Happy Spring... Cleaning!

Spring is finally here! I know much of the nation has had a very rough winter and is thrilled at the sight of spring. Now that it is officially here, it's time to jump into spring cleaning! Well, in my house it is anyway. I know that spring cleaning is a daunting task for anyone, myself included. It's really not that much fun to spend hours or days inside cleaning the house. I like to break up my spring cleaning tasks so that it doesn't feel quite so overwhelming.



Yesterday I marked the start of spring by tackling most of my kitchen. Sometime this week I plan on scrubbing my bathroom until it shines. Other spring cleaning tasks will just have to wait until April.

If you're one of those people who is too busy to even think about spring cleaning but knows it needs to happen, I have some tips for you on how to do just that:

*Start by making a list of what needs to be cleaned in your house - if you've got a really long list, as most people do, break it down by room or section of your house.

*Choose the one room or project that is of the highest importance and continue to rank order your list of tasks until it is prioritized.

*Now it's time to take a close look at your #1 priority and break that down into specific tasks. For example, in my kitchen I made a specific "to do list" so that I could cross off the little things I did instead of having to clean out the entire kitchen all at once.

Kitchen:
-Wipe out refrigerator
-Wipe out freezer
-Clean cabinet faces
-Wipe down pantry shelves, clean out
-Scrub oven inside
-Wipe out oven drawer
-Detail appliances
-Complete recipe organization

*Once you have come up with your specific task lists for each room or area in your house it's time to dedicate some time to accomplishing these tasks. I think it's perfectly acceptable to spend all spring getting this stuff done because, well, it's no fun and it's a lot of work. If you're one of those people who'd prefer to get everything done in a weekend - fine, clean your heart out!

*I like allocating part of a day most weekends to spend time knocking out tasks, plus I can usually afford to sacrifice one night each week to get some stuff done at home. After all, it's lighter out now and I usually have more motivation to be productive when I can see daylight.

*Don't forget about adding projects that you've been putting off to your spring cleaning list. Some of mine are: hanging art on the walls, vacuum cobwebs/clean out unfinished portion of my basement, and clean the car!

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The Fundamentals of Organization

I've shared a lot of my personal opinions in this blog so far, and this post is no different. What I believe the fundamentals of organization are may be different from what other professional organizers consider to be the fundamentals. If you're about to do a major mental or physical overhaul with regards to organization I would advise you to read this to make sure you've got the basics down before you get in over your head.




Mindset. The first step to becoming more organized is to develop a positive mindset that is going to motivate you to be organized. This isn't something to take lightly. You must be in it wholeheartedly in order to live a fully organized life. If you don't give it your all you won't see the best possible results.

Willingness. For most people, especially those who organizing doesn't come as a second nature, becoming organized requires a big lifestyle change. This requires the willingness to accept the change and go with it. You must be willing to change your way of thinking and adapt a new mindset to help you live your new and organized life.

Follow through. You've got the new mindset and the willingness to change and pick up new habits. Now you have to follow through and do them. Instead of walking past a pile of papers the "new you" is going to follow through and pick up the papers and put them in their proper place. It's little things that add up to a huge difference. Making a small amount of effort will result in great strides.

These may sound like easy changes to make, and for some people they are, but for most people it's a whole lifestyle change. Many people need to completely alter the way they think and view their daily tasks, personal belongings in their home and how to go about being more organized.

Good luck!

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Time Management

To be a whole-heartedly organized person, one must master the skill of time management. I come from a family where about half of us have that down, and the other half is "still working on it." I have learned that it doesn't make the situation any better when I get irritated when people are late or don't schedule their time adequately. It's up to the other person to change his (or her, of course!) behavior and correct the situation. I firmly believe that for those of you who struggle with managing your time, constant procrastination and tardiness that in order for you to effectively manage your time you need a complete mindset alteration.
A positive mindset is the first step towards becoming more organized with your time. If it's any consolation - think of how much time you'll save yourself by planning efficiently and effectively. This is something you'll have to figure out how to do on your own - all I know is that you need to become more aware of planning ahead and managing your time.
Once you've gotten a new mindset about time management the rest is downhill.

The important parts of managing your time are:
• Planning ahead and thinking ahead
• Scheduling your time - make an outline or a plan if really busy
• Being prepared and factoring in uncontrolled situations, like traffic, forgetting something or just running late one morning

I've written about scheduling your time and making an outline several times, so I'll just touch on that. Use a planner, a regular calendar, Outlook or other computer calendar/scheduler, an application on your PDA/iPhone or something else that you can think of that allows you to adequately plan your days. Use this scheduler to account for meetings, lunches, get-togethers, social activities, and other things you need to get done that don't necessarily have a timeframe - create monthly budget, send e-mail to your staff, sign the kids up for their summer sports, etc. In my Outlook I reserve a huge chunk of the day on Friday for my "catch up" or basic administrative work. I block off a set amount of time to accomplish specific tasks. It works really well - I don't schedule appointments then, it's my time to get things done. It works really well!

