After years of watching clients struggle to pack up all of their belongings, I finally packed away my wedding china.  I had not used it in ten years and was tried of it cluttering the kitchen cabinets.  I know other people that now use their china as “every day” dishes, I could’t bear to do that, so packed it away and perhaps one of my daughters will appreciate it.

Every month I try to clean out a closet or at a minimum, one drawer – it is amazing what we accumulate.  I don’t save books, I pass them on, I constantly weed out my wardrobe, but there is always “stuff, and more stuff”.

Friend, client and CPA, Marilyn Ziemann recommended the Organizing Sourcebook.  

I receive so much mail; it accumulates and seems to multiply.  I try to pay bills every week, but  have noticed that some credit cards are now providing less than 30 days to pay (by the time I receive the bill and return it in the mail, there is not much time remaining).  I was “stacking” all of my mail; well the book’s “tip” is to have different colored files: one color for bills, one for appointments and another color for phone calls or follow up.  So now, I can grab the correct color and pay all of my bills (without overlooking any), grab another file and efficiently schedule numerous appointments. This has proved to be a real time saver and I no longer pay any of my bills late (before they would sometimes get buried and when I paid my other bills they were overlooked).  Another tip from the same book, was to wrap the set of sheets in the pillowcase and then it is easier to pick up the pillowcase (without having to find all of the components) and then just make the bed.

I recently had a client with exquisite kitchen cabinets with glass panels; I suggested to her that she turn the dishes around so that when potential buyers were viewing her home they didn’t see the chips in her dishes.  I then returned home and had a “good look” at my own pitifully chipped dishes. 

Several weeks later I received a catalog from Macys and noticed that they had Villeroy and Boch dishes at 40% off.  I remembered I had completed my wedding china at Ross-Simons (it was 50% off at the time, no sales tax and free shipping).  I contacted Ross Simons and learned that they no longer sold dishes; I went to Shopzilla  found the set I wanted at 50% off and ordered them.  The chipped dishes are now gone! One thing out one thing in…. but I am still working on getting more “out”.