Organization

• Command Center to Eliminate Paper Clutter For Good

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  Command Center Guide.

  

  A command center is a system used for organizing all of the paper that comes into your home each day. School papers, invitations, coupons, bills and more – eliminate paper clutter by setting up a command center in your home.

  The command center that I use in my home is something similar to what I found on Pinterest:

  

  photo

  I was looking for something to manage clutter on my kitchen counter, and I was inspired by this idea. I switched it up a bit to make it into my own filing system.

  What you need to create a command center

  • Accordion file folder (keep it mind the size that you purchase – you don’t want it to be so big that it gets in the way, but you also don’t want something that is so small that you never see it)
  • Folders (optional)
  • Sheet protectors for your budget spreadsheet & washable markers to write with
  • Calendar

  I have 9 tabs in the folder in my command center:

  1. Christina – My personal mail to file away.
  2. Mark – My husband’s personal mail to file away.
  3. Mason – My son’s tab includes crafts and development spreadsheets that need to be filed away.
  4. New mail – When I don’t have time to sort through mail one day, I place it in this slot.
  5. Bills to be paid – I put my bills here when they come in the mail, and refer to my budget to determine when they need to be paid. I mark that date on my calendar.
  6. Bills to be filed – Once bills are paid, I transfer them here to file away in my office.
  7. Coupons – I put coupons in this slot when I get them, and every Sunday I clip my coupons and place them in my coupon binder.
  8. Invitations – Wedding, birthday, and shower invitations go in this slot.
  9. Budget – I do a weekly budget and place each sheet in a sheet protector with a washable marker to write on as needed.

  

  Once you have created your command center, refer to it at least once per week and file away all paid bills, clipped coupons, check your budget, and sort through your new mail.

  Options for filing your paid bills

  Paperless

  More and more people are going the paperless route because it cuts down on paper clutter and it’s better for the environment.

  You can request paperless bills from many companies and they will email you your bill every month. (If you’re notorious for not checking your email, this may not be the best option for you.)

  If you’re trying to cut down on paper clutter, you can simply scan your paid bills and keep them in a file on your computer and shred those paper bills. If you or your partner runs a small business, this is a great tool to use to cut down on paper clutter.

  Paper Bill Filing

  This is how I personally file my bills. I use two file folders; one for business and one for personal & home. I purchased two of these from Walmart for about $10. These have 19 slots in each, so they are pretty large in size and can hold a lot.

  I like that they don’t take up too much space in my office and I can easily store them away on a book shelf, in a filing cabinet, or in a closet.

  Tips for naming your bills

  Make sure you have a name for every bill. I know some people (i.e. my husband) will look for a tab and if it’s not there, will file it away under another tab – causing some major confusion later on. It’s a better idea to just make a new tab.

  Be specific. If you have a simple receipt folder for all of your receipts, you will likely find that it fills up fast. Instead of being overwhelmed by receipts, separate your receipt storage. For example: kids receipts, car receipts, clothing receipts, grocery receipts.

  File by year. Most government records need to be kept for 7 years. That’s a lot of paperwork. Removing your paperwork from your organizing system every year will be a huge help in freeing up some space.

  I would suggest setting aside about one hour per week to look over the items in your command center. When looking everything over, you can update your calendar for the week, look over your budget, organize and file your bills and make sure you RSVP’d to events you were invited to.

  Do you have a command center in your home?

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• Relocating – 9 Tips for an Organized Move

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  Relocating the Organized Way!

  

  Relocating to a new home (especially in a new city or country) can be very stressful. My husband and I have moved 5 times in the past 7 years and each time has been very nerve-wracking – except the last move.

  I made sure we organized our move so well that the whole experience would be relatively stress-free. And it was, thankfully. Here are my tips on relocating and how to do it in a more organized fashion.

  1. Make a moving binder

  This is a very important first step in staying organized. A moving binder is one of the key elements in an organized move. Inside your binder, I suggest the following:

  Budget & Expenses

  Make a list of everything you plan to purchase for your move (moving supplies, moving truck/company, cable hook-up) and come up with a budget for those expenses. Then, when you spend money, add the amount to your budget. Doing this will allow you to see if you are staying on track with the money you have set aside for relocating.

