We know, getting organized is often easier said than done. But, here at J-organize we’ve gathered a bunch of easy organizing tips, hints and ideas guaranteed to simplify your life.
Check back every month for straight-up strategies on how to organize your kitchen, closets, garage and, yes, even your children’s rooms.
Have an organizing problem? Contact J-organize! We love a good challenge and may feature some solutions on this page.
Earlier this month, fellow professional organizer Elaine Shannon wrote about the people in her neighbourhood and true to her title “Empress of Inspiration” she inspired me to write this post about the people in MY neighbourhood.
Elaine is one of the people in my organizing neighbourhood as all many other fellow members of Professional Organizers in Canada. They are a great source of information, ideas and sage business advice.
One of the people I met through POC was Janet Barclay of Organized Assistant. She was organizing at the time but she has since become a master virtual assistant. She is always available if I have a question about working on a PC (because I use a Mac). The other thing Janet is really good at is online networking. She has introduced me to several people including Audrey Prenzel.
Audrey Prenzel of Résumé Resources is an amazing resume writer. She gets people their dream jobs. The cool thing about Audrey is that she is even in my physical neighbourhood. I’m glad to have Audrey in my neighbourhood as she does understand what it takes to run a business while being married to a military member.
It was through Janet’s involvement in POC that I met Kathryn Presner of Zoonini Web Services. Kathryn has a way of explaining technical concepts in an easy to understand way. Working with Kathryn has been an amazing experience and I’ve learned LOADS of stuff. I look forward to receiving her ZooNews newsletter every month. Kathryn introduced me to Charlotte Riley of ACRiley Communications. Charlotte has the knack of turning my ramblings into well written English optimized for search engines. She’s really knowledgeable about social media too.
With all this talk about work, there is one more person in my neighbourhood that I have to mention and that is Mel Gromoff of Fallowfield Farm. She has provided me with an outlet to pursue my passion of riding and being out at the farm also keeps me up to date on developments in the equine industry.
These are just a few of the people in my neighbourhood. What about you? Who are the people in your neighbourhood?
I know it is hard to think about show season with the freezing temperatures and snow but here are some tips to get you organized so that you’ll be ready when the show season starts.
Register with your local or provincial equestrian associations as soon as you can. You will be sure to have all your paperwork in hand when it comes time to register for the shows. You may also be eligible for discounts on showing fees or have the opportunity to participate in clinics and workshops at a discounted rate.
Update your horse’s health record. Make sure your horse has all the necessary vaccinations. The University of Guelph Equine Research Centre has a great facts sheet on immunization guidelines and you can even create a customized vaccination planner for your horse!
Schedule a Coggins test with your veterinarian a few weeks before the first horse show so that you will have the results before you register for the show. Make sure the results of the Coggins test remain valid until after your last horse show of the season.
Set up a training schedule with your coach to help you achieve your goals for show season. If you don’t have a full-time coach, consider hiring a coach for a few sessions to help you build a training regime for you and your horse. You will be more likely to succeed when you’ve got an expert to consult with.
Decide how many shows you will be attending based on your training schedule and your budget. Mark those dates on your calendar now to avoid conflicts with other events that may be happening over the summer season. Remember to mark the registration deadlines for those shows on your calendar too!
Does your horse look like he should be in a ’80’s heavy metal band? Start getting his mane in shape for braiding. Pull the mane a little bit every time you groom your horse. You won’t be going crazy pulling the week before the show and your horse’s neck won’t be sore. Keep your fingers in shape and do a few braids every week too.
Check your horse show supplies. Make sure your shipping bandages are clean and in good condition. Budget for any new equipment you’re likely to need and make a list. Keep your eye open at the tack shops for sales and watch the classifieds for any good used equipment.
If you have to hire a horse shipping company or borrow a horse trailer to take you to the shows, start calling around now to negotiate prices. If you’ve got your own trailer, make an appointment with the mechanic to have a full inspection before you start the show season.
If you’ve got more show season tips please share them!
Photo Courtesy Apple.com
I love my iPod Touch. It has certainly increased my productivity. Here are some of the ways I use my iPod Touch…
I’ve created calendars for each person in the house, each with a different colour. It is now very easy to plan appointments because I have everyone’s schedules in one place and I can quickly see who is doing what and when.
I’ve scanned the instructions for my fitness routines and added them as photos to my Touch. Since I workout with music from my Touch I anyway, I don’t have to carry a bunch of papers around with me, I just look at the picture on the Touch! Of course I also have brag photos of my kids on the Touch too. It’s made my wallet lighter as I can carry a lot more photos on the Touch!
I uploaded a photo to my Touch that is plain red. I use that for my Wallpaper. If I’m at a hotel and I need to get up in the night, I use my Touch as a flashlight. By having red on the screen, I can keep my night vision.
As with an iPhone, you can also buy applications for the iPod Touch. Here is a list of my favourite applications and how they help me be more productive:
This lovely application allows me to prepare a running grocery list, track stuff that’s on sale and compare prices between grocery stores. This app will also learn the order of items at the store! No more zigzagging up and down the aisles!
