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Reading time 1 minute
I enjoy travelling and have travelled to Europe, the East, Australia, Canada, the United States and the Caribbean.
I am going to give 2 tips for travelling with an organized purse. (It works for backpacks and briefcases too)
- Buy a purse that has a light lining. When the inside of the purse is dark it is very hard to find anything, organized or not. A lot of items are black or dark in colour, make-up, pens, phones, keys, wallets etc.
- Try purchasing a gadget called Grid It. It comes in many sizes but the small one fits lovely inside a purse and keeps all the small items that you need for flying and travelling neat and tidy. It is wonderful for holding a pen, earbuds, adapters, candy, phone, and keys. You pull it out of your purse everything is contained on the Grid it and you pull out the items you need and put it back in your purse. No digging around in the corners to find the thing you want.
How do you keep all your small items easy to find and use? Share your tips in the comments.
Use it to organize your electronic devices when you are travelling
Great for organizing items in your purse when you are travelling
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Reading time 10 minutes
How to Store Pharmaceuticals
My guest blogger is Laura Schwecherl who is writing for Health Perch a digital magazine from the USA. Many of the tips in this article apply no matter where you live. BY
Cholesterol-lowering pills and allergy eye drops may reside on the bed stand. The medicine cabinet probably holds a cluster of medications (antacids, asthma inhalers, antibiotics) and a few stray ibuprofen may even float around the bottom of your handbag. More than one-third of American adults regularly use over-the-counter medications and 65 percent of all adults in the U.S. (roughly 131 million people) use prescription drugs. Not all of us know how to store and dispose of medications safely.
We’ve got your medicine cabinet covered with a comprehensive guide on storing and disposing of prescription and over the counter drugs. Read on to learn how to stay out of harm’s way.
The Best Way to Store Your Meds
Up to 50 percent of chronic disease patients (for instance people with arthritis, asthma, cancer, COPD, and diabetes) fail to follow directions and take their medicine as prescribed. A simple misstep can lead to higher health risks and medical bills.
One way to avoid this problem is to stay organized. While some households store meds in a number of locations, it’s easier to keep track when they’re all in one place. Try to make medicine taking a part of your daily routine (whether it’s right after breakfast, before dinner, or before bed—whatever your doctor suggests based on the requirements of each medication) and stick to a schedule. Pill organizers are another great way to prevent confusion if you or a family member takes multiple pills a day. It’s also a great idea to take an inventory of your prescriptions at least once every six months.
When choosing a place to keep prescriptions, seek a spot that stays cool and dry, such as a kitchen drawer away from appliances (heat and moisture can damage pills). For this reason, a medicine cabinet in the bathroom may not live up to its name, unless the bathroom is well ventilated with fans or windows.
Travel poses its own obstacles. If you’re travelling in the car, don’t keep medicine in the glove compartment, which can get very hot. If you’re flying, pack prescriptions in a carry-on bag in case your luggage is lost or temporarily delayed. Pack medicine in the original bottle and take a copy of your prescription to avoid any trouble with security.
The Best Way to Dispose of Meds
This isn’t a simple toss in the trash situation. Discarding pills is a matter of safety: Many medicines are unsafe if taken by the wrong person. Medications that have passed the expiration date can also be dangerous.
The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) provides specific guidelines to dispose of prescriptions safely.
Take old, unused, or expired prescriptions out of the bottle. Place them all together without the original packaging and take them to your nearest pharmacy. This helps prevent others from getting into pills. (Every year, more than 60,000 kids go to the emergency room because they took medicine that wasn’t theirs.)
Experts have mixed feelings about flushing prescriptions down the toilet. Some question it due to trace amounts of drug residues found in surface water. Groups including the FDA and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have closely monitored this issue.
The simple rule of thumb? Only flush medications if the label or your doctor says it’s safe. (Here’s a list of meds that can take a trip down the toilet.)
To ensure safety on all fronts, head to a designated drop off site. There are also many community take-back programs for old medicines. Head to the DEA website to see what’s available near you.
