Paper Management, Part 3

Junk All That Junk Mail!

In an effort to take back and clear out the piles of papers in your kitchens and dining rooms, simplify our lives, and stop the excessive waste, we will learn how to “Junk all that Junk Mail”!  

The average American adult receives almost 560 pieces of junk mail each year. And they spend 8 months opening junk mail in the course of their lives! And we wonder why we are drowning in paper!

In an effort to “Get Organized in 2010″, we have been looking at the universal problem of overwhelming amounts of paperwork, and the resulting piles that usually end up in the kitchen. Together we have looked at how and why this problem is created in Help, My Kitchen is My File Cabinet, and have begun to create a plan of action to eliminate it, Quick Access Files, Don’t Live an Organized Life Without Them!
Today, we will learn how to ELIMINATE much of the problem by eliminating much of our junk mail. It takes a bit of effort, but the savings in time, energy, and waste are well worth it.

I wish I could give you one phone number to call, similar to the National Do Not Call Registry, but it hasn’t been completed yet. Check out the New American Dream site at www.newdream.org to see the progress on the “Do Not Junk” registries.

Until then, there are several steps you can take to reduce the amount of junk mail you receive:

• Get off the Junk Mailing List. Visit the Direct Marketing Association’s Mail Preference Service. Go to www.dmachoice.org ,  and follow their instructions to stop getting the mail that you don’t want. The DMA estimates that listing with their mail preference service will stop 75% of all national mailings

• Eliminate credit card junk mail. Most credit card companies use a central service to screen out people who don’t want to receive their mailings. To avoid getting most credit card junk mail, call 1-888-OPTOUT (888-567-8688).

• Stop junk mail before it begins. Whenever you fill out a form or place an order, always write “Do not rent or exchange my name” or ask the order taker to please “flag your file” so that your information won’t be shared.

• Eliminate the extra papers and advertisements sent to you with current bills by signing up for automatic payment. This will eliminate paperwork, and save you time and save money on postage.

• Stop the Catalogs. Most catalogs have an 800 number that customers can use to place orders. Use this same number to call and request that your name be taken off of their mailing list.  You can also go to Catalog Choice at www.catalogchoice.org. This site allows you to type in whatever catalog or mailer you receive and opt out. Just be careful that you don’t sign up to receive more catalogs than those you opt out of!

Other helpful websites:

• www.obviously.com :  provides a free on-line do-it-yourself guide to stopping junk mail, emails and phone calls

Do you have more money than time? Then try one of the following services:

• www.41pounds.org will do the work for you. They are a nonprofit organization working to eliminate junk mail and charge only $41 for 5 years. That’s only $8.20 per year!

• Purchase the Stop the Junk Mail Kit developed by the Consumer Research Institute. Go to www.stopjunk.com. The kit is $13.95 for the printed version ($9.95 for additional kits) or $10.95 for the PDF version. This simple kit was researched and developed by a former junk mail copywriter. The kit includes simple stop by step directions as well as pre-addressed postcards to make the job of ending junk mail simple.

• www.privacycouncil.org will do the work for you. The Privacy Council describes itself as “marketers committed to privacy”. Their mission is simple: they strive to collectively put an end to unwanted junk mail, SPAM and phone calls. The Privacy Council offers a full removal service, which removes your household from call lists, email lists, and junk mail lists. The initial cost for this service is $9.

• www.stopthejunkmail.com is owned by a young family in Boulder, CO who are passionate about saving the earth and being able to bring their kids up in a better environment and be able to “Breath Fresh Air”! For just $19.95, to get started, they claim to be able to reduce your junk mail by 90%. Their services are 100% guaranteed.

This a only a drop in the bucket. A quick google search of  stop junk mail brings up nearly 10 million sites. So, use my suggestions, or research your own. But certainly do simplify your life by Junking all that Junk Mail!

This article was originally posted in February, 2009.  It has been updated and re-posted , as I know so many of us need another reminder to “Junk all that Junk Mail!”.

Happy (and organized!) days!

