Get More Done

Today’s tip from 55 Ways to Clear Clutter on Family Circle’s website is about multi-tasking. “Keep a portable file tote for catalogs, thank-you notes, shopping lists, and a menu planner. Take it with you for when you’re waiting in the school carpool lane and check things off your to-do list. — Stephanie Vozza, founder of theorganizedparent.com.”

As a Classic, I love this tip. Essentially, it’s just advising you to put your home office into your purse before leaving the house. It’s a brilliant way to get more things done and Classics, Smarts and Organic Structures all likely do this naturally. The trick is not to end up toting a super heavy handbag (or two) everywhere.

The problem with this tote solution for Classics, Smart & Organic Structures is we’ll all likely reinterpret it and not actually PURCHASE the tote pictured here. we love getting stuff done so much that we’re likely to overstuff it, lug it everywhere, and exhaust ourselves. One of my Organic Structure friends always seems to come bearing TWO tote bags that are at least 10 lbs+. To give you an idea of just how heavy this is … it’s as if she’s carrying 4 bags of sugar on each arm.

According to a study done by ASDA (the British grocery store chain), the ideal weight of a handbag should be 2.2 lbs or 1 kilo. However, the average women carries about 3.3 lbs (down from 5.2 lbs as electronic devices get lighter). Rule of thumb from chiropractors is that the weight of your handbag should not exceed 10% of your weight up to a maximum of 15 lbs. Gals (and guys) lugging heavy bags can cause injury to their backs, shoulders and necks. I did this a lot and now I’m in physical therapy … my new thing is to carry a tiny notebook to use during unexpected down time to write drafts of my to-do’s or jot down people’s numbers, cool finds, things to remember etc. etc. It’s STILL quicker for me to use pen & pad for entering tidbits than breaking out my Blackberry.

This tote idea is a no-no for Organic Freedoms & Smart Freedoms — although Katie, an Organic Freedom, often stashes important documents in her purse as it’s the one ‘safe’ place in her house for things. I can just see Kate bringing catalogs into her car ­—and they’d stay there for 2 years along with her thank you notes, which her girls would eventually find, color on and then they’d be strewn all over the floor of the wayback of her minivan)

Organic Freedoms and Smart Freedoms should use downtime waiting in carpool (or equivalent if you’re not a nanny or mom/dad) to do things like clean out your purse/bag of random crap or do the same to your car. Funs and Classics (plus often Organic Structures & Smart Structures) tend to keep their cars pretty clean on a daily basis. That being said, I don’t always get it all and use random wait time in a car to get rid of the occasional floating thingamajigs in the car (like the gas receipts that my husband stashes in the lower door compartment.)

As for Funs, you’re built to know exactly what you want/should do when met with unexpected ‘free’ time.

Originally published March 22, 2010.