Christi Youd's "An Organized Life" (Tips for Maximum Organization in Minimum Time)

Make Your Mornings Count!

2007-07-03T17:39:00.000-06:00

Are your mornings a little hectic? If they are that probably means you have more to do in the mornings then you really have time for. Gaining balance between what time you have and what tasks you need to get done will go a long way in de-stressing those morning hours. You can gain that balance by doing a combination of three things. 1) Eliminate tasks 2) Increase the hours you have in the morning to complete the tasks and 3) Make the best use of every minute. Here are a few tips on how you can re-gain that balance.

1. Eliminate Tasks

Start practicing an evening routine to minimize morning emergencies. Each evening lay out everyone’s clothes so you are not frantically looking for that missing shoe the next morning and finding it just in time for your child to miss the bus. Check your refrigerator and pantry to make sure you have the ingredients needed for morning’s breakfast. Make sure you have gas in the car. Load the kids school backpacks in the evening so you are not caught looking for that missing homework assignment during those critical morning hours. If you need to make sack lunches, think about making them the night before.

Eliminate time spent looking for things by de-cluttering and organizing your home. Excess clutter significantly increases the time spent looking for things you need. It really contributes to your feelings of stress. Having less clutter, assigning specific homes for things, and having homes properly labeled will help everyone know where things belong and where things can be found. This will minimize how much time your family spends looking for things and how much stress you experience in the mornings. For a free download of my special report “25 Quick Tips to Help You Finally Get Control of Your Messy Environment” go to www.OrganizeEnterprise.com/25quicktips.

Simplify the tasks that need to be done in the morning. Choose a hairstyle that doesn’t take very long to style. Eat a simple breakfast that requires very little preparation. Buy clothes that don’t need to be pressed, etc.

2. Increase The Hours You Have In The Morning To Complete Your Tasks

Get up 30 minutes before the rest of the family. That should give you time to shower, dress, groom and be ready to go to work before there are other demands. You still need to get enough sleep so that means you need to go to be 30 minutes earlier each night.

3. Make The Best Use Of Every Minute

Get enough sleep so you are well rested, alert and attentive. Consistently go to bed at the same time every night and get up at the same time every morning day after day (even on weekends). It will greatly improve your stamina. It will help you be alert and rested to take on that morning rush.

Make yourself more efficient with every task. Set up activity regions for each task you need to perform in the morning. An activity region is the place where an activity takes place and where all the supplies for that activity are stored. That means you need to move out all the items in that space that are not used for that regions activity. You create a cockpit scenario where everything you need to perform the activity is within arms reach of where you stand or sit to perform the activity. That way there is minimum time spent on setting things up or cleaning things up. For example set up a dressing region where everything you need to get dressed in the morning is within the bedroom closet. (Hang everything up except socks and underwear and put those in baskets in the closet.) That way you can get dressed without doing any traveling around the room. Set up a grooming region where everything you need to do your personal grooming is within arms reach of the bathroom sink and power source. Set up a cooking region where everything you need to cook breakfast is within arms reach of the stovetop (including the food ingredients). Look at each of the activities you need to perform in the morning and set up their own activity regions. Regions minimize set up time and clean up time and they help you perform the activities well.

Develop a morning routine. Routines help us get tasks done without a lot of stress because our brains go on automatic pilot. We perform the routine without really thinking about it or exercising any kind of discipline. A routine streamlines time wasted in between tasks. A routine is a series of habits that are done in the same order day after day. Do the same habits in the same order day in and day out. This will establish a pattern in your brain until you are able to put the tasks on automatic pilot. This will reduce the stress you feel during your morning hours.

A little routine that will help you stay out of crisis management is to load the dishwasher just before you go to bed at night and turn it on no matter how full it is. Also check your washing machine to make sure there are not any wet clothes sitting in the machine over night. Then in the morning empty the dishwasher and put in a load of laundry. This provides you with an empty dishwasher that dirty dishes can be placed in as soon as they become dirty throughout the day. It helps you make sure that you don’t get too far behind on the laundry.

These tips should help you gain balance in your mornings so they are not so hectic. They will help you gain control so you experience less stress in the mornings.

Business Travel Made Easy

2007-06-04T15:04:00.000-06:00

Cancelled flights…lost luggage…presentation programs that won’t run…the list of potential business trip challenges is virtually endless. In fact, when it comes to business travel, it seems that problems and delays are the norm, not the exception. The key is to be prepared for anything that comes your way. Only then will arriving at your destination be as simple as your morning drive into the office.

Unfortunately, most business travelers are unprepared for even the smallest of travel glitches. And although they may have made numerous business trips in the past, each with its own problem or two, people still don’t plan for setbacks when the next trip rolls around. As a result, they get frustrated when traveling and view business trips as a hassle they wish they could avoid.

If you have to travel for business, take the approach that everything will go wrong. That way you’re prepared to handle whatever comes your way and no challenge will derail your business plans. Following are the key steps to take before, during, and after a trip to make business travel as stress-free as possible.

