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Life’s Too Short For Crummy Pens (The Question of Duplicates)

If you’re reading this article, you probably have clutter.

Let’s be honest, if you have a pulse, you probably have clutter.  Every person has at least a little clutter. You certainly have stuff, as we all need at least some stuff – food, clothes, furniture, books, etc. – to survive.  And when we have stuff, stuff can build up and become clutter.

 

Clutter is anything we don’t need, use or love. (Barbara Hemphill)

 

A powerful questions, as asked by a FB friend just today, is “Duplicates: how much is enough, and how many is too many? ” This friend was asking about her sons’ clothes, but the question can be asked about pretty much ANYTHING.  TShirts, socks, cars, hammers, coffee mugs, writing implements. 

We need pens.  And we needs pens in many places around our homes and work spaces.  But with just 2 hands, we only need one pen at a time.  And it had better be a good pen. I have come to appreciate a really good pen (my favorite is a blue or black Pilot G2 0.38). Few things frustrate me more than reaching for a pen and coming away with a broken/dried-up/wrong color pen.  Life is just too short for crummy pens.

 
I talk about Duplicates in my Organized Kitchen and Clear the Clutter classes.  I mention Mug Math:
 
  • Ask (# of coffee drinkers  x  # of cups per day) x # of days we take to run the dishwasher.
  • So, in my house, that would be (1 x 2) x 2 = 4.
  • Now, that’s a need.  We NEED 4 coffee mugs.  OF course we have more than 4 coffee mugs. Because sometimes we have company, or more likely, we use the mugs for ice cream or cereal because mugs have handles, or I shake things up and have hot chocolate or tea, too.
  • So, I NEED 4.  But I don’t need 40.  There will never be 40 people drinking coffee in my house at once.  When I have more than 40 people over, we’re usually drinking beer, wine or soda, some of which conveniently come in their own containers.
And the Kid T-shirt question?  My client asked the question, and we used to, too, when the kids were little. Here’s how to think it through:
  • The child wears # of shirts a day x how often you do laundry (2 shirts a day x 7 days)
  • So, for the child, we NEED 14 shirts. And since we like options, we keep more than 14 t-shirts. But not 50 or even 40.  Now may be a good time to re-choose or re-shop the favorite 20 or 25, and let the rest go. But I digress.  I hope you see my point.  We need the find the happy medium for our items – enough mugs or socks or pens that our needs and wants are met, but not so many of something that it falls out of the cabinet or clutters our dresser drawers or drives us crazy.
 
There are some items we need in duplicate: 
  • Every room needs a garbage can, box of tissue and surge protector.
  • Most rooms need a pair of scissors, some band-aids and some pens, too.
  • Charging cords – at least a couple. Definitely one at home and one at work.
  • House keys – We always need extra house keys.
  • A class participant last week pointed out that we should have a hammer on each level of our homes – in the bedrooms, in the kitchen and in the basement, plus one in the garage – so she doesn’t have to run up and down the stairs all the time.  Fair enough.
  • And there are others.  So, some items we need in duplicate, but certainly not everything.
 
 
So, how can you figure out how much is  enough and how much is too much?  Ask yourself some questions:
  • What is the relative cost of the item?  Having duplicates of things like scissors, garbage cans or pens doesn’t cost too much, and definitely saves time and hassle.
  • How often do you need to use that type of item?  Have extras of those things you use ALL THE TIME.
  • Are there convenient alternatives?  For example, scissors have a very specific function that few other items can perform.  Anything can be a book mark, not anything can cut a piece of paper cleanly in half.
  • Perhaps we just need duplicate accessories?   For example, I only need one bullet blender, but I may have multiple cups for multiple smoothies, because I may make a smoothie both today and tomorrow, and not have a chance to run the dishwasher or wash the dishes between. OR… maybe other people in the house want a smoothie, too.
  • When we need an item, how quickly do we need it?  For example, we buy extra socks. Because when we need to leave the house, missing socks really slow us down.  So it is worth it to have extras, just to make our departures easier.  Not everything requires such immediacy, though.
 
So, how much is enough?  How much is too many?  That depends on who is asking, and what you’re asking about.  But these are great questions to ask as we get organized and purge our clutter!
 
