What’s In Your Purse?

I’m probably one of the few women who carry the bare essentials in a purse: a wallet, pen, small writing tablet, a few business cards, cell phone, reading glasses, and lipstick. The main thing I’ve learned as a woman approaching the body-falling-apart-age is that I should keep my load as light as possible.

I haven’t always been such a streamlined person. I learned a valuable lesson during a trip where I was concerned that I would be without something I might need while out doing some tourist thing. About an hour into my walking excursion, the weight of my purse began to cripple one side of my body, causing me to shift the weight to the other side. Of course, soon later, I was crippled on both sides of my body.

To make matters worse, it turned out I only needed my wallet and small purse-sized camera. I didn’t need to re-apply all my makeup, or eat all the snacks I carried so I wouldn’t starve to death during my excursion, or even read the book I thought I might read in case I got bored while hanging out with friends on an adventure.

I mean, what was I thinking as I prepared to be out drinking wine and being a wild girl? That I’d read a book?

I realize I’m not the only female who tends to fall into the carry-everything-in-your-purse trap. This dilemma has plagued a majority of women, and some haven’t learned my lesson, nor ever will I’m afraid.

Just shopping with a friend yesterday made me realize even more that this carry-all mind-set is still quite prevalent. There we were at the checkout counter when my friend opened her over-sized purse to get money out (which should be properly named a luggage-purse in a pretty color and expensive leather).

I stood next to her while she dug, pulling out a wrong wallet apparently, and eventually coming out with the wallet she wanted. I had the sudden urge to start singing and dancing to the “Hallaluya” song, but restrained from causing that kind of excitement in a subdued environment.

It actually wasn’t until three stores later that she couldn’t find her debit card at another checkout counter. That’s when I got to see what was really in her purse as she dumped everything out. Things sprung to view like, three checkbooks, two wallets, various portfolio cases of receipts and papers, a flashlight, a full makeup bag, a sewing kit, a notebook, magnifying glass, cell phone instructions, kleenix, vitamins, and various other “necessities” for our walk-about shopping trip.

I rather admired the fact that her cards and receipts were “organized” into various specified holders, except she only had to remember which was kept in what. I did however learn that all these items were her “Girl Scout, be prepared” motto.

After seeing this (and it wasn’t the first time I witnessed a search through over-packed purses), I began to observe what kind of purses women carried. That’s when my survey scan determined that 90% of women carried large bulging purses. The other 10% carried very small purses that looked to only be able to contain a few bare essentials for their outting.

It wasn’t just about the purse size however. My own daughter carries a small purse and, when opened, you’ll find loose money and cards and papers. So, what’s in her wallet? I ask.

It turns out, she’s just always in too big a hurry to be bothered with putting items away in the wallet or in purse compartments. That’s an entirely different issue; not to be elaborated on here.

If a woman were to ask me for advice about what to carry in their purse, I’d be very inclined to instruct them on managing it with a “can’t leave home without it approach. And that is to have 2 purses at hand: 1) a small one for short, designated trips with only the bare essentials for that outting and 2) a larger one containing all the “be prepared” essentials.

The truth is, I truly don’t believe that any woman should really be asking me what they should carry in their purse. It’s just one of those subject matters that’s not a “one size fits all”. And I might sound too brutal for them.

When all is said and done, I believe we’ll continue to wear heavy purses that cripple us and high heels that kill us.

Storage solutions

Clutter sometimes happens when we don’t have a place to put something. The solution is to create a place for items, and that’s where various storage products can help.

I came upon this video that shows product uses for organizing items:

More Chaos While Trying to get organized?

I saw a Twitter-tweet recently, “In my attempt to get organized I believe I’ve become more disorganized than before I started.”

It’s quite a strange phenomena indeed, but one that is so common I shouldn’t consider it strange.

See, it often goes like this: When people start to organize an area, it goes from a disorganized mess to what seems like total chaos and then unfolds into an organized area. It’s the cycle of getting organized.

Stopping at the apparent chaos stage is bad. Don’t do that. And, although it’s tempting to run and get away from the scene you created, just keep at it because organization is just around the corner.

I’ve seen this happen time after time, even when I organize someone. Take, for example, a disorganized office. There are piles of paper and miscellaneious stuff all around. You start to sort through the papers and one stack turns into numerous categorized stacks. That can seem like chaos, but it’s really order that looks like a mess.

Eventually, all those now-categorized papers go somewhere (other than staying as piles in view to the world). They go into file folders or filing baskets; they get put into filing cabinets or storage boxes; they are placed into desktop folder holders or action bins.

It’s the putting away so you can find it part that brings total order to disorder. And it’s the last step after all the sorting. So, you’re not far away from a “done” while you’re sorting and creating a bigger mess in the area.

