Tips & Ideas

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ORGANIZING TIPS

Household

  • Tip #1 Store extra trash liners under the trash bag liner of your small trash cans. You can replace the liner immediately after you remove the full one.
  • Tip #2 Put cleaning supplies in a caddy that can be carried room to room during cleaning days. Keep a second one upstairs for cleaning upstairs.
  • Tip #3 Keep a basket near the stairs for items that need to return upstairs and then take them all in one trip.
  • Tip #4 Create a mail processing station. Put a recycle bin/bag and a shredder bag nearby. Have an inbox for important papers (bills, statements, legal docs) and an inbox for ads and magazines to review. Process your mail as it comes in to help eliminate unnecessary paper clutter. You can recycle the mailers and junk mail that you don’t need or want before it gets to your desk or kitchen table.
  • Tip #5 Use clear plastic containers in the home to help find things quickly.
  • Tip #6 When you store your things in a container or bag: if you can’t see what is in it, LABEL IT! There are different sized labels made by Post-It that have adhesive almost full back and are handy labels for quick container identification.

Kitchen

  • Tip #1 Use slide out drawers for deep cupboards.
  • Tip #2 It’s best not to fill a space with food items. Leave the top half of the space open so you can see what you have in the back and so you can remove it without emptying the cupboard. You can use a magic marker to write on the lid to quickly identify the cans for easy access.
  • Tip #3 Write the month/yr on canned goods before you store them to keep track of the oldest food items. This way you can eat the older ones and store the newer ones for later.
  • Tip #4 Use expandable shelves in your dishware cupboard to maximize your vertical space and provide easy access.
  • Tip #5 Lazy Susans are not just for the dinner table. You can use them in your cupboards for your spices or food supplements. They are also extremely useful in a deep cupboard to reach the items in the back
  • Tip #6 A hanging shoe rack can be used on a pantry door for additional storage space and easy access to items that are used frequently.

Bedroom

  • Tip #1 Store bed sheets in an under-the-bed container for easy access to the sheets that fit that particular bed.
  • Tip #2 Use clear stacking shoe boxes to store winter gloves, beanies, and scarves to free up dresser space. They are fairly inexpensive at discount stores.
  • Tip #3 Having trouble shutting off your brain at bedtime? Thinking of all the things you have to do the next day? Keep a small pad of paper and a pen on a clipboard near your bed with a book light attached. Empty your thoughts onto paper to help you to move on to restful sleep.

Office

  • Tip #1 Add a hanging file in the front of your file cabinet that holds empty file folders for fast retrieval. Refill as necessary.
  • Tip #2 Designate an inbox and an outbox. They can be stacking or side by side. This will help to keep track of important papers until they can be attended to.
  • Tip #3 Start a to-do list with columns for Date, Task, and Due Date. Hang clipboard on a nail or hook on the side of the desk or on the wall and put your to-do list on the clipboard for easy access. You can also use magnetic hooks for hanging on the side of a file cabinet.
  • Tip #4 In Accounts Payable, have a separate section for all vendor contracts so that paid bills can be archived, while keeping contracts accessible.
  • Tip #5 Create code books with binders and sheet protectors. You can separate the codes with binder tabs for easy access. Code books provide easy access for vendor codes, general ledger account numbers, product codes, and department/division codes.

Family Room

  • Tip #1 Designate a basket in your living room for the remotes and TV guides. Having a place for it to live is the first step in creating a habit of putting it away.

Bedroom Closet

  • Tip #1 Use a hanging pant rack for scarves.
  • Tip #2 Tie wrap the hangers holding the winter clothes when it starts to get warmer, and put rotate them to the back of your closet until the next winter. Generally 3 or 4 will tie nicely together and won’t weigh to much (depending on the garment).
  • Tip #3 Attach hooks to the inside walls of your closet to hang backpacks, handbags and other bulky items.

Garage

  • Tip #1 Use a tackle box to store screws, nuts and bolts.
  • Tip #2 Use Clothes hampers to store sports equipment.
  • Tip #3 Use opaque containers for the garage and color code the labels of like items (camping, sports, clothing, tools)