After accepting the position of Vice-President of Professional Organizers in Canada last November, I realized that the current method I was using to keep track of my tasks and projects had reached its limit. I started falling behind. I was working inefficiently, spending time on items that were not necessarily the highest priority and details were falling through the cracks.

I mentioned my situation to colleague and POC President Kristie Demke. She suggested that I read the book On Top of Everything and implement the Projecteze system as it worked very well for her.

I purchased the book online at the On Top of Everything website and read it as soon as it arrived. It is well written and has many examples of how to use the Projecteze system and tables.

The Projecteze system uses MSWord to create tables to track projects and tasks. You do not need to learn to use a new software program or system which makes it easy to implement immediately as most people are familiar with the MSWord.

Because it is so straight-forward and simple to understand, I was able to put the theory practice right away.

It works WONDERS!

Immediately I was able to see what I had already accomplished, what needed to be done and where to concentrate my efforts! I could keep track of all my tasks and projects. I was being proactive – working on the most important things first instead of reacting to whatever dropped on my desk.

I was also able to keep tabs on when I was expecting information from other people — something that I always had trouble with before. Now I’m following up instead of either bugging people or forgetting to contact them at all!

If you’re looking for a powerful, easy-to-use system to help you keep on top of everything, then I highly recommend On Top of Everything.

1. Using your word processing program, select a label template. I use Word with Avery® file folder labels. They create a nice sized label and print 30 labels per 8.5 x 11 inch sheet.
2. Print the name of the camper in the labels. Feel free to use whatever colour and font you wish. You can even add a clip-art symbol such as a maple leaf, flower or car.
3. Print out the sheet MIRROR IMAGE on Avery® T-Shirt transfers.
4. Cut the labels and iron them onto the clothing according to the T-shirt transfer instructions.

If you make your own labels, you do not even have to use the child’s name. You could use a special symbol or even a tiny photo of the child him/herself – perfect for kids who can’t read yet!

Consider displaying your ribbons by hanging them ribbons from string, wire or fine chain on the wall. True Champion Displays has some great products for displaying ribbons and so does Award Keeper.

Ribbons can collect dust and fade when exposed to light. If you wish to display the ribbons long term, consider framing them in shadow boxes with special UV blocking glass. The ribbons not on display should be placed in archival boxes for long-term storage.

Regardless of how you display your ribbons or even IF you display your ribbons you should keep track of the prizes you’ve won.

I’ve prepared an interactive spreadsheet that will allow you to not only keep track of all the prizes you’ve won, but which horse shows you’ve attended and the judges at each horse show.

Download the Horse Show Ribbon Organizing Spreadsheet here!

Tip for Horse Show Managers

Keep your ribbons clean, dry and organized! Check out this great idea I found at Fallowfield Farm! It is lightweight, easy to transport and keeps the ribbons from blowing away in the wind!

Do you have tips or ideas on displaying ribbons and trophies?

Share them here!

Keep your pantry stocked with ingredients for healthy meals you can make in less than 30 minutes. These things can include:

• frozen casseroles;
• frozen or low-salt canned vegetables;
• frozen or unsweetened canned fruits;
• spaghetti (an all time favourite);
• chicken strips;
• fish sticks.

Keep a stash of healthy snacks you can toss in a bag and take with you such as:

• 100% juice or soy milk in tetra pacs (i.e. juice boxes);
• frozen muffins;
• granola bars;
• cereals (Cheerios, puffed wheat etc);
• raw vegetables (mini carrots, cauliflower, broccoli);
• fruits (bananas, apples, pears, grapes);

You may want to keep a Swiss Army knife in your purse just in case one you need to cut things into pieces for those kids with braces.

Keep a few ice packs in the freezer for putting on injuries and stuffing in a bag to cool your snacks during the long wait at the Emergency Room and Walk-in Clinics.

Carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer and a pack of tissues with you because you’re sitting at the hospital with sick people.

Have an “entertainment pack” ready to go. Items that can be included are:

• a deck of cards;
• portable gaming devices and their chargers (eg. GameBoy);
• some books;
• a pack of crayons and colouring books;
• a favourite stuffed animal or blankie;
• You can also play “I Spy” or a rhyming game.

Do your laundry regularly so that you have clean clothes handy. If you’ve been called to the emergency room to pick up an injured child or spouse, take a clean set of clothes for them – even shoes. If your husband dislocated his shoulder while parachuting into a swamp (yes it DID happen) he’ll need clean, dry clothes to come home. Button up shirts and baggy pants are always the best as they cover casts and slings easily.

If one parent always has the health cards, the other parent should carry a photocopy of the card with them. Children should also know where to find copies of this information. We have ours posted on the fridge beside our emergency numbers so the baby sitter knows where to find this information.

