Organizing an Important Information Notebook

         
Over the summer I have been working on a notebook containing information for each of our foster daughters. I have five pocket dividers in my notebook - one for each girl.

I keep a list of doctors, the pharmacy number, school information, sports information, friends' numbers, and anything else that relates to that child. When I need to make a doctor's appointment, I just flip to that page to find the number.

In the pocket I keep business cards, receipts, prescriptions, schedules, etc., until I have a chance to document or use them. 

I also have some notebook paper in each section to take notes when I go to the doctor, etc. I take the notebook to each doctor appointment so I have everything I need while there - pharmacy phone number, referring doctor, etc. 

More on organizing information:

Getting Organized for School - Charts

Organizing for School 2010 - A Family Calendar

Three Steps to Time Management for the Working Mom 

Organizing Your Dorm Room - 2010

           
I did this post a couple of years ago. As it gets close to move-in time for college, I thought this might be helpful to repeat ...

Lately I’ve been hearing about spacious and luxurious dorm rooms - how nice if you're lucky enough to have one! But this is the exception rather than the rule. Dorm rooms are notoriously small and cramped. So it is essential that you use your space extremely well in order to function at your peak in college.

If you have the chance after you have gotten your room assignment, measure your room, noting where built-ins, plugs, sinks, windows, doors (and which way they open) and other non-movable items are located. There's usually not much room for additional items, but your measurements allow you to purchase additional storage, for example, with accuracy.

One of the keys in organizing a dorm room is using the vertical space. Many schools have a loft option for the beds, which allows you to utilize the space below the bed efficiently. Adding additional storage options in this area or purchasing tall storage units will maximize your vertical space. Adhesive hooks also add storage for hats, keys, and other such items without using premium storage real estate.

Utilize hanging storage units in your closet, on the back of the door, etc. Don't forget those spaces at the bottom of your closet and under your bed (if you don't choose the loft option) for extra storage containers, drawers or cubbies. All these cute storage options multiply your storage capacity while using normally non-usable space.

Be realistic about the space you have! Only bring to school that which can fit in your dorm room. A sure-fire way to guarantee a mess is not having a home for everything. If you will be traveling back home before winter sets in, only bring summer and fall clothing with a few transitional items. Swap out seasonal items each time you go home.

There's nothing that gets out of hand quicker than paper! Have a place for files and paperwork, whether it's in a desk file drawer, hanging files in a crate, or a rolling file unit. This eliminates lost papers and wasted time looking for them. Don't forget to use your wall space for bulletin boards and message boards - another great way to coral paper, important messages and reminders.

Make use of small containers with lids for school supplies, food, and toiletries. Crates turned on their sides make great stackable shelves. Rolling drawer units are space-conscious, as well.

Figure out a few minutes each day or each week to declutter, and your room will be a cozy haven! Declutter while you're on the phone, watching a movie, or talking with your roommate, and you'll be doubling your time.

Speaking of doubling your time, to get the most out of college check out Three Steps to Time Management for the College Student.

More on college:
Packing for College, Round 1
Organizing for College - Guest Blogger Sarah Scrafford
Organizing For College - Dorm Room

The #1 Cure for Accumulating Clutter

    
Want to know my secret for not accumulating clutter? Stop shopping! I'm just fine as long as I don't know what it is that I'm missing. The problem with shopping, though, is that you find things you can't live without even though you didn't know they existed before you went shopping. :)

Recreational shopping is dangerous - it has a way of increasing your appetite for things. I try to go shopping only when I need something and shop just for that. It's hard, but it works.

So do yourself a favor and shop only when you need to and avoid window shopping. And it will be less likely that you will accumulate more clutter.

More on accumulating less clutter:

Intentional Contentment - An Antidote to Clutter

When a Bargain is Not a Bargain

Decluttering Newspapers and Magazines

Three Steps to Decluttering

Taking Advantage of Sales Tax Holidays for Organizing, Moving and Office Supplies

   
If you are in need of organizing, moving, or office supplies, this is a great time to take advantage of back-to-school tax holidays. Here are excerpts from an article by John Stevens, listing numerous states and their tax savings: 

"Several states have instituted sales tax holidays this August, to give families a break while shopping for school supplies and to stimulate local economies. Many retail stores are offering special deals to coincide with tax-free days. 

Although the tax holidays are intended for back to school shoppers, many packing and organizing supplies, such as strapping tape and file folders, will be tax-free as well. People who are thinking of moving their files into storage, or decluttering a home in preparation for putting it on the market, may want to take advantage of the August tax-free holidays.

