An Organizing Schedule for This Year and January

Happy New Year! Once again I must get used to writing the date for the new year correctly. You would think by now I would not start the year with 19 but old habits die hard. For those of you who like to plan ahead, I have an organizing agenda for the year that will include the checklists for those topics each month. In addition, I will include other items that need to be addressed that time of the year. Here is the schedule:
January--Paper, Files, Home Office
February--Books and Hobbies
March--Attics, Clothing
April--Linens and Bathrooms
May--Garage and Yard
June--Children's Rooms, Guest Room/Spare Room
July--Family Room or Den
August--Toys, Electronics (are they the same thing?!)
September--Bedrooms, Clothing
October--Dining Room
November--Pantry, Kitchen
December--Holiday

Now on to January. It is time to deal with the papers and other items in home offices. Regardless of the size or space you have to manage the running of the home, you need a clutter free space to pay bills, keep records and manage accounts. The computer was supposed to make us a paper free socieity but we all know that did not happen.  We bought printers and made matters worse. Here are a few tips to help with this areas.

• Create an inbox for incoming papers: mail, bulletins, newsletters, schedules, etc. Put this in the space you normally drop mail. Select categories and put the paper that enters the house in the correct section. If you use a compact hanging file box, make a hanging folder for each category that fits your situation. Drop the papers in it and deal with them when necessary or the file is full. I continually get feedback from clients on how this one thing helped them to get control of incoming bills, etc.
• Save only legal documents or papers related to your home or health in a permanent file drawer or box. You do not need to keep the statements from every institution after they have been checked for accuracy and/or paid. Those accounts are kept in computer files by the institution that you can access if necessary. Even appliance and electronic manuals are kept online now.
• Purchase a fireproof/waterproof box for storing originals of legal documents and information that relates to your accounts, etc. This will be heavy but can be locked and withstands destructive elements in case of disaster. It can also be accessed by you when banks with safety deposit boxes are closed.
• Shred old documents with personal information and recycle the rest. Minimize your paper storage.
• Stop magazine subscriptions and get your information at the library or online. Move out all older magazines. If you have read them, you don't need them. If you have not read them by now, you won't read them in the future. The same goes for newspapers. Except for the Sunday edition with coupons (if you are a couponer), most news and obituaries (of course) can be found online. Remember magazines and newspapers are more than half advertisements.
• Throw away catalogues as soon as they come in. Save the discount label if you decide to order something online or by phone. Looking through catalogues is like watching a very long commercial. What a waste of time!
• Speaking of time: Use a calendar with a week at a glance that breaks the days into house. Smartphones and computers have free calendar programs like this or you can use a paper version. Block out your activities and you will see the available hour you have to do the things you have put off.
• Clear the desk, counter, table or whatever you use for office activities every night before going to bed.
• If you would like more information on guidelines for saving papers, I have a document I will send to you. Email me through my website: www.OrderlyPlaces.com and let me know you want it. My book also has more detail on organizing your papers, files and office. It is in your local library and can be purchased online from Amazon or my website.

 



Housework vs. Priorities

Cartoon by John Wagner

I cannot remember when and where I found it, but I love this cartoon.  We identify with Maxine so many times!  Let's face it, there is only so much time in a day, a week, a month, etc. and unfortunately housework is present in all of those.   But like Maxine, it is not necessarily a priority all the time.  So when is it a priority?

It would be great to say never, but that would not be practical.  Housework needs to be assigned spots in our life just like everything else that is important or necessary.  Having clean clothes, clean floors and clean dishes are essential no matter how much we dislike taking care of them.  The trick is to find the right spot--the balance.  In all honesty, I hate housework.  There is not one part of it I enjoy or even like.  I would put it at the very bottom of every to-do list if I could.  Our culture has been designed, however, to require some household tasks be done on a regular basis. 

We could find anything and everything else to do with no time left for it unless our life is governed by priorities.  That takes resolve, commitment, self control and persistence.  None of those is easy or fun I will admit.  But they are essential. 

One place to begin is to make a list, on paper preferably, of the things in your life that are important.  Rank them in importance and be sure to put maintaining your home in the list even if it is at the bottom.  As you review your list, assign time in your day or week for each of those things. 

To get the housework done, you will need to break it down into its unique tasks and assign time for each of them.  Some will need to be done everyday and sometimes more than once such as loading the dishwasher or preparing a meal.  Some less often as in laundry and some rarely as in cleaning carpets.  For those who hire help in housekeeping, assigning tasks to those personnel is just as important.  If you make time in your schedule for the necessary chores, there is a greater chance of  accomplishment.  And when they are completed, there is a certain amount of satisfaction in seeing them done.

As a word of warning, do not put so many things in your schedule that there is no room for housework.  This is a form of procrastination that I will talk about later but it is a very easy trap for those who cannot say "no" to everything but housework.  Until then, work on that schedule.

It's Not Just About the Housework: It's Stress

If you stress about the amount of housework left for you to do, the housework you hate to do or the housework required of you, then you are putting your health at risk. It is generally known stress takes its tole on the human body. It is often the cause of high blood pressure, headaches, and fatigue, just to name a few of its maladies.

Think about it. If you eliminated all housework from your life, would that be a stress reliever for you? I think it would for most of us, myself included. There are just so many hours in a day, so many things to do and housework seems to be the one thing that never gets completely done. In fact, some household duties are ever present no matter how many times you tackle them: dirty dishes, laundry, and mail to be opened, sorted or filed, just to name a few. For mothers of babies you can include dirty diapers.

Is there an answer to eliminating this killer? No, unfortunately it cannot be eliminated for most of us but there are answers to make it more manageable.  Getting order in our time, our homes and lives in general is the foundation for making the changes that will get control of the problems with housework.

In future posts, I will share my thoughts from the experiences I have had, the knowledge I have learned, and the skills I have developed.  These have come through careers as a teacher and professional organizer and life as a wife, mother and grandmother. 

So you are not alone in this journey.  Be encouraged there is hope, there are answers and strategies to move forward.