New Year, New Calendar! Resolve to Plan Ahead

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Always feel like you are playing catch up? This year, resolve to plan ahead.

Our 2011 desk calendar, 12 Months of Organizing: A Quarter At a Time is designed to help! The calendar gives you an organizing project each month and a gentle nudge to think ahead to the next quarter. 

Co-created with my cousin Janna Lufkin, we hope you'll find that keeping ahead of things is how you're able to do what you love to do. If you start slow and decide to tackle just one project each month, you'll get the hang of it in no time.

Wishing you an organized 2011.

Making an Effective List

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Sure you can write something down, but then do you ever look at it again? Does one big list help you accomplish what you want to do?

Here’s how I make my lists work as a tool for planning and time management:

  • I create one master list for a project on my computer, making it easy to edit.  What I like about an electronic list is that it provides a place for me to quickly get out all my thoughts and then rearrange and change them later. I may print it out and cross some things off, but then it is back to the computer to update it.
  • I give the list some context with sub-headings. For example, for a renovation project I may have sections like To Call or To Research. Giving context with verbs also helps make the list actionable!
  • I break down the list into smaller more manageable tasks. This is an important part of any “big” project and makes it much more achievable. I know I’m making progress one step at a time.
  • I include some deadlines for the tasks.
  • For specific to-do’s, I put them on my schedule so they actually get done.
  • And finally, I look at my list often!

This list approach works well for me, which shouldn’t be a surprise if you’ve read Is There an Organizing Gene? I grew up seeing my Mom making and using lists all the time. Mom’s lists tended to be neatly written in black ink on pages of paper with much detail. Now that I think of it, my Dad was a list-maker too. He opted for the short-but-effective sticky note approach.

Making and using a list can be a key strategy to stay organized, but there isn’t one approach that works for everyone. The important part is to find what works for you.

What’s Your Jan Plan?

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It’s almost January! How did that happen? It’s the new year, my birthday month, and a great time to reflect on the year ahead.

What do you want to accomplish? What are your goals for the year? Write or type them out, and visit your list* often.

I’ve already started jotting down a few ideas for 2011: places I want to go, fun things I want to do with my family, goals for my business. And in the spirit of The Happiness Project, I’m going to set a few happiness goals again for myself this year.

During this holiday season, spend a little time relaxing, reflecting and then planning for the year ahead.

*Read my tips for making a list work for you!

Email Organization: 1-2-3

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Recently I wrote about how to deal with the catalogs coming into your home at this time of year.  After that post I noticed that my email was also getting quickly filled with shopping “deals” and offers.  While my catalogs were under control, my email box wasn’t.

I realized I could apply some of the same tips for dealing with catalog clutter to organizing my email:

  1. Using outlook rules, I set many of my retailer emails to go to a specific folder called “shopping”; now they don’t take up space in my in box and distract me from other tasks at hand. (Another idea I’ve heard: use a separate email address for retailer emails to keep them out of your work or main email box.)
  2. When I review the emails I delete any I know I’m not going to use right away. I can also quickly scan my new “shopping” folder and delete all the emails at once if I want.  
  3. Even better still, I took myself off several retailer email lists that I just never purchase from.

How do you keep your email in box in control? Post your tips in the comments.

Caution: Catalog Season

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‘Tis the season for tons of catalogs arriving in your mailbox. Here are a few tips for controlling catalog clutter:

  • Use the 1 in/1 out rule: when a new catalog comes in, throw the old one out!
  • Better yet, recycle the catalogs you know you won’t read as soon as they come in the door.
  • Even better still, get yourself off the catalog lists! Call the company who sent the catalog, or check out the Direct Marketing Association to get off multiple lists.

And if you do order gifts from catalogs, think about the recipient and your budget. It’s easy to get excited about the latest cookware, electronic gadget, or new sweater on the glossy pages of a catalog. Is it really something the recipient wants, needs or would love to have?

Clear Store Card Clutter

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Just in time for the shopping season: organize those store club cards! It seems like every store gives out a preferred customer card. What to do with them all?

First, pare down the cards. Which ones do you really use when you shop? Keep only the ones you use the most, and lose the rest.

Now you need to find the cards easily. For some people, this means keeping them on their keys. That didn’t work for me, but I found a great product that does: the card wheel by Real Simple.

I’ve been using this little case for months now and it works; it keeps all the cards together and I only have to find the case in my bag. And the best part: the cards can be scanned right through the plastic sleeves so I don’t even have to take them out. The card wheel makes the cards easy to find and easy to use. Try it out, or share your way of clearing the card clutter in our comments.

Paper….or Paperless? Easy Holiday Cards

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Like most people I use email and texting for regular daily communications. But I have a love of paper—and enjoy using it for cards, thank you notes, and invitations for special events.

Now a service promises to give you the design and feel of a paper card, with the ease of email. Paperless Post lets you select electronic cards, including photo cards, that get delivered to your recipients by email. They offer a range of great designs, and tout the ease and convenience of using email.

I’m a traditionalist, and will probably still send a paper holiday card this year. But if you are looking for a way to save time and resources, try out Paperless Post.

