Planning For Back-to-School

Use these tips to plan your monthly family calendar of routines and activities to reduce stress and keep the whole family running smoothly as you transition from Summer to back to school.

Your “month planning day” should ideally happen on the first day of the month, simply because it will be an easy reminder for you. This will give you a long-term idea of what is to come, how far you need to plan, what resources and materials you need to buy or schedule, and best of all when you will have free time for yourself and your loved ones.

As we move towards the end of Summer and get ready to transition into another school year, these monthly planning days are an indispensable part of keeping your family routines and schedules on point.

1. Gather Your Supplies & Information

For this planning I suggest you have with you:
–          Your calendar
–          Your spouse’s calendar
–          Your family calendar, if you use one. You can download a family to-do calendar right here. 

I use a calendar with a 2-page “month view” space to write down all the appointments, events, and deadlines I need to fulfill in the following month. It also has enough space to write my
1. Appointments,
2. A Task List and
3. Daily Notes.

Find one that fits you the best. There’s no ideal calendar, one-size-fits-all. Electronic or paper, make sure you stick to one that fits your needs and how you like to use it.

2. Review Your Information & Schedules

Now that you are ready, go through your notes, all those pieces of paper you have scattered around the house, close to the phone, or in your purse, and go through them, one by one, putting down on your calendar the appointment that you made, the phone call you’ll have to return or that deadline you have coming up.

Using the information of your spouse’s calendar, fill in – I use a different color for my husband’s schedule – any relevant information for your family schedule, like “dinner on 05/18”. Knowing when you can count on your spouse for dinner, kids pick up, or drop off has a direct impact on your planning – and your sanity.

Next, enter all the kids’ classes, practice time, appointments, school exams, play dates, and parties. If it’s easier for you, use different colors here too.

Now that you have everybody listed on your calendar, you can already see which days will be tight in time – and therefore require a more flexible dinner.

You can also plan adequate time for homework, your house chores, and the days you will have time to enjoy your family and your favorite TV show.

I also like to include my household chores in my planning. I want to know that the kids won’t be living out of laundry baskets or that there won’t be dinner because I didn’t shop for the week. So, checking on your already planned calendar, look at what day of the week you could include your laundry and your grocery shopping.

Many moms like to cook some of the week’s dinners on Sunday and freeze them or prepare double batches and freeze one (my personal favorite).

Preparing ahead is an excellent solution if you work out of the house or spend your afternoons driving the kids to their practices – or in my case, both. Nothing better than getting home knowing you are ready for dinner!

3. Plan Your Menu For The Month

Plan your meals, make a list of what you need, and check your pantry while you are at it. You will have accomplished two great things:
–          A month’s worth of peace of mind because you know what’s coming.
–          A list of dinners for the following weeks and
–          The grocery list of all you need to feed your kids hungry tummies!

4. “Sync” Your Calendars

Finally, if you use a family calendar (like the kitchen one), put down all the main events you marked in yours.

Displaying your calendar will give you a source of information when you are answering the phone while cooking and need to provide an answer there and now.

5. Celebrate & Stay On Top Of It

Now go ahead and give yourself a round of applause. You are on your way to enjoying a smooth month and a smooth transition into the new school year!

Get organized and start saving time for the rest of your life!

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New post How To Plan Your Monthly Family Calendar For The New School Year on A Personal Organizer by Helena Alkhas

Stylish Solutions For The Closetless Lady

Not all of us are gifted with a sprawling walk-in closet to store all our clothes, shoes, accessories, and do some fun dressing up. If you find yourself looking for closet organizing ideas for the “no closet” problem in your home, you’re in for a treat. Get ready to be inspired by these stylish closet solutions for the closet-less.

From the very creative and artsy to a more “put-together” look, there’s a closet organizing solution to bring you all the storage and organization you need for your beauties.

As you read through this post, you’ll see that you don’t have to break the bank or sacrifice storage with these solutions. The closet organizing ideas below are a good sample of what you can do with a garment rack, a dresser, even storage boxes, and, of course, some imagination!

