How to make returns easy

The best way to make returns easy is to not have them in the first place. Don't ever buy anything just because it's on sale (you probably won't be able to return it, anyway), without knowing where it will live in your home, or if you don't need it or love it.

However, sometimes returns are unavoidable, and a lot of the time people lose their money, their space and their mental energy on returns that never get made. Here's how to make them happen.

Keep your receipts in one central location.  Once you have decided to return an item, locate the receipt for it and place the receipt and the item in a (reusable) bag. Place the bag in the area of your home where you keep items that are leaving (library books, mail, etc.). The next time you will be in the vicinity of the store in question, grab the bag, place it your car (or take it with you if you use public transportation), and enter a reminder in your to-do list or calendar to make the return. (Using Apple's Reminders app on your iOS5 iPhone, you can even program the address in and when you arrive, you'll get pinged.) If the return is to a store you are rarely near, take note of the window you have for returns (usually found on the front or back of the receipt) and schedule a time to get there before the window is up. It's not a bad idea to mark in your calendar the last day to return the item anyway, as time can get away from us.

More tips:

• Take note of the payment method and make sure you have the card you used to make the purchase on you when you go to return, or you may have to take store credit.
• Try to pair the return with another errands at the same store or in the area so you don't have to make a special trip.
• Avoid making returns without a receipt. The process will take longer at the store, you may not get the full value of the return,and you will probably only get store credit.
• If you do accept store credit instead of cash or charge back on your card, try to use it right then so you don't have to make an extra trip to get your money's worth.

Do you have any other tips for making returns easy?

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by John Bell

The two minute rule

My clients are familiar with the two minute rule, as it is one of my favorite ways to describe to them how to know when to do something now and when to save something for later. When processing an inbox (physical or email), an action pile, a box of random things from around your house, or even your entire garage, the two minute rule can save you a lot of decision making hassle. In order to make progress, my rule of thumb is if you can do the action associated with the item in two minutes or less, then do it right then. If not, then save it for a time when you can spend longer on completing the project (this is time you would want to schedule in your calendar).

Some examples:

• You are going through your physical inbox and see a card from the dentist reminding you that you need to schedule a cleaning. Two-minutes or less? Yes! Pick up the phone and make the appointment, then put it in your calendar and recycle the card.
• You are going through your physical inbox and see a stack of insurance reimbursement forms you need to fill out and mail. Two minutes or less? No! Schedule a half hour or however long you think it will take you on your calendar for a day when you can spend some time in your office taking care of it, and move on.
• You are going through your garage, trying to make room for your car to actually park in it. You find a rake that you borrowed from your next door neighbor a while ago. Will it take you two minutes or less to return it? Yes! (Unless your neighbor is really chatty, in which case you might just want to leave it by their garage door.)
• You are going through your closet, paring down your wardrobe by pulling out anything you haven't worn in a year. You come across a couple of nice items that need mending. Can you fix them or have them fixed in two minutes or less? No! Put them by the front door to take to the dry cleaners next time you are running errands, or put them in a place where you will sit to do your mending, and mark off some time on your calendar to do so.

The two minute rule is a bit subjective; what takes you two minutes to do might take someone else five. But it's simple and effective for making progress when you have a lot of processing to do. 

Archiving calendars

I've had a weekly calendar to keep track of appointments and important dates since high school, and I've kept most of them for sentimental reasons. I just recently switched to using iCal exclusively instead of a paper calendar, and I went back to look at the stack of calendars I had been keeping in a drawer.

They were fun to glance through to remind myself of the classes I took in college, the concerts I went to, the trips I've been on. But I realized that was the first time I'd looked at many of them in years. I decided to give my lovely ScanSnap S1500M a workout and turn each calendar into a digital file, then recycle all that paper.

Of course, the ScanSnap didn't break a sweat, the results were beautiful scans, and I have that data should anyone care to know what I did back on March 18, 2000 (apparently I went to Magic Mountain).

I also freed up an entire drawer for some more useful purpose. But I'm leaving it empty for now.

Need a professional to help you scan your calendars?

Call Lelah at 818.269.6671

or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

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Hate to clean? Get organized.

Not liking to clean is a great reason to get organized. No one wants to live in a dirty environment, but cleaning isn't most people's favorite activity. Organizing first can help. Dishes and laundry are chores that can be streamlined to be less time consuming, if not more enjoyable. Actual cleaning tasks, like dusting, vacuuming, scrubbing of various kitchen and bathroom surfaces, are easier and faster to do when your home is already organized.

• If you don't use your floor as a storage surface, vacuuming is a one-step process.
• Keeping bookshelves, mantels and countertops clear of all but a few display objects makes dusting as easy as lift and swipe.
• A decluttered closet makes putting away clean clothes a stress-free experience, plus you'll have enough hangers!
• When toiletries and supplies are all regularly put away in their designated spaces, bathroom cleaning is just spray, scrub and rinse.
• Schedule recurring cleaning tasks on your calendar. That way you won't feel guilty for not doing them, as you will have made a plan to do them in the future, and you also won't do tasks too frequently. Cleaning the air conditioner filter doesn't have to be done every week!

