“Pauline gave us a home office filing system to find anything very quickly.  It is a simple system to use and easy to maintain.  We don’t search for papers anymore!   It has saved us time and much aggravation.”

Thanks for your help, Pauline!   –  Rob and Kim

Do you feel like you are constantly searching through piles to find what you need?

Do you come in at the start of the day and wonder where to start?

If you are taking hours to go through paper and emails and never really accomplishing anything, NOW is the time to start organizing so your business can move forward.

1. Take all your piles of papers and put in a box.  Go to a sorting table.  Next every paper is one of these – TO BE READ – TO ACTION – TO FILE – make 3 piles and have one box for recycle and one for shred.  If you have a shredder, shred as you go.  Keep in your head as you go through Read, Action, File, Toss – RAFT.  You can use the same system for Email.
2. Once this is done you need to make a home for the READ and ACTION – this you can use a 3 tray system or a desk top system.
3. Everything that needs to be filed you need to categorize and make file folders, hanging files and  put in filing cabinet.
4. From here purge and organize your drawers, shelving units and anything else that needs to be done.
5. Make sure everything has a home, pen holder, clip holders, containers to hold ink cartridges ( new and old to recycle), CD’s, books, extra office supplies, paper etc.
6. At the end of the day, put everything away, action for the next day goes in the ACTION tray – end your day with a clear desk so when you come in the next day you are starting with a new slate.
7. DON’T SET IT DOWN,  PUT IT AWAY!     Take Our Poll

• Family Calendar – mark in all the events and appointments that are taking place in November and December and keep it up to date. Also schedule when you will put the tree up, and all the other Christmas things that need to be done to get ready.
• Have an evening or day you get together with a friend and bake, it is fun and gets it all done for both of you. Most desserts, cookies and squares freeze well, so do this in November so you have treats to take to places when you are invited. I also make up boxes for people who I want to give a little something for the holiday season, like the guy across the street that blows our driveway out, just because. Another idea for baking is doing a cookie exchange with friends or coworkers.
• Christmas Cards – who would like to send out cards, but just thinks it is just another thing to do? A couple things to think about, send cards to those you do not get a chance to see on a weekly basis, be selective when sending, do not just send because they sent you one. Christmas cards are like gifts, give because you want to, not because you have to. So if sending cards is not something you want to do, don’t and don’t feel guilty, if you want to send them, send them and have fun doing it. Keep a list of who you want to send to each year, add and delete to that list throughout the year as needed. This list can be in an address book either manually or electronic. When you do it electronic you are able to print out labels and this saves you time. Get the family involved, my children help put on stamps, return and sending address label and a Christmas sticker for the back. A Christmas letter is also a great thing to insert in a card for those people you maybe only see once or twice a year or maybe live far away, to update them on your life. Mail cards by end of November. With our system we can help you with this task.
• If you send out business Christmas Cards, what about taking the pressure off and waiting till January and send a Happy New Year Card! Just In Time Solutions would be happy to help you putting this system in place and implementing.
• Get your Christmas Decorations and Lights out by mid November so that you can enjoy them and get into the spirit of Christmas.
• If your children are part of fund raisers or you are in a store and there is a great gift item on sale for $5 to $10 dollars, pick up a few, you can use for hostess gifts, teachers gifts, secret Santa gifts or whatever you might need a small gift for.
• Also make sure your wrapping station is stocked with ribbon, wrapping paper or bags, tissue paper, tape and scissors so when you need to wrap, you can. When you have all your gifts together have a wrapping night with significant other, have some wine, put some Christmas music on and have fun!
• When planning meals, party munchies, appetizers for entertaining, remember to keep it simple, light and fun. You do not want to be in the kitchen when your friends and family are there. Prepare as much ahead of time, have ingredients on hand to make up a quick party pleaser if you have someone drop in last minute. If you do not enjoy entertaining, hire out as much as you can, have a caterer, go potluck or get a couple highschool students to help out with serving and in the kitchen, or if you really hate entertaining, don’t do it.
• Remember to delegate what you can. One person can not prepare for the holidays alone. Make it a family time.
• Prepare meals in November and December that you can double up and put in the freezer, that way on a busy night, or a night you just want to put your feet up and you can pull a meal from the freezer.
• If you have young children swap babysitting with a friend so that you can each get done what you need to do without having the children seeing all the Santa activities. The children will also have fun with their playmates.
• If you are travelling out of town, make travel plan ahead of time so there are no surprises at the end.
• List Notebook – carry a notebook, which I have put at your place setting, with you for lists, – grocery, gift ideas, to do’s

These are my organizing tips for the holidays.
I hope you will take home one idea to help make things run smoother this holiday season.