Grocery Gadget Lite is limited to only 20 items on a shopping list but it is still better than having little bits of paper with scribbles on them! Also, I frequently forget or lose my little paper list but I’m not going to forget (or lose) my Touch!
This application lets me transfer files (using my home Wifi) from my computer to my Touch. I can carry .pdf, Word and Excel documents around with me. This is handy when I need to show a client a sample spreadsheet or if I need to keep a copy of a receipt with me. I can’t edit any of the documents using Files Lite, it is just for viewing and the free version has only 200MB of storage. However, now I don’t have to print as many documents (hooray for saving paper & ink!) and it has made my briefcase lighter (hooray for my shoulder muscles).
It is so nice to be able to convert all sorts of measurements quickly and easily. Trying to convert miles to kilometres in my head was very fatiguing, not to mention converting Fahrenheit to Celsius! Now I can do it all (and more) at the touch of a button.
When you’re an anglophone with kids going to French school, you NEED a portable French dictionary. Antidote is more than that, it has a thesaurus, it shows verb conjugation, gives co-occurrences and citations. The accompanying guide give syntax information, style and punctuation rules. I’m so excited that I’ll be able to do translations anywhere – AND I’ll be able to understand what my kids are talking about!
I know you’re thinking, “How do games help you be more productive?” and my answer is, “If the kids are busy playing these games, I can get something done!”
At least Hangman improves their English spelling and Battleship is a two-player game that teaches strategic thinking skills.
Do you have favourite productivity apps? Share them in the comments section!
Virtual Assistant Janet Barclay challenged me to describe three things that I do to minimize my impact on the planet and I’ve taken up Janet’s challenge!
Rather than giving stuff this year, we’ve given more “experiences”. We’ve purchased horseback riding lessons, guitar lessons, dinners in restaurants and a few gift cards. Did you know that many kinds of wrapping paper can’t be recycled? We’ve recycled bits of fabric into gift bags and the wrapping paper we use is made from newsprint and can be easily recycled.
We have compact fluorescent bulbs in all of our light fixtures and we keep lights turned off as much as we can. Did you know the chargers keep converting electricity even if the device is not plugged into the other end? We unplug power adapters and portable device chargers as soon as we’re done using them.
We installed a programmable thermostat on our furnace (I always forget to turn the heat down at night). I group my errands and do them all at the same time. This means I use the car less frequently. Planning my trips to minimize left turns reduces the amount of time I’m sitting in traffic and saves fuel too!
I’m interested to know what fellow bloggers are doing to minimize their impact on the planet so I’m tagging the following people to see what they have to say.
Now I know everyone is very busy especially at this time of the year, so if you don’t have time to blog about this topic I understand. If you do write a blog post, please link back to this post and leave a comment here so we won’t miss your answers!
And if there are any other bloggers out there who want to participate, please join in, we all need more green ideas!
Happy Holidays! Joyeuses Fêtes!
The holidays can be one of the happiest times of the year as we enjoy the company of our family and friends. It is also one of the most clutter-generating times of the year. We give and receive hostess gifts, teacher gifts and Christmas or Hanukkah gifts, and if your family is like mine, even birthday gifts. Having such an extensive gift exchange not only fills your life with clutter but also empties your wallet!
Take a look at the following gift ideas to reduce clutter and save you time and money.
Buy Nothing Christmas was started by Canadian Mennonites but is open to anyone with a desire to change the way we think about gift giving. This website has lots of great information and ideas about making your own gifts as well as other resources.
I have made coupons in the past, where I offer my time for things like baby-sitting services, car washing, lawn mowing and house cleaning. Children can easily make these coupons as gifts and offer them to friends and family.
Did you know that Revenue Canada lists all registered charities in Canada? Why not donate to a local charity in someone’s name instead of buying yet another bottle of wine for the hostess of the holiday party?
Each year, our family “buys” items from the World Vision Catalogue. For the teachers at the children’s school, we’ve purchased supplies for a classroom in a developing country because teachers do NOT need more coffee mugs! For those relatives that have everything we’ve purchased rabbits, piglets and chickens in their names. These animals support families in developing countries. Instead of the typical office “Secret Santa” have everyone pitch in cash and buy an alpaca from World Vision. Make it fun — your alpaca could be your office mascot!
Family heirlooms like dishes and jewelry are meant to be used and enjoyed. If you’re not using them, give them to another family member who will enjoy them. Include some stories about the gift that underline its significance in the family. For example, my Great-Grandmother bought her set of dishes one at a time with money she earned by selling the cream she skimmed off the milk produced on her farm. This is a gift I have really treasured over the years and I so appreciate knowing the story behind it, otherwise it would just be another set of dishes cluttering my cupboards.
For those of you that feel you must buy a gift, I suggest gift cards. Here is a list of my favourite ones:
Remember the most important gift you can give is your TIME. Spend time with those your care about over the holidays; they will remember that more than any material item you can give them. Fill someone’s heart with good memories NOT their home with stuff.
