Today, becoming and staying organized are not a luxury, they're a necessity. These hot topics appear frequently in books, magazines, newspapers and TV shows. Unfortunately, from these sources, readers/viewers can not ask sensitive questions, discuss details about their specific situations or benefit from customized solutions. Also, the impression is often given that it takes very little time, effort or resources to eliminate the problems and confusion.

In both offices and home offices, clutter and chaos happen for a reason, sometimes for several reasons. Many people say they were never taught organizing skills. Our non-judgmental, experienced professionals focus on solving your organizing puzzles, recommend solutions and products, help you sort out the jumble, create personalized systems, and work side-by-side with you teaching you how to stay organized.

An organized workspace increases concentration, effectiveness and productivity. Organizing decreases wasted time, energy, space and money. It is possible to reduce the stress, chaos and clutter.

Do you really want (or need) to get organized? Would you like to be in control of your time, paperwork, information, space, computer & electronic information, and life? Do you feel paralyzed? Are you committed to making a change? Great ... you don't have to get organized alone!

When you need services for your business, home, car, health, financial or legal matters, you want to hire professionals who are experts in their industries. It's best to choose those who specialize in the issues that are relevant to your unique needs and situation. Choose pros who have multiple years of experience and a range of abilities.

Visit IslandOrganizers.com for details. Contact us for complimentary 20-minute consultation to see if our services are a match for your needs.

There are many statistics describing the sacrifices and high costs associated with disorganization and clutter. It wastes valuable time, money, space, and energy, plus it causes unnecessary stress.  For the "organizationally-challenged," this important issue not only applies in the workplace and the use of computers, but also in personal lifestyles.

How much money is this costing your company? How much personal free time is it costing you? What are the facts and figures?

How much TIME is wasted?

• The average U.S. executive wastes six weeks per year searching for missing information in messy desks and files. (That equals one hour per day.)
  -- Wall Street Journal
• The average desk worker has 36 hours of work on his or her desk and spends 3 hours per week sorting piles trying to find the project to work on next.
  -- The Overload Syndrome (by Richard Swenson)
• The average amount of time that the average American spends looking for misplaced things over the course of a lifetime is one year. 
  -- Harper's Index

How much MONEY is wasted?

• The real cost of being disorganized is hundreds of times more than the cost for a professional organizer's services.
  -- Roger L. Drolet, CPA, MBA / Founder, SafeRecord.com
• Being disorganized can lead to real-life costs, including overdrawn checking and savings accounts, missed payments, purchasing unneeded items, tax deductions and lost productivity.
  -- Jeffrey Strain, personal finance writer, thestreet.com

 How much SPACE is wasted?

• 80% of what we file never gets looked at again. 
  -- The Leader-Post
• Many people pay the “document storage” industry thousands of dollars a year to babysit  boxes of files they never use.
  -- smead.com

How much ENERGY is wasted?

• 85% of the information that businesses need to operate does not fall into structured formats of automated spreadsheets or databases.
  -- Document Magazine
• Americans often make drastic miscalculations about the value of their time, taking a do-it-yourself approach to tasks that might be less costly in time and money to hire out.
  -- Wall Street Journal

Need help?  www.islandorganizers.com

Services ~ Virtual Organizing ~ Training ~ Products

As a tech specialist, I see that technology drastically changes and drives our lives! I see it in how people and families communicate, how we receive & pay bills, how we buy things. It's even taking over our cars - parallel-parking automatically! Some people fight against it, saying they're going to stick to their own (and old) ways. But tech will not allow it. Soon, all parking meters & lots will be "unmanned," the only option will be to "pay by card." Why? Because tech saves time (our most precious commodity) and labor (our most costly expense).

Do I HAVE To?

Tech forces us to do things we may not want to do - like order online, file electronically, or take & keep photos digitally. Instead of resisting, we can figure out ways to celebrate and embrace it. Use it to our advantage! If you're a business owner, there are ways that tech can FREE you from burdensome tasks. It can save you time, space and money. It can do the same in our personal lives.

Why SHOULD I?

Armed with the right apps and devices, we can relax. We can free our minds of having to recall who we know & how to contact them, where to be & when, and even, how to get there! A business can easily leverage its information and re-use it in multiple ways to get new customers, retain existing ones and engage old ones.

What Does It Take?

With an open mind, little bits of learning and some patience, you can get there. Find someone to help you - perhaps a Digital Trainer. Just like a Fitness Trainer, it's a person you trust, who has an interest in your success! They'll have more impact than one who just "knows more than you." As you set your resolutions for the New Year, be CURIOUS about how tech can help you get those goals!

   We asked a few people: "What happened with you (mentally & physically) when you experienced a disaster or emergency or catastrophe situation?" 