Check with your local pharmacy. If you are a customer, they will take your expired medication and get rid of it for you.
Safety First!
Popping pills isn’t a one-and-done endeavor. There are some easy guidelines to make sure you take prescriptions the intended way. Additionally, you can pledge to store medications safely and learn more about pharmaceutical safety at Up and Away.
So without further adieu, here are 14 tips to make sure you store and take medications safely.
Always ask. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist. They’re the experts when it comes to the proper way to take, store, and get rid of them.
Check the expiration date. Always check the expiration date on the bottle. Expired medicines may not only be ineffective, they could be harmful too.
Look for warning signs. Check for pills that look discoloured or dried out. If anything looks funky, take a picture and call your doctor to make sure it’s still safe to consume.
Never reuse and recycle. Still, have that prescription cough medicine that expired in 2012? Always discard leftover medicine even if you think you may use it again. It’s always best to have a doctor prescribe new medicine despite any similar symptoms.
Keep it in the same container. The bottle’s tint helps protect pills from light and lists important information including the name of the prescription when to take it, and your pharmacy’s number for when it’s time for a refill.
Don’t mix meds. Many pills look similar, and it’s easier than one might think to accidentally pop the wrong one.
Remove the cotton. Some pill bottles come with cotton inside to help protect pills that are shipped from online pharmacies. Remove the cotton as soon as you open the bottle. The cotton attracts moisture, which could decrease the medication’s strength.
Separate from your spouse. Keep your medicines separate from your spouse or other family members to lower the chances of mixing.
Open in a safety zone. Open meds on a countertop so you can rest the bottle on a flat surface. There’s always a chance of a pill slipping out of the bottle, and you don’t want to lose it on the floor or down a drain.
Keep the lights on. Don’t take pills in the dark or in bad lighting. Good light helps ensure you take the right pill and the correct dose.
Lock ‘em out. It’s crucial to lock your prescriptions in a drawer if you have small kids.
Close it tight. Use that arm strength to close the lid tight. This also helps childproof the bottles.
Be prepared in case of an emergency. Call your poison control center immediately if you think a child may have taken one of your prescriptions. Save the number on your phone so you can dial it right away.
Conclusion
By now, you should be an expert on pill safety—from storage and use to proper disposal. Stick to these guidelines (and some common sense) and you’ll be on the fast track to health.
Share how you organize your medications in the comments. My 91 year old dad made an Excel spreadsheet to track the timing of his eye drops after he had cataract surgery.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
My guest blogger is Olivia Cordell from AppsGrooves
AppGrooves, just published this article on the Best Apps for Making Digital To-Do Lists which I thought would be super helpful to busy people like you! AppGrooves has one of the most comprehensive collections of app-related analytics data, and we use it to rank the top apps on the App Store in over 600 categories that we designed. We do this to save you the time and stress of figuring out which apps are best to download and use.
Best 10 To Do List Apps
AppGrooves has filtered the best 10 apps for “To Do List” in Productivity from 1,939 apps. Check it out!
1 Any.do: To-do list, Calendar, Reminders & Planner
By Any.do
Why we love this
- An intuitive, straightforward planner! Instantly create quick memos & organize your monthly calendar in a matter of seconds
- Need to buy fruit next time you visit a grocery store? Set up a smart reminder that will alert you when you reach a specific location
- With the powerful Home Widget, you have your entire, neatly organized to-do list right on the home screen
2. TickTick: To Do List with Reminder, Day Planner
By Appest Inc.
How to manage time⏳, get things done ✔ and accomplish tasks! ??
Why we love this
- Thanks to Smart Date Parsing, adding notes via voice or type input automatically sets a reminder without you having to do anything.
- Smart with your productivity! Discover useful statistics that turn your working schedules into a beautiful graph.
3. To-Do List
by Splend Apps
SplenDO is a smart task list for everyday use. Truly usable, and splendid in action!
Collaborate with your friends & coworkers! Create joint task lists & effortlessly sync your mutual to-dos.
Why we love this
- The ability to group tasks in neat Task Lists makes sure your to-do list stays organized no matter how many notes you add.
