Please tell me your best organization tips!

[hanutedmansionmomma]

looks like we've all been watching the hoarders marathon

1. Organize closets by color. You will realize you really don't need another black shirt and save yourself $ next time you shop.

2. Go through mail immediately. Stand over the garbage can and pitch things. Get online right away and pay bills with your online banking system and throw the statements away. Everything's online now. Why save old statements?

3. DONATE items you don't want/need/use anymore. Do this on a regular basis. Give them to folks who will actually use them! You can write off the $ too.

 

[motherofsons]

I LOVE all these ideas. Its that time of year to get organized and hopefully keep it that way! I especially like the idea of boxing up clothes that do not fit and waiting a year and if they still do not fit giving them to good will. I have a closet filled with clothes that I hope someday I will get back in to.

 

[DLB]

I definitely believe in the accessible shredder - I keep it plugged in and ready to go in the kitchen where I go through the mail. I am obsessive about keeping our personal info out of the garbage so I shred lots and recycle the paper. I check my credit card bills online and if amt is correct, I shred the receipt immediately. I've started getting rid of any paper copy of things that available online.

I have a (Disney, of course) plastic tray that I throw all my daughter's schoolwork in as it comes in - we keep it until the grandparents come to town and can look through it with her and then recycle it. Artwork gets displayed and then after it comes down, I take a picture of our favorites with the child holding it so you can see how little they were when they made it.

I have a desk organizer with 3 trays - one labeled today, one labeled tomorrow and one labeled whenever and I try to file things that need to be acted upon
or responded to into one of those three trays.

I use the calendar and alarm in my iphone/mac for scheduling and print a new copy of my calendar for the month once a week so I can get the big picture of the month if I'm on the phone and need to schedule an appt, etc...
My DH's schedule also links into my iphone (updates wirelessly once per hour) so I can see what's going on with his workday and can add family things to his calendar.

I love plastic storage bins - stock up when they are on sale and use my labelmaker to ID what's on the inside. Christmas decorations are so easy to retrieve - just have to get the red and green bins out of the attic.

Someone told me to organize my clothes closet by color - I thought it was crazy but I love it!

I love reading the other ideas - keep 'em coming!!

How do you have your DH schedule updat to yours? That would really help in my household. TIA

 

[angierae]

How do you have your DH schedule updat to yours? That would really help in my household. TIA

I don't know how it works on iPhones, but DH, DD and I all use Google Calendar, and DH and I both have Google phones (Droids) so we can see each other's calendars on our phones at all time. It's SO helpful.

 

[elcodfish]

Thank you everyone!!!

My husband and I need to start organizing our lives, and I think I have picked up some good tips here!

 

[yoopermom]

I used to organize my closet by color, but now I put what I just washed to the left and wear what's to the right (same thing w/sweaters, one I wore today goes on the bottom, tomorrow I wear the one that's on the top). I started doing that when, in my former life, I was a h.s. teacher, and the catty girls would mention, "You wore that top two days ago...".

And DH and DS each have a room that's like Bluebeards...I open the door just long enough to shove stuff in, then close it quick! It's up to them what goes on in there.

Terri

 

[jadeblue13]

Love your ideas so far. I need help with paper piles-love Flylady but need a home for the papers that I will remember to look at when the time comes.

We use the over door shoe bags to hold and organize my daughter's hair accessories and nail polish, toe separators, etc. It is in the bathroom closet so no one sees it. It has helped her to put things away and they are easy to find to match a certain outfit-sorted by color.

I am a teacher and I use one for the small things like google eyes and small craft pieces, glue gun, anything too awkward to place in a craft box.

My husband made a jewelry organizer out of 2 pieces of wood in an upside down T shape with 5 dowels through the top-she can hang necklaces and bracelets from the dowels and set rings on the bottom board. Very simple project that they did together.

 

[fab5friend99]

Stop the monthly paper statements coming into the house - this caused a lot of clutter for me. Sign up for e-statements. It will also help the environment. I save the statements as a PDF file on my computer and can easily get to them when needed. At the end of the year, I burn a CD with my quicken file for the year and all the statement and store it with my tax papers. My gas bill allows me to see the statement online and print it but it doesn't have the ability to save it as a PDF. So for those situations I have a PDF printer installed and print it to the PDF printer.

For taxes, I deduct the sales taxes I paid since Texas doesn't have an income tax. I keep track of the actual sales tax and it is almost always more than the table the IRS has. I keep an envelope for each month and an envelope for medical, charitable, etc. I enter data in quicken every few days and then all the receipts get put into the appropriate envelope. This has helped me a lot.

I highly recommend using quicken to keep your money organized.

 

[sherry7]

Hang a shoe organizer over the basement door or a pantry closet door, and store misc things in the pockets. I have envelopes, markers, thank you cards, rulers, paint brushes, etc in mine. You could also store saran wrap, foil, ziploc bags etc in each pocket. Very organized. I also use one in the bathroom for toiletries, make-up etc.

I always do that on vacation. One of these on the back of my kitchen pantry door would be fantastic.

 

[SnowWhite607]

I always do that on vacation. One of these on the back of my kitchen pantry door would be fantastic.

I want to get one fr my bathroom door. I have shelves but stuff gets pushed to the back and I never know what I have so I end up buying more. WIth a shoe holder, at least I could see what I have and use it up before buying more.

 

[lovehoney]

Clutter is an ongoing battle with me. My best tip for this year was to only have 3 towels/washcloths per person in the house. That means I have 15 towels. I was keeping old ragged towels and it just added to more laundry and less space in my linen closet.

I threw out the old towels and I can't believe how just one small change made such a difference.

 

[dizkids]

Love this thread. Big problems with the piles here too. 3 kids in 3 different schools. I feel like it never goes down and never mind the mail.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

Clutter is an ongoing battle with me. My best tip for this year was to only have 3 towels/washcloths per person in the house. That means I have 15 towels. I was keeping old ragged towels and it just added to more laundry and less space in my linen closet.

I threw out the old towels and I can't believe how just one small change made such a difference.

I do this with towels and sheets. Each bed only has ONE set of sheets. I pull it off to wash, then put them right back on when they're dry. I do have a couple of spare ones for the air mattress and for when we need a quick middle-of-the-night change.

My tip would be: Be creative with your space. I have a hallway area that doesn't go anywhere and it's really narrow, it was the perfect spot for a long bookshelf for the kids' books and a plastic shelving unit for their board games.

Also, put things where you use them. My kids get dressed upstairs, but put their shoes and socks on downstairs. So I put one of those little plastic sets with three drawers in it downstairs in the hall closet with their socks in it and labeled the drawers for each child. If everyone's getting undressed and leaving their clothes on the bathroom floor, try to put a hamper in there.