____ Jan 1 Rather than setting New Year’s Resolutions, why not pick 4 to 5 goals to accomplish over the course of the coming year. As you decide on the goals, make a note of the steps that are required to accomplish each goal. Then begin to take those steps to go forward and complete your goals.

____ Jan 2 Are your files ready to go for the new year? Take time today to transfer 2009 items to a ‘previous year’ file and make room for your 2010 filing. While you are working on your files, purge by shredding all items you no longer need to keep.

____ Jan 3 If your holiday decorations are still up, make today a day for the family to take everything down and put it away. Order in pizza to remove the burden of fixing a meal and enjoy the party!

____ Jan 4 Today is National Spaghetti Day! Celebrate this fun day by inviting friends over for spaghetti potluck. Ask them to bring their favorite pasta accompaniment and start a new tradition.

____ Jan 5 Does your home have a Carbon Monoxide detector? If not, buy one and plug it in today. You'll rest easier knowing that you and your family won't be overcome by this silent killer.

____ Jan 6 Did you have guests in your home over the holidays? Why not do a check around the house and gather up anything they may have left behind. If they belong to local friends and/or family, make arrangements to get the items to them. If they belong to out of town friends and/or family, box them up and mail them on.

____ Jan 7 Did you keep your receipts from your holiday shopping? Sit and total up how much you spent. This will give you a baseline figure to budget for towards next year’s shopping. Take your total and divide by 12. This will tell you how much you need to set aside each month for your shopping next year. Think how great it will feel next year knowing that you don't have to use any credit at all to do your holiday shopping.

____ Jan 8 Do you still have your holiday server ware out and about? Take time today to put them away, which will not only get one item off your to-do list, it will also reduce the visual clutter you deal with on a daily basis.

____ Jan 9 Go through your digital holiday photos. Delete duplicates and those that you just don't like. Upload them onto your computer, into your pictures folder. Set up your computer screen saver so that your photos cycle through as your screen saver. It’s a fun way to relive fun and memorable moments as they cycle through.

____ Jan 10 Check your windshield washer fluid. Make sure that you have the non-freezing type in there, especially if you live in a cold climate, and since it seems nowhere in the country is safe from freezing temperatures, it wouldn't hurt to have the non-freezing type anyway, no matter where you live--okay Hawaii excepted.

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____ Jan 11 It’s International Thank You Day! Take time to write to a friend and let her/him know how much you appreciate their friendship. You could even write a thank you to a former teacher who meant a lot to you. I know many teachers and they always love getting notes from former students.

____ Jan 12 January weather can be brutal, especially to your hands. Place bottles of hand lotion all around your house, and use them liberally. Your hands will thank you!

____ Jan 13 Did you have lots of foot traffic during the holidays? Your carpets will likely benefit from a good cleaning. You can either call and schedule someone to come in to clean for you (and many are now advertising specials on carpet cleaning) or you can rent a machine from your local supermarket and do it yourself.

____ Jan 14 When was the last time you fixed a big pot of soup? January weather almost begs for soups. Dust off your recipes, look for a few new ones to try, and buy or make a loaf of hearty bread and enjoy a big bowl of steaming soup. Yum! Yum!

____ Jan 15 Today is National Strawberry Ice Cream Day! Celebrate by visiting your favorite ice cream shoppe and enjoying a cup or cone of this tasty treat!

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____ Jan 16 How are your school supplies holding up? The last half of the school year is starting so now is a good time to evaluate what might need replenishing.

____ Jan 17 Clean out your pantry. If there are expired foods, toss into the garbage, or into your compost bin if you compost. If there is food you know you won't use and it’s not expired, donate it to a local food pantry to help those less fortunate. Once you have purged, make sure you set your pantry up so the oldest items are in front to be used first.

____ Jan 18 Today is Martin Luther King Day. Take time to reflect on the importance of his actions. Spend time with your children discussing how his actions impact us even today.

____ Jan 19 Are you trying to go green? Now is a good time to switch over to more green cleaning products. You can also find many recipes on the internet for making your own environmentally friendly cleaning products. Not only are you doing the environment a favor, you are also limiting your exposure to hazardous or harsh chemicals. A win-win!

____ Jan 20 Are your bed linens in need of replacing? January white sales are in full swing so now is the time to replace. Simplify things for yourself by buying all one color. If you stick with one color, it doesn't matter which top sheet goes with which fitted sheet! You'll also have that hotel feel if you stick with all one color.

____ Jan 21 Now is a good time to replenish items in your guest room. Sample size bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, toothpaste, etc/ will be great items to have in a basket in your guest room. To get a better feel for what might be missing, spend the night in your guest room. This will help you to know what else guests might need.

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____ Jan 22 Do you have a bill paying station? If not, spend a little time setting one up in a convenient spot. Make sure you have plenty of envelopes and stamps, somewhere to sort the incoming mail to, a shredder for all that junk mail and some type of filing system. Set up a budget system at the same time and keep it at your bill paying station so you can easily track where you are on your spending.

____ Jan 23 Schedule today as a ME day! Take the day off of house work and treat yourself to a day of doing whatever you would enjoy doing to relax. You will appreciate the recharge time. Can't do the whole day? That’s OK. Even a few hours will help.

____ Jan 24 Do you live in an older home? Schedule a test for Radon Gas. There are EPA guidelines for acceptable levels of radon in the home. If your results exceed the acceptable levels, there are ways to mitigate the gas.

____ Jan 25 Set up a clutter box. This box is for those items you can't bear to part with, but haven't used for at least 6 months. Label the box with today’s date. Then on 1/25/11, if you haven't opened the box, go ahead and donate it without opening it

____ Jan 26 Sit down with pencil and paper, or at the computer and start planning your spring garden. By now the seed catalogs have likely started arriving. Just imagining how your garden will look is a good cure for the winter doldrums.

____ Jan 27 Buy a bird feeder and fill it with seed for the birds. Make sure you get a seed rich in sunflower seeds. Be sure that once you hang the feeder, you keep it filled. Your feathered friends will depend on you for that seed during the winter.

____ Jan 28 Now is a good time to start gathering your tax papers for filing your taxes. If you start now, by the time all of your statements have arrived, you'll be ready to gather everything up and take it to the accountant, or even sit at the computer and do them yourself. Think how great it will be to have them done early this year.

____ Jan 29 Are you needing an owner’s manual for an appliance? Chances are that you can find it online at the manufacturer’s web site. You only need the model number of your appliance. And, rather than printing it out and having to deal with the paper, save a copy of it to your computer.

____ Jan 30 Do you keep a box of baking soda in your fridge to absorb odors? If yes, change it out for a fresh box. Use the old box to freshen and clean your sink drain. Pour the contents of the box down the drain, followed by vinegar. The two together will bubble up and clean out your drain and freshen it at the same time.

____ Jan 31 Gather the kids, or some friends, and bake up a batch of cupcakes! Make a party of it. When they are all baked and frosted, sit down with hot chocolate and enjoy the fruits of your labors!

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by Maria Gracia - Get Organized Now! http://www.getorganizednow.com FREE Idea-Pak and E-zine filled with tips, ideas, articles and more to help you organize your home, your office and your life at the Get Organized Now! Web site!

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• Home Organizing Checklist for December 2009
• October Home Organizing Checklist 2009