Category: Organize Your Stuff

Conquer School Papers! (from finish to start?!)

Last week, my friend Julie mentioned “the back to school paperwork is out of control”.  Since she mentioned this on her birthday, this week I am offering tools for conquering school papers, for Julie, and Nancy who shared her paper management questions and Hershey Pumpkin Spice Kisses at the soccer game.

School papers.  Ugh.  I get it, trust me.  Three boys, 3 schools, 3 team schedules, Religious Education, Boy and Cub Scouts (did I mention I am a den leader and Cubmaster this year?!), 3 choirs, 2 bands, blah, blah, blah…

But be strong, friends, you can clean up those school papers, and here’s how!  (I’m starting with the end, in case you’re in a hurry!)

The vitally important final steps to successful School Paper Management are:

  • Put everything away.  AWAY.  File what needs filed, purge what needs purged, put the bills-to-pay with the other bills-to-pay,put academic papers in each child’s binder (past blog on binders). AWAY.       You’ll have a small pile of papers that represent actions to take or information to add to your calendar. That’s it.  Everything else goes away.
  • Make and keep a daily appointment to add info to your planner and to fully complete the action papers and send them on their way.  Complete forms and return to school; follow up on memos; send the emails, place the orders.  No, really.  Get things all the way done, and file what is left.  And then give the nice clean counter or desk a pat, turn off the light and go to bed.

Now, back to the beginning:

Pick a location to collect and process your papers.  Outfit that location with a garbage can, recycling bin and shredder.  Consider them all pets that need regular feeding, and make sure to toss, recycle and shred often!  In addition, assemble the following:

  • Your papers and mail (obviously) in Mom’s InBox (I just have a spot on the counter, but you can get a real in-box if you would like);
  • Your mom-file (Are you drowning in Kid Papers?  http://colleencpo.wordpress.com/2011/02/22/210/)
  • Stapler, paper clips, pen;
  • Calendar or planner;
  • Check book, and an envelope of small bills.  During the school year, I always seem to send in $4 here for one little thing or $7 there for another.  We keep an envelope with $20 worth of small bills in the desk drawer to keep our tasks / sign-up sheets / permission slips / raffle tickets / etc., moving along.

Process your papers once and only once a day.  Save time and hassle, and wait until ALL the papers have arrived for the day, in the mail and backpacks.

Dedicate 10 minutes a day to process your papers, maybe 15 to start.  Sort through everything, and make decisions today, right away.  There are only a few options for your school papers:

  • Recycle, toss or shred what you can.  Ads, unsolicited mail, catalogs, notices for activities your family does not participate in (father daughter dance?  Not this house.  Martial arts classes? Been there, tried that.)
  • Actions to Take / Stuff for Mom or Dad:  permission slips, forms to complete and send back, order forms, checks to write, memos to read, etc.
  • Dates and contact information to add to your calendar / planner.  Make a habit to commit everything to your calendar / planner, so you can trust the planner when you need to make decisions.  This is the best time-saving organizing tool you can use. Keep paper schedules or memos as back up, if you feel you need to, but file them – do not put them back in your pile.
  • Homework to complete – hand this right back to your children, unless they are 6 and under!
  • Completed and graded daily assignments / homework. For goodness sake, get this out of your in-box or to-do pile.  Look at it, commend or comment with your student, and then file it for a predetermined amount of time (we purge all but the treasures after the end of every quarter).  Put one a week on the fridge if your student reallllly wants to see it.
  • Important documents (certificates, records or report cards).  File until the end of the year or longer.  We have binders for each student, with pockets in the binder for papers from each school year. (“Bind Up That Paper Monster!”  http://colleencpo.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/bind-up-that-paper-monster/)

     And the two most important final steps to successful School Paper Management are.. oh, right, you already know those.  Now, no more dawdling, take courage and go tackle that paper.  Let some go, get some done, and put all away!

10 Habits for the Organized Student at School

It is vital for a student’s academic success
to find what they need when they need it.

     I offer a class called NAPO In The Schools, a service project through the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO.net) geared towards helping 3rd-5th graders get and stay organized.   Establishing organization skills early helps in school and in life.  I spend 50 minutes with the student groups helping them to positively answer:  “Can you find what you need when you need it?”