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Painting one of the walls dark will instantly bring an instant flair and focus to your dressing area. Contrast it with white or bright colors, and incorporate your favorite clothing and shoes into your decor. Setting up your closet corner in contrasting colors will create a sense of purposeful intention for your organizing and storage space.

Add a beautiful floor mirror to add function with loads of style.

Who said your closet has to live in your bedroom?

Have an extra room? A tiny little corner?

Make it pretty with your clothing and nicely organized shoes. Add some sparkle and a comfy seat to make it yours. This gorgeous example of an extra room turned closet only needed a rolling rack and a few accessories to pull together this high-end closet solution.

Want a more “closet-looking” solution? No worries, you can install shelves and a closet rod to create a unique boutique-style solution for your closet.

Don’t you love the shoe storage on the wall?

A combination of shelves, a clothing rack, and a cabinet will bring more closet storage space.

Extra No-Closet Organizing Tip!

In the image below, you can see how installing the top rod near the ceiling doubles your closet storage space. When you don’t have generous closet space, maximizing space in any way you can is the name of the game.

Ikea has a beautiful closet organizing system that can also serve as a room divider. Again, doubling up on form and function is a win-win when it comes to creative closet solutions.

This closet solution creates a beautiful backstage for your bed while creating all the privacy you need.

Simply use a curtain to create separation, and an “official” closet will be born. Don’t be surprised if you end up with more space than you would have in a traditional closet. What’s not to love in this Pottery Barn room?

These shelves are a great solution, especially if you move often, like us. They are flexible and can be used from the entryway to your closet.

Proof that closet shelving can look beautiful!

The perfect marriage of style and function.

5. No Closet Organizing Ideas: Modular Systems

Don’t you love this gorgeous and elegant closet built with modular storage?

These modular storage cubbies offer plenty of space for folded items, purses, and shoes. Baskets in beautiful textures add storage options, beauty, and style.

6. No Closet Organizing Ideas: Clothing Racks Come in All Shapes And Sizes

These racks’ unique shape makes them attractive and extra sturdy. You can use them along the walls of your room and add a dresser for your folded items to create a fully functional closet solution.

This beautiful closet solution features shelves and gorgeous storage boxes from The Container Store. Of course, the wall color, lighting, and beautiful accessories make this an “all-grown-up” room.

Shelves are all you need to create this beautiful closet by The Container Store.

Now, here is the official garment rack for girls and boys alike.

7. No Closet Organizing Ideas: The Ultimate Treasure

If you have utilized all of your options with shelves, rolling racks, cubbies, and drawers, and you still need more room to store and organize your clothing, let’s get creative and get under the bed with this awesome storage solution.

What are your favorite closet organizing ideas from this post?

I’d love to hear about your strategies for improving storage without compromising style in your own space.

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New post How To Organize A Closet When You Don’t Have One on A Personal Organizer by Helena Alkhas

Lessons Learned In 10 Years As A Professional Organizer

After ten years as a professional organizer and running a small organizing business, all while moving to three different States as a Navy spouse, I can say I have learned a thing or two.

I started my business in 2010 after a fellow mom asked me to help her with her clutter. In the process of organizing her home, I found an estimate of a local professional organizer, and this is how I learned that what I loved to do – organizing – was a professional activity.

Armed with a passion for organizing and a desire to return to the workforce after 9 years as a stay-at-home mother, I joined the national association, our local chapter, and started to subcontracting for local colleagues. In less than a month, I was working with clients and a team.

Many of us in this industry, people who love organizing and want to make a difference in our clients’ lives, enter this activity believing all we will do is organize our “core activity.” But that is nothing further from the truth.

Put Your Entrepreneur Hat On – A love for organizing won’t be enough

As soon as you officially form your business, you will realize that you need a plan to attract clients who will pay you to do what you love. You’ll need to learn new skills, including marketing, networking, accounting, managing clients and your time, estimating and managing projects, sourcing products and materials, and determining the type of insurance to purchase, among others.

