“Hunting & Gathering” (a.k.a. Grocery Shopping)

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     My articles over the last few weeks have been about healthy, economical and convenient eating.  This requires three things – planning, know how, and….. food.   Oh, yes, food.  So this week presents more ideas on planning, sharing some knowledge, and converting the food in your kitchen converted into meals!

     If you have started using some of the menu planning suggestions from last week, good for you!  Now, on to the next steps!  When my menu plan starts to come together, I head to the fridge, freezer and cabinets to see what resources I have to work with.  Using what is on hand is the most cost-effective use of stuff.  If I can build an entire meal – carb, protein and veggie or 2 – with the contents of my kitchen, great!  Saved time and money already!  Sometimes I have parts of a meal and just require a few more items.  For example, I have frozen turkey burgers but no buns, so if I add “turkey burgers” to my Menu Plan, I have to add burger buns to my grocery list.

     My hubby and I call grocery planning and shopping “Hunting and Gathering”, which sounds more exciting.  I asked my spouse, the other cook in my house, “what are his favorite benefits of Menu Planning and Planned Grocery Shopping?”  His answers were:  “Fixed yet flexible”, “no surprises”, “everyone on the same page”, and “shopping and menu planning go hand in hand”.

So here are some tips to reap benefits from your Hunting and Gathering, too:

1.  Make your Menu Plan, then make your grocery list:

  • When planning your meals, start with what you have on hand.
  • Using what you have in stock is the best use of your money and your stuff.

2. Embrace your list, and make it work for you. 

  • Standardize your grocery list.  I created a list in MS Excel, based on what we buy all the time.  I typed it once, and now print copies when needed.  If you’d like to see it, I’ll send it to you as an attachment. 
  • You don’t have to go as high-tech as a spreadsheet, but you could write (by hand or in the computer) a regular list and post copies on the refrigerator.
  • Because my spreadsheet reflects my usual shopping (and planning) habits, I can also use it as an inventory, a suggested list, for what I might need.  For example, under “canned goods” I have 3 types of canned fruits I regularly purchase.  I can see what is in the cabinet before my shopping trip, and add items to my list if they are needed. 

3.  Always use a grocery list, but…. Go off list sometimes, to take advantage of store specials and sales.  Never buy something just because it is on sale, though, unless it is something you normally use.

4.  Balance Time and Money

  • Plan your stops:  Save money by shopping many stores for the best deal; or
  • Save time by shopping just a few stores that carry everything you need.

5.  To make Hunting and Gathering go smoother, remember, too:  Don’t shop hungry, shop alone and at off-hours when the store is not crowded, stick to your list!, remember your coupons (another blog some day) and re-usable bags (some stores offer $$ back if  you bring your own).  

6.  Strike a balance between reactionary shopping and perfectionist thinking.

  • Reactionary shopping leads you to the grocery store several days a week at 5 pm with hungry, crabby self or kids, no list and no clue what to buy for dinner.  Or worse, at fast food joints eating stuff that is really bad for you and your family.
  • Perfectionist thinking is different but still a challenge.  We find ourselves pondering elaborate and wonderful recipes for hours, making very complicated lists and plans but not actually acting on them.  Leaving us, again, at the store at 5 pm with hungry, crabby self or kids, now with a ridiculously long list and plan, but still no dinner.
  • So plan, but don’t over plan.  The benefits of these ideas include flexibility and less stress!

7.  I personally need to improve upon #6 and perfectionist thinking.  I hate to go to the store more than necessary.  I pressure myself into trying to have a perfect plan, so that I stress / get anxious when it comes down to actually doing my shopping.

8.  Plus, rising grocery costs and growing teenage boys are making me wince every time I step up to the cash register!  So, to decrease personal stress and stretch those grocery dollars, my goals for the next few weeks are to:

  • Switch from a 2 week menu plan to a one week Menu Plan, running Sunday to Saturday;
  • Use up what we have on hand in a more timely manner, better utilizing leftovers and fresh items like produce and fruit to avoid spoilage and waste.

     I’ll let you know how I progress on my own goals, and I would love to hear what you have to say, too, so please, share!  Talk to you soon, and Bon Appétit!

Menu Planning: The What, Why and How

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I have mentioned MENU PLANNING to a number of people lately, and the responses run between”we love to menu plan, been doing it forever” to “wow, that is something I have wanted to try” to “Menu planning?  No idea what that is.”  

     Menu planning is the strategic planning of your meals for the week.  The small amount of time it takes to plan our meals for the week is a teeny tiny drop in the bucket compared to how much time and money I could waste without planning, running to the grocery every day for something for dinner or heading for fast food, wasting leftovers and not using up the food I have on hand

     Menu Planning enables us to use our resources well, saving time and money, and making the most of our storage space.  If we had special considerations like food allergies or a special diet, menu planning would be even more invaluable, helping us focus on what we can eat, not what we cannot.

