I'm Lovin' this Project Organizer

Smead Manufacturing Company was founded in Hastings, Minnesota in 1906 and has been a woman owned business enterprise since 1955. (Girl Power!)

Recently they sent me a sample of their new "Project Organizer" to review and I gotta say I love it!


Sure it will get you organized and keep you focused on your projects. This organizing tool is pre-printed with templates for optimal organization. Keep track of your project's process, contacts and notes with 10 expanding pockets.
• Quick & easy pre-printed dividers to access project information, tasks, contacts and notes
• Reinforced Tabs
• 10% recycled content, 10% post-consumer material

But why do I love Smead's Project Organizer:
1. It feels durable. It is a paper product, but Smead did a great job making it strong. If it's intention is to be a used for a project, this needs to be able to withstand wear and tear.
2. The tabs are reinforced but also nice and wide, allowing you to clearly label each one should you choose making this item customizable.
3. Great pre-printed areas that will guide you to stay organized and avoiding lost phone numbers, missed deadlines with plenty of room to jot random important notes or changes involving your project.

Though I'm going to go a step further, because there is the potential for personal home use, too:
- You could use it in your kitchen to keep track of take-out menus, receipts from recently purchased items, bills to be paid or items to be filed. Instead of piles on your counter or papers covering your fridge, all those papers can be neatly organized in this expanding set of folders.
- Assign a row of folders (1-3, 4-6, 7-9) to keep track of your kids important school papers, schedules, sports, etc. No more wondering what hour your son has lunch or when the next random day of school the kids will have off.

... Get creative and see how you might be able to use this great item.  Just because it says "Project Organizer" doesn't mean that is its only possible use.

What project are you going to get organized?

Can You REALLY Organize a Teenager's Bedroom?

Organizing in a teenager's bedroom.

Is this even possible?!?

Why yes it is!



Rocket Organizing strikes again with a new organizing video for you. Check out how to bring some coolness (is it still "cool" to say "cool" anymore?) to your bedroom by assembling a Closetmaid Cubeicals storage system:


You could not pay me to relive my teenage years. I'm thankful I was able to bring a smile to one teenager's face. (a significant triumph in itself)

If you are looking for a great organizing product, easy to assemble and an awesome price, check out the Closetmaid Cubeicals. This one was purchased on sale at Target.

What is scary about your teenager's bedroom?

It's a Gladiator Garage

Your garage is likely one of the most used areas by everyone in your home. It also tends to be one of the most unorganized areas, too.

This is a bad combo!

After a long days work, as your garage door raises to welcome you home is there order or chaos? Sure your garage is a great big, open space to store a ton of stuff. Ideally, though ... your car is suppose to fit inside and you are not suppose to be climbing over boxes and bins to reach the door to your home.

Think about using your walls to get organized.

There is the tried and true nails-into-studs system for hanging items onto your walls. You can go a step and use the peg board system which gives you more flexibility. Or, you can use fancy, smanchy wall track system like Gladiator has called GearWall.

Here's the garage area before the installation began. The only tools needed are a drill or power screw driver, level and a stud finder. First I marked the walls for the location of the studs, then marked a level line (horizontal) as a guide for the lowest panel. Once the first panel was up, it was a matter of stacking the panels up on each other and securing to the wall.

Once the 4 panels were in place, the hooks and baskets for the GearWall were brought in. With this wall system, you can buy a variety of accessories to fit your needs. The great part is everything slides around and easily moved as your storage needs change.

The wall system holds up to 50 lbs per square foot which is nearly the weight of a bag of sand ... not that I'm not sure why you would store sand on your wall, but it's for comparison. Gladiator offers all sorts of hooks, baskets, bins and shelves for your organizing needs.

This GearWall system went up like a charm. Seriously, if you can hang a picture, you can install this product. It is a bit of a pricier system, but the clean look and versatility in organizing options make this garage organizing system a winner and definitely worth the investment.

Besides, if you can eliminate a point of chaos in your life, you should go for it.

How does your garage make you feel?

Organizing Product Not So Smart With Me

If you are someone who LOVES stacks of paper all over your desk or countertop, perhaps the PileSmart products from Pendaflex are for you.

I am not a paper piling kinda a person. Yeah, I will admit to papers on my desk, but no piles.

