OverHall IT!
Vol. 6 Issue 2
Just reading this newsletter won't get you organized...
YOU must take some action!
Organizing Newsletter for Your Life - OverHall IT!
Circulation 6,336
Vol. 6 Issue 2
Publisher: Janet L. Hall mailto:janet@overhall.com
http://www.overhall.com
(c) OverHall Consulting 2005
Administration information located at end of newsletter
Help Me Help Others Heal Their Environments and Get
Organized - Please forward my newsletter onto those you know
who might need or like OverHall IT!
IN THIS ISSUE
1. Welcome and Happenings
2. OverHalling and Balance
3. Tips for Organizers & Feng Shui Consultants
4. Organizing Tips and Tools
5. Jokes, Quotes, and Anecdotes
6. Guest Article
1. Welcome and Happenings
I've got two live events coming up in March that I hope you can
attend:
Turn Your Life Around - Harmony and Balance Workshop
http://www.overhall.com/harmony_balance.htm March 1st-Live
in Solomon's Island, MD and March 3rd-teleseminar ($20):
Designing Abundance
March 6th in St. Mary's County, MD-Spring Cleaning and
Organizing/Feng Shui Workshop ($25). Whether you're thinking
of selling your home or not this workshop is a MUST attend!
Lunch provided. Check it out at:
http://www.overhall.com/spring.htm
If you visited my web sites one day last week or sent me email
you probably saw my sites were down and your emails bounced
back. This was due to my server being down. I didn't get much
help from the server company so with the help of my tech person
I moved all my sites to a new company and was back up the
next day. Then later that day my Internet service was down ... all
this in the middle of my office redo, which means my office was
torn apart, books and files in one room, piled and scattered
about. I just don't know how many of you live in your constant
clutter and chaos so in this issue I'm starting a new series of how
to articles, first up is paper clutter.
Don't forget to visit our bookstore at
http://www.overhall.com/books.htm Here you'll find
recommended reading on topics for organizing your home,
children, classroom, photos, scrapbooks, documents and Feng
Shui, Space Clearing, Time Management and Change. I even
located two books on staying organized and informed for cancer
patients, click the Health section.
Thanks for your support and for being a subscriber,
Janet L. Hall, The Organizing and Feng Shui Wizard
Now, on to the articles!
2. - Top Ten Organizing and Time Challenges People Face
Part 1
By: Janet L. Hall
1. Paper. Includes mail, reading material and files
2. Bedroom. Includes laundry, clothes, drawers and closets
3. Children. Includes their schedules and their bedroom and toys
4. Shopping. Includes food, gifts and cards
5. Kitchen. Includes organizing, meal planning and cooking
6. Spending time with family, children, friends and self
7. Appointments. Includes medical, school, parties and events
8. Tools
9. Car
10. Maintaining home systems and cleaning
Today we'll be addressing the number one challenge, paper:
=> Know what you need to keep and why. I recommend you enroll in my
email course, 35 Days to Sorting and Organizing ALL Your Home Papers, at
http://www.paperclutter.com
=> Choose a filing system and containers that fit your
lifestyle. Decide if you are going to store your papers in a filing
cabinet, bankers box or sectioned notebooks, use hanging folders, manila
folders and if you will file by alpha, numeric, or topic.
=> Purge your files at least once a year.
=> Make a standing filing date and time for daily,
weekly or monthly filing.
=> Get a fire proof box or a safe deposit to store your
important or irreplaceable documents into. I recommend you check out two
of our products to assist you in this: The Safe Deposit Guide at
http://www.overhall.com/safety_deposit_box.htm and If
Something Happens to Me at
http://www.overhall.com/if_something_happens_to_me.htm
=> Sort, toss and put away mail as you bring it into
your home.
=> Get a dated filing system, 1-31 and January -
December (a tickler file) to store date related papers into. Check ours
out at
http://www.overhall.com/tickler_file.htm
=> Get a magazine rack or holder for each room you like
to read in and store your reading there as soon as it comes into the
home or office. We've found about 21 different holders, even for the
bathroom. Check them out at:
http://www.overhall.com/organize_living_space.htm and click on
Magazine Organizer.
When it comes down to it paper is never going to go away; however once
you learn how to make decisions on what to keep, where and how to store
the paper and maintain your systems you'll be in better shape then you
are now. It will take some action on your part to do this...so what are
you waiting for? Let's get your papers under control once and for all!
