Here, There, and Everywhere

Delegate, delegate, delegate....

Dr. Stephanie Sarkis — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:49:27 +0000

I just finished an interview Dr. Rory Stern about my new book ADD and Your Money: A Guide to Personal Finance for Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder. One thing I mentioned repeatedly during the interview is the importance of delegating.

No man is an island. ~ John Donne

We aren't expected to do everything on our own. And when you have ADHD, you may be even less likely to ask others for help because you think:

* "I should be able to do this myself."
* "If I don't do this on my own, people will think I'm lazy."
* "I'll prove to them that I can do it!"
* "I don't want to bother anyone by asking them for help."

Remember, asking for help is a strength, not a weakness. It means that you are aware of your abilities and limitations.

Ask any successful businessman...he or she has people helping them.

Delegating (asking someone to help you with something or assigning a task to someone) means that you have more time to do the things you enjoy and are good at.

Delegating means:

* Asking your kids to help out with chores.
* Hiring someone to help you clean or organize. (People tell me, "But I don't have the money for that." You'd be amazed at how much money and time you save or even make by having someone else do the cleaning and organizing for you. It means more time for you do to the things you like to do, which in turn results in a happier you and more income.)
* Going to a financial professional for help with your money nanagement.
* Asking a friend to pick up some stuff at the store if they are planning to go there anyway. (Granted, I'm talking about a few items here - not an entire cart. I know, it's tempting.)

Remember, asking for help is a strength.

Packing for a week-long trip in 15 minutes

Dr. Stephanie Sarkis — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:54:20 +0000

This is assuming all of your clothes are washed and ready to pack. This does not include time spent taking clothes out of the dryer, etc.

This is how I pack for a week-long trip using a carry-on suitcase (yes, you read that correctly - carry-on suitcase. I don't check luggage anymore. Much quicker, and you know that you actually have your luggage when you get to your destination.)

1.I color-coordinate everything. I stick with a color scheme of up to 3 colors. Usually this is black and red. It's kind of like the Garanimals kid's clothing line - the tags matched up so you knew what went with what. (Do Garanimals still exist?) This does result in my having suspiciously similar outfits in my photos from China, Europe, etc....but really, who cares?

2. I pack items that don't wrinkle. Travelsmith has a line of non-wrinkling clothes. This is how non-wrinkling clothes save you time on packing: You can roll them up (length-wise) quickly without being concerned about wrinkles. This also saves you space in your suitcase.

3. I buy travel clothes that can easily be dressed up or down. One of my favorite kinds of shoes is a ballet flat. Like this. They go with pretty much everything.

4. I use SpaceBags. It creates much more room in your suitcase, and speeds up the packing process. No more trying to hold your suitcase together so you can zip it up.

5. I don't sweat the small stuff. If you forget something, there is a 99% chance you will find it wherever you are traveling to. If you forget your phone charger, go to the check-in desk at your hotel. There is a big box there of chargers people have left at the hotel. Chances are there's a charger that matches your phone.

6. My mantra is "remember your glasses/contacts, remember your meds". Everything else is pretty easily replaceable. Even if you do forget your meds, chances are that you can get them called in to a local pharmacy.

7. I pre-pack my toiletries. Remember, Ziploc bags are your friend. I have a bag of travel toiletries ready to go. I just put them in my carry-on. Remember, though, if you have any liquid items, keep them in a quart-sized Ziploc and put them in the outside pocket of your suitcase. This ensures easy retrieval when you go through airport security. If you are not sure if something is a liquid or not, put it in the liquid bag anyway. My experience has been that mascara does not count as a liquid at some airports, and it does in others. I have one-day contacts, and I even put them in the Ziploc, since there's a little bit of saline solution in each one. One airport even considered this to be a liquid: MAC Studio Stick. Go figure.

8. This leads me to my next tip. I have two versions of my makeup. When I'm at home, I use liquid foundation. When I'm traveling, I use the MAC Studio Stick. (See the link above). It works the same way, and holds up pretty well if you are getting pictures taken or doing a studio interview under bright lights. One of my other favorites is Stila Convertible Eye Color. You have your eye liner, eye shadow, and a smudger all in one stick. Thank you, Jeannie Lobell. (She's the genius behind Stila.) I keep this in my travel makeup bag, and use another eye liner when I'm at home. It's super-easy to just toss my bag of travel makeup in my suitcase, and I know I'll have everything I need.

9. I cut and pasted a from the internet, put it in a checklist format (you can get a template at ) and I laminated it. You can buy adhesive laminating sheets at any office supply store. I use a dry erase marker and check things off as I pack them. This is a quick and easy way to determine if you are missing something.

