Following My Own Organizing Advice - Getting My House in Order

  
Yesterday, my husband and I spent the holiday organizing our tax information. It was not too taxing (haha), as my husband had kept up with the filing of receipts. Aren’t I blessed?
 
It was a logical time to sort through our fire-proof safe and condense our important papers, too, as we usually keep our current year’s tax info in the safe. We also have a file for each of us which holds our birth certificates, degrees, Social Security cards, passports, and other information we would not want to lose.

We have a file of important documents for each of our children and for each set of parents. Another file holds our will and marriage license. And I have a file for important documents relating to my business – trademarks, licenses, certificates, etc.

We also copied pertinent credit cards, insurance cards, driver’s licenses, and other cards in our wallets. We each lined our cards on our copier and copied front and back, and placed those copies in each of our files. So now, if our wallets get lost or stolen, we have a copy of each card. A good time to declutter that wallet, too, and get rid of outdated cards.

Even though we had organized our important documents before, we found some items that could be removed, and some that had been removed, used, and needed to be returned. It was helpful just to look over what we had and know where it was.

So if we need to evacuate quickly, we can scoop up those files and know we have the most important information in our hands. We’ve also given our children the code to our safe in the event they need to get to our important data.

Next on my list: putting my password list in my file.

Can your family members find your important information easily? Would you be able to evacuate quickly if necessary? If not, take a little time to consolidate your important documents. It gives such peace of mind!

More on important documents:
Getting Your Affairs in Order
National Preparedness Month – Emergency Kit #8 – Emergency Documents
Get Your House in Order – A Great Wintertime Project

Get Your House in Order - A Great Wintertime Project

This is a sobering yet motivating story I read in the Washington Post by Michelle Singletary about having our lives in order should a tragedy strike. A great wintertime project! 

"Over the past several months, I’ve dealt with a lot of death. 

My youngest brother died in April. My father-in-law died in October, and a friend’s grandmother passed away in November. 

The day after Thanksgiving, a close friend who was more like my sister died in an automobile accident. 

I’d like to share with you what I’ve realized from all this tragedy: Get your house in order. 

 I’m not suggesting that you live in fear of death, but I am asking you to do what my 54-year-old friend, Juanita Ann Waller, did for the people who loved her. She left her personal affairs and her apartment in an awesomely organized manner. 

 I know you’ve heard this advice from me before. I’ve stressed over the years how important it is to have an estate plan. But Juanita’s death has touched me like few others. She was always thinking of her family and friends, and what she left behind is testimony to her thoughtfulness. 

Yes, she had a will, life insurance and the necessary paperwork to take care of her estate. But there was a higher level of organization in her affairs than I’ve ever seen. 

Juanita had a place for everything. She catalogued what was in her file cabinet. She had a composition notebook that detailed what was in each cabinet drawer. As a result, when our mutual friends packed up her belongings, we didn’t have to look through her private papers to be able to label the boxes. 

She kept binders of her awards and accolades, including a letter to her signed by President Obama, protected behind sheets of plastic. She had sent Obama an e-mail saying that she was praying for him, and the White House responded. 

There wasn’t a single junk drawer in her apartment. There were no stacks of papers on her desk threatening to unleash an avalanche of craziness on the floor. Nor did she have bags of papers stuffed in corners or in her closets. 

She didn’t even have a trash can because there wasn’t much waste to throw away. Her closets weren’t overstuffed. Her pantry and refrigerator weren’t overstocked with food that would take months to eat or go to waste. There wasn’t a single item in any room that we could tell went unused for very long. 

My friend could have been the spokeswoman for the simplicity movement, which strives to get people to reduce their consumption and material possessions. Her place was so tidy and uncluttered that I wept. It made me ashamed of my personal living space, my cluttered office and my hoarding of things that long ago should have been tossed or donated. 

 Over the years, I’ve promised myself to get organized. But whenever I clean my office, it’s cluttered again a few weeks later with piles of papers sitting in stacks on the floor. 

Just think about this: If you were to die, how long would it take for people to go through your stuff? How many hours would they have to take off from their jobs to find and organize your personal property? Could they find your will? Where would they look for any instructions on your estate? Have you written down in a secure place the passwords to your computer or phone so friends and family can contact people if you pass away? 

 I wouldn’t characterize Juanita as obsessive with her orderliness. She never lorded it over anyone or criticized us for our clutter. 

 No, Juanita was organized for a purpose. She never wanted to cause confusion. Clutter can contribute to a sense of unease because you can’t easily put your hands on the things you need or the things others might need on your behalf. Every year, Juanita would purge her place of unneeded items, another friend recalled. 

Juanita kept copious notes in her day planner and in notebooks, to remind herself and others, especially me, of things we needed to take care of. This practice gave comfort to her family members who could see their special events or moments documented over the years. No loose paper or sticky notes for her. 

