Organizing and productivity

Aug 20

Best Clutter Busters for Home Organization

By Sherry Borsheim Blog, Free Articles, Home Organizing No Comments

One of the best ways to eliminate clutter is to use the “one-in, one-out rule.” If you want to get and stay organized, this best practice is one of the best clutter busters for home organization that can change your life, free up more space and that you can implement immediately!

What Does This Rule Mean?

The one-in, one-out rule is a general rule of thumb or best practice to keep clutter from piling up. If you keep bringing in more stuff into your home and run out of space to store all your new purchases, the stuff will start to pile up. When things pile up, the piles attract more stuff and before you know it, your home has clutter everywhere. Notice how things tend to pile up every available flat surface.

You may even say “oh, I’ll just put it down here for now and deal with it later.” But as we both know, later doesn’t come and the stuff keeps coming into the house and gets added to the piles if not dealt with immediately. It’s a vicious cycle when the “one-in, one-out rule” is not used on a regular basis.

How Do You Apply This Rule?

You might relate to this shoe scenario. You’re at a shoe sale and you come home with one or two new pairs of shoes. Your shoe racks are already full and you may even have out of season shoes tucked away or stored in another room. You bring your shoes and decide that the best solution is to buy another basket. A month later, you come home with another pair of shoes and add them to the pile on the floor or to the overflowing basket.

Before you know it you have a mountain of shoes and you can’t get to your clothes. So you decide to get organized and start sorting your shoes. You tell yourself that you wear all your shoes or you might need them someday when in reality you only wear 20% of your favorite shoes 80% of the time. Sure, you’ll have some fancy shoes for going out or seasonal shoes for summer or winter and that’s ok. After a several hours of trying to organize your shoes you give up and decide to keep all your shoes.

Letting Go Can Make a Difference

At some point you need to realize that you only have so much space in your home and on your shelves. Letting go of something isn’t always easy, but choose to focus on how something old is something new for someone else. When you bring something new into your home and give something away to someone else, you are making a difference in that other person’s life! The stories I could share with you when I gave items away to those in need would bring tears to your eyes I’m sure. Clutter busting tips are a life skill you can easily learn and pass onto your children.

Clutter busters for home, like applying the one-in, one-out rule, is just one way to eliminate the clutter and piles and you can pass on items to family or friends, someone in need, or donate to a charity that is near and dear to your heart. Letting go can be very fulfilling and cleansing at the same time! The next time you bring home a new pair of shoes, let go of a pair that are uncomfortable and you don’t like wearing, hurt your feet or are scuffed up beyond repair. It’s time to let them go and make room for something new.

Also, don’t let your out-going items pile up in your home and get them out of the house as quickly as possible. You can apply the one-in, one-out rule to articles of clothing, kitchen gadgets, books, magazines, tools, office supplies, and so much more.

Whenever possible, when you bring something new into your home, practice this clutter busting tip by donating, recycling or tossing items that no longer fit, are broken, you don’t wear, don’t use or does not enhance your quality of life. And get to know where donation bins, drop-offs centers and recycling depots are in your area and watch the piles in your home.

Where will you practice the one-in, one-out rule in your home?

Aug 16

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Gym Bag Essentials Checklist

By Sherry Borsheim Blog, Checklists, Closet Organizing, Home Organizing, Time Management No Comments

Have you ever gone to the gym, worked out, showered and realized you forget to bring your towel? Ooops, that’s no fun trying to dry yourself off with your sweaty workout clothes or sweaty gym towel. Yuk! Or have you ever forgot to bring body wash, realize your shampoo bottle is empty, forgot your flip flops, hair brush, blow dryer or the one thing you hope never happens to you, undergarments (oh my that’s uncomfortable). A gym bag essentials checklist saves the day! I’m sure you can relate one way or the other. I know I can. “Been there, done that” as they saying goes!

Create a Checklist for Routine Tasks

Going to the gym at 5:30 am is very early for me and I’m hitting the snooze button a few times to squeeze every last minute of shut eye that I can possibly get before I need to jump out of bed, get dressed, brush my teeth, grab my gym bag and go. Just ask my husband. I know I’m not alone on this one. Maybe you can relate to this as well.

