Do you have a dedicated space in your home for your office? 

Is your work starting to take over your space? 

Are you constantly interrupted while attempting to get “work” done?

To avoid distractions and minimize interruptions, ensure your home office is located in a dedicated space. Whether it is a corner of the room, small nook, or entire room doesn’t really matter. Just make sure you have a specific space that everyone you live with recognizes as “your office”. This will help to minimize the tendency of what I call “office creep” to happen.

“Office creep” occurs when you start to spread out your work/office (i.e. laptop, supplies, papers, etc) throughout various areas of your home. Once “office creep” begins it is hard to turn off your work at the end of the day and you’ll be prone to more distractions and interruptions too. If you don’t set up your home office in a specific place and give your work the focus and respect it deserves, it will be difficult for anyone else to recognize exactly when you are working and need to be left alone.

Are you headed out of town for this holiday weekend?

If so, the better question is: Have you packed yet?  If not, here is one of my favorite packing tips:

Roll your clothes instead of folding them when you pack your suitcase.  Rolling will help reduce the number of wrinkles you have on your clothes when you arrive at your destination.  Then once you have reached your final the destination, go ahead and unpack (yes, even for just a short trip). 

Taking a few extra moments upfront to unpack your items will help you keep your items in order and neatly contained throughout your trip.  That’ll leave more time for relaxing each day instead of digging through the depths of your suitcase for that one item you know you packed but just can’t seem to find.

I had a friend ask me this weekend how she can reduce the number of magazines and catalogs she receives.  Well, of course I had an answer.  There is a great online resource called Catalog Choice where you can easily reduce the number of catalogs you receive in the mail.  It is a free service too!

How does it work?  Well, here is the 3 step process highlighted on their website:

Step 1: Sign up

Fill out the online registration form using your name and primary mailing address.

Step 2: Find your catalogs

Find and decline your catalogs, using the Catalog Choice search facilities. We’ll then contact the catalog providers on your behalf, requesting that your name be removed from their mailing lists.

Step 3: See the results

It can take at least ten weeks to process your request, after which time you should no longer receive your declined catalog. If you do continue to receive them, you can return here to let us know, and we’ll follow up with the merchant.

As for those magazines that my friend didn’t want any more.  She can certainly recycle them.  Or if you think someone else could still enjoy your recent issue here are some other ideas:

- Some local hospitals or medical facilities will happily accept donations of your recent issues for their waiting rooms.

- Try sharing a magazine subscription with a few friends.  You can trade it each month over lunch at work or when you’re out on a weekend.

- Use your magazine pages as colorful gift wrap.  Only save the pages that are truly interesting and colorful and then toss the rest.  You’ll have unique gift wrap all year long!

If you have other fun tips of your own, please tell us in the comments section.

According to a recent Email Addiction study by AOL, we are more addicted to email than I had thought.  AOL conducted surveys in several major US cities and found just how tied we are to our email inboxes on our PCs and hand-held devices.  Here are just some of the survey findings:

In Washington DC, “Nearly three-quarters (73%) of Washington email users say they’ve checked their email in a restaurant. Other popular email spots include in bed in their pajamas (62%), in a the bathroom (65%), while driving (49%), while on a date (32%), at happy hour (38%) and from church (14%).”

Ok, I have to ask… why are people sending email from the bathroom?  I hope you’re just chilling on that plush sofa that Nordstrom always seem to have in the front room.

In the windy-city of Chicago, “Nearly 23% of email users have either declared “email bankruptcy,” deleting all of their email messages to start anew, or are seriously considering doing so.  24% have gotten a new email address to start fresh with a new inbox or are thinking about it. It’s no surprise then that the average Chicagoan has 2.5 email accounts.”

And, how did Seattle rank?  Well, according to the study results “one in four (25%) residents of Seattle check their email as soon as they wake up and 13% check email during breakfast. 35% check their email in the middle of the night and 38% of mobile email users keep their mobile device or BlackBerry® on the nightstand so they can hear the chime of a new email arriving in their inbox.”

Fellow Seattlites, when are you sleeping if you are checking email in the middle of the night?  No wonder we’re so tired all the time.  With all these fascinating survey results, I’m now curious to hear from you…

Please submit a comment below and tell me “When do YOU check your email?“

Make a schedule for when you pay your bills each month.  Maybe you want to pay them as you get them, or on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.  Whatever you prefer, pick a schedule and stick to it.  The stress of paying bills will soon become such a routine you won’t even thing about it anymore.

