I love my academic calendar!

 

Does your calendar work for you? This is a discussion I have had with MANY clients.

Here are a few things to consider when shopping/contemplating a calendar:

  1.  Having only ONE calendar format (digital OR paper) SIMPLIFIES and ensures you aren’t double booking.
  2. Make sure the calendar is the right size for your needs.
  3. Using a pencil allows you to make quick and clean changes.

I just ordered my new academic calendar/weekly planner (July through June–great for moms!). I have loved this style for 5 years now and this year one of the colors is HOT PINK! I love the two page monthly layout that has lines!  This is a HEAVY DUTY product and they come in different sizes, colors and options. I have had NO issues with the pages or the cover tearing. 

Sunset Academic Weekly/Monthly Appointment Book (800-905A) | DAY RUNNER www.dayrunner.com

The beautiful colors of a tropical sunset help ease your school scheduling.

2013/2014 AT-A-GLANCE® Sunset Weekly/Monthly Appointment Book, 8 1/2in. x 11in.

Flushing is not the answer! Dispose of unused medication properly.

In my line of work, I come across medication (prescription and over the counter) that my clients no longer use or it’s expired. Flushing certain medications down the drain has found to be harmful to our water source. Fortunately, many communities offer drop boxes for these medications.

I checked the three counties in my area and ALL of them have multiple drop boxes. You will find the drop boxes in police or sheriff departments. You can find out where to go by searching “medication drop” and the county you are looking for.

Here is what you need to do before dropping off the medications:

  • Keep the label on.
  • The name of drug needs to be visible.
  • Black out any personal information. This includes your name, prescription number, doctor’s name and the scan bar.

When I drop off medication at Neenah’s police station, I get to see a piece twisted metal from one of the twin towers in the front entry. Maybe you will find something significant as you help keep our environment cleaner and safer!

Procrastination–is it worth the mental torture?

For years, I have encouraged my clients to use a timer to help manage their time. It can also help reduce procrastination. Think about what you have been putting off. How much torture have you been putting yourself through just THINKING about it?

Here’s a great example of how I was procrastinating something that took me FOUR minutes to complete.

My daughter and I went apple picking a week ago. We ended up with two reusuable grocery bags half full of apples. When we got home, the bags were put on the side counter until I decided what to do with them (besides the caramel apples and apple crisp that we made that day). For the most part, our kitchen counters don’t have much stuff on them. I like to find a place for things. I just couldn’t decide what to do with the apples so they sat there. Yelling at me.

My dilemma was that I wanted the apples to last awhile. This meant they needed to be in a cool location. The garage would not be good because the weather fluctuates so much and there is the potential of them freezing (or little creatures finding them). The basement fridge is too far away and we may not eat them fast enough (because they would be forgotten!) which would be a waste of money. I decided I wanted them in the upstairs fridge but that’s a whole shelf devoted just to apples.

Well…duh, it finally dawned on me to use a container so I could stack the apples up in the fridge and not take up so much space.

I happen to be fixing a cup of tea when figuring this out and I played beat the timer for how long my tea needed to steep–4 to 6 mins. I set the timer for four minutes and rushed to the basement to find a container. I found a plastic container that is vented–like a veggie bin. All the apples fit and into the fridge the container went before the timer went off!! What an adrenal rush and no longer were those bags vexing me.

What is vexing you that you have been meaning to get at and don’t think you have the time? Break the task down into 20 minutes. Can you devote 20 minutes? Set a timer and go to it. You would be surprised at what you can get done in that amount of time.

When you try the timer technique, please let us know the outcome. If you have questions about what is a good timer to use, ask.

Ready, set, (press the timer button) GO

What’s In Your Shopping Cart?

A big part of staying organized is limiting what is brought into your home. This starts at the store. Have you ever been surprised by how much your bill amounted to? Did you think, “There is no way what’s on my list amounts to that much”? When you really analyzed what you purchased, you may recall all the extra things that were not on the list. What happens to these things once they get home? If they are food, hopefully it will get eaten before it goes bad. What about all the other stuff? Did you really need it?