As we were boxing up Juanita’s possessions, we all felt embarrassed, mortified. We, in our abundance, saw a woman who kept only what she needed, knowing it was more than enough. 

We all pledged to spend some time organizing and getting rid of stuff as a remembrance of Juanita, who gave an abundance of hugs. We promised her that we’d get our houses in order." 

More on getting life in order:  
Getting Your Affairs in Order
Choosing Emergency Contacts
National Preparedness Month - Emergency Kit #8 - Emergency Documents

Entry Closet Door Organizer

Here's another great organizing idea from Redbook: "Keep the basics you reach for as you head out — keys, umbrella, a dog leash — in a clear over-the-door shoe rack. Or think of it as a more-organized junk drawer, where you can stash batteries, rubber bands, or flashlights." Hidden inside your entry closet, it's a fantastic idea!

If you enter and exit through your garage, tack this to your garage wall or hang over your door.

More entry organizing ideas:
How to Avoid a Clutter Explosion When You Walk in the Door
Organizing Your Mud Room
Four Inspiring Ideas for Organizing Your Entry

50 Ways to Plan Something Special for Vaentine's Day without Spending a Lot

   
If you are into Valentine’s Day, here are 50 ways to celebrate. Sheryl Kurland at Everlasting Matrimony wrote “50 Cheap Valentine’s Day Gifts For Your Sweetheart (Without Looking Cheap)”, and I thought I’d pass it along this post from the past, when Valentine’s Day was on Saturday (see #5 below). This is not necessarily an endorsement of all 50!

Valentine’s Day doesn’t just have to be for sweethearts – you can try out some of these ideas on your friends, kids, or other family members.

“If you’re like most couples, you’re watching your pennies this year and looking for ways to romance your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day without breaking the bank. The following list will help:

1. Create an indoor picnic with available props, i.e., picnic tablecloth, paper goods. Share finger foods and favorite treats along with a glass of wine. Spice up “dessert.” Enjoy your picnic on the living room floor or in bed. Play card games, board games, or make up your own.

2. Decorate a unique-looking jar or box with craft items. Write numerous love notes on small pieces of paper and fill the jar with them. Present the jar to your sweetheart.

3. There are many local and national Valentine’s Day giveaway contests with great prizes. Enter as many as you can and maybe you’ll get lucky.

4. For young couples with kids, get them involved in an all-family fun Valentine’s Day dinner at home. Mom can prepare a dessert for two and light the candles while dad puts the kids to bed.

5. Since Valentine’s Day is on a Saturday, celebrate with a day full of low-cost activities you both enjoy doing (depending upon your location and weather). Do something with your significant other that he/she rarely has time to do, but loves.

6. Take a 2-hour, one-time salsa or tango dancing lesson together. Or, identify some other interest you share and find a place to give you one-time extended lesson on Valentine’s Day.

7. Gals…Make the entire day full of his favorites: the breakfast of his dreams, the dinner of his dreams, TV that is his favorite, his music, etc. Don’t say anything about it, surprise him all day long.

8. Take the person you love to experience something spectacular in nature: a sunset, a sunrise, the calm of the beach, share an evening walk gazing at the moon.

9. Create a framed group of photos that put your relationship in chronological order of events, by months or years (depending on how long you’ve been together).

10. Create a CD with songs that make you think of your sweetheart, and give it to him/her.

11. Choose specialty foods, such as wine, cheese, fresh bread/dessert from a favorite bakery. Enjoy in front of your warm, toasty fireplace.

12. Create an at-home spa day for your mate. Deliver the gift in a basket filled with inexpensive candles, bubble bath, rose petals, facial mask and scrub. Then give your mate time to enjoy it. When he/she is done, heat up towels in the dryer for drying off.

13. Give each other long-lingering back rubs or head-to-toe body massages. Invest in luxurious lotion or oils.

14. Create a favorite drink together. Try all kinds of ingredients. Enjoy taste-testing. Be sure to record the ingredients, so you can make the “your” drink again on Valentine’s Day year after year.

15. Watch an old movie at home together, with popcorn and soft drinks and candy – movie-theater style.

16. Share a scrumptious dessert and latté at a local patisserie or bakery.

17. Pick a few household chores your Valentine usually does and surprise them by doing it before they get a chance, i.e., making the bed. It doesn’t sound romantic, but the thought will most certainly count.

18. Walk around a favorite part of town, stopping at a nice locale for a glass of wine and appetizers.

19. On Valentine’s Day, place three pair of sexy undies on your bed and let your mate pick out which one you should wear. It’s your secret!

20. Write a “Top 10 Reasons Why I Love You” list.

21. Since Valentine’s Day is on Saturday, if you’re a member of a wholesale club (like Sam’s or Costco) have fun eating all the free samples! Then fill in any empty holes left in your stomach by going out to lunch. (That way you won’t spend a lot of money at a restaurant!)

