How to Get Out the Door with Ease

Copyright © Stephanie Dickison 2010.

Despite not having to be at an office at 9 a.m. every morning (my desk is at the end of my bed), I still struggle with the stress of trying to get out of the house on time with whatever I need.

I have come up with a few tricks that make it almost mistake-proof:

1. Put it in a bag.

We all have a gazillion cloth totes for shopping lying around the house, so I put these puppies to work.

I hand them on the door of the room I’m working in and then as I go, I fill it up. If I’m in the living room, it might be library books to take back. In the kitchen, it’s recycling to take out, and in the bedroom, I’ll fill one up with clothes for donation or work that I need to take to a meeting.

Then I put the bags over the knob of our front door and grab them on my way out. No more frustrating waste of time, looking around for anything!

2. Have a couple on hand.

Although I desperately try to simplify and minimalize our belongings, I have found it easier to have a few items on hand to reduce time searching around for things. Some of these items include:

– Hats. If it’s windy or raining, it keeps me looking more together than I actually am and leaves my hands free while walking, shopping, etc.

– Umbrellas. If my fella grabs a brolly, I don’t have to waste time trying to find one in our hall closet. I have a basket of them. It also comes in handy when company is over and they need one to get home.

– Pens. Although I will use a pen until it wears out before moving onto the next one, I always have a couple in each bag I carry. You never know when you’re going to have to remember something important or write down a name or number.

– Reading glasses. I wear glasses all the time, so I don’t need them just for reading, but I highly recommend getting multiple pairs of specs to keep in your purse, over at your desk, one of the kitchen, one near the phone, etc. Everyone I know who wears them is constantly on the lookout for where they last left them. More than once, it’s been on top of their head, but that’s a separate article altogether….

– Makeup. If you travel at all, or are always on the go or go to the gym regularly, have an extra makeup case that duplicates each item just like the one you have at home. It will save you so much time and stress, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner!

3. Get reading the night before.

It’s an old tip that normally dismays people. Why would you use your free time in the evening to get ready for tomorrow, you ask. That’s what the morning is for, you plead!

The benefit in getting ready the night before is that:

a) you’re not tired and foggy headed, and chances are you won’t forget anything.

b) you get to sleep in longer, an added bonus you’ll no doubt enjoy.

c) you’ll avoid the morning stress of rushing around and start your day with ease.

So lay out your clothes, put your files and laptop in your briefcase and pack your lunch the night before.

Your day will at least begin well.

Good luck!

Stephanie Dickison is the author of the recent book, The 30-Second Commute: A Non-Fiction Comedy About Writing & Working From Home, which covers her career as book, music and restaurant critic. She has been a journalist for over a decade and now spends much of her time writing about travel, food, beauty, style and celebrities for various publications and websites.

When she’s not writing, she’s eating, cooking, organizing, filing, making lists in sumptuous notebooks (you must use your beautiful journals) and colour-coding her ever evolving calendar.

She is one of the few writers still using technology AND paper. But at least her paper is organized into pretty file folders…

http://www.stephaniedickison.com