 
To:

Receive more ideas and suggestions like these;
Book time with me in person or virtually;
Arrange a presentation for your upcoming event; or
Discover the benefits of Organizational Coaching;

Please contact me.

Call / text 708.790.1940
Online at  http://peaceofmindpo.com
www.Facebook.com/MColleenKlimczakCPO
Via Twitter, @ColleenCPO

National Clean Off Your Desk Day: Whadda YOU looking at?

No, really, what do you see?

This time every year, we have a chance to review, refresh and de-clutter our work space with National Clean Off Your Desk Day, celebrated annually on the second Monday in January.

I’ve published many articles about organizing your work surface, but today I suggest you lift your eyes, and organize your visual work space (your view).

Look up from your desk for this one.  What do you see? Look straight ahead, side to side. Order or chaos?  Positive messages or nagging responsibilities?  Simple beautiful things, or old and outdated things?  We are all influenced by our visual fields, but we can also become overwhelmed with visual clutter.

Let’s make it better!  Think about this statement:  “I want to see that which I want to attract.” For me, I want to look at a view that is simple, streamlined, functional and beautiful!

Spend some time cleaning off your desk space today (yes, you still need to do that!), and then Look Up! and apply the same steps (from Julie Morgenstern’s SPACE Method) to taking care of your view!

SORT your stuff into categories:
Clear the stuff off that message board or wall in front of you.   Yes, all of it.

Then, sort the stuff into categories, for example:  Photos, memos, messages, task reminders (bills on paperclips to send in or pay, post it notes with “call Bob”, or “order baby shower gift”), decor / tchotchke / kitsch, things to go elsewhere or to other people, etc.


PURGE:

Ok, friends. Time to get real.  Let’s go back to the statement “I want to see that which I want to attract.” Keep only the items that encourage, nourish and support your work.  Put away the rest, or purge it completely.

If you are not ready to part with all the stuff, consider a seasonal visual work space / view: swapping out your photos or inspirational messages every week / month or season.

(I like my Chrome extension Momentum: every day I’m provided a new beautiful photo, an inspirational quote and a space to jot down my intention for the day.  Then I see it whenever I sit down to work at my computer.)

A few words about… Post-It Notes.  I have a love/hate relationship with Post-It Notes. Post-Its are meant to be momentary reminders.  However, when we use Post-Its a lot, we start to look past them.  When I ask clients about the notes all over their work space, I’ll hear “Oh, they’ve been there so long, I don’t even see them anymore.”  Then WHY ARE THEY THERE?

So, jot a note on a Post-It Note, and then do something with it.  An event reminder?  Put it in your calendar.  A phone number?  Enter it into your contacts.  A task reminder or creative idea?  Add the task to your to do list, or the idea to your idea file.  AND THEN TOSS THE NOTE!!

ASSIGN A HOME, CONTAINERIZE and EQUALIZE:

When assigning a home and containerizing the stuff in our field of vision, consider keeping only those things that are useful and beautiful.  Keep pictures that make you smile (only a few), inspirational messages (only a few), and a handful of little items that evoke positive memories or creativity.  Add a plant, if you’d like!

Consider boundaries – limit your visual clutter to a small space in your line of sight or just one shelf or tray for kitschy items.

We want a nice view, but not too nice!  Have nice things to look at, but not so nice that they pull your focus from your work.  I love my vision board (thanks, MTO!), but if I look at it all the time, I take it for granted.  It’s more inspiring for me to intentionally look at it, and then set is aside and move on to my tasks.

Now, set a reminder to do this again every few months, to keep your View looking good!

OK, daylight’s wasting! Get on with cleaning off that Desk!

Right Now, What’s The Right Thing To Do? (a.k.a. Don’t aggravate your loved ones)

Last week in my newsletter, I stated:a755a998abbfc3e4597f01a9ba15e829

“Let me recommend – focus on the most used areas of your home.  For a Thanksgiving event, those areas would be:

  • the entryway / coat closet; 
  • kitchen; 
  • dining room; 
  • family rooms; and 
  • guest bathrooms. 

“Now is NOT the time to pull out everything from the attic, garage, or basement storage room.  Restore order and touch up those public spaces this week, and leave the other projects until after Thanksgiving!”

