Category: Organized Family

Breakfast Planning: Make It An Easy & Healthy Habit!

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Good morning! I worked with a coaching client last week, and we strategized ways to improve her family mornings. She is very health-conscious and creative, but does not feel creative early in the morning (who does?). So we applied some menu planning strategies to Breakfasts. It was such a great idea that I just had to write about it this week!

Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. It gives our body fuel and sets the tone for the day ahead. And why do we menu plan? To eat well, save time, make healthy choices, save money. Hmmmm…, yep, all of those work for Breakfast just like dinner!

Menu planning helps us to live better, and you can take this opportunity to improve your day. We have two big challenges in our house. First, I am a stickler for a balanced breakfast, supplying good energy and focus through the day.  We all operate best with a blend of fruits or veggies, good and complex carbs, and protein, but a balanced breakfast is not always a quick breakfast. Second, our morning schedule is crazy with 5 different wake times and 5 different start times for school or work. We need to have quick and healthy options that my teenagers can make for themselves.  So here is our plan!

With any menu plan, we start with our schedule. List the days, then list the events, activities or ideas you already have for those days (this is cobbled together from my client call and my life):

  • Sunday: Bagels from a nearby bakery
  • Monday: Smoothie with fruit from Sunday’s Farmers Market
  • Tuesday: Build Your Own Breakfast
  • Wednesday: purely portable, early morning meeting
  • Thursday: Build Your Own Breakfast
  • Friday: Dad’s late morning, he’s making omelets!
  • Saturday: Pancake Morning

Build Your Own Breakfast Ideas: A few years ago I put a spreadsheet on the fridge, to help my boys make healthy choices in the morning. The idea was to take one item from each category to build a better breakfast. The categories are:

  • Fruits: grapes, apple, banana, melon, orange juice, strawberries
  • Protein / Dairy: milk, yogurt, protein shake, peanut butter, bacon, sausage, omelet, hard-boiled egg, cheese stick
  • Good Carbohydrate: toast/bread, bagel cereal, pancakes , waffle, granola bar, breakfast bar

Other Tips to Make a Better Breakfast Happen

  • My kids love staying in hotels and hotel breakfasts. Take a cue from your favorite breakfast bar. We choose foods with our senses. Present good and healthy choices, and that is what your family will choose.
  • Our freezer is stocked with pre-cooked bacon (Costco), microwaveable turkey sausage patties, mini pancakes or French toast sticks (Market Day).
  • The bread basket holds whole wheat mini bagels or raisin bread for toasting.
  • The fruit basket has apples, bananas and oranges.
  • The snack basket has granola bars and protein bars (Nature Valley) and cereal bars (Special K)
  • The fridge holds leftovers (yes, I had tuna salad every day for breakfast last week), peeled hardboiled eggs and cut up cantaloupe.
  • If I am feeling really kind, I make a breakfast egg and bread casserole, and the boys will warm up a piece.
  • I made a coffee cake this evening for a school event, and my oldest son announced he loves that coffee cake and would eat it every day. So, note to self, throw together more coffee cakes and muffins, even healthy ones, and he and his brothers will eat them!

So, pick just one or two of these tips to try this week, to Build a Better Breakfast and start your days right!

You Know Smart, Helpful People. Talk to Them.

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I talk.  A lot.  I strike up conversations with anyone anywhere.  My husband never worries about me being lonely if he takes me to some event because soon enough, I’m chatting with someone.  I meet great people and learn new things all the time.  I don’t talk to people solely for information gathering, but it’s a great side benefit! 

     A client was struggling last week with decision making, and I suggested she gather more information about a particularly important and weighty decision.  Ask the experts.  Talk to people.

     After a personal sharing of parenting struggles last week, a different client said she had never stated these things out loud, and that it is too bad we all don’t talk about these things because we could learn from each other.  Solution?  Talk to people. 

     Recently, a fellow organizer helped me change my NAPO Chicago profile address because I’m eliminating my post office box.  She is considering using a P.O. Box, so she asked why I was letting mine go, and I was happy to answer.  Direct, efficient, weighing opinions and facts – awesome.   

