Greetings!
Summer break has come to an end for our kids as they head back to school. Our family spent our last free week together out of town on vacation. When we arrived home (two days before school started), there were a lot of chores to take care of to get ready for school, work, and our regular activities. As with most vacations, the biggest job upon returning is managing dirty laundry. I am not sure if our white's will ever be white again. Besides clean clothes, a fully stocked refrigerator is the next project. Shopping for good food to fill the pantry and fridge will guarantee easy morning lunch packing and a house filled with friends of your children after school. Once the kids are back in school, it's time to reorganize the areas of your home that were well used during the summer. We had some work to do on our game closet. Playing card decks were mixed-up and our much used highway bingo game cards needed a little updating. This month our GO Newsletter will provide tips to help you calm the aftermath of summer clean-up, get control of the laundry, and organize the kitchen for a quick getaway for work or school. On the business side of GO, I was recently honored to speak to a large audience of leaders of the Boy Scouts of America in Maryland. I am excited to have many other speaking engagements already scheduled throughout the 2013-2014 school year. Many groups have asked me back year after year, and it's been such a joy to see many moms that I once met in pre-school groups now have children in elementary school. I am thankful for their continued following and support. If you see me at an event or around town, I'd love to hear how Get Organized! has impacted your home and family. |
Free Workshop with Lorraine
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
10:00 - 11:00 a.m., 2nd floor kitchen
"Establishing Routines for Easy Mornings"
IKEA Dallas presents Lorraine Brock, Professional Organizer and owner of Get Organized!, for a practical and interactive workshop at the IKEA Dallas store on September 10, 2013. This workshop offers IKEA customers face-to-face time with a professional who can help you get organized.
Establishing routines for easy mornings focuses on helping parents cope with the morning hustle and bustle of getting the kids out the door and off to school.
● Are you a busy parent ready to get control of your kitchen?
● Are kid's school supplies and other stuff creating piles and stacks in your home?
Lorraine Brock will discuss practical systems and solutions for getting your kids to pick up their clutter, share ways to keep your home and kitchen organized this school year, and suggest products that will solve your storage problems for good.
Where: IKEA Dallas, 2nd floor Kitchen department
When: September 10, 2013, 10 am - 11 am
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New Organizing Tools
to Spice up Your Kitchen
As a professional organizer, I am in other peoples' kitchens all the time. I recently real ized that although I recommended some of these very practical ideas for making client spaces more user-friendly, I had not implemented them in my own kitchen! I decided it was time to change that, so I made my list and visited my favorite stores to do a little shopping.
Since I was doing some organizing for myself, I wanted to share my solutions for some of the most common kitchen problems. Let's start with shopping options for organizing tools. I like Target, Walmart, and The Container Store. I find it more cost effective to take your list and go to the less-expensive stops first, and then enjoy shopping at The Container Store for those harder to find items. They have some ideas and tools that are very unique.
Drawer organizers are helpful in every room of the house. The first decision to make is what items will be stored in the drawer, then determine the amount of space the items take up, and finish by taking measurements of the inside of each drawer. Drawer organizers come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, and can be adjustable, stationary, interlocking, or mix and match.
Organizing odd shaped water bottles, plastic drinking and coffee cups, and matching lids is always a challenge. Usually they wind up falling down in the cabinets and it is impossible to find the lid when you need it. An easy fix for this problem is to buy a clear, deep, plastic tub that will fit in the cabinet and house all of the cups and bottles, and purchase a shoebox size tub for all of the lids. Store the tubs side-by-side in the cabinet. Be sure to purge unwanted items or cups with missing lids. 
Another common organizing dilemma is how to store cookie sheets, racks for cookies, muffin pans, and flat griddles. If you are lucky to have a cabinet with slots for these items, then skip to the next tip. Otherwise, the item pictured to the right will be useful. There are variety of styles to choose from as well.
 Wire racks shown to the right are inexpensive and help maximize vertical space in your cabinets. Use them to stack dishes and mugs or small bowls and pans.
Maybe you don't have a drawer that works for your storage bags. The rack shown above is the perfect solution, and can be stored on a shelf in the pantry! 
