Add a Little Happy to Your Workspace

This time of year, the sunny weather outside can make it harder to stay inside and get your work done. (Are you noticing this, too?) When the weather starts to tug you away from your desk, it’s more important than ever to have a “happy” workspace – a place where you enjoy spending time! Here are three simple ideas to infuse your space with a little bit of happy—to make it a brighter, more pleasant place to be. 

 

Declutter. One of the simplest, fastest and least expensive ways to freshen up any space (and boost your feelings about it) is to clear out some clutter. Let go of tools and supplies you no longer love and are unlikely to use. Create some breathing room in your file cabinets by clearing out paperwork from completed projects and tasks. Reevaluate the items on your desk, and eliminate anything that isn’t either a daily essential or inspiring to your eye. Getting rid of even 15 minutes worth of clutter will breathe new energy into your space and make you feel happier when you’re there. 

 

Use creative storage solutions. Freshen up your work space with some creative storage solutions. Stock up on brightly colored flower pots or metal buckets and use them to corral basic office supplies such as pens, pencils and scissors. Use a ceramic egg crate or votive holders for small office essentials such as paper clips, rubber bands and extra staples. Repurpose favorite ceramic bowls for Post-it notes, small notepads and index cards. 

 

Freshen up your office supplies.  A simple way to make your space brighter and feel more fun is with some cheerful office supplies. For example, stock up on some new Post-it notes, such as the eco-friendly Farmers Market Collection, which will add a fresh burst of color to your space. Or, next time you need a new three-ring binder or need to restock on file folders, opt for colors you love that make you (and your whole space) a notch happier.

 

When your workspace is a place you like to be, it makes it easier and more enjoyable to get your work done—which means, you just might get outside faster. 

 

How do you make your workspace a place you'd like to be—even when the weather is luring you outside? Thanks for sharing your ideas!

Get Organized for the Summer: Establishing a Cleaning Routine

Hello my friends. Sorry for the unannounced blogging break last week! It was a crazy-busy week as we wind down the school year and gear up for summer. Add an anniversary, Mothers Day, and a busy client schedule into the mix…and well, the blog was last week’s casualty. But I’m back and ready to answer more of your summer organizing questions!

 

Today’s question is from Jessica who asked about establishing a summer cleaning routine. Here is Jessica’s question:

 

What are ways you keep a house where everyone is home all the time? Clean one time each day? Clean as you go? Same with dishes, do them as you go, or spend one lump sum of time doing the dishes each day. Which is more time effective?

 

With more people coming in and out of the house during the summer, I find my house can really take a hit. So the first strategy I’d suggest is to look for ways to minimize the mess so it’s easier to stay on top of the cleaning. For example, establish a “take off your shoes at the door” rule so that the dirt stays in one spot and doesn’t get everywhere. If your home has kids who will be swimming or running through the sprinkler, keep beach towels by the door and encourage everyone to dry off at the door instead of running through the house wet.

 

As for how to fit in the ongoing cleaning, this one really boils down to personal preference. If your current cleaning routine is working well for you, consider if it would make sense to change it up during the summer. What benefit could you gain from doing something different? If it takes several hours to clean your home from top to bottom, then you may favor spreading the task out over the course of several days, instead of being stuck inside for hours at a time cleaning. My personal preference is to clean once a week and get it all done in one fell swoop. (And I enlist the help of my family members so it goes even faster.) But, I can certainly see the argument for cleaning one room a day or doing one cleaning task a day (such as floors one Monday, dusting on Tuesday, etc.) Choose the approach that feels right to you and then give yourself permission to change your mind if you decide it isn’t working as well as you’d like.

 

As for dishes, I’m a fan of washing them as you go. It’s easier to deal with dishes as soon as you’re done eating—before the food has a chance to get dried on and hard to remove. So I think it's most time effective to do the dieshes right away, plus, having a clutter free kitchen sets the stage for the rest of the house.

 

If you’d like to read more about the pros and cons of creating a cleaning schedule, check out this post:  Cleaning: Is it Better to Create a Schedule or Not?

What is your preferred approach to cleaning and dishes—do it all at once or clean as you go?

 

Thanks for sharing!

Balance Summer Fun and Keep Your House in Shape

The following post is a sample of my weekly Quick Tip email. Since it goes along with getting organized for the summer, I wanted to include it as part of the Get Organized for the Summer blog series. By the way, if you don't yet subscribe to my Quick Tip, you can sign up here.

In our house, summer is just around the corner — there are only 9 school days left! (But who’s counting, right?) While summer is a fun and carefree time of year, it can also mean the end of the routines. This makes it easy for clutter to start creeping back in. If you’re like me, you don’t want your house to fall apart over the summer and have three months of clutter to deal with when the kids head back to school. Plus, if you’ve been making progress on getting your house in order since January, the last thing you want to do is lose momentum or backslide over the summer. 

