The Most Important Organizing Step (That Almost Everyone Forgets)

As seen on Huffington Post

I’m sure you've seen  lists all over your feeds claiming to get you organized in just a few simple steps.  Hey, I’ve written the process I go through to organize a space as well (shameless link to my past blog here!).  Let’s face it, lists read well.  People like them and if you throw in some pretty images they’re super-pinnable.  But lately I’ve begun noticing the missing link in all of those posts (mine included), the last step that is so important but doesn’t always make the cut. “Put it back!”

I can often be heard saying that there is no magic wand to wave when it comes to organizing.  It’s not a well kept secret that some of us have neglected to share.  Like anything else, it requires work.  No matter how fabulous an organization system you have set up, it isn’t going to maintain itself.  That super cute new closet system you just installed isn’t going to look quite so pretty a week in if you keep leaving your clothes all over the floor.  

This “put it back” step is something that everyone struggles with.  I’ve had tell myself to take a deep breath in front of clients after I’ve seen all the hard work they’ve done crumble.  I’m guilty of it too, sometimes I’m just too tired, too busy or, let’s face it, too lazy to put something back.  We all have our moments but they need to be just that.  Moments.  Our default reaction after we have taken something out and used it can’t be to just leave it.  All of those little things we leave throughout the day or week can add up to overwhelm fast.

Obviously this is all easier said than done but here are a few tips to help you crush this step.

Make it Pretty

I’m going to use the same concept as “if you look good, you feel good” for this one.  If you have built a beautiful system to keep you organized, both in looks and function you’ll be more likely to maintain it.  So go ahead and line those drawers that no one but you sees with beautiful paper. Splurge on getting new hangers so they are all the same. Make pretty little labels for all of your things even if you don’t need them.  The better it looks the more likely you will be to keep it that way.

Follow the One Minute Rule

I’ve quoted her before, but it works.  Gretchen Rubin urges us that if we have a task that takes less than one minute to just push ourselves to do it. In our fast paced life of list-making and prioritizing this rule takes away the self doubt.  If you stop to think about it you’ll be dead in the water, you’ll spend your time thinking about the other things you could or should do with that minute.  So put the dish away, replace the toilet paper, hang the dress back up, file that paper.  It’s a great way to keep up without feeling like you put too much effort or time in.

Make it a Habit

There are tons of ways to make something a habit or routine.  Just Google it (when you’re done reading this of course) and find the way that works for you.  Sometimes we need to just do something everyday to make it happen.  If you get into the habit of dealing with your mail as you get it instead leaving it in a pile near the door pretty soon you won’t have to think about it, it will become second nature.

Just Do It

Sometimes you just need to force yourself to do something.  It isn't fun.  There are no neat little tricks.  You just have to do it.  There are tasks that aren’t enjoyable and just plain suck but they still need to get done.  So take a breath and pull up your big-girl panties (or boy panties, I guess I’m kind of gender stereotyping who is most likely to read this) and just get it done..

Good Luck & Happy Organizing!

How A Professional Organizer Tidies Up Under The Sink

As seen in Huffington Post

My last post tackled starting small with your organizing as a way to motivate you onto the bigger projects.  I focused on steps you can use to tackle the often forgotten about space under the sink, but really you can apply those steps to other spaces that need a bit of love.  Since one of the biggest questions I get is “How do you keep your home organized” I thought you might appreciate a look into my home. Particularly under my sink and how I deal with it when it is no longer working.

The space wasn’t a disaster but definitely needed an update.  It’s always a good plan to identify what your problem is before going in to fix it.  My two biggest issues were that: 1. We use a lot of washcloths to wipe kid’s face and hands and the dirty ones kept congregating on the counter until I got fed up enough to bring them to the laundry room.  2. The stackable bins I was using wouldn’t stay stacked and what I had in them wasn’t accessible enough for me.

The third issue was that no one other than me was really maintaining my system.  What was intuitive to me wasn’t as straightforward to my husband and my kids couldn’t grab a washcloth or hand towel with turning everything upside down.

I had a few minutes one day and decided to deal with this space.  So out everything came and the inside got a thorough wipe down.  Once all the products came out and they were sorted I took inventory of what I really needed to keep there.  I have to admit, since I had already pared down what was stored there some time ago the list wasn’t very long.  My biggest challenges was really getting everything back under the sink in a way that A. made sense for how I used it and B. was going to be maintained by others.

With a husband, a 5 year old and 3 year old this was no small feat.  Clearly what I was doing before wasn’t working so I decided to keep it simple.  Very simple.  The most used items needed to be right in front and it needed to be SUPER clear where things went.

