by Natalie Morey | Sep 28, 2012 | Declutter tips, Tips
How to Become Organized
As professional organisers, we love lists. They help us stay organized, get the most out of our day and ensure we complete everything that needs to be done. Here are a few handy tips to help you when organizing your “to-do list”.
Tips to Help You Get Organized
1. Write a “to–do” list the night before. The last job you should do before you finish for the day is to write your list for tomorrow. As soon as you clear the clutter in your head, you automatically feel more organised and less stressed. There is also nothing better than knowing that you are prepared for the next day. It saves you time in the morning and you can start off feeling organised. Best of all, you won’t wake up in the night, worrying about something. Remember, decluttering your mind is just as important as decluttering your physical space.
2. Once on paper, you can plan, prioritise and get a system in place for managing your day. Prioritising your list and working out which are the most important tasks to be done first, is really important because, let’s face it, often you won’t be able to tackle everything on your list at once.
Get organised. Write a “to-do” list as it really helps you plan your day.
Make Your List Achievable
3. Make it achievable – don’t put too many tasks on your list which you know you will never get through. It becomes disheartening and you will start to feel unmotivated. There is nothing more rewarding when you can tick something off your list.
Stick To Your List
4. Stick to your list. Achieving everything on your list takes discipline. It is really important to stick to your list and make sure you complete what is on there before you start adding other things onto it. If something pops up, ask yourself is it a priority and does it need to be done today, and then decide if it goes on the list for today or tomorrow and also what priority it should have.
Completing Tasks On Your To-Do List
5. Tick off the tasks when they are completed. As I mentioned, there is nothing better and more rewarding when you look back at the end of the day and see everything is ticked off.
6. Don’t procrastinate and allow yourself to get side tracked. If you want a coffee, tell yourself that you can have one, once you have completed a task (or perhaps two) off your list.
7. Be time specific when you are writing your list and make sure you have a timeframe as to when your tasks must be completed by.
Getting organised and staying organised is all about changing your habits and carefully planning your day.
Until next time, happy organising.
Natalie Morey, Professional Organiser
by Natalie Morey | Sep 27, 2012 | Declutter tips, Home Office, Home Organisation, Tips
My life working as a Professional Organiser
I love working as a professional organiser because I have such a sense of achievement when I look around and see the space or area that I have decluttered and seeing that it’s organised and sorted. Perhaps it’s a room that was once cluttered and full of junk and you couldn’t see the floor and now it’s the guest’s bedroom. I get such pleasure working with clients and helping them with areas of their life that they are struggling with, whether that be there home, home office, garage or office. So that’s why I love working as a professional organiser.
However, working as a professional organising its not just about coming in and creating a perfectly organised bookshelves or cupboard. Some clients don’t want that. Some of our home organising assistance may simply involve clearing the clutter in the hallways and on the floors, so you can get through. Perhaps it involves making the space more functional or creating more room. Its also not about coming in and making clients throw out their precious items. Each client is different, as is each space and we customise our services to meet the exact needs of the client.
A Professional Organiser will help you order, sort, cull and organise your space, whatever the area.
Working as a Professional Organiser allows me to problem solve
Working as a professional organiser allows me to teach new ideas to people. It also helps me to develop my “problem-solving” skills, because every space and every home is different and you need to constantly create solutions for different spaces. Not only do I help organise people’s lives and living spaces, but I get to use lots of different storage product. I love anything organising related, especially organising product. And, as part of my job, working as a professional organiser I need to “road test” different storage products. (Well, that’s how I justify it anyway).
As a professional organiser, you are not emotionally connected to the items, so it makes it easier to be objective when helping clients to try and decide what to keep and what to get rid of.
Working as a Professional Organiser allows me to create more time and space
Time and space are precious commodities. You can’t make more of them, but you can manage them better. That is what I like doing most when I work with clients. We create more time, through better systems and processes and create more space by decluttering, culling and using the space in a different way.
Be consistent. You need to dedicate time each day to tackle the problem, declutter and get organised. Set a goal, it might only be 10 minutes a day, but set time aside every day and start decluttering, sorting and culling. Whilst I am a professional organiser based in Melbourne we also provide professional organising assistance in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. So if you need any help, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Until next time, happy organising.
