Organising Queen

Ask the organiser about organising garages and sheds

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:06:00 +0000

I've got two sheds that need tackling so any outhouse tips would be good :)
Carl Wokingham, Berkshire, United Kingdom

This is some of what I wrote to Carl...

Sheds is where I draw the line – I don’t even go into mine! I told my husband that dirty, outside work is for him :)

But let’s ask the readers and see what they come up with.

So readers, over to you. Today YOU are all the organisers!

Please share your best garage/ shed organising tips with Carl :)

Ask the organiser how to get motivated

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:04:00 +0000

smokers in booth at Abu Dhabi airport

Amanda wrote this: "I could use tips for motivation to get up and get things done".

When you battle to get motivated, choose Quick and Easy tasks so that you can build up some momentum and feel good when (not if!) you do finally get some things done.

So what gets you motivated?

Is it MUSIC? Then put on some 80's tunes (or whatever your favourites are) to get yourself energised.

Is it COMPETITION? Then challenge yourself and see how many of the tasks you can accomplish in an hour.

Is it being ACCOUNTABLE? Then post a comment telling me what you're going to do and come back to tell me when it's done!

Is it SOCIAL INTERACTION? Then make a coffee date with a friend, but ONLY once you've done an hour's organising.

Is it reaching a GOAL? Then reward yourself once you've done all the tasks.

Right! So now that we know what motivates you, let's get to it!

IN THE HOME

1. Declutter and sort through all the old magazines. Tear out the articles and toss the rest.
2. Organise your launch pad - that place in your home where you DUMP things when you walk in the door.
3. Collect all the clothes you need to dry-clean, declutter or get mended.
4. Clear off the front of your fridge. Toss the magnets and recipes you're never going to use.
5. Throw away any old food in your fridge and freezer, and give the surfaces a good wipe down.

And now for some...
OFFICE ORGANISING

1. Do your filing.
2. Collect all the bills and invoices from around the home and schedule the payment dates in your planner.
3. Shred any junk mail with your name on it.
4. Organise your desk.
5. Delete 100 emails from your Inbox and Sent Items.

Whatever you do manage to do, give yourself a pat on the back!

Leave a comment and let me know which of the 5 motivators work best for you.

Well, hello everybody

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:11:00 +0000

Thanks to all of you for coming out of lurkdom by commenting and sending me emails :)

I am energised and ready to blog again!

I'll be tackling all the questions I've got so far but don't stop, please continue to ask away.

Talk to you tomorrow :)

You ask, I'll answer

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:41:00 +0000

Hello...

Is anyone still reading?

I feel like I'm talking to myself....

Right, so if you're still reading, leave a comment and tell me who you are and where you live (Susan from Sydney, or Jane from Durban, etc.).

I'd also love it if you'll ask me anything - about organising, my life, etc. as I'm fresh out of ideas for blog posts.

P.S. The babies are 16 weeks old today!

Thin jeans - how long have you had them?

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:46:00 +0000

These are 3 pairs of jeans I decluttered recently.

I decided to be brave and dedicate 20 minutes to fit on all 8 pairs of jeans that I owned.

I quickly separated them into three piles:

jeans that fit and looked okay (I still have to lose 1,5 kg of my pregnancy weight)
jeans that would fit once I lose that 1.5 kg (with a small frame, every kg is huge!)
"thin" jeans I had no hope of ever looking good in again

This is pile 3, the pile of "thin" jeans :)

I made a note of the date I tried them on and if, in three months' time, pile 2 still doesn't fit, out they go.

How long do you give yourself to get back into your "thin" jeans?

The most important organising step EVER

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:47:00 +0000

I've been posting some tiny little organising projects that I've done in my home over the last couple of weeks.

I had a few (very polite :)) comments and emails about how people couldn't see much difference in the two pictures, which actually warmed my heart.

Because it means my house IS still running like a well-oiled machine, despite the madness that is the twins!

So I thought I'd write about the most important organising step ever - maintenance.

This is how you know if you have a problem with maintenance:

you can get a place looking nice and orderly but within days (or weeks) it's a big mess again
your space is organised but you can't remember what's actually in there so your stuff starts piling up in other areas
you're too scared to use the organised space in case it gets messy again
etc
etc

Coming back to the posts, actual organising of a space should really only happen once, maybe twice a year, or if circumstances change. Like when we had to convert our guest bedroom to the twins' bedroom. (Now I actually think they need their own bedrooms but that's another story altogether!)

But maintenance of a space happens all the time.

And it should happen more often the more people use the space.

Something like my bookshelf is only used by me so really shouldn't get that disorganised if I'm disciplined enough to keep putting books back where they belong.

