Tag: Time Management

“Going Away” Checklist

Ask yourself:

What do you do every time you leave the house?  Run around like a crazy person, hoping you remembered to do everything….

What do you wish you had done, an hour into your trip?  Unplug the iron, set the DVR, water the grass, check the faucets….

What are some tasks that would make your getting-out-the-door go more smoothly? (insert your list here!)

What would make your coming-home more pleasant?  and Wouldn’t a standardized list of this stuff make the whole process a lot easier?

Of course it would!

One of my most often used and beloved organizing tools is a simple hand-written index card with a dozen or so task items written on it.  It is a standardized list of what I need to do to get the house ready for us to leave.  I laminated it early on, so that I could cross off the tasks as I accomplished them with a dry-erase marker and re-use the card.  And I have. Over and over again!

Whenever it is time to close up the house for a while and leave, for either a quick over-night trip or a 2 week vacation, the list remains the same. The tasks take an hour (uninterrupted) to complete, and then I can leave the house with a clear conscience.    The biggest motivators for creating the “Going Away” checklist were:

1. Clarity of thought, just in case I am leaving in a rush or for an emergency;
2. Safety, above all;
3. Energy and resource economy; and
4. Avoiding pests like ants, gnats or mice.

Here is the List: “Going Away”:

Kitchen:

  • Clear the fridge, toss left overs, Freeze what can be frozen
  • Refrigerate what can be refrigerated (fruit bowl or bread on the counter)
  • Wipe down surfaces
  • Lock stove door, make sure burners are off
  • Turn off the coffee maker timer
  • Wrap up the dishes, start the dishwasher and run the garbage disposal to clear it

Pets and Plants:

  • Dog: Plan or Pack up her stuff (when we had a dog)
  • Fish: Vacation Feeder pellet, or a plan for someone to watch them
  • Gerbil: Check water and food levels, or have a plan for someone to watch them
  • Plants: Water all, including the garden

House

  • Bedrooms: make beds, laundry to hamper
  • Close and lock all windows, pull shades in bedrooms and family room
  • Vacuum all
  • Turn up / down thermostat
  • Turn off / unplug computers
  • Take out the trash
  • Final walk through for safety and water check, making sure things are turned off or unplugged

So, my challenge to you this week is to Make Your Own “Going Away” check list.

  • Sit down with a pen and paper, and note all the tasks you tend to do to get ready to go.
  • Be an objective observer the next time you are getting ready to travel, and figure out if anything needs to be added to your Going Away Checklist, or subtracted, if it is not really important.
  • Most of the tasks on my list can be shared or delegated to my kids, too, and help is always welcome!
  • The order of my tasks is important, too, leading from one to another in a logical fashion, the path I walk through my house.

So, spend a little time now to make your next departure go smoothly and your next homecoming more pleasant.  What does your list look like?  Please share!  And safe travels!

No, Really, Balancing Work and Life

1 Comment

A reader requested information on organizing time and space as we work from home.  I’ve written this response over two days, between baseball games and dinners with friends, mulch and laundry, so SZ, you are not alone in this struggle!   

The Act of Balancing
I hear the term “Work-Life Balance”, and it puzzles me.  “Balance” is a tenuous and fleeting moment as a thing tips one way to the other.  “Balancing”, on the other hand, is active.  It is the movement of a thing back and forth between two sides, and seems a more attainable goal.  Judge the big picture and determine how your day or week went, instead of momentary balance.  Here are ways to make Balancing simpler:

Know your self and your family.
I am not very useful after 8 pm, as my brain is tired.  However, as crazy as it sounds, I find inspiration at 6 am (and my house is quiet!).  Early mornings rock!   That is how my body and brain work, and I have learned to embrace it.

 S.Z., you asked “Do I work now or run to Target?”  The answer is “Both, just not right now”.  In my case: 

  1. I can go to Target….
    1. Alone right now, while my kids are in school;
    2. With them after school; or  
    3. Alone after school, if my oldest child or hubby are home. 
  2. I can Work….
    1. Now, while I am alone in my quiet house. 
  3. Once everyone is home, it is much more difficult to focus or make calls uninterrupted.  Personally, I protect early morning, school time or nap time for work, and leave the errands and house tasks for family time.  Work now, errands later.
  4. Work is an “external motivator” (I’ll write more on this topic some day!).  An external influence (employer, publisher) requires accountability from you, to get your work done.  The laundry doesn’t require accountability, at least most days, and it also does not pay well!  So sometimes work wins. 

Focus & ReFocus:
Make a list of 3 things that absolutely have to get done today, regardless of whether they are work related or personal.  Do these three things first, in case your day does not go as planned.  

Re-assess at 2 pm.  I don’t know about you, but mid-afternoon, my concentration and energy fade.  It is a good time to take a breath, take a break and look at my list for the day.   I check my 3 important items and make sure they are done or in progress.  If they are not, I re-focus on getting them done, so I don’t lose my day to distractions.

I use timers.  All the time.  I’ll dial in 20 minutes and focus just on clearing my in-box, then move on.  I use one while I do home tasks, too, setting it for every 30 minutes or so as a reminder to re-focus and move on, if I have gotten off-track. 

Ditch perfectionism, and accept that you may not start and finish a big project in one day.   For those of you, like me, who work in 2 or 3 hours blocks, here is an example:  Day 1: Plan and start your project; Day 2-3: Write or work on it in blocks, for 2 or 3 days; Day 4: Edit; Day 5: Publish or complete.  Again, this buys you time if things don’t go as planned.