When working with clients I encourage them to remember:

Horizontal = Hidden
Vertical = Visable

The PileSmart Organizer Tray system will work great for you if you are a paper stacker. Nice clear, angled acrylic tray to keep your pile neat. Six colorful, thick plastic dividers with label areas on 2 sides which are erasable. If you are going to stack papers, this system will help keep your pile neat and tidy. The plastic dividers will help in keeping sorted piles separated, but I'm just not getting a warm fuzzy by stacking stuff. Hey, if you are a passionate paper pile person, then for about $20 give the PileSmart Organizer Tray system a shot.

Now, the Pendaflex PileSmart View Folders are getting closer to my organizing performance and love. These clear poly folders include write-on labeling tabs. The claim that the textured surface will prevent piles from slipping is a bit weak. The folders do holds up to 75 sheets of letter size paper and fit into hanging folders (YEAH!! For vertical filing). For about $10, these folders will do the trick in keeping your papers in order and protect them from any liquid spillage that is bound to occur at some point.

Finally, we come to the PileSmart Binder Clips. These babies are brightly colored and designed to clip up to 100 sheets of paper together. The built-in write and erase labels are visible even when documents are stacked in piles, which will save you time when you're trying to figure out what is in the stacks. Too bad Pendaflex put their brand name on one side of the writing tab, it would be nice to have the option to label either side of the tab. Since you could then hang (yeah, vertically) the clipped stacks of papers on a hook to display for easy use. Bottomline, I do like the PileSmart Binder Clips and for about $4 for a pack of 6, they are an inexpensive tool in helping organize your papers.

It needs to be noted that being a professional organizer, Pendaflex sent me these new products to review in exchange for a $20 gift card. My thoughts are completely my own. I'd like to say I love this new product, but overall it misses my style of organizing.

What organizing product do you find misses the mark?

You Know Your A Professional Organizer When New Folders Make You Happy

Are you looking to get those stacks of papers organized that are all over your desk or counter top?

Being a professional organizer, SMEAD sent me a few of their new products to review in exchange for a $20 gift card. Now, I likely would have done this without the compensation, but it was a nice offer on their part (thank you SMEAD).

So, stacks of papers are all over your desk. They all have purpose and need, maybe not ALL of them. The Stadium File system may be the thing for you because is takes those stacks of papers and organizes them vertically. Remember horizontal=hidden, vertical=visible.

Smead describes the Stadium File™ as ideal for clearing clutter from your workspace or counter top. You can turn piles into files with this tiered expanding file that lets you see everything at a glance. Use with Smead SuperTab® folders for the ultimate desktop organization solution.

This product costs about $20 and comes with 4 sets of labels: A-Z, Jan-Dec, 1-31 and household subjects. I prefer making my own labels. Writing on the tabs is a bit awkward. File folders fit into the slots, which is what you would likely want to use to make it easier to remove the papers from the system. The Stadium File is a reinforced paper product, so durability is a factor, though I believe using this on your desktop should not be a problem. Having this as your "in-n-out" box for school papers/projects/schedules ... eh, not sure if I would use it.

Now the product that really brightened my day are the Smead Supertab® File Folders. Having nearly double the labeling area of standard folders! Larger labels or big printing makes those important files quick and easy to locate. Hallelujah!!

As a professional organizer with focus on senior move managing, thank you SMEAD! Working with our older population, it's little things like larger print that makes life a bit easier. These SuperTab folders ROCK!! The label area is nearly twice the size of a standard tab, and they still fit in your file drawers. (24) come in a pack with assorted pastel colors available for visually cueing for categories. cost: $12 for manilla, $18 for pastel

Now, if you want to go all out with some slick labeling to your organizing project frenzy, perhaps the Smead Viewables® labeling system is for you. You can customize your filing with color and fonts to make finding information fast and easy.

The starter kit comes with the latest version of the software as well as label sheets and the software remembers how many labels are left on your page so there’s no waste. The labels print front and back to wrap over your file tabs, making is easy to access folders fast. Cost: $20 for the starter kit, refill label packs start at about $8, $19.50 for a box.

If you're into creating your own labels (honestly, I'm not), this is a great product. The software and customization of labels is easy to use. Your boring manila folders will POP out at you using the color label option. That is pretty sweet!

All these products can be found at OfficeDepot and Staples. Check out the SMEAD website for more information on these items.

