The Organized Business Owner

The Organized Business Owner: Organization & Transformation for your Business!

Sofia Alvim presents a show talk on what it takes to be an Organized Business Owner!

• Can you walk into your Walk-In Closet?
• Do you have multiples of the same item because you can’t find the original “item”?
• Do you have clothes that you don’t wear, don’t fit or you don’t like in your closet?
• Do you have a hard time letting go of clothes?
• Is your space not very cluttered yet just not functioning well?
• Could your closet stand to be more efficient and flow better?

Come join Professional Organizer & Productivity Consultant, Sofia Alvim at Addison Memorial shoe store in Memorial City Mall for tips and info on how to organize your closet. Sofia will be featuring products from the Container Store!

This will be a casual and fun event. Feel free to bring a friend!

Hiya! I hope you have gotten a some good motivation and gusto from my spring cleaning tips from last week’s post.

Let’s continue stepping into spring shall we?

Kids Rooms: Closets & Toys:

• Go through your children’s clothing, just as you did for your own closet in part 1 and take stock of what needs to be taken out. Make sure their winter clothes will fit by next season and if not, let go of the pieces that it doesn’t make sense to keep.

• Store the pieces that do remain in clear zippered bags or in a clear bin or drawer earmarked for seasonal clothes.

• Since children outgrow their toys from year to year, go through their toys as well. Be sure to let go of any broken or worn out toys and perhaps donate the ones in good condition that are not age appropriate anymore, to a friend who has children that age or to your favorite charity house.

Reading Materials: Books, Newspapers & Magazines

House Cleaning:

Remember in my spring cleaning post Step Into Spring: part 1, I mentioned some steps to clean out your pantry?

Well inline with that topic, here’s a great post by one of my organizing idols Peter Walsh on tips to organize your pantry. You can do this after you follow the steps in my post and they are great suggestions!

I would however, like to add one product to this list that I love using when organizing my clients’ pantries. An adjustable 3-tier shelf. Some are called Expand-A-Shelf. These are great for organizing canned good, spices, vitamin supplements or jars. They help display the items clearly so you can see and reach for what you want. They also help you save space by having 3 tiers and you can adult the width of the shelf according to the dimensions of your pantry shelf.

Here are my favorites.

Expand-A-Shelf, if you prefer a white shelf.

3-Tier Bamboo Expanding Shelf, if you prefer a bamboo shelf.

3-Tier Stainless Steel Expanding Shelf, if your prefer a stainless steel shelf.

If you don’t have a Container Store nearby and don’t want to order online, you can sometimes find similar products to these at Bed, Bath & Beyond and Target as well.

Spring is here in full bloom! I wish I could say that the sun is shining a lot these days but I can’t. In Houston we’ve been under a good rain spell lately. However, just because the sun isn’t shining all the time doesn’t mean we can’t take advantage of Springtime!

Spring is a great time to get motivated to get organized because we’ve left behind the cold, dreary weather the makes us lethargic and everywhere we look there is new growth and the feeling of new possibility. We become more energetic with the longer hours of daylight and it’s generally a great time to being new projects.

Here are some simple tasks you can complete to get you motivated and moving forward! Let’s get to it.

Bedroom & Closets:

• Begin by going through your fall/winter wardrobe (including shoes) and determine what doesn’t fit, what you haven’t worn this past season and what you know you won’t wear next season. Let those pieces go! Please let go of clothing that is threadbare, worn looking, has stains or holes or just looks outdated. You don’t need to be wearing those pieces!

• Next, store away your winter clothes and shoes that you are keeping so you can make room in your closet for lighter apparel and airy shoes for spring and summer. If you don’t have room in your closet to store away you fall/winter wardrobe, put them off to one side of the closet so they are separate from your current season’s clothes.

• Do the same with your bed linens. Flannel sheets and heavy blankets get put away to make room for lighter linens. Also go through the linens and make sure they are still suitable to be used for next season.

• For both the clothes and linens, make sure to put cedar blocks or sachets in your drawers and closets to avoid yucky moths! The Container Store has many good options for this. I like these blocks for larger drawers, these balls for smaller drawers or these Moth-Away repellent sachets as well.

Kitchen & Pantry:

• Go through your pantry and look for anything that is expired and toss it in the trash! If you need what you tossed, put it on the grocery list for your next shopping trip.

• After you’ve tossed the expired goods, remove everything from the pantry and clean it thoroughly. Dust the shelves, sweep and mop the floor and make sure there are no pantry bugs. They tend to show up in cold weather.  Here are some traps you can use. There are many kinds, but I like these because they are non-toxic. Make sure to include these after your pantry is clean so they don’t re-appear.

