Mails From the Organizer Lady

I have this daily organizing tips in my inbox and I want to share with you some of them. I appreciate those messages of organizing. Although I am not messy, but having three boys to tend to makes things messy. At times, it can really be frustrating and there are moments I just want to give up picking up messes (especially from the toddler) and just leave it. But my OC self cannot withstand the sight of a messy room, it irritates me. I pick it anyway. Hope this messages help because it does motivate my OC.

Messages of the Day
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"I can get my house under control but I just can't keep it that way. What is wrong?"

Often the reason is not primarily a problem with organizing. Our whole life system is unbalanced. Those problems encroach on our organizing efforts.

Household organizing does not stand alone. It is part of the flow of our daily lives.

We need to address the problems of
• Messy kids
• Busy schedules
• Lack of focus
• Emotional baggage such as discouragement, sentimentality, and the like.

None of us maintains a perfectly balanced life. However, the more well-balanced the whole of our life is, the better chance we have of maintaining an orderly one.


KEEP YOUR PLANS SIMPLE

SIMPLE basically means to search for the real heart of the matter. Then determine what few actions are the significant ones to accomplish what is really meaningful in our lives.

Our opportunities are too many. We can't do them all. Time, energy, and money hinder us. But we can spot the high points and work those well.

Narrow your focus in order to expand your enjoyment.


INFORMATION ADDICT

Hooked on Information? Information gives some of us a feeling of excitement and power. That's why we love magazines, newspapers, and books. We use time and energy going through magazines and newspapers, clipping as we go. We use space storing them.

But our addiction doesn't stop with papers. The desire for information drives us to stay on the computer looking up more to learn. Sometimes we print it and then we have to deal with those printed pages.

In addition, wanting to know more keeps us glued to our television sets. The search for information feels exciting initially. But it begins occupy too much time and space in our lives. After a while, we realize we are losing control over ourselves and that becomes frightening.

Are you willing to get the information monkey off your back? Would you be seriously willing to lessen or stop pursuing information if it would improve the quality of your life?

That might mean being willing to let go of the information urge. It might mean giving up magazine articles, taking a whole different approach to computer use, avoiding informative
shows on TV. It might mean abandoning the urge to cut out articles on important subjects for yourself or others. Can you do it? Would it help you if you could?


THEY WANDER AWAY

"I put this right here and now it's gone." A familiar refrain in many households. How could this
happen so often?

Are family members at fault? Are little elves sneaking out at night to steal it? Did it wander away on its own? Probably none of the above.

We are suffering from SPS (Special Place Syndrome). We take something that is so important that it deserves to be stored in a special place all its own so it will not be lost and then we forget the place.

The real culprits are lack of attention to what we did with the item and forgetfulness. Fortunately there is a cure and it is this: Consistently group like things together in one place.

First you need to make sure you have a certain place where items go, whether it is a file, drawer, container, shelf, or whatnot. Put a written label on it if necessary. Then consistently put items in that group together, even the very special ones.

You will be surprised how often the special bill to be paid, the paper to be signed, the stapler, and other special items that are important at the time will not have wandered off from their appointed place.

Habits of the Day
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Quotes of the Day
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If you've made up your mind that you can do something,
you're absolutely right.


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There are two kind of pain in the world, the pain of
discipline and the pain of regret. The pain of discipline
weighs ounces. The pain of regret weighs tons.


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"When I face the desolate impossibility of writing
five hundred pages a sick sense of failure falls on
me and I know I can never do it. This happens every
time. Then gradually I write one page and then another.
One day's work is all I can permit myself to contemplate
and I eliminate the possibility of ever finishing."

John Steinbeck, Travels with Charlie