3 Steps To Organize & Store Vital Documents

I am amazed at how many of my clients do not have a system in place for organizing and storing their important papers.  I work with many individuals in creating and organizing home offices and this seems to be a consistent theme.  In order to prevent the loss of vital information there are a few steps you can take to protect your family.

First, collect and gather all your vital papers, such as wills, certificates for marriage and birth, passports, insurance policies, etc.

Secondly, anything that you find you reference frequently (such as SIN cards or medical records) should be photocopied.  You can then reference your copies rather than the originals. I also recommend that all vital documents be scanned and stored electronically (and backed up) for ease of reference when needed.

Lastly, the originals of all your vital documents that are rarely used should be stored in a safe and secure place.  This can be either a bank safety deposit box or a safe within your home, bolted to the floor.  The safe should of course be fireproof and waterproof and out of sight.

Most importantly, remember to tell someone you trust where you have stored your vital documents.

 

How To Never Lose Your Keys Again

How many times have you been in this situation? You’re rushing around your home getting ready for an appointment, running a bit late when at last you are ready to go when you realize you don’t have your keys! Panic strikes.  Your heart drops and you think “where the heck did I put them?” In this state of panic it’s even harder to think straight and remember anything.  If only you had some system of organization for your keys to prevent this scenario ever again.

What you need is a home for your keys.  It could be as simple as hanging a hook inside your front door or placing a bowl or tray on your front hall table (f you have one) in which to deposit the keys each and every time you come home. The keys need to have a place to be deposited and not simply lying on a table – they need to be contained in something.  And most importantly, this new home for your keys needs to be very visible to you and easy to access as soon as you walk in the door.  Once you have the home for your keys set up you then need to build a new and consistent behavior as soon as you walk in the door. This does take practice but with effort and a sincere desire not to relive the “I can’t find my keys” scenario, it will work.

3 Things That Clutter Costs You

Whenever I perform an initial consultation and needs assessment with my clients I always ask the same question: “What does clutter cost you?”. Inevitably people’s thoughts turn to money. However I think more in terms of success, health and time.

In terms of success, if you are disorganized in your work and clutter surrounds you, it’s difficult to focus. This decreases your creativity, productivity and effectiveness in accomplishing your goals which impacts negatively on your ability to be promoted and successful in your work.

In terms of health, having a cluttered home or workspace results in a cluttered mind. This drains your level of energy and causes stress, which we all know leads to a multitude of illnesses which can keep you from accomplishing your goals. In addition, the more clutter you have, the harder it is to keep your spaces clean resulting in dust build up on vertical and horizontal surfaces throughout. A definite health hazard, especially for those with respiratory issues.

Then there’s time. Once that’s gone, you can never get it back! If your space is disorganized it will take you at least twice as long to perform a task. You’re either spending twice as much time cleaning, finding the clothes you want to wear, locating those important documents and finding that all important report that your boss is waiting for! Don’t let clutter rob you of anything in your life. Take control and keep clutter at bay.

Basement Reno Completed!

FINALLY! The day has come when I can say that our basement renovation is done!!! To say that I’m relieved is an understatement. In my last blog post about this project I mentioned that the painters had to come back to repaint the entire basement. Well, believe it or not, after I wrote that post they had to return on 3 more occasions to finish spots and whole sections that they missed or failed to follow the instructions provided by the contractor. In addition, the contractor has to send his foreman back a couple times to correct some pretty poor workmanship. I remain astounded by this but realize it’s time to move on and put this behind me. With all the other outstanding issues now taken care of, its time to put our basement back together and set up the spaces in a functional, efficient and organized manner.

First came the workout area with the placement of our equipment and accessories all on one side of the back room with everything easily retrievable. Second came the playroom/tv room. I gathered all the toys we have for our visiting little ones (all contained in clear bins for easy identification) and they are now situated in that section of the basement. We are still deciding on whether we will purchase a cubby type wall unit for storage of the toys or whether we will simply leave them in the bins for the time being. For now a simple arm chair serves as a comfortable seat for anyone who wishes to “chill” down there. The third area to tackle was my husbands computer area where he checks emails, downloads all sorts of things and syncs his various technology “toys”. We placed an “L” shaped desk unit that we previously had in an enclave area of the basement which is the perfect niche for him to work in. The final area to tackle (and the most challenging at this point) is the workroom where we keep tools, household maintenance items, gift wrap, etc. and which we determined was also going to contain my organizing tools and accessories for the business. If you could only see the size of this little space – it is definitely a challenge.