1. Your Pre-Flight Preparations

Create your travel binder. This is a small binder (5” x 11”) that will hold all your travel document essentials. In your binder include your airline ticket (or electronic ticket confirmation), photo identification, passport (if needed), expense log, receipt envelope or pocket, cash, passes or membership cards, and your frequent flyer or frequent stay identification numbers. To minimize the number of frequent guest cards you need to carry, laminate a single card that has all your frequent flyer and frequent stay identification numbers and information. Keep your travel binder with you at all times, in an outside pocket of your carry-on bag.

When you choose your flight, never reserve the last flight scheduled before you need to be at your destination, even if that means arriving at your destination a day early. Why? Because you need to plan that something will go wrong with your flight and you’ll need to catch the next flight out. If the meeting or event you’re attending is critical, then make sure you have two flight times you can fall back on. Remember, flights get cancelled, grounded, and delayed every day. You need a backup so you can still make it to your destination on time.

If you’ll be making a presentation using PowerPoint or some other software program, prepare a backup of your presentation. For example, you could carry a flash drive around your neck, pack a CD in your carry on luggage, burn a copy on the hard drive of your laptop, pack a hard copy in your checked luggage, or upload an electronic copy online so you can download it should you need it. At the minimum, have at least two presentation backup options. If it’s a vital presentation, have three or four backup options.

Pack light enough that you can personally carry all your luggage without assistance. You may not need to carry it all by yourself, but you want to be able to should the need arise.

2. Travel Day Essentials

When you travel, always wear the clothing you plan to wear for your presentation or meeting. If needed, you can get the clothes laundered that evening at the hotel. But since luggage delays are common, you don’t want to have to meet that big client wearing jeans and a t-shirt. As an added bonus, the more professional you dress when traveling, the higher your chances of being bumped up to first class.

Label everything, even your carry-on luggage. Count on checked luggage not returning with you if you don’t have your label and contact information on it. And always assume that you’ll get separated from your carry-on bag for some reason. Make it as easy as possible for all your belongings to find their way back to you. For security purposes, label everything with your business information rather than your home information.

Check with your airline for any travel or security measures. Each airline has different guidelines in terms of number of checked and carry-on bags you’re allowed, weight and/or size limitations for baggage, and restrictions on what items you can bring aboard the plane. Also check the TSA website (www.tsa.gov) for any updated security checkpoint guidelines.

Plant a cash reserve in several different locations: on your body, in your travel binder, in your carry on, etc. Things often get lost or stolen, and you don’t want to be stranded without any money. Also remember to bring small bills for tips as well as larger bills for greater expenses.

Allow ample time for you to go from your home to your scheduled flight. Calculate how long your drive to the airport will be, including traffic delays. Double the amount of time you think it will take. Calculate how long it will take you to shuttle from the parking area to the airport entrance. Double the amount of time you think it will take. Calculate how long it will take you to get through security and to your gate. Double the amount of time you think it will take. Plan on things going wrong and schedule time for delays. If you end up being early and have lots of time to kill before your flight, bring some work with you that you can complete at the airport or on your flight.

3. Post-Trip Planning

· Begin preparing for your next business trip as soon as you return from the current one. Restock all your travel size toiletry containers so you’re ready for your next flight. If you wait until the next trip to prepare, chances are that in your rush to get everything done, you’ll forget some essential items.

· Clean out your travel binder and have it ready for the next trip. Sort through your receipts, and complete and submit your expense log. Restock your travel binder with any updated papers or cards, and replenish your cash reserve.

· Do any promised follow-up or delegation the day you arrive back at the office. If you wait a few days until you’re “back in the groove” of everyday work, you’ll get sidetracked and will forget to complete the tasks you said you’d do.

Fly Through the Challenges of Air Travel

Realize that you can use these same suggestions for personal travel, thus making your vacations truly relaxing without the customary horror stories of airline travel. All it takes is a little planning and forethought on your part. In the end, airline travel, whether for business or pleasure, doesn’t have to be the headache so many people make it out to be. By simply following a few guidelines before, during, and after your trip, you can make any travel experience stress-free and enjoyable.

Your First Priority -- Prioritize!

2007-04-26T16:47:00.000-06:00

Life offers us an abundance of activities and experiences. There is not enough time to do them all. That is why there is such a demand for time management training. One key to managing our time well is to be effective at prioritizing our work. Most executives know the simple strategy of choosing the top priorities to work on the next day and then actively working on those priorities. This is a simple and beneficial strategy. However when we do this randomly we tend to prioritize according to what is most urgent or most intriguing rather than what is most important. Steven R. Covey states that urgent tasks are tasks that need immediate attention. Important tasks are tasks that support you in what you truly value. If you want to boost your productivity and lower your work-related stress you must learn to spend your time on what is most important not on what is most urgent. If you lay some ground work you’ll be able to consistently choose the tasks that are the most important. I recommend that you create a master priority list from which to work. Establish a hierarchy of priorities that you can use as a guide.