The recycling bin was a non-movable.  It’s the most convenient and out of sight spot for us to have it.  Unfortunately that means I lose about half my space.  Saving the earth takes sacrifice!  I picked up a small plastic shelf from the dollar store and grabbed some bins that both fit what I needed to store and could go in the space the shelf allowed for.

My under the sink essentials are washcloths, kitchen towels, dish sponges, clothes to clean the counter and dishwasher detergent (because we seriously run that thing once a day!) I also needed a convenient spot to put all the dirty cloths and towels so they wouldn’t end up on the counter.  Since my kids can’t read yet, I realized that not only did I have to label them but they needed to be in different containers so I could identify them to my children.  Oh, you need a washcloth? That’s in the clear bin.  You took my hand towel to clean the water you spilled all over the floor because your toys need a bath? No problem, just throw it in the green bucket.

So back everything went into it’s clearly designated space.  I also store a few items that only I really use behind the shelf.  Special cleaner for the stovetop, white vinegar and the cleaning concentrate I use to make up the spray I use on the counters.  You’ll notice I don’t really store cleaning products under the sink.  Over the years I have really pared down what I use in the kitchen.  I only use dish soap and a spray for the counters and they both stay up top in a tray next to the sink.   The amount of times my children literally lick food off the table has made me very careful about what I use to clean.

The last part of this space is the inside of the doors.  I didn’t change anything around this time but I do use them to hang rubber gloves (which I wear only if my nails are done which unfortunately is very infrequently, they usually get nabbed by my three year old when she plays dress-up) and a place for the plastic bags that we accumulate.

I did this under the sink update a little over two months ago and haven’t had an issue since.  Yes the occasional washcloth or dirty towel still finds it’s way to the counter but that’s just life.  It really is the small changes that make a big difference. When you see how much positive can come out of a few small changes it can be very motivating to tackle some slightly bigger projects.

Happy Organizing!  If you want to send me a peek under your kitchen sink get in touch here.

Wrangle Your Receipts in 2016

As seen on Huffington Post

Every time you go shopping, do groceries and pay for parking your wallet tends to increase in size.  Unfortunately this is not because it’s getting filled with cash, it’s those pesky paper receipts.  You finally get so fed up that you rip them all out of there and either throw them out or shove them into a drawer somewhere.  But what if there was a better way?  Most of us tend to have some kind of filing system in place for the important paperwork but receipts from everyday purchases tend to get overlooked. Well, those days are over, so let’s push those papers into the spotlight today.

Do I need to keep this?

First of all, I am not an accountant and everyone’s situation is different so check with your provincial/federal guidelines for the important stuff that you may need for tax purposes.   That’s a whole other blog post and we’re going to focus on the easy stuff today.

Gas, restaurant and grocery receipts don’t need a very long life in your wallet, or anywhere for that matter.  As long as you’re a person and not a business they can go pretty quick.  The old rule of thumb used to be to keep them until you reconcile them with your monthly bank statement and then shred them.  Most of us don’t get statements in the mail anymore, so take a few minutes every few days, or at the end of the week to log on to your on-line banking and check your transactions.  If you keep a spreadsheet with a monthly budget be sure to enter them in and then they can go.  A lot of on-line banking will let you generate pretty pie charts to see where your money is going, so even the monthly budget spreadsheet may not be necessary.

The only other thing I will say about grocery receipts is that sometimes food spoils even though it’s not expired or you got a bad apple or something and and you want a refund.  If that happens a lot to you, by all means, hold onto it for a few extra days.

Withdrawal slips and other bank transactions tend to fall into the same rules as gas and grocery.  Make sure it makes sense with your statement (be it paper or electronic) and then shred it.  Except for taking out cash (and I’m sure they’ll figure that one out eventually) most banking transactions can be completed on-line, so consider making the leap over if you haven’t already.  Anytime you can go paperless it’s a good thing and a lot of banks let you deposit cheques through an app.  No paper records to keep and all the details are at your disposal.  Can’t argue with that!

Clothes, shoes and electronics.  Anything with a guarantee or warrantee or that can possibly break you need to hang on to until that guarantee expires.  Same thing applies to items you may need to return.  Honestly, most of the time you couldn’t pay me enough to make my kids try on clothes in the store, I would much rather buy 1 or 2 sizes that I think will fit them and return what doesn’t work.  Once you have worn the clothes or shoes you generally can’t return them anyway so keeping the receipt is pointless.  Hang onto it for a few weeks (assuming you began using the product) to ensure it’s not defective and then say goodbye to the receipt.

When should I do this?