     You know smart and helpful and friendly people.  And if you don’t, well, you probably do, but if you don’t, you know people who know smart, helpful and friendly people.

     We still have to act, of course, in addition to talking, but we can learn a lot from each other if we ask the right people the right questions.  So, talk to people.

Ask Experts.   I don’t know how to set up a limited liability company, but I have a wonderful friend and attorney who does.  I don’t know what authors are popular with young adults, but the nice lady who owns the used book store does.

     I don’t know how to move my porch light to make room for the new awning I want installed, but my friend the electrician does and he’s stopping by later.

     I don’t know if a seller can expect a higher price on their home if they paint inside first, but I have a friend who is both a realtor and a house painter, and he’ll tell me. 

     I don’t know a lot of things, but I do know a lot of people, and they’ll help.  And remember, some suggestions are free and some you have to pay for.  Ask Experts questions, but don’t be a nuisance.

Stretch your mind and stretch your circle:  Sometimes you have to stretch your social circles to broaden your range of answers.  Ask your friends to ask their friends, to stretch outside your usual circle for new insight and ideas.

Talk to people, but consider the source.  Ask for opinions, but recognize that which friends are more negative or positive than others.

Ask for opinions, but be specific.  Your friend may rate a business or experience on criteria other than yours, so ask for specifics to back up a recommendation or referral.  If you are looking for a new physician, specify the type, or your geographical region or insurance provider.  Be specific when you answer questions, too.  I love my pediatrician because he is really good, very close to home and will always make room in his schedule for us.  On the other hand, others might not like that he is quick with his exams and explanations.  So I always tell both sides. 

Talk to yourself.  Yes, I really did just suggest that you talk to yourself.  Some of us are auditory learners, which means we learn by hearing.  When I edit articles or an email, I read the content aloud to determine if I said what I meant to say.  And my family clears the room, like they just did as I edit this article.

     I recently opened up a new business checking account, and had two accounts for a month while the last of the checks cleared the old account.  When I was catching up on my bookkeeping yesterday on Quicken, I struggled for half an hour about how to account for 2 different monthly ending balances, fees paid and reimbursed, etc.  Luckily, I live with a CPA (for whom I am eternally grateful), and I asked him for help.  However, I figured out what I needed to do just by explaining it aloud to him.  Hearing the description of the problem led me to the right solution, while my hubby nodded sagely a lot, and then confirmed that I was correct (which is good, since he’ll have to look at it all again in 10 months at Tax time!!).

     So, if you are struggling this week with decisions or options, look around at the people you know, ask some specific questions, get some new ideas and get talking!

Organize Now: Summer Is Closer Than You Think!

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The title, “Summer is closer than you think”, will mean different things to different people.  Some will dream of lazy days and long vacations.  If you’re a working parent like me, though, the idea may make you anxious, wondering what to do with your kids this summer.

I realize it’s only mid-Spring.  Summer seems far away.  But I also realize that a fun and relaxing (for me, too) summer requires planning.  Parents talk, and a hot conversation topic recently has been “how and what to plan for our selves, our families and our kids for the summer months”.  So whether you only have yourself and your schedule to factor, or you have multiple schedules to consider, there are ways to make the process go smoothly.

Carve out an hour, grab your calendar, a cup of coffee and any information you have collected so far regarding travel, summer programs, camps, etc.  Get input from those involved: for example, my sons and I discuss which activities they would choose.  My husband was in on the planning session this year, which was new and great.  Not that he hasn’t cared about our summer plans before, but until recently, Summer was his VERY BUSY WORK season, and I was the main decision maker when it came to choosing summer activities.

We pulled out actual calendar pages (instead of our smart phones or MS Outlook on my laptop), and wrote out activities and ideas on the paper.  This helped us all to visualize our schedule and make decisions.

