How to Power Up Your Day to Accomplish More Tasks

It is easy to become overwhelmed by work unless you have a plan.

Have you noticed that you can have the best intentions to get a set number of projects done a day but usually run out of day before you can finish?  Perhaps, this does not describe you.  However, if you fall into this trap and wonder what happened, then here are some time saving strategies for organizing a busy day that can help you be more productive.

Start by Planning What Needs Done the Night Before

I start the night before by making a small list of what I need to do the next day.  You don’t want to overextend yourself so keep the list doable with no more than nine tasks.  For example, you might write down grocery shopping, go to the dentist, pick up prescriptions at the drugstore, going to the post office, go to the bank, pick your child up after school, return library books, change bedding and laundry besides normal household cleaning and cooking. 

Mornings Are Prime Time When You Can Get the Most Done 

I don’t know about you, but mornings are the best time to start tackling a full day. Therefore, I make it a point to get up at least twenty minutes before the alarm clock rings to get everyone in my household ready for the day.  This is plugging in the coffee maker that I already filled the night before, grabbing the lunches from the refrigerator that I also made ahead while turning on the news for any weather and traffic updates while putting the pot on to cook oatmeal or scrambled eggs.  My routine simplifies getting everyone out of the door on time and enjoying our family time over a nutritious cooked breakfast.

When everyone is gone, the house is quiet and perfect for me to get a head start on my writing, research and correspondence.  However, I do not open emails until I have my post partially underway.

By the time the sun is fully shining, I take a break and throw in some laundry, do the dishes or another household task before returning to the computer.  While I’m occupied with a household task, I mull over what I was writing and think where I’m going next with the piece.  Using a small distraction gives me clarity instead of staring at the screen when you can’t find the right words.

Checking Emails Constantly Disrupts Productively

How many of us constantly check for new messages?  I would always do that, but found you waste unnecessary time doing that one thing too often.  Instead, I found it is more helpful to check less.  For me, I do it about an hour after I sit down at the computer and then before lunch, mid-afternoon and evening, about every two or three hours is a good estimate.  This way the computer doesn’t own me, but I still am in touch and accessible.

Also, keep your correspondence polite but short.  Otherwise, you can waste a lot of time that could be used tackling your work and other tasks.

Prioritize Tasks by Importance 

The best way to tackle many projects at one time is by organizing them by importance.  Start with the most pressing task and work your way down your list guarantees you completely finish each goal.  

Multitasking Is Not Always the Answer 

Sometimes, when trying to complete too many tasks at the same time, then you don’t do a good job or have enough steam to finish at all.  Another problem with multitasking is that you can become too distracted to devote the same levels of concentration for any remaining tasks.  I found that I can often get more done by keeping focused on one task at a time while using breaks to refresh my thoughts.

Limit Unnecessary Interruptions While Working

Have you ever noticed how many robo calls you can get in one day?  Unless you’re expecting an important phone call from your doctor, an employer, clients, etc., then I suggest letting your answering machine pick up.  Once you pick up, this signals those pesky telemarketers that they have a viable number.  Instead of allowing them to waste your time, do yourself a favor and let them get your machine.  You can get back to working in peace.

Taking Breaks Helps Refresh the Mind and Body to Accomplish More

We try hard to get as much done in one sitting or toward a certain task that we often forget to stop for lunch, a coffee break or just to get up from our seat to stretch our legs from sitting for hours on end.  However, you are not helping yourself as much as you may think.  Breaks serve a purpose to re-energize us in both the mind and body.

Take a few minutes and walk around your office, visit the restroom or grab a cup of coffee or herbal tea can do wonders to keep you invigorated and in top working condition through a normal day.   Try it and see an improvement in creativity as well as productivity.

Establish a Quitting Time and Stick to It

If you work at home or leave work at a certain time, then establish some ground rules with your employer that you are unavailable after hours.  Of course, if you have a position such as in the medical field, police or any emergency services, then this would be impossible.  Nonetheless, most of us aren’t in such a position and depend on this free time to relax and plan for the next day.  Without recouping, our productivity slacks down and our relationships may suffer.  Therefore, turn off your devices and disconnect from the computer at a set hour can cut down on stress and help you get more accomplished the next day.

How to Go Green and Save Money and the Planet

You may want to rethink old habits in your quest to go green.

Perhaps, you have always wanted to make a difference in helping conserve natural resources.  At the same time, you might not know the best ways to get started helping the environment so it can suit your lifestyle.  However, when each of us makes a few small changes to reduce our impact on the planet, then those efforts are multiplied to bring real change.  Let me share small ways that can help inspire you.

