Alicia Rockmore Expert Guru

Alicia Rockmore, CEO and Queen Bee, is a self-proclaimed organizational maniac who seamlessly juggles a fast-paced career and full home life. Prior to co-founding Buttoned Up, Inc, Alicia was a marketing whiz working for well-known brands like Wish-Bone Salad Dressing, Ragu Pasta Sauces, Total Cereals and Wheaties. Alicia received her MBA from the University of Michigan in 1992 and her BA from Claremont McKenna College in economics in 1987. Prior to her marketing career, Alicia was a CPA with a Big 6 accounting firm. Sarah Welch, CCO and Chief Dreamer, is the slightly more “free-form” yang to Alicia’s organized yin! She’s a seasoned entrepreneur who founded her own marketing consultancy in 2001, and has co-founded one other company that’s successfully moving beyond the startup phase. Before striking out on her own, Sarah worked as an advertising executive with clients like Kellogg’s, General Motors and Ameritech. Sarah received her BS in Business Administration from Georgetown University in 1994. She and Alicia met in 1996 when they both worked on the Ragu brand.

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Stop Chasing Perfection!

The pursuit of perfection takes a superhuman effort to achieve and a superhuman effort to maintain. You have enough work on your plate already; you don’t need another full time job. So we encourage you to let the need to achieve perfection go.
Sarah Welch, co-founder of Get Buttoned Up stresses the importance of understanding imperfect organization. “Imperfect organization is a novel concept that examines organization within the broader context of your total life. The basic premise holds that in order to get more sanely buttoned up overall, you may need to let go of the need to be perfectly organized in some individual areas of your life. The goal is to have a flexible framework that will help you stay on top of the myriad details that make up everyday life AND yet remain limber enough to handle the inevitable curve balls that get thrown your way.”

The two tips below focus on how to streamline your organizational efforts so that you’re more effective, and able to stay on top of it all day-to-day.

#1: Focus on the Fundamentals
Having everything perfectly in order is not essential, in fact it may be detrimental to organization. What you really need to have buttoned up are the three basics: schedules, important papers (financial/medical), and major project plans (task lists). As a rule of thumb, you should spend 80% of your organizational energy staying on top of the three fundamentals. Having these core elements of your life in order will give you the peace of mind that you are on top of what matters. When these things are disorganized, they can wreak havoc on your life. A perfectly put together, color-coded closet may be nice, but it’s not essential.

#2: Learn to See Perfection as an Illusion
Organization is not an end state, but rather an ongoing fact of life; it’s a process. The notion of perfect organization is an illusion because it can only be achieved fleetingly. Life is too messy and unpredictable to be able to sustain it for any length of time. It’s called real life, and sooner or later, it will wreak havoc on “perfection.” When you’re pressed for time, there’s no need to waste energy worrying about those toys strewn on the living room floor, the dishes lingering in the rack by the sink, or the unmade bed. If you’d rather live an organized life, not a life of organization – you’ll need to embrace a little imperfection.

Focus on the 20% of Tasks that are Critical

For most of us, the thought of “getting organized” can be a bit overwhelming. Where should I start? What needs to be done? What does being organized really mean anyway? In the face of an endless list of tasks, many of us end up paralyzed by organizational anxiety – overloaded before we even begin! But in reality, you don’t need to do it all, just the small percentage of things that really matter.

Alicia on ‘Pareto’s Principle’
“In 1906, a very smart Italian economist named Pareto came up with the Pareto Principle, also known as the ‘80/20 Rule’. Quite simply put, the 80/20 rule states that in any pursuit a few things (20%) really matter while everything else (80%) is trivial, so the most efficient way forward is to focus on the 20% that is absolutely critical to success and spend less or no time on the rest. Businesses all over the world use the 80/20 rule to gain incredible efficiency. Certainly, this rule applies to the world of organization and we encourage you to apply it. How liberating to think that if you focus on the few, important things, you will take care of 80% of your problems!”

Here are three things to consider as you evaluate which tasks matter, and which are trivial.

#1: What’s the big picture?
At first glance, it may seem as though everything on your to do list is an absolute priority. But in the long run, only a few things really matter. It’s easy to get lost in the whirlwind, so, set aside five to ten minutes at the start of the week to review your big ‘to-do’ list and at least mentally identify the four or five tasks that are most important.