Some tips to make it work:

Plan early.  Book your events and activities now.  This helps you take advantage of early bird registration rates, ensures openings so that you or your children can attend the activities you wish, and gives you and other adults a chance to request vacation time.

Ask around.  As I mentioned earlier, parents talk.  We share recommendations for great programs, and also war stories from activities that did not go so well.  We set up car-pools now, and share babysitters and travel advice. 

Set your budget.  Activity and vacation costs can add up quickly if you’re not paying attention.  Set a limit, and stick with it.  We are writing checks this week, towards deposits to complete our registration for a number of activities.  Then we pay the balance when it comes due, which helps to spread out the costs and make them more manageable.

Schedule big, important and unmovable events first.  Work, academic events, graduations, annual family vacations, etc. can often not be moved or missed.  Make these necessary items your first priority.  For example, my oldest son has to take a summer gym / health class to make room for certain honors classes in his Fall schedule, so we had to make room for that class before anything else.  We also schedule events for the extended family now, so folks can “save the date”.

Once we documented our big, important and unmovable items, we chose a couple of weekends to investigate for potential trips.  Which leads to….

Fill in the smaller stuff. Fill in the optional but important items like weekend trips or optional camps.  Finally, make a list of optional, flexible activities.  Call them anticipated spontaneity, if you like.  Day trips, zoo or museum or beach days, evening ice cream runs, sleepovers, movie nights, bike rides, etc.  And leave free space on the calendar.  When I was a kid, my favorite parts of summer was biking around the neighborhood with my friends or lying around reading a book.  Come to think of it, that is still the case!

So, spend a rainy Tuesday planning now, so that you can relax later on a beautiful summer day.  It really is closer than you think!

6 Tips to Tweak Your Weekends!

Recently, my brother and my niece conversed on Facebook about their “Thursday Feeling”.  Apparently, many people experience a lift, a “Whew, I’ve almost made it!” feeling on Thursday as they look ahead to the weekend.  I’m not on board yet with their “Thursday Feeling”.  Improving our weekends is a work-in-progress, so I asked my readers to share thoughts on weekends.

Based on your responses, we would ideally spend our weekends sleeping in, not cleaning the house, accomplishing home projects, playing outside, doing homework (either ours or helping our kids with theirs), shopping, watching movies, relaxing and eating good food and ice cream. Ideally.

Last weekend was just right.  Dinner out on Friday night with family, then an event at church.   Saturday morning, all 5 of us participated in a 5K around our neighborhood, raising money for a local cancer organization.  Then we spent time with my young niece, knocked out an organizing project, took naps and watched movies.  Sunday started with family traditions, then Mass, brunch, and more relaxing.  It was lovely.

In reality, weekends can be hectic and choppy.  Personally, I start out with Cub Scouts on Friday.  We have such a great time, but I am typically in charge of some planning and running our meetings, so when most people are winding down on a Friday, I’m revving up.  Occasionally, I take Saturday clients because that is the only time some of them are available.  Then we, like many of my readers, have multiple sporting or creative events, shuttling the kids here and there, fitting in house cleaning and home projects.  Sundays always start with family and Mass, but may end up filled with work or projects or more commitments.

So how can we tweak our weekends?  Where can we find that Thursday feeling?

