Simply Put Organizing

Habits are behavioral routines that occur subconsciously. One way to remove a bad habit is to eliminate it’s triggers (change your routine) or add a reminder to do things differently (a bright post it note to yourself). Most homes I work in have one thing in common. Items are placed in many different places around the home until there is a reason to clean up, (like a party). Then items are scooped up in any available container and put in any available space until….? Does this sound familiar? If it does, you have a habit of putting things down and leaving them wherever they land. Most all disorganization stems from this very thing.

Each organized person I know has developed habits that result in a clutter-free home. Here are a few to consider for yourself:
• Put things away as soon as you get home. When you bring something into your home whether it be groceries or anything else you have acquired take the items out of the bag and put them in their proper place. If an item doesn’t yet have an official home, put it in the room where it will be used. Eventually you will have organization just by developing this simple routine.
• Group like things together. Organized people have the habit of keeping likes with likes. When you do this it’s very easy to keep track of what and how much you have. Start doing this in small steps. For example: choose a place you are going to keep something and then whenever you find a like item in a different place you can start to group it in it’s new home.
• Use labels. Organized people use clearly labeled containers that are easily identified. Start organizing your home by getting rid of all the cardboard boxes and paper bags you are using as containers and replace them with clear bins. You can do this a little at a time. As you swap containers, purge any unwanted items.
• Throw away or recycle unwanted paper immediately. Pitch your junk mail before it hits a hard surface in your home. Throw away envelopes and any junk paper that come with your bills or other correspondence. Have a stapler on hand to connect anything with more than one page. Pare down to just the essential paper.
• Clear clutter on a continual basis: Organized people have the habit of letting go of excess on a continual basis. This doesn’t mean that they don’t live in abundance. It simply means that they don’t wait for one day to go through the house and decide what to donate-they have a donation receptacle handy and they do it continuously. They have a natural eye for elimination and usually don’t like the look of visual clutter.
If you incorporate these five habits you will be on your way to an organized life. If you start to group things together, put things away in the room where they are used, donate often and take the phrase ‘I’ll do it later’ out of your vocabulary you will be surprised at the change in your home this time next year.

Each year I rely on all the information I have accumulated in my Christmas binder. No matter which holiday your family celebrates you can keep a wealth of tips and inspiration all in one simple place. Here’s what you need:

A 1″ binder. I like the binders that you have a a pocket style cover for labeling.
Scrapbook paper (optional) cut to fit the pocket on the binder’s cover and spine. The picture to the right is the cover of my holiday binder.
A three hole punched zippered pouch. This is a great place to keep all the receipts for your holiday purchases. If you need them for returns you’ll know right where to find them.
CD holders. I keep all my holiday music in my binder. No more hunting for the elusive holiday music.
Page protectors. I keep a few page protectors in my binder to hold things like Christmas carol lyrics, poems and prayers.
Photo pages. I like to take pictures of my decor so I can remember how I set things up the previous year.
Binder pockets. You can find these at any office supply store. I always shop at Office Max as they have the Peter Walsh line of organizing products that I love. The pockets come five to a pack and each hold up to 70 sheets of paper. Use a labelmaker or simply write with a sharpie to assign a category to each pocket. Here are some of the things you can keep in your binder pockets:

Christmas card list
Decoration inventory Assign a number to each one of the bins you use to store your decorations and then list the contents of that bin on a sheet of paper and keep it in your binder. When you go to decorate next year you’ll know which bin to grab first.
Entertaining ideas. This pocket is for everything you tear from magazines. It’s great to have all your ideas in one place before you decorate.
Gift ideas. This is by far my favorite pocket. I tear pages from magazines and catalogs all year long and tuck them away in this pocket. When I start my Christmas shopping I am always thankful for the reminders.
Recipes. I keep all my holiday recipes separate from my other recipes so they can be easily located when I need them.
Tips. things pertaining to the holidays that I don’t want to forget (like this newsletter).
Travel. A great place to keep itineraries of friends and family that will be visiting for the season.
Anything that you need to keep at your fingertips during the season

I keep my binder with my cookbooks in the kitchen so I can easily add to it throughout the year. Choose a place in your home to keep the binder where it will not be forgotten and enjoy the gift of a holiday with a little less stress next year.