So, how do you Menu Plan?  On a piece of paper, blank calendar page or computer spreadsheet:

  1. List the days of the week.  Now set some themes, if you’d like, to make it easier to come up with meal ideas (my biggest personal challenge is just coming up with ideas).  For example, ours are:
  • Sunday:  Family Dinner / New Recipes
  • Monday: Soup / Salad / Sandwiches
  • Tuesday: Italian
  • Wednesday:  Mexican
  • Thursday:  Grill-ables
  • Friday:   Pizza / Lenten Friday
  • Saturday:  Seafood / Grill-ables / New Recipes

2.  Come up with a list of 10-15 Favorites for your family, perhaps in keeping with the aforementioned themes.  I try a new recipe every week or 2, and add it to our list of favorites if the family really likes it. Our Favorites include:

  • Soups / Salads / Sandwiches: Chili, BLTs, Grilled Ham and Cheese
  • Italian:  Chicken Parmesan with spaghetti, Lasagna, Baked Ziti pasta with meatballs
  • Mexican: Taco night (my family’s all time favorite!), taco casserole, chicken enchilada casserole
  • Grill-ables:  Pork Roast, barbecue chicken breasts, steaks, burgers (beef or turkey)
  • Pizza
  • Seafood:  fish tacos, fish filets, baked or broiled fish, shrimp or scallops
  • Sunday Dinner: Chicken Pie, Turkey Breast, Beer baked Pork Chops over rice, Pot Roast, Corned Beef
  • Other: Breakfast for dinner, Anything served with Mashed potatoes.

3.  Next:  Look at your schedule this week and make a note of any special events or arrangements:

  • Sunday:  Family Party in Michigan
  • Monday: CCD  – early / easy dinner
  • Tuesday: Baseball, scouts
  • Wednesday: baseball, client for me
  • Thursday: Band After school, late dinner
  • Friday: 
  • Saturday: (Daniel’s Birthday dinner)

4.  Now, put it all together:

  • Sunday (Sunday Dinner):  Family Party in Michigan – No cooking for me!
  • Monday (Soup/Salad/Sandwiches) (CCD  – early / easy dinner) – Chili / Mac and Cheese
  • Tuesday (Italian):  Spaghetti and Meatballs
  • Wednesday (Mexican): Chicken tacos (make rice and chicken in the morning)
  • Thursday (Grill-ables) (Band After school, late dinner) – Pork Chops and sweet potatoes
  • Friday:  (Meatless – Lent) – Pizza and salad
  • Saturday: (Grill-ables):  (Daniel’s Birthday dinner)  Corned Beef, Mashed Potatoes

 Tips to make it work:

  1. Realize any good plan is a flexible plan.  We use our menu plan as an inventory for what we have on hand.  If my plan for today falls through, I can look at the menu, take an idea from later in the week, and know what else I have on hand to cook.
  2. Enlist Aid: Get your family to help with planning and implementation of menu planning.  With my sons:
    • When they help me plan, they are assured of having at least one thing they really like for every meal, so it is worth it to them to help me out. 
    • In addition, they are more likely to eat a meal they had a hand in preparing.  They are less likely to take issue with a dish if the contents are not a mystery. 
    • They have become pretty good sous chefs, cleaning and peeling vegetables, shredding cheese, reading recipes or directions on boxes, setting and clearing the table. 
  3. Cook dinner in the morning (or the day before):
    • Right now, our dinner hour is crazier than our mornings, so we get creative! 
    • Anything taking  more than 30 minutes to make is relegated to the weekend or a different time of day.  We love Spanish rice with our taco night, but it takes 35 minutes to make, so I make it in the morning and leave it in the fridge to warm up at dinner time.
    • Learn to love your Crock Pot! 
    • I have gone so far as to assemble 3 casseroles on Sunday for the next three days.
  4. Double up on your prep:
    • Last week I mentioned how we clean and prep our veggies when we bring them home, for healthy snacking.  We shred a cup or two of carrots for recipes later in the week, dice extra onions or peppers, split up meat into appropriate serving sizes and add marinade while frozen.
    • We brown 3 pounds of ground turkey or beef at once, re-freezing it in 1 pound blocks, thawing as needed. 
    • We also cook or grill extra meats to put in salads or soups later in the week.  Which leads me to ….
  5. Get over your LeftOvers.
    • You may have to sell the idea of Leftovers to your family, but they are a valuable component of menu planning.  If it weren’t for leftovers, my hubby would eat out downtown for lunch every day.  At $10 a meal.  Yikes.  And there are days we would starve if not for leftovers!
    • Call them something else, or Pair them with a positive experience.  Instead of left-over night, call it Tater-Tot Night, or whatever will make your own family happy. 
    • Attach them to a reward, to make them more palatable.  Left over night is also dessert night!  (my kids love to make instant pudding.  Go figure!)
    • Pair a left over of one thing with a new side and a new veggies, or make it look different, like grilled chicken breasts from Monday sliced and layered on a Caesar salad on Wednesday.

