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
Have you ever wondered why we get and keep all the paper that we do? I do all the time. What are we afraid of if we don’t have it? Are we missing out on something? Will something bad happen if we don’t have it? Will you be able to find it again if you file it?
There are three things to keep in mind when you need to file your paperwork. If you have piles and piles and you don’t know where anything is, consider these concepts.
Tip One: Identify why you need to keep your paperwork organized. What benefit will it bring you? Knowing the reason you do something can be a big motivator. Many people find that they save time by having a home for everything and everything in its place. If you know what to keep and what to let go of, you can have a certain peace of mind, you do not need to continue to ask yourself if you need something.
Tip Two: Pre-sort your paperwork using the FAR method. File, Action and Recycle. File the paperwork you need to archive or need to keep for reference – remember that much information can be found on the internet. Action items are those items you need to take action on. Keep these separate from your filing in a hot file. Reduce and recycle the rest – get off mailing lists of companies that you will never purchase from and recycle the rest.
Tip Three: Chose one way to organize your paperwork and stick to it! If you’re not sure which type of system to use, use your dominant Processing Style to your advantage. Your Processing Style, also called learning style, influences how you process information in the world. People are familiar with three main processing styles – visual, auditory and kinesthetic. But there are many different ways to process information, including emotional, intuitive, cognitive, verbal, and more. People do not usually process information only in one style, they usually use a combination of styles, but some will be more dominant than others. If you know your strengths, you can use organizing strategies that utilize that style. Some questions to ask yourself to find your preference:
- Are you a visual processor? Use color in your filing system, using one color for each major category.
- Are you an auditory processor? Talk out loud as you file – you’ll remember where you put things more effectively.
- Are you a kinesthetic processor? Place your main categories in different locations to help differentiate files.
- Are you an intuitive processor?
Trust your instincts – you’ll do what’s best for you.
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
Do you have more paper clutter than you know what to do with? Can you find a specific piece of paper when you need it? How do you manage the information contained in all the paper you have?
Control your paper clutter – FAR your mail: File, Action, Recycle.
If you have piles of paper, try doing a pre-sort first. It’s easier to keep only a few categories in mind to start with. I use the FAR method, adapted from Julie Morgenstern’s FAT method. She uses File, Act, Trash. I take her trash and put it in the recycling. Now we’re going FAR with our mail! This initial pre-sort can be done very quickly into two piles and the recycling bin.
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by Katherine Macey
This seems to be the hardest part of “being organized” for many of my clients. So often, I see people put in a big effort to clear the clutter they have accumulated over many weeks, months or years without making the small changes every day that would help make their lives easier in the long term.
Being organized is all about the habits that you have and that you create. Habits that promote being organized will lead to an organized life, leaving you free from worries (at least, freer!) and the opportunity to live life in the moment – those Zen moments when you get to be totally involved in what you are doing, who you are being, or the experience you are having right now!
What could a small step towards a new habit be?
Here are a few options, and I hope you’ll find one or two that would be ridiculously easy to implement – that’s the idea. To maintain organization, start with the one small change to make this week that you’ll find so easy. Then check the list again next week and if you find another ridiculously easy change to make, do that one too. And before you know it, you’ll be on the path to an organized you!
1. Open one piece of mail before you add it to the pile of mail each day.
2. Complete one action on your inbox each day.
3. Put one thing that has been lurking away each day.
4. Decide now what you will eat for one meal next week.
5. Type up your shopping list for the week on the computer and save it to refer to next week.
6. Return a phone call each day.
7. Delegate one task for a week.
8. Set a timer for 5 minutes each day to do some tidying.
9. Take one item from your closet this week that you know you will not wear again and either donate it, give it away, re-purpose it or throw it away.
10. Imagine doing just one of these things. Can you think of any other small changes you could make to your daily routine to maintain organization?
Here’s to your happy habits!
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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