Here are 5 fun summer organizing projects that will make you swell with pride that they are now off your list.

  • Remember that enormous stack of magazines you have not had time to read all year? Grab a handful and hang out by the pool or beach. Be sure to eliminate them as soon as you have read through them.  Once is enough for browsing!   Drop them off at a local emergency care room for those waiting. 
  • Love your family photos but not sure how well these digital treasures are organized?  Set up categories on  your computer to start with, then begin gathering them from all the iphones, ipads, digital cameras, and facebook. You will be so thrilled to have them in one spot. Now you are ready to make a picture book too!
  • Are recipes all over in your home, papers, or office? Now is the time to gather them together.  Sit with a tall glass of tea and be realistic what you will make. Does the recipe require too many ingredients, too much time, or no one but you will eat it? Time to toss the extra recipes and keep just what you want.  Set up categories, sort and decide if a notebook or recipe box will be better to keep these.
  • Get ahead for fall by creating your family command center. This fall you will be the most organized ever by setting up a calendar, corkboard, chalkboard and wall pockets to keep your family activities organized.  Browse on http://pinterest.com/EllenDelap/family-command-centers-communication-and-organizat/ to gather ideas. Then head to your favorite HomeGoods, Target, WalMart or other shop to pick up and install all the pieces.
  • Organize a ME day. This is a day just for you to regroup, relax, and rejuvenate.  Your family has lots going on and you will need time to “put on your own oxygen mask first.”  Set aside time throughout the summer for this important and precious time.

What fun organizing activities do you have planned this summer?

Hugs and Happy Organizing! Teen Organizing

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Hugs and Happy Organizing posts are about client successes. Here you will find a happy organizing story about teen organizing.

organize your teen's room

 

Teens crave organization, but often are too busy to work through the challenges of creating systems and routines that work.

  • Offer an incentive and find what is important for your teen. Set a time to work together on the project that works for both you and them.
  • Together purge and eliminate items that are no longer useful or needed.  Allow your teen the opportunity to let go of items, even if you are not comfortable with that. 
  • Group items together that are used together, such as media, books, and supplies.  Think of this as stations within the room.
  • With less items in the space, it is much easier to maintain.  Help your teen establish times to get items back into order.  Our kids are very busy but it is always important to get organized.

What ways have your helped your teen get organized?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hugs and Happy Organizing: Organizing your Storage

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Hugs and Happy Organizing posts are about client successes. Here you will find a happy organizing story about storage.

 

storage and organizing

 

If you are fortunate enough to have additional storage, you are truly blessed! Even storage can be in total disarray when we have too much.

  • Group items together that are alike. In storage that may be clothes, games, office supplies or furniture. Once gathered, decide what to keep and what to donate, sell or trash.  Storage is usually filled with items that you have not made a decision about… so make a decision! 
  • Take items away immediately.  You won’t regret this.
  • Place the items on shelving depending on the access you need to the item.  Frequently used items need to be near the door and easy to access. If you want your kids to access items, be sure these are low enough.
  • Label where the item goes so everyone knows where to put it back.

Hugs and happy organizing!

 

 

 

Summer Organizing for Families

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summer organizing

Summer time is fun time!  It’s the time we think about letting go of all the routines and the responsibilities and building lots of memories.  However, summer fun is best when there is a little organization and preparation.  With lots of fun scheduled for your family, you’ll want to get organized!

Family calendar

Family fun begins by knowing all the dates and commitments you  and your family have this summer.  Start by adding all the upcoming dates on a master month at a glance calendar.  Host a family meeting so everyone can add their dates, including holidays, camps, vacations, vacation bible school, birthdays, Father’s Day and more.  Be sure each family member has their one most important summer activity on the calendar.  Once you see the dates, now its time to set dates to prepare and pack.  It’s tempting to have back to back fun, but it can also create a lot of disorganization if your camp stuff is not gathered together or you feel frazzled when setting off on a trip.  Make a list and set a time to pack, gather together what is needed, and finalize plans.  It takes just a few minutes but is well worth your time.   With each summer activity you will  have less stress and  more fun!