To establish your hierarchy of priorities you need to first develop your master vision. What do you want your work to stand for? Imagine yourself in the last week of your career. You’re cleaning out your office and you stop to reflect on your career. You ask yourself the all important questions, “Did I accomplish what I most needed to accomplish in my work? Did I get to experience what I most wanted to experience?” What would those accomplishments and experiences be for you? It’s different for every person. Develop a vision of what you want your work to be about. What you want to accomplish and experience. What your vision is of the ideal career.

Developing your master vision lays initial groundwork of effective prioritizing that allows for a fruitful and productive career. Now you need to build on it. The next layer of effective prioritizing is to establish a hierarchy of priorities for the tasks you need to perform to make your vision a reality.

Edwin created his hierarchy of priorities and divided it into three groups. His top priority group was to provide great customer service to his current customers. He made a list of the activities he typically needed to perform for customers. He prioritized that list so if there was ever more than one customer needing his attention at the same time he knew which task took precedence. His next priority group was to gain new customers. He made a list of the activities he typically performed that generated new business. He prioritized that list so if more than one project was going on he knew which task took precedence. His third group of priorities was administrative tasks. He made a list of the activities he typically performed that pertained to business administration. He prioritized them. At the end of each business day Edwin would list the tasks that needed to be done. He would run each task past his hierarchy of priorities and give it a priority according to his pre-determined hierarchy. He was no longer swayed by pressures or interest. He could now easily reach his business goals because he was always working on the tasks that were the most important.

David was the owner and manager of a small insurance office. His hierarchy of priorities that he provided for his commercial division staff looked something like this:

A. Servicing current clients

Additional new coverage to existing clients
Evidence of insurance or certificate of insurance
Handling payment issues
Responding to a VIP client
Handling requests from management other than the above listed items.
Reporting claims

B. Gaining New Business / Commercial Policies

Gather quote information
Quote / rate policies if possible
Contact companies for review and availability
Complete applications / supplementals / submit
Follow up
Present quotation
Complete necessary paperwork and financing

C. Administrative

Mail
Notices from insurance companies
Files/ filing
Resumes
Problems – claim, coverage
People
Marketing pieces development
Agency management – administration

David had nine people on his staff. Providing this hierarchy of priorities to the staff ensured that everyone was working on the most important issues at all times.

The last practice that will help you be more effective in your prioritizing is to prioritize interruptions as soon as they come into your day. Interruptions flow into an executive’s workday all day long in the form of telephone calls, emails, co-workers, customers, family, meetings etc. Eliminate as many interruptions as you can by asking yourself, Can I discard this? Can I delegate this? Can I handle this in 60 seconds or less? If you can discard, delegate, or handle the interruption in less than a minute than do so. If the interruption is one that you can not discard, delegate, or handle immediately than ask yourself one final important question. “Is this interruption more important than what I’m currently working on or is what I am currently working on more important than this interruption?” Check your hierarchy of priorities to determine which is most important and act accordingly. If what you are currently working on is more important than the interruption you can say something like this to the person interrupting you. “Carl, I really want to help you with that but I have my back up against a wall on a project. Would it be all right if I helped you with that as soon as I’m finished with this? Let the person see you write it down to get back to them. Than continue with what you were working on.

In review there are four layers to effective prioritizing. Layer one is to develop your master vision of what you want your career to be about. Determine your destiny. Layer two is to establish a hierarchy of priorities for the tasks you regularly perform. Layer three is at the end of each day look at the tasks that still need to be done and run them past your hierarchy of priorities to determine the top priorities for the following day. Finally, layer four is to assess interruptions as they come into your day and prioritize which is most important- the interruption or what you are already working on.

By prioritizing effectively you spend your time wisely. By spending your time wisely you improve your productivity. By improving your productivity you thrive in business. The first priority is to prioritize.

Kick Off Your Shoes And Get Comfortable!

2007-03-09T08:32:00.000-07:00

I heard a funny joke the other day...

A newsletter subscriber said he expected his kids to not leave shoes lying around the house. The punch line was the subscriber was willing to keep himself miserable trying to get them to cooperate.

The same could be said for some people with their spouses. My experience is it’s not going to happen. It’s a joke. Kids are not going to take their shoes off in the family room and make the effort to pick them up and carry them into the other room and put them away properly. Especially if they are supposed to do so before they go back to the family room and finish what they were doing. It’s too much of a pain. Perhaps they’ll plan on putting the shoes away when they go to their room but their ability to carry out that plan usually falls short. In my home I’ve concluded that I can knock myself out and be angry all the time because they left their shoes out or I can organize my home in a manner that allows them to keep their habit of leaving their shoes out but keeps the home clutter free and organized in spite of that habit.

There is a principle you need to understand before you can appreciate my suggestion. It is the principle of problem ownership. If your kids leave their shoes out and you have to either pick up the shoes and travel to their rooms and put them away or you have to o battle your children over and over again then who owns the problem? Your kids gained the immediate reward of getting comfortable without effort. It doesn’t bother them if their shoes are cluttering the room. It only bothers you. You own the problem. As long as you are the one owning the problem the kids are never going to have any reason to change. You’ll want to switch that to where the kids own the problem and they are the ones who care if they left their shoes out. Not you. Then you’ll see the behavior changes. Besides, it’s no longer a problem for you even if they don’t change. You have given them problem ownership.

