Organize Mounds of Magazines and Collections of Catalogues

Magazines and catalogues are good things. They give me hours of pleasure. I actually use them in my work to show clients products that will help with organization. The challenge is to keep them from taking over the house.

Here are a few tip to help you keep magazines, catalogues and, (for you crafters) pattern books organized.

Keep them close to where you use them. If you peruse catalogues while you watch television, keep them close to your viewing perch. If you use them in your work, store them on a shelf near your workstation. If you like to read them in the bathroom, spring for a bathroom magazine rack. This will minimize the opportunity to mislay them somewhere in route from where they are kept to where they are used.

Keep them contained. You can choose a lot of different magazine racks, boxes and other containers. Some of my favorites are the ultra-clear magazine boxes at www.containerstore.com and the desk magazine files at www.ikea-usa.com. Ikea also has baskets that hook on underneath a shelf that are great for pattern books when you are working on a project. To get an idea of the variety of magazine holders available log on to www.magazineracks.com. They have great ideas for wall-hanging, free standing and traditional varieties. One of the ways I organize the catalogues I use in my work is to gather them in large three-ring binders using 3 ring catalogue/magazine organizers. These handy tools snap into the binder and allow you to slide the magazines over them for easy access. Also consider using other containers like flat baskets, copper ham boilers or pretty wooden boxes you may have around the house.   

Keep them accessible. If you store your pretty box on a closet shelf, the catalogues and  magazines will get old and probably unread. Keep them out, but keep them neat.

Keep them current.  When you get a new catalogue, throw out the old one. Magazines are a little harder to get rid of when they have a great article, suggestion or recipe you want to hold on to. Clip out the article and save it in a file or notebook and discard the magazine. If it is hard for you to get rid of perfectly good reading material, donate current magazines to nursing homes, clinics or prisons.

Happy reading in an uncluttered house and office.

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Choices and Changes

While still trying to cope with the change to Daylight Savings Time, Virginians elected a new governor. Maybe the poor voter turn out was due to the time change. Maybe it was apathy. Maybe it was a feeling that a single vote would not make a difference. Whatever the reason, individual choices about whether or not to go to the polls affected the choice of governor.

What does that have to do with organizing? Just like election results, slipping into a disorganized lifestyle is the results of a lot of little choices. Choices like:

I won’t go through the mail because I’m too tired.

I will leave the shoes in the middle of the hallway because I don’t want to go upstairs right now.

I will buy this blouse on sale even though it goes with nothing I have and won’t fit in my closet.

Enough of these choices and you have a cluttered space.

Getting organized is also a series of choices. Choices like:

I will set one day a week to go through my mail and stick to it. 

I will put a shoe storage bench in the hallway so I don’t have to go upstairs every time I remove my shoes.

I will not buy an item of clothing unless I know what it goes with and when I am going to wear it.

Enough of these choices and you stop the cluttering behavior.

You still have to clean up the messes you made and put systems in place to keep things straight. But making that choice will bring about a change that will give you more time and a better outlook. Get help, if you need it, to get started. Call an organized friend or a professional organizer. That’s a choice that will bring change for a better life.

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Hints for Maintaining an Organized Home Office

Whether your home office is your primary work site or an adjunct to your main office, here are a few tricks that will help you stay organized.

Define a space for your home and personal documents and a separate space for your work documents. It can be as simple as two separate drawers or ends of a shelf with a divider.

Create a filing system with titles that make sense to you and use colored folders for quick identification. For instance all your folders dealing with finance could be green, all folders dealing with warrantees could be purple, etc.

Create a folder for immediate response and handle it before the end of the day. Finish up by filing the documents in appropriate folders.

Keep a planning calendar handy either on your computer or PDA or in hardcopy close to your telephone and computer so it can be updated as your schedule changes.

Use ergonomics (the science of designing the job, equipment and workplace to fit the worker) to make sure your workstation is comfortable and allows you to do the job efficiently. The computer monitor should be directly in front of your face to put your body in a neutral position. The keyboard should be placed so the forearms are parallel to the thighs when your feet are flat on the floor. The chair should be adjusted to maintain appropriate alignment with the monitor and keyboard with feet flat on the floor. The mouse should be located on right side if you are right handed and on the left side if you are left handed. If you use a document holder, place it on the opposite side of the computer from the mouse.

Put items you use the most frequently near the workstation. These may include telephone, fax machine, printer, scanner, stapler, resource books, or editing tools.

If your equipment is placed to minimize physical strain and optimize convenient access to the things you use most often, you will be less likely to rearrange items and pull work to other areas of the house. Comfort and convenience will help you maintain an organized space.

