NAPO-NC Responds to Quality of Life Study with Four Success Strategies

In the spirit of GO MONTH (Get Organized) I had to share the results of this recent study on Quality of Life as it relates to organization.

Triangle – RALEIGH, NC. – In a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Professional Organizers, 96% of respondents stated that they could gain more time at home if they were better organized, and a surprising 91% claimed the same in their professional lives. In fact, 71% went so far as to state that the quality of their lives would improve if they were more organized.

Clearly these numbers indicate why so many people make “getting organized” a New Year’s resolution. For those planning to tackle their personal or professional organization in 2011, the North Carolina chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO-NC) offers the following strategies:

1. Be specific. Lori Bruhns, President of NAPO-NC, suggests that “’Getting organized’ is too vague for someone to actually tackle. Instead, we encourage people to specify ways in which they would like to become more organized, such as ‘I’d like to streamline my morning routine’ or ‘I want to leave work with a cleared desktop.’”

2. Take baby steps. NAPO-NC Treasurer Tracey Gritz, notes that “Sometimes a job seems insurmountable. Taken all at once, it may be. But, if you stop and list out all of the small steps that it takes to get to the end, you suddenly have series of very do-able tasks that will lead to the successful completion of your goal.”

3. Reward yourself. “Take the time to play a board game with your family, go out for coffee with a friend, invite people over to celebrate, or take a long bath to reflect how far you have come in the space,” states Stefanie Watkins, NAPO-NC’s Vice President.

4. Enlist support. Karen Krasner, Director of Community Relations for NAPO-NC, recommends “telling a friend or family member what you hope to accomplish and when you plan to finish. Ask them to keep you accountable by checking in with you periodically to see how it’s going.”

If you are one of the 96% of people who believe they could save time at home by being more organized, implement the above strategies and contact me! I can help with a one-on-one organizational assessment of your home or office and provide hands-on help to clear the clutter and simplify your life.  Call or e-mail: 317-867-1540 or jnusbaum (at) simplifiedspaces (dot) net.

Originally posted 2011-01-13 08:30:45. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

There is no One Best Way to Get Organized at Home

Organization is an ever-changing process; it’s a journey, not a destination. Every day a new approach or product is being introduced as the magic bullet to organization. But everyone is different in temperament, attitude, build, energy, ambition and family size. Every situation and lifestyle requires a different style and approach of organization to get the job done.

The secret isn’t always in how to get organized - it’s in wanting to get organized and committing yourself to taking consistent action. Once that is achieved, everything will fall into place. Wanting to without action won’t get you anywhere. You can organize as well as the next person if you have the desire and take the action to get it done. There are plenty of resources available to you to learn the skills, including Professional Organizers in most major cities throughout the world to guide you through the process. Simplified Spaces (my company in the Indianapolis Indiana area) is available to work with you personally and virtually.

Your system of organization should fit you and your lifestyle personally. It should be tailored to your style, your schedule and your motivation. I have to take all of these variables into consideration when I begin working with a new client. What works great for one client, may not work at all for the next. Some of us are day people; some are more productive at night.

I’m convinced that anyone can achieve an organized lifestyle if they learn the skills of organization, if they have the desire, seek out the resources to learn the methods and principles of organization and take the necessary action to move forward, at whatever pace works for their personality.

Don’t be discouraged or beat yourself up if it’s a slower process than you’d like. The clutter didn’t appear overnight and it won’t go away overnight! You’ll get there, as long as you take consistent action!

So go forth and simplify ….

Originally posted 2010-10-07 11:22:46. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The Organized Student – Kids, Backpacks and Papers, Oh My!

I’m a busy mom with school-aged kids, so it goes without saying that we experience hectic school day mornings. If your mornings are chaotic like ours, follow these get-organized tips to ensure a smooth to and from school routine.