The other thing you need to understand is yelling at your kids or threatening your kids or bribing your kids does not give them problem ownership. It merely deteriorates the relationship between you and your children. It’s not until you take action and allow them to experience the natural consequences (not the pseudo consequences such as Mom or Dad getting angry) that the kids can and will take problem ownership. Don’t wait until you are full of intense emotion before you take action. Take action now before you get emotional about it. Then be sure you don’t rescue them from experiencing the full consequences of their choices and actions. They will try to get you to take back the problem ownership. Kids are good at that. Don’t buy it. Refuse to rescue them from experiencing the natural consequences.

What action should you take when it comes to kids leaving their shoes all over the house? How do you work with their habits so they get to keep their habits but your home stays organized and clutter free? How do you switch it so your kids are the ones with the problem and not you? Simply create a shoe depository in each room. Have one in every room.

Celeste emptied out a cabinet in one room and made it the home for wandering shoes. She installed a shoe organizer in another room’s closet. She purchased a large wicker basket with a lid for another room’s shoe depository etc. Each room has a home or an assigned location for “wandering shoes” to belong.

When shoes are left out don’t take them to a specific room to put them away. Just put them into the depository or “home” in the room where they were left out. Now when the kids want or need that pair of shoes again they’ll have to look in 12 or more shoe depositories to find where they left the shoes out. What a pain. It is now easier for you to put shoes away than it is for them to get them out. You now made the putting away process in as few of motions as possible. Your kids can choose to start putting their shoes away in their room so they don’t have to look all over the house to find them or they can spend their life looking in depositories. Either way they own the problem not you. Your home stays clutter free and organized. You don’t have to fight with your children anymore about putting their shoes away. You are able to sweep through the house and make it clutter free in just 10 minutes because you don’t have to travel to put wandering shoes away.

So establish a shoe depository for every room and then take your shoes off and relax. Your home will stay clutter free with the minimum amount of maintenance. You’ll have to discover something else to talk to your kids about rather than pick up your shoes and put them away. This may be the beginning of a beautiful relationship between you and your children.

Never have a "Bad Hair Day" again!

2007-01-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

You’ve heard of the bad hair day. The other day a woman commented that she was always having a bad hair accessory day. Hair ribbons, bows, clips, pins, elastics, combs etc. overwhelmed her limited space in the bathroom. Allow me to review a few of the organizing principles that cause your space to stay organized and how that applies to the bathroom cabinet with all the hair accessories.

Remember to insist on a proper fit. If you only have so much space you are only allowed to have so many accessories. The less space each accessory consumes, the greater number of accessories you get to keep.

Only keep the items you are using at least once a month inside your bathroom. Items used less often than once a month should be stored in a nearby storage space, not your living space. A bathroom is a living space. Become aware of how many hair accessories you will definitely use over the next month. If you don’t wear hair clips 30 days out of the month you don’t need 30 hair clips. If you only wear a hair elastic once a week you only need four elastics. Hair accessories are sold in sets. The elastics came in a package with several other elastics. So did the clips, combs, pins, ribbons etc. Do you really need all of them or have you just kept them because they came with the set? The first thing I would recommend is to figure out how many of each accessory you or your daughters are really going to wear over the next month and only keep that many of each accessory inside your bathroom. Establish a proper fit by getting rid of the extra duplicates and the rarely worn accessories.

Store the accessories at the place you first use them. A typical bathroom has three regions. A bathing region, a grooming region, and a toilet region. The grooming region is usually set up in the space surrounding the sink and the power outlet. That space should only contain items that are used for the grooming activity. Let me share with you three different solutions we have found for clients over the years. Perhaps one of the solutions will work for you.

Pam needed to store accessories for herself and one daughter. She was able to use the drawers immediately surrounding the sink and power outlet to store the accessories. She only kept the accessories that she used at least once a month. In trying to create a proper fit Pam chose to use drawer dividers where she built the divider walls around the contents so all contents had a perfect fit with the size of the container/divider. The dividers came in 1 inch, 2 inch, and 3 ½ inch heights. Pam was sure to get the height that was the closest to the height of her drawers. She built the walls so the hair accessories only took up 80% of the space within the walls she built. That created a proper fit. A proper fit helps Pam maintain a clutter free bathroom.

