Organizing Mistakes (Part One: January Whirlwind)

Welcome to Part One of a new series. I’ll be identifying common errors that sabotage our attempts at organization.

(For those of you who grew up in my era, cue the mental Beastie Boys soundtrack. Indulge for a few seconds. …And, now we’re back.)

Whether you are struggling to get organized or just want to be more organized, I’d imagine that you are tempted by the first culprit I’d like to address: the January whirlwind.

No matter where you look, the instant that Christmas is over, everyone is trying to restore order.
Stores reduce prices in attempts to move inventory. The radio station quickly (and frustratingly) switches back to their typical playlists at 12:01 am on December 26, leaving you with no more musical joy for holiday gatherings that happen after that moment. Magazines instruct invite you to tidy up your home, using photos with plenty of white in the palette. Everyone packs up the formerly adorable decorations that have now just become “clutter”. And there are New Year’s organizing resolutions aplenty.

Obviously, if you are still with me, you know that I believe getting organized is a good thing.

But more important is staying organized.

You know that it takes anywhere from 21 to 30 days to make an activity into a habit. You also know that changing your personal behaviors requires extra motivation and discipline. And if you have a family, you know you’ll also have a bit of convincing, training and reinforcing that you need to do.

Is this a wholesale decision to make on December 31? No, not at all. While I am wild about doing things as well as possible and as fast as possible, this is not the time nor the situation. Planning and patience are required.

January Do’s and Don’t’s

• Do not run to the store and wildly purchase bins or specialty containers.
• Do not empty out large quantities of cabinets or cupboards with the goal of wiping down and rearranging them. You will burn out. Quickly.
• Do not assume that one week of vacation and a full iPod will be enough to perfect the organization in your life.
•  Do set a timer and tackle one shelf or one drawer at a time.
• Do realize that small, successful steps will pave the way for you to make larger changes. It’s okay to start with a central place for keys and progress onto emptying the bedroom-turned-storage-closet. Later, much later.
• Do take time to identify the problem areas or “subjects” (e.g. paperwork, children’s belongings, kitchen storage) in your house and brainstorm ways to improve the problem with family members.
• Do take the list of disorganized issues (above) and assign each area to a month of the year. Work on each issue for a month and evaluate the impact.
• Do realize that staying organized will require ongoing effort. We’ll talk more about this later.

So, how are you doing with your New Year's resolutions?

Decluttering the Catch-All Cabinet

Haven't we had some beautiful weather this past month?

It seems like spring puts everyone in a good mood and gives us a little more energy. (I wonder why that is. Maybe because we aren't using that effort to keep warm?) This is the time of year when I get the bug to do spring cleaning. The brighter sunlight shows off the neglected corners and the fresh air beckons me to hang sheets on the line.

One of my recent projects was decluttering a cabinet that lacked a clear purpose. You may remember that we eliminated our office to make a nursery for the baby. Well, this cabinet became the dumping ground for a lot of things that no longer had a home.

Before: Lots of randomly arranged office supplies, gift supplies that needed to be put away in another room, travel toiletries in a drawer, and some photo frames/albums that I didn't know what to do with. (Please excuse the smudges on the photo. Those are courtesy of my toddler touching the camera lens.)

After: Neatly segregated office supplies (personal and for a non-profit ministry), a photo album area, half a shelf for the toiletry stuff that doesn't fit in the bathrooms, and neatly organized drawers (one for overflow toiletries and one for photo frames). Oooh, and even an empty shelf!

So, I'm wondering if anyone has a crafty or clever idea what to do with photo frames that you don't use anymore? We are doing more photo collages that hang on the wall since those can't be knocked over by kids or pets. I'd love to hear your ideas.

p.s. for the curious: this jelly cupboard is the one item that I chose to salvage from a centuries-old farmhouse that was in my family. I'm not an antique-y kind of girl, but this was simple enough that I thought it would fit with my decor. If you like the pottery on top, visit http://oakleafpottery.com/ or  http://crowhillpottery.com/

Time Savers

Every minute is precious.
 It's also an opportunity to
get something done!

When you have young kids, people frequently admonish you to enjoy the time because children "grow up so fast". It's especially fast when you are the parent. Unfortunately, I don't know how to put life on pause.

There are a million things that drain your valuable time each day. How can you capitalize on what feels like wasted time?

A few ideas that will hopefully get your organizational juices flowing:

1. Multitask when you are on the phone: unload the dishwasher, throw in a load of laundry, wipe the counter. These all take little concentration and won't distract you from your conversation like, say, replying to an email would.
2. Keep mail, a magazine or other reading material that isn't time-sensitive in your purse or diaper bag. Look over it when you are waiting at the doctor's office, in line somewhere, or waiting in the pickup line at your child's school.
3. Keep a microfiber cloth or swiffer in your car. When you are stuck at a light or getting gas, give the dashboard and console a quick swipe.
4. Use any time you are sitting and waiting as an opportunity to clean out your purse.
5. I check my pockets and purse when I'm in line at the grocery store, and toss any trash on my way out.
6. Keep a pad and pen handy to write down things you need to do. You can refer to this list when you have a few minutes for a project; you can probably find one that will fit into the time that you have available.
7. I find myself wasting a lot of emotional and mental energy saying, "I need to remember to ______". If I don't have paper handy, I often email myself, or call and leave myself a voicemail at home. Those are easy to delete and they're paperless, too!
8. If you find yourself a few minutes early for an appointment and need to kill time, stop to get gas. Even if your tank isn't empty, you're less likely to run out or need a special trip later.
9. Find some time to put your most frequently called service contacts (hair stylist, dentist, physician, pharmacy, etc.) in your cell phone so that you can call for an appointment any time you have a spare minute, no matter where you are.
10. Waiting in the kitchen for a dish to finish cooking? Use that time to straighten items in a cabinet or glance through your fridge to see what needs to be used up, put on the grocery list or tossed out.

