If you’ve filed your 2011 taxes already, pat yourself on the back, then skip to #4 and #5 to see how completing your tax return next year can be even easier.

1.  Start with last year’s return.  Look at the order of last year’s return, then collect and organize your information in the same order. This is not a complete list, but it should get you started.

• W-2s, 1099s  and K-1s
• Cost basis information for investments sold
• Student loan info
• Real Estate Taxes
• Mortgage Interest
• Charitable Contributions
• Union Dues
• Unreimbursed Work Expenses
• Childcare Expenses
• Last pay stub of the year
• Receipts for items if you plan to itemize
• Also, bring information for any new life situation, like birth certificates and social security numbers for children born in the tax year. 
• If you have made any major purchases or sales this year, like buying or selling a home, major investment or business, collect the pertinent paper work for your use or to take to your accountant appointment. 
• You are responsible for this process.  If your taxes are professionally prepared, your preparer is responsible for asking thorough questions, but you supply the answers and the information.

2. Get ready, Get set, Go!  You can start your forms even if you are still missing one or two pieces of information.  Start with the information you have, even if you are waiting for a final number or detail, and then complete your return when you receive that last detail.  This avoids panic mode at April 15^th looms closer, and it also gives you at least an estimate of what your taxes may be, and if you will owe money or receive a refund.  An incomplete picture is better than no picture at all.  
3. Don’t delay, period.  Perfectionism and Procrastination are not your friends.  Do yourself and your preparer (and their family) a favor.  Delaying the process makes it more difficult, just Do It. 
4. Give your papers a home, to make next year even easier:
   1. Have a hanging folder called “Relevant Tax Info, 2011” or 2012, etc).  Keep it close at hand.  I prefer hanging folders because they are easy to drop information into.  
   2. Within the larger hanging folder, have 3 or more manila file folders.  Title them something like:
      1. Items I Know Are for Taxes for charitable donation receipts, sale and purchase information, taxable transaction information, etc.
      2. Items I Need to Ask About for items you want to ask your accountant or preparer about that may impact your taxes
      3. Receipts for Purchases you can claim, like business expenses.
   3. Add relevant tax information to this holder throughout the year, as it occurs. 
5. Buy A Shredder.  Once your taxes are filed for 2011, you can go back (with your preparer’s blessing) and shred tax returns that are more than 4-7 years old (again, ask your professional for suggestions).  Shredding is the only safe way to dispose of those old, unnecessary tax returns.

You can do this, friends, and you’ll feel great when your taxes are filed!  A big breath of relief, then move on to something else!

1. Make wellness part of your routine, making time for exercise, healthy eating, medications and supplements.  Attach something that needs to happen to something that already works.  For example, perhaps you pick your kids up from school every day.  Attach a 30 minute walk on the way to pick-up, to ensure your exercise will happen.  Or if you check your email every morning, like me, leave your vitamins and supplements next to your computer as a reminder!
2. Save yourself some time and stress, and assign a home to important things.  For example, put your car keys and cell phone the same place every time you come in the door.  Then stick with it.  Every time. 
3. Plan time – actually make a note in your calendar – every week for exercise and self-care.   Writing things down make them more likely to occur.  I always respect my standing appointment for my tennis lesson!
4. Make and keep those health care appointments!  Group appointments on one or two days off, and take care of them all at once.  Set aside a day to set all your appointments, too.  Maybe Valentine’s Day or your birthday, or the first day of the month?  And of course, keep a portable folder for notes on health care issues and questions to ask your providers.  I also sweetened my recent appointment day with a massage in the morning, Rita at A Relaxed You in Mt. Greenwood is my favorite!
5. Use down-time, like waiting for an appointment or for the kids to finish soccer practice for some deep breathing exercises, relaxing visualizations or a brisk walk around the park.  I have some great apps for my smart phone like “Long Deep Breathing”, “Relax Sleep Well” and “White Noise”.  Of course, I also have Sudoku and Word Jumble Apps, so I can relax and distract when I have a minute! 
6. Make family time wellness time, with family hikes or biking, ice-skating, snowball fights – use your imagination!
7. Occasionally take the day off from routine tasks.  Try a non-laundry day or a guest chef (my kids!) day, to make things more fun and less stressful.
8. Remind yourself that you do not have to fix every problem every day.  Focus on just a few tasks, and do them well.
9. Have a back-up plan for everything – babysitter, outfit, transportation options, backdoor key
   (hidden but accessible), quick and easy dinner plan.  Save yourself the scramble when your schedule changes or you are feeling under the weather!
10. Save Your Back (or in my case, my shoulder.  Did I mention a massage?!?):  Only carry what you need.  Keep your backpacks handbags and briefcases filled with essentials for today, and don’t lug around stuff you don’t need.

