FREE FUN HELP - A fun tool to further motivate you toward the change you want. An easy six week program called EASE INTO CHANGE with a Simple Six Week Program. Print, and use, maybe in conjunction with a friend, office workers (put copies on the bulletin board or in the break room), or with Friends of the Organizer Lady (see 6 below). Go to the link below. Choose two activities a week at your own personal level. Click here to view the Simple Six Week Program -------------------------------------- Contents of New Ideas for Today Message of the Day - STICK TO BASICS Did You Know? Habit of the Day Family Reminder of the Day More Help Here Quote of the Day Question of The Day From the Trenches - ROUTINE More Info -------------------------------------- **Learn how to get organized with Marsha's (FREE) YouTube videos!** **The SOS program is informative, reasonably priced, convenient, and supportive. Only $27 per month. Click here for more information.** ***If you are having problems with this Yahoo Groups mailing, you can click here to subscribe on Blogger to receive the exact same messages every day.*** -------------------------------------- 1. Message of the Day STICK TO BASICS Don't overdo! I don't mean that you should not work hard to dig out from the cluttered lifestyle you find yourself in. Nothing can be harder than the work of change you are doing, especially because of all of those hard decisions and the stress they put on your emotions and intellect. Yes, we need to commit ourselves to keep going even when it is hard to do so. What I do mean is that we should stick to the basics and not begin to do the "extras" that we could so easily slide into. As we begin to feel our power to make changes, we may be tempted to do little, detailed work that does not really move us forward to our goal. Examples would be sorting buttons or working on our Rolodex (TM) file while the really important things are unattended. Sticking to the basics is what The Organizer Lady is all about. We don't stray far from a few tried and true ideas and habits that are proven to move us forward successfully. There will be time for doing the detailed extras later but for now, don't go there! -------------------------------------- 2. Did You Know? The SOS program is informative, reasonably priced, convenient, and supportive. Only $27 per month. Click here for more information. ------------------------------------------- 3. Habit of the Day FOLLOW THE RULE OF TEN (AMBIVALENCE BOX THINGS) Gather ten things you know you should get rid of but don't want to. Put them in an Ambivalence box which you store out of the way. Put a date on the box when you will move it out of the house. You may retrieve an item you must up until that day. On that date, however, the box is forever sealed to you and the box of things is given away. -------------------------------------- 4. Family Reminder of the Day In our family, we use the team concept. Each person does his part to support all. In our family, we are willing to help others where necessary because we are a team. -------------------------------------- 5. More Help Here The K.I.S.S. (Keep It Super Simple) Flipper has fresh ideas on how to move through your home, day by day, room by room, with simple choices for maintenance and organizing. It will gently guide you through the process of creating clear and shining surfaces throughout out your home! With the New K.I.S.S. Flipper all you have to do to is FLIP through the spiral-bound, sequentially numbered full-color job idea cards. No more sliding cards into sleeves; the New K.I.S.S. Flipper is ready to use out of the package. When you are ready to begin, make a few simple choices each day from one card and you will be on your way to a clutter-free and well maintained home. Free BONUS: Once you order, you will also receive the "K.I.S.S. eBooklet" via email to learn the "Hows and Whys" of the system while you wait for your Flipper, so you will be ready to start the day your Flipper arrives. $26.95 Introductory Price $26.00 with Free US Postage at this time Order the NEW and IMPROVED K.I.S.S. Flipper 6. Quote of the Day "It takes less energy to be successful than to be a failure." Dennis Waitley -------------------------------------- 7. Question of The Day If you had one SPECIFIC wish, and one wish only, for your house, what would that wish be? Is there any one step you can take to start making that wish come true? SPECIAL QUESTION OF THE DAY Have you tried the six week program mentioned above? If you could add one more simple activity to a week, what would it be? Tell us by posting on Friends-of-The-Organizer-Lady. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Friends-of-The-Organizer-Lady -------------------------------------- 8. From the Trenches BASICS OF ROUTINE (Long and good) The thing that has helped me stay on track is routines. I know it sounds dull & boring, but I have added a few things to my morning and evening routines and voila! I just do them without thinking. I follow Sandra's list: get up, make up the bed, etc. After taking care of myself for a couple of months, I did another important thing: I helped my 4 yo DD make a list of HER morning routine. I let her choose pictures [from a small selection] and wrote beside it what it was. We hung it inside the closet, and I have her look at it every morning. After we finished it, my husband said he thought it would be helpful for grownups, too. DD has had her list for 2 weeks, and hardly refers to it but knows what to do. We're going to make a night routine next. We move to our new home in 4 weeks. I'll do one for my husband then, too. The other thing I decided was I am not responsible for every little thing in the house. So, everyone has chores, even 4 yr olds. She swiffs, puts laundry into the front loading washer, and puts her clothes away from the dry clothes basket. If you have several children and a husband, you shouldn't have to do anything but cook, maybe vacuum the main rooms, and oversee everything else. One of the tenets of Sandra's message is you don't have to do it all! So what if the vacuuming isn't perfect? You didn't have to do it. So what if the dusting missed a little spot one week? They'll catch it next time. Children can properly do anything you inspect and expect. My little one keeps her underwear sorted in baskets she can reach--it took me weeks to get her trained, but I no longer do it for her. I don't put my husband's underwear away either--that's his job. The best thing you can do for your kids is to teach them to be responsible. [I think I read that in Madalyn Swift's parenting book.] Here are some basics that have really helped me keep the clutter at bay and the extra cleaning down. The rules apply to everyone in the family, not just kids. I wash clothes that are IN the hamper. Everyone puts away THEIR clothes from the basket. Everyone carries their own dishes to the kitchen after eating. Put away what you get out when you are through with it. When you go to bed, you're through! (This requires having a home for everything & dumping things with no home.) No snacks in bedrooms. No sticky drinks in the car. Do it now. This refers to spills. Clean them BEFORE they get tracked all over. Plan for as much as possible, but don't be too busy to play. I never thought I'd have routines or rules like my Cleanie mother, but it certainly has helped. I don't panic anymore when people are about to drop by [which is good since our house is on the market.] The odd thing is, I have just as much time for sewing as I did when we spent 30 minutes every day looking for lost things! I know this was long. I hope it was inspirational, too. (Thanks to Marla) -------------------------------------- 9. More Info Help for your Routine Here! This is a simple program. We stick with the basics as they are presented in these messages. Keep reading. Keep adding one part of the program at a time. Don't forget the daily reminders!!! Click here to print a copy of the daily Reminders and How-To's Learn how to get organized with Marsha's (FREE) YouTube videos! Repetition is important. Forward to friends if desired but not to other sites. Read this whole posting or only what you can take in today, then delete it. ------------------------------------- Are you at home thinking about the organizing you need to get done? Take a look at our SOS program designed to jumpstart your organizing immediately. Buy now: https://sortitout.thinkific.com/courses/SOS-Organizing-Program For more information: http://www.sortitout.net/sos-solutions-solutions-program-sf ----------------------------------- MESSIES ANONYMOUS SLOGAN Please memorize this slogan and post it on your wall. The secret to success is making very small, yet very consistent, changes. Or to make it short; Baby steps, baby steps in the right direction. Never underestimate the inevitability of gradualness. Anonymous 90 © Sandra Felton 2010 THE ORGANIZER LADY® is a trademark of Sandra Felton, founder of Messies Anonymous.