January 2008, Issue 3

Happy YOU Year

Happy New Year!

Here's to a fresh start and the opportunity to kick off 2008 excited and organized! I love the positive energy and contagious optimism that come with the start of this month. Motivated and energized, we make new commitments to ourselves - whether to eat better, exercise more, or to finally clean out that over-stuffed bedroom closet. It's a time when we reflect, re-evaluate, and ask ourselves the important questions: what worked this past year? what didn't? what are we now going to do differently? Essentially, the new year is a time when we get to organize ourselves.

Before you attack the kitchen pantry or set a day to clear out the hallway closet, check in with yourself. Approach this in the same way you would the pantry; what in your life has expired and is just taking up precious space? What are your essential staples?

This month, organize your essentials. Here are some starting points:

1. Update your emergency contacts.Do you have the phone numbers of your family, close friends, and doctors posted in a centralized area? Check that all of their contact information is current and then make extra copies to have on hand.
2. Contain your keys.Never lose - or forget - your keys again! Choose a medium-sized bowl or get the Doorganizer© (pictured below) and place it by your front door as a catch-all. This works great for your keys, ipod, envelopes to be mailed - really anything you don't want to forget when you leave the house.
   
3. Create a master shopping list.Write a list of all the foods and staples you regularly buy when you go shopping. Then, as you run out of items, circle them on the list. Next time you go shopping, grab the list and you're ready to go.
4. Go through your photos.Look over all the pictures you took this past year and sort them into categories - whether by theme (birthday parties, family get-togethers) or chronologically (month, week, semester). Store them in a photo box, a photo album, or frame them for everyone to see!
5. Write a life list. Take out a blank sheet of paper and write down all the things you want to do in your life - from the simple to the extravagant (If that seems too daunting, just do it for the year ahead). Let your imagination run wild! Then review everything you've written down and pick one goal to accomplish this month.

Slip these canvas catch-alls over your door knob and never forget your everyday essentials again.

Colors: khaki, red (both above), black