Reduce the Stress

Every one of us can use a little less stress in our lives.  So often we try to follow the super-human scenario of trying to be all things to all people, all of the time.  What may happen is that we can become burned out both emotionally and physically. This doesn't have to be the case. Grab a lot of index cards and write a specific goal on each--anything you think of that you want to do. Arrange the cards so that the goals you MOST want to attain are on top, and the less essential goals go behind. Then, write deadlines on each of your top three cards, break each goal down into mini-goals, and schedule time to achieve each of them.

Clean a bit each day. Obtain some index cards and write a cleaning task down on each. Place all of your cards in a box, and draw one each day--that's your cleaning task. Be sure to include some FREE DAY cards in your box. If you draw one of them, you don't have to do any cleaning for the day. 

There are very few things you can do that will only take 5 minutes or less to complete. For example, you may think it takes 5 minutes to check your e-mail, but very often, it takes 15 minutes or more. 

Individual Tasks To Complete If You Have Ten Minutes:

Set a timer for ten minutes, open the junk drawer, sort through anything no longer needed and organize the rest.

Go through your clothes closet and check for any articles of clothing you never wear. Put them in a donation bag to be given to your favorite charity, or sell them.

Walk around your home for ten minutes with a basket or have your kids do this) and put any stray toys into the basket. Tomorrow, make your 10-minute organizing project to put all the toys back in their proper place.

Write out some of your birthday, anniversary and other greeting cards for one month in advance.

Whether you've been meaning to make an appointment with a doctor, your accountant, a repairman or a friend, take 10 minutes at this moment to do so.

Whether the surface is a table, a dresser, a desk or an ottoman, remove any clutter so you can actually see the surface again. File any papers needing filing, return any stray items to their rightful homes and toss any junk.

Time Management Tips

Are you an individual who can’t seem to properly manage your time?  If you are having problems at home or at work, there is a good chance that your problems may be caused by your inability to properly manage your time.  The good news, however, is that there are a number of steps that you can take to improve your time management.  In fact, 8 simple steps that you can take are highlighted below.

1 – Know That You Have a Problem

Knowing that you have a time management problem is the first step in changing your behavior.  Although it is typical to be late for work or a social event on occasion, it is something that should not be happening on a daily or a weekly basis.  If it is, it is time for you to realize that you may have a problem.

2 – Decide To Change

Knowing that you have a time management problem is important, but wanting to change is even more important.  You need to set goals for yourself, as these goals can help to provide you with a source of motivation.  Sample goals include showing up to work on time for a whole month, being on time for all dinner dates, and so forth.

3 – Stick To Your Goals

Creating a number of time management goals for you to meet is advised, but it is important that you don’t give up right away or when you are faced with complications.  Setting goals simply just isn’t enough, you need to stick with them.

4 – Create Daily Task Lists

Creating a to do list for yourself is an easy way to properly manage your time.  In fact, it is one of the easiest approaches that you can take.  Outline what you need to do throughout the day.  Be sure to list your tasks in order of importance.

5 – Rely On Time Management Tools

Properly managing your time is important, but it can be hard for many individuals to get use to, especially right away.  If you are one of those individuals, you will want to consider using time management tools to your advantage.  In fact, did you know that many cell phones and computers come with alarm clocks, alerts, and so much more?

6 – Learn How To Say No

In all honesty, there are times where you may not be able to refuse a project at work or a task at home, but try to not take on more than you can accomplish.  If you must, look into using outside help.  In the home, this outside help can come from a housecleaner.  At the workplace, this outside help can come from a coworker.

7 – Get Organized

Organization is key to being able to properly manage your time.  If you are unorganized, you are likely to waste a large amount of time.  For example, in the workplace you can waste time by searching for lost or misplaced documents.  The same can be said for the home; if you are unorganized, you can spend hours searching for your glasses or car keys.

8 – Consider Hiring Professional Help

As previously stated, if you are overwhelmed at home, you may want to call on a professional housecleaner.  In addition to taking this approach, there are other professionals that you can target.  There are individuals and companies who specialize in teaching others how to effectively manage their time and stay organized. 

