The Posh Blog

Were you inspired by the New Year to get organized this year?  Can you believe it’s February already?  That’s okay, The Container Store still wants to help you reach your New Years goals of getting organized. 

If you have started cleaning out your closets, kitchen, or office this year you may now be at the point where it is time to transform your old digs into a fresh and functional space.  If you like the Elfa products by The Container Store there is still time to purchase it at 30% off.  But don’t delay the sales ends February 15th.

Happy organizing!

Angela

Copyright (C) 2010 Angela Ploetz, POSH Space  www.theposhspace.com.

It’s February the month for love and romance.  But did you know it is also archive your files month?   Yes, it’s time to show your files a little love!  So what does archive your files mean anyway? 

If you don’t have a system in place for consistently purging and cleaning out your files on a regular basis you will probably get to a point where your file cabinet may be overflowing and stuffed with paper.  If this is the case for you then you may need to archive some of the files that you do not use or need on a regular basis.  If you don’t use the paper or files at least once a year then you can place the documents in a file cabinet or container in a closet, garage, attic, basement, etc.  Some examples of papers you can archive include your old tax files, old tax returns, and a limited amount of mementos or memorabilia.  

The files you keep nearby in your home or home office should be the files you need to get to on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.  You can take this opportunity to go through all your files and shred or toss out anything that is old and out of date.

Of course I recommend using the FreedomFiler filing system to help you get started with a paper filing system that will let you know how long to keep different types of paper and has built in systems that help you know when it is time to purge items.  It’s a fantastic product. 

Happy archiving!

Angela

Copyright (C) 2010 Angela Ploetz, POSH Space  www.theposhspace.com.

Not sure how long to keep food in your refrigerator, freezer, or pantry?  Ziplock  has a fantastic list on their web-site that indentifies how long you should keep 70 different food items!  Go to the Ziplock web-site and on the left hand side click on “Shelf Life 101”.  You can click on the image of the shelf, freezer, or fridge to display the list of items for that particular area. 

 
When cleaning out your pantry and refrigerator it is great to know how long to keep things.  I recommend marking leftovers and items you are freezing with a piece of tape and a Sharpie Marker with the date that you made them.  This will save you from having to remember how old the leftovers are. 

You can print out a PDF of the entire list by clicking here. I would recommend keeping the list handy so you can refer to it as needed. 

Enjoy your clean fridge! 
Angela

Copyright (C) 2010 Angela Ploetz, POSH Space  www.theposhspace.com.

“Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.”

 -Immanuel Kant

This Saturday, January 23rd we will find out what the strangest piece of junk is in Austin at the fourth annual Clear Your Clutter Day sponsored by the Austin Chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers.  Clean out your closets, garage, or office to round up items to be donated, recycled, trashed, or shred.  

Donations will benefit the Round Rock Serving Center, Goodwill Industries, and the NAPO-Austin Chapter.   Any non-hazardous household items will be accepted as donations.  We will also be collecting cell phones, moving boxes, and you may bring one box of paper to be shred. 

Bring in your strangest item and you may win a gift card to The Container Store!
This event is FREE to the public.  Don’t be late the event starts at 10:00 a.m. and ends at 2:00 p.m. in Parking Lots G & H of Ikea in Round Rock.

I will be promoting the event and giving a few tips today on KEYE, Austin’s CBS affiliate.  My segment will be live and should air around 4:00 or later. 

See you all tomorrow!

Angela

Copyright (C) 2010 Angela Ploetz, POSH Space  www.theposhspace.com.

Teens are always looking for the perfect pair of jeans.  Here’s a way to help your teen get rid of an old pair while saving on a new pair.  January 19-February 14th Aerpostale    will give you 25% off a new pair of jeans when you bring in an old pair.  The jeans will be donated to local homeless shelters.  This is part of the Teens for Jeans campaign sponsored by DoSomthing.org. DoSomething uses the power of online community to get teens to do something good off line (AKA in the real world not the cyber world).
 
