48. Organize Your Sewing Patterns

If you are a sewing aficionado you probably have accumulated several patterns. They are expensive and it is hard to purge knowing how much you paid for them. They will clutter up your sewing space quickly unless you periodically go through and purge.

Gather all of the patterns you own into one space. Carefully review each one and determine if you want to keep or recycle. Be honest with yourself, will you ever use that pattern again? Is the fashion out of date? Has your family outgrown the sizes?

You have several options to recycling the patterns you have chosen to discard.

-Since they are made of paper, you can place them in your recycle bin

- Try selling them online at

www.ebay.com

www.rustyzipper.com

www.momspatterns.com

www.debsrecycledsewingpatterns.com

www.craigslist.com

- Donate them to:

your local high school or college theater department

sewing classes

museums

thrifts shops and vintage clothing stores.

Organize the remaining patterns into categories that will be easy for you to locate later. "Costumes", "Household", "Women's Fashions", "Men's Fashions", "Baby". Pick categories that work best for you. Store into plastic containers and then label the outside of the containers with your chosen categories. You can then store the containers on a shelf or under your bed depending on your space restrictions.

46. Get Organized on Daylight Savings day

Daylight Savings constitutes a changing of our clocks twice per year. With this change, you can set an organizing schedule to follow that would be easy to remember. Simple...twice per year you should:

-check your carbon dioxide and smoke detector batteries

-replace batteries in your flashlights

-clean out the refrigerator of expired items

-clear out expired medicine

-pull out the fridge and clean behind it

-re-evaluate your emergency exit strategies

-replace food/water in your emergency kits

-update emergency phone numbers

-replace missing items from your first aid kit

-get the guest room ready for holiday out-of-town guest

-change all your passwords

-have your heating/air-conditioning unit tuned for the upcoming season

most important....change your clocks.

45. Organize your Halloween Costumes & Decorations

Now that Halloween is over, it is time to organize the costumes and decorations from the holiday. Take a sweep through the house and yard and gather all of your decorations and costumes.

Now is a perfect time to purge items that are broken, worn or are needing replacement. Examine each item carefully to determine if you plan to use it again.

You can donate unwanted costumes/decorations to:

-area schools who will continue to use them for future plays

-local community theater groups

-Medieval and Renaissance era costumes would be accepted by the Society of Creative Anachronism (SCA)

-TDF Costume Collection

-Local Goodwill and Salvation Army stores

-sell on craigslist or eBay

Many store will offer discounts on their remaining Halloween stock giving you an opportunity to pick up some new decorations at a great price. Remember to purge something old prior to bringing in something new. This will help to keep the clutter under control.

It is important to store all the decorations in one place so they will be easy to locate and use the following year. Choose a storage box that will protect the items and help to maintain their original shape. If they box is opaque, clearly label the outside "Halloween Decorations" or list the contents of the box.

365 Baby Steps to Get Organizing

Are you unorganized? Does your clutter make you feel anxious and out of control? Are you spending more time in the morning trying to locate items than actually getting yourself ready and out the door?

I am an Austin, TX professional organizer called Curly Girl Organizing. I want to help you overcome the feeling of helplessness and chaos while teaching you simple steps to get you and your home in order.

Over the next year, I will post daily simple solutions to inspire you to create a system that will work for you and your family. There is no right or wrong way to organizing. This blog is meant to be a guide and is by no means the only answer to organizing problems. I welcome feedback and photos of your success. If you have a problem area in your home, please email me questions with details and photos. If appropriate, your space may be used for a blog post.

Don't Agonize.....Get Organized!