 

So how do you balance summer fun with keeping the house in shape? Here are three ideas:

 

1)  Keep organizing on your radar screen. Commit to spending 15 minutes a day keeping the house in order or making progress on an organizing project. Once a day, set the timer for 15 minutes and put things back where they belong or work on an organizing project. Get your kids in on the daily decluttering, too. Extra hands means faster progress and more time to do something even more fun!

 

2)  Bite-size bigger projects. Break down the bigger projects on your to-do list into small, bite-sized pieces, and then focus on one small piece of the project at a time. For example, instead of organizing your child’s bedroom in a single day or over a weekend, work on it in sections—one drawer, one shelf or one storage bin at a time. 

 

3)  Get some help with those bigger projects. Summer is the perfect time to teach kids simple organizing skills that will serve them into adulthood. If you don’t have kids, or your kids are too young or no longer living at home, consider enlisting the help of a neighborhood teenager. There are teenagers out there who enjoy organizing and would love a little extra spending money, too. Who knows, you might have the next Martha Stewart or HGTV expert in your neighborhood! 

 

If you’d rather spend your summer days outside in the garden, or at the pool or beach, it doesn’t mean you have to abandon your organizing efforts altogether. Instead, use these three simple strategies and keep your organizing momentum going all summer long!

 

What strategies do you use to keep your house in order over the summer months? Thanks for sharing your ideas! Have a great weekend!

Get Organized for the Summer: Reader Q + A

Alright…it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for! Its time for some reader Q + A posts about getting organized for the summer. This first batch of questions is related to finding balance in the summer, such as how to fit projects in around camps and vacations, and how to organize and prioritize your time to be more productive during the summer…when all you really feel like doing is laying on the beach. 

 

Here is Yvette’s question:

My son attends day camp for about 4 weeks of the summer; we do a family trip for about 3 weeks of the summer. My question is, I'd love to get some projects done while my son is in summer camp (9-3 like school hours). It seems like a "bonus" time that I should use for projects like:  house projects like hiring painters or roofers or landscapers; cleaning out attic; gardening; doing a big clean-up of our office (we have a small business).

Course most of that does not sound fun. How do I organize/prioritize my time to be more productive during the summer when I'm really just dreaming of lying on the beach!

 

Rhonda agreed, saying: 

I'm with Yvette. Planning family time and work time while the kiddos are occupied, and working a vaca or two in there. I guess I'd better get my calendar and a notepad first!

 

What these questions really boil down to is finding the balance between having fun and getting things done. The posts leading up to this one were designed to help you lay the foundation for figuring out how to balance the fun stuff with the get-it-done stuff. First, you started with your vision for the summer. The idea behind that was to tap into what you really want. What sounds like fun? What do you want and need this summer? Next, you started creating a plan by recording the scheduled summer events and activities on your calendar. These scheduled events will lay the foundation for your summer plans. Around this foundation you’ll fill in with fun stuff and stuff you want and / or need to get done. 

 

Now conventional wisdom would be to schedule in your “get it done” stuff before anything fun. But, here’s another perspective. Your to-do list will always have something on it — all of our to-do lists will. That's the sign of living full and productive lives. So it's important to put fun first by making sure it has an important spot on your schedule. Fun is as essential as food and air. We don't feel guilty about eating and breathing...so what if we decide not to feel guilty about doing fun stuff, too? Fun isn't something we earn the right to after getting everything else done. Instead, fun makes everything else better and easier to do.  

 

So, if you need a few days at the beach to relax and unwind, feed that craving. Recharge your batteries with a little rest and relaxation so you can enjoy the summer and feel better about your to-do list. Pull out your calendar where you recorded your scheduled events and activities. Where can you schedule in some time to relax and recharge…either at the beach or doing some other fun and restorative activity for your summer fun list? Stake a claim to some time for fun, and then schedule in some to-do list items. By scheduling some fun stuff, you’ll feel your energy shift. You’ll look at your to-do list in a new way, when you know that your needs for fun and relaxation will be met.

 

On an ongoing basis, you can use a similar approach, filling in your available time (after work and around scheduled activities, for example) bouncing back and forth between fun stuff and to-do list stuff. For example, you could carve out mornings as a time to get things done, leaving the afternoons for fun. Or you could have a get things done day (or two or three) followed by some fun days. 

 

I’ve put together one more summer form (summer fun + done list) to reinforce this idea of balancing having fun and getting things done. The left side of the list is for “summer fun” stuff. Use the ideas you generated in this post and write down a few of your favorite ideas on the left side of the summer fun + done list. Then, on the right side, list out the things you want or need to get done this summer. Make it a goal use both sides of the list! As you see the list fill up with check marks on both sides, you’ll be reminded that you are having fun and getting things done. 

