Whose House Is It Anyway?

I was with a client and she made the statement: "I didn't want to register for china when I got married, but family members told me I had to...I registered for china...I don't use it...here it sits..."  And there it was, under the shelf in a pantry, taking up space, still in the box. It was china but what it REALLY is, is someone else's expectation taking up real estate in her home.

Do you have something in a box, on a shelf, or out in the open that stares at you with guilty eyes every time you see it? You think: "I don't want you here!" But it speaks back softly and slyly,  "But Aunt Cindy/Grandma/Cousin James wants me here and until you can tell them you don't want me here then let me be, collecting dust, being ugly/unused/not working!" But I ask you - Whose house is it anyway?  Sometimes and most times than not, the person that you think will be so crushed by getting rid of that unwanted item probably doesn't even remember giving it to you, didn't want it in their house and thought they could pawn it off on you, or won't really care if you donate it/recycle it/throw it away.

Many times people who hire a Professional Organizer seek permission.  They know the answer to that burning question of what they should do with the unwanted box of china.  So I tell you what, next time you tell the box of china (or whatever it is for you) that you are serving it an eviction notice and if it gives you a sly remark back, tell it: "My Professional Organizer said SCRAM! I'm only allowed to keep what is beautiful/useful/and functional in my home and since you don't fit that description Aunt Cindy/Grandma/Cousin James can pay me rent to keep you here, otherwise ciao, baby!" Now didn't that feel good? Oh, now look! You have room in your home for something you really love.  You're welcome. ;)

Important Things You Should Know...

It’s a great idea to identify your belongings before an incident or theft occurs by making a record of what you have and it’s valued. An insurance adjuster is going to look for those records and receipts when calculating how much the insurance company can offer indemnification for. The more detailed the information the better the probability of full payout for the loss. Appraisals of diamond rings or jewelry and artwork are a great way to provide proof of value. Appraisals, receipts, invoices, billing, and etc all need to be accounted for and organized so you know where to look when mayhem happens. You can also identify your belongings by engraving an identifying number on your possessions or videotaping them. Another great way to capture what you own is to take a picture with your cell phone and store those pictures in a safe place. That way if something is stolen or damaged you can show the adjuster the proof of what it cost and get coverage for it. By not having listed accounts of your possessions can lead to a disorganized claim handling experience which may result in loss of recoverable money for those possessions. There are too many sad stories to tell of people who were not prepared and organized for such losses.

How much are your clothes, furniture, electronics, jewelry, and etc worth to you? You’ll need coverage for that amount or the amount you think it will take to replace all of those items. Can you afford to replace YOUR POSSESSIONS? Allstate Insurance offers affordable ways to help protect your possessions. Plus, it can help cover theft outside your home, forgery for covered losses, lawsuits and more, up to policy limits.  A homeowner’s and renter’s policy will cover your property including theft, fire, water, family liability, guest medical expense, and your living expense if your apartment or house is damaged and you are unable to live there. You can also customize the policies to get the protection you need for the things that are most important to you. For those most important valuable items you can schedule them and get agreed value which is what the item is worth and not the actual cash value which is less depreciation. For low monthly premiums, you can protect your possessions and more. Plus, by insuring your home and auto with Allstate, you can save money on both with a multiple policy discount.

We recommend our customers talk and meet with Andrea Hancock, Head Professional Organizer & Owner of B Dexterous. Her company is phenomenal in helping people get the pieces of their lives with organization (and home inventory).



 

Jason Kilgo

 

Allstate Insurance

 

 

Kilgo Insurance Agency, Inc.

Office: 703-339-5300

http://agents.allstate.com/jason-kilgo-lorton-va.html

www.facebook.com/kilgoinsuranceagency

Client Conversations: "Be Kind to Your Later-self"

Recently, I was having a conversation with a client who is in the struggle with paper management.  She often traveled for work and when it was time to get the mail, she would simply lay it down somewhere and not address it (no pun intended).  When it was time (usually months later) to deal with pockets and piles of unopened mail it was a huge daunting task and she’d get through a little and then quit.

I asked her, if she were to bring in the mail about how many pieces would she bring in?  Of those pieces, how much would be junk mail?  How much would be things she could act on immediately and then throw away?  If we were to actually act on the mail each day, it would essentially be a 30-90 SECOND process.  But we usually are worried it will take longer, have other pressing needs or wants to attend to (“I’m hungry”, “I’m tired”, “the dog needs to go be walked…”) that we place the mail down and not give attention to it until it becomes a “later-self” problem.  Then your later-self has to deal with 2 hours of unopened mail, late payment fees, emailed rushed apologies for late RSVPs, and 45 minutes worth of shredding. ECK! Your later self is so mad, and she should be.

