Office Transformation

I love amazing transformations!! They motivate. They bring life into a dead space. They help someone (or many people) become more productive. There is order. It is beautiful to see the treasures on display. You can find things. It is a gift. Oh, the list goes on... It is why I LOVE to organize!

I could not wait to show these astonishing before and after pictures of a client's home office. Now remember, all of this was done using the basic organizing steps - sort, go through each pile, find a home, contain & label, keep it simple...and then plan to maintain. Following these steps will lead you to organizing just about anything!

We moved the lighter shelf to the other side of the office to go with it's match. Are these black shelves not sooo cute?? My client is talented at decorating...and you can see the treasures!

Notice the shelves have a home for everything and it is all labeled! Off to organize...have an amazing day!

Recent Conversations

I had the privilege of giving an Organizing Presentation to the Greater Kansas City Mother of Twins Chapter last night. There were over 40 moms present. I presented on Why We Need To Organize and The Basic Organizing Steps. Then we looked at before and after pictures and walked through the steps of organizing each photo. We learned how to set up an "Action File" to conquer the overwhelming amount of paper in our homes. After some question/answer discussion we had a drawing for a beautiful bouquet of Gerber daisies and lime (my favorite color) mini mums AND for two free hours of organizing services. Congratulations to the winners!!!

I wanted to post some links below that will answer some of questions that we discussed last night!

1. How long should we keep bills, taxes, receipts, etc?

First, always speak directly to your accountant regarding your specific issues but these links have some great guidelines:

• http://www.groco.com/tools/taxretentionguide.aspx
• http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/mtg/20000518h.asp
• http://www.irs.gov/publications/p552/ar02.html#en_US_publink10008614

2. My favorite website for product searches and ideas:

• http://www.containerstore.com/index.jhtml
• http://www.organizedliving.com/
• http://www.organize.com/
• http://www.organizeit.com/index.asp
• http://www.stacksandstacks.com/

3. Here is some garage organization information:

• contact Wayne Zetzman at wzetzman@completegarage.com. He will come out and give you an estimate and one-on-one attention. Check out his website at http://www.completegarage.com/. Of course, tell him I referred you. :)
• Home Depot has the Rubbermaid FastTrack System for you do-it-yourself people
• Here is a link in Kansas City where you can buy Slatwall http://www.kc-store-fixtures.com/slatwall_panels.php. Also, here is a link with tons of pictures for ideas: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=slatwall+garage&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=

I hope this information was helpful! Thanks again ladies for a wonderful evening!