3 Key Concepts for the Drop and Run Organizational Style

Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

Drop and run organizers are often busy, busy, busy. Running from one task to another, they tell themselves they'll put something away later, when they have more time, but, before they know it, piles are encroaching.

Everywhere. 

As always, the key is to work with the style in question to make it as easy to put something away as it is to put it down.

• When it comes to organizing, those with the drop and run organizational style benefit from open storage. Lids and multi-step systems are unnecessary barriers to putting things where they belong. Aim to make it just as easy to drop things where they belong before running to the next thing as it is to drop them where they don't belong by choosing containers that make this possible. This simple choice not only improves the look of a space, but also makes staying organized (almost) effortless.

• When it comes to list-making, drop and run organizers benefit from "dropping" an idea onto a list before running to the next thing on the schedule. Creating lists on a medium that travels with you, whether it's your phone or a pad of paper tucked into a bag, makes it more likely that you'll remember appointments and other to-dos, and, more important, you'll know where to find them.

• As for goal-setting, the drop and run organizer is likely to need something to help him or her stay focused. Used to operating out of piles, the drop and run organizer is in danger of starting down one path only to be lured onto another by tempting materials nearby. Setting daily goals via a to-do list and keeping long-term goals close by can help keep distraction under control.

If you're a drop and run organizer, what key ideas do you swear by? Share in the comments below. 

For more ideas on the drop and run organizational style, check out my original post here. 

For printable information sheets 
about containers and the styles, 

click on the CHARTS tab at the top of this page.

3 Key Concepts for the Cram and Jam Organizational Style

Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

No one can accuse the cram and jam organizer of wasting space. Whether it's a desk, a drawer or a backpack, chances are it will be full-to-bursting before the cram and jammer feels the need to expand into a new space.

The one advantage to this type of organizational plan is that everything tends to be in one place, which limits the number of places that the cram and jam organizer needs to go in search of missing items.

As always, the key is to work with the style in question to make it as easy to put something away as it is to put it down, or, in this case, stuff it into an available space.

• When it comes to organizing, those with the cram and jam organizational style benefit from flexible, medium-sized storage. If the container is too small, things will get smashed, wrinkled or otherwise ruined; too big and things will get lost. Using fabric bins without lids can allow the cram and jammer to stuff to his or her heart's content without overloading drawers to the breaking point. A nightly dumping of whatever was carried each day (backpack, purse, tote bag) into a bin or other container affords the cram and jammer the opportunity to return what's necessary to the bag from whence it came and toss or store the rest. 

• When it comes to list-making, try replacing scratch paper with notepads. That way, when one page is full (even by cram and jam standards), a fresh one stands at the ready. This consistent availability of a new writing surface might help curtail the need to fill up every last square inch on a single sheet of paper.

• As for goal-setting, the cram and jam organizer might not have to make specific adaptations unless the tendency to overstuff spaces also extends to a need to overfill  time. If this is the case, and you or your favorite cram and jam organizer tends to cram each hour with tasks, leaving each day jam-packed, try creating a time grid. Divide each usable hour (no more than eight usable hours each day so there's room for task overflow, if necessary) into no more than four increments with one task each. For every three grids in a row that are filled, leave the next one blank as a buffer against overscheduling. Use a bold marker to draw a heavy black line at the end of each day. Only urgent and important tasks can cross the line and extend beyond the eight hour day. Everything else will need to wait.

If you're a cram and jam organizer, what key ideas do you swear by? Share in the comments below. 

For more ideas on the cram and jam organizational style, check out my original post here. 

For printable information sheets 
about containers and the styles, 

click on the CHARTS tab at the top of this page.

3 Keys Thursday: 3 Key Tools for Getting Organized for the School Year (Kids)

Pixabay

Every year, the back-to-school lists seem to get longer and more complicated. While I don't doubt that the things on the list are there for a reason, I also know that buying everything on the list can quickly get overwhelming -- and expensive. I'm not going to second guess a supply list issued by your child's school (or, even better, your child's teacher), but I am suspicious of the general, one size fits all lists created by stores. Then again, I'm suspicious of one size fits all anything.

