(Laura’s note: I’m on maternity leave, and while I’ll be blogging occasionally over the next few weeks, I wanted to use the opportunity to run some guest posts from my favorite bloggers. Enjoy!)
by Lorie Marrero
When talking with readers, and reading posts in our message boards, I sometimes find that things people are grappling with are actually one phone call away from getting resolved! I am often surprised at this in my own life, too, when I have one of those days where I knock out tons of stuff on my list.
Isn’t it amazing how we procrastinate things that are so simple? Here are some things I have experienced personally, I have seen with our clients, or our members have told us about:
- Home repairs. Our glass shower door wasn’t closing…for months. Our handyman tried many trick-fixes that didn’t work. ONE PHONE CALL: Fixed the next day for $150. Ugh, why did I wait so long? I still relish each time I take a shower and it closes properly.
- Cracked windshield. ONE PHONE CALL: Fixed the SAME day, and the guy came to my house to do it. It was only a 7 minute call to my amazing insurance company, USAA–it was so remarkable I noted the time on my phone handset.
- You’ve misplaced a document like a tax statement. ONE PHONE CALL: You can usually get someone to send you something via email or even fax that same day.
- You don’t know how much something costs. ONE PHONE CALL: You can usually find out what you need to understand and more from calling the relevant company. If you want to get straight to a human being at large corporations, there is a list maintained online at GetHuman.com that allows you to bypass the phone menu nightmares.
- You have junk that needs hauling away and items that need to be donated. ONE PHONE CALL: You can get all of your clutter hauled away and your stuff taken to Goodwill®!
What could you knock out today that ONE PHONE CALL would solve? Are there nagging repairs, dental or medical appointments, or pieces of missing information that you need to get off your mind? Take a moment and get it done! Then tell us about it in the comments.
Certified Professional Organizer® Lorie Marrero is the bestselling author of The Clutter Diet: The Skinny on Organizing Your Home and Taking Control of Your Life. She is also the creator of ClutterDiet.com, an innovative program allowing anyone to get expert help at an affordable price. Her organizing books and products are sold online and in stores nationwide. Lorie is the spokesperson for Goodwill Industries International, and she is a sought-after expert for national media such as CNBC, Family Circle, WGN News and Woman’s Day. She writes weekly as the organizing expert for Good Housekeeping’s Home Style blog.
I had a real “OMG!” moment with this one. I have had a YMCA membership for my Family for 2 years. It saves us on our latchkey program at the school, and I thought we’d actually go use the gym and pool. I’ve gone to the pool 3 times in the 2 years. I have a free workout center I use at work… I’ve been meaning to cancel the membership for at least 6 months and haven’t gotten to it.
One 5 minute phone call and I will now save $20/month.
Geesh!
@Jen – woo hoo! Make that phone call! It took me 6 months to cancel my blackberry T-mobile plan after getting an iphone. Ugh. I was dreading a hard sell phone call or being on hold half an hour but it was actually pretty painless.
I don’t like talking on the phone, especially to strangers, which is why I put it off. I’ll try to keep the benefits in mind and just power through the ONE PHONE CALL.
I have to find my kids a new pediatrician. I just looked up a new office and wrote their phone number down before checking this blog today…..guess I need to go make that phone call.
@Emily- do it! It’s only one phone call! (hopefully. though sometimes with doctor’s offices it’s a lot of phone calls…)