.

Okay, now that you have purged all of the old paper and
clutter from your rooms it is time to organize them. 

The best way to get organized and stay that way is to zone
your rooms and assign a home to every object. 
Sounds like a lot of work, but it isn't really.  So, for example in the family room, common activities may be playing video games, watching t.v., reading and relaxing.  Objects you will need to contain are video games, DVDs, books, remote controls, wraps and throws, etc.  Start one room at a time and find a
home for everything.  Once you have a home for EVERYTHING then literally it should take less than 10 minutes to pick up several rooms in your home.

The harder clutter to contain is paper because it can quickly become overwhelming and look worse than it is if it isn't processed every day.  Know the pattern of the paper in your house and have a home for each category - bills, regular files, resource/archival files, magazines, action, etc.  As I wrote about in my first New Year's post, have a paper command center in the hub of your home to corral everyday paper and then have a resource/archival home...probably a home office where you have a filing cabinet to hold paper you don't need as often.  

My gym has a motivational message on the door entering the gym, "the hardest part is showing up" and I feel this thought can be applied to
organizing.   Organizing is a process, like exercising, that you can't just do once to see results.  Once the hard part is done (the zoning and
assigning homes), then the regular "showing up" part becomes the daily
processing of stuff that can be done almost in auto pilot.  I smiled reading the inspirational message leaving the gym yesterday "know you'll be back tomorrow" and I liked the simple message that progress is in small steps, many times repeated until it becomes like second nature. 

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As we start a new year, I thought it would be helpful to discuss clutter busting strategies.  To that end I'll focus my January posts on general organizing tips. 

My husband and I always get a laugh, as I prepare for our, at least monthly charity donation pick-ups, at our house, as he sings the line
"....give it away, give it away, give it away now..." from the Red Hot Chili
Peppers song "Give it Away".    If you only keep items in your space and
closets that you love (and that fits) and represents how you live now, you
won't believe how easy it is to put together a few donation bags a month.    If you haven't already, call up your favorite charities, and get on their regular pick-up schedule to give away your gently used items not needed.   There is so much that  comes in to our homes that needs to be sorted, purged and given away, recycled or thrown out,  and a great way to keep the stuff moving and our homes kept up is to schedule charity donations.

It all comes down to downsizing the stuff and in the kitchen and many rooms of the home, much of the stuff tends to be paper oriented.  Most of the paper can be recycled or shredded and for the paper that needs to be kept, decide if it belongs in your home office (not as accessible) or your other paper storage place...probably the kitchen (regular access).  I highly recommend carving out some space behind a closed kitchen cabinet to hide it.  House frequently used home files such as:   school, activities, coupons, menus, and other high use categories where you use those most...probably in the kitchen and not a home office.  Also stored here can be mail to be saved that requires action such as bills and invitations.  Have basic office supplies in your kitchen administrative area and if you have children and they do their homework in the main hub of the home, then make sure they have everything accessible so that they aren't running off elsewhere getting distracted.

To cut down on paper coming into the home, I am trying out a mail reduction service called CatalogChoice.  They offer a range of services with the main goal of keeping the unwanted paper out of your home.  I signed up for their mail
reduction service whereby I have to tell them what I don't want to receive and
they do the leg work to get me off of the unwanted mail lists.  I am also trying out their junk mail envelope service - same idea and possibly a little more straightforward.  Some of my clients are trying out the junk mail envelope service, so I'll keep you posted on how it goes, and I'll let you know what we think about their services.

Start purging those rooms...especially the paper!

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We have had the unfortunate experience of having to deal with a lice infestation in my daughter’s class room at school.  This means of course, she has brought them home.  To get rid of them is a bear because not only do you have to spend hours cleaning and combing through the infected head to try to find the nits (lice eggs), but you have to clean and remove from the environment everything that mirrors hair (blankets, rugs and of course the plethora of stuffed animals)!  So, the good news is we have been lice free for several weeks now (though they are still in her classroom).

With the mild weather we had a few weeks ago it seemed like everyone in our neighborhood decorated for the holidays early.  I like decorating our home for Christmas, but because we get a live tree, we can’t decorate too early.  My husband took the many holiday bins down from our attic right after Thanksgiving (ugh!), and I have been dealing with the wall of bins for a few weeks now.  We got our tree last Saturday and finally put our decorations up!

