Organizing Your Life - Preparing of the Unexpected

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Being prepared for the unexpected is something that most people don't want to think about. But it's something that everyone needs to do. Having all of your legal, medical & health information documented and having someone know where to find it.... in case of an emergency, illness or death .... is critical.

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ORGANIZE YOUR PRIORITIES

Having a big house and new clothes and being able to do whatever you want is great. But at what price?

If you have to work at a job that you hate and work fifty (50) or sixty (60) hours a week and rarely get to see your spouse and kids, is it worth it?

For some people the answer is yes. They are all about materialistic things.

For others they just want to be comfortable and their priority is their family.

But for some people they have to work at a job they don’t like and work long hours because that is the only way to make ends meet.

The bottom line is “what are your priorities?”

In today’s society it seems to be all about “things”. People don’t spend time together as a family. They don’t eat together or play together. Everything is about “instant gratification.

It’s sad. And it won’t be until the adults are older and the kids are gone and don’t have time for them and don’t participate in their lives that the reality of the situation will sink it.

So…. change it!

Organize your priorities!

Don’t waste your time or money on “keeping up with the neighbors”. Keep up with your family. Spend time with your family. Have family dinners. Have family “time” (games, talking, activities….).

Yes, the kids will whine and complain. So what! They will get over it. But if you don’t start acting as a family now you will turn around and your ten year old will be going off to college and you wonder what happened to those lost years. Years that you can never get back.

So cut out the texting and being a zombie in front of the computer and video games and go back to the old fashioned way of actually talking to one another and interacting.

Stop shopping and buying their love. Stop filling your home with “things”. Fill your home with your family.

Make your family your priority. Don’t lose that precious time that you have with your kids. They will be gone before you know it.


Less Clutter = Less Stress (sm) ….. in your home, your business and your life.


Organizational Consulting Services

www.organizationalconsultingservices.com

START YOUNG – GET KIDS ORGANIZED

It’s never too early to start teaching your kids to be neat and organized. When my grandchild was only two years old she knew that before she left my house to go back home she had to put her toys away. She knew that I had a toy basket where I put all of her books and toys and that’s where everything went. No excuses. I like my home neat and I expected her to help. All it took was my showing her how to put the toys back in the basket and she quickly followed my example.

An organized home doesn’t miraculously happen. It takes everyone in the home to create an environment that is organized and functions smoothly. Having kids doesn’t mean that your home has to be disorganized or a cluttered mess. Children learn from their parents. If you start expecting things from your children at a young age and teach them responsibility you can have a home that is neat and organized.

The point is to teach your child some valuable tools for the future. It is really important to give them encouragement and let them know that they did a good job.

The problem that I seem to have run into is that most of the parents that I deal with have no expectations of their children. Toys and clothes are strewn all over the house and the children are never told to put them away.

Or if they are told, the kids ignore the “request” and the parents ignore the fact that they are being ignored. See the cycle?

In today’s society most households have two parents that work, therefore it’s more important than ever that kids help out around the house. Parents are parents…not maids and butlers. Maybe it’s the fact that both parents do work and have less time than they did years ago that they feel guilty about not being around and therefore allow their children to get away with not helping. They are not doing their children any favors.

By not teaching them to help around the house or to pick up after themselves they are setting them up for failure.

An organized child will do better in school. If they have their rooms organized and their clothes organized they will have everything at their fingertips and will not be late for school and they will be prepared for their classes.

Some parents think that just because they themselves are not very neat and organized means that they can’t or don’t have the right to tell their children to pick up after themselves. This is where I have to remind them that they are the parent. They have rights that children don’t. Remember the old saying: “do what I say and not what I do”?

How many parents are overwhelmed by math and science today? Does that mean that your kids don’t have to do their homework? Just because you don’t get it?

It’s the same way with being organized. Just because you may not be the most organized person doesn’t mean that you can’t expect your child to be. If you can’t teach them to be organized yourself then you can hire a professional organizer to come in and teach them to be organized… just as you would hire a swim instructor if you can’t swim or an ice skating instructor if you can’t skate.

I’ve had parents hire me to teach their children how to organize their room and organize their closets and show them how to fold their clothes (instead of just shoving them into their drawers). Kids tend to listen to everyone except their parents.