22. What’s a new activity you’ve both wanted to try that’s low cost? Do it. Or, how can you creatively modify it to make it low cost? Do it.

23. Leave a note on your mate’s pillow expressing how special you think he/she is. Place a couple of mints on the pillow, too (or a single rose)…all to be discovered at bedtime.

24. Guys…If you want to cook dinner, remember, she doesn’t care what you make. There are many easy recipes on food web sites that look like you spent hours in the kitchen. Be imaginative and set the table special. Play romantic music softly while you dine. Leave the clean-up until morning!

25. Guys or Gals…When you make that special dinner…Just like when you go to a fancy event and a “dinner menu” is put on each plate describing each food item, do something similar. For example, on your menu, write “Spaghetti & Meatballs, made with passion to be with YOU.” Don’t forget to give your “event” or “restaurant” a name at the top of the menu.

26. Make a simple dinner at home, then go out dancing or to listen to live music at a jazz club.

27. Buy two champagne flutes for use on Valentine’s Day only to annually toast your love. Keep them in a visible location as a year-round reminder of how special you are to each other.

28. Play a sport together that you haven’t played in awhile, or that you rarely get a chance to enjoy. Before you start, determine what the “winner” gets (making it something to do with caring, loving, etc.).

29. Leave a “racy” picture on your mate’s cell phone. Text a romantic message at a time of day when you know things get hectic.

30. Present your Valentine IOU coupons: I will make dinner; I will do the laundry; I will take care of the kids one day a month for the next year; I will clean the kitchen for a week; I will serve you breakfast in bed.

31. Together, go “shopping” at a sex-toy store without spending any money. It’ll give you ideas and get you “in the mood.”

32. The tough economy has lured many upscale restaurants to have high-end early-bird specials. Find out what’s available in your area.

33. Some volunteer fire departments use holiday fauna to create flower and rose bouquets as a fund-raiser. Prices are reasonable; just get there early.

34. If she loves chocolate…Take her on a chocolates tour. Find your hometown chocolate purveyor and ask for a behind-the-scenes tour. Next, go to a restaurant that serves her favorite chocolate dessert. Return home to snuggle with a cup of hot chocolate.

35. Use a bar of soap to draft a love note on your bathroom mirror. Or, if you shower first, write a love note to your sweetheart in the steam on the mirror.

36. Write “I love you because….” notes and insert them into balloons. Blow up the balloons, and spread the balloons throughout your bedroom for your Valentine to pop and capture each message.

37. Many drug stores with photo departments offer a variety of Valentine’s Day specials to make gifts from photographs. Use a good picture of the two of you together.

38. Make homemade chocolate-covered strawberries: 1) Melt a package of chocolate chips in a double boiler and add a small amount of oil; 2) Remove from heat and quickly dip the strawberries into the chocolate; 3) Place on wax paper and refrigerate for several hours until chocolate is firm.

39. Guys…If you want to order flowers for your gal, supermarket florists are generally half the price of the stand-alone or on-line stores, but the trick to for seeing real savings is to order two weeks or more in advance and pay for the flowers up front………..Another trick to save money, get other guys who want to order flowers to join you and place your orders to the same florist all at once. The florist may give you a “bulk” discount. Again, important to plan ahead.

40. Plan a scavenger hunt. Write clues and place them in envelopes, and place the envelopes around town. Make the final clue a doozey of a destination.

41. Get a small radio and take your partner dancing at a romantic hideaway, such as the woods or riverfront or ocean.

42. Use fabric paint to decorate a Valentine’s Day pillowcase for your loved one. Check arts-and-crafts web sites for other easy-to-make gifts.

43. What did you do on your very first date? Repeat it.

44. Create a year-long calendar with photos of just the two of you above (top page) each month. Office supply stores will insert the spiral/binding for you.

45. Have a progressive dinner. If you’re single, appetizers at his place. Entrée at her place. The middle course, dessert, after-dinner cordials…map it out a few days ahead. If you’re married, one course at home, one course at her office, his office, etc. Use your imagination to set locations!

46. Write new “updated” wedding vows, both serious and humorous, and share them with each other over a glass of wine in a candlelit room.

47. In the morning, tuck a love note in his pocket or her pocketbook or other certain-to-be-found spot. Jot down some meaningful words on a piece of paper – “Can’t wait to wrap my arms around you tonight!”; “What’s for ‘dessert’?”; “You make me happy every day!” – and tuck it in a conspicuous location to be easily discovered during the day.

48. Have a 15-minute kissing session and try some new ways and places to kiss. The same old smoocheroo can get boring. Use your imagination…and perhaps a little whipped cream, chocolate syrup, etc.

49. If you don’t have a special sweetheart, focus on bringing a smile or laughter to everyone you come in contact with on Valentine’s Day.