10. I print out any kind of booking confirmation (hotel, car, airplane, etc.), and maps I need, and I print out my itinerary. I then hole-punch them and put them in a presentation folder (the kind with a clear cover). I put everything in chronological order, with my itinerary as the first page. Easy access, and great since I am very visually-oriented.

Although some of the items listed can be pricey, they are totally worth the amount of time they save. Also, the more you travel, the easier it is to pack. I didn't learn this stuff just by going on one trip - it has been trial and error across many trips.

Happy traveling!!

Article on using a professional organizer

Dr. Stephanie Sarkis — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:52:31 +0000

Columnist Eve Tahmincioglu had a professional organizer help her declutter her office. It's nice to know that someone else finds Sweetarts under the clutter on their desk.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25477344/

Dinner timesaver

Dr. Stephanie Sarkis — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:48:57 +0000

One of the best ways to be more efficient with your time is to delegate. Sometimes delegation means you have people help you out. Sometimes it means that technology helps you out.

While a crockpot (or slow cooker) isn't exactly the most cutting-edge technology, it can cook dinner while you are at work. And it's an appliance that is okay to leave on when you go to work!

There are a bunch of crockpot recipes available on www.allrecipes.com. One of my family's favorites is Slow Cooker Barbecue.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooker-Barbeque/Detail.aspx

Allrecipes.com is also handy when you only have a certain number of ingredients available. Go to "More Searches" on the front page and then go to "Ingredient Search". You can type in what ingredients you have, and even what you don't have. It has saved me a trip to the grocery store many times.

Mickey must not be ADD, or his meds are working well...

Dr. Stephanie Sarkis — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:39:55 +0000

We are in Orlando this weekend, and we have Florida resident season passes (these are a great deal if you are a resident!) I stopped in at the Disney-MGM park last night and I continue to be amazed at the efficiency of the park. While most of the guests were at a big show at one part of the park, the staff came out and started cleaning up the rest of the park while the crowd volume was low. I thought that was genius. If you pick up a little throughout the day, you have a lot less mess to pick up later.

Ceiling-to-floor cleaning

Dr. Stephanie Sarkis — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:36:02 +0000

If you are able to afford a cleaning service, by all means do so. It saves a lot of time and aggravation.
If you are tackling cleaning by yourself, use the "top down" method. Start by cleaning the highest places (ie. the tops of bookshelves) and work your way down to the floors. By the time you get to the floors, you will also be cleaning up dust that fell from the upper places.

Also, only clean in 15 minute increments. Set a timer and make sure to take a break when the timer goes off. This decreases your chances of burnout.

Shred, shred, shred

Dr. Stephanie Sarkis — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:30:42 +0000

Using a paper shredder is very important. Make sure you shred any papers (excluding tax, financial, and medical documents) that have your name, address, birthdate, or social security number. Make sure your shredder is a "cross-cut" shredder. This makes your shredded documents shred into even tinier pieces.

Apparently just ripping up credit card applications is not good enough - as evidence by this story of a man who taped back together his torn credit card application and was still able to get a credit card!

http://redtape.msnbc.com/2006/03/what_if_a_despe.html

Travel Checklist

Dr. Stephanie Sarkis — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:39:43 +0000

The L.A. Times has a great travel checklist online. It gives a "to do" list from one year before your trip up to two days before your trip. I cut and pasted the list into Word. Then I highlight the items as I go along. If you cut and paste into Word you can also edit out or edit in items as you see fit.

You can click on "single page" at the bottom of the article so you can get the whole list on one page.

Travel Checklist

Website with free document templates

Dr. Stephanie Sarkis — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:52:37 +0000

Here's a great website for finding forms for weekly schedules, budget planners...even "cleaning charts" that let you know when you should do certain household tasks. And it's all free! You have to create a user ID and password to download documents. You also have to wade through some advertising, but I guess that is the price one pays for getting free documents! File formats include Word, Excel, and PDF.

Here's the website: Doc Stoc

And here are some of my favorite templates:

Daily Schedule

Spring Cleaning Tips

Personal Financial Planning Questionnaire

Personal Budget

There are many more documents available. Just click on the "Documents" tab at the top of the

Doc Stoc website.

Welcome to "Here, There, and Everywhere"!

Dr. Stephanie Sarkis — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:13:37 +0000

When you have issues with chronic disorganization, standard "get organized" tips and tricks may present challenges. You may be able to get organized, but staying organized is a whole 'nother ball game.

Simple solutions are usually the best. And having ADHD myself, I have learned simple, manageable, and effective ways of staying organized and managing my time. I'm happy to share this information with you.

Let's get started!!