Do you share this goal with most people?

I've just been browsing 43 things. There are 99212 people who put "get organised" as a goal and 99764 that put "get organized" as a goal.

WOW!

I have heard before that "get organised" is one of the top 10 goals most people set every year.

I don't believe that getting organised happens instantaneously. You can get the principles instantly but it takes a while to build the habits to stay organised.

It's one thing to organise a space and another thing altogether to keep that space organised.

In fact, clients often say to me, "I can get my _________ organised but a week later, it looks like a tornado hit" :)

That's why I put together a simple, step-by-step system to get your home organised in just 12 weeks.

If this is something on your to-do list this year, then I want you to have that peace that being organised brings.

Read more about Organise your Home here



7 easy steps to organise your office here

and Organise your business here

Here's to an organised 2009!

Organising and storing my jewellery...and when it doesn't quite work

I don't have a lot of jewellery. My thing is watches!

So I really just use a couple of hooks on the inside of my wardrobe door. The problem happens when I just keep throwing necklaces onto the hooks and eventually, it drives me crazy.

Like this - now I know it doesn't look that bad but that's because a hook fell off and I put those necklaces on some of the other hooks.


What did I do? I

• removed everything from the door
• decluttered stuff I never wear
  
• separated them into categories - earrings, pink and white set (only pink stuff I have), work necklaces, bracelets and weekend necklaces
• decided where to put new hooks (somewhat limited by the shelves when you close the door)
• hung everything up again, this time in an organised fashion
  

Voila!

P.S. So they're not the prettiest pictures in the world but they are organised - just keeping it real :)

New format Friday Declutter Challenge for 2009

This is the last challenge for 2008. Wow!

I'm so proud of you, even if you only participated a couple of times.

I've been thinking about doing this challenge a little differently next year.

How about we have a "theme for the week" every week? It will be something small and manageable....what do you think?

(if you don't want to post on the theme, go right ahead :) It's mainly to help those who want more direction and guidance with their organising efforts)

So, some housekeeping...

We're decluttering and organising in our KITCHENS for the month of Jan

2 Jan - Tupperware in the kitchen
9 Jan - Mugs and glasses
16 Jan - Plates & bowls
23 Jan - Cutlery and utensils
30 Jan - Baking pans and cooking stuff

Get your entire home organised in 2009.

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This is what I decluttered this week - some old pyjamas I've outgrown :) - too much of these and these.

This is a great week to declutter some items, especially if you received new __________ for Christmas.

Why hang onto those old __________ ?

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

Now for this week's challenge

Please link to the post on your blog where you show off your pictures or talk about what you decluttered this week. If you don't have a blog, tell me in the comments about ANYTHING you decluttered this week.

It can be anything - physical, electronic, mental clutter or even the need to be a certain way. Like perfectionism! :)

What did you declutter this week?



P.S.

Last chance to enter the disorganised office contest

So far I have 4 serious entrants to the competition and other "should I, shouldn't I?" emails.

This is just a courtesy reminder that the disorganised office contest closes at 12PM EST today.

Get your entries in!

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

Okay, here's the deal
I'm looking for someone who could use my 7 easy steps to organise your office MP3 and ebook pack.

I will donate a copy to someone free of charge and in exchange, you will guest blog (one post a week for about 4 - 6 weeks, depends how quickly you work through it) as you work through the system and organise your office.

The system covers organising your actual office space, desk, email, computer, etc. so you should have a more organised office than you had when you started :)

It doesn't matter if one or two of your areas are already reasonably under control because even REALLY organised people have used just one or two tips and seen BIG results

This is how you enter

Send me an email to marcia AT organiseyourbusiness.com or leave a comment telling me

if you work at home, work full-time, etc.

which areas of your office need the most help

if you have your own blog (this is not a requirement)

why you want to do this

Entries close at midnight EST tonight (24 Dec).

I'll let the winner know sometime over the weekend and everybody else will get another gift for being brave enough to step up :)

Now this is a nifty little handbag tool

The great thing about loving handbags is that once people know that (which really doesn't take too long with me), they bring you all these cool things to have a look at.

And of course, I'm always ready to take a photo :)

Like this...

