Tip Tuesday – Do You Have Your PPP In Place?

With a spike in online orders, the pandemic has ushered in an era of PPP for many of us, AKA the “Package Processing Problem.” To fix this problem, you need a different PPP: a “Package Place & Process”! I am encouraging all of my clients to come up with a dedicated PLACE in their homes and a TIME in their schedules to PROCESS the many boxes and padded envelopes that arrive in a seemingly endless stream.

If you want your boxes out of sight, possible locations include the floor of a coat closet, under a skirted table, or in a mudroom cupboard. Even a dedicated bench or large basket out in the open will create a clear “zone.” Keep a retractable blade nearby to open boxes easily, and some clear packing tape for returns.
More importantly, dedicate a TIME to open boxes, try on clothes, and consider items. I encourage you to NOT postpone the decision of whether you will keep things. Decide the day you open the package, which should be within a week of arrival.

I have a client who has MANY things delivered daily. She has come up with a simple system of marking things with sticky dots. No dot means it needs to be opened. For returns, a red dot means it’s ready to go back to the post office, a blue dot goes to UPS, and a yellow dot will get returned to the brick and mortar store. On each dot she writes the date it MUST be returned by. She does her package processing in weekly batches which saves time. And she saves money as she always returns things she doesn’t want or need in a timely manner.

Do YOU get enough packages to dedicate a space and a system for processing them? Do you have any tricks (like the sticky dots) that make it easier to process packages? Let us know in a reply and please join us in my fun FB Community, Organizing Solutions for Busy Women!