by Anne Sage of The City Sage

In the chaos and disorganization of life, there are two constants. One: Polka dots and feathers make everything better. Two: When in doubt, cover it in paper. In a recent attempt to get my odds ‘n’ ends under control, I put both rules to into effect—with great success!

I adore the look of boxes that have been customized using fabric or wrapping paper, but those materials can get expensive. So I grabbed some fabric remnants from a previous project, scanned them, printed the images on regular paper, and used it to cover my box lids. I bought my boxes at OfficeMax and disguised their sides using craft paper, but also try Ikea or an art supply store. Heck, you could even give your old, mismatched shoe boxes a new life!

I’m so thrilled with the result that I want everyone to be able to replicate the look—so I’ve shared a download that allows you to print both of these patterns and their accompanying labels! The PDF prints on 11 x 17 size paper, which covers a medium lid, but you can also print on smaller paper and join multiple pieces as needed. As for the technique I used to cover the lids, just paste the paper in place with a glue stick, then fold and trim the edges as though you were wrapping a present. Happy organizing!

?Dots

Peacock Feathers

by Erin Doland of Unclutterer

I have an affinity for books that borders on an addiction. I usually read three books a week or more, and those books come in many forms — audio, digital, checked out from the library, and purchased. Even with relying heavily on audio, digital, and library books, I continually fight book clutter in my home.

If you’re a bibliophile like me, you may have more printed books than you can (or should) store in your home. Try these five tips from Unclutter Your Life in One Week to decide which books to keep and which ones to let go:

1. Give away any books that you don’t plan on reading or referencing again, are in the public domain, and can be found in their entirety online.
2. Keep the leather-bound copy of The Scarlet Letter that your grandmother gave you on her deathbed.
3. Give away or recycle out-of-date reference books. They’re full of inaccurate data.
4. Keep books that you love and books that provide you with significant utility.
5. Give away books that you’ve been storing for the sole purpose of impressing your houseguests. If you’ve never read the complete works of Shakespeare, and you never plan to read the complete works of Shakespeare, get rid of the complete works of Shakespeare.

These tips also work well for books you may be storing in your office at work. Unless you are an executive with office walls lined with bookshelves, you might be sacrificing valuable storage space with books you never reference. Keep the books you regularly need, and take home, sell, or recycle the others.

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Erin Rooney Doland is Editor-in-Chief of Unclutterer.com and author of the book Unclutter Your Life in One Week.

Take Welcome to Organization Blog Fest 2010! I thought the best way to start the week would be with Meredith Schwartz of Penelope Loves Lists, and her advice on how to handle a Daily To-Do List. Take it away Meredith!!!

-Becky
We all make the Daily To Do List. Problem is, most of the time, we do it wrong. There, I said it.

This list, which should be our problem solver, becomes the problem itself. Like some huge, looming, cartoonish thing from our nightmares, the incomplete items from each day’s lists grow until we feel defeated under their collective weight.

Instead, you should have two To Do Lists, one called the “Daily To Do List”, one we’ll call the “Overall To Do List”. You can think of your own pithy names when you adopt this system.

The first step is to know, each day, what your most important tasks are. If you don’t know what your true priorities are, either at work or at home, your list will be a meaningless schedule of tasks. If you’re unsure as to how to prioritize, read this book. If you know what you truly need to do each day, you can then set about step two.

Each evening before finishing work, make tomorrow’s Daily To Do List. This should take less than 5 minutes to do.

This list should have 3-4 of your highest priority items on it, each one with SPECIFIC goals, like this:

1. Check in with pending clients  - 10 clients
2. Get product shipment ready for Monday
3. 1pm Meeting with Jennifer

…If I get that done, I’ll move to:

4. Work through sales leads – 12 calls
5. Emails – spend 1 hour getting email inbox cleaned out.

See how specific each item is?

Also, notice that, by separating it into items 1-3, and then 4 and 5, you give yourself room for the day to actually happen. Things take longer than we expect. Emergency items come up. You set yourself up for success by ensuring your top 3 items get done. Then, if you are able to move to items 4 and 5  (which are also very specific and serve to “chunk out” larger projects) you can feel you got ahead by the end of the day, rather than always feeling overwhelmed and behind.

While I use my favorite Bob’s Your Uncle grid paper notebook to keep my daily to do list in line, I’ve also had great success with the online tool Teux Deux. I like that it doesn’t try to be all things to all people. It’s super simple graphic interface just enables you to quickly and easily do what you’re there for: keep and update your daily task list.

Whether you use paper and pen to create your list, or an online tool, if you know what your priorities are and are specific with the items you put on your list, you’ll end each day with a feeling of effectiveness. And, maybe, you’ll have just enough extra energy to go get a margarita. Wouldn’t that be refreshing?

What strategies do you use when creating your Daily To Do List? What’s working for you and what isn’t? Please share them with us in the comments section.

Meredith Schwartz is the Founder and Editor of Penelope Loves Lists, an organization inspiration blog. She’s a girl with a To Do List and she knows how to use it. Meredith and her fellow readers make no apologies for their love of lists, notebooks, pretty office supplies and all manner of cool organizational tools. Are you a Penelope?

• Datebook image via See Jane Work
• To Do List Image via Teux Deux