Melanie had five daughters and herself all using the same bathroom to do their hair. Her bathroom drawers were full of other grooming supplies so she used the cabinet under the bathroom sink to store her hair accessories. Remembering that she should store items within their own region so they are at the place they are first used she realized that towels do not belong under the sink. They should not be stored in the grooming region. They should be stored within her bathing region which was surrounding the tub or shower. Melanie realized that extra toilet paper should not be stored under the sink. It should be stored near the toilet. There are plenty of decorative toilet paper holders to store extra rolls of paper at the base of the toilet. Any additional rolls of toilet paper should be stored in a nearby closet or storage space, not her living space. Melanie recognized that the cabinet under the bathroom sink is in the grooming region and it should be used to store grooming supplies such as her hair accessories. She installed a shelf halfway up the cabinet. She purchased open baskets that were the right size for the hair accessories she needed to keep in them. She filled the baskets with the hair accessories. She placed them on the shelves beneath the sink. She was careful to leave enough space between the top of the baskets and the shelf above them so she could remove or return hair accessories in one swift motion. That way she didn’t have to pull the basket out in order to get or return the hair accessory she wanted.

Lisa built a hair accessory center along one wall above her bathroom sink and cabinet. She could only have shelves that were six inches deep so she had to build several shelves and use little containers. She had to divide the accessories into smaller groupings so she could maintain a proper fit between her shallow shelves, her small containers, and her accessories. She was also careful to leave enough space between the tops of the containers and the shelves above them so she could retrieve and return the accessories in one swift motion. Lisa and her daughters had to use moderation in accessories due to their limited space. It was all part of living within their spacial means. They only had so much space to accommodate their hair needs so they only had the luxury of having so many accessories.

Be sure to label the containers and the place the containers belong so each container gets put back in the exact same place every time. That way everyone can go on automatic pilot and be able to put things away without having to look for the container.

These suggestions all follow the organizing principles of insisting on a proper fit, store things at the place they are first used, make it easier to put an item away than it is to get it out, eliminate extra motions in the putting away process, label and maintain your systems daily.

Now, organize your hair accessory center and then let your hair down knowing it will stay organized with very little maintenance.

The Best Kind of Christmas Tradition: Getting Rid of Toys!

2006-11-10T09:06:00.000-07:00

The typical American child gets toys from their parents, extended family, and close friends every Christmas and Birthday. Did you give your child one, two, or more toys for Christmas last year? Did you give toys to more than one child? What did you give them on their Birthday? Has your child ever received a toy or game from extended family or close friends on those occasions?

Rarely do you purchase your children toys because they need a toy.

You usually purchase toys or games for a holiday or other occasion when you traditionally exchange gifts. Friends and extended family give your children toys and games for the same reasons. The selection of toys we can buy to make a child smile is enormous. We live in a time when most children have more toys then they have interest in playing with.

This holiday season I challenge you to start a new tradition. Take an assessment of how many toys and games your children really need and get rid of the excess before Christmas gets here. I encourage you to look at toys and games objectively. How many toys or games do your children really need to lead happy, well-balanced, emotionally stable lives? Decide on a number. Make this decision before the holiday gets here. Commit to stay within that limit throughout the holiday season.

Another decision you need to make is how big of toys you will get or keep. Toys come in tremendous sizes. They can get large enough to fill an entire room or half the back yard. Children can be happy playing with a toy that consumes one square foot of space just as easily as they can be playing with a toy that consumes 10 square feet. You need to set some boundaries.
Decide the space parameters you are willing to dedicate to the storage of toys, games, and puzzles. Decide the number of toys your children really need. Recognize what a large percentage of your alloted space gets consumed by the large toys.

Don’t buy large toys this Christmas. Instead, get rid of the large toys you currently have. It
will free up a lot of space. Your family will lead a much happier existence if you live within your spacial means.

MacKenzie decided to keep all the toys in the house stored in one room so she could easily monitor how many toys there were and how much of her space was being consumed by toys. She decided on the parameters of her home that she was willing to dedicate to the storage of toys and games. She gathered her children around her and explained to them the need to have limits of how much space the toys consume. She told them what the parameters where. She expressed her desire to get them new toys for Christmas and that she needed their help to decide which toys to donate to goodwill so they could stay within their new parameters after Christmas had come and gone. She let them know the toys they were getting rid of were going to a goodwill facility so a family who couldn’t afford Christmas would still be able to get their children toys.She encouraged them to have the Christmas spirit by giving to others. The children were grateful that they could keep the toys that were the most important to them.
They realized that if they kept their old toys it just meant fewer toys at Christmas.

There were a few instances when MacKenzie was the one who wanted to keep the toys. I gave her a few simple guidelines to help her make better decisions.

The guidelines were as follows:

Only keep the toys and games your children are actively playing with in their current lives. There is a difference between a child holding a toy in his hand and a child actively playing with it. Most toys get touched and moved. It’s the same with all clutter. Don’t keep it because your children have touched or moved it around in the past year. Only keep it if they really play with it as it should be played with.

Do not keep toys, games, or puzzles just because they were a gift from someone. If your children are not actively playing with the toy in their current life it needs to be gotten rid of.

Do not keep toys, games, or puzzles because a child will grow into it. You will acquire a dozen other toys for that child to play with by the time they grow.

Do not keep toys, games, or puzzles because they are like new. New clutter is just as damaging to you as old clutter. Get rid of them.