50. What are your mate’s quirks and habits that irk you? Don’t nag about any of them the entire day. Then try to extend the no-nagging effort to every day of the year. Remember, you’re never going to change the other person.”

Labeling Storage with Digital Pictures

Even though you've labeled your storage boxes, do you have trouble finding specific items? For example, if you only use part of your Christmas decorations each year and want to use a different combination each year, you may find yourself unpacking and repacking until you find what you want. Or, do you have trouble finding those items you use only once or twice a year?

Take labeling a step further! Take digital pictures of what is inside each box. If you have several levels in a box such as Christmas ornaments, take a picture of each level.

You can either tape the pictures to the side of the box or lay them in the top of the box. You can also store them in a file, labeling each picture with the corresponding box number. Or save the pictures on your computer with the box number noted for each.

Now you can locate exactly what you want without having to rummage through several boxes!

(BTW - I noticed my Walmart still has red and green clear plastic storage boxes on sale for a great price.)

More on labeling storage:
Color-Coding Your Storage
Storage and Moving Boxes - Thinking Outside the Box
Organizing, Purging, and Storing Christmas Decorations

5 Reasons to Declutter Before You List Your Home for Sale

Are you thinking about selling your house this spring? Start now to declutter so you're ready to list when the time comes. Why? Here are some reasons from RealtyPin.

"If you think you can go through and get rid of all that clutter when it comes time to pack up and move out of your home, think again.  Before you list your home for sale, you've got to make de-cluttering a priority.

Here's why:

1.  You need to show off your home's natural beauty

Your house has its own character, personality, and beautiful features.  If you want to sell your home sooner rather than later, the home selling experts at Realtypin.com can help. You have to make sure that potential buyers get to see all of them.

If, for example, you've got an awesome wooden fireplace in your living room that really adds a unique character to the entire house, show it off!  But if you've got a ton of family pictures sitting on the mantle or a ton of knick-knacks around it, potential buyers are going to be distracted -- and that's the last thing you want!

2.  Clutter makes your home look smaller

If your master bedroom has random stuff shoved into every nook and cranny, it's going to create a major optical illusion.  By covering up all of that floor and wall space, you're making the room look a whole lot smaller than it really is -- and that's a big problem.

Remember, American homebuyers don't have as much money as they did a few years ago.  In fact, recent studies show that the average American has lost 40% of his net worth since the recession began.  As a result, many homebuyers are trying to do more with less.  Instead of buying that giant (expensive) house, they're looking at more affordable (smaller) options.  As a result, they want to make the most out of every single inch.

Bottom line -- you're doing your home a real disservice if you make it look smaller than it really is.  In the end, you'll wind up with a lot of people passing on it!

3.  People want to see storage space

As excited as potential buyers might be about your great backyard, your updated master bathroom, or your gourmet kitchen, they also want to know that your home offers a ton of space for all their stuff.  Prepare for them to dig around in closets, in your basement, in your garage, and in your attic.

Unfortunately, if all those places are jammed full of stuff, potential buyers may not be able to tell how much storage space your home really has to offer.  If they think there's any possibility they're going to be cramped if they move in, they're never going to buy.

4.  You may not even see it -- but potential buyers will

If you've had that pile of shoes and umbrellas sitting by your front door for the past five years, you probably don't even notice them anymore.  However, everyone who walks in to tour your house will!  Something as minor as a cluttered foyer can make a poor first impression.  And once potential buyers have even a remotely bad feeling about your home, it's tough to get them back!

5.  Clutter makes the house yours -- not theirs

Remember, your goal is to make potential buyers feel like they can call your house "home".  But if you've got clutter all over the place -- like magazines, personal trinkets, and even messy computer or TV wires -- it makes the home feel distinctly yours.  Potential buyers will feel like they're walking through your personal space, instead of envisioning themselves living there."

More on preparing your home for sale:
Three  Steps to Downsizing to a Smaller Residence
Bev Shares Downsizing Tips with "Smart Moves" Columnist Ellen James Martin
Want to Sell Your House? Get Organized Now!

5 Best Apps for Getting and Staying Organized

   
Looking for apps for increased productivity? Overwhelmed at the choices? Mark Harris has done the work for us! He offers his top picks in the areas of:
- to-do lists,
- tracking how we spend our digital time,
- syncing an Android phone with Google calendar,
- project management, and
- mind mapping ideas.

I was enlightened and hope you are, too!

"You can never be too rich, too thin or, these days, too organized. Smartphones, tablets and Web programs have improved our productivity, but there’s a tradeoff. Emails and tweets can eat up an entire day; working on the fly is a great way to lose a memo; and extreme multitasking means nothing ever gets your full attention.
But don’t despair. There’s a universe of digital apps and services out there that can help you reclaim your organizational mojo — or at least free up a few minutes here and there for a sanity-saving meditation break (or another cup of coffee).

