The holiday season is notorious for inciting panic in women and if they don’t know how to deal with that shoulder-burdening aspect of this time of year, they’re destined to miss what the holidays are really all about…PEACE, JOY, HARMONY. We need ME time to re-charge.

I recently appeared on a local television talk show in Portland, Oregon, to talk about the free day I have in my weekly plan. To bring up this topic, this time of year when most women who work outside their homes can barely find a free hour let alone a free day each week, seemed absurd!

If you'd like to watch that segment, just click on my little Christmas girl.

We've Got to Get Organized 

My blog took a typical, SHE (Sidetracked Home Executive) turn with an email from a Flybaby and it prompted me to find a very funny article written by a columnist for the Seattle Times who in turn went on to become a very famous food critic in the Northwest. His article gives you the man’s view of a SHE. The article follows this email.

Here’s my letter to Barb,

Thank you for taking the time to write to me. I love hearing from SHEs like you because it just confirms to me that we are one huge, happy family, loving our homes and loving order, but careful not to take life too seriously. I purposely approached getting organized with a sense of humor and joy and that book was the first book on the market written from a reformed “slob’s” point of view.  (Remember SLOB stands for Spontaneous, Lighthearted, Optimistic and Beloved.)

Love,

Pam

Here’s the article, written by John Hinterberger  Seattle Times.

Saved from the Zone

There's a lot written about getting into "the zone," but little about how to get out of it. This is an interesting story about a very successful and famous artist who spends most of his time in the zone and it inspired me to write about how he gets out of the zone.

There’s a bronze sculptor in Eastern Oregon named David Manuel. My husband has been his official videographer for more than 20 years and we’ve gotten to know the whole family as David has become world renowned for his bronzes. This is one in our collection.  

On this visit, we were there to video an historic event, which I’ll tell you about later.

I’ve had the honor of being able to watch David work on his masterpieces over the years. While my husband would be out and about filming something for the Manuel’s marketing program, David would let me watch him whenever I wanted to. During this visit, he was working on the front leg of a horse (knee area). (Do horses have knees?)(Don’t have time to Google.) Where was I? Oh, yeah, David told me he’s such a perfectionist that he could work on one piece into forever. He said that Lee, his wife, has to take pieces away so he can move on.

That’s a lesson we can learn. Since we don’t have Lee to say, “Enough already!” we need a timer to jerk us out of one of those zones (that we love to be in by the way). We SHEs (Sidetracked Home Executives) are just like artists when it comes to hyper-focusing. We get into that glorious zone and time flies while we’re in there, and before we know it we’ve turned five (of the 55, dull, stained, bathroom, shower tiles), into shiny squares that look brand new and it only took two hours! A timer can save you from the zone when you need to be.

Is it time to change your dream?

Are you a day dreamer? Do you like to imagine yourself going to exotic places? Do you love to look at magazines and dream of wearing fancy clothes and jewelry? When you watch movies do you like to look at the back drops and what the characters are wearing and eating and the cars they're driving? Isn't it fun to imagine what it'd be like to be wealthy or slim? Be sure to have day dreaming as part of your daily routine.

We SHEs (Sidetracked Home Executives) are creative, so we spend a lot of time thinking about what it'd be like if....this or that happened. We're really good at visualizing what we want and our lives reflect much of what was in the begining, just a dream. When I was young I dreamed of living in a cozy, happy home on a high hill in the country. I dreamed it into reality, but it took 30 years, but you know how time flies.

If you've had some of your dreams not come true, maybe it's time to change the dream to fit who you are now.

It’s no secret that countless families are deluged by household clutter.

Flylady says; “The most common clutter hot spots are children's bedrooms, home offices, attics, and garages.” What does it take to create a clutter-free space? Here are my 10 best home organization strategies straight from my book, The Joy of Being Disorganized.

1. Stop Homelessness

One of the main reasons stuff piles up on counters, dining tables, coffee tables and floors is that it’s homeless. When an item has no "home," it gets added to an IPOD
 (Important Pile Of Decisions). The free chapter I'm giving you has great information about the IPODs in your home and how to eliminate them. That’s why it’s important to make sure everything in your home lives somewhere. “Homing” items in the room where they're used, helps ensure that they get put away when you're finished. For example, I keep a sewing kit in a drawer of an end table in my living room, because I like to mend garments in that room and not in my sewing room in the basement.

2. Stop Clutter at the Cash Register

Use that, waiting-to-buy time when you’re standing in line at the cash register, to re-think what’s in your hands or cart. Imagine it as clutter. What you buy today can turn
into clutter tomorrow. The better you are about keeping things out of your home, the less likely you’ll be to create IPODs when you get home.

3. Baby Step your Way to Clutter-free

Start with the room that’s bothering you the most. (In my almost 40-year career helping moms get organized, the kitchen is the room most picked by baby-steppers.) Marla Cilley, the Flylady
says, “Start by shining your kitchen sink.” That’s so brilliant! In order to keep your sink shiny, you have to keep it empty. In order to keep it empty, you and your family have to put dirty dishes in the dishwasher. In order to put dirty dishes in the dishwasher, it has to be empty!

