Thanksgiving Can Make Christmas Shopping Organzied

While being thankful for family and friends, enjoying yams and stuffing and making the pumpkin pie disappear on Thanksgiving day, get a jump on the next holiday.  Before everyone leaves the table make shopping a little more organized by creating a fun activity for your guests.

Create a 5.5″ x 8.5″ printed sheets with a few questions for everyone to complete while you have the family together. 

• What size shirt do you wear? 
• Who is your favorite designer?  
• What is your favorite musical group?
• What is your favorite charity?  (should your family make donations instead of gifts)

Be creative.  Include questions you want answered.  You might even make a game of letting everyone try and guess who belongs to each answer.  But you keep the cards and use the information to prepare your shopping list before you head to The Grove or Beverly Hills.  Download a Gift Tracker straight to your phone or Blackberry to keep the information with you while you shop.

Organized shopping is no different from organizing any other part of your life.  With a plan in place you can be more efficient and have more fun.  It will also help to keep you from just giving gifts that quickly turn into clutter for those you love.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Book Bags and School Lockers

Products from The Container Store

How organized were you as the new school year was approaching?  When you were getting ready for the new school year did you think about the principles of organization?

Besides learning geography, mathmatices and other subjects to prepare your children for life, don’t forget to give these future doctors, politicians, policemen and and even professional organizers the tools needed for filing and finding their school work.  Start out by making organizing seem fun by asking your kids if they would like to have more time with their favorite activities.  Begin by organizing toys, sports equipments, even electronic games.  As items are reviewed help your kids make decisions what is not used and just in the way.  Explaining all the time that once these obstacles are out of the way, it will take less time to find what is wanted allowing more time for play.

Now you can help them go from papers stuffed into a backpack to notebooks with categories that make sense to your students.    Once one area is mastered, it will be easy to keep other areas organzied.  School lockers, tests, assignments, special projects and even packed lunches have best results when they are organzied. 

When you go shopping for “back to school” let the students make lists of needed items before heading to the store.  There are always find great tools at The Container Store.  But remember, if purchases are really not needed – and end up not being used - they will add to your clutter.

Make this year the first year of a productive lifetime where goals are achieved for your students.

Multitasking Is Not the Best Use of Time

This weekend I enjoyed going to the movies and seeing Star Trek.  It seems others thought it would be a good place to send text messages and check e-mails.  Even the week before the person next to me was continually using his Blackberry during the first act of a play.

During the ”Time Management at the Age of Speed” session at the NAPO Conference in Orlando last month, Harlod Taylor shared that the fast devours the slow.  Think about it, we have more information to manage than ever before.  Not so long ago, we became overwhelmed by the fax machine.  Now we are averaging over 190 message a day because of the phone, email, Facebook, Twitter and more.

Need to See Time?

Time is essential to staying organized.  Do you find it is difficult to see time as it passes each hour?  Are you constantly running in circles to meet deadlines?

Visit TimeTimer.com and check out their products available to actually show time as it passes.  This especially helpful to those with ADD.

If we don’t respond to an inquiry quickly we stand the chance of loosing an opportunity.  But how is clutter effecting your schedule by multitasking throughout the day?  As the saying goes, “stop and smell the roses”.  The same can be said for enjoying the movie or texting your friends.  Don’t dilute your activies and productivity by not focusing on one project at a time.

Check out our latest “O-Tips” for more information to make your life easy. 

Is Your Closet Green?

Environmentally friendly materials are now available for your Get It Together LA! storage system for closets, garages, and home offices.  Recognizing the demand from consumers for “green-build products” we are offering the SkyBlend™ line from Roseburg. 

The line is SCS and EPP certified 100% pre-consumer recycled week fiber particleboard that has no Urea Formaldehyde added during the manufacturing process.  Third party testing verifies SkyBlend™ formaldehyde emissions (.00-.01 ppm) are no greater than levels occurring in outdoor ambient air conditions according to the manufacturer.

Roseburg is North America’s largest, fully integrated manufacturer of melamine and specialty panels with lands and facilites in California, Georgia, Mississippi, Oregon and South Carolina.  Ask for “green” when you build your next closet.

Green Tip:  Remember to return your hangers to the dry cleaner for reuse.  Ask for your clean clothes to be placed in reuseable bags from your dry cleaner and cut out the plastic.

Help for Soon-to-be Parents

Newborn babies bring joy, but with the joy comes stroller, cribs, toys, diapers, gifts, changing tables, more diapers and clothes, car seats, more gifts…well you get the idea.  Recognizing new parents need to be organized as they prepare for their family addition, Kijiji.com has partnered with us to help educate parents on the best ways to organize and maximize space for their “Baby On Board” campaign.

Kijiji.com is a free, family friendly site that is easy to navigate and a great place to buy and sell items for the home and find necessary services.  The name Kijiji is Swahili for village.  This is really a community to share information and resouce to get rid of unwanted clutter.  In their online survey, it was discovered that only 7% of parents resale baby items once they are no longer used.   So 93% of families have the opportunity to gain more space and raise some money by selling these unused items.

Check out our tips and let your baby develop organizing principles that will last a lifetime.

