 Is your closet a chaotic jungle of clothes and accessories?
If you've ever found yourself rummaging through piles of shoes or tangled scarves, it's time to upgrade your closet organization game. Here are my top 10 closet organizers that will elevate your space and bring a sense of calm to your daily routine. Flip Flop Organizer. Say goodbye to the days of mismatched flip flops! A dedicated flip flop organizer keeps your favorite summer footwear neatly paired and easily accessible. Plus, it maximizes vertical space, leaving more room for other essentials. Here are links to a couple of options: Over-The-Door Sectioned Cubby Scarf Organizer. No more tangled messes or misplaced scarves. A scarf organizer allows you to display your colorful collection in an orderly fashion, making it easy to find the perfect one to match your outfit. Here are links to a few options: If you have the hanging space - hang them over a pant hanger Scarf Hanger Velvet Organizer Loop Organizer Belt Organizer. Keep your belts from becoming a tangled mess with a belt organizer. Think grab and go. Here are links to a couple of options: If you have a built in closet - attach this to the closet Hanging Belt Organizer Tie Organizer. For those who wear ties, a tie organizer is a game-changer. It keeps your ties wrinkle-free and ready to go, saving you precious time in the morning. Here are links to a couple of options: Hanging Tie Organizer Wall Mounted Drawer Organizers. Drawer organizers are perfect for smaller items like socks, underwear, and accessories. They transform a jumbled drawer into a well-ordered storage space, making it easy to find what you need. Here are links to a couple of options: Drawer Organizers Drawer Dividers There are many variations, choose what works for you! Jewelry Organizers. Keep your jewelry collection tangle-free and well-displayed with a jewelry organizer. Whether you prefer a hanging organizer or a compartmentalized box, it will save you time and protect your precious pieces. Shoe Racks. A shoe rack is a must-have for any closet. It helps you keep all your footwear in one place and prevents them from getting squished or misplaced. Did you know that people who don't have shoe racks are 7x more likely to show up late to an event? 😲 Hangers. Be consistent. Invest in a set of consistent hangers for a cohesive and visually pleasing closet. Choose what works for you! Handbag Organizer. Keep your handbags in pristine condition with a handbag organizer. It prevents them from getting crushed and makes it easy to switch bags without the hassle of digging through your closet. Here are links to a few options: Shelf Dividers Clutch Organizer Baseball Cap Organizer. If you're a hat lover, a baseball cap organizer is essential. It keeps your caps neat and easily accessible, preserving their shape and making it easy to grab the perfect one on your way out. Here are links to a couple of options: Hat Stand Behind-the-door Organizer Remember when choosing products: There are thousands of organizing products out there, I can't stress enough that you have to choose what works for you in your space!
 Holiday travel can be an enjoyable or miserable experience, depending on how prepared you are. It requires careful planning and organization to ensure everything goes off without a hitch. From managing your packing to coordinating with family, getting organized is key to a stress-free journey.
Here are eight tips to help you get everything in order: Plan Ahead. Holiday travel can be expensive, so book your flights, trains, or rental cars as early as possible. Prices often go up as the holiday approaches, and availability can become scarce. If you’re flexible, consider traveling on the less busy days around the holidays. Flying or driving on the actual holiday or the days immediately before and after can sometimes offer a break from the busiest travel days. Have everything packed and ready to go the evening before to avoid any unnecessary stress on your travel day. Confirm transportation reservations a few days before departure. Prepare Your Documents. Be sure you have all your necessary IDs. For international travel, double-check visa requirements and passports. Keep digital and physical copies of your travel tickets and booking confirmations. A well-organized folder or a travel app can help manage these documents. I love these travel organizers to contain your passport and other documents. Pack Efficiently. Create a packing list to be sure you don’t forget anything. Create lists for clothing, chargers, toiletries, medications, and special items needed for the holiday. Pack your suitcase strategically so everything fits snug. Keep essential items and valuables in your carry-on. If you travel often, keep a standard list of everything you bring on vacations, laminate this list and refer to it every time you travel. This will save you time and will release your stress around packing. If you're going to a warm weather climate, here is my packing process guide and worksheet for a warm weather climate. Prepare for Security and Check-in. If you’re flying, familiarize yourself with TSA regulations. Be sure that your carry-on items comply with liquid restrictions and that your electronics are easily accessible for inspection. I can’t tell you how