The thoughtful gifts we worked hard to find and give for the holidays last month are now mostly absorbed into closets and drawers. The financial reminders of your good gift intentions will be in your mailbox in a few weeks.
These credit card bills always remind me of my grandmother’s exclamation as we exited from the calm and clutter-free nursing home onto a busy city street for the drive to a family holiday.
“Oh!” She clapped her hands in amazement and exclaimed, “There is so much MUCHNESS!”
For a moment I saw with her eyes: The fast traffic, abundant signs, bright colors, tangles of wires, buildings, and people of every size and shape.
She was right, there is so much MUCHNESS!
Muchness directly affects your happiness. Consider the Finnish saying, “Happiness is a place between too little and too much.” The key is to be able to use however much or little you have to your full advantage.
January is GO month, a reminder to Get Organized for the new year. It's a perfect time to review your MUCHNESS, financial and otherwise.
It's a (pardon the pun) much better than a typical unrealistic New Year's resolution. For example, do you have enough stuff or not enough? Enough money or not enough? (Think hard here.) Enough adulting like adequate income and tidiness? Enough time to meet obligations or too much idle time that could be used better? Enough fun stuff like bike rides and chocolate? Now is your chance to decide.
How do you GO? Getting organized means you take, no, scratch that, you make the time to think about how you well manage your time, your space and stuff, your information and your money.
Capture your thoughts, create plans, set realistic goal lines and make them priorities. You’ll find improvements in any of these areas spills over into other areas, making your life a lot easier overall. Start with this simple checklist below or visit the resources page for other simple assessments.
By the way, all of the following areas benefit from coaching. If you’re stuck in any of these areas, contact me.
Time (At work or home)
1. Do you use your calendar/planner daily? Yes No Usually
2. Do you arrive on time? Yes No Usually
3. What would you like to drop off your schedule? ___________________
4. What’s stopping you? ___________________
5. What would you like to add to your days? ___________________
Space & Stuff (At work or home)
1. What do you have too much of? ___________________
2. What do you need more of? ___________________
3. What do you enjoy about where you live? ___________________
4. What would you change about your spaces? ___________________
Storage & Maintenance (At work or home)
1. Do you have a dedicated place for everything you own? Yes No Usually
2. Can you get to storage areas without tripping over things? Yes No Usually
3. Do you know exactly what is in your storage areas? Yes No Usually
4. Do you have “empty” areas, places that aren’t full of stuff? Yes No Usually
5. Are your spaces clean and in good repair? Yes No Usually
Information & Money (At work or home)
1. Do you have a paper storage system that works? Yes No
2. Do you understand and use your digital storage system? Yes No Need help
3. Are your legal documents up to date and easy to find? Yes No Need help
4. Are your financial documents up to date and correct? Yes No Need help
5. Is your financial house in order and up to date? Yes No Need help
6. Do you feel confident about your financial health? Yes No Need help
“Happiness is a place between too little and too much.”
Muchness is wonderful and too much muchness is well, too much. You get it.
Now let's work together to have just enough.