• Nancy said her immediate reaction was panic and confusion when she heard the storm warning sirens.
• Sam shared that he felt dazed and couldn't focus when his wife fell and broke her hip.
• Paula admitted she was scared and lost control when her neighborhood was engulfed by a blazing fire.

   On the contrary, a calm, automatic reaction for Nancy, Sam and Paula would be to reach for his/her "Grab & Go Bag." In this bag are their Very Important Papers and People (contacts). As professional organizers, we help folks to create this Go Bag in one-on-one sessions and our webinar "Organizing Your Vital Documents." Clients discover that when there's a "system" in place, stress is eliminated. We advise them to include in the Go Bag: Wills, Health Care Proxy, Powers of Attorney, Insurance Policies and more.

   The LifeinCase tote is the perfect document organizing solution! This portable caddy makes a perfect Grab & Go Bag. It's durable, water-resistant, lightweight and holds 500-sheets. With five tabbed folders, there are checklists that suggest 10 vital documents in major categories: Medical, Personal, Financial, Estate & Property. Related information can be added, as well. 

   Far too often, we all see devastating disasters and heartbreaking emergencies reported in the news. "It's better to be safe than sorry" is always the moral of these stories. Are YOU prepared? Avoid confusion and stress by creating a "Grab & Go Bag" along with a Disaster Plan. Do it now, BEFORE you need it. When an emergency occurs, your thoughts and energy can then be focused on taking care of yourself and others around you. When you know what to do, it's much easier to stay calm. Remember practicing fire drills in school? They taught you to be prepared by knowing what to do.

   The principals of Island Organizers are Donna D. McMillan and Karen L. Simon. Their expertise delivers organizing and productivity services to manage time, space, paperwork and digital information. 808-943-2053 & 310-391-7392

Register for Vital Documents Webinar, Products & Services

Home Inventory

Tracking possessions you've purchased over the years helps you understand how much you've invested in decorating, improving & adding to your home. The benefits of a home inventory include:

• Proper Insurance: Your inventory ensures you are fully insured.
• Claims Reimbursement: When situations arise, it is faster, easier & more accurate when submitting your claim. Complete records can maximize reimbursement.
• Maintenance & Repairs: Knowing which equipment & appliances you own helps to properly perform necessary maintenance.
• Moving List: Using an inventory for a moving list helps ensure that possessions arrive at your new home.
• Estate Planning: Tracking possessions helps you to plan how they will be distributed.

Home Maintenance

Your home's parts require regular maintenance. Home maintenance is tracking & inspecting equipment, replacing consumables, fixing structural issues, and deep cleaning of specific areas. Proper maintenance can:

• Save Money On Replacement Costs: Proper maintenance can alleviate the need to replace equipment & appliances.
• Keep your home safe & healthy: Cleaning a dryer vent can prevent fires. Changing air filters maintains good air quality, reduces wear & tear on Heating & A/C units.
• Reduce Utility Costs: With efficient, well-maintained equipment, utility costs are kept to a minimum.
• Improve Home Value: Home Values may increase since the home is properly maintained & is documented.

Home Remodeling

Managing home remodeling has a direct impact on the look & feel of your home. Using the proper tools to manage your projects helps to:

• Manage budgets: Keeping project budgets can directly impact your overall financial portfolio.
• Manage remodels: Staying focused on the overall process helps you understand the details of your projects.

Knowing how to manage a large asset is crucial to maintaining its value. Managing your home, with its many parts, requires your attention to both maintain AND INCREASE value!

Elizabeth Dodson is co-founder of HomeZada, a cloud-based home improvement & organizational software. HomeZada strives to educate & provide resources for homeowners in all areas of home management: improvements, maintenance, inventory, property information, & property value. 

     September is National Preparedness Month. The theme for 2014 is "Resolve To Be Ready." This year, President Obama has declared two days- April 30 & Sept 30- as part of America's Prepare-A-Thon to encourage everyone to take steps to prepare for any type of disaster.

What Is A Disaster?

     In recent months there have been a few devastating disasters: Malaysian Airlines' missing plane & plane crash in Europe, a 6.0 earthquake in California, 3 hurricanes in the Hawaii... the list goes on.  Consider what a disaster is to you. What if you, a family member or close friend were in a major accident? What if your home was ransacked & robbed? What if your neighbor's house caught fire and it spread to yours? Would you consider these events to be disasters?

Being Prepared For Anything

     Recently, a friend told me about his brother-in-law, Joe (name has been changed), who passed away due to a terminal illness. On the day that Joe had an appointment with his attorney to sign his will, he died before the appointment. He is survived by two sons, a grandson and a live-in girlfriend. His major assets are a home with a mortgage and a business with seven employees. Joe's estate is now in Probate.

     Since none of Joe's family was involved in his business, no one is left in charge to manage it during the Probate. What happens to the business in the meantime? About the house, who makes the mortgage payments? We hope that someone can find his life insurance policy. We hope that someone has access to Joe's financials and other funds he may have. We hope that...