many people have been in front of me at TSA and their liquids get thrown out because they weren’t the required size. Once you have your trip scheduled, purchase your travel size toiletries or travel size containers and quart size bag to store them in. Plan Your Route. If you’re driving, monitor traffic reports. Remember to reverse engineer your trip and think about what time you want to arrive and base that around how long it will take you to get there, allow for traffic and that will give you a good idea of what time you need to leave your home. Manage Expectations. Travel plans can change due to weather, delays, or other issues. Stay positive and be flexible with your plans. Keep your family and friends informed about your travel itinerary and any changes. This is important if you’re coordinating arrival times for a family gathering. While you’re away. Arrange for someone to check on your home if you’ll be gone for an extended period. Set up timers for lights. Hold your mail or ask a neighbor to collect it for you. Pause any regular deliveries, newspaper subscriptions and try not to purchase anything around a week before, to prevent a buildup of items at your doorstep. Enjoy the Journey. Use your travel time to relax and reflect. Listen to a favorite podcast, enjoy a good book, or simply take in the journey. I know travel can be stressful, but try to enjoy the process of getting there. Once you arrive, focus on making the most of your time with loved ones. The effort you put into preparing for the trip will pay off when you’re able to fully enjoy the holiday. By using these quick organizing travel tips, you can minimize stress and maximize enjoyment during your holiday travel. A little preparation goes a long way, and you’ll find your journey will be stress-free. Safe travels and happy holidays! For monthly tips, videos, giveaways, and more - subscribe to my free award-winning monthly newsletter here.  I’m challenging you to organize your computer desktop. If you don’t have your paper filing systems under control, you may find that your computer desktop is following the same pattern. It might look like a cluttered mess.
Before there were computers, we had paper filing systems and if you had a good system, you would receive a paper and file it away in a categorized, labeled folder and be able to put your hands on it when you needed to locate it. You would also purge these files once a year to make room for new files. Computers came along and some people who never maintained their paper files now had another area where they could store files, but this ended up being disorganized also, because they had no systems in place to maintain the files. If you have a working filing system, you’re going to mirror that system on your computer desktop. Let’s dig into getting your computer desktop organized. Delete. Delete. Delete. Delete any file that is no longer useful to you. As you’re coming across files that you’ll be keeping, move to the next step. Create categories and labeled folders. Just as you have your categories in your filing cabinet, you’ll create categories and label folders according to the information you have on your desktop. You can create subcategories within categories. Declutter existing folders. Go through your existing folders and declutter information that is no longer relevant. You may find that you might be deleting the entire folder. Save important files on a USB. If you have files that are important and maybe you don’t want them taking up space on your desktop, save them to a USB. You may have files in your paper filing system that are archived in a seal tight bin in your home. For instance, you may have all your prior year’s tax returns in an archived file bin. Follow the same process with any files you want to archive on your desktop. Save them to a USB so they don’t clog up your active desktop. Maintain. Once you’re organized, now it’s time to maintain this space. When you have a document, you’ll be making the following decision: file it in a labeled folder, delete it, create a new folder, or send it to the archives on a USB. Maintaining this space will keep the desktop looking clutter free and you’ll be able to immediately find a file when you need it. You don’t have to tackle this all-in-one day. Block time on your calendar to tackle a little bit at a time. It could be 15 minutes, 30 minutes to an hour. The choice is yours. Set a goal for yourself of when you would like this project completed and work towards that goal each week. Don’t make the process more complicated than it needs to be. The process will initially feel overwhelming, but when you break the process into small steps, you’ll find that it’s manageable and wish you had tackled this years ago. Follow the same process on your computer desktop as you do with your paper files. Once this project is complete, you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment and every time you turn on your computer, you’ll feel a sense of calm looking at your organized screen.  Spring is a perfect time to refresh and organize your kitchen! The kitchen tends to be the hub of the home and can sometimes be a breeding ground for clutter. Create a purpose for your kitchen and you'll find that clutter will no longer be an issue in this space.
