Get Organized

Get organized this year. The beginning of a brand new year is the perfect time to start. To help you along, here are 52 small life changes and organization projects. Add just one of these to your regular routine each week.

These projects are small enough that beginners will not become overwhelmed yet they are effective enough to really make a difference. Watch as these small projects add up to big results.

Let's get organized.

1. The holidays are over. Packing up your holiday decor will likely be your first project of the new year. Take the time to get organized and be ready for next year.
2. Update your calendar for the new year. Go through your calendar for the entire year and mark down birthdays, anniversaries, appointments, travel dates and any other key dates you may have for the coming year.
3. Update your address book. Add new information and update any information that has changed.
4. Get organized for tax season by gathering all of your tax-related information.
5. Declutter your household paperwork. Sort through your paperwork and create a shred pile for any documentation you no longer need.
6. Now that you have created a shred pile from your household paperwork, combine it with anything else you may have laying around that needs to be shredded. Spend 15 minutes at a time shredding these documents until the pile is gone.
7. Get organized financially with a simple budget and try to stick to it.
8. Clean out your pantry. Remove everything and wipe the shelves. Discard anything that has an passed its expiration date. Donate any unwanted items to a local food pantry or soup kitchen. Place all remaining items back into your pantry and keep your pantry organized.
9. Clean out your refrigerator. Remove everything and thoroughly clean the interior of the refrigerator. Discard anything that you cannot recognize or that has passed its expiration date. Place all remaining items back into your newly cleaned and sanitized fridge.
10. Clean your freezer. Remove all items and discard anything that you cannot recognize or that has suffered freezer burn. Be sure that all remaining items are packaged properly in air-tight containers and clearly marked with an expiration date. Use this chart to determine the proper expiration date.