Most everyone I talk to about time agrees on one thing, there never seems to be enough of it. Time is a precious, irreplaceable commodity, it cannot be saved, however, it can be managed effectively. Learning how to effectively manage your time is one of the best gifts you can give yourself.

Goal setting is an important component of time-management. A goal is a destination. If you don’t know where your going it’s impossible to make a plan to get there. If you feel like you’re spinning your wheels perhaps it’s because you’ve lost sight of your goals or not set any at all.

Once you have established your goals, short and long term, the most important thing to remember about managing your time is to PLAN. A plan is the roadmap you’ll use to reach your destination. Remember plans are not written in stone. They are guidelines for accomplishing the things you need to do in an efficient manner. Make it a habit, once a week, to plan for that week. If you work Monday through Friday, a good time to assess the things you want to accomplish for that week might be on Sunday night. There’s a saying, “On paper, off your mind”. The act of writing things down frees your mind of mental clutter and relieves the nagging anxiety that you’re forgetting something. Each day, using your weekly plan as a guide write a to-do list for the day. You can do this in the morning or the evening, whenever your mental clarity is at its peak. If you write your list at night you’ll experience an added benefit, a better night’s sleep.

Your weekly plans and your daily to-do lists act like your very own personal assistant, reminding you of the things you need to get done. Below you’ll find tips to keep in mind while making your plans.

• Avoid writing your lists on small scraps of paper. they’re easily misplaced. Be consistent by keeping your list in a notebook or pad kept in the same location whether it be a designated drawer, your fridge, purse or wallet. I keep my list in my planner so it’s always with me.
• If you’re away from your home or office and want to remember something when you get there, call yourself and leave a voicemail. You can also send yourself reminder emails.
• Prioritize your lists.
• When possible schedule large projects at the beginning of the week and, if necessary, break them down over a period of days. We all tend to procrastinate if something seems too overwhelming. But, you’ll find if you schedule a specific time each day to work on large projects you’ll have the peace of mind that there will be an end. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
• Get the things your dread out of the way first, you’ll feel less stressed throughout the day. So many times we take care of little tasks first and feel overwhelmed when the day is ending and we still have a large project looming in front of us. Smaller tasks are easily rolled over to the next day.
• Group similar items together by day of the week or time of day. You might make all your phone calls on Monday morning or each day between the hours of 9:00a and 10:00a.
• Group errands by geographic area to save driving time.
• Consolidate your errands; back and forth trips are a waste of time. When you go to the supermarket, get gas for the car, get the car washed, stop at the post office and take care of any other quick errands all at the same time.
• Bring the things you have to read with you. If you have down time, at the car wash, a doctor’s office or on a commute you can get the things you need to read out of the way.

Planning is nothing more than thinking before you act. Plan your tasks, your weekly meals, your routes, your schedule and so on. A little bit of planning goes a long way. You’ll waste less time and enjoy more productive, stress-free days. Remember to plan some free time for you!

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO ON OUR VIDEO PAGE

You deserve a relaxing routine to get ready each day, but if your bathroom is awash in excess products, jumbled towels and unidentified clutter lurking in the deep recesses under your sink its time to tune up your bathroom and shave precious minutes off your daily routine.

Start with a deep clean: Take everything out of your cabinets and take stock of what you have. Let go of expired products, unused bath salts, potpourri and anything else you haven’t looked at in months or years. Here are the lifespans for common bath products:
Anti-aging and acne treatments: Three months to a year. Be on the lookout for any changes in color.
Body lotion: Two to three years, particularly if it’s in a pump container.
Shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel: About three years.
Bath oil: One year.
Sunscreen: Check the package for an expiration date.
Mascara and liquid eyeliner: Three to four months.
Eye and lip pencils: Three to five years.
Lipstick and lip gloss: Two to three years.
Foundation: About two years.
Perfume: About two years.
Nail polish: One year.
Hairstyling products: Three to five years.
Bar soap: Up to three years.
Shaving cream: About two years.
Deodorant: Up to two years.

