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Michele Dale

Expert Guru
Michele Dale is an accomplished writer and the author of more than 200 published articles and three well-known eBooks. As the mother of three and the managing partner of Dale & Sawhook, Inc. and the Writers By Design team, Michele knows what it takes to keep a household on task and organized while maintaining a crazy schedule.

In addition to her organization skills, Michele offers a wealth of knowledge in the home-business field. Her own company started in the corner of a small room and with the help of her experience and skill, it has grown into one of the leading copywriting companies in the United States. If you're looking for what it takes to be successful in home business, Michele is the person to ask.

Michele specializes in direct-response copywriting, although she does provide all forms of business writing services. While Michele is a talented writer in her own right, she is also a student of the world-renowned direct-response copywriter, Dan Kennedy, and a member of his elite Inner Circle.




5 Tips from Michele Dale

The Versatility of Home Organization Products

When it comes to the use of home organization products, it is helpful to think outside of the proverbial box. After all, you don’t always have to use a product for the purpose that it was intended for and sometimes you can think of a better use for something than the original inventor had in mind. Here are some perfect examples...

Many stores sell spice organizers that are made to fit in your kitchen drawers. While every kitchen can certainly benefit from having spices well-organized and easily accessible, you aren’t limited to using a spice organizer for spices alone. If you plan on buying a spice organizer, pick up two instead. Put one in the kitchen and one in the bathroom. This type of organizer can be used to effectively organize nail polish in a vanity drawer. Nail polish has a tendency to get misplaced and the majority of people would appreciate a great way to store it. An in-drawer spice rack can be the perfect solution.

Another kitchen item that can serve a dual purpose in a different room is the ice cube tray. You can use ice cube trays to line a shallow dresser drawer and put individual pairs of earrings in each of the compartments of the tray. This will give you plenty of space for all of your earrings and you won't be digging through an unorganized mess to find the perfect pair.

Your necklaces can also benefit from a common kitchen item. Thread your necklaces through plastic straws so they no longer become tangled with each other.

Have You Created Your Home Manual?

If your household is in complete disarray and you and your family just can't seem to hold it together, you may want to consider the creation of a home manual. Some of the most disorganized families have been able to get their households on track with this simple, easy-to-use tool.

When creating a household manual, you'll want to buy a binder and divide it into three different sections. One section will contain important phone numbers (the beauty salon, the doctor's office, the vet).

The second section of the home manual is going to list out the items in your home that no one can ever seem to find. You'll name a "home" for each item in this list and everyone must be agree to keep each item in its home.

For instance, if you're constantly losing scissors, the "home" could be the kitchen drawer and everyone would agree that they would return the scissors to their home whenever they were taken out.

The last section of the manual will be home to your family's schedule. Swimming lessons, doctor's appointments and everything else the family needs to do will be detailed in the binder's schedule section. This will ensure that everyone stays on track and that the family doesn't become over-scheduled.

While it may take a bit of time to get the manual put together and organized, the benefits you'll receive from throwing some effort into the project will be well worth it in the long run.

Making Time to Organize

If I were to ask you why your home wasn't organized, what answer would you give me? If I had to guess, I'd say it would have something to do with not having enough time. The sad fact is that most of us don't have the time we'd like to in order to keep our homes in order. Fortunately, finding time doesn't have to be like searching for a needle in a million haystacks. It's just a matter of being creative about it.

If you're like most people, you watch at least one or two television shows each week. If you do, what do you do when the commercials come on? Unless you're a TIVO fanatic and you fast-forward away from the commercials like they're contaminated with the plague, you probably waste at least twenty minutes each and every week on the marketing ploys of television advertising.

Instead of sitting through the commercials that come on during your favorite show, get up off the couch and do some quick organizing while the commercials are running. Then when the show comes back on, go ahead and sit down and relax. You'll have earned it.

Your Home Office Filling System Doesn't Have to Be Unsightly

The other day I went to the house of a person who was starting their own home business. We were discussing marketing and advertising opportunities they should take advantage of and the gentleman showed me into his home office, which was actually his living room. The first thing I noticed was the big and unsightly old metal filing cabinet sitting right next to his couch.

Whether you're starting a home business or you've been around the block before, there's one thing you need to understand when it comes to home office filing systems -- what works in a corporate office may not necessarily work in your home. While big and bulky metal filing cabinets may be just fine in the back room of an accounting department, they have no place in your living space. There are dozens of attractive filing systems on the market nowadays and you'd be better off with decorative expandable files or filing cabinets that double as coffee tables and end tables. Remember, just because you're building a business in your home it doesn't mean you should have to sacrifice the beauty of your living environment.

Hiring a Professional Home Organizer

If you're having difficulty getting your home organized, you're not alone. Thousands of people feel as though their drowning in a sea of daily responsibilities, and home organization isn't always top on the list of priorities. If your home is in desperate need of organization and you just don't have the time to do it yourself, you might want to consider the services of a professional home organizer.

The services of professional organizers can priceless to individuals who are having difficulty getting their homes or apartments organized. If you have tried unsuccessfully to make a place for everything and to put everything in its place, a professional may be just what the doctor ordered. The best part is, you don't have to pay an arm and a leg. Some home organizers are willing to work for right around $10 an hour, and once your home is organized it's much easier to keep it up yourself.