11. Tackle that junk drawer. Dump it out, sort through the contents, find a proper home for as many items as you can and get a drawer organizer like this Adjustable Beechwood Drawer Organizer by Lipper International for the items that you intend to put back into the drawer.
12. If the cabinet under your kitchen sink has become a catch-all for random items, it's time to get organized. Remove all of the contents from the cabinet and clean the interior. Sort through the contents and discard any unwanted items, find homes for any items that do not belong in a kitchen cabinet and organize the items you choose to put back. A product like this 12 1/2" Undersink Sliding Organizer - Chrome by Whitney Design™
is perfect for this type of space.
13. Spruce up your spice rack. Dried herbs and spices are good for an average of 3 years. Discard any old containers and write the expiration date in permanent marker on the cap of the bottles you will keep.
14. Organize your recipes. If you have a collection of recipes you have printed from the internet, ripped out of magazines or received from friends on miscellaneous pieces of paper in a pile somewhere, gather them up and transfer them to recipe cards for your recipe box or type them into a computer file.
15. Get organized for mealtime with a weekly menu and see how much easier grocery shopping and meal preparation can be.
16. Schedule a day to cook. Plan ahead and be sure you have all of the groceries you will need. Spend the entire day cooking your family's favorite, freezer-friendly meals. Package the meals into the proper portions and freeze. Be sure to label the packages and include an expiration date. You will have a freezer full of ready to heat meals for busy days.
17. Organize your coupons. Go through your coupon organizer and discard any expired coupons or coupons for items that you no longer use. Make note of any coupons with a rapidly approaching expiration date and be sure to use them before they expire.
18. Get organized with a baking box. This idea works especially well for those of you with small kitchens and limited storage space. Get a plastic storage bin with a lid. Place inside your baking pans, flour, sugar, extracts, flavorings, decorations and anything else you use for baking. Store the container wherever it fits - in a closet, in the basement or on a shelf in the garage. Whenever you need to bake simply grab your baking box and everything you need will be in one place.
19. Plan your garden. When you find yourself suffering from the Winter blues and dreaming of warmer days to come, turn those daydreams into productivity by planning your garden. Whether you will be planting flowers, vegetables or herbs, Winter is the perfect time to get organized. Decide what you will plant, where you will plant it and to create a schedule to get you through the planting season with ease.
20. Purge your medicine cabinet of any expired prescription or over-the-counter medications. Contact your local pharmacy to find out if they have a drug take-back program. If they do not, ask the pharmacist to tell you the safest way to dispose of the medications.
21. Purge your make-up bag of any unused, unwanted or empty containers of make-up.
22. Sort through your linen closet and donate old towels and blankets to your local animal shelter.
23. Gather up all of those newspapers you have laying around your house and recycle them.
24. Gather up the magazines you have laying around your house and sort through them. Recycle any that you do not want. Get some magazine holders like these Plastic Magazine Organizers - Set of 5 - Assorted Colors by Whitmorto organize the magazines you choose to keep.
25. Donate any unwanted books from around your home to your local library.
26. Gather up your photos and get them organized. This Cargo™ Photo & Media Box - Sage Green by Resource Internationalis the perfect quick solution.
27. Organize your music collection. Whether your collection is large, small or somewhere in between, taking some time to arrange your music alphabetically will allow you to find exactly what you want to listen to whenever you feel like listening to it.
28. Organize your craft or hobby supplies. Crafts and hobbies are meant to be enjoyable, but when our supplies are disorganized these hobbies can seem more like a chore than anything else. Spend some time to organize your craft supplies and bring back the joy.
29. Get organized in your cleaning closet. We have all purchased the latest product advertised only to be disappointed. Take some time to dispose of any unwanted cleaning products and free up that valuable space.
30. Declutter collectibles. If you are a collector you know how easy it is for a collection to grow out of control. Take some time to tone down your collection. Choose a space to display your collection. Fill the space, being careful not to over-fill and create clutter, with your favorite pieces. Once the space is full your collection is complete. Donate or sell the rest. Read How to Be a Collector Without Becoming a Pack Rat for more information.
31. Clean out your car. We spend so much time trying to get our homes organized, often we forget about our vehicles. Give your car a complete overhaul. Dispose of any garbage, thoroughly clean the interior and exterior and if you typically have a lot of clutter in your car, get organized with a product like this Car Seat Organizer - Swing Away™ Extra Large Organizer.
32. Purge your clothes closet and donate any unwanted clothing to charity. Live by the "one in, one out" rule. Whenever you purchase something new, remove something old. This system will prevent your closet from ever becoming over-stuffed.
33. Organize your sock drawer by discarding damaged and unwanted socks and hosiery.
34. Clean under your beds. Especially in children's rooms, under the bed came become a resting place for all sorts of items that may get kicked or pushed out of the way, not to mention dust bunnies. Set aside a day to clean under every bed in your home.
35. Purge your coat closet and donate any unwanted or outgrown coats to charity.
36. Gather, purge and organize Winter accessories such as hats, gloves and scarves. Place these items into baskets on the top shelf of your coat closet and be for cold weather any time.
37. Get organized with a garage sale day. Give each member of your household a box. Each person is responsible for filling their box with items from their personal space. Be sure to actually schedule a garage sale or these boxes will wind up becoming clutter.
38. Clear out your storage shed. Take advantage of a beautiful day outdoors by emptying your storage shed, sweeping out the interior, disposing of any broken or unwanted items and returning the items you want to keep in an organized manner.
39. Get organized online. Organize your computer files. This is a task that is often overlooked. The computer is an invaluable tool for reducing paper clutter. The key is to be sure your computer files are organized in a way that you can find what you are looking for easily. Spend some time creating folders for common documents, grouping your photos into folders, organizing your internet favorites and giving your computer files a clean sweep.
40. Update your cell phone contacts. Spend a few minutes going through your address book and being sure that any phone numbers you may need are stored in your cell phone. You never know when you may have to contact somebody when you cannot get to your address book. Be sure to include "ICE" which means In Case of Emergency. This is the person you wish to be contacted should something happen to you and you are unable to place a call yourself.
41. Organize your digital photos. We all love our digital cameras, but how many photos do you have stored in yours? Spend some time downloading, printing or saving those photos to labeled disks.
42. Purge your greeting card collection. If you are one of the many people who like to save every greeting card you receive you know how much space this collection can take up. To give you the motivation to purge your greeting card collection, cut the photo from the front of the cards and donate them to a local a nursing home to be used as craft projects for the residents to enjoy.
43. Purchase greeting cards for all ocassions whenever you find a sale. Store them in an organizer like this Greeting Card Planner & Organizer by Neatnix and you will be prepared for any ocassion throughout the year.
44. Get organized with a gift wrapping station. Put an end to those last-minute trips to the store for wrapping paper and bows. Stock up on these items when you see a good sale and store them in an organizer like this Jumbo Upright Gift Wrap Storage Container - Holds 16 40" Rolls!.
45. Have a household trash day. Walk around your house with a trash bag and don't stop throwing things away until the bag is full. Another variation of this idea is to give each member of your household a small trash bag or plastic grocery bag and make each person responsible for filling their bag.
46. Deliver your dry cleaning. If you have a pile of dry cleaning that has been sitting on the shelf in your closet or in a heap on your bedroom floor, pick it up, put it in your car and take it to the dry cleaner. This is such a simple task that many people procrastinate about. Don't let your dry cleaning become clutter.
47. Bring back returnables. If your garage is full of cans and bottles that need to be returned for the bottle deposit, rinse them out, bag them up and take them back.
48. Get organized with a family launch zone. This is a location, preferable near the door, where every item that every family member needs before they leave the house for the day can live. Things like wallets, keys, cell phones, backpacks and purses are right at home in a launch zone. You will be amazed at how much time you can save when everyone knows exactly where their stuff is as they are ready to walk out the door.
49. Get into the habit of spend 15 minutes each evening before you go to bed doing small tasks that will make your morning routine easier. Set the timer on the coffee pot, set the table for breakfast, or have your kids choose their cereal and set out the box on the table. Even when you are truly exhausted you will be thankful you spent those 15 minutes when your morning runs smoothly.
50. Get organized for emergencies with a home emergency kit and be ready for anything.
51. Organize your estate. Protect your loved ones and be sure your wishes are known. Set up an appropriate estate plan.
52. Create a family fire plan and practice it. Be sure that every member of the household knows the plan and can demonstrate their knowledge.

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