The Benefits of Being Organized

Just the other day, a friend of mine thanked me for being so organized!  We had worked together on a fundraiser raffle and silent auction, and she said it was a pleasure to work with me because I was so calm and well organized.  What a nice compliment – would you like your friends and relatives to say the same about you?  Then keep reading…

While not everyone needs to organize an event, we all need to be able to organize our paperwork for our taxes.  Now is the perfect time to get your papers together.  You should be receiving lots of documents now that say “Important Tax Information Enclosed” on them.  Gather all of these together and begin a TAX file if you do not already have one.  Receipts for donations, year-end investment reports, mortgage information, retirement, checking and savings statements should also go into the TAX file.  By having this all gathered ahead of the time you need to prepare the taxes, you will be able to recognize the papers you are waiting for.  If you are missing any documents, you will have time to find the information.  Being organized about your taxes can save you time and money (remember to take those deductions for donations)!  Now would also be a great time to make a Taxes file for next year!

We recently worked with a client who had a new kitchen but never felt like it was being utilized in the best way.  She recognized that it was not an efficient use of her new space, but did not know where to begin.  If you feel the same way, ask yourself the questions we ask…Are my cooking supplies close to the stove?  Are my dishes close to the dishwasher for easy unloading?  Does my pantry have “like” things together so I can find items and not need to buy extras because I can’t find them?  The location of these items can once again save you time and money!  Find more ideas like this photo on our Pinterest Kitchen Organizing Ideas board.

Do you have too much paper lying around your house in piles?  Do you find yourself putting them into bags and hiding them for parties?  We all catch ourselves doing this from time to time,  but we love to help people develop new systems.  We particularly love plastic totes with handles, like the one shown here,which allow for hanging files.  This way, you can still pay your bills and make phone calls at the kitchen table, but there is an easy way to clean the piles up and have them put away in labeled files.  Your friends and relatives will certainly compliment you on your clear surfaces!

JoEllen and I hope you find a project of your own which will give you great satisfaction when you achieve your goal of being better organized.  Feel free to share your successes with us by emailing me at muffy@organizing4u.com.  Happy Organizing!

                                       Muffy 

PS  This post was taken from a recent Monthly Tips Newsletter; follow the link to have them delivered directly to your in-box.

Organizing for the Unexpected

A number of years ago, JoEllen and I compiled a book called “Where Can I Find It“, which is a guide for individuals in the case of emergencies.  Once completed, it is a handy place to find all the phone numbers of service providers, passwords for computers, account numbers for banking and investment accounts, and the location of important papers.  It is available through our website in hard copy or as a download.

Last week a client purchased our book and hired me to spend the morning with her to complete the book.  In a mere 3 hours we gave her peace of mind that her affairs were in order!  She had been inspired to do this before any crisis arose because she had just dealt with the passing of her mother.  While her mother’s files were mostly in order, there was a beneficiary designation that had not been clearly made while she was alive.  It impacted the taxes of two of the three children inheriting the proceeds.  My client did not want this kind of problem with her own accounts, so we double checked designations with insurance companies, checked the wills, power of attorney designations and living wills.  Now she and her husband have a short list of items to follow up on, but the bulk of the work is done.  She was so relieved that she would not leave things in disarray for her sons in the event of an emergency!

Whether or not you use our book or something similar, we encourage all of our friends, relatives and clients to have a comprehensive list of all of this important information.  Make a copy and give it to a trusted friend or relative, and to your insurance agent.  We never know when a natural disaster will strike, or a sudden illness occurs which disrupt our normal schedule.  A small investment of your time before a crisis will be priceless.

Wishing you and your family peace, happiness and organization in 2018.

                                 Muffy 

PS  This post was taken from a recent Monthly Tips Newsletter; follow the link to have them delivered directly to your in-box.

2018 Will Be THE Year!!

Can you feel it?  2018 has arrived and this will be the year that you will get yourself organized!!!!

