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Your March
Newsletter from
The Organizing
Consultant LLC
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Tip #1 -
Tax Time!
It's never a bad time to create a new filing system. If your tax stuff is in disorder, you'd have to do it anyway. your accountant does not like shoe boxes of receipts. The basic structure of your filing system should be last years tax return.
Tip #2 -
Set aside time
There's a reason we put off our tax returns (or anything else). We don't plan our time and stick to it. Make a schedule for an entire week, with short- and long-term goals in mind, and at the end of the week evaluate what you got done. Think about why certain things got done and certain things didn't.
Tip #3 -
School Daze
If your high schooler is getting dozens of letters from colleges, don't let them pile up - get an accordion file and colored stickers. Color code by degree of preference and file by name - throw out the definite NOs, this will make your college visit planning and the application process easier. Keep throwing out the NOs as they get eliminated.
Tip #4
Done in no time?
One reason scheduling is so frustrating is that we often underestimate the amount of time it takes to do something. Give yourself a cushion of up 50% longer, and make notes on your schedule of how much time tasks actually took this way you will be more aware of the actual amount of time it takes.
Questions? Want to share a tip? Call or email us. | |
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Greetings!
Let's not be so last minute this year! "Tax Time? It's only March", the more time you have, the better organized you'll be - less stressed, too! In Tip #2 (left column), I suggest making a weekly schedule, then a daily schedule. Review daily and monitor your progress. Make sure the items that you are working on are going to get you to a goal you'd like to reach, this gives you a good chance of getting to the goal!
This month's Success Story is about a move that didn't happen until several months after moving day - and for this client, it will never happen that way again!
As always, feel free to share any of your own stories, tips or suggestions, as well as your feedback to me on how I can help you better.
Please pass this newsletter along to anyone who may benefit from this information.
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News:
March Organizing Holidays are (among other things):
National Procrastination Week
March 8-14 - making a detailed schedule really helps - break everything down into small jobs.
Clutter Awareness Week
March 15-21 - and don't just throw it all in the closet because it's also...
Clean Out Your Closet Week
March 15-21 - If items are old, outdated, no longer fit, are in poor shape, they haven't been worn this winter- they need to be moved on. There are a lot of organizations that are looking for your old clothes!
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March Success Story
Jane (not her real name) is a college professor whose main problem was a lack of time. She was not habitually disorganized, but a full teaching load and her Ph.D. program took every minute of her day, and then some. She had moved into a new apartment - three weeks later everything she owned was still in boxes. To complicate matters, she was due to go away for two weeks as part of her doctoral program and she was coming back 3 days before Christmas, which was being held at her house.
She did not need much convincing to turn her trip abroad from a complication into a solution. It gave me all the time I needed to schedule cleaning, buy and install organizing hardware and supplies, and unpack and put away all her belongings. When she returned her apartment was in "move-in condition" - without her lifting a finger.
"With my schedule, I really could not have cleaned, unpacked and organized except in bits and pieces," Jane says. Jane was thrilled, everything was done for her, she was ready to make her Christmas dinner and enjoy her family!
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I mentioned scheduling briefly at the top of my letter, and I want to devote a future issue to the subject. Organizing our time is probably the key to organizing the rest of our lives, and the best time management is done with long-term goals in mind, not just the most pressing tasks.
Take time - make time! - turn off the hubbub of your daily life, and reflect on what you want for your life in the long-term. And be good to yourself in other ways too - spend part of your tax return on a nice dinner or a massage.
Wishing you good health,peace of mind, and a clutter free month,
Anna Sicalides
The Organizing Consultant LLC
Please forward this newsletter to anyone you know who may appreciate it.
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