Prepare Your Paperwork

     Gathering vital documents & paperwork is a necessary step to being prepared for anything. Leaving behind a legacy like Joe's is not what most want for their heirs. It's not what you want someone to leave to you. Trying to recover documents is not what you'll want to be doing after any type of disaster.

     This September, pledge to prepare your vital documents & information. Scanning and filing them electronically will keep them safest, make for easier access and allow you to share with the VIPs in your life. Do it for yourself and your loved ones - don't delay!

=====

REGISTER for our Vital Documents Webinar on Sept 30, 2015!

A Shortlist of Resources:

Replacing Your Important Papers at FEMA

Document Checklists at SafelyFiled

Organizing, Scanning & Digital Filing at IslandOrganizers

       "Disorganization causes people to lose credibility. Their reputation suffers. They lose clients and miss opportunities because of lack of follow-up. They pay penalties due to late payment of bills, and other financial problems such as credit worthiness, etc.," say Karen Simon and Donna McMillan, co-founders of Island Organizers.

       How do you avoid all this? Karen and Donna were featured in an Organizing Expert Interview on Intuit's Mint.com ("online" version of Quicken). In the interview, they discuss:

• ways to safeguard and backup financial info to prepare for disaster
• going paperless and online finances
• tricks for organizing financial information  
• our favorite organizing tools for paperwork and digital info

​       Read the article to find out how YOU can be free of the struggles, stresses, and strains of disorganization!

=====

Learn skills and techniques to manage finances, time, digital tools, and more with Online Sessions and Private Appointments

      Collaboration apps are not to be confused with ones that just store documents online like Dropbox or Box.com. They offer so much more! By keeping our company's projects and shared documents in our workspace, when someone adds or changes something or completes a task, we all receive an email notice. (I prefer to have it send me weekly updates instead.) So we all know what's up next.

        When we're working on a document together, we are on the phone with one person editing and others watch live! We no longer send email back and forth with documents attached (translation: no more email attachments!). There's no more keeping track of who has the latest version on their computer (translation: less files to store and less confusion).

      There's no more confusion about who's doing what on a project - the task lists keep us on track (translation: get things done on time!). I no longer carry "cheat sheets" for computer tricks, fixes and forms (translation: no more hauling paper around with me!).
       I'm hesitant to maintain my client folders in the workspace, though, mainly because there's sensitive information in them. So, based on your preference, I don't recommend putting all types of documents in the cloud.

       But, if you need a place to work that is accessible from any computer or e-device that keeps track of where you left off, a collaboration tool may be just the answer!

Excerpt from eNews: Organizing Today. Read full issue...

Organizing is a valuable investment of time and energy. Virtual Organizing is an innovative process to help you become and stay organized. Via phone coaching, email, digital photos and/or video calls, targeted sessions focus on your goals.  By hiring an expert, you receive the guidance and support you need so you learn the skills it takes to FINALLY get organized.

Who benefits from Virtual Organizing Services?

• Individuals with specific areas that need to be organized
• Busy business owners who need a "jump start" for re-organizing their office 
• Self-motivators, self-starters, DYI-ers (do-it-yourself) who are ready to change habits
• New entrepreneurs who need procedures established
• Solopreneurs and others who want to maximize their use of technology

Why use Virtual Organizing Services?

Some people have the desire and motivation to get organized but lack specific skills and need a guide. Virtual Organizing is also the perfect fit for those who:

• Don’t know where to start & how to proceed
• Can dedicate time to organize in small bites (1-2 hours at a time)
• Are ready to learn techniques and solutions from experienced professionals
• Can't find qualified organizing skills trainers in their area

How Does It Work?

By simply using your telephone, digital photos and email, we quickly become your organizing coach/trainer. Get all your questions answered and discover customized solutions. Learn how to become and stay organized – you apply the proven methods that you need to gain control of your time, space and information.

Each session will be empowering, educational and (yes) fun! We transfer organizing skills that you can use forever! You don't have to get organized alone!

More about Virtual Organizing Services

photo courtesy of imagerymajestic at freedigitalphotos.net 

Contact Us:  808-943-2053 & 310-391-7392

     It's time to set up your calendar for the coming year with birthdays, holidays and special occasions. Before the days of electronic calendars, you'd take out both your new and old calendars or date books. You flip each page of the old to write your days to remember into the new. Those who use an eCalendar on their smartphone, computer and/or tablet can take advantage of the three most useful features that save the time and energy of this chore.

#1 - Recurring/Repeat Events: Birthdays, holidays and annual events that fall on the same day of the year can be plugged in once and will appear every year thereafter.

Start your year off with an organized calendar. Take advantage of our Get Organized Month (January) specials, including one that includes help with e-Calendars! Ask me how to do it now.

Contact Us:  808-943-2053 & 310-391-7392