Open for Business:
Make a Clean Break between work and family life.  I have a friend who leaves the house every morning at 8, buys a coffee and comes back home through a different door to help with the transition to his work day.

A successful start today relies heavily on how you ended yesterday.  At the end of each work session, leave yourself notes or a task list for tomorrow.   Here is a recent blog on this very topic, The Last 10 Minutes.  

Dedicate your first 10 minutes to routine tasks,  to set the stage for getting things done.  A friend suggests starting the day with a couple of short and easy tasks, to ease into the work day.   Having a routine for your work time is invaluable, too.  I have lots of ideas for my business, so many in fact that sometimes it is difficult to concentrate on just one.  Starting with mundane tasks like a quick email check, Facebook post, and update of my work hour spreadsheet helps me settle into my rhythm and transition into a more complicated task.

Other blogs on Time Management:  168 Hours A Week, 1440 Minutes a Day  and Taking Care of Business Tuesdays

A few words about Space:
I love my office space when I am home alone.  however, my lovely work space is in our family room, and once everyone is home, I feel a little crowded.  I love my family, but my focus disappears as my family appears.  

We need to choose our work spaces wisely.  I work best with lots of light and a pretty work space.  We have space in the basement or in my bedroom, but I don’t want to work underground or where I sleep.  I recently lobbied for desk space for me and my laptop on my hubby’s desk in the quiet living room, away from the TV, door, etc.   He said yes because he is a kind and generous person, and even cleaned it up for me.  And if I still have too much background noise from my people, earphones and my IPod are very handy (SRC, thanks for the reminder.  I’ve got Tracy Chapman on right now!)

We’re part of a global community of workers, providing each other with inspiration and ideas – Please share your comments regarding the Work/Life Balancing Act.  Meet you in the break room later!

Menu Planning: The What, Why and How

2 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4.  Now, put it all together:

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

 Tips to make it work:

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

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

Soar to New Heights: Your Landing and Launch Pad

1 Comment

Every day is a good day to to work on your “Landing and Launch Pad”.

Your Landing and Launch Pad:

  • Is the flat surface near a door where you drop your stuff and bags when you enter your home and pick them up again to take with you when you leave;
  • Is crucial to your success in arriving at destinations on time and prepared; and
  • Is one organizational project that will improve your life immediately.

Why do you need a Landing and Launch Pad?

  • We come and go from home daily, often multiple times! At Klimczak Central, 5 people come and go, to and from many destinations and events.
  • Assign a Home to your necessary items (like backpacks, briefcase, keys and cell phones), corralling them in one location.  Eliminate the last-minute scramble on the way out the door!
  • You probably have a L/L Pad already, but maybe you haven’t given it much thought.  This is your chance to consider your stuff and space, and make both work better for you!

What belongs on a Landing and Launch Pad?

  • Essentials like backpacks, briefcase, keys and cell phones
  • For Launch
    • Shoes, coats and accessories
    • Boots, gloves and hats in winter
    • Umbrellas, sunscreen, ball caps and sunglasses in summer
    • Activity Accessories:
      • For Example, Bags for Soccer with shin guards and uniforms; a bag for Band with music and instruments, etc.; and the bags to go to Choir with me, Cub Scout meetings with us, etc.
  • For Landing:
    • A place to hang your keys and empty your pockets, an envelope for receipts, a jar for loose change, and a shallow bowl for your pocket contents
  • Time between Landing and Launch:
    • Phone chargers and a surge protector
    • Stock items for purses, backpacks and diaper bags, like our stash of small snacks, tissue packets, chap stick, band-aids, anti-bacterial lotion or wipes

 Where should a Landing and Launch Pad be, and what does it look like?

  • Just like your Command Center, let function dictate form.
  • Choose one door as your main entrance, and funnel all the family through there so stuff doesn’t end up all over the house.
  • A L/L Pad near your coat closet is a great idea, but not always feasible, for example our coat closet is at the front door, and our L/L Pad is at the back near the garage door.  We just limit the number of coats out at any time to 1 per child, and 2 per adult.
  • We set a 2-pair shoe limit per person at the L/L Pad to cut clutter.  Extras are stored in bedroom closets.  This time of year, we see boots and sneakers, and sneakers and crocs in the summer.  (I am the worst offender of the 2 pair rule, but I am working on it!)
  • To encourage participation, consider each family member.  For example, my youngest son has a row of hooks for his coat and backpack at his eye level, and he’s great about hanging his stuff there!
  • Use vertical space – coat racks, baskets under benches, over-the-door shoe organizer with pockets for shoes, of course, but also seasonal accessories like gloves and mittens, or umbrellas and sunscreen.
  • We keep it basic.  A bench for staging bags and for putting on shoes, hooks for coats and bags at varying heights for all of us, a basket for extra hats and gloves, and a large rubber (waterproof) mat for boots and shoes.

As with any Organizing Endeavor, maintenance is critical to your Landing and Launch Pad:

  1. Pick a spot for your essential items and stick with it.  Label it, if that helps.  But ALWAYS USE IT!
  2. Give each person assigned and labeled space (e.g. a hook or two, a cubby or basket, even a magazine holder on a shelf) for their Launch stuff AND USE IT!
  3. Re-pack bags immediately upon returning home.
  4. Keep only current season (weather and sports) items in your Landing/Launch Pad, to cut confusion and clutter.    There is so much activity there, it is essential to keep only the stuff you really need.

Invest a little time and thought (and perhaps a little money) this week, and set up your Landing and Launch Pad to make your comings and goings run more smoothly!