Shoestring Solutions to Organize Your Home or Office

As a professional organizer, it's my job to help busy working parents find  the balance between organizing career and family.  However, most of us don't  want to invest much time or money to accomplish this goal.  Some of the best  organizational tools are very inexpensive and can be found at most discount  stores.  Often developing a personal system involves just a bit of  creativity rather than a substantial investment in a professional product or  service. 

 When establishing a general storage system, you have four storage choices.  You can hang it, put it in a drawer, store it on the floor, or shelve it. If  you haven't used it in a year, chances are you never will. Get rid of  anything that you haven't used for the past year or two, except tax and  business documents. Sorting will reduce your storage needs, and save you  valuable time and money in the process. 

 Managing paper is a challenge we all face. Consolidate important notes into  a daily planner, spiral notebook, large calendar, or wipe off board. Use a  multicolored pen or marker to flag special events, with one color per event  or person.  Create a follow up system using a file box and index cards, or  notebook with pocketed dividers. For bills and other correspondence, buy a  notebook with twelve pocketed dividers, one for each month of the year.  Label each with birthdays, anniversaries, and billing due dates,  then fill  with correspondence.   The binder can be used as a portable desk, or can be  stored at your work area.   Set a specific day of the month to do your  paperwork. Minimize organizing product costs by clipping articles and  recipes, then discarding the remainder of the magazine.  Store in magnetic  photo albums, or a notebook with dividers. 

 Closet organizing ideas can be implemented for storing clothing, crafts,  sporting goods, and just about anything else you can shove into a closet.  Use dowel rods hung at multilevel for clothing on hangers. Plastic bins and  shelf dividers keep folded items stacked.  Hang ties and belts on a plastic  coat hanger, buy cardboard cubbies for shoes and purses (or make your own by  decorating divided grocery store boxes). For quick retrieval, hooks for  caps, bags, umbrellas, and purses keep things in sight.  A hanging storage  closet system purchased at a home store or discount store is a portable  alternative to built-in organizers. (These hang by hooks over your closet  rod and have multiple milk crate cubes suspended below.)  If you live in  small quarters or move frequently, this is a cost-effective solution to  custom shelving. 

 Hanging organizers with divided pouches store and display at the same time.  These come with small pockets for jewelry, or larger pockets for shoes,  pantyhose, or scarves. I've used them in lieu of junk drawers for office  supplies.  The large sizes can be found at dollar stores, and the smaller  sizes are featured in mail order catalogs or home furnishing stores.  Use over the door organizers such as laundry bags, book racks, ironing  boards, utility racks (good for storing tapes, CDs, or cleaning supplies).  Store small items under the bed in boxes with lids, tackle boxes or fishing  lure boxes.  Save an empty thermometer case to store needles, and film  canisters or empty pill bottles with lids for small buttons.  Stash your  chest of drawers in the closet to save wall space and to hold additional  craft items.  Stacking kitchen racks expand cabinet space (dishes, corner  racks, lid racks, plastic wrap racks, stackable trays for junk drawer and  cutlery), and over the door racks hold additional pantry items. 

 For the garage, there's no need to purchase expensive shelving or cabinets.  Hang firring strips with nails or spring latches for long handled tools. Use  hooks for hanging bikes, pegboards for tools, freestanding drawer units,  lidded plastic tubs of all sizes, shelving for large items and those in  containers, an old inverted barstool or trash can for holding tall items  such as bats and fishing poles, and dish tubs on shelves with labels. A  wraparound cloth apron with pockets for a five gallon bucket makes a  wonderful tool tote, and can be found at a home improvement center, or make  your own from scrap material. 

 Make your items do double duty.  Invest in a card punch for your business  cards, then file them on your Rolodex. A basket runner system creates a file  cabinet or kitchen storage unit. Use a bedroom closet to create a niche for  hobby work; the doors close to hide work in progress. Folding screens are  decorative and disguise a work area. A folding card table or  banquet table  can be stored under the bed when not in use, which is convenient if your  hobby room doubles as a guest bedroom.  Find a large piece of plywood to  place over the spare bedroom mattress as a workspace, which can then easily  be stored when guests visit.  Use  wicker baskets to hold important papers  or fresh fruit, and a kitchen crock for utensils. Hanging wire baskets hold  produce and utilize vertical space as well. Top a large garbage can with a  simple wooden circle and skirted cover to make a bedside or end table to  conceal stored items.  Keep your eyes open for creative ways to contain the clutter in your life.  Be only as organized as you NEED to be.  This means establishing a workable  system for yourself that you know you can follow for a long time.  Remember  that being organized is an ongoing process, not an end result.  Tackle those  paper piles ten minutes a day until you finally see your desk under all  those stacks.  It will get done, and just think of the sense of  accomplishment you'll feel every day as you do just a little bit more to  organize the clutter in your life. 
 
 

 Debbie Williams is a professional organizer specializing in organizing the  home and office. Her tips booklet, The Office Organizer's Handbook, can be  ordered through her website at www.organizedtimes.com