Tag: Family Organizing

Money: Cards, Coupons, Returns & Rebates

Saving Money, Part 2:  Use Well What You Have

     I’m always on the lookout for ideas to organize shopping efforts, save some money and decrease stress!

     Last week, I saved a total of $59 at the grocery on a large order that cost me $133.  Coupons saved me $16, and using my Jewel Preferred Card saved me $43 off the “regular price”.  I paid my bill with gift cards I purchased through my parish school.  Buying those gift cards pays me a small percentage towards tuition and the school a small percentage.  Win-win situation (just have to remember to go and buy the gift cards)!

     I also saved over $12 on a $78 Target bill, using coupons ($2), a few small returned items ($6), $3.90 instant rebate with my Target Red Card, and my own shopping bags ($.05 off a bag).  The returned items were small things I had purchased but decided I did not need.

     I should mention that while I like having food, clothes and stuff, I don’t like shopping at all.  I am also frugal but busy, so my efforts are a continual give and take of spending time to save money, or spending money to save time.  So, do what I do, and consider time spent organizing an investment, and accept a little extra hassle to reap monetary benefits!  Here are some ideas:

Use store memberships and loyalty cards to receive savings for spending money you would have spent anyway.

    1. We went to the movies last week.  I used my AMC Stubs card, and found that I had $10 credit accumulated toward my next transaction.  The nice man behind the counter suggested that I go to customer service and swap the little piece of paper for a $10 gift card with no expiration. Cha Ching!  Stocking stuffer, birthday card stuffer, whatever, $10!
    2. Some people don’t like the hassle of loyalty cards; i.e., signing up and maintaining, remembering them, etc.  If you have a SmartPhone, I suggest the KeyRing App.  Take a picture of your membership and loyalty cards with your smart phone, and the app keeps and categorizes all the info.  Next time you want to use a card, check the App and find the right card, and the store scans the picture on your phone.  Lighten your wallet and keep your data.  
    3. All Retail: One friend buys only with cash because she doesn’t like the idea of her purchases being tracked.  I personally don’t care who tracks my purchasing, I have nothing to hide.  And if you want to give me free stuff for the privilege of noting what brand of toilet paper I choose, so be it.  I’ll take the 5% off, thank you very much.

Use coupons:  Retailers and manufacturers print the coupons, you might as well reap the benefits.

    1. All Retail: Use coupons for things you regularly buy.   Buying stuff just because you have a coupon will not save you money in the long run, if you end up spending more total, or not liking or using the product.
    2. Groceries: Compound your savings by perusing your local sale ads before you shop, and using coupons with in-store specials.  I have noticed this cross marketing in my newspaper coupons recently:  “Here is a coupon, and your local Jewel has the item on sale, too for a total savings this week of $            . “
    3. I keep my reusable shopping bags and coupons together in my car.  I cut coupons once a week, and file them in the holder while waiting in the car for my kids to get out of practice.
    4. Groceries: Please note: I am not endorsing Extreme Couponing (see “Only Buy What You Need” below). Flipping around the TV channels, I have come across the Extreme Couponing show.  I’ll just say Yikes!  Your home is a home, not a warehouse!  There is no way I can or want to eat 40 boxes of one type of breakfast cereal before it expires.  But that is a blog for another day…

Buy only what you need, and return stuff if you’re not going to use it:

    1. Groceries: Use a shopping list, post it on the fridge at all times.  Look in your cabinets and use what you have before going out and buying more stuff.  Plan to keep 2-3 weeks of food on hand, and use up the rest.  I have clients who had 2-3 month’s worth of canned goods cluttering up their cabinets before we organized.
    2. Other Retail:  Return stuff that you don’t need.  I walked into 3 stores last week and did not spend a cent.  I actually put money back in my checking account and netted a few more singles in my pocket.  To make this possible, file your receipts by month, and keep them for up to a year. 
    3. If I purchase items with my Target Red Card, I don’t need to keep a receipt to return them.

Pursue the money that belongs to you:  reimbursements, rebates, checks. 

    1. Ask for your rewards from credit card companies (we just requested a Cash Back check last week).
    2. When working with clients, we often find un-cashed checks in their paper clutter.  Cash your checks, the money is yours!  And if the check is a month or 2 old, the check-writer really wants you to cash it, to clean up their balance sheet! 
    3. We often buy items because the advertising says “Final cost after Mail-In Rebate:  Really cheap or Free!”  And that is great, so long as you actually follow-up and mail in the paperwork.
    4. If you have expense accounts or reimbursement paperwork to file, get that done, too.  Many companies are shortening their acceptable response time for submitting reimbursement, so get your money back while you can.  It is your money.

     Be organized with your shopping and spending efforts, and make the most of your money!  Cha-ching!

Get Organized and Save Money

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     In this uncertain life, not to mention economy, it pays (literally) to be prepared and organized. A small investment now in time and resources can save you hundreds and even thousands of dollars annually.