- Staying organized made easy! Quickly set up due dates, view tasks that are past due & check off completed tasks to stay efficient.
- In a hurry? Instantly add tasks to the Quick Task Bar whenever you need to schedule something important.
4. To Do Reminder with Alarm
By App Innovation
Why we love this
- Remembers everything for you! Easily add reminders, set alarms & quickly sync with Facebook or Gmail to automatically add birthdays & anniversaries
- Scheduled a meeting two weeks ago? Easily send reminders to other people with a single tap
- Stay organized even while driving! The smart Drive Mode allows you to safely handle notifications without taking your eyes off the road
5. Todoist: To-do lists for task management & errands
By Doist
Stress less about getting things done. Create your task list & accomplish more.
To-do lists for task management & errands
Why we love this
- Remove the stress with colours! Use colour-coding to easily pinpoint crucial tasks and add a little fun
- Adding recurring tasks is super easy! Simply type “every second Thursday” & see notes magically appear on the calendar exactly as you want
- The intuitive Drag&Drop feature makes organizing folders & subfolders as easy as turning on your device.
6. To-Do List, Task List
By Pocket Universe, LLC
A playful to-do list in the spirit of Eisenhower’s priority matrix
7. Wunderlist: To-Do List & Tasks
By 6 Wunderkinder GmbH
8. GTasks: Todo List & Task List
By Appest Inc.
Synchronize Your To Do Tasks | List with Google
9. Tasks: Astrid To-Do List Clone
By Alex Baker
10. Microsoft To-Do
By Microsoft Corporation
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She enjoys working with her clients to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She reduces clutter, streamlines processes and manages time to help her clients be more effective in reaching their goals. Julie can coach you to break-free of the physical or emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Thank you for the question “How do you recommend managing mechanical “mesmerizing” tasks like data entry that can literally put me to sleep?”
I think we all have tasks that we find difficult to concentrate on and begin to daydream. Here are a few suggestions to try, let me know if any resonate with you.
- Use music with or without words, this may make the setting you are working in more enjoyable and help you feel like working
- Do this task at a time of day when you are most productive and can focus well
- Break the task into smaller tasks (batches of data entry, invoicing etc) do a little each day instead of a lot all at once
- Add white noise to your working space so you are not distracted by other sounds that can draw your attention away from what you are doing
- Set a timer – agree to work until the timer goes off and then change tasks or take a break. Do this until the task is completed. Getting up and moving can really help to let you be able to go back to the task and concentrate again.
- Give yourself a reward, when it is done I can …….
- Change the place where you do the task, perhaps you need a cooler space, better lighting, an out of the way space, etc
I hope you find that these suggestions can help you to focus and get it done quicker. If it takes less time because you are focused you will need to focus for less time.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Living rooms can have many purposes.
1. Decide what your living room will be used for and create areas for each activity – watching TV, listening to music, reading, entertaining, office/desk work, or relaxing.
Determine what activities you will use the room for and then plan your space.
Lighting
2. Use task lighting as needed for each activity. Floor lamps, table lamps, wall-mounted or ceiling lights help to make the room perfect for any task.
Make sure your lighting suits the task you want to do.
Choose furniture that has more than one purpose
3. Additional hidden storage can be added to the room, such as an ottoman or footstool with storage, a chest, or a coffee table with shelves or drawers. The space behind a couch is great for storing flat items such as pictures or dining room table leaves. Bookcases or floor-to-ceiling shelves can be used to decorate a wall and store items.
Pictures
4. Too many pictures? Instead of trying to hang them all, rotate them each season. It will give your walls a facelift. Storing your pictures behind your couch is a great way to keep them handy but out of sight.
How do you store your CDs and DVDs?
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Reading time – 3 minutes
Thanks to Brooke Faulkner for returning to guest blog this month.
