Gifts: Two You Can Give Yourself

Exercise is a gift you can give yourself!  It is a journey for your body, mind, and eventually...your soul, said Yoga Instructor Patti during Sunday's Yoga class.  I thought about her statement and decided it applies to learning a new exercise and getting organized too.  Each starts with a thought about the act, and then requires action, practice, and maintenance; benefits follow.

I happened to watch Dancing with the Stars and sometime after that, I noticed Zumba listed on my gym's group-exercise schedule.  I thought Zumba would be a fun way to get in shape...several weeks later I made it to my first Zumba class where I claimed the  corner of the back row where no one could catch my "fumbles."  Five minutes into the class...I was hooked!  Each class gets easier because patterns repeat and our instructor's speed is just right for me, plus my fitness level continues to increase. You will now find me front and center having fun!

You might watch a TV Show or magazine article about organizing and decide you want to improve some space in your home.  You think about it for awhile before you decide to call someone to help you get started (professional organizer/coach).  While you may not find bringing order to your spaces fun like Zumba is for me, your skill level will get better with practice, it gets easier to let make decisions about and let go of  unneeded items; and performing routine maintenance will help preserve order in your home. 

Scheduled upkeep of spaces and regular exercise both bring improved balance, mental clarity, increased confidence, and energy into your life.

Time-Saver Tips--Tax and Otherwise

      My sister Judy and her husband sold their home a few months ago and put most of their belongings in storage, including tax-related papers.  She found most of their tax papers because they were filed in a file cabinet drawer.  Home-improvement receipts, however, challenged Judy for different reasons.  She thought of a couple ideas to avoid future time consuming searches and deciphering of receipts used for tax preparation or other purposes:

1.  Write the home-improvement project on the sales slip such as:  drywall to patch a garage wall; tile for a shower; or paint for the kitchen, etc.  Also include the item name when not printed on the receipt. File with other tax papers.

2.  Make a copy of the annotated receipt right away because print on some types of paper fades over time and become unreadable, then useless. Staple the original receipt to the copy.












Additional tips:

3.  Organize your receipts and other tax documents in a notebook with slash pockets (it's easy to see and      pull out needed documents). Label each  folder with type of document filed (W-2s, Medical, Mileage, etc). Keep the notebook in a handy location and file items upon receipt.


4.  Read the store's "Return Policy" on sales receipts for clothing, electronics, paint, and sports equipment, etc., then write the "Return By Date" on the top of the receipt. Return policies vary from store to store and most have exceptions for return of holiday, seasonal, discontinued, and/or clearance merchandise.

5.  Affix the sales receipt to the outside of the store bag (staple or use non-damaging tape), and keep the item in the bag until it gets used or returned.

Use the tips noted above and avoid wasting time hunting for receipts and non-readable receipts.  Return of unused, unwanted, or unneeded gadgets, garments, or gear will be quick and easy.

What Inspires You?

Family, friends, flowers, and organizing make me happy.  My sister Robin gave me two small hardy Cyclamen plants two years ago.  When I finally planted them in the ground, their flowers were long gone....I wondered if they would survive.  The following February, I was pleasantly surprised that the two bulbs had survived and multiplied, and then delighted me with their lovely flowers.  Robin owns Hansen Nursery and specializes in hardy Cyclamen, which she grows from seed with great care, and then ships across the United States.

This year, in early February my white Snowdrops bloomed first, then the white and pink Cyclamen, and now my purple and yellow Crocus.  Even though Spring officially begins March 20, 2013, Spring arrives for me when I see the these three plants emerge and produce flowers...along with a day like last Sunday.  I was inspired by the plants' colors and warmth of the day to tend to my flowerbed inhabitants.

While soaking up the sun and working with garden tools in our flowerbeds, I thought about the many "tools" we use to manage our lives.  I suppose my mind drifted to this topic for two reasons:  Scrapbook Club members requested information about management of financial documents after my recent presentation about basic organizing skills; and I wanted to share the information I discovered by writing a blog post.     

Internet search led to this great website, www.usa.gov; it includes two articles:  Managing Household Records and roadmap for important papers.  The first lists financial documents and how long you need to keep each.  The second worksheet, when completed, provides your family with your personal information, from your accountant's name...to whomever has keys to your home—to help you out in case of emergency.

Tracking Time Tips

Do you lose track of time and end up late for scheduled appointments because you need to straighten up every room you walk through...before you reach the door?  Then...do you get annoyed with yourself because you're late?  That's me.  I purchased a simple device called a Time Timer which enables me to visually watch time elapse.  When it dings--and it only does so once--I have to stop the task I'm working on and leave.
I also use the Time Timer when working with organizing clients.  The timer gets set for 60 minutes for the first hour of an organizing session, so we "see" how much time it takes us to evaluate/sort/organize contents of a box, or one area in a room.  We continue this way, except for the last hour when the timer gets set for 45-50 minutes.  The last few minutes are used for gathering tools, discussing progress made, and talking about goals for the next session. Clients pay attention to the Time Timer, notice when it "dings," and seem to speed up their decision-making the next time we work together.
Fellow Professional Organizer and Coach Megan Spears, Disorder2Order, finds the Time Timer I-Phone application useful for her two young sons when setting amounts of time allotted for reading and play.  Her comment, "It's awesome!"  The Time timer also works as a helpful tool for managing projects and homework.  Imagine the Time Timer's possibilities, especially for those of us challenged with keeping track of time with a more traditional method.

