BEEing Productive: How to Manage Your Tasks and Time
Most of us have a love/hate relationship with To-Do Lists. A good list can help us make the most of our days, but a disorganized list can be so overwhelming that we are paralyzed and get nothing done. Remember that good task and time management isn’t about doing everything! It’s about doing the right things at the right time in a way that actually works for you. Our goal is for you to be intentional about how you spend your days—not just react to what comes up—so that you can prioritize what matters the most to you. Getting your To-Do List and calendar organized will help you make better decisions, carve out space for the people and activities you love, leave behind guilt about unfinished tasks, get more done in less time, and give you permission to say NO to excessive demands on your time. Why We Struggle With To-Do Lists While most of us agree that a To-Do List is a helpful way to keep track of tasks, the struggle of managing it is real. Sometimes the problem is that the list is so long that it’s demoralizing to even make eye contact with. Sometimes the problem is that you have an abundance of lists—on your desk, in your planner, on a sticky note, on a napkin in your purse, in your phone, and in an email to yourself. Or maybe the items on your To-Do List feel random and semi-optional, so you just keep moving them from list to list without ever actually getting them done. Read on for our best strategies for taking charge of your tasks and time! Strategies for Managing Your TASKS Prioritize your list—Some things matter more than others, so make sure the most critical items are at the top. Many task-management apps give you the option of assigning an importance level to each task. Follow the two-minute rule—If the task takes less than two minutes to complete (think sorting the mail or RSVPing for an event), don’t waste your time writing it on your list. Just do it. Categorize your list—Putting everything from all of the hats you wear onto the same list is overwhelming. Think of ways to categorize your tasks so that they make sense to you. Does it make sense to divide items between personal and work? Or to divide personal items between home projects (upkeep, repairs), people (birthday presents, communication), travel (bookings, planning), or other groupings? Keep tasks small—Don’t write Paint bedroom on your To-Do List. It’s waaaay too big and will never get done. Break down larger projects into bite-size pieces. Instead of Paint bedroom, maybe your list would include Remove items from walls, Buy drop cloths, Cover or move furniture, choose paint color, etc. Clearly outlining steps in a bigger project makes it easier to picture the entire process and therefore easier to accomplish. Give everything a due date—Even if it’s just an estimate, having a deadline for when tasks should be finished can prevent headaches (and late fees and missed opportunities) in the long run. Use verbs—Items on your list should be written with a verb to help you quickly remember the task precisely. For example, writing Vegetable garden on your list isn’t as useful as adding a verb like Fertilize, Water, Weed, or Harvest. Estimate times for tasks—Next to each item on your list, estimate how many minutes/hours the task will take. This makes you more likely to jump into a task and gives you a more realistic understanding of how much you can accomplish in a day. Batch similar tasks—Every time you switch between tasks or projects, your brain needs time to catch up and adjust. If several items on your list are similar in nature, doing them in the same block of time can help you be more efficient. Watering all of your house plants at one time is more efficient and takes up less mental space than watering a couple of plants each day. Reset Weekly—We’ve long championed the idea of a Weekly Reset to keep your home and calendar managed. Think through the tasks and calendar events for the week ahead so that you minimize last-minute scrambles. Try a method or app—Don’t be shy about trying one of the many methods for managing your tasks. Some folks swear by the 1-3-5 method, which prompts you to attempt to accomplish one big task, three medium tasks, and five small tasks each day. Others keep a Primary List where they keep track of everything that needs to be done, but then select a few items each morning for their Daily List. And check out task management apps or software that might be a good fit for your needs. Strategies for Managing Your TIME Block your time—Divide your day into set chunks of time and assign specific tasks or types of work to each block. Instead of reacting to your To-Do List throughout the day, you can plan in advance when you’ll tackle certain responsibilities. Treat your time blocks like appointments so that you can protect the time from distractions and overbooking! Create themed days—Reserve certain days of the week for specific types of tasks. For example, maybe you pick a specific day to run all or most of your errands. Or maybe you dedicate Mondays and Thursdays to catching up on email and working through small items and the other days for projects that require deep thinking. Protect buffer zones—Try setting your default meeting times to 25 or 50 minutes instead of the usual 30 or 60. Building in a few extra minutes between meetings helps reduce stress, giving you time to switch spaces, manage quick needs, and get organized for what’s next. Schedule pre-and post-meeting blocks—Many meetings require time before and after to be truly productive, whether it’s reviewing documents, preparing your thoughts, taking notes, or following up. Don’t forget to schedule that prep and wrap-up time directly in your calendar. Color-code—If you use a Google or other digital calendar, use colors to divide between categories (family, work, appointments, etc.) or to divide between family members so that you can better understand what your day looks like at a glance. Reset Weekly—As we mentioned above, schedule a time for yourself to reset your calendar each week. You will be so much more ready to handle whatever curveballs life throws at you if you have a clear understanding of what is already planned each day. Try a method or app—There are a multitude of time-management and calendar methods and apps. One favorite is the Pomodoro Method, which asks you to select a task, set a timer for 25 minutes, and work on the task without interruption until the timer rings. Take a five minute break to move your body, and then repeat the cycle. After four work sessions, take a longer break. The method encourages focus because you work in short, dedicated sprints while building in rest time to prevent mental fatigue. You need realistic, workable systems that serve you and that reinforce your values and goals. Think about your life and what matters the most to you—and make sure that you see those things show up on your To-Do List and your calendar. Do you value giving back to the community? Then schedule weekly volunteering. Did your doctor advise you to get some exercise most days? Pick the most likely time that will work for you and get it in your planner! Do you wish you kept in better touch with people? Timeblock a couple of hours each week just for sending emails or Zooming with loved ones. You don’t need a perfect system—you just need one that supports the life you want to live. So take some time this week to look at your list and your calendar. Is what matters most to you showing up there? If not, it’s time to make some space. And if you ever feel stuck or overwhelmed, you can always call in the Bees!
