The Family Meeting; An Essential Component

Last month, I described a method of keeping track of your family's appointments with color coding calendars and a weekly organizer in my tip It's Back to School Time Again.

This month, I want to share that no matter what calendar you decide to keep; the Family Meeting is an essential piece of the organizational package. Without open, ongoing and regular communication the best laid plans can easily fall apart.

The family meeting is described here, but it just as well pertains to couples and even to individuals planning their weeks.

One family member reminds anyone who keeps a personal planner accurately enters their upcoming appointments onto the main calendar. (It's usually me, and I usually have to make sure my personal planner is "synced" to this calendar and vise versa.)

If a weekly dry erase calendar is used, on Sunday afternoon, one person copies all upcoming appointments from the main calendar onto the weekly calendar.

Sunday evening gather the family around that table at a set, weekly time. Each member should bring their personal planner/agenda to the meeting. (It may be helpful to have a special folder labeled Family Meeting, to keep any notes that you want to remember to discuss).

The meeting agenda follows a format that my husband & I learned in a couples communication course called PAIRS and includes the following items:

• sharing appreciations and gratitude for things family members did in the last week
• a review of the upcoming week's schedule (at the beginning of the month, briefly review the upcoming month, too).
  
• any new information that people need to share
• any concerns/questions that people have for the week or just in general
• any wishes or hopes that the members have for the future
• dessert and/or allowance given

This process will likely take about 20-30 minutes of time each week, and for those with kids, they may express some griping at first, but hopefully, with time, practice and that reward at the end, they will come to find it is a useful way of keeping the whole family "in the know".

I would love to hear feedback from you if you are implementing these suggestions in your family. Please return with comments anytime.

If you need help with this or any other organizing task, Simply Call Linda!

It's Back to School Time Again

It's time to begin thinking about preparing the kids for the school year. I came across a website that had many good articles and information on it. It's called Mom's Homeroom, and is described as a vibrant community of real moms sharing tips for helping kids succeed. Here is a Link to an article called "6 Ways to Get Organized for Back to School". Check out this Video too, of 4 mom's discussing their approach to the end of summer.

I had a really busy schedule this summer with the kids in all kinds of activities, usually overlapping each other. I had to be on top of things to keep track of it all. I do have a large family calendar, as is recommended in the above mentioned articles, but I found that it did not always get looked at by those who needed to see it. I finally decided that it was just too cluttered with all the info, so I decided to purchase a dry erase weekly planner, (I bought mine at Office Max). Either my daughter or I copy the info onto the board, using each person's colors as are on the calendar. Here is a photo of our Activity Central. I keep checks that are needed for weekly activities here, as well. So far the system is working really well. I initially bought TUL markers, and then had to replace them with Expo, as several of the markers dried out already.


Enjoy the rest of summer! If you need any help with organizing, please call Linda!

Keep up with Simply Back to Basics-Simply

I follow a few blogs. I enjoy reading them, but I always have trouble keeping track of them and I never seem to remember to check in to see if there are new posts. Today I found a handy tool that I wanted to pass along, which will simplify my own "blogging" and may help you keep up with yours.

This tool is part of IGoogle. For those of you who do not know about IGoogle; it is a customizable home page and requires that you establish a Google account; if you don't have one, it will prompt you to obtain one. Here is a screen shot of the page you will see if you follow the above link. Beneath the "Sign in" is a link to click to "Get started".


Once you have your IGoogle page, you can add all kinds of customized gadgets to suit your needs. The one I mentioned above is the Feed/RSS which allows you to add blocks on your page that show the latest updates on your favorite blogs.

Here is a picture of my home page. The blocks on the center and right side are Blogs that I read/follow and the pluses represent recent posts. I can tell instantly if I am up to date. If I hover over it, I see the text of the post. If I click on any of the links, it will immediately take me to that page so I can read more.

To get this feed gadget, go to the right hand side (upper) of your IGoogle page and click on "Add Stuff". Then go to the left hand side and click on "Add feed or gadget" (you may have to scroll down to do so). Then type the site name/URL that you want to follow, such as, www.simplybacktobasics.blogspot.com in the box and enter. It will automatically add it to your home page. (You may need to actually visit the site and copy/paste the actual URL for accuracy).