Because so many options can be overwhelming, I’ve whittled the list down to just five that I've found to be easy to use and superior to their competitors. A good way to assess buying apps to assess what you consider your weak suit: Are you always running late? Do you have trouble following through with plans? Could you use a gentle reminder to stay focused? Need help getting everything done in the day? Then get the one(s) that promises to help you with that. But if even those doesn’t work, you may need that personal assistant after all.

1. Tackle your to-do list with Things ($50 Mac, $20 iPad, $10 iPhone)
If you haven’t heard of productivity guru David Allen's Getting Things Done (or “GTD” to its many fans), you’ve probably been too busy running around in circles. Over the past few years, this time management system has taken the business world by storm. GTD motivational books have been translated into 28 languages, and Wired magazine has called it “a cult for the info age.”

The Apple program (Things, now on version 2) is one of the great tools for actually getting things done. It breaks down even the most daunting tasks into achievable, bite-size chunks and brings list-making into the Internet era. To use the program on your phone, iPad or computer, just type in everything you need to do, whether a single chore, like clearing out a closet, or such weekly projects as taking out the recycling. You can put a time limit on when tasks need to be completed and group many individual jobs into larger projects or categories like family and work. Every day, Things presents you with a checklist so you don’t forget anything. (You can print or share this digitally.)

One of the great things about Things is that it automatically syncs lists across all of your Apple devices. You’ll appreciate this when you suddenly remember something while out and about, and you can simply tell Siri to make a note of it. The publisher of the entertainment magazine Source, James Kendall, says of Things: “I think it’s the best organizational app, and having it on my desktop and on my phone is essential. You just have to get into the habit of using it.”

2. Slash digital distractions with RescueTime (Mac/PC; free or $6/month)
You watch your calories, and you keep track of how many miles you walk or run in a week, so why not monitor how you spend your digital days? RescueTime is a program for desktop computers that records how much time you expend on everything from Excel spreadsheets to balancing your bank accounts online to watching surfboarding kittens on YouTube. Every time you switch to a new window, RescueTime resets the clock but keeps a running tally that creates a comprehensive picture of how you use your computer.

The next day, you can call up easy-to-understand tables and graphs that show exactly how you’ve used your time (and where). The program can even highlight your most productive days of the week and times. This much is free. There’s also a paid version that can keep you on-task. This cyber-watchdog can automatically block certain websites for the amount of time you specify to help you focus on things that need to get done.

You can choose how strict you want the blocking (i.e., so it will allow you to check Facebook in a "social emergency”). The theory is that over time, you will become better at resisting temptation and managing your time without the need for a digital nanny.

RealTime can’t access your private information, like passwords, and tracks only the names of applications and websites you use. If even that makes you uncomfortable, you can ask it to record just those websites you find particularly distracting.

3. Sync your Android phone and your Google calendar with CalenGoo (Android; $6)
One of the best ways to get a team or family functioning smoothly is to make sure everyone knows what everyone else is doing. Google Calendar is a great free service that lets you set up collaborative schedules where all the parties can make entries, as well as private diaries for planning your life in the weeks ahead.

Being able to connect to those calendars on the move makes arranging everything from doctor’s appointments to birthday parties a whole lot easier. This useful app puts a widget on your Android phone’s home screen to let you see what’s coming up, and alerts you via pop-up reminders, emails or text messages. You can set the phone to automatically mute during events, or to prompt you to call friends on their birthdays. There’s a pretty good Google Tasks list manager built in, too.

4. Care for your most precious business asset — time — with Freckle (Web; from $19/month)
If you find you’re spending more time managing your business than actually getting work done, check out Freckle. This Web service isn’t a substitute for an accountant or office manager, but it’s a heck of a lot better than the back of an envelope for analyzing whether or not to take on a job.

On Freckle’s user-friendly website, you enter details of how you (and/or employees) spend workdays. For example, you input which projects you’re working on and for how long. Freckle then creates time and budget breakdowns for each person and job, individual activity graphs plus an accurate summary of billable and unbillable hours.

While it sounds ideal for accountants and Web designers, Freckle is also popular with one-person home workers and family businesses. It can give you an early warning if a project is heading off-track, or highlight when you’ve scheduled 12 hours of work to fit into a 10-hour day. It can even invoice clients automatically when the assignment is done.

5. Visualize success with Mindnode (Mac $20, iPad $10)
Mind-mapping sounds like science fiction, but it’s actually a well-established method of brainstorming fresh ideas and arranging information visually. Instead of another endless vertical list, mind-mapping organizes concepts and tasks in a colorful web that looks a bit like a public transit map.

The theory is that these large, pictorial networks mirror the way our brains work, making it easier to spot connections and insert new ideas. In Mindnode, you start a mind map by writing your overall goal in the middle of a blank screen. You then add connections, make notes and split out smaller things that need to be done.