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Organizing as Self-Care? Yes, Really.
We know that much of the time and energy that our clients spend organizing is in service to the entire household. Whether you are reorganizing your garage, getting ready for the holidays, or preparing for an epic family road trip, so much of the organizational work that you are doing is to support everyone else. And that is perfectly fine and often necessary. But today, we are here to tell you that every so often, you need to turn your organizational energy toward something that benefits just you. People often think of self-care as something extra—a luxury we squeeze in when the rest of the To Do List is checked off. But self-care doesn’t always take the form of a bubble bath or a spa day. Sometimes, it’s carving out a little bit of time to think about those small spaces that have an outsized impact on your day-to-day life. Organizing the spaces that serve your unique routines can help you start and end the day with more peace and less friction. It’s not selfish to organize a space that only you use. It’s restorative. It’s empowering. And it’s long overdue. Bite-Size Ideas for Caring for Yourself The goal is NOT to exhaust yourself in order to care for yourself! Instead, pick a few very small projects that have a significant effect on your daily routines and wellbeing. Focus on easy, small spaces that bug YOU the most—that affect YOU rather than the other people who live in your home. What could you do with that spot with a few minutes of your time and a little bit of self-compassion? Nightstand—It’s one of the last things you see before you sleep and one of the first things you see when you wake up. But is it both functional and peaceful for you? Get rid of everything on your nightstand that doesn’t serve you, and then gather and organize the things that do. Perhaps you could stock a little basket with hand lotion, lip balm, a notepad and pen, a sleep mask, ear plugs, melatonin, and anything else that suits your individual needs. Maybe if you took away the clutter, there would be space for something that calms you, like a framed photo or scented candle. Bathroom Counter or Vanity—This is another space where you begin and end your day, so why not have it intentionally serve you? Toss any products that you rarely use and return anything that doesn’t need to be there to its home. Decide what would work best to keep your most-used items contained but accessible—perhaps a drawer insert, clear bin, or small shelf. If you have the space, add a small touch (or two!) that helps you start your day on the right foot, whether it’s a little potted plant or your favorite quote taped to the mirror. Coffee or Tea Station—Whether you prefer a steamy mug of Earl Grey, a plain cup of Joe, or an elaborate concoction of sweeteners and creamers, your coffee/tea station should feel like a morning gift to yourself. Toss or donate travel mugs and coffee cups that you don’t love, use, or need, and relocate anything that doesn’t belong. Use a tray, drawer, or cute bin to store all the bits and pieces—coffee, tea, sweeteners, stir sticks, filters, and more. Add something that is meaningful to you, such as a sugar bowl from your grandmother’s tea set or a tiny vase of flowers. When everything is in its place, your daily ritual will feel less rushed and more restorative. A Cozy Reading Nook—This one might take a bit longer to pull off, but if you are a reader, this is worth the effort! Look around your home for an under-utilized corner or nook that you could claim as you own. All you need is space for a comfy chair, a small side table, and a lamp. If you want to go all out, add a shelf or two for your favorite books. If you don’t want to take this splurge too far, Facebook Marketplace is a wonderful resource for affordably sourcing your missing pieces. Other Spaces Just for You—Maybe what really needs tender loving care is your desk, your purse or bag, the driver’s area of your car, or your underwear drawer. Whichever space you decide to improve for yourself, follow the same general process as our examples above: 1) Remove all of the items that don’t serve you in that space; 2) Organize the remaining items in a way that is tailored to how you use the items; and 3) Add one or two things that bring you a sense of joy or peace. If you’ve flown recently, you’ll remember the flight attendant saying that if the oxygen masks drop, make sure you put your own mask on first so that you are able to help others. The same principle applies to your organizational life. Giving yourself a few spaces that work for you instead of against you will give you more time, energy, and patience throughout the day to handle setbacks and help those around you. Pick one drawer, one nook, one tiny corner of your day-to-day life that could use a little love. Remove what doesn’t serve you, organize what does, and add a dash of joy for good measure. And if you need help along the way, you know you can call in the Bees!
