organizing tips Archives • Page 2 of 26 • Helpful Organizer

Everything has potential

September 1, 2024/0 Comments/in Tip of the Month/by Janine Cavanaugh, CPO®

Potential usefulness is not the same as actual usefulness. It’s easy to hold on to things because they have potential, but it’s important to be honest with yourself about their true value. Ask yourself:

How realistic is the potential of this item?
What condition is it in?
What is the likelihood that I’ll actually use it?
Will I use it within the next 6 months?
If it were damaged, would I replace it?
Would someone else get more value from it than I do?

The world is full of items with potential, but if you’re not using or appreciating them, consider letting them go to someone who will.

Getting better at organizing takes practice

February 1, 2024/in Tip of the Month/by Janine Cavanaugh, CPO®

If you wanted to learn to play the guitar, what would you do? Would you look into taking lessons? How often would you practice? Would you expect to get better with only a few attempts? My guess is that you’d tell yourself to practice, practice, practice. Well, organizing is a skill, just like playing the guitar. You’ll make progress and get better at it with practice. I’d recommend practicing organizing for at least 10 minutes every day.

For some ideas on how to practice and improve your organizing skills look at these articles:

Trash don’t stash

August 1, 2023/in Tip of the Month/by Janine Cavanaugh, CPO®

Have you heard this phrase before, “Trash it don’t stash it!”? It’s great organizing advice that can be applied to both paper and stuff. However, please recycle instead of trash.

Here are three blogs that will help you do just that.

Your organizing preference

June 1, 2023/0 Comments/in Tip of the Month/by Janine Cavanaugh, CPO®

The way we store, organize, manage, and retrieve stuff is unique to each individual. By paying attention to what works best for us, we realize our organizing preferences. Use these preferences to hone your organizing skills.

The image below is an example of 5 different ways to store sweaters. What is your preferred method? Is that the method that works best for you? If so, repeat this method with other stuff you need to store, organize, manage and retrieve. If it isn’t, test another method for effectiveness.