Simple Home Office Organizing Tips

I came across these simple tips for organizing your home office or work area, and thought I'd share:

1. Separate business from personal
If you use your home office for business purposes and for personal purposes, try to separate the two as much as possible. Definitely make sure that you separate business receipts from personal receipts. If you don't, be prepared for an accounting nightmare at the end of the year when you try to get your taxes in order. When organizing a home office, try to keep all of your business items in one area and all of your personal items in another area.

2. Create a home office file organization system
As with just about anything related to home organization, you will need to create a plan for organizing your home office files. A good way to start is by making a list of all of the files that you currently have. Then take a look at that list and see what are natural groupings. A little home office file organization tip: Do not have a miscellaneous file. Too many things end up in there simply because you don't want to have to think about where they really belong.

3. Use some sort of scheduler
Whether you prefer your computer or paper to keep your schedule, make sure that you have one to keep your home office organized. All important dates should go on this schedule. For home office organization purposes, this means things like when certain bills need to be paid and when you will balance the checkbook (this should be at least weekly).

4. Schedule a time for home office organizing
At least once every week you should clean out and organize computer files (including email) and paper files. Schedule this into your week just like you would a regular appointment. Part of home office organization is making sure that you keep on top of all of your filing. And the computer files should be part of this too. Don't forget to delete those files on your computer that you no longer use or need access to.

5. Easy access to things you use most frequently
Make a list of everything in your home office that you use on a daily basis. All of those items should be organized in the same area. You want to make sure that how you organize your home office works for how you are going to use it. If you're getting up from your chair in order to constantly go get a certain item, move that item to within easy reach of your chair.

Getting your home office organized just takes a little time and planning. Take small steps and before you know it, you will know how to organize your home office with ease.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jill_Borash

Be Realistic in the Kitchen

It never ceases to amaze me how much stuff people hold on to, whether it is useful or needed. Despite its small size, the kitchen is a place where lots of stuff hides. When you take everything out and really sort through your kitchen inventory, I bet a lot could get purged.

I've posted and shared lots of kitchen organizing tips in the past, and certainly there is a lot more to be found. But instead of specific how-to or implementing tips here, I want to address some of the 'mental' aspects of dealing with kitchen organizing. Food for thought (pun intended!)...

1. Be realistic! How many of you are at home/live there? Do you really need all of those [insert items here]? I once had a client who lived by herself but had 2 refrigerators and full-size freezer all in the dining room. (I wish I had that storage but I have a family of 4!) How about 4 mugs instead of 10?


2. Be realistic! Maybe you used to entertain or have large dinner parties, but do you still? Do you need to have all the specialized partyware in the kitchen or even in your house still? Keep your current lifestyle in mind, not what you used to do or might do in the future.


3. What percentage of your cabinet space is dedicated to foodstuffs and how much holds dishes/pots/servingware? Often I find clients with a lot more space for that which holds food, rather than the food itself. Things you use less often do not need to be within arms' reach taking up valuable storage space.

Home Organization on a Budget

One of the things I hate about looking up information online is that you get distracted and annoyed by banner and pop-up ads plus other information you don't want. That's why I often include links or direct content (without the search and the ads) to share with you.

I found a clever, no-nonsense and economical list of organizing products and ideas in an iVillage article by another professional organizer. Try to ignore all of the other stuff, and you'll find the content helpful: click here

Love Rearranging?

I do. I think it is fun to rearrange a furniture layout and mix things up in a new way. It allows you to look at the elements of a room differently, and, during the process of change, you may also purge, clean, and reevaluate items.

One of my organizer/redesigner pet peeves is when clients place items and furniture around the perimeter of a room with lots of floor space in the center. I joke that, unless they are having aerobics or dance classes in the room, that much empty space and air is unnecessary. Imagine walking into a dance and people are standing against all 4 walls. No one is dancing. Is it an inviting space to come in and dance? Same idea about a living room, for example. You want it to be inviting, cozy and suggest clearly where you want people to congregate or go.

HGTV's "Do's and Don't's: Arranging the Family Room" suggests:

• Don't arrange furniture too far away from a focal point, particularly a video screen or fireplace. Nor should you put all the furniture against a wall or on one side of a room.
  
