What is RSS?

For the media addicts amongst us who follow blogs and other news, having RSS feeds right to your Google Reader can be a great time-saver!

RSS is a way to get blog posts and other newsworthy articles delivered to you automatically. It eliminates the need to check each individual site. It is like having your newspaper delivered to your door instead of having to go out to the store to get it! 

Check out this CommonCraft video that explains RSS very clearly:

Click here to have 'Sanity for the Insanely Busy' delivered to you.

After the Taxes Are Done....

Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

For the majority of us, taxes are over for another year. We're breathing big sighs of relief. We're figuring we can relax and forget about it for another year. But should we? 


Shouldn't we be preparing now for next year? Shouldn't we be turning over a new leaf and keeping better records? Shouldn't we be looking at a good financial software program?


Do we have an efficient "To Do" list prepared to be sure we don't miss crucial dates? Maybe you filed an extension. Do you have your new due date on your "to Do" list? Maybe you owed too much or received too great a refund and need to make an adjustment to your withholding. Is that on your "To Do" list?


My "To Do" list includes dates when I need to prepare and submit estimated tax payments as well as sales tax payments.  


Breathing a sigh of relief is great. Relaxing? That's great too. But let's not relax so much that we hurt our financial stability!

Travel-Ready

Packing at a moment's notice can add unneeded stress to a day. Having a semi-ready suitcase packed and ready is a good de-stresser. I would recommend it for anyone who travels frequently. 

Throw in the basics. You can add a few extra clothes on your way out the door. Keep a toiletry bag in it or ready to throw in. I purchased and put a hairbrush in my suitcase after waking up to blow-dry my hair on the road without one, not once, but twice! A small but good investment in sanity! 

What I was missing was my old travel hair dryer that had finally died on me.  Compared to my normal folding hair dryer which takes up a quarter of my suitcase, this one was less than half that size. But it had died. Checking out the local store where I had originally bought it many years ago, it was not to be found.

Not to be deterred, I began my web search. Amazon.com proved faithful once again. The replacement has arrived, is powerful enough at 1,000 watts, and slides inconspicuously into my suitcase in its own small pouch.

Anyone else looking for that perfect travel hair dryer? Click her to check it out!
   

   
      

An Organized Computer Is a Safer Computer!

Five Steps to an Organized & Safer Computer!

I've used PC Tools as my virus protection for several years now with great success and would definitely recommend them. They recently sent me an article on the benefits of an organized computer. Right. We don't just need an organized house or an organized life -- we also need an organized computer!

The premise behind the article is it is easier for malicious software that has inadvertently been downloaded to your computer to hide in messy files that resemble a tangled subway map.

Click HERE for hints on making your computer more organized AND safer!

Organized Chaos

http://www.organizedchaosbyang.com/

I've been following a blog called Organized Chaos by none other than another former missionary! She has lots of good ideas. She is also a professional organizer. If you live in the McHenry County area of Illinois (or in the surrounding area) and are in need of help with organizing your house, you might want to look her up! She is a member of the Faithful Organizers. To read more click on: http://www.organizedchaosbyang.com

Learning to Say Yes

Most articles on saving time will tell you to learn to say no--and they are probably right. Yet there are times when we need to learn to say yes.

Two days after my last posting called Stressfree Holidays, my healthy husband of 25 years was in the hospital receiving a blood transfusion.  Christmas week found us facing the news that he had cancer, presumably pancreatic cancer that had metastasized to the liver. This was later confirmed.

Having a strange sense of humor, I had to chuckle a bit as I remembered my Stressfree Holidays posting. This was not the Christmas I had planned. I was thankful for all the preparations I had made, but realized this was going to be a tricky Christmas to pull off even if we made it home for Christmas.

After seven days of not sleeping in my own bed, I was blessed to be able to bring my husband home two days before Christmas. Knowing the state the house could be in after seven days at the hands of our three young adult sons, when my wonderful daughter-in-law offered to clean the house before our arrival, I quickly learned to say yes. 

When this same wonderful daughter-in-law (and no, you can't have her!) also offered to purchase all the groceries needed for Christmas dinner and have them at the house waiting for me, I quickly learned to say yes.

We chose to enjoy Christmas, to enjoy the time together as a family, despite the hard news we had received. Having learned to yes to help, things worked out remarkably well even having arrived home two days before Christmas with out-of-town and also out-of-country guests! 

Most articles on saving time will tell you to learn to say no--and they are probably right. Yet there are times when we need to learn to say yes. This was one of those times.

Stressfree Holidays

I love Thanksgiving and Christmas. They are holidays geared for family time. They are just a day each, yet packed into that time between Thanksgiving and Christmas the average person (moms in particular) have this written or mental list that could scare the elves away. And yet, moms, unlike Santa, don't usually have a company of elves at their bidding to do all this preparation. The trick to stress-free holidays is to learn to enjoy not only the holidays, but the preparations as well!

