simply-org.com Blog

Did we ever anticipate the amount of email that we would be sending and receiving when it first started? No way. The fact is the “office” has changed from a place to any-place as the internet and email are available anywhere, anytime. The messages keep coming at us and we keep responding, or letting it pile up, or getting stressed out.

It is interesting to see the major time management gurus beginning to address this shift in our culture. I will share that the core principles of time management still apply even with this explosion of messaging.

Stop reading email as it comes in.

Instead read it periodically.

Scattered email reading is really a time waster. There is tons of research on multi-tasking and interruptions which show over and over that interruptions take up to 10 minutes to recover. So imagine you are concentrating on something and also constantly flipping to your email, responding, filing, deleting, forwarding and more. The time it takes to go back to your original project and get your head back into that space can be anywhere from a few minutes to 10. Ouch, that is a lot of wasted time.

• Set up specific times to read email and communicate to others those times so that you manage their expectations as far as your response time.

• Respond quickly that have a simple and quick response.

• Leave the rest in either your in-box or folders you have set up for later When you have time to “do the work” to respond.

• Delete when you are done, or file it away. In other words, clean up your in-box often.

Are you having trouble finding basic things in your home or office? Are you wasting countless minutes looking, looking, looking?

There are a few things that come up over and over with my new clients. One of those basic things is that there is no “home” for things.

“A place for everything and everything in its place”

We have all heard this quote before, but do you practice it in your life?

Here’s an example. I was recently in a house where basic things did not have a home. Supplies for hobbies were in multiple rooms. Sports equipment was in the car, hall closet, and several places in the garage. Mail piles were all over the house.

The first thing this family had to do was to collect things together: all the scrapbooking supplies, sports equipment, mail, photos, etc. The technical term for this is Sort. (OK, you can chuckle at the phrase “technical term”).

The second key was to cull down the amount of stuff in each category.

Third, and very important, is to Assign a Home to each category of things. So the Scrapbooking supplies all went into the home office, the sports equipment in the garage and the mail has a station at the kitchen desk.

Have you assigned a home to things in your house? Take time this week to start working on this. Choose something that you are constantly searching for and losing time.   Start by pulling everything together and assigning a specific home to it. If you are constantly losing the keys, have one specific place where you drop the keys. Always leave them there, and always find them there.

What’s the thing that you need to assign to a home?

Be Prepared to close down and replace your lost cards and personal information in case your wallet ever gets lost or stolen. Think of it this way, if you wanted to call Visa and let them know your card is lost, where’s the phone number? It’s on the back of your card and that won’t do you any good once it is missing.

DO

• Empty your wallet (clean it out while you are at it).

• Make a list of all the contents and the contact telephone numbers.

• Store this list in a secure place.

• If you put this on a spreadsheet in your computer, be sure it is password protected and have a hard copy in a safe place.

• Consider making photocopies of both sides of all your wallet contents.

DON’T

• Never carry super personal information like your SS# in your wallet.

• Don’t list credit card numbers on your inventory list. You might have the last 4 digits, but the CC companies can look up your account with a few verifying questions.

• Don’t carry any passwords in your wallet.

I did this last week and it took only 15 minutes….you can do it too.

You have completed the “rough sort”, gotten rid of the junk, and  sorted your big pile into smaller ones.  Now you are ready to put these into file folders

• One color (manila works best) file folders.
• BOLD (possibly colored) markers.
• Hanging files for file drawers (cabinet or file box…either way you need a container).
• Use one color.  Why?  because you don’t want to get hung up on colors if you run out of one color.  If you really like color coding files, buy BOLD color markers.  Sharpie is making thinner tips in many colors.  Pick up a pack.

1. Title files with names that are meaningful to you.  There are no rules that you need use certain names.

2. Don’t use numbers.  instead or 2010 Taxes, say Taxes, 2101.
   

3. Put your piles into the folders.

4. Hang a group of hanging files in your container.

5. Make TABS with BIG HEADINGS straight down the center.  Don’t stagger the tabs.  Arrange in alphabetical order.

6. Make a second set of TABS with smaller headings for the sub categories and line them up straight down the right or left side.

• Why don’t you stagger the tabs?  It is less jarring on the eye to keep them all lined up.  Also, if you add a hanging file later it will mess up your stagger pattern and throw you in a tizzy.
• Why all these rules?  It is proven over and over that labeling and using an alphabetical system us easier to use.  Remember, you are setting this up to find things later.  Make it as logical and simple to use.

OK, you are ready to tackle those taxes…but don’t call me for tax advice.

You have completed the “rough sort” and got rid of the junk, and you sorted your big pile into smaller ones.

Third Step: Breakdown your categories and set up files

Take the piles from last week’s first sort and start breaking them down to smaller groups. The financial pile now becomes your individual banks, credit cards, investments, etc.

(What about those papers that don’t fall into obvious categories? Make one pile personal items and deal with those later. This might include magazine articles for day trips, an item you might want to buy, a hairstyle you want to show your stylist, information about different counter top materials…you get the picture. We are focusing on financial papers right now. We will come back to these personal papers later….)

