Simple Gifts to Share

It's coming again!  The holiday that makes everyone a bit crazed.  It happens to the best of us.  Well, let me suggest the perfect gift...it'll make your life easier and they'll love it.  It's ideal for neighbors, hostess gifts, gift exchange parties, teachers, service providers, and any others that you realize at the last minute you need to remember.  Have a stash on hand and you'll never be left scrambling!

Ready?  Take a recycled  bottle--preferably a slender upright one with a little charm--and fill it with quality olive oil or liquid dish soap.  Taa-daa!  Add a plastic pouring spout found at cooking  stores or The Container Store.  Using soap? Add a bit of water to make it flow more easily.  A pretty ribbon and snazzy tags from Martha Stewart at STAPLES and you're all set.  Want to add a gift card, too? Gild that lily and go for it!

Hey, Hey, HHW! (aka Household Hazardous Waste)

For those in the Long Beach/Seal Beach/Los Alamitos area...get organized and dispose of your toxic trash!  You'll feel so much lighter.

Toxic Trash (E-waste & Household Hazardous Waste)Collection is for:

Saturday, October 6th

9AM to 3PM

at

Veteran's Stadium

4901 East Conant Street

Long Beach, CA

Clark Avenue & Conant Street

Enter off Conant

For details & limitations, go to

www.longbeach-recycles.org

3 Quick Ways to Get your Life Organized

Think that getting organized is a long and seemingly impossible task?

Au contraire!

Try these easy ways to achieve a bit of order and save some time in your life. It won't hurt...we promise!

1. Find one visible and frequently traversed spot in both your office and home, and put a flat/small container (like a small box lid or a pretty platter or bowl!) at these spots.  Use this as a landing place for your keys.  If you find your keys elsewhere, put them back here*.  Check here first for your keys.  Keep practicing...this will get easier and easier and become a habit! 

Warning: if there is a key-stealing family member, this technique may not work.  We know these things happen.

2. Use your kitchen or your mobile phone timer: a lot!  Set it to limit web-browsing, bill paying, solitaire (yes, we know you love the mindlessness of it all...we're not judging you!), as a reminder to get ready, when to walk the dog, a quick picking-up the house (it's really amazing what you can accomplish in 15 minutes!), reminder to push away from your desk and walk out of the office for home or a meeting.  This is a handy and ever-present tool.  Use it!

3. Did you ever think that you would be able to carry a copier/fax machine with you everywhere?  Well, that's what your phone camera is: a pocket-sized fax/copier.  Think about it. You can take a photo of any document and text or email it anywhere you need.  This presupposes that you have such a feature on your phone!  We're pretty sure you do. 

Now, practice setting a timer to enjoy this cartoon on our favorite topic: ORGANIZING!

Organizing Your Garage or Shed!

It's a daunting task, for sure, but we think we can make organizing the garage or shed bearable.  Hmmm...in fact, how can we make this fun?  Trust us!  We’re professionals!

A few tips:

·         This is not a 1-person job. 

Hire one of the neighborhood gardeners or an energetic teenager looking for some extra cash.  This will work out much better than a reluctant family member…that’s definitely not fun!

·         Clear the decks and the schedule.

This is typically a pretty messy project.  Avoid starting if there’s another event within 48 hours of this project.  Having to frantically clean up for a dinner party that evening is, well, not recommended.

·         Keep the end game in mind.

Have a vehicle to haul donations away.  Pre-order a special trash pick-up.  Alert family members if you are “storing” their items.

·         Music. Cold drinks. Shades. Gloves. Trash bags.

‘nuff said.

Safe Medicine Disposal

This is a burning question, I know!

For those who are in the Long Beach-Seal Beach area, please note that on Wednesday, June 27, 2012 Abrams & Clark Pharmacy at 3841 Atlantic Ave, Long Beach is having an Unused Medication Collection  from noon to 4PM...Be advised that this is a college project, so you may be asked a few questions.

Have a happy-to-organize day!

COLOR-A great technique to use in organizing.  There are certain common methods of using color.  Examples are separating  folders for client, vendor and admin files, grouping shoes, dividing children's toys and possessions, and of course sorting laundry.

But think about other ways using color can make life a bit easier:

-purse contents in separate zipper bags with cosmetics, office supplies, seldom used items divvied up.

-travels documents in separate colored folders for each destination of a trip.

-check book covers in different hues for each account.

-rubberized key rings to differentiate house, gate, garage, mailbox,vacation home keys (after all, how many stray keys are in that junk drawer??)

-tax files vs. family storage in distinctive colored boxes.

Color is an easy identifier. So next time you are faced with a jumble of items, use color to control & segregate.  (Don't forget- reportedly 1 in 10 guys is color-blind, so take color choices into account if a household member/fellow worker has this condition.)

Shredding & E-Waste- oh, my

Thanks to one of our vendor partners, I can share a resource for Long Beach/Seal Beach area blog followers:

There will be a shredding & e-waste event on Saturday morning- April 28, 2012 in Naples.  A great way to dispose of the various items collecting in your garage & closets- see you there!

For more details, please click on the link-

http://www.longbeach.gov/civica/inc/displayblobpdf2.asp?BlobID=33598

It's the New Year...and Aren't We Ready for Fun?

Welcome to our first of 2012 posts.  And while we are talking about the beginning of the year, now would be a good time to add to your To Do list one quick item- note the mileage in any vehicle you use for business purposes.  It comes in handy when you meet with your accountant (and prevents that pregnant pause as you scramble for the "right" number!)

As you begin to envision 2012- and that's what so many of us do as each year begins- think about what a more organized life might bring.  More time with family and friends, a chance to entertain in an orderly home, maybe a work setting in which it's easy to be productive.  There's a group of us that have made it our profession to help you find and live that dream.

 Did you know that 79% of NAPO members hold college degrees?  NAPO stand for the National Association of Professional Organizers, of which yours truly is a card carrying member.

So if you are ready to move into a more organized life, give us a try.  I am sure you will be pleased with the results.

www.SensibleSpace.org

Ann the Organizer