  Receipts

  To your moving binder, add a folder for holding your receipts. Make sure all of your receipts associated with your move go in there so you have records of those purchases.

  Special Dates

  Keep track of when your cable and internet will be set up, when you will be getting furniture delivered (if you are getting it delivered before you move in), your closing date, etc.. All of these important appointments need to be in one spot so you can refer to them easily.

  Contents List

  As you start packing up your belongings, keep a record of the items you are packing. Number each box and organize your contents list by number. This is for insurance purposes, but also for your own reference when you are looking for something specific. If you need to find your toaster, look at your list and find out what box it is in. Find that box number and find your toaster. This is much easier than having to dig through a bunch of boxes for just one or two things.

  Design Ideas

  If you come across any decorating and organizing ideas that you want to try out in your new home, add those ideas here. If you end up with many, MANY different ideas, it may actually be a good idea to dedicate a whole binder to this. Or you could just use Pinterest. The choice is yours.

  

  2. Book your moving truck or moving company right away

  This is something I learned from experience. If you don’t book your moving truck or professional movers well in advance (1 month or more), it will be extremely difficult to book them at all. We almost missed our moving date one time because we didn’t book our moving truck until 2 weeks before the moving date. That was scary. Give at least a one month notice to be safe.

  If you’re looking for a reputable moving company, I highly recommend Firemen Movers. They are fantastic. And in case you’re wondering – yes, they are really firemen!

  3. Fill out a change of address form right away

  In addition to booking your moving company/truck, you also want to fill out a “change of address” form right away to make sure that all of your mail is forwarded to your new address.

  You can do this easily at your local post office for $47.95 or $79.95 (in province), $59.95 or $99.95 (out of province), or $135.95 or $225.95 (USA/International). Those are prices for 6 and 12 month periods, for residential addresses.

  4. Purge before you pack

  Rid your current home of all non-essentials. If you don’t plan to use something in your new home, you don’t need to spend the time, effort or money on bringing it with you.

  

  Sell or donate all of the items you no longer want. If this seems overwhelming, start by purging one area of each room of your home every day, until you have gone through all of your belongings.

  5. Create a moving basket

  Before you start packing, spend a few minutes preparing a moving basket that you will be able to carry around your home with you while you pack. This basket can include the following items:

  • Packing tape
  • Colour-coded stickers/duct tape
  • Permanent markers
  • Pens & pencils
  • Your moving binder
  • Scissors

  You will be so much more organized if you have all of your moving supplies in one location.

  6. Start packing as soon as possible

  The sooner you start packing, the less overwhelming this whole relocating thing is going to be. If you take anything from this article, I hope you take this one piece of advice – pack at least one box every single day until the day you move.

  A few tips to make packing easier (well, easier for when you are unpacking at your new home):

  • Label every box with the room it will be going into at the new house
  • Label every box with a number
  • Label every box with a colour-coded sticker or duct tape (each room in the new home gets its own colour)
  • Add items to your “contents list” as you pack

  

  7. Look for a new doctor, dentist and veterinarian as soon as possible

  Don’t leave this one until the very end or you may have to settle with a health professional you’re not that comfortable with after relocating.

  Many doctors have a long waiting list, or simply don’t accept new patients at all, so be sure to do your research before you move. Ask your current doctor for a referral before you move. Don’t forget to ask for your medical records as well (you may have to to pay a fee for these).

  8. Pack your valuables separately

  If you’re enlisting the help of a moving company, make sure you pack your valuables separately and bring them to your new house yourself, if possible. Things like expensive jewelry, important paperwork and large sums of cash are more likely to be stolen than a box of cookware or clothing. Play it safe and move those items yourself.

  9. Create an “open me first” box

  This box saved our sanity when we recently relocated to our new home. With previous moves, we would pack everything and then open boxes as we needed things (digging through un-labelled boxes to find just one thing!). This time around, a friend suggested an “open me first” box, which would consist of the following:

  • Sheet set for each bed in the house
  • Shower curtain
  • Toiletries for everyone
  • Kettle
  • Frying pan, pot
  • Paper plates, bowls & cups
  • Plastic cutlery
  • Paper towels
  • Portable games for kids
  • Garbage bags
  • Dish soap
  • Bathroom tissue

  These are items you will likely need to access immediately after you move in, so it’s important to keep them all in one location. Just like with your valuables, you should transport this box of necessities yourself when you move.