• Make mornings flow smoothly by getting everything ready the night before.
• Have school bags packed and placed by the door and tomorrow’s outfits laid out.
• Organize your kid’s departure and arrival spot (I call this the launching and landing pad). Declare a home for backpacks close to the door they leave and arrive. Install hooks at a kid-friendly height. My kids have a square wicker basket close to the door that they enter and leave for school where their backpacks go and other school related items. We place everything that needs to go to school in that basket. When they get home, everything, including shoes get placed there so they don’t get strewn all over the house.
• Keep school shoes by the door to eliminate the mad morning rush to find two matching shoes (this also cuts down on cleaning since kids leave dirty shoes at the door when they come in)
• Pre-pack the non-perishable parts of school lunches, so you can simply pop in a sandwich in the morning. Prepare for breakfast the night before by getting out cereal bowls and cups.
• Create a Kids’ Morning Routine checklist so no essential task gets overlooked, like forgetting to brush teeth or comb hair, and post it on the fridge and/or bathroom mirror.
• Likewise, create an “Out the Door” list of items they need to take to school, and post it on or near the exit door. Include items like homework, lunch, library books, gym shoes, instruments.  Include the time they need to be downstairs for breakfast and when they need to exit the house to meet the bus. This builds their time management skills rather than just waiting for your yelling “the bus is coming” to prompt them. I’ve included a  sample checklist that I created for my oldest daughter when she entered first grade. This made a huge improvement in her ability to stay focused and on task in the morning.

Place a clock in strategic locations in your children’s morning routine , like the bathroom, kitchen and their bedroom. Both my daughters have missed the bus at least once through the year by losing track of time while primping in the bathroom when there was no clock in sight.

 

After we adopted these strategies in our home, our mornings were much less chaotic. And my kids haven’t missed the bus since and gone are the days of mid-morning phone calls from a frantic child begging me to bring their homework or packed lunch they left at home.

To learn more family management strategies like this, my Home Organization Secrets for Busy Moms ebook is now on sale for $9.99 and can be immediately downloaded.

My Daughter’s Morning Schedule (in 1st grade)

Upstairs: Wake up at 7:00am

        Get dressed …

• Put on clean underpants
• Shirt & pants
• Socks – to match outfit
• Shoes – to match outfit
• Brush teeth & tongue
• Comb hair

** 30-45 minutes to get dressed – be ready to come downstairs by 7:45am **

Downstairs: be downstairs by 7:45am

• Come downstairs to kitchen to eat breakfast
• Check backpack to be sure everything has been put in
• Put on coat, gloves, hat
• Walk out door for bus at 8:05am

Originally posted 2009-10-26 22:05:38. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Moms and organizers offer tips for all things back to school

(Article appearing in the BerksMont News, PA)

For parents who have been trying to keep their youngsters occupied all summer, September often replaces Christmas as “the most wonderful time of the year!” But for those parents who don’t like rigid schedules and helping with homework, it can also translate into a time of much family stress. Either way, back to school is a time of change. Professional organizers, a growing profession nationally and locally, are often called in to help families in times of transition.

As a professional organizer and a mother of three school-aged children, Debbie Lillard knows this transition all too well. Debbie Lillard started her organizing business, Space to Spare, in 2003.

She is an active member of the National Association of Professional Organizers Greater Philadelphia Chapter (www.NAPO-GPC.org) and has appeared on several episodes of HGTV’s Mission Organization. Debbie’s organizing tips have been featured in such magazines as Woman’s Day, Memory Makers and House & Home. Lillard recommends the following tips to get families ready for the busy back-to-school season:

1. Early to bed, early to rise. During summer months, children tend to stay up and sleep in later. To get them back into the routine of school schedules, put the routine in place as a dry run during the last week of summer. If everyone needs to be out of the house by 8:30 a.m. on a school day, make sure everyone has dressed, eaten and brushed their teeth by that time during your trial week.

