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Previous Tips of the Month
September
- For the September National Preparedness Month, I suggest that you obtain Judith Kolberg's book
Organize for Disaster: Prepare Your Family and Your Home for Any Natural or Unnatural Disaster.
This book can be bought through Squall Press. There is a lot of peace of mind knowing that you are prepared.
-
September is National Preparedness Month:
- Put together or buy an emergency kit
- Make an evacuation plan
- Be informed of local news and disaster plans
- Get involved in a local agency that deals with disasters
- Inventory your belongings and make sure they are insured
- Protect records you can't live without
-
Do one cleaning chore a day so that you can enjoy the weekend more.
August
-
School is back in session. Now would be a good time to start helping your students
organize their school work. Keep a file for each subject (different colors works best)
and retain all graded papers and comments until the end of the quarter. This way, if
there is any question about grades or completed work your student has his copies.
At the end of the quarter go through each folder and discard everything except the
few most important projects.
-
Have children going back to school? Organize a time/space for them to study each evening.
If this is a shared space and materials can't be left out, create a container or basket that
holds all necessary materials. Keep this container stocked and handy so that it can be put
out each evening without a hassle.
-
Organize existing storage spaces before adding more—try to store
like things together.
July
-
Time Management tip—In the summer we are more likely to be off on vacations
and/or there are more trips to the pool. Laundry stacks up faster and can become
overwhelming. When it has really stacked up consider dropping it off at a laundromat
so that you are caught up again.
-
July is 6 months after New Year Resolutions—if one of your goals was
to simplify your life, summer is a good time to reflect on it. Try
to simplify one area of your life this month. Make a list of some
changes you would like to make and tackle just one.
-
Dispose of multiples—you probably don't need 3 staplers, 4 tape
dispensers, or 12 screwdrivers—select the ones you like best or use
the most and give the others away.
June
-
School is out, and often families travel in the summer. Pack light. Have a packing
list prepared for each person and include toiletries and medicines on the list.
When packing clothes, limit color selections so that outfits can be mixed. Look
for items that can do double duty — i.e., a big T-shirt for a robe, or a one
piece black swimsuit can be a tank top. Pick fabrics that need minimal care and dry
quickly. All of the above will save time and frustration on the road. Enjoy!
-
Set up a communication control area where mail can be sorted,
shredded, or tossed—time sensitive items like bills or party
invitations should go into a container that is handled on a weekly
basis or logged into your calendar to deal with on that day.
May
-
At this time of year we often are out buying new items to care for our
yards and gardens, and it is a big temptation to come in and just put
the stuff in the general area of "gardening". Organize your tools and
other items by task—plant, weed, water, harvest. Remember to store
like with like.
-
The second Sunday in May is Mother's Day. Most moms are overloaded because they try
to please everyone. This month write down goals in all areas of your life including
ones under your mental/physical health. Prioritize—that means making tradeoffs.
Realize you can't do everything yourself so delegate when you can. Don't forget the
“no” word.
-
Overwhelmed? Too much clutter to sort? Break down sorting tasks into
units and set a specific time (like 20 minutes) to put clutter away.
April
-
As you do your spring cleaning and decluttering, leave room to grow. You know some
new things will come into your life so don't fill or crowd areas as you declutter.
-
The third week in April is National Organize Your Files Week. Take this opportunity to
make your file drawer more user friendly. Have at least 2 inches of unused space so that
you can get into your files with out tearing or cramming. Put all major heading tabs on
the left at the front of the hanging file and sub headings in the middle of the file.
This will make it much easier to find papers and easier if you want to switch your file order.
-
When cleaning a closet put the clothes back into the closet with the hangers facing the
“wrong” way—when you use an item correct the position of the
hanger—at the end of the year or season you can easily see what you have not worn
because the handers are still backwards—seriously consider getting rid of these items.
March
-
Each season has different needs for outdoors. Hang a shoe bag on the back of
your closet door and put sunglasses, sunscreen, insect repellent, and rain hats,
for everyone in the spring. At the end of the summer season roll up
that shoe bag and hang another one with gloves, winter hats, scarves, etc.
You won't need to take time to stuff and unstuff the pockets.
