Face the day with peace of mind and confidence by organizing these daily-use spaces in your home.

1) Kitchen — It’s the heart of the home and usually where everything lands when it comes in the door. If the kitchen is in chaos due to mail, school bags and recent purchases, it can add stress to your day and be a barrier to family meal time.

2) Home Office — Win the battle against paper and develop systems for handling paperwork and mail. If you have a home-based business, you want an orderly, professional-looking office so that you can focus on your business. Being organized in this space means an easy-to-use filing system and a space that you enjoy being in.  Read more...

They say the size of your trash can is directly related to how much you are willing to throw out. Go bigger. If you have an itty, bitty trash can by your desk, get a bigger one. And, if you handle your mail in other rooms, like the family room, keep a trash can in there, too!

One of my favorite time-saving e-mail tips is to do this first BEFORE opening any e-mail:  Delete everything you can without opening it. This includes junk mail, trails of e-mails that are not helpful to you, “fyi” e-mails that are not critical to your life or work right now, and e-publications that you don’t have time for that day or week. And an added bonus:  this also helps you remember who is in charge of your e-mail — take control!

If you go an entire season without wearing that great shirt or perfect pants, then maybe you don’t love them as much as you thought. How do you remember if you wore the items? Turn the hangers away from you at the start of the season. When you wear the item, turn the hanger back to normal.

I finally have my own home office. Why would I set up my office like a cubicle? Been there, done cubicle world. U-shaped desks have proven to be the most productive workspaces. Everything is at your fingertips if you have drawers for supplies and filing, as well as a shelf or two for books or notebooks above.

When reviewing papers, write the next action for that paper in the top right hand corner (eg. call, check online, file). This will save you time since the decision has been made and it’s now clear what to do with the paper when you see it again.