•  Create a family calendar – paper or electronic – and have everyone note all of their activities on it. You can use something like a medical appointment book or a teacher’s lesson plan book to create a separate column for each person, or a regular monthly calendar and use separate colors for each person.   

 

• Have weekly family meetings to review schedules, to make sure everyone is on top of what’s going on that week, and to make sure everyone has transportation to their various activities. Sundays might be a good day for this – before the chaos of work and school kicks in for that week. 

 

•  Create an out-the-door checklist for each child using words and/or pictures of everything they need to do in the morning to get out the door without too much hassle. Include such things as “brush teeth”, “lunch in backpack”, “bring band instrument”, etc. My APPLES Resource Guide includes just such a checklist.

 

•  Create a family information binder that contains all pertinent information for managing the kids’ activities: sports schedules, team directories, emergency contact information, school contact information, etc. Keep the binder in an easy-to-reach spot where all family members can find it.

 

•  Consider limiting each child to 1 extra-curricular activity at a time. For example, if they want to play football, they can’t also play hockey in the fall. Not only will this make life less hectic for you, but it will allow your kids to have some unstructured time in what is typically an overscheduled life.

 

What techniques have you found helpful to keep your student and self organized for school?

Best wishes to you and your student(s) for a successful, organized school year,

I’m certainly not trying to load up your calendar or to-do list, but just so nothing slips through the cracks before the snow starts flying, here are a few things that are warm weather friendly that you might want to consider scheduling:

Clean out the garage –It sure would be nice to fit your vehicle in the garage where it will be warm and dry this winter.

Clean out your vehicle – It will be a lot more pleasant to get the trash and other extraneous items cleared out before the cold numbs your fingers.

Tune up the snow blower – As much as you may wish otherwise, the snow is coming and you’ll want to be ready.

Additional checklists on how to prepare for cooler weather, as well as other ways to get your life organized, are available in my APPLES Resource Guide.  And no matter what’s on your list, be sure to take some time to savor the sights, smells and sounds of this special time of year. 

Enjoy the rest of your summer,

• Choose a small space to get started, such as a kitchen drawer, linen closet or under the bathroom sink. This will give you a sense of accomplishment, as well as the confidence to tackle bigger spaces. As an alternative, choose the area that bothers you the most, such as the entryway that makes you hesitate to open your front door for fear that your cluttered home will be revealed to the outside world.
   
•  Schedule regular organizing sessions to keep yourself moving forward. Try setting a timer for 20 minutes a day to chip away at your organizing transformation. 
   
• Find an accountability partner – someone who will check in with you to keep you on track and remind you to honor your commitment to tackle your clutter bit by bit. 
   
• Gather all of your random piles of paperwork and put them in a box or bin (or maybe it will take multiple boxes and bins) to be gone through during your regular daily organizing sessions. You’ll enjoy the instant lift you’ll feel as the paper clutter is cleared from your surfaces, and will be able to see visible progress as the piles in the boxes and bins get smaller and smaller. 
   
• Schedule weekly pickups by a charity that makes house calls to effortlessly move out the items you choose not to keep, and to motivate you to honor your daily de-cluttering sessions and let go of things that don’t enhance your life. 
   
• Promise to reward yourself as your reach significant milestones, such as a cleaning out a closet or finishing going through a box of papers. The reward should be something you find motivating, as long as it doesn’t mean bringing more stuff into your home. 
   
• If necessary, schedule someone to watch your kids during your organizing sessions so you can stay focused on organizing.

If after a few weeks you aren’t making the progress you’d hoped, or you feel stuck or overwhelmed, it may be time to call in a professional. I can’t promise to transform your home as seemingly effortlessly as the television shows make it look, but it will be faster, easier, and possibly even better than working on your own.

Wishing you simplicity, harmony and freedom,

 It turns out I’m hardly alone in my reaction to having too many options – numerous studies have concluded that satisfaction level drops as people are given more choices. For example, a joint study by researchers from Columbia and Stanford Universities concluded that “people actually seemed to prefer to exercise their opportunities to choose in contexts where their choices were limited” and “they even performed better in such limited-choice contexts.” Translation: less choices lead to greater satisfaction and better performance.

So what does this have to do with organizing? I wonder if having too many possessions leads to a similar decline in satisfaction. One of the steps in the organizing process is to pare down the number of items one has so that only things that are useful or meaningful are kept. Many of my clients have an abundance of items yet resist letting any go because they are sure they will need them “someday.” For example, they may have a closet packed with clothes and be reluctant to let go of any because each one has the potential to be just the right choice for an upcoming occasion. Does having to choose which of the 11 pairs of black pants to wear, or which of the 53 pairs of shoes is just the right one, at least on some level, lessen one’s quality of life? If closets aren’t your sore spot, what about your overstuffed bookshelves, overflowing craft room, or an impassable basement?  Although they often insist otherwise, I imagine that this seemingly endless possibility of choices might actually cause people to be less satisfied than they realize.

