Your Life. Organized.

Here's To Compostable Holidays!

Bless all you lovely people who have the fortitude to go all out for the holidays. Not just THE holidays, but ANY holiday. You know who you are. 

You're my neighbor that I can count on to have an inflatable turkey, Santa, snowman, or gigantic live-action snow globe on your roof or lawn every winter. You don't shy away from covering your bushes with white spider-webby floss and filling the front yard with headstones and the formerly-dead rising from the earth at Halloween. The Easter bunny hops by your place every year hanging huge colored eggs on fishing line from every tree you own. Oh yes, I know you. 

You and your fabulous seasonal decorating put my house to shame every holiday, but that's okay because when I drive by your house I get a smile from the hard work you've done, but I can't help but smile twice because my lazy butt doesn't have any of that horror to put away later. 

My philosophy on holiday decorating, (and pretty much everything else in life except bacon and Bon Jovi), is LESS IS MORE. I have one box of Christmas decorations I pull out every year and once those are in place, I consider myself nearly done, except for the compostables. 

Yep, compostable decor is one of my secrets to simpler holidays.  

Because I'm the "just enough" holiday decorator, I do JUST ENOUGH so my house feels in season, but not so much that it's a pain to take down. But I can go crazy with compostables if I want to, because they don't have to be PUT away. They get THROWN away! Yahoo! Here are my favorite disposable decor ideas for the Thanksgiving and Christmas season. 

Greenery
I have a big evergreen tree in my back yard so I can just cut a handful of fresh greenery and lay it on the fireplace mantel or string it around my front door and POOF! It's Christmas! If you don't have your own evergreen tree, ask a friend or take a walk in the woods. If all else fails, nab some at your nearest Home Depot or Lowe's. 

Pumpkins and Gourds
I love the warm variety of colors and textures that pumpkins and gourds offer for fall and winter decorating. Use itty bitty ones as part of your Thanksgiving tablescape by using your fanciest penmanship to write guest's names on them with a Sharpie. Place larger ones outside your front door.

Holly 
I also happen to have a few holly trees in my yard, so holly branches with berries are plentiful and free. Left natural or sprayed gold, holly is sturdy and looks great combined with evergreen branches and ornaments. You can also use holly on your tablescape by tying a small holly branch to a rolled fabric napkin with a piece of velvet ribbon. 

Apples
Nothing says fall like a big vase or bowl of beautiful fresh apples. Spruce it up (ha! get it? spruce?) with fresh greenery or holly for contrast.

Mums
Oh how I love the many gorgeous colors mums come in! A ten dollar pot of these quintessential fall blooms outside your front door or strategically placed indoors definitely says "fall weather has arrived" in a super simple way.

Rosemary
One of my favorite herbs, I love rosemary for its incredible freshness and piney scent, but also because it's evergreen and grows right outside my door for me to use all year. Not only is it great for holiday cooking, it's pretty in arrangements or all on its own. I cut some fresh branches and put them in a vase on the wall of my powder room for guests to enjoy.

Persimmons
Like many of the items on my disposable decor list, persimmons grow in my yard. (I know it sounds as if I have a huge yard, but it's just a regular little suburban yard) These gorgeous bright orange fruit are about as big as a tomato and firm like an apple. A wooden bowl arrangement of persimmons, whole nuts and some greens or rosemary makes a simple and striking centerpiece for any table.

These ideas aren't edgy or glitzy but what I love about them is their simplicity, their affordability and their temporary nature. What are some of your favorite ways to decorate for the holidays using plants, fruits and other compostable items? 

 

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4 Easy Ways to Increase Your Productivity

Guest post by Ebonee

Recently featured on this blog were some tools that help keep your business organized that allow you to stay focused. To further the conversation, let’s discuss a few tried and true techniques that, when used alongside these tools, will increase your productivity.

Have Purposeful Space
Several studies have shown that our surroundings have a huge effect on our work habits and productivity. Try setting aside a specific workspace that is an optimal environment for keeping you focused. You can consider decluttering your desk, surrounding yourself with calming inspiration like art or music, and only having essential items nearby.

