Today - A review of the series

In the past 37 episodes I’ve covered rather alot of ground. I’ve explained exactly what clutter is, what causes it and the mental and emotional impact that a cluttered home or work space can have and some survey statistics to back that up. Then I listed the common mistakes that people make when attempting to organise their clutter and how to avoid these problems. I touched on the mental blocks that often stop us from making any progress and the number one secret of organised and successful people which of course is managing their time.
Then I covered the concept of the family CEO or domestic diva as a way of stepping fully into the very important and responsible role of successfully managing your household. This was followed by learning how to set goals a couple of ways to go about decluttering and then what your big picture vision is for your home and life., and then the huge importance of plugging the leak that’s causing much of your clutter problems in the first place.

At this point we got into the nitty gritty of how to go about clearing your clutter by taking the tried and true clutter diet method or the bigger and harder week-end wallops. I provided some resources for recyling useful but unwanted items you find in your clean up and some options for limiting the build up on the future. I followed this by providing detailed ways of approaching specific problems areas of the home like kitchen appliances, garages, wardrobes, kids rooms and many more.

Then onto the paper problem with solutions for filing systems, mail and setting up a communication centre and family binder. I covered dealing with hobbies, emergencies and staging your home for sale and lastly preparing for a house move.
I’ve enjoyed creating these information and how to programs for you and hope they’ve been of us to you.

Follow the series link below to find all the previous episodes.

Next in series

Over the week end there was an article our newspaper about the massive growth in people working from home or utilising a home office in addition to working out of home. It stated that many people were now having an office designed into their homes. This prompted me to think of a couple of things. 1. That if you are fortunate enough to be having a home built to your specifications then it’s certainly worth considering what tasks you will need to fulfil and design around those needs, keeping a number of important things in mind.
2. If you are making do with a spare bedroom or other space it’s still really important to consider what you do and how you will be doing it before you setup OR if what you have set up isn’t working well then a rethink is in order.
Here are some things to keep in mind when you’re designing your office space.

• What will you be doing? - mostly computer work, lots of book work or paper work, actually making things, packing and posting things, storing products, etc.

• How many people will be using the space (particularly at the same time)?

• How many different tasks will it be used for?

• What items and equipment will you require for these tasks?

Typically someone using computer equipment heavily will need to allow space and carefully plan the location of a considerable number of items.

• Where do these need to be located for your efficient functioning?

• How many items can be located off the desk top (by attaching on the underside perhaps - external hard-drives, wireless networking device, routers, battery chargers. Or otherwise out of the way - printers, faxes, scanners copiers - think about if they really need to be close to hand or just nearby.

Consider the FROG with everything you need in the office.
F - frequently used - things that need to be ‘at hand’ (generally pens, keyboard, screen & mouse, phone, notepad for example)
R - regularly used - items that you access often but don’t need to be close to hand
(this may or may not be a printer - depending on your usage needs - calculator, chargers, file cabinet perhaps)
O - occasionally used - items you refer to and need to have, but nothing that having to move from where you are to get it will be bothersome.
G - gotta keep but don’t use - typical archived documents such as past projects and tax returns etc fall into this category.
Note: the items in the above examples may for you, need to be in a different part of the FROG.

Make a list of everything you can think of that you’ll have in your office and then put them into the above categories.
Only now are you ready to consider the layout as you will need it to be. Think ideal here rather than confining yourself to an existing desk that you possess.
Once you’ve considered what would be an ideal layout, look to see if you an adapt it to your existing furniture without massive compromise. If that starts to happen, seriously consider looking for more suitable furniture it will pay off in the long run.
That’s plenty for you to think about for the moment!
More on home office organising next time.