Hi everyone. I am flying off today to Washington D.C. where I will be organizing. I am doing and office and two homes. I will be in Northern Virginia so if any of you out there want to organize with me while I am there just give me a call. (801-898-7616).

One organizing idea before I go—give yourself a gift in this new year—give yourself enough time to get out of the house when you are going to an appointment so you don’t have to rush and be all frazzled. In our home if we have to be somewhere at a certain time we plan on leaving at least 30 minutes earlier than we really need to leave. This works for us and I don’t know why it takes so long to get out of the house but it does.

What do you do to get away on time?

Here I am (second from the right, standing, as you are looking at the photo) with a few of my quilting friends. We planned in November to have our Christmas party luncheon the first week of December. But with this and that happening we rescheduled it for the first week of January. It was so much fun!

The clever organizing ideas our leader (we call her Turbo Becky–she’s the one on the left in front), came up with was for each of us to make a bag and put goodies in them for our gift exchange. Now we each have a great bag we can use for projects all year. The bags are all made from one dish towel. From just one idea so many creative ideas came from it. All of the bags are unique and different.

How fun this party was. We all liked it in January too when there are no other parties and in theory we aren’t as busy. Becky also made us all these cute little bouquets of flowers that she placed at each of our plates. Each one of these was unique, different and fun.

This was a great start to the great year of 2009!

Have you taken down your Christmas decorations yet? It used to be our tradition to take ours down on New Year’s Day. But now we take them down some time when we feel like it before New Year’s Day so everything is fresh and clean for the New Year.

Here is a photo of some of the boxes (I have about 15) we had packed ready to put away. I use a lot of bubble wrap and when I run out I use tissue to wrap the glass decorations. It takes us about two days to put everything away and get everything back out and arranged in our home.

Organizing ideas for Taking Down Christmas decorations:

1. Store all seasonal items together in one specific place. If that is not possible then put a note inside the bins saying where to find the other decorations. If you are like me you think you will remember from year to year where to find things. But if you are like me I don’t always remember. I have to hunt for things and that is such a big time waster. And for me it is so frustrating! (Right now I am searching for my tape recorder I put somewhere before Christmas and haven’t found yet). And I know I have looked everywhere—except where it is.
2. Have plenty of storage bins so you don’t have to put things in plastic sacks and stash them here and there in the storage room. (I have done that before and it creates clutter!)
3. When taking down decorations do it room by room and place items in containers. It makes it easier to put them out next year.
4. Have a treat, put on some music, and make it fun while taking the tree or other things down or it can be a sad time.

What do you do to make it easy to take down Christmas decorations?

This is exciting, my first blog of the New Year. We took all of our Christmas decorations down the past few days and it feels so good to have the rooms “back to normal”. I love the decorations and I love having them put away.

But just now I walked into a room and low and behold there was a framed Christmas print I had missed taking down. Every year there are a few renegades left after the bins are stored away. I also found a pin on my coat and a shirt with a Santa on it in my closet. So, I came up this brilliant organizing idea. (Okay not brilliant but one that works really well).

To solve the problem of the strays we find after the decorations are put away I have one bin only partially full that I keep convenient in the storage area. I just pop off the lid and put the renegades inside so they have a home.

Do you have a brilliant idea for renegade Christmas decorations? If you do, please share it with us.

Happy New Year! (I love saying that)

Have a happy, deilghtful, delicious New Year.

Thanks for all your support this year! Lots more to come in 2009.

Happy New Year,

Marilyn

Is one of your resolutions for the new year to remove clutter from your home in 2009? Here are two organizing tips on how to reduce clutter:

1. Use a planner. The benefits are you don’t have to keep everything in your mind. You will get more done as you will know what needs to be done and you can check it off. This removes mind clutter.
2. Get your name off junk mail lists. I use proquo.com This has cut my junk mail by 90%. (You are probably tired of hearing me say this—I get nothing from them, I just like their system).

Here are a couple of examples on how I cleared clutter from my office after the holidays: I had two cards I had saved from friends that had information I needed. I wrote down the email addresses and phone numbers in my planner and recycled the cards. I made a note to email them on a certain date.