Start to Examine What Is Important to You

The easiest introduction to going green is by asking what you really need before buying another item or returning things to your closet.

Ask yourself how much you value those unnecessary items and their holds over you?  Is the item something that you love so much that you must buy or keep it or suffer if you don't?  On the other hand, if the item is just something that you want to buy because it’s on sale and not necessarily one to steal your heart, then you might want to skip that purchase or recycle it.  

For example, maybe you bought an expensive top for a ridiculously low fraction of its original price that also happens to be a sickly shade of pale yellow with polka dots.  This color washes your face out while the cut and quality of this top are wonderful, but you don’t have many other pieces to coordinate this top with.  Instead, it keeps hanging in the back of your closet time after time, unworn.  The truth is you couldn’t help yourself from snagging such a tremendous bargain.   Judging by the marked down price tag of how much money you saved does not mean you are ahead if that top is too mismatched for the other pieces in your wardrobe.  In all honesty, the top that you don’t seem to wear is more a trophy for your bargain shopping expertise than a helpful addition to your closet.

Before Buying Try to Recall How Many of the Same Do You Have Already

I don’t know about you, but I do have a tendency to be drawn to similar styles and colors of clothes or makeup.  The cut of a pair of pants could be slightly fuller or slimmer, but I tell myself that one makes my waist smaller or gives me a better behind from the fit.  In reality though, I don’t need five or six pairs of black pants at the same time.  I am not even counting your fat pants, skinny pants or the ones in your current size. 

Does the Item Save You Work or Is It Overcrowding Your Closet?

Too many of the same items like my excess number of black pants is far from ideal.  Having more of the same pieces restricts closet space and can overcrowd your other outfits, contributing to wrinkling and more work for you to later steam or iron them.  However, trying those pants on again and forcing myself to study my reflection in a full-length mirror to compare the best fit simplifies hunting through a stuffed closet and settling on the right black pair.

Another Way to Start Going Green Is Considering Condition

How many of us keep things around the house that may need a repair?  I have a sewing pile for rips, lost buttons and broken zippers.  A tiny rip to stitch up or hem something or replace buttons are one thing, but repairing a broken zipper that ran out off its track is more complicated.  The truth is my broken zipper pile usually never goes down because I avoid fixing them because of how much work.  I could have saved myself the trouble and just ditched the broken zippered items in the first place and never have missed them.

Have You Researched the Item and Compared Prices?

It is easy to walk into any store or to browse online and find something that seems perfect and made to your exact specifications.  Yet, you didn’t read the care instructions and how needy this piece like a leather coat would be to upkeep.  It didn’t make you feel any better when you forgot to do comparison shopping and assumed this was the average going price.

In summary, these are only a few examples of how you can save money, organize, recycle and do a small part to go green by thinking before purchasing.  

What do you do to go green?  

How to Clear Out Clutter and Save Your Sanity

Disorganization from clutter can distract the mind from tackling work.

Collecting a lot of stuff is wonderful. The only problem is that all those things can soon take over your life and home before you know it.  After all, too many of anything can make it hard to find what you need when you need it.  At the same time, when you have an over abundance like too many outfits or makeup then making a decision can be difficult searching through what you have and result in a lot more wasted time.  However, purging some of your excess possessions can simplify your life.

That shopping passion for new clothes, shoes, makeup, books, electronic to toys for your children or grandchildren occupies more space with each purchase. Unless you have a huge house with lots of walk-in closets, then you’ll  find those items spilling out of your closets or forced into storage bins or cedar chests because of a lack of room unless you declutter.  

The problem can even be worse for those that are drawn to flea markets and antique fairs because they soon are overwhelmed adding to their collections.  Before you know it, you can boxes upon boxes of what special item that you collect piled high, perhaps, in your garage.  

I knew this man that collected antique jars from before the Civil War.  Some were quite valuable.  He proudly would display them on his table and add new pieces that he paid a premium for as an investment due to this love of those jars. Yet, to all other people these old jars that were beautiful to this flea market dealer and other antique bottle collectors, had no meaning or value to many others.  

Too many of anything are not helpful.

Sadly enough, this older gentleman died and his children were left with his massive antique jar collection.  The children had no idea as to the value of their father’s collection or how to dispose of it. The antique jars that took him years and a lot of money to collect ended up getting sold as a cheap lot for a few dollars at an estate sale.

If you have a valuable collection, I suggest leaving instructions with your relatives as to the worth of your collection and how to liquidate it.  This will solve a lot of problems.

