31 Dec 2012 by

One of the biggest organising myths

One of the biggest organizing myths is that you have to have large chunks of time to accomplish anything meaningful.

Not true.

If you wait for two-hour blocks of time, you might wait for a long time.

Lfe is way too busy with work, kids, husband, cooking, gym, etc.

My suggestion is that you start by walking around your house with a notebook and pen.

Identify the areas that bug you the most or that you just really want to see organized. Make a list, room by room.

You now have a choice – either choose a room and work through it section by section (this is my personal preference as it is then DONE!) or choose similar tasks and work through them all in your entire home. For example, organize all the paper in the house – kitchen, entrance hall, bedrooms, etc.

Which approach do you prefer?

11-01 940

Break down the area of most concern into 15-minute segments like this – if you have a chest of drawers with 4 drawers and they’ve not been decluttered or organized for a year, you may need 15 minutes per drawer. That’s 4 little tasks.

Your coaching challenge

  • Choose your four mini tasks to do each week of Jan
  • Do mini task 1.
  • If you feel motivated after mini task 1, then by all means, continue.
  • Otherwise, relax and be proud of a job well done.
  • Need some help? Contact me for your Success Strategy Session. Otherwise, have a look at the Organise your Home system.

my book

 

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12 Dec 2012 by

Get organised before you go on holiday

Do you remember what it’s like getting back from leave?

You’re all relaxed, birds are chirping, the sun is shining, there’s no tension in your shoulders and everything’s wonderful.

Then you get to your desk.

After you look at your desk, and then see the 2000-odd emails that have piled up, you’re about ready to take your bag and your car keys and go right back home!

By the way, I don’t believe in taking your work with you on holiday unless it’s critical. I’m planning to block my emails from coming through to my iphone and ipad so that I’m not distracted from lazing on the beach.

I have a few ideas to help you prepare and get organised for your holiday:

1. Advise your clients and friends that you’ll be away.

I suggest that you write separate emails because…well…the tone and content will be different for each of them.

For clients, you’ll be explaining how long you’ll be away, what to do for queries and who your stand-in is. For friends, I like to tell them to please not send me any personal emails. After all, you don’t want to return to an Inbox full of PowerPoint presentations and the friends who really want to talk to you have your cell phone number if they want to chat. Right?

If you’re on Facebook, update your status too.

2. Delegate as much as possible

You need to be motivated to delegate! Now just think how lovely it will be when you get back from your holiday and after scanning through your emails, you only have to attend to about 10% of the emails.

You can delegate to a virtual assistant or my favourite, an auto-responder. I have an auto-responder set up to manage my mailing list so that it delivers my free Time Management Purpose Pack automatically to any subscribers and removes people who want to unsubscribe. Just putting this one thing into practice saves me at least an hour a week.

In your personal life, set up some systems to help you get ready to go and return from holiday. I’ve just asked our cleaning lady to come in on the weekend before we leave and again on the weekend following our return to help me get the house sparkling clean again.

I have checklists but I also update them after each holiday. My husband usually packs some things and I pack others (kids’ clothes). It’s helped me not micromanage and also lessened the load. And worse comes to worse, we’re not holidaying in the middle of nowhere – you can always buy if you’ve forgotten something small but the peace and sanity is worth the delegating.

3. Update your website if you’re a small business owner

Go through your Sent Items to see what type of questions you get a lot. If they’re not questions you have to think about and answer fresh every time, they probably belong on your site as a Frequently Asked Questions site or on your website somewhere else.

4. Turn on your out of office assistant

Remember to give the dates you’ll be unavailable, if your clients need to route their query to someone else and a number to contact you if it’s urgent. If at all possible, leave your out of office on a day longer than you need to gain some buffer time for easing back into work.

5. Declutter and get organised

Do a good clear-out of any paper, both on your desk and in your files. While you’re feeling the lovely rush of endorphins, do a good clear out of email and document folders too.

I have two hours scheduled next week to declutter and organise at the office so I can start 2013 on a clean slate. Honestly, I can’t wait to toss paper! I also can’t wait to break open a new notebook 🙂

6. Plan for when you’re back

Write down the top 3 – 5 things on your to-do list for the day you’re back at work. Jot down a maximum of 5 items because you know you’ll be catching up on email!

This will ensure that you hit the ground running and that you beat the feeling of overwhelm.

Enjoy your holiday!

Marcia Francois is a time management coach and speaker who inspires busy women to break out of overwhelm, make the most of their time and take purposeful and focussed action so they have the time and freedom to live life to the full. Visit http://www.purposefultimemanagement.com for your free Time Management Purpose Pack.

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30 Oct 2012 by 3 Comments

{31 days of easy organising solutions} – set yourself up for success

One of the main principles in life that I try to live by is to set myself and others up for success.

What does that look like?

