National Preparedness Month - Emergency Kit #1: NOAA Radio

If I’m going to prepare for an emergency, I want to prepare for one of the worst case scenarios – no power. This means no TV, no computer, eventually no laptop, possibly no phone, and eventually no cell phone. In an emergency, it will be very important to have communication with the outside world to stay informed of valuable information.

Homeland Security recommends an NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) weather radio. This type radio needs to be a combination of plug-in/battery operated type with a hand crank feature. Radios that have specific area message encoding (SAME) technology alert you when weather threats are specific to your area. This means that if there is an eminent or present disaster in your area, a tone will sound to alert you of danger.

The National Weather Service will continuously update emergency and disaster information. This information is available 24/7, repeating pertinent information every four to six minutes.

You will want to print a list of your local SAME codes where you can find broadcast information for your locality. Keep this list with your radio in your emergency kit. The National Weather Service states:

“NWR service to a county depends on reliable signal reception, which typically extends in about a 40 mile radius from the transmitter, assuming level terrain. Counties without NWR coverage or partial NWR coverage will be so indicated. Some counties or parts thereof, especially in mountainous areas, that are listed as having NWR coverage, may not have reliable reception in some locations due to signal blockages and/or excessive distance from the transmitter.”

Where to find such radios?

I got my radio at Best Buy. I went to Best Buy’s website, and typed in NOAA radio onto the search window. I found five radios ranging from $39.99 to $69.99, one which is available online only. I could have ordered online to pick up the radio. But I wanted to go into the store to see the radios.

When I selected a radio on the website, Best Buy’s website showed me which stores in my area carried that radio. However, when I went to the store, I didn’t find the radio I wanted. I found one that I thought had the same qualities as the one I wanted – plug-in and battery operated, as well as a crank feature. I also wanted a cell phone charging feature.

When I got my radio home, however, I found that it didn’t have a plug-in feature – only battery and crank features and the capability of charging my cell phone. I took it back to try to find an AC adapter. They couldn’t find one that fit. In the process, I met Rick, who confessed he was obsessed with these types of radios - just the kind of person I wanted to talk to! He pointed out to me that my Red Cross radio wasn’t even an NOAA radio – the whole reason why I wanted the radio – to be able to hear the emergency alerts!! I am organized, but obviously not a technical whiz at times.

I did end up buying an Eton Red Cross radio for $59.99, but it was clearly marked with NOAA on the cover, has an AC adapter included, battery options and a crank. In my package was a post card that instructed me to send it in or email the company to receive my phone adapter tip and charging cord for my particular cell phone.

In researching this blog, I’ve found that Radio Shack has pages of weather radios, also. I found one that is reasonably priced with both plug-in and battery options as well as a crank option. It also has a USB cord that allows you to charge electronic devices, such as cell phones. The Midland ER-102 Emergency Crank Radio with Weather Channels is only available from the web, though, and costs $49.99.

By searching for NOAA radios on your computer, I’m sure you can find other providers as well. Make sure to get extra batteries that fit your radio and store them with your radio.

Of course, you could always get a generator. Prices start at several hundred dollars and go up into the thousands. I think if I lived in a hurricane-prone area, I would consider it!

Resource: National Preparedness Month, NOAA’s National Weather Service.

How do you prepare for emergencies?


Related Posts: National Preparedness Month - Making a Plan, National Preparedness Month - Determining Potential Emergencies

Celebration Giveaway #3

Celebration Giveaways came about as a result of the release of my 17th book in the 1-2-3...Get Organized series. It is called Three Steps to Becoming a Downsizing Professional - a comprehensive manual for those who want to pursue helping people downisize to a smaller residence. It includes everything you need to know to start your own business, market it, and learn the nuts and bolts of downsizing.

Today's giveaway is a downloadable copy of my Hassle Free Dinners - 800+ pages of weekly dinner menus, instructions, and weekly grocery lists. It's a marriage of professional organization and dinnertime. The goal is to minimize the time you spend in the kitchen while preparing tasty, balanced and quick meals.

