Simple Ways To Organize Your Life And Get Rid Of That Annoying

47 Pages·2006·1.13 MB·English

Simple Ways To Organize Your Life
And Get Rid Of That Annoying Clutter.
A Simple Workbook
From the editors of Everyday Wisdom, LLC
© 2006 Everyday Wisdom, LLC
Table of Contents
Introduction
5 Reasons to Organize Your Home Today
9 Secrets of Successful Organizers
Moms & Housewives - Is Your Time Appropriately Organized For Maximum Performance?
Organizing Your House: Keep It Simple!
Deep Cleaning the Organized Way (Part 1)
Deep Cleaning the Organized Way (Part 2)
Tips to Improve Your Laundry Routine To Create Faster, Cheaper, and Cleaner Results
Organizing Your Child's Room: 6 Tips That Will Help
Teaching Your Children Organizational Skills
How To Handle Mail In An Organized Fashion
Organizing and Filing The Easy Way
How To Create An Organized Filing System
25 Tips and Tricks for an Organized Move
7 Tips for Organized Holiday Travel
Emergencies – How Organized and Prepared Are You?
Bonus Article – 12 Easy Ways To Keep Stress Out Of Your Life
How To Use The Changing My Life Form
Changing My Life – The Form
Introduction
Do you have a lot of Clutter in your home or office? Perhaps you feel overwhelmed by paperwork,
newspapers and magazines? Do you have children whose rooms look like a disaster area? Well this
ebook was created for you. We want to help you find a new direction and better ways to be organized.
Why should you care about another book on organization? There are five reasons why anyone would
want to work at becoming better organized and having less clutter in their life. All five reasons are
covered in the first article titled appropriately 5 Reasons to Organize Your Home Today. The author,
Karen Fritscher-Porter, is the owner of www.EasyHomeOrganizing.com. After reading her article, you
can decide whether you want to read on.
Never forget, however, that one option is to do nothing. To just leave things as they are and accept the
fact that this is how you want to live your life. Everyone is different and if that's your choice, fine. If,
on the other hand, that is not your choice, if you want to do something about the clutter and the mess,
then by all means read the rest of this ebook.
The format for this ebook:
At Everyday Wisdom, LLC we're not interested in just providing knowledge. We want people to
actually use the knowledge we provide to produce better outcomes. As you read this ebook, you'll see a
different format than those used by other authors of ebooks. We are not doing this just to be different.
We do this because our format is more practical for people who are serious about making changes in
their life.
Each page has two primary parts. The left side of the page contains the article. It is our hope that by
providing many articles all in one place, written by different people, you'll find just the ideas you need
to make the changes your life requires.
The right side of each page has both resources that can provide additional ideas for you to consider as
well as room for you to take notes on those ideas you want to implement. So when you see an idea you
want to use, simply print out that page and add your ideas in the space provided.
We suggest you keep the pages you print out in a notebook so the ideas you want to work on do not slip
away. With so much going on in our lives, it is very easy to become distracted. Don't let this happen to
you.
Here's another way our ebooks are different:
At the back of this ebook, we include a page based on Benjamin Franklin's method of changing or
creating habits. It is believed that Benjamin Franklin was America's first self made millionaire. He
created his method early on and it served him well. If you will also use his method, we believe it can
serve you well too.
Here's the good news - It's a very simple method. Combine it with the notes you made on some of the
pages, take action, and before long you will see a change in your life. Why not give it a try?
Finally:
We mentioned above that the articles in this ebook are not just from the staff of Everyday Wisdom,
LLC (though some are of course). We included articles from other authors to give you both additional
ideas as well as a different voice from the articles we created. Sometimes how something is said makes
a difference as to whether someone takes action.
We are going to have a whole library of these free ebooks on different topics that will add valuable
information to help you create the life you desire. We suggest you subscribe to our newsletter so you
can be informed about new additions to our library? To subscribe, click here.
If you want to share this ebook with others, feel free. Give it away or have your friend or family
member subscribe to our newsletter so they can get the free ebooks as well.
Ready to start?
Let's begin...
5 Reasons to Organize Your Home Today
The Article Resources and Your Notes
Home organization isn't just for neat-nicks or those www.everyday-wisdom.com
drawn toward organized living. Even if you don't Finally organized, Finally free
fall into those two stereotypes, you should
consider learning and implementing some home
organizing techniques. Why bother? Here are five
good reasons to organize your home:
PEACE OF MIND - When you have a closet
packed full of miscellaneous items, don't you
sometimes think "I've got to put that on my to-do
housekeeping list"? Or you think "I've got to go
through that closet to find those missing papers,
shoes, whatever." And then when you don't do it,
you get a nasty reminder every time you open that
closet door. Now multiply that scenario and
thought pattern by the number of other areas in
your home that give you that same feeling. When
it's visible, clutter weighs on your mind because
you can't forget about it. It's there every time you
open the closet door! So getting organized once
and for all could decrease your stress levels by
putting your mind more at ease.
MORE TIME - Home organization means less time
spent searching for things. You can find what you
want now, not in 15 minutes, an hour or perhaps
never. Being able to find your ski jacket instantly
means 15 more minutes of skiing time. That sure
sounds like a lot more fun than spending those 15
minutes searching through your closet for a warm
jacket.
ANSWER FEWER QUESTIONS - Where are my
shoes? Where is my purse or wallet? Have you
seen my keys? Where's my backpack? I'm late!
Have you seen my brown sweater? If all family
members know the home organization system,
then they know where to find their stuff without
asking you. But even if they don't, at least you can
answer their questions quicker and without
stopping what you're doing to help them search.
