One thing that really helps me keep from having that feeling of frustration is the making of a list. Here is a list of the TOP ten reasons that help explain why lists will help simplify and organize your life.

10. Lists help save you time. Taking 10 minutes to make a list before doing something, whether it be planning a party or going grocery shopping, can save you HOURS of time running around aimlessly trying to remember everything.

9. Lists provide a sense of accomplishment. Even being able to cross ONE thing off your list can help you sleep better at night. If you put ‘make a list’ at the top of your ‘to do’ list, you’ll be able to cross it off immediately upon completion!

8. Lists are reusable. Make a list of important things you need to accomplish this week. Next week, look at the same list… it’s very likely that 90% of the list is still pertinent. Now you only need to spend a fraction of the time it took last week to plan this week.

7. Lists help you decide what’s important. Whether it’s a list of priorities or a list of Pros and Cons, lists can help you decide what is really truly important, and therefore, worthy of your time.

6. Lists are easier to remember.

5. Lists get read. You’re reading this one, aren’t you?

4. Lists save you money. Time* is money… and if you want to go into more detail, a good list will keep you from buying things you don’t need, and going places you don’t need to go.

3. Lists are good because the alternative is less good. Would you really rather walk around with a jumbled mess of “things you need to do” in your head?

2. Lists make you productive. Stay busy doing the things that need to be done. A list keeps you from getting distracted or disoriented by phone calls, small messes or shiny objects.

1. List making can become a productive habit that can benefit your life for years to come. That habit can help rid your days of unnecessary stress, save you time and money and infuse you with the passion to pursue the things in life that you truly love.

Don’t take list making for granted! If you’re in a rut, and you don’t know what to do with your day… or your life, make a list! Determine which 10 things need to get done first, or which things you’ve always wanted to do but never got around to. Make a list of reasons that a certain thing (going to the gym or cleaning out your closet) can benefit your life, and then revel in the new desire you have to accomplish things never before attempted. Do not underestimate the power of the list!

Please leave a comment and let us know about the different ways you use lists and how they benefit your life.

As I walked into work today, I remembered the cool adjustable spice rack that we’ve got in our inventory. “What an awesome way to keep track of all my meds!” I thought to myself. You can stick anything from a bottle of Tylenol to a little pill container right inside the door to your medicine cabinet. You can even label each holder with the name of the medication that goes there and its specific dosage. I was proud of myself. If you’re not into having things dangle from your door, we also have spice racks that rotate, or some that are tiered shelves that you can take a look at.

• Rotate your tires. If you don’t rotate your tires, they will go bald and eventually explode into a million pieces as you cruise down the freeway at nearly 80 mph sending you reeling into oncoming traffic which could result in your imminent death. Luckily, this didn’t happen to me. I do openly admit, however, that bald tires are NOT a good idea for the cold, snowy winter months.

• Listen to your car. Although your car is an inanimate object, it can tell you many things. For example, when you pull out of the parking lot and hear your car screaming at you like a banshee being boiled in hot oil, it probably means that you need to get the belts tightened. Trust me on this one, it’s easier to get taken care of before the belt falls off, which stops your water pump and alternator from working, which overheats your engine, requiring you to purchase a new radiator. Other signs that your car is not feeling well are loud thumping noises, excess smoke emitting from the rear of the car or from under the hood, or anything that could be related to an explosion (fire, explosive noises, a ticking device with an attached timer).

• Keep your car clean inside and out. If anything, just do it to impress the girls.

• Your car needs to keep hydrated just like you do. They suggest that the average human consume 8 glasses of water daily to keep hydrated. Well, your car needs to keep hydrated as well. Check the fluids in your car on a regular basis. Normally they will take care of this for you when you go get your oil changed. If you keep them topped off, you won’t have to wake up to find a very expensive rock with wheels in your driveway because your engine seizes up.

Your car is one of those things that is easy to take for granted, very much like your health. Once it’s out of commission, however, you can be in a world of hurt. Here’s a cool product that you probably don’t have that The Organization Place provides to help you maintain the health of your car. The bumper and door guards will help prevent your car from getting those unnecessary dents and dings from sloppy parking. Put them on your walls, on pillars, on corners or even on your child’s head.

Here are some of the most popular reasons that most people hire a professional organizer:

• Hiring a professional organizer provides a great support system for accomplishing overwhelming tasks. Having someone present who can encourage you, give you ideas and help you along your journey to organization is a very good thing.
• It’s poplar to hire a professional organizer when there is an expected addition to the home. Whether it be a new baby, an adopted child, or Grandma moving in for some extra help, it’s likely that you’ll need to do some cleaning and organizing to make some room. An organizer can give you ideas of what to get rid of, how to store things in a more efficient manner, and how to prepare best for your new arrival.
• You’re getting married. More than just bringing in a new addition to the family, you’re also bringing in all of their accumulated ’stuff.’ Where to put it all? What do you keep, what do you lose? Professional organizers can help with that!
• Professional organizers are trained to know how to organized nearly anything and everything. Whether you’re thinking of starting up a new filing system, or need a way to organize your tool set, a professional organizer can give you everything you need to start off on the right food so that you can keep running on a pathway to success.

