​Organizing & Marriage
 
I have been Organizing professionally for 19 years. There have been several times in my career when a husband or wife has approached me and dragged me to a private place to discuss their spouses clutter. When they find out I’m a Professional Organizer they want my advice on how to get their spouse to be more organized. It may seem trivial to some people but it really is a huge issue for many couples. One person I know Professionally shared his situation with me about his then wife and how disorganized she was and how much clutter they had in their home. One year later they were divorced.
 
It is very difficult for someone who is very organized to live with someone who is very disorganized. Desperate people have contacted Simple Solution Organizing begging us to help them get rid of their spouse’s clutter while they are away on a trip. We have to respectfully decline. That is not ethical. They have to be a part of the process unless they have given permission to their spouse.
 
Is your spouse chronically disorganized? They may not be able to change. I think it is important to discuss with your spouse, or significant other, how the clutter resonates with you. They may brush it off as a non-issue. Hopefully, if they know how important this is for you, they will try to improve the situation.
 
Here are a few things you can suggest and try:

• Let your spouse think it is their idea to get organized. Gently remind them of a time when the clutter caused them pain. You want to HELP him or her alleviate some of this pain. / Example they could not locate their keys, a document, or a tool for an hour or more. You offer to help them create a permanent home for this item and others.
• Is your spouse open to hiring a Professional Organizer? If you keep having arguments about clutter and not being organized then it’s time to bring in a Professional. Professional Organizers are a neutral party. We can suggest and implement systems that you both can try. Also, a professional will have ideas that you may not think of yourself.
• There are Associations, Apps, Books, Blogs, Magazines, Seminars and Life Movements to motivate people to get organized. Here is a sampling of a few things you can recommend.
  • National Association of Productivity & Organizing Professionals
  • Becoming minimalist
  • 10 Apps to help you get more organized
  • Spark Joy by Marie Kondo
• You can ask your spouse if items of clothing and other items spark joy. If they don’t get rid of them. You can’t ask this of all items! It is necessary to have cat litter if you have an indoor cat. Cat litter does not spark joy for me but I have to have it. Another example is a broom, cleaning supplies and certain papers. I love the premise of spark joy but you also have to be realistic.
• Is your Spouse a Hoarder? There are Therapists that specialize in Hoarding. Here is a Clutter Hoarding Scale. Many people jokingly say, I’m a Hoarder or my spouse is a Hoarder. Check out the scale to see if that is really the case.

 
There is no magic wand that will mysteriously eliminate the clutter. It takes effort and maintenance. I tell my client’s that once the organizing project is complete it can revert back in a matter of weeks or months. There is no quick fix or one and done when it comes to organizing. Getting organized is worth your time and effort.
 
Organizing…Love & Marriage
 
Adele Tusson-Gross
Chief Executive Organizer
Simple Solution Organizing LLC
 
 
 

It's Your Money - Spend it Wisely

Do you know where your money goes? Do you know what Apps and Cloud Storage you are paying for and when it renews? Do you know what payment method you use to pay all of your bills? I know it is complicated and confusing. This is why auto renewal is so popular. Companies hide auto renewal in the fine print of the e-agreements when you sign up for online accounts, Apps, and subscriptions.
 
This information is extremely beneficial to have in one place. If something happens to you it is also extremely helpful for your heirs. If you have Elderly Parents, encourage them to take the time to create a spreadsheet with this information. Simple Solution Organizing LLC creates an Excel worksheet with this information for all of their Daily Money Manager Clients.
 
It is not difficult to create. It includes the following:

• Company, Person, or Business
• Account #
• Average Payment
• Autopay, Check or Credit Card
• Due Date
• Phone Number
• Notes

 
If you prefer to purchase a Template, I sell them for $5. Reply to this email and I will send it to you with a payment link. Template also includes a Tab for all of your Income sources.
 
Instructions for completing it:

• One year of statements for each Checking Account
• One year of statements for each Credit Card Account

 
Go through each statement and enter the payment information accordingly. If you see charges from Apple you will need to go into Settings on your iPhone, (Apple ID, iCloud, Media & Purchases), Media & Purchases, view Account, then view Purchase History and also Subscriptions. Charges from Amazon, Google, Facebook, and others will also require additional research.
 
To obtain an average payment for each of your Credit Cards: Compile 6 months or a years worth of payments and then divide by 6 or 12 respectively.
 
This will take time and it is worth it! Once you uncover everything that you are paying for you can cancel subscriptions you no longer want to keep.
 