Use Checklists for Routine Tasks

Since going to the gym was a new routine and I didn’t like wasting time in the morning or having a really bad hair day, the logical side of me decided to create a gym bag essentials checklist. One of my top tips on how to organize your life is to create checklists for routine tasks you do on a regular basis, like packing your gym bag three times a week.

So I sat down at my computer and created my first gym bag essentials checklist and you can download it here and create your own. It’s super easy when you have something to look at and follow. So take my Gym Bag Essentials Checklist and make it your own.

Create Multiple Copies

Getting organized is easy when you know what to do and how to do it. This leads me to another one of my top organizing tips when using checklists. Create multiple copies and place them where you’ll see them. Place a copy of your checklist in your gym bag, by your toothbrush and in your toiletries bag. These are all logical places and great reminders to help jog your memory so you don’t forget to pack what you need in your gym bag.

Time-saving Workouts

Organizing your gym bag is one thing to accomplish, it’s another to actually go and work out! Driving to the gym, working out for an hour, then driving back home or to work can take 1.5 hours out of your day and frankly who has that kind of time when there is so much to get done today. Thankfully there are some very effective workouts that you can do at home or when you travel. My favorite workout is JJ Virgins 4×4 video’s that I can watch on my laptop, iPad or iPhone if I really wanted to. JJ’s Fit Clut 4×4 video’s pack a whole of of workout in 15 minutes and you can modify them when you’re travelling.

Gym Bag Essentials Checklist for Peace of Mind

The next time you forget to pack something, ask yourself “do I have a checklist for that?” And in case you’re one of those people who are always running late and dashing out the door wondering if you forgot something, take 15 minutes now to create a simple checklist for certain routine tasks. Checklists are one of the best ways to getting organized and will give you peace of mind that you’ll have what you need when you need it!

Apr 08

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Ways to Help Your Teenager Get Organized

By Sherry Borsheim Blog, Home Organizing, Time Management No Comments

The teenage years can be challenging – no doubt about that. How to help your teenager get organized for school, college or university requires asking questions and considering what works for them, what doesn’t work, when their high energy cycles are and understanding how they work best. For some teens dealing with all the change that are being thrown at them can be difficult, and if they don’t have the skills needed to keep things organized, they can get overwhelmed pretty quickly. If you’re a parent and looking to help your older child navigate the chaotic world, here are a few things that you can do.

It is important to remember that the teenage years is a time of discovery, self-growth and realization. In other words, your teen will push you away and will most likely refuse any help that you offer. It’s the nature of the beast. Just like you did, they are trying to figure out who they are, and what their place is in the world.

Be An Example for Getting Organized

Instead of telling them how to organize their busy schedule, as a parent you need to set an example and some basic boundaries. Make sure they know what is expected of them, and the consequences of their actions. Then take a step back and allow them to get things done in their own way. One example is to give your child a list of chores that need to be done by a certain day each week. Let him or her know that if the chores are not done in a timely manner, than something they enjoy will become temporarily unavailable – such as a particular video game, or access to the internet. Then take the difficult step of stepping back and allowing them to organize their time and efforts as they see fit. Could it end disastrously? Yes. Could things go undone? Of course they could. The important thing is to allow your teen to face the consequences of their action or lack thereof.

Create a Schedule

Of course, your teen is still watching you and seeing what you do even while they are pushing you away. Therefore it’s important to set a good example. Make a schedule, make it known, and keep to your deadlines. If you miss one – make sure there are consequences to your actions, one that your teenager can see and understand. For example, if one of your projects was to cut the grass by Friday and Sunday rolls around and the grass is still waist high, tell your teen to take your golf clubs. There will be no golfing for you until the grass it cut.

Every so often, your teen may ask for help, or accept an offer for help. Once you’ve gotten over your fainting spell, make sure you approach the situation practically and without blame. Again, give suggestions – things such as having a specific place on their desk for homework, or scheduling an hour each day for piano practice. The important thing here is to allow them to create their own techniques, to let them find what works best for them.