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The magical holiday season has come and gone and now it’s time to face the reality of the New Year…and the inevitable task of taking decorations down and cleaning up. You can just toss your tree to the curb, but what if you want a more meaningful way to lay your tree to rest? Read on for some great ways to tackle your clean up list and do some good for the planet at the same time!

Recycle Your Christmas Tree: Yes, you can recycle your tree! Just make sure that you take all the light strands, tinsel, and ornaments off before doing so. Earth 911 (earth911.com) offers a great link for anyone to be able to recycle their tree and turn it into mulch.  Type in your zip code and find the closest drop off spot near you.

Recycle Your Shipping Boxes: Of course you can break them down and put them into the recycling bin, or pass them along to a friend who will be moving soon. Note to my colleagues — as Professional Organizers, you can also offer them to clients who are moving, for their belongings and/or for taking away any donations.

Recycle Your Wrapping Paper: If you were careful to unwrap your presents because you love the paper — hang onto it for another gift. Or if it’s a larger piece, create a placemat (by simply cutting the sheet into a small rectangle) or a pretty tray liner. Another fun idea is to use a hole puncher on your wrap scraps to create confetti for your next party!

Recycle Your Gift Bags: Keep your holiday spirit going throughout the New Year! Use them as a lunch bag to bring to work or as a catchall for coupons and sale ads when you’re headed out shopping.

Recycle Your Greeting Cards: Treat your favorite cards to a frame and use them for your décor next year, or keep them up year round. You can “re-gift” them by cutting off the back of the card, which has the writing on it and give it a postcard look, writing on the flipside of the front of the card.

Recycle Your Gift Boxes: Smaller cardboard jewelry boxes work well as organizers in your catchall drawer, while shirt size cardboard boxes can be used to separate stacks of items in drawers and keep them vertical.

I hope you learned some fun tips to make recycling fun. Here’s wishing you a very Happy New Year full of special times ahead with your family and friends, and of course…a clutter-free home!

February is the shortest month of the year, but it can also be the most depressing.  It’s cold outside, often gloomy, and really…who wants to get out of bed?!

It’s clear that a psychological tie connects people to the items that they hoard within their home.  Some people develop hoarding tendencies after experiencing a stressful life event that they had difficulty coping with, such as the death of a loved one, divorce, eviction or losing their possessions in a fire, according to The Mayo Clinic.  However, the psychology behind your home lies in how you choose to treat it with color.  Read below to see how colors can affect us both physically and mentally (via Squidoo.com):

Red – Increases enthusiasm, stimulates energy and action, and encourages confidence

Orange – Stimulates activity and appetite, and encourages socialization

Yellow – Mentally stimulating, activates the memory, and encourages communication

Green – Soothing, mentally and physically relaxing, and helps alleviate depression

Blue – Calming and sedate, cooling, and aids in intuition

Purple – Uplifting, calming to the mind and nerves, and encourages creativity

Brown – Stability, a connection with the earth, and offers a sense of orderliness

White – aids mental clarity, encourages us to clear clutter, and enables fresh beginnings

Gray – Unsettling and expectant

Black – Restful emptiness and mysterious, evoking a sense of potential and possibility

So, how do your favorite colors stack up?  What colors are your rooms painted currently? Let the colors be your guide to create an environment that suits your wants and needs.   Once you create the environment that you want, you may gain some new motivation to get organized.  You don’t need to totally redo your house to emit the same feelings; you can just use and/or reuse accent pieces from other areas in your home, like these:

Soft furnishings – Pillows and throws can add a great pop of color and keep you warm and cozy in the cold weather.

Lighting – Try some new lampshades or just switch out the light bulbs.  Soft white bulbs emit a warm yellow-toned light, while daylight bulbs like GE reveal® emit a more natural looking blue-toned light.  Hence, the color on your walls can be affected by whichever type of light bulb that you choose.

Artwork and Picture Frames – Find inexpensive prints from places like IKEA and even less expensive pictures, from your camera!  Put them into colorful frames or if you can’t find one of the right colors, consider spray painting a basic one!

Books – Head to a thrift shop to look for old hardcover books.  Peek under the flaps to see what color the cover is.  Pull together a grouping of books based on the colors you are looking for, it doesn’t matter what the subject matter is!  Organize some flat and some standing for variety on a bookshelf.

Candles – These come in a variety of colors, give off a pleasant scent and a bit of warmth on cold days!

