Are you constantly getting new video game counsels and just cant keep everything organized? And what are you supposed to do with all those video games that nobody plays with anymore? Here's a home organizers tip. Donate them to Donate Games. They accept all kinds of old games and then resell them. The money made from the purchases goes to medical research.
If you want to cut down on video games even more, try renting at Gamefly.com. For $22.95 a month you can rent 2 at a time.

My last post was about organizing shopping bags. If you use a lot of bags for gifts and other bags for just carrying items around keep them organized in two 2 storage containers made from the bigger sturdy bags. Take your bag organizing a step further by separating the gift bags from the shopping bags. Separate the large and small bags. Fold the large bags in half and flip the smaller bags upside down. Its easier to distinguish the large bags from the small bags and easier to retrieve the smaller bags. Again, you want to limit the bags you keep but this way you can easily grab a gift bag for a birthday present and not carry your leftovers in $5.00 Happy Birthday bag. If you have a extra room in your gift bags you might want be able to add your other gift wrapping supplies like tissue paper and gift tags. Be sure to organize your gift wrapping supplies in another storage bin or shoe box.

Are your shopping & gift bags taking over your storage areas? I admit they are nicer to carry than plastic shopping bags but you need to set a limit on how many you keep.
Heres a tip to keep those bags organized. First separate the bags by size. If you have one bag that is bigger and sturdier than the others use this as your storage container.
Fold the large bags in half and place in the sturdy bag. Flip the smaller bags upside down so its easy to see and retrieve. Otherwise the handles just get in the way and get caught on the other bags. Whatever fits in your one bag is what you keep.

Beanie Babies are cute but has your collection taken over? If you want to get organized and clear those stuffed animals out of your space send them where they will be appreciated. Check out anysoldier.com where you can send your Beanie Babies and soldiers will had out to the local kids.

Do you keep trying to organize your closet only to have it fail over and over? Heres a quick tip on organizing your closet. Organize your closet when your closet is the fullest. Make sure all of your clothes for the season are clean and all of your clothes are back from the dry cleaner. No clothes should be in transit. This way when you begin to organize the space you will be working with all of the clothes you own. After your organizing project is complete you should have a place to put the laundry and dry cleaning.

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!

Warm weather is on its way and although its still cold here is Chicago the heavy down jackets, snowsuits and Uggs may be done for the season.
A little stretch of weather change its a great time to organize and reassess your outerwear. Its not only the perfect time to decide on what to keep and what to get rid of but to also start getting everything cleaned up and ready for next year. Take your heavier coats to the dry cleaner and shoes to the shoes repair. Then start washing some of your delicate items. By the time you get these items cleaned and repaired it might be time to actually store them for next winter.

How many sports have you tried over the years? You've got the winter sports, summer sports, indoor sports you name it! You bought all the equipment and now you don't use it. The winter sports are coming to an end so this is a great time to organize your sports equipment. Before you put it all away think about weather you are going to use it next year. After taking a look at the winter sports, move on to the summer sports.
If you end up with items that you are not going to use donate them to Sportsgift. They take your used equipment, refurbish it and give to impoverished children all over the world. Check out the list of excepted items, fill out the collection report, box up your items and mail.

What do you do with the bouquet of flowers hostess gift? You can't leave them wrapped up in plastic they need water...stat!  Make sure you have a vase ready for long stems.  This way you dont have to leave your guests to scramble in the basement or dig through your cabinets to find the right vase.  If you have a moment cut the stems down so they fit the vase.  If you dont have a place to display the flowers, put them in the guest bathroom so everyone has a chance to see them.
Heres the bonus tip!  If you are going to a dinner party and would like to give flowers.  Pick up the flowers ahead of time and arrange them in a vase you no longer use.

Are you spending too much time organizing a group gift for a friend or family member then having to collect all the money for the gift? This can be very difficult! Let Edivvy to it! It is a website that helps you create and event, find gifts, then invite your friends and family to contribute to the gift. The gifts are then shipped from store to the recipient. If contributions are not enough to purchase the gift, Edivvy sends a Visa Gift card instead. Best part about this service is its free.

