November  2008, Issue 13

Attitude of Gratitude

Happy Anniversary you ORGANIZED! November marks the year anniversary of live ORGANIZED's newsletter. Also, New York Family magazine's November issue features an article I wrote about home design. Check it out here!

To celebrate these exciting occasions, live ORGANIZED is honoring ten lucky subscribers with one FREE hour of professional organizing! Take this as an opportunity to finally sort through your handbags, organize your briefcase, or clear off the surface of your home office desktop. Be one of the first ten people to email me at jordana@liveorganized.com with a friend, family member or colleague's email address to add to our mailing list, and one FREE hour of professional organizing will be yours! It's that simple.

In the meanwhile, what better way to express gratitude than by giving to others? Here are five simple ways that being organized can help you increase your generosity.

1. Scan the Pantry. Sort through all of your canned goods, and gather those that have been sitting on the shelf for far too long. Bring these items to your local food drive, or better yet, start your own! You'll have more room in your pantry for food that you will eat, and you will have helped feed the hungry at the same time.
   
   
2. Collect Empty Bottles. Instead of dropping empty soda cans and water bottles into your recycling bin, hand them over to a homeless person who can recycle them and receive money in return.
   
   
3. Gift from the Heart. How many times are you completely stumped when it comes to deciding what to get someone for their birthday? Enter Charity Gift Cards, and let the guesswork be a problem of the past. Choose an amount to place on the gift card, and the lucky recepient gets to select the organization that will receive the donation. Family and friends' birthday presents will be purchased in one fell swoop - and you'll be contributing to the greater good.
   
   
4. Consolidate Loose Change. Give your loose pennies, nickels and quarters a permanent home - whether in your foyer, on your desk or along your kitchen counter. Choose an empty cookie jar or vase and dump your day's worth of change in it; when the container is filled to the rim, count your pennies (or just mosey on down to your local bank to do it for you) and write out a check of the said amount to your favorite charity.
   
   
5. Click and Give. Set reminders for yourself to visit sites like The Hunger Site every morning. Simply click your mouse, and sponsors will donate to the charity highlighted on the page. Scroll to the site's different tabs to donate to other important causes, such as breast cancer, literacy and animal rescue.