     Here are 10 suggestions to help your student ‘find what they need when they need it’ at school.

Time Management:

1.  Take a minute every day to tidy up your desk or locker and get rid of trash.  Maintenance is worth the time investment. 

2.  Break big tasks into little manageable pieces:  For example, if you are working on a book report, reading a chapter a day is good for your final grade and personal satisfaction, instead of skimming in a hurry the night before a report is due.

Stuff Management:

3.  When it is time to move, either from class to class, or when you are heading home for the day, think ahead to your next activity, and grab all the stuff you need, so you don’t have to come back for anything.

4.  Make it easy to find your stuff.  Color code your notebooks and folders, or at least CLEARLY LABEL each notebook, so you don’t grab the wrong one.

5.  When it is time to go home, go through a check list in your head. Use a memory trick, like thinking about you from head to toe to remember all your snow gear, or thinking about your class schedule to remember your homework assignments

6.  Consider the people around you, and keep your stuff from overlapping into other people’s space.

7.  Keep similar things together.  Like all your soccer equipment in one bag, specifically for that sport.

8.  Store stuff where you need it.  Like the stuff that is to go home in your locker or backpack instead of in your desk.

9.  Designate a spot for the really important stuff and make sure those important things always make it back to that spot.  Always put your house keys or cell phone in the same inside pocket of your back pack, so you can find them when you need them.

10. Keep the stuff you use all the time close at hand.  Like pens and pencils and other small items at the front of your desk, so you can see them and grab them quickly.

So, print these up and present them to your student.  Sit down and discuss with them which suggestions you both feel they have already mastered, and then pick one more to try this week.  Help your student establish organizing habits for success in school and in life!

6 Lessons I Re-Learned This Week.

Over the weekend, I spent some quiet travel time on a time management consultation on …..me!

You see, I went back to high school last week.  I’m not wearing the uniform or walking the halls, which is good since it’s an all-boy’s school, but let me tell you, I am still getting an education!  My son started high school, and I am learning to navigate it as a parent.  I re-learned some life lessons this week.  We don’t always have to learn new lessons, often we need to be reminded of what we already know.  To help you conquer time management challenges at work or at home, let me share what I re-learned this week:

Ask “What are we trying to achieve with improved Time Management?”

     In our case, encouraging independence and responsibility, but also balance and stress reduction for my awesome over-achieving son (though I think I was more stressed than he was).  Let the answer to that question guide the rest of your actions.

Pare down your schedule to just essentials.  

Let me ask you:  If your schedule is insane, what habits are you willing to leave behind, to make room for the important essentials?  Less TV, shopping, Angry Birds or Where’s My Water, Facebook and surfing the web, etc?
For the teenager, TV, hanging out and reading for pleasure late into the night may just have to wait.

Get sleep and good nutrition.

This is critical to all of us, not just teenagers.  Going to bed at a regular time, and making sure your body is fueled with good food empowers us to do more with better focus.

Have the Right Stuff, and Only the right stuff.

My question to you – what do you need to get out of the way, out of your office or home to simplify your life?
Organize your stuff to streamline your time management.  My guy still stumbles over getting dressed and out the door in proper uniform.  This evening, we (he doesn’t know this yet!) are going to clean off his dresser top except for the stuff he is currently and actively using.  We all need to get back in the habit of packing sports and band bags the night before, too, to decrease the last minute scramble.

Ask for help. 

Regardless of what challenge you have, remember you are not alone, and you don’t always have to be the expert.  I need to re-learn this lesson every week because I am terrible at asking for help, and therefore get overwhelmed when faced with a task I don’t know how to complete.  I know I am capable and smart enough to learn, but it feels like it may take FOREVER to get it done.
High school introduced many new, unfamiliar high-tech tools like on-line homework, text books, bulletin boards, etc., and they all required some set up.  My good and tech-savvy husband, the expert in this case, and the teenager spent most of an afternoon getting everything set up all at once, so now we’re good to go.  We just needed to ask the expert.
What is your challenge, and who can be your expert?

