If you need to pick up your room or clean out your closet, have a friend come over to chat with you while you do it. They help the time pass and can also help you decide which clothes to keep or donate.
Have you heard of a clothing swap? It's a party with your friends to trade clothing. Each person brings a few items from their closet that they no longer want and the items either go home with the other people or get donated.
Showing posts with label Tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tips. Show all posts
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Tip - The Miracle of Music
Does music motivate you? Next time you need to clean the kitchen, try putting on some fun music.
Tip - Small realistic doable goals!
Are you overwhelmed by the clutter in your home?
Does it feel impossible to manage? No matter how hard you try, the papers keep piling.
Here are two tips that will help you succeed.
1) Think... baby steps or small realistic steps
2) Create a threshold, check in, or time frame in which to focus and take care of the clutter.
Challenge: Keeping Your Desk Clean
Most of us when we have a task looming in the back of our minds day in and day out are thinking too big. So big in fact, it deters us from making strides to complete the task. How many times have you looked at your desk and said, "I still need to do that", "my desk is driving me crazy", "I can never keep it clean, even when I try, it gets dirty again."
Solution:
SET ASIDE A TIME of day or a regular interval in which you check in with the status of your desk and make small improvements. For some people, it might work to set aside time Sunday night. You might decide that the first sunday of the month at 9pm you will work on your desk a little bit.
SMALL REALISTIC GOALS
For most people, the goal of clearing entirely will not work. If your desk has 4 drawers, trackle one drawer each Sunday. Since you will be revisiting it regularly, it will keep in check and take less and less time to do.
If we wait months or years, we get overwhelmed and our fear builds. Keeping after it, we only have to manage the "surface layer" which can be done quickly.
Imagine you are having guests over at the last minute and it only takes you 10 minutes to straighten up your desk or the kitchen counters. Remember SET TIME ASIDE and SMALL REALISTIC GOALS and you will be amazed at the result.
Does it feel impossible to manage? No matter how hard you try, the papers keep piling.
Here are two tips that will help you succeed.
1) Think... baby steps or small realistic steps
2) Create a threshold, check in, or time frame in which to focus and take care of the clutter.
Challenge: Keeping Your Desk Clean
Most of us when we have a task looming in the back of our minds day in and day out are thinking too big. So big in fact, it deters us from making strides to complete the task. How many times have you looked at your desk and said, "I still need to do that", "my desk is driving me crazy", "I can never keep it clean, even when I try, it gets dirty again."
Solution:
SET ASIDE A TIME of day or a regular interval in which you check in with the status of your desk and make small improvements. For some people, it might work to set aside time Sunday night. You might decide that the first sunday of the month at 9pm you will work on your desk a little bit.
SMALL REALISTIC GOALS
For most people, the goal of clearing entirely will not work. If your desk has 4 drawers, trackle one drawer each Sunday. Since you will be revisiting it regularly, it will keep in check and take less and less time to do.
If we wait months or years, we get overwhelmed and our fear builds. Keeping after it, we only have to manage the "surface layer" which can be done quickly.
Imagine you are having guests over at the last minute and it only takes you 10 minutes to straighten up your desk or the kitchen counters. Remember SET TIME ASIDE and SMALL REALISTIC GOALS and you will be amazed at the result.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Are toys overtaking your house?
If you feel overwhelmed by the toys in your house, there are some steps you can take to minimize the abundance of toys around your home.
1) Define an area where toys are kept and keep them out of other areas. DO NOT let them spill over into the other areas. Would you store a frying pan in a bedroom? a stapler in the bathroom? clothing in the kitchen?.... Probably not. Each of these articles has a defined place and it does not seem right to have them anywhere else. Use the same philosophy for toys. Give the toys a home whether it is in your child's room, a den, or family room.
2) Putting away toys. Put toys in bins and label the bins with pictures of the items that are inside. Children are visual.
3) As your children grow too old for a toy, they get warn out, or fall out of favor, REMOVE them from the house. If you are keeping the toys for sentimental reasons, take a picture and create a scrapbook. One rule of thumb is to eliminate one toy for every toy that comes in. You can involve the children in the process by teaching about children less fortunate than them and having them chose a toy to give.
4) Avoid toys with too many parts. If you do have toys like these, train your child to reach for one item at a time from the bin and not to dump out the whole thing on the floor.
5) When creating storage for toys, or anything else for that matter, make sure to leave room for new items. Whether you are using bins, shelving, or drawers, on the day that you put everything away, they should not fill more than 75% of the space. If they are entirely full, your organizing system will not work as new items won't have a place to go.
6) Remember that children do not need everything. They are often totally entertained by the simplest things (a bubble, a balloon, a box).
1) Define an area where toys are kept and keep them out of other areas. DO NOT let them spill over into the other areas. Would you store a frying pan in a bedroom? a stapler in the bathroom? clothing in the kitchen?.... Probably not. Each of these articles has a defined place and it does not seem right to have them anywhere else. Use the same philosophy for toys. Give the toys a home whether it is in your child's room, a den, or family room.
2) Putting away toys. Put toys in bins and label the bins with pictures of the items that are inside. Children are visual.
3) As your children grow too old for a toy, they get warn out, or fall out of favor, REMOVE them from the house. If you are keeping the toys for sentimental reasons, take a picture and create a scrapbook. One rule of thumb is to eliminate one toy for every toy that comes in. You can involve the children in the process by teaching about children less fortunate than them and having them chose a toy to give.
4) Avoid toys with too many parts. If you do have toys like these, train your child to reach for one item at a time from the bin and not to dump out the whole thing on the floor.
5) When creating storage for toys, or anything else for that matter, make sure to leave room for new items. Whether you are using bins, shelving, or drawers, on the day that you put everything away, they should not fill more than 75% of the space. If they are entirely full, your organizing system will not work as new items won't have a place to go.
6) Remember that children do not need everything. They are often totally entertained by the simplest things (a bubble, a balloon, a box).
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