Getting Back in the School Routine

How many of you are ready to send your kids back to school? While we all enjoy the carefree days of summer, we also admit that the first day of school comes with some relief! We are happy to know that our kids have more opportunities to socialize with friends, get involved in activities and athletics, and generally stay busy and engaged.  But that relief can be quickly replaced by overwhelm when we realize just how many activities and events we’re going to have schedule.

Organized A to Z focuses on getting you ready for back-to-school, whether you’re a parent, student, or teacher. During the month of August, we’re featuring products that will help you organize your stuff, schedule, and the added paper that will find its way into your home or classroom.

When it comes to keeping track of everybody’s busy schedule, you need ButtonedUp’s Family.Agenda. This durable, agenda-sized, perfectly bound notebook has 150 pages, with 12 undated months so you can start to use it anytime of the year!

Each month has three sections to keep the entire family organized: Family schedule (for recurring appointments), Month-at-a-glance, and Week-at-a-glance. The Family.agenda™ also includes weekly organizational and sanity saving tips from Buttoned Up® as an added bonus.

Use it track school events, club meetings, doctor and dentist appointments, school meetings, church activities, and much more. Avoid double scheduling and over-scheduling.

Absolutely Organized!

Moms – celebrate the back-to-school season with a little gift for yourself!

I’m happy to announce that Organized A to Z is carrying Absolutely Organized by Debbie Lillard!

With school starting soon, you may soon find yourself running non-stop (if you’re not already) shuttling kids to after school activities, pushing to get them out the door in time for school, struggling to get them to wind down at night and in bed at the proper time, and squeezing in all the other daily errands and work in between.

You may feel like never you accomplish anything. You might feel stressed out just walking in the door or waking up in the morning. Ever dream about doing things that you never get around to doing? Wish you had extra hours in your day? Well, here’s something even better!

Absolutely Organized is “a book full of tips and hope” for overworked, time-crunched, clutter-crushed moms. It’s brimming with practical, proven and, in many cases, very simple solutions for keeping order in every corner of your life, from your refrigerator to your file drawers, from keeping a newborn on a set schedule to getting kids to willingly pitch in on household chores.

Debbie Lillard, professional organizer and mother of three, shares her easy-to-use “Absolutes of Organizing” tips to help you gain and maintain order in the three key areas of your family’s life:

YOUR TIME: Learn the tricks for streamlining cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping and other everyday duties. Get more done and have more time left over to spend on your kids, your spouse, projects around the house, and even yourself!

YOUR BELONGINGS: Use Debbie’s simple but effective C.P.R. method (Categorize, Purge and Rearrange) to organize paperwork, photos, collections, toys, clothes, children’s artwork and more.

YOUR HOME: Take it room by room–home office, kitchen, bathroom, family room and even (gulp!) the kids’ rooms. Rid your house of clutter, make the most of your space, and make home feel more comfortable, functional and relaxing.

Follow Absolutely Organized from start to finish for a complete, full-life makeover. Or dip in here and there for help on one problem area at a time, such as that ever-growing mountain of paperwork, your collection of children’s memorabilia, or that disaster area called a closet. Tried-and-true advice for every mom, Absolutely Organized will help you simplify your life so you can enjoy more and stress less.

Get the school year started off right with more organization, less stress, and a more comfortable and relaxing living space!

Today’s Featured Birthday Special – GTD Tickler File System

Whether managing household paper, bills, or business documents, the GTD Tickler File System will keep you on track. I chose to feature this system as a birthday special because I love the simple concept and its usefulness in many applications. You can store whole documents and always keep them easily accessible. When you need to organize by date and remember to tasks and papers, this is the system to use!

Organized A to Z is celebrating our birthday in July, but we’re giving you the presents! Each day, we are offering our favorite products at 25% off. The discount is good today only, so get it now!

Today’s Birthday Special – Family Activities Calendar

Today’s featured “birthday” special is Family Activities Calendar.

Organized A to Z is celebrating our birthday in July, but we’re giving you the presents! Each day, we are offering our favorite products at 25% off. The discount is good today only, so get it now!

Today’s Birthday Special – The Mess Kit

Today’s featured “birthday” special is The Mess Kit!

Organized A to Z is celebrating our birthday in July, but we’re giving you the presents! Each day, we are offering our favorite products at 25% off. The discount is good today only, so get it now!