 

Okay…one more related question for today. This one is from Jessica who asks: 

 

What are some tips for working from home with children?  Aby, how do you divvy up your time? Spend some daytime with them and work more at night after they are in bed, etc? Do you recommend having a home office or working "around the house" so you can multitask at home with kids and be where they are playing?

 

I love this question because I think it really gets to the core of the dilemma for many Moms during the summer. Whether the work you’re trying to do while the kids are at home is for paid employment or for your family, it’s hard to work and not work at the same time. Yet so often, that’s what we try to do. What I have found is that crisp boundaries work best for me. And that’s what makes summer so tough:  the boundaries get really, really fuzzy. So even though I have set work hours, I have to do some Mom stuff during those hours like taking my kids to camps or friends houses or the pool.

 

When my kids were younger, it worked best for us when they went to summer day camp during my working hours. This allowed me to maintain those crisp boundaries—work hours were while they were at camp; family hours were while the kids were at home. As they got older, they wanted to be at home during the summer so they could play with friends and enjoy the wind-down aspects of summer. I have to admit I resisted this because it meant they had to find ways to entertain themselves during our work hours. A great deal of what I do for a living is write—which requires quiet time alone behind a closed door where I can think. This isn’t something I can do sitting in the same room as my kids…because then they’ll want to talk to me and I'll want to talk to them…which means I can’t write. So, I have set work hours in my office where I’m basically off limits unless there is an emergency. This is where day camps, over-night camps and other self-directed activities from the summer fun list come into play.

 

Is it ideal? No, not really. But here’s the thing, if I worked outside of my home for as many hours a week as I do now, the situation would be exactly the same. When they weren’t old enough to supervise themselves, they would have gone to day camp. And when they were old enough to be home alone, they would have stayed home alone for the summer. Our current arrangement allows the kids to be at home, play with neighborhood friends, go to summer camps, and eat three meals a day with their family. Plus, we have evenings and weekends to do fun stuff together. 

 

Now what if your kids aren’t old enough to take care of themselves while you work? Then, I would take a hard look at your work to-do list. Are there things you can you do while supervising your kids? How much of your to-do list requires solitude or quiet, concentration time? From there you can set your working hours. Perhaps you could work for a few hours while watching your kids and then schedule a second daily work session for after your kids go to bed. Or maybe you could set your work hours for in the evening while your spouse takes care of the kids. You may discover that you need to arrange for some outside childcare to give yourself enough time (and the right kind of time) to get your work done. But, it’s certainly better to know this ahead of time and plan accordingly.  

 

Once you answer these questions, then you can answer the question about setting up your work area. If you have tasks on your to-do list that can be done in various locations with the company of your kids, then setting up a flexible, portable work station is a great idea. However, as a general rule of thumb, I have found that doing work in an area dedicated to work makes it easier to keep those crisp boundaries intact. You know when you’re at work because you’re in your office and you know that when your aren’t in your office, it’s time to focus on your family. 

 

What works for you? What tips do you have for striking the balance between work and family and work and play during the summer? I'd love to hear from you!

Get Organized for the Summer: create a summer fun list (a.k.a. summer bucket list)

This is the fourth post in our series on getting organized for the summer. Click here to read the first, second, and third posts. 

 

Now that you have a vision for your summer and you’ve planned out the scheduled events, it’s time to add some fun into the mix. (Woohoo!) Perhaps you’ve seen “summer bucket lists” around the web or Pinterest. I love this idea—creating a list of fun things to do over the summer. For my own list, I wanted to come up with a list of things we could do…but not turn it into a checklist of things we must do. (I like pressure-free fun lists.)

One weekend last month, I went to a young author’s conference with Kailea, and coincidentally, the parent breakout session shared summer ideas for kids. The teacher presented a list of kid-friendly summer activities in alphabetical order, with an idea or two for each letter of the alphabet. Now even though my kids are well beyond the ABC stage, I thought this was a super fun approach to creating our summer fun idea list. Using the ABC approach forced me to think outside the box—since I had to come up with at least one idea for each letter. Then, once I started, I got on a roll. (You’ll see what I mean in a minute.) As you read the list, remember that my kids are older and some of these ideas are things that I think sound fun to do, too. And most important of all, by no means do I intend to do all of these things! They’re simply ideas of things we could do for fun this summer. I’ll let our moods be our guide as we decide what to ideas to actually do.  

Summer Fun Idea List
 

A:  art projects, art binders, Annie's, art journal, art museum, Arch, art classes

B:  botanical gardens, baseball games, blog, bike rides, barbecues, bowling, basketball, berry picking, berry pies, board games, biography (read one), backwards day

C:  card making, camping, camps, cooking classes, canoeing, concerts, collage making, camp out at home, camp out at grandma + grandpa’s, Cardinals game, circus, Circus Flora, canning, card games, Christmas in July party

D:  duct tape crafts, day in the life, drive in movie, dance, draw pictures, ducks (feed them)

E:  eggplant parmesan. (What else starts with e that is fun to do?)