Making the most of a small kitchen
Whether you have chosen to move into a tiny home, you pay an exorbitant amount to have a closet-sized apartment in New York City, or it just so happens that your dream home has a small kitchen, you are going to have to get creative with how you use it. The kitchen has always been a place where clutter seems to gather and where storage is always an issue, no matter how big or small the space. Making some custom changes to your kitchen to adapt to your personal wants and needs will help you see your kitchen as more of a place of zen than a messy cluttered den.
Hideaways
As you start to really investigate your kitchen, you may start to recognize negative space that could be used for additional storage and further organization. Start with looking at your sink area. What is that small drawer in front of the sink that doesn’t open? What a cruel design! By removing the front of the drawer, installing a narrow pocket behind it and hinges on either side, you can make a sponge and nail brush holder that tucks right into that unused spot. This allows you to hide the unsightly sponges and remove clutter from around the water tap and gain more organizational space!
Another typically overlooked area is the space between the oven and the cabinet next to it. Usually, there is just enough space to install a spice cabinet that slides into the depth of the cabinet and when pulled out can visually display every spice you could ever want to cook with. Spices and condiments take up a silly amount of space. Another option for storage to free up counter or wall space is to install a spice rack, an absolute kitchen essential, on the inside of a cabinet or pantry door. A pantry door, if your small kitchen is lucky enough to have one, is ideal because the depth of the spice rack fits perfectly inside the door frame, not taking up any additional space once the door is closed.
Cut the Clutter
Utilizing the space available to you and recognizing when there just isn’t any left will be your best approach to removing the clutter from your kitchen. Small bits and pieces tend to collect on the surfaces of counters above anything else, making your kitchen feel even smaller. For the smaller recurring items, like notes to the family, mail, or hairpins, take advantage of the inside of the cabinet doors. With a simple strong adhesive, you can create small catch-all containers that are out of view and not taking up any additional space. You can label the small containers so that other household members know how to best use them.
Organizing what lies within the cabinet drawers will also help to cut back on the number of items in your kitchen. Take for example the storage container drawer. In the typical household it contains various sizes of mismatched plastics that are haphazardly shoved into a general area. Consider upgrading to a stackable glass container set that simply has four sizes with colour coded lids. Having one stackable entity that can easily slide in and out of the cabinet could save you time and hassle for meals on-the-go and storing leftovers.
For that clumsy pots and pans drawer, take a second to look up. If your ceiling allows for it, consider installing a hanging pots and pan rack to allow for easy access and to free up one of your cabinets for additional valuable storage space. Once they are on display, you might also recognize that it is time to update the pots and pans collection of parental hand-me-downs that you have been hanging on to since college with the best and brightest new cookware.
Mess Free
The kitchen seems to be the mecca for where dirt, food scraps and oily messes tend to build up. To alleviate less mess on the floor, opt to put your cutting board over one half of your sink. It cuts down on the amount of food scraps that end up on the floor and makes cleaning up that much faster. It reduces the wear and tear on your countertops and prevents potential staining from items such as beets and turmeric root. An added bonus is that you can use it to cover up any dishes that you didn’t happen to get done if an unexpected guest stops by for a visit.
Cooking in a small kitchen, there are areas that seem to get dirty again within a day of cleaning them. Try using natural cleaning agents to get your appliances looking like new without drowning yourself in chemicals. Using flour to scrub down those new stainless steel appliances will have them shining like new after a quick rinse. Additionally, you can use lemon juice to get rid of rust spots that may be on knives that you have on display and a bit of salt and lemon juice on your wooden cutting boards will both cleanse them and rid them of any residual food odors.
No matter how small, there is a kitchen hack for it all. Before you start to complain about your limited space, take a look around and notice what small changes you could make so your kitchen world works better for you and your needs.
What is your best kitchen hack? Share it in the comments
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
My guest blogger this week is from ProStock Hockey. It can be difficult to keep hockey equipment organized, dry and clean. Do you want your child putting on equipment that was stored in a moldy hockey bag? Imagine having 15 hockey bags in a small room containing equipment that is not taken care of properly.