 

Family routines

Summer is a time to set simple routines in place.  You and your kids can collaborate on technology limits, summer bedtimes and family chores.   It can be a time to start new partnerships for responsibilities such as cooking, clean up, laundry and grocery shopping.  Examples of easy routines include:

  • Lights out for everyone by 10:30 pm.
  • Each person does one load of laundry twice a week, including putting their laundry away.
  • Sunday night is family dinner night.
  • One hour of technology a day for everyone.
  • No one is left in the kitchen alone to clean up.

Be specific so everyone is on board with the routine.  Establish deadlines so everyone knows when chores should be complete.  Work together as a team on family responsibilities means chores get done quicker!

Family Organizing

Team work is a top priority for family organizing.  Think about what needs to be done as a group and schedule a day and time for you to work together.  Small projects broken down into baby steps is an easy way organize.  Some of these projects include

  • Pantry organizing (toss what is expired, group like the grocery store or by breakfast, snacks, dinner)
  • Kids clothes organizing (donate what is too small, place one category of clothes in one drawer, then label the drawer.)
  • Toy organizing (one shelf or basket per toy, then label the basket)

A parent and one child can work on these together for an hour and feel a sense of accomplishment.  If one hour is too long, set a timer for 20 minutes, three times, and you have accomplished your goal.  Set up a reward at the end of your work time to congratulate your team on their successes!

What’s on your list for family fun this summer?

 

6 Summer Organizing Strategies

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summer organizing

 Summer time fun begins with being organized!

 

Summer organizing

 Gather your family together and get all the dates on your family calendar. 

summer organizing

Be sure everyone is charged up to go!  Keep all the technology charged in a public spot so everyone gets a great night’s rest. 

Load up your ipod with summer tunes and your Nook, Kindle or ipad with great summer reads. 

Add kid friendly books too to encourage summer reading. 

summer organizing

Pack a summer bag for each activity and for extra car time for your kids. 

Checklists for travel make packing easier too! 

summer organizing

Set up a healthy, organized snack station with kid friendly stuff.  

It will be easy for everyone to grab a snack whenever they want to and you will be sure you and your kids are keeping on track with fruits and hydration. 

summer organizing

Keep a cooler for water in your car or in case you need to drop by the grocery. 

summer organizing

Treat yourself to some fun summer flip flops as a reward for your organizing efforts. 

Summer is more fun with preparation and organization. 

What will you be organizing this summer? 

Online garage sales

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online garage sales

 

The 21st century has brought a new kind of garage sale! It’s the online garage sale, posting to sites where waiting customers review your items and connect with you by email.  Virtual garage sales are an easy way to make money from your clutter  as well as eliminate unwanted goods.

There are many advantages.  Online garage sales are typically free. You can post your item any time day or night.  You take pictures, prices your item, and upload your information typically anonymously.  Writing a detailed description, including size dimensions, brand, and other details make your item more attractive to buyers.   The best way to price your item and see if it is valuable is to check the prices of similar items on E-bay site’s “completed listings”  section after the auction has ended.  For a local online garage sale any items, regardless of size and weight, can be sold.  You can meet your buyer at another location and they pay cash for your item. For national sales, think about the cost of shipping and price your shipping in the cost of the item.  Be sure to receive payment in advance of shipping.

In Houston and nationally there are many online garage sales.

  • Craig’s List and Ebay are the best known online garage sales.
  • Post your item on an local online garage sale.  In the Houston area, sites include KingwoodYardSales.com, TheWoodlandsonline.com, houston.bookoo.com or chron.com.
  • Use Gazelle.com, a trade-in and recycling firm, that helps sell all sorts of items, from cell phones, laptops and tablet computers to digital cameras and video gaming consoles.
  • Sell your used cell phones to www.cellforcash.com to get top dollar for your used phone.
  • If you are still wanting to rummage for more traditional garage sales, you can use Yard Sale Treasure Map and Garage Sales Tracker to find a live garage sale too!