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Organize Your Personal Health Information

October is "Organize Your Medical Information Month". This is the month folks are encouraged to gather their medical histories and pertinent medical information into one comprehensive record that provides a basis for decision making for themselves, their family and the medical professionals who deliver care to them.

Years ago, the family doctor knew your medical history and the medicine you were taking because he (or she) had often treated your family members and certainly was aware of your care through his own practice or his careful coordination with specialists to whom he referred his patients.

Things have changed. A variety of medications are available over the counter, many people take dietary supplements and access specialty and preventive care without referral. Screenings offered in the community, flu shots offered at pharmacies and grocery stores sometimes do not make it to central medical files. Care gets further fragmented if hospital care or rehabilitation is required.

So, in October, the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) suggests you pull all that information together. This non-profit group has a website at www.MyPHR.com that has a listing of common information and reports contained in a health record and step-by-step instructions for organizing your health information.

Having your information organized allows you to make better decisions about your continuing healthcare, avoid duplicate tests and get faster, more effective care in an emergency.

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Organize Your Personal Health Information

October is "Organize Your Medical Information Month". This is the month folks are encouraged to gather their medical histories and pertinent medical information into one comprehensive record that provides a basis for decision making for themselves, their family and the medical professionals who deliver care to them.

Years ago, the family doctor knew your medical history and the medicine you were taking because he (or she) had often treated your family members and certainly was aware of your care through his own practice or his careful coordination with specialists to whom he referred his patients.

Things have changed. A variety of medications are available over the counter, many people take dietary supplements and access specialty and preventive care without referral. Screenings offered in the community, flu shots offered at pharmacies and grocery stores sometimes do not make it to central medical files. Care gets further fragmented if hospital care or rehabilitation is required.

So, in October, the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) suggests you pull all that information together. This non-profit group has a website at www.MyPHR.com that has a listing of common information and reports contained in a health record and step-by-step instructions for organizing your health information.

Having your information organized allows you to make better decisions about your continuing healthcare, avoid duplicate tests and get faster, more effective care in an emergency.

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Organize Video Game Hardware

Video game playing takes up a lot of space. The console, peripherals and accessories pose storage problems for most systems, but when you get into large accessories like band instruments and sports equipment; it gets even more problematic. An additional consideration is adequate ventilation if the console is going to stay in the storage unit while the players are engaged in the game. If not well ventilated, the heat generated can shorten the life of the system.

I recently saw a colorful, easy-to-access system that can sit on a table or can hang on the wall and store the console and peripherals as well as a limited number of games. It is called the GameOn Video Gaming Storage System and Stash Box. It comes in black and bright colors and holds up to 50 pounds. The vertical footprint makes it handy for smaller spaces. It is available at www.amazon.com

There are some other alternatives that fill the bill if you have more space available. On the higher priced end of the scale is the Media Gaming Console at Pottery Barn Teens (www.pbw.com). It has shelves to accommodate consoles of most types, a sliding tray, cord cutouts and pocket doors. It is a nice piece of furniture and costs about a thousand dollars. Less expensive are the Quest TV and Video Game Table at Target for around $320 and the Kangaroom Game Console Unit and Stash Box at www.organize.com for about $120. At www.allmultimediastorage you can find the Gaming Center on Wheels for $90 and the five tier Wire Gaming Tower for $50.

All of these storage alternatives provide a way to keep the all the game stuff together in one place and protect the accessories from accidental damage.

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Organize Sports Balls

Baseballs, soccer balls, footballs, volley balls and just plain bouncy balls give hours of pleasure to children of all ages. They can also be a problem to store where they are easily accessible and do not pose a safety hazard to folks trying to walk through the garage, the playroom or wherever they are kept. Large plastic storage tubs and colorful trash cans will serve to corral the balls, but a more organized approach is to store the balls with other equipment necessary to play the game. Here are a few alternatives that may offer some inspiration for getting your sport balls in order.

The Rubbermaid Sportsgear Organizer measures 36"x38"x18" and can hold a variety of balls, mitts, gloves and shoes. The International Sports Organizer with Bench is 36" long, has a sturdy wire bottom that allows ventilation and a cushioned bench on top that allows the athlete to sit and adjust equipment. It is made just like a toy chest, so it accommodates a lot of items and works for kids who just throw everything into a pile.

One of my favorite products is the Ball Claw, available at Target’s. It is an adjustable plastic claw that will hold footballs, basketballs, volleyballs and soccer balls. It comes in a wall-mountable style or with a strap so that it can be attached to a hook system or sport tote. This works well if you use a duffel bag to hold equipment for each sport your family members play. A particularly good organizing bag for baseball and bats is the Mizano Organizing bag with wheels. Specialty storage items for most sports can be found at www.ssw.com.

If you would like to try your hand at building a sports ball and equipment storage center yourself, an excellent example can be found at www.diynetwork.com. 

