Cut the Clutter
Page 10
snow-covered mountain. It takes a tiny little effort to push the start the day on an organized note.
snowball over the edge, but look out! By the time it reaches
▪ Take time for self-care. Morning or
the bottom, that little snowball has gained the power of an evening, no matter how busy, take 20
avalanche.
minutes for grooming and self-care. Care
So, too, with the habits we build into our daily life. Small Habits: for yourself first; it’ll give you confidence steps forward, barely noticed, have a powerful effect on our throughout the day.
homes and our lives. What’s the secret? Momentum. It takes
▪ Welcome each morning. The night
energy and thought to form a good habit, much like it takes before, check clothing for the next day. Set
energy and intention to push that little snowball over the edge.
the table for breakfast, and set out items
Once in place, however, a habit gains in strength and effect needed to prepare morning beverages.
with each repetition, building strength and power behind it—
▪ Keep meals in their place. Clean
and you don’t even have to think about it.
kitchen counters and wash dirty dishes after
each meal. Don’t let clean-up chores from
Anatomy of a habit
one meal invade cooking energy needed for
Habits are powerful, but they’re not mysterious. We all have a the next one.
brace of them, for good or bad. Does each day begin with two cups of coffee and the newspaper? Habit! Do you sweeten
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weekly grocery shopping trips with a maple bar from the must turn aside the formidable energy of an entrenched old supermarket bakery? Habit! Do you always place your handbag habit in order to survive and thrive.
or briefcase on the floor of the car, behind the driver’s seat?
Old habits are not so easily dislodged. In practical terms, There’s that habit again!
fresh new habits must be tended carefully and guarded from If habits are familiar creatures, why are they so very difficult intruders. During their infancy and youth, good habits can be to start—or to change? Go back to the snowball. Yes, it’s a bit extinguished by a single episode of “Mañana, mañana—I don’t of a nuisance to make it, isn’t it? You have to get your hands wanna!” You have to cherish the new, good habit and fight the wet, cold, and numb, and pack the snow tightly. You must old bad one at the same time.
perch the snowball on its ledge just so, and then give the silly thing a push. Once you do, though, look out!
On the trail of good habits
Ready to bring the power of habit to your side in the war against domestic chaos? Try these three tips to help you form
“Once in place, a habit gains
new habits:
in strength and effect with
▪ One habit at a time. Tempting as it is to decide that today, each repetition, building
you’ll change your entire life from top to bottom, resist the urge. It’s better to build a single helpful habit than try for a strength and power behind it.” total overhaul of life—and fail.
Changing a habit takes undivided energy and commitment.
The analogy explains why good habits can be so difficult To succeed, focus on a single habit. Only after you’ve established to start, and bad habits so difficult to end. Setting up good a new habit should you move on to another. Take heart, though.
habits means creating conscious, intentional change. Ending With 52 weeks in each year, you can build 17 new habits and bad ones means countering the tremendous, built-up force of still take two weeks vacation in a single year.
a thousand repetitions.
▪ Hitch your habit to a star. A new habit stands a better chance of survival if it has a friend. Think of a habit you have 21 days to success
now as a locomotive engine, and add the new one to the How do you form a good habit? The concept is simple: decide train. By building new habits in concert with established ones, what you want to do, and do it each day for 21 days. By the you make the change easier to adopt.
time you’ve repeated the habit daily for three weeks, you own Do you put your toddler down for a nap at 2 p.m. each it—or rather, it owns you. Put it in place and your habit will afternoon? That’s a perfect “prompt” to build your new carry on without further thought.
habit—30 minutes of daily inspirational reading—into your Dr Maxwell Maltz, author of the book Psycho-Cybernetics, schedule at 2:05 p.m.
first noted the significance of this 21-day time period. A plastic
▪ Seek out support. When it comes to building new habits, surgeon, Dr Maltz knew that it took 21 days for amputees to a support network is worth a thousand words. Agree to trade stop feeling phantom sensations in the amputated limb. When
“nags” with a good friend: you hold him or her accountable, he began working to help patients change their attitudes, not he or she holds you accountable as you work to build new their appearance, he found that this time period applied to habits together.
changes of thinking, too. It’s a hard-wired interval needed to Look for habit buddies to conquer tough habits side-by-grow any change to fruition.
side. Have you decided to walk for 45 minutes each day?
If the idea is simple (do it for 21 days!) the devil is in the Walking with a friend, a neighbor, or your spouse will double details. Establishing a new habit is hard work. Each new habit the motivation (and the fun!).