#2: What would happen if it didn’t get done now?
One incredible marker of a top 20% priority is a high-impact, negative consequence if the task is not done now. If you didn’t organize that junk pile on your desk today, would you miss some bills that have to be paid by tomorrow and incur usurious late fees? If you didn’t get little Logan’s after school commitments entered into your master calendar, would you be likely to schedule over and miss important dates and events? If the implications of not getting something organized are significant, it counts as part of the 20%.

#3: How will you feel if it doesn’t get done now?
This might be the most important criteria of all - how you feel about getting it done. Will getting the task done and out of the way give you a huge lift? If so, do it first. That pile of old newspapers and magazines in the middle of the kitchen table may not be urgent or time sensitive but by taking five minutes to clean it up you’re likely to get a real boost. Focus on those tasks that will give you peace of mind and a burst of energy.

Learn to Delegate Effectively

Once you’ve ditched the need for perfection – it becomes much easier to delegate. Too often, we carry an unnecessarily heavy burden – holding on to and yes, controlling, everything. We know that letting go enough to delegate effectively can be a tough challenge – but it is one worth overcoming. If you don’t learn, you’ll never have a lighter load.

Sarah on “The Benefits”
“In a recent survey conducted by Buttoned Up, we found that in nearly 75% of US homes, the responsibility for managing the entire household is shouldered by one person alone (and 68% of the time, it’s by an already busy, working mom). Delegating effectively can be a tough challenge but it is one well worth overcoming. Consider this: enlisting the help of your “team” (spouse, children, roommates), will make all of you more efficient and happier. Doing everything by yourself demoralizes others because it robs them of the opportunity to add value with their own creative approaches to getting work done.”

Getting Buttoned Up Enough to Delegate
To enable someone else to do the job effectively, you must ensure three very important things.


#1: Provide clear instructions
It’s crucial that the person you are delegating a task to understand what it is they are expected to accomplish. You want to set them up to succeed. When you present the job, carefully explain the reasons why you are delegating the task including what you hope they will get out of doing it and how it helps you. By providing a little bit of context, you’re much less likely to come off as a dictator or a nag – and they’ll be much more inclined to get started. Once the person understands why they have been asked for their help, explain the task clearly along with the expected outcome and any deadlines. Make sure you are understood by soliciting questions and feedback/input.

#2: Empower the person
Now…let go! You should leave the individual plenty of room to accomplish the task – enabling them to add their own ingenuity and creativity into the mix. Everybody wins when better alternative approaches are introduced. Be there to provide support and answer questions when it’s needed, but don’t get too close or you’ll defeat the purpose of delegating in the first place.

#3: Reward a job well done
Check in with the person on a regular basis to let them know how they are doing and whether or not the objectives have been met. If things aren’t on track, work with them to understand why not and help them get back on track. But if they are on track, praise their efforts – positive reinforcement is an extremely powerful tool.

It's Party Time! Planning Children's Birthday Parties!

Many people start planning the details before they have the big picture in place. But it is easier to take care of details like balloon colors and cake designs after you’ve considered the basic party parameters. The big three are: theme, size and place. Your child will probably have a theme in mind, so that’s usually easy to check off the list.
And once you’ve decided on number of people to invite it’s easy to figure out where to host the event. Once you’ve got those three basics figured out, you should focus on the 20% of details that will bring the theme to life and forget about theremaining 80% that are trivial to the success of
your party. Here are three simple rules to follow when planning a kid's birthday party.
#1 Keep them busy! Put together a schedule so that from the start of the party until they leave there is always something going on. Simple games and activities at the beginning and end of the party like charades or a piñata are always crowd pleasers.
#2 Gift Opening- Although opening gifts is the best part for the birthday boy/girl, it’s often the most trying time for little guests who may be prone to fits of jealousy. Consider making a game of it: have everyone (except the giver) guess what is in the present. The winner receives a lollipop or balloon.
#3 Do it yourself party favors! Putting together favor bags can be time consuming and expensive. Why not have the kids make something at the event that they can take home
with them? Try baking plain cupcakes or cookies, have an activity to let everyone decorate their own with frostings and sprinkles, and then package up so the kids can take home. Another idea is to have kids plant in a small pot with seeds or small seedlings and take home their own plant.