So when does enough become too much? I’d love to hear your take on how the volume of items from which you have to choose impacts your satisfaction.

Wishing you simplicity, harmony and freedom,

When we work together, Ann tells me that  she hates her cluttered home, but although her head tells her she should let go of many of the unused things that fill her space, her heart won’t let her release them. I’ve been using motivational interviewing techniques and guidance from the book Buried in Treasures to slowly help Ann release things that aren’t giving her joy. We had been making slow but steady progress until “Linda” (not her real name) entered Ann’s life.

Linda is Ann’s cleaning woman. She told Ann she could whip her place into shape in four hours. Ann, being emotionally vulnerable and helpless, agreed to have Linda work her self-described magic. Unfortunately Linda, who was great at cleaning, wasn’t so great at organizing. She embraced the same philosophy kids often use when you tell them to clean their room – getting things out of sight is the goal. Linda shoved things wherever they would fit – cooking supplies were jammed into kitchen cabinets; recipes were shoved onto shelves; excess paperwork was tossed into large lidded bins; potential gifts were placed into boxes stacked from floor to ceiling; and gift boxes were stacked to go to recycling.

When Linda excitedly showed Ann the neat-as-a-pin results of her work, Ann was horrified. She could no longer see the things she loved, find the important papers that were previously stacked on her dining room table, or easily access the few pots and pans she used regularly. Even worse, the gift boxes that meant so much to her were unceremoniously awaiting their execution in the recycling bin.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, where you just want to make things neater and better for someone (including yourself), be sure to respect their feelings and recognize that neatening and getting things out of sight isn’t the goal of organizing – making it easy to find things when you need them and being surrounded by the things you love is what matters.

Wishing you simplicity, harmony and freedom,

The oldies but goodies are goodies for a reason. Andy had a large number of toys that he had enjoyed throughout his childhood – he didn’t seem to be constantly bringing in new toys. What oldies but goodies do you own? While they may not give you the thrill of being new or offer the excitement of finding bargain, there’s probably a good reason that you prefer these things. Whether it’s a pair of pants that fit you just right, a paring knife that makes life in the kitchen easier, or a piece of artwork you enjoy pondering, many things in our life are hard to replace – so stop trying. Don’t make impulse purchases, or even conscious purchases, if you already have something that suits your needs – you’ll end up having less clutter. 

It may be easier than you think to let go of things you don’t need. Molly, Andy’s sister, had a bedroom filled with things that were no longer meaningful to her. Until her mom prompted her, she hadn’t taken the time to pare them down. Once she got started, however, Molly had an easy time letting go of a lot of things she didn’t want or need. Her mom’s encouragement gave her the motivation she needed to move things to the donate bin or even the trash, so she could surround herself with things that were meaningful to her now. Is there someone who can encourage or help you let go of the things that no longer make your life fulfilling? If you’re a parent, can you help your kids learn to set limits by helping them evaluate their belongings?

Here’s a link to my newsletter where I offer additional observations on Toy Story 3 – I’d love to hear your thoughts. In case you missed it or want a refresher, here’s a link to my newsletter on last year’s movie, Up.

Wishing you simplicity, harmony and freedom,

My oldest son recently graduated from college and moved out of state. I’m sad that he’s so far away, yet happy for his great job opportunity and comforted to know that he has the life skills he’ll need (at least most of them) to comfortably and confidently get along in the “real” world. Of course he didn’t just learn those skills overnight – my husband and I have been preparing him for this phase of his life for the past 22 years. We’ve had him and his younger brother participate in a variety of chores, from mowing the lawn to emptying the dishwasher, doing their own laundry to managing their own bank account.

There have been some stumbling blocks along the way, but we view those as teaching moments that are sometimes more powerful than any verbal lesson could be. Without going into great detail and violating his privacy, I’ll just say that my son had an issue with a credit card that really surprised us. It taught us that we can’t only teach by example – explicit instructions are often necessary. Many of my clients are impacted by this same lack of specific training – I’m constantly amazed at how many of them tell me they grew up in organized homes, yet they’ve hired me to help them get organized because they don’t know how to do it. Their parents did everything for them so they never learned the process of being organized. Some of the basic skills I often have to teach them are:

• How to keep a calendar
• How to keep track of bills
• How to set up a filing system
• How to establish a process for doing laundry
• How to put things away when finished with them

I invite you to consider what tasks you’re doing yourself that your kids are capable of handling, and how you can get them more involved in being contributing members of the household. What lessons did your parents not teach you that you wish they had?