And therefore only 5 books were decluttered :)

But a space like my Tupperware cupboard gets small tweaks of about 10 - 20 seconds a time a couple of times a week because 5 people use that space regularly.

Do you see the difference?

I said all that to say this: your system hasn't failed if you have to constantly make small tweaks to your organising.

This week's organising challenge

Choose one or two already organised areas in your home (a drawer, surface space, shelf, etc.) and go maintain.
It shouldn't take you more than 10 minutes each.

Which areas are you going to work on?

P.S. Remember I was looking for someone to do a button for me? Check out my gorgeous new Organise your Home button here.

Decluttering and organising bookshelves

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:27:00 +0000

Do you remember my three desks?

I decided to get rid of the white metal one to make more space in the guest bedroom/ study.

Which meant I had to declutter some of my books yet again.

Before

getting messy - see how I just jammed some books any which way?

After
front

and side views

this bag with 5 books is all that was actually decluttered - the rest is pure organising which goes to show

you don't have to be scared that you have to get rid of your stuff if you want to
organise your home

I'm looking for a graphic designer to make me some buttons

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 20:44:00 +0000

Is this you?

I'm looking for a graphic designer to make about 8 buttons for my products.

I want all my products to look consistent hence the request for an overhaul by one person and one design style.

This is the style I love... - clean, bold, unfussy :)

(the lady who made that button is not taking orders at present and I can't wait - am very impatient...)

I am in a hurry for one of the buttons but the rest can be done whenever you have the time.

Only thing is I don't want to pay in money as my twins are bleeding the bank account dry! Am happy to exchange for any of the aforementioned products or some coaching/ organising.

So is this you? Could be a beautiful win-win situation!

Either leave a comment (it comes through to my email) or email me on marcia AT takechargesolutions.org.

Thank you!

Are you sentimental? Re-use those containers

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:53:00 +0000

Laura posted about re-using containers some time back so I decided to show you how I've re-used some in my home.

We received matching souvenir mugs like these from San Antonio, Texas. They're a bit too big to actually use for tea or coffee so I keep my sweetener, different tea bags and coffees, and a chocolate spoon for hot chocolate in here.

When the babies were born, we got tons of flowers. Once I threw out the flowers, I washed out the containers (not all of them, but the nice-looking ones) and re-used.

This one holds bum creme, etc. at the babies' changing table.

and this one is in the bathroom with baby bath toiletries

Not only are these containers now functional, but every time I use them I think of the people who gave them to us.

Are you hanging onto something sentimental? Think about some ways you can re-use it so that it's not just clutter.

This week's organising challenge - declutter your bathroom toiletries

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:54:00 +0000

I thought it would be fun to issue a challenge this week on something relatively easy to do - declutter your bathroom toiletries.

You all know that I have the smallest bathroom in the world so I don't have enough storage space in there.

I use a drawer inside our bedroom to store excess bathroom toiletries.

This is my decluttered drawer....

and this is what I managed to declutter from the drawer and from the bathroom itself. 11 items

Right, over to you.

Are you up for the challenge? Let me know how many items you manage to declutter.

5-minute organising project - laundry cupboards

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:24:00 +0000

Organising doesn't have to take a whole lot of time. In fact, we should all look out for little pockets of time throughout the day just to make your space function more effectively.

Usually I find that if many people use a space, it will need tweaking/ organising more often. There are four of us in here on an almost daily basis - the nanny, cleaning lady, D & me - it was getting on my nerves....

so this literally took me 5 minutes to organise - and that includes taking the pictures.

top shelf of laundry cupboard - before

top shelf of laundry cupboard - after

bottom section - before

bottom section - after

Lovely - order restored!

Don't sign up with Preggi Bellies

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:13:00 +0000

at least, not unless you have the money to throw away or you're 100% sure you can finish your course of classes.

You know I normally don't write posts like this but this but I've been back and forth countless times with this company and I just feel like I need to let you know what you may be in for.

It took a loooong time for me to fall pregnant so my doctor told me no exercise in case we jeopardise this pregnancy unless you want to join Preggi Bellies.

I'd always been reasonably active, wanted to stay fit throughout my pregnancy so I joined up.

You have to pay upfront for your entire course of classes - either 25, 30 or 35. I'm not a fan of the paying in advance thing since you never know what might happen so I took the least amount of classes (25) and paid my R2500.

Long story short... I have a busy life, went to Ireland, and had two preggy "incidents" so I only used 8 of those 25 lessons.

After the two "incidents" the doc told me to stop exercising as we didn't want any more drama!

So I contacted them to request a refund. And there the trouble began.

