Irena's Organizing

Organizing tips for home and office to help you

manage your life better and make the most out of your space and time.

How to preserve our memories. Scan all your favorite photos, especially old once, which are priceless for you and save them on CDs. Label CDs and specify what is on (Exp: names, places and dates). File CDs into CD-binder. Keep them in a safe box with your important documents or give a copy to one of the trusted family member. In that case if yours get destroyed you will have one more copy. If you don't have computer to do this, a Professional Organizer can do it for you.

Calendars. Calendars are very important for everybody especially for families. It's a good idea to have one big monthly calendar for whole family, where everyone has access to it. Each family member should have his/her own color marker or sticky note. Using color code will help you to identify every note at a glance. It will help you to plan your day or events according to each of the family member schedule and avoid schedule conflicts.

Mailing supplies. Keep your mailing supplies (Envelopes, stamps, pre-addressed mailing labels and a pan) in one basket on your desk or on one of the shelves above. Remember to name and label every basket, so it will be much easier for you to find what you are looking for and you won't have a problem to put it back.

Emergency preparedness. Being prepared for an emergency or a disaster may save your and your loved once lives. That's why it is very important to have a good plan in place before it's too late. Click here to learn more about what you need to know and have in order to be ready for an emergency, from "Family Disaster Plan" developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the American Red Cross.

Organizing challenges. It may take a while until you will find an organizing system, solutions that will work for you. Don't give up. If something doesn't work, try to change it. Remember, there are as many ways to get organized as there are people, because everybody is unique and has unique needs.

How to preserve important documents. Scan all your important documents and save them on CDs. That way if any of your original documents get destroyed (by fire, flood, dog, etc.) you will have back up. Remember to label CDs and specify what documents are on. Put them into CD-binder by categories and keep them in a safe place.

Desk. Things you use more often should be placed within your arm reach. Keep your action files (Exp.: Projects, To Pay, To Call, etc.) on your desk in a desktop file. Under desk file drawer is great for all your active files, documents that you keep for references (Exp.: Bank information, Paid Bills, Credit Card information, Taxes, Health information, Insurances, Investment information, Car information, Paychecks, etc.). All binders and referral books place on shelves above or close to your desk.

Office supplies. Always keep some hanging files, dividers, binders, labels handy, by your desk. That way, instead of putting a paper aside (making piles), you most likely will file it.

Filing. Filing is always a time consuming process. But once you do it right, your life will be so much easier. To keep it that way you will have to purge your files once in a while to keep it current. Set your files in groups by person's name or category (business, finances, personal, school, etc.). Use the same kind of TABs for each group (if you have three tabs files: use only left for one category, middle for another and right side for third). That way you can always add more files without destroying the sequence of tabs. Always keep files in alphabetical order within any category or sub category.

Stop junk mail and protect your personal information. If you got tired of getting those pre-approved credit offers in mail, marketing calls and spam in your e-mail, click here to learn more about how you can cut that down. This helpful information and much more can be found on the Federal Trade Commission Web site.

Ask for help. If for any reason you think you got stuck, ran out of ideas in the middle of the organizing process or don't know where to start and need an advice from an expert, don't be afraid to ask for help and guidance. Professional Organizer will help you plan your organizing process. They have lots of ideas, resources and experience.

If you haven't found the answer you are looking for to your specific organizing challenge here,

please feel free to send us your question and we will be happy to post the answer on this page.