Have you ever been in the security line at the airport behind someone that is frantically unpacking their luggage trying to find and pull out all their liquid items at the last minute.  Well, yesterday, I was at the airport and saw this happen right in front of me.  Not only was the person in front of me searching frantically to remove their liquids from their luggage, but they also ended up with the majority of the contents of their bag on the floor of the airport.  To help you all avoid this situation, I thought I would share some helpful packing tips from the Transportation Security Administration:

Use the 3-1-1 method for carry-ons = 3 ounce bottle or less (by volume) ; 1 quart-sized, clear, plastic, zip-top bag; 1 bag per passenger placed in screening bin. One-quart bag per person limits the total liquid volume each traveler can bring. 3 oz. container size is a security measure.

Consolidate bottles into one bag and X-ray separately to speed screening.

Be prepared. Each time TSA searches a carry-on it slows down the line. Practicing 3-1-1 will ensure a faster and easier checkpoint experience.

3-1-1 is for short trips. If in doubt, put your liquids in checked luggage.

Declare larger liquids. Medications, baby formula and food, and breast milk are allowed in reasonable quantities exceeding three ounces and are not required to be in the zip-top bag. Declare these items for inspection at the checkpoint.

Come early and be patient. Heavy travel volumes and the enhanced security process may mean longer lines at security checkpoints.

TSA working with our partners. TSA works with airlines and airports to anticipate peak traffic and be ready for the traveling public.

 (information taken directly from the TSA 3-1-1 site)

Plan to tackle that one item on your to-do list that you’ve been avoiding for way too long first.  Get it out of the way early so you can enjoy the rest of your day without thinking about the task you’re putting off.  Once you get into the routine of tackling the most cubersome task first, other tasks will seem easier.

According to a report by the Book Industry Study Group, there are 17 new books published each and every hour of each and every day, meaning that 148,920 books are published yearly in the U.S.  That is ALOT of books!

How many of those books are lying around your home or office?  Probably quite a few if you are an avid reader.  If you have more books than you know what to do with, try using some of these tips to use them as functional decor in your space:

- Create a side table by stacking large or coffee-table-style books on top of each other to a standard end table height.  Place a glass top decorative serving tray on top of the pile to create a great place for your lamp or remote controls.  Put your favorite reading chair next to the stack of books and you’ll have a fun, new reading nook.

- Construct a coffee table the same way.  Just make two stacks of books of equal height, place them side by side with a piece of glass or wood on top and you can create a place to put your feet up at the end of the day.

- Stablize a wobbly table by creating a new table leg from extra, unused books.

- Turn your books into artwork by hanging them on the wall.  These cool new brackets give you the ability to make your books float on your wall.  What a great storage idea!

If you have lots of books that you aren’t ready to part with, give one of these ideas a test run and see if you can transform your love of books into a part of your decorating style too!

Whether you live in a studio apartment or a large home, one thing everyone has in common is breaking up a space into highly functioning areas (or “zones”).  One of my favorite things to use in breaking up any space is bookshelves.  Finding a shelving unit that is narrow and see through can create a great room divider while also providing great storage for books, magazines, those important files you need to keep but want to hide from view, and fun decorating items.  Having storage to organize your items doesn’t mean you have to give up style.  Bookshelves offer a great way to incorporate both style and function.

Here is just one of a few that I think fit the bill:

Scaffold Bookcase

Have fun splitting up your space while keeping your items organized!

With Americans working an average of 1,797 hours each year, it’s no wonder our desks have become our home away from home. 

The most interesting items seem to accumulate on desktops in our offices.  Some common sights include framed photos of the family dog, enough Starbucks mugs to open an in-office coffee shop, and all those useless stress balls and glow-in-the-dark pens that make their way back from tradeshows.  Without a doubt, however, the most common office eye sore is paper! 

Stacks and stacks of paper form those abstract masses setting upon our desktops.  For some people, creativity and productivity thrive from beneath the piles, while for others it spells disaster.  Desktop clutter is a common culprit of reduced productivity, lost documents, and missed deadlines.  No matter what, a messy desk may send the wrong signal to those around you.

With many companies going through layoffs, it may be the right time to clear out your clutter and start making a better impression.  Here’s an interesting article from MSNBC.com that talks more about decluttering your workspace.  You can even take their “Do You Need to Declutter?” quiz!

(by Lisa Hartig)