Dr Phil always asks this question (without the word “laundry”) and I love it.

I always say it doesn’t matter how people make something look on the blogs or in magazines or on TV, or even closer to home, if your friends and family do things a certain way.

It doesn’t mean it will work for you and your family.

Case in point – my overflowing laundry basket.

You all know I hate laundry more than any other chore so imagine how I was twitching when I saw this.

We have to have our laundry basket open otherwise it just doesn’t work for us.

I don’t want to throw the lid away because I may actually use it closed some day (or will I?) so I keep the lid under a dresser in our bedroom.

Recently I had this dresser painted so the lid found its way back onto the basket and this happened.

a mountain of laundry

another angle doesn’t make it look any better

I lifted some of the clothes from the top – ah, there’s the lid

pushed the laundry all down – would you believe that huge pile is all in there?

All that to say – even I need reminders to take my own advice sometimes

I was reminded that bad habits creep in so quietly – you have to be on high alert to keep your home organised!

Do you have open or closed laundry bins? And…. how are they working for you?

All over the internet I’m seeing projects to do with spring.

Crafts, printables, clothes, decor, etc.

Wouldn’t it be fun to sort out our homes this spring? (Or autumn, if you’re in the southern hemisphere like I am)

Do you want to get your home organised?

When: 12 weeks beginning whenever you want

Where: Online, self-paced

How: A lesson in 4 parts delivered to your inbox on the same day every week.

Who: Anyone who wants to get their home organised, or more organised

What: 12 weeks of lessons, tips, tricks, pictures and practical help tackling all the rooms of your home

Why: So you can have the peace and calm that being organised brings

Price: $99 dollars – take $20 off when you use code SPRING20. Expires 3 April.

Get organised here

(if you’re not sure, download the sampler)

If this is not the right time for you, no worries. Just enjoy the weather

What’s your favourite season?

Mine is autumn, then winter, then spring

A few weeks ago, I got annoyed one too many times by the cords under my desk.

I live in an old house (I think of it as having lots of charm!) and the study/ guest bedroom has only one plugpoint.

So we had a cord stretched across the carpet to reach the desk.

Well, when I got irritated with the cords, I decided there and then to switch everything around.

By the way, I recommend you measure first – I’m a move now and check measurements later kind of person which doesn’t always work out that well…

Fortunately the desk fitted the area well and I now look out the window as I work.

That is a real, work-in-progress pic of my desk - notice it's not styled to look pretty

I love it.

Not only is it functioning better with all those cords hidden but it feels more airy to me.

I dare say I’ve been more productive working at the desk in this position than against the wall.

Over to you -

1. Think of a space where you spend a lot of time – kitchen, bedroom, kids’ play area, etc.
2. Do you feel happy when you look at the space?
3. Are you energised when you’re there?
4. Does the space function well?
5. Is it organised enough for your and your family’s needs?

Your coaching challenge

- If you couldn’t answer yes to at least 3 of the 4 questions, what are 3 small things you can do to brighten up that space and make it work for you again?

- Organise your home is a manageable, step-by-step system to help you organise all your spaces in just 20 minutes a day, for 4 days a week.

- Don’t get caught up in perfectionism – it doesn’t have to be pretty to be organised.

I like to think of a few small things I want to do around the house every month.

I thought it would inspire and motivate you to also think up a few things and tackle one small thing every week.

This is how you purposefully create a sanctuary at home. By making decluttering and organising a regular, and not just a once-off event.

For Feb my tasks are:

1. Weed out the shoe organiser behind the door in the study.
2. Declutter books.
3. Take the gazillion discs to the computer place and get them to transfer everything onto my external hard drive (they only charge R200 for all that!)
4. Errands – drop off baby clothes at the hospital, return friend’s necklace and get together with friend (Maddy!!!) to give baby gift for 2-month-old

What are your 4 organising to-dos for Feb?

P.S. If you’re ready for about 1.5 – 2 hours’ organising over a whole week, have a look at organising your home

Spring in Johannesburg is absolutely beautiful.

The jacarandas bloom, the rains clear the smog and all is well with the world.

There’s a park I drive by on my way home from work.

At one point I turn left and then right into my street.

As I take that left turn I check the traffic coming from the other side and, when I turn my head, I gaze straight down a row of jacaranda trees in the park.

Picture it – a  row of beautiful purple trees.

There’s something about the orderliness of nature that appeals to me. That, and the purple.

I kept telling myself, “I should pull over and take some pics”.