    1,000 words on Menu planning will have to be enough, I need to warm up my previously prepared dinner and get us out the door to baseball and class.  Try this idea this week, and let me know what you think of menu planning!

Healthy Convenience On the Go, Go, Go!

It has begun.

     What is “It”, you ask?     

     “It”  is Spring Sports Season.  On any given day, we could have 3 kids at 3 games or practices in 2 sports in three different locations.  It really is fun, but it makes scheduling thing like….oh, say….. homework, dinner, orthodontist appointments, haircuts and sleeping a little dicey (that is just today!).

      With this busy schedule, healthy eating becomes much more important and much more complicated.  These growing active bodies need fuel but time is at a premium.   We need quick and healthy food at a reasonable cost.   If this is the crazy season for you, too, or maybe you just want to Make Healthy Eating More Convenient, Read on!

1.  Make your own single serving snacks.  Invest in snack-size baggies or small GladWare bowls with lids (1/2 cup size).   Check out the serving size on your snacks and dole out the snacks into single serving bags or bowls.  Some of our favorites:  dry cereal; prezels; raisins or dried cherries; almonds, cashews or mixed nuts; Chex Mix; cookies (Newtons, Gingersnaps); crackers like whole wheat Ritz and Cheez-its.

2.  Clean and prep food when you bring it home from the store.  My family will eat carrots, cantaloupe, grapes, celery, you name it.  But we have to cut it up first (the boys help me with prep, too!), and put it in single serving baggies. 

3.  Use refillable water bottles.  We all have one, we wash them often, re-fill them, and put them back in the fridge.  When the weather gets warmer and my kids actually need electrolytes (usually they don’t!), I’ll purchase the Gatorade powder packets instead of buying Gatorade at the concession stand, and add the packets to our water bottles.

4 (a).  Make your own trail mix.   We toss some of our favorite things in a bowl, like nuts, chocolate chips, dried cherries or banana chips or raisins, pretzels, teddy grahams, whatever is in the cabinet.  Then we fill up our snack bags and take our favorites with us.   

4 (b). I just started Weight Watchers and it is great, but sticking with the plan makes convenient eating even more of a challenge.  I mix my own trail mix with dry cereal, almonds and dried cherries.  I know how many points each baggy is worth, and the portable snack keeps me from eating junk food I may regret later!

5.  Plan quality, portable after-school snacks:   Add an extra bag to the lunch bag line-up in the fridge (we pack our lunches at night).  Include fruit, juice pouches or water bottles, and some of your newly created single serve snacks.  If you have a cooler bag and plastic utensils, you can add chicken or tuna salad, yogurt, hummus or ranch dressing for dipping your crackers or veggies, string cheese, hardboiled eggs, etc. 

6.  Make the rest of your life more convenient too:

Pack The Magic Bag:  This is the bag that lives in my van during sports season.  Inside you will find: Umbrellas; granola bars and extra water bottles; tissues and anti-bacterial wipes (can you say Port–o-john?); a soccer ball for little brother to play with at big brother’s game; first aid kit with instant ice packs; blanket; small plastic garbage bags for wet, muddy cleats or garbage or whatever; and an extra hoodie for me or a child who gets chilly.  Also in my van, you will find folding chairs.

Just for me in the magic bag, I have:  the master schedule for all teams; a magazine; a WW friendly snack; a notebook for jotting down all the to-do’s that occur to me while I am goofing off at the games; and some mindless busy work, like coupons to cut or blank grocery lists to fill in.

Also in my van is the Homework Bag:  clip board, pencils, pens, eraser, scissors and ruler.  Because who are we kidding?  No, they will not feel like doing their homework after their game.

     So embrace the spring weather and a busy active life style, but do it on your terms.  Maintain quality health and convenience on the Go, Go, Go!

Your Stuff Needs A Home

I was recently reminded of the importance of Assigning A Home for your stuff.  Julie Morgenstern, in her book Organizing From the Inside Out outlines 5 steps to the Organizing Process: Sort, Purge, Assign a Home, Containerize and Equalize.   This week is about Step 3:  Assign a Home.   Why:

  • Assigning a home, accessible and understood by all, helps everyone in the house to put things away where the item belongs and retrieve it again when needed. 
  • It is better to Assign A Home, and perhaps change it later, than to just leave things floating around your house.  Even a wrong home is better than no home at all for an item.
  • If you look and realize that your stuff is floating around your home (sometimes referred to as CLUTTER!), it’s likely because:
  •        You have not assigned a home for your important items; or
  •        You have not committed to or created a habit of putting things away; or
  •         The stuff is not really that important and it needs to go away.
  • Time can be saved when we don’t need to search for lost items, and money can be saved by using what we have and not re-buying lost items.
  • Assign A Home and Only One Home for things, to make it easier to find things and to maintain your stuff. 