This little gadget is a corporate gift we gave to some of our female brokers. The silver bits fold up and the whole thing looks like a coin when not in use.

The bottom of the circular disc has a rubber base so it doesn't slide off the smooth surface of the table and then you hang your handbag off the edge.

I always think, "I hope my bag doesn't get dirty on this floor" when I'm in a restaurant so I really think this is a great idea!

Now I just have to get one.

Isn't it cute?

P.S. that isn't my bag in the photo - it is waaaayyyyy too small for me!

P.P.S. Get your home organised in 2009.

For all the procrastinators out there...a Christmas post :)

Photo credit - http://giftsoftheorient.co.uk

Here's a selection of some of my previous Christmas organising posts for you, especially if you're one of those last-minute people.

How to plan your Christmas without getting stressed

Frugal gift ideas - beaded bookmarks and jewellery organisers

Organising gift wrap and ribbons

And if you really want to save lots of money, go get some cheap Christmas cards and gift wrap (if you use Christmas gift wrap) in the days just after Christmas

Let's have some fun. If you could describe this year's Christmas in ONE WORD, what would that be?

My word is SIMPLE.

Over to you!

Mmmm, can you smell the lovely smell of paper. But out they must!

Entries are still open for the messy, disorganised office competition. Don't be shy - I want to help you :)


Books can be really, really hard to declutter, especially if you're a book lover like I am.

I've shared before about my book organising system but basically here's how it goes:

I only keep books that are 8, 9 or 10 out of 10 on my rating scale. I don't keep all of them but those I do have are either an 8, 9 or 10.

This week I decluttered these three books...to the secondhand bookstore. (If you're in Johannesburg, I like Bookdealers or Books Galore)

I usually take the credit they give me rather than the cash and when I run out of books from the library (when they just don't have any good ones), I'll use my credits for some secondhand books, like these.


Here are some more posts on decluttering and organising books - enjoy :)

Organising library books
Decluttering piles and piles of books

expectations
This week I've been feeling really lazy so I "broke loose" and didn't do a thing in my business except lead a call for my Gold VIP Inner Circle and get out my organising tips newsletter, so I suppose you can say I decluttered some of my own high-achieving expectations.

This might seem like nothing to some of you but it's huge for me to do nothing :)

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

Now for this week's challenge

Please link to the post on your blog where you show off your pictures or talk about what you decluttered this week. If you don't have a blog, tell me in the comments about ANYTHING you decluttered this week.

It can be anything - physical, electronic, mental clutter or even the need to be a certain way. Like perfectionism! :)

What did you declutter this week?

P.S. I've been thinking about doing this challenge a little differently next year. How about we have a specific area every week? It will be something small and manageable....what do you think?

I'm looking for someone with a messy, disorganised office. Is that you?

Okay, here's the deal
I'm looking for someone who could use my 7 easy steps to organise your office MP3 and ebook pack.

I will donate a copy to someone free of charge and in exchange, you will guest blog (one post a week for about 4 - 6 weeks, depends how quickly you work through it) as you work through the system and organise your office.

The system covers organising your actual office space, desk, email, computer, etc. so you should have a more organised office than you had when you started :)

It doesn't matter if one or two of your areas are already reasonably under control because even REALLY organised people have used just one or two tips and seen BIG results

This is how you enter

Send me an email or leave a comment telling me

if you work at home, work full-time, etc.

which areas of your office need the most help

if you have your own blog (this is not a requirement)

why you want to do this

Entries close at midnight on Christmas Eve (24 Dec).

My bedside table - before and after

Remember I told you how quickly my bedside table gets cluttered?

Here are the pictures to prove it, and my before shot.

There are tons of books - more than I can read in a month - and behind that pile bookmarks, tablets and hand creams galore.

Notice my empty glass - I love water with a slice of lemon. Yum!


Here is the after shot.

• My evening mug of decaf tea.
• I took 3 non-fiction books back to my study - when I finish one of the current non-fiction ones (When organizing isn't enough/ I don't know what I want but I know it's not this), I'll get one at a time.
• I returned the medication to the bathroom and the extra container to my container drawer.
  