It is just as important to list all of your income sources. List those on another tab as you work your way through your Checking statements.
 
​Adele Tusson-Gross
 

​Organizing Notes on your Smart Phone
 
One of the best ways to keep track of items we want to remember is by keeping good notes. My philosophy is don’t hold onto post-it-notes or random papers unless you are storing them in an organized system. If you can’t locate your notes and papers, why keep them in the first place? It only helps you; f you can find them when you need it.
 
Here are several suggestions for Notes to keep on your Smartphone. The most important is a personal note with your name. Yes! You need your own note. I have my Driver’s License, Medical cards, and Covid Vaccination card attached to my personal note. I also have important Medical Test dates listed in my note: last pap smear, mammogram, and Colonoscopy, etcetera. At the bottom of the note screen are scanning and camera icons. I recommend scanning important items inside your note. You can also take photos.
 
More Note Ideas:
 

• Home
  • Air filter type and size
  • fridge water filter size
  • Light bulb sizes, etc.
  • Printer ink number
• Atlanta Fun Stuff
• Travel
• Books
• Food to Remember
• Shows and their respective Streaming Channels
• Movies
• Podcasts

 
Electronic notes are searchable by key words. If you keep unorganized notes in your smartphone, you can still find the note you are looking for. Organizing notes into categories, similar to a paper file system, is significantly more efficient.
 
Apple
 
I phones allow you to search for words in your notes making them easier to find. If you touch the search bar it provides a menu of a variety of ways to search: Shared, Locked, notes with checklists, notes with drawings, notes with scanned docs and attachments. To learn more about Notes also there are many how to videos on You Tube.
 
#
Organize with tags add tags like #travel anywhere in your note to categorize them. For example, you may have several notes with #travel. That will create a smart note of all Travel related notes.
 
@
Mentions in Shared Notes
Use mentions to notify your friends and point them to important parts of your note.
 
You can easily share notes by pressing  , then choose how to send your note (text or email). You can also collaborate on notes in iCloud. I hope this motivates you to start using digital notes in an effective way.
 
Android
 
 List of Note Apps for Android phones.
 
 
 
Adele Gross
Chief Executive Organizer
Simple Solution Organizing LLC

June / July 2021
Organizing Printed Photos

Organizing printed photos takes time but it is well worth the effort. Is it ranked low on your priority list? Do you repeatedly say, “someday” when you think about this task?  It helps to have a specific project in mind. What is your reason? Why do you want to organize your photos? Having purpose and goals will help you stay focused on the finish line. For example I have recently accomplished several photo projects including: Christmas photo books for myself, my daughter, and mother-in-law. I also did a High School photo book and a Senior Photo Collage Board for my son, Connor. He just graduated from Oconee County High School and will be attending Georgia Southern in the fall. 
Begin by gathering all of your printed photos. You may have them in Albums or boxes and probably both but pull them all together. Once you have located all of them you can begin sorting your photos into groups chronologically. Decide how you want to sort them: person, family, or birthdays, vacations, holidays or events. There is no right or wrong way to organize them. 
Once you have decided how you want to organize them, start the process. You can always change the order later on, if it is not working well. It is always a good idea to get started. You will never finish and you will never know how easy or difficult the task is, until you get started. Just Do It! Getting started will probably be the hardest part.
I recommend having temporary boxes, containers, or clear plastic storage bags to store your “working” piles in. Also, have a sharpie,  labels and/or post-it-notes  available to label each pile. This will allow you to put your work away and begin where you left off, rather than starting all over again...again and yet again. This can happen, if you don’t organize your progress.
As you go through your piles of photos make sure to discard: 
-Duplicates
-Photos you don’t want anymore
-Blurry photos
When I started sorting my photos I had so many that were not even mine. My sister used to send me duplicates of her vacation photos. That  was back in the day when people sent their film out to be developed, it did not cost extra to have an additional set printed. 
Storing Your Printed Photos
Once you get into a rhythm of sorting and purging photos you will need to decide how to store them long term. 
 Here are some options:
-Store photos and documents flat
-Store in a dark room like an interior closet with stable humidity and temperature
-Photo Box: photos stored standing up or flat
-Archival Photo Box
-Photo Album
-Scrapbook Album
Scanning photos 
To scan or not to scan...that is up to you. I recommend scanning your most precious important photos. They are probably photos you already have in frames. Scan them to preserve them. If you have lots of photos to scan I recommend Modern Image in Atlanta. They are reasonably priced and you can mail or drop off thousands of photos to them. Another company is Pixorium for scanning. Want a Storybook created by a Professional? I highly recommend Pixorium. 
While you sift through your photos you will undoubtedly find some favorites. When you do, pick a few to display now!  This will encourage you to keep going and you can appreciate them everyday. 
Here are some options for displaying your photos:
-Frames
-Photo Tree
-Photo Collage in Frame
-Shutterfly has great products available to display your photos in creative ways.
-Photo Montage wallpaper
Enjoy your Photo Organizing. 

