Do this NOW to get ready for the holidays

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do this now in October for holiday organizing

 

It’s October and we are starting to see twinkling lights on holiday trees.  It’s tempting to wait for the day after Thanksgiving. There’s a big list ahead of you. Capitalize on the time by getting ready in small ways for the holiday.  Stretch your preparation time forward into October.  Do this NOW to get ready for the holidays.

 

Write out your holiday lists.

Start with a budget, gift list, a card list and activity lists.  A budget is a guideline for what your expenses will be this holiday. It’s your way of keeping financially responsible when it’s easy to go off track.  Your gift list includes all those you will be exchanging with or thanking with a gift. This can include teachers, hostesses, hair person and others.  Your holiday card list needs tweaking with updated addresses.  An activity list adds meaning to your holidays.  Know that happens when and create a holiday calendar to share with your family.  You can keep these lists in a holiday notebook.  These are  your guide posts for the season ahead.

 

Take your holiday card photos and choose a holiday card

Holiday cards are a joy to receive. Your family photo is a special way to share what’s happened this year. Now is the time to take the photo. It’s great weather to be outside for the background.  It’s the first step for this holiday project.  Check online for possible cards. There’s an array of choices and it’s the next step to decide on your card too.  Get this mini project checked off and ready to go.

 

Shop holiday craft bazaars

This month is filled with the joy of holiday crafts and goodies. Use this time to check out local vendors to support local crafts people.  There’s treats for parties and hostess gifts.  There are theme gifts special for the holidays.  Holiday craft bazaars also get you in the holiday spirit. You can find a list of local holiday markets online.

 

Check out local resources

Maybe this year you want to have a local restaurant make the Christmas Eve lasagna.  Maybe this year you want to have a cleaning service come in and deep clean the week before you have company.  Think about what help would make a difference for you this holiday.  It’s a gift you give yourself to be able to enjoy the holiday fully.  Now is the time to gather resources and referrals for extra help.

 

Make a plan

Whether it’s logging onto 101 Days To Christmas or simply sitting with your calendar, now’s the time to make a plan for the holidays ahead.  Each holiday season we vow to be more organized and more productive with our time.  October is the time to talk to your family about simple holiday traditions, about what’s special to them and then prioritize these activities.  Add dates to your calendar, purchase tickets for the Nutcracker, and decide when you will pull out the decorations.  A plan, a list and a calendar keep us in control during the holiday season.

 

What are you doing NOW to get ready for the holidays?

 

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How to use the 80/20 rule at home and work

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80/20 rule

 

Have you heard of the 80/20 rule?  It’s also known as the Pareto principle.  The concept is that  roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. It’s seen as a short cut to being more focused, more organized and more productive. Here’s some statistics that show the 80/20 rule.

  • At home, we wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time.
  • At work, 80% of a company’s profits come from 20% of its customers
  • When you volunteer, 20% of the volunteers do 80% of the effort.
  • What’s the benefit you can find in the Pareto Principle?

Pare down 80% of your clothes.

Our closets are jammed and we have nothing to wear.  It’s time to  use the hanger trick where you turn your hangers around of the clothes you wear. It’s a study in what you truly wear.  Once you see this, you are ready to let go of your unworn clothes.

Spend 80% of your time on the most important 20%.

Prioritize the most important projects for work and home. It might seem like everything is equally important, however it’s not possible.  Drill down what’s your most important and schedule work for this at your high energy times.  Scheduling your work both at home and at your job ensures success.

 

File and scan documents using the 80/20.

Have you created files and never went back to these?  Where can you find the information, when you need it, most easily?  Know what to keep and keep what you need.  You might be keeping 80% more than you need so pare down ruthlessly.

 

Rethink 80% of your activities and find the 20% you are committed to

We are busy! We find ourselves in many different groups, joining more than one Bunco group or book club.  We are taking our kids to many activities.  It’s time to rethink 80% of your activities.  You will find that you are less stressed. You will enjoy your activities more because you have fewer.

 

You will find that the 80/20 rule will be one of your most referenced math equations once you see how it applies to your life.

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Live the Life You Imagined

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Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined.

 

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.

 

This quote by Henry David Thoreau may be the start of something amazing for you!  Have you thought of how your stuff may be holding you back?  Have you thought about how with less you can start a project of your dreams? Could you be a more mindful and present person? Perhaps you may have a dream to pursue and letting go of you stuff can help you live the life you imagined.

