Do you have a toothbrush in the kitchen, vitamins in the spice cabinet and aspirin by the coffee? If those are your "go-to" areas for some everyday items and it works for you...great! It makes a lot of sense to have these items where you use them and if this make your day run a little smoother even better. If you find that you are storing way too much in these areas it might be time for some cabinet or drawer organizing. Get rid of anything that is expired and send some the items you don't need everyday back to the medicine cabinet.

It starts out as a cluttered closet, a overstuffed drawer or a garage used as a storage space. One day you decide its time to get organized. If you decide to get rid of the things you no longer need but put aside the "maybe's", how much time are you willing to spend holding to these things? A day, week, month, years or until have you completely forgotten about them? If you decided to store those items be sure to give yourself a time frame for letting go. Add a label to the box that says "get rid of by xx date." If you havent needed it since you moved it or even thought about it, it's a good sign you made the right decision to let it go.

Are you suddenly working with less space? If you are moving to a smaller home or downsizing your office you know you will have less space to store items. Some items will have to go. But its not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to organizing. I recently lost an large drawer in my small kitchen because it broke. I had to downsize kitchen items to even less stuff than I already had. The funny thing is after rearranging the drawers to accommodate everything they are even more organized and I less stuff.

Do you have several packages of batteries floating around your home or office? Do you also have the mystery batteries that roll around in the junk drawer but your not quite sure they work? Heres a quick tip for organizing your batteries. Make a list of electronics that require batteries so you know what type you need. In our home AA batteries go to everything from toys, remote controls and video camera. It helps if we have extras and worthwhile for us to by multipack. The smoke detecter takes a 9 volts and you always want to make sure you have an extra to replace. We also have a few toys that take "C" batteries but rarely get used and usually end up with extras when purchasing. A great way to keep the batteries organized is with a battery organizer. Get rid of the packaging and store batteries in a case by size. A battery tester is also great to have and always keep near the extra batteries.

How many screws and other mystery parts do you have rolling around in your junk drawer and tool box? Can't seem to throw them away can you? Why is this? Because you think they go to something. Before you put them in a drawer to be forgotten, make sure you identify the item. If its a screw, put it in a small plastic bag. And write the product it belongs to and any other information. Its better to add the information now and know it's importance. Rather than throwing it a drawer and letting it roll around for a couple of years eventually tossing it because you dont know its purpose.

Junk drawers have become the catch all for everything. Its no surprise to see things from coupons, tools, loose change, toys, important documents, office supplies, toiletries and just about anything that will fit into its space. Do yourself a favor and periodically go through the junk drawer. Pull everything out and sort. Then take everything that has a home and put it away. Keep the items that you use often in the drawer but really try to limit to just one. You dont need 6 tape dispensers and 50 pens, just keep one of each item you really need. If possible use drawer organizers to keep everything organized.