Need to get organized and rid your home or office of unwanted computer Equipment? Now you can drop off your old computer working or not and just about anything that plugs into your computer like keyboards, monitors, cables and even software to Goodwill! Go to Reconnectpartnership.com to find a location that excepts computer equipment and see which items they accept.

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!

Are your hardwood floors high maintenance?
Our hardwood floors need to be cleaned constantly because they show every piece of lint and dust. I needed a quicker way to clean those hardwood floors and the mop and bucket was too time consuming.
As an organizer its important that any new tool I purchase meet my requirements if its going to take up space in my home. It would have to solve the problem by being faster, have a place to live and get the job done. I am happy to say after a lot of research I bought a Swiffer Wet Jet and it is amazing! It comes with disposable cleaning pads that attach to the bottom of the mop and a solution that sprays from the mops nozzles. It have been able to cut my cleaning time in half, my floors look great and no more mop and bucket. Out goes the mop and in its place my new Swiffer.

Dont have time to organize photos, print and send to friends and family? Check out the new app from iphone called Postage. It allows you to take pictures from your iphone and send as a postcard!

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!

Not sure when to toss some of your cosmetics? Your not going to find expiration dates on most products so its up to you to keep track of when to let it go. Cosmetics have 2 phases of life, "Shelf life" when it has to be sold in stores and "open date" which is the day you open the product. Mascara is the quickest to expire at 3 months and eyeliners and lipstick just a year. "All natural" products have shorter shelf lives due to little or no preservatives and natural ingredients. Something to think about next time you are loading up on new products. Make sure you actually need the product and that you will be able to use before it expires.
Keep your cosmetics organized by sticking a label on your products the day you open or write the "toss" date in your calender so you will know when to let go.

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!

Are your holiday decorations looking a little dusty and out of place? Tree and wreaths dried out with needles everywhere? Holiday serving pieces stuck in limbo on the dining room table? This is your visual cue that the festivities are coming to an end and maybe its time to start putting away the holiday decorations.
Everyone has their own preference for taking down holiday decorations. The day after Christmas, after New Years, January 6th and even longer.
Whichever date you choose be sure to prepare yourself for the 2010 holidays and decide which items will get packed away for next year and which items get donated.

This year I started organizing and putting away decorations in stages between Christmas and New Years. Dishes, serving pieces and holiday containers were put away after the cookies were eaten and the parties were over. Next I removed and washed all the linens but left the other decorations and tree up until the 1st. This made the the final packing day much easier.
At the beginning of the holiday I had 4 bins full of decorations and after the holidays I had two. I gained 1 small pre lit Christmas tree but managed to cut down 2 entire bins of decorations. 2010 decorating is going to be even easier than 2009!

How do you manage your holiday decorations?

Trying to save money by packing your lunch but end up making a mess of your kitchen in the process? Here's a quick tip on making the clean up a little easier by starting out with napkin or paper towel.
Place a napkin or paper towel on the counter where you prepare your sandwich. Lay out the bread on the napkin, add your toppings etc. and when your sandwich is done fold the napkin over the sandwich to pull it all together. This makes the transfer easier to the to the cling wrap, sandwich bag or plastic container and the toppings don't fall out. It cuts back on all the crumbs etc on your counter and you dont need additional dishes for the task. If you want to organize your lunches even more, pre wash and slice the cheeses, veggies and other toppings so they are ready when you need them.

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.

Do you have toys taking over your home? A great way to keep them organized is to only keep out age appropriate toys. For instance board books are great for toddlers because they cant rip the pages. So resist keeping out the collectors edition of Winnie the Pooh until they are ready. As soon as kids reach a new milestone rotate out the toys they are no longer interested in and bring out the more challenging toys. This will make the transition to letting go of some of those items a little easier.