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SKILLS FOR A WELL-RUN HOME
The Household Notebook:
planning an organized home
Organized people use a personal planner: a small book that contains information, calendars, and schedules to help them stay organized. Organized households need a planner, too: a Household Notebook. Containing calendars, schedules, checklists, and information of all kinds, a Household Notebook serves as “command central”
for the entire family. It’s the place to go, when you need to know.
While each family’s organizer will be unique, most are simple three-ring notebooks with several divider sections. Because they’re infinitely expandable, household notebooks become as distinctive as the family that uses them. A family with school-aged children involved in dance, music, and sports will include organizer sections for rehearsal and practice schedules, summer
“A Household Notebook
serves as ‘command central’
for the entire family.”
activity ideas, and videos to-rent lists. A two-career couple with preschool children may add baby-sitter and day-care dividers and an emergency telephone list to their household notebook.
Empty nesters will rely on packing checklists for vacations, home repair records, and gift idea lists for far-flung children and grandchildren.
By compiling and storing family information in a central location, life at home benefits. No more searching for scraps of paper or mislaid permission slips. Information is always right where it belongs: in the Household Notebook.
Create Your Own Household Notebook
▲ Simple, basic, and even low-tech, the Household Notebook To create your family’s Household Notebook, start with a is a high-powered information manager. Do away with scrawled three-ring binder, some clear plastic page protectors, paper, sticky notes, in favor of a central source for household information.
and tabbed dividers.
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Add dividers Using tabbed dividers from the office supply store, set up dividers according to your family’s needs. Each Dividers for your
Every Notebook will reflect the unique
family grows their own family organizer; expect divider family that builds it, but these suggested
categories to change along with your family. Some suggested dividers will cov
er most information needs:
dividers are listed on the following pages, but your family is unique, so the dividers you choose will reflect that. Be sure to
▪ Emergency information. Keep
place a few clear page protectors behind each divider section.
emergency information in the first section
of the Household Notebook. Include a list
Add paper Start with a calendar, and add pages or forms of emergency phone numbers (including
to record information. At OrganizedHome.com, you’ll find your home address, to assist rescue
hundreds of free printable calendars, planners and checklists personnel; baby-sitter’s checklists with
to jumpstart your Household Notebook. Many of our forms are contact information; phone listings for
Notebook
computer-fillable for ease of use. Computer users may use health care providers and information about
desktop publishing programs to create information forms; emergency procedures.
others can use simple lined paper to create pages for their
▪ Calendar and planning. Calendar and
notebook.
planning notes are the heart of a Household
Finally, add clear plastic page protectors to each section.
Notebook, so set up a Calendar and Planning
Found at office supply and variety stores, they make it easy to divider. What belongs here? A monthly calendar,
track checklists, display schedules, and view product manuals.
a page protector with your checklists, and a
section for to-do lists lives in Calendar and
Ready to begin Once the dividers and page protectors are Planning. Use a three-hole punch to add
in place and you’ve added calendars and basic forms, you’re work schedules, school calendars, and events
ready to begin. Gather all scattered slips and scraps of paper: lists for church and civic activities. Goal: to
pizza menus and business cards, school hand-outs and church have a one-stop location for all planning
bulletins, class schedules and scout camp brochures. Enter information for each day, week, and month.
information in the Notebook, writing phone numbers on the
▪ Contacts and information. Fill out your
correct phone directory pages, punching and filing club Notebook with specialty dividers to track the
calendars, slipping magazine articles into page protectors.
family’s information and contacts. Don’t stop
Be creative! Add dividers that express your household’s with mere names, addresses, and telephone
priorities and needs. Planning home-improvement projects? Add numbers. Add personal information like
a “House Beautiful” divider, and store snips and swatches in babies’ names, birthdays, and e-mail
page protectors. Use Master To-Do and Daily To-Do lists in any addresses to stay in touch with family and
divider to keep track of ongoing projects and goals, while blank friends. File away copies of team rosters and
lined pages hold information not covered by a specific form.
club directories in the Telephone Directory
Keep your Household Notebook near the family calendar divider. Add a Take-Out Menus divider for
to guide family activities and decisions. A cupcake request menus from your favorite restaurants. To
from the Cub Scout den mother? Note it on the calendar, and prepare for the holiday season, add a
add “cake mix” to the shopping list. Planning a Friday-night
“Christmas” divider for party planning, dinner
date with your spouse? Open the folder to the baby-sitter’s menus, and gift lists.
information page and review emergency information with the baby-sitter before you leave.
