Archive for the ‘Get Organized’ Category:
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Time for the Tuesday Ten Minute Toss Challenge! RIGHT NOW spend 10 minutes tossing items from your kitchen utensil drawer. Do you have an overflowing kitchen utensil drawer in your home or office communal kitchen? Ten minutes is enough time to toss broken or badly damaged/stained items and to collect ones you either don’t use or have multiples of to donate. Embrace our challenge this week and reduce the amount of useless utensils in your kitchen!
Ready, set, TOSS!
How do you organize your kitchen utensils? We want to know!
Thanks to Simply Placed community member, Jackie Dales, for the great idea for today’s challenge. If you have ideas for a Tuesday Ten Minute Toss Challenge, please let us know! In the meantime, check back weekly for a new challenge and make sure to join in the fun. We look forward to hearing about how you do with the challenges.
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Special thanks to our friend Dan Faulkner, Jr. from John L Scott for these great ideas.
Many people avoid setting goals for themselves simply because they are faced with a few common challenges. We have three tips to overcoming these barriers to success so you can being achieving your goals today.
1. Set Practical Goals. Often times, people set unrealistic or impractical goals for themselves that they are unable to achieve in the immediate future. Instead, break large goals up into smaller short-term goals and reward yourself along the way. For more tips on how to reward yourself check out our recent Goal Setting Success post.
2. Don’t Fear Failure. While some of us set the bar too high, it is also possible to set the bar too low. Trying to avoid disappointment by making your goals easy to obtain can stop you from moving forward. Studies have shown that the additional effort and motivation that is required for challenging goals makes them more fulfilling to accomplish. Need more motivation? Try looking at our tips for visualizing success.
3. Have a Plan. A big part of making goals is coming up with a plan of action to achievement. You can improve your chances of making your goals reality by creating a deadline and sticking to it. Deadlines both hold you accountable to yourself and keep you on track to your target.
How do you overcome the obstacles in the way of your goals? We want to hear about it!
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Wouldn’t it be great if you could find everything you needed to learn in ONE place?
Get the benefit of advice, brainstorms and business shortcuts from global business consultants and coaches, who are bringing their ‘best game’ to the table. There are 20 experts lined up to help you fire up your business – and reclaim your life – in 2012. Seekers of organization and productivity wisdom can go to Fire Up Your Biz and Enrich Your Life and sign up free to hear over 20 global experts share specific strategies and tactics that helped them gain control and purpuse in their business.
Thanks to to organizer of Fire Up Your Biz – Enrich Your Life, Stephanie Calahan, starting on January 18th, you can listen in on interviews with 3 experts a week for 6 weeks. You can listen to our own Debbie Rosemont discuss productive meeting techniques on January 25th in We’ve Got to Stop Meeting Like This: How To Run Meetings That Actually Get Things Done! Each interview will deliver practical, actionable strategy and tips. You can join in on one call or all of them! The more you listen in, the more you will learn…and, if you attend live, you just may win a great business boosting prize.
Join us for this amazing interview series and you will:
Fire up your personal performance
Unleash your profit potential
Discover new strategies to manage the demands of running your own business
Have a profitable business and more time to focus on what’s important to you
Simply Placed is honored to have been asked to serve as a Featured Expert for this series. We look forward to sharing valuable information to help you have more productive meetings. In addition, we look foward to listening in on the other expert calls, where we don’t doubt we’ll learn and benefit as well.
Join us, won’t you?
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Many of us are lovers, keepers and collectors of books. Have you run out of room and are ready to let go of some? We have three ideas that can help and you’ll finally clear out that bookshelf with our Tuesday Ten Minute Toss Challenge!
1. Sell your books online. All of us have experienced disappointment at a second-hand book store. After you drive there and wait for your book to be inspected for value you find that you are offered absolutely nothing for your treasured novel. We’ve found a website that will save you the hassle and allow you to sell your old novels from home! Cash4Books lets you see what your books are worth and what I like about this is you can check the ISBN numbers from home without having to lug your books somewhere.
They pay the shipping (you print the label they provide). They also have an iPhone and android app where you can use a scanner and scan your bar codes for the ISBN number. There is a good page with examples of types of books they look for and accept. Here is a “how to” video page, and an excellent FAQ page for beginners.
2. Sell your valuable collectible books. A great starting point is the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America (ABAA). Do you have antique or collectible books you would rather sell than have sitting around your home collecting dust? Maybe you know someone looking for a great resource for collectible books? To get the association’s free directory of 466 booksellers, call (212) 944-8291 or visit them at www.abaa.org.
