Today’s Birthday Special – Get Organized, Get Revitalized

Today’s featured “birthday” special is Get Organized, Get Revitalized!

Organized A to Z is celebrating our birthday in July, but we’re giving you the presents! Each day, we are offering our favorite products at 25% off. The discount is good today only, so get it now!

Today’s Feature Product – Buttoned Up Shopping.pad

Organized A to Z is celebrating our birthday in July, but we’re giving you the presents! Each day, we are offering one of our favorite products at 25% off. Today’s featured product is the Buttoned Up Shopping.pad.  The discount is good today only, so act fast!

Procrastination often happens because we misjudge how long a task will take. Stop and time yourself. You may just find opening the mail doesn’t take as long as you think!

Is your “To Do” list getting too long. Sometimes you can organize too much! If the “to do” will take less than 3 minutes then just do it! You don’t get the pleasure of scratching it off of a list – so what. It feels much better just having it done!

5 Ways ADD and Organizing Can Go Together

Thanks to Organized A to Z partner Samantha Naeyaert of Muddle Management for contributing today’s blog post!

I am diagnosed with ADD and my darling 14 year old daughter is diagnosed with ADD, but my husband isn’t! How do we Find Peace Through Organizing?

Well, some days are better than others and good days show our strengths as a family in focusing on each other’s strengths instead of our weaknesses and/or differences.

Organization and focus on priorities is the key to success. Just as organizers help their clients by setting up:

1. Central Calendars,
2. Visual Cues,
3. Auditory Cues,
4. Routines, and
5. Chore Charts.

This article by Keath Low, ADD/ADHD Guide, gives a few ideas to consider when trying to organize a home with ADD family members:

Organizing a household can help a person with ADD or ADHD function more effectively from day to day. It can also help relieve some of the responsibilities that family members without ADD/ADHD take on. David W. Goodman, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, provides some ideas on how you can better organize your home if someone you love has ADD/ADHD.

Central Calendars

A family calendar organizes all of the information for the household in one centralized location. Social engagements, doctor appointments, school events, birthdays — all of these important dates can be written down on the calendar.

The calendar is like a “the memory bank” for the ADHD individual — a place to consult about upcoming events or appointments. The calendar relieves non-ADHD family members of having to be the source of this information. This ultimately reduces feelings of exhaustion, frustration and resentment that can arise from having to be consulted about every coming and going. If questions continue after consulting the central calendar, then the individual can go to a family member for clarification.

Visual Cues

Visual cues include any visual prompts, such as lists or colorful notes, that remind the ADHD individual about important things to do. Visual prompts may include taping a colored index card with a written message (such as directions to take a morning dose of medicine) to the mirror. Even better, says Goodman, “Velcro the medicine bottle to the mirror!” That is a prompt that is hard to miss.

For many people, routines are simply an integral part of the day, often performed mechanically and without much thought. Individuals with ADHD don’t have these automatic routines. Each day is a new experience for those with ADHD. That is why lists, order, and prompts are so vital.

Auditory Cues

Audible alarms can be set to go off to remind an individual to do something. Watches, cell phones, digital organizers, and computers –these items have alarms that can be set.

All of these types of reminders can be incorporated into an individual’s life. It is very difficult for ADHD individuals to remain consistent; however, this is where a non-ADHD family member can provide oversight and additional support.

Routines

Doing things in the same sequence, at the same time day after day — these are routines. Routines are regular and unvarying. They follow a repeated course of procedure, and are often common tasks or chores.

One simple routine that is extremely effective for organization is for the ADHD individual to empty his/her pockets in a central place immediately upon entering the door when returning home at the end of the day. The identified location may be as simple as a wicker basket that will hold keys, a wallet, glasses, etc. The main point is that the location contains all these necessary items, and that the routine of putting these items in place is repeated day after day after day. This strategy keeps things from getting scattered throughout the house, making the morning rush a little easier.

Divvy Up Household Responsibilities

Another way to relieve some of the burden off those without ADHD is to systematically divide up household responsibilities. This makes it clear who is responsible for which tasks. It may be that a non-ADHD family member is better at the details that come along with paying the bills. Perhaps the ADHD partner enjoys the creativity that comes along with cooking. Spouses can get together and identify who is going to do what. This helps to ensure equity in the relationship.

Consider each of these options and customize them as needed for yourself or your family.  As an organizer, I am in many homes and most dealing with ADD have books on ADD and books on organizing. The  key is to take everyone’s ideas and customize them to fit your needs; none of us are characters in a book, but we are all complicated, falable humans with a need for peace through organization.

