FindingMe

Simplify and Organize

One of the things I love best is being organized. I know my best friends are laughing as they recall our many Christmas shopping trips where I come equipped with my spreadsheet of gift ideas! My love of organization leads almost all aspects of my life including my career as a technical project manager which is probably why I loved Patrick Lencioni's article in the February (2009) issue of Read Simple.

Patrick, a well-known business consultant, compares running a business to running your family. He stresses the importance of things like setting goals and family meetings -- just like we all do at work every day! He even gives the OK to argue in order to make effective decisions.

Read Patrick's entire article on his website at http://www.tablegroup.com/downloads/10%20Business%20Strategies%20-%20Real%20Simple.pdf .

Organizational Tip of the Week: Unsubscribe

Email Check - DILO4,
originally uploaded by gwENvision.

I never realized how much email I get until my husband's computer got hit by lightening and we were sharing my computer. He was trying to figure out if he was looking at my email or his when he said "wow, you get a lot of email". It got me thinking...

I took at look at the email I was getting - a newsletter here, sales notices there. Then I started thinking how many times I just click delete because I don't have time to read them. It was quite an eye-opener. Almost every time I delete them. So, what's the point? In fact, it's just encouraging me to buy stuff I don't need anyway. So, I diligently began evaluating each and every email as it came in and asked myself these questions:

How many times in the past three months have I actually read this email?
Is this something I want to be reminded of even if I don't have time to read it?

If the first answer was NONE, I scrolled to the bottom of the email and clicked "Unsubscribe". If it was at least once, I kept the subscription for at least one more month. If the answer to the second question was YES, I added the site to my favorites with the intention of checking out the list when I'm surfing the net.

Guess what? I opened my email this morning and I had THREE emails! That's right, only THREE! And, they were all relevant things that were important to me. Hey, I think I've found another 15 minutes in my day! I'm off to figure out how to spend my new found time!

Organizational Tip of the Week: Pay Your Bills Online

Bills To Pay,
originally uploaded by manmadepants.

I know you are out there shaking your head. I know this scares the pants off some of you. But keep your minds open for a couple of minutes and read on.

I’m sure you’ve seen the advertisements for online bill pay from your bank. Almost all banks now offer the service. What is it all about? Well, basically the bank sends your payments for you. It’s easy, convenient and adds to the balance we are seeking in our lives. No longer do you have to sit at your desk for hours writing checks, addressing envelopes then running to the mailbox. Simply go to your bank’s website, plug in some numbers, click submit and you are free to go play with your kids!

Here are some benefits to using this service:

• Cost. Think of the supplies you use each time you mail a payment: check, ink, envelope, stamp. Less supplies equals less costs and we all know how often the cost of stamps rise. Now consider how much businesses spend mailing you the bill – you can help them save costs, thus keeping prices lower, by opting for electronic bills instead of paper bills.
• Green. Less paper means less garbage in our landfills. It’s simple. Every little bit helps.
• Protection. While consumers tend to fear the Internet because of the sabotage risks, studies show that using online bill paying services and e-bills actually reduce identity theft. Most identity theft begins with paper. Lessen the amount of paper floating around with your identifying information on it!
• Time. Finally, it’s all about time. I want more time in my life to do what I want. Paying bills is not what I want to do. I used to spend at least four hours a week paying bills for my husband’s company. Now, I’ve streamlined that to less than an hour by utilizing online bill pay combined with downloaded reconciliations from our bank. It took some time (a couple hours) to setup my accounting software and biller information with my bank, but it was worth it.

Even I hesitated to pay my bills online and I’m a techie! But, now that I’ve made the move, there’s no going back. I love it, I love it, I love it!