Organizing Products
Organizing requires systems, which have two aspects: geographical and behavioral. Geographical means “Where will I put it? Where will its home be?” Having a home for everything (and knowing when something’s home doesn’t even need to be with you) is essential to staying organized.
The behavioral part is knowing you have a geographic location where something belongs (in the sweater drawer, on the soup shelf, in the electronics “extras” bin, and so on) and asking, “How will I make sure it gets there?”
The following products help you identify where your stuff should live (in space and time) to help you keep it organized so your life can be more efficient.
Special Deals and Coupon Codes
Whenever Best Results Organizing becomes aware of good organizing deals, we’ll put them in this section, up-top, so you don’t miss them! For more information on these products, scroll down the page to find them in their categorical homes. Check back throughout the year for nifty discounts.
The Container Store
Watch this space often for special discounts at The Container Store, as the goodies change frequently.
Enjoy the Elfa event from now through August 13, 2024, and get 25% of Elfa products.
In the meantime, text JOIN to 22922 and Get $5 Off $50 on your next order from The Container Store!
Bixbee
You’ve got tiny humans, and whether school is at the kitchen table or PS 21, they need something to carry their stuff around in, and maybe keep their lunches from getting squished.
Bixbee, making of ergonomically-smart backpacks built with the anatomy of tiny humans in mind, has some products that will delight your kids (and their spines) and keep clutter at bay. Bixbee also has delightful luggage and duffels for ease of traveling.
Bixbee is also offering FREE Standard Shipping (for US customers only) on all orders over $70.00 and a free Pencil Case with the purchase of any medium or large backpack – available while supplies last.
Tile Bluetooth Trackers
It’s hard to stay organized when you can’t locate the things that help you keep your sanity. Find misplaced things nearby and far away with Tile trackers and the free Tile app that works on both iOS® and Android.
Keeping track of everything can be hard, and sometimes your family makes it harder. Try family-proofing your family, track your stuff with the free app for iOS® and Android™ — and now through November 11, 2024, save up to 30% off Tile bluetooth trackers.
Read more about Tile’s Bluetooth trackers down below in the Tile section to see how these trackers can keep you organized and prevent your most valuable items from disappearing.
Recommended Products and Companies
Time Management
Time Timer
“How much longer?” Oh, that question! There’s a reason that Time Timer is one of the most popular time management tools recommended by professional organizers, teachers, and ADHD coaches. From the very beginning, with the original Time Timer, they figured out how to make time visible; once you can see time passing, you can understand how to get things done without running out of time, and improve self-regulation.
The innovative timer is easy to set, and as time passes, the sweeping “color” disappears.
In addition to the cool original versions, over the years, Time Timer has developed the colorful Time Timer Plus (in 5, 20, 60, and 120 minute versions), 8″ and 12″ magnet versions, the gorgeous Time Timer Twist, and the super-cool Mod (used with or without the dry erase board). There are even apps to use with your phone, tablet, computer, or Apple Watch.
Brand-new TimeTimers products include the Wash (which I wrote about here)
and the new Time Timer MOD – Home Edition, which I wrote about here.
If you or someone you know finds time getting away from them, Time Timer is the perfect (and research-proven) solution!
Planner Pads
Planner Pads a unique type of planner and calendar system that helps you organize, prioritize, and schedule what matters most to you. Instead of just offering squares for dates on the calendar, Planner Pads recognizes that our lives are filled with projects, various tasks that are chunked into related sections. The calendars help you identify the tasks as part of the individual projects, then funnel down to the days you’ll work on those tasks and your actual scheduled obligations. Planner Pad even comes with a 100% money-back guarantee.
Planner Pads are available in executive, personal, and compact sizes. Click below to get a sense of how Planner Pad is a more customizable paper planner than what you’ve seen before.
Organize Your Kids
Academic Planner – A Tool For Time Management®
Being a student is hard. Being a parent of a student is hard. My colleague (and fellow Cornell University alum) Leslie Josel is an expert on organizing students. Whether your child has ADHD or not, is in elementary school or college, is dealing with time management issues or just can’t get organized, Leslie’s Order Out of Chaos has you covered.
The 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2024 Family Choice Award-winning Academic Planner – A Tool for Time Management® is really something special. If you have kids, you know how essential time management is and how difficult it can be to grasp the concepts, but Leslie Josel has figured it out, “giving students an easy way to SEE time so they can learn to MANAGE it.”
Want more details? Check out the Paper Doll post, Back-to-School Organizing News You Can Use: 3 Solutions to Save Time, Money, and Serenity for my review of this innovative product (available in personal and letter-size) that is so much more than just a calendar. It even won the 2018, 2020, and 2022 Family Choice Award!
Leslie also offers a super learning library of videos, on student study skills and education for parents. Raising Resilient Kids: Creating Independence, Confidence, and Resourcefulness in Our Youth is particularly popular!
Box-4-Blox
If you’ve got kids, it’s likely that you’ve got LEGOs. And if you’ve got bare feet, you know what a pain those creative little Legoland toys can be. But fear not: help is on the way. Box-4-Blox is not merely a storage box, but a tiny miracle of sorting. Your child can just dump all the Legos into the top yellow section, attach the lid, and shake! The toys are magically sorted by size, keeping them neatly sorted and ready for play. If only we could do our taxes this easily!
GameSaver
Perhaps your family has had the same Scrabble® or Monopoly® board since the Eisenhower administration. The flimsy cardboard box has torn apart from years of coffee spills and tug-of-war games over who gets to read the rules. Word tiles or small hotels fall everywhere, and the bank gets filled with IOUs to make up for lost game money. GameSaver can come to the rescue with sturdy plastic containers specifically designed to organize and store board games.