Think of it this way: the mess is just confusion. Confusion is just a bunch of stuff all around and you can’t make heads or tails out of any of it. When you start creating a bigger (but more organized) mess while sorting through the stuff, confusion is just a little more obvious because it’s flying around more (before it was motionless).

That can be overwhelming, so to prevent that, just be sure to focus on what you’re doing, one item at a time. Start with one stack, pick up the first item in that stack, decide what to do with it, and then move on to the next piece.

Pretty soon, whalla! You’ve gone from disorder to order!

Closet Organization Video

Ask The Decorator is a weekly Internet show that follows decorator Meghan Carter and you’ll find highlights of her show on YouTube. I wanted to share one of them about closet organization featuring professional organizer Cynthia Ivie.

Cynthia says people need to decide what continues to serve your sense of style. She says, “Clothing makes a statement. Think of your wardrobe as a tool in life and what does it say about you. Eliminate clothing that no longer substantiates that message.”

Watch the video:

You can follow Meghan’s show at www.askthedecorator.com.

Tools for organizing stuff

If you’ve ever come across Mashable.com then you’ll understand it when I say, “what a goldmine of resources and tips on how to (do just about anything).” Although it says it’s a social media guide, I was amazed to find resources like this:

Organization applications that include applications to:

• organize your stuff
• organize your shopping
• organize with lists
• organize your information
• organize your school life
• organize events, teams, trips
• organize everything else

Another Mashable.com article listed tools for organizing the web, like:

• bookmarking
• highlighters
• surfing history
• browsing visually

Mashable.com has another good article on “40 Great Resources for Making Lists” which gets into various sites that deal with list management.

And that’s not all.

There’s a really nice article on how to simplify. It talks about focusing on less and staying lean.

And if you’re doing social networking, Mashable.com has advice on how to aggregate your social networking. Think that’s all? Nope. How about how to consolidate all your various social networking profiles into one?

I don’t want to forget to throw in a piece on how to organize a successful Tweet-up for Twitters.

That’s probably not all, but it is for me now. Enjoy looking over all the great resources and tools available.

Closet Organizers Do A Lot Of The Work

Pamper yourself with a closet that makes you feel welcome. Whether a closet is a walk-in or a step-in, it should greet you with a smile. I say that about every room, and the closet is no different. It is a room, it is just a small room.

When you think about it, we shouldn’t have to spend time searching to find something to wear in a closet. Let’s apply a 2 minute rule on organization to the closet: If you can’t find it in 2 minutes, you need to get organized. That’s where organizing products that aid in establishing order come in.

The double hanging rod on the right, for example, provides a space-saving gadget for the closet (available in our Product Shop). Anything that helps give you more space in a closet is beneficial because it should help prevent over-crowded spaces.

There are products for folded clothes, hanging clothes, organizing shoes, grouping ties and belts and scarves, you name it.

The trick (and it’s not really a trick) is to find the right product to organize items in your closet. Pre-fab closet systems are wonderful for creating an organized environment in your closet. And you can custom design pre-fab closet systems without costing a lot of money too.

So, when we chose closet organizers that help us save time finding what we want, we’ve created a lot less work for ourselves, haven’t we?

For more tips, here are some articles that you may find of interest:

• Organizing Spaces for Clothing
• Organizing Kids Closets
• Organizing a Coat Closet
• Organize Your Closet
• Get Your Closet Organized
• Web 3.0 Way of Organizing Your Closet

Yard Sales, Good Medicine for Bad Economy

Spring seems to have hit early this year with yard sales popping up around town, but I think it’s more like making some extra bucks when the economy hits our pocket books.

Nevertheless, Spring season is approaching and it is time to haul out that accumulated unwanted stuff and put it up for sale. This activity often follows “spring cleaning” where people not only clean places that are not included in typical household cleaning, but places that became over-crowded or grew clutter over the year.

The usual places that grow clutter is the garage. But cabinets, cupboards, closets and drawers can get out of control too. I think the clothes closet is one area that usually could use some attention from time to time. I say that in a nice way :-)

Here’s a few tips in preparing and holding a yard sale:

• Group like items together in boxes. Price them with removable labels
• Plan when to hold your sale. Maybe invite others to join in.
• Get or make yard sale signage. Include dates of sale.
• Advertise your sale on Craig’s List and flyers around neighborhood
• Display merchandise items in a nice way. Tables and shelves make nice display surfaces. See tips on displaying items in this article at ArticlesWorld:

More tips on organizing a yard sale.

Organizing tax information

The not-so-fun time of year is approaching and that means it’s time for me to give you a realty check (and not one you deposit). The reality is it could cost you if your tax information is not organized.

I know you probably know this, but it’s that time of year for me to harass those that haven’t organized their accounting records throughout the year or kept accurate, accessible tax related records.