Focus on wellness this week, and love yourself and those who count on you!  Happy Valentines Day!

I’ve organized several kitchens and client menu plans (link to other posts) lately.  Clients often ask what they can do to get ready for our organizing appointments.  “Don’t Buy Anything New!  Use What You Have!” is the answer!  This practice is also known as Pantry Shopping (per Mary Hunt at www.debtproofliving.com).  Why Pantry Shop?  I have been in homes where there are literally hundreds of cans of food, and dozens of boxes of cereal or cake mixes or pasta.  All those cans and boxes are clutter and are costing you money if unused.  You will be amazed at how much food you actually have on hand.

Go through your cabinets using  Julie Morgenstern’s S.P.A.C.E. method of Organizing.

S: Sort your food.  Group canned goods together, further sorted by veggies or fruits, canned meats, soups, etc.  Put spices and baking supplies together, cereal items, sauces, pasta and side dishes (rice and potato items), etc.

P: Purge items that need to go.

• Expiration dates make purging kitchen stuff easy.  Expired food needs to go.  I know you spent money on it, and that it might still be safe and flavorful to eat, but ask yourself – is it worth the risk?  No, it’s not.  Possible food poisoning in exchange for a few bucks saved at the grocery?  Do the math.
• There are also items that have been open in your cabinet for an undetermined amount of time.  Open cereal or saltines may not have expired, but they might not taste good anymore. 
• There may be food that has expired to you and your lifestyle.  Baby foods, items your family has decided they don’t like, foods you bought for a recipe but never used (and don’t plan to), or impulse buys.  Donate these items to your local food pantry or hand them off to a friend, but get rid of things that won’t be used before they expire. 

A and C: Assign A Home / Container-ize:

• Decide where to store food that you keep.  We consider who uses an item when we pick storage spots.  My youngest likes to get his own cereal in the morning, so cereals and the bin of after-school snacks are in a bottom cabinet within his reach.
• In that same low cabinet are foods in glass jars like pickles and spaghetti sauces because I am a terrible klutz and storing things low to the ground means I break less!
• The other benefit of Assigning a Home for specific types of food comes when it’s time to make a grocery list.  By looking at the space where the cereal or pasta or soup belongs, I can tell at a glance if I need to add it to my grocery list. 
• Decide what is a reasonable amount to have on hand for specific items. I have 2 half shelves in one cabinet dedicated to canned goods.  The lower shelf is for stuff I use all the time and is double stacked, and the top shelf is for the items I rarely use.  If the shelves are full, I do not buy canned goods.  It’s as simple as that.
• Corral small items like dip or seasoning packets, breakfast bars or spices into handy containers so the items are less likely to get lost and instead will get used up!

 E: Equalize (Maintenance)

• Rotate the stock:  Check your expiration dates, and put the closest expiration dates up front, so you use those food items first.
• Incorporate your Pantry Food into your meal plan for the next few weeks, to use up your excess food.  Do this at least a couple of times a year, to keep things moving. 
• Don’t buy items if they are not on the menu for the next couple of weeks.  Break out of your typical shopping habits, and instead only buy what you really need.

