Are your kitchen or office drawers packed with plastic utensils from restaurant deliveries? Next time you order out be sure to tell the restaurant not to pack any extra utensils. This will help you keep your space organized and prevent take out clutter. Plus restaurants will save money on delivery extras.

Can't keep up with sending out your holiday cards, birthday cards or sharing photos? Check out Smilebox.com from Hallmark. I think its the best site for creating and sharing your memorable moments. It has templates for every occasion, just upload pics and send. Not finished with your card? Just save it and Hallmark reminds you about your project. So start your Christmas letter now and add throughout the year! Its fun, its easy and a great way to keep your pictures organized. Of course my favorite part about Smilebox...its free!

Still trying to keep track of your spending but haven't had a moment to spare? Check out Mint from Quicken. Its a online money manager that takes 5 minutes to set up and you can see your account activity in seconds. From Home loans, credit cards, coffee shops and doctor bills. It gives you alerts when something has posted to your account and breaks down your monthly budget.
One of the features I love is being able to split up your ATM withdrawals in order to keep track of that $50 in cash.
The thing I love most about Mint is its free!

Spending too much time changing songs on your Ipod or cd's just to hear one musical genre? How about picking one song you like and have an website find similar music for you? Now thats was I call organized listening! Check out the website Pandora.com to stream music to your PC. The best part about Pandora...its free!

Still clipping and organizing those coupons but never use before they expire? Check out Cellfire.com where you can download coupons directly to your store savings card or to your mobile phone. Redeem coupons at the checkout with your card or show mobile coupons to the cashier. No more clipping coupons and keeping track of all those little pieces of paper!

Need a little help organizing your birthday wishes this year. Enter birthdays in your email account and set reminders to repeat each year so you never miss a birthday. Have the reminder sent to your email or text message to your phone. Another birthday reminder is birthday alarms. This service allows you to email your friends, they fill in the correct day and an email reminder is sent to you. You can also use the service to send greeting cards. No more running to the local card shop for "belated birthday wishes" because you forgot a birthday again!

Overwhelmed by your magazine subscription renewal? It can be difficult to figure out when they expire and when to renew. Heres the fast and easy way to figure out the expiration date. Check your current magazines address label on the front cover. The label should also include a date next to your name. This date is your subscription expiration date. Hopefully this helps you keep your magazine subscriptions organized!

Do you still have a stack of unused gift cards waiting to be used from last year? If they expire soon you might want to organize your holiday shopping around those cards. If you have set your holiday budget for gifts, travel, entertaining or wardrobe see if you can use your cards to cover any of your holiday spending. Before you head out to the stores check to see if you can use your cards for online purchases and save a trip to the store.

Check out Avery Office products and take the "What's Your Label" organizational personality quiz as well as a chance to win a $5000 dream organization makeover by expert, Jodie Watson and other weekly prizes.

Good luck!

Do you have phone chargers and other electronic cords tangled together all over your counters and floors? Check out this neat little gadget from Driinn. Its a little shelf that hangs between your battery charger and wall socket. It keeps your cords organized because your able to wrap the cord around the Drinn and still plug it in to charge and its off the counter and floor. I purchased one at Bed Bath and Beyond but you can also find at Kikkerland.

Summer is officially over which means the holidays are right around the corner. Its the perfect time to start making holiday plans and get organized! Start putting together a holiday budget include, gifts, entertaining, wardrobe and travel. This way you can enjoy the holidays and avoid last minute spending. Start going through rooms to see what you can get rid of and what you will need. The kitchen, closets and playroom are perfect places to start.

Tip* Borrow, rent or re-purpose what you can instead of adding appliances, dishes or furniture to your home for a "once a year" event.

Are you having a hard time keeping your home or office organized because you have too many supplies? Organize your home or office but dont toss your unused office supplies donate them to a school. These items can really add up and in some schools teachers have to pay for classroom materials themselves. Check out this site donorschoose.org where teachers posts requests about supplies needed for specific projects or list funds needed.

Kids bring home a lot or art projects. It can be tough to keep organized or even keep each piece. Especially if you are short on space.
Here are a few tips on keeping those memories.
Scan the art projects and upload to your computer. If you cant scan the project,take a picture of the object and upload to your computer. Turn your photos into a slide show or screen saver for your computer. Be sure to add notes with your files such as name, year and title.
Another fun way to keep your photos organized is to turn your photos into a calender, stamp or puzzle

It's amazing how many pens and pencils we have lying around our home or office but manage to have only one single favorite. For whatever reason you cannot write with anything else other than your rollerball, gel or ballpoint pen . You usually know where your favorite pen is at all times and try to keep it in a safe place. You are keeping that one special object organized! Great job!
If you have drawers and containers full of unused pens in all shapes, sizes and colors and you dont think you need them - let them go. Donate them to a a local public school or other location where you think someone could use them.

