Q is for Quiet - Finding Quiet Amidst the Chaos

                                         

When was the last time you just sat in the quiet.   No television, no Facebook, no radio, just quiet?

I live life at a pretty frantic pace these days and do not take as much time as I would like to just “be still” and listen for the glory and peace that can be found in silence.

Personally,  I find that time just being still relaxes me and allows me to focus in on what is really important.   I use this time to try and push away all the nonsense that the day, the week, the month or the year has thrown at me and re-prioritize.   

Sometimes, we just have one of those years where life just seems to hammer away at us – having a quiet time helps to refocus and relax amidst the chaos of day-to-day living.  

For me, being the spiritual gal that I am, having a dedicated quiet time allows me the opportunity to be alone with God and quiet myself to see where he may lead me through the day.    I tend to get wound up in the details and often find being still helps me take in the "big picture".

Try finding just 10 minutes in  in your week this week, to “be still” and listen to what your inner voice is telling you.   If you are not in the habit of finding time to absorb the quiet,  I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the calm that can be found in just doing nothing, being still and absorbing the quiet.

Jennifer

P is for Procrastinate - How to Get Things Done

is for Procrastinate

I don’t know about you but Procrastinating is one of my major character flaws.  

When there is a job that needs doing, one that I dread and loath -  (like taxes), I can find a million things to distract me from getting started.

As a result, I have devised some strategies to help me deal with my dreaded tasks

I need to deal actually schedule the  jobs on my procrastination list into my planner or they just will not get done!   Yup,  I actually have a list of items that I have been procrastinating on completing.

Ways to just get it things done:

If you really hate it – and can hire it out – just do it!

• Schedule it into your day planner
• Ensure your work area is free of distractions (Turn off email, Facebook and twitter, let the phone go to voicemail.
• Break the task down into components
• Get Started!
• Begin with a part of the job that is the least loathsome
• Work on the more difficult parts when you are at your high performance time of the day – for some this could be first thing in the morning, for others, right after lunch. 
• Take timed breaks after completing a component and then ensure that you get back to it

You’ve completed your task – reward yourself with a clutter free gift, positive gift ( a massage, a date with your honey, a walk in the woods, whatever makes you smile)

If you need help getting started with your organizing projects we can help.    Visit our website today.   www.adventuresinorganizing.ca

Are You Ready To Die?

Kind of a bleak title I know but the point is - are you?

Once again in the crazy little world that is my life, we are about to lose another beloved family member.   This time though, he made all his plans and organized his estate well in advance, knowing that this day would come.

When my birth father learned of his Parkinson's diagnosis, and that he was in the early stages of Lewy Body Dementia he made sure to take care of his "business" right away.

He updated his will, assigned his executor (and a backup), ensured that he had his Power of Attorney taken care of.  He even took the time to have developed a Trust to take care of his Estate.   He does not leave behind a fortune but he was very smart with what he had and made sure to protect his hard earned blue collar dollars.

Shortly after diagnosis, he took the entire family away to Lake Nipissing  for one last family vacation.  All his grand children were there and we have great memories of that week away in the glory of Northern Ontario.  We had a chance to celebrate his life while was still well and to celebrate the life of our family.  Dad ensured that he had a final chance to fish and boat with his grand kids and create lasting memories that will hold them for a lifetime.

My Dad even made sure we were all very aware of what his last wishes were for a funeral and whether or not to bury or cremate.  While this my seem incredibly morbid to some, in our family, it is just a fact-of-life discussion. Without a doubt it was painful to listen to, but at the same time, it is  a discussion that needs to be had.

Today, with all the sadness we are feeling as a family, there is also an immense gratitude that we do not have to; guess at what his wishes were, that we do not have to feel regret for time not spent together, and that the stress of the closing out his estate and belongings will ultimately be,  as stress-free as he could possibly make for his children.

So, are you ready?

N is for Normal: Is all this Clutter Normal?

N is for Normal, Necessary, Needed, Numerous, Never-Ending....you get the  point!

Organizing really comes down to a few basic principles and one of them is whether or not the items we have in our homes, on our desks, on our computers or in our offices  are Necessary.   

While items of beauty are Needed to enhance our homes and bring us joy, sometimes the things we collect become too Numerous and we Need to find the power to say “No More” when considering adding to our collections.

Is it Needed, is it Necessary, are the questions we should ask ourselves on our organizing adventures and if the answer to both questions is yes – then where do they belong?   

The space in our home is finite and on occasion some of our belonging seems to be infinite.   When our belonging become too Numerous for the allotted space, it is time to pare them down to fit the allowable space.   

• Too many jeans for the drawer? Get rid of the least loved.  
• Too many purses for the shelf?  Look them over and start by getting rid of your least favourite, your least used, until you have enough space.