Learn to live with less this week, and like it!  Less Really is More!

Focus, both noun and verb, is defined as “to bring to the center of interest, to concentrate”.  When working from home, I want to make the most of my time and get my work done, so I can finish up and go do something else.  And when I am working with a client, it’s my responsibility to keep our projects on task and focused, to make the most of our time together.  Focus is very important, for me and for you.

As I’ve thought about improving focus, I’ve discovered tools to use for different people, situations, assignments or types of tasks, even different times of day.  And I guess that’s my point today.  Next time you need to really buckle down, give one of these Focus ideas a try, and find out what works for you. 

Getting Started:

1. Start with your easiest task. Sometimes we can get our brain to focus on business if we start with a couple of easy tasks first, to quickly cross them off the to-do list.  Or….
2. Start with your hardest task.  Spending time on your toughest task ensures some progress today.  The tough tasks are also typically the longest, so we need to make time early on to get them done.
3. Set a deadline for your self can help you stay focused and on-task.  Instead of wondering IF you can get a task done in an hour, a day, a week, resolve you WILL get it done, and get to work.  I don’t do well with open-ended assignments, so this works great for me. 
4. Keep a pad of paper or pile of index cards next to you, to collect distracting ideas and address them later.  Keep the idea, but don’t let it derail your focus.

While You Work:

5. If you find your focus drifting, stop trying so hard.  It might be time to take a break. 
   1. Focus on or do something else for a short time, since letting your mind wander for a few minutes can actually improve focus.
   2. Take a break and walk away.  Walk around the block, take some deep breaths.  Don’t just surf the net for a few minutes, let your eyes see something new for a bit. 
   3. Be comfortable.  I can focus a little too well sometimes.  So well that hours can pass, and then I am stiff, cold, hungry and really tired.  Take breaks to keep your self comfortable as you do your work.
   4. Count to 10.  Or 20.  Or 100.  Or backwards from 20.
6. Music:  Sometimes music helps me, sometimes it is distracting.  Know your self.  If low background music helps you focus, use it!
7. If repeated interruptions are sabotaging your focus, take control:
   1. Turn off the tech, and respect your own time.  No email notifications, no phone calls, no Facebook or Angry Birds.
   2. Close the door, or put interruptions in your calendar.  If someone interrupts you, pause the question for 10 seconds and finish what you are doing, promise to get back to the person at an appointed time, make a quick note of the time, and then get back to work!
8. If you are writing and you can’t seem to focus:
   1. Start with a review of what you wrote most recently.
   2. Write anything for 3 minutes, even if it is gibberish.  Just writing words can help our brain focus. 
   3. Use structure.  Remember the 5 paragraph essay you learned in elementary school?  Make a statement; offer 3 points to prove or illustrate the statement; flesh out those points; restate your statement.  My writing often starts with these ideas, or ends up in outline form with bulleted items.  If such structures help you flesh out ideas, use them!

So, next time you find your brain wandering away from the task at hand, pull one of these ideas out of your toolbox and give it a try!  Here’s to a productive, focused brain!

Click here for some great Pinterest Visuals of organizing solutions!

First, ask yourself:  What does not belong in my clothes closet?  Regardless of your closet size, the following items do now belong in your closet (though I have found them in client closets over the years):

• Old or broken computers, lamps, picture frames and golf clubs
• dog crates for non-dog owners
• furniture
• 20 year-old college text books
• other people’s stuff
• Christmas decorations / wrapping paper
• costumes unless it’s halloween,
• 11 pairs of ice skates (one closet)
• Shopping bags, un-delivered bags of clothing to donate or to go to other people
• The list goes on and on and on….

