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Home Office
Create a bill-paying center with a rolling file cart, pens, checkbook, stamps, envelopes, and labels. Schedule one day per week to pay bills, and mark the dates on your calendar.
Process incoming mail every day. Sort your mail over a wastebasket, so you can ditch junk mail right away. Deposit your bills at your bill-paying center, and mark any upcoming events on your master calendar.
End out-of-sight, out-of-mind problems by creating a "hot spot" for time-sensitive documents. A translucent red folder works well. Clear your hot spot out daily.
Ask a family member to act as a body double. ADDers often find it easier to get through a boring or unrewarding task if someone is sitting nearby.
Set a timer for 15 minutes and accomplish as much as you can toward a goal during that time...then move on.
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Bedroom
Continually winnow out extra clothing. If you get a new shirt, for instance, get rid of an old one.
Pre-assemble your clothes into complete outfits on sturdy hangers. You'll get dressed faster each morning.
Each evening, lay out your clothes for the next day. You don't want to wait until morning to decide what to wear. Especially if everyone in your household is rushing about.
ADDers often have trouble waking up. If you take medication, set an alarm for an hour before you actually need to rise and another at the correct time. By the second alarm, medication will be at an effective level.
Get up half an hour before the rest of the family to get ready. Once you've woken the kids, you'll probably need to devote all of your attention to getting them out the door.
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Kitchen
Organize your kitchen into "stations." For example, keep mugs, coffee filters, spoons, and sugar in a cabinet or drawer near your coffee machine.
Sit down with your family to brainstorm your top-10 favorite meals. Write down all the ingredients needed to make each meal on an index card, and bring the stack of cards with you to simplify grocery shopping.
Be careful with coupons. Make sure that what you'll save is worth the time and effort to collect coupons. A sale item is generally cheaper than the same item, not on sale, purchased with a coupon.
Tired of fighting crowds and waiting in long lines? Become an "off-peak" grocery shopper. Go to the supermarket early in the morning or late in the evening.
Designate the kitchen table as your kids' homework station. You can keep an eye on them while you get dinner started, and they'll work more productively if you are nearby.
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Living Room
Establish a ready-to-go staging area by the front door. Get everyone in the habit of putting backpacks, briefcases, musical instruments, and anything else they will need the next morning on the bench every evening.
Compile a list of five-minute tasks-watering the plants, wiping down the kitchen counter-and post it on a bulletin board. Refer to the list and complete a task when you have a spare moment.
Set time limits for making decisions-identify the most important factor to be considered and focus only on that. Make the best decision you can by the assigned deadline and move on.
If you have trouble getting places on time, set an alarm that will go off 10 minutes before you need to leave, and another five minutes later. When the first alarm sounds, gather your keys, wallet, and anything else you'll need. When you hear the second alarm, head out the door.
Designate a "junk drawer" in each common room. If a family member encounters clutter, he can put it in the junk drawer. With only one such drawer per room, everyone will know where to look for things that they didn't put away.
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