Communicate, communicate, communicate.

For the sake of time management, if you need to get something done and someone else is involved in the process, you have to communicate well to get things done.  We’ve had a couple of communication snafus over the last 10 days.  I had a piece of paper he needed, he forgot to tell us about a team event parents were expected to attend, etc.
I was reminded in an article this morning that good leaders use multiple means of communication, all the tools available, really, to get their message across.  So, if you want to increase communications with an individual or group to get things done effectively, find methods they already like and use.
In my son’s case, those methods are texting and using his student planner.  I suggested that my son text me as he remembers something I need to know, or jot it down in his planner if it’s during school hours.  And I admitted to him that I have to write stuff down all the time because I just don’t remember stuff unless I write it down.

  Learn from my experience!  And tell me, what lessons do you find yourself re-learning?  Please share, I would like to know!  You could be in my next blog?

An Organized Work Space for Student Success

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Got students going back to school?  The most important organizing rule for students is to be able to find what they need when they need it (from NAPO In the Schools), whether it’s their backpack or a box of crayons, a scientific calculator or laptop.  That’s why students need a dedicated space for doing homework.  And setting up a workspace at home reinforces to you and your student that learning is important.  We all just want the best for our students.

My friend Lisa asked “how do we make everything accessible to the kids at their workstation? We have half of my dining room available for the boys to use and we want to make it functional and of course, organized” (the question about study habits will wait for another day!  Today is for setting up your student space).

When you are determining the best place for your student to study, ask for their input, so that your solution is one you all can live with.  Think about:

  • Have one specific place for unpacking homework, leaving fewer places to lose things.  We store backpacks by the back door, but unpack them where we work.  All completed work goes back in the bag!
  • Whether the workspace is in a home office, a bedroom or at the kitchen table, remember the basics: comfortable seat and temperature; well-lit; room to spread out; well-stocked with supplies; quiet, or with quiet music on earphones, preferably instrumental.
  • Consistency:  Use the same place every day, and try to use the same times, too.
  • Family logistics:  are little hands (younger siblings) in the way?  Is it noisy or disruptive?
  • Portability:  Does your student stay at more than one home, or do homework in the car while commuting?
  • How much guidance / interaction does your student require with his homework?  If it is a lot, the homework place needs to be closer to you.
  • Learning styles:
    • Recognize there are 3 different learning styles:  visual, auditory and kinesthetic.  Some people (kids and adults alike) learn best by seeing, some by hearing and / or speaking, and some by doing.
    • Recognize we all have one strongest style, but we are a mix of the three.  Therefore, having options for different locations or postures to get through study blocks is a great idea.  So the next time I am tempted to tell my 8-year old to “sit down and do (his) homework”, maybe he would do it better standing up or walking around!  Or, when my middle son is listening to music on his IPod, it just might be helping him concentrate.  The oldest son loved the look of a standing work station online the other day.  He’s also likes to do his homework at the dining room table, but reads sitting up at the foot of his bed.  Variety works.basket
  • Stock with the right stuff:
    • Supplies:  My favorite suggestion for supplies is the homework basket.  Our basket contains pencils and pens, erasers, markers and crayons, 3×5 cards, flash cards, glue, scissors and a ruler.  The basket sits on the kitchen desk when it is not time to do homework (it’s attractive enough to sit on the counter, and not very big), and then we move it to the dining room table (or wherever your student works) after school.
    • On the kitchen desk, there is also a stash of loose leaf paper and a couple of empty folders, for just in case.
    • Computer / internet safety:  Computers in well-monitored family space and not in bedrooms.
    • If you are like us, and use your dining table for homework, have your students spread out on a poster board, and pick up all the work at once and move it to another flat surface when it comes time to eat dinner.
  • For us, homework is done at the dining room table, though you can establish your study space wherever you have space.  I have been strategizing about expanding our study spaces this year, since one son heads to high school and one to junior high.  Both will be spending more time studying, and will need more computer and internet access, too.  We have three computers, but the challenge will be keeping the computers available to the students (as I sit working on my computer at 5:20 on a Monday in my work space!).

