Organize Your Life

Next time you complain about not having enough time, blame yourself. The average businessperson spends three hours each week looking for things plus two hours being distracted by the stuff laying around. Here's one smart woman who can turn your piles into files.

Christine Palen gets paid to organize people's lives. She saves them time, and time is money. That's why Yvey Somerfeld hired her to organize her home-based office.

"I bring everything in here and it ends up on the bed," Somerfeld admits.

Sound familiar? Two words: Purge and sort. Ask yourself: Why am I keeping this? Have I used this recently? If you keep it, sort it. But get the tools to do it right, i.e. a filing cabinet. Its drawers should roll all the way out. Label every file and file everything. Use accordion files for cash receipts and desk trays for daily "to do's."

Keep them small. You can use a fishing tackle box or even a portable supply office. How about a bedside notebook for those late-night ideas? A small rack for those magazines you refuse to toss? A step-basket to store stuff between trips up and down stairs and files color-coded.

"To do-red, hot. Look at me. Yellow-pending, pause. Green. I usually like for money," says Palen.

Newly organized, Somerfeld says, "I still leave little piles here and there but I tend to go to them quicker and put things away a lot quicker than I used to."

How do you know when you're truly organized? You'll need one last file -- a lost and found.

Lost? Stress from your life.

Found? Time you never knew you had.

Experts suggest making a detailed list of all your activities for three days. It should give you a clear picture of how you're spending your time and where to make changes.