Three Networking Tips From Ellen Ely

"What Should Your Focus be as a Successful Networker?" was Ellen Ely's session topic at a recent National Association for Professional Organizers (NAPO) National Conference held in Baltimore, Maryland.

Ellen presented 19 networking tips and my favorite tip was to wear a "networking uniform" to a networking event. Her comments about this uniform:

1.  Wear a jacket with two pockets.  Use the right pocket for incoming business cards and the left pocket for your cards.  Once you receive a card, present your card to the other person...right away.  A two-pocket system keeps the two sets of cards separate and prevents handing out another person's card rather than your own (embarrassing situation).

2.  Wear a nice lapel pin/unusual earrings/necklace; men can wear a great tie.  The item you wear must have meaning to you, then people will notice and comment on it.  This technique works at other types of social events and at work too, especially if small talk is not your strong point.  My Texas sister and I were chatting about this topic and she mentioned commenting on a customer's unique necklace which led to an interesting dialogue.

3.  Write down identifying information about the other person on the back of their business card--in code.  Listen to what they have to say.  Once your conversation is finished, go into the restroom and add notes to help jog your memory the next time you meet.  Ellen said, "...You know information about them and they will love you for it.  Whatever you do, don't drop the card."

• Start by writing down the phonetic spelling of their name; pronouncing their name correctly is most important.
• Next, jot down their gender (F - female; M - male) and race (Ellen uses the government's racial code numbers for this purpose).
• Code their hair, for example, S or short for haircut, R or red for color.
• Draw two circles with a arch connecting the circles to indicate eye-glass wearer.
• Married can be denoted with two circles touching each other.
• Use the letter "K" for kids.
• Body type symbols annotated with these letters:  CH - chubby; SK - skinny; AV - average, and so on. 

This quote from Stephanie Goddard Davidson's book, 101 Ways to Have a Great Day at Work, is not from Ellen's session; however, I thought it fit. 

Decide that every person that you come in contact with today can teach you something.  Be aware of this possibility and manage the conversation toward this outcome.

How to Relieve Stress From Overwhelm

Karyn Greenstreet's 44Tips for Dealing with Overhwelm, in her April 2, 2012 eNewsletter, Self-Employed Success, provides "practical tips" for small business owners who have "...too many tasks and projects, and not enough time or resources."  Most of us experience this same state of overwhelm in our personal lives...some time; try Karyn's three useful tips to tame your overpowering task/project list:

1.  "Do it.  Sometimes, a bare-knuckle commitment to getting things done is necessary.  That pesky colonoscopy you've been putting off?  Do it.  That phone call to a disgruntled employee?  Do it.  That 3,000 word article?  Do it."

2.  "OMD:  Off My Desk.  Make a concerted effort to handle each item that comes across your desk ONCE.  do not stack it in a pile and think, 'I'll get back to it later.'  Each morning, make a clean sweep of your desk while reciting the mantra:  OMD, OMD, OMD."

3.  "Action alleviates anxiety.  Pick one high-priority task on your To Do list and do it.  Nothing relieves stress better than getting off your butt and taking action.  Don't fall in the trap of picking a low-priority task just because it is easy.  Do the things that matter."

Preventative measures to get us procrastinators moving!

Why do we accumulate a lot of emails?  Perhaps we don't want to deal with them, or maybe we save them for future needs.  There is a similarity between overflowing email in-boxes and piles of paper mail; both "stacks" represent unmade decisions.  Emails usually arrive daily and multiply quicker, without proper management, than mail delivered by the post person.

Five reasons I get behind in processing email

1.  Emails require action.
2.  Spider Solitaire snares my attention--until I win a game.
3.  Reading an action-packed novel is more enjoyable.
4.  My computer stays at home when I visit my Mom, for several days.
5.  Kitty drapes herself over my shoulder and needs to be held up and petted.

Five ways to reduce email accumulation:

1.  Sort email by "From."  This method seems organized, whereas arrangement by "Subject" or "Receive" appears jumbled and takes longer.  Process those emails that require a response--first.
2.  "Unsubscribe" to emails sent daily or weekly from airlines, bookstores, and catalogs, etc.
3.  Reduce the number of your email accounts, especially if you seldom look at them.
4.  Ask friends to cease sending chain-letter type emails, jokes, and/or forwards, if burdensome.
5.  Read and process 10 emails before playing 3 games of Spider Solitaire, or reading 5 pages in a book.

Before you start to tackle email clutter, ask and answer these questions:  "Why am I putting off processing this email?  Do I really need to save it?  Can this information be found elsewhere?"  Choose a time of day that works best for you to read and act on your emails.  It works!