Okay, I seriously need friends and a place to go to that I can get my serious Unorganized life some help. I own a business and work at it full time for the last 10 years. My office is always getting messy and I don't know where to put anything. I clean it all up and it just gets cluttered again. I have receipts in my car, my closet at home, my husbands dresser, office at home and they should all be at work filed approprietly. I thank God for business banking so I can track everything through there by just using by bankcard for almost everything. I have a housecleaner at home just to help keep my house from being unorganized. My husband likes to save everything, I am not a saver despite my clutter so I guess he is part of it too. I am rambling but glad I found this forum, will be looking for lots of tips. :)
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Posted 8 months ago #
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Start small. Set one new process in place, maybe a landing place for receipts and a filing system. From there keep expanding.
If you can afford it, a professional organizer would be able to help you setup a game plan.
There are lots of tips and great ideas on this website, but it is easy to become overwhelmed.
Posted 8 months ago # -
I'll ramble back at you, Marzz!
Start with the thing that bugs you the most. What is it you are constantly mentally rearranging.
Create a "landing/launch pad" for mail, keys, things you need as you leave the house. Here you can keep the charging clutter, the shredder, letter opener and a spike to jab the reciepts on. Or three spikes for different kinds of reciepts.
If you have a system that is not working, re-create one that does. Example: My hubby and I have a large master bedroom, but the office, where we spend all of our time, is too small and cramped. We are thinking about switching the rooms so we can be efficient and keep the office clutter from spreading into the kitchen and living room again.
Baby steps, as nws2002 said. Check out these forums and the archives of Unclutterer. This site is the best!
Posted 8 months ago # -
Start small with baby steps. Set a daily goal that you can easily succeed at. Each success will build momentum and confidence and clarity.
Since your receipts are causing a problem, set a daily goal to deal with them, say
15 minutes a day to sort, purge, and file. Use a timer, and pat yourself on the back at the end of that 15 minutes. If 15 minutes isn't doable, make it 5 minutes. Don't set a goal that you'll fail at. The point is to do it consistently, no matter how small, then you can add a slightly bigger mini goal for your next step.Posted 8 months ago # -
Thanks I will do the baby steps and ELLA love the Timer idea. I am going to put a timer in my purse and that should really keep me on target with getting things done. That is a great start. I should redo the office, I hired an organizer about 6 years ago but she didn't seem to know much more than I did so that didn't work. Guess I will try on my own and if I need professional help I will go for it. Now I am going to tackle something. Thanks
Posted 8 months ago # -
welcome to the forum!
i'll second what the others said.
i'd start with something small but powerful....you mentioned the receipts, so i would start there.
i run a business from home and this is my receipt/invoice system:
1. all incoming receipts/invoices (from car, from mailbox, from purse, from husband) go directly into a dedicated in-tray in the office, every single day.
2. every day or so, i go through the in-tray, open the internet banking and pay them. some can be set up for a payment in the future (if the due date is weeks away), some can be paid immediately, and sone have already been paid via credit card.....either way, i handle them only once.
3. i have a special office-nerdy stamp that is stamped on everything....date, paid via, receipt number. and i manually note company or personal expense on everything.
4. all papers are then moved into the filing cabinet....and filed for either my bookkeeper to further process (on a monthly basis) or filed in the house stuff.
5. i take photos (with phone) of invoices for warranty-type purchases and those go straight to evernote.the whole thing sounds laborious, but it takes me just a few minutes a day and there is never more than a couple of day's worth to deal with.
you may well require a different arrangement.
the key is to set up something that serves you and makes your life easier.
and it might take a couple of goes to get it right....after you start, you may well decide to alter things; this is ok.
sometimes i get held up trying to work out the ultimate perfect system before i begin, and of course it is paralysing.
i think that any system is better than no system....as long as you are open to refining it as you go along.
just making a start is the huge thing!Posted 8 months ago # -
Welcome Marzz.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Welcome!
Posted 8 months ago # -
Marzz, I'm sorry to hear you had a poor experience with the organizer you hired years ago. Organizers vary greatly in their experience, specialties, and personalities; if you decide to go that route again, you may be able to find a better match. You can go to http://www.napo.net to search for an organizer in your area. (Disclaimer: I'm a member of NAPO.)
Something else that comes to mind: Perhaps you are making things more complicated than they need to be. (Lots of us do that.) You say that your receipts "should all be at work filed appropriately" - but maybe all you need is two boxes for the year: receipts entered into bookkeeping system, and receipts not yet entered. (Who does your bookkeeping, and how often?)
It all depends on how you use those receipts. How often do you need to go back and pull out a specific one?
Posted 8 months ago # -
Do you have ADHD? Even if you don't, you may find some books on organising with ADHD useful to you, plenty of tips for making things simple and easy to use. If you are able to assign homes to things like receipts you will find it easier. How about just carrying an envelope in your handbag for receipts and just throwing them in there, then empty it each week. Or you could use an app to keep track of them all if you have a smartphone. A quick google found this link:
http://m.readwriteweb.com/biz/2011/01/5-iphone-apps-for-creating-exp.php
You sound as if you have multiple issues, pick the most important and think about what you can do, post on here if necessary. And I second Jeri's post, I've never used an organiser as I've been able to read a lot and sort things out myself, but if you are busy and can afford it, why not look again and find the right match. An organiser can help you come up with systems so that ongoing organisation can be easier, not just come in, tidy a bit and disappear.Posted 8 months ago # -
i think the quality of prof organizers varies like any profession but i think many just want to organize your stuff and walk away. Unless they help you create systems to change your lifestyle all the initial work is undone very quickly. If you can step outside yourself you can do much of that work yourself, if you can't then you need an outsider's opinion.
i found that i had to try many 'systems' until i found one that worked with my natural habits. so basically don't be afraid to fail. Don't institute someone elses system and then get discouraged that it didn't work for you.
Try reading the 'personal rules' thread. once i started making rules, then i didn't stress out about little things, i only had to decide about new things.
indeed start slow..find a solution for something like the receipts and then move to something else.
Posted 8 months ago #
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