A New Year, A New You – How Are Your Resolutions Holding Up?

Posted on January 19, 2012 by

Do you want to lose weight, eat healthier, get more organized?  These three things always make the top ten resolutions every new year.  Were these on you list?  After three weeks of the new year, how are your resolutions going?

If you answered “great!”, then I’m really happy for you – most people forget about their resolutions within a couple of weeks of the new year.  Goals and resolutions can easily slide into the background when we don’t revisit our goals at least monthly.  I prefer to revisit my goals at least weekly, and sometimes more frequently than that.  Do you have your resolutions or goals posted somewhere you seem them frequently?  Do you have a notebook you come back to once a week for help in remembering what you’re shooting for?

If your new year’s resolutions aren’t going so well, maybe it’s time to call in some help.  This is where a professional organizers can come in really handy.  Maybe you need to sort through you closets and get rid of all the clothes that don’t fit anymore so you can get dressed and feel good about yourself easily.  Maybe you need to sort through your pantry and get rid of all the junk food.  Maybe you need some help figuring out the best organizing system for your craft room.

Whatever your goals or resolutions for the new year, enlisting the help of a professional organizer will get you on track and help you stay there.  Perhaps all you need is a system for reviewing your goals, but if you need more than than, our team of professional organizers here at Synergy Organizing is ready to jump into your project with you.

Please share below how you’re staying on track with your goals and resolutions for this year, or what you’re having the most difficulty with.
~Tracy
Holistic Professional Organizer and Coach at Synergy Organizing, LLC
www.SynergyOrganizing.com

©Synergy Organizing 2012

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Annual Review Time

Posted on December 27, 2011 by

For the past few years I have opted to not make any New Year’s resolutions.  This isn’t because there’s not anything I want to do in the new year,  I just take a different approach. I first started an Annual Review process, both for my business and my personal life, in December 2010.  It has been an incredible process for me to work through, and I’ve found that the clarity that the review provides propels me forward to much higher degree than making any type of New Year’s resolution ever has.

Here’s the basic format I use, based largely off a post I read by Chris Gilbeau entitled “How To Conduct Your Own Annual Review.”:

  • What Went Well in 2011?
  • What Didn’t Go So Well?
  • Results Based on Last Year’s Goals
  • Goals for 2012
  • Action Steps to Reach Goals

The Goals section is broken down into several categories.  I divided them into business and personal sections.  Areas included in my business section include:

  • Writing
  • Learning
  • Teaching/Coaching/Presenting
  • Marketing
  • Financial

My personal goal sections include:

  • Friends and Family
  • Service
  • Travel
  • Health
  • Learning
  • Financial
  • Spiritual

Many people don’t have time to address this process in December when the holiday season and festivities are in full swing.  January is also great month to work on this project.  If you’re in an area where it’s cold and nasty outside, this is a great time to hunker down in a warm spot and think about where you want to go this next year.  In many cultures, the cold, dark months are thought to be times of quiet reflection and introspection.  Perhaps January is the perfect time for some refocusing after a busy holiday season.

Another fabulous process you can work through is visualizing and writing about what your ideal day and/or week would be like.  Don’t worry if it seems far off and ridiculous at this time, allow yourself to dream the impossible dream.  The team at Finer Minds puts it this way:

“What would your ideal day look like if you had no limitations?

That’s it.

Write it down, no limitations–financial, geographical, …relationships. What do you want?

Just imagine yourself living this ideal day from morning to evening–what would you be thinking after waking up? What would you have for the breakfast? How would your house look…? What would your business be? Who would your clients be? What would you talk with your kids about? How would you feel with your spouse? What would you do in the evening? With whom would you spend it? What would you discuss? What would you be thinking before falling asleep?”

What does this all boil down to?  Professional Organizer Sara Pedersen puts it eloquently, “Let your involvement in activities be aligned with your goals, not by the open slots of your schedule.”  

For some other thoughts on doing resolutions versus setting goals, check out this article entitled Forget About Resolutions, Set Goals Instead & Achieve Them With These 10 Goal-Setting Tips

2012 is going to be a great year.  Are you making New Year’s Resolutions or setting goals?  Do you do an Annual Review?  Please share your experiences in the comments below!