Here’s to your life of simplicity, harmony and freedom,

In their book, The Power of Full Engagement, energy management gurus Jim Loehr  and Tony Schwartz describe the physiological changes our bodies go through when we’ve reached a low point in our energy cycle. While techniques such as drinking coffee or eating a candy bar may successfully produce a short-term energy boost, they’re not a great substitute for our body’s natural cycle of engagement and recovery.

I’ve experienced this productivity recovery phenomenon first-hand. Back in my paper-writing days during college and grad school, I’d intentionally walk away from my current writing assignment for 15 minutes or so and be amazed at the renewed focus and energy I’d discover upon my return to the task. I’d also marvel at the ease with which I’d catch errors that I previously hadn’t noticed.  A fresh set of eyes and a clear mind made all the difference.

Taking breaks has also been shown to be highly beneficial for people with AD/HD. My own experience when working with clients with AD/HD has shown that when they take a short break of ten or so minutes, it breaks up the monotony (serving their desire for a change of pace) and boosts their energy. “Green” breaks during which they look outside (or even go outside) to look at the green grass or trees have also proven to be highly beneficial. A study by researchers at the University of Essex (England) found that just 5 minutes a day of exposure to nature is all you need to improve your mood and self-esteem.

To get yourself in the habit of taking breaks, determine what your concentration limit is and set a timer to remind yourself to walk away from your current project for a while. The length of the break is less important than the act of simply changing your focus for a moment – something as simple as taking a bathroom break can do wonders for your productivity. Maybe drinking eight glasses of water a day (or whatever the experts now say is the proper amount) can have a side benefit of boosting your productivity by making you take a bio break every few hours.

 So how will you minimize the mental field trips your mind takes as you work through your day?

Here’s to your life of simplicity, harmony and freedom,

 I’ve previously written about the importance and challenges of finishing the job to completion. In his fascinating book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell describes “the broken window” hypothesis which states “disorder invites even more disorder – a small deviation from the norm can set into motion a cascade of vandalism and criminality.” Certainly clutter is not criminal, but it sure can leave you feeling like a victim. It can insidiously creep into our homes and take over. 

Rather than allowing clutter to overtake your life, I challenge you (and myself) to pay attention to the habits that are causing your “clutter creep” and nip them in the bud. Have a place for things, and put them there right away – don’t fall into that here for now habit. If you have trouble deciding where something goes, remember the two basic organizing principles: 1. Store things near where they’re used, and 2. Store similar things together.

Adopt the habit of putting things away rather than putting them down. One of my clients actually made a sign for her kitchen to remind her of that goal. Ask yourself, “Do I really want to put it there?” When you catch yourself saying you don’t have time to put something away, consider how long it would really take. Can it possibly take more than 20 second to hang up your coat? Does it take more than a minute or two to toss the bedspread on your bed? Would it take more than a minute to pull the receipts out of your purse and put them where they belong? I’d love to hear how you’ve stopped clutter in its tracks.

Here’s to your life of simplicity, harmony and freedom,

It’s hard to believe, but we’re half way through the year – how are your New Year’s resolutions coming along? Was one of them to lose weight? It may not quite be what you had in mind, but if you’re trying to shed a few pounds, one quick and easy way to do that is to clean out the purse, wallet, briefcase and/or bag you’ve been lugging around. Besides lightening your load, it will make the things you carry with you every day more organized and easy to find.

Empty it out. Dump the contents of your purse, wallet, bag or briefcase into a shoebox or other container so nothing gets lost. 

Toss the trash. You may discover you’ve been carrying around a portable trashcan. Toss the obvious items: used or tattered tissues, old or empty makeup containers, mysterious scraps of paper, gum or mints that are coated with lint, ATM receipts that are so old you can no longer read them, etc.

Sort the rest. Divide items between those you need to carry all the time (keys, sunglasses, cell phone, pen, notepad, etc.) and those that are questionable – although any one item may not take up much space or add much weight, collectively these items can have a big impact:  

Makeup: Maybe you can just carry your lipstick, and keep the rest of your touch-up items at work so you don’t have to schlep them back and forth from home each day.

Loose change: Unless you’re saving it for a serendipitous encounter with a slot machine, put that loose change at the bottom of your purse or bag into your wallet or pants pocket where you can use it, or into a jar at home if you want to save it.

Checkbook: If you only write checks occasionally, maybe you can carry just a check or two in your wallet. Use carbon checks to serve as a reminder to note the check in your check register.

Here’s a link to my newsletter where I offer additional tips on how to organize your purse, wallet and briefcase.

Wishing you simplicity, harmony and freedom,