Your Philadelphia real estate & lifestyle guide

The 2nd Monday is January is designated as Clean Off Your Desk Day so the new year is a great time to focus your energy on clearing piles in your home office. Following are tips that will help you conquer the paper piles in your home office so you can see the top of your desk.

Getting Started

• Designate a place to keep files ( filing cabinet, file box)
• Begin a list of the documents you need to keep (financial. employment, medical)

Working Through The Piles

• Talk with your CPA or Tax Accountant and discuss what you need to keep and for how long
• Keep current documents (2015-2016) in filing cabinet
• Develop an archive or scan older tax returns and other documents (2014 and earlier)
• Toss or shred documents that you no longer need to keep

The Mail

• Designate a specific spot in your home to place incoming mail
• Open mail by recycling bin to toss inserts that you don’t need
• Shred mail with personal information
• Avoid additional clutter by deciding which catalogs/magazines you will keep and remove your name from those you are no longer are interested in reading
• File or scan statements once you have checked them for accuracy

Final Tips

• Set aside time each week to open mail and file/scan statements, pay stubs, etc.
• Remember piles are created because we delay making decisions about the paper that comes into our lives. Start today deciding to reduce the paper piles in your life by conquering your clutter.

 

Janet M. Taylor is a professional organizer, speaker and author with over 20 years of experience helping people get organized.  If you are ready to get your life visit her website at www.janetmtaylor.com

Make a fresh start in the new year with a healthy pantry makeover, organized files and a decluttered home. Of course, once the energy of those new year’s resolutions begins to fizzle, you may be in need of a midwinter boost — when that time comes, try cozy accents and a few light-enhancing tips to keep the winter blues at bay.

Refresh your kitchen and pantry for the new year. Have you made a new year’s resolution to eat healthier foods or eat out less and prepare more meals at home? Kick things off by thoroughly cleaning your kitchen and pantry. Put your blender or juicer in a prominent spot on the counter to make it easier to whip up healthy juices and smoothies, and place fresh produce front and center.

Boost light. Getting enough light can make a huge difference in how we feel in winter. Do what you can to boost light by pulling open window coverings during the day, adding lamps and candles, and lighting a fire in the fireplace or wood stove if you have one. Or consider decorating with white for a light, bright look — in the Scandinavian countries, white interiors are common, thanks to their ability to amplify light and cheer up homes during those long, cold northern winters.

Clear home and wardrobe clutter. Postholidays is a good time for decluttering, since there’s a good chance you accumulated some new things over the previous few weeks. Grab a cardboard box and fill it with clothes, books and other items you no longer love or use. When it’s full, take it to a charitable donation center.

Bump up coziness. Avoid the post-holiday slump by adding a few super soft and cozy accents around the house: think velvet cushions, fluffy faux-fur throws, knitted poufs, candles, fresh flowers or a new teapot. And while you may be taking down most of your holiday decorations in the early part of January, consider leaving up a few strands of white twinkle lights and swags of fresh greenery a bit longer — we could all use the extra cheer at this time of year!

 

Organize your papers and digital documents. It’s like going to the dentist: not exactly a pleasant task, but you know you’ll feel good when it’s done. So brew yourself a cup of strong coffee, put on some energetic music and start sorting, shredding and filing. And don’t forget the computer — back up everything (put an automatic backup system in place if you don’t already have one), and begin sorting your digital documents and records using a simple filing system.

Give kids’ spaces a boost. Especially in regions experiencing extreme cold, having an appealing indoor space where kids can play in winter is essential. Consider adding a new feature to your playspace this month, such as a chalkboard or whiteboard wall, an area for messy art or tumbling mats.

Plan decorating and remodeling projects for the year ahead. Thinking of remodeling the kitchen, adding a deck, putting fresh tile in the bath or painting your bedroom? Use your favorite resources (like Houzz) to save inspiring ideas and begin contacting pros to see your project through in the new year.

CONTINUE READING ON HOUZZ.COM 

In the spirit of new beginnings, HGTV has consulted the experts and come up with some resolutions that will make your home a more beautiful, efficient, clean and green place in the coming year.

Here are our five picks for the best home improvement resolutions for the new year and how to achieve them:

 1. Streamline the stuff

One of the best and least expensive ways to feel better about your home is to clear it of clutter.

Each year most of us acquire a mountain of stuff. Without some regular purging, cabinets and drawers get jam-packed and it becomes hard to find the things you use and enjoy the most. (All that clutter also makes your house look dated and dirty, designers say.)

This year resolve to go room-by-room periodically clearing anything that you don’t use, wear or love and donate it to charity. After that, think twice about what you bring in, says Antoinette Nue, an Atlanta consultant who specializes in helping people simplify and go green.

“Fill your home with the things that raise your energy level and make you feel good, and get rid of the things that drain your energy or are broken,” she says.

Stash useful (but not beautiful) items such as DVDs, remotes and those kicked-off shoes in simple woven baskets. Group similar items together on sleek trays, says Stuart McCormick, a designer with Liz Levin Interiors in Washington D.C.

