Happy New Year. Yeah, yeah, it’s resolution time again. Experts tell us that getting organized is among the top resolutions made -and broken- each year. The trick to being successful is biting off just the right sized organizing project. Here are my favorite three mini organizing projects to get you off on the right foot this year:
Your purse. Dump everything and start fresh. Toss the pens that don’t work. Gather old receipts to sort out. Swap all the black accessories for colorful ones so they’ll be easier to find in the bottom of the black hole. Give your bag a quick shake to get out all the crumbs and loose change.
If you lean towards perfectionism go ahead, organize your wallet and face all of your bills in the same direction.
Your car. I LOVE this project. Easy, peasy, and it’s a great way to use the time if you are stuck waiting for someone. Grab a bag, maybe even the last fast food bag that made its way into your car. Gather up litter, empty the center console and all the little cup holders. Grab a microfiber cloth (or the nearest wet wipe) to wipe down the dash, sticky steering wheel, and cup holders. Reunite CDs with their cases. Assemble a bag of toys, sports equipment, clothing and such that needs to return to the house. For extra credit, take a peek in the trunk and sort those items into travel bags for sports, beach, emergency items, and whatever your family needs on the road. If weather permits, treat yourself to an interior/exterior car wash.
Your linen closet. This project goes quickly if you empty the closet completely and start from square one. Separate towels from bed linens from personal products, and give each their own shelf. Bring in some colorful matching bins to hold the small stuff. Gather all the wrapping supplies together, sort out the ones you will ever, ever use, and store the rest so they stay nice and crisp. Label the shelves to let others know where stuff should be stashed.
Pick one of these projects, and be more organized in just a half hour. Get through them all and give yourself a gold star. These little projects are just like the little steps that get you through a bigger project, like organizing your closet, office, or tax prep.
what is that organizing thingy inside the blue purse? must have it.
You like? It actually is the bag, the Butler Bag. This purse was from Avon last year. But you can find similar purse organizers like the Pursekeet or the PursePerfector I featured here: https://heartworkorg.com/2012/05/15/what-mom-really-wants-an-organized-purse/. Love.
I need to get organized also and it will help to start with the purse organizer. I will organize by doing a To Do LIst everyday.
Good for you, Sheila. There are tons of apps that can help you with this, so you don’t rewrite your list daily and you don’t end up with scraps of paper, two problems that can trip you up. Go get ’em!
No, what is the thing that you have INSIDE the Butler Bag in the top right and also the main image in your graphic that looks like a laminated business card holder? IS IT a laminated biz card holder? You need a whole other post on how to do THAT!
THAT is my secret weapon! I probably will do a post…and maybe even a giveaway on it. It’s a card holder from my favorite French store, Target. My shopper cards are all neat and organized all the time. And because they don’t live in my wallet, I can travel light when I need to. So cute, too!
Well, let’s face it. I’m a procrastinator as well as a hoarder…complete with “goat trails,” although not disgusting stuff…all treasure (lol). I’ve started off the New Year (three weeks late!) by concentrating on tiny areas of the house, a little bit each day.
Just discovered your site/blog through the catalog order I put in recently. Yesterday, while looking through a pile of books and papers, I found three books on how to organize stuff that I bought at least six years ago and promptly added to the clutter without even reading them. I just looked at the table of contents and said to myself “I’ll check these out…tomorrow.”
Thanks for some great ideas! At least when I come here, I won’t have anything thing hard copy to stack up!! 😉
Diana, thanks for stopping by. Glad we can provide inspiration. Funny about your stash of organizing books…I just picked up 3 organizing articles from a client today…from 1994. You’re in good company. Be sure to subscribe so you can receive up twice-weekly articles right in your email on organizing and decorating. May as well make it beautiful! Best wishes.