Organizing in a Large Family
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Tag Archive for: organizing tips for families
Daily Organizing
Upon returning home from getting my hair cut, I realized how many little things I organized. I can name 10 steps I took:
- Hung up my keys
- Hung up my coat
- Put my gloves and hat away
- Took of my boots and put them on the mat
- Put my pocketbook away
- Took my check book out of my pocketbook and put it back where it belongs
- Put my book away (I brought a book to read at the hairdressers.)
- Wrote my next hair appointment in my datebook
- Tossed the hair appointment notice
- Collected the mail and put it in it’s “to sort” location (I won’t go into the steps I took to process the mail. That’s a whole other blog entry.)
So, are you asking why I’m discussing the details of my return-home-routine? The small habits and routines we do on a daily basis help us keep our belongings, information, and environment organized. Without my routines, there is a greater chance of misplacing things, of appointments getting missed, and of items getting lost. Having a home for my keys, pocketbook, checkbook, etc. is the first step to creating order, but unless I take the time, each time I return home, to actually put them there, the order doesn’t last. It works the same for my next hair appointment. Having a datebook for me to write in my next appointment is the first step to creating order. The follow up steps are to write my appointments in the datebook, and to reference it daily, so I won’t miss appointments. Therefore, I’d like to wager that if you’re willing to preform daily organizing habits and routines upon returning home, you’ll be well on your way to becoming an organizing success.
© February 2014, Janine Cavanaugh, CPO® All Rights Reserved
Proud member of NAPO
Simple Organizing Solutions
Receiving a thank you note in the mail is pleasant. It’s even more pleasant when you’re being thanked for something you didn’t realize would make an impact on the other person. This happened to me when I offered a simple organizing solution to a Realtor I had met at a networking event. She asked me if I had any ideas how she could keep all her real estate forms portable and organized. I suggested a portable accordion file. The next thing I know, I’m reading a very sincere thank you note that makes me smile. It just goes to show you, sometimes the simplest organizing solutions are the best solutions. In this case, find a good home for paper and things.
Here are a few more simple organizing solutions that I’ve offered to my clients:
- Standing a baby bath tub on end, so it took up less room in the closet where it was stored. Be creative and unconventional with your personal organizing solutions.
- Moving a daily used utensil drawer up to the second spot instead of the third drawer down. Make it easy on yourself to do daily tasks.
- Asking a spouse to pay some of the monthly bills in order to spend less time on the task. Delegate and ask for help when you can.
- Tossing the brown, brittle, dead flowers in the vase on the dresser even if they were your wedding bouquet. Evoke cherished memories with happy thoughts, not objects.
- When you’ve finished knitting, put your knitting project back in the bag. Getting in the habit of putting things back in the places we’ve assigned them to go fosters organization.
© September 2013 Janine Cavanaugh, CPO® All Rights Reserved
Proud member of NAPO
Yard Sales
Selling what you no longer want or need is one way of bringing in a bit of extra cash, so long as you know what you’re in for. Yard Sales are a lot of work. If you want to give it a try here are my top 5 tips:
1. Spread the Word – if no one comes, you won’t be selling a thing. List your sale locally, both on line and in print. Share the date with friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers.
2. Price to sell – remember people are looking for bargains. Group things together by price and have a colored sticker code. This beats having to print up or write up price tickets.
3. Get a permit – some towns require a yard sale permit. You don’t want to have to pay a fine, if your town requires a permit, and you don’t have one. Check with your town hall before you plan a yard sale.
4. Donate after the sale – establish the rule that nothing from the sale goes back into the house or garage. Instead pick a donation location before the sale and set up a pick up date or drop off date.
5. Have cash on hand – make a trip to the bank before your sale so you’re prepared. Only accept cash as payment, and have plenty of change and singles to make for smoother transactions.
© June 2013 Janine Cavanaugh, Certified Professional Organizer® All rights reserved.
Proud member of NAPO
Donation Challenge – Part 4
We all tend to hold on to things for a variety of reasons, for example, it was a gift, it was passed on to me, it was expensive, etc. In the end if we don’t use and value the items in our possession there is no valid reason to keep them. I’ve summarized the items we donated to this worthy cause (H.O.P.E. Program of Boston Children’s Hospital) in the hope that it may motivate you to let go of things, or at the very least prompt you to look at the items in your space from a different perspective.
Summary of Items:
Origin:
Number of items donated that we originally received as a gift: 37
Number of items donated that were originally used by someone else: 18
Number of items donated that were originally purchased by us: 46
Usage:
Number of items donated that were never used by us: 41
Number of items donated that were used within the past five years: 28
Number of items donated that were not used within the past five years: 32
Reason:
Number of items donated that were given to us but we never used: 26
Number of items donated that were intended as gifts but never given: 7
Number of items donated that were purchased by us for our use, but never used: 13
Number of items donated that were used, but are no longer wanted or used: 55
© June 2013, Janine Cavanaugh, Certified Professional Organizer® All rights reserved
Proud member of NAPO
Follow Me