The next time you are at the store, play this game BEFORE you checkout. Without looking, see if you can name all the things in your cart. After you have named everything you can, look at your list. Did you name everything off the list? Were there “non list” items you forgot about? It’s these things that you should put more thought into. Is it really needed? Do you have something similar to it that could be used? Will you miss it if you don’t buy it?

The first time I tried this with my daughter, I was amazed at how well it worked. Do you know about the phenomenon about how much more money is spent when your children go shopping with you? Maybe it’s not a phenomenon, but, to me, it’s an art form. Store owners should really cater to kids—they have ways to convince mom and dad to buy things without us really noticing. When my daughter does it, I call it campaigning. She will talk out loud, “Oh, mom, doesn’t this look good?” or “I didn’t know that Oreo came out with a new flavor”. She’s a walking advertisement. It’s rare that she flat out asks for stuff—she just campaigns.

While shopping with my daughter, who was nine at the time, she saw a gorgeous sleeping mask. She wanted it so bad. Her argument was that it was only five dollars. I was thinking about all the stuff she collects in her room—she did not need a sleeping mask and it would probably be forgotten after a few days. I decided to allow her to put it in the cart and I would think about for awhile. Before we checked out, I asked her, “So what do you think about that thing you wanted? Is it needed now?” Without me cueing her on the name of the product, she could not think of what it was. We had brief discussion about the power of something looking pretty and making us desire it. We put the mask back.

Remember, to cut back on clutter and make it easy to stay organized, be careful about what is brought into the house. Play the “What’s in my cart” game and see what you come up with. You have nothing to lose, a less cluttered home is gained, you may save a few bucks, and it’s a great way to work your brain!

Love and Care of Your Shredder

Unless you live under a rock, you know that you should be shredding personal documents before they get recycled.  Tearing a piece of paper into quarters or eighths isn’t going to deter someone who wants to steal your information.  So if you don’t have a shredder, to quote the toy story character, Woody, “Get one!” (Okay, he was talking about a moving buddy so no one got left behind…but it’s still about personal safety.)

I have a nice shredder that can chew up 10 sheets at a time.  I bought it at an estate sale so I don’t know how well it had been cared for.  I brought it home, plugged it in and used it for over two years without doing anything to it.

Upon clearing out some files, I had a good stack of paper I needed to shred (yes, I dread it, too!).  Some of the paper was longer, and I found the shredder was getting jammed before the long sheets could get through it.  This job took way too long.  After I got done, I decided to look at the underside of the shredder.  There was a ton of paper caught in the teeth.  Hmmm…then I noticed the little oil can symbol on the top of the shredder.

Okay, I guess I should oil it.  With what?  I referenced the manual and it talked about a specific lubricant for the shredder OR you could a vegetable based oil in a non-aerosol container with an extension nozzle.   Alright—this was a solution that allowed me to do this now (how long does it take to get back to a job when it’s put off for one reason or another??).

I actually used my “Mr. Mister” that replaces “Pam”.  It pumps air into a cylindrical container that creates a fine mist with no aerosol chemicals.  I bet a medicine dropper would work also (and would be cleaner).  The manual also said to NEVER use flammable synthetic oil, petroleum based or aerosol lubricants because it could combust.

Here is what my manual says:

  1. From the top of the shredder, squeeze the recommended lubricant across the full width of the blades.
  2. Move the power switch to AUTO position and allow the blades to run at least 3 seconds.
  3. Move the power switch to REVERSE position and allow it to run for at least 3 seconds.
  4. Repeat steps 2-4 above at least times.

Basically, the blades need to move back and forth to get the oil on it. Wow—what a difference that made. Papers aren’t jamming up as easily. The job goes quicker. It’s easier. If it’s easier to do it’s more likely that the job will get done in the future (in a timely manner).

Before you decide to oil your shredder, double check the manual or online to see what should be done. I remember one client’s shredder having the oil can crossed out (do not oil?).

Here is more on shredder maintenance:

www.papershreddersinfo.com/maintenance.htm

One other tip—put a bag in the container to collect the shredded paper. The above link mentions shredder bags (which I did not know about!). I use a paper bag and then the whole thing can be recycled. You may need to cut the bag to fit but it will save you time when you have to empty the messy paper out of the shredder container.

I hope these tips keep your shredder happy and chomping up those never ending papers like there’s no tomorrow.