How did the car get so bad?

Recently an employee mentioned that she had to take a friend and her two children somewhere. So when she got off work she was going to have to clean out her car so she could transfer the car seats for the kids to her car. I said something about the car seats taking up a lot of room. She said that actually no one could get in the back seat now because of all the junk in there.

How did it get that way? That is my question. I can see from time to time that you might be hauling something and the back seat is full. But the back seat is not meant to be that way permanently. There is a quick, easy organizational solution.

Don't let it get that way! That seems rather simple, and it is. When you get out of the car, it is very simple to look around and see if there is anything that doesn't belong there. Candy wrappers, pop cans, mail, trash of any kind, papers, etc. If there is something there that isn't needed the next time you use the car, then take it out immediately. If you do that simple task every time you get out of the car, it will never get to the point where you have to clean it out in order to have room for something or someone else.

Keep at it! Train yourself every time you get out of the car to take a quick inventory. Take the extra moment to grab whatever doesn't belong there, and toss it or take in into the house and put it where it belongs. It is easy to hang a plastic shopping bag in the garage for the quick toss of the trash. Or put the trash in the container most of us keep right outside the garage for our trash removal. The benefit to you is that you are always ready to take someone with you without having to first clean out the car. And the car is always clean for you when you get in. Don't you deserve to drive in a clean car? Try it. You'll feel better about your car and about yourself.

Organize young

Here are some possible reasons why you should get organized while you are young. Otherwise it may be too late. Actually, this is just a bit of somewhat organized humor to give you a smile for the day.

Disclaimer: This was shared with me by a co-worker who received it as one of those Fwd:Fwd:Fw emails, so I have no idea who the author is. My thanks and apologies to whomever that may be.

Older Adult Games:
1. Sag, you're it.
2. Hide and go pee.
3. 20 questions shouted into your good ear.
4. Kick the bucket.
5. Red Rover, Red Rover, the nurse says Bend Over.
6. Musical recliners.
7. Simon says something incoherent.
8. Pin the toupee on the bald guy.

Signs of menopause:
1. You sell your home heating system at a yard sale.
2. You have to write post-it notes with your kid's names on them.
3. You change your underwear after a sneeze.

Old is when:
1. Going bra-less pulls all the wrinkles out of your face.
2. You don't care where your spouse goes, just as long as you don't have to go along.
3. Getting a little action means I don't need fiber today.
4. Getting lucky means you find your car in the parking lot.
5. An all-nighter means not getting up to pee!

Thoughts for the weekend:
1. Wouldn't it be nice if whenever we messed up our life we could simply press 'Ctrl Alt Delete' and start all over?
2. Just remember, if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off.
3. If raising children was going to be easy, it never would have started with something called labor!
4. Brain cells come and brain cells go, but fat cells live forever.
5. But most of all, remember! A good friend is like a good bra. Hard to find, supportive, comfortable, and always close to your heart!

Ponderisms:
1. I use to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes.
2. Garden Rule: When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.
3. The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.
4. Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
5. Have you noticed since everyone has a camcorder these days no one talks about seeing UFOs like they used to?
6. In the 60s, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.
7. How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?
8. Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here and drink whatever comes out?"
9. Who was the first person to say, "See that chicken there? I'm gonna eat the next thing that comes out of its butt."
10. If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a song about him?
11. Why does your OB-GYN leave the room when you get undressed if he's going to look up there anyway?
12. Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?
13. Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

Have a good weekend!

Keep things the same place

Have you ever wasted time looking for something you knew should be there, but it just wasn't? That usually results from not keeping things always in the same place.

Always put things the same place. Habit is the key here. Form a habit of always putting things in the same place. The picture to the right is a simple example of what I'm talking about. Here you see our remotes and our cordless phone. My wife insists on always keeping them in the same order and in the same spot. Because of that, we never have to look for a remote or for the phone. It is always where we expect it to be, unless we are using it in a different chair at the time or charging the phone overnight. Now, granted it is not that hard to find a remote if it is a little out of order, but the principle can be very helpful in other more complicated areas. For example, always keeping tools in the same spot will help you find it the next time you need one. If you have several drawers or places where you keep tools, it can be difficult finding the one you want when you need it. There are several places to keep a garden tool. If it is always in the same spot, it will be easier to find. You won't be kicking yourself when you can't find it. Even simple things such as pencils or pens, note paper, the phone, books, shoes, toys, CDs and DVDs are easier to find when you always keep them the same place.