When Assigning a Home for your stuff,  Consider who uses the item.  For example:

  • If your item is used by kids or short people (like me) assign a home low; or
  • If your item is used only by adults and needs to be out of the hands of youngsters, store it up high or behind locked doors. 
  • We store breakfast cereal in a bottom cabinet because that is where my youngest son can reach it and he likes the independence of “making” his own breakfast.

Consider the item itself:

  • If it is heavy or awkward, store it close to the ground or on open easily accessed shelves;
  • If it is light, it can be stored higher up;
  • If it is fragile, keep in out of the main traffic areas. 
  • Does it need to be kept dry?  Cool?  Warm? Away for bugs / moisture/ etc.?

Consider how you use the item:

  • Our backpacks are stored by the back door, because that is where we use them. 
  • Everyday shoes are stored by the door, for quick access.  Extra shoes, less often worn, are stored in closets, where there is more storage space. 
  • Once you choose the home for your item, label the home and items to help you and other family members remember what goes where.
  • Also, once you assign a home and label it, you can use the absence of something on a shelf as a chance to inventory your stuff. 
  • Understand the value of Assigning A Home and putting things away.  If you want to find an item again, you need to commit to putting it in it’s home.  I know it is tempting to just not put Anything away, but leaving everything out DOES NOT help us find the important stuff again.

     Real life:  While on vacation last week, Assigning A Home to certain items was so helpful.   As at home, we establish one place for family dirty laundry, which makes it easy to do the laundry, find lost items and re-pack when it is time to leave.  My hubby and I assign a home to cell phones and rental car keys, so these important items don’t get lost.  Also, as at home, all bags for leaving (like the beach bag or backpacks and my purse) are kept near the door to ease transitions and help ensure we actually get where we are going in a timely manner.

     If your stuff is important enough to keep, It deserves a home.  Assign a Home to your Stuff, and stick with putting it away!

Organize your Medications for Poison Prevention Week

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The last full week in March is Poison Prevention Week.  Don’t just take my word for it, check out the Illinois Poison Center at http://illinoispoisoncenter.org/, or the national website http://www.poisonhelp.hrsa.gov/  . You can sign up to receive information, stickers, worksheets – all sorts of great information to keep you safe and informed.

Spend a little time this month organizing your medications and make your home safer for yourself and your family.

Medications and Supplements: 

How to Store them:

  • Bathrooms and kitchens, the most common places in your home to find medications and supplements, are often the worst places to keep them.  Heat and humidity can cause the drugs to deteriorate.
  • Store medications and supplements in a cool, dry and dark place.
  • Keep medications and supplements in their original packaging, or keep the original packaging with warnings, usage information, and serial numbers for future reference.
  • I don’t take medications, but I do use a sorter for my own supplements.  The sorter and all of the supplements are kept on a high shelf, all together, with original packaging.  For the longest time, I thought I am too young to use a pill sorter!  They remind me of my dear grandmother.  But it has really helped me take my vitamin supplements more regularly, handle them all less often but with more focus, and they travel so much easier all doled out in their little compartments instead of in their bottles!
  • A woman at an Organize Your Kitchen classes let out a whoop when I mentioned keeping medicine and supplement bottles in a small bin or basket in her kitchen cabinet.  Now, we have fun in my classes, but folks rarely let out a whoop.  She really loved the idea of having all the little bottles corralled in a basket, for ease of use and storage.

What to discard and how to discard it:

  • Check expiration dates on all products, prescription and OTC, and discard if the date has passed.
  • Discard syrups that have separated, pills that have turned powdery, adhesive tape that has yellowed.
  • Don’t flush: Flushed medicines can end up in the groundwater supply and can cause problems for local wildlife.
  • Don’t throw away medications, they may pose risk to children or animals.
  • Return to pharmacy or research disposal programs. Ask your sanitation department about “household hazardous waste collection.” Or, inquire at pharmacies and hospitals for collection programs.
  • Again, the Illinois Poison Center website is http://illinoispoisoncenter.org/
  • If you must trash them, keep them in original child- proof containers and scratch off any personal information.
  • Add water to pills and flour to liquids to they cannot be reused.
  • Double-bag, and keep separate from food garbage.

Another Potential Danger in the home may be your Cleaning supplies. 

How to Store Them:

  • Designate just one or 2 places for them to be in your home, so it is easier to monitor what you have.
  • In our home, the cleaning supplies are either locked up under the kitchen sink behind child-proof locks, or on a tall closet shelf.
  • They are out of reach of little hands, and are all together in 2 bins – one for every day cleaning supplies, and one for the exceptions, like rug and upholstery cleaner, rubber gloves, etc.

How to get rid of them:

So, here is your call to action, readers.  Preventing Poison tragedies is everyone’s concern and business.  Take 5 minutes or an hour, and make your home, family and our environment safer.   Thanks!