What makes you happy today?

Getting Your Clothes Ready for Summer!

Looking to get your clothes organized as we transition from the Winter to Summer season?

Here's a quick little clip on some easy organizing tips from a recent appearance on WTOL CBS:


The items mentioned in this video are:
Rubbermaid's Revelations storage bins
Closetmaid's Horizontal Organizer

... of course my favorite organizing tool: a black garbage bag
Which really does not have to be black or a garbage bag, any other color bag will work just perfect. Boxes do the trick, too.


Bottom line: You gotta have a way of getting your items
out of your home!

Take a good hard look at your wardrobe and let go of a few items.

You will feel amazing!

What's your favorite organizing tool?

Junk Drawer 101 ... Psst, Want a Freebie?

We all have junk drawers.
(OK, maybe a couple ... alright several)

An organized junk drawer, we'll that's just crazy talk.

Things get tossed into the junk drawer because they were needed at one time, not really sure an easy place was available when you were done with it. Now your junk is a mishmash of items from nail clippers, hair brushes, foreign coins, pencils, paintbrushes, ball inflator valves, guitar picks, ... uh, you get the point.

Rubbermaid has a new product hitting the stores in mid-February that could be the solution to organizing your junk drawer:



6 piece drawer organization set





Little rubber feet keep the pieces from sliding around your drawers as you open and close. Rubbermaid also molded in a rubber mat in each piece to help control items in each piece. To top it off, they designed the pieces to interlock which further aids keeping everything in its place.

Now, don't limit the use of this product to just your junk drawers (yes, drawers). Think about bathroom products, cosmetics, office supplies, craft room ... heck, anywhere you've got little stuff rolling around in a drawer.

To help you on your organizing quest for 2010, Rubbermaid is giving me set of this fantastic new product to give away to one of you. How awesome it that?!

Entering is simple:
- Leave a comment below and let me know what drawer you need to organize.
- Join the Organized Solutions Facebook Fan page and share your comment.
- Share with your Facebook friends and Tweeters the offer.

Heck, the more the merrier I say!

A winner will be selected Saturday, February 6th.
** Winner has been randomly chosen **
Congratulations @Skaro964!

What drawer are you going to organize?

Cleverly Organize Your Drawers

It's early in the morning. Your fumbling through your underwear and socks trying to find the pair that you want. Hoping not to end up running out of your home with one blue sock and one black sock. (yeah, I've done that)

Next to getting up 15 minutes earlier and turning on the light so you can see clearly, these drawer organizers are the next best solution. Bonus: They are on special this month!!

These are one of my favorite items from Clever Container. The Drawer Designers are a fun tool to meet all your organizing needs. You'll feel like an organizing pro as you quickly find your favorite underwear, bra and socks in a flash. (oh yeah, we all have our favorite ones)

You can purchase this awesome combo set of organizers for only $20.00 when you purchase $35.00 or more in regularly priced Clever Container merchandise. Check out the Clever Container catalog and see all the other fun organizing options available!

Drawer Designers can be used in most drawers, but try them in your pantry, bathroom, playroom and even your refrigerator! Combo consists of 3 small (12x4x3), 2 medium (12x6x3) and 1 large (12x12x3) box!

Interested in a home organizing session with a group of friends?
Let me know and we'll get you on the schedule. This is a great way to learn some organizing tips & tricks while earning rewards toward your Clever Container products. You'll have a great time getting organized.

What drawer in your home needs to be organized?

Making Packing Lunch Fun (read on for FREE stuff)

"The Holy Grail" day of the year has arrived ... Back to school!!!

Yeah, it signals pretty much the end of the summer fun and frolic. Though, mothers everywhere breathe a sign of relief, and a leap of joy, as the school bus pulls away that first day with their kids inside.

The daily task of packing school lunches is added to your list of things to do, why not make it fun?

Rubbermaid has come out with these super cool (pun totally intended) Blue Ice Fun Shape reusable ice packs for your lunches. You can see the baseball one Jacob tested in his lunch vs. the other options available in our freezer. Other shapes available are a frog, monkey, football and others.

Jacob was pretty excited about having a fun new way of keeping his juice bag and strawberries chilled until it was time to munch. The kids at his lunch table thought it was crazy when he pulled a baseball out of his lunch. "That's so awesome dude!" Not a bad way to start of the 3rd grade. Jacob's verdict, the new Rubbermaid Fun Shape rocks!!