Dispose of expired medications properly: expired meds and vitamins should not be flushed as they can contaminate the groundwater. Instead, empty them into a ziplock bag filled with coffee grounds, cat litter or sawdust and then throw them away. Controlled substances should be flushed to avoid accidental ingestion. Visit www.fda.gov or www.smartdisposal.net for more disposal details.

Create a warehouse for bulk purchases: a shelf on a nearby linen closet works great for this. (yes, it might be time to let go of excess linens too). If you don’t have a linen closet available consider a shelf in a spare bedroom. If this isn’t available then bulk purchases might not be a good fit for you. Unclutter your cabinets by only keeping one of each product you use in the bathroom. When you need to replenish, visit your warehouse. When the warehouse is getting low, it’s time to shop.

Discard bulky packaging: store like things together in labeled bins

Create more horizontal surface space: Use containers that fit around the pipes under your sink to coral things like towels, bath tissue and an products that you have to store under the sink. If you can pull one container out instead of several different items it will make cleaning and storage so much easier.

Keep everyday essentials handy: when you’re standing at the sink the things you use daily should be at arms length. Move your medicines and vitamins from the medicine cabinet to the kitchen or a nightstand, (the bathrooms high humidity and heat can affect potency, especially that of antibiotics). Use the medicine cabinet for your daily products like deodorant, skincare and toothpaste.

Use drawer dividers to keep drawers neat. You can separate a lot of bathroom necessities by dividing and conquering. i like individual drawer organizers that customize the drawer to your needs. To keep them from shifting use museum gel, (found at The Container Store)

Create caddies for things that may be used elsewhere: This works well for manicure tools and nail care.

Keep daily makeup convenient: separate the makeup you use everyday from the make up you use occasionally. If you travel it’s easy just to grab the bag and go. Check out the uniipalette at www.uniipalette.com. Easy and Fun!

Use magnets: Attach magnets to the inside of your medicine cabinet to hold nail clippers and tweezers to the inside of the door.

Use over the door shoe bags: these are great for hair accessories like headbands, flowers, large clips. Great if you have young girls in your home.

Once you’ve defined your bathroom the key is to maintain it. The first rule, don’t overbuy!! If you do switch brands, get rid of the old brands rather than let them expire unused. Throw away expired products and medicines at least once a year.

The most important thing to remember about paper is to decide what you need to keep and define spaces to process it or to file it. If you haven’t decided what you need to keep it is very easy to just throw it in a pile to deal with “later”. Take the phrase “I’ll do it later” out of your vocabulary!!! It takes minutes to process paper on a daily basis and saves hours of work sorting through piles. The bonus: No stress from seeing paper piles laying all over your home or office.

Take the time to really think about the things you need to save. Remember if the paper doesn’t come into the home it doesn’t have to be processed. Resist printing information from the computer for future reference. Instead keep a journal of your favorite websites to refer to as needed.

The second most important thing is to create ONE central place to process all incoming paper and assign the task to one family member. If more than one person is in charge of bringing in the mail it is easy for systems to disintegrate.

Once paper is brought into the home make a decision on it immediately if possible but always within 24 hours. Get rid of unwanted paper immediately. I throw my junk mail away that is addressed to ‘Valued Customer’ or ‘Resident’ at the mailbox garbage. Keep a shredder close to your paper processing center to deal with identity theft concerns. Staples has a great tabletop shredder that is small and efficient. A stapler is also needed to attached multi page documents. Recycle envelopes and inserts.

There are three categories of paper that exist: Action, Reference and Trash. We have discussed the trash, the tips below cover the action category.

