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Quicktips: Clothes | Memorabilia | Gifts & Christmas | Kitchen | Digital clutter| Labelling | Organising products 'n tools
This is just a small selection of tips... for much, much more check out Lissanne's best-selling book, SORTED! the ultimate guide to organising your life - once and for all.
You might also like to sign up for our newsletter. for delutter tips, news and special offers.
Also check our Lissanne's organising blog.
Gifts
Consider purchasing only consumable gifts - movie tickets, donation to charity, a meal out, a facial or car wash voucher. You might want to consider asking for consumable gifts too - to avoid more clutter!
Here's some links to get you started...
Know a movie buff? Just $15 buys a Dendy Club Membership with discounts and benefits. Plus, your membership buys you extra benefits on products and services near your local Dendy. Nice one! Or, if you're in Melbourne, the Nova Privilege Card Membership ($22 a year) gives the card holder and guest a discount entry all year round at Cinema Nova plus other benefits and discounts.
Know someone into the arts? For $88, NGV offers regular membership or Artbeat membership (designed for under 40s). Members score LOADS of discounts, free stuff and entry to events!
Know someone with a love of cars? For $45 (tax-deductible) Greenfleet will plant 17 native trees to neutralise the greenhouse gas emissions that the recipient's car produces in one year (based on 4.3 tonnes of CO2 for the average car). They'll send you a Gift Certificate, together with an explanatory letter, their latest newsletter, and a car sticker.
TEAR Australia have more gifts than you can poke a stick at and they're priced from $5. My favourite is the goat I received for my birthday this year (when was the last time you gave someone a goat?)! If you're really into to gifts, stop and think for a minute about how much joy these gifts can bring to communities around the world. Gift cards arrive within a week too, so this is a brilliant last minute gift site.
Being a member of Amnesty International means joining a worldwide movement of people over one million strong who are a powerful force in the fight for human rights. The perfect pressie for your socially concious friend of relative!
Museum Victoria membership starts at $25 a year plus joining fee.. or you might like their $49 household membership (bargain!) Membership gives you free entry to: Melbourne Museum, Scienceworks (includes special exhibitions), The Immigration Museum, Royal Exhibition Building (tours only), Melbourne Planetarium (one visit per year) and Victoria University High Voltage Theatre at Scienceworks (one visit per year). That's excellent value! You'll also score reciprocal free entry to seven interstate and overseas museums, discounts on purchases, parking and more!
IWDA undertakes projects in partnership with women from around the world, giving priority to working with women who suffer poverty and oppression. IWDA's program priorities are to increase women's skills, improve their livelihood and health, combat gender-based violence and encourage sustainable environmental management.
More ideas: AFL football Club membership (go google to find your favourite team), subscription to a community radio statio (Melbourne has Triple R, PBS) support Oxfam or sponsor a child.
If you do receive something for Christmas or birthday that you don’t LOVE or NEED, discreetly move it onto charity immediately! Your loved ones would much rather you have things you value... not items that weighs you down.
Sick of all those fiddly different bits of wrapping paper? Purchase one industrial sized roll of plain paper for all occasions: birthday, christmas, weddings etc. Gold, red or silver works a treat! Kids gifts can be wrapped in something unique: old paintings and drawings that are brought home from school on a regular basis. Nice one!
Or, perhaps it's all too hard and you don't want to subscribe to mindless consumerism. Thanks to Adbusters, you can download this "Christmas Gift Exemption Certificate" to give to others.
Kitchen
Avoid using round containers within a cupboard or fridge: they waste valuable space. Stick with square or oblong - and stackable is even better! We are mad about Decor's range.... great for everything from spices to first aid.
While you're in the kitchen, When you prepare fruit or vegetables for juicing, prepare twice as much as you need – what you don’t use can be stored in the fridge for several days… saves you time! ^ TOP
Digital clutter
Tired of digital clutter? Spend an hour checking out the filters and mailbox options on your e-mail software. Try help or search for a tutorial on-line if you're lost. Use your software (or any other tools and equipment) well and you will be organised and save time looking for 'lost' items... ^ TOP
Label, label, Label!
Grab a texta and label the sides of the phone book so you won't have to futz around trying to source the one you really want…
IKEA Expedit
We've always wanted one of these… but we had to wait until we needed it! Gleefully purchased at the new Richmond store… ^ TOP
our F-A-V-O-U-R-I-T-E piece of furniture, this versatile piece can act as a room divider (like we’ve done in the SORTED! office) or wall unit… add baskets to use as drawers … ah, gotta love a product with more than one use! It’s always going to be useful. ^ TOP
Naclip
Great for fastening paper, it doesn’t damage like staples can … clips on, slides off, 100% reusable. Nice one!
Make it Yourself
A big chunka chipboard, a spray can of blackboard paint and you've got yourself a custom made for next to nothing. Nice one!
Clothes
Hooray For Aunty Madge in Adelaide who recently bought some new clothes. She said that she's now "trying to be good" when she shops. When she purchases a new piece of clothing she makes sure an existing item that she doesn't really wear or love goes: First cabs off the rank:
-A cardigan that was once a favourite (since superceded)...
-a skirt that is too long and too straight (and makes her walk in small, funny steps).
Well done Aunty Madge, we like your strategy!
Memorabilia
Piles of photos still in the packets? Memorabilia all over the shop? Here’s an awesome solution to an age-old problem. Don't waste the money you've invested in photos by not treating them with respect. And don't let valuable mementos get damaged or lost in the fray. Scrapbooking is a great way to do something a bit different and create a fantastic story-book with the images you've shot.