Organize to Your Family’s Learning Style

     I took a class recently on Organizing to specific learning styles.   There are three main learning styles: auditory, visual and kinetic. 

  1. Auditory learners prefer to hear or speak messages;
  2. Visual learners learn by seeing and / or reading; and
  3. Kinetic learners learn by doing and by moving around. 
  4. The most prevalent styles in the general population are visual and auditory learning styles. 
  5. And we all may have strengths in more than one style.

      This is good information for all of us to understand, that different people learn in different ways.  As a Professional Organizer and as a parent, I use this knowledge every day because everyone I encounter has different strengths in learning styles.  Every day, I need to remember to communicate my messages to them in their learning styles, if I expect them to learn and understand me.

      As Mom, as She Who Sets The Schedule, I took a few moments this week to fix some glitches in our morning routine.  With each of my sons’ combinations of learning styles in mind, we made some changes. 

 Visual:  
     It’s spring.  Every morning, my hopeful middle son asks what the temperature is, to decide between winter coats or the preferred Hoodie sweatshirt to wear to school.  Every morning he asks, multiple times until he receives a response, regardless of what I may be doing at that moment.  So, I am using the large bathroom mirror and a dry erase marker (favorite organizing tool ever!!) to daily publish:

  • Today’s Forecast
  • Reminders: e.g., Monday is Dress Like a Rock Star Day
  • Schedules for School and afterschool:  D – Band Today, A – Book Club after school, J – Scouts Tonight!
  • Projects:  A – don’t forget your book report

     Also, I thought we could learn from our favorite hotels – I started laying out all the breakfast stuff on one counter – toaster, bread, bagels, cereal, hard boiled eggs, fruit, bowls / plates / cups.  It has been days since anyone has asked me what was for breakfast!  They all see their options in front of them, and can choose.  My youngest actually asked to take his vitamins the last two days, and everyone has been eating more fruit.  Win-win!

Kinetic:  
        Things have changed for us since the beginning of the school year.  All 5 of us now shower in the morning, even the youngest.   Now, everyone heads out the door in the morning sans bed-head and smelling sweetly (I have a teen and a pre-teen boy.  Nuf said.). 
     Logistically, this requires that I take on a better habit for all of us (especially if we want hot showers).  I get up and get in the shower, at 5:45 am, without thinking about it – just doing it.  Kinetic learning.
     The older boys have been relegated to shower downstairs, to keep the upstairs bathroom free for the little guy and for all of us to finish getting ready.

Auditory:  
       I set the kitchen timer for noon the other day, so even though I was not home, the boys would eat lunch at noon and be ready to leave when I got home to pick them up at 1 pm.  And it worked!  Gotta try that again soon!
      Also, my teenager has been verbally objecting to expectations lately (yes, I know, he is a teenager) because I have not told him of upcoming events.  He feels I am springing these things on him.   So he will be keeping a copy of the family schedule in front of him for a few weeks, and reporting verbally to me and the rest of the family what is on the schedule for the day and the week.  He felt he did not have enough information, I have a feeling now he will think he has too much.  But too bad!

     So, remember that we all learn in different ways.  And we can use this information to teach and communicate better with the people in our lives!

Refine Your Bill-Paying Process

     Refine Your Bill Paying Process: I can’t pay your bills for you, sorry about that. But I can help you pay your own bills better, saving time and money on late fees, and decreasing stress. Here are 7 tips, and a case study for you to think about.

1.  Have one and only one place to stash Bills To Pay:  Where do the bills and mail tend to land? Dining room table? Kitchen counter? Hall table by the door? Everywhere?!?!
     • Decide on one and only one place to put your Bills To Pay.
     • Make it convenient, well-marked and attractive, if it is going to sit on a counter or table top.
     • Make sure the bill-payers/mail-openers know where the One Place is, and that they use it every day to tuck in those Bills To Pay.
     • When it comes time to pay the bills, it is a simple matter of grabbing them all and paying them, instead of searching the house for them or losing them!

2. Be Proactive:  Have a list of all the bills you pay, every month and irregular ones, too, like insurance or tuition. If you have not received one when it comes due, call your vendor and request it. There have been months when we’ve not received certain bills in the mail, and if we had not called about them and made the monthly payment, we would have been charged a late fee.

3. Electrify your Bill Paying:   There are two ways to set up your Bill-payments online:
     • One, set up your payments with your vendors (like Nicor, ComEd, Kohl’s, etc.), to take the payment from your account. Or
     • Two, Set up with your on-line banking to pay the bill. You set the amount and the date of payment, then the bank sends the money.
     • I prefer the second way, for a couple of reasons: It seems safer for your bank to send the money instead of all these vendors being able to request money from your accounts; and if you change banks or account numbers, you only have to re-set your on-line banking information, instead of contacting each vendor with the new information.

4. Spread out your Payments: Sometimes it seems that everything comes due at the same time! In our household, we get paid twice a month, so we prefer to have half of our bills due at the beginning of the month, and half in the middle. You can contact your vendors and request a billing cycle change, to help you budget more wisely. Some due dates cannot be changed, but some can, all you have to do is ask!