But remember the reason for the season, enjoy your family and friends, help out at local charities, look after yourself and above all HAVE FUN!!

Pauline Hoffman, CPO  519-227-2241

pauline@justintimesolutions.com

It is that time of year again and whether you have a child in Elementary, High school or going off to College or University, you need a plan for the next few weeks.

Elementary

Make sure you have any childcare arrangements made so there are no surprises on the first day.   When it is your child’s first year at school and the first time for before or after school, you may need to take them to that babysitter for an afternoon for them to get familiar with a new place.

Go over safety issues of coming to and from school and have a code that only you and your child know for picking him or her up.

Make a spot for when they come home, they unload their back pack – dishes go in the sink, lunch pail goes away, homework goes in a specific spot and back pack goes away.   This way when it is time to do homework we know where everything is.

Check over their clothes to make sure they have what they need, mending is done, pants are hemmed and a fall jacket is ready for the cool mornings.

Check over school supplies and get what they do not have for this new year.  Staples store has a great list for all grades.

The last week before school starts, gradually get them into the proper sleeping pattern for back to school.

Go over the daily routine for morning and night, have a check list if your children are at the age this works and have a reward system.

Establish weekday rules, after a summer of freedom and not so much structure it is good to remind them when they are back to school we need more of a routine.

Do your best to get caught up on all the laundry and house work the week before school so your evenings can be devoted to getting everyone back on track the first week.   There is so much that starts in September we have to keep focused and organized.

Most of all make this a happy, organized and memorable time for your children.

Next time we will talk about high school, college and university.

If you are working and not at home this week, leave them a task a day, i.e. dresser drawers, purge and get rid of what you do not like or what does not fit. Anything that needs repaired or hemmed, have them put out where you can take a look at.

Next day, all their papers and books in their rooms.  Next day toys, and so on.

If you are at home, you may be able to turn this around in a day or two.

Remind them if they have room in their closet and you see they only have 2 pairs of jeans you will want to buy them another pair, but if you can not see in their closet for stuff, why would you buy more?

Good luck and let me know how you make out.  Why not do before and after pictures and send them to me, if I have any more tips I will send them through to you.

All the best and enjoy the sunshine.

Is technology creating an organizational nightmare for you? E-mail in boxes, files saved to the desktop and confusing folder systems equate to wasted time. The busier you are and the more elements you have to your work flow, the more important it is to have a computer organizational system that works for you… read more

Article by: Allison Graham is a business networking expert, conference speaker and the author of Business Cards to Business Relationships: How to Build the Ultimate Network. To submit a question, comment on this article or contact Allison, visit her blog at blogs.canoe.ca/gettingconnected or her website, www.elevatebiz.ca

Summer is on the way.  I can smell the barbecues, feel the warm evening air on the patio and hear the sounds of my friends and family around.

Does that sound relaxing to you?  Now, if that warm weather was to come tomorrow how quickly could you get to that serene place on your patio?

Did you wash and pack up all the summer furniture, toys, dishes, patio accessories etc. before old man winter came?  If you didn’t it is time to do that.

There are many things we use in the summer in the outdoors that we do not use all winter, so here are some tips to help with storage.

1.      Make sure you have a storage area to put these items in that is in the back storage, shed or garage.  Do not use prime floor space which is used year round.

2.    Bikes and large chairs can go on large PVC coated hooks from the ceiling of the garage.

3.    Add a short attic-like shelf to your garage and shed to store plastic totes.  In the totes you can store, all the dishes, napkins, tablecloths, and other barbecue items.  The flower pots, potting soil, small hand garden tools, lawn ornaments and the list goes on.  If it is small and can be packed in a tote do it, label it with  contents list and put it up on the shelf. It is now out of the way.

4.    Make sure everything is stored in categories, like items together.

5.    There are many garage organizing things for the kids sports equipment and the gardening tools, take advantage of these.