Getting Organized

Christmas is almost upon us! For many of us the shopping is done, maybe even the wrapping is done. But how about all the stuff that’s already there? Yes, you are going to have to make room for all the new stuff, but where?!? In my family our girls only get a little because of our beliefs so making room for just a couple of gifts would not be a big deal, but they have grandparents and they are spoiled, so we go through the same Christmas ritual every year. We sort.

In my world I wear many hats and being a professional organizer is one of them. I helped a client get her home right for the holidays this weekend. We did a great deal of sorting and in the end there really wasn’t much left to organize. I actually have fun doing this and love getting to the end result but I am probably very close to alone in my world. Sorting can feel like such a daunting task to many but in actuality it is extremely quick if you are honest with yourself and you don’t reminisce over every item.

Here are the three key piles you need to make in organizing ANYTHING: throw, donate/consign, keep. (Do NOT try to do anything with the keep pile until the other two are out of the house! This will not keep you focused and will turn a very simple job into something that you will complain about later because it took too long.) The key is complete honesty. Let’s start with the throw pile. Don’t go crazy here there are many things you might consider trash that others would not so my suggestion is only throw it if it is broken (and cannot be repaired) or stained. It doesn’t matter that you think the missing piece is around somewhere or that the shirt only has a little spot on the collar. It has breathed its last breath, let it go.

Then there is the donate/consign pile. This pile is for anything you don’t or can’t use anymore. You do not necessarily need to donate it. Here is the advice I give my clients: if you do not itemize your taxes, then put it at a consignment shop or have a garage sale if you have enough items to warrant one. If you don’t itemize your taxes and you only have a couple of hundred dollars worth of stuff you are better off trying to get immediate (or almost immediate with consignment) cash. If you have big ticket items that could get you some cash go for it! Now, I’m no CPA so get advice from one or an accountant before you do anything just to be on the safe side.

Finally, the really fun part, the keep pile. Now you’ve decided what to keep what are you going to do with it? Make more piles, of course! Now these piles are specific to the individual and your convenience. You know you and your family better than anyone so what you do depends on how you will keep it up. Don’t think those CD’s are going to stay alphabetized, so organize them according to genre, favorites, or location. Are you constantly aggravated about the shoes by the door that no one seems to put away until you do it or you tell them to do it with clenched teeth? Then put a basket or one of those small shoe racks that sits on the floor and can hold about 10 pairs of shoes. The mess is contained and your stress level goes down… a little. How about your children’s rooms? How are you going to organize what you decided to keep? I highly suggest getting rid of any deep-dish toy boxes immediately. They encourage clutter, which is the opposite of your goal. There are other solutions like plastic drawers or if you know someone with woodworking skills maybe you could get one custom built for very little money. Whatever you do I suggest you don’t buy anything to help you get organized until you know how you will keep it. I know it can be tempting to give in to all the cute options available but before you buy anything decide how you want to keep it, look around to see if you have something that could get that done, and ask friends or relatives if they have what you are looking for and they are not using it. Here’s a great example. My daughter loves shoes and so does her grandmother so her grandmother feeds my daughter’s love and fills her closet. I got so tired of organizing her shoes at the bottom of her closet. No matter what system I put into place they always ended up mixed up and unorganized because she would be in a hurry just once or twice and throw the shoes in and messing with my system. So, I asked around and a relative had one of the shallow boxes that fit under the bed that she wasn’t using. Now she kicks the shoes off, throws them in the box, and pushes the box under the bed. If she doesn’t have a problem looking for the matching shoe why should I, as long as I don’t have to see the mess, its no problem. The solution fits her personality and mine. Know how to organize is not just finding some cute or chic box or container, it is about being honest with yourself from the beginning.

If you are perplexed about how to handle a specific problem email me nicole@grocerygettersllc.com and I would gladly help you find a solution and some peace of mind!

Happy Sorting!

Running on Empty?

Well, it’s the holiday season again and we all feel like we are running crazy. By the time Christmas gets here we feel like we’re running on fumes. How about we stand our ground and let this year be different. You can’t imagine the overflow of time you acquire when you plan your day/week well.

I am reading a wonderful book about entrepreneurism by Mike Michalowicz. In this eye-opening book he wrote a line that truly inspired me: “ Your success is completely determined by how you use you mind, how you manage your critical resources, and how decisively you act to achieve the ‘impossible’ with very few traditional resources.” One of our traditional resources is time. Even if, no, especially if you have very little of it, what you do with it is extremely important. I am the first to tell people how important budgeting time can be and even I got caught up in the last couple of weeks and felt like I was running in circles because I didn’t take the time to budget time for exactly what needed to be done.

In this holiday season I encourage all to budget time to give away. Take time to visit a nursing home, serve at a soup kitchen, babysit for a neighbor or friend just because, read a good book that can inspire you and your family, or read the Christmas story from the Bible with your family to stay focused on the reason for the season.

