Organize Your Finances Around What You Love

Speaking of financial organizing, Martha Beck wrote a great article for Oprah Magazine, which was also featured on Oprah.com. Martha discusses her method for:

1. Determining the categories of purchases that are aligned with what she values and loves most (e.g., clothes, food, technology, travel, etc.).
2. Planning and budgeting her spending to align with what she loves most so that her purchases yield a high return of personal satisfaction and happiness.

Not everyone can agree on what categories of goods we want to spend money on. Personally, I'd rather buy a great pair or shoes or luggage set rather than a cast iron pot. My husband, Ted, would disagree. Cooking pots, pans an utensils are crucial for the foodie I live with.

The point: each of us needs to determine the spending equation that makes us happy. And then budget and plan according to these preferences. Just like with organizing physical items and spaces, creating a financial system that is mirrored to our individual and family preferences and behavior will be one the whole family can get behind!

Is this an experience you relate to in any part of your life? I’d love to hear your thoughts, questions and comments.

Jamie Lee Curtis Comes Clean

My friend, Melissa Tosetti, the mastermind behind A Savvy Life, recently posted a great article about Jamie Lee Curtis and her organizing and life managing strategies (originally appearing in Good Housekeeping as Jamie Lee Curtis Comes Clean).

Jamie Lee, you're my new hero! I'm so grateful that she opened up about her organizing and life managing experiences and strategies, hopefully inspiring others too. There are a few takeaways that really stuck out for me:

Organizing helps her create order from chaos. Our lives can be unbelievably chaotic and most of us want to feel safe, in control, calm and balanced. Organizing is a tool, the basis for all other tools if you will, that can help people gain some balance and control in their lives.

Organizing offers breathing space to move on to bigger and better things in life. Organizing provides a system that can be counted on, and therefore freedom from worry and overwhelm.

Let's take finances for example: financial management software, an organizing tool, enables people to know their budgets at all times so they can make informed financial choices. Whether one wants to know how much money is in the bank, what's left in their clothing budget for the month, or how long it will take to save up for their next vacation, organizing helps answer these questions. And having the answers is what takes the worry out of the equation.

Organizing systems will be easier to maintain if they are intuitive. The system has to be intuitive and make sense for the person using it. The more closely a system is designed to mirror one's natural behavior, the easier it will be to sustain and maintain on her own.

Is this an experience you relate to in any part of your life? I’d love to hear your thoughts, questions and comments.

Adam Glassman's Organizing Principles

Courtesy of bbaunach on Flickr

If you watched The Oprah Show on Friday, February 26, you saw Adam Glassman, O Magazine's Creative Director, offer some great closet organizing tips. In addition to his six rules to "weeding out what you don't wear," what I appreciated most about the segment was his organizing philosophy, as well as Oprah's honest reaction to the anxiety of parting with her things.

Adam suggested keeping three principles in mind when cleaning out closets, which I think can be applied to organizing any area of your home.

• Joy - does it make you happy?
  • Also consider if it contributes to unnecessary anxiety or worry. What is the cost of keeping something that doesn't make you happy, or makes you feel guilty because you rarely use it?
• Beauty - does it make you feel great?
  • He also asks if it makes you feel pretty? Personally, I'd apply "hot" to most clothing items (and, this applies to both men and women).
• Usefulness - does it have a function?
  • I'd also suggest it have true purpose, that it support the activities you do in your home and add value to your life rather than be just another item taking up precious emotional and physical space.

What I loved about the show, along with Adam's poignant messages, was Oprah's reaction to getting rid of her stuff that had a lot of sentiment attached to it. She was visibly anxious. Although she is financially quite stable now, it's clear that she values money well-spent and doesn't like to be wasteful. Most of us can relate to this, as we appreciate the time and money spent on our purchases.

I hope you can see yourself through her experience with organizing. It can be tough to organize. I get it. As an organizer, I don't expect this process to be easy for anyone, especially at first. As we know with many things - it often gets worse before it gets better. Organizing can be just like acne in that way. But, the point is that it does get better. Much, much better than you can probably imagine when you're sitting with the anxiety and overwhelm of what feels like a daunting task ahead.

Keeping things because we spent a lot of money or have sentiment attached to them fulfills the opposite of joy, beauty and purpose. These reasons perpetuate fear and anxiety; they make you feel crappy. As counterintuitive as it may feel, making the choice to part with something that's no longer serving you can amplify the joy, beauty and purpose in your home.

Finally, I also loved Oprah's suggestion that people get help. Organizers, and good friends, are here to be a non-judgmental confidant to help guide you through some tough decisions. We know the questions to ask to get you to see things in a new way. We're not here to force you to get rid of anything, but are here to help you see an improved possibility for the way you live. And, we'll be honest about whether we think you'll ever wear your white leather miniskirt from 1989 again.

