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.
Archive for organizing strategies – Page 4
I’m staying on the limited real estate theme today. With a small desk/work space, it is more important than ever to ensure all your work tools – pens, rulers, paper, drafting tools, memory keys – are as contained as possible. When small items have a home to be returned to, they are less likely to wander around your work space.
The containers for these items could be anything at all that works for you. If you are using vertical storage space, you will want something the fits on the space and is easy to get to. If the work space is in the open and subject to the public eye, you may choose decorative containers. If you have only yourself working in the space, why not use a clear container to help you locate what is inside.
If you are a tosser and dropper, and not likely to open a lid to put something away, then use open storage like bins, open boxes, baskets or a similar item. Once again, make sure the items you use on a regular basis are at your finger tips and the items you use occasionally are not sitting in prime real estate!
While there is no doubt, many of us print as little as possible, sort only what we can’t avoid and file what is left over, paper seems determined to be here for a long time. As a result, paper files are still an organizational structure that must be managed.
Here is a tip to limit the number of file folders that end up in the recycling. When labelling the folders, use a file label to write on. They are readily available from most stationary or business supply stores like Grand and Toy or Staples. If you put the file name right on the label, when that file is finished, the file folder can easily be reused by simply putting a new file label over the old one.
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?
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?
Whether of not you have issues with paper, you probably have both paper clips and staplers in your house/office. Many people are in the habit of paper clipping sheets together because it is quick, easy, they wan’t the sheets together and may want to unclip them in the future.
Watch out for those paper clips adopting other documents. Use staples whenever possible over paper clips as the latter will often “clip” up another document that is not meant to be clipped to it. Most recycling opportunities will now take the staples with the documents.
I am often told by clients that they can manage to keep one but not both of their information filing systems up to date. Either the paper files are comprehensive and up to date or the e-files are organized and up to date. Often clients find they can’t keep them both organized.
A good rule of thumb is to try and mirror your e-file structure to your paper file structure. Give your brain a break and make the sorting process as easy as possible for both electronic and paper files by using just one structure.
Then remember to schedule a regular if not frequent purge.