The best part about giving time is that you are blessed through what you are doing. It’s easy to buy something and have it delivered. I know how difficult it can be to schedule time to give away especially during the holiday season, but I think you will see it’s worth every minute. A really great perk: it’s totally free!

Please, find it in you to act decisively to achieve the impossible with the extremely limited traditional resource you have and give time to someone who could use some uplifting and encouragement this holiday season. You will quickly see how full your tank becomes when you give what you don’t think you have simply by including it in your budget.

How Can a Personal Concierge Help You?

These are just a few ways that individuals and business professionals can benefit from hiring a personal concierge.

1. Save Time: Hiring a personal concierge allows you to add more time to your day. A concierge can be utilized to take care of tasks that you don’t have to be present for such as picking up dry cleaning, taking your pet to the vet, or returning products to the department store. This keeps you available to take care of things like your career or picking up your kids from school.
2. More Affordable: Hiring a personal concierge gives you the stability and reliability of having a full time personal assistant without having a full time payroll. Concierge services guarantee your satisfaction so you can feel confident with hiring them to take care of your tasks. You can also hire one person to take care of several different projects instead of hiring several different people to take care of different tasks. This keeps your costs down to a minimum.
3. Reduce Your Expenses: Businesses can reduce costs by hiring a personal concierge because the costs associated with hiring a full time employee such as training and other administrative costs are eliminated. Plus, you only pay for the amount of service that you need.
4. Increase Proficiency: Outsourcing tasks to a personal concierge allows business professionals to stay focused on the important parts of the business that cannot be taken care of by anyone else. And there is the confidence of knowing that things will be taken care of on a professional level.

Avoiding Perfection

You are not perfect. You can’t ever be perfect. No matter how much you do, or how fast you get things done, you will never get there. Actually, saving time means understanding this concept. If you try to perfect difficult tasks either you end up spending too much time on one task or you avoid it altogether. Try asking someone to help, take breaks (scheduled, of course), set a timer and when it goes off work on another task, etc. You waste time when you allow perfection to rule your mindset, so relax. Don’t set yourself up for defeat, we should be about creating time not wasting it.

Coming Back

Well, I haven’t written in a while and it’s mostly because I’m extremely busy (which is not always bad) but also because I have been stumped on what to write about. You know our business is about saving time, so I’ve decided that the best way to gear this blog is to inform readers on ways to create more of what we crave…time!

The first time saving idea we actually explored a little already: keeping an agenda. Many people tend to spend 80% of their precious time trying to complete only 20% of their tasks! Now, with that statistic in mind, don’t you think you could find at least 10 minutes a day to be better organized?

Last time I spoke of an agenda I said it doesn’t matter what it looks like as long as it works. I have realized since then that my agenda is not serving me as well as it could be since my daily tasks have been expanded to include our business. I am too frugal to stop using the one I have and buy another just to use for another two months, so the one I have will just have to make it to January first. I have already purchased a new one for the year and can’t wait to use it! It cost $15 but it was worth every penny. It has exactly what I need: a column for tasks that need to get done and one for appointments/scheduled events. This is more that I would normally pay but I found the case to put it in for FREE at a garage sale and only had to buy the filler!

This may not be what you need, but you definitely need to find what will work and get to it. Now, here comes the harsh lesson…even though you plan out your entire day and you are feeling proud of yourself life happens and you don’t get it all done. Don’t fret and definitely don’t give up on the agenda and call it useless. Just take your unfinished tasks and move them to the next day. No guilt, no ulcer, no problem. How can you avoid this? Plan for some free time in your day! This allows for emergencies and interruptions. If those emergencies or interruptions don’t happen you actually end up with free time in your day or you can get a jump on the next day. I don’t know about you but I could use more breaks in my world!

How do you do that!

OK, S this one’s for you. I have been asked how on earth do I feed four people on $50 a week. Well, there’s actually nothing to it. I spend about half on meat items that are on sale and the other half on sides and other necessary extras. Seriously, there’s no big scientific method, just watching those weekly circulars in the paper and planning accordingly. Right now I have two huge Boston Butt Roasts in the freezer that I purchased a couple of weeks ago at a Benny’s Supermarket. They were having a sale and I went there specifically for that item.

Here’s another idea that works: I wait until boneless skinless chicken breasts go on sale and buy a case, that will cost a big chunk up front but I don’t have to buy chicken breasts for about 2 months. We eat chicken breasts in some form or fashion at least once or twice a week so I save lots of money like this. Also, remember if you have small children they can’t eat a whole chicken breast unless that’s the only thing you put in their plate and then that’s probably stretching it! Once I buy the case of chicken, I clean off any excess fat if necessary, and freeze them three to a bag in vacuum seal bags. I only put three to a bag because my 7 and 3-year-old girls share one. The vacuum seal bags allow me to keep meat in the freezer a really long time, so that’s an investment I will never regret!