Wishing you all the best in 2012!
~Tracy
Holistic Professional Organizer and Coach at Synergy Organizing, LLC
www.SynergyOrganizing.com

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Embracing the Changes the Seasons Bring

Posted on December 20, 2011 by

If you’re lucky like me, you live somewhere that you get the experience the amazing beauty of all four seasons.  Ok, I suppose that’s not totally fair.  There are of course some really awesome places in the world where the weather doesn’t change significantly from season to season (and it’s an amazing treat to take a trip in the dead of a frigid winter to a warmer climate!), but I guess I just prefer to embrace the bitter cold along with the humid heat and enjoy the changes that each season brings.

Although this year in Iowa, I can hardly believe Christmas is this week – we’ve yet to have any significant amount of snow or super cold temperatures in my part of the state.  Somehow, I’m sure we’ll get snow at some point, I certainly hope we do, I’d like to get some cross country skiing and snowshoeing in this year!

As we get ready to roll into the depths of winter, tomorrow being the shortest day of the year, many people find themselves spending ever-more time indoors.  Some people find themselves watching more tv or reading, and many people I’ve known are susceptible to falling into a murky shadow of sorts, longing for spring and complaining about every snowflake that falls.  I like to embrace the rhythm of the cold in some ways like a bear would – it’s time to slow down, to go inside and ponder what I’m looking for and want to achieve in the coming year.  I’m not in full-on hibernation obviously, but we humans could take a few more lessons from nature in this regard.  We don’t have to go, go, go and do, do, do all the time.  In fact, when you take some time to just be, be, be, you may find, as I did, that you actually are able to get more done.  It’s truly amazing that by doing less you actually can accomplish more, the key is FOCUS (and knowing what’s actually important for you to focus on).

How do your rhythms and patterns change when winter hits?

 

~Tracy
Holistic Professional Organizer and Coach at Synergy Organizing, LLC
www.SynergyOrganizing.com

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Create a Reusable Pre-party Checklist

Posted on December 6, 2011 by

Not too long ago, my husband and I hosted a party at our home.  It was so easy this time around it even surprised me!  So how do we do it?  Pre-made check lists.  Soon after we were married, I started making lists on the computer of the cleaning and other chores that needed to be done around our home in an effort to equally divide the labor.  My husband had been pretty animate about the fact that if I just told him what needed to be done, he’d never remember it, but if I wrote it down he’d be more likely to actually remember and help out.  Go figure – most guys I know learn best visually.

After we’d thrown a couple parties at our house, I realized there were a lot of preparations that I wanted done beforehand.  It’s true, I was raised in the Midwest, and sometimes our standards for “Clean” tend to be a little higher than other places (at least this is my perception, perhaps I’m wrong!  Leave me a comment below if you disagree).  And I also realized it was silly to make the to-do list from scratch each time since more than likely it would be the same or similar preparations each time.

So about a week before a party I print off my two lists: the house cleaning list and the pre-party checklist.  I do a quick look over the cleaning list and cross off the stuff I’m not going to worry about this time (I crossed off a lot of things off this time).  From there I try to do a few of the cleaning tasks each day so I don’t have to turn into the magic cleaning fairy on party day and end up wearing myself down to the point I don’t have any energy to enjoy the gathering (I did that a few times in the beginning, it’s really not fun at all, and isn’t the point of a party to have fun?).  The pre-party checklist is more of the stuff I need to do right before the event.  Most tasks are simple, I just like having a checklist so I don’t have to worry about forgetting anything.

Now keep in mind that each individual home is different, each person’s standard for clean is different – your lists may vary significantly from mine.  To give you a place to start, here are what my lists look like:

House Cleaning List

Every day

  • Clean up kitchen : load/unload dishwasher, wipe off stove, etc

Every Other Day

  • Clean litter boxes, sweep up litter in area
  • Trash out as needed

Every Week

  • Sweep floors
  • Vacuum carpets as needed
  • Clean toilet, sink area, mirror, floor
  • Cat hair remover brush on chairs and sofas
  • Wash kitchen floor
  • Change out bath towels
  • Laundry
  • Scrub kitchen sink
  • Disinfect and wipe kitchen counters

Every 2 Weeks

  • Dust surfaces – book cases, tables, top of baseboard heating units
  • Wash bathroom floor including baseboards and heater
  • Clean shower/tub
  • Dump old kitty litter, WASH litter box, new litter
  • Wash sheets/comforter
  • Vacuum, including stairs as needed