The other day I was in our basement and I looked out to our screened in porch and saw several large bags and then remembered they were full of stuffed animals from my daughter’s room and the lice saga.  I decided I would try to see if she could part with some of them discussing the importance of the gift of charity and the need to think of others.  Low and behold my little six year old was up for donating, but also making a little money too.  She negotiated $2.00 from me (okay, I got off easy), and gave away two full bags of stuffed animals to the Lupus Society!  She still has way too many stuffed animals in her room, but at least she sorted them and the ones she is keeping she treasures for different reasons.

As we enter the season where we will be adding many new things to our homes, it is always helpful to remember to remove 2-3 items for everything added.  If you can do a quick sort and purge now in each room in your home it will benefit you in several ways.  It’ll help get your home ready for the holidays and company and also prepare space for the new things you may be bringing in or receiving as gifts.

Good luck as you wrap up the year and get ready for the holidays.

 

 

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“Getting back to your life” is the tag line of my physical therapy center, and it is one that I relate to as an organizer.   My sessions at the center helped unlock my frozen shoulder condition, and at times my sessions there were uncomfortable and painful.  I am in a better position now to get back to my life thanks to the exercise regimen they put together for me.  They explained that for my shoulder to continue to improve I need to commit to my 30 minute shoulder exercises daily.  Do I skip days here and there?  Of course, but for the most part I am committed to it because I want to get back to my life…especially on the tennis court!

Similarly, organizing helps us get back to our lives because if we are committed to keeping up our systems and routines, then we aren’t bogged down by our daily clutter, and we aren’t ruled by our stuff.  The daily commitment to organizing should at least be 15 or 30 minutes.  This does not have to be a painful experience…I promise!  This commitment may include an end of day pick up to put things away, determining what our top personal and/or professional actions are for the next day, processing any paper and anything else that helps creates a clean slate for the next day. 

Why do this?  Organizing helps get us back to living life.  If we have a strong, organizing foundation, we can focus on things that are really important to us.  No more worries about what we have to do, forgetting things, or feeling unproductive, because each day is a fresh start with a picked up home and work environment.  Okay, maybe a little unrealistic, but something to strive for – right? 

As we approach Thanksgiving, I know one of the many things I am thankful for is my unlocked frozen shoulder and my semi-organized home that allows me to live my life fully.  Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

 

 

 

 

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What did you do with your extra hour gained this past weekend with the end of daylight savings time?  Don’t you wish we could have an extra hour each day to tie up loose ends, plan and prioritize or do something for ourselves?  Maybe we can mirror the feeling of bliss I know I felt Sunday morning with my extra hour.

How so?  Here are some time saving tips that may get you close to an hour.

 

1. Get organized.  See my blog from September 9th on ORDER – organize, routines, delete, edit and readiness.  On average we lose an hour a day looking for things or trying to figure out what we need to do.  This hour adds up to a staggering 14 days a year of time thrown away! 
2. Zone each of your spaces so that it makes sense, there is proper storage and simplified systems are in place to allow for a 10 minute pick-up at the end of the day.
3. Build in planning time to your day so that you minimize wasted time trying to figure out who to call, what to work on and what to do next.  When you plan you will cut down on working reactively and feel more in control of your day.
4. Make checklists your friend.  Either have a tangible checklist or a mental checklist of what you need to do in the morning, what you need to pack to bring to work or school and also have an end of day wrap-up checklist (scan e-mail, identify top priorities for next day, etc.)
5. Keep your to dos in one place ONLY.  If you have too many lists or some are  electronic and some on paper, time is wasted and chances for error are higher.
6. Plan menus so that you spend less time grocery shopping and eating out and you and your family will be healthier for it.  Also keep a running grocery list of what you need, preferably on your phone, so that you have it readily available.
7. Buy holiday and birthday gifts ahead and keep some in reserve to cut down on last minute shopping runs.
8. Make your car work for you.  Have a bin in your trunk that holds anything that needs to be processed in some form so that you have the items when you can conveniently deal with them (i.e., items to be returned, dry cleaning, coupons for shopping, etc.)
9. Set boundaries for yourself for unplugging at night so that you can recharge, regroup and relax so that you are fresh, productive and in control for the next day.
10. If you have kids, make sure they know their routines and family systems for each room.  They can pick-up and directly benefit from learning the vital life skill of organization.