  1. Well, with my kids, I don’t expect them to be at their best behaviour when they’re tired or hungry so we won’t go to a restaurant at those times. I want to set them up for success.
  2. With clients, if I see they’ve got too much on their plates, I’ll remind them that in my mind success looks like x because of all their other commitments, but I’ll still support them if they want to really stretch.
  3. For me, if I’ve been sick I go easy on myself with the lesser important things around the house. This weekend I had a splitting headache for about 24 hours. I prepared meals but the little organising and tidying up projects didn’t get done at all.

Why stress out about something and deliberately set myself up for sure failure?!

So what does that look like for your organising success?

Only you can answer.

If you can only manage 15 minutes every weekday, then realistically speaking you can organise a drawer or small surface area each day. Don’t expect to organise an entire room and then beat yourself up when it doesn’t get done.

How can you better set yourself up for organising success?

My book, Live Organised, will help you get organised in a realistic, practical manner. Available on Kindle and as a physical book.

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28 Oct 2012 by Leave a Comment

{31 days of easy organising solutions} – easier decluttering

Edited to add – a reader alerted me to the fact that once again, dear WordPress lost my post and reverted to my template (which is usually the previous day’s post). Have rewritten it below.

One of the first steps of organising any space is  decluttering.

Because decluttering can be such a hard thing for some of us to do, I’ve been asking myself this question over the years:

Can someone use this today?

When you ask yourself that question, you intentionally move your mindset out of hoarding and into giving.

The Pampers box is always ready to receive some goodies so the minute I can’t comfortably fit things into a cupboard or drawer, I ask myself, “can someone use this today?” about duplicates of items or items that just don’t make me feel happy.

And sometimes older is better.

We have a cheese knife that is old as the hills (about 15 years old) that we received from a family friend with a cheese board. The cheese board is long gone but that knife is awesome. I’ve since received a newer, fancier cheese knife but nothing beats the old one so the newer one needs to go 🙂

What kinds of things do you tell yourself to make it easier to let go?

My book, Live Organised, will help you set up the systems you need to make your life flow smoothly. Available on Kindle and as a physical book.

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26 Sep 2012 by Leave a Comment

The most common organising question ever

There’s one question I get asked by clients and readers of my website and blog more than any other question.

It’s a question that makes me empathise with them so much because I know exactly where they’re coming from.

And this is it:

Marcia, I want to get organised but it’s all so overwhelming. Where on earth do I start?

There are different ways to approach this question but before we even start with the practical aspects, you need to do this:

First of all, relax and take a deep breath 🙂

Then get your mind in the right space.

Realise that this is a process and that you will not have a totally organised home in one hour, despite what you saw on TV last week.

Remember the home makeover shows have TONS of organizers and stylists behind the scenes making the space look beautiful. You only have you (or if you’re really blessed, a friend or family member to help you).

Now that we’ve got that part settled, let’s talk practical.

1. Start with the area of your home or life that bothers you the most.

If you can’t bear to choose clothes every morning because your wardrobe is too cluttered, then that’s probably a good place to start. The benefit of choosing this area is that when you feel overwhelmed by the rest of the house you can go to this one space, look at it, smile and feel inspired.

2. Decide what you want to have happen in that space.

Do you only want clothes in your wardrobe, or do you want shoes and handbags in there too? If you’re not sure what you want (as with anything else in life), it’s easier to let your standards and boundaries slip and in this case, before you know it, you may have a disorganised space once again.

3. Declutter

You can’t organise clutter. Get rid of everything that shouldn’t be there. You may need to move some things to other rooms and some things may need to move right out of your house!

4. Organise what’s left according to your personality and style

Not everybody is a minimalist. Some of us need to surround ourselves with our treasures. It’s all okay.

Your system works as long as you can find what you’re looking for relatively quickly (within a minute).

5. Maintain

Last but not least, do a quick, 5-minute maintenance session in each major space every week so that your space remains organised.

Now that you’ve read my tips, where do you think YOU should start?

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9 Apr 2012 by 4 Comments

Have you heard about the 40 bags challenge?

On a couple of the blogs I read, the bloggers did a 40-day challenge.

It’s linked to Lent and the idea is they declutter 40 spaces in their home and get rid of 40 bags.

I love the idea of it but it wouldn’t work exactly as intended for me since my house is already relatively clutter-free.

Although I could easily do about 3 – 4 bags 🙂

Nevertheless, I thought I’d link to this excellent wrap-up post. Katie shares what she leart, what worked well for her and what she recommends for future challenges of this nature.

Katie, here’s your “featured at Organising Queen” button.

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<a href=”http://marciafrancois.com/blog/” target=”_blank”><img border=”0″ src=”http://marciafrancois.com/blogjjd/Organising%20Queen%20Button4.png” /></a>

 

When you do any large-scale organising project, it’s important to:

1) have a plan of attack

2) create the time to do it (schedule it in your diary)

3) use small steps to produce huge results over time

4) have some accountability, both to motivate you and to help you celebrate your victories

 

The last big organising project in my house was when we went from this…

to this…

I had to get really honest about what I was keeping and why 🙂

If you need to tackle some areas of your home this month, Organise your home will help you. It’s a step-by-step system using only 4 days a week for 30 minutes at a time.

