Anyone else feel desperate to get your house in order this New Year’s week? Luckily, Jennifer Bardorf, a professional personal organizer and owner of Neatspaces, in Wellesley, MA, is here ALL WEEK LONG—yay!—to solve common family organizational dilemmas. She’ll tackle one HHK reader dilemma each day this week. Check in every morning as we transition from 12 Days of Christmas to 5 Days to Organize—I promise you’ll be inspired.
Q. Here’s a basic mom organization question: If it’s not in front of you, how do you know it exists? When we stow away forms and papers and bills in order to declutter, we so often forget that the paper reminders even exist and then we end up missing deadlines. How do we train ourselves to sit for five minutes on a regular basis and check the “inbox” of hidden paper when there are a trillion directions that we’re pulled in? —Dana, Wallingford, PA
A. First off—I’m so honored to be asked to be a guest on Kelley’s blog! Hope I can share some helpful and perhaps inspiring thoughts. Before tackling this question specifically, there are two things I always stress to my clients. Discipline and attitude. To achieve your goals, you have to be disciplined to do what you need to do even if you don’t want to do it. Having a positive attitude will improve your health and productivity. Yes, it’s not just fluffy stuff to think positively, there are scientific studies on it!
Let’s keep that in mind when discussing this first, very common dilemma: the paperwork trail. As a mom, there are so many pieces of paperwork that require an action or a response. Party invitations, bills, field trip permission slips, school work and on and on. I suggest to clients that they keep paperwork in a file folder NOT tucked away in a desk or drawer, but out where they typically tend to these items—the kitchen, your desk, whatever. File them in order of priority: what needs to be responded to first goes to the top of the file folder and what isn’t so time sensitive is in the back of the file folder.
Reisenthel wall-mount organizer, The Container Store
Good file holders help: A wall-mounted system is great because it keeps files at eye level, which is a good visual reminder, and also prevents crowding on your desk or countertop or wherever you work. I like the Reisenthel Wall-Mounted Organizer because it has lots of pockets that can also include space for my kids to keep their homework or artwork-in-progress too. It’s fabric, comes in great colors, and is just $15 at The Container Store. If you prefer something sturdier, Pottery Barn’s Daily System has a nice-looking file holder in white, black, or two different brown wood shades for $59, here.
Separately, I keep a box-style desktop file bin for “my” papers such as school directories, stamps and envelopes, grocery lists and flyers, and one file per child with notes and numbers I need to keep with sports rosters or information on their individual activities. You can get one to match your decor at The Container Store for as little as $10, here.
But you really don’t need anything fancier than a file box and some folders for this system to work. What is critical is that you become disciplined enough to actually go through the papers on a regular basis. Like every day or every other day so stuff doesn’t fall through the cracks. Plan what time you will do this work every day or every other day. After drop-off or after the kids are in bed. Literally, set your alarm on your phone titled “paperwork”. You may have to tweak the designated time to tend to the paperwork but I predict it will become habit for you to do this task after 2-3 weeks.
Have an organizing dilemma of your own? Check out Jennifer’s website and contact information, here.
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