What's your Favorite Organizing Tool? - New Poll

A recent attendee to one of my organizing seminars said her favorite organizing tool is several well-placed sticks of dynamite. I think she was kidding but it got me wondering what people think of as their essential organizing tool. As a professional organizer, I see lots of great specialized organizing tools featured in catalogs and in stores but I also see people using regular items to help keep themselves and their families organized.

So I'm wondering what your favorite tool is that keeps you - at least somewhat - organized. Do you have a family calendar? A notebook for all your "to dos"? A bin for storing Legos and Barbie clothes? Is it a can organizer for your pantry or a set of specialized clothes hangers for your closet?

Share your favorite product and look for my favorite weekly picks at http://www.orgtoday.com.

The "M" Word

Money? Muchkin? Mesopotamia?

Nope, the "M" word for getting organized is MOTIVATION - where to find it and how to keep it.

I could get all yoga on you and suggest you search your inner self - visualizing the peace and tranquility that will come with calmly sipping coffee and reading the newspaper every morning rather than rushing around looking for keys, lunches, and backpacks.

Or I could inspire you with visions of Martha Stewart - tying raffia around neatly folded and stacked piles of bed linens rather than putting your kids to bed in sleeping bags because all the sheets in the house are in the laundry.

Actually, let's put pen to paper and figure out your motivation. Grab a clean sheet of paper - the back of an envelope will do if you think your only notepad might be at the bottom of the toy box - and a writing utensil. Crayons and eyeliner count if that's all you can find.

Write down WHY I WANT TO GET ORGANIZED at the top of the paper and list your reasons why you want to get organized. Don't prioritize or over-think this - just make the list as the ideas occur to you. Everyone's list will be different but you're probably thinking of things like "To have more time with my family" or "To make the mornings calmer" or "To be able to find things" or "To have a neat house so we can entertain guests" or "To have time for my hobbies" or "To be more efficient at work so I can build my business" or "To be prepared for meetings" or any other reason.

Now take another look at your list. You wrote those items because those are the goals you'd like to reach. That's the life you want to live.

Post the list where you can see it often. Add items to the list as necessary.

There's your Motivation.


For some practical ideas and tips for getting organized, visit http://www.orgtoday.com

Paper Clutter - Sort it then Store it

OK sports fans, now that you've tried AFT'ing for a few days - and I hear a few of you are - you may be saying to yourself "Nice system, but am I really supposed to leave this pile of Action paper on my kitchen counter forever?"

Yes, you are.

Just kidding. You should be storing it in the laundry basket.

Seriously, it doesn't matter where you store it as long as it's rather out of the way and the designated spot for those items. Put it in a file, a basket, a tray or any other container of your choice but those Action papers are the only things that go in that specific spot.

The To File papers: Ideally you'd file them immediately however that's not always possible. Have a designated spot for the File papers and a scheduled time each week to file them!

Now you may be asking yourself if you really should have any Action papers if you're putting the action on the To-Do list. And the answer is: sometimes. If the action is "Call the vet - Porkchop yearly shots 555-9078" then you probably don't need the reminder from the vet. However, if the action is "Send email to group - vote on book selections for next book club." you need to send the email but perhaps you're also tracking the votes in which case you need a paper in the Action spot with the names of the books and the number of votes for each book. Another example is a form to be filled out. The To-Do list says "Fill out and return Whoopee Cushion survey" but you need to keep the actual survey in your Action spot until that task is completed.

All this may sound like a lot of work to setup but it really doesn't need to be complicated. I do a lot of things: run a business, homeschool the boys, serve on non-profit boards, volunteer, etc and I have a very simple stacking tray system of 1 Action tray, 1 Pending file tray (because I don't have a filing cabinet near my desk), 1 To Read tray and 1 Out tray. Technically there's also a To File tray but it's across the room. My system is simple and yet I can keep a lot of balls in the air.

So get out the laundry basket and start storing those papers!

Darcy
www.orgtoday.com

5 Minutes

What can you do in five minutes?

1. Get the mail.
2. Pet your cat.
3. Get a cup of coffee (might take you longer if you stop to chat with colleagues)
4. Read a blog post.
5. Eat a muffin.


Or...you can get started on some de-cluttering like:

1. Scan the Table of Contents of a magazine and rip out any articles to read
2. Remove all the trash and money from the kitchen junk drawer
3. Toss all the junk mail into the recycle bin
4. Recycle unnecessary papers out of one file
5. Pickup all scattered items in the family or living room and even have time to fluff pillows!

Most people don't start organizing projects because the whole project will require hours and hours. While this may be true in total, a lot can be accomplished in small 5 to 15 minute increments and you'll be surprised how much progress you'll make in those little bits of time.