Always enthusiastic about any reason to get organized, we are happy to announce that today is “Clean Up Your Room Day”!  How is your bedroom looking?  Have you been unable to see the floor in quite some time?  Do you need some help clearing and organizing your space?  Here are some tips that you can use today!Focus on one area
Whether your dresser is spewing out clothes or your nightstand is buried under books, choose one area to clean first and stick with it until it’s finished.

Have the right ‘tools’
Getting your room cleaned and organized will be much easier if you have the right tools on hand.  Some suggestions to come with:

• Bags for trash, recyclable items, items to be donated and items that belong somewhere other than your room
• Cloths and cleaning products for cleaning surfaces
• A vacuum or broom to clean the floor

Reward Yourself
If cleaning is not your idea of fun, try motivating yourself with a reward.  Perhaps coffee with a friend, 30 minutes of relaxing, or something that you feel is a treat.

We love this idea for organizing your ribbon!  Crafts and wrapping supplies are often difficult to keep orderly because they come in a variety of sizes and shapes.  Ribbon can easily become a cluttered and tangled box of satins and colors.  Martha Steward Living gives detailed directions for making this simple box (can even be a shoe box) into a ribbon organizer.  Everything will stay separated and organized, plus you’ll save time while wrapping gifts!

What are your thoughts?  How do you keep your ribbons untangled?

Was it difficult getting back into your work routine after the holidays?  Try giving your cubicle a nice facelift; cleaning and organizing your workspace will help you focus on your job and clients.  You will save time and increase productivity when no longer distracted by keyboard dust.  In honor of National Clean Off Your Desk Day (every second Monday on January), as well as our ongoing Messiest Desk Contest (accepting nominations through this Saturday, January 14!), here’s some help tidying up your workspace.

What you’ll need:

• 10-15 minutes
• Canned air
• Microfiber cloth
• Damp cloth

Steps:

1. Remove everything off of your desk that is not connected or attached.
2. Use the canned air to clean dust from your monitor, keyboard and desk surface.
3. Turn off your monitor so it’s easier to see marks and wipe it with a microfiber cloth.  Be careful not to press too hard to avoid damaging the monitor.
4. Use your damp cloth to wipe your phone and desktop clean.
5. As you are returning items to your desk:
1. Get rid of items you no longer need (non-working pens, broken staplers, old calendars and event flyers, etc.)
2. Put items away (paper clips, notepads, books, files, etc.)
3. For piles of paper that you cannot go through in the last few minutes of your desk clean-up, set them aside in piles to go through at another time.

Speaking of new gifts in the house, if you got a new phone or iPod this holiday season, the Apple Recycling Program is a great way to responsibly throw out your old devices.  If you send in something still of value, they will mail an Apple gift card back to you!  If the device is simply worn out, Apple will still responsibly recycle it for you.  You can even bring in an old iPod to knock 10% of your purchase of a new one. 

What are your thoughts?  Will you be sending anything in to Apple?

Ready to ring in the New Year?  There are a few more things you should do than buy a fun dress or find a babysitter for New Year’s Eve parties.  We’ve created a New Year Checklist to help you take care of things at work and at home so you can have a fresh start to 2012!

Get organized now with our New Year Checklist!

As January approaches, it’s time for us to all start thinking of goals for the New Year.  Resolutions are good ideas in theory, but do they ever come to fruition?  You stay on track for two weeks until reality settles back; you get busy and inevitably forget.  Instead, this year you should create goals- yes, tangible, measurable, and attainable goals.  It’s about creating steps to continually progress towards what you want.  Here’s a form to help get you to success!

Get organized now with our Goal Setting Form!

Description:
Preparing to throw the perfect holiday party for your friends and family?  But feeling overwhelmed about everything that goes into throwing a party−creating guest lists, sending invitations, finding a vendor, or ordering from caterers?  Try using online party planners to help streamline the process.  One helpful website is and Best Party Ever.

Abilities:
•  Create guest lists
•  Organize budgets
•  Build schedules
•  Personalize and send invitations
•  Find nearby vendors
•  Plan food and drinks
•  Learn hosting tipsGreat for:
•  Keeping all of your information in one place
•  Organizing your guest lists
•  Finding nearby places and businesses

Cost: Free

Description:
Got heaps of homemade cards and Hallmark designs?  Many people like to stock up on greeting cards so they are prepared for any occasion.  This is a smart idea, but it usually leads to piles of birthday cards, holiday greetings, thank you notes, and sympathy cards.  Organize your collection with a greeting card organizer, which allows you to split them into categories and will protect them from bending.

You’ll love it for:
•  Sorting all of your cards
•  Finding the right occasion faster
•  Recognizing which you have too many of or not enough of

Cost: $24.59

Available at: our Amazon store

Hey iPhone users, Christmas has come early this year!  We’re sure you’re all familiar with iPhone 4S’s Siri, the voice-controlled assistant that can help you send messages, schedule meetings, and place phone calls all by listening to your request.  As if it couldn’t get any better, Siri has now paired up with Seattle startup Wishpot to help make your life even easier!  Wishpot is online shopping service, allowing you to build your wishlists.  With the two combined, you can now tell Siri to add items to your existing wishlists−Siri then sends you a text message with the lowest price found.

Does it get any better?!