Make sure you know who to contact at your spouse’s office should he/she be injured. Make sure your spouse’s office knows how to contact you as well.

Keep your cell phone charged in case you are out and need to call 911. Program an emergency contact number into your cell phone so someone can dial that number if you can’t do it yourself. Label it “I.C.E” (in case of emergency) or “A-Emergency” so it is on the top of your contact list.

If you go for a run or bike ride, take your health card and ID with you. We have printed up business cards with our home info on them (names, address, phone number and email addresses). They go in every backpack and wallet, including the kids bags and backpacks.

Have a friend or neighbour you can call on in a crisis to come and mind the kids in the middle of the night. Offer to return the favour.

Keep your first aid kit up to date. Make sure your antibiotic creams have not expired. Make sure your supply of band-aids is replenished regularly. Keep an assortment of band-aids on hand such as those for knuckles, finger tips and large scrapes. You can always use feminine protection products or diapers to stop the bleeding of larger wounds.

Are your first aid techniques are up-to-date? While you may not need to know how to put on a tourniquet, you should be able to give correct treatment for cuts, scrapes, burns, strains, sprains, fractures and animal bites. St. John’s Ambulance and the Red Cross offer first aid courses.

Make sure your car has enough gas to handle an emergency such as driving to the hospital in the middle of the night. Keep at least $20 cash in a secret place in your wallet in case you have to pay for a taxi or for parking in a cash-only parking lot.

If you have tips that help you to be ready in an emergency, send them along so I can share them with other readers!

Here is what I use to build a Fingertip File:

• Avery^® 3-ring, 1 inch Recyclable Binder made with 100% recycled chipboard.
• Avery^® Economy Sheet Protectors
• Avery® Business Card Pages
• Avery^® Big Tab Two-Pocket Insertable Plastic Dividers

In the clear sheet protectors I insert phone lists such as emergency contacts, family members, friends, co-workers, piano teacher, hockey coach etc. Other items that could be stored in the clear sheet protectors are the monthly school calendar and the cafeteria menu.

In the business card holder page, I insert the business cards of all the places I do business.  This saves time when looking up the address, phone number and business hours (I write the store hours on the back of the card).

In the two-pocket dividers, I put the schedule for the public pool and ice rink, take-out menus from local restaurants, community and tourist information, street maps and even a floor plan of the local shopping mall.

If you move to a new city, transfer the contact information from your fingertip file to your filing cabinet. This will make it easy to look up your previous doctor’s or dentist’s) phone number and get your medical records transferred.

Standard Forms

Businesses run efficiently because they have a standard set of forms for repetitive tasks.  A home can run more efficiently if there is a set of forms.  Instead of rewriting the grocery list every week, write a list of items that are purchased frequently. Print several copies to keep in your Fingertip File and hang one on the fridge. Check off items as soon as they are needed.  Prepare a form for the babysitter that includes emergency contact numbers and the bedtime routine.  Store copies in the “Fingertip File” and just pull one out when the babysitter arrives.

Another handy item to keep in your Fingertip File is a list of items borrowed and loaned.  You will always know to whom you need to return the snow shovel and where to collect your favourite scarf.

Address Book Update

Summer is coming which means “moving season”. As you receive new addresses for your friends and family members, take a few minutes and update your address book.  You can do this while you are waiting for an appointment or while watching your kids’ soccer practice.  Fill in all of the data you are missing from each person. It does not matter if your address book is paper based or electronic (PDA) you should still set aside a few minutes 2-3 times per year to bring it up to date.

DISCLAIMER: Please note that I am not paid by Avery^® to tell you I like their products. I recommend their products because of their high quality and the fact that they are easy to find in just about any office supply store or department store.

However I read about a group of epidemiologists from Australia who published an article in the British Medical Journal documenting the disappearance of teaspoons from their lunchrooms. They purchased both high and low quality teaspoons and distributed them throughout the lunchrooms of their research centre. They examined teaspoon disappearance in common lunchrooms and private lunchrooms.

They found that in private lunchrooms half of the teaspoons had permanently disappeared in 11 weeks. However from communal lunchrooms, it took only 6 weeks for half of the teaspoons to disappear. The researchers concluded that in order to keep their employees satisfied with the amount of teaspoons available, the research centre should purchase over 250 teaspoons per year!

I believe that if the same study was done using hoof picks in an equestrian centre instead of teaspoons in a research centre, the results would be similar: hoof picks (and mane combs, brushes and shedding blades) would disappear.

The study on teaspoons leads us to conclude that hoof picks disappear faster if left in a common area and the more people that have access to them, the faster they disappear. By organizing your stable and simplifying stable procedures, you can minimize the loss of hoof picks. Here are some different ways to do this.

