By Roz Jones

We’re finishing out our 2 weeks of decluttering with six small habits you can keep every day to keep yourself organized.

These few habits to do each day will make your world feel a lot less cluttered. Not only will your home be less cluttered but because of these tasks, your mind will also feel better too.

Make Your Bed — Every day, make your bed as soon as you get out of it. Shake out the sheets, fluff the pillows, and make the bed. When you do that, your room immediately feels cleaner, looks cleaner, and you’ll be more motivated to hop out of bed. It’s a nice transition before you get dressed to start your day. 

Put It Away — If you take something out to use it, when you are done, put it away. That seems super simple to say but it doesn’t always work that way. You may have to develop habits, but you can make it easier if you have the right storage solutions that aren’t difficult to implement. 

Take it Out — Every single day, get the kitchen trash bag and go around the other rooms to empty all the other trash buckets before you simply throw the kitchen trash out. This will create a habit that all your trash is gone at the end of each day.

Deal with Your Mail — Toss the things you don’t need to do anything to. File the things that need to be kept. Organize the bills in an orderly way so that you don’t forget to pay them on time. Set up an inbox so that you can put things you need to act on in the inbox to deal with if it’s something that will take longer than a moment.

Wipe Your Counters Daily — Before you go to bed, make it a habit to wipe down surfaces that have been used throughout the day. That way when you get up, you won’t have to do it again, unless you have cats. Then just wipe it down right before using to avoid wasting time, unless they are obviously dirty.

Clean Dishes & Sink Daily — One thing that also makes your home look and feel cluttered is a disorganized or dirty kitchen. It might seem like it’s okay to let the sink get full of dirty dishes but going to bed with that means you must wake up to that. Instead, load your dishwasher and run it each evening. 

When you do these six things each day you’re going to feel much less mental clutter and experience less physical clutter on a daily basis, which is going to make you much more productive. 

Here are my other previous blog posts of helpful tips for decluttering: Leverage Down Time, Create Habits to Get Things Done and Outsourcing.

I’ve just launched Shop With Roz, my online store filled with supplies and gifts for every caregiver. You can find a wide variety of products in the store to help yourself and your loved one. Check it out here!

After you have a look through the store, see any products you use and love as a caregiver, and think we should share them with everyone? Let me know!

It’s here, I am so excited to share a new caregiver app called CircleOf….This app will allow you to surround yourself with resources and experts from your community including ME!!!! As you are looking through the app, you will see my familiar face. I’m excited about this partnership and new ways to support you as you support your loved one. Here’s the link so you can explore the app. I would love your feedback and spread the word by sharing the link to family and friends.

Interested in making your own contribution to the Caregiver Cafe? There are guest blog spots open for December. Email assistrozjones@gmail.com for more info!

Visit http://www.rozjonesent.com for more information on addressing mental health as a caregiver and check out my upcoming book!

By Roz Jones

Even though you’re a caregiver, you don’t have to do everything yourself. Nor should you even attempt it. Once you come to understand how and why this is true, you can become so much more productive. Everyone is given the same 24 hours in a day. However, only you can decide which tasks are the most important for you to do personally.

Other qualified people can take care of the remaining tasks for you, whether they are related to work needs, home needs, or your personal needs. Here are a few ideas many people need or prefer to outsource to someone else.

Deep Cleaning – You can hire someone a few times each year to deep clean your home. They could clean the floors, baseboards, and windows, etc. Doing this seasonally helps you to focus better because you don’t have to fight the clutter to get things done. You can usually get this done for a few hundred dollars a year, depending on your needs.  

Organizing – Some people will come into your Kitchen, for example, and arrange it properly for you. Your job after it’s done is to keep it organized. Since they are professionals, they likely know the best way that will make it easy for you to keep up.

Yard Work – A lot of families do outsource yard work. You can probably find people right in your own neighborhood that want to earn extra money doing yard work regularly. You can also hire a professional company depending on the results you are expecting and your budget.

Laundry – There are still laundromats and laundry services out there. Most dry cleaners will also do clothing washing, but laundromats are usually a less expensive alternative. They usually charge by the pound. You can even hire someone to come to your home to do your laundry.

Shopping – You can outsource most shopping tasks including grocery shopping. Depending on how organized you are, you may not need to make a list for your shopper. Your shopper will go through the store, selecting the items you requested and bring them to you. Get Alexa to help you make your list, if possible. You can save hours each week by outsourcing shopping and running errands.

Tutoring & Homework Help – Even though this seems like a good time to experience quality time with your kid, it’s not. You can get more done by letting someone else do this so that you can spend that free hour or two doing something fun with your kid instead. 

What is something around your home that you would outsource if you could afford it? Once you identify that, start finding ways to be able to pay for it within six months. You’ll be so happy when you outsource the things that don’t require your personal attention, fully.

Here’s the link for my previous posts about decluttering: Create Habits to Get Things Done and Leverage Down Time

I’ve just launched Shop With Roz, my online store filled with supplies and gifts for every caregiver. You can find a wide variety of products in the store to help yourself and your loved one. Check it out here!

After you have a look through the store, see any products you use and love as a caregiver, and think we should share them with everyone? Let me know!

It’s here, I am so excited to share a new caregiver app called CircleOf….This app will allow you to surround yourself with resources and experts from your community including ME!!!! As you are looking through the app, you will see my familiar face. I’m excited about this partnership and new ways to support you as you support your loved one. Here’s the link so you can explore the app. I would love your feedback and spread the word by sharing the link to family and friends.

Interested in making your own contribution to the Caregiver Cafe? There are guest blog spots open for December. Email assistrozjones@gmail.com for more info!

Visit http://www.rozjonesent.com for more information on addressing mental health as a caregiver and check out my upcoming book!