The day after Thanksgiving begins the Christmas preparations in our house. Black Friday is when the majority of my Christmas shopping is done. My goal is usually to have it all bought that day, but goals are made to be adjusted.

That evening, or the next day, the Christmas decorations go up. This is when I usually call on my elves if they are available. Decorating as a family is quicker and easier. It's family time. It's memory-making time. And yes, having the boys bring up the plastic containers of Christmas decorations from the basement is much easier for me!

The next available Saturday when the house is not full of watching eyes is when I wrap the presents and get them under the tree. Stockings are stuffed and stored out of sight. This usually goes over much better for me if I've a large cup of coffee and a chocolate bar to set the mood.

As Christmas draws closer there are cookies to bake, a menu to plan, and a myriad of other events to plan and attend that take place in that time period between Thanksgiving and the end of the year.

It's a fact that the preparations and events surrounding this Holiday Season take time and effort. Yet if we can learn to slow down on the inside as we hurry up on the outside, enjoying the preparations as much as the holidays themselves, we'll find that stress-free holidays are possible! It's a paradox...but it works for me!

Labeled at Last

The labeling of the basement storage took longer than planned. My initial attempt was using my handy-dandy label maker. I labeled the containers and stood back with a pleased look on my face. I figured I would have to get the camera later, take a picture, and reveal this one organized area of the basement. (Yes, there are more sections of the basement to conquer!)

Returning at a much later date than planned, I found the humidity in the basement had wrecked havoc on my labels—or I had just inserted a bad label-making tape? For whatever reason, instead of finding tidily labeled containers, I found curled up labels laying on the floor in front of my organized shelving units. Groan....

After several frustrated attempts at finding the correct container when needing items from the storage containers, I went back to the old-fashioned method: a permanent black magic marker. The containers are now organized AND labeled! When technology fails ... reach for the old standby, the permanent black magic marker.

The Basement With a Mind of Its Own!

Shortly after moving into the parsonage, we faced a hiccup when our basement decided to take on about five inches of water when the sump pump went on the blink. Like a wayward child pulling a temper tantrum and screaming for attention, our basement used this method as a cry for attention. The rest of house was settled into, organized, and looking quite nice. The basement on the other hand was our boys' domain, boys who had little care for my grand organizational ideas. It was functional and they loved it. It was a frontier that I had yet to breach with a frontal assault of organization. Amazing how a little water can spur one on!

Knowing my time was limited and that this territory would have to be taken over in sections, I decided step one of the frontal assault on the basement would be to corral the storage into one area. This meant finding the perfect freestanding shelving unit that was sturdy, could hold much weight, be easy to assemble, and could withstand the possibility of another temper tantrum acting itself out in our basement!

Researching on the internet I found the perfect shelving unit wasn't as easy to find as I first thought. Sifting through one after another and reading up on the reviews, I finally found what I wanted at our local Lowe's. I bought one on my first trip to the store, bringing it home to test it out before committing to buying more. Though two people are recommended for putting it together, it's easy to do. Once together the shelves can be adjusted to the desired heights by one person alone. I loved it so much I went back and bought two more! The pile of storage containers stacked and difficult to access are now nicely organized on the new shelving units. Labeling them is the next step.

Lofty Goals and Reality

There are times when our lofty goals and reality do not match up. Have you ever suddenly looked at your desk (and the mess thereon) and shuddered? Did you then stop what you were doing, distracted as you were, and proceed to clear away the non-essentials in the hope of not simply clearing your desk, but clearing your mind? Do you relate to the correlation between clearing the physical clutter from your office with clearing the mental clutter in your mind and thereby increasing your productivity? Been there. Done that.

The perfectionist in me yearns for a clean, uncluttered desk. A clean, cleared desk exudes a calmness and peace that must be conducive to productivity, right? The distractions are gone. One can dig right in and work. But life gets in the way... .

Here's my life as a secretary/receptionist. My desk will look great. The files are put away, the phone message pad is laying nicely on the side, a notepad is ready for longer directives. My large wide screen monitor sits in front of me. I'll be editing a letter on part of the screen; my e-mail and "To Do" list open on another part of the screen. Things look so under control, so clean, so uncluttered.

And then the phone rings... . Jotting down the message, I turn back to edit the letter -- but don't quite get there before the phone rings again. I head to the file cabinet to pull out a file in order to answer the question at hand. Someone enters the office as I'm finishing up the call. The file gets dropped on my desk while I go to help the person make some photocopies. While helping them, someone else comes into the office needing copies of a form. Heading back to the file cabinet I locate the necessary file, pull out the form, and make the copies. I'm barely through photocopying those when I need to excuse myself at the sound of the phone ringing yet again. I take another message... . Hanging up the phone I suddenly realize I am alone once again in a quiet office, but my once cleared desk is no longer clear.