Make Some Money on Your Unwanted Items:

  • Sell your clutter. Clutter is defined as anything you don’t need, use or treasure. Turn those unwanted collectibles, furniture or clothes into cash at a consignment store or garage sale or on eBay. And while you’re at it, get rid of the storage unit that has been holding all of this clutter. Let your clutter become someone else’s treasure.
  • Return your clutter. Return any items that you purchased months ago but have not used. One of my clients, who still had clothes that she purchased months ago in a shopping bag, realized just how uncommitted she was to those items and took them back. She received a refund of at least 50 percent of what she paid. Money in your pocket is better than clutter any day.

Save Money on Your Stuff:

  • Buy only what you need. Being organized means knowing what you have and where it is in your home. Designate a permanent location for your stuff and stick with it. This will prevent you from purchasing duplicates of what you already have.
  • Take care of what you have. Don’t allow your treasures to be lost or crushed at the bottom of your closet under mounds of stuff you don’t need. Don’t let the clutter in your garage force you to subject your car to the elements. Don’t let your prescriptions expire simply because you lost track of them at the back of your kitchen or medicine cabinet.
  • Clutter covers up what we do need, use and treasure; by clearing the clutter, you can tend to what is truly important and save money, too!

Save and Make Money with Paper Management:

  • Retain and organize your receipts. Keep receipts, manuals and warranty information for appliances, electronics and other big-ticket items, together in one place.
  • Take the time to fill out and mail the warranty cards. When something breaks down, you will have all the information you need to repair or replace the item.
  • Never pay another late fee. Store your outstanding bills in a file labeled “To Be Paid” in big, bold letters. Then set aside an hour every other week to pay those bills.
  • Take advantage of sales and deals. Retailers offer great money-back specials and rebates because they don’t expect the general public to send in the paperwork. Take the time to mail in that paperwork, and follow-up one month later. Those free product coupons and in-store checks can really add up.
  • Cash in those coupons, gift cards and certificates. I worked with a client recently who had accumulated $300 in local restaurant gift certificates. She used them up and saved some money in food and entertainment costs.

Self and Time Management:

  • Do more for yourself. Trim your son’s hair; mow your own yard; change your own oil; clean your own house; groom your own pet. If you are paying for services, you may be able to save money by doing these things yourself.
  • Ask for what you really want. Instead of more clutter, wouldn’t you love to have some time to pamper yourself with a massage? How about a donation in your name to your favorite charity? Or perhaps a gift of a day of yard work from your family is more to your liking. If you want less stuff but more of something else (time, help, love, self-care, etc.,) just ask for it.

     For me, being organized means I get to make the most of all that I have.  That means money, time, stuff and relationships.  Get organized, and make the most of what you have, too!

Maintenance: Easy, Essential & Perpetual

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Last week, I was asked “What are Your organizing projects?”.  We’re already organized, so I don’t have huge projects on my list.  My answer is “I am forever engaged in maintenance”.

I use the analogy of laundry. Laundry is never completely done, we’re always making dirty laundry.  In life, there are some tasks that we do and they stay done, and there are some tasks that we do and re-do forever, like dishes, laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning, etc.; or in an office, client care, filing, billing, etc.

My clients and I talk a lot about the value of “Done”.  Sticking with a task until it is finished so we can move on the next project.  The feeling of accomplishment, the chance to take a breath and pat yourself on the back – I love “Done”.  However, most things don’t stay “Done”.

Remember the line from The Incredibles?  Mr. Incredible: “No matter how many times you save the world, it always manages to get back in jeopardy again. Sometimes I just want it to stay saved! You know, for a little bit?  I feel like the  maid; I just cleaned up this mess! Can we keep it clean for… for ten minutes!”

We all, including Mr. Incredible, need to recognize and embrace a vital component of the Organizing Process – Maintenance.   Maintenance is many things, but I will focus on three.  Maintenance is Easy, Essential and Perpetual.


Maintenance is Easy.  Maintenance is the easiest  part of organizing, certainly easier than getting organized.

Getting Organized takes lots of time, energy, money, motivation, decision-making and all sorts of other things we may or may not be willing to spend.  But Maintenance is what makes Getting Organized stick and stay, and takes much less time, money, energy, decision-making, etc.

Imagine your organized life.  Your clutter is gone.  Your stuff has a home, a place to be “put away”, and you have adequate storage for your items.  If this was your house, maintenance would be easy.  New stuff comes in, old stuff leaves, you put stuff away regularly and you make sure your stuff and systems are still working.  You do this a little bit daily and a lot once in a while, like at change of seasons.  This all becomes easy and routine, and you revel in having less clutter and less stress in your life.  Welcome to Maintenance.

And yet, Life Happens.  Good things, bad things, stuff happens.  Big emergencies and little upsets.  And that is why Maintenance is Essential.  I was discussing motivation with one of my tennis friends, and she said she would rather take care of things right away instead of waiting to do them “because more will always come”.  Maintenance is an investment in your future.