• Go through your all your food containers and make sure to toss any that have been damaged by washing, freezing or heating your food. If you need new ones, add to your list!

Stay tuned for Part 2 next week!

This linen closet had everyday linens mixed in with seasonal linens for 5 family members. Since linens are used by everyone in the household, it’s important that they be easy to access as well easy to determine who’s space they belong in whether bathroom or bedroom linens.

Before  - Disorganized Linen Closet

After –  Organized Linen Closet

Each sheet set lives in a labeled fabric bin describing the sheet size and family member it pertains to.  Seasonal linens are contained in a zippered comforter bag. Now all family members can find their own sheet sets easily!

File drawers that look like this one are difficult to manage and keep up with for a few reasons. The first is that there are too many hanging files in this filing cabinet drawer.  The second, is that it’s extremely tricky to tell what each folder contains. No labels in some cases and handwritten ones in other cases make it difficult to find a specific folder.

Before  - Disorganized
File Drawer

After –  Organized File Drawer

The end result yields a much cleaner and more spacious file drawer with an easy system for file labels. Easy to read and easy to find what you are looking for!

Monday, November 14, 2011
9:00 – 10:00 A.M.

Sofia Alvim presents a free one-hour workshop on what it takes to be an Organized Business Owner!

Central Market – Community Room (2nd Floor)
3815 Westheimer, Houston, TX 77027

The Organized Business Owner

• Do you need to get organized?
• Is disorganization affecting your business and the way you run it?
• Do you feel uneasy or overwhelmed when you walk into your workspace?
• Do you miss or overlook appointments?
• Do you have paper everywhere?
• Can’t find the records you need?
• Do you have systems and procedures in place that aren’t working?
• Do you keep printing the same thing over and over?
• Could your workspace stand to be more efficient and flow better?
• Want to simplify & take control of your workspace and business?

If you or someone you know can answer yes to one of the questions above, then this workshop is for you!

Come join us for this free 1-hour workshop given by Professional Organizer & Productivity Consultant, Sofia Alvim where you will learn about:

1. Pitfalls of being disorganized in business and how they affect all areas of your business
2. Key environments that need organization in business
3. How to begin to think like an organized business owner and begin the process of getting organized.

This will be a casual and interactive workshop. Feel free to bring a friend but please have them register!

FREE and open to the public.

Saturday, August 20, 2011
10:00 – 11:00 A.M.

Sofia Alvim presents a free one-hour workshop on understanding the Cloud of Clutter!

Central Market – Community Room (2nd Floor)
3815 Westheimer, Houston, TX 77027

Conquering The Cloud of Clutter

• Do you need to get organized?
• Is clutter affecting your space and environment?
• Do you feel uneasy or overwhelmed when you walk into your space?
• Do you have multiples of the same item because you can’t find the original “item”?
• Do you have a hard time letting go of certain belongings?
• Is your space not very cluttered yet just not functioning well?
• Is clutter is a new phenomenon due to a recent life event?
• Do you feel bad letting certain things go?
• Could your space stand to be more efficient and flow better?
• Want to simplify & enjoy more of your life?

If you or someone you know can answer yes to one of the questions above, then this workshop is for you!

Come join us for this free 1-hour workshop given by Professional Organizer & Productivity Consultant, Sofia Alvim where you will learn about:

1. The basics of how clutter ensues
2. Different types of clutter and how it functions
3. How it can affect all areas of your life
4. How to begin getting in the best mindset to begin the process of getting organized.

This will be a casual and interactive workshop. Feel free to bring a friend but please have them register!

FREE and open to the public.

Monday, August 15, 2011
9:00 – 10:00 A.M.

Sofia Alvim presents a free one-hour workshop on what it takes to be an Organized Business Owner!

Central Market – Community Room (2nd Floor)
3815 Westheimer, Houston, TX 77027

The Organized Business Owner

• Do you need to get organized?
• Is disorganization affecting your business and the way you run it?
• Do you feel uneasy or overwhelmed when you walk into your workspace?
• Do you miss or overlook appointments?
• Do you have paper everywhere?
• Can’t find the records you need?
• Do you have systems and procedures in place that aren’t working?
• Do you keep printing the same thing over and over?
• Could your workspace stand to be more efficient and flow better?
• Want to simplify & take control of your workspace and business?

If you or someone you know can answer yes to one of the questions above, then this workshop is for you!

Come join us for this free 1-hour workshop given by Professional Organizer & Productivity Consultant, Sofia Alvim where you will learn about:

1. Pitfalls of being disorganized in business and how they affect all areas of your business
2. Key environments that need organization in business
3. How to begin to think like an organized business owner and begin the process of getting organized.

This will be a casual and interactive workshop. Feel free to bring a friend but please have them register!

FREE and open to the public.