I knew another woman that loved to collect cookbooks.  She got to the point that not one more book could fit in her house.  She had cookbooks in every room upstairs, downstairs, in her garage from floor to ceiling that the couple's cars had to park outside.  Then she started keeping her cookbooks outside before renting a storage locker, then a second storage locker.  The problem is that she owned so many that she didn’t even remember what books that she had, but always wanted more.  You would think that this woman cooked, but she said she never had time.  She just liked to collect.

Another woman I knew loved buying practically at the flea market as long as it was a good deal. She always had big packages in her arms from things like baby dolls when there were no children at home to play with them.  Her husband once told me that their gameroom was polluted with garbage bags with all her flea market deals that never saw the light of day.  

I had a college teacher that was obsessed with his love of books that he bought every first issue of a magazine as well as buying first edition books.  His collection kept growing and finally got to the point that it drove his wife to divorce, which cost him more than the price of all that literature he coveted so much. 

The best way to start breaking the clutter cycle is setting some groundwork.  Therefore, learning to modify your buying behavior is a helpful beginning.

Ask Yourself What You Really Need  

If you just like to buy because it’s on sale or the neighbor just got one and you need to have one to keep up, then it is not benefitting you.  Instead, make a conscious effort to realize what you need first before buying without thinking.  

Give the Clutter a Deadline to Take Action

Pick a day on your calender to set aside for sorting through one room at a time.  Promise yourself to go through that one room that is designated on your calender and keep what you want but give away or sell others.  

Enlist a Family Member for Emotional Support

Parting with possessions that may have sentimental value can take willpower.  Nonetheless, you need to be strong if you want to adapt this destructive behavior.  Often just another person to help remind you why you can let that item go can be valuable.

Replace Clutter With a New Use for That Space

After you sort through a formerly overcrowded shelf of figurines for example, don’t be tempted to replace the vacant space with many other decorative objects.  Instead, limit yourself to a special few to take better advantage of the space for a fresh look to that room.

Trying these tips will bring you the calm that you need without having that clutter burden draining your energy, sanity and money overspending.  If you practice them enough, you’ll experience fewer stressful days of tackling clutter in the future.

How to Keep Your Pierced Earrings Organized and Easier to Find in Your Jewelry Box

Buttons can hold one or two pairs to better organize.

Pierced earrings often can get lost in your jewelry box despite compartments, especially if you have a lot.  I know that I hate hunting for them through everything once they drop among many other pieces.  However, I found a way to better organize them so the tiniest pairs are easier to find.

What I do is to use big buttons to attach them, which are far easier to grab than hunting for them in an overloaded jewelry box.  Besides, the button system takes up less room than storing them in their original boxes inside your jewelry box. 

Depending on how many pairs you have, you can use the same size buttons and form a line of those earrings in a compartment of their own, if you want to further organize them.  

If you want to save time and make more room in your jewelry box, I think that you should try button organizing for your pierced earrings.  

How to Be More Organized Dressing for Your Morning

Too many dresses can hamper how well that you're organizing in the morning.

Everyone has their own method when it comes to getting ready for work in the morning.  I am a stickler for organizing my outfit to accessories the night before.  I  like to lay out my clothes to my lingerie, handbag and shoes that I intend to wear the next day.  To me, this small amount of time that I devote to planning ahead simplifies rushing around the next morning or encountering a problem that could delay me.

The Advantages of Organizing the Night Before

This way I can see if the piece needs pressed, a button or in need of a little repair.  Preplanning the night before also saves me time in the morning switching bags or hunting for the right pair of shoes so I can have a more leisurely breakfast.   

To further simplify, I have a system that makes changing handbags easier than dumping and transferring everything.  I use a few zippered pouches to divide up what I need.   A few already loaded pouches are easier to switch out than sorting things individually.  Read my earlier organizing handbags post for further details and tips.

If you’re more the free-spirit that likes to dress according to how you feel in the morning, I have some suggestions that can also help make it easier getting dressed for your morning.  

Don’t Cram Too Many Clothes in Your Closet

The more outfits that you have in your closet, the more you risk the dreaded wrinkle to ruin your look.  Give your outfits some room between each can save you from wasting more time searching for another suitable choice.

Your Choice of Fabric Can Either Delay or Speed Your Morning Dressing Routine

If you hate to pull out the iron or the steamer, then you need to think about the fabric you tend to wear.  Wools and synthetic fibers like polyester, acetates and nylon usually won’t heavily wrinkle.  A piece can have as little as five to 20 percent to help lessen the chance of wrinkling. 

You can also distract the eye from some slight wrinkles in your outfit by a print pattern or a turning to a crinkled cotton fabric.  