If you have a student returning to school, or would just like better workspace for yourself, give some thought this week about establishing good work spaces in your home.  Make sure everyone can find What They Need When They Need It.  We all just want the best for our students!

Wash, Fold, Dry, Repeat. Again and Again…

I love clean laundry.  The sight, the smell, the feel.  Note, I said “I love clean laundry” and not “I love doing laundry”.  But where there are children, there is laundry.  I do a lot, and I bet you do, too.  Here are some ways to make the process go smoothly!

  1. Start with the basics nearby:  clean flat space for folding, hangers and a hanging rod, lot of clean empty baskets, bins for donations or items for repair / dry cleaning.
  2. Enlist aid:  A reader commented that she liked the break down last week by ages on the Kids and Money blog, so let’s try it again with laundry:
  • 2-4 year olds can: Place dirty clothes in the hamper; Select clothes from choices, and put on loose-fitting clothes; Pick out simple outfits (4 years) like shorts, shirt and underwear.
  • 4-5 year olds can: Sort laundry by color; Help put clean clothes away in drawers or on shelves;
  • 6-7 year olds can: Sort clean laundry and socks by person; Drag dirty hamper to laundry room
  • 8-10 year olds can: Fold Laundry; Strip and make bed; Load washer and dryer; Bring clean clothes to room and put them away
  • 11 and above can do all laundry duties, as instructed.

3.  Abandon perfectionism (in some areas):

  • Realize laundry is a process, not an event.  There is no start, nor finish, it just is.  So go do some.
  • Don’t fold more than necessary:  with my first child, I carefully folded every baby item and gently stacked it in its place.  By child #3, I realized that sleepers can be laid flat in a drawer and retrieved just as easily.  Same went for burp clothes, onesies, outfits and washcloths.  My kids’ underwear is still un-folded, stacked flat in their drawer.

4.  But get a little more detailed (in other areas):

  • Keep a stain stick in your hamper, and treat stains right away.
  • Set a timer.  I admit, I often forget I have a load running.  To stay on task, I set and re-set the timer for 30 minutes to remind me to check on the washing machine or dryer.
  • Hang up your hanging clothes immediately upon removing from the dryer.  This eliminates folding time and some wrinkles!
  • Color-code your laundry baskets and hangers by person or destination.  Each of us has a plastic hanger color (green, dark blue, light blue and white), and school or work clothes get hung up on those hangers as soon as clothes leave the dryer.  Then we grab the right hangers by color, and haul our clothes to our closet.
  • Consider the laundry’s end-user, and put outfits together on one hanger for those who need them (like my youngest).

5.  Keep the laundry in the laundry room, if possible.  When my babies were little, I would fold clean laundry wherever they were, and it often stayed there for a long time…. Now I fold everything in the laundry room, and avoid piles found in random places!

6.  Finishing the job means actually putting everything AWAY.

7.  Too much or not enough?

  • You probably have too many clothes.  Helping a client many years ago, I assumed the pile of unfolded teenager t-shirts was on a table.  She admitted the pile was actually THAT tall, with no table underneath.  We purged and donated dozens of t-shirts that day!  If there is not enough room to put all of your clothes away, you have too many.  But…
  • Buy extras of important and regularly worn items like (the right color!)  soccer socks or uniform shirts.  An excellent investment.  Also, buy extras of essentials that need washed after every wearing, like underwear and socks.
  • Purge Regularly.  Keep baskets in the laundry room for Dry Cleaning, or Donations or outgrown clothes. Once the bin is full of “too-smalls”, it gets labeled and put in storage to wait for the next child to grow into, or sent to our little cousin.

I hope you have found an idea or 2 that will help you in your personal pursuit  of clean laundry.  Me, I’ve got to go and fold some towels…

Beat The End-Of-Vacation Blues

Image       We got home yesterday from camp.  Two sons were gone for two weeks, and one son and I were gone for one week.   For the month leading up to camp we plan and dream and get excited, and we have a really great time while we’re there.  So we’re sad when it is over, and that sadness is compounded by the realities of ending a vacation; by 9 am on check-out day, I need to pack up a week’s worth of stuff and clean my little cabin in the woods, then drive 10 minutes up the road and pick up the tired, slightly smelly Boy Scouts with all their gear.  Then we drive 3 hours for home.

