Photo Project

Photo Project

by | Jan 26, 2014 | Home Solutions Stuff, Organizing

People sometimes assume that as a professional organizer, every aspect of my existence must be, well, organized. A lot of it is, but life happens and things fall through the cracks, even for me.

photo albums

Right before the holidays, hubby went to the cabinet that houses our photo albums – one album per year – and couldn’t find anything more recent than mid-2009. “That’s not possible!” is what I wanted to say, but the albums didn’t lie. I hadn’t printed any photos since June 2009; that’s…holy cow, four and a half years of photos that needed to be uploaded to the computer and organized into folders, then uploaded again to Shutterfly, the online photo storage and printing site I use.

Instead of letting the magnitude of the job overwhelm me, I tried to mentally break it down into manageable segments:

Part 1: upload everything from the camera and cell phone to the computer
Part 2: sort the uploaded photos into half-year folders for easier handling and identification
Part 3: upload the contents of those folders to Shutterfly
Part 4: order a copy of each photo (minus the duds that got deleted, of course!)

 Right after the holidays, I got started. In less than a week, spending an hour or so at a time, I completed all four parts.

When the order arrived from Shutterfly, there were more than 500 pictures in one very fat envelope. BUT! Thankfully, they were in chronological order so we simply had to slide them into a slot in the appropriate photo album. Hubby and I tackled that job together as we watched Discovery Channel’s mini series, “Klondike.” A glass of wine, a roaring fire, an interesting TV show and a partner to work with turned what initially felt like a monumental undertaking into a fun project.

I just put the finishing touches on the albums, labeling each by year with my label maker. And now, taking my own advice about developing new habits to maintain something that’s recently been organized, I hope to tend to this task twice a year moving forward.

Many of my clients have good intentions of creating the perfect family photo archive by scrapbooking, which adds a whole other dimension to things. However, very few seem to get beyond the point where they spend hundreds of dollars on the scrapbooking supplies. My advice? If there’s a backlog of photos looming in your life, cut yourself a break and just get them organized into albums or boxes with some sort of identifier – either the year, the event, the person or place – and move on. Someday, perhaps you’ll go back and create the scrapbook of your dreams; until then, you’ll at least be able to enjoy the photos and the memories they invoke.

I will spare you the humorous horror of my online search results for an image of “a pile of photos” to use with this blog post. In its misguided eagerness to please, google  gave me “photos of piles” – and when I say “piles” – think in medical terms.

 

Please Visit Our New Owners

https://eldertransitionconsulting.com

File down the filing pile

File down the filing pile

by | Nov 20, 2013 | Home Solutions Stuff, Organizing, Paperwork

I recently posted this tip on the Home Solutions facebook page:

buried in papersHere’s an idea: before you file something away, ask yourself, “Why am I filing this? Do I actually need to keep it for anything?” If the answer is no, work on breaking that habit. It’ll save you time, and it’ll save space in the file cabinet. One good example for many folks is utility bills. Everyone files them, but nobody knows why.

When I present an organizing seminar, I ask folks in the audience, “How many of you file your utility bills after you’ve paid them?” and invariably, hands shoot up all over the room. When I ask them, “Why?” I am routinely met with a roomful of shrugs and quizzical looks.

Sometimes we do things out of habit without re-examining the reason, and the reason for keeping certain papers in our file drawers may be overdue for review.

Perhaps you keep utility bills because you take a home office deduction on your income taxes. However, you can see an on-line history of utility bills paid, so again, why keep the monthly statements?

I stopped getting utility bills, bank and investment statements, and car loan statements in the mail and instead, receive them all online. I reconcile my accounts and pay my bills online, too, so there’s no need for me to print these statements.

If that’s too far out of your comfort zone, how about keeping one year’s worth and shredding with the start of a new year?

When your year-end investment account statement arrives, it has all the information for the year and you no longer need the monthly or quarterly statements, right?

Once you see the transactions on your bank statement, you can shred ATM slips and deposit receipts.

At the end of the year when you get your W-2, you can shred your paystubs.

In my July 23rd blog post, I talk about receipts – which ones to keep and which to toss.

We are inundated with an onslaught of papers on a daily basis. If we reduce the quantity of what we get and what we file by eliminating things we’re keeping out of habit rather than actual need, it’s another small step towards organizing and simplifying our daily lives.

 

 

 

Please Visit Our New Owners

https://eldertransitionconsulting.com

Where should it live?

Where should it live?

by | Oct 24, 2013 | Home Solutions Stuff, Organizing

My clients hear that question all the time.

When they complain about the backpacks plopped in the middle of the kitchen floor, or the car keys that are never found when needed, or the pile of missing mail from two days ago…whether its backpacks, keys, or the incoming mail – whatever it is – I ask, “Where should that item live? Where is its home? We know where it doesn’t belong – where does it belong?”

This question is usually met with an eerie silence. That’s the problem in a nutshell, folks: you can’t put something away if it doesn’t have a home.

So: establishing a home is step one. The right spot should be logical, practical, and doable. Your child can’t slide a backpack into a cubby that’s four feet above her head, and it doesn’t make sense to walk through three rooms of the house to put away your car keys.Keys on hooks by the door Remember: logical, practical, and doable.

Step two is developing the habit of actually putting the item where it belongs, and that takes time. Have faith – we humans are smart cookies. We can be trained to establish new routines so that, over time, hanging keys on a hook by the garage door will become a habit. Teach your child that the backpack goes on a reachable peg every day when she comes in from school. Put the incoming mail in that one designated spot so you can find it when you’re ready to process it, and in a matter of weeks, maybe even days, some common daily frustrations will actually be eliminated by answering that one simple question: Where should it live?

