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Thursday, January 6, 2022

Starting 2022 with some Organizing Ideas

Starting 2022 Organized & Clutter Free

 

January – New Habits & Things to Do

 

# # 1·            Make 4 Goals that are Measurable & Achievable.

·                    Add them to your January calendar.

·                    Each week give yourself an estimated percentage complete

                 for each goal.

·         Seeing concrete results often helps you achieve goals sooner.

# 2

·         Transfer all appointments and ongoing tasks to your 2018 calendar or planner. Don’t forget Birthday reminders, bill payments and anniversaries.

# 3 

·         Schedule ‘Me time’ for yourself at least once every week. Stick to it

# 4

·         Make a repair and cleaning walkthrough list, from floor to ceiling.

·         Are you making the best use of space?

·         Do the carpets need deep cleaning or the chandeliers dusting?

# 5

·         Do an End-of-Year accounting to see how much you spent on the holidays.

·         Use it to save and prepare for next year's holiday season.

# 6

·         It’s time to pack away the last remnants of the holidays.

·         Store your platters and other serving dishes that you only use for special occasions. Be sure they are in good condition.

# 7  

·         Get in the habit of having a notebook or grocery list near your fridge or pantry to list items as you run out of them.

·         This will make grocery shopping far easier.

# 8

·         Take some time to consider that your value does not come from stuff.

·         Once we let go we can stop hoarding and start de-cluttering.

# 9

·         Take a look at your home management / bill paying station.

·         Is it functional for what you need to do to make your life run smoother?

·         Do you have enough stamps, envelopes and other office supplies?

·         If not, add these to the shopping list so that you can stock up and be prepared.

# 10

·         Set a declutter appointment on your calendar – to declutter a room or a closet.

·         Do you have the right containers & needed supplies?  If not, add it to your list.

# 11

·         Disinfect your cleaning utensils. When was the last time you replaced your toilet brushes, sponges and wiping clothes that you use?

·         If it’s been a while, add them to your shopping list.

# 12

·         Clean out and organize your purse. Containerize.

·         Keep a coupon bag in your purse – with coupons that are not expired.

 

Less Clutter = Less Stress SM     in your home, your business and your life

Organizational Consulting Services

http://www.organizationalconsultingservices.com
.

Visit our Life & Business Coaching website:  North By Northwest

*** check out the Products tab for self-paced workshops, planners and more.... 

 

 

Monday, June 7, 2021

Do You Know Why You are Disorganized?

Not everyone in this world is organized. Some people are very disorganized. But the real question is - "do they know why?".

Most people don't.

So - be honest with yourself. Sit back and ponder a few questions.

Do you know why you are disorganized?

What bothers your about your disorganization?

What is not working for you?

Do you just "not" want to organize - because you don't have the time or don't know how or it's boring or you are just lazy? 

Does it cause you stress?

Do you not know what categories to put things into?

Do you "need" to leave things out - so that you know where they are?

Do you have a filing system in place for your paperwork?

Why do you want to get organized? What need would it fulfill?

 ***

Once you  have some answers to these questions - you can begin the process of coming up with some solutions that will work "for you'.  And that is crucial to your success.  

Organizing is not a "one size fits all".  The solution has to "work for you".  It has to be uncomplicated so that you will actually use it.

For more information on how to get organized - call or email a Professional Organizer. 

We LOVE to ORGANIZE!

Less Clutter = Less Stress SM     in your home, your business and your life

Organizational Consulting Services

http://www.organizationalconsultingservices.com
.

Visit our Life & Business Coaching website:  North By Northwest

*** check out the Products tab for self-paced workshops, planners and more.... 

 

Monday, May 31, 2021

Clutter is "Stuff"

People wonder what "clutter" really is. Well - it's just "STUFF". 

It could be "good stuff" - but that doesn't mean that it's "good for you". 

A lot of time people keep "stuff" just because they haven't gotten around to clearing it out- not because it means something to them. 

Letting go of "stuff" - especially when it's memorabilia is really hard. It's emotional. And therein lies the complexities of purging. It you have an attachment to things - it's hard to let go.

In order to "let go" of clutter - you have to change your mentality about the stuff. Don't keep things that have bad memories or things that make you feel sad - or things that your family member gave you that you have no use for. Only keep things if you really like it or if it makes you happy.

Don't bring things into your home that you got "for free" if you don't really need it.