Room by Room: Office

Well, we have exciting news...baby #2 is due in November! I guess this is a partial excuse for my infrequent posting the past few weeks.

As we prepare to welcome a new little one, we will soon say goodbye to our office (the third bedroom). Truthfully, we've been working towards this goal over the past year. We have gone virtually paperless, paying bills online and scanning documents that we want to save. Still, losing this space has me thinking about what is really essential when there is limited space.

For my home office needs, I've narrowed it down to a laptop and mouse, flat workspace, a file box, a safe, a scanner, shredder, router and one shelf of a cupboard for office supplies. I really didn't think we could pare down from two desks to this little. It was refreshing to cut down on files and realize that I really only need to save the most recent bill from the water company, the electric company and so forth.

One tip from a friend: Lest you become too zealous in getting rid of paper, make sure you have at least one copy of recent bills (electronic or paper). If you need to call for service, they will want your account number, and you don't want to be left without it.
Do you have pictures of a condensed workspace that you want to share? Please post a comment; I'd love to spotlight some of your ideas!

Going Paperless

Remember the promises that computers would create a paperless society? We certainly aren't there yet! Nonetheless, today I want to challenge you about going as paperless as possible. We all have different comfort levels, but even a few steps in the right direction can make a difference.

At our house, we are now receiving all our bills online. It was a pain to set up at first--DH had set up some accounts with utility companies before, but so rarely logged in we had to reset passwords, etc. It was worth the effort though; I can now pay bills without touching paper!

Another blessing in disguise came when our printer died a few weeks back. We replaced it with a printer-fax-scanner combo, so we've planned to start scanning semi-important documents and shredding the originals. Why not consider doing that with most of the stuff in your file drawer? And remember, you may not need to save everything that you think you do. See this previous post on saving documents.

Here is what I really want to talk about today: Every time I see this commercial I get agitated and vow that I will never, ever buy their paper towels. Let me first say that I don't believe there is an ethical dilemma in having paper towels, paper plates and toilet paper in your home, but I am afraid we've become mindless in our use of them. Environmental concerns aside, the price of such products is astonishing. A nice hand towel might cost you $10 and mine are still going strong after five years. As of this writing, 360 of the Kleenex towels are $21.14 on Amazon. If you have a family of four that washes their hands a mere four times a day, that supply is gone in less than a month--22.5 days!

How Long and Where to Keep Important Documents

Special thanks to my very organized coworker for suggesting this topic.

File drawers overflowing with papers? Here is an easy-reference list of what important documents to keep and how long to keep them. (Note: this article is several years old, so the 2013 reference is no longer valid.)

Documents that you should always save:

• Birth certificates
• Marriage licenses
• Death records
• Social security cards

Also, keep the most current copies of these safely filed:

• Wills
• Deeds and Vehicle titles
• Passports
• Divorce and custody paperwork
• Photocopies of front and back of insurance and credit cards in the event of theft

Wills and other items that might be needed in the event of an untimely death should be stored in a fireproof safe, rather than a safe deposit box. See here for an explanation.

Mail, Bills and Paperwork

Key idea: Handle a piece of paper only once. At most, twice.

Mail is one of the most aggravating things to keep up with, because it comes nearly every day. And 90% of it is stuff that we don't need or want. Who wants bills, right?

Here's a typical scenario at our house: My darling husband checks the mailbox when he gets home from work, before he even gets in the house. He drops his briefcase and keys in the foyer and plops the mail on the kitchen counter. After saying his hellos, he pulls out what he wants to look at and sets it back on the pile. Then, if it's a day that I've been at work, we launch into making dinner. The mail gets in the way.

Every house seems to have a clutter catch-all. For some people, it's right inside the front door. At my house and  my parents' house, it's the kitchen counter. A wise woman advised me before we were married, "Figure out what one part of your house always has to be clean [for your peace of mind] and make sure your husband understands that." Turns out, my place is that kitchen counter.

Mail bursting into flames (gas stove) and Christmas cards splattered with tomato sauce are unsafe and inappropriate, so how can you deal with the inevitable flow of paper into your house?

• First, I open and look through everything in one batch, and pull out what needs attention or is actually fun to read. Hubby and I look at any letters or cards right away, and magazines are placed in the living room for future reading. If something needs to be filed, that goes with the bills. Since we pay our bills online, the outer envelope, return envelope and any stuffing gets put on a pile for recycling. The bills that need payment get set aside to be entered into the computer. This reminds me that I should set up my accounts to receive bills electronically... Look for a future post on why paying bills and managing money online can save you time and money, if you aren't already doing it.

• Second, recycle as much of the junk paper as possible. I have become a big fan of the Abitibi Paper Retrievers in the area since they provide money for local schools. I usually drop off a paper bag full once a week. To learn more, visit paperretriever.com.

• Third, if you have time, try and get off the mailing lists of charities, catalogs or other companies that send you junk mail. That way, they won't sell your name to someone else who will send you junk mail. And of course, make sure you pull out the bills and pay them, so you don't end up getting more mail in the form of late notices.

We've been swamped with credit card offers recently. While I love to recycle, I shred anything that could be simple for an identity thief to work from before I recycle the shredded paper. If you want to be removed from the list for pre-approved credit card offers, you can follow an automated system by calling 1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688) or visiting OptOutPreScreen.com. This will notify the big three credit bureaus that you don't want such mailings for five years.