Hey, did you know that January is Get Organized Month, otherwise known as GO Month? That’s right, my friends, it’s time to make good on some of those resolutions, especially the one about regaining order in your home, office, or car. Organizers are not the only ones on this bandwagon.

This morning I read Top Way to Waste Money on AOL’s Money & Finance page. AOL polled their readers (3rd year in a row) to find out what they thought were some top money wasters. The responses ranged from buying pet clothing and swimsuits to renting movies. I’m not sure I can get on board with letting it all hang out at the beach, but I totally agreed with what this AOL user had to say:

Duplicate Spending Due to Disorganization

AOL User waterboils Says: “[The biggest waste of money is] whenever I buy something, only to find out in a few days or weeks that I already had whatever it was I just bought. My complete failure to have any real organization system in my life is so bad, I don’t even know half of the stuff I have. I recently gathered all the audio/video cables from the 20 different places I stored them and realized I own enough of them to open a Radio Shack.”

Does that sound like you? Doesn’t it sound better to be organized AND save a few bucks while you’re at it? Well, now’s your chance to start off 2009 on the right foot. Jump on board with Get Organized Month. It’ll set the tone for the rest of your soon to be more organized year. Just keep one thing in mind, well, two actually: (1) choose one or two priorities for the year and (2) tackle them a little bit at a time.

So, what’s your organizing goal for 2009? Leave a comment to let me know.

Oh, one more thing, NAPO-WDCis doing their part for GO Month, too. Several chapter members have volunteered to help organize the offices of 40 Plus of Greater Washington, a non-profit that offers peer support and training to those who are unemployed and want to re-enter the workforce.

So, what will this mean for 40 Plus? They will be more efficient, improve their systems, and have easy to find and organized supplies. If they are more organized, then their efforts to help others will be that much greater.

Here a few NAPO-WDC members at a recent open house at the Container Store. Aren’t we a lovely bunch? Can you find me in the picture? If you do, there might be a prize in it for you!