5. Put Bill Payment Day on your calendar:
     • Make an appointment every week or every pay period to pay your bills.
     • Perhaps it is every Tuesday evening, or the 1st and 15th of every month. Whatever works for you. Just put the appointment on the calendar, and make sure to do it!
     • Don’t Re-act to bills. Don’t pull out your check book, stamps and calculator every time a bill shows up. Once a week is often enough, you want to pay your bills more efficiently, not more often!

6. An easier way to file your Paid Bills:
     • Filing is for retrieval, not for long-term storage. We keep paid bills for a predetermined time (let’s say 2 years) for “Just In Case”. Just in case we need to answer a question, return an item, or call for service. And that’s just fine.
     • However, we can simplify the filing process by filing our bills by month.
     • For regular monthly bills, set up 12 envelopes, file folders or pockets in a binder, one for each month. Name each month for 2011 “Month name – odd year”, and stash your paid bill stubs and receipts in this file. Set up a second set for, you guessed it, “Month name – even year”.
     • At the beginning of 2012, start filling the Even Year envelopes or binder. At the end of 2012, go back to the Odd year envelopes or binders, shred the contents (by then, up to 2 years old) and start fresh for 2013.
     • Yes, you really do have to file. But, when “filing” is simply putting everything in one folder and (probably) ignoring it for 12-24 months until your system reminds you to purge it, that sounds pretty easy to me!

7.  Monitor your credit rating.  Illinois residents are entitled to a free credit report every year from each of the three credit reporting agencies. Request yours every year, and make sure there are no mistakes, unresolved issues or mysterious entries.  The three credit agencies are  Equifax; Transunion; and Experian.

Case Study: A friend mentioned that she wanted to improve on her bill paying process. She pays her bills online, and stores her paid bills near her computer. Her Bills To Pay are on her dining room table, rooms away from the computer. Sound familiar? Sure, because lots of families use similar systems, and actually it is a good system. Having the bill payment and the paid bill storage together is a great idea, so that works. Having the bills on the dining room table may be the sticking point, though. Like any system, paper management requires us to create and stick to some good habits. So to solve that problem, she (and we) could try:
• Creating an attractive basket or handy envelope to collect the Bills To Pay (and nothing else!) near her mail-processing place, for her and her husband to stash all unpaid bills.
• This friend also mentioned episodic bills, not just regular monthly bills, like activity registrations, etc., and to help with that, perhaps she chooses the “once a week” bill payment schedule, for those things that come up between paydays.

Life Lessons I’ve learned from my Tennis Lessons

     I am taking Tennis Lessons, thanks to a lovely Christmas gift, and I love Tennis!  I have learned a lot, too,  and not just about Tennis!  So here are… 

Life Lessons and Organizing Tips my Tennis Lessons have taught me (and how you can learn from them, too)

  1. “Follow-through is critical to success”. 
    • When you swing a tennis racquet, much of the force that carries the ball over the net comes from using the momentum from the entire swing, the entire range of motion.
    • Follow-though is critical to success in Life and organizing, too! 
  2. “Approach the ball the same way every time, regardless of where it comes from.”
    • Good habits make everything work better
  3. “Sometimes an ugly (incorrect or awkward) swing still gets the ball over the net.”
    • This tells us that we don’t need to be perfect to get the job done. 
  4. “A loose grip on the racquet is better than a tight grip”. 
    • A looser grip, or letting go of perfectionism, allows for flexibility in tennis and in life.
  5. “Using new muscles gets easier over time”.
    • My forearm was really sore after my first two lessons, but now even more strenuous lessons don’t bother me at all.  So if we use our “organizing” muscles regularly, that will get easier, too!
  6. We can all learn new skills, at any time in our life.
    • In the context of Life and organizing, this is reassuring and motivating.  We can learn to do almost anything, if we try and if we practice!
  7. New is fun and empowering!
    • Exposure to new things and ideas and people help us to think in new ways about our life.
    • I never thought about taking Tennis lessons, but my wise and wonderful hubby signed me up as a Christmas present.  And I love it!  And learning these new skills reminds me how great it feels to face and conquer new challenges.  We don’t know if we can do a thing until we try, and then we know we can do anything!
  8. Making a Healthy Choice feels great!
    • I have learned things from the wonderful people in my class, too!  There is the instructor and just three of us in the class, me and two life-long friends.  These two friends used to meet once a week for breakfast, and were finding that the time spent together while eating was not helping their health and wellness!  So they chose to swap out their huge breakfast once a week for tennis lessons instead.
    • I love that!  The time and money spent are about the same, and they are keeping the tradition, the appointment with a friend.  But they chose to make it a new and healthy habit, too.    