Adele Gross
Daily Money Management, Professional Organizer & Downsizer
Simple Solution Organizing LLC

706-714-1314
www.simplesolutionorganizing.com

April / May 2021
Starting a Supper Club
Most people I know are craving to spend time with family and friends. It has been 14 months of Covid-19 restrictions. My Supper Club group has not had a formal gathering during this time but we have had lots of outdoor get-togethers. If you have ever thought about starting a Supper Club now might be a good time to do it (if everyone is vaccinated of course)! 

Supper Club is an important part of my family’s life. I have participated in various Supper Clubs for 21 years. The people, location, and “rules” have evolved but the sole purpose has never changed: spending quality time with friends on a regular basis.

It all started when a good friend, Sharla, in Gulf Breeze, Florida suggested we start a girl’s and kids Thursday night get together at her home. Sharla had the nicest house of the bunch; it was very conducive to FUN!  She had a beautiful swimming pool connected to her living room via a wall of sliding glass doors. We socialized, with cocktails in hand, while our young kids burned off energy swimming and playing.  It was a welcome release for all of us. My friend’s and I talked about our week: the good, bad, and the ugly. Each week we rotated bringing an entrée and on occasion our husband’s would join us and other friends.  We looked forward to it week after week. Lives change through the years and eventually our Supper Club fizzled out. We continued to get together sporadically; however, it was never quite as special. 

My family moved from Florida to Georgia in the summer of 2003. Some of our neighbors invited us into their Neighborhood Supper Club in Athens, Georgia. Again, lives change, people move and eventually that Supper Club dissolved.  However, a few of the original families still get together, month after month (not in 2020 because of COVID). We are 1 of 5 families that continue to meet. These families are so special to us.

Our kids have grown up together through our Supper Club gatherings. Our kids attend different schools and live in different neighborhoods but they all enjoy and look forward to our Supper Club dinners. They often ask their parents, “When is Supper Club?” That really warms our hearts.

I almost cancelled, one of our most memorable Supper Club dinners that my family hosted. I had hurt my back the day before. I was in a lot of pain and considered cancelling but my son, Connor, begged me not to. I am so glad that we did not cancel it. It was one of the best parties ever and we started a new tradition: sharing old photos of yourself from High School or younger. Many of us laughed so hard we were crying and I think someone in the group may have experienced incontinence. 

Our Supper Club is unpretentious. We meet at people’s homes, parks, restaurants, bowling alleys, pumpkin patches, and any other venue that sounds inviting. The goal of our Supper Club is to meet and spend time together, the place and the food is really secondary. We invited two new families to join our group several years ago. The decision to add new families was not decided lightly; it was given a lot of thought and discussion. There was more food to purchase and more kids running around but we are so glad for the companionship.

Let’s talk about how to get started with a Supper Club:

• Someone has to Coordinate it
• Talk to potential members to see if they have an interest
• Decide how many members or families you want in the group
• Decide how often your group will meet
• Decide where your group will meet
• Decide what type of Supper Club you want:
  • Gourmet
  • Themed
  • Informal
  • Kids or Adult Only (you may want kids at a different members home than the host with a sitter while your Supper Club meets)
  • Separate meals for adults and kids or do they have they share the same meal
  • Host makes all the food or just the entrée and other members bring side dishes

A Coordinator is vital to the success of any Supper Club. Look for one that is ready, willing, and able, to jump in and handle the details. One person has to be the planner and the communicator for the group. I send out a schedule for the year and families sign up for the month they want to host. This initial schedule may change but having a schedule helps our club stay committed. Here is additional information about starting your own Supper Club(s) and there is an App.

The fun times continue in our group; we look forward to many more gatherings.
 
Adele Tusson-Gross
Supper Club Coordinator, Daily Money Manager, Professional Organizer & Downsizer
Simple Solution Organizing LLC
www.simplesolutionorganizing.com