Getting Organized for the New Year

Here are some tips for getting organized for the New Year:

• Use file boxes and/or file cabinet drawers for paperwork.

• Make sure you have some kind of garbage and/or recycling bin in each room of your home.
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• Use bookshelves for books you will read in the future and donate books that will just collect dust.

• I use bookshelves for DVDs, computer games, video games, and board games.

• I have a medium size basket under our coffee table that holds 3 projects, each neatly packaged into a gallon ziplock bag.

• On top of the coffee table is a small basket from the dollar store that holds remote controls and video game controllers. There is a box of kleenex, a candy dish, and some lotion. Otherwise it is clear.

• We have a living room chair with one of those side tables next to it that allows for magazines in the rack below it. I have a basket from the dollar store in the magazine rack and garbage goes straight into it instead of on the coffee table or elsewhere.

• I have a standing towel rack that came with our bathroom set and I use it in the living room for blanket throws.

• I use one of the bookshelves to store my laptop computer when I am not using it. There is an outlet nearby and it charges there.
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• I turned our coat closet into a kitchen pantry, by asking my husband to make shelves inside it. I asked him to keep them spread far apart so I can put big bulky items from the warehouse store in it.

• If I am not going to use something, I throw it away or donate it. I don't let it sit and collect dust and get in my way. I control my home, not stuff!

• I use plastic shoe bins for my shoes and place them on the upper shelf in my closet. I use my closet by keeping my clothes hung up. I have a dresser and I use it by folding my clothes and putting them away.

• I use under the bed bins for misc. items that are used seasonally. I also use larger bins in our storage on our balcony.

• If I don't want to dust something, or if it is in the way, bothersome to me and my family, I get rid of it.
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• I am sentimental and I keep things for that reason, but those things have a place on a shelf, in a cupboard or closet or bin.

• We have laundry hampers in both bedrooms and I do the laundry consistently and it is completed, not partially done. Clothes, towels etc. get folded or hung up and put away.

We have a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo. There are 3 of us and we are not cramped or cluttered.

By Carly St.Clair from Lynnwood, WA