I’ve read blogs and tips recently for planning your vacation, but no one seems to talk about organizing the end of your trip.  So let me be the first!

Before you leave:

  1. Tidy up the house and finish all the laundry. Check out these two blogs on the topic: “Did You Remember to Pack the …..”  and “Going Away Checklist” .
  2. Leave yourself frozen meals, or restaurant gift certificates to use upon your arrival (better yet, carry the number to the pizza place and gift certificates with you and pick up dinner on your way home!).

While still on vacation:

  1. Use a laundry bag while on vacation, to keep the clean and dirty separated.
  2. Pack your stuff and luggage (and car, if you’re driving) with unpacking in mind.  Put similar items together.  Put your toiletries in one large bag, and that bag goes straight to the bathroom to be      unloaded.  Our dirty laundry was in two large bags placed right inside the door of my van, to schlep to the laundry room ASAP.

Upon Arrival Home:

  1. Unload the car all the way.  Yes, all the way.  Dirty laundry, apple cores and fast food wrappers really stink after a day.  And it’s easier to get back into the swing of things when stuff is where it belongs.
  2. Start the first of many loads of laundry. My hubby is the coolest, and has been doing laundry for the last 24 hours.

Within a day:

  1. Unpack all your bags and put your stuff way.  Living in chaos makes the end-of-vacation blues even worse.  Yes, put it all away.
  2. Clean out your luggage, vacuum it (I think we brought a pound of sand home from camp!) and let it air for a day or two.  Then store other luggage inside, and put it all away.  Yes, away.
  3. Keep your travel toiletry bag in your bathroom or linen closet, to collect samples and items for next time.

A day or two after:

  1. If you are gone for more than a week, give yourself an extra day at the end of your trip for catching up, doing laundry and generally easing back into real life.  If there is a time difference between home and your vacation destination, expect a day or two to re-adjust for sleeping and bedtimes, too.
  2. Lower your standards for a couple of days, too, sticking with survival mode and the essentials, and slowly easing back into your normal pace.

Finally, make a point to print up those photos, remember your good vacation times and chat about it with loved ones.  Don’t let the end-of-vacation blues taint your good memories!

Legos and Books and Star Wars, oh my! Organizing with Kids

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I organize with my kids regularly, probably more often than they would like.  I remind them that most people have to pay for my services and that they’re lucky I nag / torture / organize them for free, but I doubt they consider themselves lucky.

Image     I do enjoy brief shining moments after organizing when they say “wow, mom, it is more fun to play with my xxx when all the pieces are together”.  I worked with a young client (he is 9) last week, and was reminded of 8 tips for organizing with children (and adults, too!!):