F:  flea markets, fishing, fitness program, farmers market, fireflies, fireworks, fajitas, fish tacos, flavored water, festivals, friends, fudgesicles

G:  garage sales, grilling out, gardening, grandma + grandpa's house, gazpacho, golfing, go karts, guitar, grizzlies game, garden markers

H:  hammock, homemade ice cream

I:  ice cream man, ice cream cones, iced tea, instruments

J:  jam, journaling, juggling

K:  kites, knitting, kale chips, kickball, kick-the-can

L:  lemonade (fresh), library

M:  movie night, monopoly, mini golf, music (listen to, record)

N:  nature center

O:  origami

P:  popsicles, pool, pj day, photo-a-day, paintball, picnics at the park, painting, paper airplanes, paint pottery, planetarium, plan a party, project life, pesto (make some)

Q:  quit a bad habit and replace it with a good, fun one. 

R:  read, race for the cure, run, river road, redecorate bedroom, rain (listen to it, walk in it)

S:  snow cones, scrapbooking, star gazing, slip + slide, sewing, scrunch, s'mores, smoothies, science center, swings, sunset, sunrise, sponge tag, sports classes + camps, skip rocks, stamp collecting, sketch, sleepovers

T:  tourist in your own town, tennis, tie dye t-shirts, t.v., time capsule, tae-kwon-do

U:  unplug for a whole day

V:  volunteer, vacation, volleyball, video recording, video games

W:  water balloons, watermelon, walks with Maggie, write, wash the car, wash the dog

X:  eXplore some place you've never been before

Y:  yahtzee, YMCA

Z:  zoo

If you’d like a printable copy of the list, click here:  download summer-fun-list 

Or if you’d like a blank list to create your own, click here:   download summer-fun-list-blank

(You will need Adobe Reader to open the file which you can get here: http://get.adobe.com/reader/)

 

What’s on your summer fun list this year? And do you have any more ideas for E, O, Q, U, X and Z? Thanks for sharing!

 

Freebie Friday Winner

Thanks to everyone who entered our Freebie Friday giveaway for a chance at a spot in our upcoming Organizing with Your Kids online workshop! Congratulations go to Helen, who was selected at random. Helen commented, "I'd ask them to load or unload the dishwasher. :) Great giveaway!" Thanks, Helen, and congratulations to you! Check your email for details on getting registered for the workshop.

Organize a Ransom Box + Freebie Friday

I kept coming across the idea of a toy jail/toy ransom box for items the kids don’t put away and thinking, “I should totally do that.” It’s such a great idea! I just could never seem to find the time to do it. But last weekend was sort of a perfect storm. I had just reread Aby’s tip to create a toy jail and also saw a couple pins on Pinterest for toy ransom boxes. Plus, it was the kind of weekend where the kids were just making messes and walking away, leaving a trail of chaos in their wake. Tell me it isn’t just my kids who do this, OK?

 

“That’s it,” I silently declared. I marched downstairs, found a storage tub, and got to work. The things they’d already been asked to pick up and were still lying about? Into the ransom box they went. And now? They belong to me!

 

To get an item back, the girls have to draw a slip from the envelope. Each slip should take them 10 minutes or less to accomplish, but I made sure to point out that 10 minutes is way longer than it would take to simply put their things away when asked. I included jobs that always need doing around the house (clean the front door windows), funny things (sing a song about why you will never leave your things out again), and surprising things (get out of jail free).

 

Now, don’t tell my girls, but I actually feel a little excited for them to leave stuff out now. Just picture me drumming my fingertips together and laughing maniacally, because that’s basically how it makes me feel. But that’s way better than feeling so frustrated over their clutter, right? And then when they earn their things back, we are all happy.

 

Anyway, that is just one of the great ideas that Aby shares in her Organizing with Your Kids online workshop. Could you use more ideas and help like this? Well, lucky readers, you can use this coupon code TEAMUP2 to save 15% off on this workshop now through May 3 (may not be combined with other coupon codes / offers). Also, one extra lucky reader will be selected at random for a free spot in this workshop! Here’s how to enter this giveaway (up to three chances to win):

1. Leave a comment below saying what you’d ask your child to do to get their belongings back.
2. Tweet about this giveaway, then come back and leave another comment letting us know you did.
3. Pin an image from this post on Pinterest, then leave another comment letting me know you did.

The giveaway ends on Monday, April 30, 2012, and the winner will be notified by email. Good luck!

Happy organizing!

**Comments are now closed! Thanks so much for entering. :)**

Get Organized for the Summer: Create a Vision + Plan + Free Printables

 

This is the third post in our series on getting organized for the summer. To read the first two posts go here and here.