Having spent 27 years in elementary schools, I know that what one teacher considers essential, another might consider optional -- or supply herself -- and that it's possible to successfully "go cheap" on some items. But, since this is "3 Keys Thursday," I'm going to focus on three basic, important items that are worth spending a little more on, since they're key tools for staying organized all year long.

A home for papers that need to be referenced. For many kids, this is a three-ring binder. It can also be an accordion folder (or one for each subject, for older kids), a skinny binder with a clamp closure (or one for each subject, for older kids), or a collection of folders color coded by subject. Whatever it is, it needs to be durable and expandable so that it can house everything from a single sheet of paper to several fat packets that cover entire units of study. These should live in the desk at school unless they're explicitly coming home so your child can study for a test.

A home for papers that need to be dealt with (homework, need signatures). For younger children, these are the papers that go in the "take home" pocket of a two-pocket folder. If for older students have demonstrated success with this system in years past, there's no need to come up with something new. If pocket folders don't work, try file folders, top-loading "backpack" folders, or an accordion file divided either by subject or by whether the paper stays home or goes back to school. Whatever you child chooses, it should be big enough to hold a stack of papers, but not so big that a single sheet of paper gets swallowed up, and it should be durable, as it will spend a lot of time traveling back and forth between home and school in your child's backpack. Many teachers have a required system for this, so before your child gets too excited, make sure his or her system will be acceptable to the teacher.

Pixabay

A container to hold pencils, erasers and all the other little things that invariably end up in the desk. Possibilities here will vary widely based on your child's age, taste and styles, along with the teachers' requirements; some teachers specify not only the case, but what must go inside as well.Younger kids tend to gravitate to pencil boxes (and a pencil box may even be on the required supply list) or fancy pencil pouches. Size is the key feature here; what must be kept inside? Is more than one container allowed? Are kids allowed to keep a small basket of supplies on their desks, rather than hiding them away inside?

Older kids who travel between classrooms often like flat pencil holders designed to fit inside three-ring binders. They're typically carrying fewer supplies than younger kids and portability is more important than capacity.

Regardless of your child's age, make sure to take attributes like size, visibility (clear containers help I know I put it somewhere and I need to see it kids remember what's where), ease of use and durability. Again, this container will get a workout.

Finally, as you're making your purchases, consider how the three key container attributes (form, function and style) of the chosen supply interact with your child's personal and organizational styles. The closer the fit (and the more excited your child is about using the item), the more likely it will be used beyond the first month of school.

One last suggestion: If your child's school doesn't supply some sort of planner or assignment notebook, that should be at the top of your list as well. Your child may choose to integrate it into his or her home for papers that need to be dealt with, or carry it separately, depending up the tool he or she decides on for the papers that travel between home and school. When schools provide online assignments, many kids need a hard copy back up as well; actually transferring the assignment from the computer screen onto the page serves as a memory tool for some kids.

It's possible to spend endless hours (and nearly endless dollars) in the school supply section. As always, start with successes (what worked last year? what didn't?) and build from there, to make sure this school year starts and ends with STYLE.

I'm traveling today, so today, I'm digging into the archives for your reading pleasure :-)

Since this blog has been running for over a year now, I thought I'd go back to the very beginning and revisit the styles quiz.

If you've joined me recently and haven't yet taken the quiz, now's a good time to check it out. Determining your styles will make the posts here much more useful.

If, on the other hand, you've been with me from the beginning, it might be time to reassess. The first time many people take the quiz, they come up a little bit of everything. Now that you've been trying some things out, can you narrow your styles to one predominant personal style and one main organizational style?

If you're secure in your styles and looking for something else to read on the topic of organization, you can find additional choices in my STYLE Savvy posts at CatholicMom.com, where I post every Wednesday.

Happy reading! See you tomorrow for 3 Keys Thursday.

Personal and Organizational Styles Quiz

Mark each item below as true or false.

