As a trained and experienced Utah organizer (professional organizer) I know that organizing saves busy people just like you valuable time and money. My name is Vicki Winterton. I work with clients located in the Salt Lake and Utah Valley areas. In this Utah organizer blog I share a wide variety of organizing tips for organizing YOUR home, time, family, workplace and life.

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• My name – Vicki Winterton
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• A link to my website  - www.organize-utah.com

I’m Utah organizer, Vicki Winterton. Enjoy your time browsing my posts and pages. Please, come back often.

One of my favorite holiday traditions is hosting a game night for my extended family. This night includes those that live locally and those that come to town for the holidays. Typically we have 30 attend.

I just watched a TV segment produced by Stephanie Bryson of Studio 5 titled Best Family Games 2011. (Stephanie produced a few of the segments in which I was invited to be the organizing expert.) Stephanie included some fun games in the segment. Her criteria for the games she chose to highlight:

• Easy to learn
• Wide age appeal
• Quick to play

Of those listed, my personal favorites are:

1. Joe Name It – Great for large group gatherings. Directions say ages 12 up will enjoy. Really fun! Can be purchased for $10 at www.amazon.com)
2. Jungle Speed – Teenagers love the fast paced action. Directions say ages 8 up will enjoy. Can be purchased for $20 at target.

Both are fast paced and easy for large group play. A perfect fit for your family game night or a night spent with friends. Let the games begin…

Today I read a report in the local edition of Sunday’s paper. It came from the Parade insert. It contained many ways to pass along good will through actions to those soldiers who have served or are currently serving. Choose one of their suggestions and show your gratitude to the brave men and women who have served in our behalf :

1. Donate equipment or help construct a home for our severely injured veterans. Info at www.homesforourtroops.org
2. Free transportation for our disabled veterans. Info at www.dav.org/volunteers
3. Mentor children of those serving through Big Brothers and Big Sisters. Info at www.bbbs.org
4. Share 1 hour of your time with a returned veteran. Listen, laugh and smile with them.
5. Send a personalized parcel through this organization. Info at www.soldierpackages.org
6. Contribute to a holiday package that will mailed to active service persons. Info at www.operationgratitude.com/volunteer
7. Save your expired coupons. Military families can use them for up to 6 months beyond the expiration date. www.coupsfortroops.com
8. Donate used DVD’s to your local VA facility. Info at www.dvds4vets.org
9. Ship your old but working cell phones to www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com For each donated this group will pay for one hour of talk time for troops oversees.
10. Request a field kit to record a war veterans war stories. Info at www.loc.gov/vets
11. Take in the pet of a deployed soldier or wounded veteran. Visit www.guardianangelsforsoldierspet.org

Organize your time so you too can lend a hand to one of our 23 million veterans OR those still serving.

Just a quick reminder about the Global Women’s Summit in LA this upcoming weekend, October 28 & 29, 2011. If you live in the LA area, this is a great opportunity to expand yourself and mingle with other women excited to strengthen women worldwide. We hope you’re coming! To view the details, click on this link:   http://youtu.be/FQV_3H7IFeo

This inspiring 2-day event features over twenty-five speakers including Marianne Williamson, Dr. Paula Fellingham (CEO of The Womens Information Network which hosts my podcast, The Organized Woman Show).

Women from many countries will convene to

• learn how to live their very best lives
• take their businesses/messages global
• participate in the global initiatives unveiled there
• connect with other women heart-to-heart
• share ideas and learn ways to support one another
• share ideas for improving the quality of life and
  status of women.

Admission: $87 for both days (includes lunch) or $67 for one day (includes lunch)

To register: www.GlobalWomensSummits.com

WHERE: Renaissance Airport Hotel, Los Angeles     9620 Airport Boulevard     Los Angeles, CA 90045

Clean out your medicine cabinet this Saturday in Utah Valley.

Bring: Unused or expired prescription AND over the counter medications

Do NOT Bring: syringes or other sharps tools

More Information on where to drop off your unused or expired prescriptions within Utah.

Listen to my podcast show titled Clean out the Medicine Cabinet for more useful information.

   Personal productivity has a broader meaning than “just” time management. However, managing the time spent on specific projects is an important component of personal productivity. There are many pieces to the puzzle including: mental control, decision making, delegation, process management, etc. That said, personal productivity is all about getting more done with the same time and resources.

As a professional organizer / efficiency trainer I help my clients, both business and residential, get more done with the same time and resources.

I help them better organize their :

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At ORGANIZING Mind over Matter we believe that business productivity and office efficiency is essential for business growth. I am Vicki Winterton, a business productivity consultant and efficiency coach. I was recently invited to speak to a local Chamber of Commerce group. I shared with those in attendance a few of my  business client’s success stories in becoming more efficient and productive in their business environment. I promised meeting attendees some valuable downloads and office efficiency tips. Those helps are located below, but before you take a look ask yourself these 4 important questions:

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Does increasing personal efficiency really help with office productivity?  YES it does!

What good does this do?  It saves you BOTH time and money!

It is possible to find extra time in your day simply by re-organizing the way you approach the tasks that fall within your responsibility.  Take a look at each of the following areas of your work life and see where you can make improvements which will allow you to put more time into the things you really need to focus in on:

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This is a collection of productivity tools I’ve either become familiar with or developed myself since I began my business in 2006. You’ll find that they address a number of different needs. Pick the one that seems to best fit your needs and give it a try for a couple of weeks. Who knows, you may find just what you have been looking for:
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   My Get Organized ACT+SPARK formula is once again so helpful. A month ago I did a little Analyzing and decided to bottle salsa with my home grown celebrity and sun sugar tomatoes picked from my backyard garden. The salsa recipe came from my sister, Kristi. She collected it from a Minnesota friend of hers. It really is the MOST delicious salsa I have tasted. Kristi shared onions and peppers from her garden so all I had to purchase was a can of green chilies and a few other pepper types.
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This post will allow you to rethink HOW you will handle the organization and dispersal of the items necessary for kids lunches in your home. I recently presented a “Organize your Home Spaces” workshop. One of the class attendees, Brea Mefford of Highland UT, a sweet young mother of 6 (VERY IMPRESSIVE!) was motivated to fine-tune the system she used for kids lunches in her home. I asked her to email me the photos and information so you too can consider using the kids lunch system she has set in place. I found it to be very creative. Here are Brea’s suggestions:

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