The Next Step.......YOU Have To Take It

As I work with clients, as an organizer and a life coach, I find one consistent issue, not taking the next step.  Let me show you a little bit about what the next step looks like in my life and see if there is anything you can apply to your own life.  

The towel on the floor

Next step:  hang the towel up - time taken: 1 second

Husband's clean socks on the floor

Next step:  socks matched up and in the drawer - time taken:  3 minutes

Hair Dryer and Straightener on Bathroom Counter

Next step:  Put hair dryer and straightener in drawer (even without wrapping the cord or making it look beautiful!) - time taken:  2 seconds

I have a goal I want to reach this year and I have it written down.

(photo: freedigitalphotos.net/stuartmiles)

Next Step:  Schedule a few action steps that will help me reach my goal - 

Time taken: 5 minutes 

(photo:  freedigitalphotos.net/stuartmiles)

The biggest problem with next steps.....YOU have to take them.  No one else can take them for you.  You have to commit to doing what you have to do to get to where you want to be. 

Next Steps - the best way to reach your goals in life and in 

organizing your home. 

It takes less time than you think but it will take you less time if you do it now rather than taking all the next steps later.  

My Love Hate Relationship - the FITBIT

I have a new love/hate relationship in my life........my FITBIT.

My son and his girlfriend gave me a FITBIT for Christmas.  I had been looking at them and thinking it would be a really good thing for me to have and lo and behold I unwrap my Christmas present and there it was, in all it's glory. 

Now for those of you that are not as UBER cool and up to date on this stuff as I am, let me tell you all about a FITBIT.  

A FITBIT is a fitness product, in the form of this beautifully stylish bracelet, that tracks my steps, distance and calories burned.  If I tell it to, it will track my quality of sleep......I have not told it to yet, that feature kind of freaks me out a little bit....not sure why, it just does.   Below is a picture of my bracelet.

Now, you have to know that while I am UBER cool I am confounded by the fact that this thing on my arm knows when I am taking steps and knows what I am doing while I am asleep but it does.

The reason I love this thing is I need accountability.  I get to the end of the day, exhausted and I am sure I have walked and moved at least 1000 miles but I look at the steps and I am at 3000 steps (1.5 miles) for the whole day!  The goal for each day is 10,000 steps which translates to 5 miles a day.  

I am busy and moving everyday but apparently I am not calorie burning busy!

The reason I hate this thing is I have accountability.  Yep, the reason I love it is the reason I hate it!  You can't unknow what you know and now I know I am not moving as much as I need to.   Since I was tired at the end of the day, it was easy to make myself think I was getting more exercise than I really was getting but alas, the FITBIT does not lie. 

The reason I love this thing is I earn badges when I reach certain levels.  Anyone, who knows me well, knows I am a competitive soul and a badge telling me I have reached a goal is right up my alley!

Yippee!

You've walked 5,000 steps

And made it look easy breezy. Congratulations on cruising your way to the first Fitbit daily step badge—the Boat Shoe! Keep up the good work

The reason I hate this thing is I have to work really hard to achieve the goal of 10,000 steps per day.  I really, really don't like to exercise but I know I have to do it to live the life I want to live.  I know I have to exercise to be fit and healthy, however I get bored easily and I find it hard to work into my schedule, on a regular basis.  All that being said, I will continue to exercise, well, just because it is what I need to do and I want/need more badges!

So, if you will excuse me, I have to go walk some more, the FITBIT is calling my name (not literally but it feels like it could!)

My New Project Organizing Tool

I have several different projects going on each year and I finally gave in and realized I am a paper project planner girl.  I have tried to plan projects digitally and it has not worked so I found this gem and I am so happy!  

This is the ARC system from Staples.  It is a notebook you can modify - adding pages, dividers, and other contraptions you might need to keep yourself organized.  It also allows you to buy bigger discs to enlarge the notebook, as your notes and project expand.  There are different colors to choose from but for this particular project I chose this oh so pretty pink! 

These are the pages that come with each notebook.

These are the "add ons" I put in my notebook to organize. 

I have pocket dividers for smaller papers and papers in which I don't want holes punched.  

Tab Dividers are essential for dividing your content into different categories. 

This zip pocket add on will be great for pens and other things that need to be contained. 

I printed out and added this calendar.  How did I add this calendar, you might ask? Well, look below and I will show you my secret!

First, I had to buy one of these specialized paper puncher things.  This is not your standard 3 hole punch.  The ARC system has 12 holes so you need the special 12 hole puncher.  Staples sells these, 

with the ARC system, but the cost of the one they 

sell is around $42.  I did not want to spend that much so I checked around and found this one sold by Levenger for $17!  It doesn't punch as many pieces of paper at one time but that was not an issue for me. 

So, I took my handy dandy new hole punch and punched the holes I needed into my calendar and inserted it into my oh so pretty pink notebook.  

Now I am all ready for my project planning in 2015.  

Taking Down the Christmas Tree and a Little More

The final step of Christmas "take down" is the tree.

The first step is to remove all the ornaments.  I lay a towel out so I can see them all on my oriental rug.....some of them can get lost in the pattern of the rug.  I sort them, on the towel, by kid's ornaments, fragile and non-fragile.  Then I start boxing them up.....wrapping the fragile ornaments in tissue paper and then placing them in a Ziploc bag.  The other ornaments are placed in their original boxes or in an ornament box I have.

Each of my children's ornaments is organized in their own box and labeled with their name. 

When the time comes, they will easily be able to take their ornaments to decorate their own tree.  

After the ornaments are all packed up snug in their beds, it is time to remove the lights from the tree.  

By this time you are ready to throw the lights in a box and be done but when you open that box next year, you will be sad you took that approach. 

I take each light strand and wrap them around these "wheels" I purchased several years ago.  