3. Donate your old books to the local library. If you’re feeling charitable or maybe your favorite titles are not in demand with local second-hand book buyers, try donating to your local public library. First, call the library to ensure they are accepting donations – sometimes their shelves are “full” and they turn them away for a period of time.
Time for the Tuesday Ten Minute Toss Challenge! RIGHT NOW spend ten minutes clearing out a book-stuffed book shelf. Ten minutes is enough time to sort and organize your books into sell, donate, keep and collectible piles. Heavy books can weigh down a shelf, keep your bookcase looking good and remove your unwanted books!
If you have ideas for a Tuesday Ten Minute Toss Challenge, please let us know! In the meantime, check back weekly for a new challenge and make sure to join in the fun. We look forward to hearing about how you do with the challenges.
Take our challenge now and then tell us how you did!
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Its here! After many announcements over the past year about “upcoming” tolling on the 520 bridge connecting the Eastside communities with Seattle, today is the day that tolling officially begins.
The Washington State Department of Transportation is encouraging drivers to get their Good to Go pass. Buying a pass will save you money when you need to make the trip across the bridge. (Thinking that you’ll avoid 520 and just use I-90? That may work for some, but if 520 is the most direct route, and traffic is increased on I-90 because of lots of drivers with the same idea, then you’ll want to keep you best options open – you may find its worth it to pay the toll to avoid increased traffic and reach your destination sooner).
Drivers who cross without the Good to Go pass will pay an extra $1.50 per trip so Simply Placed has gathered some important information and great tips about this big change. Here are 5 steps that can save you time and money:
1. Buy your Good to Go pass at Fred Meyer, Costco, Safeway or QFC. It’s only $5.00 for the pass itself (less at Costco) and having it will save you $1.50 each trip which can add up fast. You can also purchase one online.
2. Don’t forget to activate your pass online or over the phone. Activating your pass links it to your vehicle and adds money to it for tolling costs. When you activate your pass, you will be required to create an account and put a minimum of $30 on it so have your credit card handy when you make the call or log on. Also, don’t be alarmed when activating your pass online and the system drops the last digit of your pass number. The automated system is supposed to do that, the last digit is unnecessary.
3. Purchase a pass for each of your cars. Passes cannot be moved between your vehicles! The pass you purchase at your local grocery store will be connected to your specific license plate once you activate it online.
4. Adhere your sticker pass to the right place! Attach your sticker pass to your inside front windshield below any metalized sun strips or visor tints. The top of the pass should be no more than six inches below the roof-line of your car and at least 2 inches below the rear-view mirror stem. Check out other placement tips from the DOT here.
5. Don’t assume you’re exempt. Only a few vehicles will be exempt from tolling and even if you’re a carpool or a vanpool, you still have to pay up for every crossing. Only emergency vehicles and tow trucks clearing accidents will be exempt from the toll.
Don’t have time to follow our tips and get your pass before your first trip across the bridge? No problem, you can still cross but it will be more expensive. A camera will take a photo of your license plate and you will be billed by mail. Still have questions? Check out King5’s article Top 10 questions about SR 520 tolling.
Want to think about ways to reduce crossings, further saving you time and money? Check out the post we did with some suggestions earlier this year, when the tolling was first announced.
Let us know if your work, travel or personal plans, routes or routines will be altered as a result of the tolling. Here’s to smooth sailing, or more appropriately, smooth driving, as you motor about the Puget Sound area.
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The post-holiday slow down is here. Can you feel it? Does it seem hard to get things done this week? Lacking of motivation? Maybe you’re ready to check some things off your list, but you can’t reach anyone or get calls or emails back. Difficult to focus on “normal business” this week when it seems as if everyone else is on vacation, taking the week off, or just ”kinda working”? Check out this article from Fast Company for some ideas on how to utilize the rest of this week productively and position yourself to start off 2012 strong. You’ll tackle some things that are best done during more “quiet” down time anyway, or that are often put off when things are moving quickly.
Let us know how you use your downtime or take advantage of your quiet office this week. Oh, and if you’re one of the ones truly on vacation, then relish in the rest, relaxation, recreation and rejuvination that are sure to result. Enjoy!
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Time for the Tuesday Ten Minute Toss Challenge! RIGHT NOW spend 10 minutes on your child’s room clearing out broken or unused toys to make room for new gifts from the holiday season. Ten minutes is enough time to sort out gently used toys that can be donated to charity, discard broken toys and roughly organize what toys are left so they are easier for your child to access and away from high-traffic areas and doorways where they could be stepped on. It’s time to toss those old toys to make room for the new so accept the challenge and tell us about your success below!
