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Donate Women's Business Attire March 1-4

Organizing Tip! Donate your Women's Business Attire and Old Tshirts
Contact http://www.thecustomcloset.net/ before or after you donate your clothes!

OK everyone, it's time to clear out your closets. Often times, my clients have told me that they hesitate to get rid of some things from their homes because they just don't know where to donate. They want to find a good cause, or good new "home" for their items. Well, today's tip is to let you know about two good "homes" to get rid of a two kinds of things from your closets.

1) Women's Business Attire:
If you have any women's business attire that you no longer wear, you can donate your nearly-new items to a Dress Barn store near you to help a woman enter the workforce with confidence and style! From today, March 1st, through Sunday, March 4, Dress Barn has partnered with Dress for Success for their annual S.O.S. - SEND ONE SUIT WEEKEND. All Dressbarns are participating this weekend. You simply bring your items in shopping bags or on hangers, and give them to a Sales Associate or Manager at the store. As a thank-you, they will give you a 15% off coupon! To find a store near you, click here.

2) Old T-shirts:
OK, so let's be realistic. We probably all have a few (or fifty?!) old extra t-shirts clogging up our dresser drawers and closets. It's time to let them go! A great new home for them so they can be repurposed and used for something new and cool, is The Vintage Ladder Upcycling Co. A friend of mine, Robin Messing Bogdanoff, will take your old t-shirts, and transform them into fresh housewares and accessories - how cool is that?! To donate, click the link above, or send me an email and I can pass along your contact information to Robin who will allow you to either drop-off the tshirts, or she may even be able to arrange pick up (in and around the Northern Bergen County, Southern Rockland County NY areas). The Vintage Ladder Upcycling Co is making the old new again; remaking po st-consumer iconic Americana (tee shirts, LPs, denim) into fresh housewares and accessories. Revise, revamp, rejoice!
Until next time, wishing you an easier life by Organizing With EASE.

Linda English - Owner/Professional Organizer
Organizing With EASE, LLC
201-638-9593
http://www.blogger.com/goog_1019225363
orgwithease@aol.com

Post Holiday Organizing

Organizing Tip! One last thing before the holidays are officially over...


I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, and are doing well so far in the New Year. The holiday time is pretty much over, and perhaps you have, or are just about to, take down your decorations, put away the gifts, and get your home back to 'normal'. But.... I urge you to do one more thing! Write some holiday things down to use as reference for next year.
So, think about the information that may be helpful to you next year, so that you don't have to re-think it all through, start from scratch, or try to remember what you did last year. Some suggested items to write down:
Tips - Who did you decide to tip, and how much? Were you happy with that amount? Did you forget anyone? If so, write it down so you can replicate it next year, or make the appropriate changes.
Teacher Gifts: Again, who and what so you have a reference for next year.
Business/Client Gifts: Who, what, and why?
Family/Friends Gifts: List of who you gave to, why, and what you gave if you think it will be helpful next year.
Decorations: Did you have enough, too much? Write down what you liked/didn't like, what you were missing, or what you really have too much of, and perhaps next year, you can modify your decor, or perhaps purge a lot of it right when you pull it out next year. If you still haven't taken your decor down, then when you do it, I suggest you store items in containers based on what room they go in - clearly label the bins so you don't have to re-think next year (this of course only works if you decorate the same way each year. If you like to change things up, then I suggest you store items based on category of item, instead of room they go in).
Menu: If you hosted a holiday celebration, write down the menu of what you served, and whether or not you'd prepare or order those items next year. If you catered the event, write down who you used, did you order enough, not enough, was it a good variety of food/drink, perhaps the amount of money you spent, etc... Jot down whatever notes that will be helpful in planning next year's celebrations
Once you write all this down (or anything else useful for you), then put it all in a folder labeled "Holidays", and file it away with your other Home and Personal file folders. If you're the electronic type, then you can easily put this all in your smartphone, IPad, or a simple MS Word document. Then, when next year's holidays come rolling around, you'll be armed with all the key info from the previous year, and you won't have to re-think it all through again!

Linda English - Owner/Professional Organizer
Organizing With EASE, LLC
201-638-9593
www.orgwithease.com
orgwithease@aol.com

contact:  http://www.thccustomcloset.net/
(201) 666-1717

Get a "Wow" closet from The Custom Closet

Watch this clip from Modern Family,  then contact The Custom Closet for your "wow" design and estimate!
No, Gloria does not work for us, sorry.

Just Because It Fits... Organize Your Closets and Your Life

Organizing Tip! Just Because It Fits Doesn't Mean...

• you have to keep it
• you need it
• you want it
• you like it

For those that follow my tips, a little while back I wrote one about "Just because you own it, doesn't mean you have to keep it." Well, this one is similar and builds on that same concept. Look around your home. Perhaps there is a piece of furniture that fits in a room, but, you really don't like it, or need it anymore. Maybe it was from your old apartment, or a relative passed it down to you, and you kept it simply because it could fit in your home, but you neither wanted it or needed it.

  

Or, check inside the cabinets of your kitchen. Do you have extra items that fit, but your never use them? Sure they may be useful, but not necessarily to you. Maybe there are extra mugs, or an old salad-spinner that you thought you'd like to use, but never did. Or perhaps, again, some hand-me-down pots, dishes, or serving-ware that you took because it fit in your kitchen, but you neither need nor like them.

