Working Smart

Today was bin day. I'm not very organised, hence the interest in how to organise my energy better. One thing I've learnt, at least a little bit, is the value of working smart. Something I'm proud to have accomplished, almost regularly, is the simple art of cleaning out the fridge before bin day. That way at least I don't have ikky stuff in my fridge for more than a week, and what is in the bin thats on the iffy side doesnt sit there for 6 days attracting the fly population of the whole street.

Sometimes I get it done on Tuesday night, sometimes I get it done thoroughly, including wiping down every shelf. Other times I toss the clearly too-old leftovers that stare at me as soon as I open the door, but don't get to the slightly iffy food lurking at the back of the bottom shelf. How smart I work is still variable on a lot of other factors, but if I get SOMETHING out of the fridge on bin day, I give myself a pat on the back for working smart that day! I also try to do a quick '27 fling boogie' (flylady again!) around the house to ditch any more stuff that I don't need as the bin is ready to go out. If its not too full, I make sure to try to fill it up from rubbish I don't need or old broken toys, anything I can get into the bin. For more info on 27 fling boogie visit www.flylady.net There are plenty of other examples of working smart. One I also do regularly is to open all the mail at the recycling bin. Junk mail and envelopes go straight into the bin, never coming into the house, because they don't need to be inside cluttering up the house. Then filing goes away straight away and bills go to be paid. One I don't do (because my kitchen sink is often full) is to fill a sink with hot soapy water before you start to cook, and as you cook, used utensils go straight in the sink and you wash up as you go. A friend of mine downloads her photos at the end of every week. She also sorts them at the same time into the various albums that she then prints when she has enough photos, eg. an album for each of her daughters and one for the family. I find myself not as organised as that, but when I do download photos (I try to do it monthly) I save them into a folder under the year and month, with months labelled 1- Jan 2013; 2- Feb 2013; etc so they stay in order. That way its easy to find by date. What 'working smart' tips do you have?