Stair-step shelf organizers allow you to sort and easily view cans and spices in your pantry space. They come in various sizes and depths and some are adjustable to fit any shelf width. Turntables allow you to fit a large numbers of items in a small space with easy accessibility.
Modular drawers are perfect for utilizing the floor of your pantry. They keep food items clean and organized and multiple units can be stacked to fit the space you have available. Each drawer can be labeled and filled with lunch and snack foods for kids, or for odd shaped packages of baking goods, pastas, beans and rice.
Odd shaped space under the kitchen sink is a common area of frustration. Modular, detachable drawers can be used here, or you can find products that are more customized for your space. Shop here for some great ideas. If you would like something more customized, here are more
suggestions. Remember to measure twice and shop once in these spaces. Watch out for those pipes and have fun shopping!
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Original InstaHanger
Watch this video and learn how you can maximize any space with this practical clothes hanger. Perfect for dorms and small closets and creates instant hanging space. This is the perfect way to hang up to 50 lbs. of clothing in minimal space!
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Become a Professional Organizer through our
Affiliate Program
Get Organized! is interested in connecting with individuals throughout Texas who are naturally organized, creative with space planning and organizational systems, have business smarts, self-motivation, and an understanding of the importance of excellent time management. Organizing skills are often learned or enhanced through tasks and hobbies you have done both in the corporate world and in your own home. These skills, in addition to the branding advantage and professional training from a successful organizing company, can launch you into a profitable organizing business.
Our Affiliate Program allows you to focus on working as a professional organizer while you save both time and money utilizing the experience, brand recognition, and proven processes from one of DFW's finest organizing companies - Get Organized!. The initial investment includes: your time, travel expenses (for training in the Dallas area), general liability bonding insurance, and insurance for business use of your vehicle. There are no other startup costs.
We look forward to hearing from you about starting your own organizing business anywhere in the great state of Texas.
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 Game Plan for the Game Closet
The poker chips have been thrown in the box, playing cards are mixed together, and random game pieces need to be put back in place. Where do you start?
It's simple. If you are missing the boxes for playing cards, use snack size zipper bags for each deck. Instead of taking the time to open boxes to return missing pieces, just find a small box to keep them in until you play the games again. Label the box "Missing Pieces" and keep it visible in the closet.
You can use a clear shoe organizer over the door of your game closet to hold smaller games or even small misplaced pieces.
If some of your game boxes are falling apart from use, you can purchase new game containers from Organized A - Z . They have three styles specially designed for board games and they are made to last.
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Savvy Ways to Save
Did you know that Sam's offers a 200% guarantee? If you are not completely satisfied, you will get double your money back!
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Packing and Unpacking
Services
Our team of professional organizers can de-clutter
before you pack and move
and/or pack, unpack, and organize your entire home once your move-in is complete.
We can also work with your movers for placement of furniture when the truck
arrives at your new home.
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Get Organized! only recommends
for the services listed below,
and we proudly recommend
them to our clients.
Mention Get Organized! and get 30% off tile and grout cleaning, and ask about our area rug cleaning special! Carpet, oriental, and area rug cleaning, tile and grout cleaning and sealing, carpet repairs and stretching, leather cleaning and repairs, upholstery cleaning, 24 hour water damage restoration, and pet urine removal and treatment.
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Need a Realtor?
Buying or Selling?
2 Free Hours of Staging
with Service
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Do you need a caregiver for your children or your elderly parent? Checkout
MomsBestFriend.com. See how they can help you.
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Need a storage unit for
a few months or long term?
Maybe a member of your family recently passed away and you inherited
things you need to store
until you have time to sort through them?
Get Organized!
recommends
Assured Self Storage
They have 20 locations in the DFW area.
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We are a full-service moving concierge company,
skilled and experienced in all relocation services. Located in
Dallas, Texas, we offer a
premium moving experience catered to your needs.
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Back-to-School
Car Fun
Does your family spend a lot of time in the car going to school, sports practice, or weekend activities? Here's a way to add some fun to the drive.
Get these Back Seat Bingo Cards from Amazon.com. This game will keep the arguments to a minimum and create great memories for everyone.
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