Don’t worry about running out of room on-screen for exploring the possibilities. Mindnode has a canvas that grows automatically to accommodate even the most ambitious projects, like your daughter’s wedding, and the Mac desktop version lets you embed images and documents alongside your ideas.

Mind maps are automatically shared between the Mac and the iPad apps, and it’s easy to convert them into a Word document or digital image for sharing."

More on helpful apps:
Apps to Help You  Go Paperless
Wunderkit - An iPhone App for Collaborative Projects
Time Management App for iPhone - Lucid Lists Free

Creating Routines and Systems

    

Routines and systems promote consistency, efficiency, and focus. For example, if you start each work day with a routine that includes your most important and urgent priorities, you will start the day with clarity and direction. If not, it may take a while to get down to work because you don’t know where to start.

 

When you document the steps in your routine or system, it allows you to evaluate your efficiency and fine-tune your process. This also allows you to delegate effectively because your system is repeatable and transferrable.

Routines promote peace and security, whether at work or at home. When everyone knows what to expect, it provides a sense of well-being. If activities and schedules are erratic and unpredictable, there is a higher sense of stress because of the unknown.

For example, when a child has a nightly bedtime routine, it becomes familiar and prepares him for bedtime. It is known and expected - he knows that after he takes a bath, brushes his teeth, has a story and cuddle time, it’s time to go to bed. Consistency is comforting.

You may need to create several routines or systems. I have one for those high-priority activities I do at the beginning of each day. I’ve determined which is most important to accomplish and in what order. I also have a routine for the week - certain things I do on Monday, others I do on Tuesday, etc. I transferred this list to my calendar in order to keep them in front of me.

You may have several areas where a routine or system might improve your efficiency. The following steps can help you create productive systems:

1. List areas in your work life and home life that would be enhanced by creating intentional routines or systems.
2. Write down the steps for each routine.
3. Evaluate each system for efficiency.
4. If appropriate, delegate the system.

By creating systems, your routine becomes habit, resulting in consistency, efficiency and a sense of well-being.

Do you have systems or routines that work for you? Please share!

More on systems and routines:
Three Steps to Time Management books (1-2-3...Get Organized series books and ebooks)
Schedule Daily Clean Up Times
Getting Organized for  School - A Successful Day Starts the Night Before

Kill Car Clutter

 
"Filled with games, toys, and books in the backseat, a plastic cleaning caddy turns into a portable entertainment center for little ones. Or take it over for yourself, with sunglasses, wipes, whatever. "(another idea from Redbook)


More on car clutter:
Three Areas to Swap Out This Sprping
Clutter in Your Car = Danger
Spring Cleaning the Car

Keeping Everything Organized - Family Five Minute Challenge

     
Part of getting organized is setting up sytems that allow you to maintain your organization. One that nourishes my soul is having everyone clean up what they have messed up and pick up what is theirs before going to bed. It is pretty discouraging to me to get up in the morning and be greeted by a messy living area!

A way to make it a fun event is to have a Family Five Minute Challenge. Designate a container for each family member - a basket, a bucket, a shower caddy - have fun with it! During the day your family members can deposit their stuff in their containers.

If by the time you start your evening routine for bedtime, things are still out of place, set the timer for five minutes. Each family member searches the main living areas and drops misplaced items in his/her container.

Then set the timer again, and they take their containers to their rooms and empty them. You'll need to "inspect what you expect" so the items don't end up in a pile, in the closet, or under the bed. The key is to have a home for everything. But that's another topic.

Even your toddler can participate in the Family Five Minute Challenge with a little training and/or help. Because the attention span is so short at that age, I usually did it with my girls. Of course that means I needed to have my stuff cleaned up beforehand!

When our girls were pre-school ages, we did such clean up activities three times a day. Once before lunch/nap, once before dinner, and once before bedtime. Otherwise, it was too overwhelming for them, and I started twitching with the mess. Yes, I know ... your child is supposed to put a toy away when she takes another out. But that doesn't always happen, does it?

Do the same thing for your kids' rooms: set a timer for younger children or a time limit for older ones to declutter and straighten their rooms. By setting aside time each day, it creates a system for maintenance.

For older children, make sure they put away dishes they've used in the dishwasher, too!

If clutter is out of control at your house, have a Family Five Minute Challenge several times each day to help you and and your family get to a manageable state. Designate containers for giveaways, throwaways, stowaways (toys/clothes that are too young for one child until the next child grows into them - label according to age), and/or tradeaways/sell.

Take before and after pictures, to share the sense of accomplishment. Once you get the clutter under control, do something big to celebrate and to reward everyone's hard work!!

To encourage consistent decluttering, reward the person with the least number of items collected each night. It doesn't have to be big, but positive encouragement goes a long way. So much nicer than if we are growling and grumpy!