Have one person responsible for cleaning hooves every day.
PROS: An experienced person will ensure hooves are cleaned properly and be able to evaluate hoof health. One person is responsible for the hoof picks and they are not accessible by the general barn population.
CONS: It is very labour intensive for this one person. It may not be possible for the hooves to be cleaned before and after the horse is ridden.

Have the instructor clean the hooves of each horse in the lesson before and after each lesson.
PROS: Experienced person will ensure hooves are cleaned properly and be able to evaluate hoof health. There is limited access to hoof picks by the general barn population.
CONS: It is very labour intensive for this one person. If the horse is not ridden its hooves may not get cleaned.

Assign each horse its own hoof pick with name tag.
PROS: Hoof pick is easy to find and anyone grooming the horse can pick out hooves.
CONS: Hoof picks stored in a communal location disappear regardless of how they are labelled. The horse owner (not rider) is responsible for replacing hoof picks. Hoof health may not be properly evaluated by novice equestrians.

Each rider has his/her own hoof pick.
PROS: Each rider learns proper hoof care. Rider should take care of own equipment to ensure riding privileges.
CONS: Hooves may not be cleaned because the rider does not own a hoof pick. Hoof health may not be properly evaluated by novice equestrians.

Microchipping and satellite tracking of hoof picks.
PROS: Hoof picks will be able to be located anywhere on the planet.
CONS: Extremely expensive to the point of insanity and who wants to root through the manure pile for a 99¢ hoof pick anyway?

While all the systems listed above may work for you (with the possible exception of the last one), nothing beats a system where the hoof picks have a designated area and clients and staff are taught to put them back. The teaspoon study has indicated that expensive hoof pics disappear just as quickly as inexpensive ones so save your money and buy ones that good enough to do the job.

Do you have items in your home, office or stable that keep disappearing? What steps have you taken to ensure these items get put back in their places?

Here is what would happen if I only touched my credit card bill once.

1. Pick up bill from post office.
2. Immediately run to home office (do not stop to take off boots & coat).
3. Turn on computer, login to online banking.
4. Pay bill (if sufficient funds are not available, then take overdraft loan).
5. Put bill through shredder (even if I may need it later for tax reasons)

In effect, by touching the bill only once, I’ve made more work for myself. I have to clean the floor because I didn’t put the bill down and take my boots off, I have to pay interest on the overdraft loan and I may need to request the bill from again should I need a copy to do my income taxes.

Here is how my bill paying process REALLY works.

1. Pick up bill from post office.
2. Put bill in inbox.
3. On payday, move bill from inbox to computer and pay using online banking.
4. Place bill in filing cabinet in appropriate file (eg. utility bill in utilities folder).
5. At year end, do taxes. If bill is not needed shred it, if it is needed for taxes file it with tax information for seven years.
6. At the end of the seventh year, shred the bill.

The system I have created to pay bills has minimized the number of times I touch the bills and allows me to minimize other work as well. The system has logical stop points or “homes” where the bill “lives”  until it moves forward to the next step in the process.

Take a look at the process for your bill paying. Make sure there are designated areas for each step in the process then see how you can eliminate steps in that process.

You will never touch something only once but you can reduce the amount of times you do touch things.

Have you streamlined systems in your home or office? Share your ideas with readers by leaving a comment!

Earlier this month, fellow professional organizer Elaine Shannon wrote about the people in her neighbourhood and true to her title “Empress of Inspiration” she inspired me to write this post about the people in MY neighbourhood.

Elaine is one of the people in my organizing neighbourhood as all many other fellow members of Professional Organizers in Canada. They are a great source of information, ideas and sage business advice.

One of the people I met through POC was Janet Barclay of Organized Assistant. She was organizing at the time but she has since become a master virtual assistant. She is always available if I have a question about working on a PC (because I use a Mac). The other thing Janet is really good at is online networking. She has introduced me to several people including Audrey Prenzel.

Audrey Prenzel of Résumé Resources is an amazing resume writer. She gets people their dream jobs. The cool thing about Audrey is that she is even in my physical neighbourhood. I’m glad to have Audrey in my neighbourhood as she does understand what it takes to run a business while being married to a military member.

It was through Janet’s involvement in POC that I met Kathryn Presner of Zoonini Web Services. Kathryn has a way of explaining technical concepts in an easy to understand way. Working with Kathryn has been an amazing experience and I’ve learned LOADS of stuff. I look forward to receiving her ZooNews newsletter every month. Kathryn introduced me to Charlotte Riley of ACRiley Communications. Charlotte has the knack of turning my ramblings into well written English optimized for search engines. She’s really knowledgeable about social media too.

With all this talk about work, there is one more person in my neighbourhood that I have to mention and that is Mel Gromoff of Fallowfield Farm. She has provided me with an outlet to pursue my passion of riding and being out at the farm also keeps me up to date on developments in the equine industry.