Make the Time
Even though our schedules can be full to the brim with daily tasks and errands to run, do yourself a favor and regularly set aside some time where you can focus on one thing. Scheduling time blocks for the most important things is a great way to be proactive and increase your productivity. Be sure to have this time be as focused as possible. For example, rather than blocking an entire afternoon for “writing articles”, schedule a half hour for brainstorming, a half hour for outlining, and two hours for writing. Don’t be afraid to schedule a little time for yourself as well. Perhaps you can finally finish that book you started or go outside and enjoy the weather.

 

Remove Distractions
There’s definitely technology that can boost our productivity, but there’s also technology that causes us to waste hours at a time. Our phones, Internet, and social media are a few of the biggest productivity hindrances out there. People getting distracted by Facebook alone has been attributed to a loss of $28 billion a year in workplace productivity. This is where only having the essential items in your workspace comes into play. Try using “do not disturb” functions for your phone or email, and you could even go all in on blocking certain websites that may distract you. There are even gadgets now, like this surround wifi system, that can do everything from blocking certain sites, to pausing the Internet.

 

Set Boundaries During Work Hours
For any of you that work in a busy office or work from home, it can be incredibly easy to get pulled in different directions, all of which are away from your work. Whether it’s your coworkers asking you to tag along for lunch, or that laundry list of things to get done around the house, it’s important to prioritize work during work hours. Scheduling time blocks, like the ones mentioned earlier, will help immensely. Try setting aside a few hours of work, and then a little bit of time to do something for yourself.

 

Today’s guest blog post is courtesy of Ebonee,a freelance writer committed to researching and helping others increase their own productivity, mainly through the help of new technology.

5 Tools To Keep Your Business Organized

Guest post by Jessica Kane, for FlexCon

When it comes to business, every single second counts. If you want to optimize your productivity to the highest level, then organization is essential. Staying organized allows you to have as much free time as you need to spend with your friends, family, and hobbies away from the business. On the other hand, being disorganized is the quickest way to invite disaster. Without organization, your focus and your strength are sapped away at the speed of light. The following tools can help you attain the level of organization that will ensure that your business is always moving in the right direction on all fronts.

 

Cloud Technology

The ability to store information via cloud is possibly one of the most helpful technological innovations that we have the privilege of using today. Once upon a time, a computer malfunction could potentially mean that a person lost all of their important files with no hope of ever getting them back. Today, with the help of cloud information storage, there is no need to fear that your information hangs in the balance of the sudden crash. Cloud storage allows you to store your information in either a public or a private cloud, instead of just having it locked into a hard drive.

 

Automated Social Media Posting Tools

Social media may not in and of itself be an explicitly business-oriented tool, but there is absolutely no denying that it has gained extreme merit as a business-strengthening resource. Even if keeping up-to- date with social media may seem as if it takes quite a bit of time, there are certain software tools that can automate your social media presence so you can stay connected on the go. You can save yourself tons of stress by investing in a social media software package that does the work for you, such as If This Then That (IFTT).

 

Things

One of the biggest tools to help businesses stay organized is Things, an Apple program designed to work in conjunction with David Allen's Getting Things Done productivity process. This program operates by taking very large tasks and breaking them down into smaller portions so that they immediately become more manageable. Everything from cleaning a room to managing projects at work can instantly be organized into small, manageable segments. The program can be synced across multiple Apple devices, including Macs, iPads, and iPhones. Users have the ability to establish a time limit so that all tasks and small jobs can be approached with the appropriate priority.

 

Expensify

This service enables the user to instantly import their credit card statements and keep track of all of expenses, including everything from lunch to travel expenses. Expensify allows the user to create reports for any kind of expense and upload the business receipts for viewing at any time. Certain events can be linked to different people for the purpose of accounting. There is a mobile application available for all platforms that allows the user to incorporate their data in an instant. It can be used for 10 receipts a month at no cost, and is just twenty cents for every additional receipt.

 

PressKing

With all the different online platforms that we have today, the potential to share press releases with thousands of people is infinite; on the other hand, reaching every contact all on every different platform can be very tiring. With PressKing, the user will be able to instantly launch any press release to as many as 200,000 people at a time. Press releases can be scheduled for release to email contacts and social network contacts alike. Business owners who are launching new products can instantly alert everyone in their circle and across different platforms with their announcements. 

