Five Simple Tips to Get Organized Today!

Take time to declutter this summer...

Writing can certainly consume the better part of your day... Especially when you consider all the other responsibilities most of us take on each day.

Sometimes you can overlook the benefits of cleaning up your work area. If you're like me, you may put off rather mundane tasks like - reading and actually responding to email messages, sorting through snail mail, paying bills, going through files etc...

Although these tasks are definitely time-consuming and usually uninspiring, you may be surprised how much better you'll feel if you clean house!

Yes - you have to be determined to do it and you absolutely must set your mind into that "mode." But it is possible to "declutter" your workspace and start anew!

Start anywhere you choose and then set aside a few hours to totally complete one clean-up task.

For example:

Go through every single one of your email messages
Read it, respond to it, delete it. That's it! Sounds simple enough right? Just tell yourself you can do it and don't look back. The end result will be worth it - honest!

Review your files
Open files you have laying on your desk that you haven't touched in weeks or months. Determine their value and decide whether to keep them or pitch them. You may find information you actually need! And you can get rid of unimportant, outdated files. You'll also feel so much better having less paperwork cluttering your workspace.

Gather all of your notes
Make a pile of all those little post-it notes, scraps of paper, and other papers taking up space on your desk. Read each one and either add the information to a permanent file or throw it in the trash! Not only will you be more organized, you might actually know where to find what you're looking for in the future...

Read your snail mail
Compile all those envelopes, unopened letters and extra mailings sitting on your desk. Open the ones that are important. Find a home for them. Pay your bills... Make it a point to pitch the mail you'll never read or the letters you no longer need. You may be amazed at what you find in this pile!

Clean up your desk

Get rid of every little thing you do NOT need that is occupying precious space on your desktop. Rearrange the essential desktop items - like:

Your computer

Your phone

Your printer and/or fax machine

Necessary office supplies (pens, paper, stickynotes, calendar etc...)

Regardless of how much time these boring tasks require, you can rest assured that the resulting feeling of freedom and lack of "clutter" will be a welcome change.

Resource Box - © Danielle Hollister (2004) is the Publisher of BellaOnline Quotations Zine - A free newsletter for quote lovers featuring more than 10,000 quotations in dozens of categories like - love, friendship, children, inspiration, success, wisdom, family, life, and many more. Read it online at - http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art8364.a sp

In The News:

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United Auto Workers members listen to UAW President Ron Gettelfinger speak at a news conference at a meeting of UAW officials in Detroit, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008.  (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)AP - The United Auto Workers said Wednesday it is willing to change its contracts with U.S. automakers and accept delayed payments of billions of dollars to a union-run health care trust to do its part to help the struggling companies secure $34 billion in government loans.



President-elect Barack Obama speaks at a news conference in Chicago, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)AP - President-elect Barack Obama signaled a clear desire Wednesday to use a significant portion of $700 billion in financial bailout funds to stanch foreclosures by helping struggling homeowners with their mortgages. "The deteriorating assets in the financial markets are rooted in the deterioration of people being able to pay their mortgages and stay in their homes," he said.



A bomb disposal squad officer, center, takes a suspicious box to the police station after diffusing a bomb at Chhatrapati Shivaji train station in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008. Police on Wednesday discovered leftover explosives hidden in a bag in Mumbai's main train station, a stunning new example of botched security after the deadly rampage that left the government open to accusations it missed warnings and bungled its response. (AP Photo)AP - Police on Wednesday discovered leftover explosives hidden in a bag in Mumbai's main train station — a stunning new example of botched security after the deadly rampage that left the government open to accusations it missed warnings and bungled its response.



AP - Still popular in Florida, former Gov. Jeb Bush said Wednesday that he's interested in the seat Sen. Mel Martinez is giving up, and the field of possible candidates could quickly narrow to make way for the president's younger brother.

Pirates ride alongside the luxury American cruise ship M/S Nautica, in this photo take from the Nautica, during a hijack attempt on the vessel, off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008.  The M/S Nautica, carrying 656 international passengers and 399 crew members, was sailing through the Gulf of Aden on Sunday when it encountered six bandits in two speedboats.  The pirates fired at the passenger liner but the larger ship was faster than the pirates' vessels, and escaped being boarded.(AP Photo)AP - Ordered to get inside and stay down, Oregon tourist Clyde Thornburg heard the pirates' rifle shots hit the side of the luxury cruise liner — "Pop! Pop! Pop!" — then felt the ship speed up to escape.



This undated photo provided by the Tracy Police Department shows Caren Ramirez. Police were seeking Ramirez on suspicion of participating in alleged abuse against her 17 year-old nephew who showed up Monday, Dec. 1, 2008 at a northern California gym with a chain locked to his ankle. (AP Photo/Tracy Police Department)AP - The aunt and one-time guardian of an emaciated and shackled 17-year-old has been arrested, as police tried to determine how she knew the couple accused of holding the teen against his will for nearly a year.