These are just a few of the people in my neighbourhood. What about you? Who are the people in your neighbourhood?

Register with your local or provincial equestrian associations as soon as you can. You will be sure to have all your paperwork in hand when it comes time to register for the shows. You may also be eligible for discounts on showing fees or have the opportunity to participate in clinics and workshops at a discounted rate.

Update your horse’s health record. Make sure your horse has all the necessary vaccinations. The University of Guelph Equine Research Centre has a great facts sheet on immunization guidelines and you can even create a customized vaccination planner for your horse!

Schedule a Coggins test with your veterinarian a few weeks before the first horse show so that you will have the results before you register for the show. Make sure the results of the Coggins test remain valid until after your last horse show of the season.

Set up a training schedule with your coach to help you achieve your goals for show season. If you don’t have a full-time coach, consider hiring a coach for a few sessions to help you build a training regime for you and your horse. You will be more likely to succeed when you’ve got an expert to consult with.

Decide how many shows you will be attending based on your training schedule and your budget. Mark those dates on your calendar now to avoid conflicts with other events that may be happening over the summer season. Remember to mark the registration deadlines for those shows on your calendar too!

Does your horse look like he should be in a ’80’s heavy metal band? Start getting his mane in shape for braiding. Pull the mane a little bit every time you groom your horse. You won’t be going crazy pulling the week before the show and your horse’s neck won’t be sore. Keep your fingers in shape and do a few braids every week too.

Check your horse show supplies. Make sure your shipping bandages are clean and in good condition. Budget for any new equipment you’re likely to need and make a list. Keep your eye open at the tack shops for sales and watch the classifieds for any good used equipment.

If you have to hire a horse shipping company or borrow a horse trailer to take you to the shows, start calling around now to negotiate prices. If you’ve got your own trailer, make an appointment with the mechanic to have a full inspection before you start the show season.

If you’ve got more show season tips please share them!

Photo Courtesy Apple.com

I love my iPod Touch. It has certainly increased my productivity. Here are some of the ways I use my iPod Touch…

Calendar

I’ve created calendars for each person in the house, each with a different colour. It is now very easy to plan appointments because I have everyone’s schedules in one place and I can quickly see who is doing what and when.

Photos

I’ve scanned the instructions for my fitness routines and added them as photos to my Touch. Since I workout with music from my Touch I anyway, I don’t have to carry a bunch of papers around with me, I just look at the picture on the Touch! Of course I also have brag photos of my kids on the Touch too. It’s made my wallet lighter as I can carry a lot more photos on the Touch!

Wallpaper

I uploaded a photo to my Touch that is plain red. I use that for my Wallpaper. If I’m at a hotel and I need to get up in the night, I use my Touch as a flashlight. By having red on the screen, I can keep my night vision.

As with an iPhone, you can also buy applications for the iPod Touch. Here is a list of my favourite applications and how they help me be more productive:

Grocery Gadget Lite (Free)

This lovely application allows me to prepare a running grocery list, track stuff that’s on sale and compare prices between grocery stores. This app will also learn the order of items at the store! No more zigzagging up and down the aisles!
Grocery Gadget Lite is limited to only 20 items on a shopping list but it is still better than having little bits of paper with scribbles on them! Also, I frequently forget or lose my little paper list but I’m not going to forget (or lose) my Touch!

Files Lite (Free)

This application lets me transfer files (using my home Wifi) from my computer to my Touch. I can carry .pdf, Word and Excel documents around with me. This is handy when I need to show a client a sample spreadsheet or if I need to keep a copy of a receipt with me. I can’t edit any of the documents using Files Lite, it is just for viewing and the free version has only 200MB of storage. However, now I don’t have to print as many documents (hooray for saving paper & ink!) and it has made my briefcase lighter (hooray for my shoulder muscles).

Units (Free)

It is so nice to be able to convert all sorts of measurements quickly and easily. Trying to convert miles to kilometres in my head was very fatiguing, not to mention converting Fahrenheit to Celsius! Now I can do it all (and more) at the touch of a button.

Antidote ($19.99)

When you’re an anglophone with kids going to French school, you NEED a portable French dictionary. Antidote is more than that, it has a thesaurus, it shows verb conjugation, gives co-occurrences and citations. The accompanying guide give syntax information, style and punctuation rules. I’m so excited that I’ll be able to do translations anywhere – AND I’ll be able to understand what my kids are talking about!

Games – Hangman (Free), Battleship ($2.99)

I know you’re thinking, “How do games help you be more productive?” and my answer is, “If the kids are busy playing these games, I can get something done!”
At least Hangman improves their English spelling and Battleship is a two-player game that teaches strategic thinking skills.

Do you have favourite productivity apps? Share them in the comments section!