 

How much do we need to live a life we have imagined?

A corporate person moves to a new city to start her dream job.  In her move, she decided her dream jobs might not be long term and more in a sequence, so she may have to move frequently as she climbs the corporate ladder.  Because of this, it’s important for her to have less to take from city to city.  She lets go of her possessions to be more nimble.  Her work takes most of her waking hours so she will not be home to enjoy her space.  As she envisions where her new assignments might take her, she wants to be less burdened by stuff to carry along with her.

 

A client marries and blends her belongings with her new partner. She lived a single life for quite a while and  has been filling her closet with shoes and clothes.  Letting go of her stuff makes the transition smoother.  It is not about her stuff vs. his stuff.  It is about living a life together in a small space but with great love and respect.  Their lives will be about their connection, not their stuff.

 

A friend begins a mission trip that she has imagined for many years. She begins her preparations to move 6 months before her trip began.  She whittles away  at her furniture, clothing, books and papers. She moves most of her information to online resources.  In the end, she  has 3 larges suitcases for her 2 year stay.  She begins to live the life she imagined by her bravery and commitment.

 

It’s hard to imagine how important and compelling these journeys  are.  These dreams require letting go.  It’s deep and meaningful commitments to what you can imagine.

 

How do we start?

Your dreams are waiting for you.  Start with your dream and the simplest first step.  It’s possible to achieve your dream with a plan.  Start with letting go of what’s easy and move to what’s more difficult.  In paring down not only do we decide what’s essential, we also find what’s most vital.  We can find out what’s the one most important thing for us to use or take with us on our journey.  I would love to hear more from you on your journey to live the life you imagined.

 

Start here with organizing tips and tricks in my monthly newsletter! Sign up here!

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Leadership: Talk Less, Smile More

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talk less smile more leadership

 

 

As a devoted Hamilton (the Broadway show) fan, one of my favorite quotes is “Talk less, smile more.”  In the play, Aaron Burr is sharing his leadership philosophy with Alexander Hamilton.  It refers to a national leader’s philosophy, but the leadership concept of “talk less, smile more” can apply to all of us as leaders.

 

Talk less

Listening is an essential part of leadership. It’s how we gather information, build trust and create a team effort. When we are listening, we are showing how we appreciate the knowledge of the speaker.  Listening and leaning in indicates that you are building rapport and trust with the speaker.  Your listening empowers the speaker to share more information.  In talking less, we are open to more.  It requires that we hold back our own agenda and our own words to learn from others.

 

Smile more

A smile typically is an invitation to a connection.  As a leader,  your smile is cultivating connections.  Your smile is the bridge.  The warmth and invitation of a smile indicates you are open.  Even in the most stressful of leadership challenges, a smile and humor can lighten the situation and create solutions.  A smile can lead to increased positivity about any situation.

 

How to get started smiling more?  Create a new awareness of smiling. Place something that sparks joy (of course a reference to Konmari) on your desk. Like all new habits, it’s worth linking your smiling to an existing habit too.  Perhaps you already smile and have noticed how powerful this is in your relationships and leadership.

 

 

Link here to listen on YouTube to Talk Less, Smile More

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My Organizing Obsession: Timers

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organizing obsession timer

 

 

It may not surprise you about my obsession with timers.  A timer is a vital tool for time management. It’s a monitoring device as well as an accountability tool.  There are so many uses for a picket timer.  A slim, digital, easy to set timer can help you in a myriad of ways. Timers comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. Keep it simple with an easy to use timer that fits in a pocket.

 

timer

At home

  • Reminder to check the washer or dryer.  You may be in another part of the house and need an auditory reminder to move your clothes to the next step.
  • Reminder to turn off the the sprinkler.  You’re inside and the sprinkler is outside.  A timer helps you water the whole lawn.
  • Reminder to get ready for bed. You may need a reminder so you are in bed on time.
  • Set your timer for 10 minutes of daily distribution of items to put away with your family. Together you pick up the house and everything is back in order.
  • Set your timer for 10 minutes of paper management. Everyone can do 10 minutes of paper sorting.