One of my favourite clients often asks me “is this Normal”?  There is really no real answer to that question - Normal is different for everyone.   What some consider normal others consider abnormal.   A more compelling question could be “how does this mess, this closet, this bins of photographs or this dining room table we can no longer eat at, make me feel?”   

If it does not make us or a member of our household feel comfortable, then it is time to make a NOW Change.  A  Now Change is one that needs to happen before it causes strife in our homes.  What Now Change can you make today to  home and your life more comfortable?


I have no idea why I have struggled so much with this particular blog entry but finally, here you go!  I want to thank my colleagues at POC for their assistance in coming up with some Organizing related “N” words.

I won! Office Candy Rocks!!!

Wow,   I never win anything.... well that is not entirely true,

the only other time  I won something was in middle school and I won a pair of cordory pants from Mountain Dew.

The problem with that was, they mixed up the leg length with the waist - there are not many kids with a 34 inch waist in middle school so needless to say, while I did win, I could never wear the pants because they just fell right back off again.

But such is not the case with this great win!!!

File Totes at Officecandy.com!

Office Candy had a fun contest on their Facebook Page & website and guess won?    ME, that's right!   I love this Patent Leather File Tote so much.    It has been out "on the job" with me all month, my clients love it, and I really like having easy access to all this week's clients at my finger tips.   So what do I carry in it?

• This weeks Clients

• Extra Copies of Time Sheets and Contracts

• My agenda for booking future organizing appointments.

It is sleek and sexy (yes a file tote can be sexy) and makes me smile.

I like the product quality and how quickly it was shipped so much, I joined their affiliate program.   If you are interested in taking a peek at Office Candy and all their fun "candy" check out the link below.


File Totes at Officecandy.com!

 Thanks Office Candy!    Jennifer  

An Organized Desk for 2013

In December, I mentioned on our Facebook Group that I had received a gorgeous new desk from my wonderful husband and daughter this Christmas.    

While my “Before” desk was not bad, it was not at all spacious all and it had no drawers.    The photo below was taken during our Fall 12 hour Facebook Organizing Event.

So, with the arrival of the new desk,  it gave me the opportunity to reorganize my business files and "stuff", as well as document the progress on the blog.   I just love it when I can kill more than one bird with each stone.   

Where is this office you might ask, well, currently my office space is part of my kitchen. I will do a kitchen tour another day so you can see the whole room but for this blog, I'll  just show the "office" portion.

Below begins the process from the unpack to completion.  Three huge boxes, one husband, one boyfriend of our 20 year old (thank you Jake) and a finished project - don't you just love it when a gift comes with manpower!

According to my husband Roy, the pieces combined weigh approximately 300 pounds - yikes.   Good thing he has been lifting weights for the past 40 years!

On the top of the Desk is my printer/scanner/copier on the left.   The center holds my keyboard and monitor and on the right if a clear napkin holder that contains the files that I am working on that day.    For a mouse pad, I use an inspirational book that a friend gave me years ago - mouse and motivation all rolled into one!  

I thought I would show you my new “office” and how it is set it up for what looks to be a very busy 2013 at Adventures In Organizing.  So first, here is a look at the office as a "whole" - sorry for the lighting, it was a cloudy, snowy day when I took the photos.  Over the red chair are my favourite "Chicken Paintings".   They were always in my Grandmother's Dining Room and I totally love them.

Inside the desk drawers I keep all my day-to-day files and tools.   Long term storage for the household and business are stored in the basement filing cabinet.

Okay, you have seen the room , you have seen the desk, let's take a tour of the drawers.

My Sony eReader is definitely one of my favourite items.    It has saved me a ton of money on books because I can download books directly from my local library, and as an organizing tool, hundreds of books can be stored in one tiny tool!   The headset is used all the time for when I take online courses, have cyber meetings, record Webinars, use Google Phone, and listen to audiobooks. 

The center left drawer (can't decide whether Canadian or American spelling on Centre/Center so I thought I would confuse everyone just for fun)

All my receipts get stored in the green box and then once a month, they are scanned with my Neat Receipts scanner and then filed away.

In the center drawer I keep all my notebooks.   I keep one for each project so I can grab it and go - I take one with me to Doctor appointments, car appointment, Dentist etc... so I can brain storm while sitting around.

There is a notebook for each of the following:

• Blog ideas, drafts and notes

• Take 5 (I try and post one-a-day on all week days)

• Newsletter ideas and articles

• I keep another for Social Media to keep any marketing ideas and strategies

In the Top Right I keep my pens, highlighters (love, love, love, highlighters), Post-It Notes, Address Books, Church Directory, a cheque book and a pad for Daily To-Do's.   The pad is from the dollar store and has plenty of lines with a check box on each to keep your list organized.

