Have you remembered? At 1am tonight, the clocks go forward one hour and so starts British Summer Time (BST). Bringing us lighter evenings, longer days and more Vitamin D. Hurrah!
As well as remembering to set your clocks forward an hour, here are some other ways in which the move to British Summer Time can help you get more organised this weekend.
Start with the clocks
Not only do you have to remember to change the time on the clocks throughout your house, but you also need to remember how to actually do it! Devices such as smartphones should update themselves, but you’ll need to manually change analogue clocks, some appliance clocks and possibly the clock in your car.
Confession time: when the clocks went back one October not so long ago, I had no idea how to change the clock on my car. My poor family had to mentally take an hour off the display until at least the New Year. Now I need to remember how to do it all over again!
Instruction manuals
As you frantically gather together all the instruction manuals for the appliances in your home, now would be a good time to get them organised. Throw away instructions and warranties for appliances that you no longer own, as well as all the pages that are written in different languages. You might consider scanning what is left and saving them in a folder on your computer. You could even find the instructions online, and then bookmark the pages in your browser. If you prefer to keep the original documents, a ring-binder or folder in your filing cabinet is ideal.
However you decide to to it, you’ll thank me in October when you need to work out how to change the clocks back again!
Smoke detectors
We should test all our home safety devices – smoke detectors and carbon dioxide monitors – at least every month, and manuals recommend that we replace the batteries every year. To be on the safe side, I prefer to change the batteries every six months. I find the changing of the clocks each March and October a useful reminder to do this.
Photos
When was the last time you took your photos off your phone? If your phone is getting a little full, and you haven’t backed up in a while, do it this weekend. And then work out a regular commitment to backing up your photos that fits into your schedule… and actually schedule it into your diary. Once it becomes habit, it will be much easier to keep your precious memories safe and organised.
If you need any help getting your photos organised remember that More Organised LOVES photo organising! I’m a Certified Photo Manager (the only one in Scotland) and can either do it for you, or set up a system so that you can easily do it it yourself.
Sleep
There’s a lot of talk about “losing sleep” tonight as we put the clocks forward an hour. Of course, if you go to bed and get up at the same time, then you will lose out on your beauty sleep. But for the lucky ones with no commitments on Sunday, stop fretting and wake up naturally. It is Sunday after all! But whatever time you wake up tomorrow, use this weekend’s focus on sleep to review your sleeping patterns. Are you getting enough good quality sleep? What could you do to increase the amount of sleep you are getting? Did you know that an organised, tranquil bedroom can help you to get to sleep better… perhaps now would be a good time to have a declutter?
Spring cleaning!
And finally, let’s not forget that the change in the clocks heralds the start of springtime – the traditional time to declutter and deep clean our homes with a good Spring clean.
Now is the perfect time to have a good review of your “stuff”. Make it a seasonal, six monthly habit along with the changing of the clocks. Take a look round and decide to declutter areas of your home and life that are not serving you well. So that you enter summer with a refreshed living space, clear mind and increased energy to meet your goals this year. And if you need help with your clear out, please get in touch. But first, please go and change your clocks!