Fixing Trouble Spots

To become more organized, you should occasionally give yourself a checkup. Sit back and think about the one, or two, areas of your life that cause you the most stress on a regular basis. For example,

• I routinely arrive late to work/school.
• Our kitchen never seems to get cleaned up.
• My mail piles up on the counter.

Now, begin to think about a workable solution. Keep in mind that the solution must work FOR YOU, even if it is not exactly logical (i.e. your mail sorting place may be the bathroom!)

For the above examples, see the following possible solutions:

Routinely late: do you continue to work on tasks until right before you leave? Begin to stop yourself at ten minutes before your leaving time. Use that last 10 minutes to gather items, shut off lights, warm up the car, etc.

Messy kitchen: last week we talked about an ABC list. Does "clean the kitchen" need to be on this after dinner, before bed checklist? Can you occasionally use paper plates (if you will be arriving home late) or re-train family members to put dirty dishes in a dishpan with soapy water?

Mail piling: you may need to have a sorting station nearer to where you pick up the mail. For example, if you have a recycle bin in your garage, flip through the mail before going into the house, depositing junk mail promptly into the bin. If you have a p.o. box, you could sort through your mail at the post office and not even bring home items you don't need. Another solution: don't retrieve the mail until you also have two minutes to sort it into proper categories. Have spots on your desk for items needing action, separating bills and receipts if necessary.

It takes a little thought and investigation, but when you apply a solution to the actual trouble spot, over time it will become less of a problem and you will feel less stress if you forgot to brush your teeth at home!

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