1. You participate in so many activities that you have something to do nearly every night.
2. The only way you remember to bring things with you is if you leave them out where you're likely to trip over them.
3. Your closets are filled with things you no longer use and/or clothes you no longer wear, but can’t get rid of. 
4. Your house looks neat, yet you have trouble finding what you need when you need it.
5. Your papers -- even the important ones -- are often wrinkled and/or torn.
6. The flat surfaces in your home tell the story of the activities you've done and the places you've been in the last few days.
7. When given a pocket folder or three-ring binder, you may tuck your papers inside, but you don't usually put them in the pockets or the rings. 
8. You can often find lost items by retracing your steps.
9. You often feel bored when you have unscheduled time.
10. You have more stuff than room to store it.
11. You usually put things away, but often forget where you put them.
12. You often forget things if you don't write them down.  
13. Your bookshelves house:

a. anything and everything, as long as it fits.

b. overlapping sets of “collections.”

c. books in various stages of completion, stacked so that the titles are visible.

d. sports gear, sheet music or art supplies, but no books. 

e. piles of items, with a telltale trail from the door to the bookcase.

All finished? Now let's compare your answers to the key below. Every "true" is a clue:

• Item #1 is true for I love to be busy.
• Item #2 is true for I need to see it.
• Item #3 is true for I love stuff.
• Item #4 is true for I know I put it somewhere.
• Item #5 is true for cram and jam.
• Item #6 is true for drop and run.
• Item #7 is true for cram and jam.
• Item #8 is true for drop and run.
• Item #9 is true for I love to be busy.
• Item #10 is true for I love stuff.
• Item # 11 is true for I need to see it and I know I put it somewhere.
• Item #12: I need to see it organizers are likely to do this.
• Item #13a: Cram and jam or I know I put it somewhere; 13b: I love stuff; 13c: I need to see it; 13d: I love to be busy; 13e: Drop and run

How'd you do? Do the quiz answers match your predictions and observations? For most people, clear patterns will emerge, and the answers will come as no surprise; what they've noticed about the way they organize matches their answers on the quiz.

Some people are “a little bit of this and a little bit of that.” At this point in the process, that's to be expected. Further observation, discussion and exploration will help you to determine predominant styles. And some people really are a mix of styles, but this can be a benefit.  An overlap can mean more strategies to work with! 

The most important thing to keep in mind right now is that there are no right or wrong answers on the quiz and that these styles are not personal or organizational flaws. Up to this point, the styles have been stumbling blocks. Moving forward, the goal will be to help you see your natural tendencies as assets rather than liabilities so you can use them as a blueprint for developing a workable, sustainable plan based on what comes naturally. 

For more on the personal styles, click here. For more on the organizational styles, click here.

The Backpack Project Finale: Making the Backpack Work for Each Organizational Style

freepik.com

Last week, we looked at backpack habits and tricks style-by-style for the personal styles. And then yesterday, I got sucked into the lure of back-to-school shopping, and forgot to give you part two. So today, let's take a peek into what happens when kid and backpack meet the organizational styles. For ease of reading, I've used the male pronoun in the cram and jam description (with apologies to boys). While many of my favorite cram and jammers are boys, these styles are not gender specific!

• Cram and jammers keep cramming things in, but rarely take things out. They're likely to completely disregard all the nooks crannies and pockets in the backpack and simply toss everything into the main section, creating one big pile of papers, school supplies and miscellaneous items. Disregarding the smaller spaces isn't a problem (at least they know where everything is!), unless it means your child can't find what he needs when he needs it. Using brightly colored (i.e. hard to miss) folders, binders and other containers (zip-top clear plastic bags work, too) can help him spot the important stuff. 

          The propensity to stuff may cause other problems as well, most notably papers that are 

          crumpled, wrinkled and/or torn. If the papers make it into the brightly colored containment 

          systems, this is minimized. Teaching kids to use a simple packing system (heavy items on the 

          bottom, lighter items on top) will also help. While it may not stop the cramming and jamming, 

          it will save their belongings some wear and tear, as well as teaching basic packing skills    

          (useful at the grocery store, among other places). 

freepik.com

• Drop and run organizers may use their backpacks as temporary storage when they're in a hurry...then forget to take out the things that don't belong. When they're not in a rush, drop and run kiddos might actually have assigned homes for the things that go into the backpack, but when "run" kicks in, "drop" takes over and the first available space becomes the item's home. Choosing a backpack style that's conducive to this organizational style (wide openings that close with a drawstring, for example, or perhaps a messenger bag) makes it more likely things will be dropped into the right spot when these kids are on the run. Like their cram and jam counterparts, these kiddos will benefit from some basic lessons in packing skills.