     So, if you want to take up tennis, great – I’ll see you on Tuesday mornings!  But you can learn Life Lessons without ever picking up a racquet.  And maybe trying something new can change your outlook on life, too!

Are You Drowning in Kid Papers?

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      A friend recently stated she was “Drowning in Kid Papers”, and I know we all feel that way some days.  So let me lend a hand and pull you out of your paper flood!  

     There are 3 kinds of papers:  Archival, Passive and Active.  Most of those Kid Papers bogging you down are Active Papers.  Active Papers require a next action and soon!  They are items such as permission slips to complete; a party invitation that requires a phone call, and then a trip to the store for a gift; coupons to take shopping and redeem;  and bills to mail, etc. 

     How do we get to Act on these Papers?   Decide on One and Only One place for these papers to live.  In our house, the active papers live on the kitchen desk (our Command Center).  They live in Only One Place because that makes acting on them a lot simpler!   And This One and Only One Place is also where all papers land when they come into our house, either via our mail box, backpacks, work briefcases, etc. 

  1. Use the Steps from Julie Morgenstern, Organizing From the Inside Out:
  • Sort and Purge – Make purging easy:  What can go now?  Trash?  Shred? Recycle?
  •      Complete forms and put right back in the backpack (we keep envelopes and small $$ in the desk drawer)
  •      File school papers right away. 
  • Sort the rest into Active, Passive and Archival papers
  •       Put away passive and archival immediately
  •       These are Active papers, so sort them by action:  Calls to make, Forms to complete.  Or, Sort them by when you want to Act on them, By Day:  I have a file for each day, so if I have calls to make, I’ll tuck all those reminders in this week’s Thursday file, when I know I will have an hour at home to make the calls.  Or, The Best idea:  Act on them RIGHT NOW, if you can, and move them along.
  • Assign a Home / Containerize:  Have a work space the whole family knows about, and if it tends to be a kitchen counter, so be it.
  • Equalize (Means Maintenance):  Regular maintenance is vital to any paper management system, so plan to act on your Active Papers every day or two, and to look at your Passive Papers every month or two.  Purge the information that is no longer important to you or that is about events and seasons now over.  Every Friday we clean out backpacks and folders, with my sons standing next to me.  We use four categories: Papers for Mom to Act On, Recycle/Toss, File (keep) and Homework to Complete. 

       Here are some examples of files on my kitchen desk, use them as inspiration to create and name your own files:

  1. “To File – Child’s Name” files, one for each child. I fill this file during the week as backpacks come home with papers, then file the items in a bin on each child’s closet shelf when I clean house (every week or 2)
  2. “Academics – Child’s Name” file, one for each child, for quarterly assessments, certificates, awards, etc. throughout the year.  These become part of their Archival records in their binder.
  3. Kids Activities: Current team rosters and contact lists, receipts for paid fees, raffle tickets, etc.
  4. Kids (Possible) Activities (for ideas when they come in the back packs or mail)
  5. Kids Extra Pix (pictures people give us through the year, extra school photos)
  6. Kids Religious Education (handbooks, general information)
  7. Kids Music (handbook, repair information, copies of completed sign ups)
  8. Kids Gifted Program (handbooks, overviews, resources)
  9. Kids Boy Scouts (contact information, handbook and yearly info)
  10. Kids Service (ideas for service projects, things to do)
  11. Kids School (handbooks, schedules, Principal notes and newsletters, sick child policies)

I also have a file holder on the desk, for general Family files.  All of these are accessible to all family members.

  1. Family: Adventures (ideas for places to do and things to do, parking passes, free day passes, etc.)
  2. Family: Events (guest lists for RSVPs; info or permission slips from venues, menu and party ideas for upcoming events)
  3. Family:  Home Improvements (ideas like paint colors or new front door brochures; active bids for projects, info on a new couch)
  4. Family:  Memberships (membership cards and literature for aquarium, zoo, museums, etc.)
  5. Family: Menus and coupons (take out and catering menus, along with coupons and such)
  6. Family:  Recipes (finally, some place to toss all the recipes I grab out of magazines, in a place where I can actually flip through and try them out!)
  7. Family:  Travel (travel info and packing lists for upcoming trips, accessible to me and my hubby, file goes on vacation with us)
  8. On a clip above the desk, we have upcoming event information, in reverse chronological order.  These are just for information purposes, Actions have already taken place:
    1. Invitations I have already responded to
    2. Newsletters from the library, with events I have signed up for circled or initialed
    3. forms to be turned in, like registration, with the due date noted on top
    4. Look ahead to tomorrow’s schedule

      Archival Papers are those items worthy of Long Term Storage, For example: mortgage papers, wills, passports, birth certificates, etc., and annual tax papers (for 4-7 years).  We store archival papers in small and movable labeled bins (not too big), file cabinets, or bankers boxes.   Archival Kid papers could be Keepsakes and treasures from each school year.  A great way to store those are Binders (a separate blog published 2/20/2011)