Create a Vision

My last post in our Get Organized for the Summer Series about “when are you at your best” left some of you a bit quiet. Have you given it some thought…just on your own? Does it feel a bit uncomfortable to ponder what you want? This can definitely be out of the norm for women—thinking of ourselves and allowing ourselves to put our needs first. But, it really is okay to want what’s best for yourself. In turn, you are better for everyone else. So I’d really like to encourage you to give it some thought—even if you do so privately. This insight will be really helpful as you move onto the next steps in planning for the summer.  

 

So what’s next you ask? Well, once you’ve given thought to when you are at your best, the next step in getting organized for the summer is to think about your vision. What do you want your summer to be like? Do you want a pre-planned, activity-packed summer with something fun and different to do each day? Or do you want to slow down and be spontaneous? Or is it important to you to be ultra-productive, and get some big projects checked off your to-do list? 

 

I’ve posed these questions as an either/or proposition. In other words, I asked “do you want this” or “do you want that?” This implies that you can’t have it all—that you can’t be spontaneous and slow down, and be ultra-productive and get big projects done. Certainly that would be tough to pull off in a single day, but it is possible to pull it off over the course of the summer. 

 

The key is to get clear about what you want for the summer, and then establish priorities. What is most important? That’s where your vision comes in. If you had a magic wand and could create the summer of your dreams—what would it be like? How would you spend your time? What would be on your to-do list? What would you strike from your to-do list either permanently or until fall? Think about what you loved about past summers and what hasn’t worked well in summer’s past. Then, get your kids and spouse in on this, too. You might be surprised at their answers about how an ideal summer looks.

 

Once you’ve given some thought to these questions, write a short sentence to describe your vision for the summer. The ideal statement will allow you to focus on what is most important to you this summer. It will act as your compass throughout the season. For example, if it’s important to slow down and have a spontaneous summer, your vision will serve to remind you not to over-schedule. Your summer vision can be as simple as a few words, or as elaborate as a few sentences. Simply try to encapsulate what it is that you (and your family members) want out of this time of year. 

 

Here are some ideas:
 

• This summer I will slow down and create space for spontaneous fun. My project list can wait until fall.

• Relax.

• More fun. More done. (Hey that one sounds like a tag line I know. Notice that the fun comes first.)

• When I am at my best, I have a better version of me to share with those I love.

• Play.

• EnJOY the delights of summer.

 

Are your creative juices flowing for your own summer vision? Don’t stress out over creating the perfect statement, simply come up with something that feels right and captures what you want the summer to be. Use lots of words if you need to, or just a couple if that gets the job done. 

 

Create a Plan

Step 1:  Record scheduled events + activities on your calendar.

Once you have your summer vision in mind, it’s time to create a plan. I like to start my summer planning by pulling out a fresh calendar and filling in what I know for sure. I start by recording the last day of school and the first day of school next year. Then, I take a look at camp schedules and start penciling things in.

For your plan, start by printing out a copy of our summer planning calendar via the links below and put them in your command central binder.

  

summer-planning-calendar-may

summer-planning-calendar-june

summer-planning-calendar-july

summer-planning-calendar-august

 

Then, fill in activities and events that you know for sure and things that must happen at a specific date or time. Do you have any vacations scheduled? Classes? Camps? Weekend getaways? Day trips? How about weddings or showers—do you have any of those coming up this summer? Graduations? Reunions? Other planned events like Barbeques? Fourth of July fireworks? Pencil those things onto your calendar...and then meet me back here next week for the final steps in our planning process. 

 

Next week as we continue on with the series, we’ll talk about adding in the unscheduled items to your plan—both fun stuff and to-do list stuff. I’ll also begin answering your summer organizing questions from the initial post. Woohoo!

 

Have a great weekend!

How to Ignite Your Creativity

For the past six years, the motto on my blog has been “Organizing & creativity go hand-in-hand. Organizing creates space for creativity & creativity makes organizing more fun!” I continue to find this to be true, in my own experience as well as with my clients. Every time I declutter and organize my creative supplies, I feel even more inspired and creative. My enthusiasm for creating simply ignites. 

 

If you’re feeling stifled by creative clutter, here are three simple ways to tap into the power of organizing and ignite your creativity:

1.  Declutter the easy stuff. So often our creative space becomes the dumping ground for all sorts of stuff—new project supplies, things that don’t have a home elsewhere, half-finished projects, etc. (Have you been there, too?) At best this clutter can leave you feeling uninspired, at worst overwhelmed. But there is a simple fix:  Clear out some easy clutter. 

Spend 15 minutes letting go of project supplies you no longer love. Put away your new tools and supplies and find homes for anything that doesn’t belong permanently in your space. In the process, you’ll rediscover supplies you love and eliminate some you don’t—a surefire way to get those creative juices flowing.