Regain Control for an Organized Life

Thanks to Organized A to Z partner Kristin White del Rosso of Pea Organizing Services, Inc.^SM for contributing this article to our blog!

Stress can impact each of us in different ways. According to the “Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index,” 58 percent of Americans reported struggling in their lives at the end of last year. This isn’t surprising given our current tough economic times.

Limited finances, job uncertainty, job loss and other factors can impact us emotionally and physically; often affecting the way we live our lives. Increased stress, disorganization and feelings of being overwhelmed can become a road block for a clear mind and can inhibit you from getting through life’s tough moments. Most of this can stem from feeling loss of control. While you cannot control certain aspects of your life such as job security, you do have control over creating and living an organized life.

By doing so, you will find a life that is richer, less stressed and more focused, thereby making it easier to tackle challenges that come our way. Following these three steps will help you rid your life of clutter and organize for lasting change.

Step 1 – Visualize:

Create a vision of the life – including space, home environment and work – that you want. Look at the big picture because it is about more than organizing your space. Organizing needs a vision to have lasting effects. Remember, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all vision. Your vision is subjective because it is based on what works for you and your family.

Step 2 – Simplify:

De-clutter by taking a hard look at what you have. Determine whether or not it fits into the vision of step one. If not, then purge it. Remember that stuff isn’t life and it isn’t memories. Create a plan of reviewing what you have. Start with one room at a time and carve out 15 minutes a day to assess that proverbial junk drawer, a closet, your kitchen pantry, your car, or the pile of papers on your desk. After you have completed one room, move to the next one on your list. Plan a garage sale date and use that as your deadline date to purge what you don’t need. Use the earnings to treat you and your family to a fun outing, purchase something on your wish list, or to add to your savings.

Step 3 – Organize:

Organize what you decide to keep in a productive way. Create a plan of action for each space and maintain your spaces on a regular basis. This is the easiest step if steps one and two are done correctly. Make sure that your belongings – such as school projects, incoming mail and reading materials – have a designated space. If not, they are bound to end up scattered about or tossed into an unnecessary pile.

As you move forward in regaining control in your life and minimizing stress, check out Mental Health America’s “Live Your Life Well^SM” (www.mentalhealthamerica.net) campaign, which uses researched-based tools to help reduce stress and promote health and well-being.

Copyright © 2009 Kristin White del Rosso

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Kristin White del Rosso, President of Pea Organizing Services, Inc. is Certified Professional Organizer (CPO®) from the Board of Certification for Professional Organizers. For more information, call 704-344-0210 or visit www.thepea.com.

White del Rosso is a member of the NAPO Golden Circle and a Certified Paper Tiger Authorized Consultant (PTAC™) from the Hemphill Productivity Institute. She has also earned a Certificate of Study in Basic Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) Issues, a Certificate of Study in Chronic Disorganization, and a Certificate of Study in Learning Styles and Modalities from the National Study Group of Chronic Disorganization (NSGCD). In addition to the National Study Group of Chronic Disorganization, Pea Organizing Services is a member of ADD Consults, ADD Resources, and the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO^TM)

6 Steps to Reducing Paper

Don't Agonize, Organize! $15.95

Thanks to Diane Hatcher, CPO® for contributing this excerpt from her book, Don’t Agonize, Organize Your Office Now!

 

The advent of computers promised to lead us toward a paperless society. Instead, our paper production has increased. We print out e-mails, make multiple copies on the copy machine, and send and receive faxes with the touch of a button. There is a solution, however. Keeping your paper under control with these 6 simple steps can make life more manageable:

1. DON’T ALLOW PAPERS TO BUILD UP: Handle your paper on a daily basis. Open mail daily. Don’t let it grow into a pile for days or weeks, otherwise it gets totally out of control and the difficulty for dealing with it actually increases.

2. MAKE A DECISION ON EACH PAPER THE FIRST TIME YOU TOUCH IT. This doesn’t mean that every time you get a sheet of paper that you have to work on it immediately. It simply means that, rather than putting it down somewhere ‘temporarily’–like on the dining room table or a desk (read as “pile”)–you have a plan for it. If it can be completed in 60 seconds or less do it now. Otherwise, place it in an action tray to be worked on at a more appropriate time. Separate items that need to be read or filed later. The other choices are to refer it to someone else or toss it into the garbage can.

3. IMPLEMENT THE PROCESS. Continuing the thought from step 2, it is important not to spend your day shuffling papers—for instance moving a sheet of paper from your in-box, to your desk, to your table, into your action tray and back to your desk. Instead, each time you pick up a sheet of paper, make a small dot in the upper right hand corner. Notice anything? You may be procrastinating. Three or more dots are indicative that it is past time to take action on that paper. Refer back to step 2.

