Organizing Tips for College Freshman

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organizing your college freshman

 

It’s almost that time to set your college freshman off! It is a bit scary, a bit exciting and a bit overwhelming for you and for them.   It takes time to get ready for freshman year, so now is the time to get started.  Here are a few tips for organizing your college freshman.

  • Your child will be sharing a space that is a little bigger than their bathroom at home with a new roommate.  Remember to connect with your new roommate as soon as possible to determine who is bringing what for their room.  Most kids want their own laptops and ipads, but refrigerators and microwaves are easily shared.  College essentials also include a shower caddy and laundry basket.   as well as sewing kit, some medicines and quarters.  The Container Store check list can be a big help too!  http://images.containerstore.com/medialibrary/pdf/tips/CollegeChecklist2012.pdf
  • Your time is your own in college and being productive throughout the week is important.  Use a grid from a week at a glance calendar and fill in your classes, then your study time, then your other responsiblities like laundry, meals and activities.  This way you can see what your week will look like and where you will have time to get everything complete. Choose a great planner to transfer this plan and to keep assignments and syllabus.   For each assignment, be sure to write everything in the same calendar.  You will see where assignments from different classes overlap.  Being organized is more than organizing your stuff, it is also organizing your time.  Need a time grid to practice on? Just email me and I will send you one!
  • Organizing your papers in college means stepping up your filing system. Purchase a small box file to keep important documents like college forms, rental agreements, and more.  For your academic papers, you can continue with a binder or switch to colored folders, one for each class.  Take a few minutes each week to review what is in each folder and being sure that papers are kept in the right spot.
  • Keep all your contacts in your phone.  Contacts include email, phone numbers and even addresses.  Having these all in one spot makes it each to stay connected.  Add these right away when you get information so you don’t need slips of paper.
  • Give yourself the gift of order each week. Spend a few minutes looking ahead in your calendar, getting papers back together, and planning on the next steps.  You will be so glad you did!

Do you have ideas to share with new college freshman?

Tackle A Tiny Area: Laundry Room

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Small steps lead to big accomplishments! Tackling a tiny area can make a difference in your home or office. This summer we are taking a tour of these projects and creating a plan for you. This project is the laundry room.

Laundry is an important process in our homes and for ourselves and our family. Having a well stocked, efficient space makes it easy to get this job done. 

Set your timer for one hour.  Eliminate trash first, then recycle plastic containers.  Pull out the items that are unused and donate these.  With the items that remain, group these together by categories, such as lightbulbs, cleaning, glue and tape,  pets, and laundry.  Decide if items truly belong in the garage and distribute these at the end of your hour.

Even a laundry room can be a place of beauty! Uniform, attractive containers make the difference.  Label the containers to help you and your family maintain order. Think about painting the walls a color you love too!

Laundry stuck in this room forever? Invite your family to the “laundry party” and purchase one laundry basket per person.  This way you can distribute laundry to each person’s room effortlessly, with each person putting away their own laundry.  If laundry is leaving and not getting put away in  your kid’s room, have them watch a movie, fold and put on hangers, and then set a timer for 5 minutes to put it away.  Give your family a deadline and a date to get this done every week. 

What ways are you tackling your laundry area?

Summer Routines start NOW!

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summer routines

 

 

 

Here is it, the first week of summer vacation.  Its time to start a new routine for you and your family, transitioning to ways your family can make the most of summer.  Summer routines start now!

  • Have a family meeting where you talk about what summer means to each family member.  Talk about how you can be a team this summer and about each person’s growth.  It can be working together on a family project or fun activities. For individuals, it can be becoming a better reader, building more confidence with math (for parents this is balancing your checkbook), taking on a new challenging sport (I see moms who are becoming triathaletes), or just deciding you are going to have more family time together.
  • Write up a checklist for your kids to accomplish each day, including chores and their chosen challenge.  Decide on a completion time for the checklist, so without controversy and conversation it is done.
  • Establish a bedtime for parents and kids this summer, including curfews for older kids.