  1. Align expectations. Trouble occurs  when I anticipate a lazy weekend, and my husband plans a family day of  yard work.  My teenagers want to sleep until noon, I want bedrooms cleaned by 10 am.  If you share your life with others, make sure to align your expectations with theirs.
  2. Communicate.  A friend shared her family’s weekend strategy with me.  She and her husband have a “meeting” on Saturday morning over coffee to discuss their weekend plans and expectations.  They write down the scheduled events, the need-to-dos and also the hope-to-dos.  She says “It feels good to have a list that we work on TOGETHER”, everybody gets at least a few things accomplished and her family feels better about their weekends.
  3. Don’t schedule too much.  Try to leave some “white space”, as my friend Jan would call it, and choose to relax how you would like.  Be selective when signing up for activities and accepting invitations.
  4. Shop during the week or on-line.  I avoid the mall like the plague every day, but especially on the weekends. Shop during the week when the stores are less crowded.  You can also automate your shopping. I shop on-line with Melaleuca.  I love the household products, but mostly I love that they ship to my house monthly.  I use Reliv as my nutritional supplement. I place my order quarterly and it arrives on my doorstep.  I use Amazon.com for gifts and harder-to-find items.  Less time at actual stores means more time for me and my family, and that is worth any money spent on shipping.
  5. Stick with routines. Schedule at least a few things.  A mother of 4 young sons admitted that she prefers the structure of weekdays.  Everyone seems happier during the week.  Unstructured time is when the kids get rowdy, and sometimes into trouble. Stick with bedtimes and meal times, and I mean all of us, not just the kids!
  6. Find your weekend somewhere else.  Because my weekends tend to be busy and not terribly relaxing, I have worked to find “weekend” time (relaxing and rejuvenating time) during the week.  Every other month or so, I might schedule a massage, or catch a chick flick at the theatre on a weekday (none of the fellows in my house would want to go with me anyway!).

So, what will you try this week to make your weekend better?  How will you promote that “Thursday Feeling”?  Slow down and enjoy!

Menu Planning as a Spring Survival Tool!

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(edited from April, 2011 post)dinner time

A friend called Spring “Hot Dog Season”.  I thought it was in deference to baseball, but it was because with all her family’s activities, that’s all she has time to make for dinner these days.   I recommended Menu Planning, and here’s why!

Menu planning is the strategic planning of your meals for the week.  It 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 to do it?  On a piece of paper, spreadsheet or on this week’s calendar page:

  1. List the days of the week, and set some themes, if you’d like, to help you come up with 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.

3.  Look at this week’s schedule, noting special events or arrangements.  Then 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) – Pizza and salad
  • Saturday: (Grill-ables): (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 for 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. When my sons help me plan, they are assured of having things they like to eat from 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 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, the Crock Pot, 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. I have gone so far as to assemble 3 casseroles on Sunday for the next three days.
  4. Double up on your prep:
  • Clean and prep your veggies when you bring them home.  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 meat 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.  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 Dessert night, or whatever will make your own family happy.
  • Pair a left over of one thing with a new side and a new veggie, or make it look different, like grilled chicken breasts from Monday sliced and layered on a Caesar salad on Wednesday.

Off to class and baseball practice and scouts, so glad I planned my dinner!  Try these ideas this week, and let me know what you think of menu planning!

What’s In Your Pocket? Your Essential Daily Carry

I recently discovered the concept of Essential Daily Carry and a great Reddit board with visuals of what different people carry in their pockets on a daily basis (just google the term for all sorts of visual examples).

Per Wikipedia, Essential Daily Carry or “Everyday carry (EDC) refers to a small collection of tools, equipment and supplies carried on a daily basis to assist in tackling situations ranging from the mundane to the disastrous.[1] (wikipedia)”

“The term EDC also refers to the philosophy or spirit of ‘preparedness’ that goes along with the selection and carrying of these items. Implicit in the term is the sense that an EDC is an individual’s personal selection of equipment, arrived at after deliberation, rather than a standardized kit. EDC items normally fit in pockets or small pack, and/or are attached to clothing such as a belt. Emphasis is placed on the usefulness, accessibility and reliability of these items. The core elements of a typical EDC might include a folding pocket knife, a flashlight, a mobile phone, and a multi-tool.” (wikipedia)

From a time management and preparedness standpoint, an EDC is a great idea. Key components for implementing your EDC:

  1. On a personal level, identify the difference between “need” and “want”;
  2. Find high-quality multifunctional tools to fill a range of needs;
  3. Establish one location at home, near your exit, for keeping your EDC; and
  4. Establish the habit of carrying your EDC with you.