Once a Month

  • Dust all upper surface – above door frames, wall hangings, window frames
  • Give the stove a thorough cleaning – remove and clean top of stove parts
  • Mop kitchen floor (more often if necessary)
  • Clean downstairs bathroom (more often if necessary)
  • Wash rugs by front/back doors
  • Flip mattress
  • Wash mattress cover
  • Clean inside of microwave
  • Clean out toaster oven
  • Wipe down small kitchen appliances
  • Take glass recycling to drop off
  • Take cans and bottles to Can Shed for recycling
  • Wash shower curtain

Every 3-6 Months

  • Wash curtains, blinds
  • Clean off fan blades
  • Dust corners and where walls meet ceiling
  • Vacuum baseboards
  • Vacuum under furniture
  • Steam clean recliners
  • Shampoo carpet downstairs and other areas as needed
  • Wash windows
  • Wash light fixtures
  • Wash down inside of fridge and freezer
  • Wash windows
  • Clean stove hood
  • Wash out recycling containers

Pre-Party Checklist

Look at House Cleaning List, use as needed

Outside Cleanup

  • hose off patio chairs
  • pick up and put away any items left out that belong somewhere else
  • weeding if time allows and if necessary
  • mow if necessary
  • sweep or hose off patio as needed

Inside

  • put away any items that kids shouldn’t get into
  • remove any “extra” items from kitchen and dining counter tops
  • wipe down counter top in dining room
  • get card table and extra chairs prepped
  • baby gates in place in basement
  • all trash out, compost too
  • move recycling and cat toys to computer room
  • silverware, plates, cups, napkins, etc out and ready
  • extra hand towels out in bathroom
  • move bathroom rug off floor
  • move any extra jackets or shoes away from back entry
  • remove old/extra items from fridge to make space for guests’ items
  • music
  • Make/setup food, tea, drinks
  • Refill soaps
Are you hosting a party this holiday season?  How are you preparing for the event?  Do you use pre-made check lists?

 

~Tracy
Holistic Professional Organizer and Coach at Synergy Organizing, LLC
www.SynergyOrganizing.com

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To Gift or Not to Gift?

Posted on December 1, 2011 by

Like it or not gifts can be the focus of the holidays.  Although the act of giving is important, I consider giving from the heart to be even more important.  Here are some ideas on how to deal with gift giving during the holiday season:

Cut your list.  My husband and I have reduced our list significantly – we view time spent with friends and family as a bigger gift.  The gift of time spent together is exponentially more important than physical gifts we may receive.  Think about what’s really important to you – and not what others think.

Consider combining resources to get one “bigger” gift.  (We will often team up with our siblings to do this for our parents).

Wrap presents as you buy them.  Consider using post-it notes to indicate when you’re planning to give the gift so you don’t accidentally forget.

Think about giving experiences rather than stuff.  Examples:  theater tickets, movie tickets, gift certificate for dinner (for a restaurant or a home cooked meal!), magazine subscriptions, zoo memberships, children’s museum memberships, short-term cleaning services, short-term organizing services (contact me for gift certificate information!!), gift certificates for chauffeur services (especially good for elderly persons who may not be able to get around as easily anymore) – the list is endless and these are gifts people can in some cases use over and over.

Spend time, not money.  Some ideas:  1) Have a family camp out by the Christmas tree. 2) Have a sing-a-long. 3) Do an after-hours holiday light tour with your special someone – or bring the kids too! Even more fun if you go in your jammies!  4) Have a candlelight dinner for the whole family.  5) Borrow holiday books or movies from your local library.

How are you keeping your gift giving simple and from the heart this year?
~Tracy
Holistic Professional Organizer and Coach at Synergy Organizing, LLC
www.SynergyOrganizing.com

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Are You Ready for the Holidays?

Posted on November 25, 2011 by

Thanksgiving has come and gone as the official kick off of the holiday season.  What does that mean for you?  Shopping, parties, guests over to visit?  I work with clients every year who feel overwhelmed by the mere thought of the season.  The main issues that create stress in this holiday season are related to not saying “NO” enough.  Does your calendar really need to be so crammed?  Did you really have fun at the Smith’s holiday party last year?  Again, this comes back to your priorities – perhaps this is the year you decide that this season will be FUN and to let the rest go.  Sit down with the family and have a conversation about your favorite holiday activities, and your least favorite, and set your calendar accordingly.