2. Shop for school supplies at home first. Once you have the list of school supplies that your children need, take a look around your house first. Folders, crayons and even notebooks that are not full from the previous year can be used again. If the crayon box is broken, use a plastic container or Ziploc bag instead. Have the kids help you and make it a scavenger hunt! Check off what you have, then take the list to the store to purchase what you still need.

3. Create file folders. While you’re shopping for those school supplies, get an extra 2-pocket folder for each child. This can be used for holding any school information that you will refer to throughout the year (i.e. school calendar, absentee notes, teacher website info, handbooks, etc.). Label each folder with a child’s name and keep these in your home office for reference.

4. Visual reminders. Once you have all the information about your child’s special classes and extra-curricular activities, put them on a chart so that each day your child knows what is happening. Kids love pictures, so use stickers or computer clip art to make your chart visually appealing and colorful. Post the chart on the refrigerator or on a centrally-located bulletin board.

5. Designate a dumping ground. It’s been a few months, so even if you had a school routine you may have to review it with your kids. Physically show your children where you want them to put papers for you, homework, shoes, backpacks, and lunch boxes when they come home from school.

6. Clear out the old to make room for new. If you haven’t done so already, clear out your child’s backpack and their school papers from last year. Any special papers or artwork you want to save should be put in a scrapbook, a portfolio or a memory box. Designate one place where your child can put papers and reports throughout the upcoming year. This could be a drawer in their desk, a plastic storage bin in their room or a large art portfolio in their closet.

7. Layout the clothes. If clothing is an issue with your child, make sure they know what they are allowed to wear each day to school. If mom or dad says pants and a short sleeved shirt, then let the child choose which ones. In order to do this, make sure their clothes are accessible and simply organized in drawers or a closet.

8. Map out your activities on a family calendar. Back to school often means “back to busy,” so map it out by writing all activities on the calendar, even before your children commit to activities. Sometimes seeing it on paper helps you realize how much running around you will be doing!

9. Set up carpools. Make your life easier and save on gas and time by setting up carpools with your neighbors for school, sports and after-school activities.

10. Go through the routine with the entire family. Every family is different, so make a morning and nighttime routine that works for you. Involve as many family members as you can to spread the work of getting everyone out the door on time with everything they need. For example, if your kids are typically waiting for lunches in the morning, then pack them the night before or make it the first thing you do in the morning.

The Greater Philadelphia Chapter is part of the national nonprofit organization, NAPO, which has been active since 1985 and consists of more than 4,000 members throughout the United States and in eight other countries. For additional information or to find a professional organizer near you, visit the NAPO Web site at www.napo.org. Just click on “Find An Organizer.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I’m a NAPO member in Central Indiana and owner of Simplified Spaces Professional Organizing Solutions. I’m available to help you implement these and many more systems and strategies to clear the clutter and calm the chaos in your home and life. We also work with kids individually to help them establish organization, habits and routines for school and life success. Visit Simplified Spaces Professional Organizing Solutions for more info.

Originally posted 2010-08-28 11:23:29. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Let Go and Lighten Up in the New Year!

If you’ve ever said, “I’d get rid of this, if only I knew where to take it…” If this is your situation — you’re ready to let go of some belongings, but you want them to go to appropriate and worthy new homes — then I have some ideas.

But if you begin to waffle before you let go, remember that just because you paid good money for something, it might come in handy someday, someone gave it to you, or it’s beautiful or useful, doesn’t mean that it’s beautiful or useful for you right now. Pass on what you no longer need, use, or love to someone who will appreciate and use it now.

Recycle what you can…

In addition to the usual newspaper, plastics, metal, and glass that you can recycle through your city’s residential program, find out about the other special facilities that may be available to you.

These services and facilities (there might be several separate locations for various recyclables) may surprise — and delight! — you with what they accept: anything from scrap metal, copper pipe, and aluminum siding to phone books, computers, foam packing peanuts, and printer cartridges. Old paints and varnishes, poisons, aerosols, motor oil, and all manner of other icky and toxic stuff may also find a safe home if you do a little research. To dispose of cell phones and rechargeable batteries, check out Call2Recycle.