  1. Let them use THEIR words.  Ask your kids to verbalize the benefits of organizing.  If they can’t come up with any, brainstorm together about why they need to organize: it’s more fun to play with toys when all the parts are together, make room for something new, sell stuff to buy more, make room for a sleepover with friends, etc.  Also, use THEIR words for making container labels (and label makers are really cool).
  2. Make it fun:  Play music, use a timer, make organizing a race or game.  Try “Let’s see if we can get through this pile before the timer goes off”, or “Let’s pretend we’re packing for a trip and find the 10 things you want to take” or “imagine your friend is coming over and wants to play Transformers, let’s collect all your Transformers”.
  3. Break big work into smaller pieces: Large projects may need to be broken into smaller chunks, depending on your child’s age and attention.  I can give my 14 year-old a task and a time frame, and leave him to do it.  The 7 year-old requires shorter projects and more assistance.  Let’s say the project is Organize Your Bedroom.  The smaller pieces may be an hour a day: Monday – organize book shelves, Tuesday – dresser drawers, Wednesday – closet, Thursday and Friday – toys and toy box.  By the end of the week, you’ve maintained focus, you and your child are still speaking to each other and the bedroom is organized.
  4. Take Breaks and Schedule your Stop-Time:  When organizing, we all need short breaks (but not too many) to grab a beverage, stretch and regain focus.  And scheduling an Stop-Time gives us all a light at the end of the organizing tunnel, and keeps the kids from losing focus or feeling resentful.       Stick to the Stop-Time even if the project is not done, and come back to it tomorrow.
  5. Law of Diminishing Returns: Decision-making starts slowly, builds in speed, then slows again.  When we start organizing, we move slowly as we define our categories and their containers (like legos, pokemon cards, hex bugs, or books in different piles).  Once we establish categories and containers, we gather speed and make progress.  Then, after the important and easy sorting is done, we are left with a pile of less important, less defined items, and decision-making slows down again.  Don’t get hung up on the un-important stuff.   When you get to that final scruffy pile, put it in a paper bag with today’s date on it, and set it in the closet.  Agree that if your child doesn’t go into the bag looking for something specific within a week or two, you’ll toss it.
  6. Recognize the different ways to sort:  When we started to lose focus the other day, we switched from “pulling out one item at a time and deciding where it belongs” to “look at the pile, and pull out all the books or legos or light bright pegs”.  Both ways are correct, and shifting gears helped us re-focus.
  7. Embrace AWAY:  Make sure the last 10 minutes of your organizing session are spent putting things AWAY.  That is one of the most important parts of organizing with kids, and one that we often do for thm, gloss over, or don’t complete.  AWAY is a wonderful word, an important idea, and kids need to know that AWAY is the end goal.
  8. Make it worth their while.  I don’t pay my kids to organize or complete everyday tasks like cleaning their room or cleaning up after meals.  However… I mentioned to a client that my boys were working on organizing projects while I was working with her, and she asked “What’s the pay-off?”  And      apparently Mom’s Happiness was not what she was suggesting.  So, call it positive reinforcement, and if there happens to be a bowl of ice cream or trip to the local park as a reward for an organizing project done well, maybe the kids will even suggest the next organizing project (a mom can dream, right?!).

Pick a project or two to tackle with your kids, and keep these 8 tips in mind!

Kid Convenience and Nutrition in My Clean Freezer!

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I am the mother of teenage (and younger) boys, which means purchasing, preparing, serving and consuming food, and cleaning up feels like a full time job.  I’ve been strategizing to streamline our schedules and routines, so my first project was to make the kitchen more user-friendly, for convenience and good nutrition, for my boys, starting with the Freezer.

My objectives for the Freezer Clean Out Project were to

  1. make kid-favorites more accessible;
  2. inventory what I have on hand for an upcoming menu planning day / grocery trip; and
  3. purge the icky stuff.

With my objectives in mind….

  1. To start, as with all kitchen organizing projects, I made sure to have a clear work space.
  2.  Image
  3. Next, I put all the contents of the top freezer shelf on the counter.
  4.  Image Image
  5. Then I:
    • tossed the unidentifiable bread products;
    • discarded the excessive packaging from our last Costco bread purchase;
    • was distracted by the frozen raspberries and ½ container of frozen cool whip – dessert?!?
    • realized we have way too many frozen green beans;
    • grouped veggie bags in their bin;
    • re-stocked the breads, and left a loaf out on the counter for a change.  We usually freeze our bread and defrost just what we need, but we use it faster in the summer when everyone is home for lunch (my oldest makes a de-lish grilled cheese!).
    • Note:  Bins and baskets are great in the freezer for lending structure to the slumpy bags, and making it easier to stack and access stuff.  High-end appliances have them built in, but I use bins from Target for the same result.
    • Note:  I really appreciate the removable ½ shelf in my freezer (see photos above), it has been great for protecting our loaves of bread from getting squished.
  6. On to the bottom shelf:
    1. I dumped all the contents on the counter, again, and wiped off the bottom shelf.
    2. Our bottom shelf is mostly meats, so I took out the two baskets and sorted the contents.  I moved the microwave-able breakfast meats within easiest reach of the door, and placed the packaged meats like hot dogs and meatballs in the bin next to that.  The boys now know which bin is which, so if they feel like making a meatball sub or hot dog for lunch, they can.
    3. The  dinner meats are all together, and I’ve noted what we have on hand for making this week’s menu.  Pork Chops anyone?
  7. Door:
    1. This is the kids’ go-to place in the freezer. Upper left bin is designated for buns and bagels, easily visible and accessible.
    2. Upper right bin is for ice packs for lunches and coolers.
    3. Bottom shelf is self-serve for frozen lunch items and snacks.
    4.  Image
  8. Other things I did just this morning, to make good nutrition more convenient:
    • Hard-boiled and peeled a dozen eggs, since since self-sufficiency and good nutrition are the objectives and the little guy is not adept at peeling. The boys love slicing them up for breakfast.
    • Cleaned and cut carrots and veggies for quick snacks, cleaned fruit for the bowl on the counter, and re-stocked the granola / breakfast bar stash.
    • Explained all the updates to my darling children so they would know what and where things are, and would need to bug me less.  I hope. The real test will be in about an hour, when they get hungry.  Again.  Ahhh, teenagers.  Maybe the big guy will make his mom a grilled cheese!