Lofty goals of a cleared desk and reality don't always line up...at least not in my world. Accepting the fact that at various times throughout the day my desk will be a messy desk is a necessary compromise, knowing that whenever possible I will take the time to clear it. And of course, by closing time, I will consistently clean and clear my desk.

Extreme Organization

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

The Problem With Piles....

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Why Not To Procrastinate

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Laundry Laughs

The "How Not To" of Laundry Organization!

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Or Is Your Organizational Style More Along These Lines?

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Is This Your Organizational Style?

For the bloggers in our midst, is this your organizational style?

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

The New Necessity: A Label-Maker

We all know an office needs a stapler, a tape dispenser, pens and pencils, file folders---and hopefully a decent file cabinet. But how many of you would put a label-maker on that list?

I lived without one for years. Now I wouldn't be without one. Do you know how many things you can do to organize not only your office, but your whole house, with a label-maker? Here are some ideas:

• File Folders --- Hanging file folders leave a tidier more organized look, but typing and printing off labels to slide into the plastic tabs is, well, a pain. Enter the label-maker. I print the label and stick it right onto the outside of the plastic tab. Fast, works great, and easy enough to change!
  
  
• Binder Labels --- Multiple binders on a shelf can result in wasted time looking for the right now. Enter the label-maker. Labels can easily be made to keep binders in order.
  
  
• Medicine Cabinet/Shelf --- Plastic bins work great for stashing different types of medications and keeping them organized, but knowing what is in each bin can be a problem. Enter the label-maker. Labeling each bin makes for easy retrieval of the correct bin!
  
  
• Laundry Closet --- Plastic dishpans work great on the shelves of a laundry closet to store items for two reasons: The items are tidily contained and the bins can be easily pulled from the shelves. (Being vertically challenged that's a plus!) The problem comes in having a family of five knowing what is in each dishpan without pulling each one down. Enter the label-maker. Labeling each dishpan accordingly solves the problem!
  
  
  
  
• Storage --- Storage boxes and plastic totes provide great storage for infrequently used items, sentimental or seasonal items. To make retrieval easy, you've got it, enter the label-maker. Labeling each box or tote refreshes the memory and speeds the retrieval process!
  
  
• 
  

Laundry Room Makeover

A few years back we bought an older farmhouse and moved in. It was solid and with potential but needed some tender loving care and changes to make it more efficient and inviting. The photo above was the original laundry closet with dark cabinets and doors that would not close. That may not be too bad of thing if the laundry closet were in an out-of-the-way hall, but no such luck. This laundry closet was visible from the front door. The closet opened up into the living room! It was an eyesore to say the least---and inefficient. It needed help!

Laundry is one of those never-ending jobs---at least it is in my household! To not have an efficient method to deal with a never-ending job is asking for frustration. Make sure your laundry room or closet is the most efficient that it can be and a place you don't mind frequenting!

I knew our laundry area needed help. I also knew space was limited. Ideally I would have loved a laundry room (not a mere closet!) with a table for folding clothing, an ironing board and all. But one works with what one has and makes the best of it.

First I set out to determine what was essential to me in a laundry room. Here was my list:

• Storage for laundry supplies.
• Hanging space for clothes that are to be hung and not folded.
• Storage to coral odd socks awaiting their mate to show up in the laundry.
• A place to stack clean clothes ready to be taken to their proper rooms.
• Garbage can for lint. (Yes, make it EASY for people to keep the lint trap clean!)
• And DOORS! I wanted doors that would really close. I wanted to be able to make the never-ending job called laundry to disappear at will!
  

Below is the new and improved laundry closet, thanks to my parents coming for a "work visit." The old cabinets were torn out and replaced with cabinets we already owned. The walls were painted a brown called "milk chocolate", a nice contrast to the white appliances and cabinet---and a color that blended with the living room walls. Wire shelving, along with a clothes rod, were installed at the far end of the closet---adding storage and a space to hang clothes not needing to be folded. And the "lived-in" version of the laundry closet.
And doors! Crisp white louvered doors made my wish come true. The laundry really could disappear at will! The white added a brightness to the living room.

The Bottomless Pit Called a Purse

Have you ever dumped the contents of your purse on the counter because your keys have someone managed to vanish in the depths of your purse? Or do we dare even give such a bottomless pit the name of purse?

I've been in search of the perfect purse. It needed to look classy, but somehow have all the right compartments and dividers. It couldn't be a bottomless pit. I just knew it was out there...somewhere.

