I recently had the pleasure of opening our home to a friend for an overnight visit and we are expecting a visit from out-of-town family in two weeks.

In preparing for guests, besides cleaning there are things that you can do to help make your guest’s visit enjoyable. There are many sources out there and tips one of the websites that I thought had interesting points was http://simplemom.net/tips-to-help-guests-feel-welcome/

Here are a few additional tips from me:
• Schedule time ahead of the visit to de-clutter and clean your home so you are not exhausted when your guests arrive.
• Ask your guests if they have any food preference or allergies ahead of time.
• Have a variety of breakfast and snack foods available including fresh fruits, veggies and bottled water.
• If possible, determine what meals will be eaten at home or out so you don’t have to do too many grocery runs during the visit.

A little project management can help ensure a great visit anytime. Of course, having great guests helps too! And I love my house guests!

We are now six weeks away from Christmas. Where are you with your holiday planning? If you started on November 1 you should be making some progress on your task list and hopefully you are feeling less stressed.

Have you been able to break your task list down and handle a little bit at a time?

Even if you are just getting started here are some ideas to divide and conquer your holiday task list:

• Select one day each work to work on your holiday to-do list. Write it in your calendar.
• Group errands together. Buy stamps and mail packages at the same time. Buy staples and stocking stuffers from the same store.
• Delegate tasks to other household members. Get children to help with decorating, baking or wrapping. Get partners to help with lights, online shopping or decorating.

Make your plan and work your plan and your holiday will be joyful instead of stressful.

It is worth repeating….you don’t have to let the holidays and all the associated tasks and events stress you out this year.

There are many things you can do to take the stress out of the season including:

•  Create a planning checklist.
•  Look at commitments and pick or choose. Know that you don’t have to do them all. Say no to some.
•  Simplify gift giving (link to article from last year).

Incorporate some of these ideas and eliminate some of the holiday stressors. Enjoy the season.

As a new school year approaches and schedules become hectic, wouldn’t it be great to have a handle on healthy meals and snacks? Getting our children to eat healthy can be challenging. It is so convenient sometimes to pull through the fast food drive through when you are tired and the children are hungry.

By planning ahead and being organized you can consistently have healthy home-cooked meals for your family not only on weekends, but week nights as well. In a previous post, I suggested that weekly menus are the solution to healthy meals and they are a way to stay organized in the kitchen.

In addition, here are some tips for preparing for healthy brown bag lunches:

•  Use a cycle menu or rotate between 3 – 5 easy meals. Keep these staples on hand so you don’t have a reason to skip the brown bag and hand out lunch money instead.
• Shop in bulk for staples like juice boxes, plastic ware and other non-perishable.
• Prep vegetables right after grocery shopping and then pre-package items like cut up veggies in bags or containers.

For snack attacks try the following:

• Create a snack shelf in your pantry or cabinet and set house rules for the number of snacks each day per child. Children can then self-serve. Another idea is to use a snack jar and have children pre-select snacks for the next day.
• Have a fruit bowl on the counter.
• Save some of the pre-cut veggies for snack time. Have them and other kind approved snacks where they can be reached in the refrigerator.
• If you don’t want your children to eat it, don’t have it in the house.

The stress of packing lunch, preparint healthy meals and managing snacks for your children can be lighten with a little pre-planning, some house rules and organization.

I would love to hear your suggestions for organizing for healthy meals.

So you have a teen headed for college. ..If you read my previous post you already have created a checklist, taken inventory and started shopping. But what do you do to organize a college dorm room? Let’s face it dorm rooms are tiny. Here are a few tips to help your college-bound student set up an organized dorm room:

• Think in zones: study, hanging out, sleep and storage. Assist them in organizing so things are handy. Nothing will ever be put away if it is too difficult. This is why I love clear storage bins or containers.
• Use expandable storage items such as multi-tiered hangers and an extra closet rod.
• Think carts, crates, bins, baskets, bed risers (for under bed storage), modular and stacking.
• Use vertical spaces. Buy a hutch that they can place on an existing desk or add shelves above.
• Be aware of dorm rules for painting, nails, etc. You don’t want to be responsible for repairs at the end of the year so ask questions about what is allowed.
• If rooms are small, closets are even smaller. Don’t bring their whole wardrobe. Have them pack only one fancy dress and one or two heavy sweaters. They can always switch out items on their visit home for break or on a weekend.
• Label personal items so there is no confusion of ownership.
• Encourage your college-bound student to have a conversation with their roommate to develop a shared list of items to bring such as the stereo, microwave and television.
• Help them plan for laundry day and think about supplies needed for showering especially if there is a shared bath area. Encourage them to have a system for drying towels (think smelly wet towel. Yuk!).
• Think about emergency items such as batteries, flashlights and extra blankets. Also, a power strip, stain remover and a lint brush.
• Have them include items that will help the dorm feel like home like a poster, framed photo or favorite pillow. These will add a personal touch.

Most importantly wait to see the room before you help them buy that whole fuchsia room ensemble at the store. While it looks great in the store  there may not be room for it.

This is a great time to work as a team with your teen to make the transition from home to dorm organized and easy.

Whether you are sending your child off to their first day kindergarten or your teen to college. There are some tips to help get back to school organized:

For children of all ages:

• Start by creating a check list
• Obtain a list of supplies from the school. Many times the school will send a letter home or you can check out the school’s website.
• Create your own list of supplies and items to prepare.
• Start discussing school schedules or routines, lunches, time management (bedtimes for younger children) and budgets (for older children).
• Inventory what you have on hand, what can be repurposed or what new items are needed. Then schedule a shopping time.