• I tidied the telephone table too and put a pretty cloth underneath the phone and message pad.
• Current pile of books - one fiction, two non-fiction, a journal and two Bibles
• Candle holder keeping my rings while I sleep at night and a gold bracelet.
  

So tell me, what do you have on your bedside table?

P.S. Happy Birthday to one of the sweetest and most encouraging people I know, Megan Spears!

7 things you may not know about me

People, I'm feeling the pressure.

I don't like things on my to-do list and yet both Eva and Suzanne tagged me to share 7 things you may not know about me

As we say in South Africa, eish!

Okay, let's get to it!

1. I hate, hate, hate doing laundry! Drives me absolutely batty. I think it's because it's never DONE!
2. I have never had a traffic fine. Well, I have had one, but it was a mistake as it was not my car in the picture they sent me. You'll know what a miracle this is if you've ever driven with me LOL
3. My husband and I first met when he asked me to dance for him (ballet). Yes, I also thought he was a weirdo and of course said no! Which made me irresistible to him :)
4. For the first time in my entire working life, I'm at an absolute low, work-wise. All prayers very welcome!
   
5. I'm a BIG Michael Connelly fan and I've met him at an author reading/ signing. Very embarrassing moment for me.
6. I do NOT have it all together. In fact, the reason I'm a time management coach today is because I was so shockingly bad at managing my time, learnt the lessons through trial and error and now I'm out on the other side!
7. I am very lazy and love sleeping. If I could, I'd probably sleep in until 11 every day. Most weekends I do!

There you have it!

Now I'm tagging Debbie (we co-presented a call on blogging for business last night), Paula, Beth Dargis and Jenn Givler

Decluttering hotel toiletries

This week I decluttered a whole lot of hotel toiletries.

I always have good intentions to use them all, either for us or for guests, but when we get back home, I revert to my normal-sized bottles.

After I had a good sort through our guest bedroom, I decided that this is crazy. We really don't have people staying over that much and these things are piling up.

So I donated two bottles of body lotion because I like specific lotions :) and put the shower gels and some other shampoos in the shower.

And wouldn't you know it? I'm actually using them. It feels really good to throw away a bottle every two days.


What did you declutter this week?

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

Please link to the post on your blog where you show off your pictures or talk about the declutter. Or if you don't have a blog, tell me in the comments about ANYTHING you decluttered this week.

It can be anything - physical, electronic, mental clutter or even the need to be a certain way. Like perfectionism! :)

What did you declutter this week?

Do you feel buried, smothered and overwhelmed by your to-do lists?

You're not alone!

• Do your to-do lists feel like they're smothering you?
  

• Do you feel like your head is full of noise and it's so distracting?


• Do you have bright ideas on your computer, on bits of paper, Post-It notes and in your Outlook tasks?


• Are you spending too much time looking for things and not enough time actually doing them?


• Is your disorganisation is holding you back and preventing you from doing your best work?


• Do you regularly have to take a day (or half-day) just to get things back in control?

You'll learn how to

• set strong boundaries and how to say no
  

• identify what's working and, more importantly, what's not working in your life


• overcome procrastination


• manage your internal distractions


• find out your time management style


• discover your values and why that ties into the way you manage your time


• effectively delegate, even if you don't have staff


• eliminate or, at the very least, reduce your stress levels


• and much, much more

Click this link to read more

P.S. The bonuses alone are worth more than the package :)

Well now, don't these uniforms rock?

This is Bongani's sleeve. I had to take this picture because look! They've built pen holders into their uniforms.

Fun and functional!

Have you bought your planner yet?

Remember this post from last year where I showed you my planner?

(Incidentally, I need to put a "most popular posts" thing on my blog because that post gets a huge amount of traffic)

Anyway, I started a series of blog posts on the other blog called choose the perfect planner. Read this one and keep checking back. I've planned out about 5 already.

Here is part 1 - paper or electronic?

So have you bought yours yet?

Tag - you're it

Calling all declutterers, especially if you participated in the August Declutter Challenge

Diana and I have decided to tag you to participate in the Friday Declutter Challenge THIS Friday 12 December.