Capturing precious moments is priceless! I swore that I would never use my blackberry camera to take pictures because it was not the best quality and the prints never really turned out. But sometimes you don't have a camera available and your cell phone camera is the only option. Every once in a while I would get a great shot but still wonder how much better it would have been with a "real" camera.
Just recently I took some shots and was so upset at the quality.
I started to do some investigating and thought "I wonder if the lens is dirty"? I got out the trusty q-tip and wiped out the lens.
After the cleaning the picture quality was so much better!
I am happy to say I will continue to use my cell phone to take pictures but keeping the lens clean is a must! If you keep your phone in your bag or your purse you might want to pack a few extra q-tips to keep the lens clean. Another option is to keep you phone in a case.
Now if the blackberry could only do action shots!

At the end of the day, take a few minutes to organize your office space. Put everything away, make a "To-Do" list and please turn off your computer! Computers eat up a lot of energy when left on over night. Try about 2.8 billion a year and that is just the U.S! Computers that are kept on overnight and on the weekends omit 20 million tons of carbon dioxide. Yikes!
So please, start a new office organizing habit this spring and turn off your computer at the end of each day. Your computer will run better, you will save some money and get organized at the same time.

Starting to put your paperwork in order now will get you ready for tax season. If you think you're getting a refund, the sooner you organize that paperwork, the sooner you will get your money.

Make it easy on yourself by setting up your 2009 files now. Its as easy as adding a label to a hanging file in your current system or use an envelope with a clasp or zip lock bag to hold receipts and other paper work.

If you are unsure of paperwork needed, check your return from last year and use as a guide.

Now is the time to tackle those piles on your desk and get organized. How can that save money? When people struggle with clutter they frequently lose track of their bills, which can lead to late payments. The average credit card late fee is $26! Many are as high as $39.

Avoid late fees by opening all your mail and put all bills in an action file. Note in your calendar when all your bills are due.

One of the best ways to save money in 2009 is to organize and document your gift cards. We have a lot of gift cards that go unused because we cant find when we need them.

49% of Americans have an unused gift cards worth an estimated $8 Billion!

Put all your gift cards in one place, such as manila envelope or even a Ziploc bag. Write down expiration dates or any other restrictions. Put in the glove compartment of your car or somewhere in your home where you won't forget and use them.

Go through your calendar now and make a list of birthdays, anniversaries and other special events that you know you'll be buying gifts for during the year. Use your stash of gift cards to buy other gifts is a double savings!

As you start thinking about your News Years resolutions, remember that not only making a list of your goals is helpful but putting a label on everything gives you an instant system.
After organizing your spaces. Get a label maker, use file folder labels or shipping labels(you know you have them in your office supplies)and affix to bins, drawers, shelves and files.

Labels keep everyone on track and tells you where to put things away.
Label makers range from $15 to about $200 depending on the bells and whistles.

Love this idea from Charter One. The more you get organized in your home or office by paying paying without paper, Charter one pays you 10 cents! Using your debit cards, online bill pay and automatic payment to your checking account helps the environment your bank account and your paper organizing efforts.

Use technology this holiday season to organize your gift giving. Big stores like Target, Amazon and Toys R Us have online wish lists that you can use to do your shopping for friends and family. A wish list is just like a bridal registry where you register for items you would like, but you can use it for other events like holidays, birthdays and graduations. Create your own online wish list to make it easier for your gift givers. Buy gifts that someone actually wants. You don't want to add clutter to someone else's home or your own.

Its important to stay on top of your home and office organizing. The more you get into the habit of putting things away after you are finished using them the easier it will be later when you need to find them. When you don't put things away you will only make more work for yourself later, create clutter an easily become disorganized. If you are working on a project, put away your files away and clear off your desk before you move onto another project. This way you can focus 100% on your next project. Get in the habit of putting things away now instead of later it will help you stay organized.

Having a iPod makes Organizing and storing your music so much easier. But sometimes the battery dies or you just want the latest and greatest. Instead of dumping it in the trash where it will never decompose send it back to the Apple store and get 10% off a your upgrade.