 

Jessica Kane is a professional writer who has an interest in keeping things organized and in order. She currently writes for FlexCon, a leading vendor of corrugated plastic bins and boxes.

Get Organized, Go Digital

Guest post by Jim McCullen

The amount of information being thrown at us every day is insane and it is coming from so many different sources; social media, email, smartphone apps, and yes we still get the occasional piece of paper mail we need to do something with. 

I like to work in the digital world much the way I do in the physical world. I clearly define places to store my “stuff” so I know where to find it when I need it. For example, you have cabinets in your kitchen where you keep glasses, dishes, pots, and perhaps you have a junk drawer for all that miscellaneous stuff you don’t really know what to do with but you might need at some point. You probably have one spot where you keep the things you need when you leave the house like your wallet and your keys and another spot where new items are placed like mail, notes, etc. Over time even these defined spaces can get overcome with stuff. Yesterday I cleaned out my junk drawer in the kitchen. I threw out a bunch of useless items, realized that some of the items had a better more permanent place to be stored and that some indeed belonged in my junk drawer. 

That is the physical world, and when we move over to the digital world, it is really not that different. You have your email folders, Windows or Mac folders, data organization applications like Evernote or OneNote along with many other places to keep information. Stop and think for a moment: Are these storage locations organized in a similar fashion to your physical world? 

Let me take you through how I organize my digital world. 

I manage all of my email accounts in Microsoft Outlook (Outlook and Gmail accounts). Over the past 10 years I developed a system and published a book that allows me to manage all of my email messages, commitments and to-do items using Microsoft Outlook and the best practices from David Allen’s book Getting Things Done. My system and my book are both called Control Your Day and you can find the book on Amazon and more information about my system on my website www.controlyourday.net. 

I use Microsoft OneNote to organize and store information about customers, staff, projects and reference information for work. If I get an email that doesn’t require any action items on my part but it might be needed in the future, I move it into OneNote in a folder for that subject. This way it is no longer creating noise in my daily action system, but it is easy to reference when needed. If we go back to the physical work for a minute, this would be similar to putting glasses back in the cabinet and not leaving them on the counter with your keys and wallet. 

Evernote is my tool of choice for all of my personal reference information, if I find information on a place I would like to visit or perhaps I am researching the purchase of a new mountain bike, I will keep all of that information in Evernote. You could do everything in one platform, Evernote or OneNote and just setup separate accounts for personal and work, I find each product has some unique features that fit well in the way I use them. 

Outlook acts as my inbox and the place where I go to see what I need to work on next. What makes the system work is the ability to quickly process and move information into the correct storage location so you can find it when you need it but at the same time it doesn’t cloud your view to the work you have to focus on. If I am working on a project, I will send emails to myself with the tasks I need to work on so I can continue to move larger initiatives forward. 

Many people choose to treat their email inbox like a junk draw, everything goes in and nothing comes out. When you need something it can be challenging to find it unless you know what you are looking for. Important items tend to get missed due to all the noise around them. Consider if you placed your bills in your junk draw, there would probably be a good chance you would be late to pay them as they would get lost with everything else in there. 

Give some thought to how you manage your digital world today, could you apply some of the basic principles in this post to get a bit more organized? Are you using a tool like Evernote or OneNote? If you are a Microsoft Outlook user be sure to stop by my website and check out Control Your Day, drop me a line with any questions or thoughts. 

  

Thanks to Jim McCullen for today's guest blog post! 

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Evernote Tidbit #6: Keep Vital Info at Your Fingertips

In my work with clients to help them get their paperwork and information in order, we always create a hard copy folder called "Vital Documents." Inside this folder, we store physical originals or copies of important items such as birth certificates, drivers licenses, passports, Social Security cards, insurance policies and so on. This practice helps give my clients peace of mind that they can find this vital information if they ever need it. 

Holy moly we're six weeks into my Evernote Basics series already! We've covered the introduction, how to capture information within Evernote, how to annotate images and how to use Evernote to capture and share your favorite recipes. This week I want to share how easy it is to capture and store vital information and find it in an instant. 