 

2. Find your organizing sweet spot. Do you work best in a space that is streamlined and completely clutter-free? Or are you more at home with your tools and supplies out in the open, where you can see them and easily access them? Everyone has a different sweet spot when it comes to organizing. The goal isn’t to get rid of everything, instead, the goal is to find that spot that is organized enough for you. It’s that place where your creative tools and supplies are easy to find, where you have enough stuff to inspire you, but not so much that you’re overwhelmed. When you find your sweet spot, creating is a joyful process. So find your sweet spot, and don’t worry for a minute if it looks different than anyone else’s. 

 

3. Use your creativity to make organizing more fun. Use craft supplies like paint, patterned paper and decoupage medium to create one-of-a-kind storage pieces that inspire your creativity. Or use your craft supplies to create colorful labels that add a pop of color to your space and make it easy to keep track of your tools and supplies. When you infuse your space with personal touches derived from your creativity, your space will inspire you even more.

Happy (creative) organizing!

P.S. I'm super excited to announce Organize Your Creative Space, my brand-new online workshop that shows you how to set up an organized and inspiring creative space that motivates you and supports your creative process. Regardless of where you create—in a shared space, dedicated space or temporary work area—this workshop will show you how to get organized, so you can enjoy your creative work even more. This workshop is now on early bird pricing—so grab your spot now! 

Get Organized for Summer: When are you at your best?

A big thank you to everyone who posted questions about getting organized for the summer! It was fun to read your questions and hear about your summer challenges. I’ll be answering some of the specific questions soon, but wanted to start the blog series with some general posts about getting organized for summer. These initial posts will be applicable to anyone with a summer schedule change or conflicting priorities during the summer. Which is a lot of us, I think! 

 

From reading your questions, and from my own personal experience working at home during the summer, one of the biggest challenges about summer is conflicting priorities. On the one hand, we want summer to be a carefree, spontaneous, open-schedule time of year similar to the summers of our childhood. But on the other hand, we have stuff to get done! Shouldn’t we put all that summer free-time to good use? Then you add in fun stuff you want to do like vacations, camps, and other things to keep the kids entertained, and suddenly it’s hard to know which end is up! 

 

So before we get too far into planning for the summer, the first step is to become clear about your own priorities. What do you want out of the summer? That’s what we’re going to be talking about first. Today, I’d like to ask you this question:

 

Now you may be wondering what this has to do with getting organized for summer. And I think, quite a bit. See, if you’re a mom of kids who will be home for the summer, or if you’re in charge of keeping things running smoothly at your home and you want the summer to run smoothly, it’s really important that you are running smoothly. You set the tone for your whole family, so it’s a great idea to understand what makes you tick and to know when you are at your best.

 

Have you ever thought about that before—when are you at your best? I have. In fact, I’ve been thinking about it quite a lot lately. Some things have changed in my schedule over the past few months, and in the process, some of the things that help me feel my best and be at my best, have fallen by the wayside. And this can easily happen in the summer, too, without some forethought and planning.

 

So now is a great time for me to reconnect with what makes me tick. And I’d like to invite you to join me in the process. Simply start by answering the question:  When are you at your best? Then, jot down anything and everything that comes to mind. Here’s my list, in no particular order:

 

I am at my best when…

• I am well rested.

• I have something fun to look forward to.

• I am working on an important or inspiring project or goal.

• I am healthy.

• I exercise at least three times per week.

• I feel fit and feel good about my body. (This one is especially important for me in the summer, by the way.)

• I feel good about what I’m wearing.  

• I spend time outside.

• I have some quiet time and alone time each and every day. 

• I have space to think and let my mind wander.

• My house is organized, clean and clutter-free.

• I feel in control of my to-do list.

• My to-do list has fun stuff on it! 

• My family is healthy and happy.

• I have time to spend with the people I love.

• I am spending my time with fun, positive and supportive people. 

 

How about you? When are you at your best? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Or if you’d like to brainstorm this privately, simply capture your thoughts on a piece of paper. We’ll be using these thoughts soon for the next step in our summer planning process. So make sure to really give this some thought. And thanks so much for sharing your thoughts in the comments. I love hearing from you. 

Earth Day Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to everyone who participated in our Earth Day Giveaway, and congratulations to our winner, Anna!

 

She was selected at random with her comment, "Thank you for offering a give-away! During the spring & fall, my furry feline often presents me with little hairball "gifts." And usually she deposits them on my hard wood floors. The Clean+Green Wood & Tile for cats would be the perfect clean-up solution!" 

 

Anna, see your email for details on your prize! 

 

Happy Organizing!

Earth Day Giveaway: Natural Cleaner for Pet Stains + Odors

It was only a matter of time. Joy, who most likely has a future as a prosecuting attorney, had some pretty solid arguments making her case for a puppy. Faith had begun to spend her free time with one of two different neighbors. Neither family has young children, but they have dogs! Then there was me, quietly and covertly on Petfinder.org every few days, and coincidentally needing things from the pet supply store on adoption days. You can see how all of this was no match for my husband, right?