De-Clutter & Donate: Anton’s Cleaners Coat Drive

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Help a family in need with a warm coat this Fall. Do a purge of your winter coats—adults and kids—and donate your unwanted coats and jackets to Anton’s Coats for Kids.

Anton’s locations will accept gently used warm jackets and coats (no rips or broken zippers please) now through January 8, 2011.

Coats are distributed to local community agencies including Lowell Wish Project, Mass. Association for Community Action, Middlesex Human Service Agency, Rosie’s Place and the Salvation Army.

Get started today!

De-Clutter & Donate: Arlington Recycle Day – Nov. 13th

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Arlington residents, mark your calendars: now is the time to de-clutter your basement and get rid of that stuff! Saturday Nov. 13th is the next town recycling day at the DPW Yard from 9am to 1pm. They offer easy drop off of items, including:

  • CRTs/TVs
  • DVDs/CDs/VHS tapes
  • digital cameras, laptops
  • clothing
  • sneakers
  • books
  • scrap metal
  • bikes
  • confidential papers for shredding

Read more about Arlington's Community Collection Day, and start working on your basement this weekend!

PS: This is only open to Arlington residents. Contact your town’s department of public works to see if they offer a similar event.

Label Twice, Find it First

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“Measure twice, cut once.” I’m not sure where this phrase originated, but I remember seeing it on a coffee mug from the PBS show, This Old House. The idea is sound: measure whatever you are cutting twice, to be sure you have it right, before you cut it.

While working on organizing my own basement with my husband, I thought of a twist on the phrase: “Label twice, find it first.” By this I mean: label your container on at least two sides, and you’ll find it easily.

My husband uses clear, plastic containers, of the same size, for storage in the basement. The containers are arranged nicely in one area of the basement, but I couldn’t always figure out what went in each box. My husband said, “but the containers are labeled.”

Yes they were, but the containers were often put back into place without the label facing out. I decided to label both sides so no matter which way the container was put back, the label would be clearly visible.

Thus my advice, “Label twice, find it first.”

Change Is Good

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Change is good for us, or so the conventional wisdom says, and sometimes it takes our organizing systems a while to catch up.

Case in point: my own personal projects filing system. I used to have an accordion file from The Container Store that I loved. It was a way of taking the stack of pending papers on the corner of my bedroom dresser and getting them into a more organized state. Poof, they were in the file (in labeled sections of course) and I didn’t have to see the stack any more. I was good about going through it periodically and taking out what I was working on, and purging what was outdated.

Now that I’ve created my office on the second floor next to my bedroom, I don’t need to keep papers on the dresser anymore. Plus as I’ve been reading more about feng shui, I want to keep as many papers and projects out of that room. Only restful and peaceful energy allowed.

It’s taken me a while to figure out how to organize my non-business projects in the new office space. The accordion file just didn’t work on my desk. I also tried a tiered in-box, no in-box, and a vertical file sorter. Finally I found a solution: a desktop file.

This is one of my favorite solutions for clients, so I’m not surprised it worked for me. I can see the categories on the hanging folders easily, and the folders provide a home for pending projects and all those little bits of information that tend to accumulate. My categories include, “To Buy,” “Current Projects,” “Health,” and “Financial.”

I think I may have figured out a solution that works for me (at least for now). So don’t despair: if one system doesn’t work, try, try again.

And if you need help, call That’s Neat! Organizing.

A Frenzy of Forms

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Parents: get out your No. 2 pencils, it’s the start of the school year! As any parent of a school-age child knows, there seems to be a never-ending supply of required forms. I thought there were a lot to complete for the start of Kindergarten, but the forms continued throughout the school year and summer. There were forms for the after-school program, health forms for sports, forms for each summer camp, and now forms for the new classroom teacher.

Talking about this frenzy of forms with another mom/organizer friend, she shared her secret: she keeps a copy of the form before turning it in. What a brilliant idea! Often the information required is the same each year (emergency contacts, doctor’s phone number, insurance information, for example). Why not have a copy to make it easier to fill out next time?

I’m going to take this one step further: scan the form. Then I’ll have the information for easy reference for the next time, but not the paper.

Dorm Space Savers 101

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Recently I had one of my most fun organizing sessions ever: helping my niece set up her dorm room at Harvard! She may have been the only freshman with her own personal organizer, but her mom (my sister) had everything well prepared…including coming with a ton of organizing products.

Although my daughter won’t be heading off to college for quite a while, I was taking notes on what products really worked. Here are my three favorites: 

  1. Slimline hangers by Real Simple – I love slimline hangers, and these have a great improvement: small hooks which allow the hangers to hang from each other, saving space. Using these hangers meant my niece could get twice as many clothes into her closet.
  2. Clear drawers – These drawers were perfect for organizing shoes, boots, and linens under the bed. We were able to stack two on top of each other gaining even more space.
  3. 3M Command products – The Command products are perfect for hanging up, not marking up, dorm rooms. We used them to hang everything from magnet boards, to pictures, to scarf holders in the closet.

My niece was excited to have her dorm room set up, decorated, and get all her clothes in the closet.