============
Janet Hall is a Certified Professional Organizer,
Certified Pyramid Feng Shui Practitioner, Speaker, and Author
and can help you regain control of your life, your time, your
stuff, and your environment. Organizing By Phone and in person
at http://www.overhall.com
Copyright (c) 2005 OverHall Consulting
P.O. Box 263, Port Republic, MD 20676
All Rights Reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce, copy,
or distribute so long as this copyright notice and full information
about contacting the author is attached.
Have You Gotten Your *Tickle* for the Day?
Check out the secret organizing tool that ALL organized families
and successful people use on a daily basis at
http://www.overhall.com/tickler_file.htm
3. Tips for Organizers & Feng Shui Consultants
For those of you that do space or room planning for your clients you
must check this free tool out!
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/pac_ctnt_wide/text/0,,HGTV_17897_23822,00.html
HGTV offers - for free - an interactive room plan. You simply click on
the room (many to chose from, even outdoors) you want to work on. You
can easily adjust the size of the room by clicking on the outside lines
and pull them in or out. For each room HGTV offers up a list of room
items to incorporate into the room, moving them around wherever you
want, such as choice of full, queen or king size bed. You can also add
windows, doors, which can be adjusted to your clients size, as well as
accessories. Printing capabilities-YES! An easy to use Help feature is
also available. Check it out!
4. Organizing Tips and Tools
OverHall Events:
Turn Your Life Around - Harmony and Balance Workshop
http://www.overhall.com/harmony_balance.htm March 1st-Live
in Solomon's Island, MD and March 3rd-teleseminar ($20):
Designing Abundance
March 6th in St. Mary's County, MD-Spring Cleaning and
Organizing/Feng Shui Workshop ($25). Whether you're thinking
of selling your home or not this workshop is a MUST attend!
Lunch and teas provided. Check it out at:
http://www.overhall.com/spring.htm
I have discovered and reviewed a new product, If Something
Happens to Me. Check it out at:
http://www.overhall.com/if_something_happens_to_me.htm
OverHall Special:
Check out our special and save $3.00 on the Safe-Deposit Box,
Fireproof Safe Organizer: Guide to Protecting Your Valuable
Personal Records at:
http://www.overhall.com/organizing_special.htm
(Please refresh your screen if you have visited this page in the
past).
E-books and Books:
Got clutter and debt? Check out my ebook I co-authored with
Paula Langguth Ryan, Effortless Freedom From Clutter and
Debt: Your 20 minute Roadmap for Creating a Perfectly
Balanced Life, at:
http://tinyurl.com/pbb1
An associate, Ron Mueller, is the co-author of
"It's How Much You KEEP, That Counts! Not How Much You
Make". It's the ULTIMATE Tax-Reduction System For Small
and Home-Based Businesses! Reading one chapter has already
helped me and I'm sure it will help you also. Check it out at:
http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=137136
Jeffrey J. Mayer, president of Succeeding In Business, and
author of many books, has an ebook, "Winning the Fight Against
You and Your Desk," that I highly recommend. This inexpensive
52 page ebook is jammed packed with time saving tips so you
can get more done in less time. I urge you all to download this at
http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=25003
Software and Downloads:
Get this inexpensive Spam Filter at
http://spamarrest.com/affl?930907
If you've been wanting a web site and aren't sure how to build
one check out my latest multimedia CD, FrontPage Show and
Tell. You will see my screen and hear my voice telling where and
why to click to build your web site. Introductory Special at
http://www.frontpageshowandtell.com
5. Jokes, Quotes, and Anecdotes
~~We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming.
--Wernher von Braun (1912 - 1977)
~~If you don't know what to do with many of the papers piled on your
desk, stick a dozen colleagues' initials on 'em, and pass them along.
When in doubt, route.
--Malcolm Forbes (1919 - 1990)
~~I am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone
has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top.
--An English Professor, Ohio University
~~I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel
myself infinitely the happier for it.
--Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826)
~~I write down everything I want to remember. That way, instead of
spending a lot of time trying to remember what it is I wrote down, I
spend the time looking for the paper I wrote it
down on.
