Are you a “sticky note” person? You know what I mean; there are some of us who like to make notes on bits of paper to remind us of things. There are a few by the telephone to remind us to call someone, a few on the filing cabinet to remind us where to find something and a bunch all over our desk with numbers, names, notes and reminders that are so buried under the rest of the paper they are long since forgotten.
As an alternative, try carrying a small notebook around with you. Some of us prefer something small enough to fit into a handbag or women’s computer tote. Others keep copious notes and prefer the old elementary school, spiral bound, 8 1/2 X 11 note book. The size is not relevant so pick one that works for you. What matters is that the book travels everywhere with you and is available to jot down thoughts, reminders, numbers and notes. No more lost sticky notes and bits of paper all over your desk. No more stacks of paper with random notes that cause increased stress since you can’t remember where they were from.
There are some people who can translate the “keeping notes in a book” organizing strategy to a handheld organizing device. This takes discipline and the ability to read and write/type easily on a handheld. If you are one of these people, go for it and use your handheld as your notebook. Remember to back up your device regularly.
You may be surprised to find how liberating it is to have your notes and thoughts with you in your notebook when you need them!
Archive for Organizing Strategies – Page 5
The ten minute challenge is one of my favourite organizing techniques. When used regularly, is highly effective at keeping one’s home or office organized.
Find a bag – the new recycled shopping bags are great for this. Give yourself 10 minutes to fill the bag with items that do not belong in your office and need to return to wherever it/they belong. A common variation on this strategy is to fill the bag with items that you are no longer using, no longer want, need etc. If you use this strategy weekly you will soon find your office not only clutter free but a much more productive place to work.
More and more I have noticed that most clients have a glue spot in their office or home. You know this place. Whenever something gets put there, it never moves. That specific spot has really good glue all over it and when an item gets put down, its stuck.
Sometimes we just don’t see the items in this spot once they’ve taken up residence there. Sometimes the location is hard to clear out because of its location or things around it. Whatever the issue, the glue spot will forever keep attracting and holding clutter unless you attack it deliberately with some anti-glue strategies.
- Figure out where the glue is. Prime locations are the floor, just inside the door of your office, (usually the first flat surface), behind the door, under the desk or in a corner behind the desk. Often people have a special glue spot on one corner of their desk. You know the one – you are probably looking at it now.
- Designate 15 minutes today to clear this spot. Make sure the items that you clear find a home that they can be returned to every time you use them.
- Designate 15 minutes tomorrow to clear this spot.
- Designate 15 minutes the next day … and so on until the spot is clear of debris, clutter or anything else that may have been stuck there.
- At the end of each day, keep aside 15 minutes to clear this glue spot. Make this a daily ritual.
Glue spots exist, I believe, as a result of our own organizing personalities. Trying to make them go away may be more futile than helpful. Managing the spot will help you to keep yourself and your space organized so that your work life is as productive as possible.
To keep the organizing going, and the clutter at bay, every item needs to go back to its home. for a residential organizing project, next to purging and/or downsizing, much of the work is in establishing a home for everything in your home. Once an item has a home, it needs to return there when you finish using/playing with it.
Again, just a few minutes a day to scan through your home and put things away will take you a long way to a more organized existence. Teach your children from an early age to cruise through the house before bed and put away their toys/homework/books/video games. Assign them a time limit. Keep it simple and commit to completing this task daily.
I am committed to education. Yes, the formal kind our kids attend; for my clients I am committed to educating them with new behaviours and habits to adopt to keep their lives organized. I have heard it said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. If my clients continue to do what they have always done – their lives will once again be full of the clutter that I help them control/purge/manage and they will be no more organized then before we started working together.
This week’s posts will address basic, simple habits to help you keep the clutter at bay. Organizing does not have to be complicated. In fact, the less complicated your routines the more likely anyone – you, your spouse/partner, your children – are likely to follow them. Keep it simple and focused – keep the clutter away.
Habit 1 – Clear the floor.
Spend 15 minutes at the end of each day clearing away the debris off your floor. Start with your bedroom so that you can wake up each morning feeling in control of your clutter – if not your entire life. Put the clothes where they belong: dirty in the laundry hamper, clean back in the closet/bureau/shelf. Put the newspaper into recycling and the magazines/books back on their shelf. Finished with the magazines? Send them to a friend to read. Put away the shoes and boots. When in the kitchen, consider giving the floor a sweep to keep the crumbs and daily food litter under control.
If you have children, they can easily help with this exercise. Bear in mind, it does not need to be a lengthy one. Give the children 15 minutes to run through the house and pick up/put away their toys, books, homework items, sports equipment. Consider giving a reward when they are done like reading them an extra chapter of their book or a Popsicle.
There may be lots of clutter on the floor when your first start. That’s OK. Try this for 28 days without a break and I guarantee you that by day 29 your house will be tidier and you will feel more organized and in control of the clutter.
Today’s book is a little lighter read. Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui, by Karen Kingston is a handy feng shui and space clearing primer. It is an easy read with practical tips in language that is understandable even to those of us who usually get hung up on the direction finding side of feng shui. In addition Karen addresses the background of clutter and helps identify what it is and how it accumulates – all in 163 pages.
If you are in the Toronto area, you may be interested in the upcoming speaking tour of one of Karen’s students. Tracey Stanton will be in Toronto April 18th to 20th and will be teaching space clearing and clutter clearing in a three day workshop. I have recently heard Tracey speak on clutter and space clearing and recommend this workshop to both professional organizers and their clients who are serious about understanding more of the underlying issues of clutter. For more information contact Cecilia Moorcroft at 416 535 6007.
Starting to get organized is sometimes the biggest challenge of any organizing project. Where to start? Which pile of clutter will be demolished first?
There are two places in any home that typically have a big impact on one’s outlook on life – picking up one’s spirits and positive outlook. They are the front entrance home and the bedroom.
The front entrance is a place one’s immediately upon entering or exiting the home – no matter how big or small. Since most of us do this at least twice a day, and many of us several times more often, each re-encounter with the freshly organized space will reinforce your ability to take back control of the level of organization in your home.
Your bedroom ought to be a sanctuary for you; a place where you go for respite, to refresh and relax. When you get a grip on your bedroom organization, you will go to sleep feeling more in control of your life and wake up feeling more organized. What a great way to start the day!
If possible, pick something in these two areas of your home with which to start your Spring into Action organizing project. The temperatures are rising. As you shed those heavy winter coats and feel lighter in the sunshine, so too will you feel lighter and more positive with an organized space.
With spring just around the corner, I felt compelled to use the old cliche “springing into action”. Hopefully the weather is at least sunny where you are reading this – as it is while I write, although still very cold – in order to set you in a spring organizing mindset.
One of the most important elements of organizing is to be confident about your ability to make a change in your life and/or space. To do that, it helps to visualize the space that you have chosen to organize and have a clear idea in your mind of what it will look like in its newly organized state.
Pick the space that you would like to organize. Start small. Look over the space very carefully and take in all the detail you can. Now close your eyes. Imagine each part of the space in its newly organized state. What does it look like, feel like, sound like? How will it work for you? How will your life be different when that space is organized? How will you feel when it is organized? Hang on to those thoughts, the picture and the feeling.
Now go for it. If you become frustrated or discouraged, close your eyes again and return to your vision. Revisit all the detail that your created in your vision of look, feel, sound and function. Then return to your task.
Your space will help you attain the organized life that you desire for yourself and your family.
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?
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!