SAVE MONEY - How many spatulas and wooden
spoons do you have in your kitchen? What about
screw drivers or other hand tools? Do you have
duplicate items because you forgot you already
had one? Ever bought the same book or magazine
twice because the ones you had weren't visible in
that huge pile? Home organization means fewer
purchases of duplicate items by everyone in the
household. You won't come home with another
something you already have because you forgot
where you put the first one. And neither will your
spouse because he didn't know your family had
one in the first place.
IT'LL LOOK GREAT - A good home organization
system implemented with some surface cleaning
(for example, dusting and vacuuming the common
areas) often gives guests a great first impression
of your home. They see the exterior of the shell, a
view that says "neat and clean"---even if a true
"finger test" in an obscure location would spill
some dirty secrets (like dust). If you enjoy
entertaining in your home, then this is probably the
best reason to organize your home. In fact,
throwing a party can be both your incentive and
your reward to start organizing your home today.
About the Author
Karen Fritscher-Porter writes about how to
organize your home at
www.EasyHomeOrganizing.com. Visit
www.EasyHomeOrganizing.com to read more than
50 FREE articles containing dozens of ideas and
solutions to help you organize your home.
Plus subscribe to the FREE newsletter updating
you about the latest home organization products
sold in stores.
9 Secrets of Successful Organizers
The Article Resources and Your Notes
You can reduce your stress and enjoy more time www.everyday-wisdom.com
for yourself and your family. Discover these nine Finally organized, Finally free
secrets to getting and staying organized.
1. Keep like items together. Keep cutting boards,
knives, peelers and vegetable brushes together
near the sink. Place all manicure/pedicure
supplies in a basket.
2. Store things where you use them. Keep extra
sheets in bedrooms, videos near the TV, and
cleaning supplies on every floor.
3. Make frequently used items easily accessible
and rarely-used items less accessible. If you use
your blender daily, keep it on the counter. If you
use it once a month, put it in the back of a low
cabinet.
4. If you don't use it get rid of it. Unless it's a
beautiful decorative item or a cherished memento,
why are you keeping it? Pass it on.
5. Establish a place for everything. Designate a
"home" for every item in YOUR home. Make them
so specific you can find things in the dark.
6. Always put it back where it belongs after you
use it. Teach household members to do the same.
7. Use lists. Make lists of things to do and buy.
Keep an on-going grocery list. Post a current
leftovers list on the fridge door. Use a meals list.
8. Make it easy. Use hooks instead of hangers for
kids' coats. Take the lids off hampers. Preprint a
grocery list
so household members can simply circle needed
items.
9. Develop systems and routines. Find the most
efficient way to do laundry and stick with it. Use a
meal planner
consistently. You'll save time by not having to think
about the details.
About the Author
Barbara Myers is a professional organizer,
speaker and author. FREE time management tips
booklet and meal planner. Visit
http://www.ineedmoretime.com
Moms and Housewives - Is Your Time Appropriately
Organized For Maximum Performance?
The Article Resources and Your Notes
You cannot escape from all the interruptions you www.everyday-wisdom.com
will encounter throughout your day, i.e., babies Finally organized, Finally free
crying, kids arguing, telephone calls, a delivery at
your door, or an unexpected emergency; however,
you have to learn how to accomplish your duties in
spite of these interruptions. Don't wait until the
interruptions are gone to get yourself organized.
Follow these strategies to help you: 1) work
around the interruptions, (2) eliminate the ones
you can, and (3) manage the others. When you
are interrupted for one reason or another, train
yourself to go right back to the task you were
working on. When the task is well denned, it is
easy. For example, if your first chore for the day is
cleaning the kitchen, once you've been interrupted
it should become second nature to go right back to
the chore at hand. Otherwise, you"ll end up
wasting time or get sidetracked.
Learn to carry on with your daily chores with
direction and purpose. Think as if you're the
receptionist in a busy office. You would take care
of each task as it comes along but then would
have to go back to typing that letter when you get
the chance. Do not let interruptions become your
excuse for not accomplishing your goals.
Reduce some of the stress by reviewing your daily
living situation. If you are serious about trying to
eliminate some of the daily hassles, keep a log for
several days. Make brief entries of what is
occurring every 15-30 minutes. Time-efficiency
experts do this type of analysis in the workplace to
pinpoint problem areas of time management. Who
causes the problem? When does the problem
usually occur....is one time worse than others?
What did the offender need when they interrupted
you? With this insight, you can work your way
towards making any necessary improvements.
Lack of organization or order causes many
interruptions, i.e., a trip to the dryer for socks, a
trip to the local market for forgotten ingredients, or
trying to track down that lost shoe. Come up with a
plan to help kids get their own drinks and/or
snacks. Install a pet door so your dog can get in
and out without your help. As one father has said,
"Instead of putting out fires all day, catch the guy
with the matches." A little organization can go a
long way in helping to eliminate unwanted hassles.
Often times we cause interruption ourselves.
Perhaps you are not looking very forward to
working on a certain task. In this case, it is very
easy to become distracted and you may even
welcome any distractions. You might remember
you need to phone a friend or relative, you might
think of something you need to take out of the
freezer for dinner, or you might get an urge for an
afternoon snack. There is a difference between
taking a break and getting an unexpected
interruption. To take breaks in the middle of a task
with an unnecessary interruption such as a break,
is a bad habit to get into. Thus, you need to learn
to plan breaks appropriately, allowing yourself time
to finish a task first.
Keep in mind that it takes time after each
interruption to start back up and rebuild
momentum. Next time you are tempted to take a
break from what you are doing, ask yourself if it
could wait a little longer until you finish the project
you're working on or at least until you get to a
better stopping point. It is a good idea to plan
breaks periodically to refresh yourself or to take
care of small things. This is called self-control. A
secretary is allowed coffee breaks and you should
allow yourself breaks as well.