The states that will have tax holidays include:

• Connecticut, which offers a holiday next weekend, from Aug. 15-21.
• Florida, which is offering a holiday from its six percent sales tax next weekend (from Aug. 13-15). Florida’s tax holiday will cover clothing and accessories under $50 and school supplies that sell for $10 or less.
• Illinois, which is waiving its five percent sales tax on school supplies and most clothing (under $100) for ten days (through August 15). Although Illinois is waiving its state sales tax, it will still collect a 1.25 percent tax which goes to counties and towns, as well as any local city taxes that may apply. The event is Illinois’ first ever tax holiday, and is being offered even though the state has a record-breaking $13 billion budget deficit.
• Maryland's tax holiday runs until next Saturday (8/14). The holiday will apply to clothes and shoes under $100, which in Maryland is a six percent discount.
• Massachusetts, which will have its tax holiday next weekend, August 14 and 15. The holiday will save shoppers a 6.25 percent sales tax. Last year, Massachusetts skipped its tax holiday because of state budget problems.
• Texas, which is offering a sales tax holiday from August 20-22. Texas’ holiday will apply to most clothing and shoes under $100, backpacks under $100, and school supplies under $100.

The state of Georgia, however, dropped its tax holiday this year. State lawmakers said that they could not afford the loss of $12 million in taxes at a time when Georgia is running a $2 billion deficit. Washington D.C. shoppers will not get a sales tax holiday either, because local officials felt the holiday was costing the district too much money (about $1.3 million).

Most states offer a tax holiday to make it easier for families to buy school supplies. Some states, however, drop taxes to make it easier for families to prepare for hurricanes or other disasters, to make it easier to buy energy-efficient appliances, or even to buy firearms.

Researchers say that the tax holidays do little to stimulate the economy, since most consumers are buying items that they would have had to buy anyway, but are delaying the purchases to coincide with the tax holidays."

More on saving:

No Cost Organizing: Drawer Dividers

Coupon Sources

Organizing Back to School Shopping

 

Organizing for School 2010 - A Family Calendar

    
At the end of summer, I'm usually feeling like life is out of control. It's been nice to have a less restrictive schedule, but I'm ready to have a little more routine. And being an introvert, I'm looking forward to having a little more time to myself and to spend on my business, which I greatly minimize during the summer. So here's a rerun of a post I did last year about getting organized for school:

Getting Organized for School - Family Calendar

I'm taking another look at getting ready for school - if you start now and get yourself organized, life will not be so chaotic when school starts. The following is a revamp from last year's post on the same subject. 

A major aspect of getting ready for school (or life) is having a family calendar in a location where everyone can check in to see what's going on. It's best if it is located at your hub (see my post on this subject, listed below).

Your calendar can be an organizing software program on your computer/laptop or a wall calendar.

There are a number of great software programs that track several family members (some are free!). And there are several personal spiral/notebook type organizers - my favorite being the Planner Pad. I've done reviews of both software programs and notebook type organizers and will link the related posts below.

When my children were home, we used a huge calendar on the side of our refrigerator. My friend Carole, hangs hers inside one of her kitchen cabinets so it's not so unsightly. 

I like the look of Mom's Plan It Calendar. It's a 17-month calendar which can track up to 5 family members, with stickers, and more. 

You can use a different color pen or marker for each person, and a separate color for family activities. Then it's a breeze to decipher your daily activities!

I use my Palm software and post the schedule on the fridge each week, including our dinner menus!


More on Calendars/Organizers:

Getting Organized for School - Creating a Hub 
Product Review of Organizers - Daily Home Planner  
Product Review of Organizers - The Planner Pad
Product Review of Organizers - PDAs 
The Final Review of Organizers 
Cozi 2.0, Oops

Organizing Summer Fun When Everyone is Bored: A Crazy Dinner

    
Last week as we sat down for dinner, the girls asked us if we were missing something since we had neither utensils or plates on the table. Nope, it is a crazy dinner.

I had printed the list below, cut it into strips, and placed the strips in a paper lunch bag. We proceeded with dinner, eating one item at a time: pork chops, pasta salad, and fruit.

With each item, each person drew a slip out of the bag. He/she must eat that item using the utensil and container on his/her slip of paper. 

We laughed so hard throughout the entire meal. We topped it off with brownies which we had to eat using no hands! One of the girls suggested whipped cream, so we had a glorious mess putting our faces into our brownies. And we have pictures to provie it! Unfortunately, we are not allowed to post pictures of our foster daughters. :(

This simple list turns an ordinary dinner into a crazy, fun one! Thanks to my friend Margaret for giving me the idea.


