March, 2012 | Claire Kurtz is The Well-Organized Woman

Organizing Your Digital Life – Part I

March 30, 2012 By Claire Leave a Comment

Just like the physical items in your home, having an organizational strategy for your digital life can increase productivity and peace-of-mind. Your email inbox, music library, and computer desktop can quickly get out of control, so it’s important to take the extra time to develop a process and system around organizing your data.

Computers: The number one piece of advice I can give any client when it comes to the content on your devices is to use your inbox, home-screen and desktop only for the items you need to access that day or regularly. Consider keeping your desktop clean by only leaving your itunes shortcut, email inbox and gym class schedule on it, for example. Everything else goes in well-labeled folders or secondary screens for easy access. The same goes for your email inbox where well-labeled folders are the key to a clear mind and a clear plan of action for each day. In other words, your inbox should double as the day’s to-do list. If it’s in the inbox, you need to respond or take action on the item that day.

Smart Phones and Tablets: Most smart phones have a homescreen with a menu of apps that pops up every time you turn on the phone. This is the screen where you should house your calendar, email accounts, texts, alarm clock, notes, calculator and any other information you access several times each day. Group together your entertainment apps, including all social media and web platforms like twitter, facebook, pinterest, weather, fandango, etc. on another screen. For financial accounts that you don’t use daily, group them together a layer or two under the most important screens. You can organize your tablets in a similar way. For traditional Kindle, try the archiving feature to get the books you’ve already read out of your main view.

Music library: If you’re like me, your iTunes can get a little out of control with songs you’ve gathered along the way that weren’t named correctly. Most of us have thousands of songs which could take a lifetime just to rename consistently, so I often recommend editing just 5 mis-named songs per day (and if you have the extra time, do 10). By the end of the year, you’ll have a consistent library that is easily searchable for those moments when you MUST hear that song you love.

Each of these recommendations will take a bit of your time to organize, but it really is in your best organizational interest to take that time and get your electronic life in order. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, break each technological arena down by month – by the end of the year, you’ll have your electronic life in order and a few organizational resolutions, resolved!

Good luck, and enjoy!
-TWOW

Prepping For Your Child’s Summer Break

March 27, 2012 By Claire 1 Comment

If you’re like many parents that work full-time, your children’s summer break probably requires a lot of planning and organization. Although it’s still roughly three months away, it’s important to begin making arrangements now in order to meet enrollment deadlines and guarantee space.

To prepare for the impending break, first determine if your children will require full-time, part-time, or ad hoc child-care resources. Depending on the age of your children these resources could range from nannies to sleep-away camp. Once you decide which type of resource you will utilize, you can then begin research on your various options. We have included below a list of great websites to help with your process.

Summer Camps:

Local Kids Sports, Arts, & Educational Classes:

Parents Connect Atlanta Kids Class List

Summer Daycare Options:

When selecting your child’s summer plans, be sure to factor in frequency, location, time, age, child’s mental preparedness, and cost. Once you have chosen the best fit, mark on your calendar the deadlines for registration, deposit, and other requirements to ensure they don’t pass you by. Once the official requirements are met, you can begin preparation by making a checklist items or other things they may require (sports equipment, sleeping bags, art supplies, etc.). We also love this free, printable checklist for summer camp packing from Organize.com.

For those with children in their teens or early adult years, you can also assist with their summer plans, such as internships and part-time jobs. As with camps, these often fill up early, so it’s best to start the search now. We recommend collaborating with your older child on a strategy for identifying opportunities, developing necessary application documents, and conducting the actual search/interview process. Below are a couple of excellent resources for part-time job and internship searches.

Part-Time Jobs:

GroveJob.com

Collegiate Internships:

Internships.com Atlanta

No matter your specific plans for your children’s summer break, just remember that early preparation and organization is key.

- TWOW Team

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How to Organize Your Pantry

March 23, 2012 By Claire Leave a Comment

Spring is upon us. During the transition of seasons, not only do the types of clothing you wear change, but so too do the types of meals you prepare. At the same time you put away the sweaters, you also opt less for the soups and stews of winter. Here are steps you can take to get your pantry working for you and your kitchen in the most efficient and organized way!