--Beryl Pfizer
6. Paper Organizer - How To Set One Up
by David Allen
Many people have asked for my suggestions about setting up
loose-leaf organizers. I used one for years (before I switched to
the Palm), and if I were to go back to a paper-based planner, I
would set it up something like what I have recommended below.
An advantage to paper-based organizers is the capability of a
better and faster visual overview and context. And even though
the separate paper lists could be kept anywhere in the system, it
is nice to group them based upon how they are accessed.
I carry a letter-sized 3-ring binder demo mock-up of this kind of
organizer with me in seminars, and the one I put together cost
about $12 at Staples (most of that cost is for the binder). You
can pay tons more for classy graphics and covers and
accessories (which I often did) but it is not required. The only
preprinted forms you might need would be calendar pages and
telephone/address pages. Otherwise, you could easily get by
with plain lined notebook paper, on which you could make your
lists.
Size is more a matter of aesthetics and logistics. Letter-sized
notebooks have the advantage of holding standard paper that
can be printed or copied, and finding inexpensive forms and
accessories in standard stationery stores. Mid-sized planners
have the advantage of convenience of writing in places of more
limited space and slightly less bulky for schlepping around in your
gear.
I suggest eight tabs and sections, in this order in the binder:
1. Notes/"In"
The portable in-basket. For capturing random notes to be
processed later--voicemails, meeting notes, random thoughts,
phone conversation notes, etc. Process and purge regularly.
2. Calendar
Lists day- and time-specific actions and information--
appointments, have-tos for the day, and things we need or want
to know on or about that day.
3. Action Lists
The lists of pre-defined actions to choose from when we have
discretionary time--next steps on projects and single actions that
need to get done as soon as we can do them. Can be broken
down into subsets by context of where the action has to
happen--at home, at computer, at phone, errands, etc.
4. Projects/Goals
The more-than-one-step outcomes that we need to keep
reminders about--the "open loops." This section can also include
the bigger-picture outcomes, such as professional goals, personal
visions, values, etc. as well as the "someday/maybe" kinds of
things we want to keep alive for review. This section to be
reviewed at least weekly to ensure there are actions on the active
projects in the system.
5. Agendas
Things to bring up when we meet or talk with individuals or
groups, organized by the person or the meeting.
6. Project Planning/Notes
Place to hold support material for projects, themes, and topics.
Project plans, project support materials, etc. To be used to
capture project thinking, and for reviewing as needed to ensure
appropriate next actions on the action lists or agendas.
7. Reference/Misc.
Various reference lists related to interests and activities, and a
general "catch-all"section.
8. Tel/Add
The basic Rolodex of names and addresses.
==============
David Allen is an international author, lecturer, and founder and
President of the David Allen Company, a management
consulting, coaching, and training company. Please visit his site at
http://www.davidco.com
So you want to be a Professional Organizer?
Check out my one-of-a-kind system, The Wizard's Professional
Organizers System that will give you a jump-start on your
organizing career at
http://www.overhall.com/professional_organizers_system.htm
NEED a speaker for your next event? Download my speaking
packet at:
http://overhall.com/Seminars.htm
Harmony and Balance to all,
Janet L. Hall, CPO/CRMS (tm), FSII/FSIA
The Organizing and Feng Shui Wizard
Let me work my "magic" on your Clutter, Life, and Environment!
http://www.overhall.com
"If your current life isn't working for you... get an
"OverHall"!"
Janet L. Hall is the owner of OverHall Consulting, and
Organizing By Phone, which is based out of Southern Maryland
and can be reached at 800-687-3040 or 410-586-9440, or e-
mail her at mailto:janet@overhall.com
Janet can "OverHall" your office, home, and computer clutter
and can deliver a customized speech or seminar for your next
event.
Copyright (c) 2005 by OverHall Consulting
P.O. Box 263,
Port Republic, MD 20676
All Rights Reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce, copy,
or distribute OverHall IT! or any articles by Janet L. Hall so
long as article(s) is kept intact, this copyright notice, and
full information about the author is attached.
ISSN # 1533-0702.
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Here in OverHall IT! it is my hope to help you stop juggling
areas in your life around and help you "OverHall" the areas that
might have become cluttered, ignored, or put on the back
burner. I want to help you bring back into focus the things that
are important to you. I want the chaos to stop for you and help
bring you some structure and hopefully some useful advice and
systems so you can accomplish the most important task...running
your life!
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