…and throw out what you must.

Let’s face it: there are some things that are so awful that they can’t even be recycled, so pitch ‘em and don’t look back. For large amounts of stuff to dump, think about coordinating a group of neighbors to share the cost of renting what becomes a “community dumpster.” Then have fun filling it up!

How about a trade?

Hold a swap party! Get a group together to exchange clothes, toys, CDs, tools, or craft materials; or check out Swapstyle.com, an international, online, virtual swap party.

Donating feels great!

It’s also easy, and it puts items into the hands of those who will benefit greatly from them.

* Friends and relatives are good folks to start with, especially if you have exceptional stuff, sentimental items, or family heirlooms that shouldn’t be tossed or donated to just any old place. You can feel good knowing that the people you’ve selected to receive these special items will love them as much as you do. (Just make sure that they really do want your cast-offs so that you aren’t creating a clutter problem for them.)

* Groups you belong to — a faith community, school group, club, or sports team — may hold rummage sales where you can share your abundance and benefit a group you care about at the same time.

* Charities such as Goodwill, the Salvation Army, St. Vincent de Paul, and Easter Seals accept donations of many things; plus, they may even pick up your discards right from your house. And listen up, all you sewing fans: Goodwill and St. Vincent de Paul also accept fabric scraps.

* Other charities have specific “wish list” needs that you may be able to fulfill with things you’d like to get rid of anyway. Try contacting the United Way to see if any of their member organizations have such needs.

* Excess Access keeps useful stuff out of landfills and links donors with charities.

* Childcare centers, preschools, grade schools, camps, or after-school programs may enjoy your extra toys and art/craft materials, while libraries, nursing homes, or hospitals may welcome your books, CDs, magazines, videos, and DVDs. Children’s groups may also like your fancy “dress-up clothes.”

* High school, college, and community theater groups may love your old bridesmaid or prom dresses, dance-recital and Halloween costumes, and antique furniture or period housewares to use as set dcor or props.

* Speaking of bridesmaid and prom dresses, investigate the Glass Slipper Project, a Chicago-based organization that provides disadvantaged teens with prom dresses.

* And how about your wedding gown? The nuptial police really will not come after you if you donate it (or sell or consign it, for that matter), and the Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation’s Brides against Breast Cancer program even makes it easy.

* Do you have excess building materials? Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore accepts usable cabinets, lumber, windows, hardware, fixtures, lights, flooring, and more, while Rebuilding Together, a nonprofit group that repairs the homes of low-income families, is looking for your extra tools.

* Women’s and children’s clothing and shoes, as well as toys, may find a welcome home at a women’s domestic-abuse shelter, while men’s clothing will benefit men in homeless shelters. Consider also Dress for Success, a national group that assists low-income women looking for work.

* The Lions Club or New Eyes for the Needy will take your old eyeglasses.

* There are food pantries in most communities that feed an ever-growing population of citizens without enough to eat, and they’d welcome your monetary or nonperishable-food donations.

Giving things away can also take other forms…

* Check out the Freecycle Network, a national movement with (many!) local groups that connect those who want to give away their stuff for free with those who want to take it off their hands.

* Or put together a Circulation Celebration: On a specified day, people take anything they no longer want to a central location, and anyone who wants it can take it, with no money exchanged at all. It’s truly intended to just move things around — no profit motive at all.

* If nothing else, set something out to the curb with a big “FREE! TAKE ME!” sign on it. I’ll bet it walks.

Maybe you’d like some cash for your goods?

Garage sales — especially ones with several families or a whole neighborhood participating — are a time-honored method, but there are others:

* Sell your general merchandise and collectibles — just about anything, really — through eBay, the huge, sell-it-yourself, online auction site. If you’re a little low tech or strapped for time, work with a service that sells your possessions online and then ships them for you for a commission or fee.