4. BE RUTHLESS: 80% of what is filed is never accessed again and 80% or more of the paper you receive on a daily basis can be immediately discarded. Keep a garbage can or recycle bin within reach when opening mail. Toss unwanted papers immediately. Go through your “in-box” each day if others bring you papers. Toss anything that doesn’t concern you. Remove yourself from distribution lists and magazine subscriptions you don’t need. Purge your files once or twice a year at the minimum. Outdated papers and duplicates obtainable elsewhere should go.

5. THINK BEFORE YOU PRINT. Do you really need to print every single e-mail you get? Many e-mails, once read, can immediately be deleted. If you have to keep an e-mail, learn how to make folders for storage on the computer and back them up on a disk. If you must print an e-mail, or a web page, decide if you really need to print the entire thing. You can highlight a portion of an e-mail or a web site with your mouse, click on FILE, PRINT, then choose PRINT SELECTION. This prints only the portion you need.

6. FOLLOW RETENTION GUIDELINES. Your company or personal CPA may have retention guidelines setting out how long a particular paper or file must be kept. You can obtain guidelines yourself on the web. Getting familiar with these guidelines also helps manage the amount of papers necessary to be kept. At the very least, remove closed or inactive files from your active work area and get them to storage. Always indicate a “destroy” date on the box or page to ease the future purging process. An additional benefit of this process is that it serves to provide more space for the coming year’s papers. Space can be “reused” rather than adding new filing cabinets.

Author Diane Hatcher, CPO®, has been organizing offices and homes since 1998. She specializes in law offices, chronic disorganization and virtual organizing. Contact her at www.timesaversusa.com or 954-252-7511.

Organizing Paper with P.E.A.C.E.

Today’s post comes from Marlo Nikkila, the Organizing Coach. Organized A to Z carries her “Organize Out of the Box” product that provides a new, refreshing approach to getting organized.
Is the paper in your life driving you crazy?

Does it take more than 3 minutes to find what you are looking for?

Are piles of paper out of control?

Do you feel overwhelmed by your paper?

Do you want to make peace with your paper once and for all?

Paper is one of the biggest issues for people. There is too much of it and it is easy to get behind, often causing people to feel like they are literally drowning.

Following the P.E.A.C.E plan you will be able to reclaim your sanity for current and future paper in your life.

How does that sound?

P=Permission to let go.

Get this…80% of the paper you keep you will never refer to again! So, you now have permission to let go!

How does that feel? A little scary?

That’s okay, because I am going to ask you to begin with the easy stuff.

Begin with the backlog of old bills, receipts, warranties, recipes, articles, and bank statements. Make sure you have your recycle bin and shredder handy. (wink)

As a quick tip, if you are overwhelmed with all the paper around your desk, turn a pile upside down and start at the bottom. More than likely these papers can be tossed.

E=Evaluate the papers you have.

Sometimes it is out of habit that we continue to file papers we no longer need. Just because there is a file for it, doesn’t mean you have to keep it.

The key to evaluating paper is asking the right questions. With better questions come easier decisions and ultimately less paper!

• Can this paper be found somewhere else?
• Is this a duplicate?
• Have I needed this information before?
• Why am I keeping this in the first place?
• Am I required to keep this?  If so, how long?
• What next action is needed?

A=Act on it.

Your piles of paper probably exist because something needs to be done with individual pieces–sign, read, pay, call, research, follow-up, errand, etc. Am I right?

The best solution is if it takes less than 2 minutes, just do it. If it is going to require more time and energy, go ahead and jot down the info onto your calendar or to-do list and recycle the piece of paper. The paper no longer needs to serve as your reminder. (more permission to let go!)

If you find that the paper really is needed, then I suggest a tickler system or an action book.

C=Contain & Categorize your papers.

The best way to find it in less than 3 minutes is to create a specific home for your papers in places (and names) that make sense to you.

Do you have a mail center to capture your incoming mail? Is your filing cabinet in the area that you pay bills and process your paper? Are you naming the files appropriately?

The best question to ask yourself when filing or creating a home for your paper is this: Where will I find it? Do you see how this is more powerful than the more common “Where should I put it?”

If you would look for your car info under “Prius” instead of “Automobile” then by all means label it that way.

It will also help if you think in terms of categories for your paper. Examples would be, financial, health, hobbies, owner-manuals, utilities, etc.

E=Electronic solutions.

There are several ways you can take advantage of technology to reduce the amount of paper in your life.