I'm tagging three people and asking them to each tag 3 of their friends:

Marcia (the crafty one)
Diane
Ria


Let's start the movement again :)

So tell me, which is the area in your house that gets cluttered the quickest.

Mine is my bedside table because of all the books - I'm actually busy decluttering it now so I'll post pics next week.

He's still got it!

I was at Rod Stewart’s concert last night here in Johannesburg and…well… he’s still got it!

It was a FABULOUS concert – I swear he did ALL my favourites and it was SOOO great to sing along with an audience full of fans and not feel like you’re weird, you know?

Surprisingly (and I say so because usually things are a mess at gatherings of this magnitude) it was really well organised, everyone was orderly and we were able to get in and out of the venue with a minimum of fuss.

I was very impressed with him - his energy is unbelievable - and he really allows each of the band members and backup singers to shine. Of course, today Dion and I are still singing all the songs and reliving the experience :)

His 21-year-old daughter, Ruby, also sang a song. Wow - she's good - a real chip off the old block and his son (looked to me to be around 4 years old) came on to "introduce" his sister with a bit of coaching from his dad. He's such a proud father - it's gorgeous to see. Or am I just soppy?

I also (literally) ran into an old friend who I haven’t seen for about 3 – 4 years.

Driving on the highway to the concert

The one pic we took before the show started

Anyway, that's another item to cross off my life list! Now I still need to see Elton John and Billy Joel in concert.

Who do you want to see in concert?

Donation boxes, dedicated spaces and decluttering

Please encourage all your blog friends to join us in decluttering and choosing to live a simpler life by using the button on your sidebar. Christmas is less than 3 weeks away and you need to start taking action so that you don't just fill up all the spaces you've already decluttered.

Ideas for clutter-free giving

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This week I was so eager to declutter that I forgot to take before pictures but I am showing you the tidy after space. This is our dedicated space for things we have to return to other people.


I had some dishes I had to return to a friend right there for nearly 3 months (!) as well as a surprise gift for her husband. I came second in a competition at work for doing a presentation and won a really beautiful barbeque set.

Well, Dion and I don't braai (South African word for barbeque) so this set was totally wasted on us and instead of just shoving it in the back of a cupboard, I thought, "who loves to braai?" and the answer was our friend, so I decided to give it to him.

Then I wanted to show you our donation box. We put anything we want to donate in this box, our cleaning lady sees if anything takes her fancy and I put the rest outside my gate. Remember in South Africa, things won't be there for very long, which is very useful.


There are some corporate gifts in there, an old poster and some dip (for chips/ crisps) that we're just not getting around to eating.

What did you declutter this week?

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

Please link to the post on your blog where you show off your pictures or talk about the declutter. Or if you don't have a blog, tell me in the comments about ANYTHING you decluttered this week.

It can be anything - physical, electronic, mental clutter or even the need to be a certain way. Like perfectionism! :)

What did you declutter this week?

Clutter-free gifts - just in time

I've just stumbled upon the MOST fabulous idea.

Instead of giving gifts to clutter up somebody's home, why not donate a food parcel to a child-headed home in South Africa?

Make Christmas matter

P.S. I went to build relationships (have a chat) with a colleague and saw a card on her desk that went something like this.

"we've decided to forgo Christmas gifts this year and instead buy food parcels for child-headed homes"

What do you think? Good idea? Not?

Wordless Wednesday - neat stack of clothes

My colleague's desk - before and after pics

This is my colleague's desk. He sits directly behind me - you can see my desk is in exactly the same location.

Notice the piles on the floor. Every evening he moves the piles onto the desk so the cleaning ladies don't throw it all away.

Anyway, I try not to tease him too much about his messy desk but the other guys have no such qualms. In fact, his line manager regularly asks me to help him "sort it all out". To which I reply, "sorry, I only work with people who want to change" :)

So in typical guy fashion, they bet him that he wouldn't be able to sort it all out in a week. And in typical guy fashion, he rose to the occasion and did it.

It looks a MILLION times better and I'm so proud of him. It really made my heart proud and he did it within the deadline (I think my camera said 3.22 pm on a Friday afternoon). Just goes to show what you can do when you put your mind to it because he did it in about 2 hours.