Starting your summer routine also requires commitment. If these routines do not go as planned, press the “reset button” and start again the next day.

What routines are you starting this summer?

Join me for summer fun!

Favorite Products for Organizing Papers

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My favorite organizing products are often the most simple ones to get your paper organized.

I love creating a Command tCenter with a desktop organizer.  This clear lucite organizer works well in a small space for your papers. You can choose whatever colored hanging files to insert and use your label maker to create labels, such as Action, Pay, File, Receipts, and other categories of paper that you use frequently.

If you are very, very visual, here is a product that can help you categorize your papers and keep these where you see them all the time. And when company is coming over, you can close up your work and keep it confidential.  Again, use a label maker to categorize your slots. Otherwise, it will all be miscellaneous!

Loving the product you use for organizing your papers makes all the difference!

Get Organized with Microsoft Outlook

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Join me at the Houston Galleria Microsoft Store for Get Organized with Microsoft Outlook!

Overwhelmed by email? Can’t find a contact when you need it? Not sure of meeting dates for work or family activities? We will be sharing tips and tricks to get all of this together in one place, easy to access and making communication easy!

Some tips, tricks and techniques we will be sharing:

  • Setting up your view in Outlook
  • Using Quicksteps to file easily
  • Using categorizing and color coding to prioritize
  • How to make the most of the Task Bar
  • Setting up your calendar to be your most productive
  • System  integration with your slate, phone, and laptop

Microsoft Galleria Store

May 19 at 2pm

Bring your laptop, slate or windows phone and play along with us.  Happy organizing!

5 Small Starts to Organizing

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getting started organizing with 5 small spots

 

 

I am often asked where to start organizing in a home or office. It just takes starting in a small spot. Here are 5 you can start in to feel successful and motivated.

  • Car glove box! You can easily clean out receipts, old insurance papers and other odds and ends.
  • Silverware drawer! It gets a little crazy sometimes getting utensils back in the right slot. Take a few minutes to sort and clean out.
  • Sock drawer! There are just too many socks sometimes. Match up the socks, and toss the rest. Be brutal!
  • Top drawer of your desk! We just slip papers in there, just too easily.  Spend a few minutes tossing what is old, unused or broken in there, decide what really belongs in this space, distribute the rest, and then you are more productive than ever.
  • Email inbox and processed folder. You don’t have to keep all the emails in your inbox.  Add a subfolder called “processed,” “read,” or whatever you what to name it, for the emails you have read and want to keep.  Keeping your inbox just for incoming mail will be more effective and efficient.

What small stuff do you do to get organized?

Need an organizing boost? Get my newsletter monthly!

 

Doing the Spring Fling

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spring organizing

 

Spring officially begins on March 21. It’s been a rainy and cold winter and we are ready for a sunny and warm spring. Doing the Spring Fling helps us by eliminating the unnecessary, deciding on what is most important and keeping only the best. It’s time to get started on decluttering your home and office.

 

Spring fever

Get motivated and focused first by having the end in sight. Find ideas on www.houzz.com. Tap into your inner organizer by defining 3 key words that will describe your newly organized spot, such as nurturing, simplified, inviting, or friendly. Key words for your work space might be efficient, effective or productive.  Know what you want your organized space to be and to feel like.

 

Spring time team

Gather your team to get going. At home your team can be a supportive friend, your children or your spouse. At the office it can be your colleagues, assistant or boss. It is more fun and energizing to work with partners. Set specific dates and deadlines for your organizing. Break the work into smaller units to work effectively and get this job done.  Working alongside others make organizing easier.

 

Not sure what to “fling?”

• Would you wear it today if it fit?
• You purchased a new one and it’s time to “fling” the old one.
• Your kids have outgrown it or don’t play with it.
• Post it notes about tasks that have been completed or phone numbers you don’t need.
• Rough drafts, emails you printed or interim prints of reports.
• Work for 15 minutes on your desk top or choose 15 items to “fling”.

