It’s been a while, I know. With the internet completely down at my house, my impending move and the craziness of quarter end at work – I’ve barely had a minute to breathe, let alone get my thoughts organized on paper. This lack of organization and chaos in my life has finally reached a breaking point though – and last week I caved and bought a blackberry. It wasn’t exactly the most financially savvy move in that I bought it off of ebay for a couple hundred dollars instead of waiting for my discount to come up in December – but in my defense, both I and my sanity needed some sort of organizational device on hand.

Keep in mind that I’m not a tech savvy fanatic that can tout the internet capabilities, GPS, navigation and blue tooth functions of a phone. I’m sure if I had an iphone on hand, I could rave about it all day… but I don’t and I’m not here to debate the superiority of either product. I am here however to talk about the amazingness of having my work and personal calendar, e-mails (all 4 accounts), gchat, black berry messenger and internet all in one place. Sure – it takes some getting used to with the small keys and yeah, I had to say buh-bye to my predictive text, but I am fairly certain that what now seems to be the early stages of lust with this device – will soon blossom into a beautiful working relationship.

At first I was super nervous about making the switch since I’ve always been the girl that walks around with my day planner in my purse. A big and kinda bulky thing that ends up loaded with cross outs, white outs and lines drawn everywhere. And I’m still a bit leery of putting all my dates into my phone for fear of losing it or dropping it (as I’m notorious for doing), but I have to admit, my daily baggage (no pun intended) has become much lighter, and I can now easily find my phone while it’s floating around in my purse.

I get that I’m probably one of the last professional women out there to jump on the smartphone band wagon, but I just couldn’t help but publish a small post about how much I heart my new pink, blackberry curve 8330. It’s not the Tour, or the Touch – but it’s mine. It’s basic. And I love it. With my seemingly organized life getting severely out of hand these days – this purchase combined with a bit of focus, caffeine and mind power are just what I need to get myself out of my summertime funk and back on track with my goals!

Side note:

Feeling a little overwhelmed and disorganized yourself? Try some of the following to gain some control and put some structure back into your life:

Get a calendar/day planner/white board:Put everything on one calendar. Work commitments, family bbqs, happy hours with friends and co-workers, dates, bill payments, etc. This way you’ll have a full overview of what your day and week look like.

Clear out the clutter: Dedicate thirty minutes a day to focusing on cleaning out your closet, going through paperwork and mail, discarding expired products from underneath your bathroom sink, whatever.

Start small: Don’t try to conquer it all in one day. Make a list of all the things you’d like to get done. Focus on each one individually. Cross out each item as you complete it and keep the list somewhere visible. This way you’re reminded of your productivity each day and how far you’ve come.

Keep everything in the same place: Bills? Have a file system. Sunglasses? Store them all on the same shelf or drawer. Belts? Hang them all in one area so you can see them all when choosing one. Heck, color coordinate your closet if it makes you feel more at ease.

Check out the following sites for some more organizational tips and info:

http://www.hgtv.com/topics/organization/index.html

http://www.organizetips.com/feature.htm

http://www.lifeorganizers.com/