Did a light bulb just burn out and you have no idea where to find a replacement let alone what kind of light bulb you need? Make it easier on yourself the next time a bulb burns out by getting your light bulbs organized. Start by making a list of all the lights you have in your home. Be sure to include all inside and outside lights. Everything from desk lamps to under cabinet light bulbs. Include the type of light bulb it needs and how often you replace the light bulbs. Store all of your light bulbs together in a place where they wont get damaged.
Finally keep a copy of your list with the light bulbs and another in the contact list on your cell phone. This will help you when you are out shopping and need that replacement.

Quick tip on organizing your laundry. As your laundry comes out of the dryer quickly sort your clothes then make a pile for hanging. Hang up as much as possible right out of the dryer. This way you dont have to fold it and you will get less wrinkles. Organize your hangers before you take everything out of the dryer this way you are ready when the dryer is done.

How many times have you said "I am going to get organized"? But the thought of getting started is just so daunting of a task you decide to do something else? It can be so overwhelming! Here is a tip to help you get started in your closet
Create a "Maybe" box or bag and keep on the shelf or floor. Every time you come across something you are just not into anymore put it in the "maybe" box or bag. This way you don't have to tackle the entire closet at once. Periodically go through this container and decide weather or not you think its worth keeping. If not, donate to a charity or give it away to a friend or family member who you think might like it.

Do you have loads of plastic shopping bags stuffed under your kitchen sink or in a closet? Get these spaces organized by either recycling them by taking back to the grocery store, drop off at Walgreens or reuse them! If you have a small trash can line them inside. When you need to take the trash out just grab the handles and go. Your next bag should already be in place. It makes it a lot easier to use them and you are not wasting space. Rubbermaid has even come out with a trash can designed for these bags!

What are you supposed to do with all that jewelry from your ex boyfriend? Your never going to wear it again. If you think you are ready to say goodbye to this old jewelry send it off to Out of your life or post your items on ex-boyfriend jewelry. This is a great way to keep your jewelry organized! Instead of having jewelry your not going to wear cluttering up your beautiful jewelry box get rid of it.

Where was the last place you used your cleaning sponges? Was it the kitchen sink or the dishes? How about in the bathroom? Did you use the sponge in the shower or on the floor?
A good way to keep your sponges organized is my color. Choose a color for your counter tops and another for your floors. Or one color for your kitchen and another for the bathroom. Make a label and stick it on the cleaning caddy where you store your sponges. Designating a color for each sponge will help others you share a space with such as a roomate, family members or if you have household help.

Are your pantry items spilling out of your kitchen cabinets? The containers they are stored in can sometimes be the problem. Too many odd shaped containers, bags and canisters dont allow you to maximize the cabinet space. Round containers leave spaces on the sides and bags set on the shelf dont allow anything to be stacked on top. This is a big waste of space. When space is a premium every square inch needs to be utilized that is why I recommend using square, stackable containers that can fill in the corners.

These containers are great for baking and bulk items as well as smaller items such as seasoning packets, nutrition bars.

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.

You can help others by getting your home organized! Check out Goods 4 good and see how your unused items can improve the lives of others. They are looking for clothing, linens, school supplies, educational toys, kitchenware, soap, first aid products or baby care items.
If you have any of theses items go to the "donate goods" link at Goods4good and let them you what you have for donation.

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

Do you shop at a warehouse club? Buy large supplies and get overwhelmed by the your lack of storage? It's really important to get organized before bulk shopping, especially if its at a warehouse club. Make sure you have the room to store toilet paper before you pickup a month supply. This is especially important if you are buying refrigerated or frozen foods.
Make a list of items you constantly buy and focus on those items first. Or you will get sidetracked by the giant boxes of muffin mix or tuna fish. These items are great if you are having a party but not the best for everyday. And finally make sure you can use everything before the expiration date.

Happy Shopping!

Are your Rubbermaids out of control in the kitchen? Heres a quick tip on keeping them organized. Keep all of the round storage containers together in one drawer,cabinet or shelf and the square containers together. Better yet only purchase one shape. Its much easier to stack containers of different size than different shapes. Its also easier to keep the lids together.

Good luck!

