The Organized Goddess Gets Organized

Last weekend I had the organizing push nobody really wants to get...a burst pipe and minor flood in the basement. Like so many people, I always say I will get to purging things in my basement, when I have the time. The truth is, there is never going to be time and because not only is most of my stuff neatly organized in a storage room, it is always out of sight and out of mind. Whenever I have a spare moment, I can always come up with something a lot more interesting things to do. Even cleaning the toilet sounds more appealing at times, which is a pretty lame procrastination excuse. Well, there's nothing like a flood to get you motivated, not to mention having my mom in town helped tremendously. Yes, sometimes even professional organizers need help getting organized. It's not that I needed assistance in the actual organizing process. It was more having someone to not only help me get and stay motivated, but to have someone there to say "it's OK to get rid of that 20 page research paper you wrote in college."

I ended up getting rid a wide array of items varying from unused serving dishes to college papers to SIX boxes of teaching material from my former days as an elementary school teacher. Let me tell you, the latter was really hard to let go of. I started off by saying, "I'll just thin the files out," but after hours of peering through files, I finally decided to let it ALL go. I donated some items to my daughter's classroom and school and recycled the rest. Believe me, I completely understand how hard it is to let go, especially of items that had a lot of time, hard work and love put into them.

These pictures are only a fraction of what I got rid of. This was the first round of donation and it doesn't include all of the trash and multiple bags and boxes of recycling.

I don't know if I will ever teach again, but I was holding onto the boxes "just in case." It was scary to let go, but once I did, I felt tremendously lighter. It made me realize that even if I did teach again, I would probably want to create new lessons and would be using material from new texts; ones that probably wouldn't correspond to what I was using in Virginia almost 8 years ago.

After all of my past-profession cleaning, I got really motivated and even got rid of my "skinny" and "heavy" clothes. Having clothes that don't fit now but may fit someday (in the positive or negative) is a major comfort zone that was difficult to let go of. I just decided that if my weight fluctuates, that just means it's time to go shopping and buy something that I feel good in now, in the moment.

Basically, it comes down to this: you could say for just about anything, "I can't get rid of it. I might need it someday," but if that were really the case, you would never get rid of anything! Holding on to items "just in case" does nothing but create clutter and energetically it sends the message that you aren't ready for anything new. It's just another way of holding on to the past which can take up a lot of space, both physically and mentally.

Here are a few basic item-purge reminders:

1. If you have a lot one type of item that is sentimental, just hold onto one and chuck the rest.


2. If you are on the fence about getting rid of an item, put it in a box and out of site for six months. If you don't notice it after that time has passed (you can make a note in your calendar to check 6 months in advance), time to say good-bye.


3. When in doubt, think about "what would I really miss if my house burned down? What wouldn't I be able to replace?" Or a little nicer way, if you had to pack and move in one day, would you really want to carry that box of National Geographic magazines from 1984?

So, there you are. The Organized Goddess got a swift kick in the rear to get organized. Even if you can't hire a professional organizer, having someone aiding your organizing efforts really does help, whether it's your mother, close friend or whoever. Organizing can get emotional and overwhelming so it's best to get help, even if only for moral support.

To Shred, Or Not to Shred?

To shred or not to shred? This is one of the most common questions I hear from clients (and for those of you who live locally, I'm not talking about the white powdery stuff outside, because we all know the answer to that question). Here is a very quick run-down on papers that you should save, how long to save them, and items to shred/toss.

Keep for 1 Month

• Credit-card receipts
• Sales receipts for minor purchases
• Withdrawal and deposit slips (toss after you've checked them against your monthly bank statement)

Keep for 1 Year

• Paycheck Stubs
• Monthly bank, credit-card, brokerage, mutual-fund, and retirement account statements

Keep for 6-7 years

• W-2s, 1099s, and the other guts of your tax returns
• Year-end credit card statements, brokerage and mutual-fund summaries

Keep Indefinitely

• Tax returns
• Receipts for major purchases
• Real estate and residence records
• Wills and trusts

Keep in a safe-deposit or fire safe box

• Birth and death certificates
• Marriage licenses/Divorce Decrees
• Passport
• Social Security card
• Insurance Policies
• Anything that would be really, really annoying or difficult to replace if needed (if you can avoid a trip to any of the above government agencies, you will be much happier)

For this last group, I recommend keeping a photo copy of everything in your regular filing system for quick access. There are a lot of times when you may just need to grab a copy quickly.