Being organized makes life run more smoothly, and occasionally saves us from those big and little emergencies altogether.  Maintaining our health keeps us healthy.  Maintaining our finances keeps our bills paid.  Maintaining our home keeps most major house emergencies at bay. In negative terms, there are many costs of Delayed Maintenance: Preventable but neglected health issues; late bills, collection agencies and poor credit scores; leaky roofs or plumbing problems.  Maintenance is essential, and a lot cheaper than emergencies. 

Maintenance is Perpetual.  I hear from friends and clients that it feels like organizing is never done.  We think we’re close, and then something happens and we have to adjust.

We are all perpetually in transition.  New day, new season, new challenges, new situations, new jobs, new babies, you name it.  So we have to realize that Yes, we have to maintain our systems and adjust to new things.  And that’s Ok.  And inevitable.

Sometimes I want to fight the perpetuity of maintenance.  Going back to Mr. incredible, can’t the world just stay saved for a while?   Any of these sound familiar (and not just in my house?!)?

“Come on!  I just went to the grocery!   Where did all the food go?  That was a week ago?  And we ate it?  Oh. ”

“We have to go pants shopping again because the teenager is suddenly 5 inches taller?  Really?”

“Didn’t I spend yesterday doing laundry?  What do you mean your uniform is dirty?”

“Didn’t I just pay the bills?  Or clean the gutters?  Or mow the grass?  Or get my flu shot?  DO I really have to do it all again now?  Grrrrr…..

So, I get it.  I do.  But then I remind myself that it is silly to fight Maintenance.  Maintenance will still need done even if I don’t feel like doing it.  And I know things will get really ugly if I don’t do it.  We need to eat, we need to wear clothes, I need to clean my house because it will not clean itself.  I don’t always love to clean, but I do love the end product of a clean home.

We can realize the perpetuity of Maintenance, but still cut ourselves some slack, and accept “Done Enough” or “Done For Now”.  There comes a time each night when my people are safely in bed, and I turn off my brain and the light and declare myself done for the day.  “Done Enough”. For now.  Tomorrow is another day.

So embrace Maintenance, in all its forms, and keep up with your Organizing efforts.  Remind yourself of the Easy and Essential parts to help you embrace the perpetual part!  And give yourself a break and allow for “Done Enough” or “Done For Now” sometimes.

Clear Some Closet Clutter This Week!

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      Last week, I knew it was time to Swap out my clothes for Fall when I could not find something to wear in a full closet.  Chicago’s September weather is capricious, and wardrobe choices are challenging when we can wake up to frost, and are back in the 70’s by 3 o’clock.

     I have zippered canvas bags on my top closet shelf for off-season storage.  There is a card in a clear pocket on the front with “Summer” written on one side and “Fall / Winter” on the other (I know, not terribly original).  So out came my Fall faves, and away went all my summer colors and hot weather items.  I feel much better about opening up the closet to make my choices!  My challenge to you is to Spend a little time organizing your closet this week.

      Why?  Why spend time organizing?  To make life simpler and less stressful, and ensure we are using what we have in the best way possible.   To make decision-making easier, to clear out real and visual closet clutter, to review what you have in an objective and critical way, to make sure you are looking and feeling your best in the clothes you have. 

     You have two options for your plan of attack:  1.  Carve out a couple of hours and phone a helpful, supportive and honest friend (or call me, and I’ll help!).  Then take all the clothes out of your closet, review them and purge what needs to go, then put back what is left.  OR: 2.  Do your closet in bits and pieces, like shelves today, rod tomorrow, or pants today, skirts tomorrow.  “Bits and pieces” are less disruptive but take longer.

     Sort clothes in a way that makes sense to you.  With clothes, your best bets are either by color or by type.  I prefer to sort by type, with all the pants together, all the skirts together, etc.  I have clients that sorts strictly by color.  Both ways are correct, so long as they make sense to you or to me.

      Once we sort, we decide what stuff can go away.  When it comes to clothes, it is helpful to realize that some items can stay in your life, but can be stored somewhere other than your closet. 

  • Items may need to go away just for the season, like specifically summer items and shoes.
  • Some items may need to go away for longer.  For example maternity clothes can be stored away somewhere else in your home if you plan to have more children or are saving them for a family member.
  • Also in your home but not in your closet may be clothes from older children that you plan to save for younger children (I have three sons, we always have bins in storage for the between sizes).
  • Treasures:  Your bedroom closet is prime real estate, beach front property, if you will.  Dedicate it to the stuff you use and wear all the time.  Treasures are great, but should be stored elsewhere.  Yes, I still have my wedding dress, but it is safely stored in the basement.

 I am not a fashion consultant, but let me share what stayed in my closet, and moved to the front:

  • Light weight wraps and capes, for drama and color in this transition time, before I commit fully to a coat!
  • Clothes in Autumnal (I love that word) and winter colors, regardless of fabric weight
  • Scarves, for drama and color and occasional warmth to lighter fabrics. 

What left the closet, for now?