As for me, my home is painted in blues, browns with white trim and I accessorize with those colors as well.  The blue offers me calmness, while the brown offers me a sense of orderliness and finally white encourages me to clear the clutter.  Pretty right-on for an organizer, huh?!

In the spirit of the New Year, I’m here to answer the burning question that you may have…sorry, it’s not the recipe to my homemade cookies…that will remain a mystery, even to my colleagues at NAPO-GPC who I have baked them for!    The true question is, how long does it really take for a habit to form?   Do a Google search, like I did and you’ll find many different answers.   If you’re like me, you won’t get to page 2 of your search, as you just want the clear answer!

It’s the same with New Year’s resolutions.  We want what we want and we want it now!  Waiting is a difficult thing, in this age where technology is fast but we want it to be even faster.    Frustrations abound when there isn’t any instant gratification and hence people give their resolutions up so quickly.

So, what is that answer to: how long does it really take for a habit to form?  Well, honestly, there isn’t a magic number.  The consensus from the Google answers is that it takes between 21 and 28 days.  I know, that can seem daunting, but there are ways to keep your goals and still have fun.

When it comes to organizing, (and I’m assuming that’s one of your goals because you are reading a blog on a site in which we help people get organized!) start small.  Have you heard the quote from Francis of Assisi, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!”?  If you push yourself and do too much before you’re ready for it, then you may feel like giving up.  Try these simple methods to help you get organized a little bit every day, when you might not even think to, so that before you know it, it may just become your favorite habit!  Well, a close second, maybe? Ha ha!

1)      TV Commercial Breaks – Use these 2-3 minute chunks of time during your favorite shows to organize a shelf or a drawer.

2)     On a Phone Call – You know those people in your life who just like to talk your ear off on the phone!  You don’t need to neglect them, just put the caller on speakerphone and you have your hands free to straighten up a closet, hang up clothes or put away laundry.

3)     While Cooking Dinner – Use this time to straighten up your kitchen counters and go through junk mail.

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4)      Just pick any time!  Use a timer, either a good old kitchen timer or the one from your smart phone and set it for 15 minutes.  See what you can get done in that time in the area of your choice and if you feel motivated to do more, then do it!  If not, then don’t!

One final tip is to keep a tote or basket handy, in a central location, for each member of the household.  As you are organizing, you are bound to find items that belong to others in their bedrooms or in other rooms.  Once a day, make sure that the items from the basket are brought to each respective area by the person it belongs to.  With the new tips you’ve learned, you can teach everyone else in the family how to organize just a “bite” at a time too!

As a Professional Organizer, one of my favorite tools is my label maker.  With one little machine you can create oodles of labels in different fonts, colors and even add borders.  However, can you create a label without a label maker?  Absolutely!  Check out these other creative and perhaps “new to you” ideas to keep all of your favorite things in place:

• Use Photos…to quickly find the pair of shoes that you are looking for. While pictures work fine mounted on any shoebox, different manufacturers’ shoes come in different size boxes and those can be hard to organize.  Clear plastic shoeboxes fit the bill for that dilemma, but what I really love are the stackable shoeboxes with an open front!  With those you don’t have to take all the other shoeboxes off to reach the pair you want that day.  By putting the picture on one end and the other end backed up to the wall you will achieve a consistent and colorful look!

• Have you gone to a lot of conferences and never know what to do with those Plastic name tag holders with the safety pin on the back?  Flip over the paper with your name on it and use the blank side as your label!  Pin them on those fabric cube boxes that you can seem to find almost anywhere.

• Did you know that if you put a Magnet on each side of a clear plastic bin, that the two of them will bond?  I just tested it and it worked!  Use a generic flat magnet on the interior of the bin and on the exterior, use a magnet with a clip.  Consider creating a small label with scrapbooking materials or pressed flowers, laminating it, and then clipping that on!

The additional ideas listed below are brought to you courtesy of Martha Stewart and her new Home Office line at Staples.  What can’t that woman do!

• Martha came up with ElastiNote Tags®, which are tags connected to an elastic band.  These are ideal for cord control or to secure a box with jewelry, coins or any other small items.

• She also created Small Metal Bookplates, which add a classic touch to items like magazine holders and photo boxes.

• Finally, for those people out there with commitment issues in regards to their labeling, you are in luck!  Chalkboard Labels (conveniently placed near Martha Stewart’s chalk!) and Dry Erase Labels (where are your markers, Martha?) are easy and fun to use.  Just erase and start over again!

