Getting Organized – Perhaps a Resolution Perhaps a Must

Beginning a new year is a fresh start.  I know that's what we have been talking about but if January is here then so are the best ways to help better yourself at the start of the year.

Basic ways to get organized.

1. Find a place for everything.  Say there is a lot of stuff laying on your counter such as cleaning supplies, plates or just plain clutter.  Take these things and find a place for them.  Put the cleaning supplies under the sink and the plates in the cabinet and finally take a look at the clutter.  Decide what you need and discard the rest and never think about it again.

2. Put a trash can in every room in your house.  Some people have a room that has a sole purpose of catching everything that has little or no use.  Or if your computer room lacks a trash can,  then all of your potato chip bags and empty coke bottles will accumulate on the floor and the desk.  Your brain will tell you that you don't have enough energy to get up and throw it away in the kitchen, even though you know it will only take 20 seconds.

3. Bedroom Organization.  You might have sheets or pillow cases everywhere in your room because the closet is just too full.  The best way to get around this is to tuck them under the mattress in between the box spring.

4. Put a cheap broom in each room. This might be a bit extreme but think about it.  Traveling out to the garage to get the broom is way too much work.  So all you have to do is bundle up with a bunch of cheap brooms and dust pans and put them in each room that has hard floors.  This allows easy clean up and quick organization.

5. Magazine Storage. Ladies listen up.  When your husband is done with the latest Sports Illustrated, it either lays on the couch or right on the side table in between the lamp and the family picture.  Get him a basket, or make him go get one.  Then train him to put all of his stuff in the basket when he is done with it.

6. Menu Fridge.  Don't let the kids take advantage of you with this but put a menu of the items that are in the fridge and what can be made with them.  I can hear the kids already.  "Yeah, I'll have the club sandwich with a side of coleslaw... oh and a glass of water... and lemon."

7. Photocopy Recipes.  Aren't cookbooks a thing of the past?  They take up so much room now a days.  So take a picture of your favorite recipes and then put them on your computer or tablet.  That way all you have to do is open up the picture and everything is right there in front of you all on a quarter inch screen.

8. Lazy Susan.  Some houses have this glory cabinet and if you do then take those counter space hogging sugar, tea and coffee canisters and put them down in there.  Especially if they are ugly.

9. Bathroom Organization.  Having spare everything is quite handy.  Say you left your deodorant at the hotel on your last business trip, you have another one in the cabinet above the toilet. Cotton swabs, toothbrushes and cotton balls also work.

10.  Junk Drawers.  Organizing one of these things is close to impossible and most of us have a junk drawer with rubber bands and broken pencils as well as half sheets of paper with the overdue phone bill on the other side.  Put a desk drawer organizer in there.  This has a kinds of compartments in it for your rubber bands and paper clips and thumb tacks ETC.