Cheryl

Organize in (Your) Style

I was recently in Santa Fe, New Mexico celebrating a special birthday. I visited a great store, KOWBOYZ , “A First-Class Second-Hand Western Store”, selling 5,000 pairs of new & happily used boots. It was pretty impressive!

Cowboy Style for Your Office

I LOVED their clever solution to organizing their desk. Kids cowboy boots put to use to round up their office supplies.

Boots, chaps and cowboy hats… nothin’ else matters.
Cowboy Proverb

Go, ahead. Get Organized. In Style!

Happy (and organized) days!

Cheryl

Paper Management, Part 2

Quick Access Files:  Don’t Live an Organized Life Without Them!

Last time in “Help, My Kitchen is My File Cabinet”, I referred to the universal problem of overwhelming amounts of paperwork, and the resulting piles that usually end up in the kitchen. A large part of the solution to this problem is the creation of Quick Access Files. Quick Access Files are just that……….files that you need to access often and quickly. Don’t let the word file in Quick Access Files throw you. These are files containing different information than we generally keep in our regular filing cabinet. Quick Access Files are files that you will need for a season and/or you need to access often. They are filled with the papers that are otherwise taped to our refrigerator, stuck on the bulletin board or, all too often, piled up next to the phone or on the kitchen table.

Not Your Mother's File Box!

To create Quick Access Files, gather up all the bits of information lying around and plastered to the surfaces in your kitchen. Then separate them into logical categories. Because each of our lives and habits are different, each of our Quick Access Files will be different as well. You may end up with:

• A file for each school, which will hold current phone lists, school calendars, announcements, and newsletters.
• A file for every sports team or club
• Or you may choose to create a file for each child in which you could place all their papers for their individual school, sports, and clubs.
• A file for volunteer organizations, which will hold current phone lists, announcements, schedules, and newsletters
• A doctor/dentist file with contact information and appointment cards (which you will drop in the file AFTER you write the appointment on your calendar)
• A file for prescriptions, which will hold patient information for any current prescriptions that your family members are using
• A file for take out menus
• A file for parties and invitations (which you drop in AFTER you write the appointment on the calendar)
• A file for coupons and gift cards
  

  Basic File Box by See Jane Work

For many of these categories you will also have a file in your regular file cabinet. For instance, each child will have an Education file in your regular files, in which you will place all their permanent records, report cards and testing information. Each person will have a Medical file, which will hold immunization records, surgery, allergy and all permanent medical records.

The papers, invitations, schedules, announcements, appointment reminders, and take out menus in our Quick Access File are generally used for a season and then discarded or updated. At the end of a school year or sports season, for example, most of the contents of the Quick Access File will be discarded. Any important or permanent information or documents, however, will be added to your regular long term filing system, and your Quick Access Files will be ready for the new season.

With the addition of just a few categories, with corresponding files, you will have a complete system to deal with your mail on a daily basis.

• To Do
• To Pay
• To File (anything that simply needs to be transferred to your long term filing system)

Now that you have created your own Quick Access Files, I suggest that you keep them in your main living area, which is usually the kitchen or family room. This is generally the place that you bring in and drop your mail, you walk in with files and papers from meetings and appointments, and your children bring you papers to sign, fill out and file away.

I have heard people say that they don’t want a file box sitting in their living area. May I kindly suggest, that a small, nice looking file box (think attractive and presentable) looks much nicer than a pile of papers in disarray!

Check out some of the links to file boxes and files in this article, or find your own. Be creative. There are 100’s of options available in every style. Find your own style.

A Cool Vintage File Box

If you have ever worked with me, attended one of my workshops,  or followed my blog for any length of time, this concept is not new to you. If you already have Quick Access Files, the New Year is the perfect time to revamp them.  Simply sort through each file and:

• First of all; decide if you still need each file
  

  A Beautiful Alternative to Manila!

• Toss any obsolete information
• File anything that should be transferred over to your Permanent Filing System
• Determine if you need to add any new categories – (do you have any new information hanging on the fridge or piled up on the kitchen table?)

It’s the perfect time for a fresh start!
Happy (and Organized!) days!
Cheryl

Paper Management, Part 1

Help, My Kitchen is My File Cabinet!