Hugs and Happy Organizing! Linen Closet Organizing

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Hugs and Happy Organizing posts are about client successes. Here you will find a happy organizing story about a linen closet.

linen closet organizing

Linen and medicine closets get out of control easily! Its a rush to get ready, find medicines, and just get access to stuff in these deep closets.  Stuff gets stuffed in here!

  • Happily we purged lots of items in the closet.
  • We created groups of like items and confined them to plastic bins with labels. Its easy to access and easy to drop items back in.
  • Labeling makes it easy to maintain order here.

Hugs and Happy Organizing!

 

How I do it! Organizing Coach for New Organizers, Geralin Thomas, shares how she stays organized

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I love the concept of sharing our inside secrets as organizers. Throughout the month of May I have asked my colleagues to share what works for them.  I know you will enjoy this guest post from Geralin Thomas, owner of Metropolitan Organizing.

 

Geralin Thomas

For me staying organized is an organic process. At different times in my life, different tools and techniques have been helpful. There have been several things that worked for awhile, but no longer work due to changes in my lifestyle. For example, before having children my filing system looked much different than it did after my sons were born. Now, as they finish high school and head off for college, again, my system has been revised and updated as I have increasing grown to use more technology and less paper. After all, even report cards are now electronic as are SAT and ACT test scores; that means fewer papers to file.

One organizing gizmo that has been with me for at least a decade and used non-stop is my metal collator. It’s definitely one of my very favorite tools to use. I’ve used it to sort writing projects, family photos, homework assignments, tax papers, recipes, gardening ideas and almost anything else you can think of. When not in use, it collapses and sits in a drawer. And, best of all, to dust under hundreds of sheets of paper, I simply lift the collator up and relocate it. I don’t think I’ll ever be completely paper-free, nor do I want to be. So, for me the collator is one tool that helps keep me organized and I’ll continue using it on a daily basis.

 

A Tarheel fan and graduate from The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Geralin Thomas, owner of Metropolitan Organizing, lives in Cary, North Carolina.  She’s a Past President of the North Carolina Chapter of NAPO and if she looks (sounds) vaguely familiar, perhaps you know her from A&E TV’s Emmy-nominated show, Hoarders where she’s appeared in over 20 episodes. She enjoys coaching new professional organizers and socializing on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and her own website, http://www.metropolitanorganizing.com 

How I do it! Organizing Tips from Leslie McKee, CPO, COC

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I love the concept of sharing our inside secrets as organizers. Throughout the month of May I have asked my colleagues to share what works for them.  I know you will enjoy this guest post from Leslie McKee, owner of McKee Organizing Services.

 

leslie mckee

My colleague and close friend Ellen Delap asked I write a short blog piece on how I stay organized.  I thought it was a great idea and it really made me think.

When you do what I do for a living, you often hear “Your house must be perfect!” and I simply smile and say that it’s really not, but it works!  I think that might be how I do it.  My goal in organizing is to make room for FUN and to get things DONE.  I keep things streamlined because it is just easier and helps my brain work.  The motivation is to go do something else.  My mind seeks order in everything I do and when things get complicated I lose energy.  This forces me to keep things simple and deal with less.

I notice when something seems like its just taking too much time and not giving me a big return on my efforts.  That defines frustration for me and I do one of three things immediately.

1. I decide whether it is worth doing.

2. I try to simplify my approach

3. I get help.

I have an easy time letting myself off the hook when I feel stuck and don’t spend a lot of time torturing myself.  I just keep moving.

So, my tricks and tips aren’t about how to fold your socks or organize your files.  For me, it’s more how to keep it simple and get on with it!  How to let yourself be free of the burden of being perfect and not to make organizing become a job in itself.

 

Certified Professional Organizer and Coach, Leslie McKee began her professional organizing career in 2000. Her business www.mckeeos.com is comprised of hands-on organizing, personal assisting and coaching.  Leslie inspires clients to live more simply and with purpose.  In her coaching she specializes in helping people identify their strengths and work more efficiently to build a life that fits.  Leslie has been featured in the New York Times, WSJ and on NPR, and she appears locally on Pittsburgh Today Live and KDKA Talk Radio.  For more information contact Leslie at 412-341-8754 or via email at leslie@mckeeos.com.