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Tips & Tricks Busy Professionals Can Use to Simplify Their Lives Compliments of Ribary & Associates, LLC December 2006
Eliminate holiday clutter with tia’s tips
Well, here we are again. The holidays are in full swing! There are gifts to buy, decorations to hang, and of course, there is an increase in clutter.
One of the biggest offenders is an increase in mail, which means more paper than usual. If you’re like me, you receive many donation requests, holiday cards, a surplus of advertisements, and a lot more. Try using the following sorting process for every piece of paper that reaches your hands. Ask yourself these questions anytime you’re dealing with clutter:
For the holidays, ask yourself one additional question:
Below are more strategies for dealing with increased paper flow. Holiday Cards: We know our friends, co-workers, and family mean well. They send the sweetest holiday cards each year. As nice as it would be to display the cards through the holidays, you don't want MORE clutter. You could purchase holiday card hangers or stands, but the cards aren’t easily displayed so that you can enjoy them. Or you could display the cards on a table or bookshelf, but the clutter really adds up that way. My tip: String a piece of fishing line from one corner of a room to the other and then hang your cards on the line. It makes a nice decoration and gives you an easy, out of the way method of displaying special cards. One of my clients does this and when I saw it, I knew I had to share it with you. You can even leave the empty string up all year long if you like. Remember - fishing line is not easily seen, so placing the line and cards near the ceiling is a perfect option. And what about photo holiday cards? At the end of the season, gather them together to place in your photo album, just like you would any other photo. Increased Requests For Donations: In December, many of us make extra donations to charities we don't regularly support throughout the year. However, when we're sorting the mail, we're not always sure which charities we’ll be donating to for the holidays. Use a small box, basket, or file folder to collect potential charity envelopes. Then, when you’re ready to donate, you can sort through the envelopes and choose the organizations you have the desire and money to support. Additional tip: Keeping your charity envelopes near your “bills to pay” will make it easy to pay both at the same time. Coupons and Advertisements: Is there an end to the abundant amount of holiday specials and advertisements? Try placing the advertisements of interest in a specifically designated basket or file. As you receive the coupons/ads, be sure to mark down what you want to use them for. Example - if you first identify the ad as a gift idea or something you want to buy for yourself, mark that on the coupon or identify it with a sticky note. Then, when you take your coupon and ads with you, you’ll know exactly what you wanted to purchase the item for. The holidays are a festive and fun time. With the right organizational techniques, they can also be clutter free! Wishing you peace and happiness, Tia Ribary Looking for a unique, affordable gift? Beautiful custom
jewelry by CJC Design Studio Fun and networking, all at the same time? Join Women Entrepreneurs of Oregon for their December meeting featuring Sarah Victory, Life Victories: 7 Magic Questions Guaranteed To Tell You What You Are Truly Meant To Do In Your Life. Click here to register: http://www.oregonweo.org/december_2006 Our intention is to provide helpful information specific to an office environment, and at times we will provide other community or resource information. If you do not wish to receive future tips, please e-mail remove@tiaribary.com. Do you have feedback? We would love to hear your comments. Please e-mail comments@tiaribary.com or call 503-810-3794. |