What is essential to you? Where is it, and do you make it convenient and routine to carry it with you every day? In college, I started carrying a small wallet (with money, cards, a pen and bandaids) with my house keys attached. I can still leave the house with just those few things in my pocket with my cell phone, at least for quick, local trips. My smart phone is central to my EDC, with apps for a flash light, wrist watch, note taking, camera, calendar and a digital key ring for store cards. That one tool has lightened my load.

When deciding on your EDC, consider where you go and what you do. For example, there are essential items I don’t carry because every where I go, I have duplicates there. I always keep my work tool box in my car, so I don’t carry extra tools. I have disposable gloves and a clean shirt in there, too, and a well stocked first aid kit as well, so I carry only a very small one in my bag. My EDC can be small because I keep other items like tissues, pens, hand lotion and a nail file in my car all the time.

So what’s in your wallet? Or pocket, as the case may be? Here is a list of common items (from Wikipedia):

  • A folding knife, multitool and/or Swiss Army knife
  • A wrist watch
  • A flashlight (either a key-chain light, a headlamp, or a “tactical” flashlight which has a brighter output used to temporarily blind and stun assailants)
  • A whistle or airhorn (noise makers)
  • A cell phone or other electronic device like a digital camera to record evidence (sometimes satellite phones if in remote areas)
  • Sustainment items such as bottled water and high energy foods
  • Pen, pencil, or a tactical pen similar in concept to a Kubotan for striking and stabbing
  • Pocket notebook (smart phones and electronic note-taking devices are increasingly being used instead of notebooks)
  • Medicine for common ailments and maladies such as allergies and gastrointestinal problems
  • Prescription medicine that has to be taken daily
  • A compact first aid kit
  • Rope or paracord
  • Handkerchiefs or other utility cloth
  • Keys containing key chain and accessories like a flashlight, nail clipper, pill bottle, folding scissors, carabiner, or Kubotan
  • Gloves, which can be latex, nitrile, leather, or synthetic
  • Pepper spray/OC spray or stun gun/tazer
  • Pistol and holster
  • Lighter or matches

So, this week give your essential Daily Carry some thought. Determine what challenges you may face from day-to-day, what is essential, and what should be in your pocket all the time!

Tips For a Better Night’s Sleep

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Sleep is beautiful.  It’s essential for optimal performance and health.  It gives our bodies time to rebuild, and our minds time to process stimuli.  It is warm, soothing and lovely.  Unless… its not.

There are lots of ways to Not Get Enough Sleep, Insomnia is just one.  We all struggle at some point to get enough sleep or good sleep.  What happens if we don’t sleep?  In the short term, simple things like feeling tired, a lack of focus, irritability and lethargy.  Long term sleep loss can lead to job loss, decreased cognitive function, physical ailments and psychological issues.

A friend recently asked me how I overcame insomnia, so I want to share Sleep Hygiene suggestions for a good night’s sleep.  I am no expert on sleep, but I can speak from experience on overcoming insomnia, and as an organizer, I recognize logical, objective ways to improve routines and physical spaces.  So here some tips for chasing those elusive Zzzzzz’s!

Check your sleeping environment:

  • Not too loud: Soothing music is nice, if you need it, but set a timer for it to turn off and don’t sleep with ear phones in your ears.  And I find instrumental music is better than music with lyrics, I found myself trying to memorize words instead of falling asleep.
  • Not too quiet:  Silence can be even more distracting than noise.  A white noise machine may help, or a cool vaporizer like the one we run all winter helps drown out my hubby’s snoring.
  • A cool room is best for sleeping, and some prefer a fan to move air around.  Sleep with blankets in layers, not just one really heavy one, so you can shed or add covers as needed, as can your bedmate.
  • An actual bed (get off the couch, folks) and the right pillow – not too soft or hard, and not too many.
  • Bedrooms are bedrooms.  They are not offices, exercise rooms or craft space.  Period.

Clean up your Sleep Hygiene for better sleep.