They avoided my emails and phone calls for over a month. I started getting a bad feeling...
Then after the babies were born (8 weeks early as it happens), I started chasing up again.
Finally got an email telling me they don't do refunds but I'm welcome to use up my remaining 17 lessons. First of all, I have twins. Who has the time to go back to classes (9 weeks of them as I'd think 2 maximum per week) with twins??? I barely have time to brush my teeth!
After lots of back and forth, they eventually offered me R660. Work that out - I'll wait... R2500 for 25 classes = R100 a class. 8 classes taken means I should be expecting R1700.
Apparently there's a 15% admin fee. Okay..... even so, HUGE jump from the R660 you're offering me to the R1700 I'm expecting.
How can you take off a 15% admin fee PLUS only give me half of what's left? Daylight robbery!
I tried to reason with them... "I didn't not use up the classes because of laziness; medical reasons prevented me from continuing" and "this will result in reputational risk for you as I write a very popular blog..." but they were not having any of it.
So eventually I stated my case one last time (I do like to get my opinion out there!) and decided to conserve my energy, take the R660 and let it go.
I was also going through bouts of crying every day and this wasn't making me feel any better.

Hence this post!

So a warning to any other pregnant ladies out there. Please please please learn from my mistakes and don't sign up with Preggi Bellies unless you have the money to throw away if something goes wrong with your pregnancy.

Of course the irony of it all is that once this happened, many of my friends said that having to pay upfront was what held them back from joining up. AAAARGHHHHH!

An Outlook tip that will save you LOTS of time

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:09:00 +0000

I'm a big lover of "drag and drop". I drag and drop almost anything and everything within Microsoft Outlook.

Here are 3 of my favourite ways to save you time:

1. saving user names and passwords

When you sign up for a new website and they send you that confirmation email with your user name and password, drag and drop the email into either Contacts (my preferred location - no particular reason) or Notes.

It's very easy to use the search function to find what you're looking for and also to email the correct people if you need support. Maybe that's why I like Contacts better - you can send an email from there easier than with a Note.

2. saving email addresses

Drag and drop the entire email onto your Contacts. I like to do this the first time someone emails me (if there's a need to keep the email, like with a new client) so I have all the background and not only the person's email address.

It's also easier (and faster!) for me than opening the email, right clicking the person's name and then selecting "Add to Contacts".

3. diarising or scheduling events

Sometimes my friends and I will have an email discussion about getting together for breakfast, etc.

Once we decide on a date and time, I drag and drop the email onto my Calendar, change/ add what I need and then send it out as a meeting request. Saves me lots of time that I would have had to retype information.

What's your favourite "drag and drop" tip?

12 days

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:49:00 +0000

Hi all

I don't think I've ever been away from the blog as long as this before but I have two very good reasons:

these two babies

Motherhood is the most rewarding, challenging, frustrating, crazy thing I've ever done and the twins thing? It's seriously kicking my butt! But I'm getting there and finally seeing some light. They'll be 10 weeks old tomorrow but as their paediatrician says, they're only actually two weeks old because they were 8 weeks prem!

We are settling into a bit of a routine. I almost hesitate to type that because it's a bit of a "two steps forward, one step back" business around here. Do you know what I mean?

I'm not sure what happened to the guest blogger I was meant to have for 6 weeks but now that I'm a mother, I understand that life just happens a lot of the time and sometimes survival is all you can hope for. Jenny, I hope you're okay.

However, I had a session with my accountability partner and friend, Beth Dargis, on Friday and I'm putting blogging back onto my to-do list :)

So check back later this week for some more posts.

How have you all been doing?
What have you been up to?
And if you care to, please share your best advice for getting through the first 6 weeks!

A quick way to tidy your kitchen counters

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:16:00 +0000

I was getting annoyed with all this baby bottle sterilising paraphenalia on my counters - it just looked messy.

I do need to have it out since I'm using it a gazillion times every day with the twins.

So I put it all on a tray and instantly, the kitchen counter looks much neater.

I did the same thing with the nappies (diapers), bum cream and baby wipes. Doesn't it look nice and neat now?

Where can you use some containerising to make your home look neater?

basket in your entrance hall to keep keys

box to keep all the papers that need to be filed

basket/ bowl on your bedside table for your hand lotion, pens, etc.

Your turn!

It's about time I sorted the maternity clothes

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:50:00 +0000

seeing as the babies are 7 weeks old today :)

This is my shelf with all the clothes that could fit me while I was pregnant - I actually only bought the following maternity clothes - 1 pair of jeans, 2 pairs casual pants, 2 pairs work pants. That's it!

this is the whole cupboard...before

returned one pair of pants never worn, washed and put away borrowed clothes and reorganised since it's nearly spring here

that shelf now has short-sleeved t-shirts on the left and jeans & pants on the right

here is the full cupboard view - after

Makes me feel much better knowing everything is in order once again!