 

The middle drawer (gave up on the Centre/Center thing) does not get a ton of use yet and will likely change over time.   Right now it just holds business cards, thank you notes, brochures, and index cards that I keep my "Take 5" ideas on once they have been posted...they may one day become something more (an eBook perhaps - oh yay!)

And finally..... the bottom right.   This is the drawer that gets the biggest work-out.   All my daily files are contained in this drawer. 

• Client files, (they were removed to protect names just a binder of previous clients is shown - I move them from file folder to binder once a project is completed)
• Program files for our Minute-By-Minute Program and others that are in the works, 
• Adventures In Organizing Gift Certificates
• To Pay, To Do, To File, To Read files
• On-Going Course Materials from ICD and POC (I love learning and am a forever student!)
• Business Bank Account
• Basically anything that I need to access on a daily/weekly basis goes in this drawer

Well, there you have it!

My wonderful new desk - I totally love all the surface space on top.   It is enormous and it works - happy me.

Need help getting your desk in order?   Contact us for an in-home assessment or better yet, subscribe to Minute-By-Minute Organizing and hire your own Virtual Organizer!

M is for Menu: Simple Menu Planning Tips

M is for Menu Planning   

One of the most important things I do each month, for both my sanity and my budget, is menu planning.

There are a couple of things that I have found over the years to be of the biggest assistance when planning my family’s meals each month.

1.  Planning monthly saves me time and money.   I can cook in bulk and freeze saving me cooking time and having meals prepared ahead saves money on expensive and unhealthy take-out options  
2. Having a deep freeze saves me money
3. Using the weekly flyers saves me money

In my early 30’s (yes I am well beyond that now), I was given the book Once-a-MonthCooking by Mimi Wilson & Mary Beth Lagerborg and it completely changed the way I thought about cooking and planning meals.   It may not be for you and it does indeed leave you locked in the kitchen for a day BUT it is one day a month and then  you are free as a bird the rest of the month.

When checking out the link for the book - I stumbled across this quick YouTube Video that talks about the cost savings and family benefits to using this method.

Planning Monthly Menus.    

I personally have found it helpful to plan my menus by the month.   If making a pot of spaghetti sauce, I would slot that into the menu twice in the month and ensure that I make enough in one batch to not only cover serving it twice in the month but also twice in the following month.   Same would apply with a soup…. I would ensure that there were enough prepared for dinner twice that month or one dinner and two lunches, again I would likely make enough to cover a meal or two for the following month as well.

Where do I find the time to make meals in advance?  It really does not take a lot more effort to cook a meal in bulk than it does to cook it for one dinner.   A few more minutes chopping perhaps but other than that, it does not cost any negligible time and in the long run, you will gain time back into your life having the meals already prepared.

Using Weekly Flyers.    

Weekly flyers can be a blessing or a curse.   If you use them to purchase items your family uses and needs, they are a blessing.  If they are hanging around becoming clutter or you purchase items you do not need and will not use, then they are obviously a curse.

When using flyers, I would recommend stapling a list to the front of each flyer indicating what you wish to purchase from each particular store.   Take the flyer to the store with you so you have the price and the package size and then leave the flyer at the store so you do not have the paper clutter to deal with later.    If there is an item on sale that you use often, like peanut butter or butter, stock up when it is on sale and then do not buy more until the stock is almost depleted.   Do not buy more than you have storage space.  

Our family loves butter and it is usually quite expensive.   Our freezer often holds 6-10 pounds of butter at a time.  Right now, our butter stash has been depleted since butter has not been on sale for a while.   We do the same with meat and buy in bulk when it's on sale.   I then check my freezer when preparing my menu each month and plan around what's in the freezer and what is on sale that week.   It is a rare week that we buy meat that is not on sale.

Having a deep freeze saves you money.  

Buying in bulk when items are on sale and freezing homemade meals in advance is a major factor in having well planned healthy menus ready for your family.

A few tips from our family to yours when menu planning

• Plan left over night the evening before garage pick up.   Haul everything out and serve a wide variety to clear out the fridge

• Serve an egg dish once a week to save dollars.   Omelets, Frittatas, Quiche are great ways to use up left over vegetables and meats as well.

• Plan a pasta dish one night per week

• Plan a fish dish one night per week

•  Make one, freeze one.   It takes no extra time to double each recipe.   Make a meal for dinner and freeze one for later in the month.

If you would like a copy of our free monthly menu planner, please email us and put Free Menu Planner in the subject line, we would be happy to send one out to you.

Adventures in Organizing can help you with your menu planning, household management, home filing systems and time management systems.    

Sign up for our Minute-By-Minute program today!   For just $5.00 per week you will have your own customized organizing program.