This weekend we are having a blast at the Owen Sound Home and Cottage Expo. It’s great meeting the new people and seeing friends and acquaintances that show up yearly to check out our display.
We have a great view of the sound as a backdrop for beautifully sculptured gardens of the Bayshore Community Centre.
People loved the all white look. We were even dressed in white.
I need an outlet to display my talents in puttering and tweaking.
Anyone wanna open a store with me?
Apparently the first 3 things to ‘GO’ when a person is too busy are:
Friends
Exercise
Paperwork
So let’s look at each one of these for ideas for improvement, or any way to keep the appointments with ourselves, our friends, our exercise, our paperwork.
Friends: Social media is a great way to get in touch with your friends, check out what they’re into, what they’re reading, and how they are in general. Touch them further with a private message. Make an appointment to meet and keep it!
Exercise: I don’t know about you, but my schedule doesn’t have much of a routine to it. The winter is a little subduing to the choices and incentive. Some of my friends walk at the indoor community center a few times a week. Better than nothing, if you’re a walker who doesn’t like the cold. If you’re lucky enough to have room for an exercise machine in your home, place it so that you can view a TV program. The time will fly! If you’re like me an the only exercise you enjoy is biking and dancing, then Zumba class might be a great idea. Gather a few friends to join you for this one. That will make it double the fun!
Again, make the appointment. If your schedule is like mine, then find the time a enter it into your calendar. Now to practice what I preach!
Paperwork: Have you heard of the old “OHIO” ? Only Handle It Once. Create a place in front of your computer to open your mail, bills, etc. with a paper shredder and a waste paper basket at arms throw away. Paying your bills online saves tons of time!
Trimming the F.A.T. of paperwork entails taking each piece and deciding which action it needs: Filing it, Acting on it, or Tossing it. 
This is the shelf above my desk in my office. Design and decor magazines are important enough to find a place for them.
Filing could mean placing the paper in your file drawer immediately, or possibly even placing it on the bulletin board on the wall above the computer for reminder. Visual people need these reminders, but warning! Eventually, you just don’t ‘see’ it anymore if there is no upkeep to the board. I use a magazine holder for my in box. Vertical is visual, horizontal is hidden! 
Acting on it could mean paying the bill online, making the phone call you need to make to question it, or writing a response immediately. The piece could go in your in box to be worked on in your next 20 minute segment that you book. This action is your to do list, lets face it.
Tossing it is just that. While you’re filing, you can remove the folder you are filing into and toss the oldest papers that pertain to the same account or subject, etc in the waste.
February and March are relatively indoor months, so why not hunker down and make appointments for your Exercise, your Paperwork and your Friends, as the reward for the former two?
Remember,
De-cluttering and organizing your home is not about getting rid of everything. It’s about surrounding yourself with the things that speak to you, make you feel happy, and reflect the person that you are.
Make the appointment and keep it!
Respect yourself enough to show up. Respect yourself enough to keep the appt like you would respect your friend, co-worker, business associate, or your Dr, Hair dresser, child’s teacher, etc. Why not? You are just as important as they are to your life.
Gather equipment. A donate box, and/or clear plastic bag, a dump bag and/or box, and a delegate bin. This is for those things that are going to another room or place like a garage or storage space.
Turn on some music.
Set the timer for 20 minutes.
Listen to the ticking to focus on the task.
Zone in on one area at a time. You’re keeping only the items that have a home and deserve that prime real estate.
Honour the item if it does.
Use it or lose it.
Use your good things now.
It’s not the end of the world if you have to replace a piece or two.
Donate, Delegate, Dump Remove to containers. Don’t think long about each item.
Designate a permanent donate container. This is especially useful in the closet.
Sort like with like. You will eventually designate zones for items that are alike. This makes things easier to find. I know if something is a paper, it’s in my office zone.
Acknowledge your progress - even if you don’t do it perfectly. Focus on what you ARE doing.
Reward yourself: You choose! When the timer goes off, decide if you’re on a roll, and keep up the momentum, or reward yourself with a break, even if it’s just a stop for a cup of tea with your feet up. But time the break also, if you plan on doing more. When I’m involved with a task, it seems that I work beyond the 20 minutes, and
You’ve heard them. Other peoples resolutions.
Some of us want to lose weight. Some vow to save money. Some want to be more organized or make their business grow in 2012, some just need to live healthier.
Some want all of the above!
Maybe secretly, you do too.
If this is in fact so, pick one goal or resolution, and focus on it for 30 days. Just one, please!
Let’s say we start with organizing for several reasons:
Organizing can improve so many aspects of your life, including helping you to live a healthy lifestyle.That’s two, two, goals in one!
I’m an RN in a small ER department, so I have vested interest in this two in one goal.
Start with organizing, and watch how the next goal and the next goal just fall into place.
Being organized reduces stress
The biggest cause of stress, when it gets right down to it, is RESISTING CHANGE. Change is inevitable, as we know, and require us to make decisions in our lives. My definition of hell on earth is having a big decision to make and not having made it yet.
Clutter represents postponed decisions!
BP’s taken before and after a person bets on a horse race at the track, showed significant increase before, then normalizing after the bet was placed. And the race hasn’t started yet! Think about it. Decision’s postponed.
One of the reasons I respect my shopping time, is that, not only are you walking on, perhaps, not the best shoes for a work-out, but everything you pick up has decisions attached to it. Do I like it? Would it make my life better? Can I justify the CPU? (cost per use). Is it worth trying on? Does it come in my size? (Now you’re looking for something again).
Decisions postponed causes stress. Stress causes illness.
Being organized gives you time to eat right.
You will have the time you need (and you don’t need hours) to eat well-balanced, home-cooked, homemade, healthy meals. You’ll shop with picking healthy foods in mind. You’ll book your time to pack them up in snack sized quantities. You will make your shopping list according to a menu plan. This saves time and dollars!
Being organized gives you time to exercise
We spend up to an hour a day, looking for things. Don’t believe it? Add the computer, your purse, and the fridge. Ahh, the 1st world problems of today! The first three things to go when a person is too busy, or just managing their time poorly are friends, exercise and paperwork.
You can easily build exercise into your daily routine–no matter how busy you are. You’re going to make an appointment with yourself for that.
Being organized reduces accidents
Trippage, falls, fires from paper files, candles, computer, etc. Spillage, and also clobberage from above. I’m an ER nurse. I know how accidents happen. We sutured a 9 yr old with knife wound in his chest recently because he was running with a bag full of hangers. He was helping his sister move into an apartment. He fell onto the bag, and lo and behold, stood up with a knife in his chest! Luckily, he wasn’t badly hurt, and the knife didn’t penetrate his chest, but didn’t that throw a ‘knife’ into the moving day chaos!
Being organized allows you to breathe better
It’s very difficult to clean when there’s clutter strewn about. When you’re organized, you can quickly and easily dust and vacuum, without obstacles. Otherwise those dust mites are there, causing allergy symptoms to you and those you live with.
Being organized can make you and others happier
Perhaps you are late for things, your family has to look for things, you cause your daughter to always be late for practice, dance, hockey etc. Your boss might be angry that you can’t find something or get things done on deadline. Less stress and less conflict with family.members.
When you make Organizing your first resolution, you’ll find that the next goals will fall into place before you know it.
Have a healthy January!