First, look through the pantry for all out of date food items and remove. This will help you get a few quick wins under your belt and get some momentum going. While you work, keep a list of items that should be replaced.

Then, look through the pantry for those kitchen or entertaining related items that have been sitting on the shelf for more than a year and analyze whether it’s worth giving them valuable pantry space. Yes – the mini-chopper that’s too hard to clean, the tortilla maker you couldn’t figure out and the George Foreman grill you haven’t touched in three years should all go to the donate pile!

Use the top shelf for least needed or seasonal items, like slow cookers. Typically, we recommend that clients use the floor and first shelf for items like bulk-purchase drinks, paper towels and trash bags.

Make the middle shelf or most easy to reach shelf the snack and cereal station. If you have children who are allowed to choose items for themselves, this will give them easy access. Group cereal, crackers, granola bars and fruit snacks together.

Next begin choosing other shelves to group like-items. All canned goods (grouped by soup, vegetables, beans, etc.) Next group pastas, grains, and baking supplies together.

We find most clients have a profusion of lunch bags spilling out of the pantry. If this is true of your pantry, and must keep them all, find a nice basket to sit on one of the bottom shelves for storage.

We find a lot of clients with reusable grocery bags hanging out in the pantry as well. This is an item that should live in a little bin in your trunk so they are always with you when it’s time to shop. Once unloaded after a grocery store run, put the empty bags right back into the trunk!

Good luck, and enjoy!
-TWOW

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Organizing Children’s Artwork

March 20, 2012 By Claire Leave a Comment

Parents often ask how best to manage the ever-growing collection of artwork created by their children. While in parent’s eyes, every finger-painting is a masterpiece worth keeping for a lifetime, not everyone has the storage space to accommodate. The below list contains ideas for storage, organization, and alternative methods of preserving the manifestation of kids artistic talents.

STORAGE BOX: I often recommend that clients purchase one artwork box per child for the school year. When artwork comes home, determine which pieces are especially good and save them in the box. At the end of the school year, review the final collection and select several (3-5) pieces to keep permanently. Scan or photograph the rest before recycling.

SCANNING/PHOTOGRAPHING: Digitize your child’s artwork using a scanner for space-free preservation. Scanned art can then be digitally enjoyed as your computer’s screensaver or background image, in a Facebook album, or shared with relatives via email. Use computer files to categorize the artwork by grade-level or year. 3-D art can be photographed instead of scanned.

FRAMED DISPLAY: Use a DynamicFrame to give the masterpieces a proper display, while storing additional art behind the primary piece.

GIFT: With this strategy, you can gift artwork to extended family members so that they too have something to put on their fridge other great idea is to get balloon sculpting Singapore for the little ones. Invite the kids to include a special piece that they previously created each time you send a birthday present or holiday card.

REPURPOSE: There are many ways in which to re-purpose artwork so that you can keep the memory of the creation while eliminating the need for excess paper storage. Once a piece is digitized you can use the images to create personalized stamps, coffee mugs, artbooks, or a Pop Art canvas print from PhotoWOW.com.

Enjoy preserving your children’s treasures!

-TWOW

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Organizing Your Home Library

March 16, 2012 By Claire Leave a Comment

One of the most powerful symbols of accomplishment in our lives is the books that we’ve read and the library we’ve built. Most of the people I work with view their literary collection as the physical manifestation of their intellectual lives and experience. It is deeply important to them. At the same time many of my clients struggle to keep this collection organized and manageable over time. Many of you can relate and are probably faced with the question: how can I possibly part with any of my books? If you have the space, you don’t necessarily have to purge, but there are steps you can take to keep your collection organized, compact and visually appealing.

If you do find yourself in a position to purge your collection, it is important to recognize that this can be a highly emotional task. Take your time and set aside an hour or two on your weekend when you can have peace and quiet to evaluate what books are ready to leave your home.