Each box comes with divided sections just the right size for common game boards, pieces, cards, and even play money. The lids snap tight so everything stays inside, and the divided sections keep your pieces in place. Not only do these ingenious containers make game set up fast and easy, but they also help to make game storage and clean-up time fun!
Lay-n-Go Activity Mat & Toy Organizer
Organize Your Papers, Information and Office
Throughout my blog and various articles, you’ll often see me refer to a Tickler File for gaining mastery over your action items and paperwork.
Smead Heavy-Duty Adjustable Hanging File Folder Frame
Smead Desk File/Sorter Daily (1-31) and Monthly (Jan-Dec)
Not counting the stuff on your desk that doesn’t belong there, the stuff that needs to be filed away, tossed or referred out to someone else, every loose paper on your desk tends to reflect a category that may as well appear as a blinking neon sign above your head: STUFF YOU HAVE TO DO!!!. There are presentations to plan, gifts to buy, orders to renew, clippings to read, letters to write, bills to pay, permission slips to sign, and so on.
The tickler is the ultimate reminder system – it keeps the ugly pileup of papers out of sight, while tickling your brain to keep things in the forefront of your mind, giving you confidence that you won’t forget about worrisome or important issues.
Tickle Yourself Organized by Julie Bestry
This special report, Tickle Yourself Organized, teaches all the tips and tricks you need to know to organize your papers, tasks and thoughts.
Learn five essential principles of getting organized, gain insight into the ways you may be sabotaging your efforts, and try out the practical, step-by-step guidelines for turning piles of clutter into neatly prioritized tasks that will become much easier to complete.
Gain control over all of the information and reminders in your life without letting anything fall through the cracks. Let this special report help you master your space and schedule.
Evernote
Evernote Free
Evernote Personal
Evernote Professional
Evernote is simply a superior service for organizing the thoughts, documents, photos, notes, and elements of your life and work. Start with my post, Understanding Evernote: What, Why, and How to get a sense of all ways in which you can streamline your digital life, eliminate your fluttering sticky notes, and spend your time doing your work and living your life instead of looking for lost information.
Paperless Post
Many people have a card and invitation problem. Some have boxes and bins and bags that of greeting cards, birthday cards, sympathy cards, party invitations, thank you note and more, but they’re all over the house, not organized, and represent a lot of duplication. Other people never seem to have a card (or a stamp, or a matching envelope) on hand. Paperless Post has a superior collection of elegant online cards as well as party invitations, wedding-related mailings, digital flyers, and even professional event mailings for fundraisers, launches, and parties. To get a better idea of how Paperless Post can help you eliminate clutter while keeping in contact with the people most important to you, your family, or your business, be sure to read Organize Pretty, Playful Parties (and Messages) with Paperless Post.
Organize & Declutter Your Household
Container Store 24-Pocket Mesh Overdoor Shoe Bag
Making use of vertical space, whether on your walls, on the insides of cabinets, or on the front and back surfaces of doors, can really expand your storage space.
The simple hardware fits right over the door, so there’s no installation necessary — just hang the organizer and start filling the clear, mesh pockets, which allow you to see the contents. Those pockets are square at the bottom, and expand comfortably to allow thicker items to sit without sagging.
This organizer durable and can be used in any room of the house. Try it in the pantry for staples, the bathroom for cleaning supplies, toiletries, or hair products, or your home office for all of your office supplies. It’s especially suited for small apartments and dorm rooms.
I’ve been writing about Tile for years — they’re a great way to keep track of everything from your wallet to your electronic gadgets to Fido. Get the low-down by reading Avoid the Lost & Found: Keep Track of Your Goodies With Tile. Now explore the gorgeous new styles and colors:
Organize Your Home 10 Minutes at a Time Deck of Cards
My colleagues Diane Quintana and Jonda Beattie‘s collaborative company, Release * Repurpose * Reorganize, has developed the Organize Your Home 10 Minutes at a Time Deck of Cards. It’s a 52-card deck to guide you through organizing your home step-by-step, one 10-minute task at a time. (Gamification works best when it breaks down big projects into small tasks to give you that extra push.)
The deck includes two instruction cards to help you get started, plus 50 categorized task cards for coping with typical areas of a home, including kitchens, closets, bedrooms, bathrooms, family rooms, and similar spaces. The top of each card color-codes to the spaces covered, and tells you the space and task to be handled. The body of each card provides instructions for completing the task.
Use the cards with your family to create a joint project with everyone pitching in and every person will feel a sense of control and responsibility for maintaining organization in the home. Each card has step-by-step instructions and many tasks are child-friendly. Tackle several delayed projects completed at once and then pick a family reward for a job well-done!
The Organize Your Home 10 Minutes at a Time Deck of Cards is available on their website or on Amazon for $19.95.
Save time and money, improve productivity and eliminate all of your clutter-related stress.
For other resources, please check out my Pinterest organizing pages and click on the links below:
Associations and Organizations
Books
Affiliate Disclaimer: This site uses affiliate programs to help generate a supporting income which allows us to continue our work and provide you with the best overall experience and valued information. If you have any concerns, we suggest you do not click on any affiliate links found throughout the website or blog. If you are uncertain as to the resulting link’s destination, you may hover your cursor over the linked material to see where it goes. We will always provide you with a company or agency name, which you can type into any search engine in order to reach the site independently of our links. For more information, please see the Affiliate Tracking section of this site’s Privacy Policy linked at the bottom of each page.
Follow Me