  • Clothes is summery colors, like pale yellows and creams. I really only look good in those with a tan. 
  • Duplicates of shorts, leaving just a few pairs in my drawer for the few really warm days we have yet
  • Most of my sandals, sad to say.  The flip-flops that match my swimming suits went in the drawer with the suits, in case we travel, and the rest went in the canvas storage bag.

 What left the closet and my life for good:

  • I have a friend who does not transition her closet.  She dresses extremely well, and wears everything in her closet.  The closet is not really big, she is great at using well what she has.  For the rest of us, though, we need to occasionally purge and shop, to keep our wardrobe fresh. 
  • Anything more than one size away from my current size went away.  Happily, I am smaller than I was in the spring, thanks to clean living and Weight Watchers.  And after working hard to earn this smaller size, I cringe when I put on the now too-large clothes.  Bigger is not better, nor is it flattering.
  • Some cool weather clothes went away, like the stuff that I never liked, e.g., some boot cut jeans I had because I heard the cut is supposed to be flattering to my shape.  But I can’t stand the extra fabric.  So I practiced some tough love, cut my losses and ditched the pants.
  • Loved items that were starting to show their age.
  • Summer stuff that I did not wear this summer, and won’t wear next summer.

     A word on Replacing / Shopping…. I should mention I swapped out my closet only after I looked through my September / October magazines to become aware of the styles and trends for fall.  So, now that I know what I have on hand, I also have a clearer picture of what I need to purchase to replace my purged items and update my clothes for fall. 

     Spend a little time and make your closet work for you.  You’ll thank yourself tomorrow morning!

Spend Your Screen Time Wisely

Did you Know?  September 18-24th is National  Turn Off Week , a challenge to Reduce your Screen Time on TV and technology.  

     I am blogging to the internet on my laptop, then sending a newsletter via email to suggest you spend less time this week on Screen Time and technology devices.  The irony is not lost on me!  So let me get on with this, so you can read and learn, then go and do something else!

     A Google search of “Turn Off Week” produced links from hundreds of organizations recommending less screen time for both adults and children.  Why?  As a society, we are spending lots of time, often too much time in front of Screens and technology.  Stepping away from the TV, computer and game screens enhances our fitness, health, nutrition, education and family time, just to name a few.  

     I like TV.  I have a handful of shows that I DVR every week, and watch avidly when I have the time, on my own terms.  TV is not bad.  As I start this article on a rainy Sunday afternoon, my hubby is watching football and the kids are watching a Red Box DVD downstairs.  We like TV.  But just this past week, it became evident we need to spend some more time on our school work; all three boys want to sign up for Fall sports; and the pre-teen wants to learn 2 (yes 2) more musical instruments.   Time for these activities has to come from somewhere, so Off The TV will go!

     I love technology.  I use lots of screen time for work and play.  But Technology is only a  tool.  It can educate, communicate, illuminate, entertain.  It can do lots of things, but it is a thing.  It exists to make our lives better.  So use this National Turn Off Week to make sure you are using your technology, and not the other way around. Consider Turn Off Week as a Time Management experiment, how to use our time and resources the best way possible.  

 Things to Think About and Try This Week:

  1. Remind everyone (including yourself) that Turn Off Week is a positive choice.  Replace screen time with family activities, game night, hikes and outings, etc., to reinforce that Real Life is more important than screen time.
  2. The first step to positive change is always awareness.  Need to start small?  Just pay attention to how much you and your family uses technology, and determine if you all could improve your lives by cutting back on your screen time.
  3. Use tech tools to manage your tech.  I love these ideas, for managing your Tech Time, from a Real Simple article, April, 2011:
    • “MacFreedom.com disables all roads to the internet for an allotted amount of time”;
    • “RescueTime.com  tracks your every on-line move and provides easy to read, painfully revealing charts” telling you just how much time you really spend on Facebook or shopping on-line; and
    • “LeechBlock, addons.mozilla.org, blocks certain websites either perpetually or during specific periods, to help you focus you and your family’s time better.”
    • Also, we can set our Direct TV parental controls to allow TV viewing only at certain times of the day, and on certain channels.  I will re-set our viewing hours to between 6 and 8 pm unless I lift the block with the secret code (we’ll see how that goes!!).
    • On the other hand, we can record shows on the DVR for the kids to watch later, so they are guaranteed to have something they want to watch when they do finally sit down to do so. 
  4. Set a limit for how much screen time you and your children use every day.
    • My MIL used TV tokens with her kids, and introduced the idea to my boys one week over the summer. Every day each child receives 3 tokens, for ½ hour each of TV time, Wii or Nintendo.  They can lose their tokens for minor offenses, or they can save them up if they want to watch a movie on the weekends. 
    • It was amazing to watch my 7-year-old become a savvy shopper when it came to “spending” his tokens.  He might turn on the TV, consider what his choices were, and then decide to turn it off because he didn’t really like the choices.  Before the tokens, he would have just sat there and vegged out. 
  5. Be mindful.  Decide when and what to watch, or when you will check your email or smart phone.  Then Do what you plan to do, and Move on.  Get on Facebook, check in, get off, go do something else.  Be mindful when you are using your technology tools, but also be mindful and appreciative of your family and the day around you.  