When was the last time you reorganised your clothes?

Share your favourite tip for organising the fridge

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:55:00 +0000

A reader, Vickie, sent me her favourite tip and I thought it would be fun if we all shared ours.

Are you game?

Of course, my favourite tip is to label the shelves in my fridge as in the picture above.

Here's Vickie's tip...

I thought that I would tell you one of my favorite organizing tricks:

I use a clear shoebox in the refrigerator for making quick lunches. My family loves it because you can take the whole box out and make a sandwich. We put the cheese, lunchmeat, tomato, onion, lettuce in the box. All we look for is the salad dressing. It saves time.

Thought you would enjoy this.

Yes, I enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing, Vickie.

Now let's hear from the rest of you.

What's your favourite fridge organising tip?

I declutter because I'm cheap

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:20:00 +0000

When we first moved into this house nearly 4 years ago, I didn't realise how little storage space I had.

It seems the previous house had oodles and oodles of nooks and crannies that I just didn't appreciate until I moved here.

I had such a lot of stuff and I really thought I needed some additional built-in kitchen cabinets until I got some quotes.

And just couldn't justify spending thousands of rands to store STUFF.

So I decluttered all my kitchen stuff until I made it fit.

(that may have been the start of my decluttering frenzy)

And we've been happily living in that kitchen ever since.

Cut to a few months ago.

I realised that babies come with kitchen stuff too. A pregnant friend told me that she was having additional kitchen cabinets built and I swear those old tendencies came to the fore and I seriously considered getting some built for us too.

It's easy to justify until you think about all the other stuff you still need to get for the babies.

And so I thought - I've done it once; I can do it again.

So I did.

I decluttered half a shelf so that the baby bottles, etc. can fit in between all our lunch stuff.

I'll have to do a bit more decluttering soon because those bottles have multiplied.

Why do you declutter? What have you done differently because of being "frugal"?

Save money - don't assume bigger is necessarily cheaper

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:03:00 +0000

I was at a store the other day buying formula for the babies when I saw this:

The small tin (400g) costs R46 and the big tin (900g) costs R152,90. I couldn't believe it!

The big tin should cost in the region of R103,50 or even less. A lot of people would assume that the bigger one is cheaper (I threw big tins into my trolley before I started thinking) but first do your sums and make sure you're getting a good deal!

There you go - trying to save you money :)

Holding you accountable - what did you tackle this week?

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:14:00 +0000

Leave a comment and let me know how you did this week.

**************************************

The Organise your Home ecourse is a step-by-step system delivered in bite-sized pieces so you will NEVER feel overwhelmed. You even get an audio of me teaching you how to organise your space.

Tons of people have been through this system; are you next?

(my new) favourite organising tools #16 - gift bags

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:31:00 +0000

Hi all

On Sunday I challenged you to declare in the comments an area of your home that you'd be organising this week.

It's not too late to join in - even if you do just one drawer, the top of your kitchen counters, etc.

I'll be posting on Friday (so we all stay accountable) and I'd love to read your comments where you tell me what you've managed to get done.

******************************

I said that I'd be sorting out the gift wrap and whatnot (just means there's such a lot and I'm too lazy to list it all :)) which I'm still busy working through as I do my project-type stuff between the 11pm and 2am feeds!

Long story but I can stay up easier than I get up so this is my new routine.

BUT I have found a use for some of those gift bags...which have become one of my favourite organising tools.

In the post where I spoke about organising the babies' clothes, Se7en commented and shared how she uses gift bags.

Well, I decided to try her suggestion and look...

see the bottom shelf in this pic

and this shelf, which makes my heart go all aflutter - so neat and organised and PRETTY!!!

How else do you use gift bags for non-gift purposes in your home or office?

Please share in the comments and let's get some good tips going. And Se7en, thanks again!

Organise your Home makeover - before

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:57:00 +0000

This is the entry I received from Jenny's clutter :)

Dear Marcia,

I have heard that the mistress of this home, Jenny, may be entering your contest to win the Organising Your Home E-Course and I would like you to consider not allowing her to win. I like things the way they are... disorganised! Let me introduce myself. I have been called, Clutter, Junk, Stuff, Crud, as well as other less-flattering names. It has taken years for me to grow into the stronghold that I have become.

I enjoy numerous pastimes that, should Jenny win, would become obsolete. One of my favorite things to do is distract the occupants of the home. When Jenny or her husband enter a room they often take one look at me and get so flustered they forget why they came into the room in the first place. What a riot! The living room and kitchen are the most distracting.

