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New decluttering and organizing articles posted
I’ve just added three new decluttering and organizing articles to the articles page which I hope you’ll enjoy:
How to Get Started on Decluttering Your Home
Don’t miss the existing articles by Stephanie Roberts, author of Clutter-free Forever, also available on the articles page.
Making best use of your calendar
- Keep one main central calendar for the whole family, where everyone can see it and write on it. Each person can have their own personal calendar too, of course, but EVERYTHING should go on the central calendar as soon as someone knows about it.
- Only time-dependent activities and tasks should go on your calendar. If it’s something that could be done on any day, put it on a to-do or action list, not on the calendar. Why not? Because a mixture of time-critical and non-time-critical tasks on a calendar day obscures the tasks which HAVE TO be done that day.
- At the end of the week, look back on your calendar and what you did during the week, and consider any activities or tasks which may have arisen which haven’t yet been written down. Record them now!
- Look ahead to the calendar entries for next week. What do you need to do beforehand to prepare? Those need to get written down too!
Recommended Resources
DIY Planner: printable planner and calendar pages in multiple sizes and layouts. PDF format files can be read by any computer.
Clutter-Free Forever e-book by Stephanie Roberts
Ouch! No more stepping on LEGO pieces in the dark!
Toys with lots of small parts (like LEGO and other construction toys) are an ongoing storage and organization problem. The pieces tend to spread themselves about during play, and then it takes a long time to gather them all up to put them away. And if you’ve ever stepped on a LEGO brick on the way to the bathroom in the middle of the night, you know why I headed this post “Ouch!” (The actual words used in this situation are not suitable for a family-friendly blog… )
The LEGO company used to produce an item which is perfect for this situation -a large circular playmat with a drawstring round the edge.
When it’s time to play, the pieces (well, most of them!) stay on the mat, then at the end of the session, it’s easy to scoot any strays back onto the mat, draw up the edge string to turn it into a bag, and hang the bag from a hook.
You could easily make one of these from a bedsheet cut into a circle, with a casing sewn around the edge, and a looooong string run through the casing.
If your kids need to keep some parts separate from the rest of the collection, use clear screw-top plastic jars (like peanut butter jars) or other sturdy containers with lids that won’t come off inside the bag. The kind of plastic boxes with multiple compartments inside are really great for storing lots of tiny detail parts, or LEGO people – look for well-made fishing tackle or tool boxes with positive locking clips instead of just a lip to hold the lid closed.
Resources:
The LEGO Company Shop-at-home service: more LEGO pieces than you could ever need (don’t show your kids this site!)
Lions Gate Models custom LEGO city and town models – free building instructions for LEGO cars and trucks and a huge hospital, and many more instructions to buy.
Books, books and more books
No matter how much you love books, eventually you’ll have too many (unless you plan to move them into their own house and found a library!).
Good places to donate books are: your local library (make sure they can use them), shelters, schools, daycare programs, literacy programs, hospitals, hostels, and of course used book stores.
Ways to accumulate fewer books: use the library (including inter-library loan if your local library doesn’t have what you want), trade books with friends, create a special interest library for club members, institute a “one in, one out” rule.
Ways to get rid of our clutter responsibly
Merlin Mann of 43folders has an excellent thread on ways of getting rid of clutter – not just throwing it away, but recycling and reusing in ways that are environmentally responsible and useful to others.
http://www.43folders.com/2007/07/04/clutter-reuse-vox-pop/
very definitely worth a read!
Handling bills and receipts
Some kind of a system and routine is essential to keep our financial lives under control and the bills paid on time.
First, what happens when bills, receipts and other financial items arrive in your house? Have a specific place to put them all, every time: I keep a dedicated in-box (actually a cardboard tray!) and drop bank statements, bills, receipts, etc straight into it. If you receive bills and statements online, you may want a dedicated folder in your email system to collect them all.
Then, create a routine for dealing with them, whether weekly, monthly or at some other time interval.
Once you’ve dealt with them, have a place to store them, whether it’s a file system or shoebox. Whatever it is, just be consistent and you’ll be able to find things when you need them.
Get Things Out of Your Head
Your brain is not a good place to store things. The more things you try to remember, the more stress builds up.
Have a place to record things: planner, index cards, voice recorder, PDA or computer. Have a way to get things you’ve recorded, into your system: use an inbox of some kind. Use routines or checklists for regular or repeated tasks. Have a daily or weekly routine for gathering up stray papers, getting them into the right inbox, and processing them.
Keep lists: “To buy”, “To mend”, “waiting for” (delegated tasks, orders not yet received, stuff you’re waiting for answers on), “someday” (things you’d like to do and don’t want to forget, but not just yet), and “agendas” (things you need to remember to talk about or do with individual people and at meetings).
Recommended resources
Book: David Allen “Getting Things Done”
I’ve read many, many “organizing” books over decades and this is the one which has made the most difference for me. It is eminently practical, detailed and straightforward. It doesn’t require you to buy any specific tools: you can use anything from a paper notebook, planner, or index cards to a PDA or computer.
Main strengths are in processes to capture, record, plan and organize tasks and projects. Not so strong on how to actually get yourself to DO all those tasks!