Seven Organizing Tips For Sprucing Up Your Space

Have you recently had a change in your life - marriage, a baby, a new job, a move, etc. - that has led you to feel a tad overwhelmed? Most of us already have limited space in our homes and a recent life change can shake things up even more. If you have a space in your home that is just nagging at you saying, “I need to get this room in order,” these tips are for you.

If you are like the rest of us and need some tips on how to get started, here are seven suggestions to set your wheels in motion. Often, clearing your physical space will give you the emotional space to address the more important things in your life.

Courtesy of Horia Varlan on Flickr1 Determine areas to organize 
Determine what area(s) you want to organize and then prioritize. Do a quick 
walk-through of your home and make a list of rooms and/or spaces that require your attention. Then, prioritize your list, starting with the one that has the most immediate need for you and your family.

2 Identify your goals per area 
Once you have determined where to start, identify your ‘desired state of being’ in this particular area. Ask yourself the following questions: What are the types of activities I will do in the space? How do I imagine spending my time? How do I want to feel in the space?

For example, do you want to feel calm or invigorated? Do you want to feel inspired? Do you imagine spending your time working, reading, exercising, all of the above?
Courtesy of No Big Fish on Flickr

3 Sort and filter your items 
First, remove your items from the area of interest into the middle of the room or into another room. This allows you to deal with items one by one.

Second, start sorting your items into piles or bins. I recommend the following:

1. Items to keep
2. Items to store
3. Items to toss
4. Items to give away

I realize this part can be challenging for most. Here are a few things to consider, hopefully making this process a little easier on you...

• Keeping items you frequently use and truly need and love allows your items to be more than just ‘things’. It assigns purpose and allows you to maximize their use.
• Store those items that you know you’ll need but don’t use frequently. Keeping what is relevant to how you want to use the room will be more inspiring.
• I know it’s hard to part with things for which you have paid good money. Consider giving it away to someone who truly can make the most of it.

In the end, you want to keep and display the items that will help you accomplish the results you want - how you want to feel in your space and how you see yourself using your space. After all, how can you achieve a feeling of, say, peacefulness if you’re not willing to part with your wall of sports medals from junior high?

4 Create designated spaces 
Designating spaces for different functions like working, reading, artistic expressions, etc. helps to provide structure and discipline to the activity. If you are performing more than one task in a room and need to keep them separate (whether physically or emotionally), simple solutions can help to create these barriers. For example, a reading lamp and chair creates an instant reading space in an office primarily used for work.

Courtesy of vieux bandit on Flickr

5 Give your “keep” items a home 
Now you will designate spaces for your specific work functions or play functions. Create a list of activities you need to perform in your space by asking yourself, “What functions take up the majority of my time, are done regularly or take up the least amount of my time?”

Identify the necessary tools...
If you will spend most of your time writing articles to market your business, what tools will help you effectively perform this task (computer, desk, research files)? And, what will help you feel inspired (framed articles, books, magazines)?

Categorize your items by activity...
Cluster your items by the activities you perform. Not all notepads need to be categorized together, but you may want to cluster the ones you use for active projects separately from those used for developing story ideas.

Give your items the right home...
Think location, location, location. Give the items that you use regularly prime real estate, making them most accessible. This way, it will serve as a catalyst for achieving your goals.
 
6 Seek support when needed 
“Do It Yourself” products and tips can lead us to believe that we should DIY it all. But, if you need or want help, get it from a friend or from a professional.

If you still feel overwhelmed after reading these tips, ask for help. Consider asking a friend who has interest or knowledge in this area. If your friend enjoys organizing, he or she may be happy to help you with this process.

Another great resource is to hire a professional organizer. Often, time and budget constraints hold us back. However, the initial investment will likely pay off long-term. I recommend visiting the National Association of Professional Organizers website to find someone in your area whose services are a good fit for your needs. Ultimately, you’ll get what you want done with the help of someone who is effective and can expedite the process, and you’ll hopefully learn a few great tips along the way.

7 Final touches 
Congratulations, it’s time for a test drive! You now get to reap the reward of your time and effort. Test out your space. See what’s working and what’s not. Is there anything you can switch around that will make it even better? Is there anything you put in storage that can now serve a purpose? If something doesn’t quite feel right, give a new approach a shot. Organizing is a process and takes practice. The more you organize, the more you learn about yourself. The more you learn about yourself, the closer you become to achieving your ‘desired state of being’.