So here's the deal: Are you interested in trying out a Rubbermaid Fun Shape ice pack for FREE?

Well, send me your address and who will be using the fun shape -- need to know if you want boy/girl/neutral. All entries will be tossed into a "hat" and a winner selected randomly. Contest will end Thursday, September 17th 9pm EST. My email is: angie@iorganizeyou.com
Rest assured your name, email and address will not be used for any promotion or advertising. US addresses only.

Hey, We all love free stuff. You don't have to use these fun freezer shapes for your kids. Your lunches can be fun, too.

What was your favorite thing mom packed in your lunch?

Ben Trovato, Officemax ... Bravo!

Happily invented that is the italian translation for ben trovato which is perfect for this great piece of furniture Officemax has designed for you.

Designed for your home, the Trovato Office-in-a-Box is perfect for tight spaces. Measuring 36" wide by 24" deep it is just enough to create a work area for your bills and mail center. The rich espresso brown finish provides a durable stain and scratch resistant finish with style.


The three-piece set includes a compact desk, a removable hutch with compartments for office supplies and an ottoman with a padded seat that has room inside to store file folders or other papers.



Bravo! Officemax for making this product available for about $150 with free shipping to most areas.

Trovato Office-In-A-Box is a great piece of furniture to begin your quest to have an organized home office.

What is your favorite office organizing item?

Lovin' Rubbermaid

All great companies listen to their customers wants and desires to create better products and services. Rubbermaid has taking food storage containers to a new level by doing just that.

Rubbermaid's new food storage products ... well, they ROCK!
Best to just run down the new options available:

Easy Find Lids - Hallelujah! Finally no more will plastic containers forever be parted with their matching lid because these lids snap to the bottom of the containers or can all be stacked together as a happy family.


Premier - Easy to seal. Easy to clean. Easy to store. The storing part I LOVE! The lids snap to the bottom of each container or you can stack all the lids together. Plus, the containers all nest into each other. YEAH!!

I also performed an impromptu drop test as my homemade salsa came "flying" out of my fridge and hit the floor. Terrified to look down, I was shocked to see my salsa safely secure inside my premier container. Joy.

Produce Saver - Being a single chick, my produce tends to turn south before I can munch it all up. Thank you Rubbermaid for your Produce Saver line! It's green which is just a happy color. Bonus, my fruits & veggies last much longer and still crispy fresh. The tray snaps to the lid, and the lid snap to the bottom of the container. yeah, everything is together. LOVE IT!!

Lock-Its - For the extra security of 4 locking tabs on the lid with a rubberized seal, nothing is going to get out of these bad boys. Perfect for taking your favorite soup into work for lunch or storing your make-up items in the bottom of your gym bag. The lids will not pop off. ... yes, the lids snap to the bases, so organizing is a snap. Happiness.

All these Rubbermaid products are dishwasher, microwave and freezer safe. Plus they all nest together. No longer must you tear apart your kitchen to finding matching lids and bowls. Thank you Rubbermaid for making organizing easier. All with the lifetime guarantee, too.

What company is doing something right?

Oxo Good Grips For Your Office ROCK

Well, Oxo products have excelled in creating wonderful, durable products that make our life easier and more comfortable. Their products serve to aid us in our kitchen, garden and bath.

Now, Oxo is launching into our offices! (and the crowd goes wild)

Beginning this month, Oxo office products can be found exclusively at Staples. I had the pleasure of testing out a few of these products last week and I can say they live up to my wonderful Oxo potato peeler in comfort.

They approached this new product line by asking the question:
How can we make office products that take the work out of work?
Lovin' this idea ...
1. Function - Uh, what is this thing suppose to do?
2. Easy to use - Adding a struggle to the day would not be good.
3. Convenient - The faster you can get to it, the better.
4. Quality - Things break at the moment you need to use them. Make them well.
5. Comfort - Aaahh ... that feels so good, can you do that again?

By considering taking the work out of work, gotta tell you this stuff ROCKS!
Oxo has taken the time to consider you in designing these new products. Look around your desk and see what office tool is giving you grief. Pitch it and treat yourself to a new Good Grips one. Guarantee you will love it

What would you like to make easier?