Just leave a comment below and you're entered for the giveaway! See the Related Posts below for more ways to win.

Related Posts: Celebration Giveaways September 2-9, 2008!, Celebration Giveaway #1 and More Giveaways!, Celebration Giveaway #2 and Another Giveaway!

National Preparedness Month - Determining Potential Emergencies

Before I get started on today's topic of determining potential emergencies, Marsha (see her comment on Giveaway #1) reminded me of something I forgot about on Making a Plan yesterday. And that is having a family password. If someone approaches your child saying you sent them, that person must give the password before your child will go with them. Our family used my maiden name as our password. Thanks, Marsha, for the reminder!

Determining Potential Emergencies

One of the first steps in preparing for an emergency is to find out what types of disasters are prevalent in your area. This includes both natural and man-made disasters. By knowing what emergencies may come your way, determines where you will keep your emergency kit.

For example, if tornadoes are a possibility in your area, a basement would be a likely place to keep your emergency kit. However, if flooding is a threat, a basement would not be an ideal location.

If you are new to an area, do some research to discover potential emergencies. You will need to know if you should stay in your home or evacuate. You will need to know where emergency shelters in your locale are located, if that is an option you should take.

We have tornadoes as a threat in our area, for example. We have designated a closet that is located under a staircase, which is away from windows. It is partially below ground and has a significant amount of piping that serves as additional support. In previous houses, however, our best protection was in a ground floor bathroom or closet.

Also, pay attention to how you will be notified of emergencies. We have a tornado siren in our area that sounds when a tornado watch turns into a tornado warning, which means to take cover. Other possible methods of alert are through emergency radio, TV broadcasts, computer weather alerts, or phone calls from local authorities.

I keep The Weather Channel on my desktop which has a temperature icon in the lower right corner of my computer screen. When there is a weather alert, it turns red.

We’ll talk about emergency radios tomorrow.

We had some great suggestions yesterday - take a look. What do you do to prepare for emergencies?

Resource: National Preparedness Month

Related Posts: National Preparedness Month - Making a Plan

Celebration Giveaway #2 and Another Giveaway!

I'm celebrating #17 of my 1-2-3...Get Organized series - Three Steps to Becoming a Downsizing Professional. It's a manual for those who want to pursue a career in helping people downsize to a smaller residence.

My giveaway for today is Three Steps to Organizing Your Kitchen. To win, leave a comment below. To find out how you can submit more entries, go to Celebration Giveaways September 2-9, 2008!

Visit Sweet 'n Sassy Girls for another giveaway. See Giveaway #1 for others going on this week.

Related Posts: Celebration Giveaway #1 and More Giveaways!, Celebration Giveaways September 2-9, 2008!

National Preparedness Month - Making a Plan

Hurricane Gustav is a good reminder that we need to be prepared in emergencies! September is National Preparedness Month, so we’re going to take some time to get ready for potential emergencies. I’ll do it in short segments so as not to overwhelm you!

Homeland Security has a site dedicated to National Preparedness Month if you want to make faster progress or get an overview of the steps of preparation. Homeland Security Suggests: Get a Kit, Make a Plan, and Be Informed. I think we’ll start with Making a Plan first.

Create an Emergency Plan

Designate a family or friend to be your contact person(s). It may be better to choose a person outside your local area, as it may be easier to make a long distance call than a local call if your town is experiencing an emergency.

Make sure your children, siblings, parents, and other important people have the phone number(s) of the contact person(s). For example, I have chosen my parents who live in another state to be our contact people. My siblings are our alternative contact people. I have given our children the phone numbers for each one.

Those phone numbers should be placed in a wallet or on a cell phone so they are available at all times. Each person should have a cell phone, pre-paid calling card, or coins for a pay phone (are there such things anymore?) with them at all times, as well.

You may also want to designate a local location to meet should your home be destroyed or unavailable – a local school, church, or friend’s home within walking distance. The police station would be a good check-in spot as well. If your city designates check-in locations, heed those.