Trimming Your To-Do List Fat

I’m the first to admit that I’m a recovering idealist. In a book I read last year, the author used the term “if onlyist”. If only I made more money, I’d feel better about my life. If only I had X and Y, my life would be Z. The list can be endless, so how can we end the list?

Here are a few steps you can take to become a recovering idealist (“if onlyist”) yourself. Disclaimer: continuous practice and persistence required.

Courtesy of soundfromwayout on Flickr

1. Do only what truly matters

Having a superfluous to-do list - a long checklist of all the things that would make your life or home “oh so much better” - doesn’t help matters any. Let’s shorten our to-do lists to what we truly, genuinely want to improve right now, not one day, not so that “everything will be perfect once everything is perfect”. Prioritizing our needs and wants allows us to focus on what is genuinely important given our current physical, mental and emotional state. 

As a result, instead of feeling disappointed in ourselves for not succeeding at everything, we will feel great about ourselves for succeeding at everything that truly matters right now.

2. Identifying your true needs

I recommend reflecting and being clear about your intentions to identify your true needs. Ask yourself the following questions...”What do I truly want in my life right now? What do I genuinely want so much for myself that I am willing to put in a concerted effort to allow it to happen? Am I doing this because it will be helpful to me or because I believe that I am not enough or what I have and do is not enough?” If it’s the latter, it’s not a genuine need. It’s a change we want to make to reinforce our feelings of being less than. If you haven’t examined these feelings yet, this could be a good time to start.

Let's take organizing your home as an example. Ask yourself, "Do I really want to update my wardrobe or is it one more thing I’m going to add to my to-do list that will create more guilt each time I look in my closet? Do I want to reorganize my linen closet for better functionality and aesthetics or do I believe that a organized closet that is less than perfect says the same thing about me as a human being?"

Courtesy of koalazymonkey on Flickr

3. Prioritize your needs and break down the necessary steps

Once you have identified what you truly want in your life right now, prioritize. Ask yourself what you can reasonably get done in a given day, week, month and give yourself ample time to do it.

Break down the activities into attainable goals within realistic time periods. For starters, instead of writing, “update my wardrobe” on your list of goals, writing, “sort through wardrobe to determine what to keep” or “remove unwanted items and give away” are goals that are easier to attain. Fit it into your life rather than rearranging your busy life drastically. Not surprisingly, we often find a way to fit things into our lives if they are genuine needs and wants.

If you were delegating a task to someone else, you would never give someone a long to-do list without prioritizing it, breaking it down and giving them plenty of time to get it done. We all know this would be bad management, yet few of us apply this basic principle to ourselves.

4. Visualize and remind yourself of the end goal

Envision yourself with the end goal already accomplished, whether it’s your updated wardrobe or reorganized linen closet. Visualize how you will feel when you attain the smaller goals that are broken down. Regularly remind yourself of the end goal to maintain momentum. How do you want to feel in the end when looking at your reorganized linen closet? 

Acknowledge early on that there will be times you may feel stuck or you may not enjoy what you feel you need to do. If it truly want it to get done, avoid beating yourself up for not wanting to do something. Sit with the feelings, even say them out loud. Ask yourself why you think it’s necessary for you to want to or like to do this particular thing. Continuously exploring your feelings about a particular goal will help you to regularly gauge that item’s place in your to-do list and reinforce what will truly make you happy. You’ll find that often we are just being self-critical with no substantive evidence to back it up.

5. Celebrate progress

Identify milestones and when you hit them, acknowledge them! Pat yourself on the back. You likely just did something huge for yourself, your home, a friend or a family member. These are things that need to be recognized, not brushed over. Celebrating progress reinforces our behavior and encourages us to continually seek growth.

6. Seek support when needed

“Do It Yourself” products and tips can lead us to believe that we should DIY it all. But what if we don’t want to? If you need or want help, get it from a friend or from a professional.  

If you’re working on a project and you don’t know where to start, ask a friend who has interest or knowledge in this area. Before becoming an organizing coach, I used to beg friends to let me help them clean out their clothing closets and pack for a move just so I could spend my free time organizing. I had a blast and my friends definitely appreciated the help. 

Consider hiring an expert. Often, time and budget constraints hold us back. However, the initial time and cost investment will likely pay off long-term. If you do the appropriate research (e.g., online, asking friends, look into professional organizations and associations) you can find someone whose services are a good fit for your needs. Ultimately, you’ll get what you want done with the help of someone who is effective and can expedite the process, and you’ll hopefully learn a few great tips along the way.

Final Take Away

If you take away one thing from this article, remember that we can be so much kinder to ourselves than we are. We all have busy lives, often feeling overwhelmed. Instead of adding more to our to-do lists, let’s tackle our true needs so that we can enjoy the process and allow room for what we love most in our lives.