Natalie Morey, Professional Organiser
by Natalie Morey | Sep 25, 2012 | Declutter tips, Home Office, Home Organisation, Office Organising, Tips |
How to organise and manage your home office computer
Just like work computers, home computers also need to be looked after and maintained. Ideally, you should have one person responsible for their maintenance. This becomes especially important when several family members use the same home office computer.
Backup data and photos
Backing up your data, photos and treasured memories on your home computer is just as important as backing up your work files. So often, when I’m in clients homes and I ask them when was the last time they backed up their computer, I am horrified. The answer is often “never”. There are some cost effective portable backup devices that you can purchase from Office Works and install on your computer.
Ideally, you should store your back up drive in a different location from where your computer is stored.
It doesn’t take long to do a back up. Put it on and go and watch TV or have a coffee (or continue working).
If you have kids or other family members accessing the same computer, it might be worth setting up separate log on’s for each person. That way your files are protected and cannot be accidentally deleted off when one of the kids is playing on the computer.
Internet security and virus protection
Internet security and virus protection is just as important on home computers as it is on business computers. Make sure it is current and working correctly. There are some cost effective virus protection programs on the market such as AVG, Norton. We use Trend PC Cillon which I find to be really reliable. If you need some assistance, then organise for your IT technician to purchase and install one for you. At The Lifestylers Group, we work with a range of computer technicians that do this sort of thing, so if you need some assistance, then we are only a call away.
Don’t learn the hard way. It is essential that your virus protection is working.
If you have wireless Internet connection at home (or in the office) it is vital that the network is locked down so no one else can access it. If it is unlocked people in the surrounding neighborhood can log onto your internet connection and use your internet. Unsecure networks makes it easy for people to hack into network and access data such as bank account log in details.
Suspect emails
It’s also really important to have a policy for how you handle suspect emails. This becomes particularly important when there are different family members using the same computer and receiving emails. If you see a suspect email “doing the rounds” let the other uses know not to open it, and delete it straight off the computer.
Always be wary of files that have the following wording EXC after the file name. These files are called executable files and often contain virus. Organising your home security is such an important part of owning a computer.
So do you need to check your internet security and virus protection after reading this article?
Until next time, happy organising.
Natalie Morey, Professional Organiser
by Natalie Morey | Sep 23, 2012 | Declutter tips, Home Organisation, Tips
Be organised and spring clean the environmentally friendly way
As I get older, I have become more concerned with what we are spraying around our house and environments and more importantly what we are breathing in.
So, I have started to use an oldie by a good option – bicarb soda and vinegar. You can clean just about anything with it. Sprinkle a little on your bench tops, then put some vinegar onto your dishcloth and wipe over the bench. The vinegar will start to bubble when it comes in contact with the bicarb soda. You know that it is doing the cleaning for you and that most importantly you are not breathing in any dangerous chemicals. It does a great job.
You can use bicarb soda on other things like:
- Sprinkle it in your shoes to keep them fresh.
- Put a little bowl in your fridge to remove any odors
You should also check out the book: Bicarbonate of Soda, Expert Advise by Diane Sutherland, Jon Sutherland, Liz Keevill and Keith Eyers. It is a great little book and has tips on cleaning practically anything in your house in an environmentally friendly way using Bicarb.
Until next time, Happy Organising.
Natalie Morey, Professional Organiser
by Natalie Morey | Sep 22, 2012 | Declutter tips, Home Organisation
Save Time and Get Organised With a Weekly Menu Planner
If you are struggling to plan weekly meals then this menu planner is perfect for you. This menu planner is a great resource and will save you lots of time and help you get organised for the week. It will free up your time to do the things you love.
7 Day Meal Planner
The 7 day Meal Planner has room for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Use it as a family meal planner, plan for healthy meals, specific allergies and more. The planner will save you lots of stress. Once you’ve planned the meals for the week you can use the “Shopping List” to list down the groceries to buy and head to the shops. For more information on the Otto menu planners click on this link:
Remember, to keep the weekly menu planners after the week has finished. They can be re-used every couple of weeks, which saves you even more time. If your kids think they are mini master chefs, then get them to do a day or two of the menu planning. They could also help with the shopping or preparation of the food. If it’s their great idea, they are more likely to eat the food.
As professional organisers, we love anything that saves us time and stress. We hope that you find this handy meal planner useful.
Until next time, happy organising.
Natalie Morey, Professional Organiser