Create a plan for various scenarios: you're at work, you're at home, your family members are at work/school/day care/other events. Will you or your spouse pick your children up from school? Will they ride the bus home? Talk through these plans with your family members. Review periodically.

Resource: National Preparedness Month

What have you done to prepare for emergencies?

Celebration Giveaway #1 and More Giveaways!

Today is the beginning of Celebration Giveaways, celebrating #17 of my 1-2-3...Get Organized series - Three Steps to Becoming a Downsizing Professional. It's a comprehensive manual for those who'd like to launch out on this wonderful career of helping people downsizing to a smaller residence.

Today's Giveaway: Three Steps to Organizing Your Child's Room. To win, leave a comment below. To obtain more entries, check out our rules posted in Celebration Giveaways September 2-9, 2008!

More Giveaways around the Blogosphere:

- Laurel Wreath's Fall Giveaway, September 1-5

- Mommy Meryl's Blogging Road Trip, September 1-5

- Mommy Community's Blogging Road Trip, September 1-5. Mommy Community wants me to give a little blurb about who I am: I'm a professional organizer, speaker and author of the 1-2-3...Get Organized series. I'm a mother of two grown daughters and a foster mom to teenage girls. I'm delightfully married to my husband of 33 years.

Related Posts: Celebration Giveaways September 2-9, 2008!

Laurel Wreath's "I Love Fall Giveaway

Laurel Wreath is the Christian Women Online Magazine's book reviewer. She also has her own delightful blog called Laurel Wreath's Reflections.

Laurel loves the fall, and to celebrate the season, she is sponsoring a giveaway from September 1-5. Not only will she give away something each day, but she has asked five women to offer their own giveaways during that time, with me being one of those women.

"Joining me are CWO’s Editor Darlene Schacht, Author and Speaker Lysa TerKeurst, Professional Organizer Beverly Coggins, jewelry maker Crystal at Two Belles & a Bead, and “Down on the Farm” Mrs. Deedra. They will be offering up some wonderful prizes you will NOT want to miss!" Laurel writes.

So drop by Laurel Wreath's Reflections September 1-5 and win yourself some fun stuff!

Getting Organized for School - Cleaning out the Car

This is the last in my series of getting organized for school. Next month we'll look at National Preparedness Month to see how we might prepare for emergencies.

You don't often think of cleaning out your car as part of getting organized for school. However, as activities gear up, you'll probably find yourself chauffering your child to lessons, practices, school and such, spending more time in your car. Why not make it a pleasant place to be?

Let's start with the trunk. Corral those jumper cables, windshield washer fluid bottles, and whatever else you have back there into a container. A plastic crate works well, but you could use anything that does the job.

Get rid of accumulated trash, sports equipment, clothing, etc., and return them to their homes. Vaccuum if needed.

Now to the inside. Start with removing trash and other unecessary items. Evaluate: do you need some organizers for items you want to keep in the car - music, maps, sunglasses, etc. Some attach to the visor, others attach to the back of the front seats, while others sit on the console between the front seats.

While you're evaluating - what do you want to keep in the car at all times? We like to keep tissues, paper towels, music, maps, batteries for the dvd headsets, and change for toll roads. When our girls were in high school, I also kept deodorant in the glove box for those forgetful days. :-)

Give the car a good clean and you're ready to go!

Celebration Giveaways September 2-9, 2008!

I am celebrating the September 2 launch of Three Steps to Becoming a Downsizing Professional ! It is #17 in my 1-2-3…Get Organized series. This manual is a complete guide to starting a downsizing business, marketing it, and learning the nuts and bolts of downsizing.

As 76 million Baby Boomers reach retirement age in the next 20 years, this is a growing niche for both new and experienced organizers. I have found this to be a very rewarding and fulfilling career, helping people downsize to a smaller residence.

About the Manual
Drawing upon my years of experience in downsizing (my specialty), I want to make the journey for others quicker and easier than my own trial and error method. Included in the package is

- a CD containing contracts, intake interviews – all the forms you will need
- a DVD comprised of proven techniques and methods needed for downsizing
- a buyer's guide for recommended products
- and a membership to our members-only blog designed to provide a forum for sharing ideas, asking questions, and getting support from me and other downsizing professionals.