Whether you like to be organized or just go with the flow, I hope these few suggestions help further inspire your morning organizing and dressing routine.

How to Save Time by Better Organizing Your Bills

This post can help save you future bill paying headaches.

Instead of letting your bills overwhelm you, you need a system to keep ahead of the game.  When you get one in place, you will save yourself a lot of headaches and time for more enjoyable activities.

Here’s what you might want to do.  As soon as they come in, I like to write the date the bill is due.  Afterwards, I file them in a special folder or organizer in order of priority to get ready for payment.

As soon as one bill is paid, I transfer it with how I paid with check number and the bank along with date of payment to my file cabinet in the proper category.  

This does help simplify the bill paying process.  After all, you need to do it anyway so why allow this tedious chore to occupy more of your time than absolutely necessary.  I have so many other pleasant things that I would rather do.  How do you feel on this subject?

Sugru Mouldable Glue (Organise Small Spaces, Rebel Tech and Create & Craft) Kits Review

*Disclaimer:  This post has been compensated through a free product (s) or monetary payment.  Opinions are solely mine. All links are "no-follow" links.**

This is makes small home jobs easier.

I had never heard of Sugru, but when a PR rep emailed and invited me to test some of their mouldable glue kits to cover various projects, it piqued my curiosity.  Like everyone else, I had some ideas in mind for my own home projects to evaluate the Organize Spaces, Rebel Tech and Create & Crafts Kits.

Each of these kits retails for $15 and includes four single-use packs of this mouldable putty that you shape, then adhere to suit your needs before letting it completely dry for 24 hours along with 14-16 ideas for projects and a Sugru tin with some slight differences per kit.

Organizing gaming stuff and wires can be readily solved with this kit.

The Organize Small Spaces Kit also has three D-hooks, one toothpick and a Sugru remover in case you make a mistake.  I attached a few extra hooks in my closet for my hair dryer and curling iron for more convenient access.

Rebel Tech Kit also comes with Sugru remover, which is handy if you never played with this stuff before for when you decide on a different spot or just didn’t care for your work.  I didn’t use this one yet because my guy has plans for it with all his computer wires and gaming gizmos.

The Create & Craft Kit is basically for personalizing whatever you need by stamping. This kit also comes with a texturing thimble and brush. To be honest, I don’t have anything I need to use this kit for now.  However, I’m going to save it for the holiday season since this would be nice for making cute labels for a homemade cookie, cocoa drink mix, spice mixes that you want to pass out to friends as a small gift.

You can personalize practically anything.

Now is a great time to start some home projects.  These Kits can help simplify some of what you may be planning. Check them out at the Sugru website.

How to Break the Cluttering Cycle Forever

Clutter is exhausting and can take over your life unless you organize.

Who doesn't have a junk drawer?  Others of us take it to the next level and turn closets, game rooms, attics, or garages into larger versions with things you keep just in case you might need it sometime.  However, sometimes spending a little more time downsizing your clutter can help you accumulate more money, reduce stress, and physical exhaustion.

Dear readers, you know I love stuff.  But how many times do we find ourselves wasting more time hunting for that one item than its worth?  We can get frustrated, tired searching and sometimes lose money because we missed a deadline for a bill, perhaps.  How about those coupons you know you have but can't find for that store circular in your hand?  Then again, what about repurchasing a product like a small tool because you hid it in a safe place until you needed it again?

Look over your belongings and sort through your stuff gradually.  Make piles of "must keeps" that you need or love and can't part with, "maybe keeps" the items like clothes you may look good in again if you lose ten pounds or the Christmas dinnerware that end up being used once a year, etc. The "get rid of" piles of items, such as the ugly Santa sweater your mother-in-law bought you five years ago  that only comes out of the box when she is around and others things you don't like, you can save for your garage sale or pack to sell at your local flea market to convert from clutter to cash. 

During the process, you may find hidden money.  Do check your books, magazines, jeans, pockets of jackets for money. 

Gift cards are another thing you may find.  Gather, put a rubber band around them, and keep in a universal "gift card" wallet to pack when you intend to shop with them.  If those cards are in one place, you will have easy access and can use them before any expiration.

You won't be able to clean clutter overnight.  However, if you tackle a room or a drawer at a time, then this chore will be easier.  Make a list and cross out what room will be reorganized that week and try to strive for that goal.  Be sure to label what gets stored in a box so you search.

Once you get desk or table cleared that had your mail or papers piled in stacks, then do yourself a favor and fill that empty space with a fruit bowl for that dining table or small photo for that desk, just something to use as a visual reminder of your decluttering success.

Trust me, your stress levels will improve and so will surroundings!