Whether you use your desk for paying household bills or making multi-million dollar deals, an organized desk will help you function more efficiently with less stress.
- · Clear your desktop and drawers of everything except large items like computers or printers. While you have your desk clear, wipe down surfaces and drawers.
- · Put desk accessories (pencil cups, calendars, desk pad, rolodex) back on the desk where you are able to easily reach or see what you need. Insert drawer dividers or other desk organizers you need to keep like items together and stay organized.
- · Sort the items you cleared from your desk. Set up boxes with categories like: shred, recycle, trash, office supplies, equipment, papers to file, decorations, and elsewhere (items that don’t belong at the desk to be put away later). Place items in these boxes.
- · Put items you have sorted away. Place the things you use daily within easy reach, items you use weekly close enough to reach them with little effort, and supplies you use monthly or less often away from your desk. These can even go in a closet or storage area in another room. Keep your workspace clear so that you have a clutter free environment that allows you to focus on your work and put like items together so you can easily find them.
- · File papers. If you do not have a good filing system, set up simple system for handling paper where you can find the paper you are looking for in less than a minute. Don’t pile—file!
- · Place any decorative items where they can be seen and enjoyed, but not on your workspace. Display items that inspire you most, but minimum the amount of decorations so you are not distracted from your work.
- · Maintain the hard work you have done. Take time to put things in their proper place each time you use them. When you are working your desk can become cluttered, which is understandable. Just make sure that at the end of the day everything is put away and the desktop is clear, ready for a new day of work.
Cathy Bates is owner of Practical Solutions Professional Organizing and a Golden Circle Member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO). They offer hands on organizing help for homes and offices. To find out more about how they can assist you, contact them at www.psorganizing.com or call (909)810-3719.
It’s spring cleaning time again…or at least time to start thinking about a spring cleaning checklist. The days are getting longer, the weather is starting to warm up a bit and there’s no better time to start organizing yourself to tackle the dust bunnies, wipe down your dirty walls and organize the closet. It’s time to let the light in, reduce the clutter and get control of your house again.
The key to a good spring cleaning is to not overwhelm yourself so much that you put the entire project off for another day. Instead, try to organize the cleaning so that you tackle different sections of the house at once or different types of cleaning at the same time. When you have the duster out to clean the ceiling fans and knick-knacks it’s a good time to hit the plants and bookshelves.
Here’s a list of just a few of the basic tasks to get you started. You can find some printable checklists below.
In the Kitchen
- Empty out the refrigerator and the freezer.
- Vacuum under the fridge around the coils behind the grill.
- Wipe the top of the fridge off.
- Wipe down all of the seals around the doors.
- Clean the inside of the microwave. Hint ~ Heat up a cup of water for a couple of minutes to build up some steam first…it makes cleaning much easier.
In the Bedroom
- Clean out those closets. Don’t hold back…if you haven’t worn it in a few years, you probably aren’t going to start now. Get everything out of the closet and thoroughly vacuum the far corners.
- Flip over and turn your mattress. While you’re at it, move the bed frame out of the way and vacuum or dust under it. You might even find that old, missing sock you lost last year.
- Take the comforter or bedspread to the cleaners.
- Throw out all those old toys your kids haven’t played with in years.
- Get blocks of cedar to help keep the moths away and things smelling fresh.
Elsewhere
- Dust and wipe down all of the ceiling fans in house.
- Take your screens down, hose them off outside and wipe them down with warm soap and water.
- Dust your lampshades.
- Remove all of the cushions and pillows from your couch and chairs and vacuum this out. You might even find some money here!
- Clean your windows inside and out.
- Wipe down the tops of all door frames.
- Test all of your fire alarms and change the batteries if needed.
- Change the filters on your air conditioner.
- Get new entry mats at every entrance.
- Use a magic eraser to get those pesky scuff marks off of walls.
For the Hardcore
- Remove and clean all the faucet aerators.
- Change the pollen filter in your car.
- Change the shelf liners in your drawers
Remember
- Donate anything you don’t want or can’t use.
- If you find something you haven’t seen in years or forgot you had…chances are you don’t need it.
