Organize = Declutter ≠ Dump

Many people talk about organizing as it would equal dumping most of their belongings just to make more room in their home or office. In simple words, making a space (more) eye appealing would be organizing’s only purpose.

In my books, organizing means finding a place for each thing. A place that makes my effects, easy to access. I like my home comfortable and I presume you feel just the same. It is true that I was born a minimalist and that I rarely get attached to unpractical things. In my dreams, all my house has shelves with perfectly lined containers; assorted colors and dimensions; each of them carefully labeled. However, our reality is that we have more belongings than we need and we want to enjoy every single one. Well, at least we wish we would have time for that. For this very reason – enjoying our possessions -, we had to find organizing solutions that met our family’s needs.

To support my ideas, I found Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, definition for "organization":

* a company, business, club, etc., that is formed for a particular purpose;

* the act or process of putting the different parts of something in a certain order so that they can be found or used easily;

* the act or process of planning and arranging the different parts of an event or activity.

As a conclusion, do not be afraid of organizing. It doesn't mean giving up things that you value it means having everything handy. Yes, you can discard everything that has no use or value nevertheless you don’t have to.

On top of time and effort saving, everyone can enjoy a good looking home or office.

In case you need to contact me use (815)312-3890 or simplyfiedlife@gmail.com .

Organizing Business Documents

Today's story starts with the  two and a half years of minimally "organizing" the paperwork for our trucking business. While juggling with kids, studying, business and home all by myself, being organized had been a pretty challenging goal. Most of the people that visited our home have never seen piles of papers. The reason for our apparent organization were the few bins and boxes nicely sitting in a basement cabinet. However, finding a receipt could have taken a few good hours. In other words, it seemed organized, but it was actually a chaos. When things started calming down, I also started sorting our receipts, bank statements, official letters, and quarterly fillings. It took some courage to make myself go through everything but after three weeks of work (after 9:00 pm because during the day I had to keep working on other things) I started seeing the results.

The upsides of the situation are the newly organizing systems that I love:

- number one is the wall document tray. We used to keep the business receipts in small envelopes in one of the kitchen cabinets until I had the time to take them in the sorting area also known as the office. The result was a cabinet full of small envelopes with receipts coming out and different other business papers mixed-up. Obviously, every time the cabinet's door was opened, something was falling out. The first step was to create a system and that was how I bought a wall document tray and three large envelopes; I printed labels for each tier and now we have a wonderful system: we use the first envelope for all business receipts for a month; at the end of the month I take the envelope downstairs and start organizing the receipts; the second envelope stores the tax-related forms; while the last one is for different official documents (licenses renewal notices, etc);

- number two is stapling the receipts in a binder. I use the back of old bank statements or other unnecessary documents as a base for stapling. Then I staple the receipts in order by the date. The months are separated so when we need a receipt from November 16th 2012 we just go to the folder containing the specific year and month and then looking for the date. I have my bookkeeping software, that downloads all the transactions from our bank account and it sends them to the appropriate categories which already settled up. This is the reason why I don't need to sort the receipts by categories. I only have to introduce the cash expenses manually. However, they are not too many since we use the debit card for 99% of the transactions.

 - the third part of the system are the "tools" used for organizing the receipts and the other business paperwork. I wanted to have them all together and to be able to easily transport them wherever I needed them. So, I bought a plastic box with dividers and used for my markers and pencils but also for the paper clips and staples.

I usually like to have our desk clutter-free  so I am keeping most of the office tools like the perforator and stapler in a cabinet together with the business paperwork. In the same time, I like to have them handy when I am working so, I am using a basket for their storage and transportation. 

Have a wonderful day!

Do You Have a Dream?

A dream where your home is ready to be shown off? A dream of getting home and feeling as perfect as the best maid in the world had stopped by and had every single thing in your house put in its own designed spot? If I tell you that you don't need such a maid, would you believe me?

All you need is courage, determination, an unique system adapted to your needs and help. I think you have the courage and determination and we have the system(s) and the experience to help.

Why would you want such a big change in your life? Because having an organized home means having more free time; means thinking clearly and it might mean more money (just think about that pile of bills that is waiting to be paid and may cause a loss if not paid in a timely manner).

A disorganized home doesn't equal happy people.

If you are that courageous, please contact me at (815)312-3890 or simplyfiedlife@gmail.com .

Blogging

Even though the blog is under construction (the idea of starting a business is relatively new but the practice is old), we do work on different projects. Some more information can be found on our Facebook page.




Have a wonderful week!

About this Project

I am a wife, a mom, a business owner, a homeowner, a gardener, and I could add some few other "positions" to my curriculum. I used to be a student, too. I used to sleep 4-5 hours per night (sometimes even less than that!) to be able to juggle with all my daily positions. Everything was a priority: my online Master program that I wanted to graduate with a good GPA; our business because we were relying on it to make a living; the kids crying for my attention; my husband feeling excluded; the home cleaning; cooking from scratch; shopping (I was extremely thankful for the online commerce); paying bills; pulling weeds; planting and watering vegetables and flowers.

Everything on the list was my responsibility. Adding that due to our business's profile it is impossible to have a schedule would complete the picture. Also, my husband travels a lot for our business so I have to deal by myself with most of the situations at home. There was a time when doing laundry, cleaning up the house, cooking and grocery shopping equaled a day off.

However, our lifestyle transformed our business and paperwork in a chaos. We had boxes of documents (most of them were already scanned and saved electronically); 3 paper grocery bags full of papers that needed shredding; our medical and other personal documents were mixed up with bills and receipts. I was terrified to even start working on organize the mess because the enormous piles were overwhelming. I am thankful for being a native minimalist and resisting the urge to buy stuff just because is on sale; that would have made my life even more complicated. Also, I have to give thanks to the previous owner of our house for leaving behind a basement full of storage closets and shelves.

Even though, my house looked organized and clean one day I decided that enough was enough and I started purging and organizing. Organizing in a manner that only a professional could have done.

My action resulted in very neat business paperwork; handy house and personal documents; kids can access their toys and books without help; kitchen cabinets de-cluttered.  Even my husband is able to find everything he needs without asking me (this is a really big achievement for our household).

Going through a large palette of feelings while organizing, telling my story, offering advice and tips when asked, support and even help other people in need of organizing seemed like the next step.