Pan lid with a wooden spoon

Punch cup with a spatula

Heart dish with a plastic knife

Plastic cup with a relish fork

Pan with tongs

Pie plate with a large ladle

Angel food cake pan with an ice cream scoop

Bread pan with a measuring teaspoon

Syrup pitcher with a teaspoon

Mug with a soup spoon

Juice glass  with a measuring tablespoon

Serving bowl with a slotted spoon

Corn dish with a butter knife

Egg cup with a small ladle

Glad container with chop sticks

Spring form pan with corn holders

Stock pot with salad serving fork

Large measuring cup with a rubber scraper

Large white bowl with a cooking fork

2-quart pitcher with a melon baler

Crockpot with a wooden spatula

9 x 9 pan with a slotted spatula

Cake pan with ice tongs

Corningware with an icing knife


More on organizing summer fun:

Organizing Summer Fun When Everyone is Bored: A Random Act of Kindness

Organizing Summer Fun When Everyone is Bored: Guess the Theme Day

Organizing Summer Fun When Everyone is Bored: A Unique Dinner

Three Steps to Planning Your Child's Parties 

Getting Rid of Guilt-Producing Expectations

      
Have some well-meaning people given you gifts that don't relate to your interests, skills, or priorities? Sometimes people give gifts they would love to have themselves rather than study their recipient's desires. Without meaning to, they may have piled some guilt onto you. 

Or you may have those in your life who think you need to know how to do certain things and provide you with the associated tools. They may not care if you want to do those things, but are imposing their own expectations on you.

Or you may have bought these items yourself because you "should" use them, thereby heaping expectations on yourself.

- You may have received craft items from an artsy person, when you think you're doing well to draw stick figures. 

- Or some do-it-yourself tools when your typical DIY outcome is to glue your fingers together with super glue. 

- Or you may have purchased fancy gardening gadgets because you feel you should have curb appeal like HGTV, but you really hate gardening.

If items around your house produce guilt because you think you "should" use them, but they just don't fit with who you are, get rid of them! Someone out there would love to have those things that are oppressing you!

Life is too short to be bound by yours or someone else's unrealistic expectations!

More on decluttering guilt:

Guilt-Ridden Clutter

Understanding the ADD Mindset

Three Steps to Decluttering

Starting Small with Clutter

        
If decluttering is overwhelming to you, start small. 

For example, if you're decluttering clothes and can't bear to part with all your "small" clothes or "large" clothes, don't get rid of all of them. Select a few outfits you really love, in case you change sizes. Just don't keep them all! 

Or, if you're decluttering books, start with one shelf. See if you can get rid of half of the books on that shelf. Ask yourself, am I going to read this again? Would someone else benefit from it? 

Don't feel you need to tackle your entire decluttering job at once. Start small!

Remember, you want to surround yourself with possessions you love. Do not let your clutter overshadow your beloved items and make it so you cannot enjoy them. 


More on decluttering:

Three Steps to Decluttering

Intentional Contentment - An Antidote to Clutter

One Sign That Your Clutter is Out of Control

Make it Easy to Get Rid of Things

Review: Personal Microderm

  
I was asked to review the Personal Microderm, a microdermabrasion at home product by SkinCareRx. I'm not sure how this relates to organizing, but who would refuse?

The personal microderm is easy to use once you get used to it. It is a small hand-held appliance with two sizes of rotating heads - one for the face and one for the body.

It only took a few minutes to go over my face and hands, the areas I was most concerned about. Both areas look improved after just three uses. And it's so nice to use it right at home. 

Organizing Summer Fun When Everyone is Bored: A Visual Scavenger Hunt

     
Gotta squeeze some more fun in before summer ends!

Visual Scavenger Hunt - hide small items out in the open (either inside or outside), but blending with surroundings.

Example: chocolate chip on a brown window sill.  Things to hide: paper clip, staple, rubber band,  penny, twist tie, chocolate chip,  raisin, birthday candle , red hot, piece of gum, push pin, nail, balloon, screw, button, key, straight pin, golf tee.

Give each person a list of all items “hidden.” They write down where the item is located without moving it or giving away the location. The one who finds the most items wins.

This can be added to the decathlon as one of the games.


More about organizing summer fun:

Organizing Summer Fun When Everyone is Bored: Outdoor Decathlon

Organizing Summer Fun When Everyone is Bored: A Unique Dinner

Organizing Summer Fun When Everyone is Bored: Treasure Hunt Dinner

Three Steps to Planning Your Child's Parties 

 

Organizing Back to School Shopping

     
Can you believe it's almost time for school?! Here's a blog I've done before to help reduce the stress of getting ready for school. We used these tips for our own daughters and some of them for our foster daughters. Hope you enjoy them:


If we took our cues from the stores, we would think summer is over, even though it seems like it just began! After the 4th of July, all summer clothes are on sale and winter clothes will soon be on the racks, even though we are sweltering! Great time to beef up your summer wardrobe, if need be.