If you are one of the thousands (millions?) of individuals who have made a New Year’s Resolution to GET ORGANIZED this year, we want to tell you that we are here to help.

What has held you back from your organizing goals in the past?

What tips and strategies will help you this year?

What are some resources that will keep you on the path to success?

Our New Year’s Resolution is to give you tips every month that will help you achieve your New Year’s Resolution to GET ORGANIZED.

The tips this month are based upon a question from one of our many readers.

So let us know your questions, and we will answer them in an upcoming newsletter.

We find that one of the things that holds people back from getting rid of items, is that they do not know what to do with those items once they have made the decision to no  longer keep them.  Here are several resources for you.  Each organization has a different mission, and they will also differ in the types of donations they will accept.  Many will have pick up services and/or drop off locations.  Follow the links to find out the best fit for you and the items you wish to donate.

 

 

                                       

Did you do a lot of shopping at Amazon this year?  Amazon has partnered with Goodwill Industries using your Amazon boxes.  Fill them with donatable items, print a free shipping label, then drop them off at a local UPS or Post Office and they will be shipped, for free, to a local Goodwill Industries center.

In addition to accepting books for the Friends of the Library, most libraries have a drop-off box to donate glasses that are no longer your current prescription.

Depending upon what you wish to donate, you can also consider local women’s shelters, churches, pre-schools, day-care centers, senior centers and nursing homes. If you wish to claim a tax deduction, then be sure to secure a receipt and save it in a file marked 2017 Taxes.

Sometimes, you may want to sell an item you no longer need, and most people think of ebay, and craigslist.  However, there is a time commitment involved and it is not always worth the effort.  As an alternative, consider consignment stores and other types of resale shops and on-line auctions where someone else will do the work.  Yes, they will take a commission, but you do not have to do anything but collect the proceeds.

Is that still too much of a hassle?  Then donate your items, and feel good that there is someone out there who will soon be using them.

Now that you have all of these resources, you can corral all of your items, put them in your car or schedule a pickup, and let those items find a new home.

What will help you get organized?  Send us your questions…..

We hope you have a Happy, Healthy and Organized New Year,

JoEllen & Muffy

PS  This post was taken from a recent Monthly Tips Newsletter; follow the link to have them delivered directly to your in-box.

 

What’s Your Situation?

 

Happy New Year Everyone! 

We hope 2018 will be all you want it to be

 

While a lot of the public thinks of a Professional Organizer as someone who works with individuals who want to arrange their clothes in their luxurious walk-in closet, or to help with someone who hoards, those who know us have heard us say that most of the individuals that we work with are ‘situationally disorganized’.

We have all had ‘situations’ in our lives that throw off the normal routine.  When this happens, the mail ends up on the dining room table for days on end, items stay where they were last used and were not returned to their ‘home’, or projects were not completed as planned.  Some of these ‘situations’ are good and some are not so happy events.  Whatever, the case, what happens is that someday you look around and get overwhelmed and don’t know where to even begin to try to get things back to normal.

We have helped our customers with all of the following situations, but also want to let you know that you can bring things back to what is normal for you by following a few tips.

Right now, many of you are ‘situationally disorganized’ because of the recent holidays.  There may be seasonal decor inside and out, extra laundry because of guests, the furniture may be rearranged to accomodate all of the above, and bills and other mail was piled into bags and put into a closet.  You’ve probably been through this before, and know that there will be some time involved to get ‘back to normal’.  Enlist others in this process and set aside blocks of time to accomplish different aspects of the project.  And, please, do not forget to look through all the mail that you have hidden away!

There are other happy events that are larger and will require a bit more time like moving into a new home, welcoming a new baby into the family, getting married, and/or starting a new job.  Adjusting to these ‘situations’ will require a little more planning, and sometimes, a little more help.  Again, we suggest that you schedule blocks of time to accomplish different tasks, and also enlist the help of family or friends to assist.  Activities like blending two households or organizing a kitchen can be more fun, and less overwhelming, with others.  You may also pick up a few pointers that will help out in the long run.