How to Keep Your Home Free of Clutter in the Future

Decluttering is a little like losing weight. No matter how well you deal with your problem in the beginning, it will keep coming back unless you understand the concept of maintenance. If you have gone to the bother of decluttering your home and making it more minimalist and free of mess, here are some tips on how to keep it that way. 

Regular Maintenance

This step refers to simply keeping things the way they are by possibly selling or donating certain items when you realize you don’t need them, instead of stashing them in a pile that needs to be sorted over and over. You can read your mail and make a habit of appropriately dealing with it. There is no excuse for papers to be lying all over the floor or dining room table.

When you buy something from the store, put it where it is going to be kept immediately instead of setting bags on the floor and table. After the laundry comes out of the dryer, fold it and put it away immediately in the proper rooms and drawers. When you have five spare minutes, use it to tidy and clean up anything lying around. This is how you can keep huge messes from forming again.

Declutter Regularly

In addition to your regular maintenance, it is important to declutter on a regular basis. You can decide to have a serious decluttering day every three months, every six months, or just whenever your home starts looking cluttered. Make it a serious appointment and tidy your home from top to bottom, giving yourself another clean slate to work with.

Stop Buying Unnecessary Things

One of the biggest ways you can stop clutter in its tracks is to stop buying unnecessary things. By only allowing what you need to enter your home, you will cut down on the number of items you need to clear out later. Before you buy an item, think about whether you really need it, or if it is something you will regret at a later point in time.

Get Everyone on Board

You can’t conquer clutter alone, unless you live alone. If you are part of a family who lives together, or have roommates of any kind, you will need to make everyone a part of the decluttering team. Talk to everyone about your wishes to maintain a clutter-free haven, and talk about the many benefits of living in a more minimalist way than you have been. Let the other household members know that everyone’s efforts will benefit everyone else, and that you expect cooperation and teamwork.

Decluttering is only half of the solution. In order to maintain a beautiful home, you will need to take steps to keep it that way after the original clean sweep. Use these tips to keep your home free of clutter for years to come.

Ways To Get More Done

 1. Avoid interruption: If you have a private office, you may want to close your door. You might even place a sign saying something like "Hard at Work: Please Come Back Later." If you are interrupted, help keep the interruption short by remaining task-oriented.

2. Schedule time to make phone calls and return e-mail. When you leave a phone message, list times that you will be available by phone. Ask the other party to do the same - it will save you both a lot of time that would otherwise be spent on everyone's favorite game, phone tag. Also, avoid checking your voice mail and e-mail too frequently. Instead, review them at scheduled intervals during the day.

3. Plan stress breaks throughout the day. Make sure you give yourself a break! Working to the point of total brain fatigue and muscle tension will never do you any good. Stretch, take some deep breaths, and go out to get your lunch, call your kids - do something to give yourself a little break. If you'd like, you can schedule these breaks as a reward for when you've finished a particular chore.

4. Appreciate your own approach. Just as we are all different in other ways, we all have diverse organizational styles. Keep in mind that you have gotten where you are today because of whom you are and what you have accomplished. Employ improved organizational skills to enhance your personal style, not change it. Getting organized should make you feel good, not burdened.

5. Stick to your plan. The best-laid plans often fall victim to their makers. While spontaneity is important, there is a fine line between it and plain procrastination. Once you've come up with a good plan for tackling a task, stay with it. Only you can prevent yourself from wavering.

Motivating Your Family To Get Organized

As you begin the process of organizing your household, you may ask yourself what the best way is to motivate your family members to become and stay actively involved in the process. Each family member is unique and so is their method for organizing and prioritizing. But if you approach it from a coaching standpoint, it is possible to motivate your family to get on the organizational bandwagon. 

First of all, remember that your family will get involved in the process for their own reasons, not necessarily just to please you. Help each family member pinpoint their own motivations for wanting to get organized. Maybe they are feeling less productive in school or at work, or they never seem to have enough social time.

Each of us has a strong suit when it comes to being organized. Find that about each family member and emphasize it. Take the opportunity to share your organizational strengths and tips, and ask them to do the same. Offer praise, not criticism. 