Spring training

Add in great routines to keep your space maintained. Have a nightly family reset time or take just 5 minutes each evening to get items back to where they are stored. Take 5 minutes at the end of the day to recycle papers or notes. Plan a general reorganization each spring and fall, just to keep your home and office efficient, orderly and attractive.
Spring is just around the corner and you will be ready to enjoy your decluttered home or work space. Get started now with your Spring Fling.

 

Spring into Spring Fling with my pinterest board.

 

Need ideas for springing forward? Join my newsletter.

 

When it’s hard staying organized…

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staying organized

 

There are certain times each year when our best organizing efforts get out of control. It is when there are just too many things to do at the same time.  It is when we are about to host a party, but there is clutter on the counter.  It is holiday time and instead of time to get your house in order, you need to purchase holiday gifts.  It is when we need to drive someone in our car, but the paper is everywhere in there and we need to stash it.  There are times the wheels come off the wagon! Is this preventable?  Staying organized can take many different actions.

Keeping your home, car or office in order and preventing the wheels coming off the wagon can happen!

  • Spend 15 minutes together as a family every day getting things back to where they belong in  your home or office.
  • Take 5 minutes every day to go through the mail.
  • Write preparation time in your calendar. Plan 2 weeks out from a party, with one week just to prepare your home and one week to prepare for the party.
  • Start decluttering months before a move.
  • Just do it! If it takes under 3 minutes to get any job done, any stuff put away, or any note to write, just do it.
  • Take a few minutes for rest and get in bed early.
  • Say no to just one extra activity, commitment or work project.
  • Get help and delegate. If you can’t do it all, get a great helper to do what they can.

Next time the wheels come off the wagon for you, look back and learn where it all started.

 

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Clocks and Time management

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clocks and time management

 

For some people, time management is a natural rhythm of the day. For some people, there is no awareness of time, time passing, arriving or leaving on time.  The greatest asset for time awareness is a clock! Placing clocks in various spots in your home or office can make a difference.  Having an analog clock in view helps you keep track of time and be more productive.  Clocks and time management are like peanut butter and jelly.

  • Analog clocks give you a better perspective of time passing.  The face of the clock, markings for each 5 minute period, and the “feel” of how long a task takes come together with an analog clock.
  • Place analog clocks in many different places in your home and office.
  • At a minimum, have a clock in your bathroom, in your kitchen and in your bedroom at home.
  • It seems redundant to have a clock by your computer, but often we lose time perspective during our work. Have a clock where you can see it without getting up from your chair.
  • Set your clocks all at the same time.  Many people want to have 15 “extra” minutes as a measure to prevent tardiness.  If so, set all of your clocks with the extra minutes.
  • Setting alarms on your phone helps you if you rely on auditory cues.  Set the alarm 5 minutes early so you can be sure you are ready to go even after it goes off.

What places and spaces do you needs clocks in your home?

Twelve Organizing Tips, Tricks and Tools

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I am often asked for “my” organizing ideas, including tips, tricks and tools.  Here are the top 12 for me! 

1.  Always shop with a list.

2. Know where an item will be located in your home, before you purchase it.

3.  Set up specific spots for specific items, such as only clothes in your master closet or only paper in your office.

4. Commit to tasks and responsibilities only after checking your calendar.

5. Anything that is really going to happen, has to be listed on a date on your calendar.

6. Go through your paper for 5 minutes every day. Spend one hour once a week paying bills and working on admin tasks.

7. Know what papers to keep, and how long to keep them. Ask your accountant or lawyer for your personal dates and details.

8.  Always keep a list of tasks, not matter how small the task or how short the list. 

9. Use versatile organizing products in many different places, such as the back of the door shoe holder used in the craft room for crafts, toy room for matchbox cars, or back door for bug spray.

10.  Find organizing products that you love, that match the decor of the space they will be used, and that have ways to separate and categorize your items. 

11.  Any big project is best done in baby steps, one hour at a time. 

12.  Keep it simple sweetie! The simpler, the better!