These are just a few ideas to help you understand what a professional organizer can do for you. It’s not healthy to have to wade through the stress of the clutter and the thoughts of “I’ll do it tomorrow…” Take control of your life, ask for help and then tackle the craziness! You’ll feel SO much better, the stress will lift, the smiles will return, and you can live your life like normal again. If you need suggestions or would like to talk to a professional organizer, click here and contact or professional organizer, Ashley! She will do what she can to help you find your way to success.

Most women have dreamed of their wedding day since they were girls. It’s not surprising that by the time her man gets the gumption sack up and propose, it’s likely that she already knows where she wants the wedding to take place, who her bridesmaids will be, and she probably has a general idea of what her wedding colors should be. It doesn’t end there, though. Her mother has been thinking of her wedding just as long as she has. She knows who she wants to invite to the wedding and the reception, what type of dresses her daughter’s bridesmaids should be wearing, where she should get her hair done, and how the cake and centerpieces should look.

When I asked my good friend Brian (who has been married for about 4 months) about what advice he’d give a newly engaged couple in the process of planning their wedding, he said, “Just make sure your wife and the moms are worried about it. Then everything works out.” In all reality, that’s probably good advice for guys. He continued, “There are already 3 people that have worked out every detail (of the wedding) numbers of times in their heads, it’s best not to add too many opinions.”

When asked to give advice to couples in general, he said, “Continue to date!… It’s easy to spend every moment together worrying about details (of the wedding). Life gets frustrating if you don’t just spend some leisure time together.” I thought that was some pretty good advice. It’s important to remember that although the wedding itself is important, it’s who you are marrying that is what really matters. Don’t loose sight of each other for an event.

My friend, Emily, just recently got engaged and has her whole wedding already planned out. She told me that she has received a lot of praise from married friends when she tells them that she’s going to rent a dress rather than buy one. Some people may frown on that decision, but as Emily says, “I’m probably not going to wear it again, it would probably just take up a whole lot of space in my closet if I bought it. So, I might as well just rent it, enjoy it and then not have to worry about it anymore.” Aside from closet space, renting a dress also saves a lot of money.

I don’t want this post to get too long, but there is surely a lot more we can talk about when it comes to organizing your wedding. We’ll touch back on this subject soon. Until then, learn from these people’s lives and try to make your wedding as happy and stress free as possible! Happy organizing!

Of all of the aforementioned tactics to creating more storage space in your home, I recommend none of them.  There are far too many smart and efficient ways to make your dorm more home-like and storage friendly without resorting to extremes.  The Bed Lifters featured in this blog are a perfect example.  They take an often neglected space and make it bigger and more useful for your organizational and storage needs.  We have a great selection of bed lifters here among many other awesome ideas that can be used to help organize your dorm or any other room for that matter.

10. Eventually my kids will get sick of living in a pig sty, and clean it up themselves.

9. Getting organized reqires time… this I do not have.

8. Being disorganized is just part of my personality, deal with it.

7. Having a cluttered home is more fun. Looking for lost (or un-lost) items turns into a cool “treasure hunt” game, which gives a daily sense of accomplishment every time I find something.

6. Just one more TV show…

5. I’m not disorganized, I just have my own special filing system and a memory like an elephant.

4. It will be MUCH easier to organize my life next year when I have more time.

3. My parents were bad examples, it’s their fault I’m disorganized. I can’t do anything about it.

2. I have children. What’s done today will be undone tonight.

1. If I really wanted to get organized I never would have become unorganized. I am thus surrendering myself to my subconscious with the hopes that it knows what it is doing… I could really go for a tofu burger right now.

Feel free to leave your excuses in the comments… I’m more than happy to make this a top 20 or a top 100 list. Happy National Get Organized Month!

The book 30 Days to a Simpler Life, by Cris Evatt and Connie Cox is full of some great tips. Their 3 pile process to de-cluttering problem places in your home is very simple and very logical. The idea is this. You take some time and clear out everything in the problem area, lets say it’s your garage. You then put each item into one of 3 piles, the “Love and Use” pile, the “Recycle” pile and the “Ambivalence” pile.

It’s pretty apparent that the “Love and Use” pile can go right back into the garage, because it is everything that you use on a regular basis (ie: lawnmower or garden hose). In a nutshell, if you use an item roughly once a week, it should go in the “Love and Use” pile.

The “Recycle” pile is fairly simple to understand as well. This pile is dedicated to all of those items that you look at and think, “Why in the world do I still have this?” Items like greasy old rags, old spare tires from past cars and things you have been meaning to fix for the last 6 years, but still haven’t gotten around to are all examples of things that go in the “Recycle” pile. Often times, the items in the “Recycle” pile can be donated to good will, or a second-hand store… thus the name “Recycle.” But more often, you can just throw the contents of the pile into the garage, and nobody will know the difference, and you gain the satisfaction of knowing you never EVER have to deal with that junk again.