Organizing isn't about getting rid of things at all. It is about identifying what's important to you and giving those things a reliable, consistent home. Don’t try to force your family member to get rid of their things, but to prioritize which things holds the most importance and to focus their organizational goals around that. 

Finally, being organized is about being responsible. If your child or family member has worked hard to get organized and stay organized, recognize this feat and reward it. Perhaps you can come up with a family reward such as purchasing three or four new board games the family can play together. 

And remember, the best teacher for your family is you, so lead by example. Maintain your personal organization systems and consistently strive to improve and find new ways to keep on top of the clutter so chaos doesn’t overrun your life. Your family will learn from you. 

Garage Organization Made Simple

You may have conquered your house, your home office, and your car, and you’ve mastered the art of scheduling and cooking in bulk. But your garage may still be a cluttered and unorganized mess. As with everything else, a neat and organized garage is attainable with some planned effort and simple storage solutions. 

First, you can get a handle on the mess by temporarily moving everything out to sort through what goes and what stays. Large, clear plastic containers can help you do this. They're great for clearing away the clutter and then using for storage. Take your time during the sorting and purging process. 

Consider adding a cabinet to your garage, if needed for storage. You may want to look for units that offer the option of keyed locks. The garage is also where most of kid’s sporting goods land. To keep bats and balls organized, you could purchase a hamper-style organizer. You may decide to designate a section for each child. Add a bin or shelf to temporarily store messy, muddy shoes as well. 

Find a workable storage solution for all the little things in your garage. You can carefully organize bolts, screws, fasteners and other small parts into small clear containers so you can easily see what each contains. Then, you can label each container and find a safe, appropriate place to store them. For long-handled items, such as rakes and shovels, look for storage units to keep everything straight. 

Time Management and Organization

Would you like to improve your time management?  If you find yourself easily distracted, missing important deadlines, or showing up to important events late, improving your time management may be a good idea.  Unfortunately, many individuals do not realize just how much trouble poor time management can cause them.

When it comes to improving time management, many individuals are surprised with all of the options that they have.  One of those options is using time management tools to your advantage.  If this sounds like an approach that you would like to take, please continue reading on.  A number of helpful and successful time management tools that you can benefit from using are outlined below for your convenience.

An alarm clock is a simple, yet effective time management tool that you can and should use.  What is nice about alarm clocks, is that most of us already have them in our homes.  Be sure to set your alarm clock to get up in the morning.  Consider resetting it five minutes before you must walk out to door to work, set it for when you want to start preparing dinner, and so forth.  Although we often associate alarm clocks with getting up in the morning, they can actually be used for so much more.

A task list, also commonly referred to as a to do list, is another time management tool that you can and should use to your advantage.  What nice about task lists is that they are free and easy to do.  All you need is a piece of a paper and pencil.  Outlining everything that you must do for the day is a great way to make sure that you stay focused and on task, which is an important component of managing your time.  If you must, keep separate lists for home and work.

Daily, weekly, and monthly planners are other time management tools that can be used.  The type of planner that you will use will all depend on your own personal preferences.  With that said, many individuals prefer daily planners better, as they often leave more space to create a to do list or at least a spot to write down important dates and times.  If you do use a daily, weekly, or monthly planner, be sure to keep it with you at all times.  

Calendar alert programs are other time management tools that come highly rated and recommended.  Calendar alert programs are so much more than just a traditional wall calendar.  For the most part, these time management alert tools are found on computers and cell phones.  What you will need to do is enter in an important date and time.  When that date and time arrives, you should receive a message on your computer screen or cell phone screen.  Text message and emails may also be sent.  These types of programs are often used to remember birthdays, but they can be used on a wide range of other events, projects, and activities.

Finally, another tool that you will want to consider using is that of a time management training seminar.  In addition to attending a physical class, you may be able to purchase a seminar in video format.  Although some individuals do not consider receiving training a tool, it is an important tool.  There are professionals out there who can share time management tips with you, as well as help you improve your organizational skills.