Clear your counters of everything you don’t use on a daily basis. And get ready to breathe a little easier in your own home.

 2. Make it safe and sound

Your home may be beautiful, but is it safe? There are a few things that every homeowner should do to ensure that they’re not living with a potential health hazard or fire risk.

First, check your house for radon. This colorless, odorless gas causes about 21,000 lung cancer deaths each year from the radioactive particles it traps in your lungs as you breathe, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. One in every fifteen homes has elevated levels. And with test kits costing as little as $20 at your local hardware store, there’s no reason not to get right on that.

While we’re on the subject of deadly gas, make sure you install a carbon monoxide detector on every bedroom floor in addition to fire detectors. If a chimney flue or furnace vent gets blocked or leaks, carbon monoxide could back up in your house and kill you. Like a radon test, this is a small investment — $40 or more — for such an important safeguard.

Watch out for dryer lint. We know you clean the little trap inside the door, but most people neglect to clean the vents and ducts behind the dryer. Lint may seem innocent, but it’s highly combustible, according to the U.S. Fire Administration, accounting for more than 15,000 building fires a year.

Make sure your house can breathe. Hickory Hills, Ill. home inspector Jack McGraw is always surprised at how many people’s bathrooms and attics aren’t vented to the outside (or the vents are covered over with shingles.) This makes you a prime candidate for mold.

And if you’re considering a remodel — and your home was last built or remodeled before 1978 — consider testing for lead paint and asbestos flooring. It will have to handled properly during removal, or particles can be released into the air for you to ingest.

READ MORE ON HGTV.COM 

What makes a person “disorganized” in many situations is losing track of how many projects were started, or not being able to manage all of them. What can complicate this further is that the projects are often spread out all over the place, rather than in one area.

An important step to getting projects organized is to make sure it is logical for you to complete all of them. For each project, you should ask yourself: If this project is really worth doing, why haven’t I completed it by now? If you come up with a reasonable explanation, then you most likely will want to hold on to materials for the project. If you have lost interest in it (or you won’t realistically have time to work on it in the near or distant future), you should consider letting that one go. Once you part with projects that merely take up physical space in your home, you will be able to let go of any guilt about not finishing them. Unused materials can always be donated or given away to people who will put them to use.

Now that you are left with projects you intend to complete, you can store them in a way that they are easily accessible. Find an area such as a cupboard or closet that has plenty of vertical space in which containers or storage boxes can be stacked neatly inside. My preferred system is storing projects in a set of streamlined containers or boxes like these. This will likely involve setting up or reorganizing a storage area to accommodate your collection of projects. If you use clear storage bins, you can visually identify each project and assess how much more needs to be done to complete it.

Once your projects are contained, you can sort them in many different ways. One method is to organize them in rows based on their category. They can be divided into categories such as: crafts, hobbies, repairs, scrapbooks or photos, etc. Another approach is to place them in order of priority. The ones that are most important (or perhaps the ones that are almost completed) can be placed toward the front. Those that are less of a priority can be stored in the back.

If you want to take your organization to the next level, you can create a to-do list for all of the unfinished projects. Order them from the first one you plan to work on all the way to the last. Also, give yourself start dates or deadlines for each project so they don’t get forgotten about and lost for decades. However you organize your unfinished project area, having easy access to them and a plan to finish them will definitely make help you accept the fact that they are works in progress (rather than abandoned projects).

Unfinished projects can be a great burden if you view them as disorganized clutter. Once you store them in a streamlined way and you create a plan to rotate them out as you complete them, you will feel more organized and have peace of mind.

When we think of home improvement some of the things that come to our mind is the cost, the contractors and the length of the project.  I have 15 simple solutions that will help you organize your home without the cost of contractors and can be done in a couple of hours.

Clothes Closet

• Use a variety of organizers to store belts, scarves and other accessories
• Use shelves to store sweaters and tee shirts
• Store shoes on racks or in shoe boxes

Linen Closet

• Fold bed linens sets as a unit
• Stack linens by room
• Roll your towels to save space

Hall Closet

• Use containers to store small items ( flash lights, batteries, chargers)
• Use shoe racks to organize shoes that are kept near entrance
• Place hats, gloves and scarves in bins or baskets

Kitchen Cabinet Storage

• Mount hooks underneath inside shelf to hang cups
• Attach an organizer on the inside of a cabinet door to store sponges, rubber gloves, etc.
• Use a lazy Susan in an awkward corner to maximize space

Under the bed

• Use storage boxes on wheels to utilize space underneath the bed to store linens or seasonal clothes.

Medicine Cabinet

• Designate a shelf for items such as hair care, first aid items, skin and body care.
• Periodically check the expiration date on all items in medicine cabinet

 

Janet M. Taylor is a professional organizer, speaker and author with over 20 years of experience helping people get organized.

If you are ready to get your life visit her website at www.janetmtaylor.com