If you want to add my blog to your page, you can simply click this button on my blog .

I hope this quick tip helps you to stay on top of your blog reading. It can be really fun to keep up with many different ones, but it requires a strategy so it does not become an entity of its own!

I just added my friend's blog, Explore What's Next. She is an incredibly interesting lady and an amazing psychologist/life coach. I am so excited to have this tool to help me stay up to date on her postings.

If you need help with this or any other organizing project, simply call Linda, 716-631-5619.

Adding More Storage

Sometimes, no matter how much you sort, organize, label and purge, your space just doesn't meet your needs. In this situation, the only thing to do is to add additional storage space. I recently chose to do this in three areas of my home; all areas of high traffic and multi-purpose use. I invited Kimberly Rusin of California Closets to meet with me in my home and help me design better storage for a back hall cubby, a front hall closet and a home office/computer area for my living room. The latter was especially a challenge as I wanted it to be formal enough to blend in with my decor, but practical enough to serve as a major workstation for a family of five.

I used my tip Five Steps to Organizing Any Room to decide what kinds of activities each space would address, and I had that in mind prior to Kimberly's arrival. I was not disappointed. Kimberly was very quickly able to assess my needs and make specific suggestions to maximize our space with a beautiful blending of attractive functionality. She was enthusiastic, professional and knowledgeable.

The installations were scheduled a few weeks later. My husband took down the previous closet innards himself and gave each area a fresh coat of paint prior to the installations (this could be done by a painter/handyman, instead). The closets were installed together, and the office several weeks later, due to the custom design and ordering. Installation for each took just a few hours and everything was spotless when they were through. Kimberly's follow-up customer service was excellent and she worked with me afterward to be sure that I was completely satisfied.

This is the Greg, one of the installation guys!

The front closet now serves as storage for all of our outerwear (except what we use daily, which hangs by the garage door); cleaning products; vacuum cleaner; a selection of favorite board games; snowpants (off season shrunk in Space Bags); a variety of projects; my tool box; folding chairs; my collection of seasonal tablecloths and flags; a step stool; and the ever important DONATION BOX! Can you believe that all fits? Yes, it does, even with a spare shelf!

This picture was taken without the closet doors on, because it was easier to see everything before we put them back on.

This picture is of the shelving on the left side of the closet. It goes all the way to the ceiling, but it's impossible to take a picture of that due to the opposing wall.

The back hall closet serves as storage for swim clothes, goggles, sunscreen; off season mittens, hats, scarves; beach towels; picnic gear (blankets, coolers); educational/art supplies for my daughters; and a neat pull-out valet bar to hang long for guests. This little cubby was a wealth of untapped storage.


The office/computer desk provides a place for homework; current home and business files; active and extra office, school and computer supplies; computer games; my label maker; and the phone. The desk has a shelf on top which allows the monitor and printer to be raised up about 4 inches and wires to run underneath. It allows the keyboard to be tucked away when it is not needed, which is surprisingly often. Because the keyboard is not under the desk (Kimberly's recommendation), it is easier to sit at and I don't have to back up my chair all the time to use the keyboard. I opted out of the suspended computer holster, as I had other peripherals that would have to sit on the floor anyway and this was neat enough for me.

This photo is with the upper storage closed and the next shows the doors opened, so you can see the ample storage space. There are 5 cubbies, designed for each family member to keep school/work related projects and items. The last photo shows how well the design and colors blend into the decor. Any picture can be enlarged by clicking on it.

When all else fails to get a space working for you, don't hesitate to call in professionals. (California Closets is a national franchise.) If you need help with this or any other organizing project, simply call Linda, 716-631-5619.

10 Minutes At a Time

At any given time, I have about 20 projects going at once. Some are BIG, some are Small, some are Urgent and Important, some are Important, but not Urgent. And admittedly, some are a probably neither all that Urgent nor Important, but just things I would like to do. In addition to the everyday things that are expected such as cooking, cleaning and general home care, getting even one project completed can be a significant challenge, let alone a whole variety of projects.