 

Don’t get me wrong, he loves dogs, too. But we already have two cats, one of which is geriatric, two active children, and two working parents. That’s a pretty full life, and what he really objected to was added complications and added messes. I get that. (As Chief Mess Cleaner, I totally get that!) So when he conceded and we adopted Chachi, I knew a good way to ensure harmony was to stay mindful of his concerns and try to reduce complications as much as possible. I mean, yes, this little guy is super handsome and adorable, but that only gets you so far!

 

One of the best things I did was to create a puppy-mess mini zone. In a small tote, I put in everything we needed for the unavoidable mistakes on the floor – absorbent rags, stain remover, paper towels and small trash bags. Let me tell you, that was a sanity saver in those first few weeks!

 

When the folks at Clean+Green reached out to us to try their products, the timing was pretty good. Between that puppy and the geriatric cat… well, let’s just say I have a special interest in effective pet stain and odor removers! I’m also always super interested in natural products, so it intrigued me to hear these products are natural and safe for people, pets and the planet!

 

According to Clean+Green, their all-natural formula delivers instant results in a safe, non-toxic, eco-friendly solution. They use a patented formula that encapsulates and eliminates stain and odor on contact by naturally biodegrading the stain or odor source. They even have one formulated for skunk odor. Oh, please, let me never need that one!

 

I’ve been very impressed with the products they sent us to try, so I asked if we could give one to our readers in honor of Earth Day and they agreed! Would you like to try one of their products for yourself?

 

To enter win a free product from Clean+Green, visit their web site then leave us a comment telling us which product you’d like to receive if you’re the winner.  Post your comment by Monday, April 23, 2012 at 9 PM US CST. Winner will be selected at random and notified by email!

 

Happy Earth Day!

**Comments are now closed! Thanks so much for entering. :)**

Organizing with Kids: Handling Hand-Me-Downs

“Do your kids get hand-me-downs from friends or family? If so, sort and purge right away. Keep only those items your child will use or wear.” ~Aby Garvey

That’s a snippet of advice that Aby offers in her Organizing with Your Kids online workshop. It sounds so simple, I know, but it’s one of those things that rocked my organizing world! I honestly had never even considered this. Purging clothes that might possibly be worn at some point in time by some member of my family? Preposterous!

 

 

Since my children were born, I have wrestled with large bags of hand-me-downs, storage tubs, and overstuffed closets and drawers. We are so fortunate to have such an overabundance of clothing, I know, particularly since most of it comes to us second-hand. But I can’t tell you how many times I’ve received an article of clothing for the girls, immediately disliked it or knew that neither daughter could/would wear it. Would I purge it? No. I would stuff it in with the other things…just in case.

 

Recently, I discovered why I do this. I was talking with my mom about her frustrations with a small clothes closet. She commented that she ought to just get rid of the majority of her clothes because she doesn’t wear them.

 

Then she said, “No, I’m kidding. Of course I wouldn’t do that.”

 

I said, “No? Why not?”

 

She thought for a moment before realizing she doesn’t actually know why. It simply feels wrong to her to get rid of perfectly good clothes. Maybe you’ve been there, too. I know I have. 

 

This simple conversation was such a light bulb moment for me! My holding on to hand-me-downs (and other things for that matter) is how I was raised! It makes so much sense when I think about it, too. My parents were born at the tail end of the Great Depression, and that experience shaped them. They would regularly wear clothing and shoes that didn’t fit, much less feel comfortable or reflect their personal style. They had large families, and clothing items were passed along, mended and repurposed until they literally became rags.

 

But my family is very fortunate, because those are not the circumstances we are living with.  Aby’s advice from the workshop, along with the understanding of why I’ve held on to clothes that we won’t wear, has had a terrific impact.

 

First, I have become more realistic about what will or will not be worn by the children, my husband, or even me!

 

Second, I have freed myself from the feeling that it’s wrong to get rid of good clothes. Instead, I’ve realized quite the opposite. Just because we won’t or can’t wear something doesn’t mean someone else won’t. I have always sought out other children to hand down to, participated in clothing swaps, and donated to charitable organizations.  But now, clothes that are really just clutter in our home move on to find a new happy home sooner rather than later.

 

Third, it’s great to create breathing room in the closets and drawers. I love the discovery that I didn’t actually need more storage in the kids’ rooms. I just needed less clothing clutter!

 

How about you? Do you have kids’ clothing clutter or clothing clutter of your own? Have you held onto things in the past, simply because it felt wrong to let them go? How do you feel about reconsidering this belief? We’d love to hear from you.

 

Happy Organizing,

P.S. Now is a great time to purge clothes as you get ready for summer. Speaking of which, if you have questions about getting organized for your summer, there’s still time to post your question to Aby for this blog series!

