Tips for Organization in Life & Business

[Former_Member]

As I rummage through all my household papers and tons of unopened mail to file/organize, I figure I can't be the only one who is a little behind on organization. It's not that I'm not unorganized, but have just been lazy lately and have gotten a month behind. How do you stay organized in your personal life and in business? Share your tips and gripes here!

[dorsetclothing]

Personal life - no idea. XD My life is in disarray at the moment and my husband does a good job of doing housework when I can't!

Work - lots of places to put things! When I first moved into this place I was determined to find a way to be more organised and productive in my workspace. I ended up looking at my weaknesses, and addressed how to work with those weaknesses. For me, I'm just lazy if things are too hard to find or put back where they were, so now everything has a clearly defined space to help me put things back together easily. I recently reassessed this and bought a new shelf which is like a packing and shipping station for me now, with clearly defined spaces for everything.

Paperwork is still hard for me, and I'll admit i have a tub for receipts and such that haven't been entered into my spreadsheets, and a file for those that have. Part of the problem is that because I sell in USD, I have to wait a month or so until the tax office releases their official exchange rates, and then I have to convert all my sales into AUD, so I tend put it all off and do it in big batches. But in July at the start of the new financial year I'm going to change to AUD, so let's see if I become more organised!

There is a great blog that deals with how to get your life organised:
(apologies for the language for those that may be offended!) http://unfuckyourhabitat.tumblr.com/
It focuses a lot on house cleaning but their point is that the principles can be taken on for anything in life - for those things that are hard for us, break them up into small blocks of time (what they call 20/10s and 45/15s. ie - 20 minutes of work, and a 10 minute break). If you keep at it, they should become habits.

This thread has given me an idea for another one Jacque, thanks! XD

[Former_Member]

LOL personally we've got paperwork all over the place. I've tried to keep it centralised lately but it still gets shuffled about ;) Once I can get in and sort out the spare room I'll be sweet!

Shop wise however I know where absolutely everything is... organised chaos a little maybe but I don't have to hunt.

I love that link Mon! Love the blocking time thing too, I'll have to share that one with the Mr.

[Former_Member]

I still struggle with my business. It's not that i'm not organized, but I feel all over the place with being efficient.

In life, I am a paper collector. I don't want to be, I just am :) My kids come home with paper, I get junk mail that I want to read, real mail, magazines that I don't have time for (though, once the subscriptions run out, I'll be done with those), etc. So, the kids and I each have a drawer to keep our stuff in. Mine is mostly filled with mail and fundraiser stuff, my oldest has study guides and school stuff, my middle mostly pictures and crayons. When they are full, we go through and clean them out!
This system works for me because I can hide the papers until I must deal with them. Having stuff stacked all over my house gives me anxiety. My drawer is small, so I need to go through it about once a week. I usually do it while sitting at the table when the kids are doing their homework.
super simple, but works for me :)

Real house cleaning is a joke around here. I clean the most when I know I'm going to have company, so I try to have a friend for lunch once a week, lol.

[DBCDesignedByClaire]

I love organizing... i have a weird passion for it. I actually help family by going into their homes and reorganizing to make the space work for them. Here are some hints to keep things where they need to be. (don't get me wrong, when I am trying to meet dead lines or before a show - my office looks like a tonado hit but right before the show I have to clean)

1. Mail - Have bins you hang on the wall - I got a two binner - one for me and all my paper stuff and one for my husband and all his paper stuff. I try to go through it once a month and clean it out but if there are kids things and stuff that needs attention I would do it once a week.

2. Make sure everything has a place - if it doesn't have a place, do you need it? if yes, you need to make a place for it.

3. daily tasks/set dates - I have put on my weekly calendar certain days I do things. So I know first thing on Friday mornings I need to check my paypal account. Monday mornings make sure all my shop receipts are logged and placed in the proper folders. (one morning a week clean out the paper bin)

4. try to stay away from piles on tables. Putting piles of papers that you need to go though (business/mail) and then it sits there, gets covered by work material (for me its fabric) and then you loose them for about a week.

5. Three ring binder for all the important business paperwork. Once you get it, three hole punch it and put it in there right away. No way to lose it and it's nice and neat.

I hope this helps... Happy organizing!

(also reassess after awhile, if it's not working, change it to make it work for you!)

[Former_Member]

I used to be much more organized than I am now. Then I married a man who can literally lose a receipt somewhere between the cash register and his car in the parking lot. I became the organizer for both of us, and apparently that pushed me over the edge.

Still, I have file folders for my (our) receipts. I keep online Excel charts for my sales, and I update them as soon as I have mailed off a package. I get HIS receipts as soon as possible (we own a rental) and put them in the file folder before he can lose them.

Part of the problem is that we each have our own house (long story) so when we eventually DO have just one house, it'll be far easier to keep track of stuff....

[Former_Member]

Unless you can stick to a routine for everything that you touch, there will always be some sort of 'clutter' in both your life and business. The key is knowing how to manage it.

I'm an 'organized' type of person strictly out of necessity. I've suffered from low vision most of my adult life so if for example you put the tomato sauce back on the pantry shelf where the steak sauce belongs, chances are that the next time I go looking for steak sauce I'll end up grabbing the tomato sauce.

The same with my business dealings. Everything that comes into the office has a 'place' so that it can be found again. Supply orders all go in one folder, shop orders will sit on the printer until they are shipped, etc.

Day to day book keeping is done each day. That means that each sale is recorded at the time it occurs, supply orders are recorded at the time of purchase, etc.

Bank accounts get balanced within 2 days of the statements arriving so that said statements can be filed asap.

My biggest downfall is when I don't feel like working and let the paperwork pile up. I really hate facing that mess the following day.

Around the house everything has its place as I mentioned. When I open the last of something from the pantry, it automatically goes on the market list. That way its rare that I ever run out of everything. It may not be purchased on the next market order but at least its on the list as a reminder.

When I have errands to run I will do a number of errands in the same vicinity at the same time. No point in going to the north plaza today for something and again tomorrow for something else. (My partner on the other hand will spend the entire afternoon running around and sometimes visiting the same shops twice!)

I don't set a specific day for housecleaning but rather try to do a bit each day. Some days I get more done than other days but I don't worry about it. As long as the place is kept 'respectable' I don't really worry.

[MelsCreativeWishes]

I am much more organised now than I ever used to be.
Mail gets opened, read and filed ( or thrown) straight away. If it is a bill it goes not a filing shelf. If it is something like an invite it gets put on the calendar and pinned to a cork board.
I used to be such a hoarder but now I am really good at tossing things away. If I don't use it or like it, it goes to the op shop. I put things for the op shop straight into the boot of my car ready to be dropped off.
Mt biggest downfall is that I hate housework, especially cleaning. butt I hate a mess!
My business is fairly organised. I record I goings and outgoings monthly. I have a place for items for sale and a place for ones I am working on. My material is stored so I can see it and know what colours I am running low on.
My biggest issue is my hubby who is fairly disorganised and clutters things up.

[dorsetclothing]

It might be quiet for many now, but it won't be long until the holiday season is upon us and things are going to get hectic! Anyone else have some good organisation tips to share?