• Do cluster furniture around a focal point. For a good conversation area, make sure the furniture is arranged so people won't be more than 10 feet apart. At the same time, don't put furniture pieces so close together that traffic is blocked in the room or at entrances and exits.


• Place furniture so people can see the television easily, but avoid putting furniture directly in front of the television; instead consider using an ottoman, which kids can move close to the television for great viewing

Give rearranging a try -- nothing is set in stone, so you can move things around without commitment. Just see how something works in another spot or if you can shift things around to make a better design statement, allow for better traffic flow, or to accommodate changing needs of the room. It's fun!

Low-Cost Organizing Ideas

Real Simple's June issue published 99 low-cost organizing ideas, and I went through and transcribed ones that piqued my interest here:

• Rather than splurge on a pricey spice rack, label the tops of spice jars and place them in a drawer to easily find what you're looking for.


• Add a hierarchy system to e-mail folders by using an * in front of each label for most used folders and a Z for those used least.


• Stuff plastic grocery bags inside an empty tissue box for compact storage and easy retrieval.


• Mark the contents of plastic food-storage containers with a dry-erase pen. The "labels" will come off when you wash the items.


• Instead of filling a pretty sham with a pillow stuffer, stow linen sets or pajamas inside.


• Waterproof Recycling Bags make it a cinch to divvy up recyclables. The handles let them be carted to the curb easily. see pic


• Install a wire cooling rack on the garage wall, attach hooks to it, and hang tools.

Professional Organizer-isms

There are a bunch of things I tend to say to clients on a regular basis, and I share them here as "Professional Organizer-isms" -- principles of decluttering, organizing and design used in my business. Maybe one or two will strike a chord with you...

1. Just because you have it, doesn't mean you have to use it -- this applies to containers, space, closets, furniture, storage accessories. People some-times feel compelled to keep things or systems either be-cause they've bought it, used it in the past, it exists, or for emotional reasons. If some-thing does not work for you, don't use it!


2. When in doubt, throw it out -- while this may seem extreme, in 99.9% of cases it holds. If you don't think you'll use something or don't know where the piece goes, get rid of it. Things that offer no use to us are clutter, and can be thrown or given away to someone who will use them.


3. There's only 2 options: less stuff or more storage -- let's be honest, there really are only two choices. Generally, increasing the storage (i.e. building another room or closet or buying more furniture) is not always realistic or in the budget. Better to start of reducing your inventory (purging) then utilizing existing storage more effectively.


4. Do you know what is in there? How long has it been there? -- Think about the box that's been on the top shelf or the stuff in the attic. If you haven't accessed the container in a while, and furthermore don't know what is in the container, seems to me that the contents are not that important. Be prepared to get rid of it, and use the space more effectively.


5. There's only three things you can do with paper: File, Act, or Toss -- The Toss category is easy -- the harder part seems to be getting used to a system for Filing and Acting. Filing including both short-term and long-term files, and Acting is anything you need to do (i.e. invitation RSVP, catalog order, bill paying). Address mail and incoming paperwork accordingly.


6. If items are important to you, they should be displayed or stored with respect, not stuffed away or in a box in the attic. It is amazing what people have in storage, all dusty or wrapped in paper (sometimes not knowing what the exact contents are), but then they see the item and say how important the item(s) is/are. How important can it be if you're treating it like that? Have sentimental china? Use it or dis-play it! Want your daughter to have a set of family heirlooms? Give it to her now.


7. It didn't get like this over-night; it's not going to get fixed overnight -- Things don't change without effort, progress and adapting new habits and routines. Like a diet must become a lifestyle, organizing is a habit that must be learned and applied to daily life. It definitely takes work, but is SO worth the effort!


8. What's the worst thing that would happen if you got rid of it? Between buying a replacement, finding it online, or realizing you can live without it, you generally can function after getting rid of items. You may even find it liberating! You have the power over your things, not the other way around.


9. Procrastination is really just postponed decisions. I didn't come up with this saying, but I like it. Often people become stuck in indecision because they find the question of 'keep or get rid of' difficult. Hence they choose to keep clutter in order to reduce anxiety. Ultimately, once you face the decision and move on, you'll feel much better.