Your Most Organized Year Ever

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Most Organized Year Ever

Each year as we start the new year, we think of ways to make a change and improve our lives.  Did you know that organizing is one of the top three goals each year?  Throughout the month of January, I will be offering 31 tips to help you have Your Most Organized Year Ever.  Implement just one of these tips, tools, techniques or tweaks this year. 

Families have a lot going on! There are dates for school, dates for church and dates for volunteering.  It’s too much to keep in our heads.  How do we track all this information?

 

Your family calendar creates communication, coordination and cohesiveness.    It’s one place you see all the information together.  Your family works as a team to be sure you are arriving on time as well as prioritizing which activities you are attending.  It gives everyone a starting point to communicate about priorities.

 

Is it wise to keep two calendars, your own and your family calendar?  Coordination is required.  For the parents, it’s important to have all the dates in one place. For the kids, it’s important for them to track and see their own responsibilities.  This redundancy can help remind everyone about upcoming activities and be sure your schedule runs smoothly.  Make this Your Most Organized Year Ever with your family calendar.

 

More ideas on family communication stations here!

 

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Your Most Organized Year Ever

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Your Most Organized Year Ever

 

 

Each year as we start the new year, we think of ways to make a change and improve our lives.  Did you know that organizing is one of the top three goals each year?  Throughout the month of January, I will be offering 31 tips to help you have Your Most Organized Year Ever.  Implement just one of these tips, tools, techniques or tweaks this year. 

So many papers! So many dates! So much to coordinate!

 

Your family meeting is the key to cooperation, communication and organization.  Each week host your meeting to share what’s coming up this week, gather information on what’s needed and coordinate schedules.  Everyone should bring their own planner to fill in.  There should be a family calendar to complete too. Display that in the kitchen where everyone sees it.  Your family calendar can be a google calendar printed out or a big month at a glance paper calendar.  It’s in seeing your monthly events that everyone stays on track.

 

There are three tricks to success for your meeting. Set your meeting at a time that is good for your family.  Keep it short so everyone stays on track.  End it with fun activity. That can include making ice cream sundaes, going on a bike ride, or watching a family movie.  Make this Your Most Organized Year Ever with your family meeting.

 

Check out more family manager ideas here on Pinterest.

 

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Your Most Organized Year Ever

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your most organized year ever

Each year as we start the new year, we think of ways to make a change and improve our lives.  Did you know that organizing is one of the top three goals each year?  Throughout the month of January, I will be offering 31 tips to help you have Your Most Organized Year Ever.  Implement just one of these tips, tools, techniques or tweaks this year. 

 

Everyone in your family may have a different idea of how to do a job at home.  You think laundry is complete when all the clothes are put away. Your family thinks the laundry is done when everything is out of the dryer.  You think the kitchen cleanup is done when all the crumbs have been swept up. Your family thinks the kitchen is clean when all the dishes are removed to the sink.

 

Having standards for organizing helps everyone.  It keeps communication positive. It eliminates frustration.  Everyone is on the same page and working toward the same goals.

 

Not all chores require setting standards, but it’s easy to know which ones will.

 

Be sure to assign chores too.  When everyone knows their responsibilities and it is tracked on a chart, chores are more likely to be completed reliably.  Switch things up regularly so everyone can have a chance to do chores they hate and chores they hate less.

 

Make this Your Most Organized Year Ever with family standards.

 

Check out more ideas for family managing on my pinterest board.

 

Your Most Organized Year Ever

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Most Organized Year Ever

 

Each year as we start the new year, we think of ways to make a change and improve our lives.  Did you know that organizing is one of the top three goals each year?  Throughout the month of January, I will be offering 31 tips to help you have Your Most Organized Year Ever.  Implement just one of these tips, tools, techniques or tweaks this year. 

 

It’s hard to put away clothes when the drawers and closet are jammed full.

 

It’s hard to be organized when you have no extra space for craft supplies or games.

 

It’s hard to be organized when there is just too much stuff!

 

Help your kids be organized by setting aside two times a year to declutter.  These two times must coincide with your child’s birthday and the holidays (especially if these are both in December.)  When you work together on organizing, you are teaching a skill that needs practice.  You are creating a baseline and setting limits.  It’s getting a fresh start for organizing.   Make this Your Most Organized Year Ever with your kids.

 

Check out all the tips for Your Most Organized Year Ever on pinterest.

 

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Your Most Organized Year Ever

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Your Most Organized Year Ever

Each year as we start the new year, we think of ways to make a change and improve our lives.  Did you know that organizing is one of the top three goals each year?  Throughout the month of January, I will be offering 31 tips to help you have Your Most Organized Year Ever.  Implement just one of these tips, tools, techniques or tweaks this year. 

 

Do you have the same “conversation” with your kids about organizing their rooms each week?

 

A peek in your kids rooms shows clothes on the floor and trash everywhere?

 

Your kids may be overwhelmed and confused by your asking them to organize their room. They may not know where to start or what’s most important.  Organizing is a skill that requires prioritizing and decision making.  Just like in school or sports, organizing skills take practice and repetition for success.  Help your kids learn these skills by helping decide on what is a treasure.  Keep these items in a box, drawer or bin.  Acknowledging the treasures first puts organizing decision making in a new perspective.  By coaching your kids through their organizing you are connecting with them too. Make this Your Most Organized Year Ever by helping your kids distinguish trash and treasures.

 

Need ideas to organize your kids’ rooms?  Look here! 