• Thanks to their tendency to store things in the closest available space, I know I put it somewhere kids may find an entire stash of non-school-related items in their backpacks. They typically haven't assigned their things a home, and so while the backpack (or some nook or pocket therein) seems like a logical place to put something at the time, when it's not part of an overall system, retrieval of specific items becomes challenging. The telltale "I forgot that was there!" or "So that's where I put it!" reveals this style very clearly. Like those with the I love stuff personal style, I know I put it somewhere kids may need to be discouraged from using the small spaces in the backpack (unless they label them) because those are the areas where things tend to "disappear."

Kids with all three of these organizational styles will benefit from emptying the backpack at least once a week, particularly if their personal style is I love stuff. Not only are they likely to find "buried treasure," but regular purging of the backpack teaches them the basics of de-cluttering, as well as the benefits of managing a storage space before it gets out of hand.

What tips or tricks have you discovered that make backpacks more manageable for your child?

The Backpack Project Part 2: Selection Specifics

freepik.com

I'm feeling a little guilty about last week's post. I mean, it was a lot of work. I actually toyed with putting this week's post first, but for most kids, the hands-on experience of what works and what doesn't is much more useful than a checklist, which is why I put you and your child through the backpack deconstruction. Seeing the default habits in action is step #1 in knowing what to buy (and what not to buy) for this year.

Step #2? The Backpack Superlatives. When it comes to backpacks, a simple checklist just isn't realistic. Unlike other containers, backpacks just don't come in that many options. And even though
organizing by STYLE is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor, there's tremendous overlap from one style to the next.

And so, in the spirit of yearbook ballots everywhere, and in an effort to simplify this process, I bring you The Backpack Superlatives. With your child's styles in mind, along with lessons learned from last week's endeavors, use the suggestions below to narrow the search.

Most likely to use all those little pockets: Kids with the I love stuff personal style. These little collectors will find goodies to put in every nook and cranny, and, depending on their organizational style, they may remember where every last little treasure is, too.

Least likely to benefit from all those little pockets: Kids with the I know I put it somewhere organizational style. A specific pocket will be the perfect place to store something in the moment, but when it's time to retrieve things, these kiddos struggle to remember which thing is in which pocket. For your sake and theirs, keep the pockets to a minimum. The fewer places they have to search, the more time they'll save.

Most likely to bring home smashed papers, regardless of the system they set up: Kids with the cram and jam organizational style. Their best bet is one big, open space -- the smaller the subdivisions, the more wrinkled the papers. If you can get these kiddos to put all their papers inside one file folder (no pockets) or clip them to a clipboard, you might minimize the damage.

Most likely to benefit from labels and clear pockets: Kids with the I need to see it personal style. Out of sight is out of mind for these kiddos, so anything that enables them to see things that have been put away is a great assist. Roomy backpacks help, too -- they can peek inside and see what's there. (The I know I put it somewhere organizational style is a close runner-up for this category).

Most likely to need subdivisions or more than one backpack: Kids with the I love to be busy personal style. These kids often do best when things are organized by activity, and they may excel at using multiple folders and/or containers to separate things they need for one activity from things they need for another.

Most likely to use a messenger bag: Kids with the drop and run organizational style. Like their cram and jam counterparts, they need one-step, one-stop storage. The easier it is to put it away, the more likely it is to get there.

One last thought before you go shopping. Keep in mind that containers (and backpacks qualify) have three attributes: form, function and style. While all backpacks serve the same function, they're not all created equal in kids' eyes. Giving your kids some leeway on the form (size and physical attributes) and style (aesthetics) will increase the likelihood they'll put that backpack to use.

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That said, we've all played the "they loved it in the store and ignored it at home" game at least once, so before they take home that dream backpack, have them tell you what's going where. Their styles are your trump card.

Not to mention the fact that you're paying for the backpack.

(Yearbook graphic from clipartsheep.org)