The misc draw...

Everyone has at least one, I have to fess up...I too have a junk draw. My catch-all for papers, pens, keys, scissors and other odds and ends I just don't know what to do with. Husband just discovered said draw. He opened it, conveniently located in the top draw in the kitchen and was taken aback. He asked me how could "The Chief Organizer" in our home has such a draw? I was embarrassed to say the least mainly because I practice most of the tips I share.


Well in the months since he discovered said draw I have taken the junk draw back into my organized control.  I purchased a utensil holder for draws and designated each slip for certain items.  I'd say for the most part it has been easy to maintain and keep organized. I know where the keys are to the storage locker are exactly. Pens are easy to grab when I need to add something to my shopping list at the supermarket and I have a slip for my gift cards and coffee punch cards (most importantly ;) )

What's inside your junk draw? And do you think you can get into under control?

Decluttering your smartphone

I have noticed recently my iPhone battery has been draining so quickly.  After googling reasons why, aside from overuse and people who just think Apple products are poorly made and just has a bad battery life, I read an article in Forbes about deleting apps one no longer uses.

This prompted me go through phone and look at all of the games I don't play anymore nor need the distraction of playing right now.  Looking at the dozen or so apps I deleted it got me thinking about all the information I thought I "needed" to have at my finger tips that I clearly don't use.  So I started looking at the apps I use most often (email, Facebook, twitter, news outlets).

Organizing and purging my iPhone makes me feel I can be more productive with my device and perhaps even be on my device less.

Strategies for the attacking the mail

Whether you are the type of person to go through your mail as soon as you check the maibox or let it pile up for days, weeks or months, I recommend a strategy that seems to work for many different styles of clients as well as myself.  It can be as easy as 3 steps. Open your mail and decide whether it: 

1) needs attention (bills to pay, information to be filed, newsletter to read later, etc)

2) shredded (address labels, credit card and banking information, etc)

3) recyclable (we always try to recycle as much as a paper mail, magazines, junk mail and this can easily be placed in a brown bag once you rip your personal information off the cover)

By creating these 3 piles it can make going through your mail more manageable. Try it...

Snowed-in

With all the snow we've gotten in the last month in the New York area, it has encouraged me to go through areas in our apartment that even I have been procrastinating organizing.

Most recently I have been foraging through my food pantry. I make it a point to normally look at our pantry during my spring cleaning in April but since I had some snowed in time I got a head-start.  Lentils, beans, nuts were things I look at and asked myself, "will I realistically be cooking or backing with any of the ingredients?" Either way it was time to freshen up my supply.  I clearly labeled sandwich ziplock bags to ensure freshness for future use.

On a tangent this has led me to try recipes I have pulled from magazines and online and throw away recipes I thought I would try someday but clearly at this point I am not going to be preparing.