{Picture Perfect Organization Ideas}

If you’re like me…you’ve thumbed through an edition of pretty much any Martha Stewart Living Magazine and enviously eyed the perfectly organized closets, pantries, workspaces, or bedrooms as if they're some high-achieving goal you’ll never attain.  You’ve looked at it and said “yeah right, who really lives like that??”  Or…as I say all the time…“ok…now where’s all their stuff?” as if it’s been placed somewhere right outside of the camera’s view and will be immediately put back in its place as soon as the picture has been taken.



Photo:
http://www.kimberlyreuther.com/2011/06/29/office-makeover-part-1-ideas-and-organization/



With our hectic lives and schedules, keeping things in their rightful place is often a challenge at best, but more often, an impossibility...or so it seems.  Even the best-intentioned people get overcome by their lack of time, leaving that sweater on the bed to find its own rightful place while you're at work or out running errands.  Organization is a mindset.  Organization is a habit.  And organization, so "The Martha" and other organization experts would have you believe, is something completely attainable. 

I read this little article on The Stylist with 10 tips for staying organized.  The tips are completely practical and make total sense.  Read them and see what you think.  Worst case scenario…nothing changes.  But…there is a chance that one or two of these may make sense, and you can apply them to your life today!  That’s where it all starts, right?

The tips mentioned in the article are bulleted below, but please read the actual article for more detail and motivation!

1. Focus on the bigger picture.
2. Visualize your desired result.
3. Choose an area of focus.
4. Clear the space.
5. Sort into four piles:  keep, toss, donate, fix.
6. Revisit the Keep pile.
7. Give everything a home.
8. Choose containers.
9. Maintain.
10. Tune and tweak as needed. 

Here are some other organization ideas that I spotted around the web:

 {...2012 Declutter Calendar...}

Don't know where to start with your organization strategy?  This 2012 Declutter Calendar from My Simpler Life will lead the way.  Download the free pdf calendar or, to show your true commitment to the de-cluttering cause, order a cute wall calendar for $24.99.

{...office inspiration...} 

 

Office organization ideas…almost all of these are found in your local Ikea.  I mean really…Ikea knows how to make every space look simple and chicly Scandinavian. 

{..."easy as tea" jewelry organization...} 

Need some jewelry organization ideas?  Well here’s a cutie!  From blogs.babble.com…antique saucers and teacups make the perfect little jewelry holders. 

{...brilliant idea for organizing pots and pans...}

Pan organizers can keep your kitchen cabinets amazingly organized, as demonstrated by iheartorganizing.blogspot.com. 
(Rubbermaid pan organizers: $11.99 at Target or shop around...I found some in Marshall's for $3.99)

{...ladder shelf for the bathroom...}

When trying to organize your bathroom, consider a ladder shelf like this one from Ana White.  Use baskets to separate towels from toilet paper.  This lets you have everything handy without sacrificing style.