Organzing your Housework

Create a system/pattern

Set up a reasonable routine, with enough structure to carry the basic necessities of home life.  A general routine can give strength to your life.  Look at your overall weekly pattern.  Try to make a chart for yourself or your housekeeper of things that need to be done everyday.

Be strict about keeping up with the basics:  daily pickup, meals, dishes, laundry, going through the mail.  Do the basics everyday:  Make beds, clear kitchen table, clean counter tops, wash dishes, tidy up living areas, (includes putting away books, straighten cushions, put newspapers away, read, and sort mail, put clothes away.

Make a list for yourself or someone who help you clean:

·         Vacuum

·         Dust

·         Change bedding

·         Sweep and clean floor

·         Grocery shopping

·         Clean kitchen, garbage pail, clean inside refrigerator, clean mirrors.

       Walk through your house and make notes of everything you want cleaned and make it into a   schedule

Identify and avoid time robbers

·         Telephone: Have your calls screened, limit the length of incoming calls, let it ring, answering machines

·         Television/Computer: Do something else in addition to watching, Limit the hours you work on the Computer

·         Shopping: Shop at quiet times, be informed before you buy, anticipate your purchases , group your errands, buy in bulk, shop by mail

·         Clutter, mental and physical: identify and organize, write it down, simplify, eliminate

Procrastination

·         Focus on the problem, look at causes and possible solutions, Conquer head on

Getting others to help

·         Develop a chart, Reward system, chores/divide up the work

Getting the Family to Work as a Team"

                One of the most challenging areas of child rearing is to get our children to help around the house.  Many people involved in education and helping children to become more responsible wonder how to accomplish this task.  If you think of your home as a business and everyone who lives in it as an employee you can begin to give out important jobs and tasks based on their individual abilities.  Just like in a business, you must create a mission statement far your family.  Identify what are your most important values and priorities.

A.      Family Meetings/Mission Statement

·         Establish monthly or regular meetings to involve everyone who has an opinion in the process. Discuss important events and needs.

·         Emphasis Team Work

·         Mission Statement: What are your values and priorities in your home?

B.      Rewards/Reinforcement

·         Star charts, beans in a jar, any measure or chart of success

·         Reward based on success or effort

·         Reinforcement: if someone does a good job, validate the work and effort

C.       Create a Calendar/Schedule for your Family

·         Write out a printed schedule for chores: involve your children in the process

·         Divide up the chores based on your families schedule and abilities

D.       Consequences

·         If you don’t divide up the chores, you will have less time to spend together

·         Less time to spend with children

·         Discuss non involvement and choices

E.        Divide up the Chores

·         Setting Table

·         Cleaning the Family Room

·         Bathing Siblings

·         Making lunches

The investment of time you take in teaching your children to be involved in the home and learn to clean, cook or just be responsible will pay off in many ways over the years.

Organizing Children

One of the hardest tasks is organizing children’s toys and personal belongings because they change with the seasons and there are so many different types of items. One of the other reasons is that many parents don’t like to take away the control of their children belongings or they want the child to be responsible for themselves. I would like to suggest that doing some of the organization with your child might be successful or doing it for them as a model could also be effective.
Here are some basic ideas for the major areas of chaos.

As closets get cluttered and messy try using
• Plastic bins
• Proper hangers
• Drawers and dividers
Toys:
• Plastics Containers
• Baskets
• Shelves
• Remember “Less is more”
Books and School Work
• Sort Books together by category, put them in a bookshelf that is not overcrowded
• Old school papers can be stored in cardboard boxes or plastic bins that are labeled clearly\
Memorabilia:
• Photo boxes
• Storage containers
Kitchen:
• Detailed shopping list on the computer
• Easy and quick planned meals
• Healthy snacks
Take the time out everyday to organize something in your house, make it a daily habit and maintain all your’ existing systems.

Time Management

Can you keep track of your time?
What is the most important thing you have to do today?
How can you manage your "to do" list and what is the real priority?
Come hear me speak at " Cafe Mom" at the Jewish Family Service store-front office on Tuesday November 16th 2010 at 9:30am

Every problem with organization is in some way begins with a difficulty in managing time. If your time is not well organized chances are that your paper, projects and priorities are not either.

Time Management is the foundation for good organization. The purpose of getting the most out of your day is not getting the most done but rather getting what is most important done.

Plan and prioritize by using a daily planner.
Set aside time each night to go over what is most important to you.
Plan you time wisely, set small goals for yourself with realistic rewards.
Allow for flexibiltiy and some time wasters.
Have available a spiral-bound or losse leaf notebook to write your "to do" list.
Look at your activities seriously and write down your appointments.
Plan your week carefully and on't over-book yourself with too many obligations
Use your notebook to write down 'To do" list or write them directly into your day planner.
Use extra separate sheets so you can move the "to do" list over to the next day
In your planner divide tabs into subcategories to give yourself a place to retain important information
Eliminate all little post it notes, write everyting in one place
ALL of this can also be done on any smart phone!

Los Angeles area organizing and productivity specialists discuss 'typical' clutter, custom solutions

• August 4th, 2010 11:59 am PT

“Some clients hope the pile will just magically disappear,” says professional organizer Esther Simon

Photo: Microsoft Clipart

We consulted Los Angeles area organizing and productivity specialists for their expertise on the subject of office and workplace clutter.
The experts agree that the elements of office clutter tend to be fairly typical: client folders, unopened mail, business cards, unprocessed orders, books, manuals, pencils, pens, office supplies and, of course, those ubiquitous paper piles containing company memos, receipts, messages to be returned, notes from phone calls, newspaper clippings, "to do" notes ...
June Saruwatari contends, however, that “just because [clutter] is ‘typical, normal, not out-of-the-ordinary’ doesn’t mean that it’s okay. You determine what is acceptable to you. Is it acceptable for you to be working on a desk that has piles and piles of paperwork on it?” However, Saruwatari also points out, “Oftentimes, people get so used to living in their office with the ‘typical clutter’ that they become immune and desensitized to the effect that the clutter is having on your body, mind and spirit.” It is when the clutter is gone that office workers realize that it has been an unconscious stress on their internal systems.
But the solutions to organizing an office can be elusive despite the hundreds of books available on the subject of organizing the workplace.
“Some clients hope the pile will just magically disappear,” according to Esther Simon, the Traditional Home Organizer.
Beth Flarida, who offers professional organizing services through her company, Get It Together, says, “The real ‘secret’ to getting organized can’t be found in a formula from a book. You are unique and your business is unique. It’s about finding your organizing style and matching it to an organizing method that will work for you.” Simon agrees that many of the solutions she finds for her clients are things “they just didn't think of.”
Flarida explains that custom systems allow for success in staying organized because, “When you know your desk and office are organized in a way that’s true to you, you will tend to stay organized for years -- even decades -- to come.”
The National Association of Professional Organizers website states, “In business settings, an organizing pro can increase productivity and profitability with improvements in paper-filing and storage, electronic organizing, work-flow systems, employee time-management, space design, and more.”
If you are having difficulty managing the clutter in your workplace and are not as productive as you would like to be, consider hiring an expert!