Don't feel the need to keep things that have outlived their usefulness.

Don't bring things into your home that take up room that you don't have.

You deserve to live in a home that is calming and peaceful. Before you buy anything (or get it for free) - ask yourself:

       Do I really need it?

       Will I actually use it (within 6 months)?

       Do I have room for it? (Where - exactly - will I put it)?

       Can I afford it?

       Will it enhance my life?

If you can't answer these questions - DON'T bring it into your home.

So - say "NO" to Clutter!  And live a life with less stress!

Less Clutter = Less Stress SM     in your home, your business and your life

Organizational Consulting Services

http://www.organizationalconsultingservices.com
.

Visit our Life & Business Coaching website:  North By Northwest

*** check out the Products tab for self-paced workshops, planners and more.... 

 

Monday, May 24, 2021

What Can You Use a Professional Organizer For? Lots of Things!

Professional Organizers can help you with more than just organizing your closets (though we love closets!).

Some of the things we can help with include:

Downsizing: 

   Decluttering & purging. Sorting what to move.

   Help with packing. Help with staging a home for sale (an uncluttered home sells better).

   Unpacking and setting up your new home.

We work with seniors and their families to make the transition from a home they have lived in for 40 years - to a smaller space (senior apartment or assisted living....) a stressless process.

Aging in Place:

We can help with decluttering and making your current home a safer environment for seniors. Making sure there is enough space for walkers and that things are at a lower level so that seniors don't have to reach for things (and possibly hurt themselves).

Estate Clear Outs:

   Taking an inventory of the home

   Sorting personal property & finding donation sites for unwanted items

   Locating & Organizing vital documents and important papers

   Arranging for home cleaning and housing repairs

   Working with attorneys and family to distribute belongings

Combining Households:

When households combine it takes a lot of patience and decluttering in getting rid of duplicates and making the home look like it belongs to one family - instead of two. Coming up with solutions and processes that both families can live with is the first step.

Life Management:

   Paper Management - how to process mail, bills, receipts, paying bills and more

   Time Management - making time work for you - instead of the other way around

   Work/Life Balance - finding solutions that keep your family happy and together - w/o stress

Organizing a College Student & their Dorm Room:

   There isn't much space - so having an efficient Organizing system is crucial

   Helping with Time Management & coming up with Life Organizing systems


Closets, Pantries, Garages, Attics and more...........

*** These are just some of the things that a Professional Organizer can help you with....

 

Less Clutter = Less Stress SM     in your home, your business and your life

Organizational Consulting Services

http://www.organizationalconsultingservices.com
.

Visit our Life & Business Coaching website:  North By Northwest

*** check out the Products tab for self-paced workshops, planners and more.... 

 

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Being Organized involves Time Management - Here are some Tips to Help

 25 Practical Time Management Tips

Regardless of how much we’d all like to have extra hours in our day to get things done, we’relimited by what we have to work with. Instead of wishing for more time, there are ways to make the most of the hours available by practicing time management tips.

The majority of hard-working people want to practice good time management and they start out well with this, but they forget to figure in the one biggest thing that sabotages time.

Time Management for Interruptions

Interruptions are one of the biggest time thieves in your life. You may not have actually tallied how many minutes or hours have been stolen from your day by other people or situations barging into your day.

Here are some tips to help you eliminate or better deal with them:

1. Build time into every aspect of your day for those interruptions that we all experience.

You will never have a single day that’s not interrupted by something unexpected. This is usually what throws people off course. It can break your concentration, making it harder for you to get the flow back.

If you’re at work and someone pops in for “just a minute,” you’ll notice that it always turns into a lot longer. Before you know it, half an hour to an hour will have passed and you can’t get that time back.

You want to allocate time for these interruptions by looking at your day and figuring out how much time you have to give these. For example, when someone walks into your office, you can say, “I’m working on a project so I can only spare five minutes.”

At the end of five minutes, if the other person is still there, you say, “I’m sorry, but my time is up and I have to get back to this.” If you respect your time, others will, too.

2. Plan your day the night before.

This gives you a go-to launching place. You know what you have to start on first. It helps you to manage time if you have a map to follow - even if it’s simply a list of what you must accomplish that day.

3. Plan your phone conversations.

This is a huge time waster. But if you plan your conversations before you make the call, this helps you stay in control of how long the conversation lasts. If someone calls you and you need to get off the phone, you just say that you have to go.