 

At work

  • Reminder to make a phone call at a certain time. You won’t want to miss an important call to a client.
  • Count down to a meeting. You get busy and distracted and need a reminder of when to stop to in order to be on time for a meeting.
  • Pomodoro method working in 20 – 45 minute increments. You work for a specific amount of time on an important project and take a 5 minute break.  Do this for 3 sessions and see how much you have accomplished.
  • Stay focused for your power hour.
  • Schedule cage for a task.  A timer gives you boundaries to start and finish a task. These boundaries are just like a physical boundary, or cage, to help you stay on task.

 

For your student

  • Reminder to start homework.  Once your student is at home, set a timer to count down until homework time starts.
  • Beat the clock to finish homework.  Does homework drag on?  Help your student focus and work hard with a set time to finish.  A timer can also help your student break big homework assignments into manageable pieces.
  • Reminder to pick up and place the backpack by the landing strip.  Get everything ready for the next day with a timer.  Just 5 minutes and everything is ready to go.

 

I’d love to learn what you use your timer for!  What uses have you found for a timer?

 

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Fall Fresh Start

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fall fresh start more people organize in the fall than the new year

 

Fall has started and we are ready for a fresh start too.  With the routines of back to school, vacations complete and holidays approaching, we look forward to a fresh start.  It just feels right to get back into routines. According to Scientific American, Fall is a “temporal landmark” or date that sets our fresh start feelings into motion.   More of us get organized in the Fall than the New Year.  Take off with that Fall Fresh Start feeling with these tips for freshening up spaces at home and at work.

 

Fall Fresh Start for your Closet

Still looking in your closet and seeing nothing to wear? It’s time for a Fall Fresh Start.  Take a good look at what has not been worn in the last year and be brutal.  Let go of clothes that you would not wear today. If you would not wear it today, despite the weather, you’re probably not going to wear it at all.   Not sure if you can be brutal alone?  Invite a friend or family member in there with you and get their honest opinion of what to keep.

 

Fall Fresh Start for your Kitchen

You’re back in the lunch cycle and dinners at home need to be easy.  Holidays are coming and that requires more time cooking. Get a Fall Fresh Start in your kitchen by clearing out the pantry. Take items out, check expiration dates and organize this area like a grocery store.  You will see what you have extra items, know what’s ready to go for lunch and dinner, and be ready for holiday preparations.

Fall Fresh Start for Your Papers

Take 15 minutes at a time to review papers at home and at work.  There are papers you have set aside and now are ready to shred or recycle.  Each fall more papers have come in as activities gear  up from our own special interests and our kids’ back to school.  Your Fall Fresh Start for papers includes eliminating paper, making fresh categories, and getting back into good routines for administrative work.

 

At home, set aside an hour to create files, eliminate files and do a little tax preparation.  It’s a good time to really dig deep into your files and be sure you are only keeping what you need. It’s time to actually do some filing!

 

At work, check on not only your files but also your command center. It’s the spot where your projects and resources are easily accessible.  If its become stagnant and filled with completed projects, renovate it with what’s current.

 

Fall Fresh Start for your Desk

If your desk has become cluttered with everything including the kitchen sink, a Fall Fresh Start is what you need to boost your productivity.   Clear the surface of paper and stuff.  Keep out on your desk top only the tools you need and return items to where they belong.  Remember to use a list rather than an item as a reminder. Gather up your sticky notes and place them in a resource notebook rather than posted on your computer screen.

Fall Fresh Start for your Digital Documents

Digital documents can be harder to find than paper documents. Our digital disorder takes time and creates frustration.  A Fall Fresh Start is what’s needed to easily access data and add productivity.  Look at your files and check out what you need.  Add general, broad files to house documents.  Remove or archive documents for completed projects. Move items from your desktop or from emails to your digital files.   It’s a bit tedious but makes finding documents and spreadsheets much easier.

 

How to get started on your Fall Fresh Start?  It’s adding dates for your work to your calendar and working in a team.  Your date is your commitment to work.  Your team will make the work easier and more fun.  I hope  you will share your Fall Fresh Start work here too!

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Project Management Tools for Home and Work

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project management

 

So many projects, so little time! A project is an “individual or collaborative effort that is planned with a specific aim.” Project management is the “discipline of planning and executing the work of a team to complete a goal.”

 

As Walt Disney said, “Of all the things I’ve done, the most vital is coordinating the talents of those who work for us and pointing them towards a certain goal.”