Apparently, this statement resonated with a number of my readers, thanks for your comments. One reader specifically asked if I had grown up in her home, as her dad would take the day off before Thanksgiving every year to “help”, and would instead start a huge and messy project , driving her mother crazy.

Every.

Year.

We all want to help.  We all want to act.
But we all need Priorities, Focus and Big-Picture planning and we don’t always have these!

My To-Do list is long.  I may never complete it,  since I add more tasks all the time.  But since I always have tasks and to-dos to complete, I have to decide “RIGHT NOW, What’s The Right Thing To Do?”

I think this happens to many of us, to some extent.  We have so many tasks and to-dos and ideas that we want to act upon, we could ACT all day but still not get to our important work.

So here’s how to figure out What’s The Right Thing to Do Right Now.

Write Things Down!  Write down, either on paper or digitally, ideas and tasks and to-dos.  Don’t edit them, just write them down.  Your busy brain will thank you.

Not All Actions Are Created Equal.  It’s often difficult to know what the next step is.  Sometimes we feel like we should be doing SOMETHING, but we don’t want to think through the process, so we just dive into a project or task and end up making a bigger mess.  THINK first, and Act Well.

Often, it’s the simplest thing.  We tend to over-think things.  Sometimes the best thing to do is take a shower, put some clothes on, get a drink of water, make a phone call, make dinner, leave the house, send the email.

Pick Today’s List.  Look at the  on-going To-Do list, and choose.  Last week, a client asked if we could come up with a plan for our 3 hours together and talk through the planning process.  So, on her dry erase board, we:

  • wrote down all the tasks that were on her mind to complete that day;
  • asked how long each task typically takes, and how long to allot for it (finish tagging files – 20 minutes; file receipts – 30 minutes; hang art in home office – 45 minutes, etc.);
  • determined if any of them were attached to a specific time (like a 3 o’clock conference call, or starting the crock pot to warm dinner 2 hours before dinner time);
  • and finally, ordered the list by attaching a number to each item (#1, #2, #3, etc.,), and moved a few things to the next day’s list.
  • This was an interesting exercise.  We ended up adding other tasks in, and we ran over a few time estimates, but we certainly learned a lot about the process and the client.


Group Similar Tasks.  A class participant explained how her home seemed to be full of distractions and asked me how to keep focus.  We talked about a couple of strategies, and she chose “set aside a half an hour for house tasks, then a half an hour for paying bills, a half an hour for cooking and cleaning up the kitchen” etc., instead of hopping from task to task without ever feeling like she had completed a project.


What tasks on your list only need elapsed time?  Start the laundry, start the crock pot, send out the emails and ask for responses by a certain day this week.  And then ignore the results until the next time you need to check in.


Ask.  Communicate with the folks around you, whether at home or at work.  You may feel some tasks and your part of the overall plan are high priority, but some one else may see other tasks and other parts as higher priority.  You both may be correct, but communication will help everyone get the right things done.


Make an “After Thanksgiving” or “January” list now.  Looking at all the tasks and to-dos on the Master list, determine which ones can wait.   Today, I was reminded that I need to make an annual doctor appointment for February or March, but I waiting until January to make that call. I wrote it down so I won’t forget, and will worry about it later.
Manage your time and yourself better by asking often “Right Now, What’s The Right Thing To Do?”.
To:

Receive more ideas and suggestions like these;
Book time with me in person or virtually;
Arrange a presentation for your upcoming event; or
Discover the benefits of Organizational Coaching;

Please contact me.

Call / text 708.790.1940
Online at  http://peaceofmindpo.com
www.Facebook.com/MColleenKlimczakCPO
Via Twitter, @ColleenCPO

Organize Your Kitchen for the Holidays: Do This, Not That

Success is not always about getting everything just right.

Instead, success may be about doing the fewest things wrong.

My priest at Mass this weekend made this statement, referencing a recent high school football game where the winning team had fewer penalties than their opponents, and therefore more opportunities to score (In full disclosure, my husband had to explain to me – the football novice – why fewer penalties might lead to higher scoring).

This week’s blog topic was swirling in my head this weekend, too, and I realized that Organizing your Kitchen successfully (or anything else) can be about doing fewer things wrong, too.   And ‘doing fewer things wrong’ may feel more attainable than doing everything just right!

