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Does the thought of organizing your desktop bring music to your ears for the anticipation of the neat and orderly results of this accomplishment or does it bring painful groans of displeasure wondering how you will accomplish this seemingly impossible task for your desk?

As is the case with many tasks and projects, if we break it down into smaller parts then it’s not so overwhelming. Of course, there is always the super easy way out and that’s the complete one swipe and into the box removal. Quick, easy, and painless but I don’t think that’s really what you want to do. Especially not on National Clean Off Your Desk Day! So let’s take a look at a more organized and orderly approach.

1. Assess
First, take stock of what is on your desk. Consider what items you need to address such as: paper, files, and office supplies — along with any random items on your desk.

2. Store
Next, decide how to store these items that are currently on top of your desk.

• For example: if you have piles of papers that need to be filed, it’s understandable you may not be able to file them all at this moment. However if you can, go for it right now and file them away! If not, consider a folder or letter tray labeled “TO FILE” so you can organize those papers into one designated area. Now remember, at some point you will need to actually file those papers.
• If you have mounds of files and are working on multiple files at one time, you may not want to put them all back in the filing drawer and that is ok. However, to store those files in a more orderly fashion, you may want to consider a file folder for keeping them upright or letter trays to keep them tidy and easily available to you without each and every single file stacked high on your desk.
•  How about supplies? Do you have notepads, pens, pencils, paperclips, etc, strewn about your desk? Consider a desk organizer to keep those items neat and contained yet easily accessible.

3. Remove
Finally, remove miscellaneous items that have no relevancy to your work area. You may even find some items that are trash which is a super quick removal.  Here is where the one swipe and into a box is a handy option. Make sure to return all of those random items such as books, magazines, empty coffee cups, etc. to their designated homes.

There you have it: 3 easy ways to tidy up your desktop! Optimize your productivity while at your desk by using 3 simple steps — Assess, Store, and Remove — to keep your desktop neat and organized.

Let me be the first to wish you Happy National Get Organized Month! I saw a sign hanging in Lowe’s that said “Resolve to Declutter” and it was surrounded by a colorful array of storage containers. It’s that time of year when many of us look around our homes and ask “Where did all this stuff come from?” Taking the first step and staying organized can be daunting, but if you think you are alone, you are not. Here are ten barriers that keep my clients from starting and staying organized. Let’s break it down:

1. Don’t have the time. Time won’t magically appear when you want to achieve something. Use a day planner or your smart phone to schedule the time to organize, have fun, or accomplish something great. When you do, there is suddenly time to be spontaneous!
2. Allowing others to dictate your schedule. I’m not talking about going out and having fun, but I am talking about setting boundaries so others don’t infringe upon your personal time to get your own life in order.
3. You aren’t good at organizing. Some people need more practice than others and developing a habit takes at least 30 days to make it stick. Use books and websites to help.
4. Staying focused. Our brains aren’t wired to stay on task so use cues, rewards, or a stop watch. Use whatever you deem necessary to stay focused on the project at hand.
5. Perfectionism. If it can’t be perfect why start at all? If that sounds familiar, start small and celebrate small accomplishments. Practice saying the words “good enough.”
6. Too much clutter or CRAP: Clutter that Robs Anyone of Pleasure. If your things do not bring you joy, pleasure, usefulness, or life to your home, it should leave your home.
7. Once and done should do it. All homes need maintenance to remain organized week after week, but if you have a home for everything, cleanup will be a breeze.
8. The voices around you. Don’t allow others to make you feel bad about not being able to get organized yourself. Ignore the naysayers and enlist a friend or call a professional.
9. House isn’t big enough. The size or layout of a home isn’t always the issue. Organization methods, storage tools, and less clutter will usually do the trick.
10. Health issues. Even if you have the desire, you may not have the ability or the energy to do what is needed to get organized. Enlist help.

If you or someone you love needs help moving forward in the New Year, don’t hesitate to get in touch with a professional: a cleaning service, a senior care agency, financial planner, insurance broker, senior move management company, or a professional organizer. Professionals are trained to listen and narrow in on your specific needs. They can give you a jump start or much needed tools to help you or someone you love live their best life.

Clutter Quote: “As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” Henry David Thoreau

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?

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.