Blount County Chamber Recognizes National Organize Your Files Week

Tax day is over and it is time to celebrate!  The third week of April is National Organize Your Files Week.  If you are in the Knoxville/Blount County area Wednesday, April 22, 2009, join the Blount County Chamber of Commerce for a workshop sure to be fun while demystifying the steps to organization.

Organizing Secrets Revealed
for Your Home and Office

April 22 – 9:00 – 10:30 am
Blount County Chamber office

Los Angeles organizing expert Chris McKenry will be in Tennessee on his way to the NAPO National Conference in Orlando.  During his stop over he will be addressing chamber members in an interactive setting sharing information and answering questions to make you more organized and clutter-free.  Besides recognizing the Organize Your Files celebration the seminar will look at ways to be more organized in the garage, kitchen, closets, office and with your time.

Click here for more information and to save your spot.

The Easter Bunny, Clutter and Organizers

Easter Sewing Basket

I barely remember waking up on Easter morning and rushing to see the great basket of treats left by that annual unseen rabbit.  It would be filled with yummy chocolate bunnies, Malamar Bars, marshmallow treats, and jelly beans.  Not a thing was wasted.

This week a friend said he had a craving for a Easter basket.  So yesterday while walking home from The Grove I stopped in K-Mart to up pick one.  I know it has been…well lots of years since I have been on the receiving end from the Easter Bunny but of all the hundreds of baskets the store had were definitely different from what I remembered.  Instead of sweet treats and yummy candy every basket had plastic toys that would certainly become clutter and unwanted by later in the day.  

For about the same amount of money of the pre-packaged baskets I purchased quality candies, colored grass stuffing, baskets and stuffed rabbits were available to create a custom basket.   For a hostess gift I even filled grass stuffing and chocolates in a sewing basket to take to a dinner party this evening.

The commentary to all this is any event, holiday, or gift is what you make it.  As an organizing expert helping my clients keep clutter at bay it is evident that habits start at an early age.  So even those gifts your children receive can start traits that are not seen for years to come.  Don’t just spend to buy something.  Have a clear goal when you go shopping.  If something doesn’t look like what you are looking for, don’t settle.  Keep looking or make the gift yourself.  And by the way, my friend loved what the Easter Bunny brought him!

West Week Shares Business Principles for All Industries

The interior design industry desended upon the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood last week for West Week - an annual gathering to examine the latest products, styles, and trends for home decor.  Kicking off West Week was an elite panel of experts discussing The Business of Design, sponsored by Architectural Digest.

Donna Livingston, Martyn Lawrence-Bullard, Mimi London, and Stephen Shadley shared their beginnings in the design industry and answered questions on how to succeed during the current economic conditions.  All are at the top of their field and recognized as Architectural Digest’s AD100 list.

When asked how to thrive during this economy, all emphasized that they are focused on the future.  All but one offers product lines.  Stephen Shadley principal works out of a live/work space in New York where he enjoys working late if necessary.  Martyn Lawrence-Bullard stressed his products are highest in style and quality but price for a broader market.  Commenting on his new candle line he shared “you may not spend thousands on furnishings, but almost everyone can afford a $30 candle”.

Donna Livingston shared “difficult times define who we are.”  She went on to emphasis the importance of on-line networking and the power of blogs.  Ms. Livingston’s portfolio has appeared in numerous international publications.  Though she does not advertise she likes to feature “rooms of the month” for direct marketing pieces to clients. 

Mimi London, like the rest of the panel emphasized the importance of  learning the “business” in design.  It’s not enough to be creative, you have to invoice, market, and make your business work.  Those new to the industry were encouraged to began their careers working and learning in established firms before branching out on their own. 

The organizing industry shares the same business principles as the design industry.  Both industries work to make homes a place for enjoyment.  The ability to work closely with clients and understand how they live is something both groups share. 

The entire panel was optimistic for the coming year.  While spending may not be as it was a year ago we all agree having a beautiful and organized space gives comfort and enriches everyones life.

Organize Goals When Attending Orange County’s Largest Mixer

Dave Linden is doing it again, and for the sixth time in Costa Mesa.  Orange County’s Largest Mixer VI will be held Wednesday, March 11, 2009 at the OC Fair & Event Center.  Several hundred businesses will exhibit their products and services and the event is a great networking opportunity if you do business in the OC.

Before attending a business expo,  home show, or sports exhibit spend time listing what you would like to accomplish.  If possible, review exhibitor rosters to identify those companies you deem of interest. 

Keep the clutter to a minimum. 

Take only “freebees” that you really want.  When you return to the office, review the business cards collected and recycle those contacts that are not of interest.  As you enter the information from business cards into your contact management database, categorize different industries and include notes to help find a contact when needed.

The Largest Mixer series is also held in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and the Inland Empire.  These events are sponsored by area chamber’s of commerce.  Follow this simple steps and make the OC Largest Mixer one of the most productive business opportunites you hit this year. 

For ticket information click here.

Turn Clutter into Cash

They are everywhere.  Advertisements asking, “Do you have too much stuff?”  The solution, the ads say, is to rent a storage unit.  During times like these do you want the extra expense for things that have not been used in months or even years?

Empty those storage units and make some money.  Plan a garage sale or try selling items online.  When pricing remember not to ask retail.  If you want something to sell, offer a deal.  Do some homework and search eBay for comparable pricing.  Not only will you generate cash, but when you free your space you clear your mind.