If you need more space, even after removing these obvious clutter culprits, it is time to dig a little deeper. Luckily, there are easy filters to make more space:

• Parcel out bedding to worthy charitable causes, under-bed storage, linen closets, top shelves in Space bags, or really big zip-lock bags.
• Store these types of clothes in well-labeled plastic bins in the basement / attic / garage:
  • Off season clothing (summer stuff in winter, heavy stuff in summer), sporting goods and overcoats.
  • Clothes that don’t fit your life today.  E.g, old work uniforms or work suits, maternity and postpartum clothes.  If you don’t expect to wear an item in the next 6 months, it does not belong in your closet.
  • Keep clothes for today’s life, and the life you want to have, at the front of your closet.
    • Ditch the fat jeans, it makes it too easy to slide back into bad habits!
    • On a job search?  Fine tune your professional look so you are ready for the interviews and new job.
• Purge or recycle dry cleaner bags and empty hangers.  It’s amazing how much space you can reclaim, and your closet will look so much tidier. 
• Pull out sentimental items you won’t ever wear but want to keep as treasure (Thanks CB and MB!).  Keep them (within reason) in well-labeled, stackable plastic containers elsewhere in your home.  Attic, basement, just out of your clothes closet.
• Let go of your shoe boxes.  I know some folks love their designer boxes.  The problem is that we forget and don’t use what is inside the boxes.  Clear boxes or over the door shoe racks are a much better solution for seeing and using what you have.
• Cut out duplicates:  Keep less in regular rotation.  Just last week, we removed 6 white t-shirts from each of my son’s drawers.  They only wear them for sleeping lately, so having 12 in the drawer just doesn’t make sense.  We’ll keep the extras in a bin in the laundry room, and replace worn out ones as needed. 

So, now you have made some space by clearing out some closet clutter. How do you optimize the space and stuff that is left?  Two words, Friends:  Vertical Space. 

• Use any blank wall or blank door, including the wall behind your hung clothes, for hooks and vertical hanging storage solutions (click here for some great visuals!!)
• Add an over-the-door hook or two for Clean-ish clothes.  You know, Clean-ish?  Not dirty enough to wash, not clean enough to get hung back up with everything else?  In my closet, clean-ish clothes are usually jeans or lounging pants, pajamas, perhaps a hoodie.  Limit the hanging options and wear stuff again until it’s ready to wash. Just do not let your clean-ish stuff mound up on a chair, bench or dresser top, because then it gets too difficult to determine clean / dirty vs cleanish.
• Double-hang your clothes closet (thanks SM), to double your rod space while better utilizing your vertical space. 
• Add high shelves in every closet for large items or off-season clothing (thanks WM).
• Climb your walls and doors. 
  • Use over the door hangers and hooks, 3M Command hook or permanent metal hooks screwed into the wall or wood work.
  • Mount a soft shoe sorter on a hook on the wall for handbags
  • Purchase hanging sweater stackers (per SM) to mount on your closet rod (see Pinterest page), and roll the sweaters in the compartments to use the space even better.
• Kid Closets (thanks AM, JF, WM and CD):    
  • Hang everything on hangers, so your kids can see what they have. 
  • Use dressers or shallow bins on shelves for small or tough to stack items like undergarments, socks, jammies, t-shirts. 
  • Make Regular purging less of a drag:  Make it routine, to go through stuff a couple of times a year, remind everyone that new stuff can’t come until we purge the old, and make it fun (sweeten the deal with Pizza or ice cream when you’re done!  Thanks CD!)

Embrace an organized closet today, so you can see and use your clothes better tomorrow!

      “Workflow” sounds rather business-y, but refers to anything any of us need to complete, professional, personal or other.  The term “workflow” suggests water to me.  Sometimes water pools and sometimes it moves along, just like work.  Water is necessary to survival, plentiful and refreshing, but can also overflow and escape.  Just like work.  Our work needs to flow into our life, through our processes, reaching completion and leaving our workspace.  The whole point of workflow is movement and action. Here are 4 tips to keep your work flowing!