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Organizing Your Outdoor Oasis
Sidewalk chalk. Water balloon battles. Pool floaties and tennis rackets and sand boxes and ball gloves and endless giggles and the smell of sunscreen. (Oh—and mildewing towels and leaking goggles and missing croquet mallets too!) Summer is officially upon us—and we’ve rounded up a few of our best ideas to help you tame the summer chaos to maximize FUN! We’ll start with our advice on how to get started, give you some general principles to guide your work, and then describe a few of our tested strategies for wrangling the backyard buzz! But First—Whittle Down Your Excess It’s a waste of your time, energy, and storage space to organize and stash things that you no longer use, need, or love. Take a hard look at your backyard, shed, decks/patios, garage, and other outdoor areas that have accumulated extra items. If your summer gear primarily lives in the garage, our garage decluttering blog post can help you think through the process of organizing that space. It’s hard for kids (and us!) to see past the clutter, so take the time to ditch those old bike helmets, the too-small roller blades, the broken tennis racket, the rusty lawn chair, and the stack of flattened cardboard boxes. Using our famous Power Purge can help you manage the whittling down process one step at a time. General Principles Everyone’s idea of an outdoor oasis is unique to their family, home, and climate. Rather than a detailed prescription of what you should do, we’ve described below a few principles that we use to guide our outdoor organization. Use the ideas that make the most sense for your situation and dismiss the rest! Make it easy—Time spent outdoors is good for everyone. Outdoor time deepens sleep, improves mood, increases muscle strength and the immune system, and reduces anxiety and depression! Our job is to knock down as many hurdles as we can for getting outside. Many of our ideas in the section below are designed to make it quicker and easier to jump into outdoor fun. Prioritize intentional play—Rather than leave every possible toy and activity out in the yard at all times, consider establishing the routine of rotating through activities. Take one or two activities out at a time, and then put them away before moving to the next activity. Having everything out at once can be really overwhelming for kids, so rotate those activities to keep them both manageable and exciting. Support autonomy—Store kid stuff low enough to reach and in easily accessible places. If you are using crates or bins, make sure they don’t get too heavy for little arms. If you are using a labeling system, your kiddo might do better with pictures instead of words. Or maybe use clear storage totes so the littlest kids can see what fun is hiding inside! Give everything a home—The key to success is giving every item a designated spot. When everything has a home, it’s easier to find what you need—and easier for kids to help with cleanup. Try creating specific zones, bins, or hooks for different types of toys so everything is visible, accessible, and simple to put away. Our Favorite Ideas We’ve compiled below a few of our go-to ideas for organizing summer fun. As you think about what works for you, prioritize those things that will reduce obstacles for your crew to get off their screens and get outside! Keep a well-stocked relief station—Use a small bin, shower caddy, or basket to build a portable relief station. Stock it with bug spray, sunscreen, bandaids, wet wipes, hand sanitizer, hair ties, and even a snack or two. Having an easy way for kids (and you!) to meet a few basic needs can extend your time outside. Put it on wheels—We love rolling carts for driveway and patio play. Swap in and out favorite activities and make clean-up afterwards a breeze. Even a garden wagon can be awesome for giving kids the boost they need to easily bring out and return their toys. Make it easy to grab and go—We’ve found storing some of our favorite activities in grab-and-go kits makes it simple to get the fun started! Think about containers for sidewalk chalk, bubbles, water balloons and blasters, plastic tea party dishes, and other toys that can survive the great outdoors. And don’t forget YOU! Think about making yourself a grab-and-go kit too. Perhaps it’s a few most-needed gardening tools so you can get some trimming or weeding done while your kiddo is occupied? Think about storage options—As always, we recommend trying to repurpose something you already have before running out and buying more stuff to organize your stuff with! What combination would work best for your family? A waterproof chest for the patio? A large garbage can with wheels for all of your many bats and balls? Stackable storage crates for your grab-and-go fun? Use a separate hamper—It’s so helpful to have a place to toss all of those swimsuits, sandy towels, chalky shorts, grass-stained socks, and clothes reeking of campfire smoke and bug spray. Keep all of these items from mixing with your regular laundry by having a separate basket or bin in your garage or laundry area this summer. Just make sure it’s both plastic and ventilated! Summer should feel joyful, not chaotic—and a little organization can go a long way in making that possible. By taking the time to simplify your gear, create systems that work for your family, and make outdoor fun more accessible, you’ll set the stage for more laughter, more memories, and fewer meltdowns! And if you ever need help organizing your outdoor oasis, you know you can call in the Bees.
