Sorry there’s no glamourous picture to go along with this post. I’ve finally gotten around to clearing out my Google Feed Reader. I have a habit of visiting blogs and subscribing to the feeds. But ultimately, my interest in the blog will dwindle, sad to say. It’s not that the pictures of your family aren’t lovely…it’s just that I’m looking for crafty projects. The blogs I like to subscribe to are the ones who are always making something neat or new.

So today, I took a deep breath and brought out the hatchet. I’ve unsubscribed to 20 blogs. I feel horrible. And at the same time, there’s less “stuff” in my feed reader. And that’s always a good thing.

I tackled the library/extra guestbedroom closet today. This is the closet that used to house all my craft supplies. Can you believe it? Now, it isn’t that big….

Now it stores books, magazines and gifts that I purchase well in advance. It also actually has space to *ding* *ding* *ding* hang clothes my guests come!

But as of this morning you couldn’t see the floor. I’m sure all those of us who’ve recently ( I say that but it’s been like 8 years) “moved out” will understand this next dilemma. When mom and dad clean out there house and give you all your junk back. Oh. Boy.

This has been going on for a while. and every so often I have a giant need to purge.

So, start with a big bag or box and label it trash. Then have a box for keepsakes. And last, a box for things to keep that do not go in this room.

Ready? Set the timer for 5 minutes (you do have a kitchen timer, right?! So handy!) and get to work. Just pick up the nearest pile and start tossing.

I like to get rid of trash first. It’s easy to see what’s trash. Envelopes. Packaging. Slips of paper. Boxes. Bags. Olddddddd magazines. You know, trash.

Be hard on yourself. Will you ever use it again? Have you thought of it recently?

I usually come across an item that I’ve been looking for for a while. Those are the items to keep. Everything else needs to go bye-bye. Toss, donate, sell. Get-rid-of-it.

Your trash is someone else’s treasure, so lighten your load.

I’ve been using Delicious now for about a year now I guess and I really like it. I like that I can save a bookmark from any computer. I like the tags. I like that the firefox addon/extension i have has a Delicious bar so I can see my most recently saved bookmarks quickly.

But, sometimes I’m not so on top of tagging. So today’s goal is to go through 20 bookmarks and double check the tags.

Tomorrow’s goal is the same. This may take a while. Current bookmark count: 886. See what I’ve bookmarked.

Does anything feel better than an organized pantry? Okay, some things… but an organized pantry is high on my list. Here are a few tips & pics from my recent organizing adventure. And what an adventure it was. Let’s just say that the pantry had gotten a little… full.

And the trash can isn’t even in there!

The most frustrating thing about organizing a pantry? All the expired food that you’ve forgotten about. The next most frustrating thing? When you have boxes that are 3/4 empty!

But that’s all part of the organizing process. I grabbed my trusty organizing tote (yes, I have a tote dedicated to helping me stay organized. I use one of those plastic totes with a handle and have 3 old “camping” mugs inside it to help the organizing tote, well, stay organized. You can’t have an unorganized Organizational Tote, now can you? The mugs are plastic and therefore lightweight. Inside the tote I have have labels, lots and lots of ‘em. Hanger thingy-ma-jigs from Post-it. Velcro ties, twist ties, pens, markers, tape, and ziplock baggies (in two sizes). Oh, and post its and my label maker… which seem to have crawled out of the tote in this pic:

…so I grabbed my tote and got to work. I tossed out at least a dozen boxes. For that half bag of croutons I simply ripped the top off the box, folded the bag down several times and then put the box top over the folds and used a clothspin or two to hold everything shut. These bundles (yes, there were more than just croutons!) were then placed in a plastic basket, labels facing out! Ahh, organized as last.

But wait… what about that half empty box of rice that has no bag… and no hope of staying fresh without some help? Suction containers to the rescue.

I simply cut the back of the box off and taped it to the container. (Great package design, btw. i was able to cut the type and cooking instructions all at one time and it fit perfectly.)

Now…if I could just see everything in the back. It’s not that I’m short, it’s just that too many items are the same height and I only have one of those two shelf can organizer things. So until I can get more, I recycled the empty boxes. Yeah, remember the twelve from the trashcan? I also grabbed my stash of grocery bags. We keep these around for scooping kitty poo. So the empty box turned into this:

I taped it shut. And then it went to boost the back row:

See it there below the oatmeal, raw sugar packets and kosher salt? Another thing that I did was lay all unopened boxes on their side, label out. See them laying there on the left? That way I can see at a glance what is open and needs to be used and what is unopened…like those two boxes of cake mix. *sigh*

The next level down is items we use most often…cans, oils, vinegars, etc.

I use those slim plastic tray/boxes to keep smaller like items together. This makes it super easy to grab items from the front of the shelf and see what’s going on in the back.