1. National Clean off Your Desk Day reminded us that a clean desk can enhance workflow. 
   • Your workspace is sacred, only today’s active work should be there.
   • To decrease interruptions, keep your work and necessary resources to do complete it close at hand.  If you repeatedly have to get up to retrieve a resource, move it closer. 
   • Get non-work stuff out of your workflow, with recycling / shredding / trash close at hand.
2. Consider your work, and know the path your work should take, from start to finish. 
   • Large companies industries define workflows for different types of jobs, like “idea for article / writer / editor / production”.    
   • Molly’s Example:  I set up a work space for a new bookkeeper last week for a client.  The first thing we did was discuss Molly’s responsibilities and workflow.  Her workflow demands efficient use of her office time, since she’ll be there only a few hours a week.  It includes, in order, reviewing all mail and sorting it into three piles, per the three different business entities she will manage.  From there, the bookkeeping process is the same, regardless of which entity she is working on.  Open mail; sort into Payables, Receivables, Other work, Paper to go to someone else, shred, recycle, etc; do actual bookkeeping; write checks; send those to the manager for clearance and signatures; then mail payments and file the rest.  Done!
   • Kate’s example:  Another client needed to pay her January bills.  First she needed to balance her check book, though, and before she could do that, she needed a print-out from her bank.  For her, the workflow was: call the bank; pick up the printout; balance the check book; pay the bills; and mail the bills.  Until she really thought about the process, she couldn’t see the logical steps to take.
3. Eliminate or delegate what you can. 
   • What is waiting for someone else’s input?  Send that work on its’ way right away, so that other person can get on with their work, too. 
   • What work can flow to someone else, or be deleted from the stream all together? 
   • Eliminate repetitive and redundant steps.  Years ago, I paid our personal bills and then my husband the CPA would take all the information and enter it into Quicken.  He now does it all, cutting the work in half (and he is really good at it!). 
   • Most definitions of workflow look at processes, not actual work items, but let’s face it – paper and work are usually synonymous.  In my paper management classes, my first suggestion is to get rid of as much new paper as possible.  Cancel catalogs, take your name off of mailing lists, receive bank statements, subscriptions and newsletters electronically or via email.
4. The definition ends with “Completion.”.  Roll that word around your brain and really think about what it means.  Completion (satisfied sigh).  The work is done.  Now stand up, put away what needs put away, and for a moment, appreciate that feeling of satisfaction that comes from Completion.  Then get back to work!

     Focus on visual results, and save acting on ideas for another day. Corral your papers into meaningful places, so you can see what you have and start getting things done.

     Most folks are capable of sorting and piling papers into categories of their own choosing. But mid-sort, they find they need to reclaim their work space, and the papers get piled together again and set aside, instead of finding a new home. So the desk stays a mess, and they never feel “done”.

     Another challenge with papers is that they typically represent something else, like a memory, an event, a task to complete or an idea we want to keep. Acknowledging that, you need a physical storage system for your papers and ideas, and the motivation and perseverance to finish and maintain your system.  Here is what you need to do: 

