Too Hot to Garden...

What do you do when it is too hot to garden...play sports...walk the dog...paint the house? My favorite chore when it gets really, really hot outside is to stay inside and organize. Yes you read that correctly...organize! Crank up the air conditioner, listen to your favorite tunes (TV is too distracting) and dump the contents of the junk drawer onto the floor. Go through your closets and pull out and pack up everything you haven't worn in the past two years. Goodwill, the Salvation Army or your local church bazaar will thank you for your donations. You can even get a tax deduction! Buy some colorful boxes and labels at your local office supply shop and organize your recipes, your photos, your tax returns (yuck) or your kid's artwork.

A lot of people like to do their organizing right after the new year and that is a great idea. But it is now six months later and I bet the junk drawer is once again overflowing with miscellaneous "stuff" and the mail basket is stuffed with bank statements, insurance policies, appliance warranties and instruction manuals.

Getting organized is all the rage right now and there are a lot of books with great advice on how to get started. Here are a few suggested titles:

• "Organizing From the Inside Out: the Foolproof System for Organizing Your Home, Your Office, and Your Life" by Julie Morgenstern 640 MOR

• "Good Things for Organizing" Martha Stewart Living 648.8 GOO

• "When Organizing Isn't Enough: Shed Your Stuff, Change Your Life" by Julie Morgenstern 648 MOR

• "Organizing & Preserving Your Heirloom Documents" by Katherine S Sturdevant 929.1 STU

• "Getting Organized in the Google Era" by Douglas C Merrill 650.1 MER

Have fun!