Organize your life – 10 Tips By Mary Jo Rulnick and Judith Burnett Schneider Hidden Gems from The Frantic Woman’s Guide to Life The fifteen minute pickup is a great way to involve the family in your daily routine. Each evening or so, set the timer for fifteen minutes or play a favourite CD. During this time, the entire family races around picking up out-of-place items. Make a game of it. The person with the most pickups gets to choose the dessert, a television program, or game for the evening. An adaptation is to do high-speed pickup during the commercials of a favourite family show. Partner up. If you can’t seem to motivate yourself to sort and chuck alone, invite a friend to help. Often, just the expression on her face when you show her the knitted, holey afghan will be enough to let you know it must go. Then it’s off to your friend’s house to help her rid her life of clutter, too. Now that you’ve de-cluttered your closet, don’t forget to separate out at least two ready-to-go outfits for times when you have a last-minute appointment or need to change in a jiffy. The outfits should be ready-to-wear, no ironing necessary, and should be stored at the end of the rack so you can grab, throw on, and go in a moment’s notice. Also, put aside two “cycle” outfits for each season — for those days when you’re battling PMS, cramps, and bloatedness. These are a must when you know you’ll barely get through the day without suffering from tight-waist syndrome. Need a time-saving tip? When your monthly checking account comes in, ask the kids to put your checks in numerical order. It seems like a small task, but they’ll think it’s fun — and it’s one less chore you have to do. Ask a friend to make double her favourite recipe the next time she makes it. She can give one pan of that gooey vegetable lasagna to you and keep one for herself. Then, when you’re making those porcupine meatballs she loves, send over a batch for her crew. While this trick works for everyone, it is an especially doable way in which single moms can help each other. Make up a chart for the times it take to reheat or prepare favourite foods in your microwave. Tape the chart on the inside of a kitchen cabinet so the kids or your spouse can refer to it and make their own grab-and-go meals, especially when a sit-down dinner isn’t on the agenda. Ever get in the car with just enough time to reach the away-game field, only to find the gas tank’s on empty? This is especially true if you’re guilty of stopping at the station and putting in $5 or $10 at a time. Instead, try filling the tank on payday to eliminate frustration when time is of the essence — which is just about always. It helps, too, if you can get in the habit of filling up when you notice the tank is about half full. By doing so, you’ll almost never put yourself behind by having to stop at the pump before a game or activity. Adopt a favourite song as your pick-me-up theme. Whatever music puts a swing in your step, keep it on hand for those days when you need it as a quick mood booster. And though it may sound frivolous, buy extra copies of the CD so you’ll have one for your car, one for the portable CD player, and, of course, one for your home sound system. If music causes you to smile, your high spirits will be contagious, making others want to be around you. With bargain-basement discounts on schoolroom basics, buy enough crayons, markers, coloured pencils, etc. to give out as usable favours for upcoming birthday parties, classroom handouts for Halloween celebrations, or practical stuffers for Christmas stockings. If you’re taking along younger ones who need to be entertained during the lesson or game, stockpile sticker books, art stuff, flash cards, and Matchbox cars, or a couple of Barbie dolls in a designated bag stored on their coatracks or wicker baskets, ready to grab in a moment’s notice. In fact, youngsters should have separate activity bags pre-stuffed for restaurant trips, religious services, friends’ houses, and long car rides — because the range of appropriate entertainment varies with each activity. You wouldn’t want your child playing a handheld video game during a religious service, for instance, but it’s a great pastime for lengthy rides in the car.