10 Days to a Tidy Holiday

What are your plans for the holidays?  Will you stay home and celebrate with your immediate family?  One thing is for sure things will look a little differently this holiday season.

Whether you’re hunkering down with your immediate household or spending the holidays by yourself, I put this list together because I knew I’d like reminders on how to keep my house tidy this holiday season.  

So set a timer for 20 minutes, put on fun holiday music and get started.

10 Days to a Tidy Holiday

Day 1: Decorate your home 

Day 2: Make your gift list 

Day 3: Mail your boxes

Day 4: Send holiday cards 

Day 5: Create your menu

Day 6: Take inventory of your gift wrapping supplies 

Day 7: Give away one bag of clothing or food

Day 8: Clean out your refrigerator  (bonus you will know what you need and what you already have and what you thought you had and it is expired!)

Day 9: Make your grocery list 

Day 10: Driving somewhere? Do you need to service your car? Schedule it.

For extra inspiration follow me on Instagram @thoughtfulorganizing

P.S. If you’d like to give friends or loved ones the gift of organization, I have beautiful gift certificates for working with me.

Giving Thanks Differently

As we roll into November, I’m thinking back on the last 7 months and realizing how thankful I am.  Thankful for the quiet.  Thankful for the cozy time spent with my son.  Thankful for all the Sunday zoom calls with my family in DC and Chicago.  We didn't have these pre-pandemic and because of them,  I’m feeling closer to my family more than ever.   

All this thankfulness is giving me the idea that I’d like to do this holiday season differently.  First of all, I’d like to give and receive less stuff.  I’ve always leaned in to giving experiences over things but this year I’d like to do that even more.  A friend just shared with me that they are going to include their kids (8 and 12) in helping make the decisions about where to give this year.  Will they sponsor a local family and help buy their xmas gifts?  Will they donate to a local animal shelter?  I love this idea and would love to incorporate more of this, and not just at the holidays.

 A few years back, my son’s dad and I gave everyone in our family a gift card for an animal we sponsored in their name from Heifer International and another year a person sponsored in their name for a vision surgery from See International. They loved these gifts. And they didn’t have to find a space in their house for them.

I think because we all have more time at home (without the social obligations) I’m also thinking about making a homemade gift.  It could be as simple as a few batches of zucchini muffins for neighbors who are alone and are separated from their family.  Or an easy batch of kahlua in cute bottles.  

What are you thankful for right now?

Are you sensitive to noise?

Are you sensitive to noise?  Are you one of those people who feel like you can hear a dog whistle, well not really, but you know what I mean.  For those of us that are highly sensitive to noise, we know which day of the week our neighbors gardener is coming with that annoying leaf blower and we might even check the noise decibel rating of a new restaurant before we go.  (This is really a thing) 

I’ve been working from home for about 6 years now and I’ve learned a thing or two during this time about what works for me and what doesn’t.  One thing that is really important to me is quiet.  And when I can’t get it, I need a little extra help. 

I’ve invested in a pair of noise cancelling headphones (https://amzn.to/313LAVU) that have been a game changer.  Initially, I purchased them for a trip I took to Sri Lanka where I knew one leg of the flight from LA to Dubai would be 17 hours.  Noise cancelling headphones were recommended to me as one way to deal with the engine noise for that long.   I ended up listening to a binaural brainwave program (https://bit.ly/33UJwBy) for about ten of those hours and it was pure bliss.  

Since March, my headphones have continued to come in handy.  Now I use these headphones when things get noisy at home.  When my son and I are both on zoom at once (he for school and me for meetings) I make sure I wear my headphones to drown out the background noise.  Or if I’m trying to write a blog post I will listen to a meditation app with the noise cancelling on to fully concentrate.

I love to help my clients utilize what they have to maximize their productivity and find what works for them.  Whether it’s their physical space or systems for their business.

If you or anyone you know is ready to stop struggling with organization and finally get into ease and flow, click here to schedule a call! There really is nothing like working with a coach to help get out of the clutter. 

Getting Thoughtfully Organized for School

School will be starting again in a few short weeks, whatever that may look like.  And the start of school always takes me back to the first days of school when I was a kid.  Brand new sneakers, new pencils, a lunchbox and a very thoughtfully curated first day of school outfit.  I’m a little sad that Asher won’t have an on campus first day of school this year but these are the times we are in.