If you started organizing your home with the change of seasons...good job! As you continue to organize those drawers, cabinets and closets you may start finding a lot of extra electronics you no longer use. With the electronics comes all the batteries. Please don't throw them out! Get a box from Recycle solutions where you can recycle all of your used household, drycell, rechargeable and handheld batteries. Once it is filled just ship it pre paid via FedEx to their recycling center. Where the batteries can be recycled properly.

Make some money while saving the planet from used printer cartridges. Go to tonerbuyer.com which offers free shipping and handling to get cash back on your empty printer, copier and fax cartridges. HP inkjet or laser-jet cartridges go to hp.com. Hp does not offer cash back but it is free to ship! If you can recycle at least one laserjet cartridge you will help save 3 quarts of oil.

I just heard of this great new site where you can organize all those little pieces of paper of random information in an easy to use format. Convert documents into checklists for shopping or keep track of your health information and other personal information like hobbies or goals. Download templates for easy recording and share pages with friends and family. Check out Jibidee.com and it is free to sign up!

If getting money back on your cellphone wasn't enough, how about getting money for your old computer! Check out myboneyard.com an electronics recycling company where they recycle old electronics the eco-friendly way. Follow their simple steps by entering your computer information to find out how much your computer is worth. Send it in with free shipping and keep track of your submission status online.

It pays to recycle! Isn't that just music to your ears! A company called Greenphone will pay you for your used phone! Go to their website at www.greenphone.com and check the list for your phone. If its on the list it will also tell you how much money you can expect for selling. The next step is sending in your phone (free of charge) and they will check to make sure it is in working condition. If so they will send you payment. If the phone is not in working order they will recycle it safely. No more cell phones in the trash!!!

We love to have paper supplies on hand especially when we are in a hurry. Say your on the phone and just need something to write a phone number on? Where do you keep this paper? If you in the kitchen, living room or office its nice to have a pad of paper accessible. In a drawer, on the desk or somewhere in your kitchen. But you just need one per room. Try not to over stuff your drawers, desktop or counter space with an overstock of supplies. Keep a storage bin full of post it notes, 3 ring binders and other paper products in one place so you can access when you need.

Here's a quick tip on keeping those office supplies organized. Do you have a lot of pens and pencils in your office supply? How many pencils do you have in the collection? Do you have both No. 2 and mechanical pencils? If you dont use pencils that often and you are short on space I recommend switching mechanical pencils only. The reason for this is you dont have to sharpen the mechanical pencils and you dont have to store the extra pencil supplies like the manual sharpener or electric sharpner. Both either take up desktop space or drawer space.

Sometimes we just don't have enough space for another garbage can/shredder. But you still want to organize that incoming paperwork everyday like the daily mail. So, get through those papers everyday by tossing the junk mail and shredding the other paper that might have personal information like account numbers. If you don't have a lot of space try a handheld shredder you hold over the trash.
Check out Innodesk handheld shredder that cuts 3 folded sheets of paper including the envelope. Its so small you can then store the in a drawer.

When was the last time you went through that box of electronic parts and cords? If everything in your home is working, everyone has their phone and ipod charger what is happening with that box of miscellaneous wires etc? Time to take stock, get rid of all the unnecessary items and organize those electronics!
If you find 5 pieces of a digital camera put them all in a plastic Ziploc bag and write "digital camera", same goes for the cell phone accessories like car charger, ear buds and usb cord. If you can separate the electronics from the computer stuff that would be great! But if you don't have extra room, keep them all in the same storage bin.

We are all busy these days, its no secret and we have a million things to do. Plus we also want to save time and money. Make sure you organize your work, food and fun essentials to help you get through the week.

#1 Work - Don't get stuck without a full printer cartridge just before you have to print 50 pages of a presentation in color. As soon as you printer tells you your running low on ink, order a replacement online and have it shipped. You will be happy to have it when needed. You can also stock up at office supply stores like office max.

#2 Food - Online grocery shopping is the best time saver around! You can set up your delivery date and time, its saves all of your shopping lists and you can shop by price. We don't have to spend the time shopping, driving to and from the store, packing and unpacking the car. I can shop in 5 minutes and its done!

#3 Fun - Subscribe to online movie rental like Netflicks - Put as many movies as you wish on your list and you don't have to get stuck without a movie for the weekday or weekend. When a new movie comes out to the theater add it to the list. Sometimes we forgot to see them at the theater and before you know it its on video.

