Online grocery shopping still rules my home. All of my past purchases are saved in my account and I can order my groceries in minutes. I don't always have the same order each week so I have organized my home shopping lists into three categories - weekly, bi-weekly and monthly. I have created this list by going through the refrigerator, pantry, medicine cabinet and cleaning supplies to figure out what I use and how long it takes finish. If your laundry detergent contains enough liquid to do 20 loads of laundry you can figure out how long it will last. And do you need to purchase every two weeks or once a month.? Apply this to other areas to figure out your monthly requirements. If you don't have a lot of space and it takes a month to use something don't over crowd your space but stocking up and filling your cabinets every week. Saving a few dollars to stock up on really bulky item isn't worth it to me if my cabinets are busting at the seams. Just create your lists and follow them!

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.

Are you tired of the same old Friday night dinner and movie experience? Racing through dinner, the crowds and concession to get good seats at the theater? I like my time to be organized; get there at least 20 minutes early, get a good seat and hopefully not sit in the front row. Those days are over now that I have discovered the ultimate movie experience! Reserved seats, tables and a restaurant in the theater. Now we don't have to spend the extra time and money getting dinner out. It is always nice to do but when you have to leave to "catch a movie" it is just not the same. We can have a great dinner right at our seats from a real restaurant and reserve our seats online before the show. It costs more to reserve our seats and food is more expensive then your typical meal but what a huge difference! This new way of entertainment has just changed the way we see movies. It's the all in one - save time, no rush - love it!

The weather keeps playing tricks on us. It gets warmer and warmer then the temperature drops again! It can make it difficult to completely commit to the switch over of wardrobes. As you organize for the spring and pack away your winter clothes keep out only out a few warmer outerwear items that dont take up a lot of room. Keep one hat and a pair of gloves gloves handy for those quick weather changes. You can easily store these out of the way during the summer months and have ready for the temperature drop in the fall.

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.

Are the food storage containers out of control in your kitchen? Time to get your food storage organized once and for all. Not sure of what to get rid of? Start by tossing any of the containers that do not have lids, damaged or have the numbers #3, #6 or #7 inside the recycle triangle. If you can stack your storage containers, try nesting the square and rectangular containers or round containers together from smallest to largest. And store your lids the same way by shape.

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!

Organizing your closet is an ongoing process. The seasons change, styles come and go, and weights go up and down. I think its important to look through your clothes each season and evaluate what you want to keep for the next season. Only a small percentage of your wardrobe should be "trendy" clothes because by the next year unfortunately they will be out of style...sorry. The clothes that don't fit should not be in your closet taking up space. If you want to have one inspirational piece great, but pack up the rest and revisit at a later date.

I love the simplicity of a guest bathroom. It has the basic requirements of a bathroom, toilet and sink but not a lot of extra storage space. It is not meant to be cluttered with excess items but easy to keep organized when it just the basics such as toilet paper, tissue and some extra hand towels. This brings me to the hand towels. The hand towels can really add a nice detail to the room but you also have to wash and replace a lot if this is a busy bathroom. One suggestion is hang your nice towels but also have disposable hand towels for guests. I just saw this great Hand towel dispenser from Kleenex that fits on the counter, back of toilet or on your towel rod. During the months of colds and coughs I think its a great way to keep everyone from using the same towels.

Do you find gadgets, cords and other things you think belong to your computer? Maybe they belong to your camera, phone or other electronics? Here's a quick tip on keeping some of these mystery items identified. As soon as you open a new product put the accessories in a resealable bag with a label. Or keep a home inventory of your electronics and other parts with pictures. Take a picture with your camera or cell phone and name each picture. Keep it in a file on your computer so you can refer to it when needed.

Thinking about redesigning your closet with custom shelving? Be sure to follow a few of these organizing tips before finalizing the measurements. Go through all of your clothes, shoes and accessories and decide what you want to keep. Purge anything you no longer need or love. Next, count your long hanging clothing, short hanging clothing, shoes and accessories. Measure the amount of space they will need. If you switch out your seasonal clothing be sure to customize your closet for all seasons. Look over your clothing and make sure you plan for everything that will be stored here and additions. If you have more shoes in the summer and tall boots for winter be sure you plan enough space for all footwear. Continue taking stock of other items such as sweaters, jackets and anything else that changes in your wardrobe through the seasons.

