by Katherine Macey
How do you leave the house in the morning? Are you calm? Are you able to quickly pick up the things you need as you go out the door? Or do you run around, frantically trying to remember where you put your keys last night and forgetting your lunch on the kitchen counter?
If you have children, or need to coordinate with other people leaving the house, the difficulties are multiplied, sometimes exponentially!
So what can help you get out the door with the minimum of fuss and maximum of efficiency? I heard of one woman who was able to get her and her children out the door in 25 minutes in the morning – that’s efficiency. I confess, I like to have more time in the morning to do a few things around the house before I leave.
So what do you need to do to make your morning routine easier on yourself? Ask yourself what it would be like to leave calmly. What sorts of things would you do? What amount of time do you need to leave for various tasks? What things could you do ahead of time?
Here are some ideas if you are stuck.
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by Katherine Macey
Have you ever had a pile of papers that defied being labeled? Or perhaps you’re worried that if you do file that important piece of paper, you’ll never find it again in your cavernous filing system. Yet some people seem to be able to put their hands on any piece of paper they are looking for within seconds. So what are their secrets?
Tip #1: Create one overall system and stick to it. If you forget what categories you have in your filing system, create an index so you can scan the index to file and find items.
Tip #2: Create a hierachy of categories and file either alphabetically or chronologically within each main category. Main categories may be financial, clients, business entity, reference, and so on. You may choose to file the financial documents chronologically and clients alphabetically. There are no hard and fast rules – as long as you stick to your decision.
Tip #3: Make it easy to distinguish between main categories using location or color, or a combination of both. Your financial files could be in the top filing drawer in the green folders and your client files in the bottom drawer in the orange folders.
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by Katherine Macey
The time to go back to school is nearly on us again. This can be a stressful time, not only for the kids, especially if they are in a new school or changing classes, but also for you, the parents.
There are three common struggles that we find parents have to deal with: routine changes, necessary supplies and clothes that must be purchased and, once school starts, an inevitable paper deluge. Our advice is to prepare for what you can and forgive yourself for the rest.
How can you prepare for all the schedule changes?
• Find out ahead of time what the schedules for after-school classes will be. Co-ordinate between the kids, and, if possible, put all the kids activities on the same days. This may make those days a little more hectic, but it will also give you some “time off” during the week too when your kids can just be kids and you can spend some time with them too.
• Work out transport options for the days when you do have after school activities. No one I know loves driving in traffic day in and day out. Consider carpooling with other parents to save both the environment and your sanity. If you’re kids are older, consider the bus or walking.
• Plan slow cooker meals or easy-to-prepare meals on the days you know you will be late home.
How can you get all the supplies together?
• Remind yourself of the school’s dress code and check your budget before you go shopping for the new season.
• Some schools will give you a list of stationery, art and other supplies before school starts, so put a “supplies shopping” time into your schedule now. If you will not get the list until school has started, put the shopping time date into your schedule in the first week of school.
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by Katherine Macey
Is the paperless office just a fantasy for you? Do you struggle to find files on your computer like in the “”real”” world? How can you organize your digital files?
One of the goals for any organizing project is to make it easy to find things when you need them. Thankfully computers have great search capabilities and by keeping a few tips in mind, it can be a snap to find any file within a few minutes, if not seconds.
Tip 1: Use your desktop carefully.
Generally speaking you want to keep your desktop clear, just as you would your physical desk. Your desktop is not the place to file reference material, just as your desk is not either. You may want to keep a few project files on your desktop that you are actively working on. The key here is actively working on.
Do not keep files on your desktop that relate to a project that you may work on someday. Do not keep digital files that are archive material on your desktop. Keep it clear so you can focus on the work at hand. Also consider putting shortcut icons in the task bar if you have a PC for the programs that you use most and take their corresponding icons off the desktop. To organize further on the desktop, group your icons using Fences by Stardock (http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/).
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by Katherine Macey
You are probably in one of three places regarding your taxes:
1) You have a system set up that you use and that works for you. Great! Keep reading and see if there are any tips that you can use to tweak your system and make it even more efficient and easy.
2) You have a “sort-of” system that still engenders a level of panic as tax day draws near. Stay calm, help is at hand.
3) You have the “ostrich head in the sand” approach and haven’t filed taxes for a number of years, or are consistently filing extensions, franticly searching for receipts, and always missing deductions. It could take some time to organize your records, but once you have a system set up, it will be easy to sort your records and make tax time a breeze next year.
Preparing for your taxes is a large job. And the best approach with large jobs is to break them down into manageable components and work steadily on them. Fortunately, with taxes, that’s easy to do.
There are three basic steps to organizing your taxes:
The first step is to decide which categories you need to track. This will depend on your situation and an accountant is the best person to advise you on your exact categories. Having said that, for individual taxes, it is usually not very complicated. Have a place for your income related tax information – W2’s and so on. If you only have a single stream on income and you claim the standard deduction at the end of the year, that’s all you need. If your income has multiple streams, create different categories for income, e.g. W2’s, rental income, dividends, etc. If you claim an itemized deduction, you may want to separate the deductions into different categories, e.g. charitable donations, home mortgage interest, medical, etc. Check IRS for categories that are likely to apply to you. The IRS has all of its forms and publications online so a little research yourself can produce the likely categories for you. Click for instructions for Schedule A on your 1040.
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by Katherine Macey
You frantically search through the overstuffed rack of clothing, looking for that long sleeved, white blouse you know you have somewhere. Maybe it’s still under the plastic from the drycleaner. Maybe it’s jammed between your long overcoat and the pants you wore it with last. Maybe it’s in the laundry. Oh, now you remember, your sister borrowed it last month and hasn’t returned it yet. Now you find a different blouse you like, but this one doesn’t go with the pants you were going to wear. Now you search for the pants you like to wear with the blouse you chose. 25 minutes later, you scrabble for your keys and rush out the door without your breakfast – again.
Is this your reality? It doesn’t have to be. Here’s an alternative.
You get up in the morning; you go to your closet and find the clothes you want to wear right away. It takes less than 5 minutes to put together your outfit. You change and have plenty of time for breakfast, leaving you calm and ready to face the day.
Sounds much better right? So how can you make this your new reality?
If your closet is over stuffed or you know you have things in there that you haven’t worn for a while and are not likely to wear again, it’s time for a purge. Take some time and go through your clothes one by one. You need to identify what to keep and what to donate or sell. Here are three tips for helping you purge your closet of clothes you no longer wear or like.
Tip #1) Ask questions. 
Ask yourself the following questions to decide what to keep:
1) Have I worn this in the last year?
2) Do I look good in this?
3) Does it fit me well?
4) Do I love wearing this?
If you work better by finding what to pass on to someone else, ask yourself these questions:
1) Was it more than a year ago that I wore this?
2) Could someone else make better use of this than me?
3) Is this the wrong size for me now?
4) Is this tired/worn/outdated?
Tip #2) Use the reverse hanger trick.
If you are having trouble being honest about what you wear and what you don’t, use the reverse hanger trick. Turn all your hangers so that they are in backwards. Give yourself a time limit; 3 months, 6 months – your choice. When you wear something, put it back the right way round. Anything still hanging in reverse after your time limit, you haven’t worn.
Tip #3) Be kind to yourself.
Do give yourself some slack on the sizing if you have just had children or have some temporary medical condition that has caused a change in size. But if it was five years since your last child and you still don’t fit those favorite old pants, it’s time they went.
Now you have clothes you love in your closet. Now it’s time to organize them.
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