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The Psychology Behind Clutter
Over the years, we’ve found that clutter and disorganization in a home is often a source of embarrassment for our clients. It’s time to change that mindset! You are not defined by your messy pantry or the garage you can’t fit your car into. Most of us have an abundance of reasons why we haven’t gotten a handle on our clutter (yet!)—whether it’s time, ability, a family member who tears through freshly organized spaces like a tornado, or one of many psychological reasons for holding onto the clutter. In this blog, we unpack five of the most common psychological causes for accumulating clutter and share helpful strategies to move past them. Fear Fear is one of the biggest obstacles to letting go of excess items. Many people worry that getting rid of items with sentimental value will cause them to forget the past. Others fear that if they part with an item, they will eventually regret their decision. This fear of future regret can paralyze a person as they are attempting to clear out the clutter. Another way that fear shows up in decluttering efforts is when people are afraid of what other people (both living and those no longer with us) will think about our choice to part with an item. Understanding what you are afraid of is the first step in figuring out how to navigate this extremely powerful and controlling emotion. Sentimentality Objects can hold sentimental value even if you no longer want or need them. Maybe you are holding on to an object not because you love it, need it, or use it, but because you simply remember where you got it. Or maybe you have something that is broken beyond repair—but because a loved one gave it to you, you feel like you should keep it. But would the person want you to hold on to the broken thing? Will you really lose your memory of the person or your connection with them if you get rid of it? Are there ways to hold on to the memory of the person or the experience (perhaps through photos, conversations, or journaling) that can strengthen the memory without taking up space? Remember that the past is stored in memories and photos—not objects. Safety and Comfort Most people have a strong psychological pull towards safety and comfort—and some of us focus on objects as the source of that safety and comfort. This sometimes stems from childhood scarcity, or even just hearing stories about the scarcity experiences of others. You can see this play out when people have extras of seemingly everything on hand, including items that would be a stretch to need multiple versions of. For these folks, it feels like a risk to get rid of something you might need in the future. What if there is another pandemic and you need 700 rolls of toilet paper? What if you suddenly lose or gain 10 pounds and need those clothes that haven’t fit in a decade? It’s okay to have a cushion to make yourself feel secure, but if your extra things are making it impossible to make room for the people and activities you love, it might be time to let go of the excess. Indecision and Procrastination Think about decisiveness as a continuum. On the one end, you have people who quickly make a judgment on something and then never look back. On the other end, you have people who hem and haw about every last decision. Perhaps they are writing extensive pro and con lists—or maybe they are just refusing to make a decision. Clutter is often just a sign of indecisiveness. Instead of making a decision, you just put the item in your closet or shove it back in a drawer. Do you have any DOOM piles in your home? DOOM stands for “Didn’t Organize, Only Moved.” These are stacks of papers or a box of items that you move around, but don’t actually confront. The first step toward handling your indecision is understanding that your indecision is what’s stalling your progress! Bring in a trusted (and opinionated!) friend to sit with you and help you sort through your stuff. Use our tried-and-true method to help bring clarity to what you should keep and what you can let go. Depression and Anxiety While most of the psychological reasons we’ve discussed so far are common and not concerning, it is important to note that sometimes an inability to deal with clutter is caused by depression, anxiety, and other more serious conditions. If that sounds like that might describe you, we encourage you to show compassion and care for yourself by reaching out to a trusted professional. As you think about where you are in your organizing journey, we hope that learning about the psychology behind the clutter will help you self-reflect—and then make an action plan. And if you ever need help simplifying your Hive, you know you can call in the Bees!
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The Sweet Rewards of BEEing Organized
Not a day goes by that we don’t see or hear about some sort of trendy new life hack. But we know that we have the ULTIMATE life hack—the process and habits to help you live an organized life! The research is in and it’s crystal clear that getting and staying organized has immense positive effects on almost every aspect of our lives. We have worked in countless homes across the country and have witnessed first-hand the transformation of our clients’ well-being when they finally tame the chaos in their lives. While the benefits of getting organized are too numerous to count, we can put many of them into four major buckets: Happiness, Time, Health, and Financial Rewards. Let’s dig deeper! The Happiness Reward The simple truth is that when your home is well-organized, your happiness increases. People with organized homes report feeling less stressed and a deeper sense of satisfaction about their home. In fact, research by a team at UCLA found that excess clutter causes people to feel stressed out, anxious, and depressed. Whether it’s avoiding the panicked search for missing objects or enjoying the sweet serenity of walking into your bedroom and finding everything in its place, the effects of a decluttered space are both proven and profound. In addition, those folks who maintain an organized living space tend to have fewer interpersonal conflicts AND keep their social connections strong by being able to confidently invite the people they care about into their home. Putting the effort into getting and keeping your home organized will give you the boost of happiness and well-being that you deserve. The Time Reward The less time you spend looking for things, the more time you have for the people and activities that matter the most to you. Not only can you easily find what you are looking for, but an organized space also reduces irritating distractions so that you are more efficient with all of your tasks. Picture yourself cooking a meal in your kitchen. If you are working with an organized refrigerator, pantry, and spice rack (or better yet, a meal plan!), you will quickly see what ingredients you have to work with and what should be used up first. And if your countertop is clean and your utensils are where they should be, your cooking will go faster and more smoothly. No clearing off space to make room for your cutting board, searching multiple drawers for your favorite peeler, or wasting food hidden in the back of the fridge. No getting distracted by the stack of mail on the counter, take-out sauce packets stashed in random places, and not one, not two, but THREE open containers of ketchup in the fridge. When your space is organized, every movement you make is more efficient—and it all adds up to a huge amount of time that you can bank for more important things each week. An organized space saves you time by letting you focus on the task at hand and reducing the time you spend dealing with barriers that are just slowing you down! The Health Reward We all deserve to live long and healthy lives, but our cluttered lifestyles are putting up roadblocks to make it harder. It sounds dramatic, but it’s true! When your bedroom is the storage room for everything you don’t know what to deal with, study after study shows that the quality of your sleep declines. When your living room is too cluttered to safely unroll a yoga mat or do a jumping jack, you have one more barrier that keeps you from adding a quick workout to your routine. When your kitchen is chaotic and cluttered, are you really going to prep healthy lunches for the week or experiment with new recipes? An organized home helps knock down countless barriers to building healthy habits that will benefit you for a lifetime. The Financial Reward The fourth Sweet Reward of getting and staying organized is all about money! How many times have you been unable to find something that you know you’ve already purchased (a charger? softball socks? cumin? bug spray?) and so you have to buy it again? Each and every duplicate purchase wastes your money in addition to your time. All this extra stuff has to end up somewhere, which is why nearly 40% of Americans rent storage units at an average cost of about $2,000 per year. Think about how getting rid of your excess clutter can help you reign in your spending in other parts of your life. Getting organized can help you stay on top of bills and deadlines which can help you avoid all sorts of late fees and other penalties. And getting a handle on the minimalist mindset we wrote about recently can help you reduce impulse purchases and be more thoughtful about what things and experiences deserve your money. So there you have them—the Sweet Rewards of BEEing Organized! Hopefully, this reminder gives you the motivation you need to make some long-lasting changes. But if you ever need help simplifying your Hive, you know you can call in the Bees!
