How to Organize a Coat Closet in 6 Easy Steps

Does your coat closet only get more cluttered with the change of seasons? Is it too packed to place the coat of a friend or two in? Then its time to follow these 6 simple steps to organize your coat closet:

Before you begin just make sure you have a good hour or more to complete the job.

1. Remove Everything From the Closet

In order to get organized you need to know what you are dealing with, and you need to start from scratch. You'll probably find coats from every season, a few missing gloves that have been lost for years, more shoes can boots than you can imagine, and who knows what else.

As you remove each item group them into piles based on each person in your home. You may find some people have much bigger piles than others by the time the closet is empty :)

2. Clean the closet

Give it a good scrubbing, dusting, even a quick paint job if you have the time.

3. Evaluate your storage system

Does your closet efficiently store coats, shoes and the other items you store in it? If not (especially if its an older closet) consider going down to the local home improvement store and look at closet organizer systems. You can spend anywhere from $20-$30 for a few new shelves and brackets, to several hundred for entire top of the line closet organizer systems

4. Organize and Store by Person

Depending on the season you want to store 1-2 of the "best" coats for each person in your home. So go to each "pile" you created when you emptied the closet and grab 2 of their coats. If its winter then for each person you may want a really heavy coat plus a slightly lighter coat. Summer time might just be a fleece and a rain coat for each person.

Each person should have their coats in an assigned position in the closet, like Dad gets the far left 2 spots, Mom's coats go next to, etc. Keep it organized as you store the items so you know exactly where to find what you are looking for and where to return them when done.,

5. Store additional items

In winter time store all of the hats, gloves and scarfs in a box. If you have a large family then give each person a shoebox to store their own season items and put the boxes on a shelf in the closet. Also store an umbrella for rainy days.

6. Evaluate what is left

Chances are you still have some piles still left hanging around from when you emptied the closet. If there is still plenty of room in your coat closet then allow each person to have an additional jacket, sweater, or fleece. Do not try to fill your closet, leave room and some extra hangers for guests.

But if you do not have much space then do not try to store all 4 season's worth of coats at the same time. You are far better off getting some plastic bins and storing off season coats in them and place them in the attic or basement. This will keep your closet more organized.

In regards to what may still remain in your piles, at this point you should consider donating them because the plain truth is you don't have room for them or they are just not as important anymore. Or they are simply trash.

So feel good about your new organized coat closet, make a donation and get a tax break! Donating something you've worn and loved in the past can be very difficult, but you will feel empowered by how organized you are now.

By Bob Hennessey

Time Management - Plan, Prioritize, And Organize Your Time More Efficiently

As many of us are painfully aware, time is a valuable but limited resource that we never seem to have enough of. In the increasingly hectic and fast-paced world in which we live, there is a pressing need to learn how to manage time as efficiently as possible. This article presents a brief overview of why you need to plan, prioritize, and organize your time more efficiently.

To develop good time management skills is to embark on a journey taken by many people in the past. This journey is simply following a path of proven principles that will help us gain control of our time. It is a journey that can begin only after a person realizes the need to use time more efficiently.

Your time can be capably managed by planning, prioritizing, organizing and knowing how to effectively deal with competing activities.

First, planning ahead is a key component to managing your time. Carefully look at every activity that you will need to do in the week ahead. Next, prioritize in ranking order the items that are most urgent or have a deadline for completion. Finally, Organize your activities by scheduling each one in your daily planner, calendar, or personal digital assistant (PDA).

By actually scheduling the things you need to do in your calendar, you have in effect reserved a block of time to do these things, and you will be more likely to get them done than if you had not scheduled them.

Time management is an art in itself that includes arranging, organizing, scheduling and budgeting time. This helps us become more productive and efficient at work, school, and all other activities.

When it comes to learning about how to manage time more effectively, you will find many self-help books, articles, and other written material on the topic of time management. In addition to written material, there are many time management classes, workshops and seminars specifically designed to equip people with time management tools. With a plethora of information available, there is really no good reason not to educate oneself in the fundamentals of time management.

In conclusion, we have seen that time management can be accomplished by planning, prioritizing, and organizing your activities. The list of people who can benefit from better time management is a long one, and includes students, teachers, factory workers, managers, business owners, artists, musicians, contractors, engineers, clergy, and countless others. The fact is, nearly everyone can benefit from learning the principles and techniques of how to be better stewards of time.

By: Jesse Whitehead

How to Organize Your Wardrobe

A large majority of men rarely think of organizing their wardrobe. We all sort of cling to the old die hard "dig and find" method. Despite the fact that it takes longer to find anything, organizing that old closet just doesn't sit very high on the priority list. In fact, it often times makes it to the "I'll get to it some day", or the "I'll get around to it" lists. There is hope for us closet neglectors though, and surprisingly it's not rocket science. If the initial set-up is done right, it is fairly easy to develop a system that will make your life much easier.

Organizing your wardrobe in reality comes to personal choice. Whether you prefer your pants to be stored on the right or the left doesn't matter as long as you are creating a well thought-out system that is easy to keep up. Stick to the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Stupid Simple) method. If you have no idea where to start, then this article is right for you. Below are a few general tips on how to organize your wardrobe. Use the tips that work for you. Use them to customize a system that works best for you.

