Organize Your Mail and Paperwork
Do you have a pile of mail and paperwork sitting on your counter or a piece of furniture in your home? Did you try to contain it to a bin that is now overflowing with goodness knows what? Here are a few tips to keep all of your papers organized in a few simple steps.
Do you have a pile of mail and paperwork sitting on your counter or a piece of furniture in your home? Did you try to contain it to a bin that is now overflowing with goodness knows what?
We’ve ALL been there at some point. All the papers that come into our homes can get overwhelming, and, honestly, most of the time is the last thing we want to look at or deal with.
Here are a few tips to keep all of your papers organized in a few simple steps:
Categorize.
Categorization should be the first step when organizing anything in your home. Put all of your papers into categories such as, things to read, things that need action (like bills), and things to toss.
Take Action.
While you are categorizing take action! If something is in the junk mail category go ahead and toss it.
Pro tip: Once the paperwork inside your home is organized, start throwing away your junk mail before it even comes into your home.
Organize and Label.
Use folders or any form of filing system of your choice to contain the items that you need to keep and label each file. You can even have a file for each member of your household if that makes sense for your family.
Here are a couple of organizing products we like to use for filing our paperwork:
Need help sorting through your paperwork and making sense of it all?
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What is a Professional Organizer?
Ever get a late start to your day because you can’t figure out what to wear, what to eat, or where your keys are? Yep, that’s what we help with! And that looks different for everyone.
“Over the course of our lifetime, we will spend a total of 3,680 hours or 153 days searching for misplaced items. The research found we lose up to nine items every day—or 198,743 in a lifetime. Phones, keys, sunglasses, and paperwork top the list.” [Source]
Almost 10 years ago, as I was helping a friend organize her bathroom, I said, “I love doing this. This is my gift! Wouldn’t it be great if I could do this for a living?” That smart friend researched it and opened my eyes to a Professional Organizing world that I had no idea even existed! But what exactly do they we do?
The term “Professional Organizer” sometimes drums up an image from the reality show “Hoarders.” While that may be true in some circumstances, the typical Chaos Organizing client is usually just a busy person that becomes overwhelmed at the thought of tackling the huge task of organizing their home. They either don’t have the time, don’t know where to start, or don’t have the desire to do the work themselves.
So what is it that professional organizers do?
That’s where we step in! Well, we do a lot of things but here at Chaos Organizing, but our main goal is to make your house functional for you so you enjoy it and find peace being there. And that looks different for each and every family we serve. We organize your home so you are able to find what you need at a quick glance. Your grocery lists will be items you actually need!
Ever get a late start to your day because you can’t figure out what to wear, what to eat, or where your keys are? Yep, that’s what we help with! We can teach you life skills to implement in your day that save you time and money! (If your clothes are organized, you can see what you have and know what is truly needed, which means less impulse buying.)
We increase your space by eliminating what you don’t use or love so you can function more efficiently and effectively in a home that you find peaceful and happy.
Here are some statistics about clutter that you may find interesting.
1. There are 300,000 items in the average American home (LA Times).
2. The average size of the American home has nearly tripled in size over the past 50 years (NPR).
3. And still, 1 out of every 10 Americans rent offsite storage—the fastest growing segment of the commercial real estate industry over the past four decades. (New York Times Magazine).
Does hiring a professional organizer mean your house will never be messy? HECK, NO! We are busy people with busy lives! What it does mean is that everything in your home has a home, so putting things away becomes easier and sometimes even a new habit, freeing up time and energy.
Our homes are becoming places to store things instead of a place of happiness and peace. Professional Organizers can help you refocus your priorities so you are spending more time feeling peaceful and happy.
Do you need more peace in your home?
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5 Tips to Ease the Pain of Cleaning Up After the Holidays
Hoping your holidays were fantastic. Unfortunately, it’s clean up time! Here are 5 quick tips to help ease the pain of the clean up process.
Happy New Year my organizing friends! Hoping your holiday was fantastic. Unfortunately, it’s clean up time! Here are 5 quick tips to help ease the pain of the clean up process.
5 quick tips to help organize your holiday clean up.
Use clear bins if you can. Being able to see what’s in the bin is very helpful when taking items out next year.
2. Label, label, label! Label each bin with every item inside the bin. This seems tedious but you will be thankful next year. You can use a label maker or use the original label tape….masking tape and a sharpie! If you zone decorate like I do, don’t forget to add the zone label.
3. Using an extension cord reel or any type of cord organizer will help keep your lights from being a tangled mess. Label the lights so you know right where they go next year.
4. Label wreaths and garland with the location where they will be used. I use garland in 3 different spots and each garland is a different length. Knowing where the garland belongs saves us time and frustration.
5. Make sure to take the batteries out of anything being stored.
Once again, have a Happy New Year and happy organizing!
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5 Things to Do Between Christmas and New Years
Christmas has come and gone again, but the kids are still out of school and we still have New Years to celebrate. The motivation to get your home cleaned up may be lacking, but here are 5 things we recommend doing to keep yourself sane and able to enjoy the last of the holidays.
Christmas has come and gone again, but the kids are still out of school and we still have New Years to celebrate. The motivation to get your home cleaned up may be lacking, but here are 5 things we recommend doing to keep yourself sane and able to enjoy the last of the holidays:
Take out the trash.
First things first, take out all of the holiday trash. It can accumulate very quickly between cooking, having guests over to eat, and opening gifts.
Clean and put away all the serving dishes.
Get all of your serving dishes cleaned and put back in their place. If you use china or any form of non-disposable dinnerware, now is a good time to clean and put those away too.
Reset the guest bedroom.
Tidy up the guest bedroom once your guests are gone. Change and wash the bedding and put away any items that need to be picked up.
Reset the guest bathroom.
Collect all the dirty towels and throw them in the wash.
Use the rest of your paper plates.
Whether or not you eat on paper plates for Christmas, now is a great time to use paper plates to save yourself from having to keep up with the dishes.
We hope you had a fabulous Christmas and wish you a Happy New Year!
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Life is Short, Enjoy it by Using Your Crystal
Whatever your “fancy” holiday dishes may be, it’s time to bring them out and enjoy them. Here is a guide on how to set the table and some inspiration for a beautiful holiday table!
If we’ve learned anything over the past couple of years, it’s that life can change on a dime. It’s important to remember those “things” that you are saving, well, saving for what? Who could be more important than your family?
Maybe china and crystal aren’t your thing? Whatever your “fancy” holiday dishes may be, it’s time to bring them out and enjoy them. For me, that means my Great-Grandmother’s china is front and center. You may have opted for something more contemporary, less formal or even less breakable, which I completely understand, but having my china on the table reminds me that life is fragile so enjoy it. No matter if you are having a formal event or a casual one, your decorated and well-set table can make the event feel more festive and your guests more welcome. Your centerpiece might be a mason jar of camellias from the yard or a fancy floral arrangement, either way, having a centerpiece brightens up the table and changes the mood from an ordinary dinner to a celebration! So, pull out the fancy, put on a smile and enjoy this time with the people you love.
Here is a guide on how to set the table. It’s really important to know and certainly a job that the older kids can do for you if you are busy in the kitchen.
Here are some other places that we found inspiration for a beautiful holiday table! I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!
https://www.countryliving.com/entertaining/g634/thanksgiving-table-settings-1108/?slide=6
https://www.livingwithlandyn.com/2016-11-3-chic-thanksgiving-table/elegant-and-easy-thanksgiving-table-settings
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