* There’s also Craigslist, a free, giant, online version of a local newspaper’s classified ads.

* If antiques are your bag, consult an antiques mall about selling your wares for a fee or commission.

* Take your books, CDs, videos, DVDs, and video games to resale stores that buy them outright.

* Clothes, shoes, and accessories may fetch a fine price at resale shops that either buy them outright or pay you a commission after they sell. Most accept women’s clothing, but some also sell — or even specialize in — children’s, teens’, men’s, or vintage clothing; household and decorative items; and furniture. These may also be the right places to take dance-recital costumes and Halloween costumes prior to Halloween.

* Likewise, there are consignment and resale shops that deal solely in musical instruments, toys and other children’s goods, and sports equipment — great for selling and buying, since the kiddos keep growing!

But what if you have painful or sentimental things — love letters from a failed relationship, or your child’s first dinosaur diorama — that aren’t exactly the kinds of things you’d donate or sell?

* First be very certain that you’re ready to say goodbye. Visualize yourself letting go of the item and see how it feels. If you feel liberated and wonderful, go ahead. If you feel regretful and sad, wait awhile and try visualizing the release later.

* If you’re not ready to let go, perhaps put these items in one big box so that they’re not scattered all over, ready to emotionally ambush you every time you see them. You can even inject a little humor to help you detach by labeling the box something like My Big, Bad Box of Horrible, Awful, Icky, Very Sad Things.

* If/when you are ready to let go, take some pictures if they’ll help you to release your mental hold on the objects. The photos will spark your memories, so you may not need to keep the physical objects themselves.

* Create a little ceremony, or share a story about the item with someone close to you, to send it off with the dignity and respect that it deserves as an important, although perhaps bittersweet, part of your past.

* And lastly, this suggestion may strike you as a little “out there” — or perhaps as just right: have a “ritual burn.” Take your painful souvenirs, alone, to a quiet place where you can safely burn them. As you prepare and light a fire, think about what they mean to you. Place them into the fire, watch the flames and smoke curling up, and feel your emotional burden lifting, liberating you from these painful connections.

Sending your belongings to worthy recipients — with dignity and respect — can help you to feel good about letting go of them. Here’s to lightening up and moving on in 2011!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paula_Apfelbach

Originally posted 2011-02-05 18:02:21. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Let Your “Launching Pad” Do The Work, And Always Have What You Need When You Arrive Where You’re Going

“Launching pads” are among my favorite organizing tools because if you work with them, they work with you — and save your bacon time and time again.

To see how they could work for you, let’s first imagine a scenario: Picture yourself and the others in your household walking through the door that you normally use when you enter your home. It’s dinner time. Everyone’s been gone since the morning, and they’re loaded down like pack animals with all the accoutrements of their respective days.

Before you can even think about breaking the leftovers-for-dinner-again news to them, backpacks, briefcases, purses, groceries, wallets, diaper bags, dry cleaning, gym clothes, shoes, hockey sticks, keys, coats, glasses, school books, the dog’s leash, the dog, spare change, more shoes, purchases, the receipts those purchases generated, the newspaper, did I mention shoes?, the mail, and all manner of other burly, surly, and sundry items hit the floor, tables, chairs, benches, counter tops, and pretty much every other available horizontal surface that’s within 10 feet of the door. What’s a person who’s striving for organizational nirvana to do?!

Well, I fear that you can’t beat ‘em, so you might as well join ‘em: for the best results in clearing this kind of clutter, I suggest that you work with, rather than against, their natural tendencies and acquired habits.

Your secret solution just might be launching pads: they’re the places to put everything that’s coming or going, now or in the near future.

