Jan 27

Stylish Desk Accessories

By Sherry Borsheim Blog, Home Office Organization, Home Organizing, Inspiration, Organizing Paper Files No Comments

Getting organized doesn’t mean you have to de-style and squash your creativity! Organizing desktop clutter and stacks of paper with stylish desk accessories to suite your personal style. Add a pop of color and beautiful accessories to any blah and boring office.

Stylish and functional desk accessories make it fun to keep your desk organized. It may even increase your productivity due to less paper shuffling because you love and use your organizing systems. Just pick your favorite color from one of Poppins’ space-saving desk organizers, label the trays with the next action step and you’ll conquer your clutter woes.

Bye-bye to Blah

No more blah looking staplers and paper clip holders taking up valuable space on your desk. Just stack your trays and desk accessories on a small area of your desk and have everything at your fingertips. And if you find your stapler and tape dispenser keep disappearing off your desk, label them and wherever they wandered off to, you’ll be able to find the.

Create An Inspiring Office

When you have an office that inspires you and puts a smile on your face, you’re more likely to be more productive and get things done faster. Think about what color puts a smile on your face and add a few pieces around your office. When it’s time to sort through those boring papers in your In Tray you’ll see your favorite color and hopefully that inspires you to complete that mundane task.

Add Your Personal Style

Adding a touch of color to your desk and workspace is also a cost-effective way to add your personal style. Years ago I was tired of my blah beige desk and wall unit and decided to add orange accessories with a splash of red. It started with two beautiful lacquered boxes in orange and red and an orange stapler and pencil holder. The red box is for my label maker tapes and the orange box is for my hanging file tabs. They are stacked on the top shelf of my bookcase and I love using them. Every time I open the box and grab what I need, I’m always inspired to put the items back and stack the boxes back on the shelf.

Get the Right Tools

Having the right tools and organizing systems that work for you is the missing link for many who struggle to get organized and maintain their organizing systems. When a desk organizer doesn’t function well, you’re less likely to use it. Look at the desk accessories on your desk and ask yourself “What’s not working?” and “What’s not functioning well?” Always plan first what you need before you go shopping for desk organizers.

What color inspires you into action? Make sure to post your comments below.

Oct 21

Love0

Organizing Your Closet Twice a Year Can Help Your Favorite Charity!

By Sherry Borsheim Blog, Closet Organizing, Home Organizing, Inspiration, Quick Organizing Tips, Resources No Comments

Closet organization is best done in the fall and spring time. When the weather is changing you naturally want to switch over your clothes plus it’s the best time to purge and reorganize your closets. You’ll stress less each morning when your closet is beautifully organized and key items are at your fingertips!

Before you begin switching over your clothes, take a few minutes to decide on what you are going to do with items that no longer fit, you haven’t worn in the past year, clothes kids have outgrown or you have too much of and it’s time to pare down. If you’re downsizing find out how much closet space you’ll have in your new home. Whatever your situation, here’s some closet organization tips to consider.

Pick Your Charity or Non-Profit

Before you switch out your clothes for the warmer or colder season, research one to three places you will donate clothes and other items to. For women’s business clothes donate to Dress for Success. For baby, maternity and children’s clothes look for women’s shelters in your area or churches. And there are many other charities in your area that will pick up your items for you. If you’re going to consign clothes you need to be thinking 6-12 months in advance to get an appointment in a lot of cities. So plan ahead. Then get a box and/or bags and label it with the name of the charity.

Schedule Time to Drop-off at Charities and Non-Profits

Next, schedule time in your calendar to drop off the clothing to the charities or non-profits you want to support. This accomplishes two things –you set a completion date for organizing your closet(s) and getting the charity items out of your home.

Non-profits Always Have a Wish List!

Call organizations you want to support and ask them what kind of items they are looking for. I always ask them for their “wish list” and keep that on hand for when I come across items they need. You can do the same and share that list with your friends. Sheway House is a Vancouver Women’s shelter and some items on their wish list are crockpots, tea kettles, hot plates, baby toys, strollers, maternity clothes and baby clothes size 0-3 years. And often times, non-profits have their wish lists already posted on their website. You’d be amazed how many times during the year you’ll come across an item that you know your favorite charity really needs.

Brighten Someone’s Day!

Dropping off good quality clothes and items brings a big smile on the volunteers face! Oh the happy feel good stories I could share with you. Like the time I was parking and saw a young lady looking in a dumpster for house items and I happened to have six large pages of clothes. I asked what she was looking for and she was setting up her very first apartment. I mentioned that I had some new containers that I wanted to give her several bags of clothes. She thought she had won the lottery and they were all in her size. As I shared the story with my client, we were both in tears of joy.

What to Let Go Of

Most people have a number of items in their closet that have not been worn for a long time. For the most part, these items are just taking up valuable space. Anything that no longer fits should be placed on consignment or donated to charity. Additionally, any items that have not been worn for a year or longer should simply be given away.

Go through every piece of clothing in all your closets and ask yourself “Do I love this?”, “Does it fit?”, “Does it look great on me?”, “When was the last time I actually wore this?”

Letting go is so freeing. And you’ll be able to see what’s in your closet and spend less time getting ready each morning. Plus, less stuff means, less work maintaining all your stuff!

Aug 30

Love0

Organizing – One of Life’s Goals – Part 4

By Sherry Borsheim Blog, Inspiration, Quick Organizing Tips No Comments

You did it! You are finally here. You have an organized life…

{At least you should be well on your way if you have been following our Organizing One’s Life Goals Series}

But now what? Does it stay this way forever. Absolutely not. You can only stay organized if you work at it and commit to it. That’s why the final post in this series is all about staying organized with a smart maintenance plan.

Organizing – Maintaining the System

Now you have everything organized just the way you want. Upkeep and maintenance of your new system is just as important, if not more, than the initial organization process and will help to ensure smooth and stress-free future operations.

First thing you need to keep in mind is that you should regularly monitor inventory and discard papers, items, etc. that you no longer need or use. Routine and habit are key here. The more time you work on maintenance, the less time it will eventually take.

Set up a date for this maintenance – weekly, every month, every three months – whatever works for you and makes sense. Keeping familiar with contents will ensure that you find exactly what you want when you want it and will give you the opportunity to easily decide what has to be updated, what can be thrown out and when.

Don’t rely on memory. Compose a checklist of papers and items that you have on hand and/or always need to have on hand to make this process easier and more effective. And keep it simple. If you develop a process that is too lengthy or cumbersome, chances are you are not going to stick to it.

Put things in their place right away. Instead of letting a pile of papers build up or a stack of clothing or tools lie around, put everything away as quickly as possible. This way there will be no build-up of clutter to foil your organizational system.

It’s easier to spend a few seconds putting a paper in a file or hanging up a shirt than having to spend considerably more time sorting out a pile of clutter. Plus the space around you will just be more pleasant to live and work in.

Yes, it all sounds very simple when reading it – but now its time for you to take action.

Make a list of all the things you need to maintain
Then make checklists of tasks associated with maintaining each of them
Put these checklists somewhere close where you will review them daily
Commit! Put that reminder in your phone or in your calendar to check things off the list if you are not doing them daily.
Don’t forget to pat yourself on the back too. Another task checked off the list is another great accomplishment. Appreciate that.