Even if all your ball games do not end in victory, may you have fun playing them.

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Organize Your Medicine Cabinet

Bathroom medicine cabinets hold a lot more then medicine. If fact, it may not be the best place to keep bottles of vitamins, minerals and prescription drugs. The heat and humidity in a bathroom that is not well ventilated can interfere with the potency of those medicines. It may be better to find a safe place outside the bathroom for those items. Wherever you store medications make sure they are safely out of the reach of children.

Begin organizing by clearing everything out of the medicine cabinet. Discard expired medicines and cosmetics as well as any gunky, dried out, or damaged items. Thoroughly clean the inside of the cabinet

Next, think about how you use the items and reserve that space for things that you need access to in the bathroom near the sink. Toothbrush and toothpaste, razors and shaving cream, make-up and applicators may be the things you want to reserve space for. First aid supplies should be readily available and, space permitting, the medicine cabinet is a good spot that allows all persons in the household to know where to retrieve bandages, tweezers and antibacterial ointment. Keep these items together in a first aid kit.

Once you have decided what items will go in your medicine cabinet, take a critical look at the height of the shelves. Many cabinets have adjustable shelves, and now, when you have everything removed, is the time to adjust the shelves to fit the products you are going to place in the cabinet.

While the height of some items may dictate where they are stored, the general rule is to put like things together and the most used items on the lowest shelves. Use small trays and baskets to group items and make it easier to pull them from shelves for use.

If you have a metal cabinet consider using magna-pods to increase storage space and keep frequently used items close at hand. These handy little magnetized containers come in various sizes and attach by magnets to the inside of the cabinet door, Check them out at www.magnapods.com.

Now that your cabinet is organized, keep it that way by checking expiration dates as you use items and discarding out of date products. Clean up spills when they happen and discard items that are becoming grimy, rusty or dirty. Keep like items together and don’t over stuff the cabinet with duplicate items. Keep the extras stored elsewhere until you need a replacement.  

Your medicine cabinet is now ready for you to access what you need and for any guest to admire.

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Organize a Car Trunk

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Organize an Emergency Pack

September 2009 is the sixth annual National Preparedness Month (NPM) sponsored by the Ready Campaign. It is a nationwide effort to increase awareness and encourage individuals, businesses and communities to take action and prepare for emergencies of all kinds. The campaign encourages folks to get a kit, make a plan and stay informed.

National agencies like the Red Cross and the Center for Disease Control, big companies like Wal-Mart and Target, and small businesses like Key Transitions (of which I am an owner) join a coalition to promote national readiness in case of emergency. As coalition members, we commit to establish preparedness in our own companies and to reach out to the community. Information about the coalition and detailed information about what you need to do in case of emergency can be found at www.ready.gov.

Last year our company worked with small businesses to get ready for emergencies. This year, we are working with senior adults in independent living situations. One of the concerns of this population is how to put together a "to go" emergency pack that meets their needs and is light enough for them to manage.

Here are a few things for everyone, especially older adults, to consider as they stock their "to go" emergency pack.

Choose a container for your kit that is lightweight and that you can manage. One of our favorites is a fabric insulated cooler on wheels with external pockets that we picked up in the sports section of Wal-Mart. It has a telescopic handle and rolls easily. Another alternative is to buy the ready-made backpack kit from www.redcross.org. It costs about $75 with shipping and weighs about 12 pounds.

Carry adequate water. Try creating water packs by putting water in a one-gallon bag and double sealing by putting it upside down in another plastic bag. Supplement the packs with individual serving bottles of water. Juice and other liquids also aid hydration.

Choose foods that are individually packed and are in lightweight containers. Peanut butter in individual plastic containers and tuna in foil pouches rather than cans are some examples. Remember to pay attention to dietary restrictions when selecting foods and choose products with extended expiration dates.

Pack tools to assist you in opening the containers you pack. If you cannot grip and operate a manual can opener consider packing a one-step battery operated model. Don’t forget to pack extra batteries. If necessary, include scissors for opening zip lock bags that won’t cooperate and include a marker to date the items when you open them.

Keep a list of important contacts in the pack. Include family and friends you want to notify as well as important providers like oxygen companies or transportation vendors.

Keep important documents ready to go. A list of important documents to consider can be found at www.ready.gov. If you scan documents to disc for easy transportation, remember to label it in ways that obscure its true content.

Remember your medications and dosing tools like syringes, medicine droppers and applicators. Also include things you need to keep your necessary medical supplies functioning-like batteries for hearing aids and repair kits for dentures and glasses.

The Red Cross (www.redcross.org) and other coalition sites have lists for emergency pack contents, outlines for communication plans and suggestions for staying informed. Have a look and make it a priority to "Get Ready Now". 

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