Other than making me mess up the date for a couple weeks (or months), the New Year also urges change and brings with it plenty of New Years resolutions of all shapes and sizes.  Myself? I could use some help in just about every department, but getting myself organized is a resolution that has been long overdue. Believe me, I am type B at heart, with very few type A tendencies, so if I can tackle this task, anyone can! Here are a few tips and DIY projects I found to get yourself organized for the New Year!

1. THE CAR
   To start off, my car tends to get kinda messy, kinda quickly. I go camping a lot in the summer and I don’t really have a good excuse for its condition in the winter, BUT, I found a tip online that is so simple, I had to share. Just get a large cereal container, with a large mouth on it and line it with a plastic bag! That way, trash can stay in one, contained, nice looking place. Easy enough to empty and easy enough to keep up with.
   
2. THE BATHROOM
   I don’t know if it’s just me, but the drawers in my bathroom look like someone tossed in a miniature Tasmanian devil and let it wreak havoc. After multiple failed attempts at organizing, I found a couple of tips that might just cure the bathroom drawer blues. The first, is exclusively for persons with long hair. Wrangle up hair ties and put all of them, every single one, on a carabiner. It is easy to find and locate all of your fave hair ties all in one place. The second tip I found helpful, is to use desk drawer organizers for your bathroom! Instead of stashing highlighters and heaps of paper clips, organize your hand lotion and hair pins!
   
3. THE KITCHEN
   Keep your pantry organized by keep like foods together, keep the mac & cheese box in with your spaghetti noodles and pasta sauces for easy access to all of your (glorious) pasta related foods. A tip I came across a few times was the use of a lazy Susan, really anywhere in your kitchen. The multi-tiered and the “at a glance” accessibility, will not only save space but will shorten time spent looking for that irksome container of dill weed that you use once a year to make veggi dip (no just me?..)
   
4. THE PAPER PILE
   I feel like the paper monster is a threat to every mortal person. Bills, appointments, coupons, cards, license renewals, vet reminders, anything! Well I came up with this one myself! Working here in The Brittany’s office, we have plenty of maintenance requests and with the right method, we are able to keep them organized. We have just have simple file holders and label them; “work orders in, in progress, done and miscellaneous.” This works really well for filing your paper pile as well! Have a “mail in”, “in progress” and “done”. Once a bill is paid, an appointment is done, your vet tells you yet again that your cat is a touch too plump, pop that paper in the done file holder. Once your paper has graduated to the “done” file, you can retire it to the shredder, waste basket or file away, whatever your heart desires. Below is the real life version we use for maintenance requests for our townhomes and apartments!
   

I hope at least a couple of these are helpful! Have a wonderful New Year!

Alyssa