Yes – I get it, it’s Valentine’s Day

Well it’s Valentine’s month so everything has to be about couples, pairs, partners, lovers, blah, blah, blah. Ok, here’s my stab at it:

Organizing with Your Partner

In your home, do you and your partner agree on how to organize your things, what to keep and what to get rid of?  Good for you! Now for the remaining 99.99% of us, it’s a problem. I’m fairly sure my partner, we’ll call him "Les", is deathly afraid that I will throw all his stuff away.
 
Hey, Les, your paranoia is justified. I challenge you to figure out what I’ve tossed…
 
OK – DON’T DO THAT!!!!
 
Instead, begin resolving this relationship dispute with communication.

• Each of you describe what you want the space to look like; for what it should be used. Be as clear as possible. Write it down.
• Respect each other’s goals. Stop thinking about right and wrong goals. Neither of you is right or wrong.
• Find common ground. Surely there are some parts of your goals that match. From your common ground, creating an organization system that you both accept and maintain.
• If you can’t come together on a certain area of your home, create separate zones and choose a “boss” for that space. The “boss” decides how the space is organized and the other has to follow their “orders”.

Hopefully at the end of this process you are still partners and can celebrate Valentine’s Day in the more traditional ways.  Or not at all.

Get Organized – Digital Style

January is “Get Organized” month!  For many of you, it may inspire you to clean out a closet or pantry.  But what about digital organization? Your electronic “stuff” needs a system just like your physical stuff. 

Emails, to-do lists, household inventories are just a few areas that could benefit from better digital organization. If you are self-employed or run a small business, there are even more areas that could be simplified and better organized digitally.

There is a vast array of software and apps out there to help you with digital organization and productivity.  Vast array. Vast.  It can be dizzying – even for me.  And I like this stuff…

Difficult or not, the time you spend now should reward you with more time and less frustration in the future. So how can you make this happen?

A good place to start is to think about your problems. 

• I have 15 million emails in my inbox
• I have 15 million and one to-do’s and don’t know where to start 
• Scheduling appointments is a huge time drain
• My billing and accounting are too complicated

It’s also helpful to ‘map out’ the systems that you use.  List any software you already use, what the system does and if you have to transfer information from one system to another.  For example:

Be clear on your problems to focus your research.  What are the specific problems with my billing system? Well, I track the time spent on client work on a pad and paper. But then I have to enter the data into a spreadsheet so I can provide my client with an accounting and create an invoice.  I need a program that tracks my time, creates a report and populates an invoice automatically.  It would be even better if the invoice is tracked in my accounting system so I can apply payments as they come in.

Google your problems and see what software or apps pop up. As you research, ask yourself if the software solves your problem.  Or 80% of your problem. I found a time keeping software that makes it easy to track my time spent on different client projects.  I can use it on my phone or PC. I can easily create reports of my time for each client.  It doesn’t create invoices, but the reports make it easy to enter the total time spent into my invoicing system.

Remember to check for integrations.  Is there software that does everything you need in one area, like accounting?  Or can this software work with an existing software that you use, like QuickBooks or MS Outlook. If you have software that you like, contact the software vendor to find other software that integrates.

And sometimes you just have to try out the software or app before you decide if it’s the right one.  Thankfully many have a free version or free trial.  Take advantage.

Are you dizzy yet?

If new software or technology scares you, this project is not for you.  I guess I should have said that at the beginning. However, if you work through researching and implementing new technology, your reward should be less time on mundane tasks.

What makes a Merry Christmas?

What makes a Merry Christmas?

One of the big ideas in organizing news this year is the KonMari Method. The creator of the method, Marie Kondo, has her own Wikipedia page – so you know it’s legitimate. Her method remains provocative, but one idea sticks out to me – the idea of “less”.

However, his time of year challenges our commitment to “less”.  Like it or not, Christmas revolves around gifts.  Lots of gifts, few gifts, gifts, gifts, gifts. Buy, Buy, Buy…Buy.

We like to give and receive gifts.  But, how can I reconcile my desire for less with the pressure for holiday consumption? And, it’s not just a question for me. Would my family and friends appreciate less?  How can I communicate to my family that I don’t need more stuff?

A few Christmases ago I suggested to my family a “no gifts” policy for everyone over the age of 18.  I attempted to convince all the adults in the family that we should not exchange gifts amongst ourselves.  I received a mixed reaction.  The idea was abandoned and no one has spoken of it since. Thankfully the family did not have the votes to approve that I be flogged for suggesting that idea.

After my near-flogging experience, I’ve come to see that gift giving is a fun ritual at Christmas; one of several.  What do you remember from past holidays?  Is it singing carols, visiting family, food, or whatever shared experience made you happy? Including the exchange of gifts. It’s these traditional, communal rituals that make holidays special.

But my point is that the ritual of gift giving is more significant than the gifts themselves.

So that’s my long-winded way of answering the question “What makes a merry Christmas” (or any other holiday). It’s shared experiences.

This year I am shifting my focus from buying the “perfect” gift to finding ways to make our shared rituals more memorable.  For me, that means more food experiments to inflict on gift my family…The sweet potato dumplings are ready in the freezer. Anyone know where I can get food-grade beef suet for mincemeat pies?

What holiday rituals do you enjoy the most?

January is GO Month - Join us at Ikea

Unique Home Office Ideas

Not everyone has a dedicated room in their home for an office.  But everyone has a need to run the business of their home.  I love finding examples of innovative ways people have found to add office space to their home.

Sometimes your office is in a corner of a room, sometimes it's in a closet!  Check out this great example of a closet turned into an office from Elizabeth Joan Designs.

Planning for the Year Ahead

Many people find January the time to plan. However, January is often when business and family life starts to ramp back up after the holiday season leaving little focus for planning. For many, December is a great time to focus and plan for your family and business.

But can you focus in your office space? Often our "planning" time ends up as an attempt to organize the space to allow us to focus. Physical or electronic disorganization are not just distractions, they hinder our ability to find data or other information that could help with our planning.

You know you need to clean it up. But how? Likely you've tried before with mixed success. How can you make your organizational efforts stick?

Try the following approach:

Sort → Purge → System → Process

Sort: Know what you have; know what to keep and for how long.

Purge: Let go! Take a hard look at things you own and decide if they are helping you or hindering you. This is single hardest part but the biggest determinant of your success.

System: For the items you've kept, decide on a system for organizing them. Business vs. personal? Paper vs. electronic? Subject vs. retention expiration date?

Process: You've dealt with the items already in your office. Now create a process for dealing with new items coming into your home office otherwise your office will soon be in the same state as before you started. What sort of information flows through your home office? Business? Personal? Financial? Family? Action items? Items for archiving only? Be sure to set up a process to deal with information flowing in from both paper and electronic sources.

One additional option: Outsourcing. For small business owners, outsourcing can be a life saver. It allows them to get more done and is especially helpful for those tasks which are not their strengths. When it comes to organizing your home office, you may be better served by outsourcing this project to a professional organizer who can lead you through Sort → Purge → System → Process.

Whether you do-it-yourself or with the help of a professional organizer, getting your home office space organized is key to focusing on planning for you future. Plan your space; plan your life.

Happy Holidays and Happy Planning!

To learn more about how a professional organizer can help you, contact Sabina Gartler at Savvy Home Office services at sabina@savvyhomeoffice.com or 832.236.3757.
www.savvyhomeoffice.com