  

  Relocating is a big job. It can be stressful, overwhelming and not fun at all – but it doesn’t have to be this way.

  With just a bit of planning and organization, it is possible to move to a new home without going crazy. I promise.

  Please share your moving tips in the comments.

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• Declutter Your Life: Free eBook

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  Download a FREE Kindle edition of Declutter Your Life right now.

  If you don’t have a Kindle, you can download this software for free (only works on a PC). This will enable you to read Kindle books on your computer.

  Keep in mind that this book is $0.00 right now, but the price could change at any time.

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• Recent Pinterest Pins: September 22, 2012

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  Have you signed up for Pinterest yet?

  It really is one of my favourite sites! Every morning I sip my coffee and browse Pinterest. It’s become routine now, and I look forward to it!

  Here are some of the latest things I have “pinned”:

  

  20 Toys to Make From Scratch by Foster

  

  Turkey Meatballs by Megan

  

  Organize Car Stuff by Kierste

  

  Copycat Wendy’s Frosty by Nikki

  

  Tips For Taking Newborn Photos at the Hospital by Katie

  

  35 Paper Plate Crafts for Kids by Laurie

  

  Pumpkin Spice Latte by Heather

  Have you pinned anything great lately? Let me know your Pinterest username so I can add you! Don’t forget to add me too!

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• 4 Benefits of Using Checklists

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  Photo by robandstephanielevy

  Do you create daily checklists? Do you go through your day excitedly crossing tasks off of a list as you complete them? What about non-daily checklists?

  Examples of checklists:

  • Daily To-Do’s
  • Moving Checklist
  • Grocery Checklist
  • Packing Checklist
  • Wedding Checklist
  • Baby Checklist

  There are so many benefits to creating checklists, yet there are millions of people who never bother to make them. Are you one of these people? Or are you one of the few that actually does use checklists to improve your life?

  If you don’t use checklists to get you through your days, let me reiterate the importance of using them. Following are 4 benefits of checklists.

  1. Using a checklist allows you to get more done.

  It’s been said that you get an endorphin rush whenever you cross something off of a checklist.

  If you’ve used a checklist before, you know how good it feels to get things crossed off. When it feels good to do something, you’re likely to keep doing it, right?

  That’s why checklists are so beneficial for getting things done. Many things.

  2. Save time and brain power.

  Instead of going through your day trying to remember what you have to do, write your to-do list/checklist down on paper (or on your phone or computer).

  Seeing a list of what you have to get done, instead of trying to remember it all, is going to save you a ton of time – and, yes, brain power!

  3. Make delegating easier.

  When you have a list of tasks to do, it’s much easier to hand certain (or all) things over to someone else to handle, when you aren’t able to complete those tasks yourself.

  Whether you are instructing someone to tackle just one thing from your list, or everything on it, having that checklist in front of you is going to make delegating a whole lot easier.

  4. Reach your goals quicker.

  Setting goals for yourself (financial and personal) is an important step in accomplishing what you want in life, and having checklists will help you to reach those goals quicker.

  How? Because when you break down your goals into bite-sized pieces, and add those pieces to your daily checklists), they seem much more attainable.

  If you have set a goal to lose 20 pounds in 6 months, one item on your daily checklist could be to exercise. If you have set a goal to publish a book, one item on your daily checklist could be to write at least 1 page of that book. If you have set a goal to learn how to sew, one item on your daily checklist could be to learn how to set up your machine.

  Goals are much easier to achieve when you break them down into smaller goals. Add items to your checklists that will help you to reach those goals and watch how fast those goals are reached.

  Photo by uberculture

  The good thing about checklists is that they are easy to create. Simply make a list of things that you want to accomplish in a day and get to it!

  I recommend creating your checklist every night before bed because, believe it or not, your brain will start working on those to-dos while you sleep.

  Be sure not to overwhelm yourself with too many items on your checklist. My rule is no more than 7, because any more than that makes me feel defeated before I even begin.

  Do you use checklists to help you get more done?

  Be sure to check out our free downloads page to print many different types of checklists.

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• Organized Chest Freezer: How I Do It

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  Here is a video that I made, showing you how I organize my chest freezer – I use reusable shopping bags!

