Simplicity News March 2006

Simplicity News March 2006

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In This Issue:

You Asked: How Can I Make The Most of My Time?
Blog American Style
Upcoming HGTV Appearances
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 Don in Fanwood, New Jersey.

Don writes, "My family's challenge is like most families in that there is not enough time in the day."

Don, this is by far the most common problem I see when working with clients! I'll make a few recommendations for you to try implementing with your family.

1. Have a Family Meeting
Communication is the first step in tackling any family problem. Sit down with your family and have a frank conversation about where your time goes, what activities are high priority and what you can each stop doing to free up time in your life. We all have the same number of hours in each day, and it's important to choose carefully where you allocate that time. It's helpful to draw a map of the week and begin crossing off blocks of time as you identify where the time goes.Cross of your sleep time first, and work time second. After that, you'll add in all the other areas where your time currently goes, and you'll see how much "free" time you have each week. This exercise gives you a visual representation of how full your life is, and people are often shocked to see that they have NO free time to maintain their lives, which is the first cause of their stress and chaos.

2. Create Accountability Among Family Members
During your family meeting, divide up household tasks and create accountability among family members. Children from the age of two can begin helping around the house and should be accountable for their jobs. This is quite an important piece of running a home, as the kids are consumers in the home and must learn that life isn't just about taking, but rather it's about taking AND contributing. Giving them responsibility teaches this important life lesson as well as fills their life skills bank for later when they leave the nest. It also builds their self-esteem. Rewards and consequences are the best way to create accountability with children, so be firm and be consistent, even if it's difficult. Remember... one of your jobs as a parent is to produce strong, independent, productive adults, and this will help accomplish that.

3. Set Up Schedules and Routines
Once you've divided up the tasks, set up schedules and routines. Determine what tasks need to be accomplished regularly, and what appointments occur each week. Put all appointments on a dry erase white board, then add in your regular home maintenance tasks. For example, you might schedule every Monday night for vacuuming, every Tuesday for dusting, every Saturday morning for laundry. These are just examples, but the more you can create regular routines, the easier your home maintenance tasks will become for everyone in the family. A little consistency goes a long way in letting everyone know what to expect.

4. Use Tiny Time
When you see something that needs to be done (putting a dish into the dishwasher or wiping down a dirty stove top) just do it right then. Tasks that take only a few seconds are better off done when you notice them, rather than putting them off until cleaning day. It makes your every day easier and it makes cleaning day faster and easier too. Getting into the habit of seizing that 30 seconds or a minute to do a task will really help you stay organized at home and at work. You'll be amazed how much you can accomplish in just one or two minutes!

5. Don't Overbook Yourself
Who are you, the airlines?? Nobody's giving you a free round trip to anywhere, so stop overbooking yourself. Seriously, though, it's so easy to over-commit to other people, activities, appointments and you end up feeling rushed, and running late more often than not. What a negative feeling! Train yourself to start saying NO more often and to leave MORE than enough time between tasks and appointments. This allows for unexpected things to happen without detailing your entire day. When you schedule everything up to the minute, inevitably you hit a traffic jam, you get stuck on an important phone call or something else happens to make you late. Factoring in some buffer time alleviates this time-related stress. Teach your family members to do the same thing as well, so they can develop good time management habits for the future.

Don, thanks for your question. I hope my suggestions will be helpful to you and you'll report back to me later with your success story!

Blog American Style

I've been having fun blogging for a few months now. I'm writing about the organizing industry, interesting things that happen to me, my travel, my work, and have also begun recommending books that I've read and enjoyed. I invite you to stop by, check out my latest blog entries and let me know your thoughts, opinions and comments. Since the end of January, I've written about boredom and life balance, how to effectively use your time, the incredible power of five minutes, and some of my favorite organizing tools.

If you agree with me, disagree with me, have a comment on what I've written or just have a book recommendation of your own to add, I want to hear from you! Pop by and leave some of your thoughts behind.

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!

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!

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!
Airs: Friday March 24, 2006 at 2:00 pm EST and PST

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.

Monica Ricci is an Organizing Specialist, the author of the book Organize Your Office In No Time and the founder of Catalyst Organizing Solutions, an Atlanta based company that helps individuals be organized and effective at home and at work.You can see Monica on the popular HGTV show, MISSION:Organization.

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