I had quickly unloaded my fanny pack from skiing and had thrown some receipts on my desk. I took 10 seconds and looked at them and then shredded them. I usually ( I would have said always) put my receipts in a file labeled “receipts” in my file drawer. This really helps keep my desk uncluttered. This organizing tip alone saves me a lot of time as I don’t ever have to look for receipts I may need.

Removing clutter in our homes and in our lives frees us up to do other things we would rather be doing; it gives us freedom and peace of mind. In the New Year I will share organizing tips and organizing ideas on how to reduce clutter in our lives, homes and in our minds.

We would love to hear your clutter clearing ideas and tips. What is your favorite one?

I was in a workshop several years ago and on the board the instructor wrote: “Today I won’t should on myself”. At first when we read it we all chuckled a bit as it soundly closely like something else. He went on to explain that when we tell ourselves “I should do this, I should do that” it brings on feelings of guilt and is not a positive way to get things accomplished. As I started my day today I caught myself saying, “I should” and I quickly replaced this with “I will”. I immediately felt a difference in my attitude and the way I was approaching what I wanted to do. I actually felt lighter and positive.

A friend wrote me today and said she knew she “should” get organized, but she is away from home 13 hours a day between working and commuting and she is exhausted when she gets home. Here are a four organizing tips I shared with her:

1. Instead of looking at everything in your home all at once and saying everything needs to be organized, chose only one place to start. (I am choosing my desk. As I look around I wonder what on earth has happened to it—it has become a dumping ground during the holidays).
2. Organize in small chunks of time; don’t try to do it all at once. Set your timer and only work on an area for 15 minutes. Then take a break and come back the next day to do more.
3. Get your name off junk mail lists. Just having 90% less mail to sort through saves a lot of time both mentally and physically! I use Proquo.com and it has reduced the junk mail I receive by 90%.
4. Decide not to tell yourself “I should”.

I know it is hard to work and is tiring to keep a clean organized home, take care of the kids, and have time for ourselves. By using these four organizing tips I know they will save you time and help free you from feeling guilty.

I know so many people who don’t like Monday’s. How about you? I like Mondays because I have one more day in my life to enjoy even if it is hectic or not. A friend once said to me, “I like Mondays because without a Monday there wouldn’t be any Friday”.

One of the things people I know don’t like about Mondays is getting ready for the work day and the hassle it is to get out of the house. Here are two organizing Ideas to help with the Monday hassles:

1. Get ready the night before—decide on what you will wear, have the children lay out their clothes, plan a simple breakfast and get up on time.

2. Angela from Melbourne Australia has a great organizing idea I wanted to share with everyone. (Just in case you missed it in the comments). “The one that made the most difference to our mornings when the children were teenagers: We installed a clock in the bathroom, so everyone knew the correct time. Then the most important part was the car left for school/work at the designated time every time. If you weren’t in the car you were left behind and had to make your own way. It took maybe a week for this strategy to work. No more running late, no more frustration at waiting”.

Mondays are going to come around if we like it or not so why not make it a great day of the week too?

Merry Christmas!!

May your holidays be happy and safe.

Today is the day before Christmas. Our family will be making this Christmas breakfast tonight. It is very good and it is a long standing tradition in our family to make this. I wanted to share this with you, my wonderful blog readers:

Christmas Breakfast
Serves 8
Grease a 9×13 pan very well with butter or cooking spray.
8 slices white bread, cut off crusts and butter 1 side and place butter side down on pan.

Cover bread with the following:
½ Lb. grated cheese, make sure bread is covered and grate more if needed
1 pkg. (12 oz.) sausage, cooked, drained and cut in to bite sizes, can use more sausage if desired.

Butter 8 more slices white bread, cut off crusts and butter 1 side and lay butter side down.
In a bowl (blender is easiest) beat the following together then pour over top of ingredients in pan.
4 eggs
3 C. milk
½ tsp. salt
Dash pepper
Let stand overnight in refrigerator covered with foil.
Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour.
Notes: This is best if made the night before. Mom made this every Christmas Eve in prep for Christmas morning. YUMMY!

Merry Christmas!!