NOW is the time!

Get into the stores and load up on all the 'Back to School' sale stuff at Target, Christmas Tree Stores, and Staples--it's geared towards the broke college student shopper and cramped dorm-room dweller, which means it is full of smart and inexpensive storage and organizing supplies and furniture.  Much better than the 'Get Organized' sales at Container Store and Home Depot, which are targeted at well-off grown-ups trying to pretty-up their already lovely homes.  Don't get me wrong, I would kill for one of these beauties

from The Container Store, but those are priced at $10.99 each!

You can get cute cardboard magazine files for ONE BUCK at Target.  Along with cute pen holders, bins, baskets, totes, and bags; shelving, cubbies, racks, and...

... oh sure, that's $6 more than that file holder... but it's a FOOTSTOOL.

So go stock up!  Get storage containers in threes in order to gather up your things and make them look like a nice collection.  Or, if you're in the Target dollar section, go ahead and splurge on sets of five--treat yo'self!

quick check-out:

This short Boston Globe article hits all the key points:  clutter=stress, a mention of the fascinating Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century, as well as seven great clutter reduction tips from the immortal Peter Walsh.

Feeling overwhelmed by clutter? 7 stress-reducing tips  

8/09/2012 5:52 PM   By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

With the 21st century’s constantly evolving technological innovations and the wild success of bulk-shopping stores, our hoarding habits have gotten worse. Some of us feel like we’re drowning every time we take a moment to look around our homes.

so how do we keep all the toys sorted into the right bin?

ta da! 

snip a picture from the box or instructions and tape to the bin
or
ask the kids to draw a picture of what goes into each bin, and tape that in.

the best place for all those new toys?

open. bin. shelving.  available at Target and Toys R Us.  

(hint:  Target's is 33" wide and $59; TRS is 42" wide and $44.  you do the math)

Ikea's Trofast drawer bins

are also a good way to go.  but not the best because...

there are three essentials for toy storage to keep in mind:

1. accessibility:  for kids this means not just easy-to-reach but also easy-to-see.  kids are not great archeologists.  they don't dig for long-forgotten items at the bottom of a drawer, they play with toys that are there for the taking.  
2. transportability:  little hands can carry lightweight bins from the playroom to the bedroom to the kitchen, all the stuff can get tossed in at the end of the day, and then back to the shelves.
3. toss-in-ability:  if you don't have to do anything else--sort, open and close drawers to find where stuff goes, rearrange it all to make room for a drawer to close--a quick clean-up becomes possible and even pretty easy.

step one in decluttering and simplifying your life and home: cut down on incoming junk

 including marketing calls and junk mail:

1)  The National Do Not Call Registry gives you a choice about whether to receive telemarketing calls at home. Most telemarketers should not call your number once it has been on the registry for 31 days. If they do, you can file a complaint at this Website. You can register your home or mobile phone for free.

2)  Catalog Choice is a free service to opt out of catalogs, coupons, credit card offers, phone books, circulars and more.

3)  DMAchoice is an online tool developed by the Direct Marketing Association to help you manage your mail. . . For the purposes of this site, direct mail is divided into four categories: Credit Offers, Catalogs, Magazine Offers and Other Mail Offers. You can request to start or stop receiving mail from individual companies within each category—or from an entire category at once.

If you feel like getting all official about it, check out the FTC Consumer Alert website on unsolicited mail, calls, and email:

Where to Go to “Just Say No”

Tired of having your mailbox crammed with unsolicited mail, including preapproved credit card applications? Fed up with getting telemarketing calls just as you're sitting down to dinner? Fuming that your email inbox is chock-full of unsolicited advertising? The good news is that you can cut down on the number of unsolicited mailings, calls, and emails you receive by learning where to go to "just say no."

For a chatty newspiece, read the CBS story How to stop junk mail forever.

Last and not at all least:  41pounds.org, another junk mail management website, estimates that the average American adult receives 41 pounds of junk mail each year. So stop the junk mail and save:

     1) your sanity

     2) your home

     3) the environment

about me:

I got started organizing when I sorted my grandmother's soup cupboard at the age of 10.  It is now family lore that I unearthed 14 cans of black bean soup--my grandmother had become convinced that black bean soup was hard to get, and so she bought a can every time she saw it at the store, then stashed it in the cupboard, never to be seen again.

Many years after that cupboard fix-up, I earned a Masters in Counseling Psychology.  I've worked with families, individuals, and groups, and am certified in mind/body and stress reduction techniques.

And all the while, I've been helping friends, family, and colleagues get organized, working on basic projects like establishing a filing system for an office, to more complex issues including ADHD, trauma, and substance abuse.

Whatever the stumbling blocks, your home can be a place of beautiful comfort and soothing relaxation. Your office space can help you work more efficiently while feeling less stressed.

If you want help with finding a clearer path to a beautiful living space or workable office space, shoot me an email:  kate@puresolutions.biz