Most people don’t want to risk sounding rude, so they’ll remain on phone conversations that are taking up a lot of their time.  If that sounds like you, there are several easy ways to end a phone conversation.

You can say that you’re in a time crunch and have to go or that you need to take care of something. Usually, that will cause the other person to say goodbye and end the call.

It’s okay to tell someone you can’t talk at the moment and will have to get back to them. The second you start being someone else’s sounding board for all of their problems, on an endless loop is when you get taken advantage of constantly.

4. Don’t let technology interruptions disrupt your time management.

When someone isn’t dropping by your office or home, they’re reaching out to you through technology like email or on social media. These can quickly take up hour after hour of your day because it’s easy to get sucked into playing a game while you’re handling something business or personal related online.

If being on social media is a must for you, let it be a scheduled interruption. For example, you just write it on your planner that at lunch, you’ve scheduled ten minutes to be on social media.

Stick to that time just as if it were an appointment. If you have to, use an alarm on your smart phone or set an egg timer so that you’re made aware of the end time of this distraction.

5. Separate the interruptions between what must be dealt with and what doesn’t have to be dealt with at that time.

You don’t have to make someone else’s urgency your priority and you’ll see this a lot when it comes to work things. Someone didn’t get what they needed or didn’t accomplish what they needed and all of a sudden, they want to drop it in your lap.

Or, they want you to stop everything you’re doing to help them get out of a jam. There’s something to be said for good teamwork, but if this is a recurring situation, it’s time to put the brakes on bailing others out.

Prioritizing Your Time

There are billions of people and billions of things that have to get done each day. But there’s only one you and you can’t do it all. So you have to prioritize what gets done and what gets moved to another day or delegated to others.

6. Look at your day’s to-do list and begin your day by starting with the most important item on your list.

There’s a psychological reason you want to do it this way. When you do the important tasks first and finish them, it gives you a feel-good release of hormones and it makes you feel more energized and more like tackling other items on your list.

Plus, you get to see that you’re making progress. If you start with the easiest task or the fastest task and put off the most important task, there’s a chance you may not get to it by the time the day ends – and then anxiety sets in.

7. Refuse opportunities that will take up too much of your time.

You can’t be involved in every activity and you can’t attend every single meeting that you’d like to. You’ll end up overworked and frazzled. If you work from home and there are several webinars you’d like to attend, but you’re already struggling with time management, there’s a way to decide which ones to choose.

You look at the ones that will give you the most benefit both personally and professionally.  Sometimes there might be something you’re interested in, but it’s not conducive to a good time management schedule. That means you have to pass.

8. Get your rest.

If you push yourself to go beyond what you should do by cutting back on sleep, this will eventually catch up to you. When you lose sleep, it can cause you to lose focus.

This means you’ll start doing sloppy work and you’ll find yourself having to redo work – or you’re sluggish to begin with. Not only that, but when you start giving up your needed rest, it weakens your immune system and you’ll be more susceptible to catching whatever virus is going around.

You’ll end up losing time rather than being a good manager of it. You might want to stay up later and wake up earlier to get more done, but being well rested means you become far more productive – and quality improves, too.

9. Take care of yourself in other ways, too.

Make sure that you get the exercise that you need because exercise is something that actually helps you with time management. It keeps your energy levels high.

Plus, taking a break from personal and work responsibilities gives your mind a chance to be refreshed and come back to the task with a fresh outlook. Increased focus helps with productivity and saves you time in the long run.

10. Take time off.

There can be a tendency to work full speed ahead, whatever it takes, to get all of the things done that you need to get done. Many people give up time with friends and family to try to gain more time.

They bring work home on weekends or they work on a to-do list all weekend around the house in an effort to get things done. Some people haven’t had a vacation in years - not because they can’t afford it - but because they don’t feel like they have the time.

But if you take time off, away from everything you need to do, you end up getting more done because your body as well as your mind needs time where it has absolutely nothing it “must” focus on.

Let Go of Perfectionism

When someone is a perfectionist, the job has to be done perfectly. These types of high achievers can experience more stress than someone who is not a perfectionist. When it comes to time management, perfectionism will work against you.

11. Know that it’s okay not to do it all.

Forget about multi-tasking. Multi-tasking is synonymous with doing several jobs poorly all at once - and that’s very frustrating to someone with perfectionist tendencies.