1. Remove non work related items from your desk (see last year’s blog for a list).
2. Set up a physical system for Passive Papers (Idea from Freedom Filer, and tweaked for my clients!). 
   1. Passive Papers have been acted upon, and now wait for a pre-determined time until they are no longer needed for reference (e.g., receipts, paid bills, balanced bank statements, etc.).
   2. The storage system consists of 24 hanging folders in an open top vertical holder on your desktop
      (preferred) or a very near desk drawer.  Label the folders 2 for each month, with a  “- Even Year” or  “- Odd Year” tacked on the end.  You will end up with two full years of folders, one set for last year (2011, ending in “- Odd Year”), and one for this year (“ -  Even Year”).  The Odd Year folders will hold last year’s papers from your desktop, and the Even Year folders are for adding to during 2012.  Few papers need to be kept longer than one calendar year. 
3. Set up a physical system for Active Papers, also in an open vertical folder holder on your desk top, with folder names based on What Actions To Take or By Project, or sometimes, both!  For Example:
   1. What Actions To Take:  Receipts for Reimbursement; Calls to Make; Bills to Pay; Forms to complete and return; or Coupons, gift cards and shopping ideas.
   2. By Project (examples from my desk):  Past clients to check in with; Proposal for Home Office and Productivity Class Series; LLC Research and Paperwork; Event Folder, May Communion Party.
   3. Strategic Management, product development ideas
4. Set up a box for Archival Papers / Treasures.  Archival Papers are long-term record keeping papers, like home purchase papers, filed taxes, appliance manuals and warranties, wills, etc.  Treasures are school project, travel papers, received greeting cards, photos, etc.  These are all projects for another day, get them off your desk.
5. Grab two bags, one each for papers to shred later and recycling, and start distributing your desk papers to their new homes.  Grab a notebook and jot ideas down as they occur to you, do not get distracted and lose focus.
6. Now, Get Up and Put Your Stuff Away.  You have distributed your papers to your new folders, but you may have other items that need to go elsewhere in your home or office.  Get up and Put Them Away in their final homes.  Even if this 10 minutes is in the middle of your project, Get Up and Put them away.  Then bask in the glow of your clean desk top, and keep going.  A fellow organizer calls this the Stand And Deliver step, but I can’t find out who that was, and I would happily give her credit.  The point is…. Embrace “Done”!  And feel good about your efforts!

Next Week I will offer some insight on work-flow and productivity, to get things done now that your desk is looking better!

     The celebration of the New Year is not our only opportunity to make positive changes.  We can wake up any morning and say “today is the day”.  The New Year is the most publicized opportunity, though, and there are lots of available resources to help us make and keep our resolutions.  Health club memberships are discounted, as is exercise equipment to purchase.  Programs abound for weight loss and smoking cessation, healthy recipes populate the media and grocery stores run specials on the foods we are supposed to be eating.  Professional organizers send you information about goal-setting, paper management or National GO (Get Organized) Month. :)

      I think you are fabulous just the way you are, don’t get me wrong.  You are wonderful and fully evolved, and I do not think you need to be different.  However, we all need to realize is that Change is going to happen, no matter what.  Things change every day, every minute of our life.  And we can either be carried along with a wave, or we can start swimming.  Change happens, no matter what, but we can guide the change if we are willing to make the effort. 

      Per a blog I follow, Manage Better Now, I watched a great motivational video recently of Matt Cutts, a bigwig at Google.  He spent last year completing 30-day challenges, trying new things for 30 days.  Turns out, “30 days is just the right time to start a new good habit or get rid of an old, bad habit”.  His last line really resonated most with me, “The next 30 days are going to pass, whether you like it or not”.   We might as well do something great with them!

     So, two words for you:  Change and Choice.  I encourage you to think make and keep Resolutions this year.  If you don’t want to get rid of any habits, think about 12 habits you wish you had.  Change is inevitable, but we can choose our focus, and make this a positive experience.  You get to choose.

     So what is it going to be?  Knowing that change will happen anyway, how will you choose to guide your change and your life in 2012?  Here are some tips:

• If you are new to the Resolution idea, try choosing one good habit from each of these areas:  personal, family, home, spiritual and financial.
• Keep language is positive.  I am taking on new things instead of focusing on the negative. 
• Make choices for yourself, not for others.
• Make it public.  Letting others in on your resolutions makes you more accountable for keeping them.  I will publish mine next week, after I have added action points for myself. 
• Throw in a couple of “gimmes” (per another blog I follow, Beyond Blue).  Some easy goals that will take maybe an hour or 2, and then you can feel good crossing them off your list.  Organizing your desk drawers, cleaning out the pantry, making a long delayed doctor’s appointment, etc. 

      You can do this, friend, I know you can!  And you will be so happy when you do!  Happy 2012!

     In other countries and cultures, the day after Christmas is reserved for relaxing and spending time with family, eating party leftovers, being thankful for what you have and giving generously to those in need. How awesome is that?