Each wheel holds 2-3 light strands.  They then fit nicely into their handy, dandy carrying case.  On top of the wheels, I place the cord that houses the "on/off" button for the lights. 

Then the tree goes out the door to where my Christmas elf takes it to dispose of in our woods in the back.  Therefore leaving me with mounds of pine needles to vacuum.  Years ago, I stopped up my regular vacuum cleaner by using it to vacuum up said mound of needles.  After that, I purchased my Shop Vac and it has done the job from that point on.  All that being said, no matter how much I vacuum, I will still be running into and finding pine needles in this room throughout the year......hard to get rid of those pesky needles! 

Here is the "and a Little More" part of the subject line.  In my last post I failed to tell you about my Christmas serving dishes and how I put them away.....so here

 is the rest of the story. 

Each of the dishes is wrapped in a Christmas Dish Towel to protect them while storing the Christmas towels......a two 

for one! 

AAAAAHHHH, finally the Christmas decorations are put away and stored safely in the attic.  And just like every single year, I walk downstairs celebrating and find the one.  There is always one decoration I seem to miss every single year, no matter how hard I try.......there is still ONE!  This year's winner......the pillow.

So I grab the pillow, put it in its place and then know I am done until next year, with the way time flies it will feel like next week. 

Now on to 2016!  Make it a great year!

Taking Down Christmas Decorations - Step by Step

It is that time of year.....you have enjoyed the Christmas decorations but now it is time to take them all down.  

Here is a step by step process of how I attack my "take down".  Hopefully you will find something here you can use while putting your decorations away. 

 Gather all your "like" items together. Your "like" items will be boxed together so it makes it easier to attack one box at a time when you are putting them up this year and when you are ready to decorate again next year. 

 You can see, from the pictures below, the "like" items I have:  Santas/decorative items, stockings/pillows/tree skirt, Nativity sets, framed Christmas photos and plaques, dishes, books, window lamps, window greenery, bows and outdoor spotlights and cords.     

Then it is time to box each of the items into their "labeled" boxes.  I wrap the fragile items in tissue paper I reuse each year or tissue paper I keep from the pile left over on Christmas morning.  
The bulbs of the window lamps are separated into a ziploc bag to protect them.    

Each year, as part of my Christmas decorating, I use decorative ribbon tied to lamps and candlesticks. To store my decorative ribbon, I wrap several pieces around a toilet paper roll or a cut paper towel roll and secure the end with a paper clip.  I then store them in a ziploc bag to keep them fresh 

from year to year.  

Lastly I attack the tree.  That is in my next blog post.....so go get the decorations done then come back and read about "tree take down"! 

ADHD and Organizing.....It Can Happen!!

I hear it all the time from clients or prospective clients:  I have ADHD or my kids have ADHD or my husband has ADHD.

I, myself, am convinced I have ADHD and I am a professional organizer! Granted, I am one of 7 children, growing up in the 60's when those acronyms meant nothing.  I am sure I had traits even way back when but had to somehow learn to cope and teach myself a new way to do things.  

Here are five strategies I have learned that have helped this distracted, procrastinating gal.

1.  I talk to myself, not crazy talking to myself, but talking my way through.  I remind myself to stay on task, to stay focused on my goal and to keep pressing on to completion. Sometimes, a task is best completed in small increments, rather than doing it all at once, and if that is the case, then that is certainly how I attack that task.  

2.  I keep a list of what I want to get done that day. I take some time, the night before to write a list, that goes in the car, of errands I need to run.  I write a list of things, that stays in the house, of the things that need to get done at home.  I scratch off what gets done and move forward to the next day's list of what doesn't get done. 

3.  I make sure my environment is not too cluttered.  Clutter, in and of itself, is a total distraction and takes up brain space you need to use to stay focused.

4.  I put everything away by category.  If it is related to laundry, it is in the laundry room.  If it is something that has to be done, it goes in my to do pile. I hang my clothes up by style and color, i.e. black shirts, white shirts, gray shirts, then black pants, gray pants, white pants, etc.  Putting things in categories helps you put things away more consistently and find things more easily. 

5.  I have figured out how much time it takes for me to complete certain tasks and I am realistic about allotting the correct amount of time to get them totally completed.  I don't pretend it is going to take me less time than it normally does and I keep myself focused on the clock so I am not late leaving the house.  

Yes, this ADD/ADHD girl has conquered the beast.....most of the time.  There are times I get bored, distracted and off track but with these strategies in place, it is easy to get back to where I need to be and get things done.  

Math....It Really Is Important

 

The other day it hit me.....a lot of the things I do are based on basic math principles. 

Here are several examples:

• If you want to weigh less you have to eat less junk food and exercise/move more.  

• If you want to have less clutter, you have to bring in less and get rid of more.

•  If you have only so much square footage, you can't fit more than that amount of stuff  into it.

•  If you want to have a successful marriage, you have to spend more time working on it  and less time fussing about it.   

•  If you want to increase the odds of raising responsible kids into responsible adults,  you have to take more time to nurture, teach, discipline and love them and less time  yelling at them, berating them, buying them stuff and expecting someone else to raise  them for you.

• If you want to have financial peace, you have to spend less and save more.

• If you want to be happier, you have to spend less time worrying, fretting and complaining and more time figuring out what you can do to change your situation, changing what you can and developing an attitude of gratitude. 

•  If you want to feel better, you have to spend less time indulging what you know you shouldn't be indulging in and more time on things that are good for you.

• If you want to make a difference, you spend less time on yourself and more time on helping others.

• If you want to live purposefully, spend more time doing the things you are created to do and less time comparing yourself to others.  

More and Less......basic math principles that equal some great results. See, you should have paid attention to that math class in school!  It really is important. 

How good is your math?