We had some practice last spring with distance learning so I know I’m going to take what I learned then and tweak some things. One thing I learned last spring was that  Asher needed his own workspace that wasn’t in the dining room.  He needed a proper desk to do zoom school on his own.  I’m not really sure what took me so long to make this change but once we did it was a game changer.

I’m also looking ahead to make sure that my son has activities planned in the afternoons to get him out of the house once the school activities of the morning are over.  Swim team is happening at an outdoor pool so we will make sure that that happens twice a week.  My friend is creating a cohort for after school play dates so that her kids are busy while staying covid safe.  And some families are creating learning pods to share the burden of teaching kids while also trying to work from home. 

Do you or anyone you know have kids that will be engaging in distance learning and need help getting their space ready?  I’d love to help!

Travelling Now

I love international travel.  It inspires and rejuvenates me.  Now that I can’t do it, I’m thinking of it more than ever.   I’m looking back at the trips I’ve taken and looking ahead to where I’d like to go next.

I know that once we are able to travel again we’ll be that much more grateful for the experience.  I know that I’ve completely taken for granted that I’ve been able to plan a trip and fly anywhere in the world I wanted.

Maybe another silver lining in the inability to travel internationally is that it’s the perfect time to get your passport in order.  Who knows when we’ll be able to travel again, but at least you’ll be ready!

Because of the times we are living in and the fact that it’s not the best time to travel by plane, I’ve realized it’s the perfect time to explore the country we live in.  I’m noticing friends posting about amazing road trips they are taking across the country and up and down the west coast.  Camping in national parks and seeing sights they’ve never seen.  I’m planning a trip to the Sierras near Mammoth Lakes in August and am excited to see a place that’s totally new to me.

How can you make local travel fun?  Can you think of three places you could drive to that you’ve always wanted to visit?  Or is there a special place you’ve been meaning to go back to but haven’t made the time?  I’d love to hear about your summer travel plans!

My 6 Week Deep Dive

I’m so excited to share my new 6-Week Deep Dive Online Program for business owners. Over 6-Weeks I will work with you to take a deep dive into getting organized by teaching you high impact habits and providing you with the systems you need to stay organized. The best way to learn is by doing, so I will walk you step by step through each area of focus. 

Week 1: Assess and Identify Your Goals

Look at your current projects and challenges and identify strategic areas of improvement  

For example - 

• Calendaring/Time-Blocking to provide focused work time

• Streamline Meetings and Employee Communications

• Set Project Timelines, Delegate Tasks, and Communicate Milestones

Week 2: Time Management 

In my experience, this is an area of great challenge and it’s important to tackle it early and thoroughly. This week we will take a deep dive into how you are managing your time.

For example:

• Syncing calendars and streamlining appointments

• Identify and Remove any time wasters

• Cut down time of meetings

• Add in personal time for things you love

Week 3: Systems Review

Based on understanding your use of time and time management, we can turn to systems. This is where we determine what tasks you are doing over and over again that can be automated, simplified or delegated. We will look at both systems that are currently in place and also what may be missing.

For example:

• Communication

• Finances

• Physical organization

• Scheduling

Week 4:  Business Habits and Routines

Identify the business habits and routines that are working so we can amplify them and replace the ones that aren’t so you can successfully maintain the progress that you’ve made so far.

• What habits and routines are working well?

• What are the most important habits you need to build into your day, week or month? 

• What are the ways that I can simplify or build them into your existing schedule?

Week 5:  Review Goals and Troubleshooting

At this point you will have had several weeks of getting more organized, implementing changes and working towards your goals. Naturally, roadblocks will appear and this is our opportunity to tackle them and find solutions.

Together we will look at what’s working and what’s not? 

• Identify the things that may be more difficult to implement and streamline further

• Alter a strategy if necessary

• Look at areas where you might be getting hung up

• Identify steps needed to be taken next?

Week 6:  Evaluate  completion of goals and create plan for moving forward  

In concluding our deep dive together, you will be extremely organized, and have been implementing the habits and routines you need to stay organized for several weeks. With that knowledge we will complete our work together with a clear plan on how to continue moving forward.