Using table top shelves create an action center to define a space for priority items and items that are not time sensitive but still need to be done. You can see the shelves I use on my desk by linking this paper management video . You can buy the shelves at Office Max. They come in silver and black. They are not the most attractive but they are the best thing that has happened to my paper.
Check high priority items on a daily basis and process as needed. This group can include bills to pay, permission slips, RSVP’s and anything else that is time sensitive. If you check it daily, you won’t forget anything.
Check the lower priority items, the “to do later” category, weekly. You can put items in this category that you want to do six months from now. If you check it weekly you will not forget them. Each week, make a decision on these papers. They might stay in the category, they could be moved into the higher priority shelf to be processed or they might become trash if they are no longer relevant.

Reference papers are those that are saved for legal reasons, tax reasons, warranties and certain receipts needed for proof of purchase and should be filed. Resist filing articles you have printed or torn from magazines. They are rarely referred to and clog up filing cabinets making filing more of a chore than it needs to be.

The other type of paper that tends to migrate to piles are notes to other family members and phone messages. For phone messages I love to use spiral journal to capture the info. I date the pages and refer back to them as needed. Consider creating a message board to relay information to your family. If you have enough wall space you can have a board for each family member. If space is limited use color coded post-its to stick each family members notes on the board. I love Office Max’s In Place post-its. They are super sticky, (so they won’t fall off) and come in five colors. Assign a color to each person in your family and let them know where to look for their messages. Ask them to take the messages off the board when they have received them.

I also love the idea of a central family calendar. Family members can sync their electronic devises to match the central calendar if that is how a particular person handles their schedule.

It is very important to have a family meeting and decide on a system that everyone understands.

If you have neglected your paper for a long time and have piles everywhere. Gather them up into one large bin, making sure that the time sensitive paper is separated, then make a commitment to process the paper for 20 minutes a day until it’s gone. Set a timer if need be.

Shredding is cathartic especially when done with your favorite beverage. Try it.

Suze Orman stated, in an article I read, that she had a ‘surefire way to build wealth’ that won’t cost a penny. So easy, she stated, that it can be done while watching television. Her suggestion, clean up old financial paperwork that serves no purpose other than attracting dust-I couldn’t agree more!!

If you live out of piles of paper and your file drawers are full it’s time to clear out the clutter and create a simple system to take control of your financial future. Suze Orman is a firm believer that orderliness begets wealth. I’m not so sure about that (I should be a zillionaire), but I do know that you will save quite a bit in late fees and have a much better idea what is going in and out of your bank accounts if your statements and bills are in order. Organizing paper is completely overwhelming for most of us I’ve tried (along with advice from Suze Orman) to take the overwhelming feeling out and make it as simple as possible.

What you’ll need: a crosscut shredder to prevent identity theft, a garbage can to toss non financial paper and an a few boxes of hanging file folders and a table designated for sorting. If you can borrow a banquet table for this process you can work on it over a period of days without feeling like it’s in the way. If you don’t know anyone with an extra table to share then try to designate an area of your home for the purpose of this task.

Sort all your papers into six piles:

§ Monthly bills, bank statements and pay stubs

§ Investment statements

§ Tax returns and support

§ Deeds

§ Warranty and User Manuals

§ Forever Docs such as marriage licenses, wills and birth certificates

If you have a file cabinet in your home, label one drawer finances. I am a huge fan of filing bills in a twelve month system. Label one hanging file folder for each month and sort bills that you have paid into the month they were paid. The reason I like this method is that you can go back to any month and see your total expenditures. I also store my bank statement into the same file. Basically you will have a snapshot of your finances for any given month at your fingertips. At the end of the year you can pull out anything you need for tax back-up from each month and the rest can stay in the self purging system. When January 2011 comes around you shred the contents of January 2010 the same with February, March etc. You will always have a year’s worth of financial documents at hand.

The other option, and it’s not one that I recommend is to make a separate folder for each bill you pay. The caveat here is that you have to remember to empty the folders on an annual basis. If you don’t have the discipline to do this your files will soon by overflowing with paper you no longer need. For those disciplined souls this method is fine.