Take a quick look around your kitchen and dining room: the kitchen table, the counter tops, the buffet, and the surfaces of your refrigerator. Do you notice a re-occurring theme? Do you see the mounds of information needed to run your home and your life, spread hit or miss around your kitchen? Is the pile of junk mail, catalogs, and newspapers on your kitchen table blocking your view of your loved ones at dinner? If so, you’re not alone.

Do you realize how much paperwork enters your home on a daily basis? Most of us probably receive more mail on most days than our parents received in a week. We receive newsletters, magazines, bills, advertisements, million dollar offers, and letters, to mention a few. Along with incoming mail, many of us have school-aged children, who each bring home permission slips, completed work, tests to be signed, the dreaded fund-raising packets and letters from teachers and administrators. We receive the Daily Newspaper, and we carry in papers on a daily basis from work, meetings and appointments.

In my time as a professional organizer, I have come across a universal problem of overwhelming amounts of paperwork, and the resulting piles that usually end up in the kitchen. In our efforts to “Get Organized in 2010″, we will look at this all-too-common issue and outline simple solutions that can solve this problem and simplify your days.

Together we will create a plan of action. A place for everything and everything in it’s place! Clutter happens when we don’t have a place for something, or when it’s more difficult to put something away than it is to deal with it. The result is the inevitable cluttering up of our spaces and our lives.

As we create a plan for all the paper coming into our homes, we will ask ourselves some very basic questions:

• Who needs this information?

• Where will I/they need or use this information?

• How long do I need/want to keep this information?

• What time of day does most of this information come into the home?

• Do I have time to put it where it belongs?

The truth is, the majority of the paper coming into your home will NEVER need to be looked at again!
“Man’s best friend, aside from the dog, is the wastebasket”.           Business Week

Remember this truth and always have your friend with you when dealing with paperwork. That’s the first and most essential step! Until next time, I challenge you to quickly recycle or simply throw out that which you don’t need, won’t use, or won’t read (despite your best intentions!). Make it a habit, and your piles may actually start declining!
In the upcoming weeks, I will be posting a 6-part Paper Management Series, which will simply outline what to do with all that paperwork. From developing short term and long term filing systems, to “junking all that junk mail”, to practical filing tips and tricks; all of which will help you to launch into a more organized 2010!

Happy (and Organized) Days!

Cheryl

Happy New Year!

Get “In Order for Life” in 2010

A New Year……….A New Organized You and A New Organized Life! Are you ready to take your life in a new direction? Sound Exciting? Sound like something that you have been thinking about? If so, you are not alone. “Getting Organized” is consistently one of the top 5 New Year’s Resolutions of Americans.
Why is that? Why do so many Americans feel “out of order” and unorganized? I believe the answer is two-fold. First, most of us live at such a fast pace that we are simply overwhelmed. We plan too much, try to accomplish too much, shop too much, and generally run ourselves ragged. Secondly, many of us simply haven’t learned basic organization skills. Or, we have gotten out of the habit of practicing those skills that we may have learned and practiced in the past. Life is constantly changing, and so must our organizational habits, if we are going to keep ourselves, and our lives, in order.

January is “Get Organized Month”, and NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers) members are qualified, equipped, and eager to assist you in your goals of organizing your time, homes, offices…….your lives!
Let’s make 2010 our “Get Organized Year”! Come along with me in 2010 as we look at very simple habits and strategies to get “In Order for Life”, so that you can spend your time, energy, and space on the things and people that matter most…….life!

If you journeyed with me these past few years, you will notice many of the same themes, topics and suggestions. You will even notice many of the same articles with updates and additions. Getting Organized is a life long learning process that will simplify your time, and ultimately your life. It is a skill and a way of life that needs to be learned and relearned, practiced and tweaked. So, come along!

Happy (and Organized) Day!

Cheryl

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas — THE Good News.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.  Luke 2:8-11, The Bible

Have a Blessed Christmas!

Cheryl

Get in Order for Christmas, Part 7

Part 7, It’s a Wrap!

The big day is quickly approaching. Are you ready? Are you in the Christmas spirit?