Click arrows in the bottom right corner to expand full screen
Post your best tip for organizing your sports equipment in the comments.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
My guest blogger this week is Brooke Faulkner. She is a mom and writer in the Pacific Northwest. When she’s not wrangling her own kids, she’s writing tips to help other families do the same. You can see more of her writing on Twitter, @faulknercreek. Brooke thanks for sharing your expertise.
As you probably have already experienced, packing and moving to a new location — whether across town or across the country — rank right up there as the the least desirable tasks to tackle in life.
Research has even shown that moving is MORE stressful than a divorce or starting a new job. In a poll of 2,000 adults who have moved in the past three years, almost two in three (61 percent) placed moving at the top of their stress list.Research has even shown that moving is MORE stressful than a divorce or starting a new job. In a poll of 2,000 adults who have moved in the past three years, almost two in three (61 percent) placed moving at the top of their stress list. Share on X
Meanwhile, a crumbling relationship, divorce and a new job were ranked second, with less than half (42 percent) voting those life events as the most stressful.
Fortunately, there are many ways to lessen the burden of packing up your life and starting a new chapter. It can even be an opportunity to take charge and move like a boss.
And once you’re done with the big move, you can slowly unpack your belongings, breathe a sigh of relief, and enjoy your new space.
Here are a few things you can do to make the process easier along the way:
To-Do Lists Are Your Friend
There are so many things to keep track of as you work your way through the transition from the old place to the new house. Create a plan of attack by making a to-do list. It can be organized on a week-by-week basis to make it more manageable and less intimidating as the moving date approaches.
Prioritize all of the important tasks first along with the associated deadlines for each.
You don’t have to make a list of tasks out of thin air. There are many handy moving checklists available to use as a guideline. A good moving checklist includes around-the-house and preparatory tasks like scheduling connections of utilities at the new house, disconnecting utilities at the old place, filing a change of address form with the post office, arranging for cleaning services, reserving a moving truck, and collecting moving and storage boxes, to name a few.
An Opportunity to Downsize
Before you even start packing, you’ll want to get rid of any clutter or unwanted items. This will help you feel more organized from the outset because you’ll only be packing up the things you need or want to take with you.
In a previous Mind Over Clutter blog post, we recommended a book called “Don’t Toss My Memories in the Trash” designed to help loved ones move, complete with practical steps and suggestions for downsizing without sacrificing treasured memories. For many people, giving up the family home is comparable to losing a loved one.
At the same time, it’s a pretty freeing feeling to downsize, donate items, and clear out the old to make way for the new. Otherwise, it can be frustrating to pack stuff you’re going to get rid of anyway after the move. Give yourself plenty of time to do what needs to be done in order to have a successful move.
Prepare Your Mind
Get ready for the possibility of anxiety that comes with living among boxes and in chaos for a while. Don’t let the stress cause you to procrastinate on the items on your moving checklist.
People in general have the tendency to procrastinate. Think of it like packing for a vacation. What happens when you delay packing until the very last minute before you leave? You inevitably forget something you might need or want on your trip.
It’s natural to avoid things you don’t want to do, but uprooting your life is a big deal and deserves your full attention. Even after you’ve done the work, there’s always still more to be done. But it will get done. You got this.
It may take a while to make the space your own. That’s to be expected. You don’t have to do it all in one week. Give yourself and your family time to settle into the new environment.
Organize Your Belongings
You’ve likely moved before and found yourself frantically looking for something specific only to find you didn’t pack the item in a box with similar items. When you start shoving things within reach into boxes, you set yourself up for chaos.
It seems like a no-brainer, but mixing and matching kitchen supplies with bedroom supplies, for example, isn’t the most effective way to pack. Socks and spoons don’t go together. Organizing your belongings into categories is a relatively simple step.
Labelling each box with its contents with a sharpie is a good way to go. You’ll have more than one box of kitchen supplies, so when writing on top of the box, make sure to write what’s in the box. Simply writing “kitchen” on each box isn’t very helpful. Writing the specific contents under the kitchen category will not only make it easier for you but the movers as well.
There are many ways to downgrade the stress levels you may experience during the moving process. You may even look back and think, “Hey, that wasn’t so bad.” Pat yourself on the back, enjoy the moment and, of course, your new home!
