April 19, 2024

Getting Organized by Coach Juli

August 7, 2013 By Leave a Comment

An effective work space and living space is a component of healthy living. A  functional living space means decreased stressed, increased efficiency in how you operate and accomplish tasks day to day.

Here’s how to clear the clutter and get organized, once and for all! (Yes, you can do this!)

Clutter has a way of creeping up on us and one day we realize it is simply out of control. Leaving it alone only increases it dimensions and makes the overwhelm significantly pronounced.

How to Begin:

Start by scheduling time over the course of days and perhaps even weeks to tackle the issue.  Consistent work on it will yield progress.  Often just getting started helps get the ball rolling and you can move along faster.  It is necessary to understand that there simply is not enough space for everything to fit.  One general rule of thumb I apply is that everything needs a place to be stored.

Rule: If something doesn’t have a place to be then either create a place, or don’t keep the object.

It’s really that simple.  If you don’t do this, it is a guarantee that it will be tucked under something and otherwise rendered useless. It will become forgotten among items it has nothing in common with. You will end up wasting time looking for it in places it shouldn’t be, and if you don’t find it, you will most likely end up buying another one!

What do you do when you are stuck with the decision of whether to keep or toss out an item?  If you unearthed it from under a pile of junk and you forgot you even had it, chances are you don’t need it.

Be honest. Try asking yourself, honestly, “what are my reasons for keeping this?”

Get tough. If your answer isn’t strong enough, perhaps the item needs to find a better home –the trash or donation center is that better place.

Contributed by Coach Juli, CPC: ADHD Productivity Coach. Efficiency Expert since 1984, and author of the eBook, Order! A Logical Approach to an Organized Way of Life, www.getordernow.com. Contact at jshulem@gmail.com 805-964-2389 or www.coachjuli.com.

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Decrease Clutter! By Coach Juli Shulem

January 30, 2013 By Leave a Comment

It would be easy to just say, “throw away stuff you don’t need” but therein lies the problem. Those with clutter issues generally cannot discern between what they need to keep and what they should get rid of.

Here are 3 tips to making a big impact on decreasing the clutter in your physical space:

1.    Increase border control.
Don’t let anything through your door that isn’t an asset to your life. This means start by not even buying things you don’t absolutely need.  Don’t go ‘shopping’ for things. Go ‘buying.’ That means you go for the items you need, with a list in hand, and nothing more. If you don’t let unnecessary items come into your home in the first place you will have less to deal with in the near and distant future. Not having the item around to begin with will stop the process of cluttering at the root.
This goes for not accepting things from others as well. If friends or family don’t want an item any longer, why do you need it?

2.    Don’t buy more containers.
I see in my coaching practice that those who are trying to get organized instantly want to go out and acquire storage containers thinking that this will help them become organized. Actually, you want to first get rid of things and then, based on what is left and where the items will be kept, you can get appropriate containers. If you get dozens of plastic boxes first you will have more clutter that you had to begin with and chances are you won’t need all those containers either.

3.    Delete dupes .
If you have a lot of things, and they have had ‘offspring,’ you can generally get rid of all but one (perhaps two) of the item and be just fine. Often the reason people have many of the same items is that they can’t locate it when needed, so they go out and purchase another only to find the original one days, weeks, or months later. This can happen over and over resulting in ridiculous amounts of something where one is sufficient.

Contributed by Coach Juli, CPC: Efficiency & ADHD Coach. Efficiency Expert since 1984, and author of the eBook, Order! A Logical Approach to an Organized Way of Life, www.getordernow.com. Contact at jshulem@gmail.com 805-964-2389 or www.julishulem.com.

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3 Tips to Organized and Efficient! By Michele Stalker

January 23, 2013 By Leave a Comment

If one of your resolutions is to “get organized” for the New Year, then it’s time to put things in order to improve efficiency. Time is one thing we don’t ever seem to have enough of, so by gaining control over your systems and your belongings, you can regain precious time often wasted on looking for lost items.

Here are 3 organizing tips for 2013 to get you on the right track:

 

1. Simplify.
Need I say more? People have too much “stuff!” This is a time of year when we have just gotten through the holiday season and received gifts, contributing to more things in our homes. Toss anything that’s broken, chipped or can’t be fixed. Donate items that no longer have a use or place in your life.

2. Envision your ideal space.
Sometimes people have a hard time deciding what to throw out. If you turn things around and look at it from a different perspective, try asking yourself, “What do I want in this space?” For example, your bedside table drawers could be so stuffed, you can hardly open them and end up piling things on top of the table. Clear everything off the surface and inside the drawers and then put back only what you want and need.

3. Take a few minutes to put things where they belong.
Think about when you first walk in the door to your home. Do you have a place for kids to put their backpacks, coats, boots, etc. as well as your own coats, bags and keys? If everyone in the household can take 5 minutes to put things away where they belong, then they will be there when you need them. It will be much easier to get back out the door when it’s time to leave instead of searching for missing hats, gloves and keys!

Remember, you don’t need to tackle everything at once, so start with one small project at a time.

Michele Stalker is the owner of the Professional Organizing Company Morganized Mom. She helps working parents manage the chaos of family life. With two young children of her own to guide her creative planning, she gives her clients customized solutions and proven efficient organizational systems for the home. For more organizing tips visit her at www.morganizedmom.com or on Facebook  at http://www.facebook.com/morganizedmom

 

 

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