It’s time to wrap up your preparations and your gifts!

Consider setting up a wrapping station where you can keep all of your wrapping supplies and gifts in the same area. Make it fun and festive by setting up your wrapping station near a TV. Then you can wrap and organize, while watching old Christmas classics or listen to Christmas music.

When you pull out last year’s wrapping paper, take the time to discard any wrinkled, outdated or damaged paper and supplies.

Get the kids involved!

• Give the job completely to an older teen

• Have younger children help by stamping, painting or decorating butcher paper to use as gift wrap

Wrap gifts soon after you purchase them to avoid the last minute rush. Be sure to clearly label each gift and cross the gift off your list.

Remember, don’t be afraid to cross off some tasks from your list! Your friends and family would rather have a joyful you with store bought cookies and than a stressed out, frazzled you with homemade treasures.

May you have joy in the journey!

If you missed them, check out Part 1: Take Time to Make Time, Part 2:  Budget and Gift Giving Guide, Part 3: Cleaning, Part 4: Meal Planning , Part 5: Decorating, and  Part 6: Shopping and Gift Giving.

Have a Blessed and Organized Holiday!

Cheryl

Get in Order for Christmas, Part 6

Part 6, Shopping and Gift Giving

If you haven’t completed your Christmas shopping, don’t feel bad. Surprisingly, your in the majority with 66% of the

Still Shopping.........

country right there with you! In fact, according to the the latest American Express Spending and Saving Tracker, one in five consumers (21 percent) will still be shopping for gifts the week before Christmas, with 4 percent expecting to shop on Christmas Eve (men??). I’m right there with the majority, still shopping away. Once upon a time, when the kids were little, and I could actually pick their clothes and their gifts, I shopped all year, created “theme” gifts, and finishing up nice and early. Times have changed and so have my kids. Actually, they are no longer “kids”. They are young adults and adults. I have learned that times and life change quickly at their stage of life.  I have also learned that their gifts are much more expensive. Consequently, they receive fewer gifts, making my job of shopper much easier.Case in point, the only gift my college age daughter asked for was money toward a reunion trip to be held over the New Year Holiday, out of state. She told me just last night that her plans may be changing, and she may not be going on her trip. I might need to get shopping!

Are you of the “Black Friday” mindset, where shopping becomes a challenge and a competition? Have at it and have fun! I’m of the opposite mindset, which we can call “White Tuesday”. I try to shop early in the morning and early in the week, avoiding the crowds (as much as they can be avoided at this time of year!).

Be sure to shop with an organized list. Jot down EVERYTHING you are looking for, including ideas and price range. Use the list you created in week 2, and you will avoid purchasing duplicates, overspending, and save time.

Don’t clutter up the lives of your friends and family. Consider some of the following gift-giving options:

• Consumable gifts, including lotions, candles, great wine and foods

• Cool experiences, evenings out, tickets to a play or event

• Movie tickets along with popcorn and candy

• Passes to a museum or zoo for a family

• Classes for art, dance, golf or gourmet cooking

• For Teenagers, consider gift cards for gas, coffee, fast food or restaurants

• For teachers, consider gift cards for coffee, gas, fast food, restaurants, office supply stores or educational supply stores

• Give of yourself; a car wash or lawn mow for an elderly neighbor, an evening of babysitting along with a gift certificate for a dinner out for young parents.

• Instead of a traditional gift, agree to spend a special evening together with friends

• Give a cow, a goat or chickens. Dig and stock a fish pond. Send a child to school. Provide life saving medicine, mosquito nets and emergency food. Purchase fruit trees, honey bees or a fishing boat. It’s never been easier to change the lives of those in need. Check out the World Vision Gift Catalog or the Samaritan’s Purse Gift Catalog, and share the true Spirit of Christmas, while changing the lives of children forever. They make it quick and easy to send any of the above, along with many other ideas, in all price ranges. Check it out!

If you make homemade gifts, become a specialist. Find one thing that you love, make it well, and make many of them.

Finally, keep several generic gifts available for the last minute need. Consider some of the consumable gifts mentioned earlier, such as great lotions, candles, gourmet foods and excellent wine. If you don’t have a need for them, you can treat yourself after the holidays.