Other ‘situations’, like experiencing a lenghty illness, a broken bone or the death of a loved one, are not quite so pleasant.  What follows are a lot of unexpected responsibilities and, very often, the accumulation of more things for your home.  Family and friends can be helpful here as well, but a lot of expertise will be needed to navigate everything.

Whatever your ‘situation’ may be, we would like to remind you that a little time spent on a regular basis goes a long way:

10 minutes a day = 60+ hours a year
30 minutes a day = 180.5 hours a year
1 hour per week = 52 hours a year

Just think of what you could accomplish in 50 to 60 hours!!!!

Investing time regularly also helps you develop new habits……which might be good right now as you embark on some New Year’s Resolutions.

We hope all of your ‘situations’ this year are happy, healthy and good.

Happy New Year,

               JoEllen & Muffy

This post is from one of our free monthly newsletters.  Sign up to have them delivered directly to your in-box on the first of every month.

 

Personal Reflections of A Professional Organizer

All of my training and expertise as a professional organizer came to a head this summer after the unexpected passing of my mother.  She was my father’s caretaker, too, so the family went into crisis management at the same time we were supposed to be grieving.  Dad moved to assisted living and the house is almost emptied now, but it has taken so much effort and coordination.  While I do this for a living for others, it is so much harder when it is your own parent’s belongings.  Here are some tips I would like to share to make this easier for others… 1)  Have an action plan.  The first priority for us was moving my father to an assisted living apartment – we had to pick out what belongings he could take, what would fit, and hire a mover, all in the space of two weeks.  Then we determined a realistic time frame for what needed to happen next in order to move out of their 2,000 square foot home as soon as possible. 2)  Set up a process for reviewing items.  The first place we started was dividing all of the furniture between the family members and identifing what could be sold, and lastly what would be donated.  We put sticky notes with names on all of the furniture and artwork.  We determined what charities would be receiving items from the home and how we would get them delivered or picked up.  We identified what needs to be stored elsewhere for a period of time.  Staging for donations and sale items took place in the garage ( after we had done the sorting in there first!).  In our situation, we decided most of the clothing would be taken to Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity will pick up other household items.  Having this plan in place has been crucial. 3)  Get help!  When friends and relatives offer their assistance, take it!  Figure our small ways in which people can help you in this overwhelming process.  Even I, as a professional organizer who does this all the time, felt very overwhelmed and stressed out!  I asked a couple of neighbors to help out when I could not be at the house for service providers, and all of the grandchildren have helped out when they could.  I leaned on JoEllen for a lot of physical and emotional support in this process – she asked me the tough questions we ask our customers when making decisions! 4)  Start thinning out before you need to!  My mother intended to go through all of the memorabilia left by her parents, and that she had saved herself, but caring for my father left her exhausted.  I wish we had done some of the review together when we could have had a lot of fun doing it!  We suggest to our clients to always have donation bag and box going in your home.  When you walk by an item you rarely use, think about sharing it with others who might actually need it.  Starting to thin out before you have to move is always easier…Trust me, I now know from personal experience. Organizing 4 U is entering its’ 15th year in business!!!  JoEllen and I want to thank all of our wonderful customers and supporters!                                Muffy  PS  This post was taken from a recent Monthly Tips Newsletter; follow the link to have them delivered directly to your in-box.

National Simplify Your Life Week

WOW it’s already August!  Are you wondering when those lazy days of summer are supposed to happen?  If you have not yet found them, this month we will give you some tips on (as our tag line suggests) …..making life simple.  The first week of August is National Simplify Your Life Week, and if you take this first week of the month to start the simplifying, pretty soon you will be learning new habits to continue on throughout the year, so your life will always be simplified.

Over the past 14 years, we have helped hundreds of individuals in their homes and businesses to make life simple.  All of these individuals have had a vision of what that simplified life would look like.  We suggest that you also create that picture in your mind, as you read our tips, for three areas that we have seen contribute to an unsimplified life.

