Do you have an organizing secret or tip?

I label on the outside of my box what room it is from and some of the contents, that helps me to keep from digging through all boxes until I am ready to open them.

I need a good organizing tip or two as well, my room is a mess. :)

Purge. I can’t say it enough. Critically look at the object you’re holding – do you really need this object? If you haven’t used it in a few months, or if you don’t know what you’ll do with it, you don’t need it, it’s just taking up space and owning you instead of you owning it. Get rid of it (trash or recycling/thrift).

The less you have, the less takes up your life, the cleaner your surroundings are, and for me that translates to having a cleaner head. You can still have a wonderful art collection/statue collection/whatever collection, it just doesn’t need to be a million items when 10 of the best, rotated every few months, will be more effective.

As for moving, I would recommend ranking all your boxes by priority of opening, if you have a lot of boxes and you may not remember what each one is even though it has a “books” label. This is one thing we did not do in our recent move and it would have made us be more efficient to unpack priority 1 items before priority 5.

And two tips for @mangeons about keeping your room clean. First, a tip to clean your room: start by making your bed and then pile everything that is not where it belongs in your room onto the bed. Then, start sorting. Take an item and put it in its home, in the garbage, or in a storage box, but don’t put it back on the bed no matter what. And don’t take more than a minute per item, don’t get caught up flipping through the magazine. I find music helps for this. A tip for keeping your room clean: before you leave the room, clean one thing. Whether that’s making the bed (always a good thing to do – it just sets the clean mood in your room), putting your dirty clothes in a hamper, tucking in a chair, shelving a book, do one thing before leaving. That way your room will always be cleaner than when you left it, which is a nice mentality to have and encourages further cleanliness :)

Hah, I have a loft bed (I need to get a new one!!) so it’s closer to the ceiling than the floor, so I couldn’t really pile it on my bed. And the problem is, I’m really sentimental so I have trouble getting rid of the stupidest things! Plus, I’m so darn lazy. Thanks for the tips! :)

I’ve moved SO many times, sheesh, doesn’t it suck? I’ve found that if I pack by room it makes it easier when unpacking. I also label all my boxes. The only deviation is that I package all my decorations together, i.e. picture frames, candles, knick knacks. But my biggest advice is LABEL LABEL LABEL!!

@Marina I was lulled into the Amazon site by the widget over there >>>>>>>

The “1000 Best Quick and Easy Organizing Secrets” looks intriguing (I just ordered it at my library), as does the author’s blog for daily tips via RSS:

http://jamienovak.blogspot.com/

I have mad organizing skills and the key is to consistently downsize when moving. We all accumulate tons of junk that we will never use again. Look at what you have not used, and QUICKLY assess whether it has SIGNIFICANT emmotional value or monetary worth and then either sell, give or throw away. Make huge piles in the yard. DON’T LOOK BACK. Large piles of metals from storage or closets, sheds, garage can often be recycled for cash- aluminum (lawn furniture, old ladders) and copper (wiring, pots), bronze etc get a premium at metal recyclers but don’t overlook cast iron or steel. Craig’s List is a great way to sell or donate. Some college kid might really like that table or sofa that you no longer use. As to boxes for moving- uniform sizes but NOT HUGE bought in bulk at storage facilities with hinged tops preferably. Uniform smaller boxes can be stacked neatly. And also they help break down unpacking into manageable chunks. Labelling is key and a black permanent marker on outside is all you need- pots, kitchen, bedding linens, etc. Wrap with a little bit of packing tape. When you move, place items in manageable boxes in or near rooms they will end up in- kitchen etc or all in the garage and unpack slowly. Just make sure that towels, bedding and kitchen are unpacked first. File cabinets, same thing but get the shredder. Just make sure that you save the tax returns, but bank statements…make like Nixon. :)

I give each room/living area at the new place a code (A, C, etc .) Then I label each and every box with this code plus a number, and write down its exact contents on a legal pad. Each box gets a higher number, for an example: A1, A2… This way when you move in you know where each box shoud go, and exactly what’s inside.

@SeventhSense While you can certainly recyle metals (and I would encourage everyone to do this before putting something in a landfill….) I think that the notion that you can get—a “premium” for these items might be somewhat misleading. The current recycling prices for metals (especially copper) is extremely low.

Prices will hopefully go up in the spring/summer when China may kickstart its economy w/ its own stimulus package and building boom.

I’m not saying your going to make a fortune but most people have 100’s of pounds of scrap metal around their shed, garage etc. that’s just junk. And if it’s going into a landfill anyway..wouldn’t you rather put 100 bucks in your pocket..old brass bed…BOOM!...Couple of radiators…Bada Bing! Dinner’s on me…

COPPER prices PER POUND 2/5/09

#1 Bright Copper Wire 1.04

#1 Copper Wire 1.02

#1 Copper Solids (Clean tube and bus bar) 1.02

#2 Copper (Tubing with solder, #14 and smaller wire) .89

#1 Insulated copper cable (80% CU recovery) .65

#1 Insulated Copper Wire (60% CU recovery) Romex .45

#2 Insulated Copper Wire (55% CU recovery) Commo .20

#1 & #2 Insulated Copper Wire (30–40% CU recovery) Ext. Cords .05

Red Brass .50

Yellow Brass .40

Auto Radiators (CLEAN no iron) .50

@SeventhSense I guess you didn’t read my answer completely. All I was trying to point out was that your use of the word “premium” might mislead people into believing they are going to make hundreds of dollars in the current market and that simply isn’t the case. Less than a year ago bright bare copper wire was being purchased for almost $4/pound in our area. The market has since plummeted. As mentioned above, if someone has a large volume they should hold onto it and wait for the market to recover, if they can.

Also, your average homeowner does NOT have 100’s of pounds of scrap metal laying about there property….unless they live in a junkyard.

300–400 pounds of copper wire, volume wise, fills a pick up truck.

And yes, if you read my original response, I would prefer people recycle instead of putting it in a landfill.

I am sorry you misunderstood my original points, but this is really getting off topic from the original question.

labels and go through and reorganize everything at least once a week

One thing I have to do is keep a list separate from the boxes. I number the boxes (in addition to a brief descriptive label, usually associated with the room or location it belongs in) and have a numbered list with a brief inventory, especially of the things I am going to need first. Each box gets numbered on top, on the side, and on the end.

Everything won’t get unpacked immediately, but I won’t have to search through boxes for things I need. I can search the list that indexes the boxes.

I just cleaned my room last night, and after a good 1 1/2 hours, it looks pretty spiffy! This summer, when I redo my room, I’m gonna have a major clean out though. :)