Organizing Tips
An organized home may seem impossible when you have kids around all day long, but it can be done. Here are tips and ideas that will help your household run smoothly.
Resources
Unclutter Your Home: 7 Simple Steps, 700 Tips & Ideas (Simplicity Series)
Hundreds of practical ideas for sorting, evaluating, and getting rid of all those material items that get in the way of a simplified lifestyle.
Conquering Chronic Disorganization
The real-life stories of chronically disorganized people and the ground breaking, easy-to-learn organizing methods used to end their chronic disorganization in the area of residential clutter, office organizing, paper management, storage, and time management. Conquerings pages includes an extensive index, user-friendly summaries, quick tips, helpful photographs, and a resource section of products and organizations.
Organizing Plain and Simple: A Ready Reference Guide With Hundreds Of Solutions to Your Everyday Clutter Challenges
Desk drowning in papers? No room for the car in the garage? Santa still sitting on the roof in May? A less-is-more philosophy is great, but we all still have way too much stuff. The home office swallows up whole rooms, as does the family computer station. Then there's the home gym, the TV room, and the playroom, not to mention our collections - books, CDs, toys. Time management experts agree that when the minor things that take up space in the mind are eliminated, there is room to think about the big things. The same goes for the home. The visual clarity that comes from de-cluttering rooms, finances, and time promotes mental clarity, peacefulness, and contemplation. When everything is organized, it is easier to enjoy the meaningful things in life.

Organizing Plain & Simple is like a course from an expert teacher, grounded in the fundamentals and enriched with philosophy, tips, anecdotes, illustrations - everything necessary to make home and life run more smoothly. Donna Smallin takes a personalized, nonjudgemental approach to explaining how to assess each individual's situation and suggesting where to start organizing - room by room - and then covers how to stay organized. Then she offers advice on organizing time and finances, as well as organizing for the seasons and for special events - the birth of a baby, combining households, a move, kids going off to college, successful downsizing. Smallin presents a broad range of innovative solutions in the running feature "One Challenge, Three Solutions" that includes tips for solving classic organizational issues from a wide range of professional organizers.

The Well-Ordered Home: Organizing Techniques for Inviting Serenity into Your Life
Organizing the home is one of those desirable and beneficial activities that remain elusive for many. This practical guide explains the many benefits - physical, emotional, and spiritual - of an organized home and shows how to attain them. Breaking down the process into 50 steps, the author uses her own experiences as a psychologist and professional home organizer to help readers clear away not only the physical clutter but the psychological blocks that encourage it and hinder organization. She tells where to start, encourages small steps, and explores the psychology of organizing. Next she addresses fundamental principles, including keeping tools where they will be used and making the most of active storage space. Finally, she shows how to get rid of excess stuff, including how to attack those never-ending piles and junk drawers, and stem the inflow of junk into the home. These easy exercises, tips, and stories will truly help readers organize their homes for efficiency, peacefulness, and well-being.
Help for the Harried Homeschooler : A Practical Guide to Balancing Your Child's Education with the Rest of Your Life
Homeschooling moms and dads can be overwhelmed by the demands on their time. Between their children’s educational needs; their roles as spouse, parent, and more; and their own individual desires and goals, these mothers and fathers struggle to accomplish all that must be done. In Help for the Harried Homeschooler, experienced homeschooler, author, and mother of four Christine Field offers sound advice for parents who want not only to achieve homeschooling success but also to reach a balance in their lives.
The Organizing Sourcebook : Nine Strategies for Simplifying Your Life

The nine habits of highly organized people

Organizing consultant Kathy Waddill demonstrates how the simple act of being organized can improve your quality of life. In The Organizing Sourcebook, she presents nine organizing principles that can easily be applied to any situation, activity, or environment. The book gives you the tools for managing time; decreasing stress; and dealing with cultural, personal, and emotional change. Case histories illustrate how each strategy solved a specific problem.