But I didn’t.

Always in a hurry to get home to see the babies.

But one day I wasn’t in too much of a hurry.

I’d finally determined in my heart that “today was the day”, turned the corner, looked and the jacarandas were gone.

Normal, green trees where the purple flowers had been just a few weeks earlier.

I was dismayed!

I don’t know why I hadn’t noticed before that the jacarandas only have the purple flowers for a short time.

Next year I’ll be ready and I will stop and take TONS of pics.

Good thing though I took these ones in other locations.

And when we had our photoshoot, the jacarandas were in full bloom. Just look at the purple carpet – heaven!

Anyway, this is my challenge to you

Don’t wait and wait and wait to do something important to you – it may be too late.

This was a relatively small thing in the grand scheme of things but oh so often, we procrastinate and wait with the Big Things in life.

Don’t wait – life is too short.

• If you’ve always wanted to go to Italy, set a goal and start working towards it.
• If you’ve always wanted to write a book, set a goal and do it.
• If you want to get organised, set a goal and do it.

And if you don’t know how to make your Big Things happen, I’ll be happy to coach you.

Happy 2011, everybody.

My prayer is that you will do Big, Juicy things in 2011 and start crossing things off your Life List.

You do have a Life List, don’t you?

P.S. The two good pics of my family are by Jeanette Verster

I’m not sure what happens in the rest of the world but in South Africa, companies usually pay employees by 15 December, so they have money for Christmas.

That’s lovely in theory but it does mean there’s a long, long wait between the December and January salaries.

I wasn’t always as self-disciplined as I am now but I was always a quick learner.

After one really bad year where all the money was spent early on, I vowed to never get in that situation again.

We’ve never used credit cards so that was just not an option.

I’ve now done this for about 12 years and it works beautifully.

When I get paid in December, I move the money I’ll need for the 3 weeks in January plus a bit extra to a separate savings account.

Out of sight, out of mind or… what you don’t see, you can’t spend

It’s simple but very effective.

This way I always have money in January when everybody else is broke. And everybody thinks I’m very clever when I tell them my “tricks”.

What do you do about the long wait? Or what happens on your side of the world?

P.S. In the Organise your home system, there’s an ebook on finances called 10 steps to your financial freedom which has even more fantastic tips.

P.P.S. If you’re getting paid this week, my coaching challenge is to put the January money in another account.

This week, let’s tackle some of those tasks around the home and office that we don’t get around to doing.

I’m specifically choosing Quick and Easy tasks so that you can build up some momentum and feel good about getting things done.

What gets you motivated?

Is it MUSIC? Then put on some 80′s tunes to get yourself energised.

Is it COMPETITION? Then challenge yourself and see how many of the tasks you can accomplish in an hour.

Is it being ACCOUNTABLE? Then post a comment telling me what you’re going to do and come back to tell me when it’s done!

Is it SOCIAL INTERACTION? Then make a coffee date with a friend, but ONLY once you’ve done an hour’s organising.

Is it reaching a GOAL? Then reward yourself once you’ve done all the tasks.

Right! So now that we know what motivates you, let’s get to it!

In the home

1. Declutter and sort through all the old magazines. Tear out the articles and toss the rest.
2. Organise your launch pad – that place in your home where you DUMP things when you walk in the door.
3. Collect all the clothes you need to dry-clean, declutter or get mended.
4. Clear off the front of your fridge. Toss the magnets and recipes you’re never going to use.
5. Throw away any old food in your fridge and freezer, and give the surfaces a good wipe down.

And now for some…

Office organising

1. Do your filing.
2. Collect all the bills and invoices from around the home and schedule the payment dates in your planner.
3. Shred any junk mail with your name on it.
4. Organise your desk.
5. Delete 100 emails from your Inbox and Sent Items. There are lots of tips and tricks in 7 easy steps to organise your office

Whatever you manage to do, give yourself a pat on the back!

The best-selling Organise your home ecourse has literally helped people ALL over the world. Are you next?

I love finding new ways to use existing items in my home. I find that it forces me to be more creative and also, it saves me money because I don’t need to go out and buy whatever I need 90% of the time.

One of those things is in-trays.

Did you know you can use them not only in the office but also all around your home?

Let me show you how:

1. In the office

Use for standard in and out trays but also for To Pay, To File or To Read trays.

2. At your command centre

Your command centre is the place in your home where everybody dumps their stuff and is usually also the place where you toss the mail.