Next week we are going to make file folders and put them in a place that makes sense (not the kitchen table or the floor)

Here are a few good links to help you with your tax preparation.

selftax.com online tax preparation from FREE….
Dennis Middleton CPA If you are looking for a CPA to help you with your taxes, I recommend Dennis.

Last week you completed the “rough sort” and got rid of the junk. If you still have questions of what can be tossed, see the IRS link below.

Second Step: Sort Like with Like

*Take that big pile from your quick “rough sort” and start to break it down.

*Use BIG categories like insurance, auto, financial, medical.

*Don’t get hung up on smaller categories and the specifics (yet). Those will come later.

Most likely you will have several types of insurances, but for right now celebrate the fact that you got all the insurance paper in one place. The same is true with financial: banks, credit cards, investments, etc.

Next week we will move to step three: setting up files

Incredibly useful links for Tax Preparation

Click on these links below for useful information for tax preparation.
Self Tax.com This site has FREE through very inexpensive online tax prep.
Dennis Middleton CPA.com If you are looking for a CPA to help you with your taxes, I recommend Dennis.
IRS.gov IRS guidelines for paper retention Here is the source from the IRS.

Tax Paperwork; Where to Start

It may only be February, but it is never too early to start organizing to prepare your taxes.

First Step: get rid of the junk

Wherever you keep your paperwork: the kitchen counter, dining table, home office floor, all of the above…it is time to sort through it and get to the important stuff. Keep in mind a main purpose of getting organized is to find things later. It is really hard to find the important things when they are burried under those that are not important. That is the clutter.

Do a “rough sort”.
1. Quickly start tossing the junk.
2. Pull out catalogs and magazines you will read later.
3. Keep a big pile of everything you are keeping.
Don’t get bogged down with what those things are and where they will go. Just slug through this “rough sort” and get rid of the junk.

What is the Junk?
Third Class mail, any solicitations you did not request, and coupons you will never use.

BONUS: You can see your counter, table or floor and even use it.

Next week we will move to step two.

We are into the second month of the year…Are you still working on that resolution to get organized?
*Keep it small.
*Keep it achievable.
*Keep plugging away at one thing at a time.

Even if you didn’t finish all the things you wanted to get done by now, keep going. Just like a diet, one day of falling off the wagon doesn’t mean you should give up.

I have another kitchen organizing example that you could accomplish in less than the time it takes to cook those chicken parts.

This week how about Organizing Your Plasticware.

You know what I am talking about. All those plastic containers with lids that are in many cabinets of your kitchen. You can’t find the lids that match, some are cracked and some are just plain OLD.

Collect all the containers and all the lids to the kitchen counter or table…spread them out so you can see them…yes, all of them.
Sort similar bottoms together and begin to match up the tops.
Toss the bottoms that should have, but you can’t locate, tops. (If there is no recycling arrow on the bottom, they go into the trash.
Stack and nest as many bottoms as you can. Keep the corresponding lids nearby
Chose ONE cabinet or drawer to house the keepers.
If you still have too many containers, donate or toss them.
Put away an organized, neat grouping of containers.

If you have kids and they have outgrown some of the plastic items like sippy cups, items with Disney characters, etc., now is the time to get rid of these too.

Ahhh…another bit of clutter under control.

We had a great time this weekend discussing organizing solutions and tips. IKEA is a great place to find stylish and affordable containers. Our panel fielded questions from shoppers. I look forward to doing this again. Stay tuned….

New Year’s Resolutions…get fit, lose weight, stop smoking, and get organized. These are the most typical resolutions made in January and also the most common that fail by February. Why? Because they are too big and vague for anyone to succeed.
The idea of a New Year’s Resolution is great as long as you set yourself up for success.

Make your resolution achievable and well defined.

It is too hard to “Get Organized”, but it is achievable to organize one thing at a time.

Here is a real, achievable example. This week you could plan to organize your utensil drawer. Notice, I did not say organize your kitchen or even bigger, the entire house. By addressing one drawer or cabinet a week, you will have the entire room finished within two or three months.

You would empty the contents on the counter, review what you have, donate or toss what you have not used in ages, and put away the good items you need and want to grab quickly. In about 5 to 10 minutes one kitchen drawer is organized.

By making smaller, well defined achievable goals you set the scene for success. Start with one small thing to organize. It could be a drawer, shelf, area, or closet. Set a time and get it done. Then celebrate your success. You will be ready for another small area to tackle next week.

In February you can reflect on each small success and use these as motivation to continue the organizing process. Happy New Year and may you reach your organizing resolutions!

What about a Buddy?

If you are still having trouble making progress with organizing, get help. An organizing buddy can be a friend, relative, or Professional Organizer who can help you define your goals and break the process down to achievable steps. By setting your goals with another person you are setting up accountability which will help you follow up. Your buddy can help you break through some of the emotional attachments and push you to see things more objectively. They will help you stay focused on your goal when you get sidetracked, which is a very common issue that holds so many people back.