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Making the Minimalist Mindset Work for You
Minimalism?! Isn’t that when people randomly get rid of all of their stuff and promise to never buy anything again? Or where people completely deprive themselves of every possible indulgence and impulse? And don’t you need to have all-white walls, zero decorations, and only wear reclaimed clothing? Take a deep breath and suspend your skepticism for just a few short minutes! In this article, we are talking about the minimalist mindset—a way of thinking that can help you be more intentional about what you purchase, what you keep in your home, and how you spend your time and money. We are talking about intentionality, NOT deprivation! We are talking about one (very flexible) method of prioritizing your space, time, and money to elevate the things and people that matter the most to you. What is the minimalist mindset? One of the founders of the modern minimalism movement, Joshua Becker, describes minimalism as intentionally living with only the items that support your purpose. In other words, the minimalist mindset can help you focus on what’s most important to you rather than becoming distracted and bogged down by excess things, events, and obligations. The idea is to focus on finding joy and contentment with what you already have, rather than mindlessly pursuing the latest consumer trend on Instagram. The minimalist mindset encourages you to make purchases with purpose, rather than impulse. And instead of just living with the clutter around you, a minimalist mindset can help you see with more clarity what you can part with to make more room for what matters to you. What are the key benefits of minimalism? If you’ve been following Bee Organized for any length of time, you know that clearing away your clutter has numerous benefits, including: increasing your happiness and feelings of well-being while reducing your anxiety giving you more of your most precious resource—time—by reducing the amount of time you spend looking for lost objects, cleaning and dusting, and trying to be productive amidst the chaos improving your physical and mental health by removing hiding spaces for dust and allergens, reducing stress, improving sleep, and much more Adding a minimalist mindset to the mix can help you save precious financial resources by encouraging you to be more thoughtful before making purchases. Focus your purchasing power on those items and experiences that match up well with your life priorities—and save yourself from the headaches that come with impulse purchases. Practical steps to get started! There is no single correct method of bringing more of a minimalist mindset into your life. In this section, we’ve rounded up a few of our favorite pieces of advice for wrapping your brain around this new way of thinking: Take some time to assess your current lifestyle. Ask yourself what feels cluttered either physically or mentally. Is it your bedroom? Your social calendar? Your shopping habits? Whatever part of your life is causing the most angst is the best place to start. Then you can use that successful momentum to keep rolling into other parts of your life! Use our famous Power Purge to make instant headway on clearing the clutter out of a specific space. Remember to start small so that you don’t get overwhelmed! Practice mindful consumption in whatever way works best for you. Don’t just add things to your literal or virtual cart. Stop and consider whether you need this item, whether you have something already that would fit the bill, where you will keep it, whether you will still be glad you bought it a month or a year from now. Try a 30-day declutter challenge, where you conscientiously remove something from your home every day for a month. Or make a pact with yourself that every item you bring into the home must be matched by two items that you remove from the home. Get rid of your duplicates! In our experience working with clients, homes tend to accumulate multiple versions of the same things beyond any point of reason—think extension cords, vases, charging cords for obsolete technology, grocery bags, travel mugs, baseball caps, and more. Embrace quality over quantity. How many times have you bought multiple of something when you only need one because it seemed like a good deal? The goal isn’t to ban all incidents of buying multiples—it’s to normalize the idea of stopping and actually thinking about whether buying extra is a good use of your money and storage space. Does it match with your priorities for your life? What is standing in your way? We know that it can feel overwhelming to start the minimizing process. If you haven’t made any attempt thus far to organize or declutter your home, looking around at all that you’ve accumulated can stop people in their tracks before they even start. We hear this a lot, which is why we rounded up our best advice for getting started into a five-step process. We also know that it’s difficult for many folks to adopt a minimalist mindset because we are living in an age of consumption like no other! We are constantly bombarded on our various screens and in real life with social pressure to buy, buy, buy—whether we need the items or not! Find confidence in your own choices about how you want to spend your money, and what items you want to invite into (or out of) your home. As you get started, understand that decluttering can be a very emotional process. Even objects that only have negative feelings attached to them (like guilt or stress) can be difficult for people to dismiss from their home. This recalibration of your emotional relationship with things takes time and practice. Give yourself grace as you work toward prioritizing the things, people, and experiences that bring you the most joy. Remember that YOU have ownership over your life and your priorities, and therefore YOU get to have a major say in how objects and clutter and consumerism take up space in your mind and home. Make a plan to bring a more minimalist mindset into the new year—and if you need help simplifying your hive, you know you can call in the Bees!