Have you ever been on vacation and gotten a call that all was NOT well at home? Flood. Fire. Break-In. Emergency vet visit. Things can happen when you're away from home and although you may have hard copies of your vital documents and information in a fire safe in your house, they do you no good when you're away.

This is where Evernote saves the day.

Create a notebook called Vital Documents where you drop all the above-mentioned pieces of information, along with countless others that you'd want to have access to in a crisis. These could include hand written notes with bank account numbers and contact information, photos of your credit cards, scanned copies of powers of attorney, wills, trusts, business cards with doctors names and contact info, and your financial adviser's contact info just to name a few. If you have a spouse or kids, you can share the notebook (or only certain notes in it) with them too.

For additional security for your personal information, I recommend encrypting the text in these highly confidential notes as well as adding a passcode lock to your Evernote mobile app. Encrypting is EASY as pie too! On the desktop version of Evernote, simply highlight the text you wish to encrypt, right click it and select "Encrypt Selected Text." You'll be prompted to create a passphrase, and then type it a second time to confirm. NOTE: This is a special passphrase you'll use only for encrypting. This is not your Evernote password. If you ever forget your encryption passphrase, you're SOL, because Evernote CANNOT access it.

Having all your important information stored in Evernote will give you peace of mind that even if something should happen to your hard copies AND your computer hard drive, that you'll be able to access the information immediately via the web, your mobile app or your desktop client. 

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PPS: Links in the above post are affiliate links. I'll make a few cents if you click through and subscribe to a paid version of Evernote. There is a free option for everyone though!  :)

Evernote Tidbit #5: Create a Shared Task List

We're five weeks into my Evernote Basics series and you've learned a lot already! This week I want to tell you how you and your family, professional team or clients can use Evernote as a way to easily share and manage a common task or project list. 

Step One: Create a new note in Evernote by hitting the plus sign at the top of the page, and title the note Shared Task List. Or you could call it Stuff To Do. Heck you could call it Jimmy Stewart for all I care, but it needs a title.

Step Two: Begin typing a list of tasks, breaking up the tasks by person or by category, as in the example below.

 

Step Three: Highlight all the items on your list with your mouse or trackpad, as below.

 

Step Four: Click on the "Checklist" icon in the formatting toolbar at the top of the page. 

 

Step Five: POOF your text list becomes an interactive checklist!

Step Six: Share your note with other Evernote users using the "SHARE" button at the upper right. Now you will all be able to add things to the list and check things OFF the list as they get done.

Shared task lists are handy when you're collaborating with others on a project of any kind. What ways would creating shared notes be helpful to you and your personal or professional team? 

 

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PPS: Links in the above post are affiliate links. I'll make a few cents if you click through and subscribe to a paid version of Evernote. There is a free option for everyone though!  :)

Evernote Tidbit #4: Saving and Sharing Recipes

Who loves food, raise your hand! Wherever you may be, I bet you can see that I have both my hands in the air like I just don't care! For me, enjoying good food is truly one of life's greatest pleasures and cooking for others is a very close second. Whether you're a passionate foodie like I am, or a busy mom or dad who just wants to keep healthy, non-boring meals on your table every night, Evernote is one of your best resources! 

Remember how in Evernote Tidbit #2 I told you all the various ways to get information into Evernote? All the ways I listed are how you get your recipes into Evernote. 

"But wait!!" you exclaim. "Many of my recipes are just pages I've torn out of magazines!"

Oh yes grasshopper, I know. That's the beauty of Evernote. No matter what form your recipes start out in, you can drop them into Evernote and POOF they're digital and searchable! For realz, playah. 

Magazine clipping? Take a photo of the page with the app Evernote will make the text searchable.

Hand-written recipe? Take a photo of it with the app and if your writing is legible, Evernote will make it searchable.

Emailed recipe? Drag and drop the document into Evernote.

Epicurious or Food Network recipe online? Use the Evernote Web Clipper to nab the entire thing and save it to Evernote.

The contents of your recipes being searchable is the first great part about dropping them into Evernote. But the second great part is that you can share them with anyone who has an Evernote account! Whaaaat? Yep!