Being kind to your later self means, giving yourself the tools and time to take care of things that really don’t take long so that your later self won’t ever seek revenge by build a time-machine and coming back to give you a slap in the face!

Create a sorting station for mail right near where you get it.  Your tools will be:

1. A small table with about 2 feet of space underneath

2. A shredder No room for a shredder? Here are a couple alternatives!

ID Stamp

Shredding scissors

3.  A trash bin

4.  A place to file

Here are some suggestions  for filing later items

Vertically

Horizontally

Unconventionally

Junk mail

Recycle of if you are concerned about identity theft, tear off the portion of worry like the address or the credit card application shred that and recycle the rest.  Use a ID stamp on the address only.

Stop it from coming in by going to HERE (directmail.com)

Cards

Assign a place for cards to be displayed (fireplace mantel, refrigerator, magnet board, etc.) and display the card until another comes in.  If the card doesn’t have a special message, it’s okay to throw it away.  If it does have a special message or some extreme sentimental value, scan it/take a picture of it for a later keepsake book/scrapbook it.

Bills

Have a time to pay bills each week or month? Put the bills in a file in your mail center until then.

Correspondence, Reply Cards, RSVPs

RSVP – look at your calendar see if you are available whether you are or aren’t reply immediately, reserve the date on your calendar and either throw the invitation away or take a photo of it.  Invitations now-a-days get really fancy, you can sometimes treat it like a card (see Cards above)

Correspondence & reply cards – put in your action file or post on the fridge or near where you need to take action on it.

Things to Read

Whether they are magazines, letters, informational sheets – have a time of day or routine to read all those things.  Bathroom breaks, right before bed, on public transportation, while waiting at the Doctor’s office are great times to read.  Whatever you decide make a spot or put the reading material near where you would be during those times.
After reading either scan to put in an archive (this is great for Evernote) or THROW IT AWAY! Information is available at our fingertips.  Either what you read will soon be outdated or you can find the same thing again on the Internet.  If you keep it it’s VERY unlikely you’ll look at it again.

So be kind to your later self.  Set up a mail center; take care of the mail very soon after you get it, once a day for 30-90 seconds. Your later self will thank you.

If there are any mail items or paper that constantly floods your home that I didn’t address.  Feel free to email me at mailto:andrea@dexterousorganizing.com or tweet me @b_dexterous !

Use CityStash Storage to Organize Your Home

Use CityStash Storage to Organize Your Home

Self-storage is a great tool to support you in organizing your Washington DC area home, particularly if you live in an apartment, condo, or small house.  There is never enough storage space!  But the expense of moving up to a larger home is prohibitive for most people.  This is where using self-storage can help, because the cost per square foot is much more affordable.  The trick is to store those items that are too valuable to sell or throw away, but are only used once or twice a year.  

Some examples of this are:

Holiday decorations

Documents

Mementos

Inherited items

Craft and hobby materials

Seasonal clothing

Seasonal sports equipment

Imagine the increased serenity and simplicity created in your home from placing these infrequently used items into self-storage.

There are numerous places to find storage space for rent in Arlington, Washington DC, Alexandria, Bethesda, and Silver Spring.   Prices for a storage unit generally range from $3-5 per square foot.  So a 5x5 storage unit is usually $100 to $125 per month, and a 5x10 storage unit costs about $150 to $200 per month.

However, with traditional self-storage, there are some problems.  First, you have to transport your own household items to their storage facility.  Many people lack the necessary transportation or physical capability to do this themselves.  Second, you have to pay for a specified amount of space, even if you don’t fill it entirely.  This is actually quite difficult to do unless you know how to pack your stuff into a four-foot high, three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle!

City Stash Storage solves these problems.  They are changing how we all do self-storage in the Washington DC and Northern Virginia area.  CityStash Storage will drop off containers (their largest is 34”x24”x20”) and boxes into your living room for you to pack on your own schedule.  Then they will pickup container, boxes, and furniture for free, and transport them to their climate controlled storage facility.  Then, they can deliver any or all of your items back to you on demand for a flat fee.  It is so easy because you never have to leave your home.  You place your initial order on their website and each of your individual stored items (including an inventory of each container and box) is tracked in your own online account.