I was recently lamenting over this mountainous hurdle with my colleague and fellow organizer Ann Michael Henry of Mise En Place, who said that she advises clients to tackle their big projects 10 Minutes at a time. Rather than approach the whole project at once (ie: weeding the entire garden), work on it for 10 minutes and attempt to get a specific section of it done, even if it is only 1/10th of the garden. She stressed the importance of allowing oneself to feel proud and accomplished when the 10 minutes are done. After the initial 10 are up, one can decide to go another 10 or go on to something else. I thought this was a very helpful frame, as it releases one from the pressures of having to do the whole thing in one sitting, which is pretty impossible for me with a busy family of 5 (yet, I continuously expect myself to be able to do so).

I tried her idea this weekend, and worked on several projects for 10-30 minutes each. In this way, I was able to finish a framing project I had been working on for months, decide about some excess furniture that had accumulated and was no longer needed, rearrange the remaining furniture and prepare for a Mother's Day dinner at our house. I used her frame of doing it in small chunks and remembered to tell myself that whatever I accomplished in each 10 minutes was great progress and that I could go on to something else that needed my attention, if I chose to.

Even writing this tip is an example of five 10 minute segments of time. Three took place while my daughter had OT this morning and the last two are happening while she is napping this afternoon.

My sister, Sue, has given me permission to share that she has accomplished the cleaning out of her entire home in exactly this manner, over the course of many months. She had never really done much purging before, mostly accumulating and by her own description, she was afraid to get rid of things but was smothering living with them. Several changes in her life and attitude (see last month's tip Thinking About Change? Change Your Thinking!) resulted in her being able to begin to let things go. She easily got overwhelmed when she thought of the enormity of the task before her, but breaking things down into smaller chunks, doing it frequently, and only spending a little bit of time, each time was the key for her.

Judith Kolberg, a very well known organizer, owner of Fileheads and author of Conquering Chronic Disorganization and ADD-Friendly ways to Organize Your Life, suggests a similar visual-tactile adaptation of this idea. She encourages overwhelmed clients to hold up a paper towel tube to their eye and focus it on one spot in the room and begin there. She says to only organize the space the falls within the small circle of the tube before beginning the next space. I have used this technique myself and with clients and it also works well.

My 10 minute window is running out for this project, and I need to move on to the next, but as usual for help with this or any other organizing task, please contact Linda!

Thinking About Change? Change Your Thinking!

Often times the simplest ideas are profound and powerful. My friend and colleague, Linda Birkinbine of Keep it Organized (Buffalo, NY) shared this wisdom with me, which she learned while attending a Professional Organizer's Conference in Canada, last year.

Instead of saying "I want to ______________, but I am afraid" switch it around to say "I am afraid, but I want to ______________".

Doing this switch does two things. First it re-frames the thought into "possibility language". Instead of hearing the barrier last, the brain processes the "want" thought as a possibility that can be realized. Second, it moves the person to action by allowing the fear of change to be set aside for the moment, and a step forward to be made. These are powerful thoughts and can be taught to and learned by those of us who find that fear often gets in the way of change.

Another really great, simple idea comes from Peter Walsh, author of Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat, and It's All Too Much. He says, when feeling stuck and connected to clutter from the past, ask yourself;

Are the best moments of your life behind you or ahead of you?

Honest response to this question can often reveal a shift in thinking that will free you to move forward in your desire to achieve the vision of the life you want to have now.

Happy Organizing.

Follow-up to my February Tip: Four Quick Kitchen Tips:

My friend and client, Pat, tipped me off to the amazing Wegman's grocery list maker. On their site, you can find recipes you want to make, and add all the ingredients on the recipe to your list, then remove what you have on hand already. You can choose the store location you want the list to be printed for, customize quantity and notes for each item, view the price per item, and sort the list according to department or aisle. You can also choose to print any recipes you have chosen and a layout of the store. Lists can be saved, copied, e-mailed or deleted! I have been using it for the last several weeks and have found it to be easy to use and very efficient. Thanks, Pat!