Give your child the tools they need to be successful. Start them young and expect things from them. They will thank you….later…when they are grown up.

Some things that kids can do:

2 – 4 year olds

Put away toys
Pick up clothes off of the floor

4 – 6 year olds

Clean up spills
Wipe kitchen table
Learn to make bed
Learn to set the table
Match socks

6 – 8 year olds

Make the bed
Put dishes away
Sweep the floors
Put clothes into the hamper
Set the table
Clear the table
Learn to separate clothes for the laundry
Dust

8 – 12 year olds

Put their own laundry away
Help make dinner
Make their own lunches
Rake leaves
Help wash the car
Empty garbage
Clean the bathroom
Help with actually doing the laundry
Weed the garden

13 – 15 year olds

Clean the entire house
Learn to manage their schedule
Mow the lawn
Yard work
Wash the car on their own
Babysit

16 – 18 year olds

Get an after school job
Go to the grocery store
Run errands as needed
Learn how to make a resume
Learn how to manage money



Organizational Consulting Services

http://www.organizationalconsultingservices.com/

ORGANIZE YOUR PANTRY

People always seem to complain that they do not have enough kitchen cabinet or pantry space. The truth is that most people have enough space or at least adequate space. They just don’t use it correctly.

I’ve seen too many kitchen cabinets and pantries where they are just brimming with stuff and the stuff is all over the place. No rhyme of reason.

Canned soup is mixed in with pasta. Tomato sauce is mixed in with cereal and snacks. Drink mixes are thrown in with the rice. No rhyme or reason.

LIKE with LIKE.

That’s the rule. It’s simple and easy and doesn’t require a lot of thinking.

Green beans go with green beans.

Pasta goes with pasta.

Soups go with soup.

Cereal goes with cereal.

Simple.

Easy.

I don’t do complicated.

It’s logical.

Well…that said…. it’s logical to a professional organizer. Most people that I’ve run into just put their food into the pantry without any thought on how it should be stored or in what order.

So….to make your kitchen cabinets and pantry more functional and less crowded, start by taking everything out and placing it on a table by categories.

Put beans with beans. Soups with soups. Cereal with cereal…and so on.

After that is done you can check to see if anything is expired and needs to be thrown out. Or, if you have too many of an item you can donate it to a church or food bank.

Then put things back onto your shelves in an organized and logical manner. Most cans are easily stackable to give you more room.

By doing this you can now easily see what you have and you won’t be buying things that you don’t need.

Remember, an organized kitchen makes a happy cook.

Organizational Consulting Services

www.organizationalconsultingservices.com

FOOD PRODUCTS and EXPIRATION DATES

These days a lot of people have pantries where they buy and store large amounts of food. A great idea to save time and money. You only have to shop once and you get discounts for buying in bulk.

But….how long are these foods actually good for?

A lot of foods …at least foods that go in your pantry, have an “expiration date” on them. Or a “sell by” date. Or a “best if used by” date.

What does this all mean?

Well… unfortunately the answer isn’t as simple is you might expect.

Foods like ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, herbs and many others have “best if used by” dates on them. Meats have “sell by” dates on them.

These dates do not mean that the products are no longer good after that date. It means that, in the case of things like ketchup and mayonnaise (unopened), the products are at their ”best” if “used by” a specific date. After that the textures, consistency or taste might be affected.

For meats the “sell by” date means that the stores want it out of the store and in your home “by” that date. But, you can still have it in your refrigerator after that date.

It’s a bit confusing and scary.

A great website that has a lot of information on “expiration dates” and can answer a lot of questions about those “dates on the cans” is:

http://www.stilltasty.com/

It has tips for storage and how long food lasts. It answers questions such as:

“When should you wash fruit, before you store it in the refrigerator or right before you eat it?”. The answer: “right before you eat it”.

Or… “Is it O.K. to put hot foods directly into the fridge?”. The answer: “yes”.

The website has info on :

* Fruits
* Vegetables
* Dairy & Eggs
* Meat & Poultry
* Fishes & Shellfish
* Nuts & Legumes
* Grains & Pasta
* Condiments & Oils
* Herbs & Spices
* Snacks & Sweets
* Bakes Goods
* Beverages

It’s a great website ! Check it out…and be “more organized”.



Organizational Consulting Services

http://www.organizationalconsultingservices.com/