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Reset, Recharge, Reuse!
January falls at such a complicated time. It’s a time of hope and excitement for the new year and all of the events and opportunities that will unfold. And for many of us, it’s a time for a bit of belt-tightening as we tally up the expenses and extravagances of the last few festive weeks. January is the perfect time to reset your home for the new year, recharge your social battery (and bank account), and find ways to reuse what you already have. Reset! Now that the excitement of the holiday season has come to a close, it’s time to reset your spaces to prepare for the months ahead. You’ll need to find new homes for the gifts you received, pack up your holiday decorations, and attempt to get back some semblance of order in your home after the gauntlet of travel, celebrations, and house guests. If you need a reminder about our reset philosophy, take a peek at our recent blog post on the subject! As you are resetting your home, it’s also time to reset your budget. You are not alone if you spent a bit more than you intended this holiday season—in fact, 70% of Americans report that they go over their holiday shopping budget. This is the sign you are looking for to get back to your regular spending patterns! As you restore order to your budget, remember that getting and staying organized is a fabulous way to keep your budget in check. Recharge! While the holiday season brings joy and connection, it can also bring loads of stress. According to research by the American Psychological Association, nearly 90% of Americans feel stressed during the holidays. Be mindful of saying yes to social engagements in January—many of us have overtaxed our social battery with travel, houseguests, and holiday celebrations. In addition to recharging your social battery, look for ways to recharge your bank account! Some of our clients swear by a No Spend January, while others look for different methods of righting their financial ship. One simple way is by challenging yourself to eat primarily from your freezer and pantry for the next month. Itemize what you have and build your meal plan each week accordingly—now is the time to find a recipe that uses up a few cans of those garbanzo beans you’ve been hoarding or that flank steak that’s just chillin’ in the deep freeze. You can even experiment with plugging your ingredients into a recipe match maker to help you use what you have without running to the grocery store. Reuse! We know we say this a lot but it’s worth repeating: You don’t need to buy a bunch of gimmicky items to get yourself organized. Most of the products out there are going to just add more clutter rather than help you remove clutter from your homes! Reuse what you already have and don’t forget to take advantage of neighborhood free groups on Facebook (just search for your city’s name and the words “Buy Nothing” to find your local group). There are so many ways to extend the life of items that have already been purchased. What if this is the month you actually collect the various clothing items that need to be mended (a stuck zipper or a fraying hole or a fallen hem), googled the closest alterations shop, and expanded your closet without adding new items? Or what if you and a few friends sorted through your closets and got together to swap clothing (or decorations or dishes!)? Not only do you get a few new-to-you items, but you also make progress in ushering excess clutter out of your home. We hope the patterns you establish at the beginning of this new year help you make room for the people and activities you love in the coming months. And, as always, if you’d like that expert touch in helping you streamline your home, you know you can call in the Bees!
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Saying NO to Holiday Perfection Means Saying YES to What Matters!
A central part of the Bee Organized mission is to help you simplify your life so that you can carve out time and space for the people and activities that mean the most to you. No month is more fully jam-packed than December with its infinite activities, shopping, chaos, and pressure for perfection. As you think about the dozens (hundreds?) of tasks before you this holiday season, we want you to consider whether you really have to do it ALL! In fact, we’ve brainstormed the following list to help give you permission to let go of some of the holiday chaos. Nine Things You Have Permission to Say NO to this Holiday Season Giving ALL the Gifts. For many people, this is the first place to look when you are trying to streamline your holiday season. Think about ways to cut back or simplify your shopping and giving. Maybe this is the year to focus on giving experiences (think tickets and memberships) instead of objects. Perhaps this year you can give group gifts to couples and families on your list instead of multiple smaller items. Maybe instead of finding unique gifts for every teacher and party host, you buy several copies of one great gift (assorted teas? a fancy cookie tin? a seasonal candle?) that would work for a variety of folks. You have permission to simplify gift-giving in whatever way makes the most sense for you this year! For more simple gift giving inspiration, check out Feel Good Holiday Tips. Every Single Social Invitation. Some holiday get-togethers fill you with joy and connection … and some are utterly exhausting and bring nothing but stress about what to wear and what to bring as a gift for the host. But you don’t have to go to everything you are invited to this holiday season. You have permission to only go to the events that feel right to you—and send your regrets to the rest. Holiday Cards. Some of us relish the tradition of picking the perfect card design, writing out addresses, sticking on dozens of stamps, and depositing a large stack of holiday cards in the mail. If this is you, keep sending the cards! But if it’s just one more thing taking precious hours when you are already short on time, skip it this year. Send an email instead or just post your cute family photo on social media. You have permission to let it go (and spend that $0.73 per stamp on something else!). Outdoor Lights. Elaborate lighting displays can add excitement to your street—but for some of us, they are just one more thing to buy, manage, maintain, and