Celebrate Good Times! Tips for Remembering Birthdays and Anniversaries

The first step is to gather all the dates and information for the people you love. Start by creating a list– ideally in your to-do notebook so you won’t lose it and you can easily come back to it. Once you’ve got the ball rolling, the next trick is to get others to help you expand the list. Email or call those important people in your life that you
would like to remember on their birthdays and anniversaries. Here are two easy steps to follow-

#1 Create a Master Birthday Calendar
Whether your main calendar is in a Palm Pilot, an email program like Outlook, or on paper, it should be easy to keep track of birthdays. Grab your list, and spend 15 minutes a day (if that) and put all the birthdays in your calendar for one month. In two weeks, you’ll have a master calendar completed. If you’re likely to send a card or buy a gift for the person, jot down a note like what gift you got them
last year or what size they take in clothing – right in the calendar entry. If you don’t happen to keep a master calendar (is that even possible?), buy a birthday book or make a binder of your own. Make sure there’s a page for each day of the year– and simply transcribe your list, along with any notes, into the binder.
#2 Remind Me... Remind Me.. Remind Me Again!
It’s easy to set up reminders in this digital age. If you’re using an electronic calendar, set alarms a few days ahead, so you can get a card out in time. Or make an “appointment” to call the person at 9am on their big day. If you don’t have time to set your own alarms, sign up for a web based greeting service like American Greetings (www.americangreetings.com). Enter in your important dates and a reminderemail is sent to you a week ahead of a date to
remind you it is coming up. Also, once thedates are entered in, a reminder is sent to you each year.

Remedies for a Desk Diaster

Is your desk a disaster area? If you find yourself navigating mounds of papers each time you sit down, can never find a pen or pencil when you need one, or simply can’t see the desktop, your desk qualifies! A cluttered work area is likely to contribute to higher levels of stress,
either because there is too much information for your eye to process or because each time you approach your desk, you’re reminded of how disorganized you are. Your productivity is also likely to suffer because chances are it takes you
longer to find what you need when you need it. Since many of us spend the majority of our waking hours at our desks, the constant, low-level stress and lost productivity due to desk clutter are likely to have an outsized impact on our daily lives.
#1 Contain Clutter Piles
Clutter piles spread like weeds when you have no containment strategy. Buy a simple basket or inbox and force yourself to put any and all loose papers, mail, and notes into the basket. When it is full, rather than letting it overflow and pile on your desk, deal with the items in the basket immediately. Create three piles: toss, file, record; and deal with each accordingly. It should take at most ten minutes to get to the bottom of it all.
#2 Give Everything a Home
Items like pens, paper clips, binder clips, highlighter pens, telephone notepads, and tape dispensers all take up precious room. In addition to restricting your paper piles to a basket, try keeping these desk accessories contained in
either a drawer or desk caddy. That way, you have the benefit of a clear desk and you’ll waste less time hunting around for them when you really need them.
#3 Keep a Notebook
A lot of paper clutter can be reduced by keeping an office notebook. A simple notebook can the perfect place for keeping daily or weekly to-do lists, jotting down phone numbers, taking notes, and just generally staying on top of details. Using one will also likely reduce the amount of time you waste looking for lost numbers and post-it-notes
with bits of information. Just remember to force yourself to look back at the notebook for the first few weeks until it becomes a habit.

Organizing Bills

Here’s a scenario: you come home from work to find a “past due” cable bill in the mailbox. You could have sworn that you had paid it two weeks ago, but your checkbook says otherwise. Still hoping you just forgot to enter the payment in your checkbook register, you rummage around your kitchen, home office, purse…and everywhere else you have little piles of mail stashed. Sure enough, you find the original bill, unopened, under a pile of clutter. Sound familiar? You are not alone. Many people who have problems paying bills on time aren’t necessarily cash strapped, but rather, just need to get more organized financially. We’ve got a few tips to make the dreaded chore easier for you that will save you hours and stress wrinkles.
#1: Go Electronic
Computers can practically do everything for us these days, including bill paying. You can automatically pay bills every month by setting up electronic bill paying with your bank. All you have to do is enter in the information of who to pay and when, and with a quick confirmation your bank will write a check and deduct money from your account every month. This is so simple that in 2005, 24% of bills were paid electronically. So jump on the bandwagon and you will never have a late bill again!