Edit the Piles

For all the paper you are eliminating from your piles, I highly recommend running through a crosscut shredder. The FTC estimates that up to nine million Americans a year are victims of identity theft. A good shredder will help protect your financial future.

It is important to know what to keep and for how long. Suze Orman has a great cheat sheet on her website www.suzeorman.com/financialcluttter Here are some of her suggestions for financial papers:

Bills: one year’s worth. Put tax deductable bills in an accordian file by month so they will be ready when you do your taxes.

Pay stubs: one year. When you receive your W-2 make sure that your last check stub matches then shred the stubs.

Bank Statements: One year at least. If you are planning on applying for a mortgage or car loan it is better to keep up to two years. Again, check with your personal accountant if you have any questions.

Investment Statements: save all monthly and quarterly until you receive your end of the year summary and then shred the others. Save the documents for any trades you make during the year for three years.

Tax returns and supporting documents: The IRS has three years to challenge anything on your returns. Keep three years at all times. If the IRS suspects you haven’t reported income it can challenge returns up to six years. To learn more about IRS record keeping guidelines, see Publication 552 on their website (irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p552-pdf)

Warranties: Keep only active warranties and toss the rest. I suggest tossing all user manuals you don’t actively refer to as manufacturers have downloadable versions on their sites. You can also visit www.usersmanualguide.com or www.manualnguide.com.

Documents to Keep for Life: there are some documents you just can’t throw away. These include marriage Licenses, divorce decrees, wills, trusts, estate planning documents and death certificates. Suze Orman also suggests you keep a permanent record of all major loans you have paid off such as homes, cars and so on.

Tips for going Paperless

Of course, if you hate paper as much as I do, you can easily take care of almost all your financial to do’s online. If you’re worried about cyber-safety just make sure you are logged onto a secure network. That means no bill paying at wi-fi hotspots. Check out your banks website for automatic bill paying, accounts alerts and more. This should all be free, if it’s not, switch banks. You can also go online to check out things such as Social Security benefits. Toss all those green and white sheets once you have verified the current one is up to date. Go to www.ssa.gov and click on estimate your retirement benefits.
The most important thing to remember is to edit your files on a regular basis. If you really need to dig out from your piles of paper, take it a little bit each night, sit in a comfortable chair and sort. I think you’ll be surprised at how little you need.

Wishing you all skinny file folders….

My home was recently featured in The Arizona Republic. Click on each image to see the article. Hope you Enjoy!

by Kara G. Morrison – Sept. 24, 2010 11:14 AM
The Arizona Republic

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/style/hfe/decor/articles/2010/09/24/20100924how-maximize-your-space.html#ixzz10Zb20QGX

Just as Charlotte Steill was buying a cozy condominium, the rest of the Valley seemed to be doing the opposite.

That was 2004. Homebuyers were flocking to McMansions in the suburbs; Steill was downsizing from an 1,800-square-foot Mesa house to a 1,200-square-foot space near downtown Scottsdale.

slideshow PHOTOS: Getting organized

She and her then 5-year-old daughter gave up a huge yard, a two-car garage filled with storage cabinets and a dedicated office. It’s exactly what the professional organizer wanted to do.

“I didn’t want to pay for the maintenance of a house,” explained Steill, who owns Simply Put Organizing. “I didn’t want to be tethered by all that stuff.”

Today, when many in the Valley find themselves downsizing to smaller spaces and living with less in this downturn, Steill has a message. She knows firsthand how to shrink into a comfortable, uncluttered life. And she prefers it to filling a huge house with unused stuff.

“In these economic times, I wish I had all the money I wasted on all the things I didn’t use,” she said.

More than ever, all of us are taking stock of what we have, what we need and what we can give up.

Steill’s cozy condo is a crisp oasis of calm. In the serene space with a palette of white, cream, silver and black, there is no clutter. Everything she keeps has a place, or it’s out the door.

It’s inspirational.

“There’s a freedom in not having a lot of stuff,” Steill said. “I want to be surrounded just by what I love and nothing more.”