 

At home and work projects are everywhere. It all depends on your view of a project.  At home it can be an organizing project like garage organizing, a holiday project like Christmas or Hanukah, or a family event like a family reunion.  At work a project can be starting an email newsletter, marketing your product or service or doing your taxes.  If your end result takes more than 3 steps to accomplish, it’s a project.  While there are many free tools to use, these easy to use tools make it easy for you to work on and track your project.

 

Post it notes

We all love post it notes. It’s a great way to keep track of individual tasks for a project. Write each step on a separate note.  Post the notes in a time line with dates for daily or weekly accomplishments.  It’s fun to crumple them as you complete a task.

 

Trello

Trello is the digital equivalent of index cards. Set up your tasks and your timeline to accomplish your project. Capture ideas, track your progress and assign tasks to maximize your success.

Dropbox

Dropbox is a cloud based document system. You install Dropbox on you and your collaborators devices and you can share.   What’s best about Dropbox is accessibility and portability. Whether it’s a document, spreadsheet or presentation, you can work together or alone and share your work.

 

Google apps

Many of us use gmail for our connections. Google offers a host of products to work together. Use Google calendar to drive dates for your project. Use Google docs for your collaborative documents and spreadsheets.  Work on the same document at the same time and see changes in real-time together.

 

Accessible tools make it easy to track and complete your project.  Take a few minutes to set up your tools to maximize their effectiveness and then get to work.

 

Check out this tech list for other tools for home and work.

 

 

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3 Essential Filing Tips for Home and Work

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3 essential filing tips for home and work

 

According to the Economist the average American uses the paper equivalent of almost six 40-foot (12-metre) trees a year.  That’s a lot of paper!  While we would ideally have less paper in our home and office, frankly we need to find great strategies to create filing solutions and more efficient strategies to find what we need.  Check out these basic filing techniques and tips.

 

#1  Know what to keep and how long to keep it

In the tsunami of paper that comes in your space, knowing what to keep is the crucial first step.  It’s easy to be overwhelmed so look to a resource to help you.  Every situation is a little different so start with your lawyer and accountant. They know your home and business details.

 

A detailed list of what to keep and how long is critical.  My favorite resource is Oprah.com ABCs of Important Papers.  Julie Morgenstern has a list that includes details about your home and work. For finances, I rely on Real Simple 5 Steps to Simpler Record Keeping.  This document focuses on your financial documents.  Between these two resources I find that your record retention is up to date.

 

While much of this information can be found online, it’s up to you to decide if you want a paper statement too.  In some circumstances you can save a PDF of the online document to your personal Dropbox account or on your computer. Be sure you are always backing up if you decide to keep your documents electronically.

#2 Separate your documents by how long you will keep them

Divide your filing into two categories: reference and archive.  Reference refers to document with information you refer to regularly.  These are documents that are up to a year old.  Archive refers to documents you must keep for the duration.  By categorizing your files, it’s much easier to keep up to date and much simpler to know what information is kept in what area.

 

Set an annual file organizing time.  It’s when you move files from reference to archive. This keeps your files updated and uncluttered.  There’s nothing worse than a paper cut from overcrowded files! It also reminds you what you have in your files.

#3 Keep your filing simple

The simpler your filing the more you file.  There are a few options for filing systems, depending on your style.

  • The 1 box method takes only a little time and effort.  Have a box in your space to drop in papers throughout the year.  Label the box 20XX and you are all set. You can go through the box as needed to find papers.
  • Notebooks make paper storage more accessible and visual.  You can assign one category of files per notebook.  It’s also an attractive way to store paper.
  • File drawers with hanging files are the traditional organizing method. Use your label maker to create tabs for the files. You can see what the titles are and drop in  your papers.
  • File bins can used for archive documents and can be stored in the top of a closet or attic.
  • Keep a basket for “to be filed” papers.

 

General, consistent categories make it easier and simpler to file.

  • Traditional Home Categories: Financial, personal, home and auto
  • Traditional Business categories: Financial, clients, vendors, administrative
  • Traditional set up for file cabinet is a hanging files for category and an inner file folder for more specific details.  (Financial drawer or notebook -> Hanging files Banking -> Bank of America and Compass Bank file folders)

 

Your file system is ready to go! Now it’s time to establish a weekly administrative time.  Each week go through papers and place those that needed to be filed in your “to be filed” basket.  Once a month or every other month do your filing. Make filing “fun” with a music set or while watching your favorite show.  Filing is like laundry, there’s always some to do!