- Start from the top and work your way down. Vacuum the dust that has settled from your marathon dusting session.
- Remember that a clean home makes for a healthy one. You can literally breath easier once your house is clean.
More
Check out some earlier articles on spring cleaning:
Printable Spring Cleaning Checklists
Paper and clutter–as busy parents we are flooded with more each day. One of last year’s resolutions was to learn how to organize my family’s schedule using a paperless system. I am getting there and I am going to share some of my tips with you!
First I encourage you to de clutter your email. If you have a hotmail account, aol, or just a local ISP. Merge them all into ONE. My only recommendation is GMAIL. Gmail is one of Googles MANY tools to get you organized. Besides, if you have multiple email accounts you can check them all via Gmail as well as send and receive emails from a POP account.
In addition, it’s easy to organize your family life with the use of different Google applications such as Google Calender, Google Black Berry Sync, Google Contacts, Google Documents, Google Mail, and Google Voice.
Google is quick to point out to business; the value of time saved using Google to manage their business. Busy Moms rejoice because these same tools can save you time and sanity for both your busy family and yourself as well!
So how do I manage my family’s schedule with Google ?
The first step is to register for a Gmail account for each of your family members old enough to have an email account (old enough to learn how to use one.
I do not suggest creating a ‘family account’. Each user needs to have their own individual Google Account. Google will allow you to share what you want with each user.
Once you’re signed up with Gmail you can begin to coordinate the different accounts and start organizing you family life from wherever you might be whether it’s at home or on the road.
You can head over to the Google Calendar section and begin filling out your own calendar that you can then share with everyone, other individuals or specific groups of people. You can limit some events to private settings while sharing other information with a different level of access. You can even sync your calendar with other popular applications like Outlook or you Iphone or Blackberry.
This questions from a new mom returning t o work arrived today. I wasn’t able to reply so I thought I would post her question.
“I am a first time mother who just returned to work on Monday! My head is spinning. I was once an organized person but i now feel life spiraling out of control. I read on this site that there are many Blackberry applications for moms to help keep them organized. I was wondering if there was a list of these applications somewhere on this website or on the internet? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.”
Although I don’t have a list – I will share with you MY SECRET for using my blackberry to keep organized.
Are you ready ? It’s not about a Blackberry Mom application. It’s about using a service that offers EVERYthing you need on a remote server so you can access it from HOME WORK and your blackberry.
If you are a busy working mom, busy stay at home mom, Busy work from home mom, you need to DUMP and simplify. To do this you head over to: http://www.Gmail.com and created yourself an email (then get RID of all the others – its a time waster.
With your new Google account you can SYNC directly to your blackberry AND to your outlook (where you can also download your GMAIL email), organize your calenders, and have access to everything from your desktop, remotely from work, and on your blackberry.
You can also:
Invite others to share with you – colour label your kids, work, personal appointments, in google calender – share documents you create (google docs) – budget & track payments in google (excel), create a monthly grocery list ect.
If you don’t have the time to ’set it all up yourself. Check out Famundo -it’s $4.95 a month – but you have to sync to outlook then to your blackberry. Whereas Google will Sync Real time with your blackberry.
So my Mom Blackberry keeping it all together trick is GOOGLE.
It’s 2010 and I am happy to share all the mom planners and mom agenda’s available for quick purchase online.
Today’s mom planner is more then a time management tool. The Mom Agenda Desktop runs through to December 2010 and offers monthly views at the front of the book, followed by a weekly view.
I personally am a fan of a weekly view mom day planner. The 7″x9″x1″ size is not to big, but big enough to handle a busy family’s schedule.
The planner can accommodate Mom calender needs and the busy schedule of up to four children.
For those of you needing a mom planner or mom organizer that is a bit smaller. The Mom Agenda’s Daily planner is a great option.
The planner only runs through to August (academic year) but it is already 40% off. The planner is 5″x7″x1″.
Be sure to stop by The Mom Agenda Website and grab their free printable pages as well.
Click here for free mom mom planner pages, organizational tools, and printable holiday planner.