About the Celebration Giveaways
In light of the launch of Three Steps to Becoming a Downsizing Professional, I wanted to celebrate by having a week of giveaways. Each day from September 2-9, I’ll be giving away one of my books.

I’ll be posting my regular blogs on organizing tips. At the end of each post, I’ll list the giveaway for that day, and you will need to comment on that day’s blog to enter the giveaway for that day.

Here are the rules:
1. Leave a comment on each day’s blog to enter the giveaway for that day
2. If you post a blog sending your readers to the Celebration Giveaways, you can enter a second comment saying you did so
3. For each update on your Twitter, Facebook, etc. pages about Celebration Giveaways, you can enter another comment (each location counts as one comment)
4. For every 10 people you email about the Celebration Giveaways, you can enter an additional comment saying you did so
5. Celebration Giveaways will end at midnight on Tuesday, September 9, 2008, Eastern.

I’ll select the winners randomly and announce them on September 10, 2008.

Getting Organized for School (and life!) - Determining The Legacy You Want to Leave Your Children

Life is busy! If I know what is important to me, I know how to use my time. I can also evaluate requests by others for my involvement or time.

A couple of times a year I try to sit down to think through what priorities and passions will guide my time. I also look at my giftedness to make sure I'm spending time using my gifts. In light of these areas, I look at the legacy I want to leave my children and foster children.

When my children were home, I usually did this in September, January, and May - logical times to re-evaluate my schedule. It was also when my children's schedules would change, which would necessarily affect me.

After evaluating all of these areas, I determine my goals. Then I create a template for a typical week. I use it to plan my week every week and evaluate my progress. When I have these tools in place, my home and life run more smoothly, and I'm less likely to forget things or double schedule events. My desire is for home to be a refuge instead of a crisis center.

This process allows me to determine how to best use my time or evaluate the importance of new requests on my time. And it helps me to plan my time so I can accomplish those things that are important to me, rather than be tossed around by other people's goals.

Do you want to be intentional about the legacy you leave your children and future generations, but are a bit overwhelmed at knowing where to start? Check out my time management books, which guide you step-by-step to help you determine your passions, priorities, giftedness, goals, and schedule.

What legacies do you want to leave your children and future generations?

Related Posts: Getting Organized for School - Organizing Homework, Getting Organized for School - Organizing Your Child's Artwork and School Papers, Getting Organized for School - A Successful Day Starts the Night Before, Getting Organized for School - School Supplies and Backpacks, Hope for Disorganized Students!, Homework battles, Getting Organized for School - Backpack Checklist, Getting Organized for School - Learning Style, Getting Organized for School - Document Organizing System, Getting Organized for School - Creating a Hub, Getting Organized for School (and life!) - Getting Enough Sleep, Get Organized for School (or life!) - A Family Calendar, Organizing for School - Papers, Get Organized for School - Clothing Inventory

Getting Organized for School - Organizing Homework

I posted this blog last year, but thought it was worth repeating. Homework can be a constant source of contention without a plan.

Having trouble getting your child to do homework? Or does homework seem to stretch out over an unusually long time? When my children were in school I came up with a solution that gave my girls control and motivation, as well as some training in time management.

While they were having their after-school snack, each girl would list out all her homework assignments on a 3 x 5 card with the estimated time needed to complete each subject. Then, depending on how much time we had that day for homework, she would plan out her homework time, interspersing homework time with play time - a video game, a game with me, a TV show, shooting hoops, playing outside, etc. I recommend 30 minutes studying and 15 minutes to play with longer study times for older kids, shorter for younger.

I found that my kids were motivated to complete their homework in the time they estimated so they could get to playing. Plus homework time didn't turn into an endless expanse of time with no end in sight.

If one of the girls would underestimate the time it took to complete an assignment, her play time was still honored. Just having a change of scenery refreshes the brain.