Next time you organize your linen closet be sure you have everything you will need to store here. You want to make sure you are starting with all of your clean laundry, except for the pieces that are on your bed, guest towels and washcloths that you keep in the bathroom. Now you are ready to purge what you don't want and see what fits in your closet. Make sure to fold your sheets, towels and washcloths in a way that is easy for you. And show other family member how to fold the laundry so everything fits every time.

The kitchen is one of the busiest rooms in the house. It can be challenging to keep everything organized. Sometimes when I wait for the tea pot to boil or microwave to finish I think about this quote "If you've got time to lean you've got time to clean". It always makes me laugh but I end up sifting through one of our drawers for quick organizing project. Maybe its reorganizing the utensil drawer or plastic food containers. It just takes a few minutes but a great way to be useful during those moments when you have nothing to do.

Storage bins are an a professional organizers #1 tool next to the label maker. They come in all shapes, sizes, textures with or without lids. I like to use storage bins with lids because they can stack on top of each other. Perfect for storing out of season clothes or shoes in the top of your closet. One thing to think about when using this type of organizing solution is if you use the items on a regular basis. And will this work for you when accessing items? Sometimes drawers are a better solution because they are easy to open close.

Living with things you no longer use or need is a waste of valuable space. But organizing your home or office can often free up some of this wasted space. Last week I wrote about organizing your Entertainment center. If you had a chance to go through your Cd's or DVDs and get rid of the cases you may have several shelves available now. This is great time to rethink the storage possibilities for the space. If you have a lot of gaming accessories like tennis rackets or steering wheels they can be stored here. Its also a great place to store your laptop, cords and other accessories.

There's nothing worse than seeing a bad movie. It can be such time waster! Not only is it important to organize our homes and offices but we also have to organize our fun! This is of course if you want to get the most out of your time and money spent on entertainment. Next time you head out to the movies be sure to check the movie reviews. I found a useful sight that gives movie reviews as well as movies recently released on DVD. Check out Rotten Tomatoes to see the average rating and who liked it.

My absolute favorite organizing tool is the clear storage bin. Clear storage bins can be used in almost any area. They come in many shapes and sizes and are so very useful in organizing because they are clear and you can see the contents! We usually add a label to the clear bin and often use in areas behind closed doors. We can store everything from shoes, boots, sweaters, office supplies, crafts, to bulkier items like blankets and use for under bed storage. They are very durable and the best part is they are great for stacking.

Organize your office with simple storage solutions.
Colorful boxes are great for storing office items and stacking on open shelves. Organize and conceal items such as electronics, cords and adapters, photos or whatever takes up valuable drawer real estate. If it isn't used often or it doesn't have to have immediate access it can be stored in a box on a shelf.

For a more high end look I recommend the leather storage box for any open shelf.

Next to the kitchen the Media room is one of the most used rooms in the home. And the entertainment center one of the most used pieces of furniture. One of the first things I recommend to organize and save space is to go through all the CD’s, DVD’s and Games. Then get rid of the cases because they take up so much room! After getting rid of the cases organize them and put them into the CD wallets.
Getting rid of the liner notes is an option if you will never read and have no use. This information its easily accessible online. But there are wallets that hold them as well.

Organize CD’s, DVD’s and Games into separate wallets.
Music Cd’s can be organized by Genre, box sets, soundtracks and artist. You name it!
I recommend thin books because they are easy to manage. They are lightweight and don't get too heavy. You don't need to store 200 CD’s in one book. You can barley lift it.

DVD’s can be organized by Classics, TV Series, Family, Comedy, Horror, Romance, Action and Science fiction.
After organizing the music, movies and games. Make a master list of each title then label the books and pages.

Do you think you can find an important document in one of the stacks of paper in your office? Could you do it in 10 seconds? Most likely its going to take a long time to sift through each piece of paper. The problem with stacks of paper is you can only see what is on top and there are no categories. Older paperwork just waits patiently on the bottom for an action. The unfortunate part about the older paperwork is it could be a very important like a bill that needs to be paid or a timely response. Be sure to always separate your paperwork immediately after it has been viewed. Decide if it requires and action, such as paying or responding (Bills, invitations, doctors appointments). Ask yourself if you need it for reference? (warranties, receipts, statements). If you dont have a filing system set one up and save your important documents where they can be easily accessed.