If you’re short on time to go through your receipts, think about using some of that dead-time.  Waiting at the Dr’s office, the long line at the grocery store, watching a mindless tv show, parked in the car waiting for your friend that never shows up on time.  All great opportunities to take a minute to go through your wallet.  I like to keep a little plastic baggie in my purse for the receipts that need to be disposed of but I don’t want to throw in the garbage while I’m out.

Where should I store it?

With all that being said if you really like to keep these papers for longer but don’t have the space, or just don’t want the clutter, consider using an app.  I like using Wave (no affiliation), but there are tons of them out there.  These apps allow you to take a picture of the receipt (even the super long ones), categorize and edit them with the store name and the amount and then save them on-line.  This also helps if you want to see where your money is going or if you need to generate a report for your accountant.

But Allison, you now say, what do I do with all the receipts I am keeping? They can’t just hang out in my wallet and I don’t want to put them into my filing system! Fear not readers, the answer is as simple as a coupon-sized expanding folder. These things are small, compact, have different sections and can easily be labelled to suit your needs.  You can pick them up at an office supply store or a lot of times, the Dollarstore .  My favorite category to make is the “possibly to return”, it’s like a holding zone for the things I’m not sure about.  Just make sure to go though it every few weeks and declutter.

Happy Organizing!​

Going Digital With My Calendar Changed Everything

As featured in Huffington Post & The Suburban

Call me crazy but the thought of losing my paper agenda has literally woken me up in the middle of the night.  How will I know what I have to do the next day? Which client I’m supposed to see? What time should I be there?  The fact that I had so much valuable information in one irreplaceable place had to stop.  I couldn’t take it anymore-- I had to go digital.

I have long been made fun of because of my reluctance move away from a paper agenda and onto a digital one.  Family, friends and clients want to make plans and I would have to say “wait, let me go grab my agenda”.  I would open it up and there would be scribbled notes everywhere (I have terrible handwriting) and different colored post-it notes bursting from the pages. Every night my husband would ask what my plan was for the next day, or if we had something going on that weekend.  Every time I would have to get up, locate my purse and find my agenda.  In the grand scheme of things it wasn’t that big a deal, but life is only getting busier and I knew something had to change.  

When I voiced how reluctant I was to get rid of my beloved paper agenda people would suggest making a digital copy. Write down everything on-line AND in the agenda.  I had visions of me going back and forth, computer to paper, did I write that down properly? Did I put that in the computer? Wait, let me check again just to be sure.  Ugh. That was not going to be my solution.  I had to be all in.  I had to dive into the digital world and not look back.  So I did.

I didn’t plan it  but I found myself with a few hours one afternoon and I decided to bite the bullet.  I opened up Google Calendar on my computer, downloaded the app onto my phone and got started.  Day by day, week, by week I began to transcribe what was once on paper onto the computer.  I was able to assign different colors to different categories (orange for organizing, purple for personal, green for financial stuff).  This was fun, I love to color code! I could even add notifications to remind me of events! Then I realized I could start organizing my next year. . . the paper agenda I had (that I bought because it was pretty) stopped in December 2015, but online I can go forever! I felt unstoppable! Our Mexico vacation in January, spring break, end of the school year; all of it was now in my calendar.  AMAZING.

I called my husband and told him what I had done, I invited him to the calendar and told him under no circumstances was he to sync his work calendar with mine (he has way too many meetings that I don’t care about).  All of the sudden it was 4pm and I had to go pick up the kids.  My agenda was on my desk where I had been transferring all the info into the computer.  As per my routine, I went to grab it and throw it in my purse before I left the house. Not this time. I don’t need it.  It’s all on my phone (which lets face it, in this digital age comes EVERYWHERE with me).  So I put my paper agenda in a drawer and headed out.  I wish I could tell you it was easy.  It wasn’t.  The first few days post-conversion I had that naked feeling, you know the one when you think you’re forgetting something important? I kept reaching into my purse for it.  But like any routine it just took a few days of conditioning and remembering (and some breathing exercises!) to retrain my brain.

I am proud to say that I am now two months post-transfer and couldn’t be happier.  I love having my schedule at my fingertips. I love that it’s backed up. I love that it syncs with my google maps and sends me these cute little dings about what time I should leave to get to my appointment on time.

I never thought I would; never thought I COULD, but I did it.  I made the switch, and if I can, trust me, you can do it too.  I’m not big on resolutions, but this one had been on my “to-do” list for a few years now.

So maybe it’s not “going digital” that you need to tackle, maybe there has been another item that has haunted you for a while.  I know it’s easier to keep putting it off (I certainly did) but chances are once it’s done and you’ve crossed it off your mental list you won’t regret it!

Good Luck & Happy (digital) Organizing!