Her 9-foot-square kitchen (including the countertop space and pantry cabinet) is spotless. Her bathroom cabinets are a model of efficiency, and her organized laundry closet (painted Restoration Hardware pale blue) could be a magazine cover, with its white baskets and boxes adorned with her custom chalkboard labels.

Although the condo sometimes seems cramped to her now 11-year-old daughter, Steill’s home feels plenty big, in part because it’s so neat. She explained it’s easy to keep things clutter-free when everything has a dedicated place.

If you need to downsize or simply “right-size” to a clutter-free life, here are 10 of Steill’s best tips for creating your own cozy retreat.

1. Edit your stuff. Steill tells a story about a fondue pot she finally gave up when space was tight. She hadn’t used it in years, and she knew she could borrow one from a friend anytime. Steill urges people to purge all they can at the front end when moving into a smaller space, rather than trying to cram too much into the new place. “If you don’t love it and you don’t use it on a regular basis, don’t keep it,” she said, adding it’s easier to let things go than to wrap, haul and unpack them just so they can sit in an attic or storage locker.

2. Choose wisely. When space is limited, even the furniture has to double as storage, so choose it judiciously. Steill’s living-room end table has a drawer for coasters and remotes. Her TV stand holds DVDs, and her entryway piece has big drawers for family games. Current magazines and books go in a silver tray on her living-room ottoman. If she had it to choose again, Steill admits she’d go for a storage ottoman to hold throws.

3. Use it or lose it. Stuff without a purpose doesn’t fit into a tiny space. Still, there are always things we want to keep. Steill didn’t want to give up her green-glass biscotti jars, even though they would overwhelm her tiny kitchen. So she repurposed them for her laundry closet where they hold laundry soap and softener sheets.

4. Get the right tools. Steill uses three organizing products consistently: Sterilite clear plastic bins, turntables and laminate shoe shelves. She often uses 32-quart shallow bins without lids as makeshift pull-out drawers. There’s nary a room in her home without a turntable inside a cabinet. Turntables give her easy access to cosmetics in her bathroom and baking necessities in the kitchen. “They make high spaces and deep cabinets usable,” Steill said. She also uses 31-inch ClosetMaid laminate shelves from Target to hold shoes and clear shoe boxes filled with all categories of household stuff.

5. Donate regularly. Clutter accumulates for everyone, but it’s easier to spot in small spaces. Steill has one or two donation bags handy at all times. She fills them with clothing that doesn’t fit or doesn’t flatter, cosmetics she has tried but didn’t like (they go to a women’s shelter) or decor she no longer needs. She urges all her clients to identify a favorite non-profit and start donating often. This also alleviates the guilt of having purchased something that didn’t work. “We have charities that we love to give to because we believe in what they’re doing,” she said. “I just envision the person receiving it, and I feel good about giving it.”

6. Start a “halfway house.” We all have a few things we don’t really need, but we also can’t seem to give up. These things go in a closet Steill dubs her “halfway house.” They’re typically seasonal decorations she’s not sure she’ll reuse. They linger here until she makes a decision to keep, sell or donate them. Any designated shelf can hold “halfway” items, but Steill recommends using one that’s removed from the main living space. “If you don’t retrieve it, you probably don’t need it,” she said.

7. Make money. A painless way to downsize is to get cash for things you can’t keep. Steill takes decor and clothing she no longer wants to a consignment shop. She sells gadgets such as old cellphones to gazelle.com, which offers cash for used electronics. She also sells things on craigslist.org and has helped clients sell books to used bookstores. All told, she said, the money from giving things up adds up.

8. Go vertical. “You have to use every vertical square inch you can,” Steill said about living well in a small space. Hence, she relies on “shelf helpers” – adjustable wire shelves that help create another level to store things. Steill uses several in her kitchen cabinets.

9. Use doors, walls. “All the walls are fair game inside a closet for storing things,” she said. Hence, her utilities closet holds assorted cleaning products and household tools. She also makes use of the inside of cabinet doors using magnetic dots called Anywheres ($7.99 at the Container Store) that turn any surface into a mini bulletin board.

