Articles for Family Organization Tips
We’re all looking for clever ways to get our kids to participate around the house, especially when it comes to getting organized and cleaning up clutter.
Well, the Les Mess Organizing Card Game is just the trick to help accomplish these oftentimes difficult tasks.
According to their website, “LES MESS, a fun interactive card game that teaches children how to clean up after themselves and manage their possessions.”
Les Mess recently sent me a deck of these cards to try out and my kids have had quite a bit of fun with these.
The game is set up so that your child draws a card and then does the task in the allotted time. There are also “Bonus” cards that allow the child a free day or some other twist. You can then set up the game to offer a prize or reward when the task is completed.
This game seems like a handy way to get your kids involved in tidying up his or her things as well helping out around the house. Ideally they will then become a bit more aware of keeping things organized and develop a habit of picking up more often.
All you need to get organized are some nice storage bins and racks or a few decorative storage boxes up on the shelves! Right? If you have a Container Store near you, or something comparable, then you’ve probably had a similar thought.
Well, if only it were that simple. I don’t know how many times I’ve bought a bunch of nice storage bins, carefully put a bunch of things in each one and threw them up in the closet or on a storage rack…only to pull them all apart a month later desperately looking for that missing glue gun or electric stapler. Now I know I put that in one of these boxes!!! Read More→
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.
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.