My tips for reducing clutter (clutter isn’t just physical!) and enjoying the holidays this year:

Prune your To-Do list – if you’re not excited about the activity when you see it on your calendar, consider eliminating it altogether – IT’S OK TO SAY NO!

Keep your decorating simple.  Consider taking away two of your “everyday” decorations and replacing them with one holiday decoration – make the holidays the focus and cut the other clutter.

What can you delegate to someone else?  Cleaning, yard work, gift wrapping, catering?  There are many services out there to help you finish tasks you may not have time to do yourself.  Ask yourself if a lower stress level is worth spending a few extra bucks – in many cases it is definitely worth it.

Take a deep breath and be ok with everything not being perfect.  If you’re having a party at your home – clean the public areas and bathrooms and be ok with the bedrooms or other not-so-public areas in the house not being pristine.

Do you need help getting organized for the holidays?  Contact us today to get you started on the path to a stress-free holiday season!

~Tracy
Holistic Professional Organizer and Coach at Synergy Organizing, LLC
www.SynergyOrganizing.com

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Getting Ready for Baby Number Two (or Three….or Four)

Posted on November 21, 2011 by

One of the questions I ask my new clients is, how long have you been disorganized?  Has it always been like this for you or was there a time when things changed?  More than fifty percent of the women I meet with always say, “It was after having my second (or third or fourth) child that things fell apart.”  I would guess this is a common occurrence throughout our country, and probably the world.

So, why is that and what can we do to help?  A friend of mine, Alicia, and fellow blogger over at Culinary Bliss, recently had her first baby.  She had lots of help getting ready for this first little one.  Since I’m not a mom myself, I asked her why she thought so many women become disorganized after a second or subsequent child.  Her thought was that, first-time moms always get a little extra help, but once you’ve done it once, you’re expected to know how to do it the second or third time around.

I definitely think this is true.  I also think that in our culture of STUFF, we place value on the number presents we get rather than on the meaning or implications of them.  The scene from the first Harry Potter movie comes to mind, where Dudley is examining his stack of birthday presents and isn’t concerned about what the presents might be, only that there’s only 36 presents, and last year there were 37.  Grandma and Grandpa (and others of course) want to shower the second child with gifts as much as the first one even if there are plenty of hand-me-downs that the second child could wear or toys or books that could be played with or read.

This again comes down to intent.  Perhaps parents aren’t thinking about the increase of stuff a second baby has the potential to bring, perhaps parents aren’t making their intent for their lives clear to the rest of the family.  When you’re planning for a baby shower or even just when talking to family about what you need and want for this new baby, think about what areas of your life you really need help with.  Do you really need more clothes or toys, or would asking a sister to help out cooking freezer meals for the months after the birth be more of a help to you?  More stuff or a weekly or monthly appointment where Grandma watches the kids for a couple hours so you can get out of the house and see your friends?  (Even if family lives out of town, perhaps they would be willing to give babysitting money rather than more stuff – you never know until you ask!).  Get out of your head about the toys and clothes and think about where you could really use some help, then ask!

Sometimes part of the problem is that the first baby’s outgrown toys or clothing have no semblance of order to them, so now instead of digging in that box to get the 0-3 month clothes out (which are mixed in with every other size he has outgrown), it’s just easier to buy new stuff.  If you’re going to be using the first baby’s clothes or toys for the second little one, it’s extremely helpful to have this stuff organized.  Organize the clothes by size.  Organized the toys by what’s appropriate by age.  And Label, Label, LABEL!  It will be a snap to pull out what you need even during those days when you wonder if the children will ever let you sleep again.  A little preparation will go a long way when getting ready for a new baby, whether it’s the first or fifth one.

~Tracy

Holistic Professional Organizer and Coach at Synergy Organizing, LLC

www.SynergyOrganizing.com

P.S.  I would LOVE to help moms organize an alternative baby shower – maybe we organize your friends to help you stock the freezer or arrange for other help for the coming months, whatever your idea, I’m here to help you move smoothly into the next era of your family!

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Getting Organized for Thanksgiving

Posted on November 15, 2011 by

Thanksgiving is just around the corner.  I love Thanksgiving because it’s a great time of year to reflect on just how much we really do have to be thankful about.  It’s a time of reaping what we’ve sown, and the beginning of a season that often brings much hustle and bustle just before we prepare for the quiet that following months of winter often bring.