Being prepared is really important, not just for the sake of time management, but for the sole purpose of being fully and completely organized. With regards to time management, it's vital to factor in things like traffic, getting lost, an unexpected phone call as you run out the door, etc. - give yourself an extra 5 minutes or so to get somewhere as a buffer to make sure that you're on time. Set your watch 5 or 10 minutes fast and forget that you did. What's the worst that could happen? You arrive early! Your tardiness doesn't just affect you - it makes an impact on whomever you are meeting and their mood, as well as their tardiness later on in the day.

The whole planning ahead and thinking ahead aspect goes back to your mindset. If your mindset isn't there yet, this isn't going to work for you. Know what you need to get done in the future and plan for it, budget, allocate your time appropriately, plan a party or dinner with enough time to get everything ready, don't allow yourself to run out of something at home (toilet paper, dishwasher detergent, tissue, coffee...), be efficient when running errands, print out directions and confirm them the night before... The list goes on - but again, this is all on you. You've either got it or you don't. And if you don't, I think you've at least got it in there somewhere!

This is all about changing your mindset. I wish you well -- be on time today! :) **If you aren't going to be on time, have the decency to call - that's all I ask.

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Get Rid of it!

I think that spring is the ultimate time to go through everything in your house and get rid of stuff that you don't use, that doesn't fit you (or your family) anymore or that's broken. This is kind of like a seasonal cleaning, but with an emphasis on de-cluttering through "stuff removal."

I would suggest going room by room through your house to create an inventory to figure out what in the world is in your house and taking over your precious space. Do this slowly so you don't overwhelm yourself. Start maybe someplace small, like your bedroom or bathroom, and work from there. Think about each thing as you go through it and ask yourself some questions:

• When was the last time I used this?
• Is it broken? Can I fix it?
• Did I even know I had this?
• Does this article of clothing fit me/children/spouse?
• When was the last time I wore this?
• Do I NEED this still?
• Could I live without this?

The questions above should get you thinking.

• If you didn't wear an article of clothing during the last season, get rid of it!
• If an article of clothing doesn't fit you at the present time, get rid of it!
• Didn't know you had something still? There's a good chance you'll forget that again, so get rid of it!
• Haven't used this in the last two years? Get rid of it!
• Is it broken? Can I fix it? If not, get rid of it!
• Is this essential to my existence? Probably not.
• Can I live without it? Probably.

It is so rewarding to go through the house with big garbage bags and clearing out things that you have no use for anymore. There is absolutely no point in keeping something just to keep it. That's called being a packrat, or worse: a hoarder. My task for you is to just get rid of it. The longer you procrastinate about getting rid of the messy buildup in your house the closer it comes to looking like you have become a hoarder.

If it helps you to think of it this way: you could throw a garage sale or sell your belongings online, give gently used clothing to consignment stores, sell appliances to secondhand stores, or donate your clothing to a charity to help others who are less fortunate. Pick one of those or your own motivator and go GET RID OF IT!

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Developing an Organized Mindset

We grind into children's brains the importance of putting their toys back where they found them and many parents ask their kids to only play with one toy at a time. Why do we do this with kids when most grown-ups don't follow suit? With grown-ups, of course, it's not about toys. It's about bills, papers, the disheveled cupboards and the messy buildup. It seems that somewhere along the way that adults have lost that mindset of "pick up after yourself."

Something that comes natural to me that is not found in most people is an organized mindset. I've been realizing this more and more every time I meet new people and go into new people's homes. It seems as though people just aren't thinking about what they're doing and how their habits are contributing to their disorganization. We all need to be more aware of our actions and what we are thinking about when we throw the mail in the huge pile, or cram another thing into the refrigerator.

Taking on a huge organizational task is a major project that requires a lot of motivation, mental strength and commitment. Most people can scrounge up the motivation to get started and the strength to keep at it, but they lack the commitment to keep it up after the overhaul takes place. This I see all the time. It is quite frustrating for me to watch because I don't understand why you would even care an ounce to work so hard at creating an organized space and then turn around and go back to your same habits and let it fall apart. The most important part of creating a new organized space or revamping your organization throughout the house is commitment. The organizing isn't the hardest part - it's not falling back into your old rut that should be concentrated on. Seriously. Again, I ask, why in the world would you waste all of that time cleaning out and organizing if you allow the space to go back to being disorganized and you haven't changed your mindset? What a waste.

That was a little rant, but really, you need to change your mindset. Follow through on the commitment you made to yourself while organizing your home, office or your life. Keep it up. Being organized and living in an organized home most certainly improves your quality of life. Why would you want to jeopardize that for sheer laziness? So, follow through and maintain your commitment to yourself. Change your mindset and the way you think about putting your belongings away.

Here are some tips:

• Don't allow piles to build up. Bring the mail in, open it, recycle what you don't want and file your bills. No messy piles allowed!

• After you organize a space, you deserve a reward. If you maintain the exact same organization for a month, six months, a year.... you deserve another reward for following through.

• Put your dirty clothes in the hamper, not on the floor. Follow through with that. Nothing looks worse than clothes laying around on the floor.

• Write yourself notes in areas of your home to remind yourself to keep it organized. Figure out where you are most prone to relapse and write a poster saying "keep it organized" or "I live an organized life" or something. Hang it in your closet, your cupboard, your basement... wherever!

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