Don't put off putting things away. One of the major reasons things are not where we expect them to be is because we don't put them back right away. It is so easy to be lazy and not do it right away. I'm guilty of that at times. In fact, one of my wife's nicknames for me is "Lazy Man." Fortunately that is not one she uses real often. She has some much nicer names she usually calls me. The point is, put things away right away and always the same place. If you don't do it right away, you will forget. Out of sight, out of mind. Then the garden tool may still be outside and get rusty from the rain or dew, and you won't know where it is when you need it the next time. Don't be a Lazy Man like me! You won't like the nickname.

Discipline yourself. Teach yourself to put things back right away in the same place. When you catch yourself putting something down instead of putting it away where it belongs, gently remind yourself that is not what you want to do. Then take the extra minute to put it away. You might be surprised how many times you will catch yourself being lazy. Or you might use the excuse that you are in a hurry. It is better to spend the extra minute now than waste a lot of time later when you might really be in a hurry, or lose something for good, or ruin something because it was left out or got broken because it shouldn't have been there.

Reward yourself. When you catch yourself putting things back, compliment yourself. Give yourself a pat on the back, or a good old 'attaboy! or 'attagirl! It's not as good as a compliment from someone else, but it still feels good. And it will help you want to do it next time because it feels good. And it saves time. Why not compliment yourself for a job well done? If we wait for compliments from others, we may never get any, because people get pretty wrapped up in themselves. But there's no reason we can't compliment ourselves a hundred times a day. Maybe I'll start a self-compliment club. Want to join?

Organize computer files with FolderShare

If you have more than one computer you work with, then you know the hassle of trying to keep track of which computer your files are stored on. I have a desktop, a laptop, and a handheld. They are all networked, but if one of the computers is rebooting or having some kind of problem, then I don't have access to that file on my other computers. Or if that file becomes corrupt for some reason, I've lost it, unless I have a backup (which, by the way, everyone should be doing.) Or when I am over watching a Nascar with my son, I have my laptop along. We watch on his TV, and have two laptops going so we can use a couple of features on Trackpass. If I want to pull up some of my Nascar stats, I find the main file is stored on my desktop at home and I don't have access to it from his house. Well, that has all changed.

A while back, I ran across FolderShare, a Windows Live Service. Microsoft acquired FolderShare on November 3, 2005, describing it as a File-Synchronization Technology Provider. It is designed to "Keep important files at your fingertips - anywhere. All file changes are automatically synchronized between linked computers, so you are always accessing the latest documents, photos, and files."

Microsoft's product overview says: "FolderShare allows you to create a private peer-to-peer network that will help you to synchronize files across multiple devices and access or share files with colleagues and friends. You no longer need to send large files via email, burn them to CDs/DVDs and mail them, or upload them to a website. FolderShare allows you to share and sync important information instantly with anyone you invite, making it the perfect solution for personal or small business use."

You can share files up to 2 GB in size. You have unlimited file transfers with no limits on quantity or size of files transferred. Any file types are synced and transferred in their original format. Best of all, FolderShare is free! That's right, no charge.

I have found FolderShare to be a great way to keep my computer files synchronized, and therefore more organized. You might want to give it a try. You can download it free at the FolderShare site.

March Recap

During March, the following topics were addressed:

1. Matt Cutts listed some advanced gmail tips in his Gadgets, Google, and SEO blog. He gave some tips which enhanced the tips I gave back in January on Organizing your email and/or gmail.

2. Photo organization can be a chore. When done right it can provide a real sense of accomlishment. Photo Organization - a success story.

3. Goals are an important aspect of our daily lives and help us get where we need to or want to go. Setting good goals will make it happen. Organize by setting goals.

4. Passwords have become a necessity in our electronic world. Remembering them and keeping them safe from identity thieves has become a daily problem. RoboForm provides a good solution for Organizing your passwords.

5. A lot of being disorganized happens because we simply don't put things away when we are finished with them. If we would just train ourselves to put things back right away, we would save a lot of time. As the saying goes, it is easier to keep up than to catch up. Putting things back - examples.