 

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Your Most Organized Year Ever

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Your Most Organized Year Ever

Each year as we start the new year, we think of ways to make a change and improve our lives.  Did you know that organizing is one of the top three goals each year?  Throughout the month of January, I will be offering 31 tips to help you have Your Most Organized Year Ever.  Implement just one of these tips, tools, techniques or tweaks this year.

 

Are your files jammed with papers?

 

Did you create an amazing filing system and never go back to retrieve anything?

 

Are you bogged down with too much filing?

 

Most of us simply want a spot to put a paper in case we need it.  As a result, we have a lot of folders with only a few papers and we put off filing.  Simple filing systems help you file.  Simple systems include broad categories,  like home and auto, personal,and financial. A simple system for monthly bills can include a box that all paid bills are placed in.  A simple system for monthly bills can be January, February,  etc. where you file all the bills by the month paid.  A simple archive filing system includes your taxes and home purchases in an additional file drawer.

 

Not sure what to keep and for how long? Here are two resources.

Real Simple 5 Steps to Simpler Record Keeping

Oprah.com ABCs of Important Papers

 

 

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Your Most Organized Year Ever

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Your Most Organized Year Ever

Each year as we start the new year, we think of ways to make a change and improve our lives.  Did you know that organizing is one of the top three goals each year?  Throughout the month of January, I will be offering 31 tips to help you have Your Most Organized Year Ever.  Implement just one of these tips, tools, techniques or tweaks this year. 

 

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by paper.

 

Incoming mail and papers clutter your counters, your bedroom and your car.

 

Your papers have important information and bills to pay mixed in with coupons, credit card offers and advertisements.

 

Get started on conquering paper clutter by trashing and triaging daily.  Triage your papers daily.  That means go through and recycle or shred papers that are not needed each day. What’s left are tasks to act on, bills to pay, papers to file and what is really important.  By triaging and trashing each day, you are ready to act.  Make this Your Most Organized Year Ever by working with your papers every day.

 

A visual array of ideas for working with your papers on Paper, Paper Everywhere Pinterest Board.

 

 

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Your Most Organized Year Ever

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Your Most Organized Year Yet

Each year as we start the new year, we think of ways to make a change and improve our lives.  Did you know that organizing is one of the top three goals each year?  Throughout the month of January, I will be offering 31 tips to help you have Your Most Organized Year Ever.  Implement just one of these tips, tools, techniques or tweaks this year. 

 

Lots of stuff out all the time?

 

Is the cleaning lady coming and you have to pick up?

 

All surfaces in your home and office filled with clutter?

 

Your organizing systems are in place and you are ready to take the next step to stay organized.  There’s an easy remedy to maintain your organization. It’s to distribute daily.  It’s taking five minutes a day to get items back to their homes.  Push through your fatigue at the end of the day and get your clothes put away, your papers into the command center and write your list for the next day.  Put away purchases the day you bring them home or to the office.  Make it Your Most Organized Year Ever with daily distribution.

 

Feeling challenged to get started?  Check out these Home Sweet Organized Home ideas on pinterest.

 

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How to Be More Organized in the New Year

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Each new year we reflect on the last year and want a fresh start.  About a third of us want to be more organized this year.  There are lots of skills to learn to be more organized.    It takes more than just organizing skills and decluttering to be more organized. It takes new perspectives.  These perspectives are to be intentional, be mindful, be consistent and be less hurried.

 

Be intentional

Each purchase you make, each item you bring into your home, and each project you put into motion must be intentional. Be sure your actions align with your intentions this year. If your intention is to be more organized, few items should cross your threshold without a specific purpose in  your life.  By being intentional this new  year you will find less paper, stuff and mind clutter.

 

Be mindful

Keep alert to what derails you this year.  As you are proceeding on with new and existing projects, stay in the moment of that project.  It’s easy to start but hard to complete or follow through.  Those projects include both home and work projects. Distractions of all sorts take you off track. Give yourself the opportunity to be more organized this year by being mindful.

 

 Be consistent

It’s hard to do the same whatever over and over again. But that’s what makes for steady progress and lasting maintenance.  You can have the most organized files, home, or office, but it’s the maintenance that makes for ongoing organization.  Consistency comes from having a routine to accomplish your tasks.  It is having a structure in your week that gives you a time to get organized and stay organized.

 

Be less hurried

Time is the most important part of organization. When we are hurried, everything falls apart. We rush in and out of our homes and offices, leaving no time to organize our stuff, let alone put it where it belongs. When we pace ourselves well, we can leave ourselves time to organize our papers before a meeting, put away our purchases where they belong and get ready for the next day.  Whether it’s with meditation, prayer or through physicality, set in motion ways to help yourself to be less hurried this year.  The impact on your organizing will be rewarding.

 

 

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Your Most Organized Year Ever

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Your Most Organized Year Ever

Each year as we start the new year, we think of ways to make a change and improve our lives.  Did you know that organizing is one of the top three goals each year?  Throughout the month of January, I will be offering 31 tips to help you have Your Most Organized Year Ever.  Implement just one of these tips, tools, techniques or tweaks this year. 

 

Not enough storage in your home or office?

 

Wondering how to take better advantage of organizing any space in your home or office?

 

If you see wall space or height in a space, it’s time to use the stratosphere to organize.  Go vertical. Check out if you can add a five shelf book case or add an armoire to use the space more effectively.  Add an adjustable shelf to your attic or garage to add space.  Add racks on kitchen shelves and under your bathroom cabinets.  In office storage, add adjustable shelving for office supplies.  Add command hooks to walls to take advantage of flat surfaces. Make this your Most Organized Year Ever by using vertical space for storage.

 

Love organizing quotes and inspiration? Check out more here on Pinterest.

 

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