I decide when to clean my refrigerator by noticing how much stuff I have to shuffle around when I’m putting away new leftovers (instead of on a scheduled date). I avoid filing papers that represent something I want to think about or work on because it would take more time to file them and create to-do items for them than it takes me to glance over them when I’m looking for something else.

The thing is, at some point, we all have to decide when we’re striving for too much organization. Organization takes time and effort, and sometimes we overpay in time, effort, and money, for what we get back on our investment in organizing our lives.

There are many other ways you can use disorder to make your life easier. Below, I’ve listed 5 easy ways to let disorder and disorganization into your life.

5 ways you can use disorder and disorganization around the house to make your life a little easier

1. Go simple with the filing systems. If you can find what you need, when you need it, your filing system already works for you—even if you don’t use folders. Why spend money on filing supplies when you don’t need to? Why spend time overhauling a system that already works?
2. Plant a flower garden, the easy way. Mix all your seeds together in a jar, shake them up, and pour them (somewhat) evenly over your flower beds. You’ll end up with a profusion of flowers overflowing your beds, drowning out the weeds, and bursting with color.
3. Let your mail pile up and sort it once a week. You’ll only have to get out the envelope opener once, run the shredder once, and pay the bills once that week.
4. Leave on your kitchen counter an appliance you would love to use more often but don’t because it’s difficult to get out and put away. If it’s useful to you and you want to use it, then why not make it easy for you to do so? See? A little disorder can make your life better.
5. The next time you plan to “clear out the clutter” ask yourself why you’re doing it. Is it because of what you think others might think of you if they saw your mess? Why does it matter? If you’re not clearing out the clutter because you want to make your things easier to find, use, or put away, then you’re probably not clearing out for the right reasons.

As for the book, A Perfect Mess, if you’re looking for someone to remind you why clutter isn’t always bad to have around—and why having clutter doesn’t make you a bad person—you’ll want to read this book. I listened to the abridged audio edition, so I can’t say with certainty that every word in the book is a gem, but what I heard was excellent. This was front porch listening, although you could listen at any time. There was something very relaxing about the voice of the reader, and the subject matter is something most of us could stand to hear.

The point of the book isn’t to encourage you to be disordered, cluttered, or dirty. In fact, some order and organization is essential to a happy, productive life. However, as the author discusses the subject of disorder, it becomes clear that some disorder can actually improve your life, give you more time, save you money, and spark your creativity.

Those are the reasons I suggest you read—or listen to—this book.

Ever since Einstein’s study of Brownian Motion, scientists have understood that a little disorder can actually make systems more effective. Yet, most people still shun disorder or suffer guilt over the mess they can’t avoid. With a spectacular array of true stories and case studies of the hidden benefits of mess, A PERFECT MESS overturns the accepted wisdom that tight schedules, organization, neatness, and consistency are the keys to success. Drawing on examples from business, parenting, cooking, the war on terrorism, retail, and even the career of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Abrahmson and Freedman demonstrate that moderately messy systems use resources more efficiently, yield better solutions, and are harder to break than neat ones. Applying this idea on scales both large (government, society) and small (desktops, garages), A PERFECT MESS uncovers the ways messiness can trump neatness, and will help you assess the right amount of disorder for any system.

Post from: Home Management Tips

5 Ways to Use Disorder and Disorganization to Keep Your Home Running Smoothly

You see, I had always used a pen. Once I began using a pencil, and only a pencil, I found that I actually quite liked using a calendar. Nothing is permanent, nothing requires Liquid Paper. All I need is my pencil with eraser and I have everything I need to keep a useful, working calendar.

These days I use a calendar software program. Because I want my entire family to have access to the calendar, I prefer a stand-alone program, independent of my email or other personal communications.

I use Sunbird now, but I’ve only recently converted from Windows Calendar, and before that Google Calendar. If you have a very internet savvy household, Google Calendar is a great option. Your kids can have their own calendars and share events or tasks with your household calendar.

Since my children are too young to keep up with their own calendars right now, and my husband still doesn’t see the need for a family calendar, I keep up with everything, and I enjoy using Sunbird as my calendar.