Preparing for a family gathering is stressful for some, but it doesn’t have to be.  With a bit of planning and some delegating Thanksgiving can be fun for everyone.  If you haven’t done so already, sit down and make some lists – make them now, we’re only 9 days away.  Who’s coming?  What food are you responsible for preparing and what is everyone else bringing?  What cleaning tasks would you like done before the big day?  What chores can you pass on to someone else?  Decide how much time you need to accomplish each of your tasks and work backwards from Thanksgiving Day to make your schedule.

We are getting down to the wire for preparations, so make them now!

Are you ready for the upcoming holiday season?  How are you getting organized for the next month (or more!) of celebrations?

~Tracy
Holistic Professional Organizer and Coach at Synergy Organizing, LLC
www.SynergyOrganizing.com

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Living Intentionally – Part 2

Posted on November 10, 2011 by

One of the biggest “mistakes” I see in working with disorganized people is that there was never a purpose or intent set for each area of the house.  This is the very basic step that absolutely must be addressed if there’s going to be any semblance of order in your home.  What activities go on in this area?  What activities do you want to go on in this area?  When the room is given a purpose, it’s much easier to know what stuff should or shouldn’t go in that room.  As Peter Walsh says, if an item doesn’t support the purpose of the room, it’s got to go!

I’ve been doing a lot of reading about feng shui these past few months.  One of the biggest things I’ve learned is that picking everything around you with INTENTION is absolutely necessary.  Another one of my favorite sayings in the professional organizing biz is “If it’s not useful or your don’t love it, get rid of it.”  Now, this doesn’t mean you have to get rid of all your stuff, but it should cause you to become acutely aware of each and every thing in your home.  Is it useful?  Do you love it?  If not, why do you have it and what purpose is it serving?

A big part of the work I do with clients not only has to do with teaching them how putting these organizational systems in place can help them continue forward with less stress, but also about how to keep the system flexible, so it can easily change as the need arrises.  You didn’t think your organizer was just going to come in, sweep all the mess away and BAM you would magically be organized for the rest of your life did you?

Change will always happen, whether you want it to or not.  It’s your choice as to whether you embrace it and go with the flow, or whether to go kicking and screaming, unhappy and longing for the past the whole way.  Time marches are, HOW you go with it is up to you.   Learning the skills it takes to to STAY organized after we leave is just as important as the organizing process itself.  I believe that living your life with intention – every single part of your life – is one of the skills it takes.  If you’re letting into your life whatever comes your way, that’s not living life with intention – you are sure to end up with a house full of random stuff that way! When YOU decide what’s important and decide to follow that road, that’s when life becomes full of what you want.

What experiences do you have with living with intention?

~Tracy
Holistic Professional Organizer and Coach at Synergy Organizing, LLC
www.SynergyOrganizing.com

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Living Intentionally – Part 1

Posted on November 8, 2011 by

How did this get to be like this?  How did all this stuff get here?  These are two of the questions I always ask my new clients.  Responses are different – I inherited a bunch of stuff; I don’t know – I think a lot of it is gifts we never used; I was too busy working to keep up with all the stuff I was buying; I got great deals on all this stuff; I never learned how to organize stuff so I’m not sure what to do now; we moved to this smaller house and never unpacked.

Not everyone who is currently disorganized is wading through mountains and mountains of stuff as is so often what is portrayed on tv these days – the most extreme cases.  Most of what I see is people who have had some amount of order in their homes for at least a good portion of their lives, but now they are situationally disorganized (usually as a result of a transition) and they need a little help getting back on track.  Some examples would include having a baby, getting married, getting divorced, a loved one passing away, experiencing an injury or illness, or anything else that causes a big change in our lives.

My job is all about change.  As the saying goes, what’s the one thing you can always count on to stay the same?  That everything is changing all the time.  This is absolutely true, and the tighter we try to hold onto the past and what things used to be like, the more we resist going into the future, or even more importantly, we resist being here in the present – our minds are always racing off to the future or the past and we never fully experience the present moment.  But what if we were living intentionally, setting a purpose for our home and each part in it?

Stay tuned for part two on living intentionally…..

~Tracy
Holistic Professional Organizer and Coach at Synergy Organizing, LLC
www.SynergyOrganizing.com

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