Home Organizing Workbook: Clearing Your Clutter, Step-By-Step
Failing the Mary Poppins' snap-the-fingers approach to cleaning, here's the next best thing: an utterly practical handbook that offers lasting results for anyone looking to banish clutter from every room in the house. Home organizer par excellence Meryl Starr offers up her hardworking organizing solutions in The Home Organizing Workbook, a straightforward guide to getting organized. The room chapters begin with targeted questionnaires that help the reader identify specific organizational problems, followed by hundreds of hardworking solutions and strategic maintenance tips. Those itching to get started can dive right in with step-by-step organizing projects ranging from quick-and-easy weeknight jobs, like overhauling the spice cabinet, to more intensive endeavors such as reorganizing the bedroom closet. Accessory lists at the end of each chapter feature dozens of the best products available, from lazy susans to shelf dividers, and explain exactly how they can be used to optimum effect in each room, while the extensive resource list shows where to get them. It's a package as tidy as its solutions: concealed Wire-O lay-flat binding, tabbed chapters to take readers straight to their problem area du jour, and full-color, solution-oriented photographs sure to inspire action. Ready to clear that clutter and keep it that way? The Home Organizing Workbook is the ultimate guide to preserving open spaces.
The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook
If you are thinking about homeschooling, or are struggling with a educational homeschooling curriculum that is difficult to use, let Dr. Ray and Dorothy Moore show you how to make homeschooling an easy-to-live-with family adventure in learning. This low-stress, low-cost program shows you how to build a curriculum around your child's needs and interests - and around a realistic family schedule. Instead of a cut-and-dried approach, you'll discover the freedom of a flexible program that encourages creativity and initiative.
One Thing at a Time : 100 Simple Ways to Live Clutter-Free Every Day
Simple, effective ways to put things in their place

Those piles of papers, clothes, and other things you thought you'd successfully de-cluttered have returned, and this time they brought friends. What's the use of trying to fight the clutter? Is there a better way?

This powerful and useful guide delivers solutions that work, no matter how overwhelmed you feel. The answer isn't an elaborate new system, or a solemn vow to start tomorrow. Instead, psychotherapist and organizer Cindy Glovinsky shares 100 simple strategies for tackling the problem the way it grows--one thing at a time. Here's a sampling of the tips explained in the book:

*Declare a fix-it day
*Purge deep storage areas first
*Label it so you can read it
*Get a great letter opener
*Practice toy population planning
*Leave it neater than you found it
Written in short takes and with a supportive tone, this is an essential, refreshing book that helps turn a hopeless struggle into a manageable part of life, one thing at a time.
Organizing Tips & Ideas
Fly Lady
If you are suffering from CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome), then this is the place for you. Start with Babysteps and learn to set up routines, get rid of clutter, and put your home and life in order. Once you join up with the Fly Lady, you'll receive daily emails filled with FLYing Lessons to guide you through the organization maze.
Organizing the Large Family Homeschool
This article offers a smattering of simple ideas to help keep homeschooling materials organized.
Large Family Workbox System for Homeschool
An example of an organizational system for a large homeschool family.
OrganizedHome.com
This website has a wealth of information on running a smooth and organized home. Includes articles, recipes, organizing tips, message boards, and much more. You'll also find information on creating your own household notebook, along with free printable forms to organize all the information your family needs.
Vernon Library Supplies
Vernon Library Supplies has lots of items that can help you organize your homeschool materials and protect your books. From shelving to desk, book jacket covers to magazine protectors, they have everything you need to organize, repair, and protect your supplies.
Organized Living
Find out how to manage life so it doesn't manage you. Organized-Living.com is a rich resource of information, tips, and advice to help create organized lifestyles for the home and workplace.
Homeschool Planning for a Large Family
Homeschool planning for a large family can seem daunting. From choosing curriculum to setting up a daily schedule, there are seemingly endless decisions to be made. The good news is that you can simplify the homeschool planning process. The key is to prioritize your goals before you begin planning.
School Room Organization for a Big Family
There are so many benefits to having a large family, too numerous to count. However, one of the very few disadvantages is that a mom has to really stay on top clutter, particularly a homeschooling mom! It can be challenging to find a spot for everything. Organization is key when school six children.
Homeschool Reporting Online
Whether you are an individual family needing a convenient record keeping solution, an umbrella school, homeschool co-op or support group desiring to reduce administrative overhead, Homeschool Reporting Online offers online software solutions. They offer simple, secure online record keeping and offsite electronic storage and backup of student records.
Home School Organizer
A binder system with logs and forms that can be customized to suit your family's needs. This system can be used for multiple children and offers a simple way to meet any applicable state record keeping requirements.
How Do I Get Organized?
How To Keep Records For Your Homeschooled Child
It is important to keep good records of your child's homeschooled years. This article has a list of helpful ideas for anyone who is interested in creating a permanent record for their child's homeschool work and progress.
Clutter Side Effects: How the State of Your Home Affects Your Life
Each area of your home has a symbolic meaning with which you resonate on a subconscious level. Clutter and untidiness within each of these areas causes constriction and inertia in the corresponding aspects of your life.
A Place for Everything
Includes tips for organizing in the office, closet, craft room, living room, bathrooms, and bedrooms. Creative ideas for storing kids' toys and other odds and ends.
Record-Keeping & Organizing: 10 Reasons to Keep Records
Record-keeping is an important part of your homeschool. Barbara Edtl Shelton lists the benefits of keeping good records, including the greater ease of evaluating progress, helping to set the direction for your homeschool, helping to preserve memories for the future, and more.
Getting Organized Part 1
This article includes great organization tricks and tips for getting organized, including organizing around themes, how less is more, how to plan in blocks of time, and a discussion of storage solutions.
Conquering Kids Clutter
A guide to managing and conquering the clutter in kids' rooms.
Habits of Being Clutter-Free
As work load continues to increase, our environment can suffer unless we take some time to take care of administrative and organizational tasks. Because our busy lifestyles warrant continuous maintenance to keep an orderly environment, a key to being clutter-free is to put things away when we’re done with them. This new behavior usually has to be developed, like a routine.
Unchores
A look at an unschooling family's approach to managing chores around the house. Although this approach may not work for everyone, the emphasis on flexibility and respect for each others needs and inclinations is enlightening.
A Real Mom's Home School
In her article, "A Real Mom's Home School," Maggie Hogan admits that "planning ahead and staying organized are not my strong suits." She shares ten tips that she's learned the hard way for balancing home and homeschooling, along with inspiring tips on juggling meal preparation, babies and toddlers, and more.
Get Housekeeping Help By Keeping It Simple
One of the basic housekeeping rules is to keep it simple. Roxanna Ward shares some simple tips for getting housework done without the hassle.
Online Support Groups
Sidetracked Home Executive...In Touch Forum
Join the fun as sidetrackers from all over commune to help each other get organized. Along the way, we have a lot of laughs and make a lot of friends.
Organize-to-Homeschool
Homeschoolers face tremendous demands on their organizational skills. Frequently creative, hardworking, and goal oriented, they must manage the home, other children, teaching, and the many other demands of a stay-at-home parent. This board is designed to offer support, find solutions, and discuss troublesome situations. Although there are many aspects to homeschooling, the focus, the only focus, of this board is solving organizational problems related to home schooling. This group is a part of the Messies Anonymous website.
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Featured Resources