You don’t have to accomplish everything in one day. Instead, concentrate on what’s right in front of you that has to be done first. Get that finished and then move on with the next item.

12. Give everything you need to do a time limit.

Whether you’re a perfectionist or not, this is a good rule of thumb for anyone looking for better time management. Open-ended tasks have a tendency to pile up because there’s no finish line.

So when you look at the whole picture of what has to be accomplished with the time you have, it can feel overwhelming. It’s better to break the things you have to do down.

For example, if you have a project that has to be completed by a certain deadline, you need to divide that project up by how long it will take to get the work done.

If the project will take 40 hours to complete and you have two weeks to get it done, you know you have to work on it 20 hours per week or 5 hours per day. And take into account interruptions and other obstacles that will get in the way.

13. Don’t schedule anything back to back.

You have to have some time - even if it’s just a few minutes - where your mind can relax and get away. Mental exhaustion is often more draining than physical exhaustion.

Like your body, your brain can’t go full speed ahead on something without needing a time out every so often. In between your to do list tasks, break and do something enjoyable – or do nothing at all.

14. Divide all of your tasks up in your personal and professional life by hours, days, months, seasons or year.

For example, if you know that every fall the gutters on your home have to be cleaned from the leaves that fell, you’ll want to put some time for that task on your schedule.

If you know that every year, there’s a Christmas party at work and you’ll need to bring something as well as show up, put that on your calendar, too. If you own a business that has seasonal items, you’ll want to schedule to take care of releasing those products, press releases or email newsletters ahead of time. You don’t want to wait until December to talk about December projects.

15. Look over your to-do list - you should have one for both home and office - and cut it down.

Most people end up with poor time management because their to-do list has too many items on it. That’s because we all like to achieve things and even the possibility of achieving things makes us feel good.

But people often set up tasks that they can’t accomplish because there’s not enough time.  It’s like setting yourself up for failure. Whittle the list down and if there’s time left over, you’ll feel a bonus that you got something “extra” done rather than failed to complete something imperative.

Get Organized for Better Time Management

Everyone has areas of life where there’s a lack of organization. Whether it’s at home or the office, we misplace things and we can’t find things when we need them because we’re not organized.

But getting organized is a big help with time management. Declutter your home and office before you attempt to tackle staying organized and managing your time better.

16. Forget the elaborate systems.

Any system you use for organizing your life that takes a lot of time to keep up with is actually a waste of time. An organizational system should enhance your life, not detract from it.

You can use simple means such as an expandable folder to keep track of bills that need to be paid or projects that need to be completed. You can use a filing cabinet with hanging folders.

Don’t overcomplicate your organization system. Invest in simple solutions and watch how it transforms the way you manage your time and act in a more productive manner.

17. Don’t procrastinate.

This is a big problem for a lot of people in all walks of life. We don’t like to do the things we don’t like to do. It’s as simple as that. No one wants to do the hard jobs that seem boring.

We don’t want to do the job that’s going to take us five hours to complete when the sun is shining and we’d rather kick back and go to the beach or spend time with friends.

When you get the most difficult tasks over with, they’re done and you have that sense of satisfaction that it’s now behind you. One of the biggest time management problems is with paperwork.

If you haven’t switched to electronic file keeping, then it can be easy to get overwhelmed and disorganized just by the volume of documents. Since you don’t want certain sensitive information stored online, you’ll want to keep that at home.

When you get important paperwork, take care of it immediately. Put it where it needs to go. If there’s something that requires you to make a phone call before you can put that paperwork away, put the paper in your desk inbox and make a note in your planner to schedule a time to make that call.

18. Group similar items together at home in order to save time.

For example, when it comes to better home time management, if you have to run errands, group all of the errands that are within the same area together. Try to work it out so that you only have to deal with one errand day a month.

Do the banking, post office needs and any medication pickups on the same day. Driving can be a big leak in your time management success - and since you need to pay attention to driving, you can’t do much else except maybe listen to a podcast or something else you need to listen to.

19.  Do the same at the office.

You can do the same when it comes to work tasks. Things that have to be done every week can be grouped by days and according to difficulty and length of tasks.

If you know that you need to drop something off at someone’s office and you have a meeting, you can drop the item off while you head to the meeting. This also helps prevent time wasted chatting when you have to be somewhere.

20. Have a calendar for both home and office.

Keep it where you can see it every day. You can put it on the wall or on your desk. The ones with the large blocks that enable you to write appointments in them work best.

