Innovatively Organized | Productivity. Organization. Results.

Feeling overwhelmed with contact follow-ups after a tradeshow or networking event? We don’t want you to experience the post tradeshow blues, so we’ve compiled a checklist to help you keep your follow-up tasks organized and streamlined.

Get organized and make the most out of your networking experience with our Contact Follow Up Checklist!

And for more Innovatively Organized checklists, visit our page of Organizing Checklists!

After cooking meals, dishes pile up and grease begins to build on surfaces. If you’ve had a long day at work, it’s tempting to just put off the cleaning for another day. But suddenly, a week has gone by and your kitchen is a huge mess! We know this story, we’ve all been there. To help you maintain your clean kitchen space, we’ve put together a checklist of supplies and tasks necessary for cleaning the hub of your home. If you make cleaning your kitchen a priority, it will remain manageable and orderly.

Get organized now with our Kitchen Cleaning Checklist!

And for more Innovatively Organized checklists, visit our page of Organizing Checklists!

We love this article, “10 Ways to Add Creativity to Your Organizing Projects” by Aby Garvey. It’s important to remember that organization not only saves times and improves efficiency, it brings happiness. You can truly create a space that makes you happy! This article has tons of tips for making creative additions to your organizing systems, like adding color and texture.

How do you add creativity to your organizing projects? What are your favorite tips and tricks?

Do you attend too many meetings? Do you find yourself thinking your meetings could be run better? If so, this is the topic for you! Elizabeth Bowman, President of Innovatively Organized, will be speaking at the Puget Sound Business Journal’s Grow Your Business Expo at 9 am on Wednesday, October 26, 2011. You will gain quick tips to keep your meetings shorter and help attendees stay on task. You will even leave with a sample template for running a good meeting that co-workers or team members won’t dread attending.

Register to attend the PSBJ EXPO Tradeshow. Use the promotion code 3OFFEXPO to get $3 off your ticket. You should also check out the other great speakers that will be speaking.

Description:
Keeping up with the latest celebrity gossip or looking at cool cars is fun, but magazines can also be informative and educational. Getting Organized Magazine is a great resource for tips and solutions to enhance your productivity, improve your space, and organize your life. Their articles and suggestions are sure to help you “treat yourself to some sanity.” Just check out their first issue to see what a great magazine this is!

You’ll love it for:
• Finding local events and resources from professional organizers nearby
• Previews of new products
• Tips for conquering disorganization at work and home

Cost: $14 (1 year/electronic) or $19.50 (1 year/print)

Available at: Getting Organized Magazine

You can also find them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter!

For those of you in the Seattle area, starting next week, you have two options:

Head to work with your tumbler, ready to start the week, and then remember the Viaduct is closed. Curse for a few seconds, try to find an alternate route (along with everybody else), and proceed to sit in gridlock for three hours. Yes, your coffee will go cold before you get to work.
Or outsmart them all and work from home, saving you time while staying productive!

With the Alaskan Way Viaduct closed until 5 am on October 31, your best bet is to just stay home. But before you start picturing yourself lounging in your pajamas all day, there are some important things to remember. Even the most serious professionals are easily tempted to slack off when working from home.

Here are some tips to stay productive while working from home:

Create a defined work space. Clear your dining table of old newspapers, set up camp at your guest room’s desk, or sit in your favorite chair. Whichever space you choose, ensure that it is cleared of distractions.
Set up all the equipment you need to be successful. Think of your typical work space and set up your impromptu office with the same items, including your phone, laptop, and paper files.
Establish clear boundaries around your time to ensure you don’t work too much.
Limit distractions of home projects or clutter in your work area. Just because you have laundry piling up does not mean you should tackle it while at home working. Let home projects wait until you are finished for the day.
Stay focused on one task at a time. If you try to make a pot of coffee while replying to emails, you will be less efficient, focused, and productive.
Use web-based tools to keep you connected to your team, even while you are remote (some examples include GoToWebinar, DimDim, InstantConference, MSN Messenger).
Turn off the television– just because you are working from home doesn’t mean you should waste time watching soaps! You can catch up on Grey’s later.
Enjoy the extra time you have in the morning and afternoon– while everyone else is spending time commuting, you could head to the gym early or run errands and avoid the peak times!

If, however, you are unable to work from home during the road closure, and you find yourself in traffic, here are a few things you can do:

Create a phone list and pre-schedule phone calls to happen while you drive (using a Bluetooth, of course!).
Download a podcast or webinar recording and listen as you drive.