  • Your “sleep hygiene” is your daily routine for getting a good night’s sleep.
  • Determine how much sleep you actually need.  We don’t all need exactly 8 hours a night to live our best lives.  Some folks need less and some need more, based on age, physical demands, individual rhythms and a host of other variables.  Fix your wake-up time (for me, 5:15 am) and work back from there for your bedtime, first with 8 hours, then 7.5, then 7.  Turns out, I should turn off my light by about 10:00 pm to fall asleep and feel fully rested at 5:15 am.
  • Keep your bed-time and wake-time the same, even on weekends.  Wake-time should vary no more an hour from weekday to weekend.
  • You may actually be getting more sleep than you think.  When I suffered with insomnia, it was rare that I truly didn’t sleep all night, even though it felt like I was awake the whole time since my sleep would be shallow and not restorative.  And obviously, intentionally napping or even nodding off while watching TV counts as sleep, and can undermine your overnight sleep.
  • Choose the same 3 or 4 soothing activities before bed nightly.  Yoga, wash your face, tea or warm milk, a warm shower, quiet TV viewing or reading in a darkened room.  We use book lights – the ones you clip on the book – they’re great for bedtime reading, especially if you share a room.
  • Keep a notebook and pen at your bedside, to jot down random thoughts that might keep you awake.
  • Avoid Overhead and fluorescent lighting at all costs.  They are terrible for sleep hygiene.  Turn down all your lights after dinner, to tell your brain it is time to start shutting down for the night.
  • Turn off anything with a screen (TV, computer, phone) half an hour before bed time, and keep computers and TVs out of the bedroom completely if you are having sleep issues.  The electronic fields can interfere with good sleep.
  • During the day, exercise, but not close to bedtime.  And check your medications, foods and beverages for hidden caffeine, sugar or other stimulants.  You would be amazed all the places caffeine hides, or how medicines like steroids can keep you awake at night!

A good day tomorrow depends on a good night’s sleep tonight, so employ one or two of these tips to help you tonight.  Sweet dreams!

8 Tips: Because Life Doesn’t Always Go As Planned

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I’m a planner.  I love the combination of small details and the big picture.  I’m good at it, and even get paid to plan and to teach others how to plan.  So, trust me when I tell you, regardless of good intentions, some days just don’t go as planned.  Case in point…. Last Wednesday.

I belong to a great group full of nice people, and really useful information and activities.  My challenge is that the monthly meetings are at 8 am on a school day, 40 minutes away.  The meetings are worthwhile, so I plan and deal with the distance and timing.   Toward that end, I worked a little harder last week and set up before-school care for my youngest at his elementary, so I wouldn’t have to hassle my friends anymore just to cover these monthly meetings.  Lunches were packed, clothes were laid out, everyone was up and cooperating.  We were all good to go.

And then…. A car-pool oversleep, a snowstorm and an accident blocking traffic (not that I blame those hapless souls – their day really didn’t go as planned!).   The one morning I needed everything to go exactly as planned, it didn’t.  Sometimes, life gets in the way.

We can learn a lot from our lives when things don’t go as planned:

  1. Leave yourself a cushion.  Make just a little room between appointments on your calendar.  The tighter the schedule, the greater the chance for trouble.
  2. Have a Plan B, and maybe even a Plan C.  For everything, at all times.  Dinner, daycare, clothes, alternate travel route or public transportation options.  Flexibility is key at all times
  3. Variables are just that – Vary-able.  The more appointments you make in your      day, or variables you work into your schedule, the greater the risk of having something go awry.  Don’t pack your schedule too tightly.
  4. Laugh at yourself.  Appreciate the absurd in your day, and remember that situational control is an illusion.  It’s ridiculous to think we are “in control” of a situation.  We can only control ourselves and our own behavior and choices.
  5. Don’t wait to start on a task, trip or project.  Never plan on having the last-minute to complete a task, trip or project.  If you’re given a deadline, aim for a few days before.  You just never know what might happen.  We get burned by procrastinating if we delay our work until the last-minute and then end up with a technology failure, a loved one in a personal or medical crisis, or a storm and/or power outage.  Or perhaps I am unable to say “Yes” to some great but unexpected event because I have work to do.
  6. Dawdle when you get there.  Last week, I had 60 minutes to make a half-hour drive from one client to the next.  I drove almost all the way to the second client, and then took a break.  This eliminated any trouble I might have had in transit slowing me down and making me late.
  7. Keep your calendar / phone / planner up to date, so that answers and contact information are with you at all times.
  8. Keep your to-do list with you at all times.  This allows you to get things done wherever you are. And take advantage of found moments through your day.