store. What if you didn’t precariously stand on a ladder to clip your lights onto your gutters? What if you didn’t spend precious time trying to untangle lights and replace broken bulbs? For less than $10, you can get a string of battery-powered LED lights—you have permission to wind them around a wreath for your front door and call your outdoor decorating complete! The Traditional Tree. There is no rule that you have to buy a live Christmas tree OR drag your artificial tree up from the basement every single year. The internet is jam-packed with ideas for untraditional and simple Christmas trees—whether you simply decorate a houseplant you already have, use a strand of lights and ornaments to create a 2D tree on a wall, or come up with something uniquely suited to your home and personality. If you do opt for a traditional tree, you have permission to leave some—or most—of your ornaments in their storage container. All of the Decorations. If you’ve managed your own home for more than a few years, odds are that you’ve collected more decorations than you have the time and energy to deal with. You don’t have to adorn every vertical and horizontal surface of your home with decorations! You hereby have permission to just choose a handful of your favorite—or most meaningful—decorations to display this year. Elf on the Shelf. More power to you if you have the time and mental space to creatively position the elf each night after your children go to bed. But you don’t have to! If you love this holiday tradition, then carry on. But if you haven’t started it yet—or you are wishing you never had—you have permission to tell your kids that there is an elf shortage this year and that you are lucky to have such good kids year round so the shortage won’t affect you! All the Baking. If you have big plans for baking this holiday season, make sure you revisit our blog about getting your kitchen ready for the holidays. But do remember that just because one of your parents or grandparents baked 24 different types of cookies each holiday season doesn’t mean that you have to. You have permission to pick your favorites (either to eat or to make) and save the rest for another year. Homemade Everything. Of course people love and appreciate homemade gifts, whether you’ve crocheted a scarf or poured a candle. And they love homemade food, too—from a jar of jam to an elaborate meal for your entire extended family. But not everything that you can make is worth your precious time. You have our permission to make just those things that bring you the most joy to give to the people who would most appreciate your labor of love. This holiday season, give yourself permission to let go. And if that doesn’t work, listen to us! You have OUR permission to set aside some of the holiday pressure this year … and every year. And, as always, if you find yourself in over your head, you know you can call in the Bees!
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Organizing Your Kitchen Will Help You BEE Ready for the Holidays
The holiday season is getting close—and with it will come the whirlwind of cooking, baking, cleaning, decorating, hosting, and more! For most of us, the kitchen is the center of our busy Hive, and it’s a place that takes on extra responsibility during the holiday season. As you count the days until your first holiday festivities, you can help your future self by purging, restocking, and organizing three prime areas of your kitchen. Recipes and Cookbooks If you are like us, you have recipes in every conceivable form—emails, bookmarks in browsers, handwritten recipe cards, print-outs of aspirational recipes, and cookbooks upon cookbooks. Before holiday cooking and baking begin in earnest, think about finally getting a handle on your recipe situation. As you tackle your recipe collection, the first place to start is by taking a hard look at your cookbooks. The most optimistic version of yourself might have bought most of your cookbooks—or perhaps you’ve received cookbooks over the years as gifts or family heirlooms. The first step, as always, is to use our famous Power Purge to sort through the cookbooks and recipes that are just taking up space. Look through your cookbooks and take photos of any promising recipes before clearing the books out of your kitchen. Consider moving to a completely digital recipe organization system. Some of us have had excellent luck using Google Drive to keep our recipes organized—whether it’s a spreadsheet of links to recipes from all over the internet or a series of folders where you keep photos and PDFs of recipes sorted by category. We know of some folks who make it a policy to always email themselves recipes with very clear (and searchable!) subject lines. If you have a variety of recipes on paper and don’t feel compelled to scan them into the digital world, think about using a binder to organize and preserve your recipes. You can use clear plastic sleeves with pockets to protect handwritten recipe cards from drips and splashes. Use a three-hole punch on your recipe printouts and a few tabs to divide your recipes into appetizers, desserts, holiday favorites, and more. There is no one right way to organize your recipes, so feel empowered to adapt our strategies to fit your needs, usage patterns, and emotional connections. Spices and Seasonings When was the last time you spent some quality time tending to your spices? How many of them have long expired, never been used, or have lost their aroma? Before the holiday cooking begins, get your fragrant seasonings organized! Before you start organizing anything, you need to discard those spices and seasonings that are too old to be useful. While most experts agree that it’s safe to use expired seasonings and spices, you should toss anything that is clumping or just smells off. Pinch a bit of the spice between your fingers and rub them together—if there is little or no fragrance, it’s probably time to replace that container. Once you are down to those containers of spices and seasonings that are still in good shape, be honest with yourself about which ones you will foreseeably use in your cooking. If you are an adventurous chef who regularly experiments with new types of cuisine, your spices and seasoning needs will be much broader than someone who limits their cooking to tried and true recipes and styles. Think about