  

One of the concepts of organizing is to only surround yourself with what you truly love and use. Anything else is clutter. So think about it, if you continue to keep things simply because they fit, not because you need/want/like/love them, they are actually clutter, and over time they will get in the way and prevent you from enjoying the things you truly love and use. Take a look around, make some decisions about these items, and perhaps you can pass them along to a favorite charity or someone you know that could really use them.
Linda English - Owner/Professional Organizer
Organizing With EASE, LLC
201-638-9593
http://www.orgwithease.com/
orgwithease@aol.com

Contact http://www.thecustomcloset.net/ @ (201) 666-1717 or info@thecustomcloset.net to schedule a closet  organizing appointment .







  The Custom ClosetThe Custom Closet

Get Rid of It Even if Fits!

Contact:  http://www.thecustomcloset.net/ or info@thecustomcloset.net to get a free estimate on your closets, office, garage, pantry, playroom, mudroom etc.

Organizing Tip! Just Because It Fits Doesn't Mean...

• you have to keep it
• you need it
• you want it
• you like it

For those that follow my tips, a little while back I wrote one about "Just because you own it, doesn't mean you have to keep it." Well, this one is similar and builds on that same concept. Look around your home. Perhaps there is a piece of furniture that fits in a room, but, you really don't like it, or need it anymore. Maybe it was from your old apartment, or a relative passed it down to you, and you kept it simply because it could fit in your home, but you neither wanted it or needed it.

Or, check inside the cabinets of your kitchen. Do you have extra items that fit, but your never use them? Sure they may be useful, but not necessarily to you. Maybe there are extra mugs, or an old salad-spinner that you thought you'd like to use, but never did. Or perhaps, again, some hand-me-down pots, dishes, or serving-ware that you took because it fit in your kitchen, but you neither need nor like them.

One of the concepts of organizing is to only surround yourself with what you truly love and use. Anything else is clutter. So think about it, if you continue to keep things simply because they fit, not because you need/want/like/love them, they are actually clutter, and over time they will get in the way and prevent you from enjoying the things you truly love and use. Take a look around, make some decisions about these items, and perhaps you can pass them along to a favorite charity or someone you know that could really use them.
Until next time, wishing you an easier life by Organizing With EASE.

Linda English - Owner/Professional Organizer
Organizing With EASE, LLC 201-638-9593

Call (201) 666-1717 or contact:http://www.thecustomcloset.net/ for more information



















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The Custom ClosetThe Custom Closet

Back to School Organizing Tip

Organizing Tip! Create a system for school papers and artwork


Back to school time again! For those with children, from pre-school to high-school and beyond, you'll need a system for managing all the papers that come home from school. I'll focus on the pre-school thru middle-school years for this tip, since that's when most of the volume that parents have to manage occurs.

1. Action Paper Drop Spot: First - you'll need to set up a process whereby the kids immediately give you all the ACTION PAPERS from their backpacks (ones that parents need to read or take action on - not their homework or other completed work) . I would suggest children do this as soon as they come home from school. Set up a convenient place with a small bin/tray/basket/folder where they can simply drop these papers. (Should be a central place, such as on a kitchen counter, or in a mudroom.).

2. Completed Paper Drop Spot: Now.... what to do with the plethora of completed school worksheets and artwork? Again, have a drop-spot with some kind of bin. If you have multiple children, consider multiple bins so you don't have to re-sort someday. This drop-spot should be convenient, but not on the counter. Consider bin(s) in a nearby closet, on the stairs (if not in the way), or dedicate a drawer or two in a nearby room to collect these items.



3. Parent Review: On a daily basis, take action on any parent papers found in the Action Paper Drop Spot so nothing gets overlooked or turned back into school late. As for the items in the Completed Paper Drop Spot, you will need to review these at some point to decide what to keep and what to purge. As for the timing of doing this review, you have several options, depending on your personal style in dealing w/ this stuff, and available time during the day, week, month, year.

If you are the "up-front-ruthless-get-rid-of-most-stuff-right-away" type of person, then review daily or weekly and purge to your heart's content!

If you are the "every-so-often" type, then review the bins every week, month, or school marking period, and decide which items are worth keeping.

If you are the "I-don't-have-the-time-and-don't-want-to-deal-with-this-until-the-end-of-the-year" type, then no problem! Just make sure you have large enough bins, and plan on reviewing everything sometime between June and August.

Or... you may be a combo of the above - just do what works for you.

4. School Memorabilia Storage: Lastly, you'll need a permanent place to store all the school paper and artwork 'keepers'. There are many options, such as: an art portfolio for each year, a large expanding office envelope/wallet, Rubbermaid/Sterilite plastic storage containers, or a product called 'Schoolfolio', to name a few. Remember, you can also display art in frames, on bulletin boards, send to relatives as gifts, or use as wrapping paper too!

Linda English - Owner/Professional Organizer


Organizing With EASE, LLC

201-638-9593
http://www.orgwithease.com/
orgwithease@aol.com



http://www.thecustomcloset.net/