Carol's Thoughts on Organizing

Being organized makes you feel better, in charge, less stressed and gives you more free time.  Ben Franklin said "A place for everything and everything in its place".  It's a good rule to live by. 
Some hints:  Do a little at a time.  Do not empty out the whole closet unless you really have the time and energy to finish.  Purge before organizing or you will end up with mountains of bins.  Streamline clutter, rotate accessories and collections and buy teeny, tiny souvenirs when you travel such as refrigerator magnets.  Keep a box in your hatchback or trunk so you can throw in things headed for Goodwill (that's one less Amazon box to recycle).  I also keep a large basket on the passenger seat (unless a passenger is sitting there) to hold tissues, library books,  packages to be mailed and all sorts of things I might need when I'm out and about.  For paperwork I started using an accordion file years ago.  Even though I mainly do online banking now, my system still works for me.  One pocket for bills, one for stamps & address labels, one for plain envelopes & deposit envelopes and one for correspondence related to bills.

The things I have the most difficulty with letting go are the expensive mistakes.  Some lessons are learned the hard way, I'm a more mindful shopper now.  Don't listen to every "organizational expert", sometimes their ideas really don't work or may be unrealistic.  Just putting like objects together in a holder is a help, it doesn't have to be perfect.  The important thing is that you can locate things without cursing or screaming.  Take a trip to Target and get inspired by all the cute containers.  It's a good feeling to have an organized home and it makes life easier too.