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Quick Tips on Organizing Your Home:
Is your media creating a mess?
Have your CDs and DVDs taken over your living/family room? Remove CDs and DVDs from their cases and organize them inside stylish media storage boxes. The boxes stack easily and can be attractively displayed on a nearby shelf. Bonus: an index is included so you can find what you need quickly and easily.
Are your photos being protected?
The digital age has made storing photos much easier. But many of us still have treasured photos from the pre-digital era. If these photos are not stored properly, they can fade or become brittle and tattered over time. Preserve your precious photos and negatives by storing them in acid-free storage boxes. These can be purchased at your local department or photography store. (Although you can now reprint pictures from a photo, it is recommended that you use the negatives for longer-lasting prints).
Welcome summer with a clean garage
Choose a dry day and pull everything out of the garage and onto the driveway or front lawn. Place all the similar items together and weed out the excess. Give the garage floor a thorough cleaning. When putting things back, store like things together; this will be easy because you've already sorted them in categories. Use the vertical space to clear as much floor space as possible (so you can park your car). A no-cost solution is to nail slats of scrap wood horizontally between the studs of an unfinished garage and store long-handled tools behind them. Place nails on the wall to hang other supplies. For bulky items, purchase heavy-duty storage shelf units from your local building supplies store (polypropylene is durable and won't rust).
Quick Tips on Organizing Your Office:
Empty your inbox
Do you keep your emails in your inbox even after you've read them? Doing so is like reading your snail mail and putting it back in the mailbox outside your door! Clear your inbox quickly by moving all the old items in a 'past' folder, to be dealt with someday (maybe). Now you can start with a clean slate and feel less overwhelmed. Every time you read your email, either respond immediately and delete, forward, or move it to another folder. Create 'action folders' and 'file folders' in your email program. Action folders may include: pending, to read, to follow up. File folders can be set-up by: project name, project type or person's name (choose one, not all). Avoid having too many file folders by keeping the categories broad.
Make bill-paying easier
Keep all your incoming bills in one place, in a basket or a file folder. Immediately toss the envelope and any inserts you don't plan to read. Once paid, you can file the bill until next month's arrives. If you are not using the bill as a tax receipt, you are free to discard it and file the most current one. Pay bills every 2 weeks, on the same day if possible. Put a reminder on your paper calendar (use a sticky note and move it every 2 weeks) or on your computer as a pop-up. If you prefer to pay bills only once a month, call your credit card and utility companies and request to change the due date to a specific day of the month (usually a few days after pay day).
Quick Tips on Organizing Your Life:
Take back your lunch break
I'm amazed at the increasing number of business people that choose not to take a lunch break. They feel they are just too busy. However, research on workplace productivity indicates that concentration is increased and more is accomplished when people dine away from their desk. Also, stress and absenteeism is reduced. With the arrival of nicer weather, challenge yourself to take a break outside your building at least three times a week for the next two weeks, just as an experiment. Notice how this affects your productivity. If you are in management, it's even more important to model and encourage this healthy workplace practice.
Ask and you shall receive
The number one reason we don't get what we want is…we don't ask. Whether you want a better table at a restaurant, a promotion at work, or some chores done by your children, making a request is the best way to have it granted. Sometimes we feel we must wait to be asked or that those closest to us should already know what we want. If you are afraid of how you will come across if you ask, begin with low-risk requests and, as your confidence increases, up the ante. Your best chance of getting your request granted is to anticipate a positive response; this will be reflected not only in the words you use but your facial expression and the tone of your voice. Come from a place of power rather than entitlement and you will be tough to turn down.
I'm Taking A Break:
I'm going to practice what I preach and take a 2 month break from writing this ezine. Have a great summer and see you in September when I expect to announce some exciting news.
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© Copyright 2009
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