organizing tips for families Archives • Page 7 of 13 • Helpful Organizer

Organizer Friendly Gifts

December 1, 2017/in Tip of the Month/by Janine Cavanaugh, CPO®

In a gift giving situation, I do my best to give a gift that will not add to someone’s clutter. I call these gifts, organizer friendly gifts. I give intangible things, like tickets to events, memberships to museums, gift certificates to restaurants, and gifts of time. Another option is to give things that get used up, like bath and beauty products, food baskets, and liquid refreshment.

Organized Kids

July 1, 2017/0 Comments/in Tip of the Month/by Janine Cavanaugh, CPO®

School’s out and the kids are home all summer. Here are a few tips to help keep things organized.

1. Schedule daily organizing time. Require participation from every child and play their favorite songs to motivate them.
2. Label children’s clothing bins, toy bins, and book bins with words as well as images, to reinforce where items belong.
3. Instead of leaving unfinished projects out, have an open space on a book shelf or in a cabinet for them to be stored.

Help Veterans Organize

June 15, 2017/0 Comments/in Blog Posts/by Janine Cavanaugh, CPO®

I was thrilled to be interviewed by Rebecca Jennings, Town of North Attleboro, Veteran Service Officer on NorthTV on June 8, 2017 on a show called Veterans’ Forum. The half hour interview is about how I can help Veterans organize. I shared how I help my clients with their organizing, downsizing, and de-cluttering projects. I provide tips on how to start an organizing project, and how to use a five step process to get organized. I also share some helpful resources for donating and getting rid of stuff. It was exciting to be on my local TV channel. The interview can be viewed on YouTube. Want to see?

I am offering to help Veterans organize their homes in 2017. The offer is ten (10) complimentary hours of organizing with me, Janine Cavanaugh, CPO® ($600.00 value). For more information please email me.

Organizing in the New Year

January 26, 2017/0 Comments/in Newsletter/by Janine Cavanaugh, CPO®

Content

January 2017

Newsletter

Side Notes:

*** Did you know that January is Get Organized Month? What will you organize this month? Please share with me.

*** February is the start of my spring class schedule. You can obtain more details on my website. Hope to see you in class.

*** Question: What is the toughest thing for you to get rid of? Books? Clothes? Shoes? Please share your answer.

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Quick Links

Website
Email
NAPO-NE

Hi ,

Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe that it is the end of January already, but I hope 2017 has gotten off to a GREAT start for you. Someone shared this nice idea with me, and I want to share it with you. It suggests you write down good things that happen throughout the year, and put them in a jar. At the end of the year, read and remember all the awesome things that happened in 2017. I think this is a wonderful idea, but I’d like to recommend a twist. Write down organizing projects you tackle this year, and see how accomplished you are at the end of the year. A second twist is to write down all the items you donate and give away. At the end of the year you can reward yourself for giving to those in need. Whatever 2017 holds for you, , I hope your jar is stuffed with wonderful memories, meaningful accomplishments, and good deeds.

Do you make new year’s resolutions?

I do, and I’d like to share one of my 2017 resolutions with you. It is to clean up my Email files. Here is how I’m going to tackle this:

Schedule 20 minutes a week to work on this project.
Clean up one Email folder at a time, and leave my inbox folder for last. I have several Email folders based on the topic of the Email; for example, one for the National Association of Professional Organizers, one for classes I teach, one for bills I pay on line, and other categories like that.
Be ruthless about purging Emails, and only save what I’ll refer to again.
On my scheduled Email-clean-up-day, set a timer and work without interruption until my time is up.
Keep track of what I’ve done; so I can make efficient progress.
Reward myself with 10 minutes of computer-play-time at the end of each work session.

FYI: The above 6 step process can be used to tackle other organizing projects as well. Give it a try and see how it works for you.

Recycle Resource

Finding new ways to recycle, for myself and my clients, makes me happy. Everyone is more motivated to get rid of something when they know it is going to someone who will really use it.

This is why I was happy to find Bay State Textiles. They work with schools through their School Box Program. They share information on economic and environmental aspects of textile reuse, and then place a donation box outside the school. The box is serviced weekly, and a rebate check is given to the school, based on the weight of donations. They accept any type of textile, even stuffed animals and stained items, as long as they are clean and dry. How convenient is that? Please donate. You’ll be helping your local school and a worthwhile organization.

From,

Janine Cavanaugh, CPO®
(508)-699-6652
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If you’ve worked with me in any capacity, I’d be grateful for a review. Simply click on this link and answer 3 questions. Thank you and happy organizing!

Toss the Box

December 1, 2016/0 Comments/in Tip of the Month/by Janine Cavanaugh, CPO®

To save time, remove items that are used frequently, from their boxes, and toss the box. For example, take small appliances, like hand-mixers, blenders, and mini choppers out of their boxes and store them directly in a kitchen cupboard or on a pantry shelf. Also remove smaller items from their packaging and store them in containers without lids, for example batteries, paper plates, q-tips. This eliminates the step of opening and closing the box or packaging each time the item is used, and makes it easier to get things out and put them away.

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