For Life:  Reduce Screen time with a few simple guidelines: 

  • Keep TVs and computers out of the bedrooms, especially children’s bedroom, for safety, better sleep, better focus, and more family time;    
  • Don’t eat in front of the TV or computer (a challenge for me on days when I work from home); and
  • Set guidelines, like “No cell phones in the bedroom or at the dinner table”.  Neither my teenager nor we parents need our phones where we sleep, since we should neither send nor receive texts at midnight!  We can choose when to answer messages and texts, and hopefully raise awareness in others as to what is appropriate or not. 

     So, our plan?  1. We’ll all work on using our Turn Off Time wisely, for the cool activities we want to do instead of mindless TV viewing, and 2. I am going to work on my own screen time, to focus on people and not technology when we are all together.  I will check then ignore my email first thing in the morning on my iPhone, but wait to turn on my computer until the boys are off to school and I am ready to really work.   And I’ll let  you know how it goes, in a week, via technology again!   And let me know if you have ideas or suggestions for how to spend your Turn Off Week!

Don’t Just Pile, Act then File!

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     This week’s article is inspired by Mary and AnneMarie, so thanks, ladies, for the inspiration.   And thanks to all of you who offered comments and insight in the Pile vs. File debate, via email or Facebook.  And the responses also inspired a future topic (perhaps next week) of Cool Tools and High-Tech Solutions for your papers.

     Most of the folks who responded feel they are both Pilers and Filers of papers, meaning they pile papers for a while and then file them, with a variety of time frames, from “once a week” to “whenever I can’t find something”.  And a little pile of work to be done is Ok, but please, not too many piles!

     This month’s Real Simple reported that 83% of HR managers “say the appearance of an employee’s workspace affects their perception of the employee’s skill level and professionalism.  Want to be a go-getter?  Then go get those dirty coffee cups and messy piles of paper.”

     I find the challenge with paper is that each piece of paper represents something else.  This post-it note is not just a piece of paper, it is a place holder that represents a phone call to make, a letter to write, an action to take, a past event, a loved one.   There are 3 types of papers:

  • Active: Papers requiring action:  Bills to pay, forms to fill out and return, coupons, receipts for returns, articles to read
  • Passive:  Papers we need to hold on to for a prescribed time, perhaps to refer to or not, then purge: receipts, paid bills, kid’s activity schedules like soccer or baseball rosters
  • Archive:  Papers we need to keep forever, like mortgage papers, tax records (for 4-10 years, depending on who you talk to), birth certificates, wills, passports, etc.

Why Do We Keep Papers?

  • We haven’t completed the actions they require.
  • We think someone will care about them in the future.
  • We haven’t gotten around to doing anything with them, or it didn’t occur to us we could toss them. 

 Why Do We Pile Papers Instead of Filing Them?

  • We’re afraid if we put something away, we’ll forget where it is or that we even have it.
  • We don’t like or trust our filing systems because they are too complex, or too basic, or they were not created by us for us.
  • We don’t feel like filing, because we don’t see why it matters.  Or we are busy, lazy, got called away, the files are far away, the drawer is broken, we need to clean the old stuff out of the file cabinets before we can put the new stuff in, and that job seems too overwhelming, too, yada, yada, yada.  I do this for a living, I have heard lots of reasons why people don’t file.  The reasons against filing are legion.

 Why Does Piling Paper Cause Problems?

  • Piling papers vertically makes retrieval of information difficult or impossible.
  • Gravity.  We can only pile things so high before they topple.
  • There is only so much horizontal space in most homes
  • Visual clutter is distracting
  • Piling papers puts all papers equal, regardless of importance, type of action, value, etc.

 Why Do You File Papers?

  • Well, to counteract all the problems listed above, of course!
  • Filing things away makes finding them and everything else easier.  Papers stay where we put them.  And then we can see the beyond the clutter.   
  • File folders and holders hold paper vertically and are open at the top, maximizing space and allowing viewing and retrieval.
  • Maintenance is so much easier than catching up.  A few minutes daily is much easier than a monthly paper mess!  I am very proud of those of you who answered that you are both a Piler and a Filer. 