Getting Organized for Summer

Summer is coming! We’ve definitely been talking about it here at work as this will be my first summer working at simplify 101. Between Aby and Jay’s two kids and my two kids, there are a lot of summer activities, plans and vacation schedules to figure out. But when my daughters’ friend happily told me there are 23 days of school left before summer vacation, I hyperventilated. OK, no, not really. But I definitely got that super-panicked feeling because I have a whole lot to figure out and not a lot of time left to do it in!

 

What I’d really like to do is sit Aby down and just ask her all my questions. After all, she’s done this dance of balancing her business and spending summer with the kids at home for years, so I know she’s got some wisdom to share!

 

What are you wondering about in terms of getting organized for the summer? If you could use some help figuring out how to structure your summer, now’s your chance to ask Aby. Whether it’s about organizing your summer schedule, making travel plans, identifying your summer priorities, keeping the kiddos occupied, or more, just post your questions in the comments below. Aby will try to answer as many as possible in upcoming blog posts! 

 

Happy Organizing!

Organizing with Your Kids: A long term perspective pays off.

Right before we left for Michigan, my daughter got spring cleaning fever. She was in the mood to pitch things like she’s never been in the mood to pitch things before. Now, if you’ve taken any of my online workshops, worked with me one-on-one, or have been reading this blog for a while, then you know this:  this was a huge development. See, my girl loves to hang onto things. She loves her stuff — all of it — and really if she could, she would keep all of it. She’s a sentimental girl, who is attached to all sorts of things, even pajamas. I remember one decluttering session years ago where she did everything in her power to convince me a way too small pair of p.j.’s still fit her just fine, even though they were way, way too small. So when this girl is ready to let things go, this momma is happy to jump on board, regardless of what was already on my to-do list.

 

My girl and I worked for hours in her room, clearing out all sorts of things…Barbies, baby dolls, Groovy Girls, and even dollar store treasures that were once completely off limits. We did put aside a few things for the keepsake box, but for the most part, things headed straight out the door. The next day was her first official day of spring break. She came down to my office where I was working and said “My room looks so empty.”

 

“Empty good or empty bad?” I asked. “Do you miss your stuff?” 

 

“No, I don’t miss my stuff. It looks so nice and clean. I don’t know why I held onto that stuff for so long.” She answered. 

 

And the Hallelujah chorus erupted!

 

Okay, that last part about the chorus didn’t really happen, at least not in my office, but it sure did in my head. This was a huge moment!  Seriously. Huge. In fact, for over seven years I had been planting the seeds for this moment to happen. For the past seven years my daughter and I have decluttered her room several times a year. The progress was slow but steady. She always let things go, but she’s also always held on tightly to things. And she has always pushed the limits of her room’s true storage capacity. 

 

Now I could have forced her to let more go over the years. But I’ve always maintained a long term focus, giving up a bit of order in her bedroom for the promise of giving her something greater—a sense of control and ownership in her surroundings. I believed that my role was to teach her how to let things go, and to make it safe to let things go, but also to make it safe to keep and honor the things that matter to her. 

 

At times this was uncomfortable for me. At times I felt like her room didn’t look like I thought other people would think her room should look. I am a professional organizer, after all, so shouldn’t her room be, well, perfect? While I didn’t believe that, I did struggle with what I thought others might think. But in the end, I let what I thought was best for my child, both in the short term and the long term prevail, as uncomfortable as that was. My goal was that she knew how to organize and let things go, and that her room was functional for her—that she could find her clothes and shoes, and do her homework—but if it was a bit more visually cluttered than my personal preference, I let that be okay.

 

Here’s the thing. When getting organized, you have to be ready to let things go. This holds true for adults and for kids. My girl woke up one day last week ready. So ready in fact that she kept going on her room all on her own. In the space she cleared out by getting rid of the things that no longer mattered to her (dolls, etc.), she stored her furry friends (stuffed animals) which really matter to her a lot. She let go of books and papers and trinkets and treasures…all on her own. Is it perfect? No. But is it darn good? Oh yes it is. All those years of working slowly, remaining patient, and putting her in the driver seat of her room…finally paid off.

 

So for all you moms out there with kiddos who cling tightly to their things, my advice is this:  know what your long term goals are for your kids. When it comes to decluttering and organizing, what do you want them to know how to do before they leave home? Then, maintain a long term perspective, and work move gradually in the direction of those goals. And know this, in time, you and your kiddos will get to where you want to be.

 

For more ideas on organizing with kids, check out these resources:

11 tips to conquer kids clutter

Organizing tips:  organizing with your kids  

Organizing with Your Kids: How do you persuade kids that it is worth being organized? 

Organizing with Your Kids: How to Get Kids to Let Go

Organizing with Your Kids:  How do you organize all the little things?

Related online workshop:

Organizing with Your Kids (on early bird sale through 4/19/12.)

Workshop Q&A blog post

 

Okay, Moms, I'd love to hear from you. When it comes to organizing with your kids, what's your biggest challenge? Thanks for sharing. :)

 

Happy organizing,