Organizing Your Chaos Blog
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We all have things that we need to do that make our world go round. Everything from taking care of your family to what you do for work. How do you know what all you need to do? How do you remember where you need to be? With all the things that swirl around in our heads AND our responsibility to take care of our families, it’s no wonder we can get emotionally exhausted! I have used a calendar for a long time. Raising a busy family of 8 has had its challenges. I knew that there would be no way under the sun that I could remember all the things that needed to happen in our family. So I’ve been using a paper calendar for years. This was the only way that I knew to make sure that we were at the right place at the right time. If it wasn’t written down, it wasn’t going to happen! When the digital calendar became popular, I added it to my tool box. Adding the digital calendar (I use Google calendar) was extremely helpful because I was able to assign a color to each member of my family, and I could easily see who needed to be where. And, the bonus was that on my digital calendar I added the notification reminders. The “ding” gave me ample time to regroup and move on to the next activity. As soon as something is scheduled, I add it to my digital calendar. If I’m at my desk, I use my computer; if I’m out, I add it to my phone. This has eliminated the need to keep the reminder cards for a doctor’s appointment, for example, or papers with dates on them. I have less paper piles and know where I need to be. I use my paper calendar to see my week as a whole. This helps me see what pockets of time I have when I plan out my week using my Sunday Basket. I’ll never remember everything in my head, and I doubt that you will either. There aren’t any prizes being given out even if I do. :)  The tools I use to manage my family and my business are:
I would love to hear how I can help you. Feel free to email, I’m happy to support you! Let’s Do it Together!
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Actionable paper refers to paper that has an action attached to it. This could be making an appointment, responding to an invitation, paying bills, planning a vacation, reimbursements, ordering information, prescription refills, coupons, etc.
Where does it all go? First, I would suggest that you make a pile of the actionable paper that needs to be taken care of this week. This will help you see that you don't need to focus on all of it. Just the most immediate and timely things. Finding a home for your papers is pretty important so that you can stay up on things, and not miss deadlines. I have been using the Sunday Basket paper organizing system. It has eliminated excess paper and given me a place to put everything each week. Papers are sorted into slash pockets, and stored in my Sunday Basket. If you don't have either, you can start with folders and a basket or container to hold your papers. It's important that all of the paper that comes into your homes goes into the same container. This way you eliminate losing things :) Create categories to hold your papers as you organize all the actionable papers that you have. This can include family members, bills, school, work, errands, phone calls, etc. This gives everything a temporary home until you take care of it. As you look through your papers each week, you can easily sort what has come into the house each week into their proper categories as well as having a handle on what needs immediate attention. Leaving papers in piles and not giving them weekly attention can cause us to fall behind, forget things, and become overwhelmed. I encourage you to take the time to organize your papers. The initial investment of time and money will be a huge help and eliminate the feelings of overwhelm going forward. I know it's not easy to get through all the paper, but grab a friend who's also living under a paper mountain, and share these ideas with her. We all need some help now and then :) I'll be back tomorrow to talk about what to do with the reference paper! Let's Do It Together! Part 3 in a 5 part series Actionable paper refers to paper that has an action attached to it. This could be making an appointment, responding to an invitation, paying bills, planning a vacation, reimbursements, ordering information, prescription refills, coupons, etc.
The actionable paper that we have is what can bog us down. These are are the things that we have "to do", take action on. The things that need to be done, and we don't want to stop long enough to do them. It's all of the things that we and our family need. Once you have all of your actionable paper separated from the rest of your paper, what do you do with it all? It probably is a big to-do list. So, now you need a system. A way to organize all of the things you need to do each week. A way to plan out what's next. Two Tips: 1. Weekly planning time. I have a time each week when I look through all the paper and then plan my next week. Did you know that for every minute you plan, you save 5 minutes? This means if it takes you 30 minutes to plan your week, you save yourself 2.5 hours of wasted time during your week! So, weekly planning is essential for me. I plan when I will run errands, make phone calls, meals, and shopping. This eliminates the "fly by the seat of my pants and hopes I don't forget something" problem. Every week I look at what has come into my house and then plan what needs to be done. Paper from kids schools, mail, bills, work, volunteer, social clubs, etc. Anything that has come into the house get looked at. THEN, I toss everything I don't need or want. This eliminates unnecessary papers from hanging around. 2. Take action on the things that are necessary to take care of this week. Just this week. The pile of actionable papers includes a whole lot of things that need to be done, but not all of it needs to be done this week. This is a GAME CHANGER for me. It allows me to only focus on the things that are "dated". The things that have a due date. This frees up my head space to take care of things in smaller increments and allows things to get done! You won't get overwhelmed by all of the things, and you are able to take care of just what is necessary for this week and I have much more productive this way. Give it a try! I have been using the Sunday Basket system for a long time, and I found that for me it works the best. I'll be back tomorrow to talk about where to put your actionable paper! Grab a friend and gather up your paper. Now, it's time to take some action! Let's Do It Together! Part 2 in a 5 part series |
Monique HorbI coach busy, tired, and overwhelmed women who struggle with "winning at work and losing at home". We work together to transform your life from chaotic to calm. De-cluttering your home, paper piles, and over-flowing schedule will you the confidence, time an energy to do what God created for you to do. Archives
August 2020
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