So if you are familiar with these Wrongs, we can make them right!

1.  Wrong: Starting an Organizing Project Without a Plan.

Right: The quickest way to derail a project is to start without a plan.  Assemble your kitchen organizing tools (garbage and recycling bags, your grocery list, some good music and a timer set for 30-60 minutes), and get started.  Pick a starting spot (like the fridge), systematically decide to keep or toss your items, put back the keepers, and then move on.  DO NOT just dive in or take everything out of every cabinet all at once!

2.  Wrong: Neither Knowing Nor Using What You Have.

Right:  Regularly check your cabinets and refrigerator, and use the food you have on hand before buying more. Always check before you shop!  Leave a shopping list on the fridge, and add items to the list as you run out.

3. Wrong: Procrastinating.

Right:  Well, procrastinating is almost always wrong, but it can cause unnecessary stress around the holidays, and we all know – the holidays are stressful enough!  Pull out the recipes now, start the Who’s-bringing-what conversations with family members now, and start stocking up on holiday specific foods now, just a few things every week.

4. Wrong: Re-Purchasing Something Because You Can’t Find The First One.

Right: Establish a home for certain types of items, so you can check your inventory.  Re-buying items wastes money and contributes to kitchen clutter.  Imagine – If all the canned goods always live on the same cabinet shelf, you can check your inventory at a glance. Establish homes, let everyone know where the home is, and make a habit of putting things AWAY.

5. Wrong: Buying Big Specialty Items That You Only Use Once a Year.

Right: Talk to your friends and family members now, or go on Facebook and find out who has chafing dishes / holiday cookie cutters / a really big turkey platter, and borrow it!  Do not clutter up your kitchen with these specialty items: borrow them, take really good care of them and then give them back!

6. Wrong: Having Stuff on Your Kitchen Counters.

Right: Kitchens are very personal spaces, but they also need to be functional spaces.  Keep your counters clear of stuff – all the time! With clear counters, everything – unpacking grocery bags, making dinner, baking cookies, cleaning up – becomes easier!

So, this week, the pressure is off.  You don’t have to do everything just right!  Doing fewer things wrong is progress enough!

6 Tasks to Create Organizing Momentum This Week!

October in the Midwest is my favorite time of year.  We enjoy crisp air, blue skies and amazing colors.  But if you’ve lived here long enough, you realize the beauty of Fall is God’s way of softening the blow of Winter.    Cold weather will soon be upon us, and that means, among other things, a lot more time spent indoors.So use this week as a super-powered jump start to your organizing projects, and try one of these 6 Tasks to Create Organizing Momentum!
  1. Get your closet ready for colder weather, and finish (or start and finish!) your seasonal clothes swap.  Pull out your summer clothes to make room for your cold weather ones, and critically review the summer stuff, tossing or donating anything you don’t need, use or love.
  2. Winterize your landing / launch pad, too.  Swap out the baseball caps and sunscreen by the back door for hats and mittens. Again, review the summer stuff critically and toss / donate the stuff you don’t need, use or love.
  3. Pantry shopping:  This time of year feels like the time to stock up, but I challenge you to instead clean out the pantry, fridge and freezer for the next few weeks. Use up what you have before buying more. Use food before it expires, save money by not buying new food, clear cabinet clutter –  the ultimate de-clutter strategy for your kitchen!
  4. Prep your car(s) for winter. Pack a safety bag including but not limited to: a blanket, sweatshirt, extra phone car-charger, umbrella, gloves, non-perishable snacks and a bottle of water, tissues, wipes and hand lotion, and snow scraper.
  5. Call and make appointments with your service people this week.  Call the handyman, the furnace guy or the carpet cleaners, and get on the schedule now before their schedules fill up with the holidays.
  6. Drop off Your Donations, and Recycle your Recycling.  Have you decided to get rid of something in your home?  Go ahead and move it along this week.  Selling that air hockey table or those Halloween costumes? Have bags of clothes to donate to a charitable organization?  Or a pile of old computer components and cords?  Send it all on its way! Making decisions is the hardest part of getting organized, so if you’ve made decisions about things that need to go – either donated, sold, recycled or just trashed – then please, spend an hour, load up the car and drop those items off.  Get them out of your house and on to where they will be useful again.