So, embrace and expect that life won’t always go as planned and learn a few tips to help you along the way!

A Tuesday Morning Bedtime Story

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Today’s blog was named by Leslie and inspired by Bridget.  Thanks ladies!

I was pondering today’s “productivity” blog while I organized our bedding… then Ping!  Light Bulb!  How about I share the bedding ideas with you instead?

Last week, I realized the bedding drawer in the guest space was a lot fuller than our bedding chest on the main floor.  Today’s project was to review what we have, purge unnecessary sheets and pillow cases, and re-allocate the ones we’re keeping.

Also, while working with a client recently, she asked “Don’t you have dozens of mystery sheets that are never used and match nothing?” Um, No, I don’t, but I was motivated to complete this project!

Here’s how it went:

  1. I finished all the laundry and then collected all our sheets together in one place.  We have 5 people living here, with 3 twin beds and one queen bed.  In our basement we have guest lodgings of two more twin beds and a queen size Aerobed.
  2. I sorted the sheets into piles for twin and queen size, then matched up the flats and fitted with the cases.
  3. I folded the sets together, with the folded flat sheets wrapped around the folded fitted sheets and cases.  I put one set of queen sheets and 2 sets of twin back in the basement guest space and stored the rest in the bedding chest in my room.
  4. The “donate”  pile held three random sheets that match nothing, an old set of queen sheets and some Buzz Lightyear twin sheets that have been through 3 boys and are ready for retirement.   I answered a Facebook request from a mom looking for twin size bed sheets for her little boy’s bed, and offered her our Buzz Lightyear sheets.  I am glad they will be loved anew by another little boy! I bundled the rest of the “donate” pile together and will drop it off at the animal shelter this week with some old t-shirts.

A few tips I have picked up along the way:

  1. For years, I purchased only white sheets so that I could bleach them all and keep them cleaner.  Since it is difficult to determine sheet size at a glance, I noted a T or a Q on a discreet corner.  If you use all the same color, you could also separate the sizes of sheets by storing them on a different shelf or in each room.
  2. I grew tired of white bedding, though it did have its advantages.  I am slowly making the switch to color and patterns in our bedding:  any new twin size sheets I purchase are striped, and any queen size sheets  will be a solid color.
  3. I have also heard the suggestion of storing the two sheets and the extra pillow      case if there is one folded together in the matching pillow case.  That works for some, but not for me.
  4. We store our guest bedding in a dresser drawer in our guest space, and everyone else’s bedding in the chest at the foot of our bed, so extremely tidy edges are not necessary.
  5. We don’t keep a lot of extras.  Two sheet sets for each of our beds (and one is on the bed), and one set each for the guest beds.  Fewer items mean less clutter.
  6. Once and for all, Here is how one person can fold a fitted sheet to lay flat while keeping it off the ground (I learned from a pro – Literally!  I used to help out at my dad’s Laundromat in high school, and the tiny and efficient Shirley showed me the trick):
    1. Grab two adjacent corners and bring them together, and do the same for the other end.
    2. Fold the flat size in half, so all the fitted corners fit together.
    3. Grasp one end of the flat side in each hand and pull flat across your chest,       then fold into thirds down your front, rounded elastic side in first, and the flat side in last.
    4. Starting at the bottom (the lumpiest part), fold up in thirds so that you are left with straight sides and edges.

So, collect the bedding that you have; sort it into sizes and sets; determine what needs to go away either because it is old or ill fitting or scratchy; and choose a storage place close at hand for the items you intend to keep.  Another quick project that will make your life easier!