Unless you’re around your computer a lot, I suggest you go with the printed calendar. My personal preference has always been a weekly view.

How to make a calendar work for your household

Let’s start with the paper calendar. If you don’t have a calendar, but would like to be able to print calendar pages, I have a template you can print from. This monthly calendar template doesn’t have the dates, so you’ll need to write them in, but it prints nicely on an regular 8.5 x 11 inch piece of paper.

Here’s how you can make a calender work for you. Not only will it help you stay ahead of household tasks, it will help you keep up with household events and family members’ appointments.

What you should put in your household calendar

• Add timed events
• Add scheduled recurring tasks and any other tasks you need reminders for

Add dated and timed events

These events have set dates and times that are usually out of your control, be it your child’s sports events and practices, or appointments for your household members. These events can’t be easily shuffled around, unlike your tasks.

Add scheduled recurring tasks and any other tasks for which you need reminders

Some organizational gurus suggest you never include tasks on a calendar because the tasks can be moved around and shouldn’t be assigned to specific dates. However, for a household calendar to effectively guide you as you try to get your household tasks done, your schedule is the perfect place to keep them.

Precede each task with empty check boxes or circles, so you can mark the task as complete. Using a pencil overcomes the issues of moving things around, as does using arrows –> instead of check marks to indicate that a task has been rescheduled instead of completed. Of course, reschedule as soon as you place an arrow through the box so you don’t forget!

Adding your tasks to your calendar also allows you to assign certain tasks to family members and then remember who did it last. This heads off arguments between your kids and can motivate them to get their chores done because they’ll quickly learn it’s no use arguing with Mom’s calendar!

Things to include on your calendar

• Family members’ appointments
• Doctor appointments
• School events & school holidays
• Work events
• Laundry days (see my article Staying Ahead of Dirty Laundry: 5 days to an empty laundry room for suggestions)
• Auto maintenance schedule
• Household maintenance schedule

This might seem like a lot to keep in one calendar, but having it all in one place really does make things easier to keep up with.

If you choose to use a calendar on your computer, you can segregate your tasks and events into groupings and create separate calendar views for each group. I do this. I keep calendars for household, personal, work, auto, and school. I keep all the calendars “on” most of the time so I see everything, but I can turn off any that I want, to eliminate distractions when I need to concentrate on getting tasks done for one particular group, such as household or work.

Give it a try and see if this doesn’t help you keep your household running more efficiently.

Calendars to try

• Mom’s Plan-It 2009 Softcover Engagement Calendar
• Mom’s Plan-It 2009 Desk Calendar
• Mom Organizer 2009 Pocket Wall Calendar
• Little Helper 2009 Planner
• Family Organizer 2009 Pocket Wall Calendar

If you have any tips for keeping your household calendar organized and up to date, consider sharing them in the comments.

Post from: Home Management Tips

How to use a calendar to keep your household organized

One of the quickest ways to cut down the time spent on housework and chores is to do away with duplicates. Often, extras only create more work and take more time to maintain.

Why duplicates don’t make life easier

Why would you want to do away with duplicates when on the surface they often seem so handy?

Quite simply, they’re likely creating extra household work for you and your family.

Do you have two sets of silverware in your kitchen drawers? How about extra dinnerware and table linens? Sheets and towels?

How often have you found yourself putting off doing the dishes or the laundry because you weren’t “out” of clean items yet?

Not only is it inefficient to think like this, in the long run, it only creates more work. If you can wash a single set of sheets and replace them on the bed immediately, you just saved yourself the step of folding and storing those same sheets—possibly as much as 15 minutes of valuable time that you can now spend doing something much more enjoyable than folding clean laundry.

As for the silver– and dinnerware, have you ever found yourself hand washing dishes because you have too many to fit into your dishwasher? Why not pack the extras away and see what happens? You might find it’s easier than ever to keep your kitchen cleaned up—you won’t be overwhelmed by a bulging sink full of dirty dishes!

Taking that final step

Wouldn’t it be great to have extra room on your shelves and extra space in your closets and drawers? By getting rid of duplicates, you also improve your household’s storage. Without extras, you’ll have more places to keep things and fewer problems with clutter that has no home.