So, what’s it going to be?  Let’s send clutter on its way, and create organizing momentum to get things done!

Keep Me Accountable: I WILL Get Through My Non-Fiction Reading Pile This Summer!

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I LOVE to read. I read quickly, and retain a lot.  An exercise in 9th grade English found me skimming a novel and giving a verbal report by the end of the class period.  Much to my children’s delight, I knocked out the 7th Harry Potter in 10 hours the day it was released, taking time out to make and serve dinner for 12.

Summer afternoons spent reading a book appeal just as much to grown-up me as they did to 10-year-old me.

I have to come clean, though – lately I’m better at finding time for fiction novels than I am at getting through my personal / professional development reading pile, see picture below.  Last weekend, when I could have been catching up on non-fiction….I read three fiction novels back to back.  So, I know I CAN read quickly and thoroughly, I’ve just been using this superpower for evil, not for good.  Or at least not-so-good instead of good.

Why Read, and specifically Why Read Non-Fiction?

  • Reading can expand and sharpen our mind;
  • Reading keeps me informed about experts and current events in my profession;
  • Reading lets us spend time with the words from smart people;
  • Making time to read sets an example for my sons for life-long learning; and
  • Reading offers new ideas and knowledge, which we can use and / or share.

If this is a challenge you face, too, let’s work on it together this summer.  Here’s how I plan to get through my reading pile, and you can too:

Embrace Technology:005

Books:  A lot of my reading “pile” is now on my IPad Kindle App, so at least it’s a tidier “pile”.  (At this moment, my Kindle non-fiction includes Real Moms Making Real Money Blogging At Home In their Pajamas by Stephanie ODea, and The 100 Thing Challenge by David Bruno).  When possible, I purchase new books as eBooks on Amazon, so I can take them everywhere.  I check out eBooks from my local library, too, instantly and for free.   My wonderful Mother-In-Law told me about Bookbub.com last weekend, and after setting up my profile and reading preferences, I get a daily list of free and sale-priced eBooks.

When I come across references to books I’d like to read, I’ve started adding them to my Amazon wish-list, to purchase or check out of the library someday. (Most recently, Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin, and Take The U Out of Clutter by Mark Brunetz.)

Magazines: I’m encumbered by magazines lately, so I’m slowly phasing out print publication subscriptions.  This month’s 006magazines lurk on the shelf above my desk, silently reproving me for their neglect.  As an organizer, I know I could just toss them all, or move the pile so they’d stop lurking, but as a voracious reader, I can’t just toss them!  Today I took them off the shelf and started skimming, however, to pare down the backlog.  Also, I receive some subscriptions via email now, where I am quicker at skimming then deleting.

Keeping Notes:

My habit is to take notes as I read, or pull magazine pages out to keep information until I can act on it.  And therein lies the challenge – I end up with notes or piles of magazine pages that I still have to process in some way before letting them go.  So, I have been using my Evernote account even more lately, to store articles or notes, and my Pinterest Board to keep images for some later use.  I still have to DO something with this info, but at least it’s in electronic form, and not creating another pile.

Making Time:

I don’t read books or magazines on weekdays because there’s always work to do. So evenings and weekends are when I read, but that is typically Facebook / TV / IPad video streaming time.  My June habit will be to swap out the mindless streaming with reading, at least until I’m caught up.

Ok, in the title, I asked you to keep me accountable, so I will be reporting on my progress over the next month.  I had hoped to finish in June, but looking at the pile has me a bit intimidated.  But I will stick with the June 30 deadline, just to keep me on track.

Strike the Balance Between ‘Too Much Emotional Clutter’ and “Ruthless Purging’.

My clients search for motivation or inspiration to “ruthlessly” purge their clutter, once and for all.  “Ruthless”, that’s their word, from three people in one week.  What is ‘Ruthless’?  In this case, we’ll use “cold, merciless or hard-hearted”.

Clutter is defined as anything we don’t need, use or love (if I knew who said this first, I would give them credit).  Our stuff turns into clutter for a number a reasons, feeding a number of emotions.  Love, sentimentality, desire, want, fear, anxiety, apathy, need.  When we take the emotion back out of our clutter and look at it purely in the context of “I need this” or “I don’t need this”, suddenly, it’s easier to get rid of our clutter. 