When I look back, I am sure my best investment of time and money in my first year of having an organizing business was made by taking NAPO and ICD classes and joining my local chapter. I also took countless training sessions and earned certifications from top digital marketers.

These classes gave me a map for my business, while joining the local NAPO chapter gave me a sense of professional community, standards to follow, and a human connection. These relationships will last for years, and these will be your “peeps,” the colleagues you go to when you have a question or need a helping hand.

Prepare For Longevity

When we are young, we believe we will live forever. We don’t know what pains and aches are. We sleep through the night, enjoy total health, and don’t have hot flashes. But once age -and what comes with it- starts knocking at your door, you will begin reviewing what you can do and what you’re willing to do.

Back in 2014, I was working intensively, around 5-6 days a week, and that’s when I started feeling such pain in my joints that I was having a difficult time climbing the stairs of our house. I was only in my early forties, but the intense physical demands of our work were already starting to take their toll on me.

That was the time I understood I needed to plan for the future if I wanted to do what I love for the long haul.

It’s fair to say that most of us enter this industry through residential organizing. This environment requires lots of stepping, climbing, carrying heavy bins and boxes, hauling donation bags, working in dusty environments, and handling an infinite number of items. All this takes a toll on our bodies if we’re not careful.

If you’re young and new to the industry, consider how you will protect yourself from the intense physical activity that is part of our work, and start paying attention to all other areas and ways you can offer organizing services.

There are many areas of professional organizing that are “softer,” such as digital organizing, photography, document management, teaching, training, and consulting for both clients and new professional organizers.

Whether you are going through your first years in business or already hitting the 5-10 year mark, consider how you will extend your professional life while maximizing the experience you have accumulated so far.

Use All Your Assets – Organizing Is Only One Of Them

When we show up to an organizing appointment, our clients might believe that we are solely equipped with organizing skills. However, what I have observed is that our previous professional education, life experiences, and the life skills and perspectives our cultural and religious backgrounds provide also inform the way we can bring value to our clients.

Here are a couple of examples:

A coaching client of mine is a Seventh-day Adventist and observes the Shabbat. She had to learn to organize her family life around that important weekly event and find clients who were open to working on Sundays, but not on Saturdays.

Another important observation of hers was that many of her friends from church were struggling to organize themselves around their religious practices, which led her to create a training and a planner.

Takeaway: If you are religious and observe rituals and practices and have learned to organize your life around them, there is an entire community of people who also need that information.

The same applies to your previous professional experience. A nurse working at a hospital may have valuable insight into the needs of patients and their families. When someone is undergoing treatment or suffers from a chronic condition, organizing the household, the routines, the medical bills, and related documents can become an overwhelming part of their lives. As a professional organizer, you have the training and experience to provide specialized services.

Create multiple sources of income – online and offline

Back in 2011, when I created my first website, all I wanted was a place for potential clients to find me. However, as I began taking training in online marketing, I realized the potential this space held as a possible source of income.

Over the years, I have utilized advertising and affiliate marketing to generate ongoing revenue and offer digital products, online training, and consulting services to colleagues worldwide.

You may want to continue doing hands-on organizing with clients for as long as possible, but that doesn’t exclude the possibility of creating products you can offer online, giving many others the opportunity to learn the organizing skills that come so naturally to you.

Other ways to create multiple sources of income include selling physical products, giving speaking engagements, becoming an inventor, or writing a book (or two!).

We have fabulous colleagues who have expanded their businesses through these channels, and they are proof that it’s possible.

Finally, I learned that while our passion for organizing never dies, our love for our business may fade from time to time. For me, this happened when I felt I had hit a plateau or when I stopped learning new things or applying my skills.

As a lifelong learner, I yearn for new experiences and opportunities to challenge myself. Know how you will find the food to keep yourself engaged and curious about your work.

So, whatever you do, keep learning, keep engaging, and look for the next chapter. Professional organizing can take you places you never imagined!

I hope this post provides you with ideas for planning a thriving professional organizing career.

New post What No One Told Me About Running An Organizing Business on A Personal Organizer by Helena Alkhas