Share with us where you donate the items you don’t need anymore.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She enjoys working with her clients to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She reduces clutter, streamlines processes and manages time to help her clients be more effective in reaching their goals. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter Facebook Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Facts about St Patrick’s Day
Shamrock
1. Irish immigrants coming to North America started St Patrick’s Day parades to honour their nationality.
2. The first parade took place in Boston in 1737 followed by New York in 1762.
3. Ireland held their first parade in 1931
4. St Patrick’s Day always fell during Lent, when all the pubs were closed
5. The original colour associated with St Patrick is blue but because shamrocks and leprechauns are green, St Patrick’s Day adopted the colour green.
Need help organizing your holiday decorations Contact Julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She enjoys working with her clients to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She reduces clutter, streamlines processes and manages time to help her clients be more effective in reaching their goals. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Do have more on your plate than you can handle?
April Miller of April Miller Professional Organizing once described life as having a plate of food. Even when it is full we keep putting more food on top.
Let’s think about stress, do you
- feel overwhelmed by not being able to shut your mind down
- feel anxious that there is too much to handle
- feel frustrated because you don’t have control
Think about how you feel in different situations and why you feel that way. Once you can determine what problems cause your feelings of stress you can start to solve them.
Balance Wheel
Clare Kumar of Streamlife Ltd. has developed a Lifetime Management Wheel. She has divided time into 6 areas:
- Play
- Purpose – work and volunteering
- Health – mental physical and spiritual
- Lifestyle
- Relationships
- Development – personal growth and learning
She says to “note your level of satisfaction with each area of your life by giving it a rating of 1 to 10 with 10 being your ideal.”
Now you can see which areas of your life need some attention. You can tie some of your feelings of stress to certain areas of your life.
Productivity – another way of managing your time
1. Take care of yourself
If you are healthy and happy you will be more motivated and productive. I walk each morning for an hour. It allows me to start the day with no questions or demands on my time. I get physical activity and time to reflect. I can start my day ready for action, whatever that may be. What do you do the take care of yourself?
If you are healthy and happy you will be more motivated and productive Share on X2. Establish repeatable routines and systems.
This helps you to automate things that need to be completed so they become a habit. I have a “networking bag”. It has everything I need for going to business meetings, business cards, brochures, marketing material, notepads, pens, and cash. I can leave the office quickly for meetings not forgetting anything and not spending a lot of time looking for items I need to take. I have a two month meal plan. I know what groceries I need for the week and what is being cooked for supper. Then I repeat the plan 6 times, that is a year. You only have to eat any one item 6 times in 365 days. Routines and systems will help you to feel in control and have less on your mind reducing your stress.
3. Slow down to become more productive.
About 5% of the population can multitask successfully. Multitasking slows down your productivity because moving from unfinished task to unfinished task means you need to look back to see where you left off on the previous task and where to start on the new task and all those seconds add up to minutes making you less productive. Finish one task completely and then move on to the next. There is relief and satisfaction in completing a task reducing anxiety and stress. You also need time to think and reflect on the work you are doing so you can be more intentional and less reactive. You’re in control and less overwhelmed.
4. Work with your personality not against it.
Discover where you are most productive. It might be in different spaces for different tasks. When I write I like to be in the kitchen. What time of day do you work best? Do you like it quiet or prefer to have some background noise? There are articles that suggest that if you are trying to brainstorm ideas you have to leave your office and that physical activity helps in brainstorming activities. I have found that 90-15-90-30-90 works for me. I concentrate on one task for 90 minutes and then do something completely different for 15 minutes. Then 90 minutes for working on the same task or a new one and 30 minutes doing something completely different and then a 90 minute work session. Don’t cheat on the breaks. The breaks help you to remain energized and focused throughout the day.
Fill your plate with only as much as you can bite off and chew. Enjoy each morsel and spend time ruminating over the experience. Reflect on what you are doing and what you could be doing more productively.
Send me your tip for increasing your productivity
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situation. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Click here to learn more about her online course Create an Organized Home.
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