#2: Get a System
For those bills that you would rather review by hand, it’s important to have an efficient system for accomplishing the task. First, gather all bill paying accessories in one spot. This includes your checkbook, calculator, envelopes, stamps, and mailing labels. Then make sure you have a place for all of your unpaid bills. It’s a lot easier when you don’t have to search for everything first!

#3: The Aftermath
After you pay bills, label them immediately with the check number and date because you will forget what you paid! While you’re at it, we encourage you to organize your paid invoices and receipts into tax category folders. Highlight tax related items on your bills such as home office purchases or state tax returns so you’re ahead of the game next April. But avoid unnecessary clutter, save only the tax related paid bills.

Let the Job Search Begin!

It doesn’t matter if you’re new to the working world, or hunting to further your career somewhere new. The job search can quickly turn into an overwhelming and frustrating experience. You have so many choices to make regarding potential employers, location, salary, benefits, and, and that’s before you’ve even started applying! Then you have to deal with resumes and interviews and acceptances and rejections…it’s a rollercoaster that is both terrifying, but potentially very rewarding. While it seems there is no getting around the madness, there are ways to help stay focused and find that perfect job without losing your confidence or your sanity.
Alicia on “Confidence”
“Throughout your job search, the one thing that has a tendency to wane is confidence. A bad interview or a rejection, even something as small as an unreturned call, can have you over-thinking your qualifications. One thing to that’s important to do before you even start your search is to try and get a clear understanding of your strengths as a potential employee. Are you a numbers person? A people person? A risk-taker? By really figuring out who you are and what you have to offer, you’ll not only discover if you’re a good fit for a company, but, more importantly, if they’re a good fit for you.”
1. Connections
Sure you can spend your days combing the classifieds and posting your resume online, but sometimes the best jobs are the ones that don’t ever make it to the public. By letting as many people as possible know that you are looking for a job, you open up a whole new set of employment possibilities inaccessible to other job seekers. The best part of these “word-of-mouth” jobs is that, while they expand your search, they also come with built-in recommendations from whoever referred you, and you’ll get an insiders take on what a company is like before you interview.

2. Know Your Needs
Finding the right job starts with deciding what the wrong job might be. Narrow your job search before it even starts by making a list of your job priorities, from least flexible to ones you could waver on depending on the opportunity. How far are you willing to travel to work? Do you want a 40, 60, or 80 hour week? What benefits are necessary? By prioritizing your needs, you’ll be able to eliminate certain jobs from the start and be able to focus your search on the ones you really want.

3. The Right Resume
Fitting your life on one piece of paper can be a little intimidating, especially if you’re simply handing it off to someone without an interview to back it up. One thing most people don’t understand is how flexible a resume can and should be. A resume doesn’t have to be all facts and no fun. Before sending it to a potential employer, try and cater it to both the job you’re applying for, as well as the company’s personality. Whoever reads it will get to know not only what you’ve done, but also how you want the world to see you.

Organizing 911- What to do if your Significant Other is a Slob

It’s a well-known fact that opposites attract. So don’t be surprised when you find that your significant other’s organizational habits are, shall we say, less than perfectly matched with yours! Chances are, you’ll overlook their untidy habits in the early days – or at least to think – “I can change that…” But then, there you are, five years later, up to your ears in some mess, desperate for a way to teach them once and for all how to clean up after themselves.

Sarah on “Tornado Chasing”
My husband and I are complimentary opposites– he always jokes that I help him do more and he helps me do less. When it comes to keeping the house neat, let’s just say it’s not always easy– or his top priority. He’s got what he calls “tornados” that follow him around, leaving little mounds of dirty laundry, papers and gadgets in his wake (and yes, he says that with a straight face!!). It’s hard to chastise him when given such a clever, creative excuse – but at 8:08 am when we’re racing to get out the door and he can’t find his office keys, it’s definitely not so cute!

