Is the trashcan in your house overflowing? Do you keep all the sentimental tokens from your past and present relationships? Do you tend to leave your clean laundry out in the open? How about having months old magazine (some you have read and others in the to-do list) lying around the house? Do you have a hard time finding things or are constantly losing stuff around the house? Is your house or space a mess? If you answered “yes” to one or more of these questions, then you must be a certified Messie.I recently read a book entitled "The new messies manual: a procastinator's guide to good housekeeping". I found it quite interesting and useful that I thought about posting some of its tips. This book will help you take control of your life and clutter. It will help you organize and simplify your activities, pay your bills on time, keep you house clean, plus a whole lot more.
How to be more organized:1. Learn organizational strategies that make sense and will work from you.
If it is easy, it will be faster for you to do things. Find simple ways to get things done.
2. Unclutter and simplify your life. Having too much things can be frustrating and time consuming. You can also simplify your wardrobe, your eating habits and other activities in your life.
3. Make incremental but permanent changes.
4. Take breaks when things get spacey.
5. Take time to refuel your spirit.
6. Join a support group.
7. Use organizational books.
8. Read books on ADD (attention defecit disorder) since most messies seem to have add to some degree.
9. Get “another pair of eyes”
Attitudes for Success
* If you fail, don’t give up. There is always room for change.
* Practice self-care. Living in a disorganized and messy life / house can be a cause for a lot of stress.
* Encourage self-confidence
* Seek passion
* Ask for help
* Delegate
* Be willing to make adjustments
* Seek serenity
* Value your differences
* Go with the flow of your own personality
* Honor your need to create
* Be cheerful
* Forgive yourself quickly
* Accept your weakness
* Get rid of a make-do mentality
* Dream bigger dreams for yourself
Organization is easy to do and easy to maintain once you have embraced these three simple concepts:
* Simplify. Separate things that you want to keep from those you want to get rid of.
* Sort. Always keep these sayings in mind: “A place for everything and everything in its place” and “Birds of the same feather flock together”.
1. Group. Put like things together and have different centers for your items. Have a photo center, a music center, an art center, a cd / dvd center, etc.
2. Label. Labeling helps in making your organizational system “official”. It helps you remember what system was devised and makes things easier to find. It tells other people in the family where to put things and hones your organizational skills.
* Store. Below are five rules to store things successfully.
1. Have enough storage space
2. Keep stored items visible
3. “Contrainarize” your belongings
4. Label what you store
5. Store in proximity to use
Everything needs to be properly store so that they can be easily retrieved, Here are some rules to follow:
1. Get white boxes or boxes where you can write on the sides for record keeping (i.e. write what items are in the box)
2. Sort the stuff
3. Label the boxes
4. Group the boxes
5. Make a master list of the boxes and what items are in those boxes.
1. Clear surfaces, table and counter tops.
2. Keep top / surfaces off clutter.
3. Avoid Messes – clean as you go along.
4. Be proactive
5. Deal with the sentimental past
6. Get rid of distractions and other unnecessary stuff.
Below are some money saving tips that we all could follow:1. Put aside a portion of your paycheck (say 10%) every month for emergency / travel / savings.
2. Make a budget based on your monthly utility, credit bills & other expenses and learn to stick to it.
3. Distinguish between wants and needs. You can save lots of money if you don't always give in to your wants.
4. Less is better. A lot of people spend just to "keep up with the Jones" and ran up mounds of bills and debts just to have the newest and biggest item. Do you really need the lastest mobile phone or the latest PDA when the one you have is still working?
5. When doing the grocery, plan in advance. Have a checklist ready. By knowing what you need, you cut down on impluse purchases.
6. If you are buying, buy quality. You may spend P3000.00 on a pair of shoes that will last you for a number of years rather than P500.00 or P1000 for a pair you can only use once or twice. I have this thing of dividing the cost by the number of uses or years that I have the item. This will tell me, if I have a good buy. Example: I purchased a pair of naturalizer slip ons worth 3k in 1997. Divide it by the number of times / years i use it or can use it (i wore the slippers almost weekly for 5 years). 3000 / 5 years is 600 per year. A great buy. I always do this strategy when purchasing items that seem costly. I always think about how often I will use the item. If I would use it frequently (and it would last for a long time), then it is a good buy.
7. On fashion: buy clothes that could be easily coordinated with your wardrobe. Buy quality basics such as a white blouse. Avoid buying trendy clothes that would easily go out of style. If you would be buying trendy stuff, opt for the cheaper version.
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More tips soon
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