If you have ideas for a Tuesday Ten Minute Toss Challenge, please let us know! In the meantime, check back weekly for a new challenge and make sure to join in the fun. We look forward to hearing about how you do with the challenges.
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We recently blogged about several ways you can eliminate all kinds of unwanted mail in 6 Easy Ways to Eliminate Junk Mail. Now we have a tool to share with you that will do all the work for you! It also makes for a meaningful gift that everyone needs this time of year when our mailboxes are filled with unwanted catalogues and junk mail coupons.
For $6.75 you can give someone the gift of less by getting them a MailStop Envelope. MailStop will send you a post-paid envelope to put your unwanted mail in. Once you send it back and they will finish the opt-out process for you! MailStop Envelopes are great for people who are too busy to use online services, not Internet-savvy or have never gotten around to stopping their unwanted mail.
MailStop Envelopes save trees and reduce clutter by stopping unwanted mail. Prepaid MailStop Envelopes make simple, practical gifts for your friends, family and co-workers, your unwanted mail goes from your mailbox to the envelope without cluttering your home or office. Once you have collected up to 15 pages, drop the envelope in the mail and relax while someone else cancels all that unwanted junk mail and phone books for you.
Have you wanted to stop your own unwanted mail? Do you know someone who could use a gift of less? We want to hear about it!
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Traveling during the holidays can be downright stressful, especially if your plans include a few stops at our nation’s airports. So to make your season more organized and joyful we have complied the best tips for holiday air travel.
- Wrap gifts after you arrive at your final destination. Don’t wrap gifts and packages if you’re planning on carrying them on board. All items carried on board are subject to inspection and may be unwrapped at the security checkpoint! Instead, put gifts in your checked baggage and pack wrapping paper.
- Check in before you get to the airport. Most airlines allow you to use web check-in from 1 to 24 hours before your flight. You can then print your boarding pass in advance and have it ready when you arrive at the airport. You can add passport information, change your seat assignment, upgrade to First Class, and print a receipt for your flight. You can also see if your airline allows mobile check-in or so you can check in on your way from your mobile device.
- Plan for extra travel time getting to and from the airport. Airport drives and parking lots can be very busy, overcrowded and congested during the holiday travel season. Give yourself extra time getting to and from the airport. Travelers are encouraged to take a shuttle to the airport or park at a parking lot nearby the airport. Give yourself extra time to park as well, as many lots may be full.
- Plan extra time to check your baggage and for getting through the security line. The ticket counters and security lines are very busy during the holiday travel season. Plan to arrive extra early and give yourself some time to relax instead of worrying that you won’t make it through the line in time. That way, even if you are early for your flight you have time for that cup of coffee or snack before your long flight.
- Plan in advance for your pet’s travel. Because of a very high volume of baggage, you may not be able to travel with Fido or Fluffy in the baggage and cargo compartments during the peak holiday season. Additionally pet travel can be restricted on airline flights during extreme weather conditions. Plan ahead and give yourself some options and a back-up plan.
Safe travels and Happy Holidays to you!
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About a month and a half ago, we started a weekly post on the Simply Placed Facebook page titled the Tuesday Ten Minute Toss Challenge. Its been receiving a great response and lots of participation. We decided to move it to the blog so we’d have a little more space to elaborate on the post if we chose. We’ll still post the challenge on the Facebook page, but wanted to have the details here as an enhancement.
The feedback we’ve received so far is that you like the bite size nature of the tasks, that they are motivating you into action, and that the specific suggestions on “toss” projects are timely and do-able. Great! We’ll keep ‘em coming. If you have ideas for a Tuesday Ten Minute Toss Challenge, please let us know! In the meantime, check back weekly for a new challenge and make sure to join in the fun. We look forward to hearing about how you do with the challenges. Chime in anytime! Now on to this week’s challenge:
Time for the Tuesday Ten Minute Toss Challenge! RIGHT NOW spend 10 minutes on that huge list of contacts on your phone, Outlook, or other contacts database you use. Quickly select people that you don’t keep in touch with, don’t recognize or have never contacted before and remove them from your contacts. Ten minutes is a long enough time to sort, reorganize or delete people from your list, making it easier to use and simpler to find the people you do contact often. Take our challenge and get control of one of those contact lists!
What’s that? 10 mintues is not long enough to accomplish this task? You’re welcome to take longer if you’d like, or if you have the time. Alternately, schedule another bursts of time in your calendar to complete the task. Either way, 10 minutes spent and progress made, is better than doing nothing at all.
Did you have long lists of contacts that needed ten minutes of maintenance? Tell us how you did with today’s challenge!
