5 Ways to Organize & Simplify Your Home/Work Life by Candita Clayton

As we all know, life as a mom is crazy. Add “entrepreneur” to “mom” and life can be downright chaotic.

Enter Candita Clayton, a mother of two, professional organizer and author of Clean Your Home Healthy. Candita and I were introduced by my former next door neighbor, who is now Candita’s next door neighbor. In Rhode Island, it’s a very, very small world. I absolutely love Clean Your Home Healthy and use Candita’s green cleaning tips all the time.

I invited Candita to be part of The Mogul Mom’s new series, “5 Ways” and I asked her to offer mogul moms 5 ways to organize & simply their home/work lives. I hope you enjoy Candita’s candid interview.

5 Ways to Organize & Simplify Your Home/Work Life by Candita Clayton:

Background:

I have been an entrepreneur since I was 21. I started a personal training business just after college and I stayed in that profession for 17 years. During that time I developed several other businesses within fitness and nutrition including an exercise clothing line, a personal chef service and a spa weekend business. I had slowed down a bit to have my two children Lily, 11 and Tyler 8. It was after the birth of Tyler that I came to organizing. With Lily we would just fly by the seat of our pants through life and with one child it seemed to work ok. After Tyler was born I always felt internally conflicted about my ability to keep it all together with the two of them in tow. One day I was watching Oprah and she had a professional organizer on the show. I had one of those “light bulb” moments everyone talks about and I decided to go through each system of my house to develop a better method for keeping things organized and together. It took me six months to do it and it was life changing. I knew there was a business in this kind of a service so I decided to work with family and friends for almost a year to hone my skills and see how much I enjoyed organizing as a profession. That was 7 years ago. Since that time I have developed a passion for all things green and have brought that to my organizing practice. Last year I wrote about green home practices in my book, Clean Your Home Healthy.

1. First I would say PLAN out your week and month as much as possible.

Weekly – evaluate your schedule and that of your family on Saturday or Sunday for the upcoming week. That’s a good time to address the necessities for the week. Things like food for lunches, clothes for afterschool sports, dinners, etc… I find that this cuts down on last minute errand running and throwing laundry in at midnight for the basketball shorts that need to be in tomorrow’s backpack.

Monthly - at the first of each month look at work deadlines, bills to be paid for your business and home, birthday gifts to buy and cards to send to business associates or friends. Make a plan for what needs to be done and when.

2. Evaluate how your systems are working. If stuff is falling through the cracks whether it’s home or office you may need to tweak things. Automated systems for bill paying, sending out invitations and cards and many other things are now available take advantage of the technology available to you to simplify.

3. Get help where and when you can. There are many days when I am both the President of my company and the trash girl too. Whenever possible, outsource jobs that cut into your productivity. Weekly or even occasional help with cleaning, laundry and household jobs during a particularly intense work week can make a world of difference. Also, if you can afford it, outsource certain jobs that are not your strength, like bookkeeping, accounting and other office tasks.

4. This may sound crazy but take 30 minutes a day to take a strategic walk or to meditate. I started this practice about 2 years ago and it has been an amazing way to problem solve and relieve stress. Because stress cuts down most people’s productivity, I have found that this short period of time that I take just for myself has resulted in some of my most creative thinking which has brought my business to the next level.

5. Create the best work environment in your home office. If possible have a designated space that is yours and yours alone. Create systems for efficiency that work for your particular style of organizing. Beautiful file folders, boxes and desk accessories can make things feel pulled together and can help keep everything in it’s place.

Finally, would you share with us how you keep your life organized, juggling your business, your book & your two children?

I have to say that it is always a work in progress. I am always learning new and better ways to do things which I love to share with my clients and through my writing. I would say that my household systems are what really keep me together. I basically have four businesses within Your Life Organized so my biggest challenge is time. I am usually up by 5:00 a.m. to prepare for the day and have my Blackberry to make the most of what would be idle moments, waiting to pick up kids, etc. I am most challenged by wanting to be completely in the moment when I am with my husband and kids. Looming project deadlines or preparing to give a speaking presentation can make it difficult to just play or relax. I block out after school and dinner time most days to just be a mom.

Connect with Candita:

www.YourLifeOrganized.com
www.CleanYourHomeHealthy.com

On Twitter: @Candita

Purchase Clean Your Home Healthy on Amazon.com