At the moment everything is on shelving, but not yet organized. When we have a few hours to spare we will begin to organize that final space, using the organizational principle of SPACE (sort, purge, assign, containerize and evaluate). I’m just itching to get that done but my clients come first at the moment and I know that there are a couple of days vacation I will be taking in a couple of weeks when we will definitely get this basement organized completely! For now we live with it and function as best we can. The reality is we can only do so much in the little time we have available. Prioritize, organize and saturate your space with the things that make you happy and enjoy life!

Organizing Your Time

Time management can be tough. We recently had our daughter come for a visit and she talked about how she is so busy she finds herself on a seemingly never ending treadmill of getting out of bed, getting ready for work, running errands on the way home, cooking dinner and before you know it, it’s 10:00 pm and she still has not even begun to wind down from her day only to have the same cycle run again, never feeling caught up or in control. She doesn’t even have any children yet so even the thought of having kids is frightening when she doesn’t feel there is enough time in the day for just herself. She seems quite perplexed as to how people manage with children. We hear this often. Running the same game, cycle or treadmill each and every day.
frazzled
With so many people around me telling me the same thing, I thought I would Google “how can we manage time more efficiently?”. One of the first answers that popped up was the use of time management sheets. We all, at some point in time, find ourselves on this same repetitive path. One day feels like it just melts into the other. From my own experience and training there are 3 things I know for sure. The first one is, you’re always going to have stuff to do. Secondly, there will be days, no matter what you do, when you feel like a gerbil on a treadmill. And lastly, there are definitely ways to positively change these last two points. Well, all right, you’re thinking. How do we do that?

First it’s helpful, even for just 3 days, to keep a notebook and pen with you at all times and write down how you are spending your time. You want to be as precise as possible, so I’m talking minutes here, not just hours. Once you log your time for a few days and look back on your log you will begin to see a pattern of exactly what various activities take up your time. You can then make some decisions on how you can perhaps delegate some tasks to others, “unplug” yourself during certain periods of the day, learn to say “no”, prioritize, group similar tasks together for more efficient use of your time, and let go of those tasks that really serve no positive purpose for you. Change the way you use your time and make a positive change in your day!

Creative Office Organizing

Sometimes when we’re organizing offices we need to be creative.  It may be because of a lack of space, needing the area for a multiple of purposes and activities, or simply because of the way our client’s function in the space.  For this particular project it was the latter.  Many of my clients are challenged with ADD and ADHD.   Although smart as a whip, our client is challenged with ADHD and therefore paperwork organization was difficult for him. Running a very successful business from home can have it’s drawbacks.  One of those drawbacks is that it can be overwhelming to keep up with all the paperwork that comes with the business. I can certainly attest to that in my own home office. Organization is really the key to maintaining any successful business.  Otherwise things gets lost through the cracks, including cheques!

I thoroughly enjoyed working hands on with this particular client.  He has an amazing sense of humour which can be very helpful for everyone when sorting through papers. Typically, when organizing business documents and paperwork we use file folders.  However, with this particular client, file folders was not a workable solution for him and his way of thinking and working in his space. At least not for his accounting paperwork.  He had already tried to organize with baskets and bins, however the system was not working because pieces were missing from the set up. Working with him we created a bin system of filing accounting papers as well as one special bin strictly to contain papers for filing when he just did not have the time to deal with it. This particular client was not fussy on fancy labelling or worried about aesthetics.  He simply needed a functional system for organizing his papers.  Here’s what we created and what now works efficiently for him:

System for organizing office papers

This may not be a workable solution for everyone but it proves that every client is different and we need to customize our solutions to fit our client’s needs, no matter how diverse. A simple and effective solution to organizing papers for easy filing. No fuss, no muss! What kind of filing system do you use?  I’d love to hear your creative ideas.

 

Basement Renovation Update – Week # 6!

Yes, it’s true. Our basement is still NOT finished. It’s one of those scenarios where Murphy’s law comes into play. I’m trying very hard not to allow this to stress me out but I have to admit it is difficult. I advise my clients that the word “try” implies failure and to rephrase their thoughts to a more positive line of thinking, such as “I will not” have this stress me out…….It takes some practice to change negative patterns of thinking, no doubt about it. As an update, the walls are all painted, but the painters work left a lot to be desired so they have to come back this week to repaint the entire basement. It’s like they didn’t have enough paint on the roller at times and you can see white mottled flecks through the paint colour. Wonder why they don’t perform a quality control inspection before they leave to ensure the job is done well!?!! That’s what I would expect of any service and I certainly don’t think that’s setting the bar too high. Then there is the flooring issue. As our installers were laying the floor they noticed a tremendous amount of squeaks. They pointed this out to us and said the squeaking was not acceptable (at least these people had a high standard of service) and that they would need to speak to our contractor about the issue. This set us back another week and a bit until they could get the manufacturer in to see the problem and come up with a solution. At this point the floor is 99% completed, still waiting for carpeting to be laid on the stairs and then some final details and touch ups to be completed. Looks like another week before we can say it will be all done. I hope. However, I do see a light at the end of the tunnel…….it’s a bit dim, but it’s there, and I’m reaching in to grab it!!!