what organizational style will streamline your cooking. If you use a wide variety of spices, alphabetizing the containers could save you time searching when you are whipping up a new dish. Some folks have better luck with keeping their top 5 or 10 spices in easy reach, while they store the remainder in a container or cabinet. Spice racks, drawer inserts, or spinning trays can all help you make the most of your space. Whatever way you decide to organize your spices, make sure they are clearly labeled and in a cool, dark place when possible. Finally, think about those recipes that you make during every holiday season—whether it’s cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving or black-eyed peas on New Year’s—and make a list of herbs and spices to have on hand before the cooking commences! Baking Ingredients and Tools The final area to give yourself a holiday head start is with your baking ingredients and supplies. Essentially, you need to take inventory of the supplies you will need for your upcoming baking, whether you are making cornbread for Thanksgiving stuffing, pumpkin pies, or the whole range of Christmas cookies, candies, and other sweets. To begin, take EVERYTHING out of the baking section of your kitchen so that you can see what you have, what is expired, what tools need to be refreshed, and which ingredients need a re-stock. Check through our list to help prompt your memory about what you might need in the next few weeks of festivities: Flour: All-purpose flour, cake flour, bread flour, gluten-free flour if needed Sugars: Granulated sugar, powdered sugar, brown sugar (dark and light), other natural sweeteners like honey or maple syrup Dairy: Butter, eggs, milk, buttermilk, heavy cream Flavorings: Vanilla extract, almond extract, cocoa powder or chocolate chips, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon Other key ingredients: Shortening, vegetable oil, baking powder, baking soda, yeast, cornstarch Supplies: Parchment paper, food coloring, sprinkles, cookie cutters, muffin/cupcake liners Take a close look at your baking equipment too. If your favorite spatula has taken a beating or you notice your loaf pans are too scraped up to release properly, think about ditching and replacing them before you are up to your elbows in flour! We hope getting your kitchen whipped into shape now will give you more time to do the things that bring you joy during the holidays! And if you get stuck somewhere in the process, you know you can always call in the Bees to get you back on track!
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Simple Steps for a Clutter-Free Garage
For some people, the garage is an afterthought—just a place to toss anything you don’t want in the house or to precariously stack every bike helmet and soccer cleat the kids have outgrown. But what if, instead, your garage worked for you? Giving some time and thought to what you store in your garage—and how and where it’s stored—can help make your home safer, more livable, and more functional! Step One: The Power Purge Did you know that 25% of homeowners have so much clutter that they can’t fit a car in their garage? Don’t waste your time organizing things that shouldn’t even be taking up space. Your first step—and it’s a BIG one—is to part with your excess items. We know this can feel overwhelming, which is why we have spelled out exactly how to tackle this project in our Power Purge blog post. Remove items from your garage that you no longer need, are broken, or are remnants of some forgotten project you don’t intend to come back to. Once you’ve cleared out the excess, you will have a much easier time organizing the rest. Step Two: Sort into Zones The most efficient way to organize your garage is to group similar items together into zones that make sense to you. Not only will this help you find items when you need them, but using zones can also help every household member know at least the general area of where to put things away. You’ll need to tailor your zones based on your needs and climate, but here are a few common zones to get your wheels turning: Sports equipment Pool/Beach toys Gardening supplies Tools and hardware Seasonal decorations Auto maintenance Camping gear Cleaning supplies Recycling and trash Snow removal Step Three: Go Vertical Once everything has been sorted into logical groups, you can figure out which storage areas in your garage make the most sense for each category of items. The one piece of advice we cannot say enough is to KEEP THE FLOOR CLEAR! Invest in shelving, hooks, wall-mounted baskets, and even overhead storage racks to maximize your vertical space. If you are like most homeowners, your garage troubles began with a ring of clutter stacked around each wall. Getting everything off the floor and onto walls and shelves will do more than anything else to make your garage more efficient. Step Four: Safety Check The garage is home to so many tools, liquids, and other substances that need to be stored safely. As you finalize your amazing work of organizing your garage, take a few minutes to double-check for potential hazards. Start with these main categories, but also keep an eye out for other hazards that are unique to your situation: Blades—Make sure anything with a blade (whether a large chop saw or a box cutter) is securely stored and out of reach of kids. Liquids—Lighter fluid, antifreeze, pesticides, paint thinner and other potentially hazardous—or just messy!—liquids need special attention to make sure they aren’t at risk of being knocked over or grabbed by little hands. Tipping—If you are lining your walls with shelves full of heavy things, ensure those shelves are firmly secured to the walls to prevent tipping. Triple-check the security of any heavy items stored or suspended above your head. Tripping—Walk the perimeter of your garage and look for potential tripping hazards. Make sure all exits from the garage are accessible. Fire extinguisher—Every garage needs a fire extinguisher. Make sure yours is current and easily accessible—not on a high shelf behind a hundred other things! Cleaning out and organizing your garage definitely isn’t easy, but it’s oh-so-worth-it in the end. And if you get stuck somewhere in the process, you know you can always call in the Bees to get you back on track!
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