 Also, don’t forget to change your batteries in your smoke detectors, if you didn’t get a chance to do it this weekend.

 Here’s to finding that extra hour each day to use as we’d like! 

 

 

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What a picture perfect day we had for this year's International Walk to School Day! Though, we live so close to my daughter's elementary school (Belle View Elementary), and we really should be able to walk, it still requires a lot of planning, organization and good moods to pull it off. Since I'm an organizer and I am a proponent of doing everything that can possibly be done for the next day, the night before, there should be plenty of time in the morning to make walking to school a reality. However, what ends up happening is time evaporates in the morning and most mornings we are just making it out the door in time to get to school by driving.

So, it was a big deal for us to walk on Wednesday. Though we had prepared and the lunch was made, outfit laid out, hair style determined the night before, backpack packed the night before with everything except the lunch, I didn't account for a semi grumpy daughter, and a leisurely 6 year-old's pace. At a couple different points I had to cajole her to gallop like a pony, skip and race me so that we made it there in time. Who greeted us, but the school's P.E. teacher who was giving out stickers to all the children who walked. It still amazes me how much weight a sticker can carry. She was so proud of it and at dinner last night she said she wanted to walk to school everyday to collect the stickers. Who knew!

I wish that could happen so that we could both fit in exercise early in the day to get the endorphins working, help air quality and the environment by not driving, not have to deal with the Kiss and Ride line and just have some fun time together. I've realized due to logistics of my choppy work schedule, and another child who needs to take a bus to his school, we can't walk every day, but maybe shooting for once a week can be a start. And, guess what, the plan tomorrow is we are walking to school!

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Hi Brooksfield Community!  I know it has been awhile since I have blogged, but I hope to communicate more regularly.  Hope you all had a great summer and that everyone in your home has transitioned nicely to their respective fall work and school schedules.  More on that in another blog...

Don’t you cringe sometimes when you go down any store’s aisles at the choices we have? Yes, we are very lucky to have so many choices, but my inner organizer screams, “let’s simplify already” as all of these choices are making it harder to make decisions. In fact I read recently in Real Simple magazine (one of my favorites) that a study led by the University of Minnesota found students faced with multiple choices had less physical stamina and were more likely to procrastinate. I can totally relate to that because that is exactly what I do! The experts at Real Simple recommend that we limit ourselves to fewer than 10 options. I think I agree.

I remember when I was managing a home renovation project for my family that having to make so many decisions in a short amount of time was very stressful. I couldn’t procrastinate – I had to make the decisions. Luckily we were operating under a very tight budget so I was able to go into stores and direct the sales people to only show me tile, or whatever I was choosing, that fit into our budget.

I think having so many choices may contribute to the excess of stuff that we all have. We overbuy and then we need to have more storage to contain all of our things. Our excess of things can cause us more stress instead of the positive effect we thought it would bring by buying it. By no means am I saying we should be like the guy who lived for a year with just 100 things. I just think we need to narrow our focus more and really be sure we need or truly want something before we buy it.

I’m not sure why I am writing about this other than I had lunch with a friend today, and somehow the topic got around to clothes and makeup. I was lamenting to her that I need some new additions in both areas, but I am so overwhelmed by all of the choices…especially the whole skin care arena. I think I just need to do a little research so that I can narrow my focus and not be distracted by products I don't want, when I finally get up the courage to go buy some new skincare and makeup products.

Remember, with our stuff, the less we have, the richer in some ways our lives become. So when faced with purchasing decisions, the more we can narrow our choices, based on our specific needs and criteria, the easier it is to make the right choice.

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I had to get some storage products for a few clients this week, and pressed for time, instead of going to the mecca for organizers, The Container Store, I went to Target.   Like most big stores they carry an impressive line of organizing products, but I nearly fell over when I saw the state of their home organizing section.   It looked like the dairy, bread and paper product aisles before a major or minor snow storm in the D.C. area!  The shelves were barren and what was left was picked over and in some cases damaged in some way.