• Receive electronic bank statements and utility bills.
• Use auto pay for utilities and other bills.
• Opt out of mailing lists—virtual and paper.
• Keep all you password and log-in information with SplashShopper ID on your PDA or desktop computer.
• Store important documents on a secured online server.
• Resist the temptation to print e-mails.
• Send real greeting cards from your computer with www.simplifymycards.com.

My hope is for you to experience the freedom that comes with making P.E.A.C.E. with your paper, once and for all.

Marlo Nikkila, “The Organizing Coach,” has created FUN organizing solutions through coaching, home-study guides, and a resourceful website for overwhelmed individuals who want clarity and peace in their life while living in harmony with our planet.

If it’s time for you to move forward and accomplish more than you are on your own, visit www.the-organizing-coach.com for an abundance of articles and resources, along with powerful workshops and coaching to help you become more organized.

Clutter Free Home Files & Paper Systems

Thanks to our guest blogger, Nancy Black of  Organization Plus, for today’s tips on creating a clutter free home file and paper sorting system!

Here are some ways that you can decrease the papers that come into your home.

• Pay bills online or put them on auto pay.
• Call 800 #s on catalogs & ask them to delete your name from their mailing list.
• Do not renew the magazines that you do not have time to read.
• Request to have your name deleted from charitable request solicitations for charities you will not be contributing to.
• When you fill in warranty forms check box asking them not to share your name.
• Shred credit card solicitations that you do not want.

Mail: Process each day and sort by what action you need to take on it. Have a desktop action file, with hanging file folders, or cubbies labeled with the action that you need to take or by category. Example: Calls to make.

School Papers: Have a folder in each child’s back pack for school papers. Review with your child daily, sign permission slips and fill out forms.

Magazines, Newsletters, & Newspapers: Set retention guidelines on how long to keep.

Post-its, scraps of paper with messages/addresses on them: Put info. in phone message book. You will have carbon copy of it.

Organizing Home Files:

My VitalFiles system is an excellent way to set-up an easy-to-use filing system for your home.

Creating filing system: Purchase functional products so that it will be easy to set up maintain your files.  Example:  Decorative File Folders. Homefile and VitalFiles systems give you suggested categories and retention guidelines.  Color coded files are easy to identify by category. Example: Bright green for finances. Choose color for each family member.

Organizing existing files: Set retention guidelines on how long to keep documents. Purge outdated information or categories you are not longer interested in. Check with accountant or attorney on how long  to keep legal and accounting files. Shred any confidential information you are purging.

Nancy Black, of Organization Plus, is an Organizing Consultant with over 25 years of organizing experience. She was quoted in the NY Times, March 26, 2009. She created the “3 Hour Transformation” to turn your piles into files. She specializes in helping people create paper-flow systems, organize their space and plan their time. These services are provided on site or through telephone consultations. Her Web site is www.organizationplus.com.

Customer Question – How Do I Organize Lots of Costume Jewelry?

I received an inquiry from a valued Organized A to Z customer asking about sorting and organizing jewelry. She was inheriting a large amount of costume jewelry and wanted to know the best way to categorize and sort without damaging anything.

That’s a great question! Having your jewelry properly organized not only helps you find what you need when you want to wear it, but it also helps you inventory it, track its value, and keep it safe, clean, and in good condition.

There are several ways to sort jewelry:

• Most valuable to least valuable (I know you said it was all costume jewelry, but some might be of more value than others. You may have to consult a dealer to get advice in this area)
• Sort by type (earrings, bracelets, necklaces, rings, pendants) – this makes the most sense and is easiest to store based o the products on the market today.
• Sort by color (if you choose to color coordinated with your outfits, this is the easiest way to find your accessories fast

Depending on how you want to store your jewelry (on top of a dresser or inside a drawer) I have a number of items on Organized A to Z that would be of help. Just click on the image to learn more!

Hanging Jewelry Organizer, $14.95

Jewelry Stax 5 Compartment Organizer, $11.45

Jewelry Stax 6 Compartment Organizer, $19.95

Jewelry Stax Necklace Organizer, $19.95

Jewelry Stax 18 Compartment Organizer, $11.45

Jewelry Stax Rings & Things Organizer, $11.45

Natural Wood Jewelry Drawer Organizer, $19.95

Natural Wood Rings, Earrings, and More Jewelry Organizer, $19.95

Natural Wood Necklace & Bracelet Jewelry Organizer, $19.95

Acrylic 10 Drawer Organizing Tower, $30.95

I hope this helps all of you who need an efficient and neat way to organize your jewelery. If you have any other great tips, please leave a comment and tell me about them!

Keep the organizing questions coming! I’ll post my answers along with product examples to help you visualize an organizing system that will work for you.