The freezer project took all of half an hour last week, and the kitchen prep time this morning was minimal.  Think about your home and routines – there are probably lots of quick projects you could accomplish together that would make your life simpler, too.  If you need a place to start, check out your Freezer!

Organize Your Car for Summer!

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Your car is an extension of both your home and your self.  And we organize our Car for the same reasons we organize our home and selves:

  • to maximize the space and stuff we have;
  • to allow for new opportunities;
  • for safety sake; and
  • peace of mind.

We had an impromptu tailgate party recently, and it was so easy because I know exactly what is in my car, and it is only what I really need.  It was so gratifying to pop out the folding chairs and waterproof blanket (always in my car during little league season), break out the wet wipes and bug spray, and have fun!

So, I ask you:  Do you decline the benefits of car-pooling, because there is not room for actual people in your car?  Would you be embarrassed to have someone see or ride in your car?  Have you lost items in your car, never to see them again?  Is there a strange smell emanating from under the seats?  Spend a little time getting your car ready for your summer adventures, and be ready for anything!

Getting started:

  1. Organizing your car is just like any other organizing project.  First, think about how you Do and Do Not use your car.  My car needs are pretty basic:  transportation from Point A to Point B, and a temporary holding space for groceries and people.  It is occasionally a changing room on the way from school to baseball practice.  Your car may be for work, recreation, lodging, dining, the options are endless!

Getting it done:

  1. Now,  block out an hour and take everything – yes, everything out of your car.  Immediately throw away the trash and lay  the rest on the ground on an old sheet or drop cloth, if you have one.
  2. Sort what is left, putting similar items together.  CDs in their holder, house items or clothes to take inside, items to be dropped off like library books, dry cleaning, borrowed items or donations.
  3. Based on your deductions and decisions about how you use your car from Step 1, You can now decide what does and does not belong in your car.  For me,
    1. Yes – Water bottles and a small bag of snacks (uneaten) for the ride to and from baseball practice
    2. No –  Bags and bags of un-delivered recycling (a client’s car, not mine!)
    3. Yes – Reusable shopping bags and coupons
    4. No – Dog crate when you don’t even own a dog, or shopping bags still full of new items from 3 months ago that you never took in the house, dirty gym clothes, well you get the picture.
  4. Papers – It is ok to keep some papers in your car permanently.  Maintenance records for work done on your car – yes.  Unopened mail – no.  Also, consider if your car is your mobile office.  That is the only time that papers, files, computer and inventory should ride around for extended periods in your car.  And business papers need to leave the car eventually, too, so you can get your work done.

Putting it Away.  You have cleaned out the car and gotten rid of what needs to go away.

  1. Treat your self and your car to a car  wash, one that does the interior and exterior.
  2. Store stuff where you need it:  Now that you have figured how your stuff fits into the purposes of your car, it is time to put it back!  Out of the items you keep, most of the safety or maintenance items are not needed as you drive and can go in the trunk in a bag.  Keep only what you need to safely drive near you.
  3. Deliver all the stuff that’s been riding around in your car and needs to leave your hands.  Drop off the library books and dry cleaning, mail the mail, take the bags of cast-offs to the charity destination.