This season, you don't have to tear apart your entire kitchen. Start small and tackle a few areas. Once you've completed these areas, you'll find you're motivated and energized to move onto other areas in the kitchen! Here are 4 quick tips to get your kitchen organized and energized: Refresh your spice rack. If you feel like you might get overwhelmed with organizing your kitchen, start small. Let's tackle your spices! Has it been awhile since you took inventory, looked at expiration dates and organized? Empty all your spices out of the cabinet. Be sure to check expiration dates or smell for potency. Have a shopping list handy and write down the spices you need to replenish. Are you using a spice rack? There are hundreds of variations of spice racks out there. Choose the spice rack that fits your needs and the space. Be sure to measure your space height x width x length. Here is one of my favorite spice racks, but again, it may not be right for you. Decide how you want to function with your spices. Do you want to organize them by frequency of use or alphabetical. Everyone functions differently so again, do what works for you and your family. Refresh your food pantry. You'll see me write this throughout - if you're getting organized, you must empty the entire area. You won't be able to see what you have and by shifting items around, you won't be able to maximize your space. Throw away expired items, categorize what you're keeping. Give your empty pantry a nice cleaning and then if you'd like, you can line the shelves with shelf liner. My favorite shelf liner is Duck Brand Smooth Top Easy Liner. If you have wire shelving in your pantry - here are two options for shelf liners: Shelf-It and Duck Brand. In every kitchen I organize, my clients will throw away 3-4 trash bags of expired food! As you know, food prices are inflated and if you have an organized food pantry, you'll find that you can see everything and you'll have an easier time making your food shopping list and you'll never have to throw away expired food again, wasting money. If you need to purchase storage containers, choose ones that are transparent so you are able to see everything you're storing. Keep in mind, you don't need to contain everything. To avoid getting bugs, be sure to put any open food, baking goods, cereals, pastas in seal tight containers. I love OXO Containers Refresh Your Refrigerator and Freezer. What's hiding in the depths of your refrigerator and freeze? When was the last time you emptied everything out of this space? Most will say when then moved into their home. Follow the same process above to declutter and get organized. Be sure to have that garbage bag handy! Streamline Your Cooking Utensils and Tools. If you cook often, you know that you want to be as efficient and productive as you can in your kitchen. Take everything out of the drawers in your kitchen and also incorporate into this process the bin of utensils you store next to the stove. Categorize all of the utensils and get rid of anything that is worn or broken. Now that the drawers are empty you can see what you have and you can create a vision of how you want to function. Stand at the stove and look at the drawers to the right and left and look at your utensils - think about functionality and how you'd like to grab those items when you're cooking. Here is a video of my favorite drawer organizers Get excited to feel the energy shift in the kitchen once you've tackled the spaces above. You'll feel lighter, have more energy, save money and be more efficient and productive in your kitchen! Kristin MacRae is an Award-Winning Organizing and Efficiency Expert. She founded her business in 2012 in Rhode Island. She is a full-time resident of Bonita Springs and works with clients in their homes and businesses helping them get organized, saving them time, money, decreasing their stress levels and helping them live a more efficient and productive life. She is also a speaker, author of “Living an Organized Energized Life!” and is also a columnist for the Coastal Breeze News. For more information, www.kristinmacrae.com Check out my YouTube channel for more fun tips! The file folder hack that keeps your linen closet closet organized and more brilliant tips
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Click here to read article  Do you feel exhausted at the end of the day? Do you find that you are really busy throughout the day, but not productive? Are you finding it difficult to squeeze in the day-to-day activities of taking care of a household? If you answered yes to these questions, it’s time to tweak your time management skills.
