30 Tips for Organizing through the month of April

Chose one of these ideas per day and you will see how much you can accomplish.

1. Do one small organizational task daily, no matter how small. Clean out one drawer or the top shelf in your pantry. Just think: After a month, you'll have checked 30 things off your to-do list.

2. Ensure that you have a proper landing zone for when you walk through the door. Is there a place for keys, mail, groceries, paperwork or do you need to create a space?

3. Pick up or look after the mail only once a week on the day that you have time to deal with the incoming mail.

4. Open the mail over the shredder or recycling bin, and get rid of the junk immediately. This forces you to make quick and definitive decisions so nothing piles up in your hallway or anywhere else.

5. Set up files to handle the mail, READ, ACTION, FILE and TOSS (RAFT) Give a date to the action files.

6. Clean out your fridge the day before garbage day. With a clean fridge you will know what you need for groceries. http://www.stilltasty.com/ will tell you if the food in your fridge, freezer and pantry is still good to eat.

7. Have a menu/meal planner. Not only does it save you time and money, you will find that you will eat better meals. You can start with a week, two week or even a month at a time. Make double or triple the recipes to have some on hand in the freezer. Help your kids plan the menu and even prepare and cook some of the meals.

8. Store frozen foods and meats in easily accessible, labeled plastic bins. You'll never freeze your fingers hunting through your well-stocked but overpacked freezer again.

9. Go through your kitchen to see if you are truly using everything you have in the kitchen. Do you really use the breadmaker, the large food processor?
Put all appliances that you do not use on a regular basis under the counter.

10. Keep you counters clean and ready for food prep.

11. Increase accessibility and capacity.You can do this by adding extra shelves, pullout shelves, rotating inserts and tilt-out bins.You can double or triple the storage in your cupboards.

12 Use cork. blackboard or magnetic boards on the inside of your kitchen cupboards for lists, notes, calendars. If covered with magnetic paint, they can accommodate papers and notes that might get knocked off a fridge in a small space.