by Karen Schroter

“Clutter is nothing more than postponed decisions.”  

~Barbara Hemphill  

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The following organizing/productivity activities will only take 5-15 minutes each! Grab a drink of choice, turn on some music and in no time, you will have completed a task! Smile and feel the sense of accomplishment. YAY you!! Get family members to join in too! 

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Evaluate your inbox 

Between the news and advertisements, our email inboxes are blowing up! Do you need to see the daily email from a site you never interact with just on the chance you might one day? Are you receiving emails from companies you have never heard of? Stop hitting "delete" and take a moment to open the email, scan to the bottom and "UNSUBSCRIBE"! These unnecessary pings in our day zap our productivity! This simple task can be done a little at a time and before you know it, your inbox will be more relevant to your daily living.

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Save a Tree!  

Junk mail accumulates and before we know it, our mailbox is filled with paper that we deposit directly to the recycle bin. PaperKarma helps get you off mailing lists. This process can take time but, just like unsubscribing from emails, you will be rewarded in the end just by chipping away at it. Get the information for the app in my "Resources".

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Conquer the Junk

Pretty much everyone has "that" drawer! It starts off as a useful place to hold pens, a spare key, a tape measure and screwdriver, batteries, takeout menus...and before long in has broken glasses, parts to the unknown, expired coupons... You name it, if it didn't have a home to go to, it ended up here. Dive in! Take everything out. Remove trash and sort remaining items in to categories. Analyze what needs to stay and contain it using ziplocks, yogurt cups, small boxes/lids. If you don't fill the drawer with containers, use tape or velcro dots (one of my favorite solutions) to keep containers from sliding around. Take the items that didn't belong to their homes.

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​Entry  Bliss 

Our home entry is the intersection of our home and a welcome point for guests. Often the entry becomes a dumping ground for the entire family. Shoes, coats backpacks, keys, dog leashes... collect and never quite make it back to where it should live. Take a few minutes and remove everything that doesn't belong. Ask each family member to collect and put away their belongings. Take a look at your porch, give it a sweep, look up and get those cobwebs too. Wipe down the front door, this is a good time to sanitize the door knobs. Wash any entry windows. If you need entry solutions, lets talk. This should be a space that feels welcoming for all coming to your home.

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Here are a few other "feel good" tasks that only take a few minutes.

• Re-pot plants -This is a feel good project. Give our green friends some TLC.

• Clear your bathroom counter - Products have a short life once opened. Toss ones you haven't used in 3 months.

• Match the socks - The laundry graveyard grows weekly, dispose of any still unmatched.

• Give the dog a bath :)

• Clean out your car - Empty the trash, clean out the center console, look under the seats (yikes!).

 

For larger projects, give me a call. I am happy to give you some "getting started" pointers.