Always shred anything with account information and/or social security numbers. If you are ever not sure on what to keep, don't hesitate to ask your accountant or favorite professional organizer.

Back to School: Tips to survive the chaotic morning shuffle

Getting back into the school routine has become a bittersweet event for me. On one hand, my days have freed up considerably without the stress of scrambling for childcare, but on the other hand, there is the ever dreaded morning battle that ensues between my daughters and me, and it's exhausting. Some of the problem is getting used to the early morning get-up-and-go deal. Some of it is the willfulness of my strong-headed girls, and some of it is just missing the lazy morning slumber of Summer.

After the first few weeks of school passed, I decided that it was time to stop the insanity, or at least try to make my mornings slightly less crazy. Here are a few ideas that will hopefully help you gain some control of the before school routine. Some of these ideas can even be useful if you don't have kids.

The most important part of minimizing the morning crazies is to prepare anything you can the night before...

1. Prepare lunches the night before; at least the stuff that won't get soggy.
If you are a procrastinator like me, don't wait until after the kids go to bed to do this. I have learned that when I tell myself I can do it later, I'm usually so wiped about after the nighttime shenanigans, that I have zero energy left to even consider setting foot into the kitchen. One way to avoid this problem: start bagging up dry goods while making dinner. If you're already in the kitchen anyway, why not kill two birds with one stone? You know, between your soup boiling over and the kids running around screaming :)

2. Get backpacks ready to go before kids go to bed.
This is something to teach your kids to do on their own even as early as Kindergarten. Of course help them and check to make sure they have everything, but the earlier they learn to do this on their own, the more responsible they will be as they get older.

3. Lay clothes out the night before (good for grown-ups too). I let my girls pick out their clothes because that is just another control issue I would gladly avoid. However, if they don't care which clothes they wear, then by all means, do it yourself.

4. Give kids their own alarm clocks. This way they have the chance to wake up on their own and learn the pleasure of the snooze button. More importantly, you don't have to be the mean mommy awakening them from their cozy dreamy slumber.

5. Set morning ground rules. Have a chore chart or some kind of set of rules that is a reminder of what is expected. My chart consists of getting dressed and brushing teeth (two of our biggest issues). The girls earn stars for doing both without arguing and/or procrastinating. After enough stars, they earn a little cash to put in their money jar, which will be used to buy Webkinz or whatever they so desire.

A note on Rewards and Bribery:

I fully support and use both, especially when it helps me get them out of the house on time. Sometimes it seems that no matter how prepared I am or how early the kids get up, they still find ways to dilly-dally. Find whatever makes them tick and use it! For my older daughter, the thought of me not being able to walk her to her classroom door is usually enough of a threat to get her booty moving. The younger one gets to have gum in the car. I've also used blowing bubbles in the garage, which was good a few times, but then lost its luster. It may take a little trial and error or re-evaluation, but is well worth it.

6. Lastly, know how long YOU need to get yourself ready and allow yourself that time, plus 5 or 10 extra minutes before getting the kids going. I have made that mistake of saving part of my morning routine to be done while making breakfast or brushing teeth. All that does is add more chaos and stress. If you are dressed with hair done and make-up on before the kids really need to get moving, you allow yourself the ability to focus all of your energy on yelling at your kids to hurry up. Plus it kind of nice to get ready in peace; the proverbial calm before the storm.

Three weeks into the year, and I think I have it down...only one hundred sixty something days to go!!! I wish you all the best of luck!