 First Things First:  Set yourself up to Succeed:

  • Sit down with a shredder, recycling bag and 10 minutes on the timer.  Power through your piles, re-sorting your papers into Action, To File – Passive, To File – Archival, Recycle and shred. 
  • Now that you’ve sorted your Papers, Jump In!
  • Active Papers:  Active Papers are the only papers you should have on your desk right now.
    1. Try a new way of holding your Active papers, like a standing file folder on your desk. (No Piles, remember?!?!)  
    2. Break down your Active Papers Pile into types of actions to take: title manila folders “bills to pay”, “forms to complete and send back to school”, etc.   
    3. Break down the actions into little tiny steps, if necessary.  I read an article about a woman who needs to file her expense reports more quickly. 
      • Currently:  Her expense receipts get stuffed in her wallet until it is too full, then she takes them out and piles them on the desk until the pile falls.  A couple of times a year, when the spirit moves her and / or she needs the money, she files her expenses. 
      • New Requirement:  Her employer now requires a 60-day-or-less turn around.  If she wants to get paid, she has to step up.
      • Her folders now live in a holder on her desk, and walk her papers through the reimbursement process.  They are entitled: receipts to expense; receipts to copy; copied receipts to submit for reimbursement; reimbursement requests sent; and Reimbursed Expense requests and proof of payment, 2011.
    4. Schedule time to actually act on your action items.  If you don’t dedicate time to Action items, they will never get done.  Monday morning are my Action mornings. 
    5. Once you act on a paper, ask yourself again what the next action is for that piece.  It could be Return to School, pop in the mail, give to someone else, recycle, file, etc.  Papers need to keep moving!
  • Passive Papers: Stand and deliver
    1. Once you decide a paper gets to stay in your files, spend time every day or every week filing things away.  I have spent lots of blog time on Paper Management issues, so click here for pertinent links to topics like categories, filing systems, etc. 
    2. Archival Papers:  File forever.  These are the easiest papers to deal with because you don’t see them often, and there aren’t many of them.  Unless you have 30 years of accumulated passive papers, which leads us once again back to maintenance. 

     I like filing.  I like the feeling of accomplishment, of Done-ness.   I like clutter-free, visually peaceful space that comes from filing.  I use filing as the final act of closure on my work day, before I turn off my computer and go do fun Colleen / Mom stuff.  I never have much to file, and my folders are convenient to put things away.

    I challenge you, this week, to look differently at your pile of papers.  Do a power sort and purge the easy stuff, then Act on your Active Papers and file the rest.  You can do this, I know you can.  And you will be amazed at how much better you work when the piles are gone!

Why I Organize my Family (and you should, too!)

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     My goal for writing is to motivate and educate my readers and clients about organizing. Most people who contact me need organizing motivation or education, or a mixture of both.

     My last few blogs have been heavy on the How-To, as in how to organize for Back To School, but this week I want to talk about the Why.  Why should we and our children get organized for Back To School?  And this applies to everyone, not just folks in the midst of Back To School right now!

 We want our children to do well in school and in life.

    1. Last fall, I renamed my Organize Your Kids class “An Organized Family”.  Sometimes it is not the children who make a family disorganized, but we adults. It is up to me to get my kids to school on time, even as they get a little older.
    2. Lack of organization is often interpreted as lack of preparation, cooperation or knowledge.  Good grades are great, but if your child is regularly late or unprepared, it will reflect negatively on him. 
    3. Tardiness disrupts class and instruction, and it singles out your child.  And your child has to face the teacher and school staff every morning, not you.
    4. One of my myriad of responsibilities as a parent is to cultivate a strong work ethic and life skills in my children.  We are not raising children to remain children, we are raising future adults.
    5. Your child probably wants to be on time, but may be nervous about asking you or doesn’t realize things can be different.

We want life to be less complicated. 

    1. We live in a complicated world.  There are so many responsibilities vying for our time and resources. 
    2. We want more living and less drama.  More time spent with loved ones in good relationships, less time spent on stuff. 
    3. Having a better grasp of our time allows us to not worry about being on time.  Go figure!
    4. For example, we establish our morning routine every August, and we know that if we stick with it, all is well.
    5. We are well-rested, clean, dressed and well-fed, prepared for our day and on time.  If we just do what we’re supposed to do, we have fun and relax, without drama.  

We realize we are the parents, the Adult, and we set the example.

    1. We have to teach our children to do things for themselves before we can expect our kids to do things for themselves.
    2. Be clear with your expectations.  Be clear, be brief and keep them simple.
    3. In quiet reflection after Mass, I realized that if I can give an hour, uninterrupted, to God during the Mass, I should do the same for my kids, every morning from 7-8.  So that is one of my goals for this morning, to focus solely on preparing for the day during that hour with my kids, until we’re on track.

We want to be able to say “Yes” to new things. 

    1. My way is not the only way, nor is it the best way for every family.   I happen to value organization, and am convinced of the importance of organization for success in life.  That is purely my opinion, there are lots of things to value in life. 
    2. I had an artistically creative and wonderful class participant ask me “What if some days I don’t feel like being organized?”.  I understand where she is coming from, sort of, like some days it is fun to abandon routine and go with the flow.  But I don’t view Organization as an Either / Or.  I view it as a means to a better life.
    3. Because we are organized, we can be flexible and open to new things, and respond to opportunities that come our way, or make our own opportunities for new things or activities or experiences. 

      So, my challenge to you this week is to look at your own ideas about organizing, and make a list, mental or other wise, of your answers to the Why Get Organized question.

     Above is my list of Why statements, my answers to the Why Get Organized? Question.  Your list may look completely different, and that is great!  Just give it some thought, find your motivators, post them where you can see them, and use them to help you stay on track in the busy days ahead!

