Monthly Organizational Tip Julia's rule of thumb for stacking clothes, towels, sheets, etc. A good way to see what you have on a shelf is to neatly stack your sweaters, shirts, linens, and other clothing items. However, once the stack gets too high, the task of digging for one of the bottom items in the stack is too hard or too messy, so we tend to never use the bottom items. This begs the question of why hold on to those items if we're never going to use it. My rule of thumb is: stacks should be limited to 4 items, 5 at the most. Then you can simply access the bottom of the stack, and you will have done a great job in keeping the clothes and linens organized. Past Organizational Tips Want an inexpensive, easy, yet effective way to organize your jewelry? Go to your local hardware store and purchase a multi drawer box -- the kind with the little pull-out drawers usually used for storing nails, nuts, and bolts. Organize your jewelry (earrings, necklaces, bracelets) by color. For some of the bigger categories, you may want to subdivide a little more, for example, "blue and silver," "blue and gold." Use your label maker to label each drawer with the color of the jewelry. Now, simply find and match your jewelry to your outfit, and you have spent less than $20 to get it done. Article: Fremont Chamber of Commerce, April, 2005 Choose the Right Time to Start I would say you are half way over your organizing battle when you actually start your organizing efforts. Most people postpone getting organized to a major event -- merging households with a new partner, a child leaving for college, filing income taxes, preparing for holidays, or even calling a charity that picks up donations. These seem like appropriate times for such tasks. The only problem is that you are overwhelmed with thousands of other things that need to be done. No surprise - you are pushing your organizing to the next major event… for ten years or so. It is easier and more productive if you start organizing on a regular day of a normal week. There is a better chance that your efforts would turn into a routine. This would help you maintain the changes you make every week. Divide Tasks into Small Steps The other half of the organizing battle is relatively simple. Just break your task into these four basic steps: Go shopping. (See, that wasn't so hard!) You need a labeler machine, large trash bags, a marking pen, post its, and a notepad. Also get 2 empty cartons. Consider a paper shredder. Label the 2 cartons: 'Donate' and 'Another Room.' Plus prepare one trash bag. Select one area to begin with. It should be a small, relatively self-contained area. Examples might be a medicine cabinet, the linen closet, the utensil drawer. Organize your area. Let's use the linen closet as our example. Start by emptying the closet completely. Fold sheets in sets, keep the set together, and put back into the closet according to size of bed (e.g., king sets on one shelf, twin sets on a different shelf). Use your labeler to label the shelves. Now fold the towels, and arrange by size of towel (bath, hand, guest, and washcloth). Put these on shelves which you then label. As soon as it gets difficult to fit things back in the closet you have to start making some decisions. Get rid of all sheets and towels you don't use or like; put these in the Donate box. Do you really need the Christmas towels in the closet all year long or can they be put in the Another Room box (the garage?). Make Continued Progress Each Week Every finished project brings a lot of satisfaction even it is as simple as organizing one shelf or one drawer. Every time you are using this area, you are building your incentive to organize a neighboring shelf or closet. Just one project a week would result in over 50 areas in your home or office cleaned and organized during one year! Continue your progress each week - and you would feel that organizing is a simple task. Hire Help There are good reasons to hire someone else to do some organizing for you. You might feel emotionally attached to some things that would be considered junk by a stranger. An example could include getting rid of crib sheets because your little one is now 14. Another reason is lack of time or desire. Or maybe you have been talking about organizing for ten years and now it is time to face the fact that you are not going to do it on your own. Make your organizing simply done with friendly help.