Getting organized and staying organized

When you make the decision to get organized it will be easier because you have a goal in mind. The goal is getting organized.

The key to getting organized is to have a designated place for everything. There’s a popular saying amongst organizers: “A place for everything and everything in its place.” If you don’t have a designated space for something, the rule of thumb is to either make a space for it or get rid of it. If something doesn’t have a home, it will always be considered clutter. If you want to get organized and stay organized, this premise will help you to cut down on clutter and know exactly where to find things when you need them.

Another important key to being organized is maintaining the systems that you have put into place. If you don’t want to keep starting from scratch, you’ve got to maintain your systems.

My advice is to designate a few minutes every day for maintenance so that things don’t get out of control. In the beginning, you might want to try setting aside time and marking it in your calendar just as you would any other appointment. As mornings tend to be the busiest, perhaps you can spend a few minutes when you get home or before you go to bed at night picking up after yourself:

Hang up the clothes you wore that day and throw the dirty ones in the hamper
Clean the dishes and/or put the dirty ones in the dishwasher
Go through your mail and remember to do the following:
- Toss the junk mail
- Shred any mail that has your personal information on it that you don’t need or want
- File the things that you can
- Put the rest in action files (Bills to Pay, Events to RSVP To, To Do File, etc.)

Call us at (310) 560-5060 to discuss how we can help you get organized and stay organized.

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How to organize an entertainment center

You may want to consider getting some supplies for the process. I like to use pull out drawer systems, like the Elfa Systems, as they are easy to put together and provide easy access to everything.

The first thing we need to do is to empty it out completely. Yes, everything out. This is important as this allows you to see everything that was in there and you can then determine what should and should not go back there.

Now that everything is emptied it out, start to purge! Go through your old tapes, CDs, and DVDs. Toss or donate the old tapes if you no longer have a tape deck in your home or car; donate the CDs or DVDs that you no longer want or need. While you’re at it, toss the clickers from old TVs or other electronics that you no longer own.

The next step is to sort the remaining items into categories keeping similar items together. For example, keep all remotes in one place, all CDs in another, and so on.

You can now start putting everything back. The important thing to remember is to keep similar items together.

Depending on the amount of room you have, you may want to use one shelf for your CDs and the other for DVDs so that you can find them easily. You might even consider breaking it down further by alphabetizing your CDs by the last name of the artist or sorting them into musical categories.

Finally, remember to label the shelves or drawers.

The most important thing is that it should be organized in a way that is easy for you and makes sense to you. Remember to keep it simple!

Traveling tips for your summer vacation

While going on vacation is exciting, I think we can all agree that returning to work after a vacation is usually stressful.

There’s a lot of mail, a ton of emails to go through and dozens of other things you need to get to that have been piling up while you were gone. It can almost seem like a punishment for ignoring your responsibilities.

Hopefully you will be relaxed and ready to tackle the many tasks that have been waiting for you upon your return. However, just in case you get overwhelmed, here are some tips to help you ease back into reality:

Notify people you regularly interact with that you will be unavailable and away from the office. If people know you’ll be gone, they (hopefully) won’t try to contact you which will significantly reduce the amount of voicemails and emails.
Clear the inbox on your desk and your email inbox so that the new items you must attend to when you return will be obvious.
Wrap up all of your “To Do’s.” This may be difficult depending on the type of job you have, but do the best you can.
Make sure you don’t have any meetings or appointments the first day (or two) when you return to the office. You will definitely appreciate the time to get caught up.
Arrive an hour early to work. Use this time to check your schedule, messages, mail and e-mail before co-workers get in and start asking about your trip and giving you more things to do.
Take an extra day before heading back to work to regroup and catch-up on your life. Use the extra day to get things done at home so that you can focus on work when you return to the office.

Okay, now go and relax and know that when you get back from your vacation, you’ll have everything under control. Have a great trip!