The cost of disorganization is high. For instance?
•late fees on bills and credit card payments
•poor credit rating for late payments
•overnight fees for mailing time-sensitive information
•loss of early bird discounts
•time & money wasted on upkeep and maintenance of unnecessary stuff
•storage unit costs
•loss of non-convertible living space
•time & money wasted looking for or replacing misplaced items
•stress-related health issues
A recession is already a stressful time requiring more attention than usual to lessen the cost of disorganization and poor health fallout. The best part is it's totally preventable! Read the following 5 tips to see how.
#1: Think Lean: Cutting Financial Costs
It takes time to review your finances, it's tedious and no one wants to do it. It also takes a lot of organizing skills just to find and sort through papers, plan and schedule the related tasks.
It took me a few hours to find hardcopies or backup of all the financial information I wanted to review, putting it into a format I could make sense of and then implementing the cost cuts and adjustments I wanted to make. But after I finished I felt great and I succeeded in: cutting my car insurance by 30%, adjusting client billing rates, cancelling two recurring charges on my credit card, getting a better deal on my phone and internet service, buying cheaper health insurance, and narrowing my marketing plans. I'll save over $1,000.00 a year.
So getting lean is well worth the effort. If you'd like to give it a try, but don't know how to get started, contact me for a consultation on setting up a simple profile you can manage yourself.
#2: Think Thrift
What do you already have that you can use rather than buy new?
But wait! That doesn't mean go overboard by saving all your stuff unnecessarily - "just in case." During a recession you might need your living space more than you need your stuff. You may want to convert a spare bedroom, basement or garage into a home office or space for a renter. So thin out that unnecessary stuff by continuing to recycle and resell even if you reuse and repurpose.
For example - what do you do with those super old textbooks and encyclopedias from the 70's that ebay doesn't want, the library doesn't want and even freecycle.com turns down? Donate them to a large charity like the Salvation Army. They will donate the books to a recycler who assures that the entire book gets ground up. The books are recycled into cardboard and other low grade paper and not dumped in the landfill. The books are re-born into something useful, and everybody wins!
#3: Don't Freeze - Focus!
Getting focused is largely about what you choose not to do, rather than what you choose to do. It's a matter of setting aside other work or projects to concentrate on a priority, a kind of temporary clearing the deck of distractions so you can reach a goal. Getting focused is how we get things done. During a recession, there can be more things to get done than usual. Watching our money, making repairs rather than buying new, shopping with coupons - it all takes time. And sometimes the sheer volume of what we have to do makes us freeze right in our tracks.
#4: Health is Wealth now more than ever.
Stress over economic concerns and job worries wreaks havoc with your immune system and your health in general. Fast food sales skyrocket during these times as people (mistakenly) believe they are saving money and getting more bang for their buck. Eating cleanly and well does not have to be expensive. If you can't afford the health club or are cutting back, you can create a home gym for almost nothing and still get a fantastic workout in 30 minutes contact me to find out how. And walking - one of the best exercises in the world - is free. There are lots of hills in the Seattle area to help you firm up your quads and glutes in no time! Now more than ever you need to put yourself at the top of your own list!
#5: Get Closure and Just Do it.
Projects that never get completed and constant barrage of more and more tasks to do can really take their toll on you. I'm a big fan of closure. That means that if you take on a new volunteer obligation, finish the work on an old one and close it down. Closure also means be real about your daily to-do list. Why torture yourself with a long list you can't realistically accomplish? Instead of 30 items, put 20 on there and finish/complete/bring to closure 15 of them. Now, that's a good day!
Part of what generates our bottomless to-do list is the fact that we are "always on". Besides email, cell phones, and text messages, there is now Facebook, MySpace and Twitter generating more contact, more communication, and more action. "Always On" has its place and a huge positive side. But it can mean that your day swells up with even more things to do. If you're challenged to be productive now, adding more can put you over the top, physically and emotionally. Be smart about how you handle yourself. Remember, "Just because you can doesn't mean you should."
Showing posts with label organizing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label organizing. Show all posts
Monday, June 1, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Recession Proof Your Life - 7 Secrets from the Pros
Believe it or not, when you are physically organized and good at managing your schedule, you make the most of your time, energy – and money! And in these challenging economic times, you want to maximize your resources in all 3 of those areas.
Professional organizers know that the secret to organization isn’t neatness or rigidity. It’s function. We know that once we help the client identify his/her unique organizational system and custom design it to fit their natural habits and the way they think – it brings out their absolute BEST self. And optimizes their resources, passions, interests, and abilities.
While getting organized doesn’t come naturally to a lot of people, it can be learned. Remember the key here is to think FUNCTION – not NEATNESS.
Here are a few tips from the pros:
1. Design your own system. Like exercise and fitness programs – cookie cutter, one size fits all solutions don’t work. So don’t copy someone else’s system or something you read in an organizing book. A good PO recognizes that you have a unique way of managing your lifestyle – so why try to adopt an organizing system created for somebody else’s life? Consider your own goals and habits and design your system accordingly.