CityStash Storage is located in Virginia at 1220 N Fillmore St, Arlington VA, 22201 as well as Washington, DC at
1050 Connecticut Ave NW, 10th Floor Suite 1000-A, Washington DC 20036     

You can reach them at (202) 417-2120 or (202) 803-6822 or get more information at www.citystash.com.

What's On Your Plate? - The Appetizer

Some of us don't like our food touching on our plates. We've even mastered the art of it all.

Don't put your bread by your green beans unless you want your bread to get soggy...(ew, soggy bread).

Well if you say "I have a lot on my plate" more often than not you're referring to what's going on in your life and what's taking up your time.

In the past, I wasn't the most time-conscious person.  Well, I was conscious I was frequently running late or running out of time but not time-aware. The kicker is, I HATE being late.

When I changed careers and decided to become a Professional Organizer, I realized many of my colleagues not only helped people get their possessions organized but helped people get their time managed. Suddenly I had an "ah-ha!" moment.  I knew how to get

things in place but why was time such an issue?

Time is more abstract in our brains. Unless we are starring at a clock, we can't really "sense" five minutes slipping away, especially while we are busy doing something else.

Being the busy bee that I am, it would happen all to often -- either I was totally engrossed in a project and time would "get away from me" or I was in a procrastination mode of avoidance of something or someone and I'd subconsciously drag my feet and end up being tardy. But after my "ah-ha!" moment, I started tweaking and creating better habits and now I'm rarely late.  What changed?

Just like the cliché "plate" I started thinking about time more tangibly. Not letting my priorities/agendas/to-do items touch as it were.

The way I view time now is often how we view our literal plates and next month in "Use Your Hands", I'll give you ways to think about time in order to manage it better.

Right now, I want you to think about how you fill your plate at a buffet-style meal. What main components do you need to enjoy your meal? Think about what main components you need to manage your time.

We'll explore the similarities between the two.  You might never look at your "plate" the same way again. :)

Copyright 2012. Andrea Hancock is a Professional Organizer, Speaker and Owner of B Dexterous, LLC based in the Washington DC Metro Area.  B Dexterous publishes “Use Your Hands”, a monthly e-zine used to stay in touch with clients and prospective clients but also to enlighten the world with tips of staying dexterous, organized and efficient in a world that demands much on our time and resources. Contact Andrea at (703) 606-8968 or via e-mail at andrea_hancock@bdexterous.com if you’d like to learn more about how you can put the pieces of your life together with organization!

September is National Preparedness Month!

What have you done this month to prepare for an emergency?



What exactly should you put in your emergency kit?



Here are some suggestions:

• Water - at least one gallon per person, per day for hydration and sanitation.


• Food - at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food


• Manual can opener


• Battery-powered or hand-crank radio extra batteries for both


• Hand-crank flashlight or battery-powered with extra batteries


• First Aide Kit


• Whistle to signal for help


• Dust Mask for airborne contaminates and plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place


• Moist towelettes, garbage bags


• Local maps


• Fully charged cell phone with chargers (inverter or solar charger)


• Household chlorine bleach and medicine dropper – When diluted, nine parts water to one part bleach, bleach can be used as a disinfectant. Or in an emergency, you can use it to treat water by using 16 drops of regular household liquid bleach per gallon of water. Do not use scented, color safe or bleaches with added cleaners.


• Important family documents such as copies of insurance policies, identification and bank account records in a waterproof, portable container.


• Feminine supplies and personal hygiene items


• Matches in a waterproof container

Just as important as having a kit is keeping it updated. Here are tips to do so:

• Keep canned food in a cool, dry place.


• Store boxed food in tightly closed plastic or metal containers to protect from pests and to extend its shelf life.


• Throw out any canned good that becomes swollen, dented or corroded.


• Use foods before they go bad and replace them with fresh supplies.


• Place new items at the back of the storage area and older ones in the front.


• Change stored food and water supplies every six months. Be sure to write the date you store it on all containers.


• Re-think your needs every year and update your kit as your family’s needs change.

Since you do not know where you will be during an emergency, it's good to have emergency kits in three major places: Home, Work, and Vehicles



For more information visit: http://www.ready.gov/

Julius Foster of Massive Engineering Services, LLC served as the one-man sound crew for the Dexterous D.I.V.A. Clothes Swap.

 

His services include:

• Computer Sales and Repair


• Computer Networking Design


• Video Conferencing


• HelpDesk Support


• Camera Install


• And MORE!

To contact Julius email him at Julius.Foster@mesnet.net or Call him (202) 832-6589 ext. 704