Dining Room Lost In Translation

Sometimes things get out of control.  Homes especially. Even more so when you bring a home business into the mix together with an illness in the family, whether it be animal or human.  With this particular client, he had a thriving home business and a love for animals.  When one of those animals became ill, all sense of order and organization in the home was lost as the focus was on the health care of the family pet as opposed to the state and organization of their home and business.  Sometimes priorities just change.  When we received the call from this client, his beloved pet had unfortunately passed away after several months of serious illness, and he was now ready to tackle the rather large project of getting his home and business back in order.  Here is a photo of his dining room before we began our decluttering and organizing:

Dining Room before organizingThere is a table underneath all that stuff and we were  determined to get at it so that our client’s life could return to normal.  After many bags for donation, items for disposal and paper and household items relocated we found the dining room table!

Dining Room after organizingSometimes we just have to accept that life throws us some curves along the way and when things get out of control, help is only a phone call away. Give yourself permission to ask for help to restore order when there is none. Things will always fall back into place, especially with a little assistance along the way!

Basement Renovation Update Week #4

Is it over yet? I anticipated this would happen and perhaps it is a self-fulfilling prophecy, but this basement finishing project is taking longer than expected and causing me all sorts of stress, frustration and anxiety.  Not unlike what my client’s feel when they are at the point of calling me for assistance in professional organizing. I have empathy coming out my wazhoo! What was supposed to be a “small” project according to our contractor and would be finished in 2 to 3 weeks, has now turned into a project that looks like it won’t be finished until we hit week 6, if we’re lucky.  Is that normal? I really don’t know because this is our first initiation in the area of contracting out this type of work. In my own business when I consult and assess my client’s needs I give them an extremely accurate assessment in terms of the number of hours it will take to complete a project.  I am always within one hour of my estimate and with over 120 project under my belt I have never yet gone over the time estimate provided to my clients. If anything, I finish early.   So I clearly don’t understand how this works when they tell us 2 to 3 weeks and we are now in week 4 and the flooring isn’t coming until week 5! And even after that, there is more to complete before we can use the space.  I really don’t get it.  The lack of organization in my own home is not only affecting me personally, but also causes strain between my husband and I. Good thing we have a solid relationship and understand each other.  Never underestimate the effects of disorganization in your household or office. It reaches out to all corners of your life.  Hopefully next time I report on this the basement will be finished. In the meantime, as I tell my client’s, I will relax, breathe deeply and realize this is not the end of the world and once this is over not only will the space be transformed, but I will restore order to my home. Now breathe Linda, breathe.

Basement Renovation Week #3

Are we finished yet? (Sigh!) I know the end result of this project will be amazing but getting there is pretty tough for me.  The workmanship is not the issue – they are doing an amazing job.  It’s the process that’s difficult.  I dislike this drywall and plaster stage. The dust it generates is crazy.  It travels everywhere! A tip for controlling the dust factor is to have your subcontractors tape off the vents in the basement and shut off the furnace (which means no air conditioning either).  Then on all other floors, close and cover all vents with a cloth.  This helps to keep the dust from travelling throughout your home.  Of course, the problem with that in my case is that the temperatures outside were a blistering 30+.  Factor in the humidity and we were sweltering in almost 40 degrees Celsius heat.  Lucky for me I was out on client sites that day so the heat in the house was not an issue.  My son however did not fail to remind me of how hot our house was.  Too bad for him (lol). As I mentioned in my earlier blogs on this subject, staying organized when renovations are taking place anywhere in your home is not always easy.  Yesterday I came home to find a large supply of building materials (trim and mouldings) lying across my dining room floor! I was not a happy camper.  Apparently whomever was delivering the supplies did not see the other subcontractor’s note to bring it down to the basement.  So, he decided my dining room floor was a good place to store it!  What the thinking process was to come up with that idea is beyond me.  So.  We won’t be using our dining room for meals any time soon.  Maybe that means a few dinners out?  Here’s to hoping!!!  Keep smiling people.