Got some leftover shipping or file folder labels? Use them for labeling shelves, drawers or storage bins. You don't have to use a fancy label maker when you have unused office supplies hanging around.
Printed labels look so much better than handwriting and instantly creates a system. I like to use Avery labels. They have a simple online template where you design and print your project. Just type in the product number, select a design and start typing your labels and print. It gives you the option to change fonts etc and allows you to preview your project. This is really helpful when you only have a half sheet of labels leftover and only want to make a few labels.

Happy Labeling!

Did you ever forget something in a taxi cab? A pair of gloves, your briefcase or even your phone? Every time I ride in a taxi cab, I get a printed copy of the receipt from the driver. This is the receipt from the meter. It shows the date, time, taxi cab company, driver number and phone number. This tiny receipt can come in handy if you ever have to contact the cab company.

Could you function without your favorite....(insert favorite item here)?
I have two favorite cups that I use everyday. I use a cup at night and another cup in the morning. Everyday its the same 2 cups. The cup I use at night is a tacky souvenir cup. Its so ugly! But it has a giant handle making it easy to handle in the middle of the night, its the right size holding 4 cups of water and is very lightweight. Its just enough water to get me through the night and I don't have to refill.
My morning cup holds hot tea. Its bigger than most coffee cups and holds the exact amount of tea that I want to drink in the morning. It to is the perfect size, weight, has a nice design and keeps my tea hot.
Since I use these 2 cups I don't need to use so many other glasses, cups or mugs. I have a preference. Knowing what you really like helps you make decisions about what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of when organizing. Remind yourself about your favorite things when you are being enticed by shopping for the latest and greatest.

Kitchen appliances and equipment can take over your kitchen! It is a challenge to keep it all organized. Some items you use everyday, once a week, once a month or even once a year. They can be big and bulky or small with a million parts and pieces.
We purchase items sometimes thinking we are going make fresh pasta everyday, dried fruit, soy milk or even yogurt. If you do this everyday...great! You are getting your moneys worth, and making these items work for you in your space. But if you don't use these items its better to store them elsewhere.
Store these items in lower cabinets, or on shelves away from your immediate cooking area. Some kitchens have a few oddly huge lower corner cabinets that are a little harder to get to. These spaces are great for storing the "not so often" used items.
Appliances, entertaining pieces, and specialty cooking items fall into this category.
It is important to keep your services clear so you can prepare a meal and clean up easily.

Who loves a good barbecue? How about one with easy clean up? Grilling is lot of fun but it can get a little messy. An easy organizing trick for prepping and transporting your food to the grill is using Ziploc Gallon sized storage bags. We marinate chicken and veggies all in separate bags then put on the grill and toss the bags. Easy cleanup and no extra dishes to wash!

Do you really want people to see your trash when selling your home? It's important to stay organized and continually empty your trash cans wherever they are visible. Don't let a trash can full of Kleenex spoil the home buyers vision. A quick way to keep your trash cans empty is to use small grocery bags as liners. Each day when you are heading out the door be sure to toss the bags. Drop the small bag into your kitchen trash, garbage chute or outdoor trash cans.

What do you do with 15 years of boxes? A friend of mine recently moved from a condo where she lived for 15 years. Shes living in an apartment temporarily and will soon be moving to a 4 bedroom home. A lot clothing and other household items were sent to storage because the apartment is smaller than her last place. She spent many hours organizing everything for the move and lives with essentials and cherished memorabilia. Realizing that she has not missed anything from the boxes in storage is now happy to report that nothing will not be coming to the new home unless it can prove itself worthy enough to come inside.

I just heard of the best recycling program ever! Its called Recycle Bank. Its a program that combines recycling with reward points that can be used at major stores like Target, CVS and Bed Bath and Beyond. The way it works is you recycle items by placing them in your household bin that gets picked up curbside. The bins are weighed, tracked and then converted into reward points. I don't think it could be an easier!
Not only do you get points to use, it can actually help you get organized. Items that you use every day like cereal or other foods that come in a card board box can immediately go into a re sealable container and the cardboard gets recycled.

