How to Get Organized: 7 Ideas to Encourage Family Members to Start and Finish Tasks

I found that making a master "to-do" list at the beginning of a week results in a more productive week because I prioritize tasks for each day. This method works well for me and helps me act, persist, and finish those jobs. Goals and/or tasks, written down, tend to get accomplished, whereas thoughts alone may drift away and remain unacted on.

Project lists may vary between individuals due to varied interests and objectives. A high-ranked task for me may not appear on another person's list.

Examples of my list toppers for family members:

• Donate at least half of an abundance of shirts stored in the closet, of which 10% are frequently worn and the rest "hang on."

• Decrease the number of containers filled with duplicate household items and stacks that reach toward the ceiling and await a new home elsewhere.

• Remove a 1960's era car that sits idle and wastes away in the garage, while new cars live outside, exposed to hail, rain, and heat.

• Reduce the abundance of hobby items jammed into the garage, acquired over numerous years and abandoned as new interests emerge.

• Recycle or shred stacks of dated documents from years ago that no longer serve a useful purpose and continue to spread over the desktop, or shift from one side to the other, and grow higher daily.

• Replace the decrepit garage door well past its prime.

• Sell or donate Vietnam-era stereo equipment which resides in the recesses of the closet or garage, not turned on nor touched for decades.

Have you tried or experienced the following, without results?

• Repeatedly requested that family members: remove unused articles from the garage; reduce unworn articles of clothing that clog the closet; and decrease the clutter from flat surfaces (desktop, kitchen table, countertops, and floor, etc.).

• Constantly thought about projects placed on the "back burner" and ignored.

• Continually organized and sorted scattered items and multiples of the same type of products and tools into like groups, and cut down the many empty containers in the garage, only to have them increase again?

Ideas that may help family members jumpstart projects or smaller tasks--high on my list, low or non-existent on theirs.

"Plant a seed."

• Suggest they take pictures of unused stereo equipment and advertise the components on E-Bay or Craig's List; find someone interested in restoration or donate the stereo pieces.

• Perform Internet research for desired services then offer those options to family members for further action.

• Ask how you might help your family member move forward on their project.

• Mutually agree on a date to start and finish the task or project.

• Gather articles needed for project implementation and completion; label containers for trash, recycling, and donation. Silence phones, computers, and other electronics to lessen interruptions.

• Engage your patience, encouragement, compassion, and empathy.

• Encourage family members to reduce their abundance of possessions...now…so that their loved ones are not left with that responsibility in the event of a medical problem/emergency or catastrophe which prevents them from taking care of it themselves.

Please share ideas or tips that have worked for you to engage your family members in starting, working on, and completing tasks/larger projects.

Messy Sock Drawer

 Five reasons it makes sense to organize your sock drawer:

1.  Your sock drawer looks like this:

2.  Socks removed from the dryer are thrown into a messy drawer...sock hunt required later.

3.  Two socks are selected without turning the light on; crossed ankles in a seminar later that morning reveals one black and one blue sock. 

4.  Purchasing of a new pair of socks is easier than digging through the stuffed sock drawer to find mates.

5.  Annoyance is experienced because of the reasons noted above.

Even though I fold and put away clean clothes right away...usually...sooner or later my socks end up jumbled.  I decided to try out the drawer dividers pictured below before recommending them to clients.

Five reasons I like these drawer dividers: 

1.  It only took a few minutes to remove all socks from the drawer, sort and pair matching socks, discard singles, and insert the dividers.  

2.  Neatly arranged socks take up less space than a bunch of socks tossed in a drawer.

3.  Specific type and color of socks are easy to select...at a glance; no mismatched sock surprise after arrival at work.

4.  It is only necessary to buy new socks when a different color is needed, or socks wear out.

5.  Satisfaction is derived from the one small change--organizing your sock drawer--no wasted time in  mate matching.

Note:  Purchase sock drawer dividers online, or at Bed Bath & Beyond and The Container Store, for example.

Paperwork Past Its Prime

Paper, in some form, arrives daily in most households. True?

Advertisements, bills, junk mail, magazines, donation requests, and newspapers are received by mail; documents are brought home from work and/or school; and business cards, fliers, and pamphlets are collected at business networking meetings, expositions, and trade shows. Upon arrival, the tendency is to lay the paper object on the nearest chair, couch, desktop, or kitchen counter with the intention of taking care of it...later.

Sometimes, years may elapse and many miscellaneous papers lie around, multiply, and may spread into other rooms. Eventually, the time is right, or an occasion arises and the paper finally gets some attention. Hours upon hours are needed to sort, review, and dispose of the amassed paper collection. Recently, I helped a client process decades’ worth of papers, and inspired me to write this cinquain poem:

Papers

Many Saved

Reading, filing, recycling

Stack up, clutter minds, cause disorder

Toss!

Quick Steps Move You

Do you make to-do lists to tidy your home and complete work projects? I do. Finishing one job and crossing it off this list inspires me to do another. Each lined-off task moves me on to the next.

Some days...I don't make a list and would rather "shut the door" on an untidy room...and nothing more. Does that happen to you? If it does, my friend and fellow organizer Jill Viglione, owner of Embrace Your Space, suggests we: Take ten tiny actions.

These may be as minute as turning off a light in an unused room; putting away a potholder in a kitchen drawer, or rinsing off one dirty dish. Finish one, cross it off your mental list, and then complete another little chore...until you've reached your goal of ten. Taking care of each little job is a reward in itself; and it might inspire you to bring order to an entire room. If others live with you, invite them to join in the fun and share in the maintenance of your home.

You can use this method on any space, room, or for paper pileups. Try it! It's fast and it gets you moving!