Are you disorganized?

Have you read a bunch of get organized books in the hopes of cleaning up your act, but you’re still in a mess? According to Amazon, there are 4,939 titles in print on the subject and not one result matched for “using your imagination to get organized.” You probably already know being organized is simply about routines and habits, so if you’re disorganized, you just haven’t found the motivation to do it. 

If you are disorganized you know it affects every area of your life: your health and fitness, appearance, finances, relationships and even your spiritual life. By getting a handle on organization you’ll be able to improve in all areas of your life. All you need are a few scenarios to jump start your imagination and help you put entertainment and drama into your otherwise humdrum, boring, uneventful or maybe even sad life, by turning mundane tasks into high adventures . . . until they become automatic habits.

Getting organized is more about MIND management then it is about TIME management. Our minds are the key to our success in getting and staying organized. William James, a famous philosopher said: “Things are not as they are, but as we are.” Our job then is to approach our problem with a new way to see our situation. Einstein said: “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” So let’s start using our fabulous imaginations to put a new spin on our circumstances and get organized just for the fun of it.

What would you think of a store that catered to SHEs (Sidetracked Home Executives)? Of course it’d have to be open 24/7 because we lose track of time and we wouldn’t want to get there and have it be closed. Also, they’d have a cloth shopping bag swap (try to say that fast) so there’d always be a good supply of shopping bags in case you left yours in the car. In the event you remembered, you could bring in several for the good of the SHE. 

This SHE store wouldn’t sell anything shiny or we’d get distracted from what we went in there to buy in the first place, and whatever the store sold, it’d only provide two choices of each product, because we get easily overwhelmed by too many choices.

It’d stock items like diaries that only have 14 pages; just for January, because SHEs never fill out their diaries and they waste all those pages made for the rest of the year. So guilt ensues.

SHEs love to “start” new projects, but in about 14 days most projects lose their juice, so this SHE store would not sell yarn to knit or crochet more than a small hat or a pair of baby’s booties. It would NOT sell patterns for sweaters or enough yarn to produce them.

Santa Isn't Where You Think He is Right Now!

What do you think Santa Claus is doing right now? Do you think he’s in some resort, lounging in a hammock, dreaming of sugar plums and listening to Christmas Carols on his IPhone? Nope! 

Santa Claus is organized! In fact, he and Mrs. Claus think ahead, so that on Christmas Eve they can enjoy a nice, leisurely dinner before he sets off at dark to deliver toys and goodies to the boys and girls.

We all know that the holidays require extra time and energy. So why not take advantage of summer leisure and get a jump on the holidays?

1. Stocking Stuffers 

Stuff as you go. Hide a small container, like a shoe box or Zip Lock Gallon bag, for each child. When
you’re out and about and find items that would be good for stocking stuffers, like movie tickets, gift cards, little toys and books, purchase and put in the hidden containers.

Come midnight on Christmas Eve, you’ll thank yourself when you think, ‘EEgad, we gotta do stockings,’ and you’ll have most of the contents ready to stuff.

As a valuable member of Club Organized, do you have any examples of going to Plan B, either because there was no plan in the first place, or, Plan A failed? My example is that I was always putting off getting a gift for someone until the day of, or within the hour of the party. That’s how I came up with more than 100 funny ways to give money. In the end, my disorganization saved me time shopping, money for driving to the mall and my sanity. I have always known I can come up with something I’ve put off until the last minute. (For more information on one of my invention, click the box at the bottom of this page.)

This email came from by Jill Bowen, one of my charter members.

Swamp Thing

1. If your home is immaculate and running like a well-oiled clock.

2. Your family begs to help with household chores.

3. You’re happy with your weight.

4. You’re wealthy and debt free.

5. You have a team of professional housecleaners who come and clean daily.

6. You are ecstatic with your marriage.

7. Okay, I thought of another one, you’re never late.

If these reasons aren’t yours, read more. Disorganization affects every area of your life; your finances, your health, your relationships, your stress level and I’m sure you can think of more ways it affects your life.

A Little Organization Goes a Long Way

Get organized just enough to please you. That's your goal. The only reason to get organized is so that life doesn’t get in the way of YOU. When you’re disorganized, you let life run you as you stomp out fires caused by your disorganization. But a little organization goes a long way. Just getting in the habit of looking at your calendar every evening and then again in the morning will increase your level of organization tenfold!

What can be discouraging is trying to get organized when you’re in a huge mess and you don’t know
where to start. That’s like trying to waterski under water. If you’ve ever waterskied you know getting up is the part that takes the most effort, but once you’re on top of the water that’s when the fun begins. It’s exactly the same with being organized in your life. Once you’ve established just a few good habits and you get into a routine that serves you, you’ll glide along with ease. It’s the establishing part that takes a little extra effort. 

Where Should You Start?