Three Little Projects That Will Make You Smile!

Organizing projects don’t have to be big or expensive to make a big impact on your life!  Here are three examples of 30-minute projects that will make you smile every time you look in the medicine cabinet, watch a DVD or open your closet door.

Project #1 The Medicine Cabinet.

Invest 30 minutes in cleaning out your medicine cabinet, and you will help every member of your household every day.

  1. Grab a pen and paper to jot down items needing replacement; a garbage bag and a small bag to collect your recycling.
  2. Clear the counter so you have room to lay stuff out, or lay a towel on the floor.  Take everything out of the cabinet and spread it out.
  3. A quick review of expiration dates make organizing the medicine cabinet easier.  Look at each item in your medicine cabinet and determine if the item has expired….
    1. Based on the manufacturer’s suggestion, like medications, first-aid items, or used make-up; or
    2. Based on your personal or lifestyle preferences:  You can let go of items like styling products that didn’t work as advertised, or items for certain distant times of our lives, like the baby nail clippers or the green nail polish that looked great on my teenage niece but not on me!
  4. Duplicates weigh us down. Don’t store multiples of the same product in the small space.  Keep one on hand, and store the rest elsewhere to free up space.  A basket in our linen closet holds un-opened items.  We keep one of everything in the cabinet, and go to the new un-opened items when we run out of the first.
  5. Group the stuff you use every day onto its own shelf or basket, categorize the rest and corral it in containers.

Project #2 The DVD Collection

Spend 30 minutes organizing your DVD collection, and it presents a great visual image!

  1. Collect all your DVDs and cases from all over your house.
  2. Alphabetize the cases by movie title, then put loose DVDs in their cases.
  3. Review them all and purge the ones that no one watches anymore.  My little niece and our public library receive most of the DVDs my boys have outgrown.
  4. Assign a home for your DVDs.  Leave them in alphabetical order, or group them by category (like action or TV series on DVD) or by viewer (like storing the DVDs my youngest son watches on the lowest, easiest-to-reach shelf).
  5. As we receive new DVDs, we review what we have and purge what can go.

Project # 3 The Gift Wrap / Storage Closet

This one really makes me smile.  I worked on this project last week, and it took closer to an hour, since I had to break down and remove the cardboard, plus $40 and a quick trip to Home Depot.  But it’s worth it!

  1. I have a closet in the basement which holds holiday decorations, gifts, gift bags and wrap, and lots of empty boxes for storage and mailing.  It required attention after the holidays, and when I saw this great idea on Command.com, I made the project a priority for January!
  2. I cleared boxes, keeping 10 small ones for shipping, and collapsed and recycled the rest (a lot!!).
  3. I stored our extra gifts for giving in two boxes on the shelf above, one each for Christmas and every day gifts.
  4. I pulled out the Christmas wrap, ribbons and bags, and stored it all in a separate extra-large Ziploc bag.
  5. I installed Command hooks and hung small dowels across them to hold my ribbon and favorite gift wrap.  Also hanging on the command hooks are clear freezer bags holding my tape, scissors and pens.
  6. I also bought new supports for an old un-used shelf, and installed the supports and shelf in the space as a permanent work space for wrapping small items and staging gifts before giving.  Below are the before and after pictures!  The white laundry basket in both pictures holds our extra gift bags, divided into categories like “baby”, “wedding”, and “birthday”.

before      after       lego wall

The bonus project:  Lego display space (above right).

I have three sons and ridiculous amounts of Lego.  Most are assembled, and storage space is tight.  When inventorying the work room for the closet project, I found these shelf tracks and supports, but no shelves.  On the Home Depot trip to purchase items for the closet project, I also picked up replacement shelves in sizes to match the supports we already have.  10 minutes of installation and $20 for 3 shelves, and we have 9 more linear feet of Lego display space (and a little less clutter on the Lego table!).  Woo hoo!!

So, what areas of your home could use 30 minutes of your time?  Any investment in Organizing will reap big rewards!