by Amanda Pearsall

Created on: September 29, 2009   Last Updated: October 02, 2009

The fine art of personal organization is a skill that some of us have, and some of us don't. Those of you who are, shall we say, challenged in this area know who you are and it's time to admit it! Aren't you tired of never knowing where anything is? Or thinking you do, but when you go there, it isn't? It may seem trivial to some but being disorganized wastes a LOT of time. I think that we can all agree that life is too short to spend it crawling around on the closet floor looking for a particular pair of shoes or ransacking the upper shelves in the laundry room looking for whatever. There are so many other things that we need to be doing, am I right? Of course I am! However, never fear! There is hope. Changing a lifetime of bad organizational habits won't be easy, but the good news is, it CAN be done, and here is a checklist of guidelines to help you jumpstart the process.

*The first step in getting organized is to take small steps. Don't try to do the whole house in one day. Take one room at a time and if it's a big job, (kitchen, walk in pantry, etc.) break it down into two or more days.

*Then, go through each room or area that you have chosen to tackle and PURGE. That means: get rid of (sell, consign, donate, give away, throw away, etc.) any item(s) that you do not use or want, or even think you might use or want someday. After all, this vague might and someday stuff is what got us into organizational trouble in the first place, isn't it?

*Getting rid of all the stuff that you thought you wanted and needed but actually didn't gives you the opportunity to thoroughly dust, clean and otherwise prepare (maybe even paint if it needs it?) the area that you are getting ready to organize. Now would be a good time to re-evaluate the area itself. Is it the right size for what you're storing? Are you wasting space? In the case of closets or pantries is there room for, and could some new or possibly differently configured shelving give you even more storage space?

Even the smallest closet can benefit from all the great products that are out there that are specifically designed to help make the most of the space you have. Freestanding shelves stacking shelves, hanging fabric organizers, stacking plastic drawers and bins can double or even triple the amount of room you thought you had. Depending on how much space you have you can create a wall of customized shelving within your closet using mesh stacking shelves for about five dollars each.

For instance, those of us

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