Almost everyone I talk to says they waste 10 minutes of day looking for their keys. My #1 organizing tip for everyone is to designate a specific place for their keys by the front door. Whether it's a hook, or a drawer in a table in the hallway, or a decorative box on the shelf, just make sure it's close to the front door. And then for the next three weeks, make a conscious effort to put your keys there every time you come in. I promise, if you do this, you'll save yourself so much frustration. And if you were someone always looking for their keys, you could save up to 2 1/2 days - the equivalent of a whole weekend.

It is hard to believe Thanksgiving is this week. It is officially Holiday Season everyone! No messing around, time to get serious with shopping, eating and fun! Do yourself a favor before all of the excitement. Sit down, take a big deep breath and figure out how you will enjoy the holidays but also stay organized with daily life. It can be easy to overlook your current bills, healthy goals and entertainment budget when you are distracted by all the shiny things. Prioritize your calenders for the final months of 2011 so you can kick off the new year with ease.

Your organizing task for today: start clearing out your home of unwanted items you no longer need or want. Donate clothes, toys and food to clothing drives, churches or a shelter.

Today was Fall back. We got to change our clocks and catch a few more z’s. Not only do we change the time on our clocks but it should be a reminder that we need to do something else in our homes like changing the batteries in your smoke detectors!
Try to think of some other things you can do twice a year that happen the same weekend as Fall back and Spring forward and add it to your "To Do" list.

Having the perfect storage container for your space can make your life so much easier. And yes, some containers are so perfect in the way the look and fit in a space we should almost have a celebration when placed on a shelf. But the reality is sometimes you do not have the time to shop, know what you need or have the resources to make it all happen. So instead of avoiding your project, use what you already have around the house as a storage container and get started. Your home or office probably contains many useful storage items that you got for free! Common items are plastic grocery bags, recycled store bags(I love the ones with handles) shoe boxes or any boxes that can be closed and stacked. Start sorting through your items and use what you have to categorize and store. Be sure to add a label so you know what is inside. A label maker does a great job but so does regular paper and tape or a post it note. Just because you don't have the perfect containers to organize, it should never hold you back from getting started.

Making use of the time in the doctors office is critical. Its no fun to go but if you are taking the day off of work, spending money in travel or paying the sitter you have already invested a lot just to get there. It is very important to be organized for your appointment so you can get everything you need from your doctor. First, find out if there will be paperwork to fill out and if you can download at home. Fill out any forms and bring with you instead of filling out in the doctors office. It can take a long time to fill out and it may be easier if you have access to personal information at home. You also dont want to get there right at the time of your appointment to find you will need to fill out forms that take 15 minutes. This could eat into your appointment time. Bring any medical records needed for appointment such as test results or x-rays or be sure the records can be sent to doctors office. And finally make sure you have a copy of your current insurance card. Keep a running list of questions for your doctor and bring with to your appointment so you do not forget! Write down any answers your doctor has given along with treatment, instructions and side effects. Get your days results on your way out the door and be sure to file it with your medical records.

Is it possible to be productive during the heat wave? All this extra time staying inside will give you a chance to help yourself and the environment. You can do this by organizing and unplugging cords under your desk, on counters and anywhere else cords are plugged into the wall. Right now its critical that we conserve energy. Anything that is plugged in, even if its not on is drawing power. By the way you are paying for this.

Tie loose cords together with cable ties. If you want to take it a step further add a label to the cord. This is helpful in the home office or entertainment center.

Do you avoid calling companies because you don't have time to wait on hold? We have more important things to do each day than waiting for someone to pick up the phone. Heres a tip to help you organize your time a little better. Check out "Holdr" an App that waits on hold for you! You call the number and Holdr calls you back when an agent picks up the line. You can also have Holdr call you back at another number. Love it!

Having you been staring at a pile of clothes in your closet or stack of paperwork in your office? As daunting as it may seem to tackle this organizing project you may just be rewarded by jumping in and giving it your best shot. Take a few moments to look through the paperwork or hang up your clothes. It is possible that you may even find a lost treasure. Some of the most common items we find organizing homes and offices are gift certificates, important documents and clothes we have forgotten.