By giving each girl some control over how she managed her time, she was motivated to do her homework and felt a sense of accomplishment from organizing her homework. Homework was broken up into bite-sized pieces and interspersed with fun. Homework battles were greatly reduced!

A suggestion: study your child. One of my daughters, an introvert, was depleted both physically and socially when she came home from school because she had used up all her words. She needed food and time to regroup before she was ready to talk about her day. My other daughter, also an introvert, wouldn't use up her words at school and was a chatterbox because she felt more comfortable using her worlds at home.

A child with ADHD may need to get rid of a bunch of energy before sitting down to homework. Each child is different, and as we study our children, we'll have more insight into creating an atmosphere for their success.

What do you to solve somework battles?

Related Posts: Getting Organized for School - Organizing Your Child's Artwork and School Papers, Getting Organized for School - A Successful Day Starts the Night Before, Getting Organized for School - School Supplies and Backpacks, Hope for Disorganized Students!, Homework battles, Getting Organized for School - Backpack Checklist, Getting Organized for School - Learning Style, Getting Organized for School - Document Organizing System, Getting Organized for School - Creating a Hub, Getting Organized for School (and life!) - Getting Enough Sleep, Get Organized for School (or life!) - A Family Calendar, Organizing for School - Papers, Get Organized for School - Clothing Inventory

Getting Organized for School - Organizing Your Child's Artwork and School Papers

Along with school, comes all those papers! And art masterpieces. What to do with them? You want to preserve memories of your child’s school years, but you don’t want to train her to be a pack rat.

I’ll have to admit – I wasn’t very proactive in this area when my children were growing up. We’d sort through papers every once in a while, frame some, and store others, but we didn’t do it very consistently.

I researched this topic when asked to contribute to an article written by Mary Beth Breckenridge at the Akron Beacon Journal (Preserve your Children's Masterpieces without Creating a Mountain from Paper Memoirs, September 5, 2005). I found some great ideas I wish I had used.

So today’s blog comes primarily from the article Mary Beth wrote from the hints that two other organizers (Deniece Schofield and Chris Perrow) and I contributed. And I’ve added a couple I’ve come up with since then.

First, choose a receptacle for such papers. It could be a file folder, a hanging file, an art portfolio (or one made by taping two pieces of poster board together), a box, a binder with protector sheets - whatever works for you and your child.

Before storing your child’s artwork, you may want to display them. You could create a gallery in your child’s room or elsewhere by hanging a colorful piece of string or yarn across a wall and clip the artwork to the string. Voila – instant gallery.

Or use a picture frame to house artwork, swapping out the front picture when a new keeper comes along, storing the other pictures behind the most recent one. And there’s always the refrigerator or a bulletin board.

Another option is to turn the artwork into placemats (by laminating them), wrapping paper or greeting cards. A glass-covered coffee table can show off artwork under the glass. Or turn your child’s artwork into a calendar. Create a collage with several pieces of artwork. There are even companies that turn your child’s artwork into a book.

Artwork that doesn’t make it into the keeper file can be sent to grandma or to our troops, if it seems too cruel to toss them.

With your child, clean out her backpack at the end of the week. Some papers will not be sentimental and will go easily into the recycling bin. Try to encourage your child to choose only one item a week to keep. Label the back of the paper with the date and a description, especially if the picture may not be readily identifiable!

Some weeks may be more prolific than others, and it may be too traumatic to narrow it down to one item. If you don’t mind, and you have enough room, make exceptions here and there. There may be items you treasure, but your child doesn’t see the value in them at her age – keep those, too.

At the end of the month, as you are evaluating that week’s papers, look back over the previously stored papers to see if some of the sentimentality has decreased for the earlier keepers. Time has a way of diminishing the attachment. Repeat every month.

For large three-dimensional projects take a picture rather than storing the entire project. Large art pieces can be taken to a copy center and reduced to a manageable size.

At the end of the school year, determine if your storage is adequate to house that year’s keepers. If not, purge until it is. Label the container with your child’s name and the year.

For family night one night, take out the keepers for the last few years and reminisce – what a fun memory!

