Amber's Organizing - Tips

Step by Step Tips to Clean out the Garage Start by setting aside a full day on your calendar to tackle the garage. Whichever family members have stuff in the garage, enlist and insist on their help. They must be present. Shop or schedule ahead of time to be prepared. Get garbage bags, boxes, or a dumpster, if necessary, so you’re ready for the major purge. Dress the part. The morning of, wear good gym shoes and clothes that can get a little dirty. Wear work gloves if you have them. Start sorting in your driveway, apron, or yard. Drag…

Keeping your countertops clutter free! Kitchens that integrate or overlook the family room are prone to be a dumping ground and fill up with clutter. It’s common for mail, keys, fruit, shopping bags, and miscellaneous stuff to fill countertops and kitchen tables. A kitchen is the main hub for most families and will always tend to collect clutter quickly. How can we prevent it from becoming a mess and being catch all area? We can stay on top of this space by having a plan and system that’s easy to maintain. These organizing tips will steer you in the right…

Overstuffed Cabinets & Drawers? Here’s the Solution. Why does everything end up on our kitchen counter tops? I’ve seen the strangest things land on people counter tops- toothbrushes, toys, underwear, and even tools. And not so strange things: food, fresh produce, paper, mail, keys, coupons, purses, sun block, sunglasses, CDs, money, checkbooks, etc. There’s something about the kitchen – everyone congregates there. Many people hang out and talk in the kitchen. It must be the food that attracts people. I have friends who keep a couch in their kitchen. That makes sense. Why not have comfortable pieces of furniture where…

No matter what the size or layout of a dorm room, organization is a must! With small spaces, there’s no room for disorganization. Our organizing tips for dorm rooms and college students will help you plan for organization. As your student leaves their childhood bedroom empty, consider these options to prevent clutter from building up at home. Tips to Organize Your College Dorm Room If you are planning to visit home after the start of the school year, bring summer clothes home and take winter clothes back to college. Taking just the clothing suited to the current season will help save space…

During an organizing session with an 11 year old and a 14 year old, we went through their closets and organized their rooms. Both were excited to have one on one attention from an adult who wasn’t there mom or dad. They listened well, make great decisions and at the end of the day we had a hallway lined with about 5-6 black garbage bags for charity.  When I followed up with the family they were happy to report that the kids enjoyed their new organized space and the organizing has set a good mindset and focus for the family….

Are you a book collector? Here’s how to say goodbye to books. Buying a lot of cleaning products doesn’t make your home clean and buying organizing products doesn’t mean your home will be organized. The same goes for books. Having shelves loaded with books doesn’t mean you’ll soak up all that knowledge or be super smart. Sometimes keeping books shows us how much knowledge we’ve accumulated or how hard we’ve studied the material. Of course we’re proud of that. So giving them up would perhaps inflate that pride and prevent us from “showing others” what we’ve read and know. Other…

Must have products to build a successful filing system In this digital and electronic era, we are using filing cabinets less and less. Paper that has to be stored long term is not like it used to be when I first started organizing. As times have changed I’ve changed my stance on what paper makes the cut to be kept and filed away. Never the less, some clients still want to understand the basics of what I recommend for creating a good filing system. So here are the basics. Feel free to modify and simplify as you see fit. Not…

What to do with all that junk mail? Each day we open our mailbox and are faced with unwanted credit card offers, coupons, advertisements, solicitations for money and the list goes on.  Junk mail not only costs us beautiful trees but it wastes and eats up our time.  Instead of sitting back and doing nothing, we can take active steps to stop receiving so much junk mail and most importantly stop the waste. The Illinois Recycling Association tells us that Americans throw away enough office and writing paper each year to build a wall twelve-feet high stretching from New York City to…

Organizing 101: Pictures, Negatives, Digital Pictures Using a digital camera has its pros and cons. Even though technology usually makes things easier for us, there are always hurdles to jump. For my clients, it’s keeping up with all the pictures stored on their cameras and computer. What’s most likely to occur after taking tons of great vacation and family photos all summer or throughout the holiday season? The pictures will never leave the camera’s memory card or computer hard drive and most printed photos end up in card board boxes, show boxes, or in random piles in a plastic tub…

8 Simple Steps to Sort through the Mail Who who opens the mail in your family? Who pays the bills and files any permanent paper? It’s best if one spouse or one person takes this job on. Dividing up the tasks leaves room for inconsistency and error. So if you or your spouse has a stronger organizational background give this job to whoever will have a a better handle on it. An organizing system is built around and set up for the family member who is responsible to sort and go through the mail. That person should be present during…