I love to listen to kids whine. In this home, a foster home, there are usually plenty of children. I often hear them saying things like, "Where is my Spiderman shirt? It was just on the couch... Does anyone know where my shoes are?...What happened to my library books?" It is especially entertaining when the family is getting ready for school or church. The voices go up an octave and sometimes they start yelling at each other.

Jenny is creative and talented but I've been able to hold her back from success in many areas, including writing the books she has always dreamed of writing. Bob has a stressful job as a police officer and I am able to keep his stress levels up on the home front as well, especially in the master bedroom.

As you can see, I take my job very seriously and am quite comfortable in the Dalley household.

Jenny has even blogged about me at http://shoemomma.blogspot.com/2009/04/wow.html and http://shoemomma.blogspot.com/2009/03/spring-renewal-or-cleaning.html. I'm famous!

Please let me live and thrive and do NOT let Jenny win. Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

Sincerely,

Jenny Dalley's Clutter

Isn't that great? Read amongst the fun and you'll see the serious effects of the clutter...

So without any further ado, here's Jenny's first post.

As soon as I saw Marcia's contest for her 12-week Organise Your Home E-course, I knew I had to win.

My name is Jenny. I am a stay-at-home-mom with a wonderful husband. I live in Colorado. I love Jesus. And I am the most unorganized person I know.

I seem to be in a perpetual state of overwhelm. When I was growing up I had to share a bedroom with my very organized sister. We nearly killed each other! Now that we are adults and friends she sometimes offers to help me organize my house.

We currently have five children living in our home. Our biological son is 6 years old. We adopted two little boys, 8 and 7, just this week. We are also taking care of two foster children; an 8 year old boy and a 2 year old girl. Within the past two years we have had 13 children in our family.

Thankfully not at the same time. I could not even imagine the laundry pile I would have.

We have to do a mad dash of cleaning every time company is expected.
For those surprise visitors we offer a myriad of excuses for why our living room looks the way it does.
We lose things on a regular basis.
I often enter a room with the expectation of conquering the clutter, only to become so discouraged that I do an about face and head straight for Facebook or comfort food.

I have learned a lot from Marcia during the past couple of years and this opportunity to go through her Organise Your Home E-course will be life changing.

I am thrilled that I get to be a guest writer on her blog. Not only do I welcome the accountability, but I get to share this experience with all of you!

What would an improvement blog be without a couple of humiliating before pictures?

Is anyone else going through this 12-week course? I'd love to hear how you are doing!

Are you in?

It starts tomorrow - are you in?

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 09:35:00 +0000

Remember this contest for the Organise your Home system?

Well, it's finally here.

Our guest blogger starts sharing her journey with us tomorrow and will continue for at least 6 posts :)

Aren't you excited?

I know I am - I'm that person at the airport who LOVES people watching. And it's just the same with homes - I love seeing how other people organise their stuff and which systems they have that could work for me.

So I can't wait to be a virtual voyeur in Jenny's home and watch her get her home organised over the next 6 weeks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

***NB***

I'm going to revive the Friday Declutter Challenge while Jenny's doing the guest blogging thing so that you can all play along.

Start thinking about a small area you can declutter or organise in your own home and post your intention in the comments to keep you accountable.

I'm also participating so check the comments for my intention!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

P.S. The Organise your Home ecourse will only remain at this price up to the end of August. if you were on the fence about this, don't say I didn't warn you :)

What's no. 1 on your to-do list?

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:23:00 +0000

I never could understand how it was that some women didn't take care of themselves.

Until now.

Because now I've had babies it is a different ball game altogether!

I didn't notice while I was still in the hospital because they wake you so early with coffee/ tea but the day after I was discharged, I realised something is a bit off...what is it???

Oh my word! I'm not hungry.

And that's how it started.

After a few days of being at home, I realised that I wasn't eating breakfast until HOURS after I'd woken. When I was pregnant, I'd wake and literally have to eat something within minutes because I woke up starving.

Not so anymore.

I also realised I'd just grab the first thing available (some biscuits (cookies) or rusks with my tea) which is not good!

at least I'm eating lunch - yum!

Good thing I had the awareness before it got even more out of hand. I decided I had to do something about it because I have to take care of me first before I can take care of the babies.

So now when I do my to-do list every day, my no. 1 item is Eat Breakfast.

What's no. 1 on your to-do list?

For those of you who wanted baby pics and an update...

coach@takechargesolutions.org (Marcia Francois) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 09:49:00 +0000

Go here!

Enjoy :)