So, for purposes of clearing clutter, “Ruthless” can be a useful emotion.  As cold and uncaring as the word sounds, I absolutely agree that sometimes we need to be detached and unemotional about our stuff if we intend to clear clutter and restore order.  To change our environment, we may, indeed, need to remove our emotions. Emotions aren’t bad, but they can make us hold on to stuff, to clutter, long after it ceases to be useful, needed or helpful.

How to move from Drowning in Emotional Clutter to Ruthless Purging?

  1. Choose charitable donation destinations that you are emotionally attached to.  Knowing that others will benefit from your purging efforts will make it easier to finally let go and donate your clutter.
  2. If you have clutter for emotional reasons, make clearing clutter a pleasant task:
    1. Keep your eyes on the prize.  Imagine how good you will feel when the clutter is gone.  Imagine all the benefits that will come from clearing a space.  And give yourself a reward to look forward to, for when you are done with today’s project. 
  3. If you have clutter for emotional reasons, make clearing it a social event: 
    1. Take a picture, text a friend.  Ask for support from your friends and family. 
    2. Share the news that you are de-cluttering, and you will be amazed at who will understand.   We all share similar struggles.
    3. Have someone, like a professional organizer or objective friend or family member, help you with your clutter project.  The objective person is not emotionally attached to your stuff, and can see your stuff just as stuff.  Useful or not useful, whole or broken, usable or spoiled.  Objectivity is a great lens through which to view your stuff.
  4. If you have clutter for emotional reasons, make clearing it a meaningful event:
    1. Saving something to give to someone some day?  Write a note, or even give it to your loved one now!
    2. Grab the notebook, write down next actions for your items. 
    3. Take a picture, or jot down a few notes in a journal about your items, and then let them go.  We are not neglecting a person or the memory of a person by clearing some clutter. 
  5. Let go of negative emotions as you clear your clutter.  Emotions and sentimentality can be both negative and positive.  If an item generates a strong response inside, determine if it is a positive one or a negative one. Keep the stuff that makes you feel good, and feeds your love of others.  Anything else is not worth keeping.
  6. Imagine an open hand.  Clench up your hands tightly, in fists, squeezing very hard.  Feel how your arms and shoulders start to tense up, too?  Now relax and release your hands.  Wiggle your fingers, feel the blood rushing back into your fingertips. Imagine goodness flowing into your open hand.  Yes, this an analogy, not even a very subtle one.  We hold on tightly to our clutter because doing so is a habit.  But it feels SO GOOD to let some of that go.  And once our hands are open, we are ready to receive new goodness.
  7. Cut yourself some slack through this organizing process because we may mourn when we give away things.  But the benefits outweigh the pain!

 If you, too, search for inspiration and motivation to clear the clutter, try one of these tips to make the transition! 

Keep the Vacation Going with an Organized Re-Entry! 

Keep the Vacation Going with an Organized Re-Entry! 

Why?

A friend suggested that, for every day we’re on vacation, it takes an equal number of days to get back to normal.  If you’re gone a week, it will take a week when you get back to feel like you’re caught back up, organized, focused, productive, etc.

We travel several times a summer.  Weekends at a family lake house, trips to see friends a few states away, and destinations like Washington, DC and Philmont, NM this summer.  But using my friend’s math, if we travel 2 or 3 times a month, and the first day or two back are a struggle, we could spend a lot of time struggling.

Instead, I would love to keep that relaxed vacation feeling as long as possible, and not ruin it with the ‘just got back struggle’!  So plan ahead for your “Re-Entry”!  When you get home:

  • Unpack your car.  All the way.  Clothes, shoes, food wrappers, etc.  If you’ve been to the beach, do a quick vacuum (or have the teenager do it).
  • In my case, repack the car for your business week (i.e., put briefcase, tool kit and supplies back in my van).
  • Start a load of laundry.
  • Eat dinner.
  • Check mail and messages.
  • Unpack your bags, and put everything away.  Yes, everything.
  • Keep a running to-do list with you all the time, and add ideas for when you get home to it as you travel.

There are lots of ways to travel better, too, to make re-entry easier. 

