Running is good exercise.  But are your running shoes good for the environment?  How many pairs of shoes are in your closet right now, and how many do you actually love and wear?  As the weather gets cooler and you start swapping sandals for boots, take a look at your shoe inventory and find ways to donate the ones in good condition or recycle the ones that are torn or damaged.  Here’s a few great tips to declutter those shoes and keep them from cluttering up landfills, too!

• Come to the Innovatively Organized Clothing Swap!  Bring old and gently worn clothes, shoes, and accessories to our event and “shop” for new-to-you things in exchange. Visit our website for more information and sign up early.  Space is limited!
• Drop off any brand of gym shoes at Niketown and they will turn those sneakers into playground surfaces, tennis courts, and tracks.
• Soles4Souls collects and donates shoes to communities in need, especially those hit by natural disasters and living in impoverished areas.

It’s almost Halloween which means Thanksgiving and all the other holidays this winter are closely following! Here are a few tips to keep your decorations organized as you begin adding holiday touches in the next couple of months.

• Color-code - It’s easy to identify which decorations are where if you have everything for one holiday or season in color-coded bins. For example, a green bin might be just for Christmas and an orange bin could be for Halloween.
• Label, label, label - Clearly label everything! Along with the name of the season, event or holiday, don’t forget to label things as ‘fragile’ or ‘this side up’ to avoid breaking things or stacking things inappropriately.
• Take a photo - This year, when you have all the decorations up, take a photo of the room or tree or yard and put it with the box of decorations. It will be so much easier to see what you have and how to set it up again.
• Keep or donate - Are there any old or broken ornaments or lights that don’t work in your pile of decorations? Get rid of it! Now is the time to donate or throw away holiday items that you don’t love or don’t use.
• Extend the life of your wrapping paper - It’s tempting to buy several rolls of holiday wrap with cute patterns, but if you buy a few solid colors, it will last you longer and provide more uses throughout the year. Store all your paper, ribbons, scissors and tape together in under-the-bed or vertical containers made for gift wrap so you don’t have to go hunting for items when you’re ready to wrap.

A few months ago, Wing-It Productions won the Extreme Office Makeover Contest sponsored by Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce members and Microsoft. The office makeover was valued at over $35,000 worth of services and products, and I was able to contribute my business organizing services to help streamline their space and files. The before and after pictures speak for themselves!

Before: Cluttered Space

After: Organized Success

Wing-It Productions is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to enlightening, educating and entertaining audiences of all ages by producing theatrical events and bringing the art of improvisation into the mainstream thought of our everyday culture.

Oftentimes, getting motivated to organize your home or office is a bigger challenge than the actual physical task of organizing.  It can take time!  Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Ditch the “all or nothing” mindset. Staring at a cluttered garage makes many think of hours of work ahead because they think cleaning up the whole thing will take all day and they only have a couple of hours.  Therefore, many people end up doing nothing.  Instead, break up the project into smaller parts and pick a task that can be done within a shorter time frame, such as sorting and storing all the seasonal decorations. This will quiet down that “all or nothing” philosophy and you can slowly but surely move onto another task, like purging old or unused lawn supplies, for the next day or week.
• Be an early bird. Undertake organizing projects first thing in the morning.  Dedicate an hour or so to take care of those small things you really need to get out of the way, such as returning a batch of phone calls, sorting all the mail, tossing expired leftovers from the fridge, or cleaning out the medicine cabinet. Once it’s out of the way, you won’t have to think about it and the rest of your day will be free to focus on other projects.
• Make it a family affair. Engage the whole family in a seasonal cleaning and organizing day.  Set up a block of time on a weekend and select a project that the group can tackle together, like planning a garage sale with outgrown toys, clothes, sports equipment, books and bedding, and then celebrate with a movie and pizza party.

I’ve discovered another cool mobile application called Quipit that will allow you to take pictures of paper documents or notes on a whiteboard and turn them into digital files (PDFs). Since it seems like we’re never without our camera phones, this is a quick and compact way to store and share files while on the go!

• Email or fax Qipit digital copies via email, your online Qipit account, or right from your phone
• Store all of your paper documents and notes as digital documents for easy archiving and sharing
• Tag your Qipit documents for easy searching and sorting
• Publish and share your documents on the web

Streamlining 101: Paper, Time, & Money Management

Is “Get Organized” one of your goals? If so, this is the workshop series for you.

Join us after work to gain skills on improving your productivity and learn tips on mastering your money management.

Session 1: Organizing Your Paper 101

Session 2: Tackling Your Finances 101

Session 3: Managing Your Time 101

5:30PM - 7:30PM*
Oct 21st, Oct 28th, Nov 4th
Outback Steakhouse, South Lake Union

Come to one or all three workshops taking place on three consecutive Wednesdays.

Register now for just $24 per workshop!
(Or pay at the door for $29 per workshop.)

*Networking happy hour immediately following.

This event has passed, but check out our Upcoming Events page!

A friend forwarded me this Family Circus cartoon, and it reinforces one of my most important organizing rules - assign a storage space or a “home” for everything you own. This means you know where everything goes, and you eliminate wasted time searching for an item. It also helps you clean up faster because you’ll know exactly where to put things back once you’re done using them!