Last week was so hectic I was absolutely exhausted by Thursday but somehow I persevered.

Usually I don’t jam-pack my schedule so full but I had two end-of-year functions and I (mistakenly) thought, “oh, it’s just one more thing”. But one more thing in addition to my regular coaching appointments = hectic!

Thank God this week is back to normal.

I only have one free website/ blog teleseminar this week – yayy – besides normal commitments.

So what are you up to this week?

Edited to add decluttering pictures

Please encourage all your blog friends to join us in decluttering and choosing to live a simpler life by using the button on your sidebar. Christmas is just around the corner and you need to start taking action so that you don’t just fill up all the spaces you’ve already decluttered.

This week I’m going to post my pictures late.

Honestly, this has been a very hectic week and I suppose I’m decluttering the expectation that the organising expert always has it together.

I also had an expectation that I’d be treated a certain way at work and I decluttered that expectation this week. Now I know to just take things as they come. That’s not my natural style but as Dr Phil would say, that’s not working for me!

So I’ll declutter some clothes on Saturday and post the pictures, okay? When my cleaning lady and I were packing my clothes away last weekend, she told me I have too much and I agree.

By the way, we also “decluttered” a mouse this week. My word – I screamed like a girl when I found him on the carpet!

What did you declutter?

Please link to the post on your blog where you show off your pictures or talk about the declutter. Or if you don’t have a blog, tell me in the comments about ANYTHING you got rid of this week.

It can be anything – physical, electronic, mental clutter or even the need to be a certain way. Like perfectionism!

What did you declutter this week?

Now is the perfect time to declutter your children’s toys, just before Christmas.

You know how you get overwhelmed with too much stuff?

Your kids also get overwhelmed with too many toys.

Your kids have too many toys if…
1. There is not enough space in their rooms to store it. No, the answer is not to move to a bigger house or to buy more containers.
2. They don’t even notice when you remove some toys.
3. They forget the toys they do have because they’re buried so deep.

Now, here’s what I want you to do:

1. Sit down with your child and explain that there are other little girls and boys who don’t have any toys.
2. Ask them to choose some toys to give to those kids.
3. Warning – your children will probably pick things that YOU’d like to keep. Restrain yourself from putting those back in the toybox!
4. Make sure they’re in good working order and drop them off at your nearest orphanage or shelter.

Now you’ve made some space for the inevitable – more toys at Christmas!

I picked up a great tip when I was working with a client a few months ago.

She told me that whenever the kids have birthdays and they are inundated with toys, she lets them pick their 3 favourites and hides the rest away.

Every so often she’ll magically produce one of the new toys and the child is enthralled for a couple of weeks. In fact, this is exactly what she did so that her little darling would leave us in peace to organise her office!

If all else fails, do what my client did and hide their toys away.

I’ll show you exactly how to:

• Do the one thing that will instantly get you more time
• Focus your time and get the right things done
• Design your business around what you’re good at
• Stop feeling overwhelmed
• Say no to what’s not good for your business
• Focus on your high-payoff activities
• Know when it’s actually good to procrastinate
• Stop time-wasters from getting the best of you

Plus you’ll also get regular weekly tips and information to make your business more organised and highly productive so you can bring in more money.

1. Please enter your first name and primary email address below, and click submit.
2. Check your inbox for a special link to confirm your subscription.
3. As soon as you’re confirmed, you’ll get a second email from me with the download link to your first tip. You’ll receive one tip every two days.

*Your email address will NEVER be sold – that’s my promise!

Love and time success

I haven’t done one of these favourite organising tools posts for a looong time.

And every time I use this particular tool (every single day of my life) I think, “I really should post this” so I finally got my act together.

You all know how much I love plastic envelopes. Here in South Africa, I’ve only ever seen the bigger ones (A4 – for my overseas readers, that’s the size of printer paper) so imagine my delight when I found A5 ones (half the size of A4) on our visit to the UK in May.

If you’re interested, I got this one at Tesco’s for the grand sum of 89p My cost per use is already less than a penny!

Why I love it

• The PERFECT size for carrying in your handbag or in your hand
• Nothing falls out
• I can see the contents because it’s transparent
• Pretty pink colour always helps

I always have stuff with me to read, to work on (business planning), blog notes, etc and I keep all that stuff in here because I like things contained.

Do you use these plastic folders? What do you use them for?

P.S. This one is called Snopake Polyfile A5

Please encourage all your blog friends to join us in decluttering and choosing to live a simpler life by using the button on your sidebar. Christmas is just around the corner and you need to start taking action so that you don’t just fill up all the spaces you’ve already decluttered.

