Greetings!
This
Welcome to the March 2014 edition of the Organized Lifestyle Magazine. In this month's magazine, you'll find practical tips, strategies and links to help you create or enhance the organizational processes in your life.
Just scroll down to read these quick tips for your Home, Office, Time and Spirit.
Call or email us to schedule an organizing session. Each session is three hours and is just under $200.00. You'll be amazed at what you accomplish in three hours!
Enjoy!
Deanne Kelleher
kAos Group416.347.416416.347.90416.347.900244416.347. Organize.Optimize.Profit
|
|
HOME
Tweaking Your Kitchen
A kitchen is usually the hub of the house. Meals, paper work, homework and our overall health.
The kitchen is so important and often people are bothered, frustrated, and even too overwhelmed to enjoy spending time in the kitchen because it is difficult to find and access the tools needed to create a meal. And there are piles of paper and mail that have yet to be dealt with.
Here are some tips to help you organize your kitchen:
* Group like items - mixing bowls, serving platters, canned food, spices, and Tupperware
* Create more space - always look up! Install hooks to hang mugs or use risers to stack dishes to the full capacity of the shelf space.
* Hang it - ceiling or wall-mounted units are great for storing pots and pans. What to do with the lids? Use a lid holder that stores them vertically on the inside of a door
* Containerize - group like items, such as rice or pasta, and put them into a plastic basket inside the cupboard or upright in Tupperware containers that are clearly marked
* Easy Access - use a drawer organizer for utensil drawers
|
|
Office
Office Essentials
Forget the piles and those annoying receipts!
Here are the kAos Group favourites for getting your piles upright and accessible and your receipts in control. The graduated wire desk file sorter - essential for keeping information together, upright and easy to see.  Poly files - so sorry I haven't found them in better colors yet! Use the Poly File pockets with the desk sorter to keep your action items easily accessible and neatly put away when they aren't needed. This can be the new home for your 'bills to pay', client files, receivables and more.  Take a look at your desk and whatever is in a pile can be neatly grouped together, labelled and vertical. Goodbye shoe box and hello vertical files. The ends on these files are closed so your receipts are safe!  They slip perfectly into a filing cabinet between the hanging files and have an expandable bottom - we know the receipts can take up space.
These items are all available at Staples.
|
Time
Is there ever enough?
It's no wonder that people are always saying 'there's not enough time', especially after reading this list. I love Lifehack and they have captured their top 15 reasons why you think you can't rest and relax.
My top 3 of their top 15 are:
- You don't plan your day
- You check your smart phone every three minutes and
- You don't commit to scheduling meetings and appointments
My theory is this. If we continue to do what we have always done we will continue to get the same results. So, consider choosing one thing that you'll change today (ok, this weekend) and be clear as to why you're changing it. Create a strategic plan (that is practical for you) as to how and what you'll do in the future to support your efforts.
At the end of the day you'll probably succeed for a short while and then you'll need to recalibrate your efforts - this is an expected outcome of new processes. You will have that benchmark of success to refer back to and move forward from and that is good!! Remember to acknowledge yourself for what you have done well and then move forward.
If you need support, call someone. We can be your accountability partner or coach.
Think about the coming months and how you really want to work and live. And then think about how you can begin to make that happen.
|
Spirit
Lean-in, de-clutter and celebrate women and friendship!
~by Ruth Tamari and Amy Greenleaf Brassert
What do International Women's Day, the de-cluttering process and the concept of leaning-in have in common? Each one of these experiences is enhanced by sharing them with our friends!
In honour of International Women's Day on March 8 we would like to acknowledge the power and importance of friendships to our personal and professional growth.
"The more women help one another, the more we help ourselves. Acting like a coalition truly does produce results. Any coalition of support must also include men, many of whom care about gender inequality as much as women do."
We know that de-cluttering allows us to be more productive and focused. Effective de-cluttering is a challenging process for which most of us could use both professional and personal support. Our friends can inspire, motivate and encourage us along the way. The key is to lean into our friends where their strengths lie.
Who will you turn to for help, inspiration, support?
Who will help you get started?
Who will help you see what's possible for you in your space?
Who will help you create that space in your life?
Who will help you celebrate your success?
For more on Amy and Ruth please visit
|
|
|
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quote
"Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do."
Goethe
"It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power."
Alan Cohen
|
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~
Tax Tips
It's that time of year again and there are ways to save time and money.
- Give your accountant the numbers he or she needs, not piles of papers to sort through.
- A well-organized filing system will support you year after year, save you money and give you peace of mind.
Here are a few more ideas to save you money:
1. Sorting: All financial documents should be neatly sorted and organized by category before going to the accountant.
2. Excel: If you don't use an accounting program, track all your information in an Excel spreadsheet.
3. Have your Notice of Assessment from last year handy so you can confirm all deductions were accounted for.
4. Hard Copies: Safely archive all paperwork pertaining to taxes for at least 7 years. These documents should not remain in your day-to-day filing cabinet.
5. Submit Early: Reduce the stress of getting your taxes done at the last-minute and avoid interest and penalty charges for late filing.
6. Folders labelled 2014: A professionally-organized filing system will have sub folders labelled with this year on them to keep the years organized. You can remove last year's files, when you're ready.
This process ensures maximum accuracy when dealing with your taxes and long-term tracking of all pertinent paper work.
Contact us if you'd like to set up your systems and start saving money!
|
|
Sticky Note Promotion
Would you like beautiful sticky notes with your family name or your business name on them?
Take a peek at this deal.
|
|
|
|