Give them to Goodwill before Christmas gets here so people who otherwise couldn’t afford them can get them for their children. Deck someone else’s halls with clutter instead of your own.

Do not put toys in storage. It creates the same problem for you as having the toys in your living space. If it doesn’t fit within the parameters of your living space that you have established for the storage of toys and games, get rid of it.

If you keep a toy, game, or puzzle for nostalgia purposes, put it in your child’s memorabilia box. The memorabilia box should have everything you are keeping for memory sake. You could keep one memorabilia box per child. Once their memorabilia box becomes full you have to become selective. You have to get rid of items until you establish a proper fit in the memorabilia box.

Keeping only one memorabilia box per child allows you to maintain a proper fit between your storage space and its contents. Do you really want to store something as big as a toy in it? It may be better to take a picture of it and write a brief journal entry of what that toy meant to them. That way they get to keep the memory without taking up so much space.

Go ahead and buy your children toys this Christmas. It’s all part of the magic. Just get rid of the old toys you have before Christmas gets here. That way your children get the gift of a favorite toy and you get the gift of a clutter-free home. Now is the time to clear out the old to make way for the new.

Merry *Clutter-Free* Christmas!

How to Conquer Despair

2006-09-21T09:20:00.000-06:00

Despair is a horrible thing.

It keeps us from becoming who we really are inside.

In my field of work as a professional organizer, I see a LOT of people who are overcome with despair.

Often it's because the clutter around them is out of control. And they don't think it's win-able.

I've been there too, and I know those feelings first-hand. (Sometimes they're almost too painful to visit again!)

Maybe you know just what I'm talking about. Or perhaps you know someone who is going through the same thing.

My message to you is simple...

DON'T EVER GIVE UP!

Life will get better. And I'm committed to doing my part.

You might think it sounds too simplistic, but that little *Special Report* I've been giving out has done wonders for a lot of people.

Here are just a few stories that readers have sent me so far...

********************

"Thanks for the 25 Quick Tips. It made me feel that I am on the right track in
many ways. I also had to share a couple of poignant tips with my husband. It is
hard for him to take advice from me, so I hope he listens to you. I will
continue to strive to do the 25 tips on a regular basis. Thanks so much!"
--
Ruth, Sandy, UT

"Your free special report was my motivation to continue
to de-junk my home. The DI is my best friend. And the dumpster. I have hung on
to some things for 20+ years. My house looks a little bare... but bare is far
more attractive than clutter!"
-- Sherry

"Thanks for the organizing
help. I need it! I'm kind of a pack rat. I'm working on #18 right now. I want to
do better with #8. I'll see something out of place and think "I'll take care of
that later" so it gets put off. I don't always take time to look through the
mail as soon as I get it to throw out the junk. Thanks again for the quick tips.
It was very helpful for me and I will share it with others."
-- Molly

"Thanks for the 25 quick tips. I picked up a few more pointers, but
mostly I printed it out for my daughter. She keeps trying to de-clutter but has
a husband that grew up in horrible clutter and I don't think he even sees it, so
is of no help. I just have the urge to go wash her windows, start fixing up and
tossing things. She's trying now to paint the living room and it's so far taken
3 weeks! The place is a scrambled mess! As long as she keeps being encouraged by
people like you and and she keeps trying, maybe it will come together."
--
Name withheld by request

********************

See what I mean?

When you need help, even the littlest thing can get you started in a positive direction.

Now you know why I want you to get your hands on "25 Quick Tips to Finally Get Control of Your Messy Environment (Without Lighting A Match!)."

It's because this little booklet of ideas just might be the thing to get you or someone you care about moving in the right direction.

Don't despair! There is help available.

But you're the one that needs to take the first step. I wrote these ideas, but I can't read them for you.

Do it for yourself.

Get your free copy of this Special Report called "25 Quick Tips to Finally Get Control of Your Messy Environment (Without Lighting A Match!) right here...

http://www.organizeenterprise.com/25quicktips

Best wishes for becoming your best,

-- Christi

Getting Down to Business!

2006-09-21T09:17:00.000-06:00

Keeping your financial documentation for a home based business can be easy. I recommend you use an accounting software such as Quickbooks, or work with a professional bookkeeper or accountant for your accounting needs. As far as organizing the paper documentation is concerned, I recommend you have three types of files; Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, and Administrative.

Accounts Payable

For bills that have not been paid yet I recommend one of two systems. Choose the one you think you are most likely to maintain. The first system is to simply have a “To Be Paid” file where you stash all the bills that still need to be paid. Maintain the habit of paying the bills every Friday. That way you don’t miss any deadlines. The second system is to have some sort of a tickler system such as 31 files numbered 1-31. Keep in the habit of filing all active paperwork into the date (number) you are committed to taking action on that paper. Active paperwork is any piece of paper that comes across your desk that represents a task you need to take care of-including bills. Then each morning you pull out that days file and take action on the papers it contains.

