What’s dancing on your computer desktop? Virtual clutter can be just as bad as the stuff kicking around the floor of your office.
Do you habitually leave documents sitting on your desktop so that you can find them easily the next time you want to work with them? It’s not a bad idea – until there are so many files or shortcuts on your desktop that you can’t find any of them. That’s right; just like the top of your physical desk.
Don’t panic, the solution can be relatively simple. Set up folders as hot files on your desktop to house the material you are currently working on just like the hot files on your desk. Keep them specific and time limited. When the project is over or completed, purge the folders and move them off your desktop. By then there will be other files that need to be moved into hot files.
Archive for February 2009 – Page 2
If you are considered a pack rat, by yourself or anyone else, your home may be suffering from very stagnant energy. You, as a result, may also suffer from very low energy.
While I do not profess to be a specialist in feng shui, there is no doubt that a hall full of clutter does not allow the free movement of energy through the house.
Try clearing just one small space, no matter how small, and see what that does for your energy level. The table in a hallway is a great place to start since this is a classic spot for clutter to accumulate.
To help, try covering the space around the area you are clearing with a big sheet while you are clearing it. The sheet will cover up the items around and help you focus on the area you are trying to clear.
When was the last time you cleaned out the laptop bag? First of all, are you still using a carrying bag or have you switched to the more ergonomic backpack yet? These are not always feasible for the business environment but they are certainly better for your back.
Clear out those files that you haven’t used since the last project finished – and while you are at it, purge the files before putting them away.
Reduce the number of pens, pencils you carry around. How many do you really need? And what about all the computer attachments? If you carry your computer regularly, do you really need all the bits and pieces that you use once a year? Could some of that be stored in a dust free container in your office and be packed for the overseas trip once a year when you need the electrical converter?
Do your weight lifting at the gym – not getting in and out of your car or the bus.
Yesterday I wrote about open versus closed storage. It is important to remember that, while storage containers can be pretty, handsome, calm the visual noise and look very productive on the book shelves of your office, they may not be necessary at all.
Before finding a container for anything, take a really good look at whether or not there is any point in you keeping it. Do you really need to keep all that scrap paper? (Can it be sent to the local school/daycare for crafts?) Do you really need to keep all those trade show giveaways? (Can they be donated somewhere they will be used?)
You get the picture?
Has your young son or daughter finished preparing their Valentine’s cards for their class mates yet? Ever wonder what to do with the left over few cards from the box. Like many of us you probably wish you could hang on to them for next year so they could be used but don’t want to add them to the paper clutter in your home. Here’s a couple of different ideas. Hopefully one will fit your home.
- Store them with your craft supplies and use them for craft projects.
- Send them to your children’s daycare so they can use them for craft projects.
- Keep a box of gift cards and greeting cards and add them to this box.
- If your Christmas decoration box is easily accessible, store them in there. They will be ready to pull out when you put next year’s Christmas decorations away.
Are you using your electronic calendar to it’s fullest potential? It can help you organize some of those annual other repeat events that are worthwhile remembering – like your best client’s birthday.
Book the event into your electronic calendar and use the Recurrence function to book it again the next time it occurs. Then set a reminder a few days ahead so that you can prepare for the event, like calling him/her up with good wishes. Won’t you look organized!
Have you ever found yourself trying to access or put away an item only to find yourself frustrated or irritated by the process? I had this experience just this morning putting away the clip closure from a now empty bag which I had discarded. I went to the drawer to the zip lock bag where the clips are stored. I opened the bag tossed in the clip and closed it up. Then I wondered,
“Why does this need to be closed? Do I think the clips are going to wander around the drawer when not in use and not be there when I want them? Why can’t I just toss them into an open container and skip the opening/closing process?”
And why not? Does organizing have to be complicated or frustrating? No, it does not.
Open storage is great for tossing and dropping when the contents are not likely to wander around, when you might want to see the contents. The container doesn’t travel – like a lunch box would – and the contents can’t move on their own. Open storage is great for children and teenagers and anyone else in the toss and drop stage of life where opening and closing items are additional stages of organizing that will be missed at the expense of the item being stored. Think of toys on a shelf for children or a teenage girl’s clothes in open sliding baskets rather than a cupboard. It is also great for a storage container that you can’t see – such as the clips in the kitchen drawer.
Closed storage is best for when the items can get out by themselves – think of pulling the flour off the shelf and having it spill on the floor if the storage container is not closed. It is also good for protecting the contents, like the flour, from dust or other dangers. Closed storage is also good for just getting rid of the visual noise or the sight of the item being stored. Think in this case of putting a lid on a decorative box of children’s toys that are kept in an otherwise elegant living room or reducing the visual noise of a box of spare computer cables in your office.
Closed storage is harder to get into – open storage is for grab, toss and drop activity. What’s in your home or office that warrants change?
Are you still fussing with liquids and containers when travelling? Have you invested yet in the travel size containers for your business travel kit? Make the commitment. They are widely available in a variety of price points. Do yourself a favour and pick up a package.
They usually come with several bottles and a couple of jars, all measured to meet international travel requirements. I have found them available at Canadian Tire Corporation and the Solutions Store. They fit perfectly and without fuss into most travel kits – even for those of us who don’t travel as much!
This is a follow up post from the recent Where is Everything item.
Many of my clients, friends, family and acquaintances struggle with paper. It’s everywhere despite our best attempts to go electronic. Organizing paper is probably the number one frustration of almost all my clients.
One of the paper challenges are receipts coming into the household that many of us keep to maintain our household accounts. Some of us have jars, boxes, baskets or folders to keep these daily deluge of little, bitty, annoying pieces of paper called receipts. If you are checking off your credit card bills to ensure all expenses are your own and legitimate then you have a collection of these receipts.
There are many possible solutions but here is one that most of my clients find helpful. Find an expandable file folder – plastic is best – with 13 divisions. They are readily available in a variety of price points at Staples, Grand and Toy and many other office suppliers. Try the local dollar store. Label the divisions by month and then the 13th for miscellaneous.
Presto. You have a place to put those annoying pieces of paper and you don’t even have to sort them. When the credit card bill comes in, pull out the folder, check of the receipts. Now if, necessary, you keep the receipts, already organized by month. If not – shred.
It seems more than a few people are becoming concerned, and now willing to discuss, the very real concern that is a shopping addiction. This recent Chatelaine article on Shopaholics, by Rebecca Caldwell (no known relation), is a healthy discussion on how this addiction looks in real life.
