Get Organized Tips shared by NAPO-NNJ Members
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Always running Late? - Time Management Tips for Planning and Scheduling
- Plan your morning the night before: lay out the clothes you will wear, gather your briefcase, and collect the children’s clothes, backpacks, shoes and items needed to take to school. Think through everything you will need in the morning and have that ready to go. Request and encourage your school-age children to do this nightly to avoid morning madness.
- Find a secure place by the door or entry to household to hang or hold your keys. Use this space as a staging area for outgoing mail and other outgoing items. A nice basket in the area works well.
- Schedule your priority tasks early in the week so if they have to be displaced there is still time left to complete them.
- Find an easy-to-see location for your keys and always be sure they land there on your way in to your home.
- Schedule the most difficult tasks during your “prime time” when you are at peak energy level.
- When planning errands, be realistic about the amount of time each errand will take. Pad the time, by adding at least 15 minutes to the time you think it will take. This way you will avoid over-scheduling yourself and continually work under pressure.
- Create a family message center and a perpetual shopping list.
- Recognize that you do not have to complete the entire job in one sitting. Do a little at a time by scheduling lazer-focused appointments with yourself and keeping them.
- Remember that you are procrastinating if you work on a trivial task while a more important one remains undone. Prioritize the jobs to be done and work on priorities first. -- Cena Block, Sane Spaces
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One way to increase your motivation to declutter is to write down the specific reasons you want to declutter your life. For example: "I want to find my bills when I need to pay them so I can pay them on time" or "I want to be able to sit on my living room sofa without having to move magazines, unopened mail, toys and the remotes".
-- Dorothy Frischman & Nancy Goldsmith, Organized by Us
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The Math of ‘Stuff’: some simple mathematical equations about your stuff…
- STUFF = TIME
- STUFF = MONEY
- So...simply speaking....The more STUFF you have, the more TIME it takes to take care of it, clean it, put it away, read it, file it, etc. The more STUFF you have, the more MONEY it takes to buy it, take care of it, clean it, maintain it, store it, etc. Therefore, if you reduce the amount of STUFF, the math changes to:
- LESS STUFF = MORE TIME
- LESS STUFF = MORE MONEY
- And don't we all always want more TIME and MONEY to do what we really want to do in our lives?
- Therefore, the solution? REDUCE YOUR STUFF! -- Linda English, Organizing With Ease, LLC
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Need to clear your clothes closet but you think you need everything? The following procedure can be used to help select the garments in your closet that you never wear, even if you like them. At the beginning of a season or whenever you want to start the process, hang all your clothes with the hanger the opposite way it normally is (probably with the opening of the hook to the front of the closet instead of to the back). After you wear a garment and return it to the closet, hang it with the hook the normal way (opening at the back). At the end of the season, or whatever time period you choose, whatever clothes on hangers that do not have the hooks back to “normal” are garments you have not worn and probably should no longer be in your closet. --Cindy Lynch, HiTin Consulting LLC
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Use an over-the-door clear plastic shoe organizer on the inside of a closet door for miscellaneous household items that might be cluttering your kitchen drawers: glue sticks, batteries, flashlights, small household tools, etc. –Taryn Lamb, Organized Havens, LLC
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Create "drawers" in your linen closet or under your bathroom sink by using baskets/bins to categorize similar products;"hair and body, "medicines", "kids' products", etc. –Taryn Lamb, Organized Havens, LLC
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As a way to eliminate clutter in your home, donate your birthday and holiday cards! Mail your old cards to St. Jude's Ranch for Children Recycled Card Program, 100 St. Jude's Street, Boulder City, NV 89005 (www.stjudesranch.org/help_card.php). They will be turned into new cards, sold for charity. -- Pam Gold, Golden Organizing
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To keep track of your ever-growing online log-ins and passwords:
- Use software, such as Norton Internet Security, to electronically track and save login and password keystrokes.
- Use a small rolodex, kept immediately next to your computer, for a paper-based system. Write down website name, login, password, and any other relevant info you want to keep track of.
- Use both, for added security and reliability! -- Ann Bishop, Pathways Organizing
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To NNJ Members: To share an organizing tip on our Get Organized Tips! page, simply email it to info@naponnj.org.
