I look at the last week of the year as a super productive week since I am not scheduled to work, and I can spend time getting myself ready for the new year. I want to be as organized as possible before January 5, 2015, which is my first day back to work! Below is a list of suggestions that may help you start your new year off a bit more organized.

Donations 
-If you want to maximize your donations for the 2014 tax year, take one more look through your closets, bookshelves, cabinets, attics, basements and garages to pull anything out that needs to be donated. Children’s toys and books are usually a gold mine for most donation establishments.
-After the holidays, as you integrate your new gifts, take stock of your duplicates, triplicates or otherwise unwanted things that can be better utilized by others.
-Keep in mind that you shouldn’t wait until December 31 to drop off your donations, because if the center hits their capacity level, they may stop accepting donations.
-Some donation centers will pick up your unwanted goods as long as you are on their schedule. Some donation center choices are GreenDrop, Vietnam Veterans of America, The Salvation Army, and Impact Thrift Stores.
-Make your final online cash donations as soon as possible since you don’t want to get stuck with slow or crashing websites at the last minute.

Files 
-Assuming that you have them, the end of the year is a great time to purge your old files and create new ones.  If you need help creating a filing system, a professional organizer can help. You can go to the ‘Find an Organizer’ tab at the top of this page.
-Go through your 2014 bills, pull them out of their files, and clip or band them together if you are going to need them for your taxes. If you don’t need them for your taxes, I would suggest shredding anything that has personal information or account numbers. Most of my clients shred their department store bills and hold onto some of their utility bills for another year (I think they just want the security of having them…just in case).
– A filing cabinet or file box are both great choices to keep your files organized and accessible.
-If you scan your bills and receipts, remember to create new files on your computer.

Hopefully, there is something here that will help you start 2015 off with a little more organization in your world.

Although we tend to hear a lot about the importance of time and task management, more often than not, there is a more effective approach, and that is in the way we manage our CHOICES. Choices are made daily and affect every aspect of our day. Some examples are:
-What to do next
-What to say
-What to eat

Many things dictate and influence our decisions such as our intuition, our subconscious, outside deadlines, ease of choice, and pain vs. pleasure just to name a few. How many decisions are made by default, rather than by design? Also, what criteria is best to use when making choices?

The easiest way to make healthy, wise choices is to have clear-set goals. Knowing what you want to accomplish or achieve, setting a time-frame to achieve said goals, and asking yourself if your choices are taking you closer to your goals or moving you farther away from them is a step in the right direction.

Although it is not ideal, letting external deadlines dictate our actions is certainly one way to manage time and tasks. We are forced to focus on that ONE task in order to meet the deadline, but when this happens, we are reactive and not proactive. While it helps to eliminate making choices, it adds unnecessary stress.

Instead, I have found that what works for me is if I ‘check in’ with myself throughout the day and ask if what I am doing is the most effective behavior to meet my goals. The goals might be to maintain good health, grow my business, be in touch with friends and family, give back to the community or create life balance. Sometimes, I catch myself making decisions that may not be the best choice, such as a glass of wine instead of a workout on the treadmill. I check in with myself and confirm that I do want to make good choices and make a mental note be more mindful. For instance, I can work out and then have a glass of wine!

I invite you to think about the choices you make and to compare them to your goals. Are they in alignment? If not, what choices can you make to make a change? Remember, all it takes is ‘baby steps’ to come closer to achieving your goals?

As the holidays approach, ASK before you make a single purchase:

Some years ago, in our new home, I hosted Thanksgiving for my husband’s family. To say that I was somewhat intimidated by cooking for 26 people is a slight understatement. You may be thinking, you’re a professional organizer… why would you be intimidated? Well, being nervous is normal especially when you are doing something that you love to do and for the people whom you love. Nevertheless, my nerves got the best of me right up to the moment when I made my Thanksgiving Checklist.

That’s right, I made a list of what I needed to do right up until I opened my front door and welcomed my guests. You name it, and it was on the list… cleaning the house, ironing the tablecloth, polishing my silver, running my stemware through the dishwasher, taking my grandmother’s china out of my china cabinet, setting the table, planning the menu, food shopping (yes, a separate list for ingredients), delegating certain recipes to family members, setting the table, and choosing which serving platters to use for each recipe I was making. All this may sound overwhelming, but trust me, if you make a list, and then transfer each “to do” to your calendar, you will not only get things done, but you will be relaxed in the process. Did you “catch on” to when I mentioned delegating? Delegating is essential when taking on something as overwhelming as hosting a holiday. Quite frankly, I am a firm believer in delegating on a daily basis. One of my favorite quotes to my family is, “I never said I was Superwoman.” We all need help and should feel comfortable doing so… now, with Thanksgiving right around the corner. Why not start a new habit and start delegating?

