2. Give gift receipts with your gifts and toss the original receipts.

3. Reduce junk mail by registering with DMAChoice.org.

4. Throw away those small-dollar-amount cash receipts before you even get home.

5. Call the charities you no longer support and request to be removed from their mailing list.

6. Put your magazine subscriptions on a diet.

7. Scan your recipes and get rid of the sheets of paper and recipe cards.

8. Shred your medical explanation of benefit statements after you review them.

9. Throw away those investment prospectus reports if you’ve never read them then request online copies only.

10. Eliminate the other language portions of your product manuals.

For this week’s Tool Tuesday I thought I would showcase an awesome gift for your Valentine.  It’s the perfect trio-of-organization for that special someone’s vehicle!

Neat Seat Organizer ($17) - Features 5 roomy pockets, hangs from passenger seat head rest and swings from front to back of the car

No-Leak Litter Bag ($17) - Also attaches to headrest. Has a leakproof base.

Car Pocket ($9) - This handy pocket attaches to the car’s air vent and is perfect to store your phone, glasses, etc.

The entire trio is available in pink or brown.

Pair them with car wash gift certificates or an oil change and give your Valentine a practical gift! To see these products up close and to order online, visit www.CleverContainer.com/natalie.

A “sweet” Valentine gift for someone you love!  … Or … maybe for you!?

Receipts seem to really confuse some people.  I have seen clients hold onto YEARS of receipts.  They are in ziplock™ bags, crammed into junk drawers, stacked and sliding off counter tops, and forced into bulging file folders.  They come into the home every day but never leave!

There are really only 3 kinds of receipts:

• Weekly
• Big Ticket Items
• Gifts

Weekly receipts come from the grocery store, doctor visits, medication, clothing purchases, and other such purchases made needed for your home and car maintenance.  Big ticket receipts are for large purchases like a washer and dryer, new roof, computers, TV’s… you get the idea. And gift receipts are for – you guessed it – gifts purchased.

Do you need to hang on to each and every receipt?  The short answer is “no”.  The long answer is “it depends”. And that’s where folks get stuck – it depends.  Once they are stuck, no decision is made and hence years’ worth of receipts clutter their life.

At my Declutter Your Life groups (in Sacramento and Chico, CA), this was a hot topic so I created this flow chart to help with the decision making.

The bottom line here is that receipts will hang around forever until you make a decision. The chart reflects what to do with a receipt if you are at home or out and about. The basic premise is this:

1. Set up an in-box to collect receipts.
2. Have a folder or envelope to save questionable receipts for 6 months; purging on at the beginning of each new month.
3. And for the large purchases, keep the receipts with the product manuals.

So take control and start making decisions about those receipts!

I know… most of us hate to file. That’s one reason so many of us are battling with paper in our homes and offices. Most file cabinets are relegated to the back of closets, under the stairs or out in the garage. Some file cabinets are so full they can’t be opened, while others date back to the time of the dinosaurs and need excavation! You might even experience a genuine filing phobia every time you open a file drawer.  It’s difficult to find things when you need them and then you have no idea where to put new papers to be filed.

The first step to overcome your phobia is to re-work your filing system by understanding the types of files and how they are used.  Here’s a chart of the 3 types of files for any home or office.

Now that you have read about these 3 file type, it’s time to take the steps needed to get your file cabinet organized. What I’m about to say is not rocket science or some new age technique…

Use the K.I.S.S. method – Keep it Super Simple!

K eep the 3 types of files separate

I s it worth keeping?  Ask yourself the trigger questions and purge, purge, purge as much as possible  

S implified your categories   Re-think how you have your files labeled; using broad categories will make things easier to find and put away!

S chedule regular maintenance   This is imperative. If you’re not willing to do this step, then all the other steps won’t work! Set up yearly dates to purge files, toss papers, move files from reference to archive, and to re-evaluate your current systems.

Here are a few trigger questions to ask yourself as you sort through and purge your file cabinet.

• Is this information useful?
• Can I get this information again?
• Is this information on the internet?
• Is this information needed for tax or legal reasons?
• What’s the worst thing that would happen if I threw this away?

While there are many ways to organize, I have found that my clients who feel disorganized handle their “stuff” in one of three ways.  These are names for the kinds of disorganization that I often encounter.

The Pilot

This person loves to “pile it” (that’s why I call them a pilot). In their home or office you will find things stacked vertically. It may be papers, books, or clothes; they may be stacked neatly or haphazardly but they are piles nonetheless. These pilots will often say that they know exactly where everything is and they’re right… it’s in a pile!  How are they comfortable organizing this way? Are they really comfortable organizing this way? The answer is yes.  In Lanna Nakone’ s book, Organizing for your Brain Type, she states that this type of person should embrace their stacking preference but limit the number of piles, save less stuff to begin with, and use clear containers.

The Flight Attendant

Visualize the flight attendant on a plane – you walk onto a plane, they have everything neat as a pin and are smiling brightly. But they have a secret place, a closet of sorts. There, all of the tools for their job are hidden away – the beverage cart, coffee carafes, garbage bins, magazines, coats, and who knows what else.  A person who organizes like a flight attendant has a neat and orderly appearance on the outside but don’t dare look in their closets, laundry room or desk drawers! In fact, many of us have been quasi flight attendants in our lives – company rings the doorbell and with one swoosh we clear the papers off the kitchen counter into a bag and throw it in the pantry. Many people become flight attendants in their attempts to organize because they never get around to actually organizing and use closets, boxes or any close-able area to stash things when they want a sense of [eace in their environment.