For college students:

• They should make a list and so should the parents and then compare the two. There is a great on-line resource  for a checklist for college-bound students.
• Create an area as a landing for items gathered for school so they are in one spot. Or consider waiting to buy some things once on campus especially if the school is further away or items are too costly to ship.
• Use items such as crates or a foot locker to pack. These items can be used for storage or furniture in the dorm.
• Discuss things such a laundry, problem-solving, healthcare and how you will stay in touch (frequent emails or weekly calls) now.

For younger children:

• Make child-care arrangements for after school, if necessary. Also, think about how to handle sick and snow days now.
• Create a school storage supply area (shelf or drawer) to store bulk items so they are all in one place.
• Give each student at home a file drawer or bin to contain completed work and current assignments.
• Create a quiet study center for each child.

By planning ahead going back to school can be organized and stress-free. I would love to hear your ideas.

The March 2010 issue of O- The Oprah Magazine included a large section devoted to organization. That must mean that spring is in the air. Actually most magazines have a standard organization or declutter article these days.

Part of the article in this magazine  included “The 10 Habits of Highly Organized People” which I thought was spot on. When we think of someone who is highly organized we think of them as being disciplined or a perfectionist. What they really have developed is a simple set of rules or a system that works for them.

The article shared those 10 tips. I have highlighted a few here:

o Walk away from bargains. Do you really need so many bottles of shampoo?
o Separate emotions from your stuff. Do you really need the dried out flowers to remember your 10 year anniversary?
o Schedule regular decluttering sessions. Whether its 15 minutes each week or an afternoon every other month schedule maintenance time.

Developing a set of rules about your stuff can help you get and stay organized.

In my most recent post, I discussed getting rid of business card clutter. To make sure that you keep the business cards that you need and will use from your next networking opportunity take the time in advance to set yourself up for success.

Here are some tips to make the most out of your next networking opportunity:

• Prepare by having enough of your own business cards printed. Also have a designated spot that you are going to place the business cards you receive.
• Before you attend the networking event, pre-schedule some time in your calendar for follow up.
• Set the intention of meeting a certain number of new people prior to the event.
•  As soon as you can write a brief memory-jogger on the business cards you collect such as mutual colleagues, where you met the person, similar interests, etc.
• Follow up with promising contacts as soon as you can after meeting them (during the time you pre-scheduled) so you don’t risk them forgetting that they met you.
• Immediately toss business cards of people that you never intend to contact or do not fit in with your current business plan. Know that if things change in the future you will probably be able to locate them via the internet or a mutual colleague.
• Schedule time and enter information from the promising contacts in a contact-management system.
• While networking focus on listening versus what you will say next. It will help you better remember the conversation for your notes.
• Arrive early at events as this is a great time to meet people.
• Arrange third-party introductions at events as a targeted way to meet new people.

By going into a networking opportunity in an organized way… with a plan…with intention you can make the most of the opportunity. Good Luck!

Why filing systems don’t work:
• You are trying to adapt someone else’s system.
• You have set up a very complex system (maybe color coded and too many small categories).
• Your file cabinet is not in a convenient location.
• You are trying to keep too much to start with (records versus references).
• You have not set up time on a regular basis to manage and maintain the paper flow in your life/office/business.

Here are some tips to set up a file system that you will use:
• Begin by sorting your piles into categories. You will begin to see a pattern.
• Decide on a way to categorize and label your files. There are several great books/resources out there that have suggestions for categories. Some include: household, personal, financial, auto, legal, health/medical and business.
• Use nouns to name your files and use the ones that you first think of when you pick up the piece of paper you are going to file. Using broader categories might make it easier as well. For example: Health/Medical: Bob, Health/Medical: Sue, etc. I can tell you from experience that more of my own papers got filed when I converted to broader categories….prior to that there were just too many files to go through and I never could decide where I should put the paper I was filing.
• Use prime space to keep your current project files, frequently consulted files and tickler file such as your desk file drawer and locate other active files in close proximity to your desk. Limit these active files to two or three drawers only. Long-term storage files can be archived to an appropriate storage container in a space outside the office such as the basement.

Next you need to have a system in place to keep paper flowing in your life. You will need to schedule project and maintenance time. Project time includes setting up or updating your system and may take multiple sessions. Maintenance time includes regular (weekly filing sessions at a minimum) as well as periodic purging sessions.

And remember for your piles to become files you need a system and also the habit of avoiding the urge to keep everything.

I am sure you have heard the statistic that 80% of what is filed is never looked at again.

Do you know the difference between papers that are references and those that are records? Learning the difference can save a lot of work and maybe a few trees in the process.

Records are papers that you need to keep for legal or business reasons. You can check with your accountant, lawyer and/or the IRS for a list of these documents and the recommended retention for each type of record.

On the other hand references are papers that are nice to have but are not needed. They may contain interesting information or ideas but are not necessary to have. You can typically find the information in the reference again via the same or another source.

Now take a look in your current filing cabinet, on the floor or table top piles and in your filing boxes. Are you keeping references or records? What percentage of what you are keeping are actual records needed for legal or business reasons.

Now ask yourself why you are keeping so many reference papers. Are you concerned that you won’t be current on business information or you saving the craft instructions for someday when you have the time?

Understanding what you currently keep in your files and piles and why you keep it is a starting point for taming the paper in your life.