Let's say you and your closest group of friends all want to create a shared recipe collection. You just create a notebook called Recipes (clever name, I know) and share the notebook with your friends, who will get an invitation to join the notebook. They will be able to see your recipes and depending on the type of Evernote account they own, they may or may not be able to add recipes to the notebook but they'll certainly be able to view all the notes inside it.

As I've mentioned before, there are four tiers of Evernote to choose from. Evernote Basic is free and is of course the most limited in function. You can absolutely get by with it, but if you want to unleash the true power of Evernote, it pays to get one of the pay versions. I recommend starting at the PLUS version and then evaluating to see whether you need to upgrade to Premium. The good news is that it's crazy affordable, with Evernote Plus at just $35 a year in the United States.

If you'd like a one-on-one phone coaching session on how to use Evernote or you know someone who would, just give me a holler!

 

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PPS: Links in the above post are affiliate links. I'll make a few cents if you click through and subscribe to a paid version of Evernote. There is a free option for everyone though!  :)

What Does Your Book Say?

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its chapter is New Year’s day."

~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

 

 

 

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Do Not Dwell On Dreams

"It does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that."

 

—J.K. Rowling

 

 

 

 

 

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40 / 50 Simple Pleasures

Several years ago my husband Ed and our friend Lisa Dunwell decided my superhero name would be Super Sensitive Sense Girl because my senses of smell, hearing and taste are so acute. Being Super Sensitive Sense Girl, you might imagine I’m easily distracted by things others don’t even notice such as the annoying ticking of a watch, an unexplained faint humming sound or a smell that others swear doesn’t exist. However, being Super Sensitive Sense Girl has an upside too! I get the pleasure of noticing many small and seemingly insignificant things that make me smile and appreciate being alive. 

The contrast of bright green trees against a vivid blue sky always catches my eye when I’m driving. The sweet smell of crepe myrtle blossoms or honeysuckle wafting through the air on a summer day. Shiny green bursts of new leaves shooting up on a potted plant. Subtle aromas of licorice, yeast bread, green bell pepper and myriad other notes revealed in a swirled glass of wine. The perfect swirl of a snail’s shell. The peaceful rise and fall of a sleeping kitty’s furry belly. The way the light shines through a flower. The silky texture of a perfect bite of mousse. The high-pitched chirp of a hummingbird in a tree outside my window. The intricate pattern and texture of an unopened hibiscus bloom. The indescribable joy of screaming hot water cascading over me in the shower, which I say a silent prayer of thanks for every day.

I could go on and on about all the small things that bring me joy, but you get the picture.

Noticing these small moments of beauty and taking a moment to savor the pleasure they bring helps me re-boot my attitude when I might not be in the best mood. These tiny gifts remind me of my own smallness in the master plan and act as mental speed bumps that slow me down for just a moment so I can acknowledge the work of a higher power. Perhaps that’s why they’re put there in the first place... to remind us that no matter what’s happening in our life, there are always free and abundant moments of pleasure all around us if we take the time to notice.

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Two Clutch Organizing Tools I Love

I'm a big advocate of finding the simplest solution possible to any problem. Two of my favorite organizing tools are things I've had in my kitchen cabinets for years but today for some reason they jumped out at me as I was making my morning French press of coffee.

I opened the cabinet, pulled down the clear plastic shoe box full of coffee and tea, and retrieved a bag of coffee. Gathering all my coffee and tea into a single container makes it so much easier for me to access those items because separately they would end up getting pushed to the back of the cabinet and becoming invisible.

After I nabbed the coffee, I pulled the bottom shelf out of my Spice Stacker, grabbed the cinnamon and nutmeg and sprinkled them in the French press. I love the Spice Stacker because it serves the same purpose as the clear container does; it keeps my spices visible and easy to find quickly.

Using inexpensive organizing products to streamline the processes you repeat every day pays off immediately in efficiency and happiness! What are your favorite simple and inexpensive tools that make your life better?

 

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Organize Tax Time With These 15 Tips!

Guest blog by Julie Starr Hook of Five Starr Organizing and Design and author of “From Frazzled to Freedom”

 

It's tax time once again and if this is your most dreaded time of year, make it easier and less stressful next year with these 15 tax prep tips.

