Email Control

As I was enjoying lunch with friends today, one admitted to saving lots of emails, just in case she may want them later. My first reaction was to reach for my phone to schedule an organizing session with her. This inspired me for today's blog.

So let me give you some tips on managing your emails:

1. Schedule specific time each day for emails rather than reading them the second they pop into your mailbox. This is where many of us waste huge amounts of time each day. If you don't take the appropriate time to read and answer your emails, you will waste time reading a message once, twice, three times, even more before you act on it. Just read it once, reply, do whatever action is needed and file or delete the email. Complete the task and then move on.

2. Create folders for various topics or people and file only the emails that you will truly refer back to again. Keeping all of your emails in one mailbox, will again cause you to waste time searching for it amongst the thousands.

3. If you need to take more time to find an answer for someone's request in an email, then quickly reply to them that you are working on this and when you plan to have their answer. Then flag the email, so that you remember to follow through. And put it on your calendar so that you make time to complete the task

4. Delete! Delete! Delete!
Delete emails that you will no longer need. Clutter comes in lots of forms - paper, digital, stuff - and none of it is good for you.

5. If you receive emails that you no longer want, then simply unsubscribe. One or two clicks is all it usually takes.

I hope this helps you. Please let me know how you control your emails.

Organizing Myths

Have you ever heard yourself say, "I'll get to these papers when I have some free time." Seriously?

How much free time do you have in a day? Maybe you have a few minutes a day totaling maybe an hour or two a week. Most of you probably have even less spare time.

So, in that free time you would like to...File? I'm guessing that was not the first thing that came to mind. No, sorting and filing papers is not usually thought of as America's number one past time.

So this brings me to a very big misconception that many people have about organizing: They'll get to it in their free time. In order to be organized, you'll want to make time, and yes that means scheduling it. Schedule organizing daily or at the minimum once a week. Work it into your daily routine starting Today!

Disorganization's best friend is procrastination.

So now you're asking what do I do with all these papers?

1. Take a pile of papers and sort them into these categories:
shred (most of the papers will be in this category)
file (only if you will truly refer to it in the future)
action (needs some type of action such as reading, phone call, fill-out and mail, payment, etc)
relocate (belongs elsewhere in the home or office)

2. Each day for the rest of this week, spend a few minutes accomplishing these tasks. Tuesday do the shredding, Wednesday do the filing, Thursday complete the necessary actions, and Friday relocate any papers that belong elsewhere.

3. Now as papers come into your home or office try practicing the rule of handling it only once. Put it where it belongs now. And if it needs action, put a post-it note on it to remind you what is needed and set it in a specific inbox or basket for you to do.

Try this for a couple of weeks and let me know how's it going.

I admit it - I'm a recovering perfectionist

So I got really excited over another Professional Organizer's blog. I had the pleasure of meeting Lissane Oliver at this year's Los Angles Organizing Awards show and since have read her book, "Sorted!" and continue to read her blog. She's smart, quirky and fun! Her recent blog, "Why Imperfect Works for Me" talks about perfectionism getting in the way of productivity.

Why imperfect works for me

Wabi-sabi is a Japanese philosophy that when something is created, it should contain an element of imperfection. From Wikipedia.org:

Wabi-sabi nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple
realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.

French philosopher Voltaire once said, The Perfect is the enemy of the good.

If you're a perfectionist, ask yourself this. Is it helping, or harming my cause? I know that many of you may not even even attempt a task or project unless the result will be perfect... that means nothing happens. That's definitely a case of The Perfect being an enemy of the good.

Sometimes we need to learn to let go of concepts and beliefs more than the stuff in our lives. Let go of perfect and embrace good enough! "It'll do" is often your best friend, you just didn't know it.

Such great words to live by, Lissanne. Thanks!!

Girls, You’re Gonna Love This Handbag!!

How many handbags do you have? And how often do you switch bags? Would you do it more if it were easier? Well I have discovered an Ingenious solution to varying your handbags each day as well as simplifying the storage of All of your handbags:
 the Miche Bag

The Miche Bag is a simple yet unique concept. It allows women in a matter of seconds to change the look of their handbag without removing its contents.
That’s Brilliant!

The bags are sold as a base bag (that’s the inside bag with all your stuff inside) with optional outer shells that snap on with magnets. Each month new styles are available with so many styles and colors to choose from that the only problem will be which to buy first?

All the outer shells store flat so you can keep them on a shelf or in a drawer for convenient space saving storage. Or you can purchase a storage bag that hangs on your closet pole for storing Lots and Lots of outer shells.

Miche Bag has even thought to create a little organizer bag that fits inside the handbags for extra organization. EXTRA Organization. I love it!

You really must check out this Amazing bag!! Teresa Hewitt is a local representative for Miche Bags. http://my.michebag.com/Teresa_Hewitt
Email her at teresamhewitt@yahoo.com