Happy “White Tuesday” and Happy Shopping!

If you missed them, check out Part 1: Take Time to Make Time, Part 2:  Budget and Gift Giving Guide, Part 3: Cleaning, Part 4: Meal Planning and Part 5: Decorating.

Have a Blessed and Organized Holiday!

Cheryl

Get In Order for Christmas, Part 5

Part 5, Decorating

Our Little Tree

I’m sure most of you have started, if not completed your holiday decorating. I’m finishing up today. For the first time in many years, we purchased our tree from a store rather than cutting it down fresh . I’m hoping for more than sticks when we celebrate with one side of the family early in the year!

When is the best time to put up and then take down the Christmas tree? When I pulled out my Christmas boxes, I was joyed to find a long lost, ultra (not!) spiritual book about Christmas celebrations that gave me a clue. In her book, A Purse-Driven Christmas (So, What did you get me?), author, comedian and singer, Anita Renfroe, writes:

“We can’t find any guidance from the official etiquette dames regarding the question of the right time to remove the Christmas decorations. When is the optimum time to take them down? I have seen (only in movies) that there are some people who don’t even put their trees up until Christmas Eve. Who are these people? Don’t they know that the joy of having a tree is its being up at least a couple of weeks prior so they can enjoy the lights and watch the presents and pine needles stack up around the bottom? These are the same people who take the tree down the day after Christmas. They obviously don’t do quite as much decorating as we do, because if we waited until Christmas to do all that we do and then took it down immediately afterward, we would miss Christmas altogether. I believe that these people are secretly Christmas haters and just want to have the least amount of Christmas environment allowable by law. Their mantra is, ‘It’s not Christmas yet, not yet, not yet, not yet –now it is — great, it’s over already — get the stuff outta hear!’”

It’s a funny, lighthearted read, described as “The happiest accessory for the holiday season”!

For those of you that haven’t started your decorating yet, most of the us who are in the midst of it, and the few who actually wait until Christmas Eve, keep these tips in mind.

• If you do a lot of decorating, don’t try to get it done in a day (OK, this one doesn’t apply to the Christmas Eve folks!)

• Make a schedule, delegate and work as a family

• Make it a part of your celebration and remember to have joy in the journey

• Before you begin pulling out the holiday decorations, be sure the house is clean and straight

As you pull out your holiday decorations

• Take the opportunity to purge any items you no longer use or love

• Pack up your regular season decorating accessories into your holiday boxes (it will save you from searching for them after Christmas!)

Happy Decorating!

Have a Blessed and Organized Holiday!

Cheryl

Get In Order for Christmas, Part 4

Part 4, Meal Planning

We tend to cook more and entertain more during the holidays. There is much that you can do prepare for this busy time so that you can truly enjoy your celebrations.

First, ask yourself who, what, when and where? When you have your answers to these questions, you have the backbone of your plans.

Take time to prepare for the weeks ahead by doing some (or all!) of the following:

• Organize, purge and clean your pantry, refrigerator and freezer

• Do a quick inventory of dinnerware, glasses, silverware, linens and serving pieces. If there is a need, there is certainly a sale!

• Prepare a flexible menu for the weeks ahead

• Each week, make a shopping list from your menus and try to shop only 1 time a week. Go on off peak times of day—early in the day and early in the week, if possible

• Take advantage of sales to stock up on non perishables that you will need for your holiday preparations

• Prepare dishes, breads, cookies and desserts that can be frozen

• Keep basics and easy to prepare foods on hand

• Share the responsibility and joy of cooking for others—when your guest asks if they can bring something, say YES, and cross something off your list!

• Consider pot-luck dinners for large celebrations

Remember your goal this holiday season! Look back at your “Holiday Mission Statement” that you created back in week one. How is your mission going? Are you joyful in the journey of your preparations? If not, it might be time to cross a few more things off that list of yours, regroup and move forward.

Have a blessed and organized holiday!

Check out Part 1, Take Time to Make Time, Part 2, Budget and Gift Giving Guide and Part 3, Cleaning.

Cheryl