Being a Professional Organizer, I am always trying to recognize events in my life that help me to identify with my clients. My house isn't perfect…and neither am I. My most recent event occurred at the Laundromat – of all places. Let me tell you my story. I haven't set foot in a Laundromat in more than a decade. When my dryer broke a few months back I thought we would use it as an opportunity to move forward in being earth conscious and use a clothes line. Noble as this idea may have been, line drying all of the clothes for a family of five during the rainy season isn't quite the start I was anticipating. When my most precious friend told me she goes to the "mat", I thought it might be fun to go to together. This would give me time with my friend and get my family off my back about needing clean underwear. Boy was I in for a surprise.
Are you making the most of your time or are you a daily "fire fighter", running around putting out "fires" all day? It is one thing to understand the principles of time management yet task management seems to be elusive to many. We all have the promotional notepads with the To Do list boxes already printed on them, but do they really help? Maybe if you are going to the grocery store. The best way to manage your tasks is to first understand how you think. If you forget anything that you can't see, a notepad isn't likely to work. For these thinkers, I recommend the Sticky Method. With this type of task management, you write your tasks on 3x3 sticky notes. You place the sticky notes on a large dry erase board mounted to the wall. The board should be divided into realistic time frames (i.e. Today, Tomorrow, Next Week, etc). Place the sticky notes into the appropriate category.
In my classes I teach people how to keep computer files organized but what I am talking about today, is all of the little items that we are instructed to keep that comes with new electronics purchases. Rare is the home I visit that does not have a closet totally devoted to empty computer and electronics boxes – once even having a client rent a storage unit to store the TV box just in case she needed it. We are given information from a variety of sources (add me to the list) of what to keep and what to save. Most of which, is intended to make life easier for the entity providing the information. Consider this, if it is clearly written on each side of a computer box to Save This Box! You think you need to save it. By saving the box, you are making any returns easier (and cheaper) for the manufacturer. Save your boxes between fourteen and thirty days. After that, any malfunction issues will have presented themselves. After that time, a local repairman would most likely be consulted anyway. Once you are ready to dispose of the actual box, cut off the serial number sticker and any manufacturer contact information. These should be stored with the owner's manual and warranty information. This can be by either stapling or placing together in a sheet protector or Ziploc bag. If you use the Ziploc bag, you can place the wires in there as well, just be sure to use a labeler to label the bag and the contents. Make sure that chargers that are used regularly are left out in a place where they can be charged in the same place every day.
Guilt is defined "remorse caused by feeling responsible for some offense". We all have it and especially when it comes to our clutter. Mental health professionals would agree that guilt can weigh us down and bring with it some less than ideal side effects. Imagine ridding yourself of not only the clutter in your space but also of the guilt associated with it! To do that, we must first understand it. We experience guilt clutter when we pay a lot of money for something we never use. Usually big ticket purchases seem like a good idea at the time but end up unused and relegated to some corner. A very good example of this is a treadmill. It is possible to spend several hundred to several thousand dollars on a treadmill. So you make the investment in, assuming, your health but fail to use it. This creates guilt not only that you aren't exercising but that you also made such a large, wasted, investment. You keep it because you either intend to use it someday or simply paid so much money for it you believe you won't be able to recoup any of it. All of these feelings drain your emotional energy and take away from your enjoyment of life. If I were standing there with you looking at this treadmill, I would ask you "what keeps you from using it?" and "what is the worst thing that could happen if it were to go away?" The bottom line is if you don't use it because you would prefer to walk outside in the fresh air then let it go! If the worst thing that could happen is you are out a few hundred dollars then let it go. Sell it on Craig's list or contact a local auction company to take it off your hands for you. Either way, you will be happier in the long run.
Medications opened in 1996 and not used since…strawberry syrup from 1989…napkins from your daughter's first birthday and she is now married with children… Our pantries are places we frequent yet seldom think about unless we can't find something. Pantries were originally built in a cold North corner of a home for storage of food. Butler's panties were entirely different and meant for storage of china and serving ware. There was a time when pantries weren't even built into homes but are making a welcome comeback. Perhaps it was the generation skip that has caused the pantry to become such problem area. As children we had very small pantries, if any, and now they are large enough to be a room in and of themselves. I have seen pantries filled with so many irrelevant items there wasn't any room for the food. Such items include florist vases, gift wrap, filing cabinets, even an assortment of handbags. In taking back control of our pantry we must first identify how we intend to use it. Hopefully food storage tops the list but that is entirely up to you.
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