Once bills have been paid, I recommend you file them in a monthly file. Maintain a file for each month of the year. Dated financial paperwork such as sales receipts, debit/credit slips, bills, and financial monthly statements should be filed together in the month it is acquired. Then, when it’s time to reconcile the statements, you have the bank statements together with the receipts, debit/credit slips, and bills for easy reconciliation. Most small businesses reconcile their bank statements and then don’t use them again until tax time. Once you have entered the data into your computer, or had your bookkeeper do it, you can use your monthly balance sheet and profit and loss reports for business planning purposes. For IRS audit purposes you should staple the receipts and bills to the bank account statements or credit card account statements they belong to. It will make things significantly easier on you if the IRS ever audits you.

When it comes to your debit slips, credit card slips, or check duplicates you acquire, you need to ask yourself, “Under what circumstances am I going to use this again?” Oftentimes there is no need for it after you reconcile at the end of the month. If there is a specific circumstance where you will use it again, keep it in your monthly file stapled to the statement it belongs to. If there is no circumstance where you are going to use it again, shred it.

Accounts Receivable

Maintain a file labeled “To Be Deposited.” This can be your collection plate as money comes in that needs to be deposited.

Enter your invoices and payments-received into your computer.

Keep a copy of the invoice with the client’s file if you have one.

Accounts receivable will have cash/check deposits and merchant credit card credits to document. Do the same as you did with your accounts payable. Maintain a file for every month of the year. As you collect payment documentation, file it in the month it was paid. Things such as copies of checks and deposit slips, your credit card payment slips for payments you received, your merchant account statements, your merchant reports for the month etc.

It is a good idea to make a photo copy of checks and deposit slips for each deposit. Make a note of what each check was for. Then if there are questions on where the money came from for each deposit, you will have that breakdown available in your files.

If your business processes credit cards, it is a good idea to keep a monthly report of all payments you received via credit card. Be sure to include documentation of what the payment was for. If you have your copy of the credit card slips to file, I recommend you staple them to the merchant account statement they belong to when you reconcile the statement.

Depending on the volume and nature of your business, you could combine the payable records with the receivable records into one set of monthly files as long as you keep all the little slips stapled to the appropriate statements. You are going to need them all combined at the end of the year for your accountant anyway. If you process a large number of transactions, this isn’t a good idea for you. You’ll want to keep them separate.

Administrative

You’ll want a file labeled “Financial Reports” where you keep all your month end reports, profit and loss reports, balance sheets, etc. This information will be used from time to time to track your business and to make effective business plans for the future. You’ll want these reports at your fingertips on a number of different occasions so don’t combine them with your monthly files.

If you have acquired a loan for your business, you’ll want a file for the particulars of your loan. Your monthly payment documentation can go in the monthly files with the rest of your accounts payable. Your original loan agreement would go in its own file.

I know this is not the traditional method for managing your accounts payable and accounts receivable documentation. This method minimizes the motions in filing away your documentation, retrieving your documentation, and preparing your documentation for your accountant. Before you balk at the suggestions, think carefully through the operations and the processes that your financial documentation goes through. Decide for yourself if this way makes more sense than the way people have done it for generations.

I hope you find success in implementing these quick ideas. You'll be amazed at the amount of time and effort you'll save!

Organizing Your CDs

2006-09-20T17:04:00.000-06:00

Okay, I want you to be truthful. Do you have a stack of CDs somewhere that have not been properly returned to their cases?

For years I had a neat row of CD cases lining the shelf. I even had the shelves labeled of where the different categories of CDs belonged. In front of the neatly placed empty cases was a stack of CDs four inches high. The CDs were out of their cases and piled on top of each other. They were waiting for someone to match them up with their cases and put them on the shelf where they really belonged.

Does that sound familiar?

Here is a suggestion that will eliminate that problem entirely. Get rid of the cases they came in. Throw them away. Buy slim jewel cases with clear fronts. Buy them in bulk. Put every CD in a clear slim jewel case. The top of each CD is usually labeled, and when inserted properly the label is displayed in the front cover of the clear jewel case. If they are not labeled, use a marker to identify the CD by writing on the top of the CD.

Buy CD organizers that organize the CDs so they are front facing. The CD organizers look like an empty box with no dividers of any kind. You simply set your CDs in them so the front of the jewel case is facing you. You put 20+ CDs in front of each other.

You need to watch the measurements of these CD organizers. Make sure they will be a proper fit with the shelves you are going to put them on. Get enough of these CD organizers that you have one for each type or category of CDs. For example you may have a different organizer for rock and roll, country, jazz, books on CD, talk tapes, etc. Label the organizers according to the category of CDs they hold. Get one extra organizer to hold empty slim jewel cases. Label the empty jewel case organizer "Empty Cases."

Insert all of the CDs into the clear jewel cases so the label on the top of the CD is displayed in the front of the jewel case. Put all your country western music CDs in the organizer labeled "Country." Put them in so they are all facing the front. Put all the rock and roll music CDs in the organizer labeled "Rock & Roll." Continue this process until all of your CDs have a home in one of the organizers. Keep 10-20 empty cases in the "Empty Cases" organizer.