1. Put reminders on your calendar for tax deadlines now! April 15th is the most important date, however W-2, 1098 and 1099 forms should be mailed out by January 31.
    
2. Group all statements and documents together. This would include all statements of income including W-2 forms, 1099s, interest income and the like.
   
   
3. Fill out a tax organizer. If you have an accountant, he or she should be sending you a tax organizer packet. Filling it out ahead of time will save you time and money in preparation fees.
   
   
4. Collect it all. Designate an area to collect incoming tax information as it arrives in the mail, such as end-of-year mortgage statements or investment statements. If you make an appointment to see your CPA in person, be sure to bring all the necessary documentation with you.
   
   
5. Group all deduction information. This may be records of charitable giving, business expenses, property taxes, mortgage and savings account interest documentation. 
   
   
6. Decide how you're going to file your taxes. If you are hesitant, check with an accountant to determine the best way to file. For example, if you have a 20-year old child, you’ll want to know whether you can claim her as a dependent. 
   
   
7. Avoid e-file rejection notices. Make you know who is claiming whom. Communicate with your family members ahead of time. If there is a name change, make sure you have already gone to the Social Security Division to let them know. 
   
   
8. Make a decision on which method you file. Will you purchase software and prepare your taxes on your own or use an accountant? There are benefits to each, but if you want to hire an accountant, don't wait until the last minute.
   
   
9. Be aware of new taxes laws. If you are going to file on your own, make sure to do your homework, it can save you time and money. Changing tax law is another reason you may want to consider hiring a professional to help you. 
   
   
10. Determine one place to store your tax documentation. This may be a filing system, accordion folder or manila folders. By keeping them in one place, it will be easier when it’s time to gather your information. 
    
    
11. Retain records for seven years. Keep your tax records that support items on your tax return for at least seven years after the date the tax return has been filed. This varies if you file as an individual or a business.  Check your local accountant or www.irs.gov  for what taxes to shred or keep. 
    
    
12. Maintain all year. Create a system for organizing your tax documents throughout the year to make tax prep easier going forward.
    
    
13. Use banker’s boxes. Standard banker’s boxes are perfect for storing tax returns and supporting documents, and shred past taxes when IRS allows. I use a black Sharpie to write on the box the tax year.
    
    
14. Purge your folders. As long as you’re getting your tax documentation together, purge your files of outdated and no longer relevant papers. Make sure that your files contain only current year and pertinent information. 
    
    
15. File on time. Avoid penalties and interest by preparing early and filing on time. Enough said?

Julie Starr Hook resides in Salem, Oregon, with her husband, three children and two step children.

Related articles

Organize These 10 Tricky Entertaining Items

7 Tips to Simplify Spring Cleaning

How Do I File Back Tax Returns?

Let Us Begin!

Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.

~Mother Teresa

 

 

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7 Ways To Keep Your Home Clutter-Free

Guest blog post by Sofia Lewis

 

With a busy lifestyle and endless to-do lists, it can be easy to neglect your home. Time passes and before you know it, clutter can take over your house. However, if you follow some simple steps you can keep your living space in order.

 

A Matter of Habit
Make cleaning part of your daily routine and set your own rules. For instance; “put everything in order before going to bed” or “tidy up the room before leaving the house." Most of all keep up with those rules and don’t submit to inertia. Do one extra organizing job on top of your regular tasks. Taking care of small bits every day will be less exhausting and it will give you the confidence that you can manage the problem. 

 

Schedule Smart
Take 10 to 15 minutes to get things in order and you will be amazed by the results. Small changes add up! After a week your house will be considerably clearer and more organized. Choose part of the day when you are most active. For example, if you're a morning person, set up your de-cluttering sessions earlier in the day.

 

One In, One Out
When purchasing new things use the following principle: for each item that comes into the house, one should go out, preferebly similar in type and size. Same goes for the objects you use. When you don’t need them anymore you should return them to their regular place.

 

Think Twice
When shopping, avoid spontaneous purchases. You'll not only reduce your chances of drowning in clutter, but you'll also save money. Recreational shopping is one of the major sources of unnecessary items. Next time you stumble on something you desire, first ask yourself whether you really need it.