As professional organizers, one of the most important things we do is develop systems of classification so that our clients can find what they need when they need it. This isn’t a new idea. There is a whole branch of science concerned with classification called taxonomy. It comes from the Greek words “taxis” meaning “order” and “nomos” meaning “law” or “science”.
So today I would like to introduce the Father of Taxonomy – Carl von Linnaeus (1707-1778). He developed a system for classifying living organisms — yes folks, ALL LIFE ON EARTH!
Linnaeus was not the first scientist to recognize that different species could grouped together based on some common characteristics. Aristotle organized life forms into a hierarchical structure with plants on the bottom, animals in the middle and humans on the top and medieval scholars used Aristotle’s ideas and the Bible to “prove” God’s benevolent organization of the world.
Until Linnaeus’s time however, scientists arbitrarily gave the species they classified complicated Latin names, which they changed whenever they wished, depending on which other species they were classifying at the time. This meant that two different scientists could be identifying the same thing but have named it differently. How confusing!
Linnaeus published a revolutionary book Systema Naturae, in 1735. It outlined his scheme for classifying all known and yet to be discovered life forms. This method of organization was accepted as the standard by the early 1800’s. Using this method of classification, Linnaeus, during his lifetime classified about 4,400 species of animals and about 7,700 species of plants.
The classification system that Linnaeus built is still used today and with the birth of molecular biology (protein and DNA sequencing) and the ability to track embryonic development, scientists are able to better classify living things.
Linnaeus was a remarkable scientist for standardizing the names of species and communicating that information so all other scientists could follow his system. His system was easy to understand, simple to apply and easily modified to accommodate changes and new developments. These are exactly the traits of an organizational system that I strive to build for my clients!
Reducing clutter in our lives may also mean reducing the amount of stuff we own. Considering today’s economy and the limited space we have in our homes and offices, I’m presenting some alternatives to purchasing and owning “stuff”.
Enjoying the Library
Save the space on your book shelves for those books you love and refer to often – borrow from the library. If you love a book you’ve borrowed or if you think that you will refer back to it often (at least weekly) then it is probably worth purchasing. If you don’t think you’ll refer to it that often, you can always borrow it from the library again. The library also loans magazines and newspapers. Reduce the number of subscriptions you have and read them at the library instead.
While I don’t advocate borrowing from friends and family, if you do happen to do so, make sure you return the items in excellent condition. Compensating your friends with a bottle of wine or plate of cookies is a nice gesture too.
If you only do a building project once or twice per year, consider renting the specialized, expensive equipment. Rental equipment is usually the latest model and is always in good working condition. Another advantage of renting is that you can use the exact piece of equipment that you need instead of trying to make do with what you already own.
Renting camping equipment, boats and bicycles allows you to try out several different models or designs. This will permit you to make an informed decision should you decide that the particular activity is something you wish to pursue.
Consider sharing equipment with family/friends that live close to you. For example, you might want to go in halves on a snowblower with a neighbour or halves on audio/visual equipment with a business colleague. Draw up a contract that you are both comfortable with detailing the use, storage and maintenance of the equipment. Make sure you come to an equitable agreement about what happens when one of you wants to stop sharing.
Even though children may be enjoying their summer, parents are already thinking about “back-to-school”. It doesn’t have to be a stressful time. Households that have established routines are beneficial for children and parents.* Being organized means you spend less time doing what you HAVE to do and more time doing what you WANT to do.
* “A Review of 50 Years of Research on Naturally Occurring Family Routines and Rituals: Cause for Celebration?,” Barbara H. Fiese, Thomas J. Tomcho, Michael Douglas, Kimberly Josephs, Scott Poltrock, and Tim Baker; Syracuse University; Journal of Family Psychology, Vol. 16, No. 4.
While your mind is still thinking about fishing, take the time to discard all those rusty, unused fishing lures. Purchase a container that will hold all of your lures and fishing equipment. (Remember to leave some space for new lures). If you can’t find a tackle box you like, try looking at tool boxes or craft boxes. Stanley Tools makes some great organizers and Dollarama has some smaller boxes for when you only need to take a few lures with you.
Why would I talk about snowblowers when it is so sunny and hot? Now is the time to have your snowblower serviced. You won’t be in a rush to get it back and when you do need it, it will be all ready to go!
Commercial fishing vessels are required to carry distress flares and it is a good idea for all boaters to have a couple of distress flares in the boat’s safety kit. Flares should be stored in a watertight container in a cool, dry location. However, flares are only good for four years after the date of manufacture. They should be disposed of after that time.
Flares are explosive and cannot be thrown in the trash. They must be treated as hazardous waste. If you have expired flares or flares that will expire soon, please note that from August 1-8, 2009 the OPP will be collecting expired and unwanted marine flares. Please see the OPP website for drop-off locations.
For more information about safe boating, visit Transport Canada’s Office of Boating at www.boatingsafety.gc.ca.