It is important that each CD organizer is only about 80% full. You need to leave enough space in each organizer that you can flip each individual CD forward and see the label of the CD behind it. If your organizers are too full you have two options. Get rid of enough of the CDs until you obtain a proper fit or get another organizer for that category.

Give the organizers a home on a shelf or space that is below eye level. You need to be able to look down at them in order to get a full view of the labels. They should be located within arms reach of the CD player. Label the organizers. Place matching labels on the shelves where each organizer is to be stored. That way the same organizer gets put back in the exact same place every time. Now every member of the family can go on automatic pilot. They can know where the different categories can be found without looking for them.

Here is the "Putting Away" Process...

You eject a CD from the CD player. You no longer need to find the correct case to put it away properly. All cases are exactly the same. You pull an empty jewel case out of the "Empty Cases" organizer and insert your CD into the jewel case. You set the jewel case which now has the CD in it into the organizer holding its category. If it's country music you put it in the front of the "Country" organizer. If it's rock you put it in the front of the "Rock & Roll" organizer. You do not put the CDs in any order. You just set them in the front of the organizer its category belongs in. Be sure they are facing the front.

Here is the "Getting Them Out" Process...

You approach your CD organizers. You go to the organizer holding the category of music you want to listen to. You start at the front and flip through the CDs flipping each jewel case forward as you go. All the cases are facing the front so you can easily read the labels of each CD. You find the CD you want. You take it out of the jewel case. You put the empty jewel case in the front of the "Empty Cases" organizer. You insert the CD into the CD player. You enjoy your music.
This system insists on a proper fit, stores items at the place they are first used, makes it easier to put it away than it is to get it out, eliminates extra motions in the putting away process, and uses labels properly. It will minimize the clutter and the maintenance.

You can use this method with computer CDs, DVDs, audio CDs and more. If you treasure the inserts that came with your CDs, file them in your reference file.

When you obtain new CDs simply transfer the CD to one of the empty cases that is in your "Empty Cases" organizer. Drop it into the correct category organizer. Throw out the old CD case and the insert. If you must keep the insert, file it in your reference file.

Organizing Electronic Files

2006-08-22T10:03:00.000-06:00

The rules of a good filing system are as follows:

Maintain fewer files with broader headings. It’s better to have 20 files with 40 documents in each file than it is to have 80 files with 10 documents in each. The fewer files you have, the more likely you will only need to look in one file to find the document you need. If you have to check more than one file to find the document you need, you will learn to not trust your filing system, because the document could be in any number of files. Keep it simple!

All files should be divided into no more than five categories. Just make the categories broad enough that everything can fit into that five. No sub-categories. Keep it simple!

Note: You do not want to have sub-categories or mini-categories within your three to five categories. That complicates the process and makes it more difficult for you to remember all the exceptions. Keep your system very basic--up to five categories with each file alphabetized within each. No sub-categories. By keeping the filing system extremely simple, you will come to trust the filing system and will dare to file documents away, knowing you will be able to find them again.

All files should be alphabetized within each category. This way, you only have to remember it’s in one of the five categories and its alphabetized. This will help you to figure out where a document you need may be located. Keep it simple!

So the first thing you need to do is review the file headings and see if there are any files that can be combined so you have fewer headings. Also, make sure the headings are based on your way of thinking, so it makes sense to you.

Next, you need to divide those files into three to five categories. No more then five categories please! Research has found that the human mind can remember up to five distinctions automatically without giving it any thought. Any more than five and we have to stop and think for a minute in order to keep it straight. The effort of having to stop and think each time you file is just enough effort to make you stop filing and start piling. No more than five categories! Most of you will struggle with this, trying to add just one more category; but don’t do it. You simply need to come up with broader categories so everything can be contained in five or fewer categories.

Organize electronic files much like you organize paper files. Whenever possible, you want to use the same folder headings that you used in the paper file folders.

1) Look through every document and decide if it can be deleted, forwarded to someone else, renamed, or put into a folder with an appropriate heading.

2) After you have looked through every document, look through every folder for any contents that can now be deleted, forwarded, renamed or put into a different folder.

3) Once every document and every folder has been sorted, look them over and see if there are any files that can be combined so there are fewer folders. Double check for accurate folder headings. When you have done that, create folders for the same five categories you made for the paper files. Click and drag every folder into the category’s folder it belongs to. When you are done you should have five folders and within those five folders are a number of other folders in alphabetical order. Each of those folders is full of alphabetized documents.

While you may utilize a different filing system for organizing your computer files (such as by file type or oldest to newest) it is my strong recommendation that you maintain your computer files in the same manner in which your paper files are kept (alphabetized by category). This way all your filing systems are consistent and you won’t have to stop and think where things are located.

4) Organize email by first doing your Inbox and then go through all your email folders. Sort through and decide what can be deleted, forwarded, renamed, or put in different folders. When you are done, double check to see if any folders can be combined so there will be fewer folders and if they all have accurate headings. This should really streamline your emails.