Need help making your home office efficient? We’re happy to help out! Just check out our Productivity Packages and learn how we can get you streamlined quickly. And, while the Viaduct is closed this month, we’d like to extend a special discount to you. Just enter the code VIADUCT when you checkout with the Productivity Starter Package and you’ll receive $100 off!

Happy Viaduct Closure Week!

When you think about storing pots, you probably picture stacking pots inside each other, right? Most people take this classic approach to pot storage, but why not think outside the pot, if you will? We can all agree that lids of varying sizes are difficult to store and organize, so why not try hanging them? You can install a metal towel bar to the inside or a cabinet or pantry door, allowing you to rest your pot lids inside. This frees up a lot of space and makes storage much more convenient!

What do you think? Would you consider installing these bars to organize your pots better?

Before and After of the Week

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10.19.2011

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Service: Residential Organizing; Space Planning

Challenge:
Our client moved into this space approximately two weeks before we started working with her. She is a very busy professional who knew that becoming organized is important, but didn’t have the time or direction to do so herself. Her bedroom and closet were filled with items she had brought with her from past living spaces. She had too much furniture in her bedroom and the wrong types of furniture to suite the space. She also had very little organization to her closet. Clothes had been tossed in without any real rhyme or reason. Also, she had an office downstairs that had no organizational systems in place, which made working productively nearly impossible

Solution:
We spent one Saturday sorting and purging all the items in both her bedroom and office. We took inventory of everything in those spaces and created space plans to better organize them. In creating those space plans, we took into consideration that our client is a busy professional and didn’t want a high maintenance solution. We also kept her budget in mind and provided her suggestions that would accommodate.

Result:
She now has a very functional and organized bedroom and closet. Everything in her space has a home and everything is easy to reach and put away. After removing several pieces of furniture, she can now move freely through the space without tripping over or running into furniture. In addition, her office now has some personality and functionality. Overall, our client can now be much more productive in her home.

View more Before and After photos on our Facebook Fan Page!

Have you ever felt overwhelmed looking at the App Store? To help save you time browsing them all, we did some digging and have created a checklist of 9 must-have apps to help you be successful in the kitchen. From grocery shopping to meal planning to wine pairing, you will have the tools to ensure you stay organized well past the holiday season.

Get organized now with our Must-Have Apps for the Kitchen!

And for more Innovatively Organized checklists, visit out page of Organizing Checklists!

The holidays are just around the corner and it won't be long before people are gathering for holiday meals and attending holiday parties. We want you to be free to "Eat, Drink and Be Merry" this holiday season, so we've put together a list of 15 tips to help you get organized in the kitchen.

Encourage family members and co-workers to use reusable grocery bags. Place reusable grocery bags on a hook that people will see on their way to the car or front door.

Arrive at holiday gatherings prepared by carrying your dishes in these cook-and-carry dishes.

Think minimal for your countertops. Put away the waffle maker and stand mixer after use and store them in other areas of the home if you don’t use them often.

Designate and label a shelf in your office kitchen for personal coffee mugs.

Remove contents out of original cardboard or plastic food packaging. Instead, pour contents into standardized containers, which you can easily store side by side in the pantry.

Identify a breakfast “nook” where you keep everything you need for making coffee and breakfast quickly and easily, all in one place.

Nutrition is important. Post our Balanced Diet Grocery List on your refrigerator and take the guesswork out of shopping.

Keep your kitchen organized with our Must-Haves for Kitchen Organizing Checklist.

Bring items from the back of your cabinet to the front, with these slide-out cabinet baskets.

Encourage co-workers (or children) to clean their own dishes. Try posting this dishwashing flow-chart from Thinkspace.

Mount baskets on the inside door to your pantry. You can even try using an over-the-door shelves to keep smaller items organized.

Every inch has a purpose in your kitchen. Try mounting hooks under cabinets for mugs, pans, and small colanders. Hang a corkboard on the inside of a cabinet door to post phone numbers or to-do lists.

Rethink your recipes by using Recipe Relish to store your most beloved recipes quickly and easily.

Remember to look out for our series of holiday checklists to help you with meal planning, gift giving and company parties.

You are the first step to making your holiday season more organized, but we are always here to help if you need that extra nudge.

Contact Follow-Up Checklist

Checklist: Kitchen Cleaning

Article: Adding Creativity to Organizing Projects

Planning A Successful Meeting

Product Spotlight: Getting Organized Magazine

Thought: Working from Home to Avoid Viaduct Closure

Thought: Think Outside the Pot

Before and After of the Week

Must-Have Apps for the Kitchen

Eat, Drink and Be Organized In the Kitchen- 15 Kitchen Organizing Tips

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