A Great Morning Starts The Night Before!

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(A note: I originally wrote this article for Speech Plus in Frankfort, IL for their Back-To-School newsletter issue.  They graciously agreed to let me post the information, for the benefit of all!   For more information regarding Speech Plus, P.C., go to their website at www.speechplus.org, or find them on Facebook.)

Getting ready and out the door in the morning can be a challenge, especially for families!  Here are 5 things you can do tonight to make tomorrow morning great:

  1. Look ahead.  After dinner, check tomorrow’s schedule. Assemble by the door the items needed for your work presentation, your child’s school band rehearsal or soccer practice.  Complete permission slips, make sure your teenager has lunch money, note special needs or events.  Do this early in the evening while you still have time to run to the grocery for snacks or wash the soccer uniform.
  2. After dinner is a great time to pack all the lunches for tomorrow, too.  Pop them back in the refrigerator, and grab them and go in the morning rush.  Pack one for your self, too!
  3. Lay out clothes for tomorrow, for you and your children.  If you have small children and some open floor space, lay out the clothes on the floor, face down, as though they were on a child, to help your young one get himself dressed independently.  If you have older children, take out the guess-work and roll ensembles together or leave them on a hanger all together in the closet.
  4. Put the school work away tonight, leaving out only an item or 2 if there is last-minute test review to do.  Otherwise pack up the backpack when the homework is done for the night, and leave it by the door to grab and go.
  5. Go to bed.  Good sleep hygiene is vital to success, for you and for your children.  Calming night-time routines with family time, soothing lighting and relaxing reading ensure restorative sleep and a better morning tomorrow!  Introduce the school-year bedtime a week before school begins, to ease your sleepers and your self into the new time.

A great school day begins with a great morning, and a great mornings starts the night before.  Here’s to a successful school year!

BTS: Never Be Late Again!

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Last August, I resolved we would be on time for school. Every day. And except for the very last day of school, when there was an actual flood in our neighborhood, we accomplished our goal.

Do you know why we succeeded?  Because I realized that my own adherence to my own routine can make or break our morning.  If we are late for school, by and large, it really is my fault.

As my children grow up, the responsibility shifts to their shoulders.  Some mornings, kid cooperation is not 100%.  But it is still up to me to set the example, to create (with family in-put) and stick with our Morning Routine, to focus on the task at hand and not get distracted, to keep the goal of “School On Time and Prepared” ever in sight.

Your kids may have a few weeks until they go back to school, and soon their morning routines will get tweaked.  So, this week, get your own Back To School (or going to work every day) Routine on track, and make the BTS transition easier for everyone!

Get up when you plan to get up.

I admit, I am a snoozer.  When the alarm sounds, my hubby hops up and stays up.   Me?  Not so much.  I learn from him, though, and moved the alarm clock more than an arm length away from the bed, to keep me from smacking the snooze button without even fully registering that the alarm went off.

Why?  Because I use an alarm for a reason.  I need to get up at 6 am to get myself ready before the kids get up.  And if I don’t get up with the alarm, I defeat my own intentions before I even get out of bed.  Setting the alarm earlier and allowing snooze time doesn’t solve the problem, either, now does it?  Nope.  Same bad habit and defeatist behavior.  So bye-bye bedside clock, hello hidden-under-the-bed or across-the-room clock.

And, DO NOT set your clock ahead.  Everyone knows it is set ahead, and it loses effectiveness (unless you set it a minute or two ahead, and don’t tell anyone….)

Get Ready First.

I talk about “Back to Ready” with my clients.  It is a mental image of what an organized and ready family looks like.  We know what is necessary to get ready, how to do those things, and that once we’re there, we can go do something fun.

But it has to start with getting Me “Back To Ready”.  Why bother getting the kids or the house ready for us to go if I am  not ready?  First order of the day is to get myself up and showered and dressed and fed.  Then I am much more available and coherent when the kids get up.

Lower Your Morning Standards.

Whenever I talk about routines, I always suggest to write down what you Need to do in the morning.  And, yes, I said NEED.  Make sure the Needs are covered, then move on to the Wants.  Needs are get clean, get dressed, eat breakfast, get out the door.  Everything else is extra.

I am the queen of starting just one more thing when I should be leaving, but that “one more thing” like writing an email or starting a load of clothes can make us late.  You and I both need to Write It Down and save it for later, and get out the door.

I read an article the other day that suggested we all Need to rise before 5 am to meditate, journal, work out, conference call with Singapore and grind our own flour for organic muffins for our families (yes, I made some of that up.  But not all!) before 7 am.  But if that list of things to do is not for you, don’t worry.  Stick with Needs, then move to Wants.

Recognize Load Time and Leave Time are two different things. 

Load Time:  The time we start loading ourselves in the van.  Factor in the every-morning-search for the 11 year- old’s watch, the 7 year-old’s daily dash to the bathroom as soon as I holler “Let’s go, people!”