In our condo my husband and I have two large Ikea bookshelves with doors for books. I use these two bookcases as the guide for how many books are appropriate for our house. Once we begin growing outside these bounds my husband and I know it is time to reassess what we have. I recommend the same idea to clients all the time.

Identify the bookcases or locations that you will be storing or displaying your books and use this as a guide to the volume of books you will be keeping.

Start with a quick scan of all of your books. There are usually a few things in everyone’s collection that they can pick out right away that can be donated and appreciated by someone else. Pull these and bag or box them immediately.

Next go through and select your absolute keeps. Set your timer and work in 15 minute chunks placing these books on the shelf.

I personally like to organize by subject on my shelves: business, fashion, literature, mystery novels, travel books, etc. Clients typically choose this simple method but some people find alphabetizing to make the most sense.

Books have been used by creative and design loving people for decades as décor. So for clients who value creativity and whimsy over ease of identification I can embrace your desire to make a display out of your treasures – go ahead and sort by color if you must! It really can look stunning in a living room but take my word for it – the search for a specific book can take an epically long time!

Finally, you will need to go through your question mark items and make decisions. This is the tough part for most clients and sometimes even for me. You likely have gift books in this pile as well as books you always intend to get to but never have. If you are tight on space, let them go. If the idea of the book is more appealing to you than the time it will take to read, let it go.

As an organizer I’m always going to advocate for donation over selling things. It’s simpler, you can take a tax write off and quickly remove items for your home. You can make a little money back and feel good about sending these valuables to a new home where the can be loved twice over by another reader by selling on Amazon. Reserve a shelf for these books and track them in a spreadsheet with the price you’re asking. Keep a small set of padded envelopes, tape and address labels, and set aside time on your Saturday morning to take sold books to the post office each week.

Stand back and take in your beautifully organized books!

Happy Reading from TWOW!

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Stuck in a Rut

March 12, 2012 By Claire Leave a Comment

As 2012 is in full swing, I’ve encountered many new clients who are ready to make the switch from disorganized to organized. I admire this choice, as it often takes great courage and resolve to change one’s lifestyle. A common theme I’ve noticed with people who believe they are disorganized is what I like to call stuck-in-a-rut syndrome. This syndrome usually takes the form of little items that need to be dealt with taking over large portions of our lives. The good news is that with a few simple actions, we can move beyond the small things that are keeping us from achieving our organizational goals.

I’ll give you an example of something that I see over and over again and have even experienced myself. You may be able to relate to the situation where you have many articles of clothing in need of mending, tailoring or dry cleaning but instead of taking them to be fixed, they begin to pile up on a piece of furniture in your bedroom, laundry room or spare room. The sight of this mess leads you to take a little less care in keeping that room organized and over time, more and more piles form of dirty clothes, mail, items to be donated, etc. Before you know it, you’re stuck in a disorganized rut. Sometimes, the mess begins to spread to the rest of your house – the sight of items in need of action becomes the norm.

Another example could be that you have a piece of furniture in a room of your home that needs to be repaired and is unusable until it is fixed. Slowly, you use the room less because it is no longer a comfortable place to spend time. It becomes a haven for all the other things in need of repair in your life. Sound familiar?

It is so easy for disorganization to creep into our lives, but implementing short and simple routines in your week for clothing and home maintenance can make a big difference in making sure your home remains your sanctuary.

For clients in this situation, I like to recommend a bi-weekly routine of errands, calls and actions. Pick a small amount of time on a day of your week or weekend that is conducive to completing a few tasks. For example, on Mondays, I like to stop by Starbucks on my way to a standing client appointment. There is a dry cleaner a few doors down, so I bring a few items every other Monday that need special cleaning attention and I pick up the items I’d dropped off the last Monday I was there. If you have a Saturday morning manicure routine, take your items that need tailoring with you and stop by on the way to your appointment. If Wednesday evenings are the nights your husband steps out with the guys, take a few moments of that precious time to research furniture repair businesses in your area and give them a call during lunch the following day. In other words, find the pockets of time in your week where you’ve already established routines and work in just one or two of these to-dos. A mini-alteration to your day like this can chip away at the piles, and slowly pull you out of the rut. Notice I’m not suggesting that you take a whole day of your weekend to take care of every single pile in every single room – that is not realistic, nor is it sustainable for a busy and aspiring well-organized person.