10. Glam the closet. Steill thinks a person’s home should be a sanctuary that relieves stress rather than adds to it. The same is true of the closet, where clutter can quickly accumulate. Her remedy is urging clients to make their closets (especially the main clothing closet) look like a boutique. If the space is welcoming, defined and elegant, one is less likely to make it a dumping ground.

click the slide show below for inspirational pictures

Slide Show

There are two things you need to keep in mind when managing the paper and information that comes into your home on a daily basis. First, you need to choose just one location to process it. Second, you need to process it in a timely manner. Remember, clutter is simply a result of delayed decisions.

To set up a Family Information Center keep the following tips in mind:
• it should be located in a heavily trafficked area like the kitchen or a mudroom.
• it needs to have wall space for a bulletin board or wall calendar , a surface for an action center and reference material and ideally, a floor surface for a shredder (although there are some great tabletop shredders available)
• it needs to have a file close by to file papers that need to be retained for a long period of time. Remember to file once a week. If you wait any longer the task becomes unbearable to most people.
Once you have determined a place where you will process incoming information it is important to gather all the papers that are around your home and process them. if you are completely overwhelmed, at least place all the paper in one pile and process it for ten minutes a day until it’s gone. There are three different types of paper: reference, action, and trash. Reference papers are school schedules, invitations, legal papers and such. How long you keep them depends on the importance of the paper. Papers for medical and tax purposes have to be kept for a longer period of time but are seldom looked at. These papers belong in a file cabinet somewhere in your home but necessarily in your information center. Reference papers such as sports schedules, school information and such need to be referred to on a regular basis and should be kept in a binder or folio close at hand. I love Mom Agenda’s Kitchen Folio. Check it out at
www.momagenda.com Don’t forget to check out the free printables to keep you and your family on track.

Papers that require an action such as bills to pay, invitations that require a response, permission slips to sign, etc. need to be placed in an action center. I love the three tier sorter from Office Max for this purpose. www.officemax.com As you see there is a place to label each tray. Use one for items to do that are high priority (check it daily) label the second tray for items that are not really important such as things you may want to do with your family or things you want to buy (check it weekly) and the third tray for paper that needs to be filed. File it each week.

Paper that is to be thrown away needs to be discarded before it hits a hard surface. Open mail over a trash can, recycle bin or shredder on a daily basis and quickly put items in their predefined spaces: either the trash, the action center or a file.

To keep track of schedules use an individual planner. whether you choose an electronic schedule or a paper depends entirely on your personality. There are a lot of people who still prefer paper, including me. I have used and loved Mom Agenda’s personal portfolio for years. I like to look at my entire month at a glance and the uncluttered pages of this planner make be feel like I’m in control even though there is hardly a square in that doesn’t contain something I have to do or somewhere I have to be.
I think it’s gorgeous and I love to carry it. My good friend prefers her I phone which absolutely doesn’t work for me. Decide which calendar works best for you and then input all your commitments on a daily basis.
If you have a large or busy family. I think it’s important to have a family calendar. Dry erase calendars are perfect for this. Each family member can use a different color to mark their schedules and everyone knows where to look to see who is doing what. If you prefer the computer screen you can do the same thing online. I really like the clean look of the magnetic dry erase calendar at the container store, www.containerstore.com
If you don’t have the wall space, mom agenda has come out with a home office addition planner that is large enough to capture all your important information and attractive enough to leave out.

So, if you apply the organizing triangle to your new Family Information Center. The system would be the defined spaces that your paper goes to immediately when it comes in the door. The products are the planners, folios, action centers and shredder. The habits, keep on top of things. It only takes five minutes to process your mail each day. Remember, it’s not the things we do that wear us out. It is what is left undone.

Don’t know about the organizing triangle? It is my own organizing method that I teach my clients and use myself. Find out more in my coauthored book, Get Organized Today. Available at a discount on my site www.simplyputorganizing.com

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