Alicia on "Yin and Yang”
Life would be boring if we were all identical in nature. There are benefits to sharing space with a person who has different tolerance levels to orderliness than you do. Unfortunately, we haven’t been trained to celebrate those differences and “meet in the middle.” Too often, the neat nick takes on all the responsibility of keeping a shared space tidy, which can lead to pent up frustration (not to mention a martyr complex) that’s not good for anybody. It’s difficult to work to find a healthy balance that gives messier types some breathing room and tidier types a sense of order, but it’s worth figuring out.

Three Tips for Finding Better Balance

#1: Ditch the Nag
Be clear: nagging is not a motivating concept. It makes the nag feel negative and harpy and the person being nagged feel guilty and under attack. You’re never going to magically turn your slob into a neat freak with negative reinforcement. To get them to stay a step ahead of frenzy, your messy mate will need to associate positive benefits with both the outcome, and probably more importantly, the process. So stop yourself before you criticize and complain. Instead use words of positive encouragement and think of ways to focus their attention on the enjoyable aspects of getting and staying organized. The old adage is right; you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

#2: Set Aside “De-Tornado” Time
(Yes, it’s a verb) Once a week recognize that there is likely to be an ebb and flow in your significant other’s level of organization. Allow room for a little messiness during the week but put limits on how far it can go. By instituting a one hour window every week for cleaning up “tornados” from the previous week, you’ll accomplish both tasks. You’ll probably be pleasantly surprised at how effortlessly this little ritual becomes habitual.

#3: Quid Pro Quo
Literally, quid pro quo means “this for that” in Latin. When it comes to getting your loved one to alter their bad habits, you should consider altering one of your less than charming habits in return. Ask your mate what foibles he/she would appreciate if you worked on in return for their efforts to get more organized. As each of you work on your weakness, you’ll have more compassion for the other’s, and at the end of the day you’ll both end up in a place that’s far better than when you started.

Prepare for Overnight Guest

Sometimes we feel getting ready for overnight guests can be incredibly stressful, especially if your life is already packed-to-the-gills with activities and work. If you’re expecting house guests in the next few months, here are a few, simple things you can do to ensure they’ll enjoy their stay without causing you to go grey (well ok, any greyer than you are now).
Alicia on “Pick One Detail”
“Rather than try to be the absolute, perfect hostess, pick one detail that will let your guests know how special they are to you and how happy you are to have them in your home. In the case of my inlaws, that one detail is my daughter Lucy! So to make them feel welcome, Lucy always has a drawing made especially for her grandparents. As for our other favorite guest, my vegetarian best friend, having a container of soymilk on hand for her morning caffeine fix is one detail that is always greatly appreciated.”

Sarah on “Delegation”
“Too often, women take on the entire burden of entertaining others without ever stopping to include their spouses and/or children. Not only do they represent another set of very capable hands, but they can be a great source of fun ideas too – so make sure to include them. Everybody will have more fun if you’re not frazzled and stressed out. The last time we hosted family members, my husband, Gardiner, helped plan the evening’s activities by putting together a digital slide show of family photos. Not only was the gesture as hit as we sat around, laughing about old memories, it also gave me one less thing to worry about!”

Here are three ways to keep Buttoned Up while hosting overnight guests:

#1: These Are a Few of My Favorite Things
A great way to let your guests know you are thinking about and excited for their impending visit is to find out a few of their favorites before they arrive. Whether it’s their favorite soap or favorite breakfast food, having a few of your guests’ favorite things on hand for their stay is a sure way to provide a warm and heartfelt welcome.

#2: To Do List
Even the simplest and most routine of tasks may escape your attention while you are busy hosting overnight houseguests. To keep on top of your to-dos, make a list of your normal daily activities and keep it posted in a highly visible area, such the refrigerator or family bulletin board. Commit and carve out a block of time in your calendar to take care of these tasks all at once. By doing so, you will be left with more time for the important stuff - like hitting up all those tourists traps with your out-of-town guests.

#3: Balancing Act
While you will probably need to make slight changes in your daily schedule to accommodate your guests, there is no need to put your entire life on hold while they are in town. Chances are your guests wouldn’t want you to in the first place. Instead, try and stay focused on the high importance activities. And don’t forget to let your guests know of these prior commitments. The thoughtful heads up will give them a chance to plan out this free time or even take care of the personal commitments they have had to place on hold.