  • Tidy up before you leave.  Nothing kills a vacation buzz quicker than coming home to a mess. 
  • For longer trips, keep a large envelope for receipts, programs / brochures / tickets from destinations, and other keepsakes, to look at later.
  • Employ a laundry bag.  We always use a dirty laundry bag or standing cloth hamper when we travel.  As we unload the car, the dirty stuff goes straight to the laundry room, while the clean items (if there are any) get unpacked and doled out to their owners to put away.
  • Leave your travel toiletry kit packed all the time.  I have a purple travel kit with all sorts of “Mom” stuff in it (first aid kit, small sewing kit, and eyeglass repair kit, etc) packed all the time.  In addition, we carry personal toiletries in a couple of Ziploc bags inside the purple kit.  Upon arrival home, the purple kit goes back in the closet, the Ziplocs get emptied immediately, and our stuff gets put away (at least by the next morning, when we use it all to get ready on a Monday!).
  • If you go the same place regularly, leave an empty bag in your closet or near the door to toss things for next time.  Right now, I have ready 2 bags:  1 bag of items to take to the lake house; and a bag of gifts for a big family birthday party the end of the month.   You can organize your next trip as warp up from your most recent trip.

So, organize your Re-Entry and keep the relaxed vacation feelings going!  Dedicated to my awesome accountability partner, Jan!

Snow Day? Tackle An Organizing Project with Your Kids!

Organizing with your kids can be a great experience, employing their enthusiasm and energy to benefit them and the whole family.  ImageBut kids don’t always know what to do with their energy, or how to organize.

Recently, a client asked for suggestions on tackling a really big project: organizing her large unfinished basement to make better play space for her active children!  More importantly, her kids and their friends were on board to help with the project.  They were awesome! 

These suggestions would be the same for a family room or kid’s bedroom project.  Perfect for a snow day in the new year!!  Here is my response:

First, identify your goals.  Often, your space will still have the same purposes when the project is finished – in this basement example, play space, holiday storage, etc.  Just tidier.  Sometimes the purpose for the space is changing, but let’s assume “same only cleaner”.

Next, assemble your supplies.  Black garbage bags for trash, white kitchen bags for items to donate (you can write the destination on the white bag with a sharpie), sharpies, masking tape, Rubbermaid / Sterilite containers. 

Then, pick your starting point:  Bottom of the stairwell, near a specific door, or just some random place to start.  I always have one starting point and work from there.  However, that might not work in this case, since all your team members would be in one congested area.  You could pick one spot, and have two teams move out in both directions from there.  Or if there are different areas, you could have one team work on Christmas decorations, one team work on toys, etc.

Be sure to remove the easy stuff first:

–       big items (bikes, big play pieces, random pieces of furniture) and set them aside.

–       empty boxes – break them down and haul them outside, or set aside to use as storage containers

–       containers that are already organized, complete and full – label them and pile them up

–       donations, garbage, recycling – schlep out of the space you’re clearing, giving you more space and a feeling of accomplishment

 

If there is clothing in the area where you are working:

–       dirty – send to the laundry room and deal with later

–       storage (off-sizes or off-season), do a quick sort, put in large Rubbermaid containers to be dealt with another day

 (let the kids help deal with the toys, do the clothes yourself), and label with size / season / child, etc.

 

Keep your teams focused, motivated and moving.  Remember your purpose and stay on task:

–       Don’t let your kids get hung up on playing, or on the little tiny details of toys (no Lego assembly!).

–       Play fun music, keep everyone dancing.  No TV, trust me.

–       Allow for organized break times (if you just let them wander off, you may soon find yourself working alone.) and snacks.

–       You can pull out team members for very specific tasks – sorting legos, loading up book shelves, collecting nerf pieces, etc. 

–       You could also shake it up, and have teams switch roles every hour, to keep them engaged.

–       Wrap up the project within 3-4 hours, no one wants to work longer than that.

–       And promise some fun at the end, like a big rowdy game or a special lunch or snack.

I was privileged to work with this great family on the project.  The kids were a huge help!  They were great at sorting through specific piles, and working on mini-projects (like tidying up the book shelves to make more room for more books).  The big pay-offs for me were finding little tiny figures for the 4 year-old to play with (he was so happy!), and watching the big kids run-run-run around the space because they had “never been able to do that before!”.  What would you like to accomplish today?  Get to it!