Simplicity News August 2005 EZezine


 
 
 

Simplicity News August 2005

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In This Issue:

  • You Asked: How Do I Organize My Home Office??
  • Upcoming Book Signings
  • Happy Birthday To Me!
  • Upcoming HGTV Appearances 
  • Book Report
  • Declutter Your Life By Freecycling!

You Asked...

Each month, readers write asking questions about organizing their homes or offices.   

This month's question was asked by quite a few readers... Darinda in Roswell GA, Benjy in Alpharetta GA, Cheryl in Bogart GA, Rebecca in El Paso TX, Toby in Batavia IL and Kellie in Moorhead MN all wrote asking for tips to help organize their home offices.

Clearly, this is an area people struggle with, and according to some US government statistics, over 23 million Americans worked from home either part time or full time in 2000. Telecommuting has become a viable option for many employees and the positive results include increased employee satisfaction, improved teamwork and higher productivity, as well as significant financial savings for companies who save the $5,000 to $6,000 average annual cost of providing an office to an employee. This all sounds great but what if you're the one working from home and your home office isn't a place you can be productive because it's just so disorganized? 

Here are a three tips from my book, Organize Your Office In No Time (Que Publishing) to help you regain control of your work space and improve your effectiveness and happiness in your home office:

1. Evaluate Your Floor Plan (Chapter 3)
Be sure the framework of your office makes sense. Is your desk positioned so you can see the door or out the window, if you prefer? Can you access all the storage areas in your file cabinets and desk drawers easily? Is there too much furniture in your office, making it crowded and uncomfortable? Evaluate your layout to be sure you're using the space well and that all your furniture is giving you value. Be sure your desk is large enough for your work style -- do you tend to spread things out or pile them up? Choose furniture pieces that double as work space and storage.

2. Use A Planning Tool Consistently (Chapter 4)
Time is your most valuable resource. Choosing one planning tool and using it consistently is your best weapon against squandering time away unproductively. Keep track of your appointments, both personal and business in the same planner so nothing can slip through the cracks. Use your planner like you'd use a road map, to help you chart your course through the week and stay focused on the most important tasks.

3. Evaluate Your Filing System (Chapter 5 & 6)
Keep your filing cabinets and drawers from overflowing by regularly culling out old information from the files. Ideally, a file drawer should only be filled to between 75 and 80 percent to allow for easy file movement, storage and retrieval. Statistics show that we only refer back to about 20% of what we file away, so be ruthless when it comes to cleaning out your file drawers. For a general guide to document retention, I invite you to visit my blog and go to the July posts to find it.

4. Create an "In Process" Box (Chapter 8)
Papers and information that are waiting on action from another person or party should go into an "in process" box or folder on your desktop, rather than being filed away to be forgotten. Make a note on your calendar for the approximate date that each item requires action, to remind yourself to follow up on them. The in process box is even more effective when you add an inventory list to the outside, so you can see at a glance what items are in process.

5. Schedule Maintenance Time (Chapter 3)
Do you only brush your teeth once every four months? Do you only exercise once a year? Do you fill up your gas tank only when you become stranded at the side of the road? Of course not. So why do you wait until your sanity and business are in jeopardy to declutter and get organized? Most everything in your life requires routine maintenance, including your home and work spaces. Carving out small chunks of time each week to process paperwork, declutter, cull your files, and handle all those small details will pay off big time in the long run. You can get a lot accomplished in just five to ten minutes and by doing so regularly, you'll never get snowed under again.

Upcoming Book Signings

Atlanta readers, join me at Borders in September for a book discussion/Q&A and signing to help me celebrate the release of my new book, Organize Your Office In No Time. Come on by, I'd love to meet you!

When: Sunday, September 18 (mark your calendar!)

What Time: 3pm to 6pm

Where:
Borders Books
4745 Ashford Dunwoody Road
Dunwoody GA 30338
770-396-0004

 Happy Birthday To Me!

August 26th marks my 40th year on Planet Earth and my fabulous husband has been planning a super-secret vacation to celebrate my special day. I can't wait to get there, even though I have no idea where we're going! (wherever it is, I hope I can get a massage while I'm there!)

I'll be sure to give a full vacation report in the September issue of Simplicity News!

Monica's Upcoming HGTV Appearances

Be sure to catch Monica on these upcoming episodes of HGTV's popular show, Mission:Organization!

Episode #503 Restoring Office Functionality
We take a chaotic, disorganized home office and make it beautiful and functional for a young professional couple expecting their first baby.


Episode #513 Multipurpose Activity Room
We transform a messy, disorganized craft room into a gorgeous, functional and organized space where this creative homeowner can craft, sew, relax and be herself in comfort! 
Tuesday, September 6 at 2:00pm

Episode #609 Home Office Cleanup
Watch as we take a gigantic, chaotic loft space and turn it into a combination room where the residents can hang out, entertain, work in the home office, and guests have a place to sleep! This is truly multi-functional!
Friday September 23 at 8:30pm
Saturday September 24 at 12:30am (yes, A.M.!)


Episode #702 Reclaiming The Bedroom
A single professional woman gets a bedroom makeover that goes from paralyzing to perfect! This suburban townhome's bedroom starts out cluttered and hard to live in, and ends up looking like a swanky New York studio!

Book Report

Check out Monica's new book, Organize Your Office In No Time. (Que Publishing) The book is available for sale at Amazon.com and most retail booksellers. To be alerted via email when the book is available, simply send an email to Monica@CatalystOrganizing.com with the subject line "BOOK".  You can also go directly to Monica's web site and pre-order it today.

Declutter Your Life By Freecycling! 

Decluttering your life is a wonderful way to rid yourself of the things that no longer give you value. It is also a great way to help someone in need at the same time. All over the world, people are helping others and decluttering their lives by giving away the things they no longer need, through FREEcycle.org. This means fewer items are going into the trash and filling up the landfills of our planet. 

It's so simple to join! You just sign up through the web site, and you'll begin getting the emails that people in your local FREEcycle group send out either seeking free items, or offering free items. It's as simple as that! Just go to www.FREEcycle.org to sign up! 

Check it out and let me know what you think of the idea. If you've received something or given something away through this wonderful concept, tell me about that too! 

Monica Ricci is an Organizing Specialist, and the founder of Catalyst Organizing Solutions, an Atlanta based company. You can see Monica on the popular HGTV show, MISSION:Organization. She is also the author of the book Organize Your Office In No Time.

For media interviews or appearances, or to schedule Monica to speak to your conference, team, or association, or for an on-site organizational evaluation, contact her at 770-569-2642 or by email at Monica@CatalystOrganizing.com

(c)2005 Catalyst Organizing. All Rights Reserved.