Organize by pre-bussing

Today's organizational thoughts have grown out of the restaurant industry. Being a restaurant manager, I have learned a lot about how people work, or try to get out of work.

Pre-bus: When people are eating at a restaurant, the servers are supposed to remove dishes that are no longer needed while the customer is still there. That is referred to as pre-bussing. When the main dish is brought out, the salad plates and soup bowls should be removed provided the customer is finished with them. When dessert is served, the plates used for the meal are to be removed, again as long as the customer is finished. That gives the customers more room as they talk and finish their drinks and get the kids ready to go. Plus it means most of the work of cleaning off the table is already done, saving valuable time later when we need the table for the next customers.

Here's the problem. Most of the servers will try to avoid this part of their job by saying they don't have time to pre-bus. At the same time, they will walk past their tables to the kitchen ten times with empty trays. If they just picked up one item on each trip, the job would be done with no extra steps or effort. They are already going that way anyway.

So, I'm going to apply this pre-bus option to staying organized at work or at home. When leaving your desk, check to see if there is a pop can, coffee cup, or book that you will no longer be using. Take it along with you and you will be one step closer to a cleaner desk without any extra effort. Heading out to the garage? Grab the tool that is out of place and take it along. Coming in from the car? Bring along anything that shouldn't stay in the car and you won't have to wonder where it is later. Going to the kitchen after eating a "couch potato" snack? Put the dishes or glasses in the dish washer rather than on the counter where it constitutes clutter. These are restaurant pre-bussing techniques which can help keep us organized at home or at the office. As we say at the restaurant, "It is easier to keep up than to catch up!"

It wasn't my table! Another way servers will try to avoid work is to say, "That wasn't my table." Their section doesn't have any clean tables, so they can't get sat to make more money. Yet they don't want to clean off a table that is available because it wasn't theirs originally. Meanwhile, the original server is busy in a new section and can't get it cleaned off. As I look at it, they are being lazy and losing money. It doesn't make any difference whose table it was. It needs to be cleaned. The sooner the better. It is called turnover. The quicker the turnover, the more money they make.

So at home or at the office. It doesn't make any difference who put it there. If it doesn't belong there it should be moved, put away, or tossed in the trash. It's your office, your home, your car, your desk. It doesn't matter who put something there, you can take care of it.

Don't wait for the bus! As managers, one of our responsibilities is to watch labor. We are allowed so many labor hours for so many customers. When the customer count begins to die down, we have to start cutting workers to keep the labor hours in line with the customer count. We are constantly being told, "You cannot wait for the bus." In other words, don't keep a lot of workers on the clock just in case a bus load of people show up.

In our case at home, or at the office, don't wait until it will take a bus to cart off all the mess. Keep at it continually and it will never build up to an unsightly mess. It takes a little ongoing effort, but in the long run will save time. It takes a while to fill the bus when it gets that messy. It takes a while to find something when you have to sort through a bunch of things that shouldn't be there. Don't wait until you need a bus.

Don't put it where it doesn't belong! The best clutter-prevention is don't put something where it doesn't belong in the first place. Of course, when you are having a cup of coffee, you need the coffee cup there. But when you are done, don't leave it where it shouldn't be. Don't put it on the counter where it doesn't belong. Put it in the dishwasher, or wash it and hang it up, or whatever you need to do at the office.

You'll be glad you did! In the long run, you'll appreciate the little extra effort you put in along the way. When you come back to your desk, or back to the kitchen, you'll like the way it looks. You'll be able to get at your next task without having to clean up first. You won't have to worry about someone seeing it looking like a mess.

It is not that I am a neat freak. That would be closer to a description for my wife. But I appreciate that about her. I have loved her that way for 38 years next month. She's not going to change now, and I wouldn't want her to.

We used to play golf with some other couples. Afterwards we would go to one of our houses for cards. We usually took turns, but often the others would say, "We have to go home and clean up first." We would have to wait and come later, or volunteer our house. People could/can walk into our house any time and find it neat and clean. That is a good feeling. It is simply because my wife follows the procedures I'm talking about. She wants everything put back where it belongs, picked up as we go, and put away when we're done. I like the end result.