 

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An ADHD Parent’s Guide to Paper

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adhd parent paper

Have you wondered how you can manage all the paper that comes into your home or office?  It’s coming in at a rate faster than you can process.  Parents have often said, “why do the teachers send so much home!” As an ADHD parent, it’s especially hard to pare down all the school work, information and extra-curricular paper work that comes in. Here’s some ways you can manage paper.

Keep less, trash more

Give yourself permission to trash, shred or recycle as much paper as possible.  Keeping as little paper as possible gives you more options to find information on the school website or online.  Find the information you need and bookmark these sites.  If possible, use the “add to calendar” feature to automatically add dates and information.  In addition, drag emails onto dates in the calendar feature of Outlook.  Create folders in Dropbox and Evernote and access these online tools instead of keeping paper.

 

Create a collection point

Create one spot for a collection point for all the papers. It may seem overwhelming when you see these all together, but this keeps paper from being in every room.  It also keeps important information from getting lost.  A good start is a simple basket.  Cull through this weekly to know which papers are in the basket and which you can toss.

 

For kids’ school art and special work, keep one basket per child.  Drop items in every day and set aside a time weekly to go over what’s in the basket. There are lots of ways to treasure what’s precious and eliminate the rest.

 

Automate other papers

You may already be paying bills online. But there are more options to automate.  You can add a utilities only credit card and pay a lump sum of utilities once a month. You can auto debit your utilities. You can have an online account for your medical explanation of benefits.  The more you automate any paper, the better.  It’s good to remember that most any paper that comes in your house by mail, will come again in 2 weeks!

 

Paper, just like laundry and your kid’s messy lunchbox, will be rough going all the time.  It’s a matter of being as decisive and routine as possible, both of which are not an ADHD parent strong suit.  However with practice, just like all other routines, paper management improves.

 

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Minimalism, Essentialism and Simplicity

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minimalism, essentialism and simplicity

 

Have you heard the buzz about minimalism?  The concept started just after World War II and has exploded in the 21st century.  Minimalism is paring down to a minimum and living with less. It’s no surprise that according to a 2011 study, 90% of Americans admit that unorganized clutter at home or at work has a negative impact on their life. There are major benefits to living with less.  However, there is more to this concept.  Maybe you are not about living with the least you can, but about living with what’s essential or living simply.   While you are creating a new awareness of how much you really need, you can align with decluttering and organizing cultural concepts. There are several ways to create a less encumbered lifestyle and these choices might be minimalism, essentialism or simplicity.

 

Minimalism

Do you embrace a life where experiences are key and stuff bogs you down?  Are you a person who owns less for the sake of owning less?  When there is too much around you, do you feel anxious?  You may be a minimalist at heart.

Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus , well known as The Minimalists, are bloggers who focus on the minimalist lifestyle.  Their personal experiences about owning too much shape their writing.  Their writing includes information about stuff, finances, debt and more.

 

Essentialism

Do you embrace a life where your essential needs are met and the stuff you own is only what is essential?  Perhaps you purchase and keep only the essential items required for your daily living. You might keep only your essential items on the kitchen counter to use daily. You may be part of the essentialism movement.

 

Greg Mckeon, author of Essentialism shares his perspective about time and space.  It’s the pursuit of ‘the right thing, in the right way, at the right time’.   In applying criteria and prioritizing, we can choose what we want and what we want to do with regard to our core values.

 

Simplicity

Do you want to make life simpler?  Are you okay with a few basic items out but keep what’s used less frequently in the cabinet? Are you feeling overwhelmed by too many meaningless activities that you used to love? You may just want to simplify your space and time.

 

My core belief and what we share at  Professional-Organizer.com is to “keep it simple sweetie.”  Our lives are enhanced by making decisions with simple choices.  We are often drawn to complexity in our work and home so by stepping back and choosing simplicity, we can find happiness and balance.

 

It’s small distinctions that set apart minimalism, essentialism and simplicity.  This granular evaluation of living the life you want can help you keep away from clutter and over-commitment.   Your commitment to the lifestyle of your choice depends on where you are on the minimalism continuum.

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