I had one once, the perfect purse. Believe it or not, I didn't even pick it out! It was one of those times when my husband really outdid himself in finding the perfect gift. He was in the market place in Venezuela where we were missionaries at the time. There was a stand of handmade purses brought across the border from Colombia. It was perfect. It was crafted of black leather, had enough stiffness to stand up on its own, and the compartments were perfect. There was just the right amount of space with a specific home for each item. I could reach into it in the dark and find what I needed. That's what I call a perfect purse.

And then the strap broke and I've been on the search for the replacement perfect purse for many years. None quite measured up. Maybe it really wasn't out there!

Recently I began researching purse inserts and organizers. After much research of the various types available, I ordered a Pouchee. At 7.5" wide, 5.25" tall, and capable of spreading open to 3.5", it fits smaller and medium sized purses, though doesn't get lost in my larger travel purse. It gives shapeless purses some form and it had all those handy dividers. It's perfect.

I'm no longer dumping the contents of my purse onto the table in search of keys, my lipstick or a pen. The moments of fighting irritation as I did so have vanished! I can reach over as I drive, feel for the right spot, and pull out my lipstick to apply at the next stop sign.

Fit all this...


...into the Pouchee!
I don't need the perfect purse or purses now. My Pouchee easily moves from purse to purse. Switching purses has never been easier. Unlike the Purseket, Purse Brite or other, what I call "snake-like" inserts that wrap around the perimeter of your purse, the Pouchee is like a small purse within your purse with two metal rings that make it easy to lift it out to transfer to another purse. I love my Pouchee!

You have your Pouchee ready to put into your purse...

You can easily lift the Pouchee to insert it into your purse...

The Pouchee at home in your purse...

The purse zipped shut and ready to go!
There were others similar to the Pouchee but on a larger scale. They would be perfect for those of you who carry larger purses on a regular basis. Being a petite woman who never reached the pinnacle of being five foot tall, I tend to look overpowered by a large purse and therefore stick to their small to medium sized counterparts. For those lovers of large purses, I would recommend the larger sizes available in the Kwiki Insert Organizer or the Chameleon.

For those of you whose sewing/craft supplies don't get relegated to the basement because you actually do sew, I found an awesome pattern for sale on the internet to make your own purse insert that would be similar to the Pouchee. I just knew I wanted the purse insert now and not ten years from now! Check out the PortaPockets Purse Insert Pattern.

My search for the perfect purse ended, not in the finding of the perfect purse, but in discovering the perfect purse insert in my new red Pouchee (many other colors are available!).

Small Stages of Decluttering: STEP SIX

STEP SIX is when we will deal with the items in our Store pile. This is that pile that has been accumulating with rarely used items, items that are used yearly, seasonally or, if you home is low on cupboard space, maybe even items that are used only monthly. This may include:

• Holiday decorations.
• Christmas wrapping paper and Christmas cards.
  
• Clothes for children to grow into.
• Seasonal clothing.
• Window fans used during the summer months.
• The turkey roasting pan that doesn't fit in your limited kitchen space.
• Sewing or craft supplies that clutter your bedroom but are only put into use a few days here and there throughout the year.
• Extra curtains or linens saved for future use.
• Seasonal bedding: extra heavy blankets, flannel sheets and electric blankets.
• The box of gifts you've collected at awesome prices for the occasional birthday or upcoming family Christmas exchanges.
• Seasonal sport equipment.

Attics, garages and basements are the best locations for these types of items. If you're living in a small home or apartment lacking those areas, you'll have to be more creative. Under the bed storage, top shelves of closets or trunks in other living areas that also serve as coffee tables or decorative pieces may be the way you'll have to go.

You must consider what type of containers will be used. You must consider the items to be stored and the area where they will be stored. Is humidity or moisture a factor? Do you need plastic totes that seal relatively well?

My preference is plastic totes in a variety of sizes to accomodate items sorted by category in varying amounts. I also love even numbers of plastic totes that can be stacked in tidy piles.

Most important is the need to label, label and label. Can you really remember what’s in each storage container in your garage, your basement or your attic? Label them. At the least label the outside of each container. Your labeling system may be as simple as labeling containers as follows:

• Winter Mitts, Gloves & Hats
• Winter Coats
• Christmas Decorations
• Thanksgiving Decorations
• Gifts
• Sewing Supplies
• Craft Supplies
• Christmas Wrapping
  

Better yet, make a file card, sheet in a folder, or a computer file for each storage container with a list of its contents.

The goal is to limit what goes into storage. For items that you are unlikely to use again, especially if the cost of replacement is relatively low, it's best to toss or give them away. But if we must save it, if we are destined to be pack rats, then at least let us be organized pack rats who have an efficient filing system for our many plastic totes of stuff!

The whole idea is to declutter your mind from needing to remember where each and every item is. Find what method serves YOU best for locating and retrieving each item and run with it!