It’s high time to clean the office. Yes, spring cleaning time is here. Whether you clean yearly or quarterly or more often, make sure you get that clutter under control. I recently helped a friend clean her house just before a move. It motivated me to tackle my office area. Previously, a few stacks of books and papers weren’t that bothersome. They were close at hand, which was important at the time. But now I really want to reduce the visual clutter, so I’ve moved all the books off of my desktop and back into the book shelf. Books I don’t need are in the donate pile, which are going out this week. I’m not sure what caused the shift, but I’m grateful for it. I’ve had a hard time getting up the energy... [Read more]

Does your to-do list overwhelm you? Is it so large or intimidating that you don’t know where to start? Stop and think about it for a minute. Maybe your to-do list isn’t what it should be. Although I strongly feel that there’s no single right way to do things, maybe you do need to think about purpose a to-do list really serves. For instance, I still need to do my taxes. Normally I have them done by February, but I still have some sorting and data entry to do. It’s been harder to fit it in than I thought it would be. So it’s on my to-do list: do taxes. But that’s a lot to think about isn’t it? That’s because it’s more of a project than a to-do item. What’s the anatomy of a to-do item?... [Read more]

When my desktop hard drive died, I had to reinstall from my backup. I did not, however, transfer my inbox. I left it on my laptop, instead deciding to start from scratch and see how I could do. That doesn’t mean I gave up on my other email. I just wanted to see if I could keep my inbox as small as possible. It worked for a while. But work, life, family and oh, I don’t know, sleep, got in the way. And sadly, I’m back up to around 300 emails in there. Many of them are just email alerts that I need to read through and discard. They just keep adding up, though. I unsubscribed to alerts and newsletters that I didn’t use or need. I try to archive things immediately after I read them if they don’t need any action. I’ve... [Read more]

We’re already a week into March, and almost a quarter of the way into the new year. I found a few articles from last year around this time that might interest you, and thought I’d share them here. The archives hold a lot of great ideas. If you haven’t looked through them yet, search your favorite terms and find some inspiration! Recession-proofing your organized biz With the economy still struggling, you may wonder how to keep your business afloat. Read this article for some tips on facing your money issues. Help! Can I get my taxes done on time? We still have a little over a month before the April 15th tax deadline. Are you ready? This article gives tips on beating the clock to get your taxes filed. Are you safe when wireless? Considering... [Read more]

Don’t forget that tonight we “spring forward” an hour. Technically it occurs in the wee Sunday morning hours. However, most of us set our clocks when we head to bed. While you “lose” an hour of sleep unless you go to bed early, you gain precious daylight hours to enjoy your evenings a bit more. And more daylight means Spring and Summer are coming! So remember to set your clocks so you won’t miss any Sunday morning appointments. Or for those of you that work Sundays, don’t be late! [Read more]