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by Valerie Everett

Need a professional to help you get organized?

Call Lelah at 818.269.6671

or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

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April's calendar

If you subscribe to my monthly newsletter, you already know that I'm preparing to attend my first organizing conference, the National Association of Professional Organizers' 23rd Annual Conference and Organizing Exposition, next week. I'm extremely excited about the event and have already started my packing list. If you don't subscribe to my monthly newsletter, what are you waiting for? Sign up now!

Other stuff happening this month that you should know about:

April is Script Frenzy month, just like November is National Novel Writing Month. I will be attempting to write a 100-page script in 30 days!
April 1: April's Fool's Day
April 16: National Stress Awareness Day
April 18: Federal tax returns must be postmarked by this day. Passover begins.
April 22: Earth Day
April 24: Easter Sunday

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by anee.baba
Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

A year ago: Common clutter, calendaring and Martha

Last March I published one of my favorite posts. It's about what to do with three common kinds of clutter. They are electronic clutter (still one of the most common issues I see in my clients' offices), plastic shopping bags (please get in the habit of bringing your own reusable bags!), and used ink cartridges. Staples now offers just $2 in credit per cartridge, but you can recycle up to 10 a month, which adds up.

Last year's "mark your calendar" post is a bit out of date now, but still be aware that Daylight Saving Time starts this Sunday, March 13, and we will be moving our clocks forward an hour.

Martha Stewart is amazing, but sometimes the things she recommends can be overkill. In this post, I analyzed her video about closet organization. What do you think?

Creative Commons ink cartridge photo posted to Flickr by kennymatic
Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com 

Keeping stuff alive in 2011

I love plants and gardens and flowers and all kinds of greenery. My family is blessed with an abundance of green thumbs. My grandfather's garden is a beachside paradise that I've played in since birth. My father manages roses, palms, lavender and fruit trees all in the same beautiful space. My brother not only professionally landscapes and works at a nursery, he did the flowers and plants at my wedding, for heaven's sake.

Wedding centerpiece. Photo by Attasalina Photography.

My track record with plants is not that great. I can water things when told to, but I can remember every plant I've ever been in charge of...and what happened to it. I either killed it, or gave it to someone who could give it a better home.

This year, I'm attempted to keep a few plants alive. This will require a little attention paid on my part. Fortunately, the plants I'm starting out with are hearty. I have two gorgeous succulents that will survive the summer heat of Glendale with minimal care (so I'm told), and a rosemary bush that can also tolerate the heat. I've had these three plants for just over a week, and they still look like they are thriving.

My plan is to keep them on my calendar and make a routine out of checking on them, just like I make a routine of backing up my hard drive and vacuuming my floors. And if I get worried, I can always call for help. Wish me (and the plants) luck!

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

Next year's calendar

I'm getting to know Glendale, the city where I just moved. The other day I went for a walk and came across a store called Swain's. This is the kind of store I love. It has art supplies, fun things like stickers and toys and lots of office supplies. I was delighted to find their extensive section of calendars, wall, engagement and most any other kind of calendar. It reminded me that now is a good time to choose a 2011 calendar. I use two calendars. One is a wall calendar I keep within sight of my desk for easy reference when I am at my computer. The other is a weekly calendar that I keep in my purse at all times. It has two pages for a single week, and because I don't like to make my purse too heavy, I choose a small, compact style. I got my 2010 calendar at Office Depot, one of their inhouse brands, and it has been great. The one I picked out for 2011 at Swain's is the Time Master brand. It is slightly larger, and it has Monday through Thursday on the left page and Friday through Sunday on the right; this means that Saturday and Sunday each have a full sized window, which is great. My 2010 calendar splits one section into two for Saturday and Sunday, which makes the squares pretty tiny.

Getting next year's calendar now gives you plenty of time to write in the birthdays, anniversaries and special occasions that you already know. Technology can help here: if you are on Facebook, go to Events, then Birthdays and use the arrows on the bottom to navigate, and you can see a list of all of the birthdays of your friends who have shared them. I like to peruse that in advance, since Facebook only shows you their birthday on the day of. It's also a good idea to have a place to start gathering appointments and dates for 2011 so you don't forget them. Dentist appointments, graduations, weddings: these things often get planned far in advance, and though you think you may remember them. sometimes people forget things.

Lelah Baker-Rabe, professional organizer serving Los Angeles. 818.269.6671 http://www.lelahwithanh.com

Mark your calendar

Here are some upcoming dates to be aware of:

March 14: Daylight saving time begins and we all turn our clocks forward an hour at 2 a.m. We lose an hour (temporarily), but sunlight lasts into the evening. It's going to really feel like spring when that happens.

March 17: St. Patrick's Day. This holiday always sneaks up on me, and even though I'm not Irish, it's fun to walk around wearing green.

March 20: Official first day of spring and the spring equinox.

March 30: Passover begins at sundown.

April 4: Easter Sunday. I'll be dying eggs and then making egg salad sandwiches for a week.

April 15: Deadline to mail your taxes. Don't wait until the last minute on this one. It's also the deadline for tax payments for business owners.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by vmiramontes
Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com