-
The second Tuesday in March is National Organize Your Office Day. Take this day to
organize your desk. Keep only daily supplies on your desktop. Only keep papers in
your in box that have not yet been looked at—as soon as you look at an item
put it where it belongs—ex. bills to pay, calls to answer, items to act on,
etc. Develop a paper flow system for all your incoming documents.
-
Does the idea of spring cleaning overwhelm you? Instead of attempting it all in
a few weeks, try dividing your home into 10 zones (e.g., garage, kitchen,
bathroom), and then tackle one zone a month. Give yourself a month off in
the summer and during the winter holidays.
February
-
There are lots of reasons why people hold onto clutter. One I hear a lot
is because "it's still good." Yes, the margarine container, the old bags,
the toys and crib your child outgrew may all still be good, but are they
good for you? Unless items are useful to you right now—pass
them on or get rid of them.
-
Every time you go to the store to buy a greeting card take a few minutes to look
over the selection. Buy extra birthday cards, congratulation cards, or condolence
cards when you see one that looks right for you. Keep a box in your desk drawer
along with some nice stamps to look through when special occasions occur. This
will save extra trips to the store and post office.
-
Emails and phone messages can take a lot of your time—set aside a
scheduled time to respond to these—do not feel you must stop
whatever you are doing and respond to “noncritical” messages
immediately.
January
-
Many of you have some new Christmas items and toys. It might be new cookware, books,
clothes, or electronic gadgets. Be sure all of these new items have a logical "home"—a
place that they belong. Consider getting rid of something similar that you no longer need
or enjoy.
-
Now is the time to take your new calendar, day timer or electronic device and write in all birthdays/anniversaries, recurring events, long range plans (e.g., January: clean office, February: clean living room, etc.), and known appointments for the year to come.
-
If you don't already have one,
consider creating a filing system for the storage of important papers such as
birth records, passports, insurance, etc. If this project seems too
overwhelming, start by putting important papers in one place.
December
-
As you bring down your holiday decorations take a good look at them. Are there some
you have not used in a while but are still in pretty good condition? Right now take
them to a charity that can get them out for others to use this holiday season. Do
you have some that are not in good enough condition to put out? Unless you have a
strong sentimental attachment, toss these now. This will make packing up at the end
of the holidays a lot easier and will use less of your storage space.
-
To keep clutter at bay, ask for gifts that don't clutter. Drop hints for items like movie/theater
tickets, homemade food items, Spanish lessons, a gift to charity, or doing a special holiday event together.
-
You can't read everything so set a limited amount of space or a
limited amount of time for keeping periodicals.
November
-
It seems like this time of year all organizations are asking for donations or renewal of memberships. Rather than
spending a lot of time flipping through your checkbook, records, or folders trying to see when you last sent them
money, each time you send an organization money write who you sent it to and why on your calendar or daytimer in
the notes section. Then in January when you work up your new calendar, transfer this information. Ex.: In Sept.
I have "last year pd. National Geographic, pd. NPCA membership."
-
When starting with the decluttering, begin with the most important area to you—a
place you can return to and see how good it makes you feel. You might want to start
with your bedroom. A cluttered bedroom with messes and unfinished projects in them
will disturb your sleep.
-
Store things close to where you use them—if you give yourself a
manicure on the couch then keep those materials in a drawer or basket
near the couch.
October
-
This is a nice cool time of the year to work on the garage. First, determine how you want to use the space—Parking
for the car? Workshop? Storage center? Sporting goods center? Pull out the items from the garage—if
you plan to park the car, pull it in and mark how much room it takes. Now, determine what other zones you will
have and make a floor plan. Purge.
-
We are now entering the holiday season—Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa. Take some time now to decide what you
want to accomplish from these special days. Make a list of these goals and keep them handy. Use this to help you decide how to
use your time. Are there family traditions you'd like to change? Will you limit how you spend you time in activities outside
of your home? Be proactive with your time and don't get caught up in stressful obligations.
-
Does your work area feel like a stressful area? File or toss those
piles of paper all over your desk. Add a picture or poster, shell, or
toy that makes you smile. Add something in a vibrant color to give
your body an energy boost. Make your work area a place that is
attractive for you to work in.
-
Get rid of things that are too old to be good or safe or have expired
like spices, food items, and medications-schedule a time at least
once a year to check dates on such items.
Jonda Beattie | jonda@timespaceorg.com
| 404-299-5111