Crop Duster

This person has it all spread out.  Just like a little crop duster, making sure to cover every nook and cranny. Every horizontal surface is covered with dishes, papers, projects, etc.  When the crop duster person begins to think about getting organized, they are instantly overwhelmed because they do not know where to start. They are paralyzed and cannot take action. Barbara Hemphill, author of Taming the Paper Tiger at Home, says that clutter is postponed decisions.  This person just cannot make a decision about what to do with the “stuff”.

Let me give it to you straight-

If you haven’t read it by now, you are probably never going to read it. So let it go!

It’s time to start fresh and have a plan for all the reading you intend to do this year.

First, set some boundaries. How many articles, books, magazines will you let pile up to read before you actually get to reading them? Determine what is manageable. I have no more than 2 books in line to be read after I finish the book I’m currently reading. There are certainly lots more I want to read but I just keep a book list instead of buying more books and magazines to have stacked by my reading chair. (I am even moving to more ebooks now that I have my iPad.) Boundaries can also be set for the number of magazines you subscribe to. Take a look at the number of subscriptions you have now and if many of those have gone unread last year then cut back your subscriptions by 50% as a starting point.

Decide how you will contain your reading materials. Some ways to do this are with magazine holders, baskets, or dedicating a shelf on a bookcase or side table for things you plan to read next. Having a specific place that contains your reading materials is also another way to set a boundary. If the reading materials start to exceed the designated space, then some need to be purged. No guilt, just follow your own boundaries…

Avoid printing out articles or emails you find on the Internet; it’s a waste of our resources. Bookmark it and come back to it when you do have time to read it. For newsletters and random sheets of paper you have accumulated to read, create a portable ”To Read” folder.  Take it with you and sneak in some reading while waiting at the doctor’s office, while parked and waiting for kids to get out of school, while getting a pedicure or, my favorite, while sitting in the airport waiting for a flight.

If you really want to get some reading done, plan for it. Set aside time daily or weekly to read. If you are not doing this already, you may need to schedule actual time in your calendar until it becomes a habit. It’s perfectly fine to have an appointment with yourself, you know! Speaking of habits, it’s also a good idea to go through and purge your reading piles quarterly. Things that seemed like a “must read” look a whole lot different after 3 months has gone by! Re-evaluate and purge the reading materials regularly, you’ll feel so much better!

The benefits of Planner Pad:

• Monthly view
• 2 pages weekly view
• Different sizes calendars to choose from
• Space for roles, tasks, and appointments
• Room on the weekly pages to capture bits of information
• Designed to make all aspects of your life funnel into each week, in one place

Click here to See the Planner Pad video

“One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don’t clean it up too quickly.”  ~Andy Rooney

Time Saving Tips for Christmas Day

Make a breakfast casserole the night before and just pop it in the oven on Christmas morning

Set the table the night before

Use disposable baking pans and trays for meal prep

Put out a veggie and/or fruit tray for snacking throughout the day

Charge the camera batteries and set up the tripod the night before

Have a large garbage bag staged beside the tree the night before to hold discarded wrappings

Use a gift bag to hold all the bows and ribbons you plan to recycle as things are unwrapped

Have an empty clothes basket for each child to put their gifts into after they get unwrapped

Andy Rooney will be missed this Christmas, but he is right – Don’t clean up too quickly, savor your holiday with your loved ones and soak up the memories.

Last year a business associate heard me speak. Afterwards, she came up and told me she had a poem for me. Not the usual reaction that I get when speaking…

But the next day, when I got her email I realized why she sent the poem.  I have always believed that anyone can do the physical act of organizing but in order to be successful, one has to master the habit of organizing. Read the poem below and see if you don’t agree….

The Habit

I am your constant companion,
I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden.
I will push you onward or drag you down to failure.
I am completely at your command.
Half the things you do might just as well turn over to me
and I will be able to do them quickly and correctly.

I am easily managed -
you must merely be firm with me.
Show me exactly how you want something done
and after a few lessons, I will do it automatically.
I am the servant of all great people;
and alas, of all failures as well.
Those who are great,
I have made great.
Those who are failures,
I have made failures.

I am not a machine,
though I work with all the precision of a machine
plus the intelligence of a human.
You may run me for a profit or run me for ruin -
it makes no difference to me.

Take me,
train me,
be firm with me,
And I will place the world at your feet.
Be easy with me,
and I will destroy you.

WHO AM I?

I AM HABIT.

(Author Unknown)

Do you need some help with creating the habit of organization?  Drop me an email if you want some help!

Did I just say that?!! I love to shop and so do most of my friends.

But clutter is caused by uncontrolled shopping or, stated another way, by a person who shops without restraint- a shopaholic. According to some studies 1 in 20 people is a shopaholic and 9 out of 10 shopaholics are women. (Of course most shopaholics are women – don’t they also say that women make the majority of buying decisions in America?!)

There are many reasons why people say they over-shop. Great sales, late night TV and shopping channels, quantity discounts, having grown up in the depression or having been deprived. Whatever the reason, the underlying cause is emotional. Those who are compulsive shoppers use shopping as an escape from their emotions – whether caused by depression, anxiety, anger or just plain boredom. I write about this today not to point a finger but to say that READ MORE