The Organizer

You want to get organized but you don't know where to start? Here's some help. There are a few basics to follow when you're uncluttering your life. Want a quick strategy you can follow to get rid of all that junk? If you're tied down to things like eggshells from an cake you made ten years ago, the gum from underneath your desk in second grade, kindergarten class notes, clothing from your last life, then it's time to unclutter. That's the first step to getting organized. The less you have to organize, the easier it is to get done:

At work or a home office
How to unclutter
What to do with the extra stuff

At work or a home office

use TRAF= toss, refer to someone else, act on, or file. If you're not sure, toss. If it's important, you'll know. But be sure you consult with family members before throwing away things important to them.

answer calls at the end of the day unless they're urgent or emergency calls (don't redefine emergency to mean Martha needs help picking out what to wear to dinner

if you have 5 min to spare, make a to do list. make it short and simple. you should be able to get everything in that list done the same day.

if you have 5 more minutes to spare, STRETCH or meditate

recognize your peak performance time - do high-stress stuff then. are you best in the morning even though you don't usually get up then? then wake up earlier!

purge your computer of old stuff (use a zip disk if you can)

Purging Strategies (try em all!):

Strategy 1: Take a bunch of old stuff and put it in a box. Mark the date. Come back after a while (a few months, a year, whenever you remember). Did you really need any of the stuff? No? Then throw out the box without opening it. You'll never know what you missed!

Strategy 2: Get rid of duplicates. Who needs 20 emery boards and 5 fuschia shirts? Keep just one of each thing.

Strategy 3: Throw out everything (except vitals like your passport, etc) that you haven't used in a year. Be ruthless.