Click on Image to see the News Letter

Click on Image to see the News Letter

Click on Image to see the News Letter

Notice if these images, words, sounds or feelings are coming from list 1 or list 2.

1.        Hard Work                   2.     Energizing
Boring                                  Freedom
Having to lose things           Finding room for new things
Waste of time                       Empowering
Non-creative                        Creative
Drudgery                              Happiness
Unrealistic                            Inspiring
Impossible                           Clarity and Focus

The First Step in Organizing Is Clearing Mental Clutter

Examine your beliefs about organizing and your ability to create an organized life.
Let’s write down a few and discover how we can view them differently.

What is keeping you up at night?

If you were organized with your time and space, how would your life look then?

The Second Step in Organizing Is Time Management

Let’s examine what issues come up with time. Everyone has the same 168 hours in a week. Where are you spending yours and how are you tracking it?

Write down a few of the ways that could work for you to better manage your time.

The Third Step in Organizing Is Personal Productivity

·    Mind dumping
Options: PDA, Voicemail, Outlook, Daily planner, Notebook, Calendar

·    Categorize

·    Assess time and difficulty

·    Do, Delete, Diminish, Delay, Delegate (Morgenstern, Time Management from the Inside Out)

·    Evaluate

The Fourth Step in Organizing Is System Management

Paper System
File System
Chore System

Organizing Space is the Fifth Step

Clutter
·    Purge (Donate, Sell, Give and Return, Toss)
o    Set a specific date
·    Sort
·    Categorize
·    Designate and Measure Space
·    Containerize and Label

Secret Sixth Step!

Create a rule for your boundaries in each area determining when and how often you will touch up area. Evaluate your systems and your rules and adjust if needed.

Click on Image to see the News Letter

By Camille VanAarle

1. Separate your work area

If you do not have separate room for hobby/crafts then try to partition off an area of the room with a screen or by arranging bookshelves or furniture in such a manner that it creates a physical separation to the room. This will help restrict THE MESS (as others commonly call our craft addiction) to one area. Try to keep your projects confined to this area. Many people train their kids (and some husbands) that this is an off-limits area. I have never done this, however the state of confusion is such in my room that it does scare most people (except true crafters) away.

2. Think about storage

Have a place for everything and everything in its place. This will make your work time much more fun and efficient. Many of us have a couple of hours after dinner but the thought of looking for our scissors, the right pattern etc, is just too overwhelming and we end up watching TV instead.
Get yourself some cardboard file boxes or the more expensive see-through plastic Rubbermaid boxes and organize your fabric, ribbon, dried flowers, etc. Group things with common themes. For example, I put all my Christmas fabric in an old antique trunk, all my pom poms are separated in cardboard boxes according to color and I have one large cardboard box just filled with GOLD things.

3. Easy Access to Tools
Have your scissors, glue gun, sewing machine and serge all close at hand. The less walking you do the more sewing/crafting you can get done. Make holders for your brushes, your glue gun and your scissors. Get in the habit of always replacing these valuable tools BACK where they came from. This will save valuable time and reduce your stress level.

4. Lighting
Don’t forget to spend some time and give thought to proper lighting. It is essential to your health as well as your mental attitude. I invested in renovating the wall of my workshop to include a 5″ x 3″ window to let in more natural light and take advantage of the million dollar view! It has paid for itself many times over, I feel like a million bucks every time I take a moment to look up from my work to enjoy the scenery.

5. Worktable
Purchase an old table from the second hand store and it will be well used and you won’t have to worry if that paint or glue that spilled will come off. If you do spend a lot of time sewing, an investment in a higher cutting table will result in fewer backaches. You can raise the height of a display table if you cut four pieces of PVC pipe. A display table is the kind that you can buy at your local home renovation store. Their legs fold up and lie flat on the underside of the table. The length of the pipe depends on the distance you will need to raise the table to the right height for you. Fit the table leg into the PVC and tape on.

6. Music
Place your sound system within easy reach. Select your own music; don’t just get in the habit of listening to the local station. If you choose your own music you can set the tempo and really increase you output. Try it and see if it works! Take advantage of all the information now available on cassette. There are many motivational books and seminars. Learn while you work. This is one thing that I love to do. Currently I am building my “Listening Library.”

7. Use your walls for storage
Get things up off the floor and off the counter tops. Invest in some shelving units or place pegboard on your walls.

8. Be realistic
Do you have craft supplies from BC (Before Christ)? Perhaps it would be a good idea to do a thorough cleaning and donate your old and unused craft supplies to a day-care, retirement centre or community arts council. It makes you feel great to clean up AND know that it is going to a good cause. This is the only way I can clean as I can’t bear to waste.

9. Put it back!
My mom taught me this one, and it’s so important it’s mentioned twice! Now that you’re organized, once you’re finished with it — put it back.

10. Tidy up
Spend 10 to 15 minutes at the end of EVERY day cleaning up. Set a stopwatch if you have to. Leaving your workroom clean and organized for the next day will make your more motivated to start. The following day you will feel you are starting fresh.
Now you have some tips, here’s the bad news. It is impossible to simply rearrange one area of your sewing room. You must organize everything. Just as you go about clearing one area you will need to have a place to put things. Before you clean one mess it will take making a bigger mess. But it will be worth it. Remember to break down the job into smaller parts. “The best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.”

11. A word about creativity
Many crafters think that the only way they can be creative is to have endless choices. That belief causes clutter, in my opinion, and is opposite from the truth. Creativity is being a creator. If your craft items are not visually available and organized for you to choose from, it actually hinders the creative process.
While you are organizing, define boundaries – and stop making new purchases. The price you pay for keeping everything you will ever think to use on hand is likely to be clutter and disorganization.

Join us for “GET ORGANIZED” Month Workshops in Davis County, Utah
Your 2009 Paper Survival Kit
• Set up a Family File System
• Record Retention Guidelines
• Stop Unwanted Solicitations and Junk Mail
• Learn to Manage Mail, Papers and Paperless Documents
• And much more!
FREE TO THE PUBLIC!
When: Thursday, January 15th, 2009
Place: Clearfield Library (North Branch)
Address: 562 South 1000 East, Clearfield, UT
Time: 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm

When: Saturday, January 31st, 2009
Place: Layton Library (Central Branch)
Address: 155 Wasatch Drive, Layton, UT
Time: 11:00 am to 12:00 pm

For more information visit www.clearingspacebydesign.blogspot.com
Or www.keepitsimplesolutions.biz

Organizers teaching the class:

Linda Isom
Clearing Space by Design
801-643-1237
Web: http://www.clearingspacebydesign.blogspot.com

and

Camille VanAarle
Keep it Simple Solutions
801-706-8079
Web: http://www.keepitsimplesolutions.biz