To start, think of where you and your loved ones tend to dump their daily loads, and then put something in those spots to catch the loads — preferably one receptacle for each person. It could be a table, shelf, basket, box, bin, bucket, bench, milk crate, tote, tray, rug, carpet square, chair, chest, cart, stand, taboret, row of hooks, designated closet shelf, authorized section of kitchen counter top, or any other thing you can think of that marks the place where you “launch” yourself when you leave, and where you deposit your stuff when you “re-enter your atmosphere.”

After that, inform your housemates that they now have predictable, logical, and safe places to leave their belongings until the next time they leave the house. (And then encourage compliance!)

In addition to allowing your launching pads to provide safe harbor for shoes, hats, and coats (preferably on hooks, vs. hangers — it’s easier); bags, purses, and backpacks of all stripes and types; homework, gym shoes, lunches, and musical instruments; and the large gear (whether that’s football padding, a monster load of library books to return, an outgoing basket of dry cleaning, or a baby carriage)… take it one step further.

Place a container at each person’s launching pad to corral the small, but important pieces of life: wallets, cell phones, keys, glasses, sunglasses, pens, jewelry, spare change, lunch money, school ID cards, and the inevitable (and sometimes icky) detritus that resides in pockets. This container could be a bowl, basket, jar, box, dish, mug, or cup, but like the launching pad itself, it provides safe harbor for the little things that count — and as a result, you truly (and literally) won’t need to “sweat the small stuff” anymore.

But wait — there’s more! If you really begin to groove on your launching pads, you can even set up tiny offices, teeny first-aid stations, and miniscule beauty parlors by adding a box or storage unit that holds some paper, a pen, a few paperclips, a roll of tape, and a small pair of scissors; some band-aids, tissues, and anti-bacterial cream; or a comb, mirror, and lipstick. You could also put a wastebasket and recycling bin there so that when you arrive with the mail, you can open, sort, toss, recycle, and retain some of it before it gets any farther into the house. The mail job is handled!

And, for advanced users who’ve become experts at trusting their launching pads (they really won’t let you down if you use them all the time), they can even function as a kind of communication device: the kiddos can leave permission slips that need to be signed, for example, at Mom’s or Dad’s launching pad; and the adults can, in turn, put those signed slips right back whence they came, all in plenty of time to make the school bus. These might also be the places where you put phone messages, honey-do lists, and any other notes that you want to leave for family members.

Now, begin to make great use of your new launching pads. Start placing everything you’ll need when you leave tomorrow at your launching pad space today or tonight. This might include items that your tickler file rendered for tomorrow, theater tickets, a camera, an umbrella, returns to make (with receipts, to be sure), a grocery list and coupons, checks to deposit at the bank, movies to return, or your outgoing mail. Add things as they occur to you throughout the day and evening, rather than assuming that you’ll remember them in the hectic morning hours. (Trust me on that one.)

If you can’t put a physical object there — tomorrow’s lunch yogurt that needs refrigerating, or the giant volcano science project that’s still drying in the basement from its fifth layer of paper mâché — leave a “place holder” note instead to remind yourself to grab it when you go.

You can also think a little more long term with a launching pad by viewing it as a “pending place” as well. Put items there that you won’t need tomorrow, but will need next week or next month: library books due back in two weeks, a birthday package to mail to Aunt Heloise next Friday, or an article to give to a friend when you see her on the first Wednesday of the month at your book club meeting. These things aren’t lost this way — they’re stored safely, in a logical place, ready for your future use. Just be sure to put a note in your planner or tickler file to remind yourself to take them along on the appointed day.

With any luck — and some well-placed coaching from you — the rest of your family will begin to gather things that they’ll need tomorrow or in the near future and place them at their individual launching pads. Then, in the morning — or two weeks from now — they’ll have what they need, when they need it, without the usual last-minute mad dashes hither, thither, and yon.

Household members will also know exactly where to put things when they arrive home so that those possessions don’t wander all over and wreak havoc on the rest of the house. And perhaps best of all, they’ll start to see the beauty of your wisdom, to appreciate the improved way of life that has arrived with the advent of the launching pads, and to acknowledge you as the domestic superhero that you truly are.