What was the last big organising project you did?

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30 Jan 2012 by 6 Comments

Clearing out

Your goals form for Feb is ready over at my site. If you’re already signed up, you will have received the form this morning. Otherwise, when you sign up, it will be delivered to you in the welcome pack.

Happy planning 🙂

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On Saturday morning I tried to squeeze something into a cupboard and when it wouldn’t fit, I  just lost it.

I then chucked out stuff like crazy.

Why do I have four huge plastic salad bowls when I only ever use at most two at a time?

I use these ones for baking when it’s a 3 cups of flour or more recipe too, and of late, for my sweet and savoury snack mixes.

And that’s how it went.

 

I had a pile big enough for two grocery carrier bags on my table and told Nester (our cleaning lady) to please help herself to it all. Or otherwise, to toss!

I’ve been seriously decluttering and organising for just over 6 years now, as long as we’ve been in this house and it was my stinginess that started it.

I actually considered getting a kitchen cupboard built to house all my extra stuff and when they quoted me R5000-odd in those days, I nearly fainted.

But I did have an aha – those things I wanted stored weren’t nearly worth R5000 so why would I pay for storage to house rubbish that I probably wasn’t using anyway.

Let that be some inspiration for you!

What do you need to clear out this week?

 

PS Organise your home will help kick-start your decluttering journey.

Filed Under: Decluttering, Organising Tagged With: ,
27 Oct 2011 by 7 Comments

21 [31 days] Help Kim stay organised

I’ve just come back home after having been out with some girlfriends and realised I still needed to post for today 🙂

Kim says:

I really need to figure out an easy way to STAY organized…apparently all the different ways haven’t worked for me, or I would be organized, right???? I’ve tried, but can’t seem to stay upon it. Not sure what is really going wrong.

Today, I’m taking the easy way out.

If Kim asked you this question, what would you say are your best tips to help her stay organised 🙂

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5 Oct 2011 by 6 Comments

6 [31 days] how do I find a home for things?

Sherry Smith says:

I need help figuring out a home for things.

I look at something, don’t have a clue where it should go, so I end up leaving it where it sat and in my best Scarlett O’Hara say “I will worry about that tomorrow.”.

 

Sherry, I love your question!

My good friend, Suzanne, used to say something I love, love, LOVE.

“Don’t put it down; put it away”

I have another saying which is indecision = clutter.

I honestly believe it takes about 10 seconds longer to put something away than to just dump it but the benefits are immeasurable.

These are my ideas for you:

For things you don’t yet have in your home, first think about where you will put them before you even allow them access.

Yes, things need to earn the privilege of remaining in your home.

In the store or if someone wants to pass on things to you, if you can’t think of a place where they will go, don’t buy or accept those things.

It’s hard the first couple of times but then becomes easier as you realise that there’s less to clean and organise 🙂

For current things, I like to store them where I use them.

  • children’s toys in our sun room – that’s where they play
  • children’s books in their bedroom – that’s where they read
  • phone chargers in a container in the kitchen – I charge phones while cooking
  • and so on

Of course ALL of this “finding a home” business is a lot easier if you don’t have an overflow of stuff to start off with.

So if you feel overwhelmed, then step one is to declutter.

Readers, do you agree? Disagree? Any other suggestions for Sherry?

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1 Oct 2011 by Leave a Comment

2 [31 days] why do some people get organised easier than others?

  Alicia Motyka says:

Why do you think it is easier for some to organize more than others? I LOVE organizing and thrive on the sense of accomplishment when I’m finished. But I have a number of friends who always say they want to be more organized and ask how I do it. What do you say to others that wonder why they’re not organized? Is it their personality, habits or something else?

Great question, Alicia.

I do think there are some of us who naturally crave a more organised space than others due to our personalities.

Those would be the J’s on Myers Briggs.

I’m an ESTJ and I know I need to have order in my surroundings in order to function effectively.

BUT…. and this is a big but…

I personally know TONS of people who are not “naturally” organised but have learnt over the years to set up and maintain systems that work for them, and are now quite happily organised.

You see, organising is a skill set and anyone can learn how to get organised.

I explain the process in detail in the Organise your home system. Please DON’T pay full price if you click through – use your discount code that you get when you signed up for the TMPP.

I also think that people need 3 things to get and stay organised:

  1. motivation
  2. know-how
  3. accountability and support

Maybe your friends are lacking one or more of these 3 components.

Readers, what do you think?

Are you naturally organised? What is your MBTI? (that’s just to satisfy my curiosity!) Do you agree with my 3 parts to getting organised?

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