Now you see them, now you don’t:

On the next shelf down we have a plastic tub for snacks, breads, and chips. There’s also a container for pasta.

On the shelf below that, oh boy, all my baking supplies. I organized those after the holiday baking frenzy.

And on the floor I have a cute basket for onions and potatoes.

So… now I need to take pictures of the back of the door, where I keep all my spices, but here’s the after picture. A little tidier I think. It feels tidier!

I love Ahah moments… if I were in a cartoon, the lightbulb above my head would be burning bright right now.

It seems like I’m always needing a pen downstairs, and yet they never stay downstairs. They get shuffled to the bedroom or office or pocket book or, well, who knows where those critters run off to. Becuase they don’t have a “home.” But the point is, I have a plan. Well, I’ve had it for a while but the implementation wasn’t so… there. The plan? To label food with a date as it comes into the house. You know how on baking soda boxes there’s a spot where you can write down what date you need to change the box?

Pure brilliance!

So I thought, why don’t I write the buy it date on boxes and cans and things that way I know when I got it, in case there’s no expiration date. My problem has always been keeping a sharpie handy for the labeling. I was always faithful to those Baking Soda boxes though.

So my solution? My lightbulb moment?

I have a pen organizer with a magnet on it. I’ve had it forever! It’s the kind you stick in your locker in highschool. And right now it’s organizing markers on my desk. Not very handily, I might add. So I thought, why not actually stick it to the fridge and use it again! Yeah, such a dumb lightbulb moment. But I’m pleased b/c I’m reusing something I already have, using something for it’s intended purpose, and solving a problem I’ve been having.

Now I can store a sharpie, pens, and even a letter opener on the far side of the fridge. (That way it’s not visible unless you’re deep in the kitchen.

Here are 16 more quick tips for organizing a home office, especiallyy if you’re short on space.

I don’t know which I love more: office supplies or organization. This clip reminds us to stock office supplies and keep them organized and handy.

Go ahead and test those pens, pencils (sharpen if needed) and highlighters. Get rid of any that don’t work.

Purge the trash, old to do lists, and paperwork you don’t need. Start with one cubbie or just a square foot of desk space. That’ll be your starting point.

A few years ago my mom gave me a big jewelry box. We’re talking one with lots of drawers, a mirror, wings, and legs. It’s pretty tall. And I love it. I love having all my jewelry organized.

But I have a bad habit of taking of my earrings wherever my ears start to hurt. Which is usually in bed while I’m reading, after I’ve gotta all snuggled in. Yes, I usually forget to take my jewelry off before getting into bed. And you know, once I’m all snuggled into a warm bed, only a fire or a sick pet could get me out.

So I take the earrings out and put them in my nightstand so they don’t get lost. I’ve learned to embrace my quirks.

Which is why when I was organizing the other day and found an old, small jewelry box, I stuck it in my night stand to hold the jewelry that I tuck away in there. I’ve found that once it’s full I can just take it back to the big box and put things away.

Lazy? Yes. Organized? Yes. Work for me? Yep.

I love all things organizational. This video combines going green with being organized. While it looks a little labor intensive, it could be a fun project for a rainy Sunday.

Today is a great day to organize your email. Seriously. Tackling this before the new year will let you start 2009 on the right foot, free and clear of email clutter.

In my quest to organize my accounts (yes, accounts…plural) I came across this blog post: The Monster Blog: Trying to Organize Your Email? Keep it Simple. I really, really like the idea of having only three folders to organize. Currently I have a dozen or more including to do, follow-up, saved, etc.

Yearly Folders

One thing that I’ve done for the last three years that I like is to have yearly folders. Sometimes I just need to clear out the ol inbox and stare at a clear blank box for a while…something about that sooths my mind, even if I have 10 items in my to do box. I really do try to keep clutter to a minimum though.

What is email clutter?

Subscriptions to magazines, ezines, catalogs, yahoogroups or anything that you get on a regular basis that you’ve read or haven’t read or just don’t intend to read. This is different from spam because you may have read the last issue, but just don’t have time or interest to read this one.

Email clutter also comes in the forms of auto responses. Some services like PayPpal send autoresponses (though they’re cutting down in 2009).

When you see email clutter just delete. But if you’re not sure if you’ll need it again, consider leaving/archiving/saving it.

More Tips

Here’s an article with 10 more tips for conquering your inbox.

4 Tips from Microsoft about email organization

Five more tips including make decisions quickly and pick up the phone.

More to come

Obviously there are lots of other things you can do to be more efficient via email: using your email client to its full potential, plugins and extras that make life easier, an organized address book, signatures, etc. I’ll talk about those more in 2009.

To Do TODAY

Today, concentrate on deleting the old, organizing and archiving and respondng to the new. Then clean out the inbox (by archiving or using a 2008 folder) and take a moment to breath easy. You’re ready (at least until that next email comes in) for the New Year.