Whatever your preference or style there is a labeling option out there for you…even if it’s as simple as a Post-It and Sharpie!  Happy Labeling!

Ok, we’ve all heard that we should keep our bodies active in order to lose weight.  We’ve also heard that we should keep our brains stimulated so we can keep our minds sharp and therefore, remember where we left our keys!  But how does “use it or lose it” relate to clothes?  Well, I will tell you now!

Clothes are tied to sentiment, self expression and comfort, so it’s no wonder why closets can become overloaded.  Sentiment, for clothing we wore at meaningful events in our lives and also times when we were a couple sizes smaller!  Self expression, for clothing we buy to show off our different sides.  And comfort, for those days you just can’t deal with constricting buttons and zippers!  Often though, these items don’t fall into your everyday wardrobe.  Did you know that there is actually a statistic created for that?  You wear 20 percent of your clothes 80 percent of the time.  So what can you do with that 80 percent that is rarely worn?  Here are some options:

1)     Consign …for formal gowns or cocktail dresses (yes, those bridesmaid dresses too!) that you don’t know if and when you will wear again.  Interview some consignment shops and let someone else appreciate and enjoy them for their special occasions!

2)     Host a clothing swap…for friends that have been eyeing items in your closet.  Beware of taking in more than you have put out and aim to use those items in your day to day 20 percent.

3)     Donate…if there are items that you know you will never wear again (maybe they’ve fallen on the floor and got pushed to the far corner!), or haven’t worn in a year.  Give them a gentle wash and bring them to your favorite charity collection site.

But maybe you’re not wearing some clothes because they are missing buttons, have ripped seams or you are just plain tired of them.  Here are some options for these dilemmas:

1)      Head to a tailor…for items with the quality to last and take them in to repair seams.  If you are missing a button, look to the stash of buttons that come with the shirts you buy – that’s what they are there for!  I store all mine in a small decorative box.

2)     Head to a low cost retailer…for items that you’re bored with.  Look for accessories like belts and broaches that can enliven and refresh what you own.  You can follow the color trends without having to buy clothes.  Plus accessories are much smaller and easier to store!

3)     Head to an art center…for shirts that have faded or just can’t be fixed.  They make great smocks for kids!

Now, with all that done, how is your closet looking?  Have you gotten to 70/30?  60/40?

Take it one day at a time and know you are not alone!  Strive to make your closet a place that you can enjoy going to, filled with items that make you happy, are flattering, and reflect your personality.  Then go out into the world, smile, and know that you look fabulous!

Do you have closets filled with items that you have never used?  Is money a bit tight these days?  Does the thought of shopping in crazy crowds make you feel sick?  Consider regifting this holiday season and you can go shopping in your own home!

Did you know that December 15^th, 2011 is National Regifting Day?  What a great way to save some money and clear your closets at the same time!  Here are 3 valuable benefits to regifting:

1) You Save Space – Go on a scavenger hunt throughout your home for items that you have never used before and never plan to, or that you just don’t care for.  Why hang onto these things if they are just taking up precious space?  Unless it is a family heirloom, don’t feel like you need to hold onto anything you don’t want to.

• In the Pantry look for good bottles of wine that have been unopened and other non-perishables that have come from gift baskets like unusual  jams and mustards.  As for that mystery fruitcake that has been sitting on the top shelf forever, please throw it away…nobody wants it, probably not even the raccoons who like to dig in your trash can!
• In the Coat Closet look for unworn hats, scarves and mittens that aren’t your style or that jacket that you thought you wanted at the time, but that still has its tags on.
• In the Bathroom/Linen Closet look for unused jarred candles, body care gift baskets and makeup kits.
• In the Bedroom Closets look for sweaters that have never been worn.  Be sure though to check them to make sure no moths have taken a nibble out of them!
• In the Hall Closet look for small housewares that are still boxed and board games that have never been played.

2) You Save Money – Like most of us feeling the effects of the down economy, buying gifts can create a lot of financial stress.  By regifting, you can treat your loved ones and colleagues to great items that just aren’t right for you.  However, make the gifts personal by buying new festive wrapping paper or a gift bag and a card that will make them laugh!

3) You Save Time – Since you don’t need to brave the mall, you can spend a little time to add a personal touch, like slipping a recipe or article that you know someone would appreciate, into their card.

All in all, have a happy and warm holiday season and most importantly don’t forget to make sure you don’t give the gift back to the person who gave it to you first!