This is a great opportunity to help your teen to be more aware of the community and to teach them the “one in, one out” rule.  Every time you bring in something new you let go of something old.

Getting rid of teen clutter, getting a discount, and doing good for your community, it’s hard to beat!

Enjoy!
Angela

Copyright (C) 2010 Angela Ploetz, POSH Space  www.theposhspace.com.

By now you have probably seen the news about the terrible tragedy that happened this week in Haiti.  You can help people in Haiti while reducing your clutter at the same time.  Soles 4 Souls  is a non-profit organization whose mission is: To impact as many lives as possible with the gift of shoes.  The organization has helped bring shoes to victims of the Asian Tsunami and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  If you are local to the Austin area you can bring your old women’s, men’s, and children’s shoes to Total Relief Footwear located in the Woodland Shopping Center at the corner of 183 and Anderson Mill Road.  They are looking for work boots, sneakers, and children’s shoes.  Total Relief Footwear will be collecting shoes through the month of January, but asks that you bring the shoes in as soon as possible to help get the shoes to Haiti quicker.  Read related story on KVUE by clicking here.

If you are not in the Austin area you can still help by going to the Soles 4 Souls web-site  and click on “Donation Sites”.  You can enter your zip code to find a store near you that is collecting shoes.  You can also coordinate your own shoe drive or make monetary donations.

Just think there could be a pair of shoes sitting in your closet that you have not used in years that could make a huge difference in someone’s life. 

Here’s to taking small steps to make a big difference.

Angela

Copyright (C) 2010 Angela Ploetz, POSH Space  www.theposhspace.com.

“Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” 

- Albert Einstein

January marks the beginning of the organizing and Spring Cleaning season!  So there is no time like now to take advantage of this awesome rebate from 3M / Post-it ®.

Click here to get a $10 rebate offer from 3M / Post-it ® if you purchase $20 in 3M  Permanent Labels and/or Post-it ® Removable Label products.  It does not appear that the rebate is valid on the popular Post-it ® Notes, but on the labels which include the new Post-it® Removable Labels that you may have seen in recent advertisements.  Click here to see a full list of available products. 

If you are planning an organizing project or a move in the summer take a look at the products available.  I used the removable label pads for my recent move to color code things that were going into short term storage until our house was ready.  This way we had a visual trigger of what was needed now, in our temporary house, and what we would need once we were moving into our new house. 

Happy color coding!

Angela

Copyright (C) 2010 Angela Ploetz, POSH Space  www.theposhspace.com

“If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears.”
- Glenn Clark

Happy New Year!  Over the holiday I saw the movie “Up In the Air” in which George Clooney’s character does motivational speaking on not being bogged down with too much stuff.  In his presentation he tells people to imagine that you have an empty backpack on your back.  He then tells people to imagine filling the backpack up with the things in your home.  First the little things off the shelves and then the big things like the refrigerator and the house itself.  He comments that your backpack is probably getting very heavy and then asks you to put the important people into the backpack.  Then he says what if your backpack catches on fire and you can only take what is important with you?  What would you take? 

I really like this analogy and felt it paired nicely with the quote above. Time and time again, after helping clients declutter and get their spaces organized people will describe feelings like:  “I feel lighter” or “I feel like a weight has been lifted” or “I can actually think now” or “I feel like I can breathe”.  Then months later I hear back from clients who will tell me about something amazing that happened in their life shortly after they got organized.  It is truly amazing.

My question for you is this:  What is holding your back?  Is it too much physical stuff?  Like piles of paper on your floor or old clothes that no longer represent who you are?  Or is it emotional stuff?  Like fear, anger, or jealousy?  

It’s different for all of us.  We all have our own extra “baggage” to deal with.  But this is a new year and it’s time to start fresh and shed some of the things that have been holding us back so we can move into a fantastic new decade easily, confidently, and quickly. 

What will you commit to letting go of this year?  Let me know by posting a comment below. 

Here’s to a new start in 2010!

Copyright (C) 2010 Angela Ploetz, POSH Space  www.theposhspace.com.