I am always looking for practical ways to get organized and save time. Yesterday I did a couple loads of laundry and realized how happy I was that I had a 2 in 1 bottle of laundry detergent and fabric softener. It might not seam like a big deal but wheeling a cart full of clothes, and detergents to the laundry room is a task in itself. Not having an extra bottle or box of fabric softener to carry to the laundry room is priceless. It is also one extra step I can take out of the chore. And a 2 in 1 product saves space and easier to keep organized.
What is your favorite time saving product?

Yesterdays post I talked about organizing flower vases. Donating them or giving them back to the florist where they can be reused. But did you know it can also save you money? I had a dinner party and wanted to order flowers instead of trying to make the arrangement myself with the store bought flowers. I also wanted to use one of my existing vases so I did not start collecting vases again. I brought my vase to the florist, told them what I wanted and how much I wanted to spend and viola! A beautiful arrangement for half the cost because I brought my own vase. It pays to be organized!

If you were lucky enough to receive fresh flowers for a special occasion and they came from a florist, most likely they came in a vase. Another special occasion would have brought you even more beautiful flowers...and another vase. Eventually you have a cabinet or two packed with vases which can be challenge to keep organized.
If you are unsure of what to do with all of these vases pull them all together and take stock of what you have. If you only put fresh flowers out on occasion keep one vase in each size or shape and donate the rest. Better yet take to a local florist so they can be reused.

How many magazines subscriptions do you have? Do you know when they will expire? Do you read them all? It is important to keep track of the reading material that is coming into your home so you can keep it organized.
If you are not reading a subscription anymore, make sure you dont renew it when the invoice comes in the mail. Just toss the invoice and dont even think twice about it. You can always pick up a copy and renew again in the future.
As soon as you get a subscription make a note in your calender so you know when the subscription begins and when it will expire.

Here's a quick way to get rid of items you no longer need. Organize a themed swap party where everyone brings items they no longer need. It could be kitchen items, home accessories or even clothes. Its a great way to get rid of items and give them a new home. If you pick a theme its easier to look at one category at a time and makes the task of organizing a little easier. If the theme is kitchen cooking equipment all you have to do is go through your pots and pans and weed out a few that are not getting any use. This also is a good time to toss out those scratched, burnt and broken pieces too and reorganize your cabinets!

I live in a building that has a laundry room containing 10 washers and 6 dryers. Having many machines makes the chore of laundry go much quicker. I can get about 4 loads of laundry done in 1 1/2 hours - folded, hung and put away. The trick to quick laundry folding is to organize your laundry before folding. Start by quickly sorting out all of your clothes then fold. I separate all of the t-shirts, socks, pants and hanging items. Then go down the assembly line folding. Once you fold 1 t-shirt and stack, its easy to fold 10 more. Same thing goes for socks, sweaters etc. You can get on a roll of folding and it can actually be fun!

Happy Folding

Kids get a lot of toys at the holidays, birthdays and other occasions. Instead of adding them all to the current play list, keep existing toys organized by putting new toys away until they are ready for them. Some toys are not age appropriate and your kids wont be ready for them for few months or a even a couple of years. Some toys have too many parts and pieces or are just plain messy! These toys might be better off used in the summer outdoors or not at all. Make it easy on yourself and limit the amount of toys your kids have to choose from. Give away toys your kids have outgrown as much as possible so you can keep current toys organized. Rainy or snow days are great times to beat old toy boredom. So pull out a new toy (or overstock of existing toys) out of your extra box of toys and make any day a celebration!

Its time again to take inventory of your closet and get organized! This is one huge way to save money in 2009. If you don't know what you have, you don't know what you need. If you know exactly how many black turtlenecks you own, you won't buy three more just because they're on sale.

Organize a clothes exchange with your friends. Bring everything that doesn't fit or doesn't suit you and have your friends do the same. You'll come home with new outfits without spending a dime.

Need a way to keep track of when your bills are due? Download this PDF calendar and print on your home printer. Then mark the due dates of your bills on each month of the calendar and keep it somewhere visible.

Download Printable Bill Calendar.pdf

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.