Of course, duplicates aren’t the only problem most households have when it comes to storage and extra chores, but even cutting out ten minutes of work here and 15 minutes there will add up to a lot of time in the long run. Making small changes can have a big impact!

If you do decide to keep the duplicates on hand but take them out of circulation in your household, keep them packed away where you can get to them only with some effort. Don’t make it easy on yourself to slip back into bad habits.

Do yourself a favor. Do away with duplicates!

Post from: Home Management Tips

Do away with duplicates

Is cleaning a huge chore for you? Do you hate having to search around the house for supplies, or even just having to run into another room when you forget the glass cleaning wipes you meant to bring with you to the bathroom?

Have you ever wondered how to make cleaning automatic?

Hide your cleaning supplies

If any of the above has ever been true for you, then you need to make sure you always have cleaning supplies on-hand—in the locations where you use them.

Unfortunately, economies of time and money don’t always align perfectly.

Having duplicate supplies might cost a little more, but the time saved (and the ease that having those duplicates adds to your cleaning routine) more than make up for the extra expense. This is an essential concept of the home management principles outlined on this site. (Not all duplicates are the same–see “Do Away With Duplicates” for how getting rid of duplicates in your home can save you precious time and effort!

Why hide your cleaning supplies?

One of the most common reasons people don’t clean more often is because its inconvenient. Having quick access to the supplies you need can alleviate that inconvenience.

Wouldn’t it be easier to wipe the back rim of the toilet seat when you’re already in the room than to make a special trip to the bathroom to clean up? Even if you only do this once per day, then you’ve cleaned the dirtiest spot in most bathrooms more often than almost everyone else in your neighborhood.

Multiply this small task by ten or twenty other small jobs you can do around your home in only seconds and you’ve cut your cleaning time in half. You’ve also significantly decreased the chances of having to do a rush cleanup the next time you’re expecting visitors to drop in.

Where to conceal

Store disinfecting wipes and glass cleaning wipes under all your bathroom sinks and in your kitchen too. Store a set of dusting wipes in your entertainment center in a small box, covered basket or tin high on a shelf or behind a cabinet door.

Dusting wipes can be concealed in any room where dusting is often overlooked, such as bedrooms and home offices. In the laundry room, Clorox wipes are great for getting the dust off your washer and dryer.

Adopt these tips and you’ll soon find that cleaning isn’t nearly such a chore as you once thought. Just a few minutes of cleaning here and there can save hours later.

Storage Resources

My favorite type of storage, these small boxes are attractive, stack neatly, and store all kinds of useful items.

Post from: Home Management Tips

Where do YOU hide cleaning supplies?

You might have noticed that sometimes it takes ten minutes to get into and out of the grocery store for a gallon of milk and dozen eggs, and other times it takes twice as long. These ten minute gaps of time can add up to a wasted hour or more of time in an average morning of errands.

For me, Monday mornings around 8:30 a.m. have the biggest payoff of time saved. The stores are emptier, the check out lines are shorter, the traffic is lighter, and I’m able to get my errands out of the way and off my mind for the rest of the week. Friday afternoons and evenings are the worst, and I always do my best to avoid running any errands at that time.

Sometimes the region of the country you live in can determine when is the best time to run your errands, but there are a few things you can do no matter where you live to get in and out quickly.

Make a list and carry it with you. At the top of the list write down all your errands, so you don’t forget any of them and have to backtrack. Also, list them in the order they’ll occur on your route unless they’re dependent on another stop first.

Next on your list, write down what you need to pick up or deliver to each location. That might only be your grocery items and pharmacy items, or it might include documents you need to drop off somewhere, grocery, pharmacy, and beauty items, appointments, and gifts you need to buy.

By having all this on one piece of paper, you eliminate forgetfulness and save yourself plenty of time–enough to more than compensate you for the time spent organizing your list.

Get out of the house early. If you want to get done with your errands quickly, you’ll want to beat everyone else to the stores, the bank, and everywhere else!

If you try these quick tips, I’m sure you’ll recapture some of your lost time on errand day.

Post from: Home Management Tips

Timing is key to reducing wasted efforts