Why I Didn't Make the Olympics

My friend Teresa sent this to me. It is really hilarious!

Organizing Your Herb Garden, Part 3 - Using Your Herbs

We had some friends over for dinner last night, and it's a good thing they like herbs! I may have overdone it, but we all seemed to be no worse for the wear.

I made Italian bread in my bread machine. The recipe calls for dried marjoram, dried basil, and dried thyme. Didn't grow any marjoram this year, but substituted my fresh basil and thyme for the dried. You just use three times the dried amount called for in the recipe. The bread was so yummy. I created my own olive oil dipping sauce by sprinkling shredded Parmesan, garlic salt and pepper on top of the olive oil.

I love lime basil! I grew it this year after my next door neighbor raved about how much she liked it. We've had it on pork and last night on turkey tenderloins. The turkey's flavor was a little too strong for the delicate flavor of the lime basil - I think I'll try it on chicken tenderloins next.

We also had a rice pilaf mix, which had quite a few herbs in the seasoning packet. To drink we had my herbal mint tea from my peppermint and spearmint plants - so yummy! Maybe I'm going a little overboard here?

Cutting herbs can be a pain. When I made my Italian bread, I chopped the herbs in my little mini-chopper. When I cut the lime basil, I used scissors. Using a knife is my least favorite method.

WARNING: be careful if you dry your herbs in the microwave. Yesterday I was drying some basil that had been air drying for a few days. I heard a pop, opened the microwave door, and saw that a stem of the basil had caught fire and ignited the paper towel below it. It was only a tiny spot, but if I hadn't been right there, it might have grown.

Did you know that lavender has calming properties? Another herb fact from my next door neighbor Ann Marie. She says that if you put it in a bath or put dried lavender in a sachet or pillow, it helps you sleep. As you can imagine, our foster daughters often have trouble getting to sleep as a result of their years of neglect or abuse. So I decided to grow lavender. A lavender bath is also supposed to help menstrual cramps. Haven't tried any of these yet, but plan to. Lavender is a perennial and will grow back each year. And with it's pretty purple flowers, it looks nice in your garden, too.

Remember my monster pineapple sage? We decided to remove it from the garden. We tried in a couple of recipes and just didn't like the taste. I even made pineapple sage tea, which was good. But when I dried it and made tea from it, it was rather insipid. So decided it wasn't worth having it take over the entire herb garden when we didn't really like the taste! Live and learn.

Well, I think that about covers my herb musings for the day. :-)

How do you use your herbs? I'd love to have some fresh ideas!

Related Posts: Organizing Your Herb Garden, Organizing Your Herb Garden, Part 2 - Drying Herbs,

Getting Organized for School/College - Software Tools

My nephew Jeff (the technical guru in the family) sent along a tip for software he recommends for high school and college students at a great price:

“The Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 from Buy.com may be of interest to your readership. It definitely goes along with the “back to school” theme of your recent blog posts. The Home & Student suite comes with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and a note-taking program called OneNote . It’s great for saving those little bits of useful information that don’t fit anywhere else. Anyway, $85 is a good price, especially considering the license allows it to be installed on three computers.


As you might imagine, with a name like “Home and Student,” the license for this version doesn’t allow for commercial use."

Thanks, Jeff! (I noticed that OneNote retails for $99 itself - so it is a very good deal!)

This fits in perfectly with an article from PC Magazine, 12 Tools to Keep Your School Life Organized, which lists software to help college students organize their studies, time, social life, diet, entertainment, and more!

Related Posts: Getting Organized for School - A Successful Day Starts the Night Before, Getting Organized for School - School Supplies and Backpacks, Hope for Disorganized Students!, Homework battles, Getting Organized for School - Backpack Checklist, Getting Organized for School - Learning Style, Getting Organized for School - Document Organizing System, Getting Organized for School - Creating a Hub, Getting Organized for School (and life!) - Getting Enough Sleep, Get Organized for School (or life!) - A Family Calendar, Organizing for School - Papers, Get Organized for School - Clothing Inventory