J.Bair Company � Home of the Inner Organizer

“A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump: a God-shaped life is a flourishing tree.” – Proverbs 11:28

Agonize or Organize?
Tips for Life from Professional Organizer, Jenny Bair

Daily Clutter Maintenance and Time Management Tips for the Busy Person:

Build in a Power Hour© at the beginning and end of your day: (If you use the whole time great, if not even better�more time to do something else!) Power Hour© can be defined as doing some of these tasks, but the idea is to create this hour specific to you and your family�s needs (Some people create a professional and personal Power Hour©):

review and return urgent and important emails & phone calls,
straighten your desk or home command central,
prepare for next day's meetings and appointments (i.e. get paperwork together in your beige file),
document time or mileage in paper or electronic organizer,
pay bills,
put mail in out box or mailbox,
start list for next days to do’s,
make your bed before you leave the house, make it as soon as you get out of bed,
reflect on what worked well and what presented itself as a challenge to you this day-personally and professionally,
pick out and lay out clothes for the next day (iron, if you do that),
pack bags and put by the door to avoid the “morning rush crazies”,
designate a key hook(s) or key box, hang by the front door or the most traveled door in the house (this way you won’t waste time looking for them),
start a load of laundry or put away clothes,
straighten up the kitchen,
straighten up your bedroom to make a relaxing refuge before bed.

Turn off the TV and computer 2 hours before bedtime (start training your brain by doing this during your pm Power Hour© time), it makes your brain too stimulated before bed, but you can listen to relaxing music or turn on a small water fountain, open the windows-get some fresh air, hang up chimes outside so you can hear them
Limit your time and family members' time in front of TV and computers. Think mix and mingle, not numb out or escaping from these great people!
Come up with criteria as to what constitutes as an URGENT, IMPORTANT, MEDIUM, and LOW priority phone call and email. Put a time limit on both throughout the day. Screen first, then respond based on your criteria. Criteria helps you create time boundaries. These criteria and boundaries assist you in controlling your time better by you gaining the control to manage them instead of them managing you!
At home and work; color code your filing system as to not waste time looking for the right file. For example, all of my client files are purple, financial files are green, red for health files�.I know exactly what type of file it is just by a quick glance of color association.
Use a paper or electronic organizer every day of your life. Set appointments and reminders on paper or in your Outlook Calendar. Doing this can greatly reduce the brain energy of trying to remember everything.
Things that I suggest to document as weekly appointments:

Free yourself from sticky notes — file sticky notes and keep one notebook with all TO-DO lists housed there and not stuck all over the front of your computer or mirror. I suggest a spiral bound notebook with perforated pages.
Create a waking and bedtime for each member of the household and stick to it at least on the weekdays. Your brain and body will learn this time over the period of about 3-6 weeks. I suggest the Power Hour© before the Bedtime Ritual.
Once you have decided on a set bedtime, decide on your Bedtime Ritual. Creating a bedtime ritual will help reduce insomnia, too much brain stimulation before bed, time to reflect on the day�s events, “me-time”, partner time, prayer time, mediation time and/or journal time it is up to you!
I encourage you to consider these activities as apart of your nightly routine:

a warm bath or shower w/ essential oiled soaps, lotions, bath or massage oils (think of relaxing scents at bedtime like lavender, and vanilla)
Follow your bathing ritual w/ comfy or sexy pj�s whichever make you feel comfortable and ready to get your sleep on
You may consider journaling�for those of you who cringe when I say journal consider bullet pointing your day.

On Sundays, take rest. Live your 1 of 52 mini-vacations. Hang out with your family, friends, eat good food, laugh out loud. Do no work, errands, and have all technology turned to the OFF position.