Another thing to remember is that you really don’t need meat with every meal. Yes, I said it. Here’s an idea my family enjoys. S, you will love this. For those of us that need to watch our waistline as well as our budget, Weight Watchers has a really great spaghetti sauce recipe. I usually double it and we have leftovers or I freeze the extra. I serve it over wheat spaghetti (you can use whatever pasta you prefer!) with a salad (and if I have a few extra points…bread sticks).

I know, you probably think some of this is crazy, but it works in this house, it works in homes like ours that give this strategy a try, and I know it could work for you. If you just don’t know where to start, call me, and I will gladly give you a hand getting started. You know, it works so well, that this stay-at-home-mom even has a little extra left over to get her nails done twice a month! Hail to my Nail Girl!

Proof!

Today was an awesome testimony that the system REALLY works! We were hired by this very frugal family to do their shopping. We helped them clean out, work out a two week menu plan, and create a very specific list that suited all four family member's needs. Once done and delivered the client was ecstatic! Their needs required two stops. Their total including our fee was $13 less that the client would have spent at just one stop. We saved this family almost $50 than they normally spend on two weeks worth of needs and it was delivered to their door at their convenience. How exciting!!

More Cleaning?

So, what's for supper tonight? Hmm, let me see. Gosh, I can't see anything in this pantry! Well, maybe I'll get a better idea from the freezer. Wow, even if there was something in here to tempt me I don't feel like waiting for it to defrost. (Sigh) Where's that number for pizza?

Sound like a scene in your life? I know it's not fun to clean, but organizing and creating an inventory of your pantry, freezer, and refrigerator would prove to be such a rewarding experience you would wonder what took you so long to do it.

Knowing what you have in each place would save you time and money. You could get out the things you bought that were impulse buys, and either throw them away if they cannot be used or give it away to a charity. You could plan a menu for the week or even two weeks, and never buy more than you need. The benefits are endless!

This task is not physically difficult but it can be mentally trying. You could break it up into different days, call a friend to help, or call Grocery Getters. I will (for a small consultation fee) come to your home and help you sort through the chaos. We will keep what can be kept, donate or throw accordingly, and create a menu plan that will knock your socks off!

How about this scenario: in your cleaning feat you come across something purchased on “sale” (e.g. impulse buy) and you smack your forehead in a “what was I thinking” manner. I have a plethora of resources that I use for myself and other clients that would allow us to find a great use for that item. If you disagree, no problem, we toss it in the donate pile and make a note to avoid such items in the future.

Getting organized can be a breeze with the right attitude and tools. You are ready, just do it!

How well is your agenda working for you?

Everybody knows what a calendar is and how to use it. Or do they? Because soccer practice is every Monday, do you bother to write it down? When you consider how much your time is worth to you, you must see the significance in this minor task. How many families complain about not enough quality time - but do they schedule it? Your agenda is your best friend - you should never leave home without it! It doesn't matter if you think you have the most mundane and repetitive schedule or you have a fantastic photographic memory, you should have an agenda that meets your needs.

I have one that cost ONE DOLLAR at the local discount dollar store. I am extremely frugal and refuse to spend more than necessary on everything. This agenda must have the dates filled in, its not done for you, but it works for me and that's the point. You must find what works for you. My darling husband has an IPhone and uses an app that allows him to exactly what I do except it is electronic. He likes the fact that his whole agenda fits in his pocket. I like the fact that I can see my whole week every time I open my agenda. When I decided that my mundane and repetitive life needed a schedule I explored my options at that local office supply store. I didn't like what I found. Either it was too bulky, or the boxes to write in were too big and didn't have times, or it had times but it was a big binder, or it was simply too expensive. Now, just because I'm frugal doesn't mean you should go get one like I did. There were plenty there I could have bought that would have worked perfectly but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. My husband, on the other hand, would have had no problems spending the money. (We don't always see eye to eye, as you can tell.) Honestly, in the end it really doesn't matter how it is done, as long as it is done.

Once you can see your week at a glance, believe me, it is the first step in saving tons of money. As I said before, my schedule doesn't change much from week to week, but it allows me to plan my menu based on my family's activities. When I started planning my menu, my grocery bill was cut in half! I now spend on average about fifty dollars a week on groceries for my family of four. Research shows that most families our size or bigger spend double or triple that in a week's time. Wouldn't we all love to save money in this recession?

Not only are people spending too much money on groceries, they are also spending too much time in the grocery store. If you could take the time to keep an agenda you would see immense savings in time and money. Taking the time to keep an agenda, create a menu for the week, and shop just the list you need would save you so much money it would knock your socks off! But, here's another stopping block: impulse buying. How many times have you been in the store, with a list, and spent money on things not on your list? Every ounce of planning went out the door with those extra purchases. Here's how you could remedy that expensive mistake: call Grocery Getters! They will shop your list and no more for an amazingly minimal cost and deliver it all to your door at the most convenient for you. Now, that's worth keeping an agenda!