Small changes can afford lasting results. Think about what’s holding you in a rut and consider what small actions could start to pull you out. Let go of the rut by taking control of your time and your space in short but sweet bursts of time and routine. You’ll be surprised how the growing freedom you’ll feel will fuel more energy towards an organized day and lifestyle!

Good luck!
-TWOW

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Getting Ready for Spring: A Checklist

March 6, 2012 By Claire Leave a Comment

Spring is just around the corner. In order to help you prepare your home for the change in season, we’ve created the below checklist. Take care of these items now and you’ll be able to enjoy the warm weather without having to worry about last minute To-Do’s. And remember, residential cleaners Brisbane North is always here to help!

Inside:

Closet Changeover: Swap out prime closet positioning of seasonal winter items (sweaters, jackets, scarfs, etc.) for light-weight Spring clothing (shorts, skirts, bathing suits, etc.). While you’re at it, don’t forget about a shoe rotation (boots for flip flops, etc.). For a complete How-To Closet Changeover guide, check out this post.
Mattress Rotation: Ensure maximum lifespan by rotating per manufacturer guidelines.
Storage: Rotate winter items from main closets to the basement or attic. Replace with items used frequently during the Spring (sports equipment, pool toys, etc.).
Linen Changeover: Swap out heavy linens for light-weight options. After washing, store linens in air-tight containers to protect from moths and dirt.
Air Conditioners & Ceiling Fans: Remove and clean filters for AC units. If your air conditioner needs more thorough maintenance, contact Gilbert AZ HVAC maintenance for routine procedures and cleaning of your air conditioning. Clean and rotate ceiling fan blades down (if unit allows) for optimum cool air delivery.
Household Safety Device Checks: Conduct quarterly check of smoke and carbon monoxide monitor batteries.
Clean windows: Clean windows inside and out. Replace or repair broken screens prior to bug season. According to aussieoutdoor.com.au/blinds-shop-near-me/, the proper blinds can help reduce the amount of cleaning required.
Purging & Organizing: Take the seasonal opportunity to review and donate/trash items that are no longer used. Organize remaining items for optimum storage and access.
Expiration Dates: Conduct a sweep of your pantry, fridge, medicine cabinet, and makeup drawer. Discard any items that have passed their expiration dates.
Closed Spaces: Inspect basement and attic for mold and pests that may have taken up residence during the winter months.
Infrequent Cleaning: Conduct a thorough Spring clean of your home, including spaces and items that don’t usually make the list. These may include vacuuming under the furniture, professional cleaning of rugs & carpets, washing of blinds & curtains, deep cleaning of appliances and wiping down of walls, ceiling corners, and baseboards. Carpet cleaning Sacramento provides you with the finest carpet care.

(Source: Ready Set Maids Houston cleaning service).
Outside:

Roof: Inspect for winter damage. Have a professional conduct repairs where needed.
Grills: Inspect, clean, and condition BBQ’s and grills prior to first use. Secure a fresh propane tank, if necessary.
Prune, Mulch, & Plant: Prune dead branches and foliage, trim overgrown plants, and prepare the garden for planting by putting down a layer of mulch.
Gutters: Inspect gutters and clear debris where necessary. Pay special attention to the elbow corners where debris most often gets stuck. If gutter requires some repair work, contact Gettysburg gutter repair from Gettysburg Gutter Advantage.
Pool: Schedule an appointment for your pool maintenance firm to de-winterize the pool. Then secure a regular cleaning appointment with them for the warm months.
Patio Furniture/Outdoor Decorations: Remove from storage, assess for damage/wear, clean, and display.

For a more specific assistance contact Fort Collins septic tank pumping specialists.

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