Leave Time:  Time you pull out of the garage and head to school.  Leave Time factors in the length of the car ride / walk to school and adds a little cushion.  Aim for 5 minutes early to start with, it’s better to be early rather than late!  And don’t consider Early early.  Consider it On Time.

If you only have yourself to get out the door every morning, you can learn from this, too, especially if you find yourself running back for a few things as you leave the house.  Know your self.  For example, if you have to leave at 7:30 am to get to the office on time, aim for 7:20, realizing you always search for your car keys, double-check the locks, share a few words with the neighbor, or forget something.  And if you actually get to work a few minutes early, that is great, too!

So, whether you are going Back to School or not, let me challenge you this week to make your Morning Routine work better for you, and Get Where You Are Going On Time Next Time.  Give it some thought, get up a little earlier (or just move the alarm clock like me) and never be late again!

Organize your Garage: Crystal Ball or Snow Globe?

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     Look with me into my crystal ball…   I can tell you exactly where you were this past February 2nd.  If you live in the Midwest like me, you were either stuck in your house or shoveling the 2 feet of snow that fell in 18 hours.   

     More importantly, for today’s message, where was your CAR?  Your second biggest investment?  Your necessary transportation tool for work or school?  Was it safe in your garage (if you have one), or was it on the street or in the driveway while your clutter stayed warm and dry?  And where will it be when snow flies again?   Organize Your Garage This Month!    It is a lot easier and more comfortable to do it in August than in December (trust me, I’ve been hired to do both!). 

     Why is organizing your garage different from other parts of your home? 

  1. Everyone uses the space;
  2. The stuff stored there is just bigger; and there is more stuff because the space is bigger.
  3. The Garage becomes a collection of indecision, a waiting room for stuff to come and go from your home. 
  4. We ignore the stuff until we are faced with a crisis or never.  And the stuff just keeps piling up… 

     Why should you organize your Garage?  Garages don’t get the respect they deserve: they are truly multifunctional!  The primary goal for a garage should be vehicle parking.  Organize your garage, protect your car and large investments, and stop paying for off site storage units.

5 Tips to Organize your Garage:

  1. Remove the big things first, like large boxes or appliances, garbage bags of donations or recycling.   
  2. Break down the Cardboard:  you’d be amazed by how many empty boxes are probably cluttering up your garage.
  3. Stop storing things for other people.  You know who you need to call.  And they know who they are, too.  Make the calls, give the “other people” a deadline, have the stuff collected or toss it.  Some tough love now will save you time, money and car care later!
  4. Take Action:  Make some more phone calls, or take some time on-line and set up appointments for pick up of the items you already know need to go away.  Your clutter is treasure to someone else.  Donate big unwanted items:
    1. HOMES, Salvation army for furniture
    2. ComEd for large appliances
    3. PennySaver to place an ad, or list your items on Freecycle.
    4. For a more complete list, check out my Recycling Guide.
  5. Do NOT store treasure in the garage, which can have excessive temperatures, -20 to 120 degrees, pests and moisture.  All can cause damage to photos, books, clothing, or things with glue or wax like seasonal decorations.

 Storage solutions for Garage Storage:

  1. Climb the walls:  With just a little effort, you can use vast expanses of vertical wall space for peg boards for small-item storage, hooks for bikes or bags, racks for yard implements and snow shovels.
  2. Big items need big shelves:  So many things in the garage are REALLY BIG.  Bikes, yard toys, coolers, holiday decorations, sleds, bins of off-season clothing (see photo below).  Standing shelf units are great solutions, and if you use your garage for many purposes, you can invest in rolling shelf units.  Then you can roll out the stuff you need and roll it back away when you are done.
  3. “Roll out the barrel” out of your garage: I cringe when I see huge barrels of yard tools standing in the corner of a garage.  First, as a mom, anything that heavy and full of sharp edges that can fall over makes me nervous.  Second, why does any one need a barrel full of anything?  You can’t move it, access it, or clean it out.   A big barrel just screams to be filled, and so we fill it.  With rakes, brooms, old wood, baseball bats, who knows?  Get rid of the barrel, or outfit it as a rain barrel.  As for the yard tools, hang them on the wall (see Climb the Walls), or try a very low-tech idea, a short board across the space between the studs around 3 feet high and stand yard tools up in the space behind the board.    
  4. Garage rafters are a great place for large and / or off-season items, like ladders, summer deck furniture, sleds, etc. 
  5. Lock it UP: Safe Storage.  Assume that everything is going to fall.  Store heavier items on lower shelves, lighter items on upper shelves.  Mount shelves / attached shelf units to wall.  If children ever use the garage, put away power tools and cords, heat or flame sources and flammable items.  Make sure poisonous house and garden products have child resistant caps, are clearly labeled and are out of reach of children or in a locked cabinet.

Set aside a couple of hours this weekend, and make some space in your garage for your car.   You’ll be so glad that you did!

I must give credit to Julie Morgenstern, Organizing From the Inside Out  and Barry Iszak, Organize Your Garage In No Time.