Of course, then it hit me that most of us have the spring cleaning and clutter bashing bug at this time of year, and that is why the home organizing section looked a mess.  Most of us have the desire to rid our home of the backlog of fall/winter clutter that inevitably piles up.   Unfortunately, I was only able to get a few things that I needed and days have passed, and I still need to make my way out to The Container Store.

As an organizer, I always tell my clients to not buy any storage products until their organizing system is set up. Most people, tend to want to buy the products first and then make them work for their system. Think about the commercials and print ads we see claiming to get you organized by installing the perfect closet or garage system. The process of organizing entails sorting, purging and decision making so that the best, tailored system for you can be created. One of my favorite acronyms on this topic is Julie Morgenstern's SPACE - sort, purge, assign, containerize and then equalize (make adjustments to your system as needed). Even the highest end custom closet won't be the organizing solution if the organizing process hasn't been done first.

So, my sense is the Home Organizing Section in Target reflected the common desire most of us have to buy the containers first to get organized.  I wish us all luck as we get rid of winter's cobwebs and readjust and/or create new systems that make our homes and us function better.

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Spring is in the air and many of us want to throw open the windows, let in the fresh air and start the organizing and cleaning frenzy. Before we can start, yes, I make it a family effort, we have to cull the clutter and get rid of lots of stuff. I know at our house, despite my best efforts to manage the paper clutter, it does pile up - unread magazines, newspapers, school projects (got to love those 3-dimensional projects), pictures, coupons and on and on.

If we are all working the systems that are set up, the paper can be managed effectively. We have a homework zone for supplies and school papers to be kept for studying purposes. We don't keep memory type school work and art in the homework zone; that goes in each child's memory box in the top of their closet. We do have a hanging file for restaurant coupons and menus and a drawer for bills. We have 2-3 magazine baskets and a recycling basket, but still, if the paper isn't processed regularly, it will pile up.

Since I manage clutter for a living, I am usually on top of things, but one area that inevitably gets neglected is the filing. Who likes to file anyway? I always think of the organizing fact that 85% of what we file, we never retrieve again. So, as I look at the mountainous pile of papers in my office that are in the "to be filed" box I vow yet again, to not let it stack up so high. I will be ruthless to discard the paper that I don't need, shred what needs to be shredded and only file those papers that I may truly need.

Another thing to keep in mind is that there will be many spring community shreds and recycling events planned. So be on the look out and check out one that I'm aware of coming up soon on April 9th in Arlington.

Happy filing and shredding!

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Of course, as a professional organizer I am a big believer in routines, but I think abandoning routines once in awhile can be a good thing. I include our family in the group that doesn't take advantage of all of the wonderful museums, free and low-cost recreational park activities and the many other enriching family programs that are available every weekend in and around D.C. We tend to fall into our regular a.m. routine of reading the shrinking paper and enjoying our coffee while the kids watch cartoons, before all of the normal weekend activities start like b-day parties, sports practices and play dates.

This weekend we diverged a bit from our routine mainly because our youngest had been cooped up all week with an especially harsh stomach virus, and I think we all needed to do something different. We went down to the Building Museum on Saturday because they have a Lego exhibit that we haven't seen yet and they were hosting Engineering Family Day with lots of fun activities planned for kids. Though parking was a bear, the day was so much fun. I think it fed a spark our son has to the building professions, and we all walked away learning something. It was great to experience this all together as a family. I had to laugh that I did learn how to make structurally strong columns out of a sheet of paper and my daughter and I made many of them yesterday securing her second level of her firehouse she made out of a cardboard box.

We never made it to the Lego exhibit, as we ran out of time, but all agreed that we will be back to take in that exhibit. I strongly recommend a visit to the Building Museum.

Also, another great source I've discovered for local activities is the Patch. It is a local, on-line newspaper and there are many neighborhood versions that are available. I happen to read the Huntington-Belle Haven Patch.

I think this past weekend was an eye opener for us and one we will want to replicate with regularity. I hope we can do it!

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