This week I decluttered this vertical organiser on my desk and then… of much more importance…

I decluttered some tasks and delegated to my virtual assistant (VA).

I’m quite fussy about doing certain things my way (!) but I think I’ve been indoctrinated by Melanie Benson Strick because I’m delegating more and more, easier and easier.

I still cringe sometimes thinking, “I can’t believe I’m doing this” but I’m following my own rules (if someone can do it at 70 – 80% as good as you can, then you should delegate) and I did it!

Which means I had time last night to have supper with an old friend – yes, thanks, we had a wonderful time catching up.

What do you need to let go of?

Please link to the post on your blog where you show off your pictures or talk about the declutter. Or if you don’t have a blog, tell me in the comments about ANYTHING you got rid of this week.

It can be anything – physical, electronic, mental clutter or even the need to be a certain way. Like perfectionism!

What did you declutter this week?

I’ve always said that if you make something too complicated, it just won’t work, no matter how well-intentioned you are.

That’s why it’s so important to make your systems easy, especially if you live with other people and you want them to live by your organising “rules”.

That’s true for designing a good flow for laundry in the home and also for recycling paper in the office.

And so this was born:

I used to have one wastepaper basket but found we were less inclined to separate the paper when we cleared the trash.

Who wants to fish around amongst apple cores and other bits of fruit? Certainly not me.

This works beautifully for us.

First of all, I don’t generate that much paper to start with but what I do throw away, goes straight into the paper bin. It’s much easier now to take the one basket and dump it as is into the paper recycling bag.

Do you recycle paper? If yes, do you use those fancy partitioned recycling bins, or how do you make it easy for your household?

image from www.breakitdownblog.com

Do you prefer to text or phone?

Why?

Read this and weigh in here.

Tuesday 18 November 2008

Listen to all the FAQ here (it’s just 4 minutes long)

Get your home office organised by spending a half-day with Marcia, the Organising Queen, learning all the tips and tools of the trade

At the end of the seminar you will have…

• a well-ordered, organised desk and office plan with clear zones
• a system to reduce your email overload
• an easy, step-by-step plan to prioritise your work
• at least 3 clear ways to make your computer do your common business tasks, automatically
• a clear, simple way to deal with all the paper
• ideas on how to maximise your office and storage space
• and much, much more

and of course, you have 60 days’ unlimited email support while you take action on your plan (this alone is worth $97)

“I used to spend my days always working on email and never getting anything done. Thanks to Marcia’s suggestions, I now can’t believe everything I get done in one day!

It’s allowed me to have a very successful business while working only 15-20 hours per week. I love that her techniques have given me the freedom to spend time with my son and husband.

Thanks to her business organizing strategies I have doubled my productivity which has in turn doubled my business income. Thanks Marcia for all that you do!” Jennifer Haubein

www.BestBizWebsiteSolutions.com

The nitty gritty details

Date: Tuesday 18 November

Time: 11am – 3pm Eastern Standard Time/ 6 -10 pm South African Time (GMT+2)

What do you need: Telephone, pen and handbook

Format: Simulcast – both by webcast and telephone – so if you have a computer and internet, you can participate. This is GREAT news for all readers outside the US who don’t want to pay long-distance charges

So how does this work?

Once you register and pay, I’ll send you the access information and the 27-page handbook for the day.

On the day, at the top of every hour, I’ll teach for 15 – 20 minutes and the rest of the hour, we (the entire class) will all action that section of our offices.

You can call the phone number, listen to me speak and chat back with questions or comments.

OR

You click the link I’ll send you, and a webpage will open where you simply click a play button to listen in. You can even type questions and comments to me on your screen which I’ll see after a few seconds. It’s as easy as that!

Your choice!

What are the sections we’ll tackle?

11am How to organise your desk for maximum functionality and efficiency

12pm Clear the paper clutter and create a system for the flow of paper in your office

1pm Conquer your email, set up folders and organise your inbox

2pm Prioritise all your projects and develop a system for planning your month, week and day.

2:50 – 3pm Wrap-up and how to maintain your organised office

The best thing about this seminar is that you’re learning and doing so at the end of the session, you have a beautifully organised and functional office!

Your investment: only $77 (actual value $267)

Let’s recap. What do you get …

• LIVE teaching from Marcia Francois, time management and organising expert
• LIVE group coaching
• 60 days’ unlimited email support
• 27-page handbook
• MP3 audio downloads of all the teaching
• 7 easy steps to organise your office e-book*

* This will be emailed to you straight after the seminar because I don’t want you to get overwhelmed before the time!