The “Ambivalence” pile is the pile that causes most problems. This is the pile of things that you just don’t know how to deal with. Often times they are little treasures that you found for a great deal, but never ended up using. They can be items that hold sentimental value, like an old bike you got for your birthday or a tool that was handed down by a relative. You don’t want to throw these items out, because you might use them or regret it… but you don’t really have the space to keep them.

In this circumstance, Evatt and Cox recommend that you put these items in storage containers, out of the way and let them sit for a predetermined amount of time (6 months or a year). The idea behind this is to teach yourself to live without these items. If you need something from the “Ambivalence” pile within that amount of time, you know exactly where it is stored. After the year (or 6 months) expires, you should feel comfortable throwing everything from your “Ambivalence” pile out. You’ve learned to live without it for an extended period of time and have survived unscathed. If you can go a year without something, it’s probable that you’re not going to use it in the next 10.

The next tip comes from Peter Walsh, professional organizer, and author of the book ‘It’s All Too Much.’ This idea is probably the most simple and immediately effective approach to getting organized… and it can be a lot of fun.

Hand out a large plastic garbage bag to everyone in your family. Give them ten minutes to go through cluttered places, (whether it be a toy room, a closet or the garage) and have them fill their bags with items that they no longer use, have outgrown, or items that are simply cluttery. In 10 minutes you can have multiple garbage bags full of unwanted junk that is taking up valuable space in your house. The beauty of this exercise is that you can repeat it as often as you’d like on anywhere from a daily to a yearly basis, and your kids will eat it up!

Now you have no excuses. Grab a bag and start organizing. You won’t regret it.

“The latest statistics from the Federal Reserve indicate that the total amount of consumer debt outstanding remained fairly steady in 2007. In case you’re wondering the total amount of consumer debt in the United States stands at nearly $2.5 trillion dollars - and based on the latest Census statistics, that works out to be nearly $8,200 in debt for every man, woman and child that lives here in the US.

And if you’re saying to yourself - that that statistic doesn’t seem quite so bad - just keep this in mind: We’re talking about consumer credit - which does not include debt secured by real estate. So if you’re thinking that number has mortgage values in it, it doesn’t.”

Wouldn’t ya say it’s about time we take control of our bank accounts people? I, myself, have always been fairly good at saving my money rather than spending it. I was raised in a family that avoided debt, and was taught that I should never buy anything with a credit card if I didn’t have the money in the bank to pay for it then and there. It was a good philosophy that has saved me from the torments of immense debt and bankruptcy. On the flip side, however, the mere fact that I save money doesn’t mean that I manage it well. I have never had (and stuck to) a budget. I have never developed and followed a consistent investment plan. I’m not good with money, other than letting it accrue a measly 2 or so percent interest in my savings account. I decided this week that I would apply organizing my finances to National Get Organized Month. So, I went out and registered for a personal finance class in the local open enrollment college near my house, and I’m not going to lie, it makes me a little bit nervous.

Today was the first day of class. We received our course outline from our professor. Over the span of the next 4+ months, I will be learning about credit, insurance, investing and purchasing a house.

Taking a class is just one of the many things you can do to help fulfill your New Years Resolution to control your money/debt. One of the most basic things to do, if you’re patient enough to sit down for an hour and do it, is to set up a budget.

The formula for a budget is really quite easy. You must calculate how much money you have coming in, then subtract how much money you are spending on things such as bills, food, insurance, transportation, etc. from that total. If you can achieve this and still have a positive number, you are in fairly good shape. If you find yourself in the negative numbers, you need to take some action and cut back on some of your “wants” until that number goes into the positives again. For a great step-by-step list along with a breakdown of common expenses, read the following budgeting article here.

If you haven’t made the resolution to get rid of at least some of your accrued debt this year, now is the time to do it. There are incredible amounts of resources available to guide you along the path of financial security. Take the first step in organizing your life for National Get Organized Month and organize your finances!

Getting organized, whether it be personally at home or at your desk or collectively as a family or an office, has incredible benefits. According to an article in the Daily Herald written by Harvey Mackay, the author of the New York Times Best Seller “Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive,” nearly 80% of people who have ventured on an organization project find money, both cash and/or checks. Roughly 25% find over $1,000. The same goes for businesses. Multiple hours a week are wasted by employees searching for documents and tools that have been poorly organized. If you add up the wages wasted by employees searching for these missing items the sum of wasted money can easily surpass $1 Million. Do I have your attention yet?

Not only will being organized save you money, but it will save you your sanity. A cluttered life only adds stress and worry to the already overflowing plate of things to do. One of the greatest assets to having a happy and successful year is to get organized. Once you’re there, maintain it! Don’t feel ashamed to ask for help. There is a large community of professionals who have dedicated their careers to showing people how to get their lives in order. Like anything, the hardest part of getting organized is knowing how and where to start. The task and troubles that come along with it are very comparable to eating an elephant. In the long run, you just have to do it. Most times, asking for help ends up being worth it.

Start your year off right by getting organized! If you need help, you can contact our resident designer, Ashley, for tips or consultations. If you’re not local (Utah area), she can probably recommend someone in your area for you. Check back for more helpful tips, tricks and products this week! Happy organizing!