  If you’re reading this post via RSS, click here to view the video.

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• My Favourite Organizing Books of All Time

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  I’ve always been a huge fan of organization. In our home, everything has a place. When things are not where they are supposed to be, I get a little crazy.

  While some people consider organizing to be a chore, I actually find it fun. I look forward to it. I plan organizing tasks just because I want to. I just love an organized space!

  I don’t collect many books, but one type that I always like to hold on to is organizing books. I can flip through them dozens of times and always find something new to try.

  Below is a list of my favourite organizing books of all time (in no particular order):

  #1 How to Organize Just About Everything

  This is probably my favourite organizing book ever. There are just so many fantastic ideas in here. How to Organize Just About Everything was written by Peter Walsh. He was the professional organizer on Clean Sweep, a TLC show I used to watch all the time when it was still available.

  This 576 page book is jam packed with organizing ideas for everything from your kitchen, bathroom, purse and your finances. He even teaches you how to organize your entire Christmas holiday!

  #2 One Year to an Organized Life

  Regina Leeds is a pro. She makes organizing easy and fun with all of the tasks she has in her book, One Year to an Organized Life. I read through this book in less than 3 days – I just couldn’t put it down! I tackled many of the suggestions she had in her book and they were all very easy and didn’t require me to purchase expensive organizing items.

  Regina’s other books, One Year to an Organized Financial Life, One Year to an Organized Work Life and One Year to an Organized Life With Baby are also favourites of mine. I have read them all and have not once been disappointed with any of them.

  #3 Organized Simplicity

  Organized Simplicity was written by Tsh Oxenreider from SimpleMom.net. This is actually the only book I have ever (and I do mean ever) paid full price for. I bought it as soon as it was available, because I have always been a big fan of Tsh’s website and I knew she would have some great ideas on organizing.

  In this book, Tsh shows you how to organize every room in your home, and also includes free templates for a home management notebook and recipes for non-toxic household cleaners.

  #4 Clutter Rehab

  This book was written by my friend Laura of Organizing Junkie. She truly is an organizing junkie – and a great one, at that!

  Clutter Rehab lists 101 tips and tricks for organizing. I had not heard of many of them before reading this book and now include quite a few in my daily life (my favourite is to create a beverage station – we now do this for tea and coffee!).

  #5 Martha Stewart’s Homekeeping Handbook

  there are 752 pages full of organizing and homekeeping ideas in Martha Stewart’s book, Homekeeping Handbook.

  Martha shows you how to keep your home looking it’s best with little effort (for most tasks). She offers tips on how to properly clean and organize everything in your home.

  There is an abundance of information in this book – it really is an invaluable resource and one that I refer to on a regular basis.

  There are so many wonderful organizing books out there. I have read dozens of them and continue to read new ones as I find them.

  I’ve always been an organized person, but by constantly reading ideas, viewing photos and hearing advice from professionals, I feel that I am more organized now than I have ever been before.

  Do you have a favourite organizing book? If so, please share in the comments!

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• Stockpile Organizing: 3 Easy Ways to Stay Organized (New Video)

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  I often get asked how I organize my stockpile, so today I’m going to show you 3 things that I do to keep my stockpile organized at all times.

  Bins/Baskets

  The number one thing that I recommend when starting a stockpile is to use bins whenever possible.

  I always recommend using bins, because they will help you to keep your smaller items contained and not falling all over your shelves.

  To save money, use the bins you already have on hand. This could be a plastic bin from the dollar store that you already have, or small cardboard boxes.

  Categories

  Tip #2 is to have categories. These are very important when you’re stockpiling.

  Categories to consider:
  - Health & Beauty
  - Food
  - Household
  - Kids/Baby
  - Laundry

  Setting up categories is really going to help you to find things when needed, which will prevent your items from expiring before you actually find them.

  Donation Station

  My final tip is to have a donation station. This is just an area in your stockpile (or even another area of your home) where you keep all of the items you plan to donate.

  Keep it all in one area, so that once that area is full you’ll know it’s time to take it to be donated.

  Those are my tips for organizing your stockpile.

  There are many ways to keep things organized, so do what works best for you. The important thing is to store your items in a way where you are able to use them before they expire.

  Do you have any tips for organizing your stockpile?

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