Are you using all of the features your cell phone has to offer like the memo pad? Anytime you have something that you want to write down such as grocery list, idea or anything you need to remember, use the memo pad feature on your phone to record. All of your notes will be organized and ready for future reference.

Do you have too many phones and you cant keep track of all of the voice mail messages etc? Check out Grandcentral which allows you to have 1 phone number for all of your phones! All of your phones will ring to one number. You can even assign different ring tones so you can recognize your office phone or your home phone. Love it!

Here are a few tips on organizing your home office and other papers for spring.

• Spring also means tax returns, so it's a good time to set up your 2008 tax file. After completing your 2007 taxes, make a list of the documents you submitted. Include a copy of this list for your 2008 taxes as a guide.
  

• Lighten your paper load in other areas. Toss magazines and catalogs, old newspapers from the fall and winter. Rule of thumb: only keep magazines from the current season.

Want to get rid of junk mail and save the earth? Sign up for Green Dimes where they remove your name from mailing lists. Along with your $20 fee they also plant 10 trees on your behalf! How nice is that? We love it!

HON, the office furniture company that makes durable office furniture which is also an organizing staple is running a sweepstakes this year that corresponds to tax season. The sweepstakes is entitled “Win an Audit,” and details are at www.staples.com/hon. Entrants sign up to win a fully loaded Audi TT, which is a great deal!

Go to http://iw.rtm.com/HON/register.asp and enter to wint!

One of the most common items I find when organizing is unused gift cards. Its really important to keep these cards in a safe place where you can find them when you need them. You Also want to make sure you use them before the expiration date.
So grab those cards, make a list of each card, domination and expiration date. Next, figure out the best time to use them. For instance do you have a special occasion coming up? Use that $50 spa gift. How about a birthday party? Use the bookstore gift certificate to purchase a that new bestseller. So get creative with those cards but most importantly use them! The person who gave you the gift certificate had good intentions and they want you to enjoy their gift!

Have you ever ordered a magazine subscription? It's fun to get that fresh copy of all the latest and the greatest your favorite mag offers each month. But what happens after your sign up? You sign up in January for a one year subscription, six months later you start receiving renewal invoices with a 20% discount for 2 years! What do you do? Do you keep the invoice? Throw it away? But what a deal...or not? Wait didn't you just pay for the subscription? Is it already expired? Who knows? What about that other mystery invoice from another magazine you may or may not have received in the past? Did you just get another invoice from them as well? Sometimes it can be hard to figure out which magazine you paid for, which subscriptions are running out and which ones you even want to renew and when?

Organizing tip - Renew all subscriptions for magazines, memberships and clubs at the same time each year. Record this information in your calender and the date it will run out. Set a reminder 2 months before the expiration date so you have time to renew. To make it even easier on yourself list your account number and phone number to call.

Today's post is the final step in making organization a part of your daily routine

#3 Create an inspiration guidebook

Most people simply write a list of resolutions and some simply verbalize it. But getting organized is about developing new habits and making it a part of your daily routine. Create a visual picture of where you want to be by creating a collage with pictures and inspiring words. Incorporate your organization plan into it and then hang it somewhere you can see it everyday top inspire you – kitchen, office, near the medicine chest. The activity of creating your inspiration guidebook will reinforce your plan in additions to helping you maintain your daily routine.

Yesterday I posted step 1 of getting organized. Here is the 2nd step to help make organization a part of your daily routine.

#2 Make a plan.
Let’s say you’d like to have more balance in your life and spend more time with your children. So start brainstorming ideas on how you can achieve that. Look for ways to trim wasted time or do things more efficiently. Start with Larger concepts, such as stop wasting time looking for misplaced items, then drill down with specific steps to help achieve that goal. For example, you could determine a specific place to put away your keys as soon as you walk in the door and resolve to do it each and every day. Keep going until you have a plan.

Want to get organized in 2008? Here's how to make it stick.

Every year, getting organized makes the top ten list of New Year's resolutions. If so many of us want to get organized, why is it so hard to achieve? Here's the 1st step to help make organization a part of your daily routine.

