Home Organizing Tips

Here are some tasks that you can accomplish in the time it takes to brew your morning tea or coffee:

Empty the dishwasher
Clean out a shelf or drawer in the refrigerator
Sweep the kitchen floor
Load the dishwasher
Go through your coupon holder/drawer and weed out expired ones
Straighten up your junk drawer
Clean out a shelf in the pantry
Write out your grocery list, or “to do” list
Return a phone call/make an appointment
Read the front page of the newspaper and then recycle it
Take out the trash
Refill salt/pepper/olive oil containers
Call to cancel an unsolicited catalog (See the "How to Handle Junk Mail" video below.

• Mark boxes for which room they are going to, not where they came from – try color-coding.

• Mark boxes of items that will be used immediately in the new house. Make sure they are loaded last on the truck and unloaded first.

• Reduce children's anxiety by ensuring their new rooms are set up quickly and as similar to their old rooms as possible.

• Give each family member a "personal box" to keep track of items important to them during the move.

• Keep all important paperwork with you during the move.

BEFORE YOU BUY:
Another pair of shoes
Choose a pair to throw/give away

A kitchen gadget or holiday decoration that will be used once a year
Know where you’re going to store it for the rest of the year

A workout machine
Know where you’re going to keep it when not in use

A souvenir from your latest travels
Are willing to dust around it for the next 20 years

Another book
Donate 5 you’ve already read to the library

A bunch of containers, in anticipation of someday getting organized
Know what size and how many containers you’ll need