     Passive papers will most likely not be needed or retrieved except for disposal.  We keep them for a pre-determined amount of time and then discard.  Passive Kid Papers include: Completed everyday assignments and art projects; Yearly school handbook; contact lists for teams, or schedules and calendars (after we input the information into our date book / PDA of choice).   Here are a couple of ideas for How to take care of Kid Passive Papers:

  1. Short term – Open file holders on the desk or counter top, see above for suggestions 
  2. Monthly “Reminder”  files – a file for every month, for upcoming events, reminders, deadlines, etc. more than a month away (birthday party ideas and gift ideas are great to pop into monthly Reminder files).
  3. Also, if your young Picasso’s artwork and projects are gumming up the works, keep a few from year to year, or save them all to review in June, after school is over, and have your child pick their top 10.  Or, take a photo of the artwork or project, and print up and keep the photo as a memory (then you can toss the big cumbersome original)

     So, friends, if you, too, feel like you are “drowning in Kid Papers”, consider this your Life Preserver!  Spend a little time setting up your space to manage the deluge, and then spend a little time every day maintaining, or “staying a-float”.   Peace to you – Colleen

Bind Up That Paper Monster!

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Published originally in July, 2010 via  my website.   Copyright © 2010 M. Colleen Klimczak

 

I hear paper management questions all the time:

  • “What do I do with my kids’ school papers?”
  • “I cut out lots of recipes, how can I remember to use them?”
  • “How do I store my papers so that I can find things easier?”
  • “Maintenance is a pain – how can I make it go easier?”

            The answer to all these questions can be “Binders!”  Early on in my business, a friend and client helped me embrace the idea of Binders, so thanks to DCD!

 When to use a Binder system:

  • When you work with categories, like Children’s School / PTA or Medical Papers, 2009;
  • If you are a visual person or prefer to see your papers instead of filing them in file cabinets;
  • When you want or need your papers to be portable;
  • You have space limitations, binders work well instead of large file cabinets;
  • When you don’t have a system that works, or are ready to try something different to get a handle on your paper management (WHICH MEANS ALL OF US!).

Why use a Binder system:

  • You can read your information like a book;
  • You can organize your information how it makes sense to you;
  • Binders are Portable, to work on when you are on vacation, when you travel, when you are out and have some time while waiting, etc., or to take with you to doctor’s appointments;
  • Binders are Flexible, you can add or subtract folders as life evolves;
  • Binders are Duplicate-able, meaning if they work for one family member’s medical issues, perhaps you can use them for other areas of your life.

Situations that might benefit from a Binder System:  I use them for:

  • Working with categories, like
    • Children’s School / PTA or Medical Papers, 2009
    • Class topics / presentation notes, organized by topic
    • Recipes, like Main Dishes, Appetizers, Desserts, Beverages, Family Favorites
    • Children’s academic papers, organized chronologically and by child (see below for example)
    • For Bills, organized in pockets in the Binder…
  •  
    •      Chronologically by year, then by vendor
    •      Chronologically by year, then by month
    •      Use pockets for pen, calculator, check book, stamps / address labels

How to set up a Binder system:

  • If you don’t have Binders and accessories at home, take a trip to the office supply store.
  • Pick up a few 1”-3” 3-ring binders, a 3-hole punch, a stapler, 2 or 3 sets of binder pocket folders with tabs, plus pens and notepapers.
  • Sort your papers into categories, if you have not done so already, and pick a category like “Your Name – Medical” to try out the Binder idea.
  • Within my Colleen- Medical binder, I have clear binder pocket folders labeled:
  • An example of a non-medical Binder is a Binder for each student in your home.
  • As my kids get older and involved in more academic and leadership opportunities, it is so easy to access their report card history, special achievements and activities, since all the information is already grouped together.
  •  
    • Insurance Statements from my insurance company
    • Bills or statements from my physician appointments
    • Completed / Paid bills for those insurance statements and paid bills, once they are matched up and paid in full
    • Notes or articles I want to ask my doctor about
    • Articles about things I want to learn more about, like Heart health or weight loss
    • Other items might include pre or Post-operative instructions, prescriptions to fill, information about prescription meds I am taking, etc.
    • You can also keep your lab results or similar items in a binder, to make it easier to flip through them and review your progress over time.
  • We have 3 sons, therefore 3 Binders on the shelf in the kitchen.
  • Each child has a Binder, and in that Binder is a pocket for each school year.
  • We 3-hole punch the various papers or use sheet protectors (also available at your office supply store) to store awards received, newspapers articles, school pictures in photo pages, grade reports, team pictures from sports, notes, etc.

     Imagine the Binder system is like the main drive and folders in your computer.  The Binder is the main drive, and the binder pocket folders are the sub-directories for different areas of your life.  Think about the different areas, the “categories” of your life, and give paper management and a Binder system a try! 

Published originally in July, 2010 via  my website.   Copyright © 2010 M. Colleen Klimczak