Playing it Safe: 

  1. Get a net or a tie down for other items rolling around in your car.  In the event of an accident, anything not tied down can become a dangerous projectile.
  2. According to the AAA website, you should always travel with (All can fit in a crate or bag, secured in the trunk….
    1. an inflated spare tire and jack
    2. jumper cables and flares
    3. flashlight, fire extinguisher and first aid kit.
    4. If it’s winter, you should also include: Coffee Can Furnace (the candle generates heat); Carpet Strips (for traction under drive wheels); Boots; Ice Scraper & Brush; Newspapers (great insulation when placed between skin and clothing); Shovel and Sand or Cat Litter (for traction); Tools; Food & Blanket; Tire Chains (for use on secondary roads only).

So spiff up your ride, and roll down those windows to let the warm weather in!  Enjoy!

Great Big Organizing Secret!

I am going to share a big organizing secret here.  It may rock your world, change your life, make you gasp, so you might want to prepare yourself.  Are you ready?  The secret to an organized life…..is…… (drum roll here) maintenance!  Tah Dah!! (gasps, applause, sounds of disbelief)  Told you it was big.

Ok, so it’s neither big nor really a secret, but Maintenance is the key to making organization stick.

We spend hours on organizing projects, or at least my clients and I do.  We plan, we purge, we organize, we work hard.  But the most important part of the process happens after I leave, the next morning and every day after that.  Maintenance is vital to the success of any system.  Here is an example of maintenance and a great organizing tool, all rolled up into one.

I am a stickler for routines for my family, even during the summer.   It is so easy, too easy, to get off track during the summer months and let maintenance slip.  Without the school day structure, we forget to eat a healthy breakfast at a regular time, abandon basic personal hygiene (I have teen age sons) and generally take too long to get ready in the morning, leaving much undone.  So we turn to our Morning Line-Up.

We use The Morning Line-Up every day:

  1. Starting with a clean bathroom counter, take out all the items you need to get ready every morning and Line Them Up: we’ll call these the Usual Suspects in Your Morning Line-Up.
  2. My Usual Suspects include antiperspirants, Face Lotion with SPF 30, toothpaste and brush, hair product and brush, contacts and solution, lip stain and powder.
  3. Next to these are my kids’ deodorants, toothbrushes and pastes, a comb and fingernail clippers (someone always needs those).
  4. Now, as we use items in our Morning Line-Up, we put the item back in the cabinet (or drawer, or basket under the sink, which ever you prefer).
  5. You can make this even easier by dedicating one shelf / basket / etc. for just your Usual Suspects.
  6. And as a great example of maintenance, the counter is clean again (maintenance) when we are done with our personal hygiene (also maintenance!).

This may turn your usual process upside down, to start with all your items all over the counter, and clean as you go, but it is a great habit to get into.  Think of this in terms of cooking a meal.   Prepare to cook by taking out all the ingredients you need and lay them out in order, then put them away when you are done with them.  That way you can see at a glance what is left to add to your recipe and you have a clean kitchen when you are done, instead of taking everything out as you use it, and having a trashed kitchen at the end.

This idea reaps multiple benefits:

  1. At a glance, I know for certain when I am ready, and I don’t forget things. And I know when I need to nag my sons to finish.
  2. We can add new habits to the line-up, if there is something we want to improve upon. For example, adding floss to the line up at the recommendation of our dentist recently, or when I added contacts and solution when I decided to wear them more regularly.
  3. I have a client cultivating a “Swipe and Swish” habit to tidy up the bathroom every morning. So she adds window cleaner and paper towels as part of her Line-Up.
  4. The Morning Line-Up idea can improve other areas, for example, nutrition. If I get forgetful about my daily vitamins or supplements, I take out the basket containing all of them, and dump it out on the kitchen counter. I put the bottles back in the basket after I take each vitamin, so I know if I am current.

So, give some thought to your routines this week, and how you can improve your current systems with just a little more time and attention to maintenance.    Have a great week!  Off to brush my teeth….