2. Think zones. Or as Julie Morgenstern (Professional Organizer, seen on Oprah show) calls it – The Kindergarten Model. There are clearly defined zones for each activity – arts and crafts, building blocks, books, etc. Once you’ve identified the proper zone for your stuff and activities, it’s a no brainer to retrieve and put away items.
3. Start with the basics. Organize the most frequently used areas of your home first. Generally they take the least amount of time and will give you a big boost of confidence and sense of control. Examples? The entry way to your home that’s overflowing with coats, shoes, umbrellas and boots. Your bathroom, your dresser drawers. Your purse or briefcase. Your reward will come in the form of inspiration and motivation to take on the bigger projects later.
4. Know thyself. Professional organizers learn to know themselves and their clients really well. They know how to track a person’s energy cycles – noting when they have the most energy and when motivation and energy start to fade. They learn which activities will serve as natural energy boosters – like exercising, taking a healthy snack break, or a 15 minute snooze. Determining what conditions need to be in place for your personal peak performance insures you have the inner resources to complete tasks with less frustration.
5. How long can you focus? Do you know how long you can focus on any given task? Maybe you can write for hours, but getting through a 45 minute work out feels almost insurmountable. Once you know how long you’re able to focus on a particular task or activity, you will get results every time. The trick is to plan tasks that won’t be either too much or too little for the time you have available.
6. Buddy up or hire a pro. Getting organized can be difficult. Period. It’s emotional and sometimes draining. If you get caught up questioning what it is you need or how to go about it, you’ll never get to setting up a system. An outside perspective can be just the thing to keep you on track. Professional organizers or friends will take your particular needs at face value and help you build a system around them. My recession proof your life – one project at a time is a great way to get started!
7. Picture success. In 3D if possible. Imagine you are exactly where you wish to be. In detail. Where are you, what do you look like, what is your day like? Your environment? Visualization is an important element that will radically improve your success rate. See what it is you want and act as if you already have it. Write it down. If you’re shy about stating your goals, or act as if you don’t care whether you achieve them or not – it’s like shooting yourself in the foot. Remember – you’ll see it when you believe it!
Professional organizers know that the secret to organization isn’t neatness or rigidity. It’s function. We know that once we help the client identify his/her unique organizational system and custom design it to fit their natural habits and the way they think – it brings out their absolute BEST self. And optimizes their resources, passions, interests, and abilities.
While getting organized doesn’t come naturally to a lot of people, it can be learned. Remember the key here is to think FUNCTION – not NEATNESS.
Here are a few tips from the pros:
1. Design your own system. Like exercise and fitness programs – cookie cutter, one size fits all solutions don’t work. So don’t copy someone else’s system or something you read in an organizing book. A good PO recognizes that you have a unique way of managing your lifestyle – so why try to adopt an organizing system created for somebody else’s life? Consider your own goals and habits and design your system accordingly.
2. Think zones. Or as Julie Morgenstern (Professional Organizer, seen on Oprah show) calls it – The Kindergarten Model. There are clearly defined zones for each activity – arts and crafts, building blocks, books, etc. Once you’ve identified the proper zone for your stuff and activities, it’s a no brainer to retrieve and put away items.
3. Start with the basics. Organize the most frequently used areas of your home first. Generally they take the least amount of time and will give you a big boost of confidence and sense of control. Examples? The entry way to your home that’s overflowing with coats, shoes, umbrellas and boots. Your bathroom, your dresser drawers. Your purse or briefcase. Your reward will come in the form of inspiration and motivation to take on the bigger projects later.
4. Know thyself. Professional organizers learn to know themselves and their clients really well. They know how to track a person’s energy cycles – noting when they have the most energy and when motivation and energy start to fade. They learn which activities will serve as natural energy boosters – like exercising, taking a healthy snack break, or a 15 minute snooze. Determining what conditions need to be in place for your personal peak performance insures you have the inner resources to complete tasks with less frustration.
5. How long can you focus? Do you know how long you can focus on any given task? Maybe you can write for hours, but getting through a 45 minute work out feels almost insurmountable. Once you know how long you’re able to focus on a particular task or activity, you will get results every time. The trick is to plan tasks that won’t be either too much or too little for the time you have available.
6. Buddy up or hire a pro. Getting organized can be difficult. Period. It’s emotional and sometimes draining. If you get caught up questioning what it is you need or how to go about it, you’ll never get to setting up a system. An outside perspective can be just the thing to keep you on track. Professional organizers or friends will take your particular needs at face value and help you build a system around them. My recession proof your life – one project at a time is a great way to get started!
7. Picture success. In 3D if possible. Imagine you are exactly where you wish to be. In detail. Where are you, what do you look like, what is your day like? Your environment? Visualization is an important element that will radically improve your success rate. See what it is you want and act as if you already have it. Write it down. If you’re shy about stating your goals, or act as if you don’t care whether you achieve them or not – it’s like shooting yourself in the foot. Remember – you’ll see it when you believe it!
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