DIY Organizing During Shelter at Home
The pandemic situation we find ourselves in now is unprecedented. Being socially isolated at home, perhaps alone or with the whole family under foot is new territory. On the positive side, now you have time to complete unfinished business and personal projects, read books, re-start hobbies, and connect with friends and family.
If getting more organized in some area of your life is one of the things that’s long been on your ‘to do’ list, this is a great time to get started. No surprise, there has been a recent increase in sales of organizing supplies. Use the steps below to provide a roadmap. I can also give you remote help and guidance through video work sessions and screen sharing in some cases. Here are some project ideas:
1. Clean out old papers and documents. Do you have piles of papers and stuffed file drawers - you’re not sure what to keep or toss and you dread starting the project?
How I can help: Provide document retention guidelines, ideas and guidance for setting up new files, and a system to manage the papers for projects or tasks in process.
2. Organize your email. Do you have thousands of unread emails in your inbox? Too many email folders? Is junk mail overwhelming you?
How I can help: Provide consultation on email clean up, good email organization practices, and ways to automate email management. By sharing computer screens, we can work together so you can get a good start.
3. Manage your passwords. Do you struggle to remember passwords or have them written or stored in a vulnerable location? Do you use the same password for every login?
How I can help: Using screen-sharing, help you set up a password manager system (like LastPass or 1Password) that will securely store and manage all your passwords as well as other vital information.
4. Clean up your computer desktop and organize your electronic files. Is your computer desktop cluttered with lots of files and documents? Do you have a difficult time quickly finding the information you need?
How I can help: We can share your computer screen so I can help you set up a well thought out file hierarchy to store documents you need to keep.
5. Get your finances in order. Do you have an idea of how you spend your money? Would you like to set up a budget to save for a future goal? This may be more important than ever now.
How I can help: Analyze your spending and help you set up a budget, or set up financial tracking such as Quicken and teach you how to use it.
6. Organize your photos. Do you have boxes of printed photos and don’t know where to start? Are you running out of space on your devices because you have too many electronic photos and videos?
How I can help: Discuss your photo situation and get you started on steps to organize and back them up. I can also provide recommendations to get your best photos scanned and preserved.
7. Get your important life documents in order. Would you be able to get your important documents quickly in an emergency? Have you communicated to loved ones where important items and documents are located as well as your end-of-life wishes?
How I can help: Go through a checklist to make sure you’ve completed necessary estate planning, identify and document important information you and your family need in an emergency, and determine in what form and where you want to store this information.
8. Declutter a room. Is there a spot in your home that really causes you anxiety because of the clutter?
How I can help: Using video, I can provide you guidance to clear the clutter and organize the remaining contents. I have a wealth of resource recommendations for shredding, recycling and selling items, and much more.
9. Get time and task management under control. Do you feel like you never get done what you set out to do each day? Do you have trouble keeping track of tasks or projects – your ‘to do’s? Do you end up working nights and weekends to catch up?
How I can help: If you answered ‘yes’ to these questions, I can provide tips and recommendations to managing your time and tasks more effectively. There are small steps you can implement immediately while working on developing new and better habits around how you spend your time. This downtime is a great time to make changes.
Reach out to me at 720.722.1507 or at bev@streamlineorganizingsolutions.com if I can be of assistance to get you started, provide a plan of action, or just accountability and encouragement. Please share results of your organizing and productivity journey!