#1 Get Perspective

Many people find it hard to stay organized because they don't have the right perspective. Getting organized shouldn't be a goal unto itself. Organization is a tool to achieve life's bigger goals. For example, someone might say they want to get organized but what they're really looking for is more balance in their life. By being organized, they wouldn't waste so much time looking for misplaced items, such as keys and glasses. They wouldn't get stressed by running late so often. The goal is much more than simply having a neat house. It's about quality of life. So before you start trying to get organized, ask yourself, what are the big picture goals you want to achieve? Do you want more balance in your work and personal life, to be more productive at work, or even get out of debt? Those are worthy goals. Your plan for getting organized should be centered on achieving a bigger goal.

I recently posted about keeping notes for a holiday party. I wanted to add that you should also keep notes on any food you send out such as cookies, cakes or even side dishes for parties with family and friends. Did everyone eat what you prepared? Was their too much food and your food was never touched? Was it the right food for the party? Some parties are great for finger foods where you don’t need to sit down and use a knife and fork. So if you’ve prepared a dish and there are no places for guests to sit and eat, it’s going to be difficult. Or if your dish needs special attention like staying hot in a crock pot or keeping cold its just not going to work out if your host is not prepared. So, take a few mental notes at the party and write down those notes as soon as you remember. Don't get stuck next year spending too much time and energy on food that gets wasted.

I think its wonderful to send and receive a real card through the mail on your birthday or even the holidays. It's really easy to send an ecard to your techy friends and family but it's nice to see those colorful envelopes in the mail box with a handwritten address rather than the typical junk mail or bills. Their are cards for every occasion. We buy these cards with good intentions on sending but sometimes we forget to send the card! So now you have all these extra cards laying around that say "Happy 21st Birthday" or "Fifty and Fabulous". Now what are your going to do? Store them in your valuable space? Throw them away? You may have just wasted some valuable time traveling, shopping and spending money and the recipient may not ever see those good wishes.
My advice for dealing with the birthday cards is to have a personalize birthday card that you can send to everyone. This would say Happy Birthday on the front and whatever you want to say inside and list who it is from. This way everyone is getting the same card this year and you don't have to run out every time someone has a birthday. If you want to do this each year make a list of everyone you would like to send a card to and just order a small amount.

Bonus Tips
Make a folder for each month of birthdays and on a rainy day address all the cards, place a stamp on the envelope, add the send date on your birthday calender or use the birthday alarm as a reminder. Now you are sent for the entire year!

Good Luck!

What is the first thing you will grab from your home if your house floods, catches on fire or comes tumbling down in an earthquake? New York Times journalist, Damon Darlin, asks that question in article published October 1, 2005
"How to prepare for one really fast getaway". Whether your answer is the family photo album or your grandmother’s quilt, Darlin points out that most of us wouldn’t even think of our medical and financial records, the very things we would need to rebuild our lives. And yet, who keeps their files in something so compact and portable it can be grabbed in a moment’s notice?
Darlin details a number of technology solutions for backing up your data on flash drives (can’t get more portable than that!) that are quick and practical and can be completed over a weekend.
There’s even a checklist to get you started. You may have a list of all your credit card numbers; Darlin suggests adding the PIN numbers, credit limits, and the 800 contact numbers.
Everyone’s heard the tip about taking pictures or a video of all your possessions, but if you’re leaving in a hurry, will you take them with you? Darlin proposes uploading them, along with irreplaceable family photos to one of the free online photo services like
Flickr.com, Picasa.com, Snapfish.com, or Kodakgallery.com. Then you can access them from any computer. Just be sure to set the privacy options.

I highly recommend this article, which you can access through The New York Times online.

Double Duty Bedrooms

Many people have guest bedrooms that double as home offices. Here are some tips to keep the office part functional, while maintaining the bedroom comfort for guests.

1. Flat screen LCD monitors can do double duty as a computer monitor and a television. Many offer a switch so that you can plug the cable and monitor cord into the screen and switch between them. Or tv cards are available for many computers that not only allow you to feed the tv signal through your computer, but also allows you to split the screen so you can watch tv while you work. In addition, most tv cards come with a program that works like TIVO, allowing you to record your favorite shows right to your computer hard drive.

2. Daybeds are a nice way to to provide sleeping space and a comfortable place to read. But dont underestimate Murphy beds or sleeper sofas. Advances in technology and manufacturing have eliminated that uncomfortable bar that we all identify sofa beds with, and Murphy beds have made a big come back by using advanced materials such as carbon fiber. These new materials make them lighter and increase the design possibilities.

3. Opt for shelving units that close up so when guests stay you can hide your work behind closed doors.

I hope these simple tips help you arrange your guest bedroom/office so that you can create a productive and comfortable space.

Take care.