1. Keep a calendar and refer to it daily: This is key. If you don’t make time for something the probability is that it won’t happen. If you made an appointment with your doctor, you’d put it in your calendar and wouldn’t miss it (hopefully). Well…your time is important as well. Put all appointments in your calendar and, of course, look at it at the beginning of each day or the night before to make sure you don’t miss something important.
2. Learn how to schedule their time: You don’t have to schedule every moment but, sticking to a schedule is key for time management. Figure out what you have to do and approximate how long that will take. Then put a schedule into place that works for you. Leave yourself plenty of time so that you’re not always stressed out about being late.
3. Bundle errands: This is a huge time saver. When you’ve got so much to do and so little time, every minute counts. Don’t run all over town in one day. If you have to go to one particular area that is near your cleaners, grocery store and tailor, do all of that in one day. The next day to other errands that might be in another part of town. Consider the time of day as well as you don’t want to run errands in the middle of rush hour.
4. Have a home for their things: You know what “they” say, “A home for everything and everything in its place”. That’s the motto for Professional Organizers near and far. It works! If something doesn’t have a home, it is considered clutter. Clutter begets clutter which ultimately results in more stress. Don’t just shove something in a drawer or closet. Figure out where it should live, where it would make the best sense and put it there.
5. Put things away: Come on now. We’re all adults. This is housekeeping 101. We all have time to put our “stuff” away. If not, don’t take it out. If you don’t have time, perhaps your schedule is too full! We all have the same 24 hours in a day. Use them wisely.
6. Maintain their spaces: Taking time to maintain whatever systems you have in place is a huge time saver. It’s a lot easier than having to start from scratch every time things get disorganized. It happens quickly so you “should” really try to stay on top of it before things get out of control.
7. Purge periodically: This is the hard part. Deciding what to get rid of and how. But, there’s just so much space and if you don’t purge, eventually things will wind up either in the garage, attic or on the floor because there’s no more room in the drawers or closets. You may even wind up getting a storage unit to store things which costs a ton of money. So, schedule time in your calendar (see #1 and #2 above) to purge. You can sell things “that have value”, donate and get a tax write-off things that don’t have enough value to sell or simply trash anything if it’s broken, stained, soiled or missing a piece. Also, if you buy something new, a good rule of thumb is to get rid of something old.
8. Have a To Do list. This is my personal favorite. I don’t know how I’d remember anything without my To Do list. It’s easier to remember things when you’ve written them down. Plus, you can refer to the list and cross things off when they’ve been done which kinda feels good.
9. Prioritize. In this 24/7 world we live in, there’s just so much time in a day, week, etc. Deciding which things are urgent as opposed to things that just need to get done eventually is important. Get your priorities in order and the rest will get done when they become priorities. Make sure to make time for you. You are a priority!
10. Know how and when to say no. We’re all busy. We can’t do it all. We can’t be everywhere. Decide which activities are a “must” and which ones you can say goodbye to. Perhaps you can even delegate some things to another person.
If you or someone you know needs assistance with any of the above, give us a call. We’d love to help.