Today’s Feature Product – Buttoned Up Shopping.pad

Organized A to Z is celebrating our birthday in July, but we’re giving you the presents! Each day, we are offering one of our favorite products at 25% off. Today’s featured product is the Buttoned Up Shopping.pad.  The discount is good today only, so act fast!

Six Steps to Happy, Healthy Living

Thanks to Organized A to Z partner Diana Fletcher, a stress-reducing expert, for contributing this week’s series – Six Steps to Happy, Healthy Living.

We have been in a “hurry-up” mode for so long that it is difficult for many people to figure out how to slow down. One great way to begin is to look at how you spend your days.  Honestly look at how you spend each minute of everyday.  Often we have developed habits that no longer have any purpose.   Look at your activities and ask yourself, does this activity benefit me anymore?  Does this benefit anyone else?  If you are honest with yourself, you will discover many of these things are unnecessary or could be done by someone else. Eliminating just a few of these unnecessary activities can create extra space in your day.  The purpose of this is not to immediately fill those moments with more work. The purpose is to create space to take care of your health. Once you have eliminated some time wasters, you can use these ideas to empower you on your journey toward healthier, happier living:

1) One of the keys to good health is getting enough sleep. It is possible to make this a priority.  Turn off the television set.  Leave the work.  It can wait. Not getting enough sleep can affect our decision making, our moods, our creative thinking, and even make us weigh more. Studies have shown that lack of sleep decreases regulation of hormones that  control our appetites. Think of times you have felt unusually hungry and craved carbohydrates. Many times this is after a night of too little sleep. Set a reasonable time to go to sleep and stick to it. Your reward will be fresher thinking, fresher skin and more energy.

2) Take the time to drink plenty of water.  This is so simple but so important. Keep hydrated to flush out toxins, have healthier looking skin and boost your metabolic rate.  Often we mistake thirst for hunger, so drinking enough water can help you control the amount you eat.

3) Take a multivitamin.  Along with the water and the right amount of sleep, you will be amazed at the change in your energy levels.

4) Every hour, no matter what you are doing, take a few moments to stand up, stretch and move around.  We were not meant to sit at desks and computers or anywhere else for long periods of time.  Stretch, move, breathe.

5) Everyday show gratitude. Saying thank you is a de-stressor that makes you feel good.  Negative thoughts cause stress.  It is hard to have negative thoughts and thoughts of gratitude in our mind simultaneously.

6) Make time for friends.  Healthy relationships help us stay healthy.  This does not mean you have to accept every invitation that comes this time of year.  Give yourself time to think about your response to the invitation.  Is this something you truly want to do?  Will you be sorry you gave up sleep or time with your family or spouse?  Sometimes, holiday gatherings are not where we truly want to be.  We overindulge in food and drink, then regret the time, calories and lack of sleep the next day.

How you spend the minutes of each day add up to how you spend your life. The way you live your life and the choices you make determine how healthy and strong you will be.  Are you making choices that strengthen you or weaken you? If you are making the choices that are making you happy and healthy, that is fantastic and I say, keep up the good work!  If not, you have the power to choose a different way.  A happy, healthy way.

How do you truly want to live your life?

Did you Need to be Rescued From Your Clutter?

Clutter Rescue Course

One of Organized A to Z’s newest products is professional oganizer Diane Hatcher’s organizing tool, the Clutter Rescue Course. If you have clutter, you owe it to yourself to take this course!

This course offers a comprehensive approach to taking back control of your home and your life. You’ll develop a state of mind that produces results, not upset. Peace, not craziness. And power, not powerlessness. Pretty soon, you’ll find that the clutter will actually begin to take care of itself.

The Clutter Rescue Course™ is made up of two 10-week segments (and a 5-week bonus course) that cover personal and work clutter, organization and time management issues. Here’s how it works:

• Lessons are delivered by e-mail weekly beginning immediately after you register.
• Inside each email, there’ll be a link to a short video that I created to introduce you to the week’s topic and activities.
• Each lesson has an exercise that should take no more than a half-hour a week.

The 148-page companion workbook provides you with tons of more instruction and information! If you have Internet access, an e-mail account and a half hour each week, then you have the right stuff to be organized and simplify your life!