There really isn’t a down side to using launching pads, other than the fact that it may take a little while for everyone to form good, solid habits about using them. But humor me and give them a try.

If you use launching pads as purposeful, intentional — and the only — places where incoming and outgoing stuff belongs; if you do not allow them to become random dumping grounds; and if you behave this way every day, very soon your launching pads will dramatically reduce those times when you can’t find your keys, glasses, the tennis racket you need for your grudge match, and the report you’re just certain you were reading in bed last night that needs to go back to the office.

Believe in the power of launching pads!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paula_Apfelbach

Originally posted 2010-11-27 21:49:33. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Back to School 101 – Organize Those School Supplies (on Fox 59)

I was thrilled to be invited to appear on the Indianapolis FOX 59 Morning News segment BACK TO SCHOOL 101: Organize School Supplies. Here’s the video:

 

Originally posted 2010-08-14 17:16:23. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Think in systems to organize your home and life

When I worked in the corporate world as a business analyst it wasn’t a stretch for me to think in systems.  In an office environment processes and procedures are established to create order and and establish habits.  Often office systems are documented in a Procedure Manual for all to follow.  We are also accustomed to having the supplies needed in our work space in order for us to perform our job and to follow the company’s systems. 

When I became a Professional Organizer in 2003, it occurred to me that we can transfer this same ‘systems theory’ to managing our home. You manage your home in systems as well.

So what do I mean by a a home management system?  It is a set of procedures and processes, or a routine/habit that is put in place in your home to manage five key variables:

·   Space

·   Your stuff

·   Information flow

·   Your time

·   Relationships – with those for whom you share your space 

 

Develop systems to manage these variables and you have designed solutions to calm the chaos of your daily life. A system can be as simple as a labeled folder to a specific organizing product designed to hold all your personal information, like those available in our e-store The Simplified Home.  The important thing is that you establish a consistent routine or process for yourself and your family for the repetitive tasks you perform regularly. These routines/processes done consistently become habits.  One of my favorite quotes, by Ben Franklin, is …

 

 “To change a habit begin immediately and let no single exception to occur.”

 

Consistency is the key to establishing a habit.  

When I work personally with clients, I assess the systems they have in place and those that are missing. So what systems should you consider to simplify your home?  Here’s a list of home organization systems I suggest that my  clients consider.  

 

• System for keeping track of your daily schedule

• System for processing incoming mail – from the mailbox and from children’s bookbags

• System (or consistent home) for finding car keys, purse/wallet, cel-phone, laptop, etc.

• System for paying bills on time

• System for teaching and delegating household chores within the family

• System for food shopping (grocery list and organizing coupons)

• System for keeping track of daily and weekly To Dos (actions)

• System for regular decluttering / weeding

• System for tracking birthdays, anniversaries

• System for the home laundry process

• System (routine) for getting out of the house on time for work, appointments, meetings

• System for staying focused and productive (i.e., timer, alarm)

• System for processing children’s school papers

• System for keeping track of home information (warranties, operations manuals, room dimensions, carpet samples, etc.)

• System for family communication

• System for merchandise returns, errand-running

• System for weeding out no longer needed clothing

• System for filing and retrieving vital family records

 

I call this a ‘Home Systems Checklist’ and I give this checklist to new clients so they can evaluate and analyze their own household. 

 

So how about you? I invite you to use this list to do the same in your home. Also think about the supplies you need to establish these systems.

 

You too can get organized by thinking in systems.  I’d love to hear your feedback – please leave a comment about home systems that have worked well for you and if you can think of a system that I didn’t include. Also, if you’d like to hear more detail about any of these systems, leave a comment about your greatest challenge and I’ll do a future post about specific systems you want to learn more about.

 

I also invite you to visit The Simplified Home for many ready-made home organization systems and solutions so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

Originally posted 2008-10-24 21:27:45. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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