Have a vertical stack of trays (like a plastic storage drawer system) or a hanging file in a filing box for each member of the family. When you bring in the mail or empty the backpacks, sort immediately and place each person’s mail in their tray.

3. In the kitchen

Use for recipe books, menu plans, grocery lists, coupons, etc.

I have an in-tray for my cleaning lady too so we both have a place to leave notes for one another.

4. In your craft area

In-trays work beautifully for keeping different coloured paper and project board neat, tidy and organised.

Remember to work with and not against your organising style.

If you like things visible, use a hanging folder system. If you like things out of sight, use a plastic storage drawer system and simply label the drawers.

Find out how you can get more help in organising your home here

Marcia Francois is a time management and organising coach who empowers small business owners and other busy professionals who want to make the most of their time. You’ll get simple, practical organising and time management secrets to help you work less and enjoy life more! Visit http://takechargesolutions.org for your free Organising Success Pack.

Wherever you are in the world, the seasons change every three to six months and it’s either warming up or cooling down in your part of the world.

Whatever your situation, take the time to sort out your wardrobe.

Pareto’s Principle states that 20% of your efforts result in 80% of your results.

Did you know that this principle also applies to your wardrobe?

That’s right – you only wear 20% of your clothes 80% of the time.

The aim of your wardrobe is to have clothes you love, that look good on you and that flatter your body shape.

I’ve been reading up a lot on clothes websites and blogs and I gathered some tips for everybody:

If you wore the fashion the first time around, you shouldn’t be wearing it this time

Even if it still fits you, the styles and colours will have changed.

Pleated and tapered pants are out for all body shapes. Aren’t you glad?!

Now let’s get busy purging and organising your clothes.

1. Put on some upbeat music and call a friend or professional organiser to help you.

2. Set aside an afternoon and remove everything from your wardrobe.

3. Make 3 piles:

• Clothes you don’t love, don’t suit your lifestyle or don’t look good on you

• Clothes you love and that fit you properly

• Clothes that you’re not sure about, for whatever reason

4. Action the piles

• Donate or throw out

• Organise in your wardrobe or on your shelves according to your personal preferences – by colour, style (smart, casual, etc), or season/ sleeve length, etc.

• Move to another place in the house or to a storage container. Make a note in your planner or in Outlook to look at this pile again at a later date (I like to think of this as a pending file for your clothes).

When you look at this pile again, fit everything on. You will then be able to look at the clothes unemotionally and decide whether they deserve to take up space in your wardrobe (you want to keep them) or whether they need to be donated.

Rather have half the amount of clothes and be able to wear everything than a full-to-overflowing wardrobe where you can only wear a few items.

When was the last time you decluttered some clothes?

This is the ONE question I get asked by clients more than any other question.

Marcia, I want to get organised but it’s all so overwhelming.

Where on earth do I start?

There are different ways to approach this question but before we even start with the practical aspects, you need to do this:

First of all, relax and take a deep breath

Then get your mind in the right space.

Realise that this is a process and that you will not have a totally organised home in one hour, despite what you saw on Oprah last week.

Remember the home makeover shows have TONS of organizers and stylists behind the scenes making the space look beautiful. You only have you (or if you’re really blessed, a friend or family member to help you).

Now that we’ve got that part settled, let’s talk practical.

1. Start with the area of your home or life that bothers you the most.

If you can’t bear to choose clothes every morning because your wardrobe is too cluttered, then that’s probably a good place to start. The benefit of choosing this area is that when you feel overwhelmed by the rest of the house you can go to this one space, look at it and feel inspired.

2. Decide what you want to have happen in that space.

Do you only want clothes in your wardrobe, or do you want shoes and handbags in there too? If you’re not sure what you want (as with anything else in life), it’s easier to let your standards and boundaries slip and in this case, before you know it, you may have a disorganised space once again.

3. Declutter

You can’t organise clutter. Get rid of everything that shouldn’t be there. You may need to move some things to other rooms and some things may need to move right out of your house!

4. Organise what’s left according to your personality and style

Not everybody is a minimalist. Some of us need to surround ourselves with our treasures. It’s all okay.

Your system works as long as you can find what you’re looking for relatively quickly (within a minute).

5. Maintain.

Last but not least, do a quick, 5-minute maintenance session in each major space every week so that your space remains organised.

Now that you’ve read my tips, where do you think YOU should start?

Leave your answer in the comments to hold yourself accountable and get you motivated.

P.S. This product will help you get your whole house organised in just 12 weeks