I originally published this blog article in 2020 when a lot of people were struggling with the ramifications of governments telling people who could and couldn’t work. That may not be a current problem but there are still many people who are struggling to make ends meet each month. If you’re one of those people, I’ve revived the tips below for you.

Documenting your progress in any endeavor of importance is vital if you want to know exactly where you came from to compare with where you end up. This can help prevent feeling like you’ve not made any progress (like when you are decluttering a room) or give you evidence that you are making progress that might not otherwise be visible (like practicing a daily shutdown ritual).

Most disorganized individuals find it difficult to determine whether to keep an item or let it go. For those who struggle, there are various techniques that you can learn from Professional Organizers to guide you towards effective decision-making.

When we learn new things we expect to practice in order to be good. Why wouldn’t that be the case with organization, too?

Home workers are continually surprised that they can’t simply ease into a work or school routine while working from home. For productivity specialists, this isn’t all that surprising. Our minds don’t make transitions as quickly and as easily as we’d like to believe. It’s because they’re missing one critical piece of the puzzle: The commute.

Unlike other belongings such as clothes or dishes that have permanent homes in a closet or cupboard, transition items are usually stored right by the entrance where they can easily clutter up a tight space.

What’s the solution? A landing zone for personal items. It’s a place where items in transit ‘land’ on their way elsewhere.

I’ll give you a few suggestions of strategies you can implement around the holidays to make it less likely that you and your loved ones will end up with more than comfortably fits in your homes.

It’s common for people to feel overwhelmed by the thought of organizing their entire home, especially if disorder has been a longstanding issue. They look around, and it seems like they’ll never be able to figure out where to start, in what order to work, or how to move through the process.

When it comes to digital clutter, it’s easy to fall into the trap of ‘out-of-sight, out-of-mind.’ Make sure that you can find digital files when you need to reference them. That is the first rule of filing: Organize your files in a way that makes retrieval possible.

You’ve probably heard that keeping a journal will improve your life in some way. Dust off one of those journals you’ve been collecting (I know I’m not the only one who has dozens of unused or partially-used journals). It might be time to revisit closing out your day by doing some focused reflection.

Using outside accountability is a great strategy for those of us who struggle to do things when the only one expecting the change is us.

If you have experienced a significant decrease in or elimination of your employment and are freaking out about how or if you can pay the bills, I’d like to offer some tips. Times might be tough, but there are steps you can take now to improve the situation. There are things you can control and ways that you can move to a more stable financial position.

Have you finally accepted that your kids will likely be doing a lot of virtual learning for the foreseeable future? It looks like virtual learning, at least part time, will be here to stay.

While a lot of parents muddled through the first round of at-home school when things shut down in March, now might be a good time to set up an on-purpose learning station in your home.

As a productivity and time management consultant, I’ve been helping my clients get a better handle on the new work-from-home reality that doesn’t have a known end-date. If you’re one of the ones who are struggling and feeling like there’s something wrong with you for not adapting well, know that you are not alone.

We’re 7 weeks into the stay-at-home order in my state. In my last blog I talked about being ok with not getting stuff done during this difficult time.

Now, for a lot of people the fog seems to finally be lifting. Maybe it’s the sporadic, sunny spring weather here in New England that’s helping us feel ready to move forward in this new reality.