Back to my holiday undertaking, lucky for me, I had bought a cooking magazine that had many recipes that appealed to me, and each recipe gave a time line of what could be cooked beforehand. Some recipes could be cooked days in advance and reheated Thanksgiving day. Some recipes had sauces that could be made in advance, frozen, then defrosted that day. And don’t stress about cooking the bird since most magazines give cooking directions based on weight. Also, keep in mind that a simple menu goes a long way, especially when this holiday is about bringing family together. Each day up until the holiday, I was able to check things off my list.

Being organized not only helped alleviate stress, but it allowed me to enjoy myself and my family on Thanksgiving. Why not give it a try and make your Thanksgiving Checklist?

Everyone can agree life can get a little hectic, especially around the holidays. Who has time to read Martha Stewart magazine, shop for the ingredients, put out an amazing buffet, craft fantastic decorations, and then be the “hostess with the mostest” at the time of the party? However, nobody wants to wants to miss out on having fun and seeing friends either. So I’ve come up with an easier way, a simplified way, to celebrate Halloween.

Here’s how to host a simple Halloween party:

• On October 1^st my two Halloween bins come out of storage. One contains decorations, the same ones I use every year because they are full of memories. And the other of costumes, which we like to try on throughout the month just for laughs.

• Around the second week of October I place a flyer in every mailbox on my street, email the neighbors I know personally, and start spreading the word whenever I see anyone out and about.
My invite reads:
Halloween Party at Danielle’s house
Dress warm, bring a chair & snack to share
BYOB

• On the third week of October I purchase my candy, beverages, and paper products. During this time, I also make sure I have enough fire wood and clean up my fire pit.

• Finally Halloween arrives! I start off the day with a short trip to the Conshohocken Bakery where I buy tomato pies, cakes, granola bars, and cookies for later that evening. We set up a buffet table and our fire pit in the driveway and not long after that, the neighbors arrive with chairs and snacks to share.

Sitting under the stars outside with my neighbors, enjoying the warmth and beauty of the fire, and watching the children make their rounds from house to house is a great way to spend Halloween. It’s relaxing, fun and you don’t even have to clean your house! Try it, you’ll love it.

Let’s take a brief trip down memory lane. What was it that initially attracted you to your spouse? Perhaps you fell for his outgoing, life-of-the-party personality. Maybe you were drawn to her gifted, creative nature. In those initial stages of love, you possibly detected his or her organizing limitations but those flaws were a small price to pay to be with the one you loved.

Fast forward a year — or maybe twenty — and you are at your wits end. Why is it so difficult for her to keep the house straight? Why does he leave his stuff everywhere? Your spouse’s disorganization is putting a serious strain on your relationship.

We, who are naturally organized, are mystified by others who struggle in this area. We seldom run late, we rarely lose things, and our homes have always been relatively organized. We take our innate organizing skill for granted. After all, how difficult is it to keep a tidy home, go through the mail, or clear out a closet?

Studies have found the more creative a person, the more organizationally challenged. So, may I be so bold as to suggest that it probably is not just your spouse’s disorganization that is causing a strain in your relationship. Could it possibly be your own willingness to accept that something so simple to you doesn’t come so easy to him or her?

We live in a society that places high value on being organized. A lack of organization costs us both financially and emotionally. Your spouse most likely feels a sense of shame, guilt, and embarrassment for not having their organizing act together. They desire to get organized; they just don’t know how.

Enter the professional organizer. Our purpose as organizers is not just to help you (or your spouse) tidy up, but to transfer and impart those ‘oh so needed’ organizing skills. An effective organizer encourages you to let go of the excess in your home, strategizes with you to plan the best organizing systems for your space, and ensures that you have learned how to maintain a structure and order that works for you both.

So, the next time you feel tempted to nag your spouse over the mess in your home, focus on all those wonderful qualities that drew you together, and consider the value of a professional organizer. We may not be able to solve all your marital woes, but we can surely help when organizing opposites attract.