If you need to shop for back-to-school clothes or if you have children who need to do so, here are a few tips:

1. Take inventory of what you have. If you have children, tackle this job one child at a time. Make a list of all tops, categorizing them separately - short sleeve, long sleeve, t-shirts, dressy, dressy casual, etc. Do the same with bottoms - shorts, capris, jeans, skirts, dress pants, etc.

2. While going through the closet, start a donation pile and a throwaway/rag pile and a giveaway pile for clothing you want to pass on to specific people.

3. Make a list of all the possible outfits, both summer and winter.

4. It will become obvious which articles of clothing have no matches or matching accessories - shoes, socks, jewelry, belts, etc.. Make a shopping list.

5. NOW it's time to shop! If you are shopping for your children, make back-to-school shopping a fun event. If you can, take one child at a time, have lunch together, and make it a special day.
 
Even though this process takes a while, it is far more productive. You may discover outfits you never considered, you'll clear the closet of unwanted items, and your shopping will be intentional rather than haphazard, which will likely save you money. And you and/or your child will have a list of outfits to wear - especially helpful on those days when choosing an outfit seems overwhelming!

Similar topics:
Organizing Your Child's Room   
Get Oranized Month 2009 - Organizing Your Clothes Closet
Get Organized for School - Clothing Inventory
Getting Organized for School - Learning Style

The Secret of Not Having to Clean Every Day

I had some much-needed time off during the last of July. I celebrated my birthday and got royally spoiled by my husband: flowers, a card and a salmon dinner he cooked himself. And a day to read - such luxury I don't often get. :) And to top it off, one of my daughters surprised me with a visit!

I also spoke at the National Gift Basket Convention on "Leaving an Intentional Legacy" about planning your time around your passions, priorities and gifts so you are doing what you are designed to do. Busy, but a very interesting and enlightening experience!!

Our five foster daughters came back on the evening of the 29th and we've already been to the emergency room twice! Back to reality!

On to my funny little blog for today:

The Secret of Not Having to Clean Every Day

I read recently about a way not to clean each day: get some get well cards and put them on your mantel so that when friends drop by they'll think you've been sick! LOL!

 

I'm Taking A Vacation!

    
Just wanted to let you know that I'm taking the rest of the month off from blogging. With some vacation days ahead, I'm trying to make sure to have a few restful days. With five teenage girls in the house, I'm ready for some days off! LOL!

I'll be speaking at the National Gift Basket Convention during my time off, but it will be a change of scenery and normal activity, which is refreshing and rejuvenating.

I'll be back on August 2.  


Bev

Decluttering Digital Photos

    
It's easy to end up with a massive sorting and purging job with digital photos - they accumulate so quickly! Here are a few tips to make it easier:

- Delete pictures on your camera you don't like. Do it immediately after each picture-taking session. You can determine which pictures are best, which are duplicates, etc.

- Use these filters: 

• Is it blurry?  
• Do you love it? 
• Will you want it in five years? 
• And my favorite - do I look better that I do in real life? LOL! I do NOT want to keep pictures of myself for posterity in which I look terrible!

- When going through old pictures, use the same filters. In addition, get rid of photos of people and places you don't remember or that are no longer meaningful.

- Back up files in several places: internally on your computer, externally on a DVD or external hard drive, on online digital sharing services (iPhoto, Snapfish, Flickr, Picasa, etc.)

- Periodically, go through your photos to see if they have lost appeal over time. By being ruthless before saving your photos, it will make this job easier.

More on photos:

Organizing Digital Photos

Storage Ideas for Crafts and Art Supplies

Springpads

 

Home Team 1, Squirrels 0 - or - Can Squirrels Smell PVC

   
If you've read my blog for any length of time, you know that squirrels have been the bane of my existence! They have eaten my plums, blueberries, and raspberries, destroyed my herb seedlings, and now - they can demolish a $15 bag of bird feed in two days! Do they have an Overeaters Anonymous for squirrels?!

After making a baffle that was unsuccessful, we hit upon a winner - PVC! We have a 4 x 4 post that holds our bird feeder. A genius at Lowe's told us that there are 4 x 4 PVC covers for wooden posts. I will forever be grateful to that man!

My husband removed the bird feeder and the bird house attached to the post. He then slipped the PVC cover down over the post and instant squirrel baffle! For the price of one bag of bird feed! The slippery surface of the PVC prevents the little critters from climbing up the post.

Can squirrels smell PVC? We haven't even seen a squirrel approach the bird feeder. We even set up our video camera so we can relish the sight of squirrels slipping off the PVC. And it has been several days since installing the PVC. Our only worry - that they will jump off the tree onto the bird feeder. Then it may be time for me to invest in an air gun! Just kidding!

 More on squirrels:

Feed the Squirrels? - Hah!

Score: Squirrels 1, Bev 0

Score: Herbs 1, Squirrels 0 ... So Far