First, and what most people think of when they hear about organizing,  is stuff.…all of our belongings that give us comfort, or at least that is what we believe.  Think about all those things and consider what items you do not need or use or love.  If you parted with some of those would your life be simpler?  If you had fewer clothes in the drawers would it be easier to find the item you really want to wear?  If there were fewer clothes in your closet would the process of deciding what to wear each day be less stressful?  If you had fewer books and/or knick-knacks on your shelves would it be easier for you to dust and care for them?  If you had fewer utensils in the kitchen drawers, would it be easier to find the one that you truly need?

Secondly, consider paper.  We do not yet have a paperless world, but you can reduce the amount of paper coming into your home by going to The National Do Not Mail List or Opt Out Prescreen.  To stop unwanted catalogs, go to Catalog Choice.  You will not see the effect immediately, but if you act now there will be a lot less in your mail box before the onslaught during the holiday shopping season.  Consider going paperless for your bills, and you will no longer need to file all those receipts that are probably never viewed again.  If you want to stay with a paper filing system, then we suggest that you keep the system as simple as possible.  For example, instead of having a file for each utility and credit card, create a file that is Paid Bills.  If you always file the receipt in the front or in the rear of the file, you will be able to find it easily if you actually need it again.

Finally, think of ways they your can simplify your time.  Is your To-Do list too long?  Think about what is really important in terms of your daily and weekly priorities, then schedule time on your calendar to get those most important things done.  Is there someone else in your office that can help you out on a project or some filing?  At home, consider enlisting other able bodied family members to help with meals, cleaning, laundry and yard work.  You might even consider hiring someone to help out when everything is just too overwhelming.  The reward will be having more time to spend doing more enjoyable things in life.

We hope these tips will help!  What are you going to do with all the time you have saved by living a more simplified life?

Enjoy these summer days,

JoEllen & Muffy

PS  This post was taken from a recent Monthly Tips Newsletter; follow the link to have them delivered directly to your in-box.

What To Do With Messy Co-Worker?

Your Office Coach, Marie G. McIntyre of Tribune News Service responded to a question about an individual with a messy office.  In Otherwise excellent co-worker is too messy appearing yesterday in The Cleveland Plain Dealer, there are actually two questions.

Responding to the first one: there are other options available rather than a group intervention with “Mark”….something that could actually do more harm than good (see second question in this article).  There could be many reasons that “Mark’s” office is messy: perhaps he is overwhelmed with work, perhaps no one ever taught him organizing skills, perhaps the company has not been clear on retention policies, etc.  The first step for the supervisor is to find the reason, and the next step would be to plan how to make improvements.

As Professional Organizers we have helped many individuals in similar situations.  One such person said “”I was chronically disorganized, and it had an adverse affect on my work. After spending a day with Organizing 4 U, I am much more productive, and I proudly leave the office every day with a clean desktop. No more piles!”.

Professional Organizers organize much more than closets.  I hope that “Mark’s” co-workers will be able to offer alternative solutions.

Thanks for reading,

JoEllen

It’s Almost Tax Time

It’s time to organize your paperwork for taxes. Do you have a separate file for this yet? If not, collect all of the tax forms which have arrived in the mail so far, and put them in one file. Check against last year’s file to see if you have received everything you need. Many institutions now put their forms on-line and you need to download them, so do review exactly what you have in hand. Put into this file your charitable donation receipts as well. Have a business with expenses? Be sure to include those and documentation on any other deductions you are permitted to take. Good prep work will make the tax season less stressful!

Muffy and JoEllen

2017 Will Be THE Year!

 

Can you feel it?  2017 has arrived and this will be the year that you will get yourself organized!!!!

If you are one of the thousands (millions?) of individuals who have made a New Year’s Resolution to GET ORGANIZED this year, we want to tell you that we are here to help.

What has held you back from your organizing goals in the past?

What tips and strategies will help you this year?

What are some resources that will keep you on the path to success?