     I struggle daily with two opposites: feeling compelled to constant work and motion, versus feeling the need to relax and recharge. The titles of the saved emails in my in-box this morning were indicative of these two opposites: “You-time is vital to survival”, “Take back your weekend”, “Take time off this Christmas time” on the one hand; “Productivity during the Holidays”, “Strategic Planning for 2012” and “Head Start Week for Businesses (using this last week of the year to get ready for strategy and organizing for 2012)” on the other.

     Work and motion always win. I spent the last three days lovingly and happily working hard to extend hospitality with a clean home and lovely meals, and making sure Christmas wishes came true. I cantored Christmas morning Mass (a great joy of mine), spent time with wonderful people, had some emotional ups and downs around great joy and tragedy and loss, received lovely gifts and counted my blessings.

     I am sharing this not for props, but to explain why I am very tired today. So, friends, if you also struggle between work and rest, let me suggest that this week both you and I allow relaxing and re-charging to win for a change.

     One of the blogs I follow states relaxation is vital to survival, an opportunity to replenish “the well”, to regain the energy we have expended and prepare us for tomorrow.  For me, today’s relaxation included sleeping in and staying in my fuzzy robe for a while, looking at lots of Legos, reading a magazine, catching up with a good friend far away and going to the movies with my family.  I believe there will be more movie watching and vegging out later this evening if I hide the remote control now….. ok, done.

     I find it difficult to do nothing, so I also cleaned out my in-boxes, tidied up my house, re-pledged to healthy eating and taking my vitamins, and did some strategic planning for next year. I find positive energy replenishing, so I enjoyed these things, too!  And I did it all while wearing jammies and drinking coffee or tea from my wonderful new Keurig, my gift from my even more wonderful husband.

     So, take a breath this week, take a break, and replenish your energy to prepare for the new year. If you need me, I’ll be eating leftover cheesecake for dinner and playing Wii games with my family.  Smiling all the way.

• Teaches responsibility and job skills.
• Teaches self worth, when you explain and then illustrate that each member of a family, just like every person in the world, has skills and talents to contribute and that their efforts are needed and appreciated.
• Offers opportunities to share traditions, and instill a love for the spirit and details of the Holidays.
• Gives a glimpse of the spiritual side of tending our homes, and breaks down gender roles.
• Helps get things done, and have a lot of fun!

     A long-ago co-worker got frustrated when her young children would try to “help” because we moms can do stuff better and quicker than little hands.  However, we’re not raising children, we are raising future adults.  If we don’t let the kids help when they offer, they will stop offering!  So say Yes! when they offer, and if they don’t, show them what needs done.  Either way, be specific with your request, show them how to complete a task, and then let them!

     When assigning tasks, know limitations but stretch your children’s abilities. Even the littlest hands can help.  Find out what they like or don’t like to do.  Imagine for a moment how you can enlist aid from your family this week.  Here are some tasks my boys will complete:  

• Baking Help: chop nuts, unwrap candies for recipes, add ingredients
• Sous chef duties: clean and cut fruit and vegetable, shred cheese, make lunches for rest of family
• Move and unpack boxes of decorations
• Keep younger siblings busy
• Assemble Christmas card mailings by filling envelopes, applying return address labels and stamps
• Wrap gifts
• Help Santa with other duties, appropriate for older children
• Help with guests and parties:  At two recent events, the boys set the table, took beverage orders, arranged extra seating, “plated” food for serving, took coats and welcomed guests.  They swelled with joy and pride when their efforts were appreciated!

      Rest assured, we will also relax.  My boys have visions of sugarplum or something dancing in their heads.  The teenager can’t wait to sleep in for 2 weeks, and I think the tween is imagining 14 days of alternating Wii play and TV.  The little guy?  He just wants to play with his toys and have friends over (he asks daily, typically on the drive to some after-school activity, so I always have to say “not today”).  Let me assure you, and them, that much of what they are dreaming of will indeed happen.  We’ve just got a few things to take care of, and they will be helping me!

     Make your efforts more meaningful for you and your elves this week!  Merry Christmas to all!