If there comes a night when everyone's containers are empty because they have gotten into the habit of putting things away (is that a possibility!?!), celebrate by doing something special the next day.

By taking a few minutes each day, clutter doesn't pile up and become overwhelming. And home is inviting and peaceful and calming.


More on similar topics:
Clutter in Your House or Office Means Clutter in Your Mind
Schedule Daily Clean Up Times
Getting Rid of Stuff While Saving the Environment
Three Steps to Organizing Your Child's Room (book and ebook)

Get Organized Month - Update Your Christmas Card List

     
Now that you have probably received all your Christmas cards, it's a great time to update your Christmas card list. Whether you use an address book, Outlook, Yahoo, your phone, an online mailing list, or a written list, let's get started!

Compare the address of your Christmas cards with the address you have on your list. You may want to add in any personal info you want to remember about your friends and family. For those addresses that disagree with your list, change the pertinent information.

If you received Christmas cards from people not on your list, decide if you want to add them to your list.

If you are revamping your list this year, like we are, it's easier to do it with another person. One person to read the address and the other to write or type. It also serves as a way to insure accuracy if the person writing or typing repeats it back to the first person.

More on Get Organized Month:
Get Organized Month 2009 - Organizing Your Foods to Keep Fresh
Get Organized Month 2008 - Declutter Under Your Sink
Celebrate National  Get Organized Month - Half-Priced 1-2-3 ... Get Organized Print Books

Starting the New Year with Good Sleep Patterns - How Sleep Helps Keep Your Brain Organized

     
Now that the holidays are over, it feels good to get some order in life again, doesn't it? Sleep somehow gets neglected. It's easy to stay up late when we have special family activities, when we have people visiting, and doing holiday preparations.
 
Unfortunately, our bodies keep track of the sleep we've missed and we need to make up for it. Sleep and the Brain is an article that describes the importance of scheduling enough sleep. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

"Sleep is actually a very important function of and for the brain. We need to generate enough sleep to feel rested, to have energy, to assist with mood, and to even help us think more clearly.

Sleep is divided into four stages. Deep sleep or stage IV sleep is critical to brain function. With advanced age we generate less deep IV sleep and it is probably not a coincidence that our cognitive abilities change as well.

Rapid Eye Movement (REM) is the part of sleep when we dream and we are actually paralyzed. REM occupies about 25% of our sleep and is critical for encoding information to a deeper level. Our brain processes millions of bits of information daily and during REM it is thought the brain selects those bits of information that are most critical.

Debate on how much sleep is necessary continues, but it is probably safe to say that young children need at least 8 hours of sleep a day while adults should get more than 6. Certainly, these numbers are not fixed and there are cases where some do fine with only a few hours while others do not. The bottom line is that our brains need sleep, deep sleep, and REM to function efficiently."

More on sleep:
Getting Organized for School (and life!) - Getting Enough Sleep
Insuring Peak Performance: Sleep 101
Sleep is Non-negotiable!
 

Organizing Dinner in 2013

After the holidays, it feels good to put some structure back into your life, doesn't it? An aspect of that is putting a quick, tasty, balanced meal on the table every night. I feel strongly that providing a good meal for my family is part of creating an atmosphere for their success.

These days, it is even more motivating to plan dinner with food becoming more expensive. I recently read an article on ways to fight rising food costs, which suggested:

- eat at home
- plan your menus before shopping
- shop infrequently
- don't buy prepared food.

With a little planning, you can prepare delicious and nutritious meals at home for a fraction of the cost of eating out. When you consider four combo meals at a fast food restaurant comes out to at least $20, you could buy steak or fish, real vegetables and fruit for less than that for a family of four. It takes a few more minutes, but you don't feel guilty afterwards!

If you are at a loss as to what to plan for dinner or if you're bored with what you've been cooking, I have an answer for you: Hassle Free Dinners. I spent a couple of years creating this information, with a year's worth of seven dinner menus per week. Each weekly menu contains color-coded instructions for each day of the week and a weekly shopping list.

Recipes show amounts for two, four, and six servings so you don't have to do the math. Nutritional information and cost per serving is listed for most recipes. And no entree is repeated during the entire year.

Each week includes 1-2 chicken, 1-2 beef, 1-2 pork, and 1-2 fish recipes, with one meatless meal. Each meal includes protein, carbs, and something red and something green - fruit and/or veggies. Menus are listed according to months, and use seasonal produce for that time of year. Don't worry - no liver or Brussel sprouts!

This system allows you to shop once a week, saving bunches of time and money. I read the other day about a woman who plans her meals on the way home from work, keeps recipes in her car, and stops at the store each night on the way home. Even if she spends only 20 minutes each time she shops, that's 100 minutes for five days. I can usually do my weekly shopping in an hour or less when I have a plan.