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Home Organizing Workbook: Clearing Your Clutter, Step-By-Step
Failing the Mary Poppins' snap-the-fingers approach to cleaning, here's the next best thing: an utterly practical handbook that offers lasting results for anyone looking to banish clutter from every room in the house. Home organizer par excellence Meryl Starr offers up her hardworking organizing solutions in The Home Organizing Workbook, a straightforward guide to getting organized. The room chapters begin with targeted questionnaires that help the reader identify specific organizational problem...
Visual Brainstorms
Children who love word games, logic puzzles, secret codes, mazes, and math mysteries will stretch their mental muscles with Visual Brain Storms. This set of 100 cards, each of which includes a humorous, full-color drawing, promises "the world's best brainteaser questions." The characters in the questions often have funny names (Professor Pith Bugby pops up often) or faces or dilemmas to solve. The answers and explanations are on the back of each card, along with a related bonus question. Many of...
Why We Homeschool
It is a common misconception that most parents homeschool due to bullies, school shootings, or bad teaching content. While these things are important, there is a higher purpose for choosing to home education your children. Even if all those things were corrected, there are stronger reasons to stay committed to the homeschool model. So why do you homeschool? This book looks at the meaning and significance of a true Christian education. 
The Complete Home Learning Source Book : The Essential Resource Guide for Homeschoolers, Parents, and Educators Covering Every Subject from Arithmetic to Zoology
This ambitious reference guide lives up to its name. Practically three inches thick--and we're not talking large print here--it's packed with titles, ordering information, and Web site addresses. From where to send away for a kit to make your own Chilean rain stick to how to order a set of Elizabethan costume paper dolls, the book connects families to a world of learning possibilities. Book titles, short synopses, authors' names, publishers, and years of print make up the bulk of the guide. Clas...
Pass Your California DMV Test Guaranteed! 50 Real Test Questions! California DMV Handbook
This book contains the 50 most common questions and answers to the California DMV Written Test. Written by a former DMV classroom instructor and test creator, this straight forward book tells you the most likely questions and answers that will appear on you exam. Typically, at least 70-80% of the questions you encounter will come from these high frequency questions. Pass your test today!