The fact is, missing income and missing tax deductible papers on your tax return may result in paying higher taxes. And if you have to file for an extension to allow you more time to get your tax information organized, you pay late penalties.

And then there’s the cost of your time having to sort through all your tax related items to organize them, or the fact that you may have to pay your tax preparer by the hour to sort through your bag of receipts, etc.

That said, let’s try to make tax preparation as painless as possible. As you gather your tax information, you will be de-cluttering an area of your life that will pay off in the end.

Sorting tax information:
A lot of people use a table for sorting, and some use small boxes or bins; anything that will contain the paper items you’ll be dealing with. These include:

Expense receipts
Bills paid
Income / payment stubs
Invoices
Sales receipts

While you’re at it, also gather the financials for the year that include:

Bank statements
Year-end insurance statements
Home mortgage
Retirement account
Brokerage / investment accounts
Employee Benefits statements
Loan statements

Logging / recording tax information:
After sorting the papers into categories, start with one category and do one of the following:

a) list each item with dollar amount on a ledger sheet or notebook paper. Total this category and go to the next.
b) total up each category and write it down on a sheet containing a list of categories with the amount next to
each.

You’ll provide your tax preparer with these sheets, either from the “a” method or the “b” method. When you’re done totaling a category, place paper items in a manilla envelope or #10 envelope and label what category the papers are (i.e., “Auto Expenses 2008″)

Keeping organized records:
Now that this tax year is organized, get ready to keep future tax information organized and accessible. Set up your accounting and financial files as such:

Banking (deposits, bank statements)
Expenses (receipt categories, donations, bills paid)
Invoices (for businesses that bill clients)
Income Tax (tax returns, tax payments)
Finance (finance reports)
Property (mortgage papers, mortgage payments)

The above lays the foundation for an Accounting and Finance filing system where you can easily store and retrieve papers easily and quickly. The folders within the categories will further define and group your papers (i.e., Utility bills and credit card files under Expense category).

You can keep your tax deductible expense receipts in simple categories like:

advertising
auto
equipment
meals & entertainment
office supplies
postage
printing
property
research

There are many more and you can check with an accountant for tax deductible categories.

If you really want to move into the world of computer technology, get accounting software like Quicken or QuickBooks to track your income and expenses.

I think that about sums it up in a nutshell. Please feel free to comment if you have questions or just plain
comments!

Get Organized for the Holidays

Some great Blogs and websites to help you organize your holidays:

• Decorating Lifestyles Blog
• Organized Christmas Blog
• Christmas Organizing

These are just a few I stumbled upon, and I’m sure there are plenty more!

Here is one of mine I wrote a long time ago that still applies today:

There are ways to take the hassle and stress out of the holiday season by organizing tasks, such as:

1.    gift buying
2.    entertaining plans
3.    sending xmas cards
4.    planning holiday guests
5.    preparing holiday meals
6.    putting up decorations

Tips:

1. Prepare a holiday task list — or checklist.
2. Begin marking calendar with deadlines for certain holiday tasks
3. Stock up early on decorations, greeting cards, and gifts
4. Beat the shopping rush.  Start a “wish list” that you’ll maintain year-round.  Use catalogs or the internet to shop.  Buy a few extra gifts for those you received a gift from, but whom you left off your shopping list.
5. Plan meals in advance, and prepare food ahead — set aside a day in late Nov or early Dec to make certain dishes you can reheat.
6. Or, let delis or supermarkets prepare holiday feasts for you.
7. Get the family to share in decorating tasks — get everyone involved.
8. If you’re planning a party, aim for simplicity. Use restraint and stick to a budget.

Another one, possibly a little more helpful:

Some things to consider for various activities are:

Meal plans.

• Decide on menu
• Stock up on food items early
• Prepare food in advance
• Let someone cook for you — have catered food
• Designate a “desert team” to do the holiday baking Party plans.
• Decide on type of party to have (Open House, Pot Luck, Cocktail Party, Day-after Christmas brunch, a big Social Party)
• Set the date, time and place.
• Book entertainment, photographer, decorator
• Get help and delegate, delegate, delegate (cleaning, catering, running errands, etc.)
• Purchase/choose outfit
• Plan food (cook or get caterer)
• Stock party essentials
• Prepare for overnight guests (keep extra amenities)

Gift plans.

• Make a “wish list” for people
• Give gift certificates (catering to a person’s interests or hobbies)
• Spread out your gift buying in advance (throughout the year, ideally).
• Do sensible gift-giving — get things that won’t add clutter to the lives of others you care about.
• Make a list of gift ideas.  Think of something memorable and personal, something useful, something consumable, something that grows, some excursion experiences.  Or, create a memorable video.

Holiday Storage

New Holiday Storage Products

We recently added lots and lots of new products, including holiday storage solutions.

Check out our Holiday Storage items:

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