 

Let Your Inner Child Out
De-cluttering is more pleasant if you don’t think of it as a tedious obligation. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had to do only what we wanted ? In real life things don’t work that way. It takes a lot of effort and motivation to take care of all the dull tasks. The good news is you can trick your mind into enjoying unpleasant activities by simply turning them into a game such as creating a competition between family members. You'll all have good time while teaching your children to clean and organize.

 

Donate
Another good way to keep the clutter away is by regularly donating unnecessary possessions. Think of all the items that you don’t use anymore but that will be useful to other people. Giveaways will open up additional space and will make you feel better.

 

Keep Just the Memory
Don’t let your emotions blur your perspective. You may feel attached to an object because it has sentimental value and holds cherished memories. At some point your home will become a museum of the past. It is good to remember the good old times, but we also need to make space for new experiences. Letting go of items doesn’t mean that you're losing your immediate connection with the times long gone. The real memory is in your heart.

 

Author Bio: Sofia Lewis is a passionate freelance article writer and blogger. She is inspired by home improvement projects and writes about cleaning, home organizing, home decoration and many more home related topics.

 

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Has Your Spare Time Turned Into "Rare" Time?

Guest post by my colleague Nancy Borg

How many times have you said “I’ll get to this or that in my spare time?” Too often, I fear. We cram our schedules with jam-packed to-do’s and we never seem to get there.

Unfortunately, the demise of "spare time" is the by-product of being popularly “busy” in today’s culture. On a good day, we take on too much and don’t carve out sufficient time to get it all done, so it spills into the next day. And on and on it goes. We all struggle with time on a daily basis, and it’s seems highly unlikely that we’ll end up with any extra.

Gone are the days of "spare" time, it seems. But is it a lost commodity? It doesn’t have to be. What if I told you that you can reclaim it? Here are some ideas to chew on:

Schedule It
If you don’t schedule spare time, it’s never going to happen. So just like booking the haircut, picking up the dry cleaning or getting the car washed, add spare time onto your to-do list too. Maybe a time to catch up on reading, enjoy a DVD, call an old friend or just plant yourself on the couch and chill. Don’t you deserve that?

  

Evaluate the Have To’s and the Want-To's
Think about those things that have to get done… but not necessarily by YOU. Delegate and make room for your want-to’s. Beyond the non-negotiables, create space for your sanity. It’s essential for life-balance. 

 

Consider the Obstacles
Can you define what's in your way? Is it your time-management skills? I frequently write about managing being “busy” because poor time-management habits usually heighten anxiety and exacerbate disorganization. Sharpening those skills can free up valuable time. Is working long hours the obstacle? Does your workday come home with you? Working from home can easily impede on spare time. Or could technology be one of your time robbers? As if the days aren’t busy enough, our affinity to stay connected on or off the computer is a huge distraction. 

Identifying the cause is the first step to finding solutions.

Tweak the Busy
If you’re overwhelmed and feeling out of control, perhaps it's a red flag that you may really be too busy. Align your schedule with your prioritizes. Adjust. Change what’s no longer working for you. Life changes readily, so tweaking is an ongoing and necessary process.

  

Capture Opportunities
Remember, spare time is “your” time. When or how you choose to use it, is your prerogative. What’s important is that you find some. I revel in my spare time and know when I require it. This is a time that I catch the wind in my sails, and I capitalize on these opportunities. For me, I’m a summer gal and so my stolen spare moments will probably be outside somewhere with blue skies above and the sun shining brightly overhead. In summertime I'm more apt to get up and be ready to work hard… but play hard too. Maybe your season is autumn or winter when you can stay indoors, hunker down and focus on what's most important. Whatever your favorite season, reclaiming spare time by scheduling it on your calendar is doable and it's important to your health and life balance! What will YOU choose to do with yours?

 

Nancy Borg is a Professional Organizer, and owner of Move The Mess. She specializes in Residential and Home-office organization. Nancy blogs about all things organized. She provides her readers with tips and strategies to help navigate through day to day. This article appeared originally on her blog and is being shared with permission.

 

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