The Clutter Rescue Course is perfect for you if:

• you want the best, time-tested information that will have you be organized once and for all
• you want to know what clutter really is, because it’s not the sign of a cluttered, disorganized or creative mind!
• you like to learn things a little at a time, because you’ll have an easier time implementing the material
• you like a support system, because you want to stay on track
• you have problems focusing on things for too long, because your lessons will be short and to the point
• you want a simpler, much more enjoyable life, because you and the people around you deserve it!

Clutter Rescue Course creator Patty Kreamer is a Certified Professional Organizer and author of “…But I Might Need It Someday” and The Power of Simplicity. Since 1999, she has been involved in hands-on organizing every day to help her clients live an organized, clutter-free life. She’s also worked with corporate clients all across North America to help them become more productive and perform at an optimum level. Patty is also a consultant, coach, professional speaker, and media subject matter expert, and has served as President of the National Association of Professional Organizers – Pittsburgh chapter and of the National Speakers Association – Pittsburgh chapter.

Oh What a Relief It Is….

Today, Organized A to Z partner Sherry Lee Denton of  The Orderly Touch, Inc offers these tips for decluttering your life and regaining control of stuff, time, and life.

Remember that old TV commercial advertising a while fizzy tablet that when taken would take away heartburn and bloating from overeating or eating the wrong foods?  A professional organizer can provide that same effervescent feeling by guiding and consulting you to a calmer more orderly environment.

Whether it is your office, home, or home office, clearing the environment of visual clutter, excess accumulation of needed items, and things that take our focus away from the task will help you function much better and with more grace and peace.

Depending on the level of crisis, you can start small with just a desktop or tackle the monster filing system with these three simple steps and asking some questions:

1. Prepare:  Set aside some time.  This can be a small amount each day if you are nibbling at the organizing project or can be a large span of time if determined to complete the task all at once.  Get equipment.  Be certain to have a shredder on hand (if that is appropriate for the task), recycle containers, trash containers, and a “keep” box.  Deter detractors.  Try to get a babysitter, turn off the phone, put away the pets so that interruptions are kept at a minimum and your productivity can be at a high level.

2. Perform:  Sort it all out.  Put the disposables into the correct containers (recycle, trash, shredder).  Fill the “keep” containers putting items to be repaired in the next two weeks aside.  Asking yourself these questions along the way will make this part of the task easier:  a) Have I used this in the last 3 months?  b) Is this item critical to my/others daily functioning?  c) What’s the worst thing that could happen if this were no longer in my life?  d) Is this something I love, cherish, treasure to the point it adds beauty and meaning to my existence?  Remove the trash/recyclables at the end of the work session.  Shred documents in one sitting later or take to a document handling company for shredding.  Contain the “Keepers” appropriate to the location of storage, frequency of use, and need for protection.

3. Place:  Take all the contained “Keepers” and place them within the zone where they are to be used.  Again, a professional organizer can help set up the systems needed to assist you in maintaining the order you so desire in your space.

With everything restored, you too will effervesce with enthusiasm about your space. Work will be easier and more enjoyable knowing 1. YOU DID IT!!, 2. Finding things is easier, 3. Your environment is more peaceful and calm because you have the knowledge that a system is in place for maintaining and using your environment efficiently.

Organizers can be found at www.napo.net (and http://www.organizedatoz.com/Partner-Links-s/34.htm). Each may take a different approach than the one listed above but each will have your best interest at heart and have a desire to make your life more peaceful and calm.

Get Organized, Get Revitalized

Get Organized, Get Revitalized

Organized A to Z is happy to announce one of our newest products is the book, “Get Organized, Get Revitalized,” by professional organizer Stacey Anderson of Organized Innovations. In this book, Stacey offers simple, easy to follow tips that don’t add guilt to your current clutter situation. She is committed to helping you put solutions in place to help you reach your goals.

Organized A to Z knows it’s hard to know where to start when it comes to organizing and decluttering, but we also know how rewarding and satisfying it can be to accomplish your organizing goals. This 88 page book is a full of great tips to help you jump start your organizing process. It is fun and easy to read and full of helpful pictures. This will continue to be a book that you enjoy while using it as a quick and easy reference guide.

Use this book to help you declutter your life and find the peace and comfort in your home that you deserve.