First, start by completely emptying the wardrobe top to bottom. Clean the storage area as is required. Chances are that clumps of dust have piled up over the years in the corners. Empty your wardrobe completely and use a vacuum to get rid of all that dust. Next, sort all the things out that you no longer wear. If you are a pack-rat, this might be quite difficult. If this is the case then follow this general rule of thump: If you haven't worn something for at least a year, give it, or throw it away.

Now that you have limited the amount of clothes, organizing them will be much easier. When organizing your wardrobe make sure to put the clothes that you most frequently wear in the most accessible area. Start by thinking about different clothes for different seasons. If it is summer, store all your winter clothes in a separate storage bin. Once again you have narrowed down the clothes to organize. Next, look at all smaller items such as socks and underwear. Sort through all the single socks, and put the ones together that still have a matching pair. All small pieces that are part of your daily attire should be stored away in an easy accessible drawer.

The remaining clothes should be sorted by function. Work clothes such as suits, shirts, and neckties should be stored separately from your casual clothes. Make sure you don't hang your suit jackets too tightly, and keep your neckties away from any sharp edges. Your dress pants should be hung to prevent wrinkles. If you have multiple suits, keep matching pants with each jacket.

Your shoes are best stored in an adjustable shoe shelf that you can place in the bottom of your closet. Just as with your clothes, sort your shoes by their function. Dress shoes should be on one side, and casual shoes on the other. Store your shoes toe-in first to allow easy access of a pair with one hand.

Hendrik Pohl is the owner and founder of Ties-necktie.com, an online retailer offering a wide range of quality handmade silk ties, as well as useful dress code tips for men, men's fashion advice, necktie knot instructions, and more.

How to Organize a Home Filing Cabinet

If you are having a hard time organizing your home filing cabinet then this article would be a great help for you. Ideas on how to properly store your personal files and documents with the use of a filing cabinet will be given to efficiently manage your files.

1. Think of how many categories you will need. These categories are essentially the types of files that you want to be properly stored. Assign a color for each category. This allows you to recognize easily the type of file stored just by identifying the color. An example of categories would be bills, personal files, bank statements and et cetera. You can be more specific if you want to.

2. Once you have decided on the various categories and the colors assigned to each, paste the label on the folders and store the appropriate files and documents.

3. If you are not content with assigning colors, then you may opt for having each category alphabetically ordered. It all depends on suiting your taste and of course, ease of use.

4. If you do not want to keep too much files, then sort out the files that are important and those that are of no use. In order to maintain confidentiality, then these discarded files can be shredded for your protection.

5. Make it a habit to organize recent files at a certain day of the month. This allows you to function systematically and prevent cluttering your home space.

A good home filing cabinet attractively tucks away all your files to lessen up the clutter in your home space. With the organization comes the need to choose something that suits your style and budget without compromising durability and reliability.

How to Organize and Store Your Spices

Nearly every kitchen I've ever been in has this dilemma in common. What is the best way to store cooking herbs & spices? There is no simple answer of course. If there were, there would be no dilemma! The thing is every cook has a different approach. Some buy fresh herbs, some buy frequently used spices in large bulk bags. Some buy a wide variety of spices, some just a few. But in spite of all the different needs, here are a few tips that will help everyone organize and store their spices to save time.

1. Store spices as close as possible to where you use them. If you have a large kitchen where food prep and cooking areas are not near each other, separate and store spices according to where you use them, for example:
* If you usually add spices while cooking, store them near your stove, but not so close that heat will damage them.
* If you usually add spices during food preparation, store them handy to your prep area.
* If you use spices mostly as seasonings when food is served, store them handy to your serving area.
2. If you have a large quantity of spices, and not much space, consider sorting them by frequency of use. Keep the most frequently used spices handy in your kitchen, and store the rarely used spices in an out of the way storage cabinet.
3. Store spices alphabetically, just like they do in the grocery store. This makes it super easy to find what you need quickly. This way you give every spice a definite home, and it it will be easy to put away as well. Plus, you will always easily be able to see how much you have of a spice and whether or not you have duplicates. Avoiding duplicates will save you money as well as space.
4. Arrange spices so that you can easily find what you need. If you have them stacked several deep and can only see the tops of the jars, label the tops. If you have deep cabinets, use a stepped shelf so you can see what you have.
5. If you buy bulk spices in bags, store them by adding undershelf baskets to utilize vertical space in your cabinets and shelves. Or in stackable, airtight containers that you can label easily.
6. Think twice about buying spice racks that already have spices in them...how will you add new spices when you want to? What will you do with the spices that you don't like and never use? These are kinds of racks I often find people end up donating or giving away.

Would you like to simplify your life and get more organized? Ariane Benefit is a Life Coach, ADD Coach, organizing expert, author and coach who has been quoted in Psychology Today, the Wall Street Journal, and more. Visit her popular Neat & Simple Living Blog at http://blog.neatandsimple.com Ariane has over 25 years experience helping businesses and individuals get the results they want. Take a peek inside her book, Neat & Simple Guide to Organizing Your Office at http://www.lotusbridge.com