Table of Contents

-Introduction
-Monthly Mission – Garage
-Check Out These Pages! – Relevant pages and new site additions
-Decluttering Our Minds - Part 3 - Removing Distractions

Introduction

Hello! What a really fast month that was. I swear there is not enough time in the day or days in the week to do all the things on my “would like to/need to do list”!! The end of the school year activities definitely kept us busy as well and school got out for the summer last week. Now, it’s on to keeping the kids busy for the summer and teaching them some self sufficiency skills.

I have so many books, classes, projects, etc. on my list to get done for the summer. Does anyone else feel a bit overwhelmed? I have a hard time trying to prioritize my goals, but I know that doing a little bit of everything at once doesn’t seem to cut it.

Click the logo above to learn more!

More and more I refer the kids to the family calendar. Mom, what day is it? Mom, when is the party? Mom, what’s for dinner? I love my calendar with its big boxes to keep everyone’s schedule in one place, and it also has room for the dinner meal plan. Do you have a central location for your family’s schedules? For more information about June’s monthly mission, click here.

Amy Knapp''s Big Grid Wall Calendar is my ALL TIME favorite calendar with its huge boxes! And it's time to order a new one! With kids in school, I find it easier to use a 16 month calendar from August to August and this one works perfectly. Plus, it's super affordable!

If you prefer to go digital, you might enjoy the Cozi Family Organizer. You can sync everyone's schedules together at no charge.

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.

Garage Organizing - Take advantage of the spring weather to get outside and clean out your garage! Declutter the excess stuff and put everything else in its place.

Grocery Shopping Tips - Do you need to streamline your shopping trips? Learn how to get in and out in less than an hour, once a week.

Morning routine - Make your morning go smoother by planning ahead for your day.

Meal Planning - Plan ahead for meals to reduce trips to the grocery store and save time.

Vacation Packing Checklist - Heading out on a trip? Make sure you bring everything you need with this checklist.

Decluttering Our Minds – Part 3 - Removing Distractions

As I’m writing this, the TV is on in the background. Though I thought I would be able to focus on two things at the same time, truthfully, I’m only half doing two things at one time.

There are lots of distractions in our lives that pull our focus away from our tasks and goals. It’s a form of mental clutter. What can we do to help stop the distractions so that we can focus better and get more done in less time? Here are 6 suggestions:

1. Set your focus – use your time blocking and to do lists to help schedule your day and keep you on track. Decide what you want to focus on at a particular time and stick with it.
2. Turn off the background distractions – turn off the TV if you’re trying to work on something else that requires mental focus. Turn off annoying music, shut the windows from the barking dogs, etc.
3. Turn off the interruptions – if you need to get something done, turn off the email notifications, the Facebook notifications, the phone apps from dinging, and possibly put your whole cell phone on silent. (I still haven’t figured out a way to totally turn off the kids from the “Mom!!!! I need something!”)
4. Have a place to write down ideas to save them for later - When a great idea pops up, or you think of something you need to do, have a notebook or a digital location to write it down. You can come back to these ideas, notes, lists, articles, etc. later when you’re not in the middle of something else.
5. Manage your email inbox – try to keep it close to empty. Opening your email to a ton of messages every time is daunting. I know that most of it is junk and by the time I get through sorting it, I’ve wasted a lot of time. Unsubscribe to as much as you can. Set up an auto sort so that unimportant emails (ex. Sales emails) go into a specific folder you can glance through later to see if there is anything of interest.
6. Work in a clean area free of excess clutter.

Keeping distractions to a minimum will help you to waste less time and get more done. I hope these tips help you make some improvements in your productivity.


Until next time, happy organizing!

Tracy Greene
Plan-and-Organize-Life.com