Table of Contents

-Introduction
-Did you know?
-Monthly Mission – Kitchen
-Check Out These Pages! – Relevant pages and new site additions
-Prioritizing Tasks

Introduction

Hello and welcome to March, where Spring becomes official, even though it looks like it will likely still be snowing in many parts of the U.S. We have done our annual snow visit to the mountains, even though it was sparse. Now, back to school and spring activities.

Last month I talked about just trying to not let things get too piled up. It’s still a work in progress, but I am hopeful. I am also learning some new says to manage my time better which in turn should help me to stay better organized. I plan to share what I learn in the coming newsletters.

Click the logo above to learn more!

Did you know…

Hey Moms, whether you’re a working mother or a stay-at-home mother, one of the top three areas you feel most judged about is how clean/messy your house is.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/26/top-guilt-for-moms-a-mess_n_1033600.html

Time to tidy up and declutter our kitchen. Let’s clear some space on our counters and empty out non essential things from our cabinets and drawers. To learn more about the March monthly mission, click here.

If you’re in a hurry to put some order back into your home, perhaps Mimi Tanner's unique method will give you that jumpstart. Check out her method at Declutter Fast: How To Get Your Home In Order Almost Immediately.

Here are some pertinent pages on the website you may have missed along with any new pages.

Home Filing System - Keep all your paperwork in order so you can find what you need at a moments notice, and learn what to keep and what to toss.

Declutter Home and Life - Getting organized involves a lot more than just tossing some extra possessions. Read more about organizing beyond just your home.

Closet Organizing Ideas - If you're looking for some ideas to help organize your closets, check out this page.

To Do Lists Library - Got all your to do lists together? Here is a little help.

Organize Bills - Read up on how to organize your bills so they don't get lost but do get paid on time.

Time Savers - To help streamline your life, here are some daily time savers.

Prioritizing Tasks

Do you feel overwhelmed because you have so much to do, and even though you make a huge “to do” list, it seems like you never make any progress? Do you end up forwarding half of your “to do” list onto next week because it didn’t all get done?

I am learning some new time management skills and one thing I learned is that we can’t do everything all at the same time. We need to prioritize our projects and activities for the week.

If we put our entire “desire” list on the weekly “to do” list, we won’t get to all of it. Then at the end of the week we’ll need to push the remainder of the list forward to the next week, and again and again.

Instead, we need to keep a master list of all the things we need to do and want to do and keep that in a special place. Your mind will be more relaxed knowing that all the things you were carrying around in it have been written down in a safe place and won’t be forgotten. You don’t need to waste energy trying to remember things anymore.

For you weekly “to do” list, you need to pick out only what absolutely must be done, and maybe two to three projects, depending on what your schedule looks like for the week. For example, you must pay the bills and do the grocery shopping, so those have to go on your list.

You might also want to take the next steps toward completing your latest sewing project or maybe a gardening project or home improvement task. You wouldn’t just write “sewing project”, but instead write down the next step you need to take. Do you need to wash the fabric you already bought, or iron it, or lay it out to be cut. What is the next thing you need to do? When you complete that specific task, you can write down the next action you will need to take to complete that project. It helps you to keep focused and to break down a large project into smaller bites.

The following week, you will see that your “must do” items have been done. You will add any necessary tasks for this week and any next actions for the projects you’re still working on. If you completed your projects, you just need to go to your master list and decide what you want to work on next!

I think that has been one of my biggest problems, is over listing myself and never fully completing it and feeling insufficient. I also never got to my fun projects because the “must do” list was so long. Now, I can focus on a more narrow weekly list, knowing I’m much more likely to complete it. And, I can even work on some things I actually enjoy doing.

I’ll let you know how it’s working for me next month. How do you prioritize your weekly tasks? Is your mind overflowing with information, ideas and projects?


Until next time, happy organizing!

Tracy Greene
Plan-and-Organize-Life.com