Our New Year’s Resolution is to give you tips every month that will help you achieve your New Year’s Resolution to GET ORGANIZED.

The tips this month are based upon a question from one of our many readers.

So let us know your questions, and we will answer them in an upcoming newsletter.

We find that one of the things that holds people back from getting rid of items, is that they do not know what to do with those items once they have made the decision to no  longer keep them.  Here are several resources for you.  Each organization has a different mission, and they will also differ in the types of donations they will accept.  Many will have pick up services and/or drop off locations.  Follow the links to find out the best fit for you and the items you wish to donate.

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                 

 

 

 

 

Did you do a lot of shopping at Amazon this year?  Amazon has partnered with Goodwill Industries using your Amazon boxes.  Fill them with donatable items, print a free shipping label, then drop them off at a local UPS or Post Office and they will be shipped, for free, to a local Goodwill Industries center.

In addition to accepting books for the Friends of the Library, most libraries have a drop-off box to donate glasses that are no longer your current prescription.

Depending upon what you wish to donate, you can also consider local women’s shelters, churches, pre-schools, day-care centers, senior centers and nursing homes. If you wish to claim a tax deduction, then be sure to secure a receipt and save it in a file marked 2017 Taxes.

Sometimes, you may want to sell an item you no longer need, and most people think of ebay, and craigslist.  However, there is a time commitment involved and it is not always worth the effort.  As an alternative, consider consignment stores and other types of resale shops and on-line auctions where someone else will do the work.  Yes, they will take a commission, but you do not have to do anything but collect the proceeds.

Is that still too much of a hassle?  Then donate your items, collect a donation receipt and take a tax deduction, which we see is often higher than the payment you would receive.

Now that you have all of these resources, you can corral all of your items, put them in your car or schedule a pickup, and let those items find a new home.

What will help you get organized?  Send us your questions…..

We hope you have a Happy, Healthy and Organized New Year,

JoEllen & Muffy

 

To Keep Or Not To Keep?

“JoEllen & Muffy changed my life!”

Wow, I really like this article, and think it is an important read for anyone getting started on an organizing project in the New Year.  In Life Simplified: Expert Advice on Getting Organized, the author, Ann Trainum interviews Professional Organizer Laurie Martin of Simplicity Organizers, who succinctly shares her advice on areas in which we find many of our customers are stuck.

Laurie’s definition of clutter pretty much sums it up:

Clutter is anything that is unused or unloved, anything that exceeds your storage capacity, and anything that if tossed, can be easily and inexpensively replaced should the need arise.

This is just so simple!  Anytime you are working on an organizing project, and need to decide on what to keep or not to keep, just ask yourself these important questions :

• Do I use this?  Remember, this is not the possibility of…… it is actually do you use it?
• Do I love it?  This is not, “Am I keeping this because someone gave it to me and I would feel guilty if I parted with it.”  It is also not “because I paid good money for it.”
• Do I have room to store it?  That’s pretty much what leads to most of the clutter I see.  No room to store it, or don’t know where to store it.  When this happens, it goes anywhere, and can never be found when needed again.
• Can it be inexpensively replaced?  Or, does the cost of storing the stuff, actually cost more than replacing the stuff?  Or could you find it again easily on the internet?

Ponder these questions as you tackle that area that is bothering you the most.  Start small, and you will be inspired to do more!

We recently worked with someone as she moved into a new home.  We asked similar questions of her as she sorted through all the items she had paid to have someone move, and were then donated.  It completely changed her life, as she wrote to us:

Thank you again for the wonderful and tireless work you both put into helping me make my new home, “a home.” But not only that, you have helped me beyond words because I see an improvement in my physical and emotional health as well because my stress has significantly decreased and my motivation as significantly increased. I didn’t really realize how an unorganized space connected to our health until now. It truly was worth a million dollars and I wish I had it to give to you 🙂

As a result, I am looking forward to my future in that home and pursuit of my other personal goals.

Try the questions and let me know what works for you.

Thanks for reading,

JoEllen