Quick Tip for Storing Doctors' Contacts in Your Phone

I love my iPhone, and like most people these days, almost all of the information I need is on it - including contact info for my family's doctors. In my head, though, I always think of them as "Doctor Smith" or "Doctor Kato."


It was disconcerting every time I went to the Contacts app. My instinct was to look for "doctor," and I had to pause and think of what the first initial of the doctor's last name was. Then it hit me: Make their last name start with "Dr."

This is what I see under the D's in my contacts list now:



The idea is marvelously simple:

If your contacts list is alphabetized by last name, add "Dr" before the doctor's last name.

If your contacts list is alphabetized by first name, add "Dr" before the doctor's first name.

This will group all of the doctors in your contacts together. And now you (and anyone else you trust with your phone) can easily find the contact info for your doctors!

Reflections on The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: Don't tidy for others

I've been reading the best-seller The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and implementing the "KonMari Method" described. It's so fascinating that I'm turning my thoughts about it into a series of posts. Note: This post contains affiliate links that help support this site at no additional cost to you. Thank you for clicking through them! You can read CFO's full disclosure here.


When I first started reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and got to the part about sorting and keeping only those items that spark joy, I wondered if the author was going to give advice on how to get other family members on board with the program. So I was surprised and relieved when I read that I should just tidy my own possessions and not worry about everyone else's.

I started with my obvious possessions - my own clothes, my jewelry, files, books, etc. And as the primary housekeeper, I have free reign to tidy and organize most of the house. So next I tackled the common areas, such as the utensils, pots and containers in the kitchen, the extra dental and other personal care supplies, and so on.

I don't plan on tidying my husband's possessions - that's totally up to him.

But the kids ... well, I'm going to teach them about tidying according to the KonMari method. They have tons of books and toys and baseball cards, as well as clothes and more. Not to mention super busy schedules. So the trick is finding time to tidy with them, and unfortunately that's likely not going to be until Thanksgiving week, when they have the whole week off from school. Until then, our afternoons and evenings will be filled with homework and projects and sports and social obligations. But I'm going to start strategizing now about the different categories we can tidy that week (and if the opportunity presents itself, I may get a head start with at least one of the kids!).

Have you tried the KonMari method with your kids?

Reflections on The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: Tidying by Category

I've been reading the best-seller The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and implementing the "KonMari Method" described. It's so fascinating that I'm turning my thoughts about it into a series of posts. Note: This post contains affiliate links that help support this site at no additional cost to you. Thank you for clicking through them! You can read CFO's full disclosure here.



One of the important tenets of the KonMari method is to tidy by category, rather than location. For example, when it comes to clothes, you might be tempted to sort through the clothes in your closet, then the clothes in your dresser, and then the clothes you have stored, etc. But with the KonMari method, you pull all of your clothes out from every location, and sort through them all at once.

I've tidied by category quite a few times at this point - I've sorted through my baking pans, my baking dishes, my shoes, my jackets, my clothes, my cookbooks, and so on.

And I have to say, I think it's a brilliant tactic. First and foremost, you see everything you own that pertains to that particular type of item. Under the KonMari method, you keep only those items that "spark joy" in you, and what I'm finding is that with everything laid out, I realize enough of the items "spark joy" so that I don't have to worry about not having what I need.

I'll admit that it can be a bit of a pain to put everything of one type of item in a central location so you can sort them, especially if their original locations are spread out. In this case, it helps to narrow the focus so you're only looking for one particular type of thing. For example, jackets are clothes but I keep my jackets in the coat closet downstairs, far away from the rest of my clothes. So I sorted my jackets independently from my clothes, in a totally separate session.

The category I'm kind of afraid to tackle is cleaning supplies. Those are scattered throughout the house, in each bathroom, the kitchen, and especially under the wet bar. But I know that's exactly why they need to be sorted as a category, so I can see exactly what we already have.

Works for Me: Google Calendar

It happened gradually, starting when Alex was born nearly four years ago, and then escalating dramatically when Tyler was born two years ago: DISORGANIZATION.

Before kids, I was one of the most Type-A, organized people you would ever meet. Now, I sometimes struggle to remember to pay the bills on time.

Here's one way I've learned to adapt: I no longer have a paper calendar on my desk. There was no point – half the time, I wouldn't be able to find it, one quarter of the time, I'd forget to write something down, and the other quarter of the time, I'd forget to look something up. I realized I needed another way.

My new way turned out to be Google Calendar. It has a reminder function that I use constantly. I list appointments and send myself multiple reminders – usually one week ahead, and then the day before, and sometimes additional reminders if I need to act before the actual event. I've even created a recurring weekly event, with a corresponding weekly reminder, to remind myself to pocket my office key card every Monday morning. That became a necessity after I forgot the card three Mondays in a row upon returning from my maternity leave after Tyler's birth.

The reminders are particularly useful for events scheduled way ahead of time that I'm likely to forget because my brain simply has no room left to store extraneous information. Things like calling in to the jury duty phone line to see if I am supposed to report the next day, and dental appointments that were scheduled at our last cleaning six months ago.

I simply can't keep track of paper anymore, but with Google Calendar, I don't have to. I must admit, I don't keep notes on it the way I would on paper – partly because an online appointment book doesn't feel anything like a journal, and partly because I just don't feel comfortable putting personal details and information online, even though logic tells me it's perfectly secure. But that's okay – Google Calendar keeps me from dropping the ball on so many things, and that's all I ask.

Find more Works for Me Wednesday tips at Rocks in My Dryer.

Organizing/Cleaning Games

Here are some suggestions to help make organizing, cleaning, or just about any project a little more fun:

• The Task Bowl - Take 10 small pieces of paper and write down a task on eight of them. On the other 2, write down a fun activity. Fold the papers in half, put them in a bowl, mix them up, and pull one out. Complete the task or activity, then reach in for another piece of paper and repeat until all 10 pieces of paper are gone. This is best for small tasks and activities that you can accomplish in a fairly short time span.
• Sticker Chart - You probably know all about sticker charts if you have kids, so how about making one for yourself? Give yourself a sticker for each task you complete and give yourself a treat when you accumulate a certain number of stickers.
• Beat the Clock - Set a timer and challenge yourself to accomplish a task or set of tasks before the timer goes off. Alternatively, the time limit could be set by a certain number of songs played on the radio or the length of a CD. Even if you don't complete the task, you've gotten off to a good start and will be more likely to finish (and you can always re-start the timer).
• Swap tasks with a partner or family member. You can each agree to do something the other person hates doing (for example, in our family, Marc cleans the bathrooms and I vacuum).

Adapated from the latest issue of the Get Organized Now newsletter.