As you may know, great time management skills are imperative in a work environment, but they also play a very important role in the home. Some don’t even know where to begin when developing their time management skills. It can be a short process to determine how you are functioning and how you can become more efficient with your time. Not sure where to begin? You can use these tips to help you get started and on your way to becoming more productive. Find a half hour in your day. You have to make the time to sit and think about how you are currently functioning. Find a half hour in your day where you can be alone and quiet with your thoughts. Grab a pen, paper or use your computer. This exercise is all about 'dumping' everything out of your mind, so choose which format that will work best for you. Create your template. This doesn’t have to be elaborate. You basically want to have the days of the week at the top and times of the day listed on the side. Don’t forget to add Saturday and Sunday into the mix. You can create a table in excel or word, print it, and then handwrite all of your tasks in the table. You now have a working template. Start 'dumping.' This is the process where you are going to unload everything in your mind and get it onto paper. The first thing you want to do is to add anything in your template that is a set task throughout the week. If you work certain hours during the week, add those in. If you drop off your kids at the same time every day, add that into the template. If you have a class you take during the week, add that into the template. You get the picture. Add in household tasks. Now that you have written in all of the set tasks that you handle on a daily basis, you are going to find you have holes in your days. This is the moment you want to think about tasks you perform around the home. Do you have set times that you tackle laundry, errands, cleaning, food shopping or beauty routines? Take a look at your template and think about how you want to schedule these tasks. You may decide you want to dedicate certain days for food shopping or laundry. It’s your template, choose what’s going to work for you. Save spaces for miscellaneous tasks. Save a few spaces for miscellaneous tasks and appointments that you handle on maybe a bi-weekly or monthly basis. Save time for lunch dates and other social occurrences. Last minute tasks. Last minute tasks and emergencies will occur during the week, but having this set schedule will keep you on track and help you to become more efficient and productive. A hiccup will occur and you will handle it and go right back to your schedule. You won’t feel flustered because you know you will get right back on track. Once you step back and look at your filled template, you may find that you will have extra time in your day. What have you been doing with all of this time? Do you think you’ve been really busy, but not productive? If you feel like you are always running in ten directions with no direction, it’s time to create a time management template and re-evaluate how you are functioning. Let me know how much time extra time you find in your day!  Do you constantly struggle with the chore of tackling your laundry? Do you feel like you can never seem to get ahead? Clothes spill onto the floor of the laundry room. Hampers are overflowing, and laundry is taking over your dining room table. Dirty and clean unfolded laundry seems to be taking over your home.
I work with many moms who are overwhelmed by laundry. You can add more overwhelm and stress to this if you are disorganized. Here are 10 helpful tips to help reduce the overwhelming effect that laundry causes: Plan ahead. Take a look at your schedule on a Friday for the following week and see where there are any holes in your schedule that you can dedicate to tackling your laundry. You can also pick one day during the week and choose this as your laundry day. Pre-sort. If you get overwhelmed with sorting all of the clothes, keep sectioned laundry baskets in everybody’s rooms. Get everybody on board with the system and follow up with everybody on a regular basis to make sure the system is being followed. Separate by person. How many mismatched socks do you have? Eliminate the lost sock issue by keeping every family member’s laundry separate. Have a basket for each family member. Wash each family member’s clothes separately. You’ll never lose clothes again. Complete the task. Wash your laundry, take it out of the dryer and fold it right away. Break down this process. Don’t continue throwing washes in and neglect to fold them. This is how you end up with missing or mismatched socks. Do a wash, put another wash in and fold the load that just came out of the dryer. If you’re tackling a few loads, you can fold it all at once, but be sure it gets done by the time all of the laundry is done. It won’t take you as long as you think it will. You’ll spend more time stressing about it when you could’ve just tackled it and been done with it. Folding station. If you’re washing loads by person, fold in or near the room where everything is stored. If you have a washer/dryer in the basement, don’t bring the clothes up to the dining room or den to fold. Bring the laundry to the room that it belongs in and fold there and save time. Delegate. If your kids are old enough, enlist them to do their own laundry. If you don’t trust them with the washing machine; dry their clothes, put them in their designated basket and leave them on their bed for them to fold and put away. They will have to eventually do this at some point in their life. Why not start them early? It will make it even easier for them to put them away if they have an organized and systemized bedroom. Is it really dirty? Are the clothes you wore for a few hours really dirty? How many clothes are you washing that are actually clean? Your clothes will last longer if you don’t wash them as much. Re-use. How many times do you use the towel you shower with? Can you go a few days or so with that one towel? You are clean when you get out of the shower; think about getting a few more days out of that towel. Organize your laundry room. Nothing is worse than working in an inefficient space. Keep everything you need on hand in this room. Create systems just as you would in any other room in your home. Regardless of how little space you may have, you can create systems and function efficiently in this room. Make it easy. Create a simple system that will eliminate stress and overwhelm. Be sure everybody’s rooms are organized. Putting away laundry into an organized space is sometimes half the battle. If closets and drawers are organized, with a little maintenance, items will stay folded and hung nicely. While you’re getting laundry done, think of other things you can get done at the same time while your loads are in the wash. You could plan and prepare lunches for the week. You could plan outfits for the week or you can get other work done. Think of the buzzer on the dryer as a timer for managing your time and try to get tasks done between loads. Get into a routine with tackling your laundry. Plan ahead. Fold laundry right away. Follow some or all of the tips above and tweak them to work for you. Sit for a minute and map out how you want to function with your laundry routine and put a plan into motion. |