Organizing 'Quick Tip'

After purging items for Trash, Donation, or Repair get them out of your home ASAP.

• Trash goes to the curb/garbage room

• Donations go to a local thrift shop or drop-off bin

• Repairs go to the tailor or fix-it shop

Put Donations/Repairs in the trunk of your car and deliver the bags to the appropriate places as soon as you can. If you can arrange it, purge items from your home the day before your garbage is scheduled to be picked...

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posted on: 4/30/2012 11:00:00 AM  by Stacey Agin Murray
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Earth Day Organizing Tips

If Spring wasn't enough of an incentive to make change in your life, along came Earth Day.

According to earthday2011.org, United States Senator Gaylord Nelson founded the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970 in an attempt help people understand the affect they have on their planet and make positive environmental changes within communities. Now over 140 countries have their own Earth Days. Oprah would call this 'The Power of One."

Just like we make resolutions for New Year's, it's a great idea to make similar resolutions for Earth Day. Instead of pledging to exercise more, pledge to recycle more. Instead of changing the way you eat, change the way you conserve energy in your home.

My family has made some...

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posted on: 4/16/2012 11:00:00 AM  by Stacey Agin Murray
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Recycle and Spring Clean with Best Buy

For most of us, recycling is part of our everyday lives. We gather paper, plastic and glass and reap the health, environmental and economic benefits to recycling.

But, recycling isn't just about putting your newspapers and tin cans at the curb. You can recycle much more than that--just walk into your local Best Buy.

I wandered in to Best Buy one day to buy a gift card for my nephew and upon entering the store, I saw this...

I couldn't believe all of the items they took for recycling!

-Plastic Bags

-Wires, Cables and Cords

-Gift Cards

-CD's, DVD's and their Cases

-Ink and Toner Cartridges

-Rechargeable...

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posted on: 4/2/2012 11:00:00 AM  by Stacey Agin Murray
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Organizing on the Cheap - The One Dollar Bin

A few weeks ago, I was in Target and came across some organizing products in the Dollar Spot. I was so excited to blog about my finds!

That day, many of the $1 organizing products I found were office products--file folders, to-do list pads, etc. But, as I was about to leave the Dollar Spot, I spotted this blue bin below.

It looked like a bin I was already utilizing in my pantry to hold my son's snacks. The $1 one was bigger than the one I already owned. My son is getting bigger and so are his snacks--I needed a larger receptacle for them. Just by looking at it, I knew it would fit.

I brought it home, filled it with pre-made snack bags (that concept...

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posted on: 3/19/2012 11:00:00 AM  by Stacey Agin Murray
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Spring Cleaning History

Every year around the months of March or April we hear people talking about it, we read about it in magazines and watch segments on HGTV and Martha Stewart speaking of its merits.

What could I be talking about?

Spring Cleaning!

We all use the phrase freely but where does the expression 'Spring Cleaning' come from?

History tells us that back in the olden days, spring cleaning was a much different concept then it is today. This cleaning was a necessary routine because of how people had to heat their homes and keep them lit. People used kerosene, wood, gas, oil, and candles which caused the house to develop dark sooty grime around it. The arrival of spring signaled warmer temperatures and the need to...

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posted on: 3/5/2012 11:00:00 AM  by Stacey Agin Murray
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Mise en Place - Cooking the Organized Way

Every year, my cousins host a Valentine's Day pizza party. They order in pizzas, set up a huge salad bar on their counter, and people bring wine and desserts to round out the celebration. Last year, I made heart shaped brownies and although they were good, I wanted to get a bit more creative.

For inspiration, I walked into a store near me called Sugar and Plumm--Purveyors of Yumm and found all types of cool looking confections including pretzel rods decorated with yummy-looking sugary stuff. I thought to myself, "I could make those!" I even had a feeling I owned a recipe for it and lo and behold, I did.

I had a ton of tasks to get done the morning I was...

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posted on: 2/20/2012 11:00:00 AM  by Stacey Agin Murray
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Organizing on the Cheap: Target Dollar Spot

I love Target. I find it to be a very enjoyable place to shop. Stores are always brightly lit and clean. Staff in red shirts are ready to help and price scanners are plentiful.

Last week I stopped by my local Target for some random items--cleaning supplies, picture hangers, strawberries--a typical day of one-stop shopping. The first thing I did when I walked in the store was check out the weekly sale circular on the wall. Then, I headed straight to the Dollar Spot.

According to the Target website, The Dollar Spot was launched in 2004. If you haven't stumbled upon it, it's usually the first shopping area you see when you walk in the store. All of the items in the Dollar Spot cost $1 with a few costing $2.50. It's a...

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posted on: 2/6/2012 11:00:00 AM  by Stacey Agin Murray
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Uncle Sam Wants YOU--To Be Organized for Tax Season

It's the beginning of the new year--a time when people make resolutions to lose weight, spend more time with family and make other such improvements to their life. Many set goals to get organized in the New Year.

If that is one of your goals, that's wonderful! I commend you for setting a goal to improve the quality of your life. I have the perfect organizing project for you. When you've finished it, you'll be less stressed and have more time to enjoy the beginning of Spring.

I don't want you to sort your sock drawer. No, I'm not sending you to organize your garage in the middle of winter.

Your first organizing project of the new year is to: Get Organized for Tax Season.

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posted on: 1/23/2012 11:00:00 AM  by Stacey Agin Murray
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Helpful Organizing Tip - Master Shopping List

Between raising a family and being a business owner, there's a lot going on in my brain. If I need to remember something, I have to write it down or else it's as good as gone. I'm a visual person so I like post-its and pads of paper for quickly jotting down ideas, to-do's and lists.

With four people in our household, we go through a lot of food. When we would run out of something, I'd add it to my shopping list (my main supermarket is ShopRite). But, I shop in four or five different markets depending where I'm driving past that day and what food item I've run out of. I needed a central place to keep track of all our food needs. That's when I came up with the Master Shopping List.

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posted on: 1/9/2012 11:00:00 AM  by Stacey Agin Murray
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Cool Product - Fridge Binz

I'm lucky to live so close to The Container Store! Even if I don't need anything specific, I'll drop by, walk up and down the aisles and check out some new products now and then.

A short while ago, I was in the 'kitchen' aisle and came upon a product that I thought was not only cool but it could also help me with my own organization problem--my refrigerator.

Food was getting lost in my fridge. Food was going bad in my fridge. I didn't want to open my fridge!

OK--it wasn't that bad but I was having 'bread issues.' Loaves, buns, pita, wraps, and mini-bagels were getting lost and smushed in my fridge.

And then I met my new best friend--The Fridge Binz Tray. These heavy-duty plastic...

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posted on: 12/26/2011 11:00:00 AM  by Stacey Agin Murray
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