Please Visit Our New Owners

https://eldertransitionconsulting.com

Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle – Get Creative!

Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle – Get Creative!

by | Aug 10, 2013 | Repurposing

I’m not a particularly crafty person – not because I don’t think creatively, but because sometimes it seems like it takes WAY more time and effort to complete some of the projects I see floating around out there than I’d be willing to spend. Plus, it’s often not worth it in the endHerbGarden if you put an actual dollar value on your time – but that’s a post for another day.

Anyhow. Craftiness aside, I DO like the whole concept of repurposing and recycling things; of using things for something other than what they were originally intended rather than tossing in the trash.

Here’s a link to an herb garden made out of a vertical hanging shoe rack. Totally cool, huh? I wouldn’t personally go out and buy a hanging shoe rack in order to make this, but if I didn’t have a big yard to garden in and I loved cooking with fresh herbs, this could be a fun, inexpensive and viable project. It could add some visual appeal to an otherwise boring fence, or even act as a screen on a porch if you hung it from above and somehow tethered it below.

I did notice a few things I’d tweak, though. It mentions you should test the drainage and if it’s not sufficient, poke a few holes in the bottom of each pouch. Plants need drainage; as a gardener, I know that.  I would put supplies in the top row of pouches instead of at the bottom so they don’t get wet when you water the plants. Even if water drains down the back, the bottom row would probably still get wet. So I’d move my supplies up high and eliminate that worry.

The other thing I noticed is that the items and steps suggested for making plant tags is WAY more effort than I’d ever put forth. This was obviously written by a legitimately crafty person, which I’ve already confessed I am not:

Round up some fabric scraps, ultra-firm stabilizer and iron-on adhesive. Adhere the stabilizer to the middle of the fabric (leave enough fabric around the edges to fold over) using an iron and the adhesive. Cut triangles out of the corners so you can make a nice fold. Attach the flaps with iron-on adhesive. Attach a piece of canvas or other heavy cloth to the front of the tag so you can label it. Use a permanent marker to write the plant name. 

Yeah, not gonna happen. I’d probably use some of the little plastic lawn stakes from our lawn care dude, (since we pull those out and recycle them anyhow) print the herb names on mailing labels, stick ’em to index cards, trim, “laminate” with clear packing tape and I’m done in less than ten minutes and I’m STILL utilizing things I already have around the house. My point here is, don’t be put off by a project with components that seem beyond your skill set if you can tweak it and make it more doable for you.

Have you got a favorite  reuse/repurposing project you’d like to share? We’d love to hear from you!

 

 

Please Visit Our New Owners

https://eldertransitionconsulting.com

“Because I Said So…”

“Because I Said So…”

by | Jul 23, 2013 | Organizing, Paperwork, Sorting

Sometimes I read tips by the upper echelon of organizers (you know, the ones Oprah made famous, or who’ve written best-selling books) and I think, “Hmm. That doesn’t seem very practical to me.”

Just because “So-And-So” says it’s a great idea doesn’t automatically make it the right  solution for you. There are no cookie-cutter answers – at least there shouldn’t be. What works for one person might not work for another, and a good organizer should be able to help figure out a solution for you based on your needs, your style, and your stuff.

A recent tip in an online newsletter suggested this way for dealing with receipts:

To organize receipts, a simple, low-tech solution is to use two bankers’ spikes. Get in the habit of cleaning receipts out of your wallet or purse daily. Place receipts on one of the spikes as they come in. When one spike is full, start the other. If you haven’t needed any of the receipts by the time you fill up the second spike, throw out everything on the first spike.

First of all, I would never recommend banker’s spikes in a household with small children or pets. Those things could be lethal in the wrong hands!

Secondly, not all receipts are created equal. Receipts for consumables that cannot be returned? I get rid of them once I’ve verified that the right amount showed up on my credit card. It’s not like I can return the gas I put in my tank or get a refund on the pizza from last month, right? BUT. What about the receipt for patio furniture that has a 10-year warranty? Just because I might not need it by the time the second spike is full doesn’t mean that I won’t need it three years from now if a leg falls off my table.

Do you want to rifle through all your receipts when reconciling one credit card statement – you do reconcile your credit card statement, don’t you? – or would it be helpful to separate them by each credit or debit card used?

I’m also not a big fan of this oft-repeated tip about kitchen utensils: expandable utensil drawer

Not sure what you use and what you don’t in your kitchen? Here is a tried and true way to find out. Empty the contents of your kitchen utensils drawer into a cardboard box. For one month, put a utensil back into the drawer only if you take it out of the box to use it. If it’s still in the box after four weeks—you don’t need it. Pass it on to charity.

What about my turkey baster? Or the whisk I use for hollandaise sauce? I don’t use those things monthly or even quarterly – but I use them. I think a more practical way to thin down your utensil drawer is to sort “like with like.” Once you realize that you have seven spatulas, you might decide that you can whittle it down to four. If you’re an avid baker, you may need more measuring spoon sets than I do – one set is plenty for me.

Go ahead and read those tips, but if they don’t seem logical or practical, no matter who’s offering the advice, maybe “Because I said so…” isn’t a good enough reason to incorporate it into your daily routine.

 

Please Visit Our New Owners

https://eldertransitionconsulting.com

Pin It on Pinterest