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SKILLS FOR A WELL-RUN HOME
Make it yours
Meals and menus In the kitchen, the Household Notebook With basic address book functions tucked away, custom-tailor helps plan meals, create menus, and track inventory in the the Notebook for your household’s needs. Your Notebook may pantry and in the freezer. Use this section to hold: include dividers for these activities:
▪ Weekly menu planners
▪ Grocery shopping lists
Family and school Family is where the heart is—and
▪ Price book form (tracks grocery prices for frugal shopping) deserves its own divider. This section tracks the information
▪ Freezer inventory forms
needs of family members and family life:
▪ Pantry inventory forms
▪ Personal information page for each family member
▪ Recipes
▪ Clothing sizes tracker
▪ Index for cookbook recipes
▪ Master occasions list (birthdays, anniversaries)
▪ Gift suggestion list
Money and finance A section for tracking dollars and
▪ Birthday party ideas
cents makes sense. Keep track of household finances here:
▪ Favorite take-out restaurants
▪ Budget/spending record
▪ Videos to rent or stream
▪ Bills to pay
▪ List of books to read
▪ Checkbook register
▪ Library information
▪ Credit card list
▪ Online service/online account information
Families with school-aged children will want to add a school
▪ Home inventory
divider to hold:
▪ Insurance information
▪ School schedules and holiday list
▪ Safety deposit box inventory
▪ Lunch menus
▪ Utilities/services directory
▪ Carpool schedule
▪ Magazine subscriptions
▪ School information page
▪ Warranty information
▪ School reading lists
▪ Vehicle records
▪ Summer programs information
Health and fitness Organize family health care with a Home management Bring it all back home! The Home Health and Fitness divider. Have a medical emergency?
Management divider holds information central to house and Grab the Household Notebook on the way to the Emergency home. Cleaning, entertaining, decorating, and household Room. Visit to the pediatrician? Use this section to record storage information find a home here:
illnesses, medication, and medical history. Types of information
▪ Household cleaning schedule
to file in the Health and Fitness section include:
▪ Seasonal chore checklists
▪ Diet trackers
▪ Children’s chore checklists
▪ List of family allergens
▪ Home inventory
▪ First aid kit checklist
▪ Home decorating ideas
▪ Medical information sheet for each family member
▪ Party guest lists and menus
▪ Emergency directory
▪ Car maintenance schedule
▪ Medical authorization form
▪ Stain removal guide
▪ Prescription drug record
▪ Recycling locations
▪ Insurance information
▪ Home storage inventory
▪ Pet health records
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Travel, hobbies, and activities Time for fun! The Travel, Hobbies, and Activities divider covers the extra-curricular Life in view:
What’s the best way to keep track of
activities that make life worthwhile. Hobby, church, club, sports, hectic family schedules? A family calendar.
volunteer, vacation, and travel ideas are included here. Your Choose a large write-on calendar on which
Household Notebook may have several di
viders for this purpose.
you’ll track appointments, outings, kids’
Are you part of a musical chorale? Give it a divider. Do the activities, family dinners, and carpool
children play serious soccer? Divide it up!
assignments. Use colored pens in a different
What belongs in these sections? Any and every piece of color for each family member to color-code
paper pertaining to that activity. Prayer chain lists. Sports your entries.
the family calendar
information sheets. Lists for travel and camping. These sections If you can see the family’s commitments
will vary from family to family, but here are some ideas: at a glance, it will guide household planning.
▪ Picnic planner
The week of soccer playoffs—with every
▪ Travel packing checklist
night’s dinner spent away from home at the
▪ Before-we-leave checklist
soccer field—isn’t the right time to tackle
▪ Camping checklist
a new home-improvement project. A bonus:
▪ Vacation idea list
seeing family calendar dates in living color
▪ House-sitter information sheet
helps you say “No!” to new obligations,
▪ PTA newsletters and rosters
when they back up against existing plans.
▪ Church prayer circle list
▪ Scouting or PTA materials
Create a family information center
▪ Craft materials inventory
The best place to post your family calendar is
▪ Sewing pattern list
in a family information center: a designated
▪ Books to read
space in your home to review checklists, take
▪ Videos to watch
phone messages, add items to a to-do list,
and check calendars.
Holidays and seasons Make the holiday season bright A family information center focuses on
with the planning power of a Household Notebook. Our sister information handling and retrieval, so it
site, OrganizedChristmas.Com, offers free printable forms for should be located near a telephone, in a
holiday planning, or make your own pages to keep tabs on place that permits seating.