Tired of sorting through piles of owners manuals when you have a question about your camera or dishwasher? There are several ways to keep your manuals organized but here is a quick way to get started with the organizing process. If you do not have a lot of time begin by separating your manuals by "Appliances", "Electronics", "Equipment" and "Other." There are many ways to break these categories down further but this is the first step in the process. Its exciting to get a new appliance or gadget and sometimes keeping the paperwork together is the last thing on our minds when ripping open a box and trying to turn it on. Keep them safe and easy to find until you need them. Good Luck!

Have you ever lost your cell phone? It can be frustrating! Be sure to keep your IMEI, MEID or ESN numbers which can be found on your phone in a safe place. Use these numbers to identify your phone to carrier if ever lost. Use Find My Iphone App for the IPhone to locate your phone with GPS. For the Blackberry use the Blackberry locator App to to ring your phone even if its on vibrate or silent mode. Do this now before you loose your phone. Now if it could only find your keys.

Do you have a pile of old cell phones, batteries or chargers cluttering up your home or office? If you want to be better organized, get rid of those old electronics and recycle them! I just found out that Peapod the company I use to deliver my groceries will actually pick up my old cell phone, chargers and batteries and recycle them. I love this added service! Not only do I save time and money shopping online I get to give them items to recycle. Can't beat that!

You just finished organizing every last paper clip in your home office. Instead of just letting those supplies sit there taking up space use them for something cool like holding up your Iphone! Check out the binder clip dock stands from Instructables.

Wouldn't it be nice to have all of your home's inventory organized and in one place? Go ahead and start organizing your garage and make a list! Better yet purchase software that practically does it for you. Check out Delicious Library 2 a home inventory mac program that catalogs item using the bar code. Cd's, books, Dvds, toys, clothes, tools and electronics can be scanned into the program using the barcodes. Delicious Library 2 looks up all the available information online and adds it to your inventory. Gotta love it!

We constantly upgrade our electronics but upgrades can leave us with tons of extra equipment. Most of the time our new piece of equipment is smaller, takes up less space and doesn't require all the extra parts and accessories you have stored away. Save yourself the headache of trying to keep old equipment organized and just send back to the manufacturer. Here are a few companies that offer a "Take Back" program. Some charge a fee for any brand and some are free when you buy new. Also check out your local electronics stores for Take Back events. And be sure to check out the companies recycle program at time of purchase.

Dell Recycling Service

Hewlett Packard Recycling Service

IBM Recycling Service

Are you holding on to months or even years of old magazines?  They take up a lot of space and if you have current subscriptions the amount will continue to multiply!   Here's a project you can do on a rainy day or even in front of the TV.  Go through your magazines and pull the articles you want to read.  Organize them  by category and store in folders.  Recycle the rest of the magazine.  Now you will have more space and you have stacks of articles you can take with you to read anytime.

Update your home warranty and product manuals each year and get rid of manuals for products you do longer own. Be sure you read the warranty when you purchase an item to so that you are aware of the coverage and time period. Write the Model number and Serial Number on your user manual so you can register your product or contact customer.

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.

Do you have a lot of "One Time Use" items in you home or office? These are things that seemed like great purchases in the beginning but after the battery, ink, or other goo ran out you never replaced? This is how stuff can end up cluttering up our lives. We buy it thinking we are going to use forever and never replace the required supplies. Now it just sits there taking up space and collecting dust. Next time you are thinking about purchasing a toy, appliance or gadget make sure you the "supply included" is easily available and stock up now. If the items are not available now, how and where will you purchase when needed? Also, check out the cost for the little "extras" it requires. Is it worth buying this particular item or should you maybe upgrade to a better model right from the beginning that does not require so many parts? Think about this when trying to stay organized.

I was looking for my favorite DVD. It wasn't in my cd wallet, not in the DVR and nowhere near the entertainment center. Now the search was on! I spent the morning searching and searching where I thought it might be. I began pulling things out of boxes, drawers, and off shelves. As I sifted quickly through items, ready to put back where I found them I thought for a minute, "I dont need some of this stuff and Im not going to put these back in the drawer or on the shelves." I wasn't going to spend another minute on these items again contemplating the value. I realized I was at the beginning of my own organization project, sorting, purging and making decisions about what to keep and what to toss. Everywhere I looked for my DVD I ended up reorganizing. Some of the things I found may have had value at sometime but not now and I would never look for these things again. So, out they went!

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.