University of California, Los Angeles, Professor of Psychiatry  Dr. Gary Small plays with a digital memory electronic device at his office at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior in Westwood, Calif., on Monday, Dec. 1, 2008. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)AP - What does a teenage brain on Google look like? Do all those hours spent online rewire the circuitry? Could these kids even relate better to emoticons than to real people? These sound like concerns from worried parents. But they're coming from brain scientists.



This undated file photo provided by the Illinois Department of Corrections shows Jennifer Hudson's estranged brother-in-law William Balfour. Balfour has been arrested Monday, Dec. 1, 2008 in Illinois in the deaths of the singer's mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew. (AP Photo/Illinois Department of Corrections)AP - Prosecutors allege Jennifer Hudson's estranged brother-in-law killed three family members because he was angry the singer's sister was dating another man.



AP - The one that didn't get away held an unlikely surprise for a Texas man. The blue-stoned class ring of Joe Richardson, engraved with his name, turned up inside an 8-pound bass 21 years after he lost it while fishing on Lake Sam Rayburn.

In this Aug. 31, 2008, file photo, Boston Red Sox's Dustin Pedroia walks back to the dugout during a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox at Fenway Park in Boston. The Red Sox have agreed to terms with the 2008 AL Most Valuable Player on a six-year contract, the team announced on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)AP - AL Most Valuable Player Dustin Pedroia and the Boston Red Sox agreed Wednesday to a $40.5 million, six-year contract. The deal includes a club option for 2015. He would not have been eligible for free agency until after the 2012 season.



General Motors employee Eddie Webster rests his hand against a new Chevy Tahoe at a rally held to support federal aid to the U.S. auto industry at the GM assembly plant in Arlington, Texas, November 18, 2008. (Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters)Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama said on Wednesday struggling automakers have put forward a "more serious" restructuring proposal to Congress but withheld judgment on the plans until hearings are held.



Trading specialists work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, December 3, 2008. (Chip East/Reuters)Reuters - Record declines in the vast U.S. and European service sectors and more bleak U.S. employment news on Wednesday sparked fear of an economic "free fall," setting up another round of deep interest rate cuts.



Posters are displayed close to Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai, December 2, 2008. (Arko Datta/Reuters)Reuters - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Pakistan on Wednesday to cooperate "fully and transparently" in investigations into the Mumbai attacks that have upset India-Pakistan relations.



An employee works on a 2009 Ford F-150 on the assembly line at Ford's Kansas City Assembly Plant in Claycomo, Missouri, October 2, 2008. (Sam VarnHagen/Ford/Handout/Reuters)Reuters - All options were on the table on Wednesday as congressional committees scrutinized auto company restructuring proposals and an urgent appeal for $34 billion in aid ahead of make-or-break hearings.



The U.S. Senate and Congressional Democratic leadership attends a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee/Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee election watch party in Washington November 4, 2008. From L-R are: DSCC Chairman Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), DCCC Chairman Christopher Van Hollen (D-MD), and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). (Larry Downing/Reuters)Reuters - Senate Democrats will be able to do plenty over the next two years -- despite falling just short of their goal of winning a majority big enough to end Republican procedural roadblocks.



Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson speaks at a news conference at the Treasury Department in Washington, November 25, 2008. (Jason Reed/Reuters)Reuters - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is weighing whether to ask Congress for the remaining $350 billion of the financial bailout fund, with White House aides approaching President-elect Barack Obama's transition team about the idea, an Obama aide said on Wednesday.



A U.S soldier stands guard during a graduation ceremony at Al-Furat Iraqi Police Training Center in Baghdad December 2, 2008. (Saad Shalash/Reuters)Reuters - A string of departures by the U.S. military's allies in Iraq is turning into an exodus as violence subsides and the end of a U.N. mandate permitting their deployment to the country approaches.



Tourists from Greece pose as they exit an Thai Airways flight from Phuket, the first to land at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport December 3, 2008, after a week long anti-government protest paralyzed air travel. (Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters)Reuters - Anti-government protesters lifted their crippling, eight-day blockade of Thailand's main airport on Wednesday, raising the hopes of 230,000 stranded tourists even though there is no end in sight to the wider political crisis.



A map locating the main terrorist attacks in Mumbai. India on Wednesday warned that all options were open in dealing with Pakistan after last week's attacks on Mumbai, as the United States pressured Islamabad to show urgent cooperation with the probe.(AFP/Graphic)AFP - India on Wednesday warned that all options were open in dealing with Pakistan after last week's attacks on Mumbai, as the United States pressured Islamabad to show urgent cooperation with the probe.



Children go to fetch water at a plant in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, on December 1, 2008. Baton-wielding riot police broke up protests in Harare and detained dozens Wednesday, as the death toll of a cholera epidemic neared 600 in Zimbabwe's worsening health and economic crises.(AFP/File/Desmond Kwande)AFP - Baton-wielding riot police broke up protests in Harare and detained dozens Wednesday, as the death toll of a cholera epidemic neared 600 in Zimbabwe's worsening health and economic crises.




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