This way, you can see your day at a glance and your week and month as well. These larger calendars often work better for time management than the smaller ones you can keep tucked away.

Finding Opportunities to Improve Time Management

You can manage time better by finding lost time. Lost time is that which you didn’t even realize you were wasting in the first place. It’s almost like keeping change in a piggy bank and one day you realize it’s totaled over $100!

21. Don’t waste the time that most people do.

There are ways to find time that’s often overlooked because people tend to think of time management as being large blocks of time available. But you can do a lot with just ten or fifteen minutes.

Don’t waste the time you have while waiting in a doctor’s office or while exercising. If you like to use a treadmill, you can get one that has a desk so that you can take care of something that has to be dealt with.

22. Realize that not everything that seems important is.

It only seems that way. Look at your life and stop doing the things that aren’t important that drain your time. If something isn’t a matter of you being happy and succeeding personally or professionally, then it’s not important.

23. Run ahead, not behind.

When you get behind schedule, it can make you feel a lot of pressure and it adds stress to your life. Try to get things done ahead of time because this gives you a buffer in time management.

24. Delegating is a great way to help with time management.

Most people like to do things themselves because they know then that the job is done correctly. But if you do the things that others can do, it’s draining your time. For example, some time drains are things like mowing the grass or cleaning the house, scheduling meetings, handling social media updates.

What you can do is to look at how much it costs you do the tasks that you do. If someone else can do them, then you’re not only losing time - you’re losing money.

If you earn $200 per hour, then an hour of mowing the grass costs you $200. But if you pay someone $50 to mow the grass, then you saved an hour and $150 because you gained time.

25. Deal with emails the right way.

Handling email causes more people to get off track than any other online task beside social media and online games. Manage your time wisely with email by setting aside a specific time to deal with email and setting a time limit on how long you’ll take responding to the messages.

If they’re not important, don’t save them to look at later because they’ll only pile up in your inbox. If your life allows you to, hire an assistant to deal with handling your email. 

Less Clutter = Less Stress SM     in your home, your business and your life

Organizational Consulting Services

http://www.organizationalconsultingservices.com
.

Visit our Life & Business Coaching website:  North By Northwest

*** check out the Products tab for self-paced workshops, planners and more.... 

 

Monday, March 29, 2021

Too Many Books - When is it Time to Let Go

People collect all kinds of stuff. From clothes to craft items to books. 

So - when is a "collection" a "collection" and when is it a "hoard"?

Another question is - "when is enough - enough" and "when is it time to let go"?

There is no "one size fits all answer". 

If you have the room in your home and there is no safety issue - and let's throw in - that you know what you actually have and can find it and actually use it - then it might be o.k. to have a bunch of "stuff".

But - if you never use it - what good is it? It just takes up room. And you spent money on something that you are not getting use and enjoyment out of.

So let's take books for example. How many books can you have? How many books should you have? It all depends on the above answers.

If you have hundreds of books - have you actually read them all? Or can you / will you - actually read them all? How long will it take you? Is it realistic to have hundreds or thousands of books that you will never read? Even with "good intentions". 

Books are wonderful. They can teach you so many things. They an transport you to another world and brighten your day. But if they are "just there" and you never really use them - what good are they?

And the next question is - who is going to be responsible when you are gone? Is the next person going to care about them as much as you do? How will you feel if they just throw them all out? Those are questions that most people won't ask themselves - because they don't really want to know the answers.

So - take charge of your own life - and books - and make some decisions.

For some interesting reading about book collecting and book hoarding - read these articles:

                  Are you a book hoarder? There’s a word for that. 

                  There’s A Japanese Word For People Who Buy More Books Than They Can Actually Read

 

Less Clutter = Less Stress SM     in your home, your business and your life

Organizational Consulting Services

http://www.organizationalconsultingservices.com
.

Visit our Life & Business Coaching website:  North By Northwest

*** check out the Products tab for self-paced workshops, planners and more.... 

 

Thursday, March 25, 2021

Organizing Quotes to Live By......

 

 

 

 

     


 

 

 

 

 

Less Clutter = Less Stress SM     in your home, your business and your life

Organizational Consulting Services

http://www.organizationalconsultingservices.com
.

Visit our Life & Business Coaching website:  North By Northwest

*** check out the Products tab for self-paced workshops, planners and more....