Hassle Free Dinners is for people who don't mind cooking, but don't like to plan or are out of ideas. It's a marriage of dinnertime and professional organization, streamlining the time you need to spend in the kitchen in order to put a decent meal on the table.

More on planning dinner:
Hassle Free Dinners
Three Steps to Planning Dinner
Piggy-Back Dinners

A Unique Idea for Storing Folded Clothes

    
Another idea from Redbook: "For tidy drawers, try arranging folded piles of clothes horizontally, filling each drawer from front to back. This way you can see everything, including that favorite college T-shirt you thought you lost five years ago." 

Isn't this clever? I love it! 

It would work well for storing fabrics, too!

More on drawer storage:  

No Cost Organizing: Drawer Dividers  

Organizing Drawers  

What's Hiding in Your Underwear Drawer?

Managing Paper, Part 2

 
This is the second part of my series on Managing Paper. Part 1 addressed dealing with mail, how to reduce unwanted mail, and what documents to keep. Today we'll talk about all those school papers/artwork and filing.

Children’s Artwork and School Papers

School papers and artwork can become overwhelming very quickly! The only way to survive is to stay on top of it.

First, choose a receptacle for such papers. Consider the amount of storage space you possess, as you will probably have one of these containers for each year of school. I like plastic boxes, as they protect against damage.

With your child, clean out her backpack at the end of the week. Encourage her to choose only one item a week to keep. Label the back with the date and description, and place in the container.

At the end of the month look back over the previously stored papers to see if some of the sentimentality has decreased for the earlier keepers. Repeat every month.

At the end of the school year, determine if your storage is adequate to house that year’s keepers. If not, purge until it is. Label the container with your child’s name and the year.

Artwork that doesn’t make it into the keeper file can be sent to grandma, our troops, or nursing homes.

For family night one night, take out the keepers for the last few years and reminisce.

Ideas for storing artwork:

- For large three-dimensional projects take a picture rather than storing the entire project.

- Create a gallery by hanging a cord across a wall in your child's room. Using clothespins or colorful clips, hang the latest masterpieces. Swap out as necessary.

- Picture frame storage - showcase one picture in a frame with others stored behind the latest picture. There are picture frames designed especially for this type of storage.

- Permanently frame a picture - maybe one a year.

- The typical fridge or bulletin board gallery,

- Turn your child's artwork into place mats by laminating them.

- Use your child's artwork as wrapping paper.

- Scan your child's artwork, reduce if necessary, and print onto cardstock, creating greeting cards.

- Create a collage under a glass-covered coffee table.

- Create a calendar, using a different masterpiece for each month.

- Create a collage or digital collage.

- Have several art pieces bound in a book.

- Create a scrapbook or digital scrapbook.

- Store in binders.

- Create a photo album with pictures of your child holding various pieces of artwork.

- Turn the art into charm bracelets or Christmas ornaments.

- Create a digital photoframe slideshow.

- scan and load onto disk or memory stick.

- Have your child's art displayed on a t-shirt.The following websites can be used for the above creations: Big Art Blessing, Walgreens, Snapfish, Shutterfly, York Photo, Dynamic Frame.                                                Filing
 Filing is one of my least favorite things to do! Does anyone like filing ... really? If we have to do it, here are a few tips to make it a little painful:
- Setting up and maintaining a simple, effective filing system saves an untold amount of time because you know exactly where to find items you need.

- If you are a visual person, consider using different colors of file folders for different categories. For example, use green file folders for your financial files.

- Prevent eye strain by using the same file tab for one category. For example, use the left tab on your green files for your financial files. Use the right tab on your green files for gardening ideas.

- Don't over-categorize or get too detailed - it's too much to remember. If you must have large quantities of files, make a one-page list of your files and where they are.

- Keep frequently used files within arm's length of your desk chair. Store less-used files farther away. If you must archive files for a certain number of years, consider putting them in storage.

- If reports, statements, etc. can easily be found online, don't keep paper copies.

- File ongoing projects in a hanging file. At the end of the day, deposit work into that file, clearing your desk. Make a list of projects and work to be done the next day, so they are not forgotten or overlooked.

- Keep a "pending" file for those items without closure.

- Set aside specified time to file so it doesn't get out of hand. Multi-task by filing when you are on hold or when having a casual conversation or when your brain needs a mental break.

- In order to free up space in your file cabinets, go through your files and move inactive but necessary files into storage boxes. Number or label each box and keep a list of what is in each box so you can locate it, if needed. Toss files that do not need to be kept.

Remember, 80% of what we file we never look at again. So consider carefully whether you will need to see that paper again before you file it. Reducing the amount you file reduces your work and the amount of storage you need!

More on filing:
A Very Simple Filing System for Paper and Email
The "Do It Now" Mindset  
Five Ways to Prevent Procrastination from  Zapping Your Energy and Productivity